Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” Walt Whitman
Slowly we party again
Birthdays and Holidays
Although we saw a spike in COVID after the holidays, we kicked of 2022 celebrating several belated birthdays: we had a great party at Domenico winery in January for Eilish and a fun night in the city in March for Maureen.
To celebrate Vanessa’s mom visiting after 3 years, we had a wonderful wine tasting day in Paso Robles and a kids a CMT performance. In May, we celebrated mom’s 91st birthday with a nice lunch with family and friends in the Truffelaer!
Our neighborhood does great happy hours and birthday parties, but this year we went all out for Halloween, with a costume party, happy hour and trick-or- treating. And also in December, finally the traditional ugly-Christmas-sweater-white-elephant party was back in full force, with hilarious presents and so much laughter.
Graduation and other parties
Mandi, Lisa and I had fun day in Point Reyes and at the crab feast at Heidrun Meadery. As both Dante and Grace graduated from high school, I had a fun graduation party weekend in June. Le diner en blanc was also back. It meant a wonderful night of friends, food and wine, as we danced the night away in a beautiful Redwood City location.
I was Vidya’s +1 at the Valley Med Medical gala, where I won a “Girls-day-on-the- Row” shopping trip at the auction. We cashed that in in December for a fun afternoon of Christmas shopping, bubbles and food.
Slowly we attend sports events again
One of the things I have really missed during COVID, is being able to go watch live sport games. Our Warriors made it to the NBA finals. And because there was a good chance that this would be the last time we would be able to see Steph, Klay, Dray and Andre play together, Liane and I decided at the last minute to go see them play in Chase center against the Celtics for Game 5. The result was an epic night and a big win for the Dubs, who went on to win the title in Game 6 in Boston. Mandi, Ann and I went to see them again last November, for another win against the Kings.
The 49ers made it far into the play-offs last year, one game short to go to the Super bowl. And this year we started again strong and we already clinched the NFC West title. I went to two games so far: against the Rams with Mandi and my neighbors Lilian and Amit and the New Orleans Saints with Brett and Liane. Both great games and fun times.
In March and April, we signed up for two fun races, 5k St. Patrick’s Day run and an 8k Santana Row run.
Slowly we go to concerts again
The other thing I really missed for the past two years, is live music. So, I was delighted when Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour came to Levi’s Stadium in October. What an unforgettable night it was and what a voice Sir Elton still has. Dressed in our boas, glitter and glasses, we sang along to all the old as well as his new songs with Dua Lipa and Britney Spears. Seema and I had attended the “Alice in Winterland” concert several years ago, and we were very excited when they announced the concert was back this year. The first time since COVID. It resulted in another great night listening and singing to life music with performances from Kelsea Ballerini, John Mayer and One Republic.
We still hike and travel, travel, travel
And we still hike almost every Saturday and Sunday, exploring trails all over the Bay, from the South, to the East, to the Peninsula, to Marin County. Keeping the tradition, we continue to have “mimosas on the mountain” to celebrate birthdays.
Snow trips
In February, we had a weekend in Yosemite. Yosemite is one of my favorite places in the world, but in winter it is extra magical. We stayed in the Yosemite lodge, at the bottom of the Yosemite Falls and had a fun day snowshoeing and a fun night playing cards. At the end of February, we celebrated Aevanne’s birthday in Tahoe, in the middle of a snow storm.
Hiking trips
We had several great hiking trips. We hiked the beach and mountains in Morro Bay in May for Memorial Day. Vanessa and I had a great weekend “hiking for wine” in Eugene, Oregon. We hiked the Willamette Valley, the Cascades and the Oregon Coastal trail. We visited a couple of small local wineries, where we had great food and wine.
In July, Eilish, Liane, Maureen and the Lancaster sister hiked part of the Wicklow Way for three days. It was fantastic: hiking through beautiful scenery during the day followed by hot showers, great food and wine every night. This is definitely my type of vacationing.
Over Labor Day weekend, we did our glamping trip to Glacier National Park. We had a great accommodation, staying in tree-hut tents in Under Canvas and hiking the spectacular Ridgeline trail.
We did two trips to Arnold, CA: one in October for a beautiful hike around Lake Alpine in nice warm weather, and one a month later for Thanksgiving, where we hiked Calaveras Big Tree State Park in the first snow of the season.
City trips
I visited Andrea, Tony and the kids in New York in March and July. We had a fun day biking and bar hopping around Governors Island. The 4th of July was an all-American experience. We stayed with Rhona’s brother at Orange Lake in the Hudson Valley. $th of July parade was a boat parade on the lake. An unforgettable day.
After hiking the Wicklow Way this summer, I spent a fun day in Dublin. I also started traveling to Seattle regularly again after I started a new position as the Head of Product and Business for Kids on Echo and FireTV.
Slowly onwards to another year
So slowly life is getting back to normal. The November elections turned out much better than expected. The red wave that many feared, did not happen and we kept the Senate blue. At the end of the year, I reflect on how fortunate I am, living a rich life, full of family and friends. I realize this even more, since I became a CASA in 2020. I was assigned a new kid this year. She is 8, living with foster parents, as her parents are not able to take care of her. It makes me sad to see her and compare her life to mine when I was her age. So, I try to give back a little bit, one kid at a time. With 2022 coming to an end, I am already starting to plan new adventures for 2023, so many things to do, so many places to visit.
“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life – and travel- leaves mark on you”.
Anthony Bourdain.
Happy holidays
