My Favorite Things

So I've been wanting to make this blog a little more intellectual than it has been, but before I dig into my thoughts on the poverty I'm surrounded by in Oakland, mentoring a group of at-risk 9th graders and the injustices they face, and various existential crises, this weekend has warranted another photo montage in tribute to more awesome Bay adventures.

This weekend included some of my favorite things...

Coming home to snail mail from Raymond, my favorite guy friend from freshman year at NU

Exorbitant amounts of sushi and sake with Muna, Leanna, & Kels

Taking over a Bart car and dancing the night away for Mayte's birthday at Era Art Bar

Hiking in Tilden behind the Berkeley hills in absolutely gorgeous weather - there were incredible views of the Bay after 2 miles of climbing to the top. We got a bit turned around which served as a good excuse for some trail running

Because of the crazy rain we had this week the mud was pretty intense at some parts (yes, this is an embarrassingly accurate portrayal of my slide/scramble) but there were enough beautiful wildflowers to make up for it (photo credit to K. Farbs)

Sat night Jules, Katie, Emily, & I put on our cowboy hats and headed south to Mt. View to see Zac Brown Band . They were awesome live and it was so much fun to be surrounded by so many country lovers (talk about hundreds of VERY attractive cowboys!)

We met up with Danny and a group of his college friends, one of whom was sporting a Captain America costume that was just too funny not to capture on film. We also were lucky enough to leave as proud owners of leftover lawnchairs.

Long calls with friends I haven't seen in years - missing you Leighann & Britta!

Have I mentioned that I love it here? I'm so thankful for the adventures that continue to unfold and to have met people excited to share them with me.

Happiness

I blog daily in my head. Making the time to sit down, write coherently, collect pictures, and make sure there aren't an exorbitant amount of typos, however, is a challenge. A fun, totally of-my-own-doing challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. So now for some belated posts...

If there’s anything I’ve learned from my 23+ years on this earth it’s that life is one heck of a journey. A journey that is often as epic or mundane as we choose to make it, that is made richer through saying yes to opportunity and investing in others, and that will indubitably (such an awesome word, say it five times fast) lead each of us through our (un?)fair share of ups, downs, and yanked-arounds.

Anyways, before I fall into a rambling soliloquy about the meaning of life, the point of this post is to express my gratitude for life in this current moment and for the people in it. Sure, there are still challenges, the impending job search, deadlines, days when I’d give anything to sleep in, frustrating people, and personal “issues” I’m always dealing with, but at the end of the day, I'm happy. Really, truly, genuinely happy. And because that hasn't been the case in a pretty long time, and it's bound to not last forever, I'd say its worth recording.

A large portion of my happiness most recently came from a visit from one of my best friends in the world, Katrina. You know those people who just get you? Who you can laugh, cry, dance, and speak seriously with all in the same hour? Well that’s her. She has been the friend with the shoulder & tissues during my darkest moments, the one trucking with me through the snow, energy drink in hand, for all-nighters in the library, and the friend I’ve shared my deepest secrets, life philosophies, craziest nights, and most uncontrollable laughs with. Needless to say, its been rough not having her down the hall like I've had for the past 3 years. You can imagine my excitement when she arrived in Oakland this past weekend to visit.

We tried to cram as much touristy stuff in as we possibly could in with a short weekend and late nights (a hard task!) but we did make it to the Top of The Mark (INCREDIBLE 360 degree views of the city), played nerds at the Exploritorium, dealt with the insane wind while taking pictures at the bridge, and visited the Shakespeare Garden in honor of her master's program in London.

We spent Friday watching Poprocks, a coverband that sings hits from all the past decades. Picture a ridiculous amount of twenty-something year-olds crammed into a tiny bar dancing the night away singing the classics at the top of their lungs and you'll have a good sense of our night. Let me know tell you, its nights like these when it feels pretty darn good to be young :)

With Kels & Michelle, two of my absolute favorite people and Bay area adventuring buddies

Danny, who I studied abroad with in Australia, decided to join us for the night. This picture pays tribute to the water fight someone (ok, yes, it was me, it was like 110 degrees in there!) started and an Aussie inside joke that will always live on based on this hilarious Dave Chappelle video (fair warning, its a bit offensive)

The following night we threw a birthday party for Kelsey, one of my roommates (in the middle). Minus our lovely photo bomber in the back, it's a great shot of my roomies Hansae, Kels, & Mayte.

We had to grab a Zeta Tau Alpha shot with all the alums. I'm SO thankful to have met Muna & Shannon this year through the alum chapter and can't wait for our May Vegas trip for Shann's bday. I'll finally get to see my uncle Steve, aunt Tina, and cousin Megan too!!

With hours on end with Katrina and an incredible weekend filled with laughter, fun, good talks, and amazing people, it'd take a heck of a lot of effort to not be happy.

Challenges

Running is hard. Eating your veggies is hard too. Especially when you're pathetically out of shape after 4+ years of living in the library [code for not moving], are used to eating nothing but carbs, sugar, and caffeinated drinks, and would much rather plop in front of the TV to relax when you have a rare free minute than cook or exercise.

It was so easy during high school when you had those 2 hours of daily sports built into your schedule and home-cooked meals to look forward to when you got home. It's a whole 'nother ball game when you're working 9-5, have a social life, and find it hard to justify spending hours in the kitchen cooking for one. Welcome to my plethora of lame excuses that fuel my laborious evasion efforts.

Lately I've been feeling more and more of an urgency to reflect on my lifestyle choices and "grow up" and out of the bad ones. If there's anything I've realized, it's how terribly easy it is to delude yourself into thinking that bad habits don't have any tangible negative effects on your body. Its twisted and unfair, really. Nurturing our bodies should be our number one priority and so often we starve it of the use and nutrients it needs to perform at the level we demand of it.

But I've been starting, slowly & painfully, to incorporate exercise and healthier eating back into my life. And to be totally candid, it's really freaking hard. Given the growing obesity epidemic, I reckon a high percentage of Americans won't argue with me on that. It's hard staying motivated, it's hard to not see instant results, it's hard to make time in your schedule, and it's really hard changing ingrained habits.

I hear it gets easier, but right now HARD is the name of the game if you haven't caught on. And in the lovely world we currently live in, its pretty damn tempting to take one of the many easy outs available. But they say it's worth it here, and here, and well, let's be honest, we all KNOW its worth it. Its adding the doing to the knowing that makes the difference.

So in honor of making changes, I spent the morning with Michelle, Kels, Jules, Brian, and Bobcatt running a St. Patty's Day 5k along Crissy Fields. It was cold and early, but a heck of a lot of fun. Running along the water with a beautiful view of the bridge, dressing up in St. Patty's garb, being surrounded by happy runners and friends, and accomplishing something to be proud of [e.g., 3.1 miles in just under 30 minutes, woo hoo] just felt good. Good enough to sign up for another one and maybe even consider a 10k sometime soon.

A beautiful rainbow formed at the end of our race and though our legs were too tired to look for the pot of gold at the end of it, they did carry us to Nick's for crispy tacos and bottomless mimosas.

So here's to the hard times, pushing through them, accepting support from your loved ones, learning a heck of a lot about yourself and life through the process, and finding the moments of beauty and joy amidst them.

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." (Steve Prefontaine)

"To succeed you must first improve, to improve you must first practice, to practice you must first learn, and to learn you must first fail." (Wesley Woo)

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein." (H. Jackson Brown)

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (Unknown)

Pain Now, Wine Later

My very first friend at Northwestern was Miss Emily Garrett. We met on one of those pre-college service trips (shout-out to Camp Heartland!) and ever since she has been on my “most favorite people in the entire world" list. She also introduced me to Kels Farabee, who has officially become my fellow country-lovin' nature-enthusiast, restaurant tester, concert-goer, and general adventurer up in the Bay – her name is also on my “list”.

The three of us spent the summer after our freshman year on a program called Engage Uganda and it goes without saying that living in Uganda for 2.5 months was a pretty life-changing adventure.

The beautiful people, country, and culture of Uganda will always be close to my heart.

HOWEVER. There were quite a few near death experiences. (1) A phobia-inducing [true story, ask Vanessa] rafting trip down the Nile river full of class 5/6 rapids (e.g., literally getting stuck on the top of a 10 ft waterfall, capsizing ½ a million times, and having a hung-over boat guide)

(2) Riding boda-bodas to get around (a.k.a. motorcycle taxis). Without helmets, of course.

(3) Eating quite delicious “meat on a stick” [meat = we-have-no-idea-what-animal-this-is-from] we bought off of street vendors

(4) Repelling HUNDREDS of feet down Sipi Falls feeling totally safe knowing I was being held up by a tiny loop "secured" in a piece of rock at the top of the mountain.

Before I somehow forced myself to step off that cliff, they warned me to put my hair up to avoid "getting it caught in the rope, since that would cause my scalp to be ripped off". My hair was up faster than you could say PARDON, SIR?!




To finish my trip down memory lane, here's a fun story for you: while waiting in the security line to head back to the States a Ugandan woman suddenly whipped around, mumbled something incomprehensible, and proceeded to shove her BABY into Kels' arms to hold while she worked her way through security. True story:

NAPA MARATHON
ANYWAYS. This past weekend Ems flew in from NYC to visit and run the Napa Marathon with Kels. It was SO so good to see her :)

Though I was definitely not running it [they got me a matching skirt to wear though!], Kels’ dad and I had an awesome time cheering, taking pictures, holding up signs, and making multiple Starbucks runs. For all of you who haven’t been to a marathon, it’s a pretty moving [pun intended] experience for all parties involved.

I was in awe of the mental and physical stamina these folks had to endure 26.2 miles. I ran 3 miles a few days ago and not only had to stop and walk halfway through but literally couldn’t walk up stairs the next day. To know that people twice and thrice my age can run almost 9 times that absolutely blows my mind. It certainly motivates me to get moving again, though.

THEY DID IT!

The girls quite quickly earned the names of Hobs and Wobs with their hilarious post-marathon shuffle walking but were total troopers and up for some wine-tasting. We spent the rest of the day catching up on life, trying not to fall asleep, and wine-tasting at both V. Sattui winery and Castello di Amorosa (a legit castle, torture chamber and all).

Napa Round 2 = SUCCESS!

Manderz & Muscat

Have I mentioned lately how amazing my girlfriends are? I feel pretty darn lucky to have found such genuine, beautiful women to share my laughs, cries, and adventures with. And terribly embarrassing moments, too (yes, King Carl of the Hill, you know exactly what I'm referring to).

MANDERZ COMES TO VISIT!

Rewind 4+ years ago to my very first class at Northwestern (i.e.,"Wake Up & Smell the Coffee") and that is where Miss Amanda Jo Haase first graced me with her presence. Manderz was by my side every step of the four years I spent at Northwestern - without her I wouldn't be the person I am today and mostly definitely wouldn't be here in one piece! She & her boyfriend Sam came to visit this past week and let me tell you, getting to spend DAYS with this girl for the first time in 8 months felt. so. good.

I had to work for half of their trip, but we made sure to fit in a full day of Manderz/Bonanz time filled with our usual coffee shop reading, jewelry shopping at Francesca's, and chick flicks. Driving over the Golden Gate, eating a full crab, checking out sea lions at Pier 39 (while getting dive-bombed by sea gulls), and a comedy show also filled our week.

You know those rare friends that you just know in your heart of hearts you'll still be calling up and visiting when you're graying and bouncing your grandkids on your lap? Well, that's the case with Miss Haase - she's most certainly stuck with me for life whether she likes it or not. She's the sister I never had and is truly the salt of the earth - I pretty much won the friend lottery when I decided to take a seat next her in 2007 :)

WINE TASTING IN NAPA - ROUND ONE

Michelle and I have known each other since 5th grade. Yep, 5th grade. For her sake, I'll refrain from telling you how our friendship began (it may or may not have involved a certain up- chucking of cheerios incident on the playground and me triumphantly winning the hand-raise to take her to the office). Ever since that fateful day (sorry Shell, I'll never let you live that down) we became the best of friends and yes, we have those matching friendships necklaces to prove it.

One of the absolute best parts of life in the Bay is being 10 min. from Michelle and her amazing roommates Katie & Jules. From weekly Bachelor viewings, "darties" for Jimmy Kimmel's birthday, to blasting Andy Grammer on repeat, I've had the best time with these three ladies. This past weekend the four of us headed up to Napa for a full day of wine-tasting on a "wine-shuttle".

I've had some pretty incredible adventures since moving here, but this day pretty much took the cake on being one of the best days yet. We were joined by 7 other twenty/thirty-something years-olds and after 6 hours and 5 wineries we had laughed til our faces hurt, were calling each other by nicknames (e.g., Brazilian, Sparkles, Sacramento, Little Hands, etc.), had sung "Happy Birthday" three times because our new friend Lorena wanted to "sing something we all knew", and at the last winery we all nearly broke our necks by making an epic human pyramid.

Well, trying to make one...

Yep, our day couldn't have been better.