Rachael Lake Hike

We took the opportunity last Sunday to hike. With it being such a nice day we set out to Rachael Lake, a hike we had never done this late in the fall. The group consisted of Bet, Chris, Nicole, Eliza, and myself.




The hike is 4 miles out and 4 miles back. The last mile gains in the neighborhood of 1300 ft so it is a challenge. Luckily there are several waterfalls along the path to distract us.


When we got to the top the lake was beautiful as always. If you actually continue past Rachael Lake, uphill another half mile, another series of lakes exist. The lakes in my opinion are even better then Rachael however we didn't have time to visit them on Sunday.




Nicole and Chris decided to take a nap.

Bet and I worked on getting pictures of he lake.

Checking In

Hello!
The Penick household is just emerging from being sick most of the week. I came down with it first (after running a great Heifer 101 workshop in downtown Seattle). It came at a good time for me, as I was forced to take some time off while waiting for my broken laptop to be fixed & sent back from Little Rock tech support (who knew you were supposed to clean the things every week!? :)
Then Levi came down with my cold, worse than me & right when he was trying to finish 20+ reviews at work. We're both feeling better as we head into the weekend--Levi headed off to a card show this morning & I am sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight to Denver. It's going to be a long, intensive week with my 12 colleagues from around the U.S., but I do get a little time to see my cousin Meredith & hopefully go on a hike tomorrow.
I've been working a lot & am still trying to figure out those work/personal boundaries, with the realization that I knew the first couple years of this job were going to be pretty demanding. It's a scary time in the not-for-profit world & as we approach the holiday season (in which over 50% of our revenue comes in) we're all a little nervous about how things are going to pan out.
I hope everyone is well & enjoying this gorgeous fall weather!

Congrats Eric and Nicole!!

Eliza and I's good friends Eric and Nicole got engaged last weekend!

Congrats!

Sightline

This is a very cool outfit Eliza and I found out about last year.

Check it our if you have the time.

http://daily.sightline.org/

We Heart Fall

Saturday we had a lovely girls' day ushering in the autumn season. We lingered over breakfast at our favorite spot in Ballard (Wild Mountain Cafe), we browsed Antika in Greenwood & Momma picked out her birthday present, we sipped tea & spent over an hour playing with pumpkins at Swanson's Nursery, & then bought pretty gourds & yummy food at the Ballard Market.

At Swanson's, it's $25 for as many pumpkins you can fit into a Radio Flyer wagon. We piled it high & had one additional large pumpkin that we thought would need to be purchased separately, but as we stood in line, a young workman came over & with a smile balanced the final pumpkin on the top of the pile & cheerfully brought it to the attention of the cashier.

My front step makes me happy. :)

Three years ago I brought home two tiny kittens in October.
Here they are now.

Happy Fall to All!

Sonics or rather THUNDER

If any of you have followed Seattle sports over the last year, yes very depressing I know, check out this blog http://benditlikebennett.blogspot.com/ it cracks me up. The comments make it all the better as many people just don't get the "tone" of the blog.