Volleyball arms :)

Okay, so they just look like normal arms, I know, but let me tell you these arms took their fair share of volleyball beatings today---but what's a few bruises, broken blood vessels etc. in the name of a lovely Sunday afternoon playing Volleyball and stuffing your face with cherries, blueberries, potato chips and trail mix?

Shhhhhhhh!!!

Don't tell Rosie that I blogged about what a cool person she is, I think it would embarass her to no end, and I think in her eyes I am kind of cool, I've fooled her somehow, and I am not quite ready to relinquish that image :).

Truth be told--she is the cool one, I have never met a cooler 13 year old girl! I went to see her in her school play tonight and she was fantastic. I would post pictures, but I feel kind of protective of her and don't want to violate her privacy. But I just couldn't resist sharing how much fun it was to watch her play Ms. Nicholson in her school musical, the Nifty Fifties. I was laughing out loud and tapping my toes to the music throughout the whole thing!

And you know what was almost as good as the play? After the show, she asked her mom if she could ride home with me, and I don't know why, maybe it's some motherly instinct in me, but I just about melted. I know, I know, I am a complete sap. It was so fun to have some girl time with Rosie on the way home!

Making P-town Proud :)

Went up to the Russian Hill area in SF today for a mini Poway High reunion at the Rex(great cafe on Polk Street-good bloody mary's, and omlettes).

JV and I go way back, I have all kinds of fun blackmail pictures of JV at sleepovers, basketball parties, etc, etc at the Farber Household. JV does have a real name by the way -Jessica-same as my sister's. So back in the day someone came up with the brilliant idea of calling her JV (her initials) --I think it was my dad actually-- and it stuck.
It's been 9 years since I last saw Amit and we randomly ran into each other a few months back on Union Street in San Francisco. Amit and I were Peer Counselors together--haha, funny memories. I think we may have done a conflict mediation together at some point for a couple of trouble makers on campus. Oh High School :).

I love catching up with people you haven't seen in some time and it was wonderful to catch up with both of them.

How refreshing...

Had a lovely little week night dinner with Kat, Lindsey and Laura at The Counter in Palo Alto. Super fun! We got to build our own burgers. I was craving gruyere cheese and it sure was yummy!

And I was again reminded of how delightfully refreshing girlfriends are.

Kat, Lindsey and Laura, you girls rock!

Song of the day :)

Enjoy!

sunday morning music

A fun song for sunday morning...

Although I really enjoy this song, I have to say that it also reminds me of how much I miss the feelings of being in love.

Here's for hoping that I get to have those feelings again one day.

when life cancels camping trips, make S'mores by the Stovetop.

Blair and I had to cancel our camping trip last minute today. I was literally at the grocery store with a cart full of graham crackers, mallows and chocolate when she called to let me know her car was not working. Needless to say, I was a little bummed, I was very excited about spending the weekend with Blair out in nature, but for one reason or another it wasn't in the cards for us this weekend.

I drove home after returning everything in my cart feeling a bit disappointed. I walked in th front door and Melinda and Russell were cleaning up and were surprised to see me an hour after I had left. I told them our trip was cancelled and they could tell I was bummed and so Melinda got on the phone with her husband who was at the grocery store and insisted that he pick up grahams, mallows and chocolate so we could make s'mores. Isn't that the sweetest?

So I spent the day with my second family, hanging out in the pool and bbqing. For dessert, we stood around the stove and "roasted marshmallows" for dessert.

I am so lucky to have this family as a second family!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad, I love you! Here's a few more pics of the fam in Newport...

My family...

I had a lovely little mini vacation with my family this weekend in Newport Beach. Here are a few shots.

Sprout :)

Be warned that if cheezy sentimentalism or just plain old bad jokes make you woozy, you may want to stop here.

It seems so appropriate to me that Kat, Lindsey, Laura and I went to Sprout for dinner tonight---you know why? Because our friendship is Sprouting...haha...


Here is a picture of our beautiful after dinner hot chocolates :).

Weekend Update

I had a lovely little weekend...and guess what? For the first time since I can't remember when, I didn't spend even a single minute crying :).

Here's my list of highlights;

1) Friday afternoon Spin Class -- Great new instructor and great music, which makes such difference.



2) Blackberries and Creme with Kat, Laura and George--I love that Kat lives about 5 minutes away--Don't move too far away okay Kat?

3) Saturday morning Dance Class with Kat and Laura---loved it--the dance was called Nia. Kat explains it as a mix of yoga, martial arts and hippie dance.

4) A day in the city with Megan. It was wonderful to catch up with her - we made the rounds too-- got some New Orleans Style Coffee at Blue Bottle at the Ferry Building, did some wine tasting at the Press Room on 3rd and then had dinner at the Indian Oven in the Haight.




5) Sunday morning Yoga and a **free** massage at the gym!

6) Relaxing Sunday and an evening walk with Carlos.

I love my Mom.

I love this picture of my mom because you can see the fun spirit inside of her coming out.

Isn't she beautiful? I got to see her this past week for the first time since Christmas and she had a fun new haircut and some makeup on (although not much) and she just looked gorgeous.

There is of course much more to my mom than her physical beauty.
It has taken me some time, and my mom and I have definitely had our ups and downs, but I have to say in the past few years I am finally waking up to fully appreciate what an incredible woman my mom is.

My mom has a very peaceful, gentle and sweet spirit. My mom can be very serious ,but she also makes me laugh out loud.

My mom is an all star (this is an understatement) real estate agent. She works harder than anyone I know. She cares about her clients as though they are her own friends and family- and has built so many life long relationships through her work and has helped so many people with one of the biggest investments they will make in their life time. My mom brings so much joy and peace of mind to the people she helps to find the perfect home and I couldn't be more proud of her.

My mom is some kind of super mom or something. She is one of those women who has built a successful career for herself while raising two beautiful -(hahah--a backdoor compliment) daughters. I think it's hard enough to work full time and just take care of myself sometimes.

My mom is downright strong and determined. A few years back she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. She went through a few years of lots of pain and fatigue, trying different treatments, medications etc. She persisted through all of the failed treatments, medications etc and is doing better now than I have ever seen her in the past.

When it comes down to it, my mom is just a plain old wonderful person and I am very lucky to call her MY mom.


Happy Mother's Day Mom. I love you.

The fleeting nature of life...

My mom, dad and I attended a Buddhist funeral in San Jose last night.

It was really great to see them, I haven't seen them since Christmas, and although it was a sad occasion, the services were beautiful.

The minister's speech revolved around the fleeting nature of life; how everything in life is in constant motion and everything around us is constantly changing.

He talked about how even after the death of a loved one, our relationship with this person does not end, it simply changes and although such a change is one of the more difficult things we experience in life, it is also a transforming experience. Although death marks the end of an earthly life, the influence that a person has had on us continues on as our relationship with this person continues to change.

And as death immerses us in the reality of life's impermanence, we begin to remember what we often forget in the whirlwind of our lives; that this present moment is all that we have and that if we are wise we will cherish all that the moment has to offer and fill each moment with love and light, for one moment we are healthy and the next we are merely ash.

God, what are you up to up there?

I have a really amazing story to share.

So if you've read my blog in the last week, you already know that I just finished this incredible book titled, "Happens Every Day," by a woman named Isabel Gillies. You also already know that I have been completely inspired by the strength and grace Isabel demonstrates as she goes through the painful process of losing the father of her children and the man that she loved more than anything in the world. And if you know that, you probably also know that this book has touched my heart in a way that has been so perfectly, exactly what I so needed at this time in my life, that if the story ended there, well in my mind, that in itself would be enough to convince me that there are some pretty incredible higher powers at work out there to bring such a book into my life at just the right time.

But today, another even more amazing chapter unfolded....

Rewind to two weeks ago. I walked into my boss's office and she said, "Sarah I brought in this book for you, I heard about it from a friend, who heard about it on NPR. He loved it and so did his wife so I went out and bought it and it's a really quick read -- it's a story of a woman whose husband leaves her and she is a great story teller, you feel like you are sitting down in a coffee shop with her and it's really uplifting."

I started reading the book that night at the gym, and let me tell you, an hour on the elliptical never passed so quickly. Isabel's story telling, her story and her character completely sucked me in and for the first time since Joe and I had broken up I felt that all of the craziness inside of me had been validated and by the end of the book, I not only felt validated and understood and not so alone, I also truly believed that things were happening for a reason and that a happy ending might still be possible for me.

Fast forward to this morning. My boss would be returning from vacation and so I reluctantly decided it would be good to return the book today. When I got to work I wrote her a small note, thanking her for sharing it with me and placed it in her mail box.

No more than half an hour later I received a phone call. It was someone in the mail room calling to let me know that I had a Fed-Ex package waiting for me. I thought nothing of it, figuring it was some kind of routine package for the press. So, you can imagine my surprise when I retrieved the package and discovered that it was addressed to me personally. It was a package from my dear friend Darrel in New York. I smiled to myself, he is one of those people who is so amazing about carrying out simple acts of kindness whenever he can. I took the package back to my desk, opened it and pulled out a copy of the exact book that I had just returned to my boss, "Happens Every Day."

"This is totally crazy," I thought to myself. "Darrel has no idea that I just finished reading this book, how did he know that I had wished I had my very own copy that morning?"

The story gets better....

A small note was paper clipped to the front of the book. Here is what it said,

"Farbs-

Written by an alum of Nightingale (the Private School Darrel works at in Manhattan); she's super sweet and after I was telling her about you, she wanted you to have a copy -- see inscription!

Love, Dfro"

"What?!" I thought, Darrel has actually met this woman, and he talked to her about me? And now Isabel, this woman I have gained so much hope from and have felt this incredible connection with in the past week, knows about little old me and my story?"

"God, what are you up to up there?" I thought, practically shaking in disbelief.

I opened the book and on the first page was a small hand written note that said,

"To Sarah,

With love,

Isabel Gillies"

Now, if this crazy aligning of the universe doesn't leave you filled with wonder, awe, faith and inspiration I am not sure what will.

a whole lotta weekend rambling...

I've gotta be honest, ever since Joe and I broke up, I haven't been looking forward to weekends as much as I used to. One of the harder parts of this break up has been the feelings of loneliness that have come along with losing the person I consider closest to me in the whole world -- and these feelings tend to well up on the weekends because we used to spend our entire weekends together.

To go from spending each day with someone you feel so at home with to suddenly facing the world on your own again is a bit like having the earth pulled out from under you and tumbling down and getting bumped and thrashed without any definite end in sight (apologies for being so dramatic.)

The funny thing (and amazing really) though is that each weekend, usually after spending 20 minutes or so crying to my sister on the phone---something happens to make things seem a little bit better.

It really is amazing to me.

This weekend had its shares of ups and downs, but I'll focus on the ups here;

1) Team in Training Meeting.

2) Dinner with Joe @ Calafia Cafe (restaurant started by the 1st google chef) - (yes this makes the up list).

3) Good conversation with Melinda about relationships.

4) The Menlo Atherton 5K Big Bear Run (I got first place in my age division!--sorry about the bragging :)--it was really fun to finally do a race again, it's been over 2 years since my last one---there is always such positive energy at these things.)


* Oh and I got a free mini massage after the race too!

5) Yummy snacks after the race--crumb cake from Hobee's in Palo Alto.

6) Lazy Sunday afternoon with Jen watching Slumdog Millionaire.

7) Home made Enchiladas for dinner.


**Oh and on a side note, I made a mini "dream board" the other day complete with some inspiring quotes and a list of "8 week goals" which Christina inspired me to make. You can't see it really well, but I still wanted to share.



Hope your weekend was full of lots of simple pleasures too!