Sunday, September 18, 2011

San Francisco part 2 - Alcatraz and Lombard Street

Of course, Alcatraz was a must-touristy-thing-to-do for our trip, so after Golden Gate Park, we hopped on the boat for Alcatraz


Bay Bridge from the back of the boat


The city


Alcatraz!


Father and son bonding time...in jail...


Not quite a 5-star hotel...


Checking out solitary confinement. The audio tour they have set up is very impressive. It was informative, not boring, and the perfect length. Well done National Park people.


The view from Alcatraz to the shore...roughly the end point for the Alcatraz Triathlon (different from the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon since you don't have to qualify for it, anyone can sign up). You jump off the back of a ferry at Alcatraz and swim to shore for the swim portion of the tri. I hope to swim this some day...and not drown...or panic...or freeze...or get eaten by a shark ( I KNOW they are there, despite what marine biologists might say).


Driving down Lombard street. Crazy amount of tourists here...and it was 8 in the morning! There was no way to get a really good shot without getting out of the car (not an option at the time) so I bought a postcard...an old postcard apparently based on the circa 1985 cars driving down Lombard :)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

San Francisco Part 1 - Sonoma and Golden Gate Park

A year ago, my best friend and her hubby visited me and we decided that we should take a trip to San Francisco...a year later, with their 9 month old cutie, Aiden, her Mom, aunt, and sister, we ACTUALLY took the trip (seriously, how many times have you told someone "oh we should really do this/that and nothing comes of it? So thankful this worked out).

It was a great, albeit short, trip. I am too lazy to create an album, so enjoy scrolling :)


It was an orange streetcar...of COURSE I took a picture.


Inside the Ferry Building


Pics of the Farmer's Market inside the Ferry Building ( I love how funky Heritage tomatoes look)


This sign just made me laugh. Way to just tell it like it is :)


Part of the Bay Bridge as we waited for our Wine Country Tour shuttle


We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped for a brief (very brief) photo op...only day the fog cleared to see the top of the bridge.


First official wine-tasting experience in Sonoma


Grapes...er..vineyards...


Aiden was a trooper the entire trip, I was amazed by how well he handled all the time in his carseat/stroller


Although, sometimes, you just gotta play in the grass!


Oldest vineyard in Sonoma


Hello foggy San Franciscan hills


Palace of Fine Arts - leftover from the 1915 Exposition (kinda like a World's Fair...after reading about the Chicago World's Fair, I've become a bit nerdy regarding Fairs of these type...I love how intricate the buildings are - amazing that this was built for a FAIR. )


Bundled up to enjoy the Children's Park at Golden Gate Park.


I HAD to take a picture of this. I am a huge fan of Doctor Who and fortunately, so is Tima's husband, Mark, so he joined in my enthusiasm for finding this "police box" in the park. Tima patiently waited while Mark and I took several shots of this. Yes, we are true fans :)

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Needles



After almost a month of some serious fever-running, poor-sleeping, joint-swelling, flaring, I decided to try out acupuncture while my doc and I are waiting for some labs to come back. I did my second session yesterday.

And there has been improvement :)

Since the first session last week, I have slept all the way through the night (yay for no more waking up hurting!) and even though I am still running a fever a couple of times during the day, I am no longer CONSTANTLY running a fever, and the temp is lower. So yay for progress!

I am going to do one more session next week - we are hoping that my joint pain starts to go away too. If it doesn't, next week's session will be more localized on the joints causing the most pain.

I'm going to a different acupuncture place than I did for The Back and I like this place much better. Acupuncture doesn't hurt, but it can have its uncomfortable moments (like realizing you have 24 needles stuck in your feet, legs, hands, arms, stomach, and collarbone), you do feel the prick of the needle, especially since she is using a larger gauge needle for me (I think it's because of how much inflammation I have...), but after the needles are in, I get to lie in a spa-ish room with nice music for about 45 minutes. I totally nap :). For the most part, I don't feel the removal of the needles, but I do bleed a bit for some of them, and I have had two small bruises form. All in all, I don't mind acupuncture, and I am thankful that it is working!

One interesting tidbit, with my flares, my appetite goes all weird, as in, I don't have one. So when I saw her yesterday, it was already past lunch time and I hadn't eaten yet since I wasn't hungry. She pushed on a spot on my inner ankle and asked, is this tender? Oh, it was. JAB. Needle in. And my stomach started growling!!! Apparently, that particular spot is connected to my spleen and my stomach. Who knew!? And when she put in the one in my stomach, more growling! (granted, my appetite is back to its lowness state today, but don't worry, I am making sure I eat enough :) ). Anyhow, I just found that interesting.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Living room updates

Two more living room projects tackled: a new ceiling fan and adding the additional pops of color to compliment my Soviet propaganda poster that I mentioned here. However, the ceiling fan project isn't quite finished. Turns out, I have a defective ceiling fan - the motor grinds something awful, so it will soon come down and be shipped back for a replacement. However, I do LOVE it and glad I took so much time to find the right one for the space.


Before


After!
Notice the pops of blue and yellow? (Big thanks to Erin W. for the pillow recommendations from CB2!).


Close up of the fan (Please note, I didn't mean to match the fan to the propellers of the B-36 on the wall...but, apparently I subconsciously did exactly that!)

Kiddos

In July, I went back to AZ to meet my friend Lynn's new little addition, Brooklyn, and I also got to spend time my my bestie, Tima, and her little guy Aiden. I grabbed some pictures from their pages (since I didn't take any, how bad of an auntie am I!?) It is so much fun watch your dear friends become and be mommies :)


Brooklyn


Lynn's kiddos - Roman and Brooklyn


Aiden giving kisses


Me and Aiden


Practicing what Aiden's learned at swim class


This picture just makes me laugh a lot. It may become my new desktop.


Beautiful family. And I have this EXACT same picture - but with me and my parents :) (with cactus in the background too!)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Dust and Water



My friend Jessica and I are reading through John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress". It was written in 1678, so the language brings a few challenges at times, but the descriptive illustrations are as applicable today as they were back then. I was floored today when I read about the room.

The main character, Christian, has a conversation with Interpreter while they are standing watching a man try to sweep a horribly dusty room. The room just gets more and more filled with dusty clouds as the man tries to sweep and clean, to the point that Christian starts coughing and has trouble breathing. Then a door to the room opens and a woman walks in and lightly sprinkles the room with water, and begins cleaning. The water, of course, settles the dust so that it can easily cleaned up. I'm going to summarize Interpreter's explanation of this to Christian, but I've copied the passage below and encourage you to take the time to read it because it's so good.

Interpreter tells Christian that the room is a man's heart and the dust is his sin. The act of sweeping is the Law (Old Testament and if you allow me the extension, our human methods of trying to better ourselves), the Law reveals dust but cannot clean the dust, it just moves it around to different piles in the room. The water that was sprinkled in the room is the Gospel, it clings to the sin, nullifies it, and is easily cleaned up, leaving the room fit for Christ to inhabit.

What a great reminder of the work of the Gospel in my heart! I was dusty and now I am not! And yet, the Gospel continually cleanses me, sweeping out those dust bunnies that collect, as He continues to grow me to be more like Him.- I can't cleanse myself from sin, but God can and I am so thankful for His grace.

Actual passage:

"The parlour (room) is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the Gospel; that dust is his original sin, and inward corruptions that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first is the Law, but she that brought water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. Now, whereas thou sawest that so soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about that the room by him could not be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choked therewith, this is to show thee that the Law, instead of cleansing the heart (by its working) from sin, doth revive, put strength into, and increase it in the soul, even as it doth discover and forbid it, for it doth not give power to subdue.
Again, as thou sawest the damsel sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure: this is to show thee that when the Gospel comes in the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart, then I say, even as though sawest the damsel lay the dust by sprinkling the floor with water so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean, through the faith of it; and consequently fit for the King of Glory to inhabit"


Friday, August 5, 2011

My new toy!!!


The trainers ready to be distributed (minus mine)
It's a trainer!!!

No, not like "hey I hired a personal trainer". A bike trainer. I can now ride my bike indoors!

All thanks once again to the most awesome of awesome bike stores who is willing to negotiate with me (like with my bike, and my cycling shoes, and my bike rack).

Six of my coworkers/friends also wanted to invest in a trainer. So when I took my bike to the shop for a tune-up (and to adjust my bike computer), I told the owner that I wanted to talk to him about purchasing a trainer. He asked me which one I wanted. I told him the Magneto and that I wanted 6 of them. And I asked what kind of a deal we could work out. He did a quick search online to find out the retail price and gave me an offer. I counteroffered $15 lower and he accepted it! I ended up getting each of the trainers for $100 off the retail price!!!! And two climbing blocks for 50% off! (I can put the climbing block under my front wheel and it's like I am instantly riding up a hill...oh joy...)


Putting it together


Ready to ride!

Gone are the fears of weekday rides in rush hour traffic. Of not being able to ride due to bad weather. I can just hop on my trainer and still get in a good ride (in fact, many pro triathletes do most of their week day rides on a trainer and save the long weekend rides for the real road). Can't wait to try it out!