Monday, May 18, 2009
Santa Cruz stuff to do
Cody and I love to go to Well Within in Santa Cruz whenever we can. It's a Japanese style hot tub place that is super clean and classy (practically no swingers) and it's relatively inexpensive. We go about once a month or so and I just love it - when we leave I'm in a totally blissed out state and the only bad part is the long drive back to San Jose. A couple of other honorable mentions on Cedar Street where Well Within is located are Jack's Burger and the Red Room which is a fun little hole in the wall bar that I just love to go to especially in the early afternoon when I feel like getting funky.
cougar vs bear
when I was sent this I thought it was about older ladies who like younger men and furry gay guys, but no, it is a really amazing video and worth watching :P
enjoy
Sunday excursion: Bay to Breakers and more
As committed as we’ve been to getting fit I really didn’t think Kate was serious when she agreed to do the Bay to Breakers with me on Sunday, especially since that meant leaving San Jose super early to get there in time for the 8am start. I sent her a text on Saturday night letting her know I’d pick her up at 6am on Sunday and she said that sounded great. 
I picked Kate and Bryce up at 6ish and off we went to San Francisco to be in the Bay to Breakers. Since we hadn’t paid to register for the race Bryce and Kate were nervous the cops wouldn’t let us in, but I knew it wouldn’t be a problem since they had plenty of nudists and drunkards to deal with. I didn’t think we’d be nude or drunk (at least at the start) so I was confident we’d be able to slip in un-noticed. We found great parking on Delancey Street in South Beach and I was sad that Crossroads Café wasn't open until 8am that morning, too late for me to get some coffee and their wonderful Irish oatmeal. We ended up getting our coffee at the Bayside Market on Brannan and followed the crowds toward the starting area.
After stopping to pet the cutest, friendliest bulldog ever invented. Stella is her name and she is adorable. The three of us found our way into the crowded corral at the end of Beale Street and proceeded to wait for the massive crowds of people to start moving forward.
It probably took a good hour before we made it to the starting line all the while corn tortillas were flying through the air and knocked Kate’s head repeatedly. She seemed to be a tortilla magnet while Bryce and I remained untouched. We slowly made our way to our first stop along the way: the hideous Port-o potties.
While the line wasn’t particularly long, it was incredibly slow which never ever bodes well for what will be waiting inside the potty once it’s your turn. We were a few people behind one lone nude man who was waiting in line and Kate said, “I can understand running through the streets naked with a bunch of people, but what kind of person stands alone and naked in line for the toilet?” Her question has haunted me since Sunday and I still have no answer other than; perhaps he had to pee. We had lots of fun walking with the costumed runners and walkers and there were quite a few clever outfits. There were a lot of people wearing some variation of a pig costume which I think represented the swine flu. We stopped at a bar for some pear cider halfway up a gigantic hill and one girl in a pig outfit said, “I’m the swine flu” to the guy sitting next to her and he said, “So am I, except I’m the virus!” We drank our drinks on the go and continued on past people lining the streets all partying and blasting music. The final stretch through Golden Gate Park was beautiful and as we reached the end of the race Bryce and I finished strong with a sprint to the finish line. I came in at a record shattering 3hours and 19 minutes. We were able to hail a cab back since none of us wanted to walk (even through Bryce insisted he had the energy to run back, but didn’t want to embarrass us by beating the cab). The cab ride back to the car was terrifying and boring in turns. We either sat, rotting in traffic or had to hang on for dear life as our driver floored it over blind hills and didn’t really seem interested in trying to avoid pedestrians. We picked up the car and it was on to lunch in the Mission where we went to Ti Couz for delicious crepes. The food was very good and, with the exception of the weird cheesy remnant on my spoon that went unnoticed until I licked it, the meal was enjoyable. Afterward we walked around the Mission for a bit looking at the different stores. We quickly stopped in at Dog Eared Books, but since I couldn’t find the cat who lives there we didn’t stay long. We stopped at Bombay Ice Cream where they have flavors like cashew raisin, fig, lychee, coconut, chai, and other exotic flavors, but we ended up being too full so we just decided to come back later. We went on to Monument, Therapy, and a second hand furniture store on the corner of Valencia and 16th and then headed down Clarion Alley to look at the amazing murals. Our last stop was Paxton Gate where we admired the taxidermied mice and variety of eyeballs and exotic plants. Kate bought two new plants and we headed back to San Jose. After I got home I took a little nap and then had dinner with family. I made chicken w/balsamic vinegar and orange marinade, roasted potatoes, vegetable medley and pie & angel food cake w/real whipped cream for dessert (pictures and recipes to come later). Then I immediately went to bed and slept like a log. This was a great Sunday trip to San Francisco and I can’t wait to go again next year.
just had to share
yesterday after we got home from the city, we took Coop to one of his favourite swimming holes to cool off - he loved it as usual...
bay to breakers sneak peek
Yesterday Melita, Bryce and I got up at some ridiculous hour to make it to San Francisco for the Bay to Breakers Race which was so much fun. More pics to come but here is a sneak peek for now.Have a great week!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
vino on a saturday
Today Bryce and I went out with our awesome real estate agent Jane and looked at many many houses. We found a few that we're interested in so I'll let you know how that goes. We also came across some very sad stories of people in bad financial shape and saw quite a few places where several families were all lopped in together into 3 bedroom homes with many illegal additions to houses. garages turned into mini apartments, people sleeping in hallways, washing their dishes in the bathtub, microwaves at the end of their bed, temporary rooms made from styrofoam - and now the bank is foreclosing on them and all these people have to go out and find a new place to live, something else they can afford - it was really an eye opener for us...So after a long hot day of 36 degrees (96 F) we were glad tonight to get home, put our feet up and have a lovely chilled glass of pinot grigio.
carbon fibre indulgence
you may have guessed that little Cooper is living the good life, and Bryce and I wouldn't have it any other way... so when we saw this doggy bowl in MoJo Bicycle Cafe we had to buy it.
carbon fibre dog bowl - $65
knowing that Cooper has the best of everything - priceless
on a side note, after trying to link back to the place you could buy these dog bowls (because yes - your dog needs one!) the site doesn't seem to be up and running anymore, I guess they were only selling them to people with more money than sense such as us :P
Friday, May 15, 2009
New diet plan: Someone else can do it for me
Here is a shirt from The Onion store that I think could be very inspiring for those lazy days when I wish someone else would take the wheel and do something about how fat I am.
Big Basin hike
Tomorrow I'm taking Cody and Gino out early to hike the Waterfall Loop at Big Basin. I'm hoping the waterfalls are flowing!
A million little projects
We're both signed up for A Million Little Pictures and I can't wait for my camera to show up! The project involves one thousand people from around the world who will document their lives in 24 frames using a disposable camera. An exhibition will be held showing over 24,000 photographs. The project doesn't require one to be an "artist" but I still want to submit the most beautiful or interesting pictures I possibly can. This definitely requires me to do some planning since I really want our pictures to appear in the final project. Maybe if our pictures get chosen for the exhibit in September we can take a little trip to Atlanta :) Now I just need to come up with something interesting to do this summer so I can take pictures....angels and demons at midnight
bryce, hannah and I went to see Angels and Demons last night at the midnight screening. I am not one of those people who spoils movies for people, so if you want to know how it was you'll have to go and see it yourself, but I will say that it is worth seeing just for the visual tour of Rome.
goals
so Melita got me thinking about this whole fitness regime and goals. When we decided we were going to workout like maniacs (well that is how it sounded to me), I was like 'cool! ' but now that she's posting her goals and stuff I realised I don't have any goals for the whole working out thing - so I thought long and hard and here it is...
my goal is to get a body like Jennifer Anniston :)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
is it just me?
bike to work day - also known as helmet hair day...
I rode my bike to work for Bike to Work Day today to do my part for the environment. 
Bryce passively guilted me into it... After the alarm went off at some ungodly hour, and he'd tried poking and prodding to get me to wake up, he turned on every light in the house and ran around like crazy getting his biking stuff organised. Then as he was leaving he asked nicely 'shall I pump up the tires on your bike...?'
it was fun though, I must admit and it fits in with the Melita and Kate Less Fat Plan so eh what have I got to lose but lard :) Just have to figure a work around for helmet hair.
I will have cake
I'm now totally hooked on working out and decided that it would be a good idea to set some milestones and to then give myself presents for reaching these milestones. I didn't want it to be too easy since I'm giving myself really nice presents and don't want to run out of money, but also didn't want it to be too hard since then I'd get discouraged and just go buy myself nice things without doing the reaching the milestone part. My first goal is to lose 5 pounds so I can have this wonderful Vanilla Bean Birthday Cake body wash from Philosophy.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sweaty disaster
Today I tried spin class for the first time in my desperate attempt to get rid of the lard and am now a sad, sweaty heap trying not to get my laptop wet. As I type this message I would like to let anyone who thinks they can handle Mike's 5:30pm spin class that they would be dead wrong. As a matter of fact, today was disco day which means we spin for the entire class with the energy and drive of actual 70's disco fiends on a coke fueled disco mad dance tour, only we're on bikes and we don't get any coke. Next time I take this class it will be with a pair of thick Charmin padded pants to guard my bottom from chafing. Curse the chafing.
grande mocha frappucino with an extra shot
look what I bought today... think I am addicted to starbucks yet? I like to think I am being environmentally friendly :Pso in case you can't tell from the pic, this is not the throw away type of starbucks cup, it is reusable and double walled so it doesn't make your hand cold and clammy. I heart it :)
Chicken a la Carte
Chicken a la Carte was so moving I had to share it. These little kids are just so sweet and innocent - I was shaken to see how joyful they were eating scraps other people had left behind. A total reality check for how lucky we are for the things we have in our lives. I absolutely loved the dad in the video too. You could see how hard he works to feed his family and the pride he had when they reacted with so much happiness. Just try to watch this one without tearing up.
an afternoon at the Opera
Bryce and I are headed to the Opera, which I am quite excited about as I have never been. A colleague at work gave us some tickets for Tosca at the end of May - so I'll let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
nerd alert
i was laying in bed last night reading my book and starting to doze off, so I put my book down and reached over to turn off the light
bryce: did you win?
me: win?
bryce: oh, yeah
me: huh, win at what?
he was sleep talking which he does a lot - it can be quite entertaining sometimes...
Down 2.4 pounds this morning
Hoorah! This morning after 2 pees, taking off my jammies (and hair-tie), and carefully balancing on the edge of the scale I weighed in to see if there were any results from the fitness regime. Frightened, yet hopeful, I perched at the back end where I weigh less and was thrilled to see I have lost 2.4 pounds since last week. I'm super motivated by this progress and am very excited about tonight's exercise class! If this keeps up it'll only be another 36 weeks or so before I get to my goal weight! Next week we'll post our measurements so we can see our progress.
Monday, May 11, 2009
water works
The company I work for took away the free bottles of water and soda today. They have been threatening for a while due to the 'current economic climate', but today I went to grab my bottle of water so I could make my quota (hate drinking water) and the fridge was bare... then I thought - I'm thirsty, but there is nothing to drink here. So I walked over, turned on the tap and drank a glass of tap water, which tasted just as bad as the bottled stuff... but what a novel idea in this day and age.
A friend recently sent me an email with some facts about bottled water which were quite scary and it got me thinking how glad I am that my company did this. There's the cost to our pocket, the cost to the environment and oddly enough the cost to our health with the chemicals that can leach from the bottles...
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
oh so shabby
In Santa Clara every March the city has a yearly garbage dump which I personally think is just awful because people literally store all their junk for the year to dump onto the road outside their house, and then other people drive around the neighbourhood and go through the garbage to see if there is anything worth taking... So not only do you have huge piles of garbage on the road that you have to dodge when driving by but then you also have to dodge the people cruising for junk... Then there are those people who take advantage of the free dump and dump stuff outside your house! It's terrible...
That said, my neighbour last year saved this lovely table, which I had seen it in her yard and asked her about it and she said she was doing it up, which I thought was cool. Then Bryce noticed that they were throwing it out - so I salvaged it (in turn being someone going through someone elses junk.... sigh) and here it is.
Friday, May 8, 2009
happy friday!
it's one of those beautiful Californian days today, the sun is shining, the sky looks extra blue and best of all it is my favourite day of the week...
Thursday, May 7, 2009
finally homeward bound
booked my flights home to Sydney tonight. I haven't been back since 2006, I'm really excited to see my nephews and niece and all the rest of my family and friends. I am also really excited to see Sydney again. It really is one of the most beautiful cities in the world...
nerd alert
bryce: affirmative :Pme: oh dear....
yes... I live with a nerd, but I love him dearly anyway :*
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