A Passport is a Girl's Best Friend

The long Thanksgiving weekend was a jam packed weekend filled with friends, family, lots of food and adventures (of course). We ran the Walnut Creek 5k Turkey Trot We decorate our house for Christmas The whole family went to Bodega Bay for a night And went wine tasting in Kenwood at Chateau St. Jean and Kunde

I have long said that I want to travel to Thailand. Most people look at me with a cocked head and wide eyes (a phenomenon I am very used to at this point in my life as I elicit that response frequently, I have no idea why.) Once I finish my statement that I want to go to the land of smiles, people ask "why" (with their cocked head and wide eyes as described above) and they never seem satisfied by my desire to eat non-stop Thai food, spring rolls or swim in a bowl of yellow curry while I eat it (great visual right? Don't worry, I would shower first). Their responses are "but the riots", "it's unstable", "you're going to die"; psssssh, what a bunch of worry warts! So, after months of planning, Duane and I finally booked our trip to Thailand! Late this winter we are escaping from the cold weather to bask in the hot, humid paradise for 2 weeks. We will start in Bangkok, head up the Chiang Mai and then finish on the beach in the south of ...

Mount Diablo is a mountain in the Diablo Range in northern California, right in our backyard. It is an isolated upthrust peak of 3,864 feet (1,178 m), visible from most of the San Francisco Bay Area and on Sunday, Duane, Kali, James and I climbed it. The views from the top were absolutely stunning. It was so clear that we could see the whole bay area, all of the bridges, the ocean and even the Farallon Islands. 

This last weekend was the half marathon that Duane and Tom had been training for. Duane, Katelyn, Tom and I woke up bright an early on Saturday to overcast and rain, prepared ourselves for the long haul. Luckily it stopped raining and we were able to run to nice cool weather. This race was very different from the Nike's; only 75 people, trail running and GIANT hills that made the SF hills look like teeny weeny little bumps. It was beautiful though. We ran along the Los Gatos Creek Trail though the rolling hills above highway 17 to the Lexington Reservoir and the Vasona Lake County Park. Having just rained, it was foggy, quiet and serene. It was a really hard run, but we did it!! Distance Elevation Gain Single Track Dirt Road Asphalt Half Marathon 945' 12% 20% 68% At mile 10 :) Stud muffin alert! This guy finished in 2:22. He killed it! 2 half marathons in 2 weeks. Go me! AND Duane and Tom's first!...

Saturday a big group of us went to Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View to watch the annual Bridge School concert. I think the highlights aside hanging out with friend was Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and then Temple of The Dog.  Shoreline RJ was le tired yay friends!

This weekend was amazing. Friday night I had a great yoga class and then Meaghan and one of my favorite little people came over for a sleepover.  I was told someone needed to get some "work" done Saturday after a pancake requested breakfast (who can turn down a 2 year old when the request was complimented with our pancake dance? - answer, no one), I went for my last run before the half marathon, a short 2 miles. While I was running, I got a text from my SW asking if I wanted to come over the SF early and go SUP in Sausalito. Uh. Yes. Please. It was such a beautiful day on the water with Max and Chrissy. After we went back for some hard cider, we has an AMAZING homemade dinner by Ms. Lowe and hangout time. Loved every moment.  Sunday morning, Katelyn and I work up at the butt crack of down, 5am to get ready and make it to Union Square for our Nike Women's Half Marathon start time of 6:30am (I think I am going to look at start times from now on when picking ra...

I wrote about my amazing husband turning 30 a little earlier this summer. I am a big fan of giving the gift an experience to share together rather than a material item. Memories last a lifetime and material items generally do not. For his birthday, we decided to become scuba certified! A couple of things went into this; 1) I was a fish in a previous life (no joke, I have been called a mermaid before... and it was amazing), 2) we went snorkeling in Belize and it was AMAZING, so amazing, we were sad we had to surface to breath. Lame. 3) what better way to celebrate a new decade of Duane than to have a new fun activity to do together?!?! Two Friday's ago we went to Anchor Shack in Pacheco to start the in-class and pool test portion of our course. Not only did I get 100% on my in-class test, but being a past competitive swimmer, rocked the swimming test too. Saturday and Sunday we were in the pool bright and early till about 5:30pm learning the equipment, diving skills, su...

We had a couple of special birthday's this summer. First was our Goddaughter Myka's 1st birthday down in Palmdale. This last weekend we celebrated Lizzy's 2nd birthday at Avlia Beach. Oh how time flies :)

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another.  Your mind can't know what's coming. " - Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist A few months ago, I was sitting around with all of the free extra time that was no longer being taken up by wedding planning, and I was struck my a brilliant, fantastic, marvelous idea! I should run a half marathon! For the 2nd time! Best idea ever! The 1st one didn't emotionally scare me (I have amnesia), so I promptly signed up for the San Francisco Nike Women's Half on October 19th. After a few days of sitting with it, I came to the realization that maybe this wasn't a good idea, but settled with the fact that I had very limited odds of actually getting in (about 75,000 apply and 25,000 run). Well, to my (not so delighted) surprise, I got in (helllloooooo rude awakening). Thus training started. I somehow then pulled a Katelyn Tayor (hehe) and roped in 2 of my good friends (including Katelyn) ...

I'm backkkkkk! My second home really cannot get enough of me. Duane and I drove up to the family cabin Friday afternoon to hang out before the rest of the fam came Saturday afternoon. Before everyone got there, we went for a great run along the Truckee River and relaxed on the beach. Sunday was the best day. Duane's family bought a boat a while back and rented a buoy for half a season on the lake. Today was the first day his dad got to take it out on the lake. So right after breakfast, Duane, Carrie, Papa, Allan and I went out of the boat for some tubing. We even thought it was a good idea to all get on the tube and ride it at the same time... Around lunch time, Kellie and great uncle John met us a the doc and joined us for the afternoon. We went over to Chambers for a drink and then had a picnic lunch on the water.  riding boats and drinking is hard Overall, it was a great weekend! Fun fact: Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in North Ame...

This was a packed weekend of awesomeness. Friday we went over to the city to hangout with Chrissy and Max for a double date. Chrissy and I went for a hike to Bernal Hill and slid down some super fast slides on the way there, loved it! When Duane got to SF from work, we walked down to El Techo in the Mission for some rooftop drinks. Can't beat a clear evening in SF After, we walked over to Little Baobab for Senegalese food. One of my favorite places in SF. Lastly to close the evening after a wine bar, we did some indoor put put golf at Urban Putt. So much fun and super unique. Not your typical putt putt Sunday morning Duane and I hit the pavement and ran 7 miles to train for our half marathons. Wasn't my fastest day, but I did it. After some lounging, we drove over to Alameda on the old Navy/Air Force base to take a tour of St. George Spirits. Such a great view of the city "Emotional support begins here" haha How you mak...