Catching Up

Going back a couple of weeks and lots to share:

Monday morning swim:

400 free warm up

6x100 IM: odds reverse order, evens normal order

400 pull (under 42 hand taps/length)

400 kick

400 pull (under 39 hand taps/length)

200 kick

100 cool down

Total = 2500m

And boy did it feel good. Nothing beats a great morning swim with a well rested body. Nothing. I would have liked to stay in and finish the set (should have been 400 pull/400 kick, 400 pull/300 kick, 400 pull/200 kick, 400 pull/100 kick), but I am too slow and need to be out of the water no later than 6:35 if I want to eat breakfast. Hey! I’ve got priorities here (o;

So the weekend of 8/15 was nothing short of fantastic. I rushed home after work at 4 on Friday to pack up a bag (ok, maybe 2) and headed to Liesl’s. We made pretty good time up there, getting in around 11 PM with enough time to watch some TV and hit the sack. Sat. we were up around 9, walked to Northstar for some breakfast, and by the time we were all geared up and heading out the door for the beach, I think it was about noon. We desperately needed a cooler to take to the beach, and after failing our mission to buy one at both Safeway and Longs, we ended up getting a steal of a deal (ahhem a 5-finger discount) of a big plastic storage bin outside of Longs. Ahh well, whatcha goanna do? We really only needed to borrow it for the day. We almost lost Liesl as she darted across 2 lanes of traffic (literally it was like that game Frogger), but thankfully, we made our way down the burning sand w/o further incident until….

I’ll let Liesl tell this story:

It was a scorcher of a day. quick dips in the lake were just not sufficing and since we are such daredevils, we thought it would be a good idea to rent a jet ski. I have jet skied before, once in Hawaii. (technically, i rode on the back of it while my brother tore around corners and took on waves like nothing while i clutched on for dear life, but experience is experience) Since Jeanette is a bit of a weenie when it comes to extreme sports and Elizabeth is so trusting in my skills, i was voted driver. I’m not goanna lie, i was a bit confused when were getting our 2 minute debriefing on where you can and cannot go. "When you get to the red booie then you can use the throttle, and then you take a left at the white booie and then you stay to the right side of the lake, don’t go out too far, we have a red roof and thats the best way to find your way back." (p.s., there were like 10 white and red booie's, did i mention that I’m blonde, too?) so we struggled out to the jet ski because they make you launch out of the lake, but they put them in a place were there is like a volcanic rock bed. We get on our supercharged ski and this guy who has probably seen his share of retarded girls has to deal with us. And I am still confused about which booie to go around and when to used the throttle and where I can go (can you tell that maybe I shouldn’t have been driving?) he kinda looks at weird and sends us on our way. Ok, I don’t know how many people have ever driven a jet ski, but its not easy, especially when the safety of two other people is concerned. i would throttle and then the we would all scream. I had to idea where to go because they just let you roam free in the lake so I’m trying to avoid the other jet skiers who apparently know what they are doing because they are whizzing by us at a startling rate. And trying to turn this thing is a bitch, they told us to speed into the turns instead of going slow but speeding into a turn just doesn’t sound right. So I cautiously take turns and struggle to steer because I don’t think that jet skis are equipped with power steering. Finally, after about 10 mins of floundering around I finally get the hang of it so I start going faster and attempting to take the wakes. at this point, our bathing suit bottoms have ridden up our behinds and we're banging into each other because like a teenage driver, I’m very start and stop with this whole throttle thing. But we are having a blast. So I get comfortable enough with my driving abilities and decided to really take us for a ride. I punch the throttle and off we go...whizzing on the lake, wind in our faces, looking like pros and as I get the jet ski up to a speed of 45, I turn to the girls and shriek "oh my gosh, we are going 45!" in the instant I say that, we catch a wake a fly off the jet ski in three different directions. I think we all took it up the nose and all lost our bottoms for a split second...but we all resurface and just bust up laughing. The jet ski monitor comes over and asks if we are ok, but we can’t even stop laughing long enough to talk. I finally tell him that we are ok and apologize for being reckless but he just smiles and says, I don’t care, it was hilarious...I have seen two people fly off, but never three! So, we swim to the jet ski that is now 20 yards away from us and at that point decide to head in before I kill us. Elizabeth then tells the guy that helped us get on the jet ski "I hope you wipe that seat down, my butt was all over that seat." Just one more laugh to add to the insanity that was our jet ski experience.

Ok stepping into this after a little time off and lots to report:

First- congratulations to Josh and Marina on your new baby boy, Nicco. I love the name and can’t wait to meet him. We’ll be having a new baby in the family as well; I know Jed and Holly can’t wait- especially Holly. She did this whole pregnancy thing marathon style, but what else could you expect from a gangster?

Now, getting down to business. VEGAS (8/22-8/25)! It was spectacular, and I’m pretty sure everyone on the trip would agree. We all took different flights in. I flew out of SFO at 8:35, giving me some time to kill after work, so I hit up Stanford shopping center before heading to the airport. Hit up the bar there for a drinkey poo, and was literally the last one on the plane just as they were finishing boarding. Did I time that well, or what?

The flight’s quick- just over an hour. I met Andrea at the baggage claim, and 2 min. later Allyson was calling to say that she’d just landed. We had an interesting cab ride over to the Monte Carlo with an elderly gentleman who’d recently busted out of jail (ok he did his time and was released). He said that he was caught in FL in the 1980s with 1600 kgs SIXTEEN HUNDRED KILOS of cocaine, or as he calls it, co-ka-eena. He told us one time he swore that a Chihuahua was talking to him! Hahahaha. So we got to the hotel, checked in, and I was bombarded by JennyKathrynJodieKristiandabigassmargarita! Phew. We quickly got ready and headed out to see what we could find and eventually settled on Hard Candy where we danced the night away. The girls were up pretty early on Sat. which was a good thing b/c we needed to stake our claim in lounge chairs. The day was spent mostly in inner tubes floating in the never-ending river. Not a bad way to rest after a big night out! Kristi was hilarious and in rare form stating, “I think the sun made me drunk”. Eyah. It definitely wasn’t the daiquiri (o;

All in all it was a fantabulous trip, and considering that we were in the City of Sin, we conducted ourselves like angles.

Last week was kind of an odd once, since I was off on Monday and then was at a seminar to become a notary all day (literally, over ELEVEN hours) on Wed. So… if you need anything notarized, I’m your gal!

But I guess the biggest news is that Holly had a baby boy on Saturday morning. Little Gavin came in at 7 lbs 15 oz and 21”. He is absolutely precious. Both he and Holly are doing well; they came home from the hospital on Sun. night. I will post pictures soon.

Quick summary:

-Dinner at Thea one of my fav. restaurants on Wed.

-Drinks and girl talk with Liesl on Thurs. It’s been beautiful so we were able to sit out on the patio until 11 PM.

- Dinner at Nola on Fri.

-Gavin born on Sat. Nice long ride with Pokey.

-Sun. morning swim at Stanford, barn all afternoon, chores etc… on Sun.

-Dinner at Thea (again! Can you tell I like the place) on Sun.

-Mon. I picked up Kendall and took her to visit Jed and Holly and baby in the hospital. We had a Taco Bell picnic (classy!). Then Kendall and I went to hang out with my Mom and Mia until Jed, Holly, & Gavin came home. We had a nice dinner together over some Dom P.