Vanilla Boston Creme Pie...+ coffee?

Yesterday I was in a consumer focus group about coffee creamer...or, well, fake coffee chemicals that don't actually contain real creme, per se, but that people like me use in our coffee pretty much daily. The totally artificial stuff that Seujan and I refer to as "goop." Yeah, I've read the label and use the stuff anyway...and now, having been paid $80 to discuss the tasty toxin (ok, that's not proven, but it certainly can't be classified as a nutrient by any stretch) for less than an hour, my little habit has only been reinforced. Anyway, turned out that the objective of the focus group was to review some potential new vanilla flavors/combinations being considered by International Delight. There were a few that I might actually buy if they hit the local grocery shelf, but there were some that were just gross. Like Boston Creme Pie? Cheesecake? Vanilla cardomom? Chai Vanilla? Blech....I'll just stick with my hazelnut flavored corn syrup, please.

Other activities yesterday included doing hill repeats on the bike (only 3, but they kicked my butt) on Marine View Drive in West Seattle and going to a free seminar on Energy and Bodywork at Cortiva, presented by one of the best instructors I had this past year. Kind of fun to hang out at school as an "alumni" and get a little more free education. I had a little "awareness" moment when I got into the building and realized that one year ago, I don't think I had ever even been in that building...then I was there a LOT for several months...and now I've graduated. Pretty crazy what can happen in a year.

This morning was our swim group's annual bridge swim. Once a summer, Julie organizes us all and we meet under the I-90 bridge, swim a Looonnnngggg out-and-back, and then have a tailgate potluck breakfast. The last few lake swims have been pretty choppy, so swimming along the bridge (i.e. with the floating bridge as a wind buffer) made for nice calm water and a good swim, despite the cloudy lack-of-sunrise conditions. I was a little late getting in the water, but caught up with the group at the turn around...just in time to get dropped on the return trip anyway. I'm not exactly speed racer in the water this summer. We didn't go all the way to Mercer Island, but Duncan and I guesstimated that we swam somewhere between 2.5-2.75 miles. I was in the water for about an hour and 13 minutes. The air temperature has tanked this week, but the lake is still nice and warm!