Book Nerd

I wrote a detailed post last week describing how I came up with the following list of books for 2011. I reread it today before posting and had to laugh at myself. No one needs seven paragraphs to do what can be said in four sentences:

Read 30 books (well, 1 to go) in 2010. Thought 30 was a good number, but wanted to branch out from 90% fiction. Picked a few areas I’m interested in, filled in with books that have been on my list for a while. Left a few spots open to fill in later.

Simple Living

1. The Joy of Less (Francine Jay)
2. The Paleo Solution (Robb Wolf)
3. Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (Eric Bende)
4. The Story of Stuff (Annie Leonard)

Memoirs and Biographies

5. Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson)
6. My Life in France (Julia Child)
7. The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It (Tilar J. Mazzeo)

Running

8. Marathon: A Novel (Hal Higdon)
9. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen (Christopher McDougall)
10. What I talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Murakami)

Personal Finance

11. Frugillionaire (Francine Jay)
12.
13.

Faith

14. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Rob Bell)
15. Radical: Take Back Your Faith from the American Dream (David Platt)
16. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Litterally as Possible (A. J. Jacobs)
17. Mere Christianity (C. S. Lewis)

Travel

18. Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer (Chuck Tompson)
19. The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday (Niel MacFarquahar)
20.

Career

21. Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty (Patrick Lencioni)
22.

Fiction

23. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
24. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Anne Shafer)
25. Cutting for Stone (Abraham Verghese)
26. I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
27. The 19th Wife
28.
29.
30.

2011

2009 was the year of blogging about my CSA. That lasted a month.

2010 was the year of blogging about my adventures. That made it all the way to July!

2011... I'm going to give it another try. I have three ideas I'm going to start with and maybe one will stick: Continuing to document my adventures so I remember what I did this year (it was super fun to read back on my year from Jan - July right now); documenting my book list for the year (mostly to hold myself accountable); and finally, chronicling my new found fascination with minimalism.

So, fair readers (Mom and Lauren), I'll see you in 2011. :)

Good Times with the Smithskis and KK Turns 30

Back in June Kathy decided what she wanted to do for her 30th birthday - a simple party in the park where we could play childhood games and relax with good friends. So we booked a few picnic tables in Golden Gate Park and waited for the weekend to arrive. I mentioned the party to Lauren and Stu, who found out a few weeks before the big day that a friend was driving up to SF the weekend of the party. Lucky me - a great friend's birthday and some of my favorite people in town on the same weekend. :)

Lauren and Stu arrived Friday night, and brought Mini KK along with them. We left her at home and headed out for dinner at Kennedy's Irish Pub (for Indian food, of course) and met up with a friend of theirs from law school on Union. They got to suffer through a truly Marina evening and know understand me on a whole new level. I never get to cook for anyone, so I invited them over for breakfast on Saturday morning and we made breakfast tacos. They were edible and possibly even good. We set off for the party, figuring Muni was the easiest way to transfer a life-size pinata.  

We had so much fun hanging out at the park together. Despite the frigid temperatures and bad wind, we managed to have an egg toss and a pinata beating. 

Happy 30th KK! I love you and am so thankful for your friendship.

Espana!

The Collins Family set off on a two week adventure around Spain at the end of June to celebrate Mom and Dad's 30th anniversary on 7/5/2010. We kicked the trip off by meeting in Denver, where Dad surprised Mom with a DVD of pictures taken over the last thirty years. Great way to start the trip! Becky, Joey and I have been so blessed to have an example of a wonderful marriage all our lives and to be a part of a family that enjoys extended family time every few years. :)

Happy 30th, Mom and Dad!! I love you!

We traveled together through Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Marbella, and Barcelona. Our timing was perfect - we managed to catch Spain's round of 16, quarterfinal, and semi-final World Cup games. We left just a few days before Spain took the championship game for their first World Cup win. Here are a few of my favorites pictures from the trip. All the pics can be seen here.

 

The Mandas

On May 8th Julie and Jamie became The Mandas in a lovely ceremony at the Sir Francis Drake in downtown San Francisco. It was a wonderful evening filled with many special J and J moments, from the Florida State football references during the ceremony to home made cakes in all the best flavors.

Happy Couple

Ridiculous - both the cake and the view

Can't imagine life without these women!

The Relay

The first weekend of May, we set out with 2 vans, 11 co-workers, 36 race legs, 48 pb&j sandwiches, 60 gatorades, and 200 miles of road for The Relay. Team Slalom finished the Calistoga to Santa Cruz adventure in 29 hours and 42 minutes. More importantly, we're all still co-workers and employees!

Team Slalom

Van One!

Meeting Dean Karnazes! (Close to as exciting as meeting Phil and Harry was back in '01.)

Can't seem to leave work behind for the weekend.

Running along the highway in Calistoga.

Mission Peak Hike

Kicking off Half Dome training with a hike at Mission Peak in the East Bay. 5.6 miles out and back, with a 2000 feet elevation change. Ouch! 

Sonoma, Baby!

So, maybe it doesn't have the same ring to it as Vegas, Baby!, but it definitely suits the girls much better.

We took off for a night in Sonoma to celebrate the soon-to-be Mrs. Manda. Unfortunately she came down with the stomach bug. After biking to two wineries we spent the day at the pool relaxing and indulged on Mary's Pizza in the hotel room. It wasn't exactly the send-off to married life we had planned, but it was so relaxing and nice to spend time together.

Stadium to Sea 2010

I swore I would never run another marathon after I crossed the Chicago finish line back in 2004. Fast forward five years, numerous races, and an overachieving BFF new to the racing world. Somehow in the Fall of 2009 I excitedly found myself signing up to run the 25th anniversary Los Angeles Marathon.

We started off on Saturday in the blistering sun at Dodger Stadium to pick up our race packets. We treated ourselves to t-shirts since the only official race shirts they had left would nicely fit your average sized troll. It was HOT so we didn't stay long, all quietly wondering how we were going to run 26.2 miles the next day when we could barely stand around without melting.

We dragged the boys to Michael's with us to get crafting supplies. When you need to bedazzle, you need to bedazzle. Too bad the bedazzling wore off somewhere around mile one. Our Support Team (of one) joined in on the crafts and made some of the days winners in signage.

Side Note: Matt was awesome and deserves the award of the day for crafting on a Saturday night, going to a senior citizens dinner, getting up at 4:30 for no reason, traversing the streets of LA in a car and on foot, and capturing awesome finish line pics of us. 

Getting ready to start with Alexis!

The race itself was great. Alexis, Meredith and I started off together. Lex pulled ahead around mile 1 to look for a bathroom and unfortunately we didn't meet up again until after the race. Meredith and I ran until 15 then went our own ways. She now refers to the race as my LA Snack-A-Thon. Let's just say I tried every item the crowd had to offer, from bananas to licorice. I had a smile on my face until about mile 23. Then I wanted someone to cut my feet off. But I plodded away, especially once I realized Becky and Arek would be at the finish. I crossed under in 4:51:17. Wasn't exactly a PR, but I am proud of it. The best part of the race was crossing the finish line and not having the "I will never do this again" feeling. Two down, hopefully at least eight more to go.

Crossing the finish line 26.2 miles later. 

Some of my favorite badass rockstars. 

What's left of the bedazzling. 

Not sure what's next. New York 2010? International Something 2011? 

All the pictures are here.

Date Night!

Saturday night was date night with Kathy. We are on a roll of getting out of our neighborhoods and went all. the. way. to Noe Valley (only in SF is 4 miles a journey). We started the night at Fattoush, an amazing, cozy Middle Eastern restaurant on Church Street. The food (appetizer sampler, freshly baked pita bread, beriani with chicken, potatoes and garbanzo beans) was amazing. Unfortunately the only dish I took a picture of was the one thing we didn't exactly love - a ground lamb filled doughy thing (technical term) with date sauce. It was a sweet and savory mix gone awry, but doesn't it look pretty? We found the place here. I highly recommend joining the mailing list for your city, if available. The great deals are fun, but even better is reading about restaurants you'd never come across otherwise.


We saw the J run past the restaurant a few times and decided instead of taking the same route we used to get to Noe Valley we'd jump on the J and see where it took us. We're crazy girls like that. We ended getting off in the Castro, where an urge for ice cream hit me hard. I decided I wouldn't look for ice cream, but if a sign appeared, it was meant to be. As we moved from the Castro to the Lower Haight in search of a bus to get us back to Yuppyville, I literally almost ran into a sign screaming "Organic Ice Cream". Not really sure it could have been more meant to be. I have no idea why Kathy turned right as I snapped her picture (to point at the sign I had determined was our sign to stop and eat), but the resulting photo is hilarious.

Next up was finding a way home. It was 10:00, AKA the time at which I turn into a pumpkin. We decided to walk off our ice cream a bit only to realize we were walking straight into the ghetto. We are independent women, but we're not dumb. So we rerouted ourselves and walked towards a different bus line. We ended up at the bus stop only to turn around and find the KK Cafe. Kathy had actually read about it (I'm convinced she now googles her initials to find places) and claims it has the best vegetarian burger in SF. We've got a location for our next date night! 

Happy Birthday, AZ!

We celebrated the beginning of Alyssa's 33rd year with a very pink party on Saturday night. She went all out decorating her apartment and we all got creative bringing red and pink appetizers. Cupcakes and cookies were quite the most popular item. I started my day with a 20 mile run and decided that gave me leeway to try both types of cupcakes and the cookie. Luckily we were all so full we didn't even slice the cake. (Yes, we need to plan better. I didn't even get into the savory selections, but rest assured I tried them all.) Side note: If you need an easy, crowd-pleasing appetizer, try this mini version of a Caprese salad. Slice mozzarella balls and cherry tomatoes in half and add both to a toothpick along with a basil leaf. If you use marinated mozzarella balls, you're done. If not, toss in a bit of balsamic, olive oil, and salt/pepper.

Like all Girls Nights, it was a lot of fun. I hobbled home smiling after a great night with a group of awesome women.

Chronicle Wine Festival

The San Francisco Chronicle hosts a wine competition each year and follows it with a tasting event a few weeks later where wineries can show off any awards they may have won. I've gone three of the four years I've lived in the city, this year being the third. Julie, Jamie, Vanessa and I enjoyed an afternoon of wine, baguette, and little cheeses and chocolates. (J, V, and I started the day with a killer 12 mile run through the Presidio so we could enjoy the snacks guilt-free all afternoon.) We also learned a few things: Target box wine is not so bad (though we did try it 10 minutes before the event closed, so perhaps our judgement is not to be trusted) and Livermore has wine tasting right off the BART line. It was a great time and an excellent way to enjoy the last day before my dry month (New Year's goal) started.

Me, Vanessa, Julie

FYI - Vanessa does indeed have two legs, unlike the picture above would lead you to believe.

19 Miles

My motivation (a.k.a., my friend Julie) was out of town this weekend when the marathon schedule called for 19 miles. I procrastinated all of Saturday and Sunday and was left with no choice but to run on Monday. About three minutes in I had a great idea. I had my phone with me for music, why not document my run? I decided on a few rules (because I'm Type A and that's just how we do it): I would take one picture every ten minutes (plus or minus thirty seconds) and it could be of anything within a 360 degree view of where I was running at that point.

Not only did I finish my run and actually really enjoy it, as much as one can enjoy 3 hours and 22 minutes of running, I also unexpectedly found myself in the middle of two lessons. The first was patience. There were a few really neat pictures I wanted to capture, but the point was not to take cool pictures, it was to motivate myself ten minutes, or one mile, at a time. Secondly, I learned to let go of some insecurity. I started out looking like a runner - water belt, hand held gatorade bottle, dry fit clothing, etc. But there I was every ten minutes looking like a tourist, jumping up on park benches or crouching down to get the best angle. People looked at me funny, but after the first few miles I learned to smile and be on my way.

Below are 20 pictures (a 10:30 pace allowed for one extra shot!). They are not very good, but a nice way to capture all the training I've been doing for the past three months.

One: Me

Two: Waters of Aquatic Park

Three: Was supposed to be Pier 39/Aquarium of the Bay

Four: Downtown, Transamerica Pyramid

Five: Bay Bridge

Six: AT&T Park

Seven: Ferry Building Clock Tower

Eight: Hmm...something on Fisherman's Wharf?

Nine: Alioto's - Yet another 'SF-Must Do' I have yet to do

Ten: Fort Mason

Eleven: Yacht Club

Twelve: Golden Gate Bridge

Thirteen: The ground (running up a Presidio hill, didn't much care about the quality of the picture)

Fourteen: On the bridge!

Fifteen: Crossing into Marin

Sixteen: Trying, and failing, to be artsy on the bridge.

Seventeen: Crissy Field, from the Presidio

Eighteen: The GGB again, but this time running away from it!

Nineteen: Kind of funny, this was supposed to be my car that I happened to run past. Completely missed it in the shot.

Twenty: HOME!