Last blog, but the beginning of a new one

Hi Everyone,

I am ending this blog site with one last hurrah! and I'm going to venture into the new intimidating world of wordpress blogs. (Erin Williams, I desperately need your council on this). I figure that my life is now a lot more exciting now that Jonathan is in it, so I am starting a Santos Family Blog. I've had it up for a while, but I am going to cut the ties here and just use that one from now on. On there, you'll be able to find our flickr photos, pictures of our precious baby dog, Briar and other updates. The blog name/ link is;

http://santosfamily.wordpress.com/

I bid you all farewell on Blogger as Crystal lynn Santos!

Action Sports International - www.asiorders.com

Action Sports International - www.asiorders.com

Amanda and I, The Iron Girl

A lesson in Life is Well Worth Learned

I'm learning that I'm not cut out for all the things I think I'm capable of doing alone. Many times I end up trying to stand up like a rock and let the offers of others help pass me by. A fault I am famously known for. I usually end up feeling sorry for myself in the end because I'm sitting there all by myslef trying to put all of the puzzle peices together. Why is it so easy to be stubborn sometimes? Lesson learning in process and I'll pick myself up again and try to do the "right" more-so the best thing. Learning to trust others and God is my motto this week.

Congratulations Jonathan Santos

Jonathan Santos, for those of you who don't know already...wink wink, is my fiance. He is a wonderful guy who seems to have a gift for encouraging others. He applied for a few jobs and yesterday, he landed a great management job with some ideal day time business hours that is well deserved. I'm very proud of him and more than that, I am super excited to spend time with him during weeknights as well.

Congratulations sweetie! I would have hired you the first time you applied. You are numero uno to me.

Luau at the Hariss House

On Saturday evening, Harlan and Cheryl Harris had their annual Luau. Jonathan and I went and had a great time. It was fun introducing him to some old friends and really great to connect with peoople I know in the area, but haven't seen for quite some time. The Mai Tais weren't so bad either. I love good old backyard parties.

Seattle Saturday Afternoon Find

Jonathan and I spent a relaxed afternoon together and sometime after lunch we had a craving for....ice cream. We were driving in the Freemont area when we saw a woman on the corner of the road eating two lovely scoops out of a fantastic looking waffle cone. My eyes quickly scanned the corner and we found what looked like a hole in the wall ice cream shop. We stopped, parked around the corner and walked in. It was a treasure for sure! Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream is quite trendy. All of the materials they use are organic and all of the trash is compostable, but more importantly to me specifically are the waffle cones they make fresh and the yummy flavorfull ice cream. It was so good, we may just go out of our way to find that corner again. It comes highly recommended! Take a look at the link, the location and the flavors.

Coffee Photographer

I opened my email today and found a request from another user to use one of my photos on flickr. An intern at NowPublic.com is doing an article on the health implications of coffee. While something like that has never happened to me and I was flattered at her admiration of the photo I took in the grass yesterday at the William's BBQ, I turned down her request to use my photo with the Starbucks logo and offered another photo without a logo instead. I was a little worried that I could be held responsible for contributing to an article that might have negative implications on a large corporation such as Starbucks. In the mean time, my head has swelled just a bit. I'm thinkin...perhaps I should try a different career path...Photography perhaps?

Taste of Seattle-A family adventure

Today, Jonathan's mom and dad came out to meet us in Seattle to spend a day together. We spent most of the day at the Seattle Center for the "Taste of Seattle". We had a great day walking around in the sunshine, eating some great food, and just being together.

Favorites:

Corn. Need I say more?

Chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. Yum!

Rollercoaster! Just because I'll never stop being a kid.

Happy Anniversary Lennie and Jill!

Yesterday was my brother and sister-in-law's 1 year anniversary. Wow! How the year has flown. I can't beleive you two have been married for a year already. Congratulations, and I wish you many many happy moments and years to come.

Love you both!

~Crystal

Slip N Slide Sunday

Now while Jonathan and I always have a randomly fun time with the Ibsen's, yesterday was especially fun. After church we all had lunch at the Green Lake Bar and Grill and then headed to her sister and brother in law's house in Stanwood to build an over 20 foot slip and slide to play on. After all the water fun, we washed the grass off and dipped in the warmish hot tub For dinner, we all had pizza at her mom's beautiful farmhouse and toasted marshmellows back down at her sister's before heading home. We had a great time meeting Luke and Janell's family as well. We love the Ibsens!

Celebrating the 4th

Jonathan and I spent the 4th together watching the Bothell parade and re-enactment at Bothell landing. Then we headed over to Bremmerton to spend some quality time with his family. We ate, played, watched fire works and talked until well after the sun went down. It was a great time had by all.

Weekend Getaway

I had the opportunity to go away to a friend-of-a-friends super duper fancy cabin this weekend in the Cle Elem/Roslyn area to re connect with some ladies I hadn't spent some time with in a while from my former church.

The cabin was absolutely beautiful (hardly roughing it) and the river was right in our back yard. We had such a great time re connecting, lounging, hot-tubbing, hiking, and serving eachother meals. It was a restful and fruitful retreat. I am thankful for the weekend, and so thankful that I was able to spend some time with some awesome ladies that have all made an imprint on my life. Hopfully our next time together will not be so far away.

I'm so Proud!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Jonathan and I share Birthdays fairly close together. My birthday is June 7th and Jono's is May 29th This month and last has been hectic, so we haven't done much more than dinner, but this 29th birthday was a little sweeter because I shared it with him. Perhaps next year we'll do a turning 30 bash together....

Rock N Roll Marathon

I ran the Rock N Roll Marathon on Sunday June 1st. It was a great experience

The after race celebration included a medal, lots of resting and eating. It was a great feeling, a personal accomplishment and very very adictive. I'm pondering my next marathon race now. I've been soar, but very happy. At first, I hadn't set a timed goal, my goal was just to finish. The day before, at the Health Expo they were selling wrist bands that tracked your time at each mile. I had to pick out a finishing time to purchase one, so I picked out a time of 5 hours and 30 minuets. I not only made it across the finish line, but I finished with a time of 5 hours and 22 minuets. Another victory that I hadn't long before expected. My total results are below...

Crystal Majors #11837
Bothell, WA
Age: 28 Gender: Fc
lockFromString("5:22:01");
DistanceMAR
Clock Time5:27:37
Chip Time5:22:01
Overall Place10866 / 16373
Gender Place4746 / 8425
Division Place1283 / 2107
Age Grade42%
Pace12:17
Ttldiv2107
Ttlsex8425
10K1:07:32
Half2:24:31
21 Mi4:06:39

Pictures Jonathan took at the 13 mile mark and then at the finish line. It is one of the most difficult races I have ever run and I was just thankful to be finishing.

This is my incredible and supportive finance that was with me at the starting line, raced to meet me at the 13 mile mark, the 22nd mile mark and then again at the finish line. I was only as good as his support, encouragement and the sweet marathon playlist he created for me the night before.

Giving Jono a smile and mentally preparing myself in a strong way for the 26.2 miles ahead.

We were seperated into different Corral's according to our predicted race finishing time. and age. I am nervously standing in my sectionn waiting for the race to begin here

The Rock N Roll Marathon was Sunday, June 1st- This is me at 5:30 am stretching and preparing for the race.

Challenging yes. Hills, Heck yes! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 209 ft Location: Kirkland, WA Elev. Gain: +3 ft Date: 05/11/08 Up/Downhill: [+869/-866] Time: 07:30 AM Difficulty: 3.4 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   48 F temp; 65% humidity   48 F heat index; winds S 6 G 16 Performance Distance: 13.09 miles Goal: 12' 00 min/mi pace for 02:00:00 duration Time: 2:22:55 Speed: 5.5 mph Attained: 114% Pace: 10' 55 /mi Calories: 0 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- goal actual +/- goal 1 11' 19 -0' 41 5.3 +0.3 +121 ft 2 10' 06 -1' 54 5.9 +0.9 +29 ft 3 10' 47 -1' 13 5.6 +0.6 +102 ft 4 10' 37 -1' 23 5.7 +0.7 +59 ft 5 10' 45 -1' 15 5.6 +0.6 +53 ft 6 10' 55 -1' 05 5.5 +0.5 +88 ft 7 10' 36 -1' 24 5.7 +0.7 +23 ft 8 9' 39 -2' 21 6.2 +1.2 -298 ft 9 9' 50 -2' 10 6.1 +1.1 -147 ft 10 10' 28 -1' 32 5.7 +0.7 -29 ft 11 11' 45 -0' 15 5.1 +0.1 +63 ft 12 11' 33 -0' 27 5.2 +0.2 +10 ft 13 10' 54 -1' 06 5.5 +0.5 -69 ft end 41' 40 +29' 40 1.4 -3.6 0 ft Versus goal of 12' 00 min/mile

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May Day

I was Downtown today waiting for my bus and I saw some commotion happening on First and Union. I still had fifteen minuets, so I took a walk down to look. I expected picketers and I found a party! They were having some sort of festival for May Day and there were pink baloons and people dressed in funny waiter and maid outfits. I relished for about 15 minuts in live Jazz music and people parading in costumes. Rather than watching cars and commuters, I spent my bus waiting time in what felt more like Disney Land. The picture above shows the crowd and some girls in costume swinging bird cages on ribbon from the balcony of Tully's. I love Seattle!

So the story goes...

Jonathan and I went away to the San Juan Islands this weekend. It was relaxing, yet event packed all at the same time. We kicked off the weekend first in the Skaagit valley at the Tulip Festival. We took a guided bike tour on Friday morning. The weather was a bit of a concern, but we decided to go through with it anyway. It turned out that everyone else had canceled and Jono and I would be the only ones going on the tour (which was fine with us). It didn't rain at all. The morning started out cold and windy, but by the end of the trip the sun was shining and it could not have been more perfect of a view to see the tulips! Our tour included lunch, and entry into selected tulip gardens along the way. I have been wanting to go there since I moved up here, but I had never gotten the chance. After we finished, we headed toward Anacortes to catch a Ferry to stay at Friday Harbor for the rest of the weekend.

Some of our weekend activities included...

-Dinner on the water
-Dancing
-Tour of San Juan Vinyards and a wine tasting
-Lunch at Roche Harbor
-One intense round of bowling
-Hiking
-Walking along the doc
-Playing a game of pocket scrabble we purchased at a toy store in town
-Soaking in the hot tub and roasting in the Hotel Sauna
-Breakfast on the Island
-Working out in the hotel fitness center

Oh yeah, and an Italian dinner followed by a sweet and simple proposal from Jono. It was so cold outside, I said yes quickly! But seriously, it was an incredible weekend and now I am engaged to someone that I am truly deeply in love with. My favorite part about the whole weekend.

Today in the City

The sun was shining today and hundreds of people were buzzing around Seattle. Angelika, one of the ladies that works in the wellness studio at my work passed by and we had a short conversation about how nice it is to be a part of the world in Seattle and learn from being in the City rather than just watching the news. As we parted ways, I pondered this fact some more. Since I started working in Seattle I have felt this way, but there was something about the change in weather today that made it fresh for me again. Right now, the Dalai Lama is holding a four day conference in Seattle and there are more people in the city than usual. I often people watch at the bus stop and no two conversations are the same. It was interesting hearing the Dalai Lama's name come up in conversations every couple of minutes today and how one powerful person could tie everyone of different backgrounds, cultures and walks of life together. I tried to imagine what the response would be if Jesus was speaking at the Seattle Center this week....Just some food for thought from my bus ride today.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 29 ft Location: Woodinville, WA Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 03/29/08 Up/Downhill: [+85/-88] Time: 11:10 AM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0   Weather: Overcast   39 F temp; 82% humidity   39 F heat index; winds SW 9 Performance Distance: 6.38 miles Goal: 9' 50 min/mi pace for 6 miles Time: 1:07:17 Speed: 5.7 mph Attained: 100% Pace: 10' 32 /mi Calories: 723 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)

Posted from bimactive.com