San Francisco - Day one

I landed in San Francisco on Thursday night, ahead of my conference which started on Friday. My flight out of NOLA was delayed, so I had a bonus day to hang with Sarah, run errands, and recoup. I ended up flying directly from NOLA to SF -- I can't remember the last time I flew somewhere directly, it's been years since I was able to do that. It's so easy! :)

I woke up early on the morning of January 3rd (Friday). There is still evidence of Christmas / New Years everywhere: confetti in the streets, Christmas tree graveyards, and wreaths and lights still up.

 

My hotel is right on the Embarcadreo, and the building was at one time YMCA (which is now located next door). My room faces the front of the hotel, which is surrounded by buildings, and quiet, because it's the Financial District. All of which is perfect. Here's the view when you exit the hotel from the back: 

Like it's so beautiful, it's actually kind of silly.

I'm so glad that I committed to getting up early each day, because even though the conference was 9 AM - 10 PM, I still got to explore the city a little bit, and soak up some vitamin D. Here's from my walk at lunch on the first day:

The conference was about 3/4 mile from my hotel, which made for the perfect walk in the morning. In that last picture, you can almost see where it was-- just behind that brick building. During another break, I walked down onto one of the piers:

 

I'm so spoiled now that I live in a warm place-- palm trees are par for the course.

 

For my dinner break, I went to Chinatown with a couple of people from the conference, both of whom live in the City. It was delicious, and dirt cheap, too. I hadn't picked out any lululemons at that point. All in all, a long day, but a good one.

At 9:30, we were done for the day. It's hard to capture, but at night, the Bay Bridge is all lit up and it looks absolutely gorgeous. There's an outdoor skating rink along the Embarcadero that's still up from the holidays, and P-A-C-K-E-D. Fun to walk by each night.

I love how they light up the Financial District at night:

Selfie time. Please excuse the dirty hair, I've been cooped up in the house all week s-t-u-d-y-i-n-g like mad. The semester is almost over! just a few more weeks. I've been spending a lot of time studying in my bed, the weather has suddenly turned cold! It's finally starting to feel a little bit like fall.

Another reason it feels like fall? this pumpkin in our living room. no one carved it-- it was too hot, and all we saw were rotting pumpkins all week-- and now no one has the heart to toss it out. I love this little guy.

I drove to Baton Rouge with my friend Sydney just to go to the brand-new TJ's that opened last week. Did it take an hour and a half each way? Yes. Are we crazy? Yes, obviously. But it sure feels worth it when I can drink my Joe's coffee in the morning with my vanilla granola. When I squinted my eyes at the store I almost felt like I was in Hollywood (OR). Needless to say, we stocked up.

date night! We went mini-golfing with another couple (one of Mikes' co-workers and his girlfriend) at the new course at City Park. Lots of fun over the course of 18 holes. Each hole is themed with a New Orleans street, so there are lots of plaques to read and facts to learn. Love those facts.

Mike and I have been working pretty different schedules, but we often have mornings off. It's been nice to spend that time together!

With my friend Ashley at Krewe de Boo, the Halloween parade that rolled through the French Quarter.  Halloween is a huge deal down here-- New Orleanians love any excuse to dress up, decorate their houses, and party in the streets.

EDGAR ALLAN PO' BOY? I MEAN! God I love Halloween.

 Something new I've been doing this fall: boxing. Unfortunately, the gym is pretty far away so I'm only making it (with roommates in tow) about once a week. I love it.

Another great paddleboarding experience! Coldest and windiest (ie: toughest) day so far. Still great, as always. I arranged this time: three girls from lululemon (including one with bunny ears, in honor of Halloween week), my roomie Sarah and friend Tracy (who is pregnant with a baby boy! i am thrilled for her!). Not pictured: the donuts we enjoyed just before paddling out. I had a Vietnamese Coffee Donut from a new hipster coffee shop just down the street, and it was magical.

Downer news now: my runner's knees are not getting better. Still constantly sore and making weird cracking noises (and have been since August). My doctor thinks it's cartilage damage, and I'm going in for x-rays in a few days to confirm this. Hopefully it is indeed the cartilage, so I can go to physical therapy and then start running again. I really, really miss running. And I'm really tired of having sore knees all the time. Fingers are crossed it's found to be fixable.

I just love this guy. He is so supportive of me in everything that i do. Here he is in his favorite shirt.

Kaitlin is visiting from Portland this week, and we've been busy busy busy! She's in town through Tuesday-- that's a 9-day trip-- so we've had lots of time to sightsee, work out and relax together. She happened to come during fall break (Thursday & Friday of this past week) so it's worked out perfectly. I've been so happy to take some time away from work & school and do some exploring! We've done a lot of the mandatory tourist stuff: French Quarter tour, plantation tour, Audubon and City Park, and, of course, lots and lots of eating. I've also been taking Kaitlin to spin classes, yoga & my favorite coffee shops. She's been a great houseguest, and we're happy just soaking up the sun & reading too.

We went to see a brass band, the Brass-a-holics, play a few nights ago. They put on a great show. (Also: please notice that for the first time in my life, I am the Tall Friend. These girls are so tiny that I'm actually bending down here)

Paddleboarding on Lake Pontchartrain! I feel like an old hand at paddleboarding at this point-- but paddling on the Lake was much harder than paddling on the Bayou! Here we are at the harbor:

We also went pedal boating at City Park! This one's been on my NOLA bucket list for a long time.

 And here we are at Audubon Park! It's been absolutely perfect weather this week, 75 degrees & breezy with no humidity.

And at the Plantation! It's fun to be in these pictures, because I'm usually the one one taking them :)

That's it for now! We're going to the Seafood Festival later today to hear some good music & get some more good stuff to eat!

I went to my first Youth Run NOLA event a few weeks ago! It was AMAZING to see the coaches, volunteers and kids that I worked with, for, and heard about all summer long. The event was the Tipitina's Foundation 5K, and it benefitted the Foundation, which in turn supports marching bands in New Orleans. Because of that, we had marching bands all along the route, cheering us along the way. We started at the Rouse's Market / Tipitina's Uptown, ran back down Tchopitoulous (basically back to my house), and then turned around and ended at Tipitina's. It was an evening race, so it was HOT HOT HOT.

The kids did great, I ran for the first time in almost 2 months and iced my knees for the next three days.

I was included in the most recent Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine newsletter! It's all about my work with Youth Run NOLA this past summer. Check me out:

http://prc.tulane.edu/news/detail/54813/Youth-empowerment-group-focuses-on-evaluation-with-Tulane-grad-students-help

We've been up to lots of fun stuff at lululemon lately. Here's the whole team after a tough circuit workout that we did in this crazy garage gym in the LGD. Yes, it included hitting those giant tires with those huge hammers. I really love this crew of jocks! Never thought I would say that in my life. I'm a little hard to spot, I'm in the back :)

We were all ready for Hurricane Karen last weekend-- bought lots of bottled water & food, filled the car with gas, etc. The whole city was on high alert, with some areas evacuated. But luckily she was downgraded to a tropical storm, and then ended up dissipating before she did any damage. We just got a little sprinkling of rain after all that. Weathering the storm!

Girls on the Run is back again! I'm coaching at the International School once again, for some of the same girls as last season. They're so sweet-- and wild too! :)