Archive for The good stuff

super (bowl) sunday

Recently I’ve discovered a fondness for Sunday mornings.

There is a stillness that, in the city at least, is unique to Sunday mornings.  Most of the city wakes up late, so the streets are deserted and calm.  Which is why, as someone who fancies herself to be claustrophobic, it’s my favorite time of the week to explore.

This Sunday morning, though, was even better than most.    

Because this morning, I woke up to a beautiful summer day in San Francisco.

In February.

Not to rub it in to anyone who might be reading from another part of the country, but um, why do you live there?  You should live here.  It’s way better.  We get seventy degrees and sunny in the middle of “winter.”

(Let’s just ignore the whole verge-of-bankruptcy thing and ridiculously high cost of living and taxes for a moment.)

The hubby decided to take advantage of the beautiful morning by going for a quick run to the Golden Gate Bridge.  He wanted me to join him but I am under no delusions of being in good enough shape to keep up with him for 8.5 miles (roundtrip, but still about 6 more miles than I am comfortable with). 

I did however finally convince myself to take advantage of the empty treadmill and despite my goal of thirty minutes per day, I’ve now managed to spend a grand total of  forty-five minutes on the treadmill a mere thirty-seven days into the new year.  Luckily, my expectations for myself in the exercise-department were not exactly high to begin with so I’m actually kind of proud of myself that I exercised sometime in Q1.

We originally planned to drive over to the farmer’s market when Paul finished his run, but he had passed by on his way to the bridge and said it looked packed and he didn’t think we’d find parking.  Since it was such a beautiful day out and I was riding the momentum of non-laziness from my morning jaunt, we decided to walk to Fort Mason instead.

My hips were hurting a bit already but we made it there in decent time and the scenery was gorgeous and so worth the arthritis.  I got to see Paul’s jogging route and I must say if I were a single gal in the city, I’d probably get familiar with that path, if you know what I mean!

After we picked up a bunch of fresh fruits and veggies from the market we grabbed a cab and headed home so Paul could make his Superbowl Sunday seven-layer dip (which I’m currently recovering from, from my natural position on the couch in front of the tv =). 

And now it’s kick-off time and I’m trying to remind myself to enjoy days like this while I can because one way or another we will have kids someday and, God-willing, Sundays like this will be nothing but a fond memory…

wanted: one non-medically induced good night’s sleep

I started practicing piano again in earnest this weekend. 

The cold hurt my poor little arthritic fingers, but once I had a chance to warm them up a bit things weren’t sounding so bad. 

And it felt damn good.  To have it all make sense again. 

Or at least start to.

I’m going to try make that a habit from now on.  I think I need it.  It’s another form of catharsis, release of emotion through music perhaps? 

This is choppy and I’m tired.  Sent the hubby out to play with some of his frat buddies.  I declined the invitation to join because I have no desire to get home drunk at midnight and try to wake up at the pre-buttcrack of dawn also known as 4am.  I don’t think it really counts as the crack of dawn because the moon is still quite dominant at that time of night and I think even the roosters are still fast asleep since it doesn’t get light for another 2-3 hours depending on the season. 

So yeah, pass on that.

But once again I sit here trying to drug myself into sleep and it’s not working and I’m starting to really freak out because now it’s 9pm.  Which means even if I were to fall asleep this very second, I will still only get seven hours of sleep. 

Sigh.

At this rate I should be overjoyed if I get six and a half.  Six is probably a more realistic number and it makes me sad. 

I like sleep.

the reason

I almost forgot this year. 

I knew Christmas was coming, of course, but this year has just been so exhausting that all I could think about was, “I can’t wait for the time off.” 

And that was pretty much the extent of it. 

Until yesterday as I was driving to pick up Paul from the office and this Christmas song came on with a refrain where the voice of a small child is reading this:

And the angels said fear not for behold
I bring you good news of a great joy that shall be for all people
For unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord
And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace

It was almost shocking, the realization that I have not thought about this at all this year.  With stressing over gifts and donations, worrying about various get-togethers, and dealing with all the other operational issues surrounding this holiday, I’ve almost felt like Christmas has been just another obstacle I have to “get through.” 

It’s embarrassing to admit this, but I forgot about Jesus. 

Forgot that this is ALL supposed to be about Him.  That without Him, none of the rest of it would matter. 

It was kind of like a gentle slap in the face from up above. 

One that I desperately needed just two days before Christmas.

Today will still be spent wrapping presents, checking on Paul’s Christmas roast and packing for LA, but I’m not going to let myself get bogged down in these chores. 

Because now I feel it…that old Christmas spirit…the wonder of the miracle of the birth of a Savior.  Amazed that as imperfect and broken as I am, I have a Father in Heaven who loves me enough to send His perfect Son to earth to die…for me.  How can you not be blown away by that realization? 

So on that note, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!  I know I plan to!

a random act of kindness

Living in the city, even one as “friendly” as SF, can make you cynical. 

This sea of people, it makes it easier to ignore everything around you.  To disengage and simply look away in the face of someone who could use a helping hand.

Some of it is, of course, self-preservation.   There is so much suffering in this world that if our minds didn’t filter some of it, it would be easy to get lost in it.   There is, after all, so little we can do about a lot of the pain we see around us (although, would it really be so bad if we always still tried?). 

But sometimes, there is something we can do.  And sometimes, we need to be reminded that we should be engaged with the world, we should notice when there’s something we can do to help someone else.  Sometimes its not what we can do to change someone’s life, but their day, or even just a moment.

I’m definitely guilty of this.   Patience is not a virtue I was blessed with so I tend to be one of those people who wants to get where I’m going five minutes ago.  This is an excellent trait to have at work, but outside it means I’m not always paying close attention to my surroundings because I’m so focused on myself and where I need to be.  I’m sure I miss opportunities to live what I believe (that the most important thing you can do with your life is help others), probably on a daily basis.

Yesterday something happened that made me pause and remind myself that I’d really like to be one of those people who lends a hand without a second thought.  And that indeed, that should be one of my achievable, lifestyle change new year goals. 

I was in my hometown, waiting at a red light.  The rain was coming down pretty hard.  Across the street in the left turn lane, a car had broken down and a man was trying to push it across the intersection to the gas station on the other side.  The light had just turned green for cars going straight and it was clear that it was going to take him awhile to complete his task, meanwhile he would be blocking four lanes of traffic.  And suddenly, the passenger side door of the truck next to me opened up and a man got out and jogged across the street and helped this stranger quickly push his car through the intersection to the gas station.  Some douche bags actually started honking and tried to go through the intersection while they were still in it but I just sat there, patiently for once (it was admittedly easy since I was half an hour early).  Kind of stunned though, really.  And inspired. 

This man got out of what I assume was a dry truck to go into the pouring rain to help a stranger who obviously needed it.  For no other reason than it was the right thing to do and he knew he could help. 

Yet, how many times have I been in that same situation (not with pushing a car, because I’m more useless than helpful when it comes to physical labor) but chosen to look away because to do otherwise might have been an inconvenience? 

I didn’t think of it until it was much too late, but I wish I had checked to see if there was a phone number on that truck somewhere so I could call that guy’s boss and tell them what an upstanding employee they had.  Instead, I’ll just have to send this story out into the world this way and hope that karma is real, at least for that guy. 

Whoever he is, I hope he knows that yesterday he inspired someone.

The next time there are lost tourists in front of me, rather than sighing in exasperation as I try to maneuver around them on the sidewalk, instead I will ask them if I can help them find something.   No matter how tired I am or how badly I just want to get home.

I’ve also decided to contact the volunteer coordinator for the program I tutored with this past spring and tell her I would like to volunteer again this coming semester.  It’s something I’d been thinking about doing anyway because as big of a pain in the butt as my last kid was, I kind of miss it. 

So, we’ll see how this goes.  I’ll keep ya posted.

through sickness and health

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night, burning up and sweating profusely. I was also shivering from cold.

That was my first hint that I might not be making it into the office today.

I popped some tylenol and laid there trying not to wake up Paul but around 3AM the boy must have sensed I was in pretty bad shape because out of nowhere he woke up and looked at me.

It only took four words: I have a fever.

You should have seen my hubby spring to action. In thirty seconds flat there was a cold towel on my forehead and he was running downstairs to grab an icepack (wrapped in a towel) to position under my neck. Keep in mind he had been fast asleep two minutes earlier (and that it was 3AM!).

I don’t know that I ever imagined being taken care of this well.

And can you see why I want to have babies with this man? Honestly, sometimes I worry about my own ability to be a mother, but I have never questioned that Paul will be an amazing father. The man knows how to take care of the people he loves.

Well, I still feel pretty horrible overall, so I think I’m going to go back to drinking my soup (which Paul made for me before he left to work…okay, I’ll stop now..). The monitor is giving me a headache.

giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Paul and I decided to celebrate this year by making donations to the Wounded Warrior Project and Meals on Wheels. We are so thankful to ALL our troops who are bravely defending us around the world! And we hope to pass that thanks along by brightening up someone else’s holiday meal this year!

Both of these organizations are doing such great work, I hope you’ll consider supporting them if you can! (WWP was recommended to me by one of my coworkers who was wounded in Afghanistan).