Glutton for punishment

Not quite sure what I was thinking but I entered the lottery for a chance to run the Moab half again in March. Sad...er great news is, I got in!

Still Here

Sorry I've been a little MIA. It's been a busy semester and despite what it looks like below, I really have been busy with school. Really.

My friend, Jennia, took my place in the lovely Baines Street house when I moved back to UT in August. I talked her into coming down a week early so we could play tourist and check off all the last few items on my Bay Area wish list.

We went kayaking in Monterrey Bay

We rented some bikes and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito. Most people take the ferry back to the city, not us. We braved the hills and rode our bikes all the way back. Don't worry, we ate a lot of food to make up for the workout.

Saw some other great San Francisco sights that day

My last Sunday in Palo Alto we had a progressive dinner with our neighbors. There were about 35 people, 3 houses and a lot of amazing food.

When I got back to UT my good friend, Mel, took me to the B.B. King concert for a belated birthday celebration. The concert was amazing! Thanks, Mel!

Over labor day a group of us (Jason, James, Sarah, Brent, Joe, Me, Julie, Reina and Janice) went down to Zion Park to do some canyoneering. It was an awesome group and we had so much fun which is pretty amazing since some of us hate heights :)

Next stop was Education Week(end) in Palo Alto. It was an incredible conference that included a photo booth (the Baines Ladies below), dancing (yikes), and great talks from Clayton Christensen, Sister Beck and her husband among so many others. They really did a great job putting it all together.

Later in the semester a group of us went on a quick Catalina/Ensenada cruise.
We rented some bikes to check out Catalina.

Just check out that amazing view. Gorgeous!

Janice, Michelle and I rented some kayaks to check out the view from the water.

The next day we rented some ATVs in Ensenada and drove 26 miles to checkout La Bufadora (the blowhole). We met some friends on the way (Jay, Bobby and Dan) who protected us from all of the vendors.

Time Flies...

Where has the time gone?? I am so frightfully behind and yet have so little time. But I thought the least I could do is post some pictures. I know it feels like a lot (it certainly felt that way as I waited for them to upload) but this is just a small sampling of the great fun I've been having in the Bay area. I heart Palo Alto.

These first few pics are from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

After eating a juicy white peach and sampling some smokey Gouda cheese I proceeded to wander around the city for the rest of the afternoon. Isn't San Francisco a lovely city?


Later we went to the County Fair. Don't ask me what county, I simply can't remember. This is where I had my first funnel cake...first and last, I'm afraid. It was so good and yet oh so bad for me, I could feel the pounds come on with each bite.

Sunday afternoons are perfect for strolls around the Stanford campus (done it twice already).

Went to the symphony twice. Once with Michelle (below) and the second time with Heather Hammond (in the ward) to see/hear Michelle sing with the choir. Great performance team! And just look at the city lights glowing behind us. Sigh.

Below is the view from "The Dish." It's a 3.5 mile circle trail that Stanford built on some of its land. It just happens to have some satellite dishes up there and "The Dish" sounds so much better than "The Dishes." It's a great trail to walk/run/survive. It's hilly and quite the workout but just check out that view!

Oakland temple. Always a great escape when I can get to the temple. The last trip included a detour to Fenton's creamery. YUM! I highly recommend the pistachio ice cream next time you're in town. I later learned that this is the place that inspired the ice cream shop at the end of UP. Made me love it even more (the ice cream shop AND the movie).

Yet another trip to San Fran. This time I visited the Museum of Modern Art (below) to the Stein collection...a wonderful sampling of Picasso, Matisse and others.

And the "Painted Ladies." Can anyone else hear the Full House song running through their head?

I'm not sure why but I love cemeteries. Military cemeteries even more so. Just something very peaceful and spiritual about them.

Went to Half Moon Bay the next weekend. It was a bit cloudy but I had a wonderful time wandering in and out of shops.

Just last night was LDS night at the Giants. Here are three of the four roommates--we missed you Shelly! We ate hot dogs (of course) and had a fantastic time.

Pirate Adventures

This is Melanie. She recently turned 30 and decided to "turn 30 sailing the high seas." Which translated into a weekend o' pirating. Naturally, this included camping. So, a group of us packed up our sleeping bags and went looking for adventure. Six hours later we finally made it to our campsite at the Big Trees State Park in Calavaras County (Calavaras means skull in Spanish. Rather fitting don't you think?). We made s'mores and then slept under the stars.


Saturday was full of pirate adventure and pirate miracles. First, we went to see more of these "Big Trees." Indeed, they are quite large. Here we are sitting atop a tree that was over 1000 years old when they (sadly) cut her down. Along the trail we "walked the plank" (a boardwalk built over part of the trail) while some practiced their pirate accents. Later we went to the "Moaning Cavern" which turned out to be rather anticlimactic, except for the pirate gold. Someone had found a bag of the chocolate gold coins and left them throughout the cave for Melanie to find. Melanie called it a pirate miracle, but only later realized they were meant for her and were not normally found in the cave. Later we wandered around the historic town of Columbia, an old gold mining ghost town that has been recreated.

The climax of the day came when we stopped at the Ghirardelli Outlet where we I had an amazing fudge sunday with dark chocolate fudge. Yum!! Overall, it was a deliciously exciting weekend.

Rain or Shine

There I was, on my way to the 'Sunshine State' when I found myself in the middle of a blizzard. My friend, Jennia, and I had made it to Reno around 2am Sunday morning. We were out the door again at 8am and were making great time...until we hit Donner Pass. That's when they stopped traffic and would only let you through if you put chains on your tires. $80 later we had chains. We spent the next 20 minutes complaining that the California patrol was overreacting, ripping us off and slowing down our travel time. And then we hit the summit. We made it through just fine but I was glad we had the chains, after all. For $15 we could have someone take the chains off for us on the other side. Already feeling ripped off, we decided to do it ourselves. However, I was in a dress and heels while Jennia was sporting a skirt and flip flops. Although the roads were manageable, we were still in the middle of a snow storm. Poor Jennia took the brunt of the miserable situation. We both got the outside hook free on one of the tires but then Jennia had to unhook the inside of both tires while I steered. Her poor fingers and toes were frozen when she climbed back in the car. 45 minutes later she got them free and we were back on our way. Don't you worry, we still drove through 3 rainstorms and 2 hailstorms before finally making it to Palo Alto where the sun was shining in blue skies.

Made it!

I have officially finished my first year of graduate school! I had one last project due this morning. My team and I stayed up on campus until 3:30 in the a.m. to turn around and come back by 8:00 a.m. BUT we presented and everything seemed to go well.

I am now free to sleep in, read books, watch movies, hang out with friends and family and run to my heart's content...at least for the next 2 weeks. Then I'm off to Palo Alto!

I Wanna Be a Part of It...New York, New York

Oh, how I do love New York! Last week I went with the MBA girls to the first annual LDS MBA Conference. A group of guys at Wharton decided to put it all together and they did a fantastic job with about 150 attend for the first year. Not bad, I say. Cornell was the stage and New York was the backdrop. Because pics are much more fun than my ramblings I'll just get to it.

We stayed at a great hotel downtown. Just one problem...only one bed. Luckily, we discovered this before going so we packed an air mattress and a pump and had a very cozy weekend with the four of us in that tiny little room.


We had complications with our layover in Las Vegas, so instead of landing at midnight in New York, we arrived at 6am. Ouch. After getting some rest we hit the town. We dined at Carnegie Deli and then wandered down 5th Ave. This was perhaps the best (and hugest) corned beef sandwich I've ever eaten. However, the strawberry cheesecake still showed it up, I'm afraid.


Later we went to a networking event to meet fellow MBAers from around the country and followed up with some delicious Serendipity. My favorite was the cinnamon ice cream atop a piece of apple pie. Brilliant combination, is all I have to say about that. In case you are wondering about all this food intake, I will confirm that I gained 5 pounds over the weekend and I enjoyed every bite.


Saturday was filled with conference events. The highlight for me was listening to Clayton Christensen. Such a brilliant, spiritual and humble man. He had so many insightful things to share with us and I felt that his talk alone made the whole trip worth it. That night we all went to a Mets game. So fun and yet oh so cold! We lasted a few innings before we all bailed and headed over to Magnolia Bakery for some killer banana pudding and steamers.


On Sunday we went to church and then spent the rest of the day wandering around the city. We wandered all through central park, stopped off at the library and had dinner in Little Italy. I just love cities with great architecture so you'll have to humor me and my pictures of buildings.


The only thing I missed was wandering through Anthro. But I did get some great window shopping in. It's probably safer that way.

My Foot

Not to gross anyone out. But simply telling you I got a blister running the 1/2 marathon just didn't seem to do it justice. I earned this beauty and decided to show it off.

13.1

I completed my first half marathon! A group of us (along with 5000 other runners) went down to Moab this past weekend, some to run the 1/2 and the rest to just play. So, while some of us were killing ourselves on the run, everyone else went on various hiking and biking adventures.

I am not ashamed to say that I crossed the finish line at 2 hours 30 minutes exactly. I walked away with a lovely blood blister on the bottom of my foot and some severely chapped lips from the wind but all in all I feel pretty great. Later that day a small group of us hiked up to Delicate Arch (a 3 mile round-trip hike). Crazy, I know. But it was a beautiful hike, amazing view and a great way to top off the weekend.

Auntie M

I love being an Aunt. I mean to brag when I say that I have the cutest nieces and nephews around. This week was an especially cool week to be Aunt Mina. On Wednesday I went to see Karli's school play with Karl, Teresa and Emma. Karli played Woman #3 in Fiddler on the Roof and her performance was spot on. I look forward to more from her young yet blooming career. At intermission I took Emma to get some refreshment at the concessions. As we were walking back with bottles of water, popcorn and chocolate she looks up at me and whispers, "You're the best aunt." Melt. Not sure if that was the popcorn talking but I'll take it. I sure do love my Emma.

Then tonight I went to see Kaitlyn perform in a colorguard competition in AF. I sat in the "Proud Parent" section as I stood in for Kaitlyn's mom who is now traipsing through Venice. I'd be jealous except for the fact that I got to witness an awesome performance from the Mountain Crest team. I caught Kaitlyn's attention before they started so she knew I was there. "I danced that one for Aunt Mina!" she tells me when she comes out after their number. No wonder it was so good!

Needless to say, I'm a sucker for these kids. They know it, I know it, we're all okay with it.

Aloha

Aloha!!

I got back from a fantastic trip to Hawaii last Thursday and have been running ever since. But I have to say it was so worth the trip!

I went to Oahu with these lovely ladies (Sarah, Me, Julie & Jennia) and I could not have asked for a better crowd to hang out in Hawaii.

Some of the highlights on the trip include...

1. Seeing Heather & Robert with their new baby, Hadley. They let us stay with them Friday night and even woke up Saturday to make us breakfast. Pancakes or no, they are fantastic friends! We also went to church with them on Sunday and they had us over for lunch. It was a perfect way to spend our Sunday afternoon in Hawaii. I'm so glad I got to see them and even more so that I can call them my friends.

2. Hiking Diamond Head. Rich (a fellow MBA student who had the same idea to spend his week off in Hawaii) took Jennia and I to Diamond Head. It was a fun hike with a great view. We even had our own "Rocky Balboa" moment after running up the stairs to get to the top.


3. On our way to Hanauma Bay we passed this cool staircase (turns out it's an old set of railroad tracks) and it was calling our name. So, Sarah and I decided to take it on. I guess you're supposed to wear hiking shoes but when you do things spur of the moment flip flops will have to do. There turned out to be just over 1100 railroad ties/stairs to the top. Killer. But the best part was seeing some whales from our view at the top.


4. Food. I threw caution to the wind and ate a lot of great food on this trip from a snow cone at Matsumoto's to bubble drinks at the asian market to malasadas puffs full of custard. One word: YUM!

5. Temple trip and day at the PCC. The last time I went to Hawaii they closed the temple 3 days before I arrived and I was so disappointed. But the wait was well worth it. The celestial room is now one of my favorites. We hit the PCC right after and had a great time watching show after show.

6. Water Sports. We signed up for surfing lessons. Yikes! I think we were all a bit nervous but had a great time. Jennia made it up every try but the rest of us had our ups and downs, mostly downs. We got a few cuts and bruises from the coral which just made for some great bragging rights. Wednesday morning Jennia and I went to Hanauma bay to get in some snorkling and saw some awesome fish. Made me miss Mombasa!

Now it's back to homework and classes...