Podium - 3rd Place!

Congrats to this new ThunderBunny team (formerly Werx)

who took third place in their 8 hour enduro today! 

Way to go guys! So cool they got to podium!

Most of the races are on the east coast, so Dan and Corey have joined an east-coast team

so they don't have to ship the cars from Utah every time they race.

The timing worked out perfect because Werx was going through some transitions of their own.

Also, Nick is going to be racing with his own team in the Mazda cup next season,

so Corey and Dan will get more driving time. Pete will still be the pro, 

but he's starting a new business and may be less available.

Lots of changes coming up, but I'm finally getting the hang of the schedules/teams/lingo/practices

about this sport so I finally understand what's going on.

I ran a few errands downtown this morning and the subways are still slow or not running from yesterday's flooding. (I didn't see any flooding, which is a good thing, I guess. Although I kinda feel like I missed out!)

 

Also found some neat pottery at a craft/art fair in Lincoln Square.

The kind of artist where you fall in love with every thing they make and its hard to choose just one.

Met Courtney & Michael for lunch after their long runs (Michael is prepping for the New York marathon and Courtney is running a lot too, then biking the rest of the way alongside Michael.)

In the evening, Courtney came back over for dinner and to see they guys 

when they got home from the race.

I enjoyed having conference on while I was home today.

Also enjoyed going out and being able to listen while I was doing other things. 

Rainy Day Reading

I woke up to torrential rains and even flash flood warnings, 

but I had signed up for a Barre class and didn't want to miss.

In spite of a long rain coat, knee-high rain boots, a hood and an umbrella,

I arrived soaked. Fortunately I could take off my coat and wet pants (exercise shorts underneath),

and the studio had socks for sale. 

Would you believe it was a full class? 

Funny how it was easier to walk 15 minutes in a soaking deluge

than it was to motivate myself to do my own barre routine. 

Plus, I'd already paid for the class.

I stayed inside and read the rest of the morning, afternoon, evening and finally finished at night.

It was a cozy, magical mystery.

Yesterday I read a few pages and the language was so fanciful, 

I was sure I would hate it.

Before bed I read a few more and started getting into it.

And today I fell in love with all the characters (the good ones).

Courtney left work early and came over for lunch--

there were only a few people in the office so she decided to work from home in the afternoon.

Several subway lines weren't running making it a messy commute, but she made it.

Sukkot (soo-COAT)

This tent was in the courtyard a couple of days ago and we supposed it had something to do with some elevator work we got a notice about.

But today I say another one down the street with Hebrew writing on the side

and I realized they must be tents for Sukkot! (Pronounced soo-COAT.)

Thanks to Old Testament study last year and Don't Miss This podcast 

sharing all about Sukkot, the week-long Feast of the Booths, I actually am familiar with the celebration.

Commemorating the harvest and God's protection when the Israelites left Egypt, the Sukkah's roof is  made with branches or grasses. For one week you eat all your meals in the Sukkot, light candles, pray and spend as much time there as possible.

The holiday starts tomorrow. I'm so curious how the family/families will celebrate. 

It started raining again this afternoon. Boo! 

At least Dan and I got a walk in the park this morning while the weather was still nice!

Biking the GW

The rain has finally stopped and I got to ride

up the Hudson River Parkway and cross the George Washington Bridge.

Courtney and Michael had explained that it was a little confusing figuring out how to get to the bike path entrance. There would be a steep hill. And a fenced overpass. 

All three of those instructions were verrry helpful in finding my way.

Had to get off and walk up part of the hill--it was that steep.

At the top looked right then left and spotted the overpass.

Once I crossed over, I followed the bike sign to GW bridge and ended up on a sketchy bridge underpass that wound me down and back up again to the South side. 

(On my way back discovered I was only two blocks away after the overpass.

Next time I'll know where to go.)

Once on "the Jersey side of the island" (Madagascar, anyone?!),

I found a park where I could take some photos.

Also a sign showing this was the spot of the water rescue from

Pilot Sully's "Miracle on the Hudson."

I missed my exit at 86th street but fortunately by 79th was more aware and made my way back to Riverside Park and the path home.

It's so flat, it was an easy ride, made longer by needing to figure out where to go and stopping for 

photos. I'm so glad to have another option for exercise while I'm here.  

Took advantage of the sun and went shopping on the UES.

Back home in time for Sharon McMahon book club then dinner out with the Brands.

Forced Relaxing

I stayed in my pajamas until noon reading and 

somewhat enjoying being forced inside by the rain.

I also took a 10:00 nap which are the best.

The weather kept lying to me telling me in an hour the rain would stop and all would be clear so I could go outside for a walk. But that never happened. Every hour an update would show more rain for the next 60 minutes.

I worked on more easy revisions. Word changes.

The things that take a lot more thought will need a few uninterrupted days 

when Dan is in New Jersey this weekend so I can think about how I want to make the changes.

(I've been doing a lot of research on weed and how a kid would get his hands on it,

for starters. Any pro-tips, feel free to let me know. For one, I'm getting my lingo up-to-date.

Chris and Nick said no one says "pot" anymore. It's weed.

And Jo Ellen said maybe a teenager in the story could give his friend a "blunt" 

but Rachel and Bekah said blunts were for gangster teens who liked the look of a cigar.)

So... I'm learning a lot.

Finally by 3:00 I had to get outside to exercise or wouldn't at all because I was meeting Dan 

by 5:00 in SoHo for shopping. (We both need fall clothes for New York.)

Fortunately, the rain had pretty much stopped!

I peeked into Pomander Walk, a gated courtyard between 94th & 95th and Bdway & WEA.

The cutest little tudor storybook houses on either side of the little "walk."

This evening we got Dan stocked up on new fall clothes.

We didn't have much time, but were pretty successful in two of the three stores we had time for.

We tried new places (which I researched ahead of time so we knew exactly what stores we were looking for so we didn't wander aimlessly not knowing what shops had mens clothes or were ultra-expensive designer shops.

Hanging in the Hood

Another Rainy Day.

I went to a Pure Barre class in the neighborhood --

my first live Barre class -- and had such a great time.

Sometimes its so nice to show up for a workout and do what they say instead of having to

motivate myself to follow along with the video.

(And sometimes its nice to follow along with a video and not have to GO somewhere!

Funny how life is like that.)

Dan worked at the car club today while I worked at the kitchen counter

(somehow that sounds very fancy compared to mundane, but he was taking one for the team by going elsewhere while I got to stay home and work on this rainy day.)

I started on revisions and planned Instagram for the next couple of weeks.

Who would have EVER thought that would be part of our culture?! 

Are we making life wayyyyy more complicated? And for what?

Every single teacher, agent and editor who I've learned from 

(let's say at least 15) 

have said if we want to get published, we have to have a platform -- 

at least one source of social media we are regulars on. 

I resisted for a couple of years, but here I am,

now spending part of my work day planning my posts for the next month.

Tonight we went to dinner with friends of Dan's who moved from San Diego to New York a couple of years ago. Steve is a financial advisor and brings clients to Cottonwood.

His wife knows Rachel from Cottonwood events (of course she loves her).

It was fun to meet them and Erin and I are going to try to meet up again when we're back in town.

More rain in the forecast tomorrow.

Ugh. I really want to try riding my bike!

And going outside without getting wet.

Soaked

After church the rain had lightened, so on our walk home, Dan and I stopped by the bike store

to pick up my bike that I had shipped from Utah.

By the time we checked out, it was a torrential downpour.

Luckily my bike is light because I carried it home so the rain didn't kick up off of rolling tires.

Me in my skirt carrying my bike. What a city.

Fortunately I had new rain boots.

Dan had run back to the store because we met a friendly young man who worked for Morgan Stanley in a sales capacity who was buying a bike. 

He was so outgoing he reminded us of Chris and as we left and both commented on that, I said to Dan, 

"Run back and get his contact info so Chris can ask him about his job."

We met back at the apartment and both of us were soaked.

Courtney and Michael met us for brunch:

pumpkin protein pancakes, fruit, cinnamon apples, whip cream and bacon.

Yum!

Rainy Saturday

It's pouring rain in New York today--

the effects of tropical storm Ophelia heading up the East Coast.

I talked Dan into skipping working out and having breakfast at Barney Greengrass

right across the street. Our server suggested we try "the potato pancakes"

which I was pretty sure were latkes advertised to people who he wasn't sure would know what latkes were.

I was right. They were good. 

I'd go back to Barney Greengrass if I wanted eggs with lox or any other fish 

because those were the main offerings.

Since I don't ever want that, I don't think we'll dine in again and stick with what Courtney loves from there -- their bagels. (But be prepared that you can get plain or everything. Not fancy flavors.)

What I loved about breakfast was eating out on a rainy Saturday in New York.

It felt right.

After breakfast we did temple sealings with Courtney.

I love hearing again the temple promises and covenants Dan and I made together.

We knelt across the altar from each other, our children now grown, 

and hearing those words to promise to love and cherish each other and our children, 

I thought how we'd done a pretty good job and that Dan has really lived up to that covenant.

 I'm really glad I married him. 

Then we shopped for rain boots and Michael met us for lunch at Bondi (sushi)

and the rest of the afternoon Dan and I read and watched football on a gray and rainy day.

***

Meanwhile the sun was bright in Salt Lake.

Nick joined Chris at the U's home game since it was Parent's Day on campus and 

Chris' parents were out of town.

Is this the cutest?

They even found Ryan and Mollie who have REALLY great seats!

Love the cousin love.

Friends & LunchBox Memories

Walk with my besties and celebrating mine and Carol's birthdays.

Would you believe we've been best friends for 40 years? 40!

One of my greatest treasures are friends who I've loved and who've loved me for so long.

I made a lunch for the plane today and was reminded that I haven't made lunches this school year (or last year, when Nick was a senior.) My first thought was, "I'm SO glad I don't have to make lunches anymore!"

But I caught myself. Because I actually loved making lunches for my kids.

I loved that they sat at the counter each morning eating breakfast 

while I made sandwiches and we started off our mornings all together.

(I LOVE when I get them back at my counter when they're home.)

So why was my first reaction relief?

It's nice not to set an alarm and get up when I'm ready and not think about lunch at breakfast-time.

And like my mom always said, "it's wonderful to have newborns, but you wouldn't want them to be newborns forever." So I guess my thought is I'm glad my kids have launched and I'm glad I won't be making lunches forever. 

But I LOVED it while it lasted.

My mindset was mornings are hard enough for kids. 

Waking up, practicing, being on time for school... it's hard to make time for one more thing.

(I stopped eating breakfast or making lunches in high school because I simply didn't want to spend the time to do it. And I was sick to death of cheese sandwiches and an apple.)

Lunch memories: Courtney and Chris both liked tomatoes. Not Marty.

When I made peanut butter sandwiches, Marty got a jam sandwich and if I had them, a baggy of peanuts. 

Because he liked peanuts, but not peanut butter.

Marty refused to eat wheat bread when he was a Senior and I remember that feeling of being so dang sick of homemade lunches so we started buying him white bread.

But I made Chris and Nick still have whole wheat. 

I really tried to have different sandwiches or main meal each day:

lunch meat and cheese; peanut butter; tuna fish (or canned chicken); Amy's pizza bites 

(sometimes bean & cheese, sometimes pizza flavor).

What was the 5th day? I can't remember. Sushi when Nick and Chris were older. 

If we were out of bread, triscuits and cheese like homemade lunchables.

I always felt like I was letting them down on those days, but I think they liked it.

Like the one time I made eggs for dinner and I was so sorry we weren't having a real meal and it turns out everyone was SO excited!

I cut oranges and apples into slices generally. I think we even peeled the apples at one time.

(That was probably going too far. But on the other hand, I really wanted them to eat their fruit or veggies, so wanted to make them as desirable as possible.)

I always cut the oranges into slices because I hated having to peel oranges when I was a kid.

Mainly when they didn't peel easily and you got juice all over. Or the peel under your fingernails.

Ranch dip in little portion cups for the veggies. Always.

Chips, because I never got chips in my lunches. 

Juice because I wanted something healthy, but also a drink.

Again, motivated by the fact I never got drinks in my lunch.

Sometimes 100% juice Capri Suns. Mostly the little cans of apple or pineapple juice or juice boxes. 

I think Marty like orange and Courtney liked apple. 

Someone really liked grape when I could get it in the cans.

It's funny I don't remember Chris and Nick's likes/dislikes as much.

I honestly think it was because they just went with the flow.

I'm sure there were much better chips by the time they came along too!

Courtney and Marty mainly had goldfish or pretzels or veggie stiks.

The Annie's mini ritz crackers with peanut butter or cheese centers were a favorite.

This would be fun to explore with all the kids --

lunch box memories.

***

This afternoon Chris gave me a ride to the airport. Isn't he sweet?

I'm meeting Dan in New York for the next 10 days.

I really like flights and that uninterrupted do whatever I want time!

And all the seatback pockets to organize my trip activities

makes it that much better.

A Positive

I gave blood today. Go me!

5th Grade Angela

Found these gems while searching for pics from 5th grade.

I know you're thinking, get that girl into braces, stat!

But would you believe that wasn't part of my teenage experience? 

I grew into those teeth somehow and closed the gap eventually.

I never was a bows and ruffles kind of girl so I'm really wondering how I got sold on this shirt.

What I do remember is my 6th grade teacher, Mr. Potts, telling me and Anne Thackeray that he was really tempted to get the scissors and cut off our side curls.

I see it now. 

But at the time I remember thinking it wasn't a very nice thing 

for a teacher to say to his star students. (Which we were.)

Thanks to my mom for her painstaking efforts at curling my hair for picture day

with five other children at her feet, including a new baby.

I don't think I learned to curl my own hair until a few years later. 

Surely by Jr. High. Yes, because I remember burning myself with the curling iron a lot and everyone would tease that it looked like a hickey. But all the girls were burning themselves, so it was just something we laughed at. At least I'm pretty sure everyone else just had curling iron burns.

As you can see, cute hair wasn't my normal day-to-day.

She's pretty cute, though, isn't she?

You'd have fun hanging out with her if you liked to jump on the trampoline for hours, climb trees, ride bikes far, far away, read and listen to KRSP on the radio.

I wish I could go back and give her a hug and tell her she was pretty great.

These were my favorite 5th and 6th grade books. 

It was after reading these that I fell in love with books that made you feel.

Hardy Boys had been great, and I'll always love a good mystery.

But I discovered literature and the eye-opening effects of stories

of kids and big-world situations and how books could help you learn sympathy.

Mt. Olympus

Hiked Mt. Olympus to the first river today.

My plan was to go 30-45 minutes up, but of course once I got started, I couldn't quit before the river.

I stopped and chatted with a guy for a bit.

He had a friendly dog who wanted to say hi, which started the conversation.

So including the diversion, I made it to the river in 66 minutes. 

11 minutes longer than I expected. 

I planned 45 minutes down so to make up time, I ran wherever the trail wasn't too rocky or cliffside.

Made up 8 minutes. 1:45 roundtrip. Not too bad for my first time in a year.

I also had lunch with Betsy B. 

We were close friends in Chicago and her son, Toby, was a regular playdate of Courtney's.

We still have a lot in common, including a desire to reconnect with old friends.

We're getting together again when she comes back in town for the Sharon McMahon lecture!!

See? Lots in common. 

Shoulder Season

We arrived home this morning.

Mid-September and it is showing signs of fall.

But also summer.

And also fall because we had a huge thunderstorm.

Emi's First Birthday Party

This morning we left Indianapolis and landed in Denver so we could celebrate Emi's birthday! 

Lizzie's brother and sil, Dave and Steph and their two children were also visiting for the week, as well as her other sister, Erica! While the babies were napping, everyone pitched in to help with decorations and prep the taco bar and it reminded me of working with my sisters to get everything ready for a party.

Siblings are the best!

Emi loved opening her presents and got a xylophone, chat books, a baby doll,

doll stroller, wooden puzzles, board books and a toy car.

She was a very eager present opener, curious to see what was in the gift bags.

(She's also really good at pointing and helping everyone figure out what she wants!)

We walked to the park after presents and Emi showed us how well she can go down the slide,

climbing up the stairs and turning around all by herself so she can go down on her tummy.

(Marty taught her how to do it at My Gym!)

It's so fun to see her personality and all the things she's learning.

After the park, it was time for the finishing party touches and to sing Happy Birthday.

Lizzie made a darling smash cake, but Emi surprised everyone by genteely wiping at the frosting, then holding her hand out to the nearest person to see if they wanted a taste.

After realizing how good it was, she definitely dug in more freely, 

but she was more interested in real food.

Lizzie and Marty invited two other families to join us for dinner and a party.

One has a little boy just days younger than Emi and they've been best friends since birth :-)

The other family is from their ward with young children and third on the way.

We loved meeting their friends and are so happy they have neighborhood friends! 

We loved getting to celebrate with Emi, Marty & Lizzie, and LOVE being grandparents!!