What is up in the West?

Fun Weekend!

2010-03-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

Went to the Riv this weekend for some fun, was a loner though with Con on a work trip. Left San Marcos on Saturday to Amanda's to go to the baby shower for Debbie & Kenny together. Had this itch to get Bakers on the way but the invite said Dinner and Drinks. Got to Amanda's after playing 21 questions with the security guard. Went up to the house and was bummed that I passed up at least 3 bakers on the way. Walked in and Jay had some Canyon Cottage food that Amanda brought back for him even though he was ditching us at the co-ed shower. I was about to eat one of his jalapeño poppers. By now it was 4:45 and the bowl of Cinnamon Life I ate 11am was not cutting it anymore.

Get to the shower, pouring down rain, funny neighbor wiping down his car and ringing out the rag while it was raining. Made it to the baby shower, bummer everyone we know is out side huddled under the 6 ez-ups. To bad there is an opening I have to get wet. Said many hellos, saw chips and salsa, saw the bar...and then the bad news came. Taco guy got his truck stuck and is not even here yet. How long I think, no one knows. Dang it, should have stopped at Bakers. Chatting, eating chips and salsa....finally he is here. Geez how long does it take to make carne asada, chicken, carnitas and pastor. Oh well not like I can make him go faster. Was not feeling the Bud Lite or other choices as I knew I wanted to go snowboarding...went for Sams Diet Soda...Not bad. Huddled under the food tent before it was finished as I knew the line was going to get long. Hooked my ride up with a plate I mean why make her get wet also.

More chatting and raining, boots wet, socks wet, time to go. Stayed at Conrad's parents since I was going snowboarding with my little sister today and because they are awesome! Stayed up and talked with his sister Lexie whil watching TV. Had to get some nachos. Geez could have gone for more taco guy, to bad he ran out.

Woke up and went to get donuts with Conrad's parents. They sent me on my way and off to Mountain High I went. Conrad likes to call it Mountain Low. I did not think it was that bad. Glad my little sister decided to ski and not snowboard as how am I going to teach her when I am not even that good. Went up and did some runs, she skied I boarded, we seemed to be at the same pace. So many people there but we had free lift tickets to why complain.

Went to eat and it started to snow, so fun...oh no now it is really coming down. No chains, bummer. Should we stay or should we go. I mean we can still make it down, but I do still have to drive back to SD. Down we went. Here are some fun pics from the day, one from the car with snow on it! Loved spending the day with my little sister.

Sisters!

Courtney looking pro, she did so great!

Do not be fooled by the ski poles I was holding them for my sister as she took the picture.

Thanks El Nino for a great day on the Mountain in So Cal!

30th Birthday Tahoe Trip

2010-01-31T23:23:00.001-08:00

What an awesome weekend filled with friends, fun, amazing snow and many memories!

This was the view of Reno from the plane!

View from amazing cabin.

Conrad getting ready to go snow tubbing.

My last day as 29 getting ready to go down the tubbing trail head first.

My friends Anna and Leah at the top of the tube trail.

View from tram going up heavenly mountain.

Amazing view of lake tahoe from the lakeview lodge on my bday. Perfect amount of sun and fresh powder to make it the best day on the mountain. The lodge kept me captive a few days later when the same view looked like this...

This is a picture taken by my iPhone of the picture Amanda bought me from the sharp shooter. I look pro in that shot. HaHa! I wish!

Thanks to Conrad, Amanda, Anna, Jay and Leah for making it a great birthday weekend.

Thanks mom for the lift tickets present.

Spots to highlight...
Nepheles - best burgers, bar, beer, shots, staff and private hot tubs! Thanks Josh. 1-4-24!

Improv at Harvey's - Dat Phan from San Diego was hilarious.

Hard Rock Cafe - I love Hard Rock and go every chance possible when traveling.

Chart House - Got there to late for the prime rib or lobster as they sold out, but still had a amazing meal with good friends and two bottles of Opus One. Thanks J&A

Harvey's and Harrah's Casinos -thank you for letting me gamble with the same $20 all night and getting free beers. Well I guess they were not free since I lost my $20 after three tables and a few hours.

Now I am thirty! Happy 2010!

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Welcome to 2010

2010-01-05T22:00:00.001-08:00

I wanted to share with you a short video I made of clips from Walk MS 2007. That was Team Easy Does It's second year walking and now we are happy to say we are back for year #5!! We have raised over $11,000 to create a world free of MS and need your help to raise more.

Join the team or make a donation. If you can not walk in San Diego or Orange County with us visit walkms.org to find an event near you.

Cheers to 2010!

Oh the memories

2009-12-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

I just love the holidays and listening to all the stories about friends and family growing up. Over Christmas I had a chance to look at many old pictures of Conrad and his family growing up, with all the laughter the family wanted to see some of my old pictures, so I thought what the heck why not share them with you too!!

Got to love the Polaroid short back in 1981 -- Yep that is my and my horsey. See Levi horses are nice (and also not as hi-tech as the 2009 version you got)! Oh yeah, how about the table with the plant on it in the back ground, great interior decorating.

Age 5, to bad no-one else showed up to do the Animal Crackers Tap Routine but me!! So you bet I got out there and did it SOLO!! Dang I am so cute :)

If you could not tell, that is me on the left. For a white girl I have the best tan of all of us! At least my ballerina team decided to show.

Here is me playing softball, think I am 7 or 8 in this one. Oh yeah the guy in the pic is the umpire and he is my dad -- You better call me safe!

We call this "The Wave"! I want to say I was about 10 or 11 in this AWESOME school pic.

Big Hair Big Hoops!

I hope you got a laugh and enjoyed the pics :)

Happy New Year

Christmas is here!

2009-12-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

I went out and bought a mini tree. Can not wait for Conrad to get home! Happy holidays to you!

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I am thankful!

2009-11-28T11:29:00.000-08:00

I am so thankful for a wonderful boyfriend, friends and family.

Here is how we spent our Thanksgiving: The Castell Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a wonderful turkey day filled with laughter and fun :)

What an Inspiring Weekend!

2009-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, I am so tired but last weekend I was really inspired! We held our 23rd annual MS Dinner Auction at the Loews in Coronado on Saturday Nov 21st and I spent all day Friday Nov 20th & Sunday Nov 22nd scouting the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk.

Friday morning I woke up bright and early at 5am, usually I only do this when I have to work for one of our events. This Friday morning I was getting up to not only see off my friend Oria and Team Breast Friends 2009 on their 3-day 60 mile journey for breast cancer, but the other nearly 4,000 people that walked with them. It was cold as I left the house and was so glad for the beanie I was wearing, bummed out though that I forgot my gloves! Oh well, needed to hit the road to the Del Mar Fair grounds early enough to not deal with that much traffic!

Luckily I parked and was able to find Oria right away! Here is Oria with her friends Katie and Jenny holding their scarves that they wrote each person who donated to them on and the people who they were walking for. They carried these scarves with them all weekend long.

I won't bore you with all the details of me following the route, checking out rest stops, lunch stops, and the camp ground, but I will tell you that I saw AMAZING people out there doing an AMAZING thing! I stopped that morning to remember my brother and sister who lost their mother to breast cancer when they were only 11 & 13. I can not imagine what they went through then and everyday since. I am thankful that they are able to call my mom their mom as she continued to raise them when Lynn passed and always have thought of them as her own children.

I also saw so many funny outfits. Here is one of the many groups who wore bras on their heads.After scouting the route all Friday morning, I then had to get to work on finishing my part of our MS Dinner Auction. I went by Leo Hamel to pick up the 1 Carat Diamond they donated for our Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend Drawing. For some reason I could not stop shaking after I got the diamond, why you ask? Because I could think of all the bad things that could happen to me between the time I drove from Old Town to Carlsbad. What if I lost the diamond?

Saturday morning I had to sleep in as I was so tired from my long day Friday. Once I woke up I packed my bags, gathered all my supplies for the MS Dinner Auction and headed down to Coronado. It was such a gorgeous day. I checked in at around 2pm thinking I was getting a garden view room and to my surprise this was the view of downtown San Diego from our patio!!! AWESOME.Forgetting the view, I moved on quickly to get my table and everything ready before the guests arrived. We had over 500 guests joining us for the MS Dinner Auction and we raised over $425,000 that night to help us create a world free of MS. My co-coworker Beth made an amazing video that was played to show people her story, how MS has affected her mother and as a result her family. Her video and story inspires me to want to work harder every day to find a cure for MS. We raised $79,000 for our Fund-a-need section of the program that was right after the video. In addition to the great video the dinner auction had dancing this year with the band The Heroes and Conrad's cousin Jodi was our MC for the night, she did a terrific job!!

Sunday morning Conrad and I ordered room service before he headed out for work. I sat and watched football while enjoying the view until check out at noon, well 12:15 and believe me I did not want to go. At that point I headed to Downtown to again scout the breast cancer walk and to see Oria and Team Breast Friends 2009 cross the finish line. Not only was the Charger game on, so the bars downtown were packed, but the walk ended at Petco Park so the bars were even more packed with walkers and their families. I met up with Oria's husband Aaron at Basic while we waited. Oria and her team arrived shortly after, we went to Fleetwood for food and drinks until 4:00 when they had to go to the holding area for the victory march.

The closing ceremony was very powerful, seeing 4,000 people filtering in who just walked 60 miles over three days and raised approximately 9.5 million dollars in the fight against breast cancer. I stood with Oria's family as we watched her and Team Breast Friends 2009 cross the finish line. How amazing they just walked 60 miles and in three days at that. I always question what life is all about. This weekend I again realized that I will probably never figure out that answer but I can feel better about my life knowing that I get up every morning and go to work to help find a cure for a disease that affects the lives of so many. I know that I have accepted to be part of the movement to help us create a world free of MS, just like the 500 plus people who came to our MS Dinner Auction and the 4,000 people who got together this weekend in the fight against breast cancer have also joined together in their fight for a cure.

I challenge each and everyone who reads this blog to get out there and do something for the greater good. Which ever charity or organization you choose know you will be making a difference in the lives of people who create your community. Remember that one day you may need the same support from that same community. Volunteer, donate, or just get out there and walk for awareness.

84 year old woman bikes for MS

2009-10-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

We (National MS Society Pacific South Coast Chapter) just held our Bike MS Bay to Bay Tour the second weekend of October. Our tour brings in 2,500 cyclists who raised over $2 million dollars to help provide programs and services to people in the community affected by MS and to contribute funds to the research we need to do to help us create a world free of MS.

I thought our Bike Tour was big until I read this article about the New Jersey Bike Tour that raised over $5 million and their 26 year veteran, an 84 year old woman who rides the entire 150 miles in a dress and high heels on a one speed bike.

What an inspiration she is!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/28/eiko.irpt/index.html

CHALLENGE WALK MS 2009

2009-10-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

If you do not know I plan a 3-day 50-mile Challenge Walk for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This was my second year planning the event. In 2008 my mom joined as a super crew member, she had such a great time at the 2008 event and was so inspired by all the people who walked that she decided to walk with them in 2009.

Here is what she said, "Last year I was involved with the Challenge Walk by being a Super Crew Member. I raised the $ 2,500.00 so that I could do my part to help fight this disease. This year I will be training to actually walk in the event. I saw how people with MS were able to make the 50 miles last year, whether in a wheel chair or with a cane, they endured and if they can do it with MS I know that I can walk along side them and fight with them for a cure for them. "

Here are some pictures from the event.

In Honor Of

(loved this one)

My Mom and her news friends

Such an awesome walk along the San Diego coast (this is Powerhouse Park in Del Mar)

The lady on the left is our most insirpational Walker for 2009. As you can see she uses walking poles to assist her. She has MS and accomplished her second Challenge Walk event in 2009! 100 Miles down for her! She also raised over $13,000 in this tough economy! AWESOME!!

My mom & Me Crossing the Finish Line

50 Miles Later my mom finished! I am so proud of her!

To learn more about Challenge Walk MS visit http://www.mymschallenge.com/

What is up in the West? - I am now blogging!

2009-10-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

So I thought why not start a blog? Well I have no kids to talk about and thought do people really care about what I am doing?

Then I see myself reading all these blogs from friends and family and thought well I will give it a shot. I am not into myspace, facebook or twitter but thought I could handle a blog that people can choose to read or not. I have really been getting pushed at work to join social networking so here is my first step.

My life consists of a lot of work at the National MS Society as an Event Manager, in my free time I enjoy traveling and spending time with friends/family.

If you want to learn more follow my blog! I may just say something that interests you!