Magnolias! First signs of spring in Berkeley
I was amazed to see on our walk this weekend that the magnolias are starting to coming out! The first signs of spring on January 24th! I feel a bit guilty posting this while friends on the east coast are just starting to dig out of a massive blizzard, but still, this is why I love California!
I had the day off for Martin Luther King Day, and Bodhi and I found a break in the rains today to take a long walk at one of favorite dog parks Pt Isabel with our friends Allison and Jack. Check out the cool art car we saw there! When I was younger, in grad school, I was somehow enthralled with the idea of having an art car and since I didn’t have a car, I tried to convince one of my grad school friends with a junker of a car to donate it to the cause, but it was not to be. Berkeley’s one of those places where you see them every now and then and seeing one out and about always makes me smile and feel like I hit the jackpot for the day!
I had a super fun rainy day Sunday with my friend Victoria and her two cutie kids—Eleanor and Sebastian. We went to Habitot Children’s Museum in Berkeley, which I hadn’t been to before but had heard a lot about from other friends. Of course, on a day like today, it seemed like every family in Berkeley had a similar idea and the scene was tot-madness. We had a blast playing on the climbing the Wiggle Wall, driving the ambulance and doing some “grocery shopping.”Who knew that grocery shopping could be such fun! The highlight of the morning, for me at least, was when Sebastian bumped himself and instead of running to Mom, jumped in my arms for soothing. LOVE. I’m sure he didn’t know it, but boy, did that make me feel special. Like winning the special Auntie Oscars! After Habitot we had burgers and fries. Fries with mustard no less—these are sophisticated kids! And then splashed through some puddles before heading home for naps. Eleanor and Sebastian are the sweetest kids and I love them to pieces. And by the way, their parents are pretty awesome too (that’s a shout out for you, Victoria and Luis!). But two little ones wear you out, so I was also glad to head home and spend the rest of the afternoon curled up on the couch with Bodhi finishing off my book for book club this week. A perfect rainy day Sunday!
My favorite news story of the last few weeks has been the story of Tolay, the elephant seal Mom-to-be who shut down Highway 37 in Sonoma just north of San Francisco in a two-day standoff. Just a few days before New Year’s, Tolay (as she was named) waddled out of San Pablo Bay from Tolay Creek in Sonoma and started to make her way across the highway. Well, when a 900 lb seal tries to cross the road, traffic grinds to a halt. And this seal was very determined to cross that highway, backing down the highway traffic for miles. Eventually, highway patrol called the wildlife rescue workers from the Marin Marine Mammal Center to the scene and they tried repeatedly to coax her back to the bay. They pulled out all the tricks. They tried using boards to scoot her along the path back to the water and she took a bite out the rescue workers board! At one point they managed to get her back into the water and tried to coax her to swim back out by nudging her from a kayak but she was undeterred and persistent and turned around and tried to cross the road again, and again and again. This seal was determined to get where she needed to go! Puzzled by her stubborn persistence to get to the other side, the rescue workers speculated that she might be pregnant and getting ready to give birth. Coincidentally, I happened to be visiting the Marin Marine Mammal Center with a friend, the day the standoff started so we heard about it first hand from the rescue workers there. By this time she was a local celebrity, with a constant stream of news alerts and twitter updates and I found myself frequently checking in online to follow the fate of Tolay. You go girl! Eventually after a two-day standoff, lots of drama and all-out efforts to coax her back to the water, she was gently tranquilized, hoisted into a truck and transported to an elephant seal rookery in nearby Point Reyes National Seashore. The rescue workers did some blood tests after she was tranquilized and yes, indeed, she was expecting. And then just after New Year’s we heard the happy news that she had given birth to a pup! What a great story for the new year! Never doubt the power of motherly determination and will! Good luck to you and your pup, Tolay!
Happy new year everyone! It seems that planning for New Year’s Eve always loom so large —-what to do, who to do it with. Staying in seems boring but going out on the town is such an effort. I can count on one hand the number of truly exciting New Year’s eves in my life and yet, somehow many of us hold ourselves to this impossible standard of “having plans” for the big night. I took this past week off from work and had lots of fun things on my list but since I’ve been recovering from a Christmas cold (thanks, Otto!), I ended up mostly laying low this week, catching up on sleep, reading and TV (Homeland! Was that a great season or what!). This turns out to be exactly what I needed. So, New Year’s this year was also purposefully (and perfectly) low key. I started New Year’s eve day with a walk in the redwoods at Muir Woods with my friend Sophia. Somehow, I have never been and it’s been on my “Bay Area must see” list. Such a majestic and beautiful place. It’s awe inspiring and humbling to think about these trees having been here for thousands of years. And somehow equally amazing to think that this beautiful ancient forest is just minutes from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco. I feel such luck and gratitude to be able to live in such a special part of the world. New Year’s eve I spent with my friends Victoria and Luis and two of my favorite tots, Eleanor and Sebastian for an early new year’s eve dinner and toast “Falkland Island’s style”— I’ll bet you didn’t know that the Falkland Islands celebrate their NY’s Eve at 7pm our time! New Year’s day I went to a New Year’s meditation retreat Spirit Rock Meditation Center. It was a perfect way to start the year, with clarity of mind and intention. I’ve been thinking a lot about new year’s resolutions. Front and center of my mind is becoming a Mom. Above all. I want so much for 2016 to be the year that I become a Mom, but I also know (and largely accept) that I have very little control over this and it’s not ideal to frame a resolution around something I can only partially control. Might as well resolve for world peace, in that case. So, my best alternative resolution this year is to commit to living life openly and fully. I will ‘say yes’ where before I might have waffled or declined. I will look for ways to open myself up to new experiences, and I will look forward to this adoption journey, wherever it takes me. Happy New Year’s everyone! I hope this is a great year for you.
Two of my new year’s resolutions for 2015 were to have more FUN and to connect more with friends throughout the year. So my idea was to plan one special fun, friend focused get-away each month—my “fun with friends weekends”. Usually, my new years resolutions involve things like eating better, going to the gym and losing weight and not too surprisingly, by February (if even that long) I’ve dropped them. This year’s “fun, friend focused” resolution worked out so much better! Sometimes, I made special plans to get away for the weekend. Other times, I tagged the trip onto a work trip. I was traveling a lot for work this year and a happy upside was being able to connect work and fun every now and then. Looking back, it was a fun year and I am glad to have had a chance to spend time with so many wonderful friends. My friends are my family and you’ve all been a rock for me, through some difficult times in my life. I’m so glad and grateful to have you all in my life.
So many happy memories! I didn’t plan it as a “waiting games” strategy, but my year of “fun with friends” ended up giving me something to look forward to and help pass the time in this waiting limbo. I had such fun that I might repeat the new year’s resolution this year!
Waiting for my stork 