I'm super cheap, in case you hadn't noticed (typed the girl who buys clothes at the Salvation Army, but only on Wednesdays when they're half-price, then resells them on Ebay). So, even though I treat myself when I'm on vacation, I don't like to waste money. So here are my money-saving tips for Sonoma.
1. Rent a car. It is far more expensive to get a taxi all the way from SFO to Sonoma, and a car service or shuttle from vineyard to vineyard isn't necessary. If you're just tasting, not drinking, you won't get tipsy - especially if you take your time and enjoy the scenery after each tasting.
2. Stay centrally. Cut down on gas and costs by staying in an inexpensive hotel in Santa Rosa. You won't be in it for more than sleeping, and it's a short drive to most areas.
3. Do your homework. I picked out 4 - 5 tasting rooms that offered free tastings for each day. We usually didn't make it to all of them, but it gave us options. I see no reason to pay for tastings: small, quality vineyards want you to taste their product, and will tell you all about it. Larger, commercial productions charge $10 to $20 a person and aren't as personal (and really, who wants to taste Coppola wines? You can buy them at the grocery store).
4. Bring a big, nylon check-bag. Bring it empty, and stuff it in a carry-on for the ride up. Some tasting rooms charge $10 a taste - waived with a purchase. Use this as a reason to buy wine for yourself and as gifts - whenever there's a waivable charge, buy a bottle. Then ask a restaurant or grocery store for an empty wine box and paper and pack it up with all your bottles before zipping it into your luggage. You save the tasting fee, and rack up on all different types of wine. Keep the tasting going!
5. See the outdoors. Absolutely hike in Armstrong Redwood Park and absolutely spend time at several of the Pacific beaches. Breathtaking beauty at both places and of course, free. Pack a picnic!
6. Bring a book to Preston winery. Taste the wine, then have the fee waived when you buy a bottle of sauvignon blanc. Their bakery makes great sourdough bread and their farm produces fresh produce - you can buy a whole lunch for two (with leftovers!) including the wine for under $40. Then sit outside for your picnic and read the afternoon away, sipping wine.
7. Plan to visit some tasting rooms that are open late. There isn't a lot going on at night in Sonoma most of the time, and if you've been tasting wine all night you might not want to spend the evening in a bar getting another drink. But you're left with a lot of time in the evening: if the tasting rooms close at 4 or 5, you tend to find a restaurant and eat early - then you have an empty night in your cheap Santa Rosa hotel room. Instead we tasted wine at some Healdsburg locations downtown - there are some open until 6 or 7, and then we'd walk the square a little before a 7:30 dinner. If you go to the Williamson Winery tasting room, you can enjoy tastings paired with food!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
No news is good news?
Let's back things up a few weeks to my last doctor's appointment. I went in hoping to hear something, but instead I got...no news.
I felt pretty much the same as before. My doctor not-so-politely told me that I was probably just a wimp, that my leg was no doubt fine, and that my bone probably always looked like that - some kind of structural anomaly (not true, I have x-rays from a few months ago). He was out of options.
He told me go see an endocrinologist, a spine guy, and a surgeon. He dropped the oncologist recommendation since I pointed out that I already had all that labwork done and nope, no cancer.
So, I really didn't know what to do. But about this time I emailed Camille Herron and her reply was incredibly helpful. Basically she told me - femur fractures can take a long time to heal, especially if you re-injure them! She also recommended I work with my PT to determine why a healthy person like myself would experience these fractures.
So I made a tentative plan:
- Rest until bone pain goes away.
- Determine problem areas
- Once pain free, work on problem areas (week hips, tight adductors).
- Gradually introduce running when feeling stronger.
- Go slow! Ten minutes running to start; work up a few minutes at a time.
In the meantime, take calcium and vitamin D and all that and do core work and upper body to keep from going crazy.
So that's what I did. Or rather, what I'm doing, since I'm still in the "go slow" part. Total rest (plus calcitonin) healed up my bone; in fact, it felt better in just a few days of rest. I used those days to test muscle strength and try to learn my body better. Next I found exercises and stretches to fix problems I suspected, and only then did I try to run.
I had several good days of ten-minute runs, but I had set-backs, too: one day I felt pain at the femur site again, and rested it for 4 days break. Now I'm still just gradually working back. I don't think I'm out of the woods yet: I feel like I definitely have a tendency to injure the same area again. So I have to be incredibly careful. As far as I can tell, my problems stem from some muscle or tendon issue that causes it to tug on the bone... but I still don't know how I went from totally healthy to acute injury to chronic pain in one year! Crazy!
But I'm doing my best to heal up, so wish me luck, and share all the advice you have!
I felt pretty much the same as before. My doctor not-so-politely told me that I was probably just a wimp, that my leg was no doubt fine, and that my bone probably always looked like that - some kind of structural anomaly (not true, I have x-rays from a few months ago). He was out of options.
He told me go see an endocrinologist, a spine guy, and a surgeon. He dropped the oncologist recommendation since I pointed out that I already had all that labwork done and nope, no cancer.
So, I really didn't know what to do. But about this time I emailed Camille Herron and her reply was incredibly helpful. Basically she told me - femur fractures can take a long time to heal, especially if you re-injure them! She also recommended I work with my PT to determine why a healthy person like myself would experience these fractures.
So I made a tentative plan:
- Rest until bone pain goes away.
- Determine problem areas
- Once pain free, work on problem areas (week hips, tight adductors).
- Gradually introduce running when feeling stronger.
- Go slow! Ten minutes running to start; work up a few minutes at a time.
In the meantime, take calcium and vitamin D and all that and do core work and upper body to keep from going crazy.
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| All the rooms in my house but two have beautiful hardwood floors. I always take pictures in the other two. |
So that's what I did. Or rather, what I'm doing, since I'm still in the "go slow" part. Total rest (plus calcitonin) healed up my bone; in fact, it felt better in just a few days of rest. I used those days to test muscle strength and try to learn my body better. Next I found exercises and stretches to fix problems I suspected, and only then did I try to run.
I had several good days of ten-minute runs, but I had set-backs, too: one day I felt pain at the femur site again, and rested it for 4 days break. Now I'm still just gradually working back. I don't think I'm out of the woods yet: I feel like I definitely have a tendency to injure the same area again. So I have to be incredibly careful. As far as I can tell, my problems stem from some muscle or tendon issue that causes it to tug on the bone... but I still don't know how I went from totally healthy to acute injury to chronic pain in one year! Crazy!
But I'm doing my best to heal up, so wish me luck, and share all the advice you have!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Thanksgiving letters and family closeness
My grandmother on my dad's side has written me a Thanksgiving letter for the past several years. Actually, she remembers every holiday, and often sends cards for Memorial Day or Easter! Very sweet. Her cards are the only contact I have with her, and the correspondence we've established is the only way I know her at all.
See, apparently my dad was not close to his mother at all (maybe his father, too, I don't know - his father died before my parents married and I've never heard a word spoken about the man). We visited my dad's family only a handful of times ever growing up - perhaps three or four times. I only remember three visits, but there may have been others before I was born or when I was an infant. This lack of contact was the norm in our house - we didn't exactly see my mom's family much either, and she was really terrible about staying in touch (once my grandparents found out my mom was pregnant after the baby was born!).
My parents are just really bad about communicating with family. And that taught their kids, by example, to think family was unimportant. We never sacrificed to help a family member. We never let a family member offer help, or bear our burdens, or do us a favor. We never put family first. It never happened then, so it really doesn't happen much now. It's sad that none of my grandparents have ever met their youngest grandchild, and it's sad that my parents never call their children (or their parents!) on Christmas.
So I'm trying to coax the family out of that mold. I go out of my way to be the sibling who calls everyone else, who sends Christmas cards, who visits. I ask the other kids, "Have you heard from so-and-so?" to remind them to call their brothers. I gave up on trying to involve my parents, who are quite crazy and a lost cause, but I don't want all of their kids to continue the pattern. My childhood was bizarre in a lot of ways, so I always told myself growing up, "You can't change how you were raised, but you can change how you let it shape you." I don't let the unusual family communications affect me, and I'm happy my grandmother and I have been able to establish a relationship, even though it really began when she was in her 80's and I sent her a wedding invitation!
How about you? Is your family close? Who are you seeing or calling for Thanksgiving?
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| Pages of tiny writing! |
See, apparently my dad was not close to his mother at all (maybe his father, too, I don't know - his father died before my parents married and I've never heard a word spoken about the man). We visited my dad's family only a handful of times ever growing up - perhaps three or four times. I only remember three visits, but there may have been others before I was born or when I was an infant. This lack of contact was the norm in our house - we didn't exactly see my mom's family much either, and she was really terrible about staying in touch (once my grandparents found out my mom was pregnant after the baby was born!).
My parents are just really bad about communicating with family. And that taught their kids, by example, to think family was unimportant. We never sacrificed to help a family member. We never let a family member offer help, or bear our burdens, or do us a favor. We never put family first. It never happened then, so it really doesn't happen much now. It's sad that none of my grandparents have ever met their youngest grandchild, and it's sad that my parents never call their children (or their parents!) on Christmas.
So I'm trying to coax the family out of that mold. I go out of my way to be the sibling who calls everyone else, who sends Christmas cards, who visits. I ask the other kids, "Have you heard from so-and-so?" to remind them to call their brothers. I gave up on trying to involve my parents, who are quite crazy and a lost cause, but I don't want all of their kids to continue the pattern. My childhood was bizarre in a lot of ways, so I always told myself growing up, "You can't change how you were raised, but you can change how you let it shape you." I don't let the unusual family communications affect me, and I'm happy my grandmother and I have been able to establish a relationship, even though it really began when she was in her 80's and I sent her a wedding invitation!
How about you? Is your family close? Who are you seeing or calling for Thanksgiving?
Monday, November 18, 2013
Life hands-free
I'm going on day four of hunt-and-peck typing, steroid jitters, inability to grasp a pen, cooking with ziplocs over my hands, and automatic staplers (thank goodness I had one at work already, since I couldn't use a claw stapler now if you paid me).
Naturally, Friday was the day that everyone decided they absolutely MUST get their flu shot, and no one was interested in walking the ONE BLOCK to the next Walgreens to receive it. So I gloved over my splints and gave them the worst shot ever. Because these braces have metal panels on top and bottom the entire length, I simply cannot maneuver anything once it's in my thumb and forefinger, The other fingers can't curl over, either, so it's not like I have a fabulous grip on anything, your syringe included. Oh well. I tried to explain my limitations, but I ended up giving 12 vaccines Friday anyway!
As for exercise, good thing I'm going slow now anyway. I skipped a day, but then I realized I could run without braces, since "running arms" is basically the only way to hold my arms that doesn't hurt. However, I can't do yoga (which I've been adding in) or most stretches (which I've been religious about), so I've been running even less and taking time to do modified stretching and foam-rolling (yeah, can't even foam roll right now).
David's been cutely taking care of me. It took him 10 minutes to put my hair in a ponytail for a run, so after that we went with messily placed barrette instead. And he's been a doll about cutting up my food and doing little things I can't do...like lock the door!
Just a few more days of 'round-the-clock wear, and I can start weaning off. Hurray! And the good news is that the crepitus has stopped (finally), and pain is much better. I'll be back to normal soon. Can't wait!
Naturally, Friday was the day that everyone decided they absolutely MUST get their flu shot, and no one was interested in walking the ONE BLOCK to the next Walgreens to receive it. So I gloved over my splints and gave them the worst shot ever. Because these braces have metal panels on top and bottom the entire length, I simply cannot maneuver anything once it's in my thumb and forefinger, The other fingers can't curl over, either, so it's not like I have a fabulous grip on anything, your syringe included. Oh well. I tried to explain my limitations, but I ended up giving 12 vaccines Friday anyway!
As for exercise, good thing I'm going slow now anyway. I skipped a day, but then I realized I could run without braces, since "running arms" is basically the only way to hold my arms that doesn't hurt. However, I can't do yoga (which I've been adding in) or most stretches (which I've been religious about), so I've been running even less and taking time to do modified stretching and foam-rolling (yeah, can't even foam roll right now).
David's been cutely taking care of me. It took him 10 minutes to put my hair in a ponytail for a run, so after that we went with messily placed barrette instead. And he's been a doll about cutting up my food and doing little things I can't do...like lock the door!
Just a few more days of 'round-the-clock wear, and I can start weaning off. Hurray! And the good news is that the crepitus has stopped (finally), and pain is much better. I'll be back to normal soon. Can't wait!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
I love this: Antique-store chair
My husband and I wandered into an antique store in Bay St. Louis mostly for amusement. The antique stores in Mississippi tend to be more along the lines of, "Here's an old Coca-Cola sign to hang on your barn!" than "It's believed to have belonged to Anne of Cleves." This one is particularly entertaining because
1. It is approximately 4 miles long. You go into a tiny building and walk until your legs fall off, and you're still in the middle of old crocheted lace, depression glass, and a pile of extremely creepy 1800's glass and wire spectacles. It never ends. There are somewhere close to 40 rooms in this building.
2. It contains almost entirely junk.
Yet this time I was drawn straight to this fascinating little chair, a celluloid and leather throne if you will, and when I saw the $49 price tag we snatched it up! Really, it's a steal. It looks fabulous in our living room, it's comfortable, and it's unique. I love it!
1. It is approximately 4 miles long. You go into a tiny building and walk until your legs fall off, and you're still in the middle of old crocheted lace, depression glass, and a pile of extremely creepy 1800's glass and wire spectacles. It never ends. There are somewhere close to 40 rooms in this building.
2. It contains almost entirely junk.
Yet this time I was drawn straight to this fascinating little chair, a celluloid and leather throne if you will, and when I saw the $49 price tag we snatched it up! Really, it's a steal. It looks fabulous in our living room, it's comfortable, and it's unique. I love it!
Friday, November 15, 2013
Pardon my typing.
I expect this (and subsequent posts) to be full of errors because I'm typing in bilateral heavy-duty wrist immobilization braces. My post-kayak pain never went away - in fact it worsened. I started losing mobility, the swelling was horrific, and moving my wrists resulted in a loud creaking!
Amazingly, the stars aligned for me to see a qualified doctor: I had a pharmacist in training who could cover my store, and a hand surgeon just so happened to have clinic - and have an opening - this morning at the hospital where I work!
He quickly diagnosed my with severe intersection syndrome - tendon rubbing against muscle. Since I kept using the affected tendons, they didn't heal, and I narrowly avoided tendon rupture! The doctor is pretty confident I can avoid surgery by resting the tendons: so braces stay on 24 hours a day for a week, then I can begin weaning off over the next week. I'm also starting steroids to stop the really out-of-control swelling. I'm anti-steroid, but I have no choice: my wrists are as big as my ankles right now.
Tomorrow I'll see if I can actually work this way (I can't open bottles or type with any speed ...) and I may actually have to take short term disability.
Insane.
Can't believe it.
So glad I caught it though!
And beware the kayak, people. It's a dangerous toy.
Amazingly, the stars aligned for me to see a qualified doctor: I had a pharmacist in training who could cover my store, and a hand surgeon just so happened to have clinic - and have an opening - this morning at the hospital where I work!
He quickly diagnosed my with severe intersection syndrome - tendon rubbing against muscle. Since I kept using the affected tendons, they didn't heal, and I narrowly avoided tendon rupture! The doctor is pretty confident I can avoid surgery by resting the tendons: so braces stay on 24 hours a day for a week, then I can begin weaning off over the next week. I'm also starting steroids to stop the really out-of-control swelling. I'm anti-steroid, but I have no choice: my wrists are as big as my ankles right now.
Tomorrow I'll see if I can actually work this way (I can't open bottles or type with any speed ...) and I may actually have to take short term disability.
Insane.
Can't believe it.
So glad I caught it though!
And beware the kayak, people. It's a dangerous toy.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Favorite race pictures
Everyone has race pictures that they hate. But I think we all have some that we love, too. I'm lucky to have many great memories from races thanks to David: before he got into running and racing himself, he was my faithful photographer!
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| One of my first races, the Crescent City Classic 10k in full-on cowgirl |
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| My first marathon, feeling like DEATH. |
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| Cowgirl again at the Jazz half - ran a 1:51 I think? I was astonished at my time. I never thought I'd run that fast. |
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Beautiful Harrisburg, my first BQ
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My favorite finish pic!
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| A crowd at Publix.... |
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| My only "hard core" race picture with no silly grin or funny face! |
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| Boston. Mostly someone else's picture, but I love that this shows the brutality of the heat that day - and my bum knee. |
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| Stride for stride with this dude at the Crescent City Classic 10k |
There it is. My racing life in pictures! Kind of makes me feel like I might be back someday, racing again..
Do you have any race pictures you love? Links please!
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