On Oct 7, Nyia is 7!!!

I got a call yesterday morning.  It was Nyia who was thanking me for the birthday card and the $7.00 that was in it.  She also told me it was going to be a great day - she and her mom had made delicious cookies that she was taking to her school.  We talked a bit and then I thanked her for calling me.  She thanked me for answering the phone.

Looks like it was a great day after all.

We did it!!!

Olivia and I finished our first 1/2 Marathon...13.1 miles of it!! 

  It was fun - a statement I never thought I would make about running,
let alone running anything beyond 400 meters! 

Beautiful day -could not be more perfect. 

Flat course - mostly. 

A lot of things to see and, therefore, distract you from doing what you are doing -

which is running an ungodly distance. 

And, then...

there is the finish line

ah sweet finish line. 

O did it in 2:35

I did it in 3:00

both of us did it faster than we thought we would.

Crystal and Roger were there at the end
which made the finish line even sweeter.

My Saturday

Yesterday was my Saturday to take Lo and Ny to gymnastics.  It was Cal Football Saturday so crazy crazy crowded (Cal won, I found out later), and making parking a mercenary affair.

After gymnastics, we went to a new small farmer's market in Berkeley - to see Crystal and her new friend.  O and Dom came by as well.  Crystal's friend made me a Piadini with tomatoes, eggplant, soft cheese, seasoning, a bit of sweet chili sauce - it was amazing!  We also had grilled peaches with goat cheese - delectable combo.  The girls ate a buffalo taco on Indian fry bread.  Gotta love Berkeley!

After that, Lo, Ny and I went to SF to the Legion on Honor where there was a children's art program in the afternoon.  They learned about perspective by cutting out wedges, visiting the Paris - City of Lights exhibit, sketching a bit and then coming back and putting it all together.

The top one is Nyia's and the bottom is Loli's.

Terrific program.  Nyia wanted to sketch more but we did not have paper - she asked if she could borrow some from other people in the gallery who were sketching.  I told her not to bother them - they were concentrating.  I also told her we would come back with proper supplies and she could sketch to her heart's content.

We then went outside - a particularly magnificent day in San Francisco. 

To be close enough to visit this particular site makes us very fortunate indeed.

After that, we went for ice cream.  We chose Fentons because Nyia had been there and raved about a certain ice cream that she had with her mom (coffee with some kind of chocolate).  Back through the city - bustling and crowded and slow going - but because it was such a beautiful day, it was ok.

At Fentons - also crowded as usual.  The sizes are a bit deceiving...not smaller but bigger than they appear.  So I overordered for all of us.  They had it in a cup, I in a cone.  We sat outside and, not far into my eating journey, my cone broke sending my huge ball of ice cream heading to the ground.  Amazingly I caught it (why and how I do not know) and went back in to get a cup and spoon.

None of us finished - which was really a good thing. 

I sent Lo in for lids.

While Lo was on that quest, Ny told me she was going to throw up.

Now, it is definitely NOT decorous to hurl in front of Fentons.

I told her to breathe deeply and hold on!

We all went in,

I got lids

we found our way to the restroom.

Ny held on and was fine.

Back on the road home.   They were working through a bit of a sugar high.

Fortunately, one was going to grana's and one to dad's :-).

One terrific Saturday.

Mt Tam and Sausalito Art Festival

We drove and then hiked up to the top of Mt Tamalpais.  Beautiful day and amazing view - altho part was a bit hazy.  I took quite a few pictures - none came out as breathtaking as the view itself - some because I am still not fluent in camera.  I did like this one tho...because San Francisco looks like a city in a fairy tale.

Then we went to the Art festival in Sausalito.  Interesting, unusual, large and small, unique, beautiful art...some artists that caught me enough to get cards and look up their work on line:

Lisa Telling Kattenbraker

batik

 http://www.lisauntitled.com/.

"Walking through childhood's city"

"She was always prepared for what she suspected might be just around the corner"

Nicario Jimenez
Artist of the Andes
Retablo
http://www.retablosnicario.com/

Flora Zarate

Peru

Fiber Art

Beauties all

sometimes it's good, sometimes it's just not

ran 4 miles

on Sunday

on the waterfront

weather was perfect

new Ipod shuffle

cute as the dickens

new playlist

some good songs

some got axed later that day

all good

Monday

talked to my son

good

then to work

good

after work

decided to go to

because the WOD was...

July 12, 2010

Five rounds for time of:

400M Run

25 GHD Sit-ups

25 Back/Hip Extensions

one would think that

after a 4 mile run,

this would be easy squeezie

however

it felt like this

and this

and this

and finally

almost

like

this

what the heck?????????

My Saturday for Gymnastics

We, meaning the adults in the Williams family (those stateside, that is), take turns taking the grands to Saturday morning gymnastics.

Sometimes, gymnastics is just plain fun...

sometimes it is painful...

and then we get to be silly at Target

Donation Quilts

Made two more donation quilts - going to a hospital.  The effort is sponsored by Downy.  They supply the fabric, we supply the batting and the work.  I named one Kool Kicks and the other Ahoy Matey.

preview of the fourth

bbq pizza

famous ribs

skylights

mosaics

Nyia heard about mosaics at school and had been after me to do some...which we finally did last weekend.

1st 5K

Ran it today.  It was around Lake Merritt in Oakland as part of their 4th Sunday run.  Olivia ran it too.  Finishing times:  Olivia - 29min, me - 38.50 min.  I ran straight for the better part of 2 miles, then ran walked the rest (with 3 walks total).  It was fun and I was happy with my results - most notably that I finished it and was not on the ground gasping for breath.  Crystal, Roger, the girls were there too as spectators.  Went to breakfast after and then home for a nap.

then and now 2