A Passport is a Girl's Best Friend

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 :)