Comme la vie est fantastique en France and other parts too!: November 2007

Way to Kick Off the Day....

Uuugh. As if getting up in the morning only to start off an hour and a half commute on gross BART where nasty men fall asleep on my shoulder and take over more than their share of the seats isn't bad enough, I parked Rita (my car) in my usual spot, not too close to the alley way leading to the BART station when I heard, "herro herro". Knowing that the only people trying to start off conversations with strangers on their way to work this early in the morning are usually the randoms hanging out in the alley, I proceeded to walk towards the station when I head a pitter patter of footsteps running right up my a**. I looked back to see a squat lady decked out with a plaid baby doll jacket and bowler hat. She claimed to be the property manager and said that I could not park my car, she knew which one was mine, and that the lot wasn't for BART parking. Geez. I retorted that I was merely heading up to the city to do some Christmas shopping (lying through my teeth), and that I did my grocery shopping at Safeway, so technically I was a patron. Gggrrr. She said, "Well we'll see. I know which car is yours and if it's still there after 2 hours, I'll have it towed at your expense". Threatening my checkbook and Rita at the same time??!! Not cool lady, not cool.

I groaned and moaned and headed back to save Rita from the fate that lay ahead should I ignore bowling hat lady's threats. (And happened to see her pitter pattering after another BART-goer to probably ruin his morning like she did mine).

After successfully missing my train, I finally found the additional BART parking lot, only a mile away from the entrance only to find out that trains are running late. Great. Unnerved, I boarded a Richmond train, got off, waited again, and got to be part of a "how many people can we squeeze into one car?" experiment.

The only thing I had to be thankful for (and this is pretty sad) were the crazies roaming around the Civic Center when I got off at my stop. Thank you Mr. Banjo player, and crazy guy with your Hello Kitty boom box strapped to you shopping cart, at least I got a good laugh. I'm not sure if it's bad karma to laugh at the crazies, but I guess I'll take my chances.

Hope none of you had an equally hellish commute to work this fine Tuesday morning. Is it Friday yet????

Things to be thankful for:

-warm oatmeal (I swear I have all my teeth)
-Jenny's blog which cracks me up!
-cute 20 month olds that I get to draw with and spot busses out the window with while on the clock
-my brother- Happy Birhday Big Guy!!!!

Weekend Rides

Some of my teammates. GO TEAM!

The harbor

Bikes galore and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge

This is Sheryl, our honoree team member. She was diagnosed with with Hodgkins Lymphma, Stage II, bulky mediastinal mass in 2001 and will be completing the century ride in Solvang!

Well this weekend flew by, and even after a full eight hours sleep, I'm still beat.

I woke up early on Saturday morning to head out for a buddy ride with TNT. When I signed up for this, I knew it would be physically challenging, and I knew I would have my work cut out for me to raise the required $2,500. What I didn't know was that getting to the meet spots would be equally challenging (I swear, the drive to Sausalito was more difficult that the 22 mile ride we did!!!- NOT KIDDING). I got all mixed up.. I guess it would have helped to know that I crossed over the Bay Bridge and not the San Rafael one. Woopsy. I think this was my first time driving over the Golden Gate Bridge in my 26 years of living in the Bay Area. Mateo and I walked over it together this summer, but we parked the car near Golden Gate Park.

I have never been to Sausalito, and it's absolutely beautiful. We got super lucky with gorgeous fall weather- sunny and crisp with clear skies. The ride started out with a pretty good climb and then went around a peninsula and had some rolling hills. Thanks DHK for organizing this ride and selecting such a spectacular route. No wonder it's called Paradise Loop! I always feel like I can do more while I'm out on my bike, but during the drive home, I started to feel the after-effect. All I have to say is thank goodness for hot tubs!

I headed over to Jed and Holly's for a home-cooked meal after stopping by to say hi to Pokey and put her jamies on (it was COLD). We hung out, drank some wine, hit up the hot tub, and I fawned over baby Mia. I stayed the night and headed out to the barn early on Sunday morning and ended up spending 4.5 hours there just taking my time and being slow. It's rare that I'm not rushing, so I really just enjoyed the hours out there with my girlie.

We went out on the trails, just the two of us and saw lots of deer and wild turkeys. I bet they were glad to have made it through this particular holiday (o; I headed out with the thought of only trotting like we did on Thursday, but she really wanted to run, and I couldn't resist, so we headed up one of my favorite hills which gives a panoramic view of the South Bay.

She's hairy right now, and when she gets sweaty it takes forever to cool her out and get her cleaned up, so I just gave her a quick rinse (love that hot water!) and let her eat her grain while I waited for her to dry off.

This week's goanna be busier than normal, so I'm just hoping to get through it. I plan on going for a quick bike ride this evening... hopefully I won't get frost bite on my toes... they get so cold! I bought the first book of the Outlander series (thank you Jenny!) since I've been reading some heavy stuff lately and want some thing light and quick to read during my commute on BART.

For those of you who are wondering, no, I am not in Afghanistan. I guess that just came up by default and I'm too lazy to change it right now. So there!

Pics from the Saddle Rack Nov. 17

I LOVE this picture. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Saddle Rack, but who cares, right?

Delphine a.k.a "Crazy French Chick", Olivier, and duh- me!

Reunited with Shannon. You need to move back to the Bay!

Check out the guys giving the finger in the background... classy!

I don't know why this picture is so small... how sad!

"I can only take numba one wife to China"

Another Turkey Day gone by.

I woke up after a night out and headed to the barn with Kristi to hit the hills. We had a great hour and a half ride, and I think it's safe to say that our ponies were nice and worn out. Fall is my favorite season; I can't think of a better way to kick off Thanksgiving day than with an early morning ride accompanied by a good friend.

I got home, took a bubble bath, watched a couple of episodes of Alias (thank you Netflix!), chatted with some friends in France/Italy, and got a surprise phone call from Jesse. It was soooo good to talk to her. She will be celebrating Thanksgiving in Angers and will cook for 20 people! I don't know how she manages, but she always pulls amazing dinners for large groups off!

Jed, Holly, and Mia arrived just before 4 PM followed shortly by Ron and Fran. We had great hours d oeurves and yummy wine. Ron brought his fabulous Caesar salad and was in rare form, although I'm not sure it's healthy to laugh so much on a full stomach (o;

Ron and his Belgian lapin.

Mia's first Thanksgiving. She comes in style.

All wrapped up!

Mia bella.

Woah Nelly!

So this update is long over due. I guess that would be the right place to start, or maybe with a quick overview of what I've been up to since coming back from France mid-May.

It was great to re-connect with my friends and wonderful to see my family. I am living back home, with the 'rents- actually really really nice. I never saw them as much as I would have liked before, and after being away for 9 months I'm enjoying some "home" time. Jeffrey moved into a new apartment too, and has a new roommate who already had a cat. They thought 2 guys living together with 3 cats might be a little bit odd (plus Mr. B likes to scratch leather and Travis has 3 very nice leather couches)... which means that my kitty is living with me! I am really happy about this, and he has successfully won over everyone- except maybe for Buddy, but he's relentless; I'm sure I'll have pictures to post of the 2 of them cuddled up together on the couch.

So I got back, took about a week to sort through my room, unpack, see my pony, eat some Mexican food, and then the job search began. I worked with several recruiters and interviewed with about 5 companies. Meanwhile, one of the recruiters got me a temp assignment with a private equity firm in Menlo Park; I did that for a month and a half before taking a job with Go West Tours, a receptive tour operator based in San Francisco where I currently work. I do Human Resources and corporate support. We are a small privately owned company who specialize in quality travel into the USA & Canada. The staff is largely international (I think I am one of maybe 5 "true" Americans- meaning born and raised here with American parents). I love the atmosphere; almost everyone is bilingual French/English, and the owners are fantastic. We just moved into our brand new office, and I love it.

Mateo came to spend a month here in California. It was his first trip to the U.S., and he said it was the best vacation he's ever taken. I visited Alcatraz for the first time ever, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, did lunch in North Beach, did the Monterey Bay Aquarium, hiked at Los Lobos, and spent a couple of days at my parent's house in Murphys where we also visited a national Redwood forest.

I also became an auntie since returning home. Mia was born on Friday Oct. 26 and is beautiful. She is just as precious as can be; I just can't get enough of her.

Of course I am still partying like crazy, in between work, my horse, and everything else.

AND I am training to do a 100 mile bike ride (with a 4,000 foot climb!) this March with Team In Training (TNT) to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You can visit my page to make a donation at http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/tntgsfECloern