#2951 three things: California edition

 T and I spent a long weekend in southern California with Mama and Lizzie. It was a nice getaway for me before the crush of summer, and I was so happy that T was there, too. Here are three takeaways from the visit.

1. The views from Griffith Observatory are phenomenal. Even though the day was kind of hazy, I was delighted to be up in the Hollywood hills overlooking the valley. The Hollywood sign proudly stood her ground in the hills, and the skyscrapers of Los Angeles shimmered through the haze in the distance. The weather was warm, but not hot, and a breeze kept us feeling happy and fresh. It's very cool and pretty amazing that you can enter the Observatory and look around at the exhibits free of charge. In the evenings, you can even look through the telescope at no cost. You do have to pay to park, and if you want to see a show in one of the theaters, you have to pay for that, too. Otherwise, it is free to roam around the building and the grounds, and it is very beautiful. 

We asked a passing fellow if he would take our photo, and he was kind enough to do it. I absolutely love how they came out because we all are smiling and looking happy.

The HOLLYWOOD sign is on the hill behind us!

2. It was great to be back at the ballpark.  On Sunday afternoon, Lizzie drove T and I to San Diego and the three of us went to the Padres/Mariners game. I love Petco Park. It's nestled downtown with the Coronado Bridge on one side and the skyscrapers on the other.. It was a gorgeous day; we had great seats, and even though the Padres lost on that afternoon, I was still extremely happy to be there with my sister and my son. I indulged in one too many adult beverages and got a little silly, but it was all good fun.

3. The baristas at Lizzie's Starbucks are the bomb! Lizzie and I like coffee, and we regularly go to the Starbucks on Rosecrans and La Mirada. Lizzie has been going there for years has a nice rapport with the baristas. When I am there, they always greet me with a friendly, "Hi Lizzie's sister!" or even by name. I'm blown away by their friendliness. There is another coffee shop Lizzie goes to, usually on Sunday morning, and the barista there is wonderful, too. I really like that level of nice-ness. 

BONUS THING! Although I don't have any photos of the baristas, I will leave with this pic Lizzie took when we went for a walk on Monday morning. There are so many trails of different levels in the hills near Mom and Lizzie's house. Lizzie is an avid hiker, but I prefer what I like to call a nature walk - nothing too strenuous, but off the road and sidewalks. Lizzie took me on two such trails over the weekend, and I totally loved it. I loved the smell of pine and eucalyptus, the blooming wildflowers, and the bougainvillea that was everywhere. Monday we walked to a man-made lake where people were fishing, ducks were swimming, and turtles were sunning themselves on the little rocks. It was just lovely, and once again, I was super happy to be there. Here's the pic Lizzie took with the lake behind us.

 

#2780 weekend wrap-up

Oh man, last night was (as the kids say) LIT! You know I love October for sports. 

Last night, I was flipping back and forth between the baseball playoffs and Utah football. Utah was playing USC here in Salt Lake. USC was ranked sixth in the nation, and Utah beat them by one beautiful, consequential point, 43 - 42. So freaking cool! GO UTES! 

Then, in the Major League Baseball playoffs, the San Diego Padres were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers in San Diego. The Pads were up in the series, two games to one, and just needed to win last night to advance to the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers led most of the game, then the Padres erupted for five runs, and went on to win the series! OMG - I was yelling and jumping around. Harley just about lost her dog mind over my antics. She got hyped. Mac was outside and started barking to be let in the house so she could celebrate, too. I think T just thought I was nuts. It's just so awesome, though!! It's actually double awesomeness because 1) I'm a Padres fan and 2) I don't like the Dodgers. hahahahaha

The Padres will play the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS for the pennant and a chance to go to the World Series. LFGSD!!

Ahhh...I went to bed very happy in my fandom.

Most of yesterday and today is all about trip prep. The adventure begins, for me, tomorrow, with the first of the travel days. Yesterday I got my vacation pedicure, very important, I know. I also organized all the paperwork, created accounts on the airline apps I'll be using. I got some packing done. Today I have finished paying all the bills, so I won't be thinking about that kind of stuff. I'm getting ready to figure out what clothes are making the final cut to go in my suitcase. Those are the two most important things I am doing today. There are a couple of other miscellaneous things I'd like to accomplish, too, so we'll see how that goes. 

Wow! It's finally here - time to go on this creativity retreat to Crete! I see this trip in three unique parts: Athens, Chania, and Munich. I'm ready for all of it! It has been a dream of mine to take two vacations in a single calendar year, and this is the year for it. I'm incredibly thankful and yeah, I guess proud of myself that I could do it financially, and to have the vacation time available to do it, too. 

I won't be writing here while I'm gone, so this is my last post this month. I'm looking forward to telling stories and sharing photos here in November. 

Peace!

#2779 seriously counting down now

 

Today was my last day of work this month! 

I declared myself on vacation when I got home. I poured a little glass of wine and sat out on the deck, until I got chilled, anyway. Tonight I’ve been relaxin’, watching the Padres beat the Dodgers. YAY!

Tomorrow and Sunday will be all about trip prep. I’ve got clothes and art supplies stacked on the guest room bed. Some filtering needs to be done, plus gathering of other things I want to take with me. There are also some household things to take care of, like paying the bills, cleaning the fridge, and removing the current layer of dust and dog hair so it’s not too overwhelming when I return. 

The ballgame is over and I am, in typical Friday night fashion, completely tuckered out. 

Have a great weekend!

#2412 three things: expensive backache, hangry dog, and sports

1. I don't think that's what it was. On Monday morning I went to the ER because on Sunday and overnight I had the worst pain in my back. I couldn't get comfortable at all. I was miserable most of the day on Sunday and didn't get a good night's sleep. I thought for sure I had a UTI that had gone into my kidneys. The doctor said I had traces of blood in my urine, but no bacteria, so no UTI. He thought I had a kidney stone, so I had a CT scan so we could see what was going on. My kidneys were clear. No stones. The doctor, who seriously looked just a bit older than my son, said I had probably passed a stone and had leftover pain. Wouldn't I feel it if I passed a kidney stone? He prescribed some heavy-duty pain meds and a muscle relaxer and sent me on my way. 

It's been a few days and my back feels better, but still tender. I can mostly move freely, but there is still a twinge every now and then. I just don't think it was a kidney stone, though. I must have twisted my back at some point on Saturday (that's when I first felt the pain), but I sure don't remember anything in particular. I already know this is the most expensive backache I have ever had.

2. The dog gets HANGRY. Oh my dog. She's super energetic, borderline annoying, and quite entertaining.  I don't have a problem with the energy level. I think it's fun to watch her play and to play with her. What I don't like is the way she behaves when she gets hungry. She gets kinda mean. She barks and leaps and nips more than usual during the hungry times. I think she is going through a growth spurt because I can't seem to get enough food in her little body. It's a fine line, though, because the other night I must have given her too much because it looked like she had an explosion on the rug. She's been good with the house training, so I know she must have been miserable.  I'm learning to read her cues and figuring out how much to feed her to keep her healthy and satisfied. She's growing so fast!

3. I'm watching sports! Today is Opening Day of baseball season. I am watching the Washington Nationals play the New York Yankees. There aren't any people in the stands, but there is crowd noise LOL. At 6:00 I am going to change the channel to the Utah Jazz scrimmage against the Phoenix Suns. The NBA season will start next week. A bit later tonight, I will check out the other Opening Day game, the SF Giants against the LA Dodgers. I have been okay without sports, but I'm excited that they are back. 

#2268 the remote got a workout

Tonight was basically a perfect Sportstober night for me.

First up, World Series game 4. I watched the first few innings without interruption until...

...it was time for Jazz basketball. I flipped channels between the basketball game and the baseball game until...

...it was time for Utah football. I have mostly been watching football since it came on because the baseball game and the basketball game were both blowouts.

Technically, as of this moment, the baseball game is still going on. The score is Houston 8 - 1 Washington. That means that the Series will be tied 2 -2. Game 5 is tomorrow night. I like both teams, so I'm hoping for a long series of good baseball. I'll be watching tomorrow!

The Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings 113 - 81. The Jazz played well and the Kings really didn't. With so many new guys on the Jazz team this season, it was fun to watch them gel on the court tonight. Another cool thing about tonight's game was the reappearance of the so called purple mountain jerseys that were worn back in the glory days of the late '90s with Stockton and Malone. Lots of people don't like the jerseys, but they remind me of a happy time in Jazz history.

Now I am watching Utah football. It's halftime and the Utes are up 28 - 0. All is well so far.

My remote is now getting a rest since I'm done flipping back and forth between three channels.

#2099 happy Sportstober!

Hello friends and happy October, or as I like to call it, Sportstober. It's a magical month in which four major sports that I watch are all in season: college football, pro football, Major League baseball and pro basketball. In fact, I am watching the NL wild card game on TV right now (that's baseball). The bummer part is that the game is between the Cubs and the Rockies and I like both of these teams, so I'm not sure who to root for. I guess I'll be happy for the team that wins and sad for the team that loses. Loser goes home; winner goes on to play in the NL division series.

September kinda passed by in a blur but it was also slow. How is that possible?

Tonight we are having a big rainstorm. There is thunder and lightning. I welcome the cooler temperatures and the water is good, too. We had such a dry, hot summer. I love summer but I find as I get older it's more difficult to tolerate the heat. I feel the same way about the cold.

Oh that was big lightning and thunder just outside my window!

Okay, I have to focus on this ball game now. The score is tied in the bottom of the ninth inning. Will there be extra innings tonight?

#2055 San Francisco

MT and I had the opportunity to spend a little time in San Francisco on Thursday and Friday, so we took it! We had a great time. I'll share some pics and tell a bit about what we did.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and checked into our hotel, HTL587. The hotel is in an old building in the Tenderloin District. I didn't know too much about the area other than it is pretty central and there are quite a few homeless people in the area. All of that is true. Our sixth floor room was nice and we were comfortable there. We didn't do a lot of walking around the neighborhood except on Friday night when we went to dinner at a great restaurant about two minutes from the hotel called Brenda's. 

I'm just gonna tell you that it was one of the best meals we have ever had. We started with the spicy garlic shrimp gratin. Amazing! Spicy, creamy, crunchy, sweet - it was the total package. MT called it "a special dish". It was all we could do to stop ourselves from licking the bowl after the bread was gone. My entree was the shrimp and grits. The grits were creamy and cheesy. There was a hint of saltiness from the bacon which offset the sweetness of the shrimp. The tomato gravy had a kick to it that paired well with the Abita IPA I had to accompany it. Don't even get me started on the biscuit the server suggested I get to accompany my entree. I think it has spoiled me for all other biscuits, which is a shame, because I like biscuits.

MT had one of the that night's specials: a spinach-stuffed pork chop with sweet onion gravy, mashed potatoes and veggies. His plate was clean when he was done. I thought he was going to pick up that pork chop bone and chew on it. I had a bite of the meat and it was savory and tender and all kinds of delicious. 

Now that I've told you about the end of the trip, let's get back in order.

On Thursday night we got to go to the baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres. We sat down in the field level seats. They are divine.

Madison Bumgarner was pitching for the Giants. He's very good at his job. It was a pleasure to watch him work.

AT&T Park is spectacular. 

On Friday morning we headed over to Pier 33 to catch a boat to Alcatraz. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. From the pier there is a great view of Coit Tower.

The view of the San Francisco skyline from the bay is incredible. We were so lucky to have such a clear, beautiful day.

We even had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the boat.

It turned out that the tour we were on first went to Angel Island. I didn't know anything about the place, but there is quite a bit of history there. It was a military base during the Civil War and World War II and served as the Ellis Island of the Pacific, but it was also a detention center for Chinese immigrants. We took a tram tour around the island and learned about the history of the place and took in the breathtaking views of Tiburon, the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the San Francisco skyline. The island is covered in trees, including eucalyptus. It smelled clean and fresh there.

We had lunch at the little restaurant at the cove. It was awesome to sit out in the sunshine, look at the water and have some surprisingly good food. We even got to watch sea lions frolicking!

From there we headed over to The Rock.

Alcatraz has quite the reputation, you know. It was a military prison, then a maximum security prison from the 1930's to the early 1960's. It was in operation for 29 years. After the prison closed, a group of Native Americans occupied it for 19 months. It is a fascinating and eerie place. To me, to see the ruins of the buildings juxtaposed with the beautiful gardens and flowers that had been planted there by the guards and their families that are still kept up by volunteers is kind of crazy. I wish I had taken some photos that captured the way I felt, but I didn't.

We went on the tour of the cellhouse. There was an audio tour that was narrated by a former guard. The directions were very clear. I didn't want to turn off the audio to spend too much time at a particular photo panel or cell because it was all kind of intimidating and a little creepy. The tour included information about a couple of escape attempts, one of which was quite murderous and the other attempt which might have succeeded, but no one knows. 

It was seeing the regular cells and actually going into one of the solitary confinement cells that made me sad and scared. I bet the night tour is especially scary. It was freaky enough during the day.

Well, that's all I got. I am glad we went to Alcatraz, because I have always kind of wanted to check it out, but the unexpected treat was Angel Island. It was really beautiful there and I'm glad I had a chance to see it. 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I'm pretty sure I'll get back to my regular posting schedule next week, so talk to you on Tuesday!

#2020 three things: vacation, T and baseball

It seems like it's been awhile since there were three things. Here we go!

1. Vacation time (just not for me). A couple of my friends from work are going on vacation tomorrow. One friend is going to Cancun for a week with her family. Ahh Cancun sounds pretty great! The other friend is heading to France. I've never been there, but I'm pretty sure I would like to go there someday.

2, Tristan is home. He successfully completed his program and came home yesterday. I'm glad he is back and I'm hopeful that he will be happy and healthy.

3. Opening Day. Today was one of my favorite days of the year: opening day of the baseball season. There is something so right about Opening Day. It means that spring is here and summer is coming. I love baseball. I love the snap of the ball into the catcher's glove, the crack of the bat against the ball for a solid hit, the way the ball sails through the air from center field to the infield and the roar of the crowd for a double play or a home run. I spent the afternoon listening to the Padres game via the MBL Gameday app and it was wonderful. Even if I wasn't following each play, just hearing the rhythm of the call made me feel happy.

Talk to you on Saturday!

#1946 it's November!

Happy November friends! November is National Blog Posting Month, or at least it has been in the past. The aim is to post on the blog every day in November. I feel up to the challenge, so that's my goal here this month. I will do my best to make checking in worth your while, and I also know that there will be days when it will be a struggle to be interesting.

I won't be starting the month off strong, I'm afraid. I'm watching Game 7 of the World Series. I don't think there are many things better in sports than Game 7 of the World Series, even if you don't really have a favorite team in the series. I am rooting for the Astros, even though I am typically a National League girl. I just don't like the Dodgers, even though I do like Clayton Kershaw. Right now it's the bottom of the fourth inning and the Astros are up 5-0. That sounds great but doesn't mean much because I've seen the Dodgers come back from deficits in this series. Still, go 'Stros!

This evening after work I took a walk around the outdoor track at the fitness center. I didn't have a chance to take a lunch break at work today, so I was glad to get outside. It was a beautiful evening here and it was very pleasant to stretch my legs and finish up my daily 10,000 steps. There probably won't be many more opportunities for outside walks in the evening since we will be turning our clocks back one hour on Saturday night. It will be dark here by 5:30 next week. The weather is getting cooler and cooler, too.

Okay, time to get back to the baseball game, but before I do, a quick follow-up to my last post about the shooting at the University of Utah. A couple of students were up at the mouth of Red Butte Canyon, over near the gate of the amphitheater from what I understand. They were sitting in their car and a bad guy wanted to carjack them. It went wrong and the bad guy shot and killed one of the students, then shot at the other student when she ran away to save herself. The bad guy must have been hiding out somewhere near the garden because that was where the majority of the search seemed to be taking place. What was scary about it is that most of the dorms are just below the gardens. The bad guy was found and arrested at the City Library the next afternoon. The man who died was an international student from China; his parent's only child. So awful.

Be safe, be kind and be thankful for all the good stuff in your life. Today I feel grateful for being able to walk a couple of miles outside, listening to music and for not feeling any pain in my knees.

Talk to you tomorrow!

#1941 Sportstober in action

You know I love sports and I love October and I especially love sports in October. Yesterday was my perfect Sportstober day. Check it out:

In the afternoon, the Utes played against Arizona State here in SLC. It was a beautiful, perfect fall afternoon for football. I was not up at the stadium; instead, I was happily planted on my comfy couch watching the game on my big ass TV. Unfortunately, the Utes were TERRIBLE yesterday and lost the game 30-10. The Utes were never a factor in the game. At. All. If I remember right, they were shut out in the first half. I'm frankly they were able to score a touchdown. I think ASU's defense just let that happen out of boredom. I often listen to the coach's press conference on Monday at noon. I'm sure Whittingham won't have anything nice to say about any facet of his team's play yesterday. They were awful. It pains me to say it, but it's the truth.

In the evening, the New York Yankees were playing in Houston against the Astros in Game 7 of theAmerican League Championship Series (ALCS). There is nothing quite like a Game 7 in sports. It's win or go home. The winner of this game gets to move on to the World Series to play the Los Angeles Dodgers. I am a long-time Yankee hater. One of my many sports mottos is that I like any team that is playing the Yankees. I have that same motto for the Dodgers. You can imagine how upsetting a Dodgers- Yankees World Series would be for me. I'd watch, but I wouldn't want either of the teams to win. Of course, in this ALCS, I was rooting for the Houston Astros.

I wasn't able to watch the ALCS though, because MT and I had the opportunity to go watch the Jazz play against the Oklahoma City Thunder! Yay! I will almost always choose to go watch the Jazz play against anyone, and I was especially excited to go to this game. The Thunder have a couple of new superstar players this year in Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. I don't think I have ever seen those two play in person. I think it is fun to see other teams's superstars. I have seen LeBron, Kevin Durrant, Steph Curry, Kobe (he's retired now, but notable). I never got to see Michael Jordan in person. That pains me, but there's nothing for it now.

Anyway, we were guests in the suite and it was great, as always. Yes, the suite has been remodeled and it's different in ways that aren't great, but the seats are padded and comfy and there is food and the dessert cart is nice. It's a good environment. I had a good view of the court and the game was great. The Jazz played really well and beat the Thunder, so I can't complain.

There is a TV in the suite, and when the Jazz game was done, I got to see the last three outs of the
ALCS. Houston won! Now the World Series match-up is set: Houston Astros vs LA Dodgers. Even though I am a National League girl, I will be rooting for the Astros in the Series. For one thing, I don't like the Dodgers, and for another, the city of Houston could use a win this year. It would be a great celebration for the city that has suffered from Hurricane Harvey. I'd like to see that happen. Plus Jose Altuve seems like a good dude and he's fun to watch.




If only the Utes had won or at least played decent, it would have been a perfect sports day. Oh well. It was still pretty great.

#1937 Saturday with Sandy

I got up around 6:20 this morning to get to the 7AM cycling class at the gym. It's kinda hard to get up and get moving on a cold, dark Saturday morning, but I did it and I was glad. After class I came home, cleaned up the kitchen, showered, dressed and headed over to the WW meeting. I like the 10AM group. I like the 8AM group too, but there are usually three or four people who do all the talking and I am looking for different perspectives. I speak up more at the 10AM class. It's a nice group.

My plan was to get a chai latte from Starbucks after the meeting, but the drive-thru line was out the driveway, so I had to skip the chai. I hadn't eaten and was super hungry, but my hair appointment was at 11:15, so there was no time to stop anywhere. I got some fresh color and a trim on my hair. Feels good! Looks good! Every girl likes a little salon time. My stylist, Lanna, is great. I've been going to her for nearly 19 years. Wonder of wonders that she is in the same salon after all that time, and even at the same station. I think she's great.

By this time, I was extremely hungry. I wasn't hangry, but I could feel it coming. I swung by Great Harvest Bread Co. to get some of their cinnamon burst bread (T and I love it!) They also give a sample slice of whatever bread they have on the cutting board and there are typically four or five to choose from. Today I got a slice of the honey sunflower wheat bread. They cut a thick slice and I smeared butter on it. Oh my goodness. I like bread. That piece of bread did not last long.

When I got home, MT was back from his half day of work. He hadn't eaten lunch (it was 2:00) so I suggested that we head over to Copper Creek Pub, a little locally owned sports bar in our neighborhood that we enjoy. I had the bacon bleu burger along with a Full Suspension pale ale and it all hit the spot. I was/am so full!

After lunch I had to take a shower to rinse off all the little hairs that had got stuck on my t-shirt and were rubbing my back. I also rinsed my hair because that's what I do after a haircut. Lanna fixed it really cute, but didn't really feel or look like me. MT went downstairs to watch TV and I sat on my bed to watch the Yankees/Astros game and promptly fell asleep for a little while. I woke up just in time to see the Astros win on a great hit and awesome base running  in the bottom of the ninth inning. Go Astros! You know, my favorite teams are the Padres and any team playing the Yankees.

Now I'm headed downstairs to take over the big TV from MT. The Utes are playing at USC at 6PM. I don't know how confident I feel in the Utes tonight, but I'll watch and cheer for them anyway. I have a couple of Corona Lights in the fridge that I can have in case the game and my emotions get out of hand.

Go Utes!

#1910 weekend in the Bay Area

I mentioned in the last post that MT and I went to the Bay Area last weekend. I've downloaded the pics, so here's the highlights in photo form!

On Saturday morning we flew into Oakland, rented a car and drove to Bodega Bay. Traffic was not nice and I hadn't eaten, so by the time we got to Bodega Bay, I was hangry. I picked a restaurant called The Tides Wharf & Restaurant. The best thing I can say about the restaurant was that it had a big parking lot and the view of the bay was spectacular.

view of Bodega Bay from inside the restaurant

After our poorly served and overpriced meal, MT and I decided to go over to Dillon Beach to take a walk. The beach there is wide and long and the sand is the perfect firmness down near the very cold water. We walked from one end of the beach to the other and back. It was probably about four miles or so. It felt so good to get out in the sunshine and not be all sweaty! The temperature was cool and completely wonderful.

view of coastline from Dillon Beach

After our walk, we drove back to Bodega Bay and checked into our hotel, The Inn at the Tides. This was the view from our room.

view of Bodega Bay from the hotel

We hung around in the room for a little while, then crossed the road to the restaurant/bar/store. I wanted to see the sunset, so we had a drink at the bar and waited. The sunset did not disappoint.

sunset

pretty clouds

There was a sea lion swimming around in the bay that we could see every now and again right from our seat in the bar. We could hear other sea lions barking in the distance. Interesting side note: the only cola that was available at this place was RC Cola. Can you believe that?

We decided to have a picnic in our hotel room, so we bought a loaf of sourdough bread, some salami and some cheese. Our room came with a complimentary bottle of chardonnay, so we had a northern California feast!

dinner in our room

The room did not have air conditioning, so we had the windows open. In the morning we were very cold because outside it was all foggy.

foggy morning in Bodega Bay

We got ourselves ready and headed out of town, but stopped in Bodega (a separate little town) to see the church that was used in the film The Birds (which was filmed in Bodega Bay, if you didn't know!)

St. Teresa of Avila church in Bodega

As you can see the sky was very clear and blue up on the hill.

We drove into San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge.

fog at the Golden Gate Bridge

We met some friends at a bar/restaurant called the Buena Vista. Irish coffee was invented there. I am not a coffee drinker, but I had a glass. I could taste the whiskey way more than I could taste the coffee. It was pretty damn good.

Irish coffee at the Buena Vista

so San Francisco!

After breakfast and coffee, we headed through the city to get to the ballpark.

San Francisco!

 Our hotel was directly across the street from the ballpark, so we checked in, parked the car and crossed the street to go watch the Padres play the Giants. Our seats were phenomenal.

four rows behind the Giants dugout

#28 is Buster Posey!

A T & T Park is so lovely

There was not much of a breeze down on the field level, so we went up to the suite. The view from up there was damn nice too.

upper level view of McCovey Cove and A T & T Park

I love baseball and it was a real treat to be at the game. My two favorite teams were playing, so I couldn't go wrong. The Padres won, by the way.

After the game we crossed the street to our hotel. We relaxed for an hour or so, then we walked to a restaurant called Little Skillet to meet our friend Brigid for dinner. I was going to have the chicken and waffles, but they were out of waffles, so I had the andouille and cheddar grits. (It was a flavors of Louisiana restaurant.) So good! And of course the best part was hanging out with MT and Brigid!

Yeah. I have zero chill

We came back to hot dry SLC early Monday afternoon. It was Pioneer Day, a local holiday, so I didn't miss any work. What a fantastic weekend for us! Such a treat to get out of town and enjoy some cool weather and do some really fun things. MT and I agreed that we need to have a few more weekend get-aways in our lives. #couple goals

#1909 a break from the heat

Here's what I know without a doubt in my mind:

IT IS HOT HERE IN SLC!

MT and I spent the weekend in the Bay Area and the temperatures were easily 30 degrees cooler than it is here. We wore sweatshirts and sweaters in the evenings.

You know how when you walk off the airplane and you cross over onto the jetway and there is a little outside air that hits you between the plane and the airport itself. That 94 degree air hit me and my skin, which had been deliciously hydrated, immediately shriveled and dried out. It's true!

We had a really good time this weekend. We strolled on a beach, we drank some grown-up beverages, we got to hang out with friends, we had great seats for the baseball game and we had some quality time to ourselves during which we didn't have to worry about a certain house getting sold because that is now officially done and over with! HOORAY!

I did take a few photos, but of course I haven't downloaded them onto my computer yet. I guess that will give me something to do and to write about in the coming days.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

#1881 Saturday with Sandy: walk, work and baseball

I started out my day with a nice walk to Weight Watchers. I had on my new toy (Apple watch) and I was going to track the activity, but I didn't do it right. I didn't realize I had to scroll through three screens before I got to the "Start Activity" button. Oh well. It still tracked the activity and counted all the steps. I'm still learning.

MT picked me up from the meeting because I needed to get home to have something to eat and get ready for work. Yes, work. On Saturday. The project that I have been involved in since September is finally going live on Monday, so today we were doing our final testing. It was really strange to be the only person in that big building. All buildings creak and make some noises and it was kind of freaking me out. I closed the door to my office and turned up the music. I'd mute it when someone was talking - we were doing a Skype meeting during the testing. Mostly it was quiet but sometimes people would have something to say. The good news is that the system seems to be working very well. Some little things were identified and the coder guy said they would be all fixed by Monday. It's a good project.

This afternoon I had a little downtime before MT and I went to the Salt Lake Bees baseball game. Granite has a suite at the ballpark, so we met some co-worker friends there. It was a beautiful night and a we had a good time.  All the other people that were there have younger kids - all boys except for one little girl. It was fun to watch them and listen to their chatter.

I really like Sunday because typically it is the one day of the week that I don't set an alarm. I usually wake up early anyway, but it's nice to know that I can sleep until I just wake up. Of course I have a full list of things I need to get done tomorrow, but I'll try to have a little fun, too.

Hope your Saturday was a good one!

#1850 simple pleasure Monday: baseball on the radio

I enjoy almost all sports. My favorite sport is dictated by the season because I really love football in the fall; I adore the NBA playoffs in the spring and summer is all about baseball. Right now basketball and baseball are overlapping, which is fun.

I will listen to any sport on the radio, but for me, the absolute best radio sport is baseball. There is time in between pitches or hitters for the announcers to talk to each other and tell stories. The announcers get excited when something happens and I like to hear them break down the game. I get a really clear picture of what is going on out on the field when I listen on the radio. Plus, I can work and still listen. It's not like basketball where there is pretty much non-stop action. Baseball on the radio is a total simple pleasure for me.

The problem has been that it can be hard to find baseball games on the radio here. I tried last season and it was challenging because there were some black-outs and you had to subscribe or it wouldn't stream for whatever reason. This year I solved that problem by purchasing myself a little gift. For a mere $20 plus tax for the year, I subscribed to MLB.com At Bat. Through the app, I can listen to any baseball game that is on AND I can choose whose team's radio crew to listen to. For example, I listened to the Padres/Dodgers game last week. I chose to listen to the Padres radio network. Today I listened to the Giants/D-backs with the SF radio station.  I have listened to a game just about every day at work. It's been great. I can honestly say that I will definitely get my money's worth out of that $20.

#1840 Saturday with Sandy: coffee, Copper Creek and cheesecake

My Saturday starts with Weight Watchers. I'm currently going to the 10AM meeting; there is also an 8AM meeting that I may go back to eventually. I like the 10AM group so it works for me right now, plus I get to sleep in a little.

After the meeting (no weight change this week and I'm okay with that) I came back home, picked up T and we went to Starbucks. He had his frappuccino, I had my chai latte. We enjoyed our beverages separately: T went upstairs to do homework while I sat downstairs and read a novel. Later, T asked me to help him with his accounting homework. It was harder than it should have been for someone who has "accountant" in her title at work. I'm not really what I consider an accountant, though. I do accounting-type functions, but it's been awhile (since college) that I had to figure out T-accounts. We got through it though. The thing about the homework is that it is online and you enter the information and click the Check Your Work button. If you have the right answer, a green check mark appears in the box and if not, the incorrect answer is highlighted in red so you can fix it. I don't know how much T learned, but hopefully he learned how to think through the problem and complete the journal entries.

When homework was done, my son and I had a nice talk about the future - his future to be exact. The conversation came about because during the accounting homework, T mentioned that college wasn't for him. I asked him what was for him, if it wasn't college. I told him that if he thought he was going to quit school, even for a semester or a year, he needs to have a plan. He said he would think about what I said. I hope he does.

After all that, I needed to get outside so I went to the fitness center and walked around the outside track. It's a little over a mile. The temperature was around 80 degrees with a slight breeze, so it was absolutely perfect. I was excited because I walked the mile in just over 19 minutes. My time has been coming down every time I walk, so I feel like I'm getting stronger and better.

This evening MT and I went out for dinner to one of our favorite local places, Copper Creek Pub. It's a small sports bar that has a seriously delicious burger. I had the bacon bleu cheese burger (not WW friendly, certainly, but sooooo good!) Every meal I've had at Copper Creek Pub has been extremely good and the service is very good also. We don't go there very much, so it's always a treat.

MT didn't want to sit around at home and watch TV. We talked about going to a movie, but decided instead to go walk around the mall. We had an ulterior motive. MT has always wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory. I convinced him that he would be happier if he used the gift card he got for Christmas on cheesecake instead of a meal. The place is always so busy at dinnertime and tonight was no exception. It took us at least 20 minutes just to get our cheesecake to go. We got three pieces to share: Oreo dream, key lime and salted caramel. I had a couple of bites of each and I declare the salted caramel to be the best.

I better get back on the WW plan tomorrow for sure!

Now I'm just hanging out at home, flipping the channels between the NCAA tournament and the World Baseball Classic. The U.S. is playing the Dominican Republic in the WBC. Basketball and baseball on the same night? Yes please and thank you!

#1785 I'm too old for this

I have been tired and run-down all day and I blame baseball. The game last night was so good and so exciting that it took me a little while to calm myself down and stop looking at Twitter and get to bed. Even after I got to bed, I was antsy and restless. I'm sure I got up at least three times during the night and I woke up well before my alarm even thought about waking me up.

To fight off the blahs I was feeling tonight, I went to a Zumba class at the gym. As usual it was really fun. The Thursday instructor, Lisa, knows a lot of routines and always has fun music. Also as usual, when it was over, my left (unrepaired) knee hurt like the dickens. I gobbled down several Ibuprofen, took a hot shower and now have a type of compression sleeve on it. The sleeve makes my knee feel safe and happy. The knee still hurts, but it feels warm and cozy.

Now that I feel all relaxed and smell nice after the shower, I'm going to crawl right into bed. I am diffusing an essential oil blend called GoodNite. It smells great and is supposed to calm the senses to promote good rest/sleep. I'm not sure I have total buy-in to the oil mysticism, but it does smell good and it can't hurt.

I'll try to be more interesting tomorrow!

#1784 extra innings in an epic game 7

Tonight is the final day of the Major League Baseball season. It's one game for the championship of baseball, Game 7 of the World Series. The two teams that are playing for the championship are the two teams in the league with the longest time between their championships. The Cleveland Indians last won the World Series in 1948. The Chicago Cubs last won the World Series in 1908.

We are now over four hours into the game which has gone into extra innings since the score was tied at the end of the regular nine innings. The Cubs just scored to take a 7-6 lead. There is one out and the bases are loaded with Cubs. The guy who is at bat is the Cubs' third catcher. He hasn't had a hit for awhile.

My heart rate is quite elevated even though I'm just sitting on the couch.

Montero gets a base hit! Another run scores for Chicago!! Bases still loaded, still one out!! Cubs are now up by two runs.

Pitching change by the Indians. Commercial break. I'm checking Twitter. I absolutely love watching sports with Twitter.  I'm following #WorldSeries and it's epic.

Ok , new pitcher for the Indians, Trevor Bauer. Jason Heyward at bat. Struck him out. There's two down, top of the tenth.

Javier Baez up for the Cubs. A mighty swing by Baez but he hits nothing. 1 ball 1 strike. Strike 2. Baez flies out to end the Cubs half of the inning.  Now it's time for the Indians to bat. All the Cubs need is three more outs to be the champions. The question is, who will pitch for the Cubs?

Commercial break. So. Many. Tweets.

Carl Edwards Jr pitching for the Cubs. Up first for the Indians is Mike Napoli. Edwards strikes out Napoli! Two outs away for the Cubs!!

(If you haven't figured it out, I'm root root rooting for the Cubbies!)

Jose Ramirez up for Cleveland. Two strikes on him. Outside pitch, tried to get him to chase it. 1-2. Ball low. 2-2. Shortstop scoops it up and throws to first. Two out! One more out is all we need!!

Brandon Guyer is up for the Indians. Ball 1. Cubs dugout looks like they are going to explode.  Ball 2. Edwards is taking some deep breaths. Outside. Ball 3. Montero the catcher is talking to Edwards, trying to calm him down. Twitter is is going crazy. Shit. Walked him. Tying run comes to the plate in the form of Rajai Davis hit a home run that tied this game. Can he do it again.

Please Baseball Gods, NO!

Here we go. Ball 1. Guyer steals second because he can. It was uncontested. Base hit for Davis, Guyer scores. One run game. Bye-bye Carl Edwards Jr. Pitching change for the Cubs.

Let's recap. The score is 8-7 Cubs. There are two outs and a runner on first. A home run wins the game for the Indians. One little out wins the game for the Cubs.

Let's go to commercial so we can obsess about all of this on Twitter.

Mike Montgomery pitching. Martinez up for the Indians!

OH MY GOD! Ground ball to Kris Bryant. Throw to first - game over!!

CUBS WIN THE WORLD SERIES!  I'm screaming and tearing up while I watch the Bubs fans on TV crying and celebrating. History! The longest championship drought in history is over. It's awesome.

Here's something...the Cubs had to win four games in a row to win the championship. They were down 3-1 and had to close it out on the road in Cleveland. Everything about this game 7 was just epic and fantastic. For baseball fans, this was the ultimate.

#1778 a week of Sportstober

Oops! Missed writing on Wednesday the 12th because T and I had the chance to go see our beloved Utah Jazz play! It was a preseason game, so it was an opportunity to see some new players and see how the team is shaping up for the season. It was a tale of two halves: in the first half, the Jazz dominated and had a huge lead at halftime. In the second half, some of the players were guys who were trying to earn a spot on the team and the level of play was far below the level of play in the first half. The Jazz ended up losing the game by one measly point.

Oh well. Tough loss, but it was awesome to be back in the arena watching a game! I love NBA basketball!

Mostly this week I have been watching sports. The baseball playoffs are on. The National League Divisional Series between the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants was riveting for me. I like both of those teams and I was genuinely sorry that one of them had to lose. In the end, the Cubs prevailed. In my heart of hearts, I was glad the Cubs won. I would love to see their World Series drought end after 108 years. I hope they win it all. I was sad for the Giants though. They are fun to watch.

Last night I watched Game 5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals NLDS series. Game 5 in the Divisional Series round is a win or go home game. I was rooting for the Nationals - I'm not a big Dodger fan, but the Dodgers did win, so they will play the Cubs in the National League Championship Series. It starts tomorrow.

The other side of the baseball equation is the American League. I've always been a National League girl, but I know what's going on in the AL. Tonight is game 1 of the ALCS. The Toronto Blue Jays are playing the Cleveland Indians. I'm hoping the Indians will win and go to the World Series. I think a Cubs - Indians World Series would be great. Neither team has won the Championship in decades. I think it's been 68 years for the Indians and 108 for the Cubs. 108 years! Can you believe that?

Baseball is great! I love playoff baseball!

Tomorrow I'll be watching the Utah Utes play football in the afternoon. The game is in Corvallis, Oregon and the weather forecast is horrendous. It will be pouring rain and strong winds. Local sports people are not predicting a sell-out crowd there. I'll be happy to sit on my comfy couch to watch.

Football is fantastic! I love Utah football!

Yay Sportstober!

#1733 awesome weekend with my BFF

You will please forgive me for not writing yesterday. My BFF LA came down for a visit and we were very busy having lots of fun. :)

She got here late Saturday morning and we started out by having some lunch at Corner Bakery. From there, we went up the hill to Red Butte Garden. I had my regular docent duty and LA sat with me. We had a pleasant chat and enjoyed talking to some of the visitors, including a family of four that was from Europe.  I didn't find out where they were from though. After the docent shift, LA and I walked around the garden. I had fun pointing out some of my favorite plants and trees to my friend.

On Saturday evening LA and I went to the Salt Lake Bees baseball game. We had nice seats behind home plate. It was a beautiful evening. The ballpark was pretty full and there was some good energy in the park. An interesting thing is that the family we chatted with at RBG were also at the ball game. In fact, they were sitting in the same section we were sitting in, just several rows down from us. We didn't talk to them though, but we thought it was fun that we spotted them again. I hope they enjoyed their day in SLC!

This morning we decided to go to the Living Planet Aquarium. I had been to the Aquarium many years ago when it was downtown at the Gateway, but hadn't been there since it moved out to Draper. I thought the aquarium was awesome! The exhibits were all fantastic, very well presented and beautiful. There are lots and lots of fish. There are also birds and snakes and bugs. There are otters and penguins and sharks. There are turtles and frogs. There's even a leopard. He's not really an aquarium creature, but he's very pretty.

My favorite area was called Ocean Exploration (I think). There is a water tunnel so the you walk through the tunnel and the critters swim around and over you. There was a big green sea turtle in the exhibit. I love sea turtles. I was watching the turtle swim and he came right over to where I was standing and hovered right in front of me. It was completely awesome!! (You can check out a photo on Instagram at sandrak03.)

Looking at all those fish made us hungry...for fish and chips. I know it sounds so messed up! We had lunch at a great Salt Lake restaurant, Market Street Grill. We both had the halibut fish and chips and they were delicious!

After lunch LA headed back to Pocatello and I watched some Olympics. I've pretty much been glued to the TV all afternoon. MT has come back home. He was at the cabin in Soda Springs this weekend. T is home now too. He's been hanging out with his friends all weekend, too. I'm glad everyone is home.