Thursday, March 31, 2011

thank heavens for old friends

A good college friend of mine came into town last weekend (I know it's practically next weekend already - I've been blog slacking!). Darrel and I lived together with a bunch of other crazy kids during our sophomore and junior years at college. I have to be honest and admit that I was a little bit stressed about hosting him for the whole weekend as my weekends have become precious time set aside for getting to see Joe. In fact, I was so stressed about it that I ended up crying on the phone to Joe for about 1/2 an hour, just before Darrel's train pulled into town - sometimes the stresses of being in a semi-long distance relationship wear me down - I'm not proud of that :(. In any case all this is to say that having Darrel here for the weekend was such a blessing. As soon as Darrel hopped in my car, he could tell that I wasn't feeling great (my red, teary eyes might have given him a big clue :)) and it didn't take more than a few minutes for me to feel comfortable pouring my heart out about how hard a semi-long distance relationship with a partner in an intense grad school program can be. I'm afraid that I must sound like a completely ungrateful, unappreciative person by focusing on what is hard about my relationship with Joe instead of focusing on how much better life is with him in it, but in my attempt to be strong through a stressful situation, sometimes I don't allow myself the opportunity to express my true feelings and boy did it feel good to pour it all out. Darrel was an incredible listener over dinner that evening and made me feel like I wasn't crazy for feeling as stressed over a good thing as I was.

We spent the weekend sleeping in until 10am ( I never do that!), listening to the pouring rain outside, making the most delicous banana bread, shopping with Kat for some bridal shower supplies, hosting an impromptu pasta dinner with a few friends before heading off to Laura's concert, walking the dish, watching college bball, making pizzas and just catching up and talking about life. I admire Darrel's drive in his professional life and his willingness to continue to reflect on life in order to grow. Between the converstaion and the break from my usual routine, the weekend ended up being so rejuvenating. Here's a few pics...








Thursday, March 24, 2011

Song of the day

This is simply beautiful...

Stephanie + Chris from scotty perry on Vimeo.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

the Team :)




A group of pretty cool girls at our team party tonight - how did I get lucky enough to be their coach?!

and look what they made for me...

My heart just melted when I opened it. I gave the girls little quotes on colored construction paper with a ribbon tied to it before each game, so they told me that they made the frame to look like our game quotes.

I hope Tara Vanderveer finds this post and is looking for a new assistant bball coach :), I just love this stuff.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

resilience

I do not have adequate words to express the sadness I felt on Friday as news of the earthquake in Japan began to unfold. Having lived in Japan for a year, my heart sank a little further on Friday morning as my thoughts turned to my friends there.

I found this article at some point during the day and very much appreciated the sentiments it conveyed - Sympathy for Japan, and Admiration.

Joe and I spent our morning getting an earthquake survival kit together. We included the following:
Band aids
Sterile Gauze
Neosporin
Benedryl
Anti-bacterial wipes
lighter
candles
contact solution
extra pair of contacts
2 gallons of water
2 cans of tuna
2 cans of beef soup
2 cans of chef boyardee ravioli
change of clothes
leatherman
document with emergency contact numbers
copy of photo id

We both have blankets and rain coats in our car as well as a stash of water and first aid supplies. (Let me know if you think we are forgetting anything :)). Here is a good link in case you are interested in making sure your emergency kit is up to par - Survival Kit

I will be sending so much white light to Japan as they begin to pick up the pieces in the coming weeks.

May Japan's spirit of resilience shine brightly.

Friday, March 11, 2011

1000 paper cranes


My heart goes out to all of Japan and everyone affected by tsunami warnings. My friend Kat had this posted on her Tumblr site this morning and I thought it was beautiful...Sending so many prayers out this morning.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Rest

Good, quality rest is something that I struggle to get enough of - in the past 2 or 3 years, my body has been telling me more and more that it needs rest. I've struggled to listen or to be able to fully over come my desires to exercise like super woman or to push my stress/anxiety out of my mind. I stumbled upon this great list for promoting rest today and wanted to share...

http://www.exerciseprogression.com/rest.html

Enjoy!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Weekend simple pleasures

1) Boys that voluntarily stay beyond their own practice time to help my girls work through our defense.

2) vacuuming out my car - call me crazy, I love having a clean car.

3) Taking Joe to the Hillview Alumni game to see girls I coached last year play versus the girls I am coaching this year.

4) The electric energy of a basketball gym full of fans and passionate athletes.

5) romantic Saturday night dates in new restaurants (We tried Mantra in Palo Alto - two thumbs up, I recommend the Traditional Tikka Masala.

6) kickin' loverboy's butt on our morning track run ;)

7) almond croissants and espresso at Douce France

8) Big pots of Sunday chili and cornbread

9) pre-game planning for tomorrow's big game

10) finishing the entire Star Wars series - I can't believe I'm saying this, but I absolutely love the movies!

11) finally putting Bouef Bourginon dinner on the calendar

12) feeling my normal energy levels coming back after a week of feeling exhausted

13) listening to Joe play the guitar - he's so darn good :)

14) message from Lisa that baby Henry rec'd his onesie.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Get rhythm when you get the blues...

Happy, happy Friday - so ready for some more r&r this weekend. Little bit of a rough week health wise - it's true, getting old isn't for sissies! But let me tell ya the harmonies, melodies and lyrics of these women were a little bit of saving grace for me this week...enjoy and happy, restful weekend to you!