ok, I'm back

Despite knowing better, it's 11:37 PM and I'm taking advantage of my current teacher-in-the-middle-of-summer-status by watching CSI (the original, woot woot!) and folding laundry and updating my phone with one of those automatic computer update thingies. I decided to get started on catching up from last week and I just KNOW that I'll regret this all tomorrow when I'm tired but staying up late just feels oh-so-good sometimes.

I'm starting with last weekend and our garage sale extraveganza. We woke early and put up signs. It soon occurred to us that we needed more so I whipped some up and M went around putting them up while I got started with the early birds, of which the numbers were not entirely modest!

We had our "refreshments" available for sale, I made the cookies that morning and my cousin made her own batch. The sweets along with the cold water, juice and soda solds suprisignly well!

A shot of some of our earnings and our little "salesman", though he mostly just barked at people. My young cousin B and his pal (both in grade school), however, were both out all morning pitching their wares (old toys) which was super cute and they made some cash too!

After the tiring afternoon we cashed in our earnings for our very first grill =) It's a two burner little gas job and the Home Depot gave it to us for a good deal. I was pretty pooped when we were at the store so thankfully I was able to swing a nap before getting in our run (7) and heading over to the Japantown (San Jose has one, don't ya know?! It's actually one of the oldest areas of the city and holds quite a bit of rich history...click here for some info, yo) for the annual Obon festival. You can read about the festival here and the J-town Buddhist Church here, but I will share with you that we ate some DELICIOUS food.We got there pretty late so we were able to see some dancers on our way to gorge ourselves but not much else. Here are some shots of our mode of transportation ( =) ), the lights and the dancers.

Unfortunately I was too hungry to take shots of the food but we enjoyed some pot stickers, beef teriyaki, Sapporo beer, yummy-yummy udon and the famous strawberry shortcake. Fun was had and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Sunday morning we roused ourselves too early and headed to the cool bay coast along the Embarcadero in San Francisco to get in our long run (14 miles whoa!). The run felt good, the weather was cool and all of the good people and place watching made the time go quickly.

We planned to run early so that we could meet up with a friend who recently moved to SF (as in the week before) for work and watch the World Cup Final with him. We visited his very empty but cute apartment and then headed over to a bar in the Russian Hill area of the city. Every place was PACKED, for good reason, so we stood for the ENTIRE game; running 14 miles and then standing for two hours isn't the best idea ever, but it was worth it. At half time we migrated across the street and enjoyed some yummies at Nick's Crispy Tacos (where we also went today after our long run). The place seemed a bit popular and almost full of itself, personality-wise, but the tacos were delish. They are made with traditional smallish corn tortillas and there are two of them, but the inner one is fried/made crispy/fattified and there is guacamole and other goodness piled on top = heaven in my mouth!!! I had a carne asada and a fried fish taco as well as a beer. The boys enjoyed burritos and we headed home after the game. We lounged the rest of the afternoon and then headed to my dad's house to have a birthday dinner for him...happy birthday dad!!! You're an awesome dad and I'm SO lucky to have you for mine!

The weekend was great and tiring in a good way, just the way I like them. The week was to be full of running and errands and cleaning for me...more to come!

yikes!

Like whoa, I've been busy! Well, not super importantly busy, but just doing things and being tired at night so I haven't posted in quite a bit. I have been taking pictures, though, so I plan on updating the past week or so with pictures as I blog this week...wish me luck!

Today, we did our long run (16- eek!) in San Francisco along the Embarcadero, which we did for our ten-miler training and have done for this training as well. It really is quite nice to have a change of pace as well as a nice out and back place to run. We use M's GPS watch (ch-ch-ch-check it out...) and we can keep track of our mileage and our pace, which is super cool. I'm actually thinking of indulging in my own. I'll be in Tahoe next week (=) =) =) =)) and M won't be there during the week so I'll have to deal with figuring out my mileage without his magic watch. There's a website that is super cool that I can use to determine mileage, but the trail along the lake isn't super easy for me to figure out on that site, or maybe I just want my own watch! Ha!

We ate at Nick's Crispy Tacos (again) in Russian Hill and met up with a good friend from college who happens to be visiting someone else in the city. It was a lovely morning afternoon made even better by running along side contestants in the Alcatraz Challenge, an event which, despite my long-distance running tendencies, I have absolutely no inkling of a desire to participate in considering my aversion to swimming for anything beyond mere paddling around as well as the EXTREMELY cold bay waters. M, however, was quite inspired not just by the runners who we were cheering on (which always makes me get teary-eyed!) but by the idea of the whole event and would eventually like to do this.

Anyway, we got home and I passed out for several hours. I put some chicken in marinade for a grill-fest (more on that later this week!) and we snacked a bit and are watching TV while conjuring up the energy to go out and grill.

Bon nuit to you all and I hope that you had great weekends!!

Photographic Friday

Some images to end the work-week (though I'm not technically working...shhh...) and a Natty-style book review at the end:

The sadness at Trace, the burnt-down school. 

Today when I was running by they were bull-dozing the remains and in the past few days these signs have come up. They're pretty poignant to me. I kind of think that many children would, despite maybe liking school, choose a fun day with friends/at home/doing whatever instead of school, but the childrens' messages on these signs showing their sadness at the blow their school has taken was truly touching. I love seeing the support and love that the children/parents/teachers/random people have put up for all to see. There was also a nice "thank you" poster to the SJ Fire Department (individuals who always deserve great thanks). I have a fear of fire (Thanksgiving 2008, for those of you in the know) and really admire those who fight it...thanks all! As a teacher (or just a person), it is very sad to see destroyed what I know was so much love and work, not to mention the actual supplies and effort put into making classrooms classrooms with personality and emotion rather than just rooms. Once again, it is such a good thing that no one was injured and that the children will be able to return to the same location when the school year begins, though the landscape will be a bit different...

Last night I stayed up late to finish "Body Surfing" by Anita Shreve. I'm quietly hung up on Shreve's books. They mostly take place on the East Coast and revolve around the life style of WASPy folks from that area, so, in other words, they have nothing in common with my life, but I'm hooked. My favorite of hers is actually "Fortunes Rocks", though I'll save that for a later post ("Books I MUST read at least once annually", no joke). This one was a fairly quick read and once I was within an hour of finishing, it just had to be done (please tell me that other people have those sorts of nights- when you don't plan on staying up too late when you get into bed to read but end up getting too involved!?) It revolves around a house on the coast in New Hampshire that is actually in several of Shreve's other novels and is somewhat about a love triangle and the sticky mess that families can make. The book was actually pretty disturbing to me, but knowing me, I'll probably revisit it in a year or so.

I did a bad thing and accidentally read a real author's review of this novel and can't seem to shake what this writer says, namely that Shreve does a fantastic job of description and reader entrapment, but that her story lines are always a bit ideal...however, it is fiction and we (I) read fiction for a reason. Anyway, my next read is probably "Fortunes Rocks" (once again, I = compulsive re-reader...are there any more of you out there???!!! BTW, K.L., my dear friend, I have yet to read "Dead Before Dark", and I REALLY REALLY plan on it this summer!) for my yearly/6 monthly/whatever fix, hopefully followed by Alice Hoffman's (my one true literary love, no shame about it!) "Practical Magic" (also a favorite movie) which I oddly don't own but just keep checking out from the library.

Tomorrow's our sale, wish us luck =) Here are some pics of our preparations as well as some of tonight's activities...

Cookies to sell tomorrow...Funfetti cookies, can you imagine?!

Gouge-your-eyes-out-colored signs to lure in customers...

The tools of the trade...

What's on TV tonight...Miss Marple = my girl!

What some one's reading tonight...

What I'm reading tonight...for now tonight...

What some one's gnawing on tonight...

Why I'm late

***This was meant to be posted yesterday!! Just pretend like it's yesterday when you read this =) ***


I got my hair done today, which was exciting since I feel as though I was seeing too many white hairs. I went a bit light for summer and because it's fun. I got to the salon early, which, believe it or not, felt GREAT to me and is what I actually aspire to. If you know me, you know that I can often run a bit late to things. It's not that I'm being passive-aggressively late on purpose, rather I just can't seem to figure out how much time I actually need to do what I want in order to get ready.

Also, there might be a slight concern of being the first person somewhere and not knowing to do with myself, though I'm no longer an awkward 14 year old so maybe I should just face that fear. Or, its actually all my family's fault anyway. So, much to my chagrin my promptness today was most definitely UNVALIDATED when 15 minutes early I was told to go buy a coffee or something and come back on time. Isn't it better to be early rather than on time?!?! I tried at least but without positive reinforcement from those around me (acquaintances or otherwise) I just can't get better.

Last night Audrey and I met up for some much needed catching up at a wine bar on the Alameda which was quite fun despite the oddly somber demeanor of our waiter/wine guy. I'm talking Lurch from the Adams Family level of energy and enthusiasm in this guy! We each had a flight of whites (Chardonnay for A and three different types for me) and then a yummy glass of one of my whites. We hadn't been able to actually see each other's face in person for far too long with all the craziness of life recently so it was SUPER nice to sit on the sidewalk, sip vino and chat.

Our "flights"; yum-yum!

I also went to finally finish the tire work yesterday at Eastridge and got in some (un-necessary) shopping while waiting. Though I was able to get birthday presents for both of my parents; their birthdays are a week apart and I forgot to mention ¡feliz cumpleaños! to my great mom on Monday...happy birthday Mama! We went to the Sonoma Chicken Coop for her celebration dinner last night and had a lovely time =) My mother is such a strong person who works soooo hard and I hope that she had a great birthday!

The necklace I gave mama for her day. The circles each say a different word and for her I chose: Mother, Spirit, Friend and Courage; they all describe her.

At Eastridge I was able to go to Daiso (read about it here), the fun Japanese dollar store, and browsed. I didn't end up buying anything there but took some interesting phone pictures of various products available in the store.

 

Frilly washcloth/dress? Two headed "toi" poodle.

Everyone needs a party gown.

...and we all need party wigs too.

Speaking of her, it's Wednesday night and that means frijoles con mamá which I'm pretty stoked for. She apparently liked my salsa that she tried on the fourth so
I'm taking the rest with me tonight. M and I are hopefully going to go and buy a water cooler at the Home Depot tonight. I guess that we could be less snooty about drinking tap water but it just tastes so chlorinated and we both drink enough water that we're constantly refilling the Brita so we decided that the big bottles with a cooler is the way to go. Memaw used to have an Alhambra one but recently phased it out and I looked into getting the service again but just buying the cooler and filling up at the grocery store seems more economical so that's the way to go; I'm very excited for water = me in a few words.

Before dinner though, I'm planning on doing one more thing. Memaw and I are going to go and buy a straw bale or two to attempt some late season straw bale gardening! It looks so neat and I missed out on planting in the spring so I'm excited to get a summer planting opportunity; are there any suggestions for things to plant this late? What is straw bale gardening, you might ask? Check it out here!

That's enough for now, over and out!


***Now it's today***


Oh boy how I cleaned today! I cleaned and cleaned and took my running day off today. I just keep taking out more and more things for our garage sale, I only hope that people actually show up ha! We got our water cooler last night, it's pretty great, I think, seeing as how we haven't even set it up yet, but I think it's great. The plan is to go and get a five gallon bottle from the Home Depot and then just refill accordingly at the Safeway when necessary...drink up us!


I showered after cleaning and went to pick up M from work and then we had Chicken Masala (sweet, sweet goodness) and New Indian Cuisine on Willow, across from Flower Flour (Flour Flower?) followed up by frozen custard = delish! M's following the LeBron circus on ESPN right now...actually he's asleep on the couch and Sportscenter is on; that counts as "following", right?


Today was kind of a nothing day and I'm planning the same for tomorrow, though Thomas and I are going to lunch together (In 'n Out...what what!) and then getting ready for Saturday morning. As a reward for all of this moving/cleaning/organizing/garage sale-ing

Animal hi jinks.

¡ciao!