I seem to have misplaced May!

Aaaaaand, so it's been a month since I last blogged!  Obviously, I didn't take much time to do it up in Oregon for my Mother's Day trip.  This is about the time of the year, too, when resolutions are long forgotten.  It's hard to believe we're at the halfway point for 2013 already.  I want to take time by the neck and shake it so that it will SLOW DOWN.  I'm sure before I look up again, we'll be almost through summer!  But, let's not think of that now.  I'll start off with a hard look at my resolutions, only slightly curious of other who might have met or are keeping theirs.

1.  I have slowly let my blogging sag to where I update now only once or twice a month.  I really want to get on this and change it.  Sometimes after sitting at the computer for the whole day, it's hard to get back on.  But, I really want to make myself do it!
2. I feel like being active at lunch is something that's kind of stuck into a semi-habit.  I'm usually able to guilt-trip myself enough to at the very least take a walk around the block.  I've started running on Thursday's now, and hopefully that will keep up through summer.
3. May was not the best month to judge my most-activeness.  I did work out in Oregon, and continued to go to Bootcamp, but Memorial day and the teacher's vacay allowed for me to miss almost two weeks straight.  I made up for it with walks or jogs, but I don't feel like I was as active as I should have been.  Softball season has started up for my husband's law firm, and our games are on Wednesday nights now, which kills my bootcamp nights.  I really want to slim down a bit for summer, so I'm brainstorming fun ways to get tough workouts in.
4. I  honestly don't think much has changed on the junk food habits.  Maybe I've passed up on a few things, but I still feel the need to treat myself way too often.  I need healthier choices on the horizon!
5. Flossing every other night is a full-blown habit that I hope to carry with me from this day out.  Yay for healthy teeth and at least one kept resolution!
6. I haven't Yelped in a while, but I plan to head over there tonight to review the Golden Tee in Monterey.
7. I'm SO bad about these backblogs.  I need to set myself reminders, or something!

Let's take May week-by-week and I'm pressure myself into updating next week as well!  :)

May 9-15 was my trip back up to Oregon, where mom and I got to spend some quality time for a full week.  It was a really relaxing and super fun vacation.  We had a mother-daughter tea at the church where my mom works, went out to eat and shopping for Mother's day, and I got to hang out with my old crew from high school and enjoy the simple way of life in Sisters, Oregon.  I had a donut at the bakery, walked my dog behind the house, and was a tourist around Sisters for a while.  It really is amazing what you can get used to.  I go back now and am like, "wow!  I lived like that!  I went to that school and waived at those people.  I swam there and rollerbladed there and grew up with all this!"  It's so nice to have a relaxing spot as beautiful as Sisters to go and visit and call your home.  I can't believe it's been ten years since my high school graduation.  It's going to be a trip to see everyone in August!

The middle of May I don't really remember much of.  :)  Likely it was spent resting and running errands and working.  I don't think that we really even went on any trips until the end of May.  Sometimes it's really good just to have time like that, too.  My cousin did graduate from the master's program as CSULB and we're so proud to have a Master's graduate in the family!   I wish I could have been down there with her to watch, but with all the time that I took off to go to Oregon, I didn't want to miss much more work.  Hopefully, we'll have time to have a big family party for her when she comes to visit at the end of June.

The end of May was pretty jam-packed.  We went down to Monterey on the Friday before Memorial Day to hang out with my family.  Steve also had a law school friend in town from LA and invited him to play golf on Laguna Seca-- the place we got married!  We also barbequed, played some tennis, walked around the wharf and had some drinks at the Golden Tee!  We didn't get much of a break after returning to Fremont.  Tuesday, we went to Steve's law firm event at the Oakland A's game and watched the A's take on the Giants from box seats.  Wednesday I skipped out on bootcamp to join a friend from Chicago at dinner in SF with Steve and one of our friends from Steve's firm.  It was great to hang out in the city!

So, that brings us to June, which looks fairly uneventful so far, until the later portion of the month when my cousin and her husband come to visit.  It's our mission to keep June clear and cheap, though, because our last half of the summer is going to be jam-packed.  We have a wedding in Detroit (which is costing us a small fortune to attend thanks to insane plan tix from here to that part of the country!), my ten-year SHS reuinion on Labor day (Aug 3) back in Sisters (that I'm also helping to coordinate), and then a wedding in Seattle that Steven is actually in the weekend right after that.  It's going to be insane!  Luckily, September is going to be rounded off really nicely by a weekend trip to Yosemite with the whole family.  My parents and two uncles all have their birthdays within one week (almost), so we rented a few houses and are celebrating my youngest uncle's 50th in style!  Can't wait!

But we're so lucky that we live in the Bay Area.  There are honestly endless activities that we can do on the cheap side and still feel excited about them.  We have mapped out several more hikes, been invited to take advantage of a friend's cabin in Tahoe, explore more of SF (which we sadly never do), hit the beaches, and even thrown in a Trail Ride on horseback!  More on that later-- hopefully!

For this weekend, we are kicking back again and just seeing where the road takes us.  I'm into it, as I've been trying to find ways to take my mind of stress and worry, and not be anxious about more than is necessary is a nice change.  Good thing is--  the weather is impossibly nice and I'm looking forward to working on a golden, California girl tan.  :)

Here are some pics from May!

 

April Adventure Recap!

April was a pretty busy month, which kept me from blogging but also gives me a lot to catch up on.   Let's do a week-by-week recap.  :)

The weekend of April 13th took Steve and I on our next hiking adventure.  This time, we went east to Danville, CA and the mass regional park that Mt. Diablo calls home.  I had no idea there was a 3,000 foot hill in the middle of the Danville, but there as we drove up it to the summit, it's awesome views that were touted on bahiker.com presented themselves.  We went early, so as not to repeat the problem that we had in Muir Woods and found it kind of odd that you could drive all the way to the summit.  In fact, the actual highest point itself was housed under a man-made roof in the park building, which Steve thought was kind of odd.  He likes to feel a sense of accomplishment when he hikes up something and stands on the highest rock.  But, as I pointed out, we hadn't done any hiking yet.  So, we set out for our first trail, the Mary Bowerman, which was a really easy walk around the summit.  It was nice, because we could get our bearings and take some great shots of the views.  Then came our more strenuous work-- we were already at the top, which means we'd have to hike down and then back up. But, we found a great route down the Summit Trial, and back up the Juniper trail.  It was strenuous going to back up, to be sure, but the views and the wildlife (we saw a coyote!) were amazing.  It took us around three hours and really made us feel like true hikers (even though we did almost give up when we saw a misleading sign saying we had 20 miles to go to get back to our car!).  We finished our day with a sandwich and yogurt in the ritzy downtown area.  I can't wait to see where we head to next to hike!

With our Lawyer's League softball season right around the corner, Steve wanted to get some practice in with me, my dad, my brother and my grandfather.  So, we headed down to Monterey and spent the Sunday immersed in sports.  We took some batting practice and grounders at the field, and then headed up to the tennis courts at MPC to hit the ball around a bit.  The weather was perfect and it was great to get out and get moving.

Last weekend was my grandmother's 75th birthday, so we celebrated in style.  I headed down to Monterey on Friday night to join my grandmother, grandfather, uncle and great aunt on a trip to San Francisco to see Jersey Boys, which is one of my most favorite plays of all time.  It was really fun to hang out with my family in the city.  I hope we can all get back there for a baseball game again.  The show was amazing and the bus ride home was made that much more fun with wine and snacks (although-- because I was the youngest on the bus by at least 20 years, I almost didn't get any!  The lady thought I was under age!).  We had my grandmother's actual birthday at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch-- the same place as our wedding.  It was fun to do a birthday outside of the usual houses and bring our family shenanigans elsewhere.  A family trip to Yosemite is in the works for September, and I really hope that we can get everyone to head up and hang out.

This last Wednesday, we had our first softball game with the lawyers league.  Our team won 17-6 despite having only 8 players.  I didn't field the greatest, but I hit well, and Steve had a good game too.  It's really great to see everyone again-- I love the social aspect of softball and hanging out with Steve's co-workers in a casual environment.  We have a great time after the games hanging out upstairs in the bar and having beers.

In a general sense, things have been going pretty well.  Work moral was boosted considerably with our Cinco de Mayo party that I helped plan last Friday.  There have been a lot of changes in the company recently, and it was nice to see everyone take a break from worrying and hang out with friends.  Uncle Mike, his mother Trudy, and my great aunt Alice are all healing well from their respective procedures, and it was good to see them up and around and visiting last weekend.  Lastly, I'm SO looking forward to my relaxing week-long vacation coming up in this Thursday.  I'm heading back to Sisters to hang out with mom for Mother's Day and recharge my proverbial batteries a bit.  I'm also on the planning committee for our 10-year high school reunion coming up this August, so I'm hoping to get some things sorted out with that as well.  It doesn't look like Steve will be able to join, but I still fully intend to enjoy my time off.

Resolution Update:
1. I'm hoping to catch up on my blogging during my vacation next week!
2. I've still only been averagely active at lunch.  This week was busy, so I didn't get a lunch break a lot of the time.  I'm hoping to work out every day while I'm on vacation, just to get back on track.
3. This week, I did go to bootcamp on Monday, but Wednesday was softball, and while it's some exercise, it's not enough.  I hope to get outside today for even just a bit today to make up for it, since this will be the norm for the softball season.
4. I'm kind of falling off the wagon on junk food, so I need to start really trying to make healthier choices with my eating habits.
5. Flossing is still solid!
6. I still haven't really eaten anywhere to blog about, as Steve and I are trying to cook more at home.
7. I'm hoping to catch up on back-blogs while I'm on vacation!


I'll end with some pics of Mt Diablo hiking and my grandmother's birthday: