You Say Gesundheit, I Say Na Zdravi

I now have the sniffles...and the sneezes. I think I may be coming down with a cold. Tomorrow I will be picking up a hefty supply of chicken noodle soup, boxes of tissues and some cough drops (specifically Ludens Wild Cherry Drops which are more like candy than cough drops but they make me feel better anyway). However, tonight I will be retiring to bed early.

Last First Day of School

Today I'm in a bit of shock. I just finished my last first day of school. I am pretty confident I will not be pursuing a PHD so today marks my last trip to the bookstore to sell my soul for yet another stack of overpriced used books. I've printed off my syllabi, packed by school bag, charged my laptop (yes, for the whole semester, Macs are just that good) and am ready to go.

I would say that it was my last time purchasing school supplies but since I'm a sucker for post-it notes, highlighters, notebooks, staplers and the like there are plenty more school supply shopping trips in my future.

I don't have much time to freak out about the fact that this is my last semester because I have about 27,000 pages to read by Monday and 17 assignments due tomorrow. Perhaps I exaggerate but it feels that way. I just want to tell you all that I love you and will see you in April when I come up for air.

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.