Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Run















The anticipated run finally happened. What an experience! It was the AZTLAN 5K SUNSET INDIAN X/C RUN on grass, dirt and hills. I couldn’t sleep the night before with crazy thoughts going through my head, missing the run altogether due to traffic, falling, leg cramps, side-stich, and the worst, chickening out at the start line.

It was definitely hard for a first race, a little scary sometimes because of the uneven terrain; the first uphill trail was insane (literally through the trees), some obstacle courses of fallen branches and the worst part was when 60 yr olds just wheezed by me like they do this on a daily basis. The best part was the crowd dotting the course cheering us on and giving us support and I was lucky enough that my family got there to see me at the finish line.

The ARC running club is just an awesome group! They inspire and motivate me to “just run.” Before I left, they handed out trophies for the women’s group, age 30-39, and both the 1st and 3rd place went to our group. I bet the ARC also placed in the men’s group, I’ll definitely find out later.

It feels great to have checked off this first 5K in my “to do list,” I am now looking forward to the next race!

Being A Kid



My cousin’s kid, Brit (7yrs old) spent the weekend with my niece Hayden (6yrs old). Both of them have been looking forward this “sleepover” since the beginning of summer. You see, Brit lives in Oregon. For some reason these two just clicks. Whenever they are together, you just see how happy they are doing just about anything. They went ice skating, ate junk food, took photos from the photo booths at the mall, played at the park and still had the energy to stay up late one night watching movies. The house was filled with giggles; pretend screams from pretend monsters and the occasional cries from falls (Hayden can be a such a klutz). Surprisingly enough, I didn’t hear any disagreements, or episodes of “she did this and that.”

The middle of the living room was transformed into a makeshift house for the two girls. Two chairs spaced apart and blankets on top to make this amazing house. You can hear them talking and just enjoying this magical space they made for themselves. Come to think of it, I also remember doing the same thing as a kid.

Oh, the joy of being a kid again! No worries, no deadlines, no bills, no decisions to make, just a world of summer afternoons building houses made of blankets surrounded with laughter and of endless possibilities.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Happenstance

Going about my business on a beautiful Saturday morning, when I happen to ran across two friends who are practically my neighbors but I never see, "voila!", I got invited to their friend's bachelorette's party that evening, bless their hearts!
Boy, the last time I attended one was my sister's probably 13 years ago at her best friend's house. I didn't know what to expect for this one. It was exciting thinking of what to wear to a night in Hollywood, the anticipation of meeting new friends, and getting the old feeling of "gee, I'm going out tonight!" The evening started with warm hugs, hellos and introductions, wonderful food bought and prepared, delicious margaritas and sangrias and the place full of wonderful energy from single beautiful women except for one, on the way to paint the town red. The night ended with more food, tequila shots, champagne toasts, and hilarious games. This all happened because of a "chance meeting" in a grocery store parking lot! And the rest of the story is for another day, or not, hahaha...