A Year in Review - 2010

With a similar recap of my grand adventures from the year 2009 in picture form,

I'm proud to present:

"How I Spent My 2010!"

I have spent over 1 & 1/2 years living in Seattle, since moving from Norwood, OH and I still find myself getting into new adventures and getting out of mischief.

January 2010

Every good year starts off with the Resolution Run 5K here in Seattle!

For 2010, I wasn't feeling up for the actual run that morning, and for 2011, I'll be at work.  :-(

However, I still believe that if you're the first runner and you don't jump in the the water, then you afflictively lost the race.  

I did however eat their chili:

Seattle, while not the oldest city in Washington, still does have some interesting cemeteries, and Meetup.com is always good for a last minute random walk/urban hiking group:

Arthur Denny was the leader of the founders of Seattle. 

"Things I've Cooked" exploded with the first recipe I made from my New Orleans cookbook:  Crayfish Gumbo with Allison.  

Sara and I met and had several off and on months, filled with cooking, dancing, fishing (trying to), camping, etc. until ultimately deciding to part ways for good. 

"You'll see!"  One day we'll get that fishing down! 

February 2010

I saw the tallest light house in Seattle! 

 

While the lighthouse wasn't terribly impressive, the walk along beach was lovely!

Taking a break from work, both Anita and I beat Bruder, the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Seattle Children's Hospital, at bowling during residents' appreciation day! 

March 2010

Snuggie Bar Crawl!!!  for World Concern and donations for Haiti.

My first and so far, only trip to the Arboretum where I also met my friend Chae whom as been a great friend and a wonderful resource for bouncing relationship ideas off of:

April 2010

Trip to Portland, at the Chinese Garden:

Also, storm trooper at the Top Pot 5K (again a race I avoided, after pigging out on donuts pre-race!  Sorry Laura!)

May 2010

Great Urban Race in Washington, DC with my sister, Crystal! We place in the top 10% of the 500 teams competing this year!

After an all day race, Laura, Johna, Crystal, Io, and I decided to climb rocks and admire the Potomac River.

I rounded off the month by volunteering with UW's Digital Media Team for the Seattle Works Day and uploaded tons of photos and conducted interviews at several of the day sites:

June 2010

Who runs a race with a brief case? 

WE DO! 

It's not all fun and games, as we not forget about helping out in Haiti:

July 2010

I really thought there was going to be fireworks at the Firecracker 5K, midnight race!  Sorry to disappoint you, Laura (again) and Michael... :-(

August 2010

I found Northern Exposure! Cle Elem, WA conference:

Learned how to can for the first time too!

I'm also a super volunteer at Rebuilding Together Seattle and President of the Young Professional Society:

September 2010

Trip up through Deception Pass after a horse show:

Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett loves our pediatric hospitalist group so much that we were all invited to the "Doctors Prom!"  Thanks for being such great arm candy, Anita!

October 2010

Even Midnight likes to get dressed up too!

"Man being blown away by the wind" and "The US Debt."

November 2010

SPAIN!!!!!

Also the month of Movember and cookie baking! 

December 2010

Looking good at the Fred Hutch Gala:

Thanks for helping me put up and decorate my tree Sweetheart!

And lastly, "Have suspenders, will build gingerbread houses."

I hope that next year will be just as great!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex

Volunteering in the Seattle

Rebuilding Together Seattle has become a regular group that I volunteer with, since moving out to Seattle.  Their 15-30 person outdoor, yard cleanup, and repair of homes in need projects remind me a lot of Give Back Cincinnati's Paint the Town annual project (#2).

Here in Seattle, RTS select homes at "no cost to low-income homeowners," and whom are often "elderly, disabled, or are families with children."

Originally named Christmas in April, the Rebuilding Together organization formed affiliates all over the US, and Seattle's chapter this summer celebrated it's one year anniversary of the Young Professionals Society with having close to 40 members volunteer at the RTS - YPS April event.

The YPS was founded in August of 2008 for the purpose of expanding the RTS "mission through community outreach, fundraising, networking, and volunteering on an annual basis to ensure the growth and strength of RTS."

Photos were taken from my second outing with the RTS-YPS group. Funny how I only seem to sign up for the rain day event.s :-)

Did you guys even get wet that day?

Our whole group at the end of the day (minus Margie Thirlby - who's taking the photo).

Seattle Works was the first group I volunteered with after moving to Seattle.  SW's goal is is to inform, connect, and inspire people in their 20s and 30s to take action in their community.

SW has a two pronged approached to engage the young minded by either focusing on one time volunteer projects called Hot Topics, or using a several week commitment of 15-16 people who work on 4 projects together called Teams Works.  Both are designed to help those connect to their community.

My first event with our Team Works team Blue Steal was for the Lettuce Link.  A program geared towards creating "access to fresh, nutritious and organic produce for low-income families in Seattle."  Our team stocked envelopes with seeds, that will allow families to start gardening as they "encourage people to grow food for their families." 

By the end of the event, even Shannon Murphy was in favor of my carrot cheer:


"We got carrots!  We got carrots!  Yes we do! Yes we do! How about you?"

 Thanks for reading,

Dr. Alex