Wow. It's Monday, again.

And I feel like a weekend warrior, once again. Free time well spent, I think! From kart racing, to the MVA Auction to a long epic group ride to Snohomish and a fun dinner party last night with good friends - this morning's alarm came earlier then expected. I'm not complaining either - it's nice to be this busy!

I had a hard ride on Friday and couldn't muster up enough energy to do much else other than sit on the couch the rest of the evening. Earlier in the week I got an email with a coupon for a free birthday rental at PGP Motorsports so I decided to ping a few people to see if they'd be up for karting the following morning. No body was biting, so I ventured out on my own to PGP Motorsports down at Pacific Raceways for a rental kart racing series. One word: RAD.

3/4 mile track with 14 turns and karts that go up to 40mph? Yes, please. I was the lone lady amongst 8 dudes but had the most fun, I'm sure. $95 for 2.5 hours of racing and grins from ear to ear. And I got third in the novice class! With a trophy to prove it. I can't wait to go back. The ground was wet so we were power sliding and drifting all over the place - I might have spun out a few times and hit a barrier.... but no whip lash like I had from the last time I wet karting. Yehaw!!!

I got home around 12:30 and stunk like lawn mower exhaust so I took a quick shower before heading out to carpool with Mark and Linda Coppa to drive over to the Mercer Island Community Center for the Marymoor Velodrome Association Annual Auction. The night was a huge success and we netted over $23,000 from the amazing generosity of the attendees. One of the best items there, in my opinion, was a Phil "Bilko" Stephens bobble head - complete with audio announcement and all. And I'm happy to say I bid and won that priceless item, which now sits on my mantle next to my third place trophy. The night ran late as I helped mop up the facility and making sure things were tidied up before taking off. I dropped the Coppa's off around 11 or so and then headed home to bed before an early morning group ride with the HB ladies.

Every weekend a select group of ladies head up North to Snohomish and try to shell one another on the ride. Since my fitness is lagging behind these road warriors, I've often turned around 2/3 of the way at the "Church." Every week they give me LOADS of crap for turning around. In fact, they had taken bets on me this week for bailing. And much to their amazement (and to be honest - mine too!) I went the full distance. And found out why I'm never bailing again. The cookies at the Snohomish bakery are SO WORTH every minute of suffering. Since I was new to the scene, no one mentioned that I should only eat half - especially because within 10 minutes of us starting back up again, we'd be climbing out of the valley. That's what I get for bailing out earlier in the year, I suppose! Thankfully the chocolate almond cranberry cookie and coffee powered me the 30 miles back home and stayed down.

I got home and Makiah was begging and pleading for a long walk. I promised her a short one after I got a bite to eat and took a short nap. She sighed, but agreed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. And when I woke up 30 minutes later, my legs had seized up. Well done ladies! Thanks for the beating. I got up, walked Makiah around the block and then headed out for the last venture for the weekend - a cooking night with my chef friend Danielle.

Another friend, Stephanie, offered to host at her apartment downtown in the Diller building on 1st and University, adjacent to the Seattle Art Museum. The building was super old - with the winding stair cases leaning this way and that and the hallways adorned with Steph's roommates ecliptic art. She lead us into her place and I marveled at the art - all from recycled materials. Her roommate, Sam, as it turns out is way into reshaping plastic things. From straws, to keg cups to army soldiers and plastic forks... hundreds, if not thousands of them had heat applied to them and then formed into modern art. Seven of us gathered around Danielle as she showed us Vietnamese dishes, from fresh spring rolls to candy coated coconut pork infusion dishes. She had all of us helping out to learn something new.

And as I took a tour around Steph's apartment, I saw a pair of boxing gloves. Turns out she's been training for her first fight at a down and dirty gym on Capital Hill. I got to relive the glory days for a few minutes and share with her my experiences as a pugilist. That's two ladies I've met within the past two weeks that are into boxing.... is somebody trying to tell me something? Maybe I should get back into that sport?!? Tacoma seemed too daunting of a drive to train... but if there's one in the immediate area.......