Last Week (5)

Have you ever felt like your brain only operated for a few minutes at a time? Do you know how lawyers bill in 6 minute increments? My brain lately has been billing in 6 minute increments. Once the 6 minutes is over, a new billing cycle begins and the old one is forgotten, paid, finished. You know when you walk into the kitchen to get a spoon and when you go through the doorway you just stand there for a few minutes, wondering what you came in for? That's been happening to me more and more. It happens mostly at work but has been trickling into my personal life as well. I blame technology. It seems we  rarely focus on any one thing for very long any more.

Since I can't concentrate enough to form a paragraph, I will let some photos tell my story of last week for me.

MONDAY:

I wore an appropriate outfit to work. Go Giants!

Then I went to the game, which we won. 

World Series Baby!!

Sorry Nilsa.

TUESDAY, it was unseasonably hot. 

I took a nice walk for lunch and enjoyed every minute of it. 

 

WEDNESDAY:

An evening trail run is always nice. 

It always makes me feel refreshed. 

Even when it's halfway run in the dark.

 

 THURSDAY:

I took a walk around the neighborhood to check out the decorations. 

This was my favorite. 

SATURDAY: 

I took advantage of the sun and went for a run in the headlands. 

You could see the city as clear as day.

This is not always the case.

SUNDAY:

Broski's first half marathon. 

He lived to tell the tale!

(more on that later)

 

Since our forecast was rain (which we are getting), 

it's important to harvest your veggies or they may spoil.  

This meant LOTS of peppers. 

So I dried some. And made some into this. 

It will knock your socks off.

 

 Who needs socks, anyway? 

How was your weekend? Do you decorate for Halloween? Have you ever tried canning fruits or veggies?

Last Week (4)

Whew. I have been a bit MIA the last week or so, because of the holiday, an unplanned trip to San Francisco, friends visiting and more. So hold on to your hats, grab a PBR or your favorite summer cocktail and check out what's been happening while I was gone.

Men. You can't live with them and you can't send them to the grocery store. 

Exhibit A: Make coffee. 

1.5 cups of grounds + 6 cups water = something resembling Turkish coffee.

Exhibit B: Go to the grocery store. 

Meat, cheese, condiments and...booze. Lots of booze (not all pictured!)

Running. 

Top: Santa Cruz's Wilder Ranch

Bottom: Three Sisters, OR

I ate my first garden veggies. Basil and chives. 

Small but delicious. 

I am also growing (not killing!) several others and can't wait to eat them.

We had friends over for the 4th.

There was wine and conversation. 

Good times.

I took them on a hike through the redwoods. 

You want the free tour? Come visit! I still have limited availability!

Oh the bookstore. I went, but instead of buying books (since I am banned) I wrote down some new finds.

A few on the list (pictured below):

Up: A Mother and Daughter's Peakbagging Adventure

Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of the Little House on the Prairie

A sign inside a local store. 

Are we allowed to say this in public now? 

The temperature while I was in Oregon! 

Summer? Hello? And I hear people are having a heat wave. 

I dropped a jar of pickles. 

My biggest regret? I wanted the jar to store beans in. 

Also I got glass pretty much EVERYWHERE. I was finding it in corners for days afterward! 

On my runs, I go past these every day. 

Do you know how hard it is not to run with scissors and a bag and bring some home next time? 

Beer fest. 

Verdict? I can't drink $30 worth of 4 oz beer. 

But I tried. 

How was your week? Who does the shopping in your household? Do you like artichokes?

Last Week (3)

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I had a good one, and also last week was pretty eventful as well!

I went to the Dollar Store. Yes, I did. 

You may wonder how they can sell these wipes for a dollar!

I did too, until I noticed...there are only 24 in the container, which is the same size as the 75 count Clorox version.

I am onto them!

My friend Richard was on Chopped! 

I am going to shamelessly plug his place. 

If you get the chance and you like BBQ, go to: 

CatHead's BBQ in San Francisco!

Here is the Yelp Review. It's good. I wouldn't recommend it otherwise. 

They even have vegetarian food!

 

You know you are living in a hippie town when...

 

As seen on our weekly after dinner walk.

 

As seen on my bean plant.

I tried Kombucha. I did not like it. 

I do like the warning: 

Due to natural fermentation, this product may contain a trace amount of alcohol.

There has been much cabbage salad in my life lately.

Top with Vietnamese dressing (ginger, rice wine, Sriracha, a dash of brown sugar) and it's a delicious and cool way to have a nice treat!

I also added peanuts and basil.Yum!

We've been doing some exploring. 

This is Henry Cowell Redwood State Park. 

Yup. Redwoods.  It's like the Return of the Jedi.

(actually that was filmed here)

 

We went for a swim in the San Lorenzo river. 

 

Another after dinner beach walk. 

 

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Have you ever been to the Redwoods?

Last Week (2)

Hello and happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had quite the eventful week last week. Here are a few of the things I spent my time on.

I started some seeds. We shall see how it goes. 

I am sure there will be a future post on this.

I am excited to try! My houseplant thumb is green; we will see how my veggie thumb goes.

I celebrated my birthday. 

For some reason Marlboro sent me a birthday card. 

(a) I don't smoke

and (b) even if I did, how the heck did they know it was my birthday?  

 

For my birthday, I had dinner in the city. 

And wandered. I love wandering. 

 

I love this sign. 

 

I went to see my parents. 

We took a nice hike. 

 

To a waterfall. 

 

 On Saturday, we went to the farmers market. 

Have you ever seen green eggs?

My dad ran a 5k and got 2nd in his age group! 

Go Dad!

 

Then something bad happened. 

I think Mr. Dell is mostly dead. 

I am hoping he will snap out of it. 

 

Sunday I ran 19 miles to volunteer at this race. 

It was hot.

I made some new friends.

This deserves a post of it's own. 

 

How was your weekend? Have you ever had computer issues? Is all your stuff backed up?

Last Week

Well, another week is beginning again! What a fun weekend! I hope everyone had a great time with their mothers and/or their children! I was lucky to spend time with my mom and dad, as well as my 2nd family (aka people who have put up with me for a long, long time). We got together and had a really nice brunch, took a walk and sat around and shot the breeze. It was nice to see both families and to spend time with everyone.

Last week also had a few more fun things going on.

There was some yoga. 

I found a good power yoga video here. 

After the relay, I was pretty sore, so this kicked my butt pretty hard. 

Remember the mini carrot cakes I was talking about? 

Here they are. And the  mini cheesecake. 

And the mini pecan pie. 

I must have eaten at least 28 of these.

 

Once my legs got a little less sore, I tried out my new shoes. 

So far, so good. 

 

 This is how we buy pickles in our house. 

These will probably last us a couple of days or so.

Saturday night I went out with some friends for Mexican food, complete with margaritas. 

Unfortunately, the scary doll was sneaking sips behind my back. 

Soon after, she had a little lean going on. 

 

By 7:30, she was toast. 

I told you dolly couldn't handle her booze. 

 

Mother's day brunch with the munchkin. 

She loves the iPhone. And specifically Google. 

 

After brunch walk on the American River Parkway (of walking on the left fame). 

This is not me.

I wish it was. I totally have kayak envy.

 

How was your weekend? Are you a mom? What did you do for Mothers Day?

Weekly Doings

After an entire week of rain, last week it cleared up and was beautiful. And then it was in the 80s and I sweated my booty off. This week's highs are supposed to be in the 70s which is perfect! Spring has sprung for real, I think! I had a great week doing lots of things outdoors!

First, I did some of my favorite things: 

Coupon clipping, reading and coffee drinking in the sun.

You can't get much better than that. 

The book, Train Like a Mother*, was good. It's about running.

You can read my review here.

I went for a run on the trails near my house. 

One bad thing about Spring? 

Poison Oak. 

Leaves of three; don't touch me! 

 

Then I headed up to my parents house for the weekend. 

There is still snow on the mountain tops! 

I love it there! It's so beautiful!

 

I put my Dad to work, trail running with me. 

I even made him leap small buildings logs in a single bound.

Then he put me to work raking, gardening and towing things. 

Touche father, touche.

My parents made homemade cheese! 

I had to taste it to make sure it wasn't poisonous. 

I haven't died, but I still may need to do further testing to be sure.

 

The apple trees are just getting their flowers and the bees are getting busy! 

It only took me 2,361,384 attempted photos to get this one useable one. 

 

Yesterday, on my way back home, we went for a hike. 

The two hats are my Mom and Aunt, sitting mighty close to the edge of that cliff. 

 

No hike would be complete without an attempt at kite flying. 

Notice I said attempt. 

The wind was not cooperating. 

(I heard a man behind me say, "If you have to run, it's not windy enough". Lazy or smart? You decide)

 

I drove home, which takes about 4 hours, and listened to Ape House on the way, which totally makes the time go by fast (I have been doing it while running too. It's awesome).

*I received Train Like a Mother for free from the authors. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a review.

Have you ever read a running related book? Have you ever had poison oak (or ivy)? Have you ever listened to a book on CD?