My New Home
Its hard to believe I have been in Bellingham for five weeks already. Wow! I am beginning to learn my way around town and love exploring. There are endless roads and trails to explore and the scenery is incredible. While I could do without the rain, living in a temperate rainforest has it perks.

Eric came to visit earlier this month and we explored Whatcome Falls Park. Its a mile from downtown and technically still in town; however, you feel completely removed from town when you are there.

And things seem to be super-sized in the rainforest. Like these leaves...and the slugs which are 3-4 inches in length...and the hills are crazy steep.

The great thing about Bellingham is that I can be in the mountains, on a lake, or on the bay within minutes of leaving my house. When the sun is out...or when the clouds are out and its not raining...I love being outside. Fortunately, I have sun lamp to keep me going during endless days of cloud and rain.

End of the Summer
As usual, life has been crazy and my updates are delayed. The end of the summer was particularly crazy and I sorted, donated, sold, packed, stored, cleaned, and moved across the country. It was a long three weeks from shoulder surgery to arriving in Bellingham but I made it and Eric was a huge help! And I even got him wearing IU clothes in the process! :)

During that process, Eric made a surprise discovery in an Altoids can. I thought my parents accidently sent me a can of Altoids with our Hawaii souveniers which I saved for Eric because I don't like them and he does. Fortunately, Eric does like them because he opened the can and found these ear rings inside. Thanks Mom and Dad for our gifts.

Date nights continued every week throughout the summer no matter how busy we got. Our favorite was a picnic dinner at Garden of the Gods. I can't believe I lived there for seven years before I finally had a picnic in GOG. I look forward to more when I move back next summer.

I finished the track season strong and won Female Rider of the Year! :) I wish I could have raced nationals this year. It was definitely my best season on the bike yet. I look forward to getting even stronger and faster in coming seasons. :)

Eric and I went up to Denver to celebrate my birthday. Dinner was good and dessert was ah-mazing! :) We went to dBar and I got the cake and shake...best dessert I have ever had, hands down.

And we spent the most time on our bikes. I miss my partner in crime and look forward to having my training partner back at the end of next summer.

Hat Trick Track Style! :)
As I said earlier, I am having the best season of my life right now and just keep getting stronger. I love it! :) Thursday night I swept the women's racing and won the One Mile Scratch in a two-up sprint (after shattering the field with an attack at two laps to go), the Point A Lap (soloed in after attacking with five laps to go), and the Five Mile Scratch (attacked with three laps to go, attacked again with two laps to go and soloed in again). Fun times! :)

It's Christmas in August...or early Happy Birthday to Me :)

I just got my first shipment of product from Raw Revolution and am so excited because it came just in time for the end of the season and long rides in the fall. Everybody that I have shared the bars with love them because they are so tasty. :) No soy and they are gluten-free which is an added bonus for the "soy-tards" (me because of my hypthyroidism) and "glu-tards" (me again because of hypothyroidism).

Leading Babies in My Life
I thought you needed an update of my best friend, Edith. She just turned one last month and walks now! :) Mandy, Levi, and Edith are moving to Dubai for Levi's job so I am going to miss seeing this one but am excited that we can Skype with webcams so I can still watch her grow up in the coming year.

And Madison Elizabeth, Maddie, is the newest addition to the Prentice household. I flew home to Michigan for her baptism earlier this month and was honored to become her Godmother (Jeff is the Godfather). She is absolutly adorable and has the cutest smile and laugh ever. Again, I am going to miss seeing her in person but am so excited to be her Godmother and look forward to watching her grow up as well. And, I already taught her the skill of self-portraits! :)

Mid-Summer Update
As you probably guessed from my lack of blogging, the summer has been very busy. The good news is that my dissertation is progressing very well; although, I still have a lot of work ahead of me. More importantly, Eric and I have been able to spend a lot of time together both on and off the bike. To answer the lingering question on everybody's mind: Eric will be staying in Colorado Springs for the coming year and I will move back once I am done with my internship in WA. We have plans to see each other every month and will spend the holidays in CA with our families. Also, we exchanged promise rings with the intention of getting engaged and married when the time is right.

Not surprisingly, a lot of our time has been spent at bike races. Most of Eric's racing has been in the rain which tends to be sketchy and dirty. Those aren't bad tan lines in the picture, its all dirt. I have been racing twice a week on the track and riding better than ever before. I am currently leading the women's series in points and am the marked rider when I race with women. I am also have a ton of fun racing with the guys and turning heads in the men's field at times.

We have also been trying to enjoy Colorado and went whitewater rafting last month. It was Eric's first time on whitewater and he loved it. The water levels were a little low so the water was slow but we still had a blast. And we have a long list of things to do when I get back to Colorado next September.

Check out my new sponsor, Raw Revolution. Their bars are AWESOME!!! They are totally raw food bars that taste amazing and are really good for you. Try one, I promise you will not be disappointed! My favorite is Raspberry & Chocolate. :)

Recent Happenings
Some of you know that I got a new bike this summer...I absolutly love it! Just as my old bike did not fit very well, I realized that my saddle was not the right fit either. I spent last week saddle shopping and ended up riding five different saddles until I found the right fit for my rear. Riding is so much more enjoyable now. And, have I mentioned how much I love having my own personal mechanic? He is awesome and my bikes are much happier now! :)

Track racing started the first week of June and it's been a blast! Now that my body has had a year to get back to normal and my hypothyroidism is being treated, I am riding much stronger. I surprised myself by starting the season with two wins the first night and have continued to smash since then. I love my stars and stripes skinsuit too! :)

Every week Eric and I go out on a date night. We spend a lot of time in spandex so it is fun to get dressed up and explore the town together. I get to introduce him to some of my favorite spots and we try new restaurants together.

And we continue to cook. Food Network has become one of our favorite channels and we decided to have our own Iron Chef competition. It was Chef Gracheck versus Chef Bennett. Our theme was breakfast and the secret ingredient was egg. We rated each other's meal just like they do on TV (plating, originality, and taste) and I am proud to announce that I am currently the Iron Chef of this household. :) I am sure we will have another throwdown and maybe we will get a little bit more ambitious with our secret ingredient.

Six Months and Counting

Time sure does fly by when you are having fun! Eric and I celebrated six months on Wednesday. It is crazy to think we have only been together for six months because it seems like I have known him my entire life. I think, in a way, I have. I cannot imagine a more perfect match for me. He was well worth the wait! :)

May
As you probably guessed by my lack of blogging the past month, May was a busy month. The best thing that happened was Eric's move to Colorado. He moved out here in early May and we are having a ton of fun together. The other big event in May, no where near as exciting or fun, was my decision to pull the plug on my first dissertation and start all over. I decided to change my study because I could not find a research participant. That came after eight months of work, 85 written pages, and 90 chapters and articles for the first topic. While I am taking on a lot of extra work right now to start over, I still hope to have my experiment completed before I move to Washington in September. Number one priority is to finish it so I don't need to worry about it while I am on internship. Number two priority is to get it published. I'll worry about that after I defend it though.

Eric and I have been cooking a lot and trying new recipes. Some new, some old, some borrowed. I think our greatest accomplishment so far is cooking Dad's pizza. It is the first time I ever tried cooking it on my own and I have to say our pizzas would have made Dad proud. They were super tasty and fun to make! One of our other favorites is Dad's Asian Shrimp Salad...so good and so easy.