By Rachel Brandes
Quote of the Week
“Live less out of habit and more out of intent.”
– Anonymous
Moments by Mira
Ever After Photography PNW, located in Gig Harbor, Washington. Click the link below to see the creative catalog of work on Mira’s website.
Feline Tomfoolery
with Brady & Belichick
Dear Humans,
Check out our pretty whiskers. When our human began researching cat whiskers, Google led her to an interesting article. She Googles the oddest topics. Check out these nine interesting facts she found about cat whiskers.
- Cat Whiskers Are Not Limited to the Face
- Cats Shed Their Whiskers
- Cat Whiskers Are Highly Sensitive
- Length Is Determined by the Size of the Cat
- You Should Never Cut Them
- They Indicate How a Cat is Feeling
- They Can Change Color
- They Are Symmetrical
- They Are as Sensitive as Human Fingertips
Read the full article here.
The above image is shared from Catster.com. Click here for more information.
What will she be fascinated by next week? It’s hard to say but we can only hope it is how many different cat treats exist. Maybe she will force us to taste test a variety of treats. That would be awful, wouldn’t it? (Insert evil meow here)
Much Love, Brady & Belichick
Brady & Belichick are Rachel’s adorable felines. These two cute boys turned two on May 4, 2025.
The Phobia Experiment
As part of mental health awareness, for the first 26-weeks of 2026, Rachel will explore her phobias A-Z. This experiment is to bring awareness to why the fears exist and attempt to reduce the impact they have on her daily life.
Phobia List Website — Check it out
Bibliophobia is the fear of books or reading. Rachel is happy to report she does not have this phobia. Only week two and she is happy NOT to have a phobia on the B list. This is a new one for her, she hopes people with this phobia are at least able to listen to books in audio format.
Alec & Victoria’s Adventures
– Japan –
Alec, Rachel’s youngest son, and Victoria, his partner, took at trip to Japan in May of 2025. Rachel is excited to finally have the opportunity to share photos from their trip. As a mother, she couldn’t be happier that these two are such adventurers. Their more recent trip to Norway will be spotlighted soon. Enjoy their photos from Japan.
2026 Revolution Run
If you know Rachel, you know that one of her loves is running. It may be tougher for her now than in the past (injuries, getting old, more ice cream than is reasonable), but she sure is happy anytime she gets to run.
She knew starting off 2026 with a 5k on New Year’s Day would be a great way to ring in the New Year. She turned to On Hill Events and found the Revolution Run to be held at the Utah Olympic Oval. What?! The Utah Olympic Oval? How cool.
To learn more about this beautiful structure, click this link: Utah Olympic Oval. In a nutshell, straight from the Utah Olympic Oval website, is a great summary below.
“The Utah Olympic Oval was built in 2001 just in time for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games, Utah Olympic Oval is located in the community of Kearns, just 16 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah. The five-acre venue houses Utah’s only 400-meter speed skating oval and two international-sized ice sheets as well as a state-of-the-art four-lane 442-meter running track. Today, Utah Olympic Oval is a dynamic multi-use facility focused on developing and growing participation in ice sports in the state of Utah.”
The Revolution Run offered several different opportunities for runners. The official start time of the event was 0800 and the ‘cut off’ time was 1300. The great thing about this time range is that any participant could start at any time for their event as long as they ended by 1300.
This was a first for Rachel. She felt much less anxious about the start because she could begin at her leisure rather than start with a group. Pros and cons.
The specific time range also meant that runners in the ‘Most Laps in 5 Hours’ category had a start and end time. Yes, ‘Most Laps in 5 Hours.’ Yikes. Anyone thinking about running around a track for 5 hours? No thank you.
Anyway, in this category, there were a total of 52 participants. Only a few ran the entire 5 hours. The top male ran a total of 34.83 miles, and the top female ran 29.7 miles.
The other events were the full marathon, which is 26.2 miles (8 participants), the half marathon, which is 13.1 miles (35 participants), the 10k, which is 6.2 miles (50 participants) and the 5k, which is 3.1 miles (124 participants). If you add those up, including those from the 5-hour lap runners, there were a total of 269 participants.
This was a very different 5k than Rachel has ever run before. With the varying distances being run at the same time, it wasn’t obvious who else was running the 5k. She had nobody to pace and attempt to pass. This led to a much more relaxed running pace. Also, with no downhills to gain speed, it was also her slowest 5k ever.
The total distance run was over the 3.1 miles due to the laps around the track. Total distance ended up at 3.24 miles. Rachel finished in 39 minutes and 58 seconds. This gave her a 12 minute 20 second mile average.
She placed 19th overall in women out of 54 in the 5k and 2nd overall in her age group scoring a shiny second medal, the silver.
Rachel had a great time and enjoyed getting to watch a speed skater circle the ice rink inside of the track. What a fascinating view during a 5k. Certainly different.
Her next 5k is planned for Valentine’s Day, along with a blood donation. Talk about a busy day. Does chocolate count as a ‘hearty meal,’ as recommended when donating blood? Hmm, maybe an old fashioned hearty meal will be best in this case. Until next time, be well.
