On Friday night, my friend came over to stay the night since we figured it would just be easier to carpool to the zoo. I'm really glad we did now.
5:55am - The alarm went off.
6:20am- We finally got on the road.
7:00am- Arrive at the nearby High School to wait for the shuttle. So. Much. Traffic.
7:40am- Still on the shuttle and finally getting dropped off to go get our numbers and tote bags and t-shirts, ran DOWN the hill to the Bag check to STORE our bags and then get in the Runners group for the race to begin.
8:00am - the race is ON!
And no, you can't see me anywhere in this. I was NOT at the front of the pack. I just wanted to show from that angle just HOW many people were there.
According to the Binder Park page, more than 1500 people participated in the Run/Walk this year.
I even saw a few people I KNEW while running. That part was really cool. I was like 'Oh hey! Sara!' and 'Hey Katey, fancy seeing you here' and 'Oh! Look! There goes Chris'.
I thought a couple of times I was going to have to stop and walk or just stop in general, but I was listening to my WCSG radio app on my phone for the entire run and when I was running up a particularly awful hill and that 'stopping' thought entered my head ... THIS song came on.
And then, the final time, I thought I was going to stop ... I had just spotted the sign that said we were at Mile 3. By that point, I was like ... um ... no, that would be dumb. There's no way that I can't make it now ALL the way to the end.
I finished in 48 minutes. I felt so proud of myself.
OHHH ... and later when I was on the Binder Park Zoo Facebook page, I found THIS picture.
<--- See that little striped shoulder and the ear right behind this blue shirted girl? That's me. LOL!
That kind of made my day. I'm not going to lie. I kept going through all the pictures to see if I could find my bestie who finished 3 minutes before me, but she must have been super speedy because I can't find one.
Then on Sunday, my bestie and I went to JAFAX which is basically a cosplay convention for Anime, Manga, Pop Culture, and Comic Books. There are panels that convene, talking about various topics from Anime Speed Dating (no joke), designing your own Kimono and Hakama, and Trivia about Anime. Then there are the vendors! It's kind of like going to the Renaissance Faire. Every vendor is different and selling different things and all of them make you drool as you stare in wonder at all the pretty things.
There's one thing that I have ALWAYS wanted though. An Alcapasso. This 'stuffed animal' is a popular collectible in Japan and very difficult to track down ... even on the Internet for a decent price. And at JAFAX, they have them. I had been saving and saving all year to get one. They're basically alpacas, but some are dressed like pirates, some are big, some are small and most are rare. I got one of the new minis wearing the lacy ribbons.
They have no website! And most that I have ever been able to find for sale are by sellers online IN Japan and the shipping fees are horrendous. They're just so STINKING cute.
ANYWAY ... now that I have bored you to death with talk about my find at JAFAX, I can move on to stuff I found at work.
There's a book that I want to get for the ChocolaTea that's called Tea Sommelier. In it, it talks about the various uses for tea, what kinds are available and how they are steeped. It even talks about what foods would be best for drinking certain teas.
And since I am sitting at Barnes and Noble and reading this book, I will enlighten you all with a little blurb about a certain type of Chinese Green Tea.
Tai Ping Hou Kui
Typically, this particular green tea is found in China at the foot of Huang Shan mountains. During processing, this type of tea takes on a very unique shape. It's unusually long, has flattened leaves and can measure up to 6 inches in length.
I actually like the color of this leaf. It's a very rich, brilliant green. The flavor of the tea is reminiscent of the orchid and is surprisingly sweet.
Generally, the tea is recommended to be steeped for about 3 minutes to really develop its full flavor.
So far, I have yet to discover if ChocolaTea offers it as one of its teas and I will explore this so I can give you a full report on where it can be located.
TeaSpring <---- Or you can visit this website for more information and even to order it in ounces if you so desire.
What I found absolutely fascinating about this tea is that it was given the recommendation to drink it alone. With no particular food because it already had such a unique flavor. It has made me fascinated with this tea AND this book. But half off a lot of money is still a lot of money, so if the book is still here when I write the next blog post, I will give you another tea fact from it. I want this book. Just saying.
After all, if one is going to learn about tea, one has to understand the true spirit of tea. So further study is required.
I do believe that is all I have to say at the moment. I wish you all well.
Be Open, Be Loving, Be Yourself
Taryn
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