Strolling Through Fall

{Autumn in Apple Hill}

 {Street Decor}

 {Fall Skies = Beautiful Skies}

 

{Moonlighting}

{Ceramic Holiday Sale}

Revamped!

My room was in much need of a day full of reorganization, which is exactly what I did on Monday. I spent the whole day (noon to 9pm) cleaning out my closet, getting rid of old clothes, putting together new furniture, and getting rid of my broken bed frame and the stuff mindlessly stored under it.

 

Getting rid of clothes is one of the hardest things for me to do. I don't even know how many times my mom has said to me, "You need to get rid of some of your clothes. You have way too many clothes! I bet you still have stuff in there from high school..." I'm 25, by the way, and no, I do not have clothes from high school still residing in my closet. She doesn't even have to be in my apartment to have an oppinion on the amount of clothes I have. I'll be visiting and we'll be in the car on our way to wherever, probably TJ Maxx (I LOVE to frequent the one by my parents, I almost always find something I love and it's so reasonable!), and out of nowhere she will ask, "You don't need clothes. You need to get rid of what you have before you buy more. You have way too many!" Get out of here, mom! I do not, and will get rid of them when I am good and ready!

That ready feeling finally came. I tend to hold on to things thinking one day I'll find use for it, or having more clothes gives me more opportunity to mix and match when, in reality, I really just wear pretty much the same things 90% of the time. Leggings, boots or sneakers, a comfy top, and a scarf. Well, the pages are finally turning and I am starting to feel that less IS actually more (well kinda). It's definitely hard when you live in an apartment with other people and most of what you own or have accumulated over the years is confined to your room.

This is a start to the cut back.

 

 

New items: 3x3 storage unit, and shoe rack.

Weekend In Photographs...

This past weekend I went out to Livermore for the first annual Roanne's Race and to pay a much needed visit to the Hernandezs.

 

{"And don't forget to bring my dog!" Yeah he wishes!}

 

Friday night I headed out to Livermore to stay with the Hernandezs and get a good nights rest for the first annual Roanne's Race I was running the next morning. The night ended fairly early, as I could barely keep my eyes open after having to be up at 3:50am for work (yes, this is my new shift. It isn't so terrible, but it does make me a party pooper by the time 9pm roles around.) Luckily I didn't have to feel too bad, Jeff and Quincy had to be up early the next morning as well.

 

{Scenery from the Roanna's Race trail. I managed to sneak a few pics while holding my pace.}

 

The first ever Roanne's 5k and 10k Race went off without a hitch! The race is in memory of Roanns Cairel, and a proud suponser of colon cancer research, put on by my roommate and 4 of her best friends who grew up and were extremely close to Roanne. I'll go into more detail about the race, Roanne, and my roommate in a later post when I have the photos I took with my DSLR.

 

{Vinyards at sunset through mile four... not much to complain about these running conditions!}

 

I ran the 10k and felt the race was a bit deceiving. The first two miles were so flat, I mean Livermore isn't very unjulated to begin with. I thought the race would go by fairly quickly and may even be a bit boring, for me anyway. I'm a huge fan of courses with hills, creates a bit of a distraction, and, lets face it, it's good for the behind too. However, much to my surprise, I was wrong. After mile two there was a steady incline until mile four. That's two whole miles at incline! Not bad, if I do say so myself. The last two miles were all flat like the beginning. Another happy surprise was my time. I'm not one to really care about time as long as I don't exceed a 10 min/mi pace and am able to run the whole time. I finished the race in 54 mins, that's a 9 min/mi pace. Go me! The surprise kind of inspired me to start paying more attention to my time and maybe even making more effort to improve my speed. It felt good to see I had improved since my last race, Nike Women's Half, this past October.

 

{Yep. This is what I came home to after the race.}

 

{He had a teribble time at the Hernandez's this weekend...}

 

Chili (on the left) was so funny this weekend. He is normally the king of the house, but little Theo came in and quickly became the center of attention (he is still a puppy after all, and we all know puppies are irresistable). After the race I called Brenda to let her know I was on my way back and she was just cracking up! Come to find out this is what she had been looking at. In the middle of her little paint project with a friend who also had a young yellow lab (not pictured) with him, they had a show put on for them by Theo and Annie, the lab. Benonce to me, running in the dirt, jumping in the pond, back to the dirt, digging, and a little bit of puppy love was much of the mayhame going on while I was doing a bit of running of my own. Cleaning this mut was not so much fun, for either of us. Who knew a puppy could get so much dirt caked into his fur... Chili on the other hand (or should I say paw) had but a splash of dirt on his two front paws. He, in the typical Aussie fashion, was the referee trying to herd them out of the pond and the dirt.

 

{The boys are always trying to fit poor Theo in random places and things.}

 

{Chili not wanting me to leave by staging a lockdown on top of all my bags of new yarn in my car.}

 

Meet Chili. He is a lover, and always making it his job to ensure that guests of the Hernandez home are well taken care of. A little cold or lonely at night on their couch? Don't worry, Chili will gladly lay right beside you all night long, in fact, he'd prefer it! This is the typical treatment I would get whenever I have spent the weekend at the Hernandez's in the past. However, this past weekend in particular felt a bit different. He slept with me on the couch every night, but kept his distance from Theo who also slept in the living room. Normally he gives everyone in the house equal amounts of attention, making his rounds if they are scattered throughout the house, as typical Aussie herders do, trying to make sure a member of the pack hasn’t gone missing. This time, during the day, he was staying extra close to me, sitting on me at times with his butt in my face and head resting away from me on the arm of whatever chair or couch I was sitting in. Whenever someone else would attract Theo's attention, Chili would come over all coyly, gently crawl up on my lap and try to lick me, and taking any attention I had, especially when Theo was close, but not engaged with me. Curious about his behavior, Brenda looked online about Aussies behavior towards guest dogs in their home. What she found? Well, not well socialized Aussies can get extremely use to being the single pack leader of the home and become obsessed with gaining that authority when other dogs are brought into the house. Initially, their behavior starts of subtle by trying to attain all of your attention, but they may become aggressive should you allow them to challenge authority and demand leadership. The article describes them as becoming so obsessed, almost like OCD in humans. Weird… Can a dog or other animals really be ODC? I’ve heard of those meticulous birds that, in trying to attract their female mate, clean the ground area of the forest from all the leaves and branches, and then performs a dance. When I think animal OCD, I think of that bird. Anyways, when I said my goodbyes and opened the car door to get in, I barely had a chance to set my bag inside before Chili jumped in and crawled to the back of the seat, sitting on all my bags of new yarn. As you can see with his sad eyes, he was very reluctant to get out. I can only imagine if he could talk he’d be saying something like, “But you can’t leave! That will separate the pack. The pack must not get separated! I can’t be everywhere at once! You’re going to put my OCD into hyper drive and then I’m going to have an anxiety attack!” *pacing the driveway* *chewing nails*

{Pooped!}

 

Theo after the the much needed break from the city.

Running in the mist of things.

As the rainy season approaches I find it's sadly becoming less and less appealing to be outside (I'm a warm/cool weather kinda gal - jeans/leggings, boots, comfy top, and a scarf, (always accessorize with a scarf!)). I don't find the rain to be particularly depressing, but it does hearten the allure of sitting inside with a blanket, a good movie, something tasty, and my knitting in hand. However, like going to the gym, getting out there this time of the year is half the battle. Once a mile or two into my run, the cold weather is actually fairly enjoyable, especially during a long run, and I didn't even mind the mist in my face.

I snapped a few photos along the way. Just couldn't resist, the remnants of Giant pride contrasted well with the street light glow on the wet pavement.

{Along the Embarcadero}

SF Pride

When the city is full of pride I find it to be one of the most exciting things to witness. Whether you are a die-hard fan or just a courious spectator, the enthusiasm of the masses is just so contagious.

{SF Giants World Series Champions Parade}

DIY To Do

Stubbled upon this neat DIY by Kate at Design Sponge. I think altered with a modern floor lamp base, I would really enjoy having this piece in my room. Add it to the list!

Through the eye of...

My camera....

{Long run through the city and across GG Bridge}

{A Red, White, and Blue SF}

{Baker Beach}

Homecoming

This past week has been an intense and sleepless one. Theo finally reached 8 weeks and was ready for his forever family, ME, and although my family and friends felt the need to "prepare" (more like warn/discourage) me for what I was getting myself into and despite all the research I did, I didn't realize how much he would affect my sleep pattern. The first night was the worst, which was a sad way to end the Homecoming day. A day that started with a road trip to Bakersfield to pick Theo up from his breeder, a pit stop at Petco for last minute Theo shopping, a great car ride back to my parents during which we took our first nap together, him wrapped around my shoulders, chair reclined, and a whole day dedicated to getting to know each other was followed by a night of crying and frustration. Theo is not a huge fan of his crate yet and the first night was the worst of it, getting up every hour and a half, due to barking and whining, thinking he might need to potty. Even though it has taken him almost a week to finally sleep through the night, I am please to see how fast he is catching on to other things/rules. It only took him 3 days to recognize his potty spot and now within two minutes of being taken to it he goes potty. When outside isn't an option, he has already taken to the potty pads for number two business. He doesn't always make it directly on the potty pads to go pee, but he's getting better. I have also seen a significant amount of improvement in his coordination in the past week. He was such a klutz the first half of the week and today he is jumpin out of my lap, up onto the couch, and up a few stairs. We also went on our first bus ride and walk together and he did so well. I took him on a short walk around the block and he followed next to me for the most part with little to no pulling and minimal stopping. One thing we do need to work on, however, is not walking in circles around mommy, tangling her up in the leash. He is still uneasy about being left alone and has some barking issues, so that along with sit, lay down, and come will be the things to be worked on next. Here are a few picks from the week.

Sandy and Michael

Last month I was given an amazing opportunity. Sandy and Michael, friends of friends, were in a bind. Their original engagement photo session fell through due to weather conditions and were not able to re-book with their original photographer in time to get their "Save the Date" cards out. Kristin, our mutual friend, suggested Sandy contact me. When I heard from Sandy I was so grateful that Kristin thought of me and honored that Sandy and Michael would consider me to share in this amazing and memorable time in their lives together. This was my first engagement photo session, and although I was nervous leading up to our meeting, those nerves quickly faded as we got started. Sandy and Michael were so genuinely nice and comfortable to be around, I couldn't imagine it going any smoother. We headed up to one of their favorite spots, Cavallo Point. Here are some of my favorites.

 

 

Recreational Press of 2012

2011 brought many new life experiences, but it also launched blogging to the forefront of my social media awareness. I had been conscious of the blogging world for quite a while, but it wasn't until my cousin, while discussing some fitness facts, had expressed how religiously she follows her favorite blogs AND happening upon my favorite blog, Cupcakes and Cashmere, through good ol' Facebook, that I considered exploring this under-discovered world (well from my perspective anyway). These coinciding events are what started my addiction to blog "following" and my interest in starting one of my own.

I posted a select few over the year, but didn't really have a strong sense of where I wanted to take this new brand of digital community in my life. So, I continued to explore, gathering ideas and expanding my reading list. I found a few common themes of interest, food/nutrition, crafts/home redecorating, photography, travel, and fashion. However, I hadn't foreseen how daunting it would be to come up with a new post daily, let alone weekly.

So, now that 2011 has come to a close, my ideas continue brewing, and the new year promises a fresh taste of experiences, I'm deciding to let go of the pressures of "social media" and instead focusing on an opportunity to create an online dairy of sorts to motivate myself to explore new places and gain new experiences as well as remembering all that I have been through along the way. Stay tuned for my first goal of the new year also inspired by my cousin and one of my favorite blogs. I'm quite excited!!

Saying Goodbye to 2011

Twenty-eleven was a pretty amazing year for me, full of many concerts and weddings, traveling, and new experiences. I got the opportunity to backpack through Europe for the first time with one of my best friends, testing my navigation skills and ability to adapt to any situation, while completely stepping out of my comfort zone. I was given a wonderful camera to explore my interest in photography which opened the door to second shooting and assisting for Shannon, a Wedding Photographer. For the first part of the year, I got back into racing for the first time since 2008, and, after 24 years of living in the Bay Area, finally ran B2B. Last but not least, I was able to make it to most of the concerts and festivals I had my heart set on, minus Outside Lands (I guess that is one I'll have to put at the top of my list this year). Needless to say, I couldn't be more thankful for the experiences I have had this year, and can only hope this year, 2012, will be just as giving. To commemorate the pasting year I have put together some of my favorite photos. Au revoir 2011!

{Sam's Bridal Shower}

{Family Weddings!}

{Races and B2B!}

 {Paris!}

{Florence}

 {Venice}

{Dubrovnik}

 {Athens}

{Split}

{Corfu}

{Santorini}

 {Ios}

 {Concerts}

 {My first shot at being a paid photographer!}

{Chili Dog and trips to SLO!}

            {Niner game and tailgating.}

 

{Larning and discovering new techniques with my camera.}