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The Socialites

 

by Kyndra

We have a pair of head-turners.

Tonight we took a walk to the river downtown for the  kick off of Artown 2009. Tons of people showed up for the event, and it was a perfect summer night. Ollie and Tux came with us, and it is something about the pair of them that makes everyone turn and look at them with huge childish grins on their faces as we walk down a street. 

 

Tux just enjoys being outside; I think he could care less if any other human is around besides me or Shaun. But, Ollie is Mr. SOCIALITE. He walks with his head up and his tongue bouncing out of his PAC-MAN smile, just staring at everyone, seeing who he can get attention from. If his baitish grin catches any smile, giggle, or squeal, he capitalizes on the situation and goes in for a doggy dance, and kisses if he's lucky!

Celebrating SIX years!

In May, we headed west to celebrate our 6-year wedding anniversary in San Francisco. It's so amazing to live in another part of the country where so many incredible places to visit are accessible by only a short road trip. I think we were so excited to go on a mini vacation and celebrate 6 years that we didn't take into account that our wedding anniversary falls on Memorial Day weekend, and thus, might not be the best time of year to visit a very popular city!

 

Though the city was incredibly crowded along with many of the popular places to visit, we managed to have a great time together exploring the city.

 

We love to eat at new places in new cities, so we enjoyed many delicious meals ... thanks to Frommer's recommendations! Our favorite was a small hole-in-the-wall-Italian place where we dined on the 2nd floor with a 7 foot tall ceiling, pretty cozy! We loved the Irish Coffees and plenty of delicious cappuccinos as well.

 

Six years go by fast, and we are thankful for each year as they have all brought change, growth, beauty, and love.

 

We tried really hard to get a pic in front of this bridge, Shaun's head kept getting in the way of the bridge! This is the best we could manage on our own. Did I mention it was COLD and super WINDY?!

 

Here is Shaun riding the famous SF cable cars while standing. Of course, Kyndra was not crazy about this, and would have much preferred he at least have a helmet if dangling his body outside the car!
 

 
 

 Kyndra was impressed by our visit to the Great Fortune Cookie Factory, tucked away in a tiny alley-way. Women and men were stuffing and folding every fortune cookie on the belt by hand. Those cookies were pretty tasty, fresh and warm off the assembly line!

  

  We really enjoyed our beverages:
  delicious cappuccinos,
  phenomenal sangria at Cha Cha, and some
  smooth Irish coffees to get us out of the windy cold weather

We walked alot.  Tramping through the North Beach area, visiting sights, coffee shops, bookstores and the Beat Museum was fabulous!  We took an especially long walk, and Kyndra met a new little friend! We don't recommend the long walks in SF, unless you are trying to get a serious gluts work out (which is probably needed in our case, but wasn't on the to-do list while we were there!)

One of the best parts of this trip is that we got to stop at CHIPOTLE in Sacramento. Oh, how we crave Chipotle ... please come to Reno, please! Just puttin it out there!

And, that was it. Happy Anniversary!

386 to 880 - one year in Reno

 

by Kyndra

  --> 

We have officially been in Reno for 1 year this month. When we arrived last year to our 386 sq foot house, we were thrilled and excited to see what life would hold in the Biggest Little City in the World. And, honestly, we didn't expect the changes that would come even after only one year.

We imagined living at SODO 4 for the full time we would be in Reno. But, we decided it was time to take a look around town to buy a house, and for some reason it just didn't seem right to buy 386 sq feet for our long term future. :-)  Mostly, we wanted a fenced yard for our dogs, room to host visitors so people can travel here and stay with us (hint: come on down!), AND - the loan companies said they wouldn't work with us on anything under 500 sq ft!  So, that sealed the deal - we couldn't buy at SODO 4. 

We found plenty of houses that thrilled us, but none that were right to buy. After more than a month of looking, we decided to pack up our house search and keep the "renters" status. Then not 2 weeks later, our fabulous landlord, Kelly Rae, called us to come look at her recent project: 526 Cheney St.

We pretty much fell in love with this darling home and are taking the plunge to be first-time home owners.

I don't miss SODO 4 like I thought I would, but I have learned many valued lessons from living SMALL and SIMPLY for a year.  Even in our 880sq ft (+ basement), I don't plan to take this last year for granted; simple living is good living and it somehow lets the stuff that really matters take full bloom into daily life.

Live simply that others may simply live. - Gandhi

In Bloom

  by Kyndra

Our lovely rose bushes have grown into full bloom this week. The fragrance is sweet and heavenly - my favorite in the whole world. The dogs and I enjoyed the scenery and fragrant air this morning on the porch (with a delicious cup of fresh coffee of course). 

Birthday #27

 by Kyndra

A few weeks ago (April 30th), I turned 27 years old. My wonderful co-workers surprised me with a home-made delicious vegetarian lunch! They made falafel (which I LOVE), tofu stir-fry, and a blueberry cheesecake to celebrate. A client of mine and a client of Judy's participated in all the fun as well, which made the birthday even more special. Here's a few pictures from the birthday lunch at Transition Point / Abe-L Bodies Corp.

 

Transition Point

 by Kyndra

I have now completed 2 full weeks at my new job as an occupational therapist. And, I absolutely love it and have no doubt in my mind that I am meant to be exactly where I am now.

Of course with a new job there is plenty of excitement, and also plenty of nerves! And undoubtedly, the nerves found me. In fact, these nerves have been hanging around me since before I was in OT school. I would worry about what it would be like to be a 'real' OT with all the responsibilities. I have been anticipating this transition from student to novice therapist for a very long time. And now it is here; I am smack in the middle of this transition.

I found myself mulling over this experience ... and if a girl ever had a wish that would come true, mine would be that I could completely skip over this transition period and be a great therapist that knows exactly what to do and where to go and what to say and no anxiety. I was wishing for the future, and not realizing the present ...

And then it occurred to me ... "I work at place called Transition Point."

Transition Point was chosen by Judy Ishibashi (the owner and my boss) for a very pointed reason. Transition point is a physics term. Judy explained that during the transition point, as one state of matter is transitioning into another, properties of both states of matter are existing together. This is her hope for all the children and adults who come to Transition Point. That they as individuals, with their unique gifts, can exist in this world ... that they are not lost in this world or fully in their own.

So, there I sat ... realizing that I am at a transition point. And, I should just be. So I take this opportunity of feeling the excitement and anxiety of transitioning and think of the very special children that I work with. Maybe they also feel how I feel ... excited, not good enough, anxious, confused, overwhelmed, happy, laughter ... and I admire them. They give me courage as they show up and work so hard.

I choose to count this time a blessing and I will transition with these great kiddos!

Here is a picture of Judy with Jessi (who is an amazing little girl who has autism). Read more on Jessi's transition here.

Drinking coffee and listening

by Shaun

Thoreau wrote, "When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy
things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and
petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality." 
Thus, I begin to shape my weekend with a simple wonder:
 
--

Drinking coffee and listening
to Amiina, my eyes catching
a shadow-dance of roof-ice losing solidity, becoming
liquid, changing, free, falling, and
my ears catching its tinker unionizing
with Amiina's universal hymns.
The inside and the outside
coalesce; we are all on the same side.

--

link to amiina, a visual

50 Years to Celebrate!

 by Kyndra

I made a trip back to Texas the week before I officially started work. I had a wonderful time meeting up with a few friends and family. But the main event that brought me home was my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary! 

Here is a picture of my MaMa & PaPa on their wedding day: March 9, 1959. Patsy Blythe & Danny Robinson

 
 

My grandparent's celebration reception was held in Missouri where they live and at a church they pastored for many years. Kandyce and I grew up visiting them at the parsonage there and have fond memories of playing in the huge mounds of leaves in the front yard during the Fall, and also the terrible occurrence when a full pitcher of freshly made koolaid spilled onto the entire floor! 
 
        
I had a wonderful time visiting with family members and hearing old friends of my grandparents telling me stories about them that I had never heard. It was a special day and I loved that my MaMa & PaPa felt love and appreciation from everyone who came to celebrate with them! 
 
Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary MaMa & PaPa! Your relationship through the years and today is beautiful and a blessing to many! I love you!!!

Snowy Morning Walk

We woke up to a cold and snowy morning today! Here's some pictures from our morning walk to the dog "park" down the street from us.

When the dogs hit the snow in the park, they were running around and getting really excited (maybe the equivalency of a brain freeze, but more like, "paw freeze?") In all the wild running, Tux took a head dive into the snow and it packed itself right onto half of his face! He looked at me wide-eyed, not sure what to do about his predicament.

 

This is a picture of the said "park" we visit often, and now we're headed home for warmth!

DEW Tour Curiosity

by Kyndra

I am still marveling at the fact that we live 30-60 minutes away from five amazing ski resorts surrounding lake Tahoe. And, recently we caught news that the DEW Tour would be at one of them (Northstar) for 3 days, and we headed out to see what it was all about.

We trecked up the mountain in brand new (and very REI-garage-sale-priced) snow boots to check out the men's slopestyle snowboarding competition.  .... and the highlight was getting to watch Shaun White compete. Wow!!

You can see Shaun White (in the maroon jacket) taking the podium for 2nd place for his run. He won #1 for the whole tour in the slopestyle. It turned out to be a really fun day and a new experience for us. The mountains are so beautiful and we still feel so lucky to live close enough to enjoy them whenever we like!

We do have a few good videos, but I can't seem to figure out how to post videos on the blog. Hmm ... got some learnin to do.