Finding grace and forgiveness

This past weekend there was a very tragic incident in Tucson. Because I will not be able to sum up my feelings about this event eloquently enough for this post, I will instead link you to a post that the son of our church's pastor wrote. Not only does Andy live near the Safeway but a member of his church lost her life there. Andy's post reflects faith and grace well beyond his 22 years. In fact, Andy's post reflects faith and grace well beyond my 42 years.

My thoughts and prayers are with those touched by this tragic and senseless event.

Running is over rated...unless I'm being chased by something frightening

I wish I loved to run. I can totally see the appeal of it being a really convenient mode of exercise. All you need are your running shoes, some shorts, a tee and a good sports bra and off you go. But the jarring on my joints and the burn in my lungs...ugh.

I use to run. I think I might have even liked to run at one time. I liked it enough that I joined cross-country and track in high school. Then I stepped into a hole while doing wind sprints on the football field and messed up my knee. An orthopedic suggested I take up a "non-impact sport" like swimming. This was the beginning of the end of my running career...but I did have a lot of fun on the swim team. In my twenties I dated a couple guys that were serious runners so I laced up my running shoes and tailed along...begrudgingly. It was a total ruse to spend time with the cute guys. I can admit that now that I've married my soul-mate, a handsome and charming non-runner.

I do need a convenient mode of exercise though. It has become painfully obvious that exercise is going to be the only way I can continue to enjoy the consumption of fine foods and craft beers while maintaining the ability to fit into my favorite jeans. This is the depressing truth of a 40-something year old metabolism. Since the gym membership isn't working -- although I love working out, with a full time job that involves 90 minutes of round-trip travel, I hate schlepping to the gym to be away from the family even longer -- an exercise routine that I can fit into little windows of free time from home will be ideal.

So this week I started a walking routine that was intertwined with little bursts of speed that could be mistaken for a jog. I'm not sure I will ever love to run...but who knows, may be I'll be able to build up enough endurance to outrun something frightening that might be chasing me.

A sad day in the Bay Area rock scene and at our house

Y&T is one of those bands that not everyone is familiar with...but if you are a hard-rock fan from California or know my husband, there is a good chance you've heard of them. The Bay Area band is best know for their 80's hits, Summertime Girls and Mean Streak, but they have been rockin' for over 35 years and my husband is one of their biggest friends. Our running joke is that he is the President of the AZ Chapter of the Y&T Fan Club. He has managed to catch a lot of their shows in small club venues over the years as the band has toured through California, Las Vegas, Utah and Arizona. He even had the opportunity to meet and chat with the bassist, Phil Kennemore, at the Las Vegas airport last December.

Here's a photo of the band at a show in Hollywood last year.

The bass player, Phil, was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier last year, so the band has been touring with a new bass player. Over our visit to NoCal for New Years, we found out the band was holding a benefit concert for Phil at a club just 10 miles from where we were staying. With members of bands like Queensryche, Montrose, Dokken and Greg Kihn playing with Y&T, it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up for my rock lovin' hubby, so we enjoyed rocking in the new year.


Sadly, Phil passed away early yesterday morning. His best friend and band mate, Dave, wrote a touching letter on their website that you can get to from here. His music and talents as a rock guitarist will surely be missed by his fans and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, children and friends.

The dog whisperer

We stopped through Northridge on our way to and from NorCal for a visit with our friends, the Reilly's. A couple years ago the Reilly's rescued a beautiful retriever, Chester. He's a sweet dog but, like many rescues, he can be nervous around strangers in certain situations, especially men. You wouldn't know it from this picture though...

Steve and Chester both enjoyed their quality bonding time. Thanks to the Reilly's for always being the gracious hosts when we descend on your peaceful and lovely home.

New Years Resolution

The first year of this blog I had 102 posts. The second year it dropped to 47. A direct correlation between the decreased Blogger activity and my increased activity on Facebook. As I've confessed before, my creative energy was focused on short little status updates. Last year, despite good intentions, it dropped to only 41 posts. Perhaps I'm being hard on myself, but that's just sad.

So this month I'm trying a little experiment. A month of daily posts. Everyday I will attempt to post something...and if I miss a day, then I have to make up for it the next time. I can't promise they will all be lengthy editorials, but I will try to keep them interesting, colorful and witty even if they are just a recent photo, a link to something I found of interest or an insightful quote from the girls. I don't expect to keep up a daily post for the whole year, but I do hope it will get me motivated to write more regularly. If all goes as planned, I'll at least have 31 posts by the second week of February --73% of my total 2010 posts!

(And look at that...I just did two today! I'm already inspired!)

Dynamite!

Em and two classmates tried out for the school talent show today. They did their own choreography and have been practicing for over a month. I'm so impressed with their confidence and creativity at this age.

The try-outs were judged by the Student Council of our two district high schools. We should hear in couple weeks whether they make it to the big show. Stay tuned!

Yes Emily, there is a Santa Claus.

On our way home from Christmas Eve services tonight Emily says, "There are two reasons I know Santa Claus is real. First, you two would never be able to get up at two a.m. to put out presents and two, you would never buy us that many presents at one time."

Hmmmm....