It must be that time of the year when people who always struggle wind up struggling even harder, because my job (I assist those who tend to struggle) has been unbelievably stressful this past week. It started with a welfare check on a client who hadn't been heard from in a few days. I entered her room with my supervisor to find that she was no longer with us. The details are fuzzy, but it looked liked her last few hours weren't the most peaceful. Dealing with the fire department, police, and coroner is not nearly as cool as it looks on CSI. I hate when TV lies to me. It's been stressful, to say the least. I'm not normally bothered by death too much, but this one really threw me.
You'd think after that, every other crisis would pale in comparison, but it's really just been downhill from there. I called it quits about an hour early today and came home for a little rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. TGIF!
Tonight I'm off to see Alice in Wonderland! I'm a big fan, and hoping for big things! Hopefully Mr. Burton doesn't let me down!
You'd think after that, every other crisis would pale in comparison, but it's really just been downhill from there. I called it quits about an hour early today and came home for a little rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. TGIF!
Tonight I'm off to see Alice in Wonderland! I'm a big fan, and hoping for big things! Hopefully Mr. Burton doesn't let me down!
We drove up Highway 1 to Gualala. Only a few hours drive, but it was some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Not much going on in the town of Gualala - lots of peace, quiet, and nature. And an awesome pizza place with great sourdough crust. Mostly we played on the beach, did a bit of hiking, drank some beer, and chilled out. It was perfect!
A few things I'm excited about at 6:28 on a Thursday morning:
1. A few months into it, and I still really like my job. Even better, my job seems to really like me.
2. Ant is still asleep, so I don't have to share my pot of coffee.
3. Artichokes.
4. Our sweet new pad.
5. The cool neighborhood our sweet new pad is in.
6. My garden. My garden is soooo cool.
7. My commute has been cut in half.
8. The cool documentary on Ram Dass we watched (stream it on Netflix).
I'll be back later.
1. A few months into it, and I still really like my job. Even better, my job seems to really like me.
2. Ant is still asleep, so I don't have to share my pot of coffee.
3. Artichokes.
4. Our sweet new pad.
5. The cool neighborhood our sweet new pad is in.
6. My garden. My garden is soooo cool.
7. My commute has been cut in half.
8. The cool documentary on Ram Dass we watched (stream it on Netflix).
I'll be back later.
Remember this post? Seriously, take a moment and check it out. I'll wait.
Well, I'm super thrilled to report that I got a brand-spanking new, nonsmelly wetsuit! Woo hoo! Dudes, I am totally stoked!
Well, I'm super thrilled to report that I got a brand-spanking new, nonsmelly wetsuit! Woo hoo! Dudes, I am totally stoked!
I'm still here, and I gotta say that life is good. I somehow managed to trick a fantastic agency into hiring me (SUCKAHS!!!) so I'm working a lot at a job that I'm absolutely loving! Unfortunately, the job also involves a commute, which I have a love/hate relationship with, depending mostly on whether or not I drag my ass out of bed in time to have a proper amount of coffee before I need to head out the door. Otherwise, not much going on. Trying to make up for all the cash I spent while I wasn't employed (or was employed but not getting paid) doesn't leave room for much of a social life, but that's cool cause I've been feeling a bit like a homebody lately, anyway.
Been running, rowing, climbing, and surfing pretty sporadically - part laziness, part figuring out a new job/schedule, and part waves not cooperating. But, I have been making it to Bikram class on a pretty regular basis. I'm feeling pretty good. And, if I do say so myself, I'm looking pretty good, too, since I finally got around to changing my hair color yesterday. Trust me, it had been waaaaaay too long.
Have a few super cool things coming up, including a few longer trail races. This will be the first time I've done any competitive racing in years, so I'm really looking forward to it.
That's all for now, but I'll be back soon with some proper updates. :-)
So, I've finally decided that it's well past time I begin to search for a job. Sent a few resumes out this morning, so hopefully I'll be able to trick one of them into thinking I actually want to be working for a living instead of playing.
In other news, I'll be volunteering at the PCTR Woodside Trail Run this Saturday, so if you're running it you can see my bright, smiling face at the runner check-in and again at the finish area. I know a lot of you are doing various events in various areas of the world this weekend, so best of luck to all of you!
In other news, I'll be volunteering at the PCTR Woodside Trail Run this Saturday, so if you're running it you can see my bright, smiling face at the runner check-in and again at the finish area. I know a lot of you are doing various events in various areas of the world this weekend, so best of luck to all of you!
Added 11 miles to my weekly mileage today, making my grand total for this week...11 miles. Hey, it's only Tuesday, gimme a break.
I ran almost to Sausalito and back, and then looped around the roads here for a few more miles. Started off rough - lots of small aches and pains - ankles, knees, shins, right hip and left shoulder were all bitching at once - that gradually went away when they realized I was only going to ignore them. I also walked for about 45 seconds somewhere near the 8 mile mark, so I suck for that but whatever.
That's it. That's my life.
I gotta find a job and some friends before I die of boredom.
I ran almost to Sausalito and back, and then looped around the roads here for a few more miles. Started off rough - lots of small aches and pains - ankles, knees, shins, right hip and left shoulder were all bitching at once - that gradually went away when they realized I was only going to ignore them. I also walked for about 45 seconds somewhere near the 8 mile mark, so I suck for that but whatever.
That's it. That's my life.
I gotta find a job and some friends before I die of boredom.
Check out my sweet new tattoos! Only 17 hours in the chair! Hardly any bleeding! Alright, alright...before my mom and dad have about 6 strokes apiece...they're only tights. I wore them to the Black Rock Arts Festival on Friday night. I also wore these super awesome gloves that made everything I touched feel satiny. They also looked great with vodka (trust me, fashionistas, you don't want your drink to clash with your gloves). See?
They also, apparently, made my hands look about 6 times the size of my face.
It was a pretty cool fundraising event, and we were very exuberantly informed at the end of the night that it made a "shit ton" of cash, so I guess that's cool. The money goes towards something or other having to do with Burning Man, which I'm not really into for various reasons, but Ant's into it, and I'm into him, so off I went. There were dancers and contortionists and DJ's and lots of bare skin, which is always a good combination in my book, and overall I'd say the evening was much, much cooler than I had anticipated and I MIGHT (I said MIGHT) even be changing my totally biased opinion about paying a small fortune to sit in the desert for a week, dressing funny and staring at a bunch of fire and lights. Here's a few more pics - sorry about the craptacular photography skills.
Cool, right? And here's me after getting cold and stealing the jacket to Ant's costume, then Ant and his friend Gail, then some weirdo, and then a dude playing the xylophone. What's not to love?
Goodmorning everyone.
That's Chris Marten on the left, and Mick Dawson on the right. We went to hear them talk last night at the Marin Rowing Club. Those two totally normal looking dudes just sat their asses in a small boat and rowed their way, unsupported, to San Francisco from Japan. How freaking cool is that?!? I know zilch about rowing and I loved their story! Chris kept a blog while they were at sea for 190 days - you can check out their awesome story here.
Also been having great runs, great improvements at the climbing gym, and started a small weight lifting routine. Still not sure how far I'm going (FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SOMEONE GET ME A GARMIN!!) but I'm guessing it's pretty far, and I'm able to run (slowly) for a few hours without feeling like I'm gonna die if I take one more step.
And, I'm not the only one running! Einstein is back! Woo hoo!!!!!!
Just spent a few days playing at The Pinnacles, which is a place I absolutely love. It's so close to San Francisco, but still feels worlds away. It's nice for me to have a refuge like that since I'm not much of a city girl.
Highlights included a tasty dinner of S'mores and beer and a 13 mile hike that included dark, scary caves, a sucky hill, warnings about being eaten by wild pigs, fence climbings, rain, and tons of gorgeousness. We hiked the Chalone trail to the highest peak on the North side of the park - only about 3,500 feet, but it was pretty tough. This trip also proved my theory that penis-shaped rocks are always funny.
We stopped at the climbing gym on our way home despite the fact that we smelled a little like alcoholic bums who had been set on fire (it was below freezing at night, so we spent a lot of time by the campfire).
As for today, looks like some more climbing, and then I'll head out for a nice long run while Ant goes kiting or surfing.
It's a good life. Just wish some of my friends were on this section of the globe so I could share it with them.
I don't know about the conditions where you guys live, but over here in my little corner of the world Mother Nature has some seriously bad PMS. Foggy, raining, and I've never seen the ocean so angry before! Yesterday, Ant and I strolled to our favorite spot on the cliffs at Fort Cronkhite to watch the waves pounding the shore, and it was an awesome display! We were at least 150 feet up, and we were getting sprayed by waves on a regular basis. Check out the video:
Pretty cool, right? And here's a few more pictures.
Pretty cool, right? And here's a few more pictures.
If you could marry an inanimate object, I would totally run off and elope with breakfast.
Ant, Taylor, Todd, and I recovered from last night's festivities with some coffee and eggs benedict at the Americana Cafe, which, despite its name is actually a Vietnamese restaurant.
It was a good way to fuel up before our brief but awesome hike at Fort Cronkhite. Pics later...I'm late for naptime!
Ant, Taylor, Todd, and I recovered from last night's festivities with some coffee and eggs benedict at the Americana Cafe, which, despite its name is actually a Vietnamese restaurant.
It was a good way to fuel up before our brief but awesome hike at Fort Cronkhite. Pics later...I'm late for naptime!
In anticipation of a nasty hangover tomorrow morning, I decided to switch up my schedule and get my long run in this morning. I'd now like to proudly announce that due to having zero knowledge of this area and super craptacular mapmyrun skills, I have apparently set a new world record by running 31.3 miles in a little over an hour. Take that, Meb!
Line for autographs forms to the left, people. No need to push.
So, ummm...it turns out that Edgewood Lane and Edgewood Avenue are two totally different streets that just happen to live within half a centimeter of each other on google maps. Who knew? I never bothered to fix the slight mapping error, so I can't say for sure, but it's entirely possible that I didn't run 31.3 miles this morning.
But I did leave my mark on the Dipsea Trail by puking all over it. Yeah, I'm a pretty classy girl. I figured since I didn't really know where I was and wasn't sure how to get back to where we're staying it might actually help me if something happened and CSI: Mill Valley had to come looking for me. They could start tracing my route from the snot rocket near the slide at the park, to the one out front of Balboa Cafe...after that they might be a little confused for awhile but if they happen to be runners they'd most likely figure that I'd loop around the mill...another snot rocket at the Eileen Fisher store, then the puke on the Dipsea steps...really, I'm all about personal safety.
So, enough about me. Let's talk about...ME! What? You were expecting some witty political commentary or something? Is this your first time here? As far as I know there are about 3 people who read this thing, which means I don't feel obligated to put much work into coming up with witty prose, and that suits me just fine. Anyway...
Finally talked to my parents. They're fine, thanks for asking. I was back in the U.S. for approximately 5.3 minutes before I received the eagerly anticipated, "Welcome home, now go find a job" email from my mom, and I think it was less than his record 3.7 seconds into the conversation with my dad when he blurted out, "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST SETTLE DOWN?!?!?" I immediately went into EMERGENCY SWITCH THE TOPIC MODE by mentioning something about my brothers, thereby sparing the dreaded, "When I was your age, I was blah, blah, blah..." stories. Overall, it was quite painless. It's much easier now that he's retired, and not always being bombarded with stories about people I went to high school with.
"So-and-so stopped by the store today...she's having a baby, you know."
"She's been having babies pretty regularly since she was 14. Is that the life you always wanted for your only daughter?"
"Well...at least she's settled down!"
It has occurred to me that I should probably ask him what his definition of "settled down" is, but I'm afraid it would just make my ears bleed.
As for Einstein, he's not up and running yet, but I have been to visit him several times and lovingly decorated him by drawing hearts in all the dust he's covered in. The problem is I have to get him registered and insured. Fair enough. Except my driver's license is totally MIA. So, instead of cruising around in the cutest car ever, I am stranded in a beautiful house with a never ending supply of fantastic food, surrounded by enormous ancient Redwood trees and only a few minutes walking distance from the awesome Dipsea trail, Muir Woods, and Mt. Tam trails. Yup, stuck here because I can't remember where I safely stored my license, which I need for insurance and registration. Sigh. WILL THE PROBLEMS OF THE FIRST WORLD NEVER END?!?!?
Alright, time for me to sign off. Now that I've dumped all the bacon out of my stomach, I need to go fill it up again.
Line for autographs forms to the left, people. No need to push.
So, ummm...it turns out that Edgewood Lane and Edgewood Avenue are two totally different streets that just happen to live within half a centimeter of each other on google maps. Who knew? I never bothered to fix the slight mapping error, so I can't say for sure, but it's entirely possible that I didn't run 31.3 miles this morning.
But I did leave my mark on the Dipsea Trail by puking all over it. Yeah, I'm a pretty classy girl. I figured since I didn't really know where I was and wasn't sure how to get back to where we're staying it might actually help me if something happened and CSI: Mill Valley had to come looking for me. They could start tracing my route from the snot rocket near the slide at the park, to the one out front of Balboa Cafe...after that they might be a little confused for awhile but if they happen to be runners they'd most likely figure that I'd loop around the mill...another snot rocket at the Eileen Fisher store, then the puke on the Dipsea steps...really, I'm all about personal safety.
So, enough about me. Let's talk about...ME! What? You were expecting some witty political commentary or something? Is this your first time here? As far as I know there are about 3 people who read this thing, which means I don't feel obligated to put much work into coming up with witty prose, and that suits me just fine. Anyway...
Finally talked to my parents. They're fine, thanks for asking. I was back in the U.S. for approximately 5.3 minutes before I received the eagerly anticipated, "Welcome home, now go find a job" email from my mom, and I think it was less than his record 3.7 seconds into the conversation with my dad when he blurted out, "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST SETTLE DOWN?!?!?" I immediately went into EMERGENCY SWITCH THE TOPIC MODE by mentioning something about my brothers, thereby sparing the dreaded, "When I was your age, I was blah, blah, blah..." stories. Overall, it was quite painless. It's much easier now that he's retired, and not always being bombarded with stories about people I went to high school with.
"So-and-so stopped by the store today...she's having a baby, you know."
"She's been having babies pretty regularly since she was 14. Is that the life you always wanted for your only daughter?"
"Well...at least she's settled down!"
It has occurred to me that I should probably ask him what his definition of "settled down" is, but I'm afraid it would just make my ears bleed.
As for Einstein, he's not up and running yet, but I have been to visit him several times and lovingly decorated him by drawing hearts in all the dust he's covered in. The problem is I have to get him registered and insured. Fair enough. Except my driver's license is totally MIA. So, instead of cruising around in the cutest car ever, I am stranded in a beautiful house with a never ending supply of fantastic food, surrounded by enormous ancient Redwood trees and only a few minutes walking distance from the awesome Dipsea trail, Muir Woods, and Mt. Tam trails. Yup, stuck here because I can't remember where I safely stored my license, which I need for insurance and registration. Sigh. WILL THE PROBLEMS OF THE FIRST WORLD NEVER END?!?!?
Alright, time for me to sign off. Now that I've dumped all the bacon out of my stomach, I need to go fill it up again.
Note to self: Nights are for beer and sleeping. Days are for beer and playing and staying awake.
Man, this jet lag sucks! I'm up somewhere between 1:30 - 3 every morning. Then, of course, I'm too exhausted to really enjoy my afternoons, and I end up falling asleep super early.
In terms of being American again, I've done nothing besides a few trail runs through Muir woods and the Dipsea trail, fall off the routes at the climbing gym, drink PBR, and buy some super sweet black heels for a wedding we have to go to tonight. And I've also managed to eat my own weight in bacon.
It's not a bad life.
How are you guys?
Man, this jet lag sucks! I'm up somewhere between 1:30 - 3 every morning. Then, of course, I'm too exhausted to really enjoy my afternoons, and I end up falling asleep super early.
In terms of being American again, I've done nothing besides a few trail runs through Muir woods and the Dipsea trail, fall off the routes at the climbing gym, drink PBR, and buy some super sweet black heels for a wedding we have to go to tonight. And I've also managed to eat my own weight in bacon.
It's not a bad life.
How are you guys?
Teddy, Lindsey, and I have some seriously sweet moves. We never could've pulled them off without Joel's awesome DJ skills. See us under that umbrella...ella...ella...ella? I somehow managed to hit two people with it on my way back to Joel's place after the bar. What the heck were those people doing out on the streets at 4 a.m. anyway?!? Their mothers would be so ashamed!
It's not even my umbrella! I "borrowed" it from whoever brought it to the bar! Ha! Now it's in my living room. :-)
My neighbor just banged on my door and asked me to stop singing. SUCK IT, NEIGHBORS!! I'm channeling my inner Beyonce over here, and you're busting up my groove!!!
Clearly they don't recognize talent when it slaps them in the face. Perhaps if they had seen the awesome dance moves accompanying my singing they would feel differently.
Clearly they don't recognize talent when it slaps them in the face. Perhaps if they had seen the awesome dance moves accompanying my singing they would feel differently.
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