theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

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Women’s retreat at Tahoe

February 3, 2020 filed under: holidays, recap, travel, weekend

My friend Susi invited me along for a girls’ weekend with some of her mom friends from German School. We were headed to Tahoe over the MLK holiday weekend and stayed at U’s vacation home in Truckee. I was thrilled to get up to the mountains during winter time and very thankful that I was invited to come along. 

It’s always a little awkward when you join a group of people that you mostly don’t know and my introverted self was a little bit anxious, but as so often, the worry was unnecessary and dissipated quickly once we had all introduced each other. We ended up having a really great time.

We arrived around 6 pm at Friday night in a winter wonderland. I couldn’t have been happier. 

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We had previously talked about things we wanted to do while we were there, and besides some outdoor activities during the day, we had all agreed on just hanging out at the house, cooking together, puzzling, reading, knitting/crocheting, and just enjoying each others’ company.

We also played Cards Against Humanity, which I had heard about, but had never played before. Well, let’s just say that it’s true that it’s “a party game for horrible people”, because some of the card statements made me either blush or drop my jaw. However, I am wondering what it says about me that I didn’t just win this game once, but twice over the weekend. 

As J noted: still waters run deep. 

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Some of the women went cross country skiing on Saturday, while Susi and I and C hung out at the house. We went on a nice snow walk around the neighborhood and then started (the first of two) puzzle(s) when we got back.

The puzzle was really cool: the posters of all the U.S. National Parks. 

We started a second puzzle in the evening and everybody got involved.

On Sunday, Susi and I had planned to go downhill skiing, but the week before the getaway, Susi had injured her knee and couldn’t participate in any sporting activities. As I didn’t know if anyone else wanted to go, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get to go skiing after all, but luckily, three others wanted to go and so we headed over to Homewood Mountain Resort on the western shore of Lake Tahoe in the morning.

I have my ski boots here in California, but don’t own skis anymore, so I had to rent them and I almost toppled over backwards when I heard that they wanted $99 for just the ski rental for the day. Gosh, Tahoe’s expensive. But hey, there was no backing out now. 

Luckily, I had already bought the lift ticket for a discount at REI.

I was a little taken aback by the “outdatedness” of the ski resort. The ticket had to be scanned by hand (I was used to automatic scanners that read the ski ticket through your jacket) and when we got to the chair lift, it didn’t have a safety bar. I’ve never seen that in the Alps.

BUT: once I hit the slopes, it was blissful. Originally, we had planned to ski for a half day, but in the end, we spent 6 hours on the slopes. The others were beginners, so we took the easier runs most of the time, but that was fine with me. I was just happy to be skiing! The day was a little overcast, which was great because the snow stayed great the whole time. 

And the views! Just amazing! We kept going back for more and spent 6 hours on the slopes!


Sunday night was for a movie, a delicious dinner, and face masks before we all headed to bed. We had planned to head back home early on Martin Luther King Jr Day to beat the holiday traffic, so the last night was an early night for all of us.

It was a really great weekend though and I am so glad I was asked to come along!

Did you do something fun over the long holiday weekend?

9

Our long weekend

September 4, 2019 filed under: holidays, weekend

Hello friends. I just thought I would come on here and ramble for a little bit and tell you about my weekend.

How was your Labor Day weekend? I didn’t know that Labor Day apparently officially marks the last day of summer, although that couldn’t be farther from the truth in the Central Valley of California. There are still quite a few hot days ahead of us, I assure you.

Last weekend was definitely a hot, summer weekend. We had planned to do stuff and ended up not doing much of anything at all. Does the heat make you lethargic, too, or just me? You’d think that we’re used to it here, but I definitely have days where the heat just gets to me. That is not to say that it wasn’t a good weekend.

We went out with friends on Friday night. We tried a new restaurant. I spent some time wandering around at Home Goods and Michaels (and didn’t buy a damn thing, riddle me that!) and took advantage of a Labor Day coupon and picked up some German goodies from World Market on Saturday.

I worked on some crafts and I sat in the backyard (if only for a little while when the heat was bearable). We picked our first ripe tomato (it was delicious. Thanks for asking!) and I’ve been keeping an eye on the 10+ still green ones on the vine. I went for an early morning run on Sunday (to beat the heat!), talked with my parents, and spent some time reading .

Even though we didn’t really go anywhere and didn’t do a lot of “fun” stuff, it was a good weekend in my book. 

Tell me about your weekend! What did you do with your extra day off?

Other good things this weekend:

afternoon naps ♥ phone calls with my family ♥ reading ♥  going for walks ♥ ice cream ♥ sleeping in ♥  fresh coffee ♥  working on some crafts projects ♥ 

4

An overnight trip to the North Bay

August 28, 2019 filed under: California, travel, weekend


J and I had talked about an overnight trip for who knows how long. So a couple of weeks ago, we finally just said, enough, let’s go. Since it was going to be a hot weekend in Sacramento, it was a good time to get away.

Saturday morning, we headed out to the North Bay (which is the area north of the Golden Gate Bridge). We headed out around 11 a.m. and all roadtrips ask for fast food lunches, am I right? So we stopped at In’n’Out for a quick bite. 

We had booked a small hotel. the North Bay Inn, in San Rafael and took State Highway 37 along San Pablo Bay. Unfortunately, we hit a bit of weekend traffic, but made it to the hotel by 2 pm. 

On our way to the Golden Gate Bridge, we stopped at Philz Coffeeshop for a quick caffeine fix. Jon had never tried Philz Coffee, so it was a good time to give it a try.

Originally, we had planned to drive to the Golden Gate Vista Point on the west side of the bridge, but the exit and a whole stretch of the road was closed. So we ended up driving down to Fort Baker, on the east side of the bridge, which actually provides a really nice view angle of the bridge.

We got superlucky, too. Although it was kinda overcast, the Golden Gate Bridge was not covered by Karl, the fog. I repeat, the Golden Gate was not shrouded in fog. That was not a given at this time of year! 

It was fun taking some pictures, we even saw a seal, but we didn’t stay very long as it was windy and kinda chilly.

We decided to head over to Sausalito and walk around for a bit.  As always, Sausalito was full of tourists…. we heard a lot of German, French, Italian, and other languages.

There were also a gazillion people on bikes. They’ve done the Golden Gate Bike Tour and were catching the ferry back from Sausalito to San Francisco. One of these days, I’d love to do that bike tour with J as well.

Since we only had an early lunch,  we were cold and hungry by 6 p.m. and decided to pick up a pizza, head back to the hotel, and take advantage of the HBO channel. Ha. Our hotel was nothing fancy, but the room was clean, the bed was firm and comfortable, and I loved the bed sheets. (There are few things I despise more than top sheets, scratchy woolen blankets and dingy bed covers.) All this to say, we had a good night’s rest.

Sunday morning, we checked out at 10 am and decided to drive over to Muir Beach. We hadn’t been to the North Coast in a while and I wanted to put my toes in the sand for a little bit before heading back home. 

As the day before, it was quite cool and windy, but at least the sun peeked out a little bit and we saw patches of blue sky! And as they say, there is nothing better than standing at the edge of the ocean and taking some deep breaths!

Disregard my crazy hair. Did I mention that it was windy?

On our way back, we stopped at “Philz Coffee” again to get a hot drink and a bagel, since we hadn’t really had breakfast yet.

In order to beat traffic, we headed home around mid-day, but we definitely want to go out explore more soon!

8

Girl time in OC

April 6, 2019 filed under: friends, fun!, weekend

Last week, I visited my #fromURLtoIRL friend Tanja in Southern California and I had such a fantastic time!

Tanja, like me, is a German (dual) citizen and we’ve “immigrated” around the same time (2006/2007), however, I got my green card through marriage (as you know), but Tanja (and her husband Herbert) won the green card lottery!
We’ve been reading each others blogs for ages and finally did meet up for the first time in 2016. (Now I wonder, what tooks us so long?) We actually lived quite close to each other (she in Irvine, I in Westwood) for a while, but that was before we “knew” each other. What a huge bummer, because now I would give anything to live closer again.

Anyway, we met up once in 2016 when I was down in SoCal meeting up with another friend and then we met again in 2017, when Tanja and her Mom visited San Francisco and I joined them for the day.

And then we started talking about meeting up again sometime last year, but I kept delaying it (not because I didn’t want to, but because we had stuff going on with selling the house, etc.). I felt bad and hoped that Tanja didn’t think I wasn’t interested, because I WAS! So, when we started talking about it again earlier this year, I just decided to book a flight and see her for the weekend.

I was definitely in need of some girl time (always!) and I really wanted to meet Herbert and their three (really cute) dogs, too!

 

I flew down to Orange County early on Saturday morning to spend two nights with them. They have a beautiful house and yard, and they were really awesome hosts. They even took me to Aldi (because we still don’t have one in Northern California, much to my dismay).

We didn’t really make any plans in advance, but Herbert and Tanja definitely showed me around a little bit. It was beautiful weather, too, so we had to spend some time at the beach.


On Sunday, Tanja and I even worked out together. Tanja is one of my fitness buddies and I told her that I would love to join her for a class at her cycling studio when I come visit. No sooner said than done. She signed us up for the Sunday morning class and then I got my ass handed to me, because damn, cycling uses very different muscle groups than running. I was so sore. BUT, I also had a lot of fun. I definitely want to consider incorporating more cycling into my cross-training. I might (or might not) have checked out the cycling classes at my gym already.

After a shower and brunch, we played a game of (supersize) Jenga in the backyard. I didn’t know that this game was going to make you laugh so hard your tummy hurts.

(I lost, in case you can’t tell.)

Monday morning, we went on a walk with Herbert’s Social Dog Walking Group (Herbert is a professional dog trainer/walker) and that was so cool. See for yourself. I even got to walk one (and a half) of the dogs.

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Then Tanja and I drove to Laguna Beach to hang out at the ocean for a little while. It was so awesome how comfortable we felt around each other and that we never ran out of things to talk about. 

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What can I say? The weekend flew by way too fast and we got along in person so well that I wish I could have stayed longer.

We’ll definitely have to do that again soon!

16

Recap | The SF Half Marathon 2018

August 6, 2018 filed under: running, travel, USA, weekend

A week ago, I ran the (1st) SF half marathon again. This race has become one of my favorite races (albeit an expensive one) because it combines a great race with a fun weekend in San Francisco. I was lucky that I signed up last year at the bargain price of $85 dollars. This was cheap. Prices went up to $125 for the half marathon, even more for the marathon, until shortly before race weekend.

Still, this race is (relatively) close to me (2 hours from Sacramento) and it’s just a great race all around.

Last year, I took the Amtrak into the City and since that had worked out so well, I decided to do it again this year. J dropped me off at the Amtrak station around 10:30 a.m. and I switched to BART in Richmond and was in Downtown SF with my backpack at 1 p.m.

I walked to my hotel near Union Square and was able to do an early check-in. I dropped off my backpack and then headed out to the Expo to pick up my bib and race shirt. I caught the free shuttle bus that departed from Embarcadero/Market St and it took me to Fort Mason in 30 minutes.

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I picked up my bib + t-shirt, got my picture taken at the Biofreeze wall, the new sponsor of the SF Marathon, and grabbed more water and a sandwich at the local grocery store, before starting my walk back to the hotel. I walked through Great Meadow Park over to the piers. The weather wasn’t as clear as last year, and Karl the Fog was keeping the Golden Gate Bridge well under wraps. No pretty views of the bridge for me!

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I ran into some Germans on the way over to Fisherman’s Wharf (when do you NOT run into other Germans in SF, I ask you?). It was a Dad and his two teenage kids and he was gesturing towards the SF Marathon swag bag on my shoulder and with (very) broken English asked me where the Expo was. You should have seen the relief on his face when I responded in German and told them the way. Haha.

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I paid a quick visit to the sea lions at Pier 39 and then ran into the  Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream carnival a few piers down, so of course, I had to stop for a free small cup of caramel cookie fix ice-cream.

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I had dinner at the food court of Westfield Mall (it was the closest to my hotel and I just wanted a quick bite, and didn’t feel like eating at a fancy restaurant by myself) and was back in my room 7:30 p.m.

I got my stuff ready for the morning, called J for a quick check-in and then turned the lights off by 9 p.m.

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My alarm was set for 5 a.m., but of course I had already been awake a few times. I can never really sleep well before a race, no idea why! I got dressed, had a protein bar and some water and made my way over to the Embarcadero start line at 5:40 a.m.. Lots of people were out and about already, after all, over 27,000 runners were signed up for the event this year.

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I dropped off my bag off at gear check, got in line for the port-a-potties, as I always do, then I warmed up a bit and made my way to my corral. And then I had to pee again. I chalked it up to “phantom bathroom urges” (don’t we all have them before a race?) and just hoped that it would go away.

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I had a pretty good start and the crowd dispersed much faster this year, which was great. The first 5 miles were the ‘easy’ part of the course because they were mostly flat except for one relatively short hill in mile 3 and even though I was not quite hitting my goal pace, I was moving fairly well and tried to focus on that.

I was a little bit frustrated with the pacer though. I had planned to try and stay with a pacer as a new race strategy, but the 2:00-hour pacer was a joke (sorry). I had started in front of the pacer and even though I was about 10 seconds-per-mile slow, I never saw him during the first 5 miles. Then in mile 5, all of a sudden, he passed me, and FAST. I probably should mention that mile 5 was also where serious inclines began. I mean, WTactualF?

I don’t want to sound ungrateful. I appreciate the runners who sign up to be pacers and put their own goals and ambitions aside to support fellow runners during a race, but if you commit to being a pacer, then, for the love of all things sweaty, run that pace. Don’t run slow for 5+ miles and then speed up disproportionally. The people that are looking to you to PR will not be able to keep up with such fluctuating paces. Well, at least I couldn’t. Not on an incline.

So, I let the pacer go and focused on myself and tried focus on the hills in front of me. There was a fairly rapid decline for about a mile after we passed the Golden Gate Bridge between mile 7 and 8, which is where I hit my fastest pace, and then there were some rolling hills left until the finish line.

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I remember feeling really good throughout the race, but was still happy to see the finish line. There were a lot of people out cheering on the runners and even though I had contemplated at every water station to use the bathroom (yes, I ran the whole race thinking I needed to pee), I am glad I didn’t (and once I crossed the finish line, the urge was gone. Go figure!).

Sadly, I didn’t reach my A goal (still no sub-2 for me – womp!), but I was really happy with my finish time, because one huge success this year was that I didn’t die on the hills. I ran all of them, something I wasn’t able to do last year! On top of that, I felt great. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was glad that I was done, but I physically felt really good and my legs weren’t shaking or hurting.

I also shaved almost 5 minutes off my previous course PR from last year and finished at 2:05:03. My Garmin watch was scarily accurate this time as well. I ran a nearly perfect race line and the time was off by only 8 seconds.

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I was a bit bummed this year as the organizers had made some big, last-minute changes. The race start for the marathoners and 1st half marathoners was split up. The marathoners had started at 5:30 a.m. and the 1st half marathoners started at 6:30 a.m.
For me personally, it meant that the course was much less crowded right out of the corral and there was a lot less swerving around and passing of people involved this time. For friends that had planned to run together but were signed up for different distances, this might have been a huge bummer.

The other big change was that the 1st half marathon was re-routed and we didn’t run over the Golden Gate Bridge anymore. That was a big disappointment and they literally announced this change a couple of weeks before the race. There was the option to upgrade to the full marathon (which was still going over the bridge – but I mean, who can just sign up for the full marathon if they trained for a half?) or defer your race entry, but I still think that was a shitty move on such short notice. In the end, it wasn’t a deal-breaker for me (since I had the experience of running the bridge last year), but I wish they had announced this earlier.

Still, you really can’t beat the race course through this awesome city. The 1st half marathon took us from Embarcadero along the piers to Fisherman’s Wharf, through Fort Mason and the Marina, along Crissy Field, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and through the Presidio and Golden Gate Park, and I would run this race again anytime.

I collected my medal, some snacks and – wrapped in my race blanket (it’s amazing how fast you cool down and start shivering after a race, or is it just me?) – made my way over to the bus shuttles that took us back to the Embarcadero marathon (and 2nd half marathon) finish line and to the race festival.

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I walked around a little bit, got my finisher beer, and took some more pictures. I had time to go back to the hotel, take a shower, and get some brunch at Mo’z Cafe before catching BART back to Richmond and Amtrak back to Sacramento.

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I really had a fantastic weekend and wouldn’t mind doing this again next year!

Have you been to San Francisco? Wanna join me next year?

23

Weekending

June 26, 2018 filed under: food, weekend

Last weekend was an ordinary weekend, but I still feel compelled to share a quick recap. Just because it felt like our first real summer weekend, I guess, and because it was fun and I didn’t want the weekend to end and because I want to do it all over again.

Fridays, on my regular day off, we usually get all of the errands out of the way, so that we have the whole weekend free to do other things. I personally am a big fan of having a day to do all – or most of the chores – so the weekend can actually be used as it is intended to be used: for relaxing and recuperating from the busy week. Who’s with me?


Saturday morning I got up early for a 9-mile run to a) beat the heat and b) be back in time for the World Cup match between Germany and Sweden.

Did you watch? Oh, what a nail-biter it was! This was almost too much for my fragile nerves. The winning goal was scored in stoppage time at the 96th minute! Sure, by all means, just keep us in suspense until the last possible moment, Toni Kroos! Jeez.

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Definitely made our day though. I am pretty sure you could hear J’s victory scream around the neighborhood. Ha.

Then we were so emotionally exhausted that we both took an afternoon nap.


We barbecued again later in the evening after the sun was down and temperatures were bearable. I had gotten fresh pork belly at the butcher shop (that I had discovered last year) and we also grilled some zucchini and had Caprese salad and fresh bread.

This really feels like summer to me! Now, if we would all just get a summer break from work. I think it should be mandatory, don’t you?

I finished a book (which I loved) and started a new one, I watched baseball and we went for a walk around the park. On Sunday evenings, they have “concerts at the park” during the summer months and they’re such fun.

How was your weekend? Does it feel like summer where you are?

20

Recap | Memorial Day weekend in Washington, D.C.

June 7, 2018 filed under: travel, USA, weekend


If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I spent Memorial Day weekend in Washington, D.C. to attend a friend’s wedding. I was barely there for 48 hours and it was a long-ass flight for such a short amount of time, but when I made the decision to go anyway, there were three factors at play:

  1. I finally had the option to attend a friend wedding (FYI, I have only attended three weddings in my adult life, including my sister’s, my friend Susi’s, and my own,  and have had to skip many friends’ weddings because of distance, timing, or both,) and
  2. I had the opportunity to meet up with another dear friend for the first time while I was there, and
  3. I had never been to D.C. (not that I was going to see much of it this time, but at least I would be able to say that I had visited)

Those were three more than good enough reasons for me to go, am I right?

I left Sacramento early Saturday morning. I used some Southwest rewards points for the flight and had a stopover in Dallas (Love Field).

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With the flight time, layover time and time difference, traveling to the East Coast takes up almost your whole day. I arrived at Reagan National Airport at 5:00 p.m. and I was all giddy when I could spot the Washington Monument and Capitol from the plane! Not so giddy when I left the terminal and was hit in the face with a wall of humidity! Man, the weekend was rough for a Californian who’s used to high temperatures, but dry heat!

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As recommended by the wedding party, I stayed at the JW Marriott on Pennsylvania Avenue (right by the National Mall and White House), which was only a 10-minute drive from the airport.

I was hoping to make use of all the (little) time that I had, so after dropping off my luggage, I headed out (umbrella in tow) to check out the area.

I first walked down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. I loved the wide street lined with impressive architecture left and right.

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I was ooh-ing over the Old Post Office building until I realized that this is now the Trump International Hotel (since September 2016). No, thank you very much. I deleted the photo as soon as I had taken it. Waste of digital space, y’all.

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I walked by the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building,

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the National Archives Building,

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the U.S. Navy Memorial and the Newseum,

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the Major General Winfield Scott Hancock Statue,

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the U.S. District Court und George Gordon Meade Memorial,

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and finally I arrived at the United States Capitol. The area around the Capitol was closed off and I could see a large stage was put up in front of it. I inquired with a police officer who was guarding the area and he explained that there would be the dress rehearsal for the National Memorial Day concert on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. It was free to the public, so I was able to go through the security check to get closer to the Capitol and look around.

The U.S. Capitol looks like a XXL version of our (much smaller) state Capitol in Sacramento.

See:

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Sacramento State Capitol

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I wished I had had time to stay for the concert, but I had to get some more sightseeing in. I left the Capitol grounds and made my way through the National Mall, which is surrounded by all the Smithsonian Museums. I was glad that I brought my umbrella, because we did have a bit of a thunderstorm that evening. It reminded me a lot of the warm summer storms in Germany.

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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

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Arts and Industries Building

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Smithsonian Castle

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U.S. Department of Agriculture – Jamie L. Whitten Building

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I made my way back and stopped by the Ronald Reagan Building and National Trade Center, where the wedding was going to take place the next day.

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I had planned to grab some quick dinner at a close-by Panera. According to the Internet, the store was supposed to be open until 9 p.m., but when I got there at 8, I was told that the restaurant was closed already. Bummer. It wasn’t easy to find another place for a quick bite in the area, so I ended up at Pi Pizzeria, where I had a delicious small personal pizza with pepperoni and arugula.

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I headed back to the hotel afterwards and met up with Caryn, Joe and some other guests at the hotel bar. It was nice to get to know some of the other guests before the actual wedding celebration.

I was in bed by midnight. I had plans for the next day.

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I stopped by Caryn’s bridal suite in the morning (by invitation, of course) and then made my way to La Colombe Coffee, where I had arranged to meet with my long-time Internet and snail mail friend Marie. It was so, so freakin’ exciting to finally meet her in person. As expected, it basically felt like we knew each other (which I guess we do!) and I had the greatest time hanging out and chatting away.

Marie walked over to the White House with me for an obligatory picture ( a) of the White House, and b) as proof that we had indeed met up!) and then she headed back home to her family and I had a few more hours to explore Washington, D.C.

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I stopped by the Renwick Gallery (Marie mentioned that they had air-conditioning, which I appreciated!) and explored the Burning Man exhibit for a little bit.

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Eisenhower Executive Office Building

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General Rochambeau Statue

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Then made my way over to the Lincoln Memorial. I had some trouble crossing Pennsylvania Avenue, because there was the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Motorcycle Event going on.

‘The Rolling Thunder First Amendment Demonstration Run is an annual protest and gathering that first started in 1988. Motorcycle riders from around the nation, and even around the world rally in the Pentagon parking lots and then begin riding a designated route through the Mall area of Washington, D.C. […]The event is an actual demonstration/protest to bring awareness and accountability for POWs and MIAs left behind.’

I eventually made it over to the Lincoln Memorial.

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You know, how you have seen a site on TV or in pictures many, many times, but then it still feels different when you stand in front of it? That’s how I felt with the huge Lincoln statue on his oversized throne. For some reason, I had imagined the site differently.

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It wasn’t any less impressive though. And just look at the view he has over the reflection pool and Washington Monument!

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I checked out the Vietnam Veterans Memorial …

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the Constitution Gardens,

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… and took a little break (to cool my hot feet) at the National World War II Memorial.

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View from National World War II Memorial to Lincoln Memorial

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View from National World War II Memorial to the Washington Monument

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View from Washington Monument to National World War II Memorial and Lincoln Memorial

I made my way back through the National Mall and walked through the National Gallery of Art Scultpure Garden.

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Because it was such a warm and humid day, I ended my tour with some ice-cream from Pitango Gelato. Ice-cream is incredibly expensive in this country. I paid more than $6 for this small container (two scoops). In Germany, in most Italian ice-cream shops, a scoop is between 1-1,50 €. This is why I rarely buy ice-cream here anywhere else but at the supermarket. It did taste authentically Italian though and was delicious!

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I made it back to the hotel around 3 p.m. to get ready for the wedding festivities.

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I headed over to the Ronald Reagan Building and National Trade Center at 5 p.m. Unfortunately, the ceremony – which was supposed to be outside – had to be held inside as it was raining again. Still, the venue was beautiful, as was the ceremony.

I had never been to a Jewish wedding ceremony, but I really enjoyed it. I especially liked the personal vows that Caryn and Joe exchanged and their glowing faces that had ‘love’ written all over them. What a wonderful thing to witness!

There was a reception afterwards and a lovely dinner and evening celebration. I met some of the guests and had a really nice evening and great conversations. (I didn’t take many photos at the wedding. I guess, I was so wrapped up in the festivities that I forgot my phone for once!).

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I was so glad I was able to be there for Caryn’s and Joe’s wedding. I am also glad that I had the opportunity to finally visit Washington, D.C. (and I know already that I’d like to come back and see more).

Monday morning, all guests that were staying at the Marriott where invited for brunch at the hotel’s breakfast restaurant and it was a nice opportunity to see the couple off to their honeymoon.

I headed to the airport at 10 a.m. and made it back to California by 7 p.m. – it really was a whirlwind trip, but so, so worth it.

Have you been to Washington, D.C.?

26

Recap | Women’s Wellness Retreat

May 17, 2018 filed under: friends, travel, weekend

Have you been to a wellness retreat before?

In all honesty, I used to go back and forth between really wanting to do it and thinking that it was definitely not for me.

My problem is: as an introvert, I was afraid that a weekend retreat would exhaust me (spoiler alert: it did. But in a good way.) When I told J that I had a lot of fun (and would do it again in a heartbeat), but that it was also challenging to be around so many people as an introvert, his response was: but you’re not an introvert.

Uhm. Yes. Yes, I am.

I think it’s a big misconception that introverts are loners and don’t have friends. Because J instantly said: you have so many friends and people you keep up with, you’re not an introvert.

But, the fact that I keep up with a lot of people doesn’t make me an extrovert. In fact, I think part of the reason why I am a much better email/pen friend is that I am an introvert and often enjoy the written communication more than I would hanging out all the time.

That’s not to say that I don’t like hanging out with people. I do. Especially with people that I am close to and comfortable around.

I have no problem being around close friends and family for extended periods of time. I expend less energy around those people. However, when I am in a big group of people that I don’t or barely know, I quickly reach my limit for sustained human interaction.

Nonetheless, when Susi asked me if I wanted to join her at the Women’s Wellness Retreat, I didn’t think twice about it. I mean, the prospects were: spending a weekend with Susi (which I will always say ‘yes’ to), getting to meet some other German ladies (and being able to chat in German for a weekend, which is like a “vacation for my brain”), and participating in a variety of fun outdoor activities.

A weekend of relaxing, hiking, trying new things, beautiful views, and cooked meals. Who would say no to that?

The Retreat was organized by YMCA East Bay at Camp Arroyo near Livermore, CA.

We arrived Friday at 4 pm and received our weekend agenda upon check-in. All listed classes & activities were included in the weekend fee and we could choose to enjoy as much or as little as we liked!

Of course, my mental approach was: I have paid for this and while I am here, I should take advantage of as many activities as possible and try something new. Four to six classes were offered per session and included Yoga, Pilates, HIIT, African Dance, Zumba, Water Exercise, Ballet, Water Zumba, Hikes, Nature Crafts, Rock Wall, ZipLine, High Ropes Course, etc.

After moving into our cabins (6 bunk beds, 10 ladies), we headed out for our first hike.

Dinner was served at 6 p.m. and the food was absolutely delicious. I mean, when you think of ‘camp’, you don’t expect to be served lobster rolls and first class mac & cheese. Yum.

There was an orientation and some ice-breaker games to get to know the other participants after dinner. Always a little awkward for introverts, but luckily there are always enough extrovert people who are happy to participate and speak up. We went to bed early on Friday night, because Saturday promised to be a busy, but fun-filled day.

We got up early to attend a 30-minute early-morning yoga session before breakfast. Oh, it was so wonderful to be back at it (hey, does that count as completing my goal of going back to yoga?)

We had breakfast at 8 a.m. and then the first session began at 9 a.m. I had originally planned to go on a big hike Saturday morning, but I also wanted to try out a HIIT class (my first, ever) and since it was only offered Saturday morning, I decided to do another hour of yoga and then attend the HIIT class at 10:30 am.

Loo, our instructor, was great and it was a lot of fun, but man, it definitely showed me that I need to do more cross training. I was so sore (esp. in my arms and shoulders).

In the afternoon, I had signed up for the High Ropes Course/ Zipline. That was the class that I signed up for to ‘challenge myself’, because I am a little scared of heights. You can’t really see it in the video, but getting over on the zipline platform was worse than the zipping itself. My legs were shaking when I was trying to make it over there to the platform.

I am really glad I did it though.

The afternoon ended with a “nature weaving” class. The class instructor showed us how to craft with natural items (sticks, flowers, grasses, etc.) and to be honest, I was a bit uninspired. My preferred craft items are paper and yarn. No wonder I just ended up wrapping  a stick in self-striping yarn.

Susi and Jessica however did great with their natural frames :)

I had time to take a quick shower and hang out on the lawn for a bit of sunshine. Then we were served another exquisite dinner: Caprese chicken breast and Filet Mignons with mushrooms, grilled vegetables and mashed potatoes. Wow.

After dinner, it was time for “ shindizzle”. Basically a form of line-dancing and then free-form dancing for a couple of hours. That was fun. It made me realize, I hadn’t danced in a really long time. At 8:45 pm we went over to the amphitheater for a campfire and some people performed songs or skits.

The next morning, I was up at 6 am again. At first, I had wanted to go on the early morning hike at 7 am but then decided to just get some coffee and find a quiet place with my knitting. I hadn’t really had any downtime and decided to just enjoy the beautiful morning and to wrap up the weekend in peace and quiet.

We packed our stuff and moved out of the cabins by 10:30 am and then attended a closing ceremony at the amphitheater. Many people got up to share feedback and their camp experiences. It got pretty emotional.

The German ladies (left to right): Yvonne, Jessica, Susi, ich and Heike.

At 11:30 am we enjoyed a great Mother’s Day’s Brunch before heading back home.

To be completely honest: spending a weekend retreat with 90+ other women when you’re an introvert is… interesting, to say the least. It was barely a 48-hour event, but I could already feel the ‘overwhelm’ creeping in. However, being around a small group of German ladies was delightful. It’s been nice to chat in German and hear someone say “oh, I haven’t heard that phrase in such a long time” when you slip back into German colloquialisms.

We also made a conscious effort to “disconnect” from the digital world last weekend. Yes, I took a few pictures with my phone (because it’s the only camera I brought), but I basically stayed off the Internet and all social media platforms for 48 hours, which really was a nice break (that I should take more often).

Have you been to a retreat? How did you like it?

 

12

Apple Hill + a birthday

October 23, 2017 filed under: USA, weekend

We can’t go through a fall season here in CA without a trip to Apple Hill. Everybody knows that. Last year was special because I got to spend a day there with my Mom. Just me and her. I never get that anymore.

This year, we decided to make the trip for J’s birthday. Ok, well, his birthday was during the week, so we postponed the trip to the weekend. 

We headed up into the Foothills in the early afternoon. Traffic was not too bad, luckily, but Apple Hill was busy – which was to be expected. We still had no problem finding parking.

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First, we checked out the pumpkin patch. Obviously.

Then we were going to get an apple fritter, but the lines were insanely long and so we talked ourselves out of the necessity to have something super-sweet and sugary the size of our heads (kinda ridiculous, I agree).

We walked around instead, looked at all the different things you can make from apples, and did some apple tasting. There is only a handful of varieties that you’ll find at the supermarket, but there were so many new ones to try… have you heard of ‘Pippin’, ‘Honeycrisp’, or ‘Goldrush’?

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We then drove over to Placerville and walked around this old mining town. It was nice, because part of the main street was blocked off from traffic for a wine and art festival that night, so we were able to walk around freely on the street. We got some coffee at a little coffee shop and then later grabbed dinner at the Buttercup Pantry. It’s a similar place to Mary Callendar’s, not anything fancy, but we have good memories of going there for breakfast a few years ago.

Dinner was good. They had a great soup + salad bar that I got to enjoy.

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It was a beautiful fall day and I am so glad we got out for a few hours!

Did you do something fun this weekend?

27

Recap | 2017 SF 1st Half Marathon

July 30, 2017 filed under: running, travel, USA, weekend


Source

Last year, I ran my first half marathon in San Francisco. This year, I returned to the City to run another half marathon (warning, this will be a long recap!).

As I mentioned before, the SF marathon has full marathon (DARK BLUE) and two half marathons. The 1st half marathon (YELLOW) was the first half of the full marathon (from Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf, over the Golden Gate Bridge and back to Golden Gate Park) and the 2nd half marathon (LIGHT BLUE) from Golden Gate Park through Haight Ashbury, Mission District back to the Embarcadero) was the second half. We picked the 2nd half marathon, because a) it started a little later and b) the elevation profile looked a little less intimidating.

In order for marathoners and half marathoners to run together, marathoners and 1st half marathoners start together at the startline at the Embarcadero around 6 a.m. in the morning, 1st half marathoners end at Golden Gate Park where the  2nd half marathoners join on the course around 8 a.m. and then end back at the Embarcadero.

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Last year, I chose the second half marathon, because a) it started a little later and b) the elevation profile looked a little less intimidating. Here’s a comparison of the two.

This year, I was ready to tackle the first half.

I took Amtrak to San Francisco on Saturday, because driving and parking in the City is insane and it’s usually hardly faster to drive than take the train. Also last year, traffic to the Bay Area was so crazy that it took me 3.5 hours to cover 75 miles (to the East Bay) and if Susi hadn’t picked up my race package for me, I wouldn’t have been able to get there in time to get it.

So this year, I wanted to make sure I got there relaxed (and I also didn’t want to worry about driving back home for 2+ hours after my run on Sunday).

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I got to San Francisco around 1:30 p.m. and then had to make my way over to the Race Expo at Fort Mason. Took a wrong bus that took me to the Presidio and had to walk back through the Marina to Fort Mason from there, but I didn’t mind because I was able to walk part of the race course that I was going to run the next day!.

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I picked up my race bib + t-shirt and spent some time walking around at the Expo. I met a German guy at the Currex stand, who talked me into some insoles for my running shoes. Well, ‘talked into’ means convincingly showed me research evidence conducted nowhere else but at the Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln (a renowned sports university near my hometown). I mean, if that is not prestigious, well-established research, then I don’t know what is.

We chatted in German for a bit, then I walked around the Expo some more and took a couple of pictures in front of some of the photo ops they had put up.

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I snatched two free bottles of Hubert’s Lemonade on my way out and then walked over to Ghirardelli Square, where I sat in the sun and enjoyed my free beverage.

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Around 4:30 p.m., I caught a bus back to Union Square and checked into my hotel. I stayed at the Bartlett Bunkhouse, which is somewhere between a hostel and a hotel. I had a room with private bath and I was pretty happy with my sleeping quarters. The room was small, but it had hardwood floors and the bed was pretty comfortable!

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I went out again to get some dinner (had a arugula-salami-pizza at Pizzeria Delarosa) and then bought some water and went back to the hotel. I was in bed by 9:30 p.m. 

Countdown was on:

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My alarm was set for 4 a.m., but I didn’t really sleep that well and woke up every hour. Why is that before a race, you just can’t seem to sleep through the night (or at least, I can’t)?

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I got up bright an early, had some water, nibbled on some oat crunch cereal. I got dressed and ready and was out the door by 4:45 a.m.

The streets of SF were still dark and mostly deserted, but you could see people  (some wrapped in plastic bags) in running gear with bibs pinned to their shirts converge on Market Street heading down to Embarcadero. The runners were up and roaming around the city.

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I was a little bit afraid that I was going to be cold in the morning, because I had planned to run in shorts and a tank top (but I did bring a sweater along), but it was surprisingly mild once I had dropped of my sweat bag with the UPS trucks.

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I stood in line for a port-a-potty stop and the lines were really long, so I made it into my corral kinda late and was stuck in the back. We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise over the Bay Bridge and shortly after, my wave was off at 6:02 a.m..

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I had a pretty good start, felt good and was moving along fairly well… or so I thought. There was a lot of swerving around and passing people on the first couple of miles (actually, I found the whole race to be pretty crowded and the crowd never really dispersed) and my pace for the first few miles was definitely slower than I had hoped for.

The first 5 miles were the ‘easy’ part of the course because they were mostly flat except for one relatively short hill in mile 3. In mile 6, we hit the first steep incline leading to the Golden Gate Bridge. I managed to run this, but my pace slowed considerably.

As we headed towards the bridge, I have to be honest and say that I was hoping for more scenic views, but early in the morning in July, the bridge is usually wrapped in Karl, the fog (thick and wet) and Sunday was no different. You literally couldn’t see 50 feet in front of you, let alone the big red arches in their full glory, and the bridge was wet and a bit slick, especially the metal bridge connectors.

We shared the road with oncoming runners coming back over the bridge and even though that was kind of cool, it also felt a bit crowded. 

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When we finally reached the other side of the bridge, the clouds opened up to reveal the most beautiful blue skies. But we weren’t able to enjoy that for very long because we turned around at the Vista Point and headed back into the fog towards the Presidio.

There was a fairly rapid decline for about a mile at mile 11 (where I hit my fast pace – surprise, surprise!) and then the rolling hills of the last 2.5 miles started and I was so. not. prepared. Whoever decided to put these hills at the end of the race must like cruel jokes.

Finally, we were outside Golden Gate Park and I knew the finish line was near. I attempted a final push for the last half mile of the course, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat my previous PR.

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I finished in 2:09:55 ( which is 25 secondes behind my PR from last year (on the perceived easier 2nd half course).

I was pleasantly surprised how close my Garmin was to the official time (and that I ran a pretty tight race line because I only ran .15 miles long!)

I didn’t reach my time goal, but I am not sad about it. All things considered (a few missed workouts sessions, a forced 2-week rest period right before the race due to some ankle pain, which luckily disappeared and didn’t give me any more trouble), it all worked out pretty well and all that really counts is that I made it to the finish line.

This was a really fun course to run and I couldn’t believe that the miles flew by as fast as they did. The first half marathon felt all around a little quieter than running the second half marathon last year (which could be a combination of an earlier start time and the course being along the shore and over the bridge with less spectators at this early hour. The second half course on the other hand starts quite a bit later and goes through mostly residential neighborhoods).

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Overall thoughts on the race organization:

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Registration and Packet Pick Up

Registration is online and super-easy, the not so easy part is shelling out the money. This race is not cheap, but then again, you get what you pay for and this race is really well organized.

I wish they would offer to mail the race packet, because if you’re out of town and have to go to the expo to pick up your packet the day before the race, it’s kind of an inconvenience. Then again, the expo is really cool and I am glad I was forced to go see it this time. The race shirt is really nice, too.

Race morning Amenities

There were plenty of port-a-potties and signs at the starting line. UPS trucks were lined up to accept your sweat bags with your belongings (which were driven over to the finish line). Waves started on time.

Race course

This course challenges you right out of the gate with its early start time. I absolutely loved running along the piers, through the Marina, and  over the Golden Gate Bridge, even if the fog completely obscured the view. The hills were challenging, I am not going to lie, but I’d run this race again in a heartbeat.

Each aid/water station was adequately staffed with volunteers and I thought they were appropriately spaced out. I wish runners would just use the provided trash cans to dispose of their paper cups and not just throw them on the ground. It made running/walking through the water stations a little inconvenient.

Finish line and Post Race Amenities

They had water right behind the finish line, bananas and power bars. Then you were moved right along to collect your medal and heat blanket and get out of the way.

They had a special challenge tent where you could pick up your challenge medals. I earned the “Half it all” challenge medal this year, because I participated in the 2nd half marathon last year. It’s a nice perk.

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Then even further down, they offered hot coffee and Irish coffee, which was really nice because it was still chilly due to the fog.

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Results

The results were up relatively fast. You already could access your ‘unofficial’ finish time through the RTRT.me race app and it ended up being my official time, too. 

Photography

There was an official race photograper (team), but I was disappointed with it this year. There were supposed to be 4 different photo stations along the race path (at the start line, on the Golden Gate Bridge, in the Presidio, and at the finish line in Golden Gate Park) but there were only three photos of me near the finish line. That was kinda disappointing. Every time I did see a photographer along the way, they were just ‘watching’, or fiddling with their cameras. Maybe it was just my bad luck (other people got more photos of themselves), but I was bummed anyway.

Also, last year, all photos were free, this year, you got one – zoomed out – photo of yourself crossing the finish line, every other image must be purchased (starting at $20 for one digital image!). For the price we pay for the registration, I felt this should have been included (like last year).

The photos that I do have (from after the race) were taken by A., who I met at the finish line and who also needed someone to take her picture. We both had run the race alone and it’s hard to get your medal in the picture when you’re attempting selfies.

We started talking and really hit it off.  She’s from Texas and we’re both working in earth science. So cool! We ended up heading back to race festival (at Embarcadero) together, got our ‘free’ beer and some other free goodies, and ended up adding each other on Facebook.  After enjoying our adult beverage and a nice chat, it was time for me to head back to the hotel to check out and go find some food. 

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I also had time to hang out for a couple more hours.

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All in all, I had a really fanastic weekend in San Francisco. Some people expressed sympathy that I ran this race by myself, but to be honest, I really didn’t mind. Of course, I would have loved to run with Susi again or meet up with other people, but as I mentioned before, I really don’t mind doing things by myself.

Have you run races alone? Would you?

19

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Hi, I am San – German native, dual-citizen living in beautiful Northern California. Runner. Knitter. Crafter. Reader. Writer. Proud aunt, sister, and friend.

I’ve been blogging since 2004 and don’t intend to stop any time soon. If you are looking for personal content and making a  genuine connection, you’ve come to the right place.

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