I win.

There are so many things I've been meaning to tell you. The first of which includes this picture. I may have already shown it to you. But in case you can't see Matt's eyes, maybe you should click on the picture to enlarge it. Since this is a family friendly blog, I'm not going to say much more than: BEST. PHOTO. FINISH. EVER. Seriously - worth so many more words.

oh. And I bought this photo, so I don't feel bad about showing you the proof. So there.

And speaking of finishing photos after a run - here I am with Rachael after her Ragnar relay on Saturday. She had just run 21 miles over the past 36 hours and definitely not slept since Friday morning - so she is basically my hero.

Sunday morning before we made our way back to San Francisco, we stopped by the LA LDS temple. My parents were married there and I hadn't been in a really long time. What a beautiful place. This picture of me and Chris isn't great, but I love the view behind us of downtown LA.

Here's 4 of us from our 5 person caravan group. I have no excuse for my outfit. Please don't judge me - I was in the middle of changing in the car when I suggested that we stop at the temple on our way out of town since it was only down the street.

We started talking about the number of couples who had probably taken pictures in the very spot where we were standing, so Jared & Dave(who are both married) suggested that Rachael and I each take fake wedding photos with Chris to see who took the better fake wedding photo. Here I am and since I don't have a picture to show you of Rachael and Chris, I guess I win.

I may never be able to win a race, but I think that this was in the bag. haha!!

more LA

Still working on collecting pictures from the weekend, so for now, this will have to do. xoxo

Feeling more Ragnarly, personally.

Back from LA - more pictures to come tomorrow.

The weekend was great and seeing Tiffany Amber Theisen was for sure a highlight, amongst other things.

Spring Cleaning Part 1

I'm all jazzed up about family history right now. I had a small class about it at my house tonight, and I really think that every person who came got at least one thing out of it. And at least that's one foot in the right direction. Unfortunately, that's all I have to say to you right now about family history. In other news, I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning lately and so I thought to motivate myself, I'd give you my cleaning project in pictures and then maybe YOU will be motivated in return. So there - we can all help each other.

I started with my kitchen cupboard - yeah, the one that is above the refrigerator; the one I can hardly reach into without a stool or a chair. Here's the before picture for you. Please notice that on the bottom shelf, there are more boxes in there than there are pieces to a jenga game. I couldn't pull one thing out without a million other things following after it.

So I pulled everything out and stuck it on the kitchen table so that I could go through it. Much easier to manage when you can reach everything, right?

The oddest thing that I found in the cuboard was surely not mine - and it resembled salami that is WHO KNOWS how old. I have a roommate who has lived in the house for almost eight years, and when she moved in, there were other people living here, so it could be really really old salami. But let's try not to think about that, shall we? Let's think about how well preserved it was. Almost like a twinkie.

Then I cleaned out the cuboards. For the life of me I couldn't reach the bowl on the top shelf, so that will have to wait for another day, but I could reach about 75% of the top shelf on the right side to wipe it out with a sponge.

I put the sundry spices into the spice cupboard where they rightfully belong (that is a project for another day...) and decided to throw away all of the open boxes of things that I couldn't remember how old they were. Pretty safe if I say so myself.

Here's the after shot for you. The George Foreman Grill is now in a place where it can be reached, the party goods are all on the top shelf so that they are in one place and the smaller, more common things I might want to eat or use are on the bottom shelf so that I can access them more easily.

Two thoughts have been going through my mind since I did this. The first of them is: How do I survive? Do I eat out that much? Two: Ok really, this is one of the most boring blog posts ever. But - I'm heading to LA tomorrow afternoon, so I'll have some good stuff all ready for next week. Just you wait.

persistence overcomes resistance. or, lessons in dating by Zundel and friends.

This isn't turning into a dating blog, so don't get any ideas about the future posts. I'm just sayin'. I had a talk with some of my girlfriends tonight, and I thought that some of the things we talked about would be helpful for some of the single men out there who read this silly thing. Bullet points seem to be effective in making good points.

• I have a foolproof method for any guy who wants to get the girl of their dreams. This method is a simple formula containing three things, which are: Make a girl feel beautiful, tell her (and show her) that you love her, and be PERSISTANT. Persistence is the key. This doesn't mean that you need to be a stalker, but a man with some confidence is more attractive to a girl than a lot of things. If a girl you like turns you down, ask her out again. If this doesn't work, follow steps one through three repeatedly.
  
• Girls will talk about you no matter what you do. If you date someone and it goes well, they will talk about it. If you date someone and it doesn't go well, they will talk about it. If you don't date at all, they will talk about it. My point is that if you are avoiding dating because you think people are talking, you are making excuses and you should stop caring so much about yourself and what other people are saying about you.
• I think that according to the Zundel statistical analysis of 2009, I think that 100% of the women I know would be willing to date about 90% of the eligible men they know. On the opposite side of this, I think that 100% of the men are only willing to date about 10% of the women they know. At least this is the case in the Mormon world. What is wrong with this picture?

Believe it or not, this is the truth. Just ask my old roommate. My boyfriend was persistent with her, and they got married. See? It works.

My third half marathon. I Never Would Have Predicted That. Ever.

On Saturday morning, I got up at 4am to get ready to run my third half marathon. I decided that lipstick was necessary since there would be so many pictures. (Right, Emily?) Here I am in my parent's house, showing you all how excited I was to be up after only about 4 hours of sleep and 3 hours away from beginning the race.

Here's a picture that I stole from the internets so you can see the view from the starting line. Seriously beautiful. I do miss the mountains living here in San Francisco - I admit it.

During the race, I kept looking at the clocks every mile and thinking "There's no way I'm running 10 minute miles." My last two races, I've come in at a 14 minute mile average, so I was thinking that a 12 minute mile would be awesome. Well, turns out, I was kicking some major butt. I struggled up the last hill and finally averaged out at a 12:06 minute mile. For me, that is an amazing improvement - in fact, it knocked 30 minutes off of my personal half marathon record.

30 minutes!

Matt met me at mile 11 and due to my significant increase in speed, my family missed me cross the finish line completely. So we got pictures at the Bag Pickup instead. Plan for next time - be optimistic about my finishing time. Also, here is my major shout-out to Matt who literally pulled and pushed me to the finish line. Daddy Long Legs, I couldn't have done it without you.

After a nap, a shower, and a nice foot rub from my mom, I went to see Brandi Carlile with Kristy up in Salt Lake. For some reason, Kristy hadn't ever seen her perform live, so it was a real treat for us to be there together. Here are some of my favorite shots from the concert:

Oh Tim & Phil - you are so hot!

And Sunday afternoon, my mom and I went to visit my Grandma. A good portion of my readers are my cousins, so rest assured that Grandma is doing well. in case you aren't related to us, you can see where I get my awesome skinny wrists and yellow skin from. :)

Here is a great video from a Brandi Carlile concert last summer - I think it shows how amazing her voice is live. Do enjoy. I've decided that if I had a voice like hers, I'd be taking this show on the road. Kristephanie Zundelac - the musical? Any takers?

....interesting.

Today I was browsing some facebook info pages of some people that I admire. The things that were listed as their "interests" seemed fascinating. That's when I decided that my life needs to be more interesting. Really? My life this week has consisted of watching my netflix movies and reading two books. Yep - two. The last one I read was called The Glass Castle - by Jeannette Walls. Have you read it yet? If you like interesting people, it is worth a read. I just think it is so easy to think that life is soooo mundane. For example, instead of writing this boring blog post, I could be doing a lot of other things like:

• Cleaning out the kitchen cupboards and the refrigerator.
• Packing for my upcoming weekend to Utah - and my third half marathon(!!!!)
• Supporting the guys at the basketball game tonight (as of right now, I still have an hour to get there)
• Making a care package for a friend
• Writing a letter to my Grandma
• Feeding the starving children in Africa

Ok ok you get the picture. But instead, I watched a movie called "Griffin & Phoenix" that just made me cry and happy that I have no terminal illnesses. Yeah - a real upper of a movie, I must say. But enough about me and back to my friends and their fascinating interests. They ride bikes - (I want a cruiser), they do triathalons. Yeah, I do half marathons, but only 1 sport? Come on - such a wussy sport. I do work right by the aquatic park; maybe I should start swimming on my lunch break? haha. I guess no one that reads this works by the wharf(unless you are a coworker who is stealthily stalking me) and thinks that swimming in the bay is as funny as I do. haha.

ahem.

My friends have cool hobbies. They read poetry - they read books that I would never think to pick up. Also, they probably are married or have boyfriends.

How do people have time to do all these things? My fascinatings friends also must have days that last for 30 hours instead of my 24.

I'm off to go clean out the cupboard and the fridge. Amongst other interesting things.

What I've Been Up To.

Already Monday and so much to share. Let's back up a bit though and take this one thing at a time. I never quite finished posting about last weekend when Uzi was here. On Saturday, we gathered some friends to celebrate Silvia's birthday at Mozzarella di Bufala in West Portal. The kicker was that it was a surprise for Silvia. There were many times when I wasn't sure that we'd be able to pull it off, but...it was a success. Happy Birthday to the lovely Sil.

As if gathering for Silvia's birthday wasn't enough, having dinner with good friends is pretty much the best thing ever anyway.

Going salsa dancing afterwards was the icing on the cake. As always, there were great stories to tell from our time at the salsa club. I couldn't seem to make it to the end of a song with anyone I danced with. They all told me they were just too tired to keep dancing. Uzi seemed to have the opposite problem - she had blisters by the time she finished with one dance partner.

The next few days were spent recuperating from the weekend. On Wednesday, I was ready to go out again. Lucky for me, a friend offered me tickets to the season opener for the Giants.

Ryan was nice enough to go with me and boy, did we have a good time. The Giants lost, but there was a fireworks show after the game, so it was all worth it. And I guess the company wasn't bad either.

Friday night, Kirsten and I went with some friends to the Mamma Mia Singalong at the Castro Theater. This is the second singalong I've been to at the Castro Theater and I have to say, that it is one of the most fun things to do in San Francisco. Well, if you're like me and like to sing and dance with hundreds of other people to ABBA.

One of the goodie bag gifts we received were blow up microphones, which as some of you know, is one of my favorite party toys. They make everything more exciting.

Kirsten is a good sport and dressed up like Sophie for the look-alike competition. Here she is on stage with the other contestants. She didn't win - the transvestites always win at the Castro theater - but she did get runner up.

Which of course, was pretty cool.

And as far as the rest of the weekend, Easter was low key. I ended up going to church and then eating dinner with Rachael, much like other Sundays that I spend here in San Francisco. My mom bought me an Easter Dress though, so here I am, in all my Easter Dress glory. Please leave a comment and tell me how good I look.

The Progression of things

I'm always amazed at how quickly things go from "awesome" to "SO AWESOME" to even "the most freaking awesome thing ever" when I'm with Uzi. Here is some of my proof.

We arrived at the Leslie and the Lys concert to find this van parked out front. The words on the window read "Jams, Gems, and Beautiful Gifts." The two tigers are her backup singers. Halloween 2009 here we come!

Here we are enjoying the concert. Please look up Leslie and the Lys on Myspace and listen to her "Tight Pants" song. You won't be disappointed. Below is definitely the "SO AWESOME" stage. I mean - Kristephanie Zundelac is reunited AND at a Leslie and the Lys concert. Remember when we saw her way back in the day?

And finally, here. I have no other words for this picture.

My life is now complete.

More exciting than Alcatraz or Angel Island.

Last week my parents were in town - and by "in town" I really mean - in Vallejo. I was invited to have dinner with them and some family friends. The worst thing about my parents being in Vallejo and me wanting to visit them is that I have to deal with the traffic on I-80 during rush hour. At best, it takes over 90 minutes for me to get there from San Francisco. In an attempt to bypass all of this, I took the ferry to meet them.

• Pros: Mindless transportation - everyone gets on and off at the same stop, so you could sleep or read, or play a game on your cell phone on your way there.

• Cons: Still takes an hour and it costs WAY more than gas. ($13 each way)

On my way back into the city on Thursday morning, I was watching out the window when I saw this:

It has been years - probably ten or more - since I have taken the ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco and I'm not sure how I ever missed this lighthouse in the San Pablo bay. Turns out it is also a bed & breakfast. Anyone want to spend a romantic weekend there with me? ha. Check out this website for more information.

Weekend Exhaustion

Are there ever times in your life that you wish you could go back to? There are for me. Lots of them. This last weekend Kristy was back in town and today I was fighting tears the whole way to the airport. It was almost like she was never gone.

Because of you, I've laughed harder, worried less, and loved deeper. Seriously.

things you think about when you're at la taqueria.

Things you shouldn't ever hear your roommate say:

• By the way, I'm wearing your underwear.

Pretty much, that trumps them all. Can anyone beat that?


ps - this comment was not made on any type of holiday that would require a costume. also, no current roommates were involved.

Maybe I Should Post A Normal Picture Of My Grams

When Grandma goes Beatnick.