Flying Trapeze

Unlike many of my other friends, and myself, Lael usually plans some kind of physical activity for his birthday. For his 30th it was paintballing (no thanks) and this year it was Trapeze. He had gone earlier this month for another birthday and enjoy it so much he decided that's what he wanted to do for his birthday as well. Great :( BUT, since I skipped out on the paintballing, I figured that I'd take part in the trapeze. Mind you, I was terrified about the idea of jumping off a platform 25 feet up and swinging through the air but thought this would be a good challenge for myself. Although I knew I'd probably enjoy myself, and be glad after the fact that I went, I was so nervous all last week :(

Saturday arrived, Claudia came over to get ready at my place after her training, and Lael picked us up about 2:00 to head up to Vallejo, where we were meeting Lael's GF Jen who would be taking us the rest of the way to Sonoma. Once we got into Sonoma, we took this little, windy road up into the hills to SkyFarm Trapeze. Even though I was nervous, I could still appreciate how beautiful it was up there-- the trapeze was outdoors in a grove of oak trees. Once there we were met by some more of Lael's friends and our trapeze instructors for the day: Marek, Hope and Darrel.

The first thing they started out doing was teaching us the "Knee Hang." This is the same thing that we used to do when we were kids on the jungle gym... it's a little harder to do as an adult :D They had a trapeze bar set up closer to the ground and we all practiced grabbing on to the bar, swinging our legs up and onto the bar, and then letting go with our hands and hanging there. This was one of the things I was nervous about doing... I wasn't sure that I could get my not-too-flexible legs up to the bar. It wasn't the prettiest or most graceful thing, but I did it. Lael, Jen and Kelvin, who had all done this before, got to practice a different "trick": The Bird's Nest for the boys, and the Splits for Jen.

After we had all tried the Knee Hang, it was time to get into our harnesses. I had been warned that these things were tight, but I had no idea! He cinched... and cinched... and then cinched it some more until I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore. At that point I think I almost had a panic attack because it was so hard to breathe! Once we were strapped in like sausages, Marek taught us what we were going to be doing once we got up to the platform. Feet at the edge of the platform, grab on to the pole with your left hand to anchor yourself, "pee pee"out (stick your hips forward over the edge), grab the bar with your right hand, then with your left, and then 1, 2, "HEP" and JUMP!!!

We let the experienced three go up first and then after the next two bravest, it was my turn. AHHH!! First we had to climb up this little dinky ladder to the platform 25 feet up. I was already shaking and nervous about falling off before I even got to the platform! Once up there I chalked my hands and Darell clipped me in. I grabbed the pole with my left hand, grabbed the bar with my right but when he told me to let go with my left hand, lean out there and grab the bar with my left hand, all of my survival instincts told me NOOO!!! But I did it and was totally freaked out leaning out over the platform with only Darell's hand through the back of my harness keeping me up there. But then an amazing thing happened... Once they yelled "HEP" and I jumped, all my nervousness disappeared! All you're thinking of is this sensation of flying through the air and concentrating on getting your legs up and then hands off the bar. Even hanging upside down wasn't scary... since you're swinging back and forth, and the net is below you, you can't really see how high up you are. After a couple of swings they told me to put my hands back on the bar and then they talked us through a little flip, and we just dropped down to the net. No biggie! (You can also watch the first video in the post below).

All of us took turn practicing our knee hangs, and then it was time to practice a "Catch" where one of our instructors would be up there swinging upside down on another trapeze bar and he'd try to catch our hands as we were swinging upside down. Unfortunately, by this time I was getting really tired. You use a lot of your core muscles to get your legs up and hooked on the bar, and after a few practice swings, I could tell it was getting harder to get my legs up. After Marek talked us through the catch on the ground, we all got two turns to get it. It didn't get it either time :( On my first try I just couldn't get my legs up... and then the second time I got my legs up, but I wasn't swinging high enough for him to gran my arms-- we only managed to slap hands :) (That's the 2nd video in the post below). Despite not getting a "catch", I still had a fun time and I'm SO glad that I did it. Boy do I have the bruises and sore muscles to show for it though! I have bruises on my feet, shins, and the back of my knees... I've got a mark on my stomach from the harness, and the sorest muscles I've ever had! Today it's 4 days since we went and I'm STILL sore!!

After our Trapeze class we all headed back to the square in Sonoma and had dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack. After that crazy workout, we were all pretty hungry and managed to save some room for ice cream afterwards!

Flying Olivia

Here's what I did this weekend:





I know it's hard to see, but yep, that's me (oooh, that rhymes!!)... and I have the bruises, bumps, calluses and sore muscles to prove it! I'll post the whole story with pictures tomorrow!

Welcome back to the hot weather and smoke... Uggg

Yep, they're both back! After some REALLY cool days, the weather started warming up and with a change in the wind, the smoke made a reappearance as well! Just in time for a nice run on Thursday!

Pam and I met up for our usual Thursday night run. I hated the route we took last week... too hilly and long, so requested that we change things up this week :) Pam thankfully agreed and our new route was much easier and gave us a little change in scenery. When you run the same trail or route over and over again it starts to get boring so it's nice to change it up a little! Again, I forgot my Garmin, so I'm not sure how far we went, or what our pacing was. I felt like we were running a tad faster than usual, but Pam felt like the heat was having more of an effect on us... she was probably right, it was pretty warm out.

I'm sad that our running days together are almost over. :( In just a couple of weeks, Pam will be moving all the way to Washington, DC. I initially met Pam through Amy, when Amy let me crash their twice weekly runs after the New York Marathon. When Amy got injured and had to take a break, Pam and I kept running together and got a chance to get to know eachother better-- she's been a great running partner! I think I've got at least one more run left with her before she leaves and after that I'll have to figure out a new running schedule!

Stitch N' Pitch

Yep it's that time of year again... the annual Stitch N' Pitch Giants game! I think this is the 3rd year that we've gone to this event... the first year we got a cute little tote with a bunch of knitting swag, last year we got another tote with a little less knitting swag and this we got a hat. That's it. A hat. I'm not too excited about that but now I do have a hat to wear on the rare occasion I go to a Giant's game!

There was a pretty big group of us last night and although I hardly watched any of the game (big shock) I did have fun! We chatted, gossiped, snacked and of course didn't do too much knitting! THANKS Amy and Claudia for putting it all together!

Dancing Queen

This weekend was a pretty mellow one. Friday night I met up with my friend Ann and we went to dinner and then to see Mamma Mia! I had never seen the Broadway musical and didn't know what it was all about until I saw the previews for the movie. The theater was PACKED with women and we got stuck sitting in the second row! It didn't take us long to get used to being so close to the screen and we really enjoyed the movie. It's silly, campy and in some parts cheesy but a lot of fun. A few times during some of the song and dance parts, I caught myself looking up at the screen with the dorky smile on my face. Thank god the theater is dark!!

Saturday I spent the day running errands and dealing with a migraine headeache :( Thankfully it came in the morning and I was feeling better by the time I needed to get ready to head to the city for a TNT friend's fundraiser at a club. Phil and I were planning on meeting up at BART and then grabbing dinner in the city before walking over to the Cellar. Unfortunately the migraine came back on the BART ride in. I stopped at Walgreens on the walk to the Daily Grille and bought some migraine medicine but it really didn't get rid of the headache until the middle of dinner, and by that time I had started feeling really nauseous :( Ugg. I was such a bad dinner companion to Phil... I didn't touch any of my pasta, or even drink any of my soda... but I knew that I couldn't just ditch him to go home. After Phil inhaled his food (at least one of us had an appetite!!) we walked over to the Cellar (and dropped my uneaten pasta on a stoop along the way, hoping some homeless person would be able to enjoy it). By the time we got to the Cellar I was feeling much better. Although the night didn't turn into one of our usually debaucherous Cellar evenings, Claudia, Phil and I had fun. By the time Phil and I were headed back to BART, I was RAVENOUS so we stopped for Thai food along the way. I don't think I stopped to breathe one time during the meal... I just inhaled it all!

Sunday I still wasn't feeling 100% so I just spent the day napping and reading. I managed to finish a book that I had just started on Saturday! And BTW, what's with the weather? When did it turn into winter again? I went out on the balcony to read for a little yesterday and almost froze my hiney off... I had to come inside to get a sweatshirt! I know that sometimes weather and barometric changes can trigger migraines so I guess can blame my migraines on that!

O.M.G.!

Last night while I was waiting for So You Think You Can Dance to start at 9:00, I watched the season premiere of Project Runway that my TiVo had taped on Wed. night. I was watching along when all of a sudden a familiar face pops up onscreen. Just like a teenager, the first thing out of my mouth was "O.M.G."! I went to college with one of the designers, Jerry Tam! I instantly recognized him, even though it's been 10 years since I last saw him. We weren't what I would call "friends" in college, but I definitely knew who he was, saw him at parties, and we had a few mutual friends.

Part of the reason I was so blown away (other than the fact that I KNEW someone on TV!!) was because I never would have guessed in college that he would end up designing clothes. Santa Clara University is not an artsy fartsy college, and Jerry was a frat boy -- not that you CAN'T be a frat boy AND designer, it's just that the two don't usually go hand in hand! I read his bio online and it says that after getting his degree he started a software company and then decided he wanted to pursue his creative side and moved to New York where, after attending a couple design schools and working for another designers, he now has his own clothing line called FORM. Who woulda guessed?! Unfortunately, Jerry did not make it far and was the first person to be "Auf'd" :( So sad :(

Last night before the Project Runway excitement I went on a run with Pam. Ugg, I felt just as sluggish as I did on Monday! This time, because of the Farmer's Market in Danville, we met at the Park and Ride off Sycamore Valley. We ran out on the trail, and then through the neighborhoods back to Sycamore Valley. I think part of why I felt so tired was because a lot of the run (except for the last little bit down Sycamore Valley back to the lot) was mostly an incline :( I definitely felt it and by the time we got back to our cars, I was pooped! Again, I didn't have my Garmin on so I don't know how far we went (I know it was further than usual) and what our pace was. It could be that we were running faster than usual, OR that I was just lagging :( Hopefully this Monday's run will go a little better!

Change

Change is in the air. No, not the smoke anymore... CHANGE. So many people I know are moving out of town, out of state, out of the country, ending old jobs, getting new jobs, ending relationships, starting relationships, companies starting new ventures. Change scares me but it can sometimes turn out to be a good thing. I just changed desks as work. Very exciting, I know :) Since moving into our current office building in Nov. 2002, I've been at the same desk. My boss always told me whenever someone left that I could change work areas if I wanted to but I was always happy to stay in my little cubby. Recently a new desk space opened up though and I snagged it. This was a good change :) My new work area is filled with more natural light and it's a little more open. I like it :D There's another change brewing right now... we'll see if that one turns out as well!

So last post I mentioned how I was going for a run on Monday with Pam and Amy and wasn't sure how that was going to go after some time off. Uh yeah, didn't go so well! Amy met us out there, but had decided not to go running with us so it was just Pam and I. Pam just did a half marathon on Sunday so she wanted to take it a little slower... thank god for that because I was struggling! I think it was a combination of the lack of running with all the crap I've been eating and drinking lately. Even though the weather was perfect and there was even a little breeze, I was dragging. It took me over 2 miles to feel like I was warmed up, and the last little stretch went okay. Ugg, we'll see how the run tonight goes too!

Exhausting Weekend

Exhausting, but fun I should have said :D Last week I spend pretty much the whole week recovering from 4th of July and saving my energy for this last weekend :D I managed to fit in one night of exercise so it wasn't a complete wash :) Since the weather last week was so insanely hot, and the air was still icky out, Amy and decided to meet up and walk instead of run. Thank god I grabbed a water bottle with water on the way out of the house because even though we were just strolling along, I needed it! On the way out we were just chatting away and by the time we decided it was time to turn around, we'd gone about 2 miles. So round trip we did about 4 miles, compared to our usual 3.2 miles when we run. Not bad... it felt nice to get out and do some kind of exercise (if you could actually count our strolling pace as being "exercise") :D

This was definitely a Team In Training weekend. On Saturday our friend Brandon was hosting the Diablo Valley Spring team End of the Season Party. He invited a few non-DV team peeps, me included, and since we never turn down a reason to eat and drink, we decided to go. We know a few poeple on that team so we still had a lot of fun-- but boy did I eat too much :( My food baby was about to pop! We got home about 8:30 and then I headed out to Danville to meet up with a friend for drinks.

Sunday morning I got to sleep in a little (I LUV that part about not training... sleeping in :D) and then headed out to Lake Temescal where we were having the Bayside Spring team End of the Season party (which I AM a part of :D) The BBQ wasn't supposed to start until 12:30, but I went out around 10:00 to grab a spot. Thankfully I did go out early because there was only one lonely little picnic table left. Of course there was NO grill so I called Claudia and she came to the rescue :D THANK YOU!! I had never been to Lake Temescal and it's actually a really great spot for picnics/BBQs. It's a little confusing to get to, even though it's tucked right between Highway 24 and 13. As the day went on, the place got PACKED with people out there enjoying the warm weather. We spent the afternoon catching up with teammates, eating MORE food and having a good time. I was so pooped though by the time that I got home, I didn't even unpack the car-- my trunk is jam packed with two coolers, a small BBQ and all sorts of other stuff! I'll get to it later!

Tonight Amy, Pam and I are back to our regularly scheduled run... thankfully it's cooled down a little and the air isn't so crappy. After about two weeks off of running, we'll see how well I do tonight!

A weekend of celebrations!

Woo, that was a fun 3 day weekend! Friday we had a fun 4th of July celebration at the Lafayette Reservoir. I went out there around 9:00 so I could dump some stuff off and save a couple tables. After I went back home, showered and made the sangria I headed back out there to hang out and make sure no one took our spot before our official picnic start time at 1:00. Luckily I have a few friends who are always early :D so I didn't have to hang out by myself for too long! Phil arrived first, then Claudia and Rocky with the dogs and then everyone else started trickling in. We had a perfect picnic spot... 2 tables together in this little wooded picnic area... it totally felt like we were camping :D We had some shade, were close to the kid's play area and had plenty of room to set out chairs and blankets. We had TONS of yummy food and spent the day eating, drinking, chatting and enjoying the beautiful day! Lindsay and I even took a little spin around the reservoir in a paddle boat!

Around 6:30 or so most everyone was headed, or heading, home but a few of us wanted to see the fireworks in San Ramon. Since they didn't start until 9:45 we went over to Lael's house to hang out until it was time to drive down to the Bishop Ranch area. The fireworks weren't as spectacular as I had remembered them from a few years ago, but they were still nice. A lot of them didn't hardly clear the tree line so we didn't get the full effect of them exploding up in the sky. It was a nice end to the day though :D

Saturday was Claudia's birthday... WOO HOO!! I spent the morning just relaxing and then went to get my hair cut at 2:30. I was SO excited about getting it cut... it had literally been MONTHS since I had gone in for a cut! A little before I left for the salon, I get a message from Claudia telling me that in all the party planning and excitement, she had forgotten to get a cake :( Olivia to the rescue! After my haircut I swung by a bakery in Walnut Creek... thankfully they had one last larger cake available!

Claudia had her bday celebration at Artisan in Walnut Creek. It's a cute little wine bar with yummy sangria that I've been to a couple of times before. Our group pretty much took up the entire place and we hung out enjoying some finger food, sangria, wine and then cake. Once everyone started arriving, the warm weather, combined with a little wine, led to a little bit of overheating (and of course sweating). Lovely. It was one of those times when you know it's going to get ugly and will take more than a moment to cool down. Fanning with birthday cards ensued, and then a trip outside with Lindsay where it was actually warmer but at least no one could see me getting "dewier" by the moment :D Finally I cooled down enough to go back inside and I was fine the rest of the evening. Ugg, so gross. I was happy though that I wasn't the only one that happened to, just the first :D

Artisan has a fun little tasting area with this machine that dispenses a taste of various wines. You buy a card worth any amount you want (I did $10), you stick the card in the machine, choose the wine you want, and it dispenses a small amount. It's a nice way to try a number of different wines! After most everyone had left Artisan, the rest of us party people went over to 1515, this new restaurant/bar, for a few drinks. We didn't stay there too long-- just enough time for a couple more drinks and some food. By the time we left, the place was really getting packed and I think we were all tired from the long evening!

Sunday was a relaxing day... I met up with Lindsay and Claudia for brunch in Walnut Creek and then afterwards spent the rest of the day doing some laundry, downloading pictures from the weekend and just hanging out. After a busy Friday and Saturday it was nice to be able to spend the day doing nothing much! I hope everyone else had a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!!

WOO HOO... Three day weekend!

Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone!!!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY Claudia!! I can't wait to celebrate with you on Saturday!!

Nothin' Much Happening

I don't really have much to update about since my last post. The smoke has cleared up and we can finally see the blue sky. :D The fires haven't disappeared though, the wind is just blowing the smoke another direction and I heard it's supposed to change direction again soon. Hopefully it'll stay nice through the holiday weekend!

You can't see it very well but the red arrow is pointing to Walnut Creek.

I didn't do much over the weekend... no training and no activities planned so I just hung out. Friday I hung out with my friend Lael... we had gelato (YUMMM) and rented Fool's Gold (stupid). Saturday I just hung around the house and Sunday I walked around the Lafayette Reservoir, cleaned the house, and THEN hung around some more :D It was a little boring, but also nice since the past few weekends have been packed with stuff to do. It was also a nice break before the 4th of July and birthday festivities this weekend!

Last night I met up with Amy and Pam for our usual Monday night run. Although it had been a little cool in Walnut Creek, it was warmer in Danville. I guess I should have worn running shorts instead of capris! At least we had a break from the icky smoke! This will be one of the last runs with Pam... she recently got word that she had been accepted for a job in Washington, DC :( Hopefully Amy and I will continue to run on Monday nights, but I may have to find a new running buddy for Thursdays :(