Are You Ready for A Miracle?

For the past five months I have been volunteering with a wonderful team of people planning, preparing and doing lots of praying for a program called Staging A Miracle.  (Click here to see a video of the inaugural performance from last year).  This is a five week summer arts theater program, primarily for families in the Sacramento community who are transitioning out of homelessness.  It’s of no cost to them, and an opportunity for grade school children to receive quality arts programming three times a week, culminating with a performance of their musical on Saturday, August 8th as part of the Sacramento Second Saturday Art Walk.   These kids will not only perform in the play, but their art will become the backdrop, their words will become the script, and their voices will be the music. 

While the children are in different workshops with practicing artists learning to paint, dance, sing, act and write, we provide childcare for the babies and other arts-related classes for the preschoolers and the parents.  It truly is a summer arts program for the whole family.  

In the months leading up to tonight, we already witnessed a few miracles.  One of the key aspects to this program is the provision of transportation.  Many of these families don’t have reliable transportation, or the funds for additional trips.  Months ago we thought we had secured donated vans to transport the families (100 participants in total!) to and from the church for each rehearsal.  3 weeks ago the van deal fell through….that same day, we received a generous grant (in this challenging economy) which has enabled us to pay for alternative transportation.  Such a blessing!

Tonight was the first night of this summer’s Staging A Miracle program.  It was electrifying to see the church transform into a center for children in the arts, bringing participants and volunteers from all walks of life together to be creative and have fun!  It seemed as though everywhere I turned there were smiling faces.  What began as a crazy idea from some amazing people at First United Methodist Church in Sacramento, has grown into a community of love, support, and hope for the future.  I’m so grateful and excited to be part of this program, I can’t wait for our next gathering on Thursday!

It’s amazing to me…

…that it’s 9:30pm and in the 60’s, yet in 2 days it will be over 100degrees here, and still in the 60’s in the evening.

I am also am amazed, or more accurately – wondering, where my blog post time went?  Sigh…I will work on that.

What is missing in this photo?

Remember the kids magazine Highlights and the hidden pictures, where you looked for items within the picture?  Let’s play a version of that game:

What is different in the below photos*?

Official Big Sur Marathon elevation profile

Elevation profile from Eric's GPS watch

 The top picture is the elevation chart posted on the Big Sur Website.  The second picture is from Eric’s GPS tracking watch.  Notice the difference between miles 15 and 25…I mistakenly thought we were in for some fairly smooth sailing.  Not quite!  Eric’s watch captures the rolling hills – which was the reality, they must have been “hidden” in the official profile!  When runners told us at the start this was a tough course…I began to really believe them around mile 16.    I still had a blast!

*Note: Miles 1-3 on the official chart is pretty accurate, Eric’s is off because the GPS was catching the tree tops as we were still in the redwoods.

The Results

Tara – 4hrs, 14min. 

Eric – 3hrs, 33min.

The course had spectacular views, just breathtaking!  Strong headwind for ~20miles + many hills =  more challenging than we expected.  We feel pretty beat up right now, but it was totally worth it, we had a great race!

More stories, thoughts and impressions to come…

Big Sur Marathon – Here we come!

We have trained.  We have planned.  We made ipod mixes.  We have packed our bags.  On Sunday, we will run! 

When we announced our move to California, Susan Matheny of Welcome Touch Massage told us that the Big Sur Marathon was the most amazing and breath-taking marathon she has run.  Eric promptly signed us up! 

The course looks beautiful.  We will start at 7am in Big Sur, then run along Highway 1 north to Carmel.  We start in the Redwoods, then spend most of the course along the coast with the mountains to our right and rocky cliffs to the powerful Pacific to our left.  They most challenging part of this race (other than running 26.2 miles…) is the 2 mile, 5% grade climb, to Hurricane Point between miles 10 and 12.  After this point, the view is said to be incredible as we cross the famous Bixby Bridge to the sounds of a grand piano. 

As we approach the race, I’m excited and anxious at the same time.  I feel confident in my training and well prepared, so I look forward to seeing what kind of time both Eric and I can run.  Although they say to add 20min to your marathon time for this race to account for the hills and wind, I hope to complete my race around 4hrs, 15min.  Eric will finish at least 30min before me.  Then after re-fueling at the finish line, catch the shuttle back to Monterey and take a long afternoon nap.  We’ll relax and enjoy Monterey on Sunday evening, then drive back to Sac-town on Monday. 

Please be thinking of us Sunday morning!  I’ll try to post Sunday afternoon with our times!

California First Dates

I feel like I’ve been going on a lot of first dates recently.  First dates in respect to finding new service providers.  Most recently for me, it has been with a new hair stylist and dentist. 

Finding a new hair stylist is stressful business!  It takes time to build up a relationship with a stylist, to learn my hair, my tastes, with the ability to create a great customized cut and style.  Yesterday I finally ventured out and gave a salon up the street a try.  I figured it was a good bet since I received two recommendations for this place AND…they treated me well on our first date with a glass of wine while I waited.  SCORE!  I love my new stylist, Nicole.  She did a great job!

As for the dentist, I dread no more!  Tomorrow it will be our third date, and I am actually looking forward to it!  My friends, this dental experience was SO CALIFORNIA to me.  First, I had to “know someone” to get it.  Seriously, they don’t take new patients.  I totally had to name drop to get us appointments.  (Eric’s co-worker’s wife was my hook-up). 

This place is the Lexus of dentist offices.  It smells like a spa when you first enter the building, and the office itself has fresh brewed coffee for patients.  (Seriously?  I usually avoid tea, red wine, coffee and other staining beverages until AFTER my appointment).  My first visit they gave me a tour of the full office, every employee I saw welcomed me with a smile, I was half expecting them to burst into song together singing “Be Our Guest”.  The treatment at this place is with all the latest technology, it’s pain-free, and best of all, it’s practically free with Eric’s amazing dental insurance coverage!  They even sent a hand-written thank you note! 

The California “dating” scene is impressive!

Thank you note from our dentists

A Centenarian!

Last weekend we were in Naples, Florida to celebrate Fred Nelson’s 100th birthday!  We had a great time helping him celebrate his 100 years of life.  Grandpa has been part of my life the past 22 years, and has been such a blessing to me and many others.  He immigrated from Sweden as a young boy, and spent his career in the ministry, founding two new congregations along the way.  Grandpa shared some prepared words with his 70 adoring fans.  It was beautiful, and he honored Grandma, may she rest in peace, as the secret to his successful ministry.  I tried to soak up the sights, sounds and words of the day and secure them into my memory.  After his speech, I had a chance to chat with Grandpa.

Tara: Grandpa, I loved your speech, it was very moving.

Grandpa: Really?  Was is Ok?  I cut out the first part because it sounded too much like a sermon.  Are you sure it was Ok?

Tara: Grandpa, it was more than OK, it was WONDERFUL!  We loved it!  I really liked how you framed your message.  And I can’t believe you hardly used your notes! 

He’s so cute.  After all those years of preaching, he’s wondering if he’s still “got it”.  I think he does!

We also had a great time reconnecting with other relatives.  I hadn’t seen some of my cousins in 7 years!  Was fun to catch up and meet their children.   Cousin Christy shared with us the side benefit from all her bouldering, she can do a pull up on a door frame!  Of course the weekend would not have been complete without late night laughs with Justin.  He shared with us his mad cooking skills, ending with an “Uncle Louie” egg creations and cans of Bud Light.  Nice. 

The Birthday Boy!

Uncle Louie...Mmmm.

Lessons from Gustavo

A few weeks ago we were in Napa with some Texas friends celebrating a birthday.  (I say Texas, but really we all traveled from Austin, San Francisco, Chicago and Sacramento…but the friendships started in Texas).  I had a fabulous time, and my lessons learned from the weekend I will credit to our new friend, Gustavo.

Lesson 1: Your first career choice may not be your true calling. 

This Napa visit focused on wineries featured in the movie Bottleshock and our first stop was at GustavoThrace.  We were lucky enough to meet Gustavo and enjoyed many of his stories while we tasted his delicious wine.  When asked if he knew all his life that he would be a winemaker, he shared with us that he thought he would be a professional baseball player, then maybe a history teacher, and what ultimately brought him to school at UC Davis was to figure out why people were so obsessed with “stinky cheese”!  That goodness for his curiosity, which led him to his true calling of wine-making.  May we all keep listening for what we are truly called to do.

Lesson 2: Enjoy the journey

I really felt like Gustavo loves what he does.  Sure, I have no doubt there are aspects of his work that aren’t thrilling, but it was clear he had a passion for wine-making, and enjoyed sharing it with us.  I am starting to appreciate and embrace more the adventure that comes with the journey of life, I hope to find ways to share my little excitements with others along the way as well.

Lesson 3: This one is a Napa wine-tasting logistical lesson…start early!

This is not a “come early, stay late” piece of advice, but rather start early and end mid-afternoon in the natural hot spring-fed hot-tub at the hotel in Calistoga.  The benefit of starting early is you beat the crowds and get a personal experience.  My most enjoyable stops this trip were at GustavoThrace and Chateau Montelana (they had the winning wine in 1976 which put Napa on the map…see the movie Bottleshock).  At both of these wineries we were the only party tasting and had the opportunity to ask many questions and learn much more about their wine and the region than when we are just another pour for the day. 

The gang with Gustavo!

 

The winning wine from 1976.

Isn’t it Ironic?

A few weeks ago I saw an SUV turning into a Wal-Mart parking lot with a bumper sticker that read “I don’t buy Chinese crap”. 

Huh?  Do they think the “rolled-back” pricing is thanks to low, excuse me, “cost-competitive” wages in the Midwest? 

Just found this more ironic than Alanis Morissette’s unfortunate “rain on her wedding day”.

Mighty Yosemite

A few weeks ago we visited Yosemite National Park and snowshoed for the first time.  What an amazing trip!   First, I was very appreciative of being able to experience winter within 4 hrs (or closer if we hit the Sierra’s), yet I don’t have to LIVE with winter.    I experienced tire chains for the first time to drive on the snow-covered Yosemite roads.  Thank goodness for new chains that are easy to attach with color-coded instructions, and my mountain-bred husband!

I think I have discovered my winter sport: Snowshoeing!  It’s a great way to experience winter, without dealing with my fear of heights and feeling out of control (downhill skiing/snowboarding) or my inability to climb up a hill on skis (cross-country skiing).  Snowshoeing was like hiking with spikes on – no problem!  We lucked out with a gorgeous day, just under freezing but sunny, with ~2feet of fresh powder.  Some early morning trailblazers packed down the snow on our route, which made each step that much easier.  Along the way we discovered a few igloos previously hikers spent the night in…no thank you!

After spending our first day hiking on the mountain, we spent the second day in the valley.  At first there wasn’t much to see through the snowy day, until finally the white “sheet” was lifted, and revealed these incredible rock formations and waterfalls around us.  I felt like I was in the middle of an Ansel Adams photo.  Words do not do it justice. 

My favorite moments and photos from this trip:

• The view from Dewey Point on our snowshoe hike- breathtaking
• The silence when we stopped during our 7mile snowshoe hike
• Our first glimpse of the cliffs and waterfalls from the valley
• 5-star Chinese Restaurant in downtown Oakhurst.  What a funny place to spend Valentine’s Day with our traveling buddies!

Eric "Mountain Man" Thronson installing chains like a champ!

 

Beautiful Day in Yosemite

 

El Capitan

 

Dewey Point

Eric enjoying the view

 

The Snowshoe Crew! Eric, Tara, Ben and Lisa after our 7mile hike.

Yosemite Valley