High school reunions and childhood memories

Last weekend Bentley and I went home (my parents home) to the mountains. We originally planned on spending it together with everyone but at the last second my mom decided to go to her 30 year Pinole Valley High School reunion 

and naturally did not want to go to this sort of occassion alone.

 So I jumped at the opportunity! Girl time in the city and mountain man bonding time. (i love my husband SO much for his flexibility and unbelievably supportive nature.  plus i have never in my life seen my shy brother take to someone like Bent. he is a blessing in our lives in so many ways)

It was a blast, it was so sweet to see my mom enjoying a little.... freedom. Everyone kept complimenting how good she looked, how small she still was (as if she never left high school) and how great it was to bring your daughter. I am such a lucky one. 
Nothing like dancing the night away with your girlfriends :)

Go mom. I cant wait to see my dad feel the same way again someday.

 
On our way up to Danville we got to drive through the lucious green town where I grew up and visit with old friends. We had lunch with the Walkers who  are now nearly 90 and seem like they haven't changed a bit.
So youthful, so kind.
This trip made me want to go back. SO badly. I love the house I grew up in, the orange orchard  I played in, the creek I swam in and the roads I played endlessly on.  I had an enchanting inner city upbringing. 
It's safe to say I could go back.... after SLO and italy ;)

gosh there are so many places I love, its hard to be so sure!

Wherever we end up we will be happy (: thats a give in.

IN OTHER NEWS:
My dad is doing alright, getting a little stir crazy I can tell. So i am ging back to the mountains this weekend to actually spend time at HOME.

I miss them so much, and my brother is at that stage where he is growing up so fast. HE IS TALLER THAN ME already! yikes.

last weekend was crazy busy, full of laughter and tears, (the good and sad kind) hugs and kisses, long talks and familiar faces from childhood days.

I've seen better weekends, not gunna lie. This one was too sorrowfully tearful for my taste. But I can roll with it.

 This weekend is another opportunity to help my dad regain mobility and build muscle.
Bring it :)
Go give you dad a hug right now and tell him how much you adore him!

TGIF

One of the reason why I know I will love Italy, is because I consider icecream a necessity!!! And from what I have heard the gelato there is delicioso. However, walking into the appartment after a VERY long day, an 8am to 1130 pm kind of day and smelling sweet sauteed straberries and chocolate with almonds, my stress level reduces immediately. Those hours are not new for me, I am used to it. But lets be honest, who can really get used to those kinds of hours! I can not wait till my school and work schedule coincide more desirably. Life will feel more... paced.

 I am so glad Bent likes cooking, and is good at it. We ate icecream till midnight and then got up around 1 am after it froze a little to eat some more.

I was in heaven!

Maybe my schedule is busy, maybe I am over doing it just a little by stretching myself a tad too thin this semester. But I will ALWAYS make time for icecream!

No matter what!

Hope your friday is moving along at a relaxing pace.

TGIF

CHAPTER 10: The BOOGEY MAN Syndrom

Alright so I am reading THIS book for class, and it is absolutely amazing. It is about how the children of this generation are deprived of nature. It talks about why nature is vital for our health in multiple ways, it goes into detail how we keep them from it and then further explains how/why we justify it. I have to present chapter 10 to my class today by breaking it down into 3 major points and relate/compare it to my life after the summation. I loved this chapter and found it extremely repulsive at the same time. The statistics and information is alarming. I am not a head over heels for stats kinda gal, but one of the professors he quotes from wrote a book called Damn Lies and Statistics, which somehow made me feel like he cared a little more to shed some factual light on a subject. 

Anywho if you ever have the chance to read this book, at least this chapter! It is only about 7 pages long, but let me assure you it is a juicy one. You could read it whole standing in Barnes and Noble people. Here is a piece of my paper I couldn't help but share with you.

                         *       *     *     *      *      *

“The greatest danger is sitting in front of the TV, not being outside in the woods. Despite the unreasonable fear of everything outdoors is bad or harmful. That is an absolutist thinking which is not only delusional, but also dangerous.” Much of western society thinks that way though, look at western medicine. There is a pill for everything; there is nothing we can’t fix over the counter (excluding incurable diseases) I am just talking about the common attitude of our society. If the outdoors were to be looked at that way then we would all live in bubbles.  By teaching our children that it is ‘bad’ instead of teaching how to avoid poison oak by teaching them how to identify it, or teaching them what poisonous snakes look like, or how to read signs on the road that say private property, we are setting them up for a painfully fearful life. When in fact it could be a very adventurous well informed life where these skills could be applied instead of left dormant, if they are shared at all. This may be an absolutist way of thinking when I say mistakes in the outdoors are rare. However in my experience the only people to be really hurt outdoors didn’t know any better because they were uneducated. Yes I sympathize with those that fall over waterfalls and are blown off the top of half dome, but I know if they had been realistically informed they probably would not have put themselves at that great a risk to begin with. Another example would be the father from Pennsylvania on page 125 that tells his children to beware of EVERYTHING. That the world is full of crazy, psycho people and that bad exists in everyone. This is an extreme absolutist!

Another strong point he makes is the overall generalized fear created by the media. He starts out by making it crystal clear how potent fear is, and how it is one of the biggest factors that prevent parents from allowing their kids the freedom to play outside. He states that “excessive fear can transform a person and modify behavior permanently; it can change the very structure of the brain.” We all know how palpable young children’s brains are. We are studying to be early childhood educators. Instilling this kind of fear in children can and will cognitively, physically, and psychologically affect them in the long run. They will lose their sense of community, creative/imaginative play, forts will cease to exist, lemon aide stands would dwindle due to the lack of people outside to sell to, and the ability to discern between true danger and beauty would go as well. The stranger danger case was most daunting to me, “The number of children gunned down by a stranger since 1950 has doubled every year”. The fact that this statistic couldn’t possibly be true because if you follow that doubling pattern the supposed number of gunned down children would double the estimated world population by year 1978 should speak for itself! But no, because we show case bad stories on the news, and watch movies centered on psychopathic child killers, people are still afraid to let their children get to know their neighbors. Wouldn’t common sense say make friends, that way there are less strangers out there to kid nap your kids?!

Finally a third point made in this chapter was that people are making nature out to be the bad guy, the boogey man. Not just strangers, or crazy people with guns. The media has exaggerated the few deaths that have occurred in natural parks. When in reality crime rate within parks have been going down since 1990. The murder in Yosemite was done by a human; not a bear, not a tree, not nature. . . 

Security

Some say boring-
Some say bland. . .
I find it walking hand in hand.
When I hear you pouring
your heart in a song,
When I know it won't be very long
till we are singing arm in arm.
For that is comfort, no silent alarms.
'Tis A blanket wrapped,
a love so pure.
My life is trapped
by all sorts of splendor.
An entrapment I wish to never escape!
Oh! How I relish in this elated state.
The future is unbeknownst to me-
but my cup runneth over,
my soul never low, nor dreary.


And THAT, my friends
is all that matters in the end.
Security is only the beginning 
of a fairy tale life
I 'm overjoyed to be living. . . 

CPR

I am very familiar with CPR. Having been a Lifeguard for 6 years and an energetic swim instructor one summer you could say I have taken the course a time or two. Bentley and I are going to a class to be re-certified tonight and for some strange reason I am a little apprehensive! I know, I know all my Lifeguard buddies are laughing, thinking girl why are YOU nervous? If I only knew!!!

We are both embarking upon the teaching field and CPR is not only a valuable skill, it is a required one. 

Well here goes nothing, off to class with my handsome husband wish me (us?) luck!

*Side Note* When I walked into the apartment our stew smelled SO GOOD! Stews are so easy, I LOVE 101 things to do with a slow cooker you just cant go wrong!

My Marvelous Murdock Man...

All I had to do was say, 

"Babe I am craving something sweet, something chocolate, something coconut..."

and that was it, he was on it in in seconds in  the kitchen. When he gets in MURDOCK MODE it is quite a site. 

I marveled as he created the most delicious dessert for us.

tortillas fried in coconut oil

topped with powdered sugar

with a dab of nutella (:

 

and a little peanut butter here and there

We realized we could use cookie cutters and make shapes next time. Oh the possibilities.

We started a stew yesterday. Slow and low all night last night. It is amazing, we plan on adding to it all week long. None of our produce is going to waste!

Who knows how long we will keep it going!

Silence

We all need it every once in a while,

I probably enjoy it a little too much.

I wish I had more of it to read all the books I have started, 

waiting patiently for me to finish.

If I had more of it that means I would have less work. 

(Or a job in the library, which I don't so. . .) 

It means it would be summer, and I'd be lying on the beach in the blistering sun.

It could mean I'm on a nice long run, swim, or bike ride without an ipod.

In the near future I will have more silent moments in the marine layer mornings I adore so much. 

Silence can make a moment so lasting, so memorable.

Silence sets moods. 

I relish in silence, I get that from my mom. 

Silence is an introspective state I delight in. 

My thoughts are so clear; my goals so direct and endless. 

All is perfectly lonely.

If only I lived in Italy. . .

If I had the chance to pack up tomorrow and live in Italy (with Bentley of course) I would jump on it. 

No joke.

I love everything Italian. I wish I had been able to go this summer, but that was entirely me overlooking very important details....  [A story for a much later date, after the sting has passed.]

I love how much they value the deliciousness, of life, family, friends, and style.

My italian professor at LongBeach said 

"The two questions us italians ask our selves every morning is- 

What will I eat today? 

And what will I wear?" 

I adore that philosophy. How will I present/express myself and will I treat my body too.

My professor was always in her finest, she was very fit, but you could tell she enjoyed her carbs. strolling in ten minutes late (everytime) with a half eat biscotti and cafe was her style. She would say that by being late she was also teaching us italian culture.... and humor :)

our italian get-away. As close as it gets in slo anyway! (:

purple pea-coat and flowery skirts

eggplant parmigiana

Avillano Pizza

Farmers Market Fresh

2 months later....

I am really trying to get this thing going but time and tight schedules are working against me!


Excuses aside, here is what is going down on our side of the fence.
Bentley has been booking music gigs around town keeping weekends fun and busy! He also recorded two more songs we will have up very soon! They are two of my favorites.
He started as a teachers aid for a special needs class. They love him of course, who wouldn't! No bias here, truly. He is bilingual, experienced, musically talented and able to incorporate that in the classroom everyday which has proven to help the kiddos calm down, focus, have fun at school! Huh, school fun, who woulda thought. I am very proud of him:)

here he is at The Moro Bay Harbor fest.

LOVIN' my classes, the program at Cuesta is unbelievable for Early Childhood Ed. I hope to work with that preschool some day real soon. The staff and teachers are so inspirational and wholesome.


My dad is doing well, as is my mum and water polo stud brother. (for more info on my dad feel free to email me or ask via facebook I would be happy to answer any questions!)


Married life rocks! And for those who have asked or have wanted to ask but didn't, NO we will not be having babies until after my Masters degree! Hahahaha.