Saturday, May 12, 2012
Ivan and I's mini road trip and our Family Race! : )
Last Friday turned out to be absolutely spectacular!! I mentioned in my last post that Ivan and I were going to go on a spontaneous drive since he was going to be off a Friday finally. We decided to see where our hearts would take us....and a full tank of gas of course. Who are we kidding, gas is expensive in itself, so we would drive as far as 30 dollars would take us! : ) The day was absolutely stunning outside. Warm, yet a nice cool breeze leaving room for lots of happy smiles. I have always wanted to drive down the coast, so we decided to head in the direction of water.
As we drove, we listened to the latest albums of Goteye and Red Hot Chile Peppers. I love listening to entire albums on trips because it creates an imprinted memory of that particular day/s, that way when you listen to that song in the far future you think of that memory and it instantly puts a grin on your face...For instance, the Temper Tramp album reminds me of my daily commute to work across the San Mateo bridge. I would be waking myself up in the mornings singing my lungs out with the windows rolled down, with the cool breeze in my face. Making sure to quickly turn down the music and roll up my windows just in the nick of time as I pulled into my school's parking lot. It was my version of coffee. And yet till this day, everytime I hear a Temper Tramp song it never fails to remind me of those happy days.
Before you knew it we were at a Free wine tasting room at Casa de Fruta (don't remember the freeway, sorry!). How we ended up here...wel that is pretty simple, we saw FREE! And to our suprise, no purchase, no sign up, no nothing was necessary. It was just plain FREE! We indulged in some good ole fruit inspired wines, and left happy! Our next stop was the San Juan Bautista Mission. Again, we saw a sign, and decided to stop. It was quite fun. We felt like complete tourists, as if we had traveled such a far distance, excited to see every possible site. The mission was beautiful, not to mention the incredible view of florishing vineyards.
Ivan recalled a place he had been to with his cousin many many years ago in Big Sur with a waterfall. I had never been before, so we decided to continue driving and reach our half tank mark. We ended up in a park named Julia Phifier Park, which indeed has a waterfall! The sight was stunning, I seriously felt like I was at a tropical island getaway . The water reflected hints of turquosie and sea green. The time we spent admiring this beautiful site did not comp the time we actually spent driving to this magnificent site, although the three hours was well worth the sight in itself. But it was beginning to get late so we decided to head back. On our way home we stopped in Monteray to grab a quick bite to eat. All in all, it was a beautiful day. It is so exciting and fun to not know where you are going and just see where you end up (What life should be like!).
During the week, I spent a lot of time working and putting in extra hours at my tutoring site since it was the last week. I squeezed in some new recipes to add to my portfolio :) (Thai Spicy Basil Chicken, Thai style beef salad, and Cuban garlic chicken with fried platanos) I painted some, and began a new collage project (of course). I was mostly looking forward to our family's race on Saturday all week!
Today couldn't have came quicker! Our family ended up fundraising a total of 1,300!!! I am super proud of everyone! We definelty kicked butt! The race called for us getting up at the break of dawn, as it was in San Jose and would require a drive. But for once in my life, I didn't mind the early wake up call because I was so excited for the day. A possy of orange dressed peeps (being my family and a few friends) arrived pumped and ready to kick the race in the butt. Being that our team name was Kick it in the Butt, we couldn't fall short of anything less. I don't know what was better, seeing many of my family members unite for such an awesome cause, hearing from actual individuals who had received a bone marrow donation or donated, witnessing a 12 year old kid and his family raise 10,000 for Be the Match after being saved at the age of 2 from a bone marrow transplant that came from an umbilical cord, or the abundant amount of energy everyone had to make a difference in this world! It was all rather touching and so inspiring! The actual run, was beautiful, we all finished!! What a day it was, truly memorable. I hope you all can one day take part in something like this, I promise you, you will not regret it : ). Below are some photos to illustrate all my jibber jabber. And you can see the short do I've been promising to post.
Much Love, Keep following!
Friday, May 4, 2012
And the race continues...
And the race continues! Last week my family and I had a garage sale fundraiser for our Be the Match walk taking place next week. We were able to raise a total of 250 dollars! Our goal was 500, and we surpassed it! It was such a great time having our family unite for this amazing cause. Even the little kiddos did their part by selling cupcakes and lemonade...if anyone out there is interested in donating to our team, visit bethematch.org and donate to be the match be the one run, team "kick it in the butt."
The San Diego half marathon is also quickly approaching too! I've been working my tail off getting my weekly miles in so I'm ready for race day! I love to walk/run, but I do get bored at moments, so I try and change it up from time to time and attend a workout class at the gym instead...anything that gets my blood flowing and heart pumping works.
Alright so I must share with you all my new hobby for this month...yes, another! Sewing! I decided to sew my friend Alyssa a clutch that matches her wedding colors that she can use for when we are all out in Hawaii. I saw something on a DIY YouTube video (another one of my new guilty pleasure hobbies)and was inspired to try it! I didn't do half bad, yet the stitching inside was a bit rusty, but no one will be looking inside I figured. I can honestly say I have never dabbed into so many new hobbies before...thanks to cancer I've had the chance to try lots of new past times;)
On a separate note, I have one more week left of work at the after school program and tutoring:) yay! I get two short weeks off, and then I start teaching summer school for a month. And once summer school ends its off to Hawaii!!! Ivan and I's close friends are getting married in Maui and we are both super excited to attend! It will be an opportunity for us to finally get a honeymoon and also a time to celebrate getting through this past difficult year. We can't be more excited!
Tomorrow Ivan is off, so we are taking off on a spontaneous day trip...who knows where we will end up! This is the first Friday he has been off in months since he has had classes on Fridays this whole semester. I'm sooo proud of him for getting through his first semester back at school. He did super well in his classes. I'm a proud wifey! I should get some rest for our excursion tomorrow. Just wanted to update you all a little. I'll be sure to let you all know about how the walk goes next Saturday. Until then, take care and God Bless!
P.s. I've been meaning to post a picture of my new hair coming in...yikes! I've lagged. In case you all are wondering, I look just like my mom, hahaha. Not, but seriously I'll get one up soon! I'm sporting all kinds of new do's as my hair grows back!!! Suggestions??
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