When the cat's away...

The mouse goes to Kauai!

Edwards "had" to go to Beijing for the last week of the Olympics. I am told that this was work related, but mostly it sounded like a trip to fantasy island. Can you imagine, Mr. Most Athletic surrounded by the best athletes in the world? I soon realized that I would be lucky to get him back. You can read all about his trip at www.steve-edwards.blogspot.com

As a very last minute decision, Andrea (little sister) decided she needed a quick trip out of Vegas, and offered to cover lodging and car rental if I could get my butt to the Garden Isle. Right before he left I said, "Edwards, can I go to Kauai with my little sister" and he said, "ABSOLUTELY." Really? Cool.

We had 4 days to explore the entire island. We had time to snorkel, take long walks on the beach, lounge by the beach, skinny dip in the ocean, view a distant Luau from seats in a hot tub, rest, drive from end to end, eat lots of organic-local-delicious food, do some waterfall viewing, and get a little sandbagged...

Sandbag: brush fire closed the Na Pali trail, so there would be NO seeing the coast on foot; rough waters canceled our boat trip, so there would be NO seeing the coast by boat; illness put me in the hotel room watching bad TV almost one entire day.

On the upside, we did rejoiced the entire time on our decision to stay up in Hanalei and not down in Poi Pu. I got a Puff t-shirt, "In a land called Hanalei" and the town had the best vibe of anywhere we found on the island.


We took lots of pictures, but unfortunately none of the Swiss Family Robinson. There was an adorable surfer bum family with two toe-headed kids living out of their truck on a secluded beach. We figure the cost of living in Hawaii can be pretty low, even with kids, because weather permits nothing more than a diaper for clothing and the island provides everything else they need. So cute.

My trip to Kauai had some truly perfect moments, I missed enough to definitely want to go back, but my husband says Thailand looks similar, is cheaper, and has real climbing... so maybe that's my next trip. Maybe next time, if he's not busy fraternizing with the athletes, I'll take my husband with me.

The UnCool

I can't imagine Romney/Edwards ever doing anything geeky. We're so cool, we should wear our sunglasses 24 hours a day, right? "Because when you're cool, the sun shines all the time..."


We love bad movies - cool, cooler than you.
Our political opinions are robust, well informed, rooted in historical experience, and right - again, cool.
I read graphic novels - freaking cool.
Edwards reads books on nutrition and fitness - so, he's pretty cool.
We both read the paper every day - smart and cool.
We own property in all the best neighborhoods for gentrification - one day we'll be rich and cool.
We have no offspring - our freedom and generosity is cool.
We have two perfectly behaved mutts. - the coolness runneth over.
We ride a tandem bicycle...

uh, oh, here is where a friend planted a viscious little seed... Perhaps all this doesn't add up to cool. Perhaps we are so cool, we've gone past cool, and now, we are... uncool.

Please consider the rest of the list:

1. We compost.
2. We recycle.
3. He rides a fixed gear, I ride a cruiser. For transportation.
4. I said, "Hell, yeah" outloud when I saw the movie preview for, "The Watchmen."
5. We got on the waiting list and bought a white Toyota Prius, because, you know, it gets the best gas mileage.
6. We regularly recommend, "The King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters." to people as a totally awesome movie.
7. Our dogs are the best dogs ever and we talk about them incessantly.
8. We replace all burnt out lights bulbs with compact flourescents.
9. We eloped to Switzerland because of a b-movie that very few other people find entertaining.
10. We like each other so much, we ride the same bicycle.

We are uncool.


Whatever. It don't matter to Jesus.


Pictures of our uncoolness: two geeky kids by their tandem, two perfect pooches, compost bin, that's a plug-in lawn mower, and the crowning glory... the prius.

Utah Mermaids

Something my loving husband does is let me put mermaids up in prominent positions around the house. Once, when he was sick and trapped on the couch, he even let me put in the Hans Christian Anderson \ Japanese Animation DVD of The Little Mermaid that I used to watch when I was a wee babe. He's the best husband ever.

My fascination with mermaids comes from how stubborn, hard working, and creative that sweet and feminine creature was. And how loving her spirit remains.

Today, the ROYAL "WE" bought OUR first mermaid. She is glorious.


We also had a wonderful day at the Utah Arts Festival. We had beer and brats, and caught some music by our friend Misty Murphy before coming home with our new oil painting.

Yesterday we rode up Emigration Canyon on our Tandem. I love that bike. I always say it is because, "when I'm suffering - at least he isn't still getting away from me"... there was a moment on the climb that I wished he could get away so I could pedal at my own pace. I survived and it's good training. He took this picture at the top. My friend, Amanda, gave me the flashy jersey. I don't look like a gorgeous mermaid, but I doubt they'd look so pretty all dried up either.

Hot BAM!

For some strange reason (eloping to Switzerland, buying a house, throwing a party, injuries, etc.) our focus has not been on fitness and training this year. It has been six months of relative inactivity for the Romney/Edwards clan until this very day when two of us got off the couch and kicked some serious tail!!!! (pun intended, you'll see.)

Edwards recently looked into a duatholon called The Battle At Midway (BAM). He might have taken a pass on the competition but one of the categories caught his eye... DOGGIE "DOO"ATHALON. A category for humans and their dogs.

Beata isn't a pup anymore, and she's never run at a human cadence. We know she is fast in short sprints, but neither of us knew how she would hold up for the 10K. As for Edwards... he hasn't jogged more than a couple steps since last November. He did get on his Mountain Bike yesterday, but I wouldn't call it "training".

All of this added up to an Adventure, so we loaded up the car... mt. bike, race shoes, leashes, and poop bags... and made our way to Heber City this morning. Beata and Edwards were the team. The challenge: Run 5K of trail with your dog, Mountain Bike 11 miles while dog waits back in the transition area, Run another 5K with your dog.

They started the race by firing off a snow cannon. Twenty six minutes later the two of them came back... happy as clams and in second place for the "doo" category. Edwards jumped on his bike, Beata got some water and waited impatiently for him to return. 5K, hah! She was just getting warm. The biking wasn't easy and took everyone some time. Edwards rolled in, in first place for the "doo." He thought it was pretty cute when I handed Beata back and said, "She's ready to run" and they took off. Another twenty plus minutes later and our CHAMPIONS came running past the finish line!!!! Woo Hoo!



Overall, I would say this was the best morning of Beata's life. I wasn't on the trail with them, but the story goes that she would look back and pick up the pace when other dogs closed in on them. She was hungry for first. She couldn't have been prouder.



Ratso was also in his element: bumming bagels, sniffing the joint, and locating the food. "Hey, you got some pizza there? Pizza's over here guys!"



I am just a proud and amazed wife and dog mom. I'm related to the two best off-the-couch athletes in the whole world! WooHoo and ArrOoooo!

Thanks For Joining Us!

Here's a pic of the cards we got at our party. We're still waiting on some more photos to post, which should be coming soon, along with our official tandem shot. Thanks to everyone for coming to our party, especially all of you who came from out of state! The weekend couldn't have been better. High school "Dirk Diggler" shot came courtesy of my mom and has greatly impressed Romney ever since. Yeah, that's right.

Thanks Beachbody

Shout out to the folks at Beachbody for their wedding presents and oh-so creative (and oh-so true) card (click on the pic to read it). I think we've probably got Jude to thank for the creativeness on that front. We should have a pic of us whipping a shake with the blender or sipping some coffee with the over-the-top but very cool coffee grinder from Team Saeco but, since we haven't managed to snap that one yet, we'll provide a pic of Jude's handiwork instead.

Special thanks to:

Tony (your check went straight to the bike fund, pics to follow)
Jude, of course
Joe
Renata
Tycene
Kenny
Nick
Trish
Brian
Bala
Monica C
Monica G
Ashlee
Delane
Carla

and

NeilE

Beachbody rocks.

Party Pics

Given that very few of the 50 or so people here on Sat signed this blog when it was right in front of them we're not going to hold out much hope for an improvement via email. But since at least some of you will want to look at pics you've got a few more chances. It's easy. Really. You don't have to be signed in. Just write something.

Anyone who didn't make it last weekend missed a fun time. I do believe the Frank Sinatra toast was overheard more than once. "Here's to absent friends. Fuck 'em."

Here is Bob's slide show. More pics will get posted as they roll in this week. You'll want your sound on, though only some of you will get it. Jackie Treehorn draws a lot of water in this community.

http://www.king-dino.com/photos/victory/index.html