it's all about Sunday...and a few simple pleasures...

Boy oh boy am I happy to have a "weekend" with Joe after a few weekends of out of town trips. Friday night, I was absolutely fried from the week - thank goodness for the energy of my 8th grade girls at practice on Saturday morning - I barely had the energy to plan practice, but funny how being in the gym with the girls totally brought my energy up. After practice I came home and took a big, long nap which felt so darn good :). Me of year ago probably would have pushed through being tired to get a whole bunch of stuff done - I'm proud of myself for getting a little better at listening to my body. After a mellow evening with Joe with soup and a movie, I woke up feeling like a whole new person this morning. What a difference between Friday Sarah and Sunday Sarah! Hallelujah for Sunday - and what a beautiful one we had today - lots of sunshine pouring in, a day off from exercise, cinnamon bread, tea and Joe - I couldn't ask for much more :).

And because I didn't do anything especially earth -shattering this weekend - here are some of the weekend's simple pleasures (in addition to glorious Saturday afternoon naps, and sweet Sunday morning's with the one ya love :):

1) Friday morning rainbow on the way in to work
2) Friday afternoon walk with Linds
3) Star Wars Episode 2
4) An evite from Joe for Snuggle -o-rama - he actually sent me an evite to snuggle with him on the couch with a movie! How cute is that?
5) Costco rebate checks
6) Free lululemon yoga
7) Greenlees cinnamon bread
8) Quick Frisbee study break
9) Just getting to hang out with Joe for more than 2 hours (even if he was doing homework most of the day - only 4 more months of grad school!! Hallelujah!)
10) Homemade Mac n' Cheese with gruyere and fontina
11) Pics of baby Henry
12) Bridal shower planning for Linds

And I'll leave you with this gem - action shot of Joe on our Frisbee break today.

Happy week everyone!

where everybody knows your name :)

I made a quick trip to San Diego for President's Day weekend while Joe made his way out to Salt Lake for a ski trip. It was so nice to be home for just an ordinary weekend - no holiday gatherings on the agenda, no last minute Christmas shopping and no holiday meals to be prepared - it was so nice and relaxing! I flew in on Friday night and as soon as I got in the car, my dad had to play me his new favorite song - Ce-lo - Forget you - oh my goodness, he was belting it out and all - I have some pretty fun video footage of it. On Saturday morning, the fam had breakfast together and then my sister and I made our way over to my lovely grandparent's house to say hello. They're adorable :). We got to their house at about 11:30 and they were just hanging out doing their usual word puzzles and cross words. My sister and I sat down and started chatting and before we knew it Grandpa had roped us into helping solve his word puzzle - he's so cute, he makes my heart melt. As we went about unscrambling the word 'Zinnia' my Grandma went into her closet and pulled out her skeleton pants - did I tell you guys about those? Silly lady bought a pair of black sparkly pants -she thought the sparkly designs were flowers- but they were in fact skeletons, so look what she did...

She stitched a bunch more gems on by hand - one by one - and now, well they're some serious bling, bling pants!

This is my Grandpa's spot - he's got a shelf next to him that is fully equipped with an atlas, a couple dictionaries, word puzzle books, a thermometer and the remote control :). Cute man isn't he?!

Look how beautiful my Grandma is! I love her - skeleton sparkly pants and all :).

How cute is this? My Grandpa is a big sports fan - he especially likes baseball, golf and basketball. Sometimes games go until late at night, and these days, my Grandpa's bed time is pretty early - so when he goes to bed before a game ends, my grandma - who is a night owl, stays up and writes the final score on a piece of paper and puts it in the bathroom so my Grandpa can see the final score first thing in the morning. I just love this super simple but super sweet display of love - absolutely warms my heart.

After a little bit, my sister and I hit the mall to do some shopping - I've been looking forward to this since I booked my tickets home. My sister and my mom are my absolute favorite shopping partners in the world and it was a treat to get to spend a Saturday afternoon shopping with my sister! I love all the giggling and dressing room sharing etc.

Saturday night, I got to see the San Diego F4lies for Curran's 30th birthday.

I am so thankful for these women and the friendship that we have shared since we were in elementary/middle school. We went to this super fun Russian/Georgian restaurant - I had a big bowl of Borscht and the birthday boy got to write on the restaurant walls. After dinner we made our way to the Triple Crown pub where we played a crazy group ping pong game until 1am (way past my old lady bed time these days) - it was a blast!!!

On Sunday, I got to meet the boy that my sister is dating - ooooh he is super sweet and I hope that things work out between the two of them - I wanted to take a pic of these two, but decided to be the cool sister instead of the embarrassing sister - you're welcome Jess :). My mom and I did a little shoe shopping in the afternoon and then it was off to the grandparent's for Pizza from our favorite, local spot and Amazing Race :0.

Monday morning my mom and I got to do some Yoga together - I love getting to do Yoga with her and I am glad that we got squeeze a little in.

It was a Happy President's day weekend indeed, hope yours was too and here's to short work weeks! Bring on the next weekend already!

that's what happens on busy weeks...

You don't get to post about wonderful weekends until the next weekend is almost here!

A bunch of my favs at Dim Sum on Sunday.

Post dim sum book club/video chat with the author of our last book! How cool is that?!

And big news over the weekend in the blogosphere - my dear blog buddy Lisa had her baby boy on Sunday! Welcome to the world baby Henry!

Happy Valentine's Day Lovers....

Here's a little diddy for you, I hope your day is full of lots of love, sweet love!

battle of the brothers :)

Joe's brother Mark came to the bay to visit this weekend! And before I tell you about all the fun stuff we did, I just have to say that I absolutely love the relationship they have. I grew up with a sister, so the whole brother thing is foreign to me and while I imagine having a bunch of little boys can cause some pretty serious head aches for a mother, there is something so sweet about the relationship that two grown brothers can share. I had so much fun seeing them together and listening to their playful banter.

A few days before Mark arrived, he emailed suggesting that we head out for a run all together after we picked him up at the airport. My kind of guy!! So we did just that, we picked Mark at about 10am and after a quick stop to change we made our way out to Windy Hill. I asked Mark to make sure that he stayed out really late on Saturday or did some kind of strenuous activity on Saturday to make sure that he was a little tired on Sunday morning so I could keep up with him and Joe. Mark did some skiing on Saturday, but you know what, if he was at all tired, I sure couldn't tell. Mark and Joe both kicked my butt to the top, but despite getting my butt whipped, we all got to enjoy a few moments at the top together with 360 degree views of the bay area - we could see downtown San Jose, downtown San Francisco, Mt. Diablo and even waves at the coast! On the way down, we took a new trail and it was gorgeous! The downhill made it easier for me to keep up with the boys, Joe was in front of me and Mark was behind - it was a brother sandwich!

After our run we stopped at a local outdoor cafe for some breakfast in the sun with coffee and chai! The weather was incredible this weekend and it felt like a summer afternoon sitting outside at the cafe! After breakfast we made a quick Superbowl beer stop, showered up at my place and then drove over to Nate and Lindsey's for some Super Bowl watching.

I can't think of anything better than spending an afternoon after a long run, hanging out with friends, eating yummy food and vegging on the couch watching football! Glorious I tell ya! And then to top it all off, there was a special episode of GLEE on after the game! AND, there's even another new Glee on on Tuesday! Life is good people.

Our yummy spread! Lindsey's delicious mushroom and cheese quesadillas, 7 layer bean dip (in honor of KONAS), good ol' guac, and Joe's mom's famous garlic dip! Pair that grub with a cold one (a Hansen's orange lime soda for the weak sauce drinker - me!) and I was feeling like I was living a little slice of heaven yesterday!

Yum, I wish this was in front of me again right now!

The brothers chill-axing with some yummy eats!

Some of my favorite peeps.

oooooh and PS - On Saturday night, Joe and I went to see Laura play the cello in Saratoga! She was fantastic, the music was beautiful and I have to say I was just so darn impressed - I wish I had a picture to share!

Happy week everyone!

Song of the day

Totally unrelated to the Superbowl, but I love this song....

Simple Pleasures

1) Reading on Lisa's blog that she got to go home for the week!

2) Letters from my Grandma telling me stories of how she and my grandpa went to Triple A to get a map of the bay area so they could see where Joe lives.

3) Lime Sparkling water

4) Homemade Vinegar cleaner

5) Pictures of my grandma on Facebook (she bought a pair of pants with a sparkly design on the bottom - the design was a skeleton but my sweet grandma bought them because she thought they were flowers)

6) Hearing happiness in my sister's voice on the phone.

White light needed

I'm a firm believer in the power of sending positive energy to the people that we love. My good friend Kat calls it sending white light, which I love and so I'm borrowing the phrase here. My dear friend Lisa is in the final trimester of her pregnancy and has been having some medical complications that the doctors have not been able to figure out. She is in the hospital now, but hoping to head home for the week to rest before welcoming her new baby boy into the world next weekend. If you've got any extra white light in you today and this next week, could you send some Lisa's way?

Sending you so much love, peace and healthy white light Lisa!

I'm officially a nerd..

I mean I guess this probably isn't news to anyone who really knows me, but by posting the following video, I am giving up any hope of denying it!

May the force be with you! (I'm talking to you and Henry, Lisa!)

Simple Pleasures

* A good night sleep after a relaxing massage.

* Good energy as a result of a good night sleep and a relaxing massage.

* Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap - so refreshing in the morning!

* Roasted red peppers

* Good Earth Sweet and Spicy Tea

* Yummy leftovers that only require a little heating up after a long day

* Seeing a light bulb go on when one of my 8th grade bball players gets a new concept and does it right on the floor!

* Thank yous from the girls after our game last night. PS - We won :).

* Having a girl ask - Coach, do you know what the score of the Duke, UCONN game is? I love that they are into college bball!

* Having an old high school coach who I can go to for offensive strategy advice.

* Running through possible strategies to prepare for the next team that we play.

--can you tell I love this coaching stuff :)?

Happy Tuesday!