Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
gift wrap
Sometimes I wonder if we appear simple or complex to each other. I think every person comes with complicated packaging (maybe mostly or our own making) and it is the unpacking that reveals that person's simpler forms and smaller boxes. When I'm tuned into someone I'm never sure who's unpacking whom but I know when the boxes need careful opening. The rest of the time I feel like I'm tearing open a present!
95,040 inches = 1.5 miles
That's about the distance of my typical once a week run/walk/limp from Park Blvd to Balboa Park. In the past at the 63,360 inch mark I've gotten tired and had to walk. At other times, I've completed 95,040 inches but felt like passing out afterwards and thus limped home. Today, I did a few things differently. I had on my new hat and t-shirt (thanks mom) and my iPod loaded with painstakingly selected running songs. I've needed a hat for about 4 months to contain my Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon hair during athletic moments but I couldn't bring myself to buy a hat. Sure, I've got enough bacon bits to get a hat but flying all the way back to the St. Croix Valley and having my mom get out the box of baseball hats from the top shelf of the basement closet is SO much better. She saves everything and I like it when I can become a reason why.
Having the iPod with me this time was the equivalent to doping on the Tour De France. I swear I ran faster...a lot faster...and I did not get tired and nothing except flowers and the smell of eucalyptus existed. My only concern is that I will not pay enough attention at crosswalks and a green and red tourist tram will end it for me. However, the zoo is close by and those Zoo Doctors work some amazing miracles on the Rhinos and Swans.
Having the iPod with me this time was the equivalent to doping on the Tour De France. I swear I ran faster...a lot faster...and I did not get tired and nothing except flowers and the smell of eucalyptus existed. My only concern is that I will not pay enough attention at crosswalks and a green and red tourist tram will end it for me. However, the zoo is close by and those Zoo Doctors work some amazing miracles on the Rhinos and Swans.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
A Sad Week - Sister Agnes Ward
Earlier this week my mom called to tell me that Sister Agnes passed away. She was in her 90's and lived a full life but it hasn't stopped me from feeling really sad. I've known Sister Agnes since I've known the world. She has spent vacations in Florida with us, she was a friend to my mom for much of her life and she knew my mother's mother. It's a jarring blow to the heart when a person of such continuity and compassion leaves your life. She went on many adventures, travelling to Ireland and Europe and devoting her life to the catholic faith. I will forever be inspired by her capacity to love and the friendship she shared with our family.
2006 at the Bethany Convent Nursing Home, St. Catherine's College in Saint Paul, MN.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
3pm to 4am
At 3pm the weekend bell goes off, the horses explode out of the gate, rubber peels, oil fields erupt.
There were 3 goals I had for the weekend:
1. Avoid typical introverted behavior
2. Run
3. Eat raw broccoli
1. Inverting the Introvert
I am very happy to report that I accomplished all 3 things starting with a visit to a local Persian Restaurant called Soltan Banooo at the suggestion of my new Peruvian-Guatemalan-SanDiegan friend. The first thing I tried was Ash Anar which is a pomegranate soup made with lentils, beans, wheat, spinach, and herbs cooked in pomegranate juice. One taste and you are taken to a completely different place. The rest of the food was equally inspiring and it is now my new favorite San Diego restaurant. "PGSD" is very good at picking restaurants and I will eat anywhere she tells me from now on. It's tragic to eat at great neighborhood restaurants alone. In keeping with the theme of 'other places' my new friend had great stories to tell of having grown up in San Francisco and traveling the world starting at age 19. That's a good person to have dinner with.
Later Friday night I went to the sold out Brandi Carlile concert at the Casbah in Little Italy. I'd been to one other show in Minneapolis with my friend Nelle and this show was really different. The connection she had with the crowd was electric and the show she put on was one to remember. Best part, I got to meet her and get a cd signed. Normally, I really don't care about that stuff but I really hear and feel a lot from her music. All of you fabulous people in Minneapolis should go see her at the Varisity she's playing two shows and one is already sold out! I think it's the best deal to be had for $15...although they probably jacked up the price there.
2. Run don't walk
On Saturday, I spent 4 or 5 hours procrastinating, coming up with both trivial and valid reasons why I had other things to do than run. Finally, I found my Beverly Hills Nikes and begrudgingly went out the door. I was so glad I did because the run went like this...close your eyes: it's overcast and the smell of jasmine floats in the air, then bursts of eucalyptus in the park and wafts of Thai food from the neighborhood, Roses fade in at the edge of the canyon and a big cloud of bus exhaust. Listen and there's Copeland playing at the carousel, spanish being spoken so fast, an old greek couple laughing. Open your eyes and there's cactus flowers, craftsman homes, mid-century, BMWs and Mustangs racing by. Run is over. Need water.
3. I ate broccoli, raw.
And on Sunday, going back to No. 1, I was Assistant Hostess for Sunday Brunch at the home of a brilliant Swiss-SanDiego furniture designer. We have the same birthday, Feb. 10th (anybody who didn't know this please add it to your calendars and email me two weeks prior for wishlist) and we are exactly a decade apart along with having some other parallel quirks. Anyway, who knew brunch would carry on into the evening. Sure, you could say it's because of the Mimosas and unlimited supply of champagne but I think it was the specific combination of people and suspect we would've carried on even if we'd been drinking wheatgrass juice and eating Not-Dogs.
The rest of Sunday lasted until 4am because I could not sleep which led to the start of my newest project which I will not mention yet.
There were 3 goals I had for the weekend:
1. Avoid typical introverted behavior
2. Run
3. Eat raw broccoli
1. Inverting the Introvert
I am very happy to report that I accomplished all 3 things starting with a visit to a local Persian Restaurant called Soltan Banooo at the suggestion of my new Peruvian-Guatemalan-SanDiegan friend. The first thing I tried was Ash Anar which is a pomegranate soup made with lentils, beans, wheat, spinach, and herbs cooked in pomegranate juice. One taste and you are taken to a completely different place. The rest of the food was equally inspiring and it is now my new favorite San Diego restaurant. "PGSD" is very good at picking restaurants and I will eat anywhere she tells me from now on. It's tragic to eat at great neighborhood restaurants alone. In keeping with the theme of 'other places' my new friend had great stories to tell of having grown up in San Francisco and traveling the world starting at age 19. That's a good person to have dinner with.
Later Friday night I went to the sold out Brandi Carlile concert at the Casbah in Little Italy. I'd been to one other show in Minneapolis with my friend Nelle and this show was really different. The connection she had with the crowd was electric and the show she put on was one to remember. Best part, I got to meet her and get a cd signed. Normally, I really don't care about that stuff but I really hear and feel a lot from her music. All of you fabulous people in Minneapolis should go see her at the Varisity she's playing two shows and one is already sold out! I think it's the best deal to be had for $15...although they probably jacked up the price there.
2. Run don't walk
On Saturday, I spent 4 or 5 hours procrastinating, coming up with both trivial and valid reasons why I had other things to do than run. Finally, I found my Beverly Hills Nikes and begrudgingly went out the door. I was so glad I did because the run went like this...close your eyes: it's overcast and the smell of jasmine floats in the air, then bursts of eucalyptus in the park and wafts of Thai food from the neighborhood, Roses fade in at the edge of the canyon and a big cloud of bus exhaust. Listen and there's Copeland playing at the carousel, spanish being spoken so fast, an old greek couple laughing. Open your eyes and there's cactus flowers, craftsman homes, mid-century, BMWs and Mustangs racing by. Run is over. Need water.
3. I ate broccoli, raw.
And on Sunday, going back to No. 1, I was Assistant Hostess for Sunday Brunch at the home of a brilliant Swiss-SanDiego furniture designer. We have the same birthday, Feb. 10th (anybody who didn't know this please add it to your calendars and email me two weeks prior for wishlist) and we are exactly a decade apart along with having some other parallel quirks. Anyway, who knew brunch would carry on into the evening. Sure, you could say it's because of the Mimosas and unlimited supply of champagne but I think it was the specific combination of people and suspect we would've carried on even if we'd been drinking wheatgrass juice and eating Not-Dogs.
The rest of Sunday lasted until 4am because I could not sleep which led to the start of my newest project which I will not mention yet.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
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