ice skating

every second saturday of the month the mid-singles in the raleigh/durham triangle get together for some kind of fun social activity.  it's been interesting coming from the california mid-singles scene, which is highly structured, church-official, and often means being in the same ward as a couple hundred other mid-singles.  there are far less in this area. far, far less.  the activities are completely unofficial - started by a couple of ladies who simply had a desire to try and connect people.  and here's the weird thing.... i find it so much more fulfilling.

though an average activity here boasts maybe 20 people (30 on a really really banner day) and a similar activity in california could easily get 60 - 80, those 20 people are MY kind of people.

it's no secret that i struggled to make, what i felt were, depthful friendships with staying power while in california.  there are a few notable exceptions, but the move has proven my suspicions.  here though, maybe BECAUSE there are so many fewer of us, i feel like i am meeting people with whom i more naturally feel a kinship, and who i can see becoming truly great friends.

stephanie and jessica on ice

this month's activity was ice skating.  though i'm pretty good on skates, with my biggest show of the year quickly approaching, i decided not to risk the sprained ankle i'm sure murphy (of murphy's law) had in store for me.

there were a few others who felt similarly for their own reasons, so we passed the time chatting about the holidays, italy, book recommendations, etc.  met a few new people (i'm glad that's still happening) who i enjoyed getting to know before the ice skating concluded.

a few of us decided to grab dinner at the pit, a downtown raleigh establishment, where we enjoyed upscale bbq.  i like my bbq a little more 'backyard' style, but the meal was good, and the company was great.  there were several discussions about future plans, and i'm loving that this is a group who wants to DO things.  soccer games, white water rafting, and on and on.

as dinner came to a close, we decided we weren't quite done, so we headed across the street to the videri chocolate factory where we sampled some chocolate, learned about the chocolate making process, and enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate and sipping chocolate.  the sipping chocolate reminded amy and i of parisian hot chocolate and we were hard pressed to finish the 2 oz. cup between us!

erika and dan, amy and i

all in all, a lovely, engaging way to spend an afternoon/evening in raleigh.

the midsingles conference

the kayak crew

every year several hundred mormon midsingles (singles in roughly the 27-45 age range) converge on my former hometown of huntington beach for a weekend of activities, workshops, and mingling. and every year i look forward to it with dread.

i always feel like i should participate, particularly  since it's in my back yard, and people come (literally) from all over the world to attend.  but i've learned about myself that i don't do well in large groups, so it is an anxiety ridden 72 hours for me.  so much so that i've skipped out on it for the last couple of years.

this year, though, the schedule was much more appealing...i even begged off a work trip in order to attend.  maybe it's the sentimentality of knowing that it will probably be my last, or maybe it's just that it seemed organized in such a way as to create smaller (better) group interactions, but i found myself looking forward to it this year for the first time...ever.

the festivities started on friday, but as i was traveling home from a work event in houston, i missed day one.  i finally arrived home on friday night/saturday morning at about 1am after flight delays and local traffic jams, and i knew saturday morning would come way too fast.  in fact, i wasn't 100% committed to attending the morning workshops, but i would try.

when the alarm went off, i decided to get up, move around a bit,  and see how i felt.  i felt okay. not awesome.  definitely in need of more sleep.  but okay enough to suck it up and participate. so i did.  jamie and i headed to huntington, and though we were on time, we found seats near the middle of the cultural hall overflow.

clint and tara's kayak selfie

the first workshop speaker was probably fine, but i was so tired, and his voice so constant, that it was a struggle to stay awake. after he concluded, we moved up to cushier seats for the highlighted speaker, sister kristen oaks (wife of apostle dallin oaks).  she was much easier to stay awake for! she was charming and engaging and funny and self-deprecating -- a real pleasure to listen to.

when she concluded, we grabbed our bagged lunches, found our friends, and spent the lunch hour chatting and catching up.  i had decided that, since my travel makes it hard for me to participate in any normal choir,  i would also participate in the choir practice that would take place at the latter half of the lunch break, and would sing in the sunday meetings the following day.

the aquarium after dark

it was there that i met my new friend clint. he'd come from yuma, az and we were insta bffs for the day.  choir practice was rough on all of us as they had only about six copies of the music for 40 people, but we were promised there would be enough music at the sunday practice.

during this time i was debating about whether or not i was going to participate in the afternoon kayaking that i had signed up for.  i had actually registered for that before registering for the conference. i loved the idea of the smaller group, and an alternative to just laying around on the beach feeling judgy and self-conscious.  but i was TIRED! and, for a californian, it was a bit chilly.

again, and contrary to my nature, i decided to suck it up.  jami was asked to be our group leader so i was able to beg her not to be too hard on my tired body.:)  when we arrived and everyone started checking in, i discovered that my new bff, clint, was also in the group, and when we were told to pair off, he asked if we could be partners.

jenn, kristina, larysa, and i

we spent the next couple of hours getting to know each other and the others in our group, while enjoying what turned out to be a beautiful sunny afternoon, weaving in and around newport harbor.  despite my exhaustion, i was really glad i had decided to go through with it.

i was planning on getting in a power nap between kayaking and the evening activity, but the timing just didn't work.  so, i powered through.  the dinner/dance was being held at the long beach aqauarium (which i love!), so i knew that even if the social aspect was a bust, that i would really enjoy the setting.  and it truly was amazing.  being there as a private group, after hours, was very very cool.  and it also afforded the opportunity to spend some time with my girls, catch up with my friend ben, and reunite with clay, an old friend from virginia who now lives in northern california.

virgina is for lovers!
(ben, clay, and i)

finally, it was time to call it a night and to slip into the bliss that was my bed!

sunday morning, i headed out a little early for the second choir practice.  the numbers had grown, and lo and behold, eventually, there was sheet music.  i think we sounded pretty good. and...we had the best seats in the house.  the chapel, overflow, and cultural hall were completely full. even the stage had filled seats.  the estimate was about 1400 people -- all of whom i watched for the duration of the meetings.  the main speaker was elder acosta of the seventy, and i enjoyed his message.

after sacrament, it was boxed lunches, then a fireside with guest speaker bishop causse, first counselor in the presiding bishopric.  if you are lds, the name might be more familiar to you as he just spoke at general conference last month.

he was an absolute delight. his accent is not hard on the ears, and i really appreciated that he spoke on a topic that was not TOO 'singles focused' but certainly had a number of apropos applications.

his talk focused on the story of the laborers in the vineyard, and he referred to a talk previously given by elder holland.  it resonated strongly with me, and i particularly appreciated this quote:

However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.

all in all, it was a great way to close out what had turned out to be a great weekend!

here we go again...

i think this is the longest i have ever gone without posting.  ever.  so, since there is way too much catching up to do, let's just hit the highlights and lowlights of 2015 so far, shall we?

january:

knowing that i will be (if all goes according to plan), moving to north carolina at the end of july, california bucket list items have taken on a new urgency.  for the first time, i joined my donahoo cousins in visiting the post-showing of the rose parade floats.  amazing! it was particularly enjoyable to experience it with my cousins, who've also never done it, and whom i'm going to miss terribly when i leave!

with three months to design and build a brand new booth, as a part of the parent company's strategy to align all of their umbrella companies to "one-brand", the 20X30 launches at the north american veterinary conference and wins the booth of the year award. (february, multiple articles would be published about it in various exhibit trade publications). i'm particularly proud as the design concept was entirely my idea, and we were fortunate to be paired with the perfect exhibit house to execute it.  the booth features a life-size tree stump that doubles as a phone charger, a convertible meeting space in the interior of the doghouse, as well as astro-turf carpet and ambient "yard" sounds, giving visitors a break from the hectic conference pace.

extended the navc work trip to spend some time with melissa (n.) at universal studios florida, primarily to indulge our inner wizards and check out the new(ish) wizarding world of harry potter.  exhaustion was a prominent feature, but, so was spell-casting! there is something truly magical ( i know, i know) about the harry potter world and the way it has become such a cultural phenomenon.  i still remember being in high school reading my dragonlance books about wizards and warriors, and fearing that i would be made fun of as a result.  the times, they have-a-change-ed.

capping off the month was the (ahem)th birthday celebration for my good friend larysa.  it's fair to say that the circle of those who i would truly consider friends, here in california is very small, but i have known and liked larysa for almost my entire eight years here.  it was a privilege to participate in honoring her (mumble) years on the planet, and while i won't reveal her age, i will say that it was a big one, and celebrating at the huntington library & gardens (truly one of my favorite places in cali) with an afternoon tea, was quite perfect.

february:

the month kicks off with an unexpected sleepover not too far from home.  my friend and co-worker (who i rarely get to see anymore), melissa (r.) was in anaheim at the grand californian for a company training.  she invited me to come for a slumber party, so, why not!  we met up with another friend and co-worker for late night girl talk and spent some lovely post-training afternoon time at the pool the following day before returning to 'real life'.

i take a work trip to vegas where the new booth continues to impress. i get to spend my off-time with melissa (n.), as well as visiting with my old roommate, heather. this time the visit with heather includes five more dogs!  and while the puppy energy is a little nutty, i especially appreciate fur babies when i'm away from my own.  i also get a chance to spend some time with my freeman cousins.  i loathe vegas, but now that i have "people' there, it makes my frequent visits much more enjoyable.

march:

the month begins with a trip to williamsburg, va for work.  originally, julie and kids had planned to meet me there for a day at busch gardens. until we realize that it's not open yet!  instead, i drive to raleigh to spend a day with them, and to get a bearing on the place that will serve as my temporary home when i arrive in nc.  then it's time for some actual work... but my co-worker greg and i did find a little bit of time to explore the historic town.

from williamsburg, i'm headed directly on to the next event in tampa, fl. but before i get there, i get some terrible news.  my old roommate calls (i send her to voicemail, as i'm boarding a plane), she calls again. voicemail again. then she texts.  a mutual friend of ours has passed away.  she had been living with heather in las vegas, and heather's husband had found her that morning.  initially, they didn't know exactly how long she had been gone or what had happened, but we would eventually learn that, at age 41, holly jarvinen died unexpectedly from congenital heart failure.  it was devastating news, and though my first response was to try and be strong for heather - her closest friend - i went through my own kind of shock.  it would take a couple of weeks before it felt real all the time, as opposed to that weird ptsd mode of feeling real one moment and not real the next, where your brain just can't process.  holly is the third friend of mine to pass in the last five years, and i still can't quite wrap my head around it.

but i had to get on the plane.  it's been about fifteen years since my last visit to tampa, and i had been excited to see a relatively 'new' city.  maybe that was just what i needed to avoid falling down the rabbit hole of sudden loss.  instead, i made myself readily available to heather and other friends via phone, while i tried to get my job done, and see what tampa had to offer.  i remember thinking that it was the only city in florida i had ever really liked, and it turned out, my memory was correct.  the food was amazing, and i was incredibly impressed with the consistently good service.  i also got a chance to spend some time with melissa (n.) as we took in a spring training baseball game (braves v. yankees) and explore the ybor city area via trolley and foot.

shortly after returning home from tampa, things went even more sideways.  still emotionally wounded from the loss of a friend,  i'm in a car accident, the victim of a red-light runner.  while my body and health are fine (for which i'm grateful!), my car is totaled.  my 2004 saturn was meant to last another year or so, giving me a chance to make the big move and get settled in before investing in a new car and committing (for the first time in years) to a car payment.  but the universe had other plans, and i found myself wading through the soul-crushing bureaucracy of insurance company rules, rental car restrictions, payouts, and loan-getting.  it's an overwhelming week as i began to feel the weight of all the change and loss that seems to be coming at once.  i want to just wallow for awhile, but i don't have the luxury of time.  the one thing (aside from my physical health) that i have going for me in regards to the car, is that i have driven A LOT of rental cars.  so many, in fact, that i've known for years what i wanted the 'next car' to be.  which, since i had a really limited amount of time to make decision and act on it, was a huge blessing.  i go look at a couple of cars, knowing i've found "the one" before i even see it in person, so after the test drive confirming it, i put a deposit down, sign a contract, and leave - without the car - hoping that they will honor the contract until the loan check arrives and clears.

still driving a rental car, which i am now paying for out of pocket (since it turns out that the insurance company will only cover three days if your car is totaled), i head to ontario to finally meet up with my friend vicki for an evening out. we've been trying to get together for a year, and were finally able to make it work.  i'm feeling particularly grateful for the timing as it now seems so much more important than it did a week before to spend quality time with people you care about.  vicki has season tickets for the local hockey team, and before heading there, we enjoyed breaking some bread and getting caught up.  perfect girls night!

not long after, i'm headed to salt lake city.   i planned the trip in february when the world was all sunshine and daisies. on one hand, the timing seems semi-inconvenient since i'm still in car-limbo, but i have a sense that the trip is an unexpected tender mercy -- a time, when most needed, to take advantage of the natural healing power that comes from being with people you love.  it's been several years since my last visit, and i know that it will be harder to do from the east coast, so i take full advantage of every opportunity. my visit includes some really phenomenal time with cousins, catch-up time with my old friend scott, a visit with brandon,  a friend who used to live in california (which includes an epic haircut and shave -- his, not mine), attending the general women's session at the conference center, spending time with corey & jill, checking out a salt lake real game, and reconnecting with a high school friend.  sadly, this trip was also supposed to consist of a reunion with houston, my ex-boyfriend's son, to whom i played mom for several years, but a family health emergency arose and he had to leave town.  all in all though, it was exactly what i needed.  i continue to be so grateful for my family and good friends. i adore them, and they have no idea how much peace came from spending time with them.

originally scheduled to fly home late monday evening, i maneuver my way onto an earlier flight so that i can (finally) go pick up the new car!  while in utah, i was driving a version of my car, another equinox, but a more basic model.  my four day "test-drive" left me feeling like the car was ok. it was fine.  it was an improvement on my last one, for sure.  and then, upon concluding the final details, when i finally got into MY car, it was so much better than ok.  it was perfect.  though it is a 2012 model, it feels like new.  there are so many bells and whistles and it was clearly well taken care of.  i just love everything about it!  which will make it a little easier to swallow the car payment thing.  and, of course, it's probably a blessing in disguise having a safer, more comfortable car to drive cross country in.  that's what i keep telling myself anyway.

there you have it, 2015, so far, in a nutshell. there has been good, bad, and ugly, and i have to confess, i'm holding my breath a little about what the near future has in store...

happy halloween!

halloween in california is the awesomest. seriously. the best.  maybe it's an overcompensation for lacking real seasons, but the variety of october holiday experiences are diverse and numerous -- and i've been taking advantage all month.

the celebrations continued on saturday evening with a church sponsored mid-singles dance/awkward social experiment up in los angeles.  the truth is, i really shouldn't have gone.  i was exhausted from my late night pool adventures and my early morning flight, but i get to be in town for these things so rarely that i felt like i had to go.  unfortunately as a result, i went with a bad attitude and a low tolerance for the 'awkward social experiment' portions of the evening.  i can't imagine that my company was remotely enjoyable, so i'm grateful that my companions were not only people i genuinely enjoy, but also ones who were very patient with me.

nicole, matt, jami, me, and rick

and on the upside, i was happy with my (red riding hood) costume, for the first time in years!

luckily, i had a chance to redeem myself on all hallow's eve.

a friend from church had organized a group outing with various stops throughout the evening.

jami and i headed to john's (the organizer extraordinaire) house to see if anyone else needed a lift, and filled the car before heading off to stop 1: the earrywood haunted house.

the local haunted house celebrated it's 10th anniversary this year, and this was my second visit (my first, a couple of years ago). i love that this free haunt is a truly home-crafted affair created for the sheer love of the holiday, and of scaring people, and that it is a really good haunted house!

during our wait, the group expanded from a dozen or so to 30 or 40 people,  we used the time to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

when our time came to enter the maze, rick, emily (a new introduction), and i headed in.  much to my chagrin, i brought up the rear of our trio, so of course i quickly became the obvious target.  so much so that one of the 'characters'  followed me through the entire maze, periodically popping up out of nowhere to remind me that he was there.  i got a few genuine scares and screams from the experience and managed to make it out alive!

i waited for jami and the rest of my car, who had somehow ended up at the back of the line, before we headed out to stop number 2: dr. tony's halloween extravaganza

this was a new, and totally amazing experience for me.  all i knew going into it was that we were going to some kind of halloween block party, but i learned later that the event originated from a local brain surgeon who loves the holiday and happens to own a few investment properties in the same neighborhood.  so, every year, he picks a theme, foots the bill for and enlists the aid of his tenants and other neighbors for a neighborhood-wide halloween celebration.

my initial reaction was surprise at just how many people were wandering the streets participating in the festivities.  i also found it very exciting that there was a halloween activity that somehow blended children and adults, costumes and 'street' clothes, trick-or-treating, and party, seamlessly. 

the crowd, though large, was remarkably tame, friendly, and diverse.  it felt so different from previous halloweens in virginia.  i've been a little east-coast homesick lately, but october has given me a chance to remember some of the things that make california special, and the block party was the icing.

this year's theme was the wizard of oz, and after joining up with a couple of other cars, we began following dorothy's journey from kansas to oz and back again.  criss-crossing the street from top to bottom, each house held a piece of the story.  we started on the farm (complete with actual tractor) with dorothy singing about a rainbow and slowly made our way through the rest of the tale.

we saw dorothys at most of the houses, each one at a different place in the story.  we met glinda, the tin man, scarecrow, cowardly lion, and of course, the wicked witch, time and time again. we lost our friends and found them, and lost them again.  we avoided a tornado, sang with munchkins, traveled to the emerald city (complete with giant animatronic 'wizard'), met more friends, waved off a hot air balloon and called it a most excellent night.

warning: whine zone

so, i'm 95% sure i have salmonella.  on saturday morning, after a really fun spontaneous trip to joshua tree (about a two hour drive) to watch the perseid meteor shower (where i, for the first time in my life, slept out under the stars) i talked my roommates into making a stop at the cabazon dinosaurs and having breakfast at the wheel inn.

both gained notoriety in 'pee-wee's big adventure' and they have been on my hot list since arriving in california.  and since i don't go out to joshua tree on a regular basis, this was my best opportunity for check-marking that little item.

big mistake.

don't get me wrong. the dinosaurs were fun and kitschy, as expected, but the breakfast was the worst meal i've ever consumed in my life.  in fact we all agreed on that point.

the rest of the day, my stomach felt a little off, but i mostly chalked it up to lack of sleep.  afterall, we had left for joshua tree at 10pm, arrived a little after midnight, watched meteors until 3, then got up at 5am to head out.

eventually i got my stomach under control and my roommates and i joined some others from the ward to go see the last performance of twelfth night in the 'shakespeare by the sea' season.  the play was held outdoors at point fermin park n san pedro, and as heather used to teach in that area, she made sure we took the route winding along the fantastically beautiful coastline.

it's sad to say, but the drive ended up being the highlight, as shortly after the play started,  heather and i realized we had had far too little sleep for shakespeare!  since neither of us had driven though, we were stuck. so we found creative ways to catnap in our camp chairs.

other than still being extremely tired, sunday passed normally, until about 4am, when my stomach decided to go to war with itself.  and four days later, that battle still rages on.  what was initially confusing to me was that other than the inability to keep food down, and the tiredness (which could be attributed to a number of explanations) there were no other symptoms.  and i don't know about you, but when i get the flu, i GET the flu.

i knew it wasn't your standard food poisoning, which onsets almost immediately, but i also felt that this was not a 'normal' sick. it wasn't until i was talking with a co-worker yesterday and he asked me if i thought it could be salmonella that i did a little digging, and all of the 'symptoms', including the timeline are right on.

so now i'm on day 5 (they say recovery between 4-7 days) and i haven't been able to keep anything down since sunday.  i've dropped 8 pounds this week and i'm flippin' HUNGRY.  but i know what will happen if i indulge that hunger, and it ain't pretty or pleasant.  and really, i'm pretty annoyed,  i feel like knee surgery should meet the quota for crappy health stuff in any one month, and now this.  i feel like i'm losing control of the little things and i can tell that my boss is less than enthused about all my recent time off - first for the knee, now for salmonella.  even i have a hard time believing it.

it all feels a little overwhelming at the moment and i'm pretty grumpy about it. cordy is in desperate need of a bath...easy, one might think, but being on my knees is one painful and two will induce vomiting.  i need new brakes, need to research new car insurance, cancel my september work trips (since i'm not allowed on a plane for two weeks post-surgery), clean, attend a wedding this weekend, and get my job responsibilities back to a manageable mess.  needless to say, this is not exactly how i hoped my birthday month would turn out.  i even had to forgo the chocolate spa thanks to the stupid knee. gah!

a perfect southern california weekend

what can i say, i think this whole knee thing isn't so bad as it could be.  don't get me wrong, i'm a little nervous about the surgery...particularly as i have spoken to a couple of people in the last week who've had the same surgery and they were on crutches for 6-8 weeks post-surgery.  as i've since learned, if the meniscus can repaired, i shouldn't have that problem, but only 10% of it can be repaired. if it can't be repaired, it will have to be removed, and if it's removed, i can count on a lot of crutch time.

september is one of my busiest event months.  i'm scheduled to be in four different cities next month, so i'm not sure how that's all gone work, but one step at a time.

in the meantime, i'm feeling more like myself than i have in ages.  thanks to the knee, i've been home for the longest uninterrupted period of time since i started this job.  there's something about being home and having the ability to decide how i spend my time that makes me feel like ME again!

this weekend i exercised my freedom by taking advantage of two great southern california staples.  first up, the orange county fair!

spreading the xshot love. alison wanted to try hers out, but i think i got the better pic.

my friend alison and i have been planning our date for months, and as i don't get to see her very often, i was excited to relive our fair experience from years past.  i also invited my roommates along, and our friend greg joined us after the styx concert.

the only plan for the evening was food.

i starved myself for days in anticipation of this event.  okay..maybe only a couple of hours, but still, there was plenty of room for the old favorites. onion rings, corn, funnel cake, and ice cream.  we added some new twists, including bavarian cream on the funnel cake, and me convincing alison that mayonnaise on corn is YUMMY!  she was a skeptic but acquiesced to a bite or two, and she was hooked.

in between our food stops, of which, there were many, we enjoyed some of the arts and crafts - particularly the photography - and thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the ice museum.

the ice museum was inside a freezer, and the walls were made of ice bricks.  among the displays were an ice 'david', and a few other ice sculptures, including 'the thinker.'  we were all grateful for the blankets we were given, as it was a balmy 20 degrees inside the freezer.  and we enjoyed it so much that we made sure to take greg through after he had joined us.

we called it a night after we had stuffed and frozen ourselves silly.  not sure how i lasted so long, but i'm going to chalk it up to the vicodin.

the following morning, after running a few errands, heather and i headed down to the beach.

the ward beach party was being held that evening, but we wanted to spend some daylight enjoying the beautiful southern california weather.  for better or worse, the us open surfing championship, held every year in huntington beach, was also taking place.  it made for a festive environment, but the parking was horrendous.

heather dropped me off close to the ward party location, so i wouldn't have to walk too far, but she ended up having to walk a pretty significant distance after finding a spot for the car.   i found the few ward members saving our location and fire pits pretty easily, and enjoyed the bonding time with a couple of girls in the ward i don't know very well.

i got some reading and relaxing done , and slowly towards the late afternoon, other members of the ward began arriving.  i was sung to by a guy with great abs (photo below) watched and laughed at the semblance of a volleyball game, enjoyed a couple of ears from the saltwater corn roast, got to see a long and got to mingle with my peeps.

i also learned the power of a woman.

i was having a conversation with this guy and commented that a man in a suit is far more handsome than in almost anything else.  today, as i was singing in sacrament meeting, i saw him at the back of the chapel...in a suit.  this may not sound momentous, but i've never seen this guy in a suit before. shirt, tie, slacks, but never a jacket.  and to my point, he looks as good or better in the suit than he does in those abs. ;)

family fun week

last weekend was spent with laurie and her family who were in town for a little vacation. on friday night, the freemans, the donahoos, and i headed to angels stadium for the annual 'mormon night'.  as far as i'm concerned, there isn't a bad seat in a baseball stadium, and sitting in the nosebleeds gives you a little more freedom to watch the game...or not.  since we were surrounded by members from mick and jenny's ward, we found ourselves in animated conversations as often as we were actually watching the game.  and by the time we arrived (in the second inning) the angels were already down 5-0, so we didn't have much hope of it being a good game.

boy were we wrong!

in the 4th or 5th inning, the angels scored a bases loaded home run, and with the addition of one other run, they started closing in on the texas rangers.

we spent the rest of the game enjoying each other's company and cheering on the angels, who, by the way, ended up winning the game.

following the win, we stayed for a little while to watch the friday night fireworks, before deciding to beat the crowds and head for the hills (or the cars, as it were).

i had a little knee incident on the stairs, but was able to eventually walk it out.  and, bonus, i discovered that the stadium staff is both conscientious and kind, as they witnessed my fumble and made every effort to ensure that i was okay, and capable of supporting my own weight.

the following morning, the knee was a bit stiffer than usual, but not so stiff as to keep me from the day's activities.

i headed to the donahoos, and the freemans met us there. then we began our caravan to the beach!

cute family, huh?  they're mine!

the beach of the day was 'little corona', which, ironically was the first beach i visited (with the donahoos) after moving to california -- and i hadn't been there since.  little corona is a nickname for part of the corona del mar beachfront, and it offers some gorgeous scenery.  largely as a result of my physical limitations, we parked down below rather than walking down the very steep road to the beach...and i was also appreciative that we had ended up at a 'short beach'.  by that i mean that the distance between the pavement (parking lot, road, or boardwalk) to the water, is short.  some of the beaches here, huntington and newport, for instance are very 'wide', and i knew that the loose sand could present a bit of a challenge.

the beach was already buzzing, but we found a great spot to make camp, and after a quick clothing change, we headed down the beach to take some family photos of the freemans. a few waves, a knee twist, and many photos later, it was time to get down to the business of playing.

the kids showed us adults how it was done!

we spent hours enjoying the sun and surf and conversation before deciding it was time to head out.

before dinner we stopped at the hotel to rinse off with a dip in the pool, and i ran home for a quick shower before returning to the donahoos for a yummy taco dinner. sadly, after dinner it was time to say goodbye to the freemans.

i've decided that it's so much better when the family comes to visit ME.  okay, they didn't come to visit me, so much, as just take a vacation, but i like it when they come here because i get to spend actual quality time, rather than trying to catch up with everyone in the course of one dinner.  we definitely made the most of our time and i was sorry to see them go!

day at the races

while my familial readers will know this, others may not know that i LOVE horses.  i attribute it almost entirely to my maternal grandfather who was not only a large animal veterinarian (horses, cows, etc.) but also bred and raced quarter-horses.

as a child, summer vacations to the farm always included horseback riding, and visits to the racetrack.  every year, i'd select one of the race horses and claim it as my own, then get regular updates from grandpa as to the success (or failure) of 'my' horses on the track.

i've never been entirely certain whether i literally inherited some of my grandfather's 'horse blood' or if it's just a passion that resulted from experience, but regardless, any opportunity to be around horses is a good opportunity.

after mentioning to my friend vicki that i'd had the chance to go the breeder's cup a couple of years ago, she asked if i'd be interested in driving down to go to opening day at the del mar racetrack with her.  i immediately took her up on her offer, and it went on the calendar, along with my vacation request.

and the day finally arrived!

i've actually been in san diego quite a lot in the past couple of weeks for work, but this time i was actually excited to make the hour+ drive.  vicki and i met at the nearby outlet malls for lunch before heading down to the track.  what should have been a 15 minute drive took an hour, 45 minutes of which was spent on the exit ramp. fortunately we'd given ourselves enough time so as not to be too concerned.

we met up with vicki's friend tim, who works 'the gate'.  in this case 'the gate' means the starting gate, and tim is on the team responsible for getting the horses loaded into the starting gate.  he had gotten us free tickets and entrance to the backside of the track.  we caught a lift on the back of a pick-up truck, and when we got to where we were going, i straddled the tailgate and hopped out.

that was when i heard the sickening 'pop' in my knee.

roughly 14 years ago now, i had a bad landing off a lay-up during a basketball game, which resulted in severe acl, mcl, and meniscus tears, and required surgery, physical therapy, plus about six months of recovery time.  when i heard that pop, i recognized it. and it was not a happy remembrance.  i took a second to collect myself and gingerly determine whether or not i could actually walk.  i could. barely.  which was better than the last time.

for better and probably worse, i decided i was going to ignore the severe pain i was in, and make the best of the situation.  i hobbled along with vicki and tim as we headed into the grandstand and tim 'dropped us off' with plans to meet up again later.

i won't bore you with the details and challenges of actually finding a place to camp out for awhile, or mention how miserable i was, or how many times i cried, just trying to find a place to sit down for awhile, other than to mention one my favorite conversations of the day.  it came after we had been wandering around trying to find a seat, and one of the ushers told us we were probably going to have to stand.  the pain, coupled with my feelings of pure stupidity and not wanting to have ruined this experience for myself, or for vicki caused me to have a total emotional breakdown.  (poor usher didn't have a clue what his response would yield!):

Vicki: I can go get an EMT. Do you want an EMT?
Me; No
Vicki: Seriously, I can go get one.
Me: No. I didn't shave my legs today.

and with that, i pulled myself together - as best i could anyway- and we made our way downstairs where we (thank heavens!) found a place to sit right in front of the fence.  we watched the first four races from that bench, with vicki making periodic runs to place bets or get diet cokes and ice cream.  it should be noted that while we did make a few small bets, the only ones we 'won' were races we picked but didn't bet. figures.

the first self-portrait of the day. post 'knee-gate',
and i'm so happy to be sitting down!

after the fourth race, tim called to say that he would probably be able to take us out on the track before the 6th race, so after the 5th, we slowly hobbled along to meet him.  for those of you not familiar with a racetrack, typically the dirt track (in this case, shredded carpet) is on the outside, so spectators can see easily, while the turf track (faux grass) is on the inside.  a race day typically includes both type of races, and turf races are a little harder to see since they are on the inside.  the 6th race was a turf race.

me, tim, and vicki in the winners circle

we met up with tim and he walked us over to the winners circle, where we waited for the horses to come through the tunnel before making our way across the dirt track to watch the next turf race from the inside.  as you might imagine, this is not part of the 'standard' race track experience. you absolutely HAVE to know someone, and lucky for me, i knew someone who knew someone!

before making our way to the fence, and just minutes before the horses would take their positions, we walked through the gate, where tim snapped a couple of pics for us.  super super cool.

we watched the six race and headed back to the grandstand for the 7th and 8th, before rejoining tim on the 'backside' of the track for races 9 and 10.  again, we were almost on top of the gate, and it was pretty spectacular.

my knee was still killing me, but i was pretty proud of myself for hanging in there.  and with the final race concluded, tim put me in a car with a couple of the other guys so that i wouldn't have to walk back to their rv.

as i would learn, this crew of about 12 guys work together pretty regularly during the race season.  they are mostly from other parts of california, but for the duration of the season, they'll bring trailers in and set up their home away from home.  i wasn't complaining about the ride, or the fact that one of the boys was pretty cute.  'cause hey, bryan or no bryan (and there's no update on that) i can still appreciate a supercute boy.  especially one with a country twang;)

we hung out at the trailer for awhile, killing time, waiting for the place to empty out, and just chatting.  while there, a miniature man came over to say hello to the two tims (our host and the supercute boy), and introduced himself to us.  as you may have surmised, he's a jockey by the name of tyler baze, and he'd had a pretty good day.

after a little while, we started smelling something delicious from the trailer next door - the owners of which, are also a part of tim's crew.  the smell was followed by an invitation to join them for dinner, and we happily accepted.  boy were we in for a treat!  bbq'd spare ribs, corn off the grill, watermelon, potato salad, and coconut cake for dessert.

the food was insanely good, and i was just so.....content.  i've mentioned before that periodically the 'country' side of me needs satisfying, and this absolutely fit the bill.  i was grateful for the events of the day and for the opportunity to  experience this obviously tight-knit community from the inside.