Time has this way of getting away from me…

Wow, I just looked at the last blog posting and noticed it’s been almost a month since I’ve written anything! Bad, bad blogger! There’s no good excuse except, well, life has just intervened and I haven’t taken the time to document it. In my defense, we’ve been working a lot during the week and playing a lot on the weekends. We ran the Healdsburg Half-Marathon and went wine tasting with a bunch of friends, then two weeks later ran the inaugural Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half-Marathon. We’ve also been taking part in the L.A. Sheriff’s Athletic Association Mug Run series (they are the cheapest, best supported races in southern California IMHO). And lest any grass grow under my feet, my sister came out for a visit and we went up north to visit my aunt and we spent a couple of days having a lot of girl-time bonding with my best friend who came and joined us for a few days.

On the home front, we finally gave up trying to make grass grow on the side yard and had artificial turf installed. It took about four hours total and was exactly like having carpet installed. And it looks, well, amazing. We’re just sorry we didn’t do it sooner. Our dog and all of her friends love it, too. It wasn’t cheap, but it was a lot less money than what we’ve spent over the past 8 years trying to get anything else to grow there.

We spent this past weekend in Solvang, taking part in the Solvang Prelude, which offers a choice of a 25, 50 or 61-mile course. We did the 50-mile bike ride. Well, we actually did 42 miles – we just couldn’t face the idea of riding past our hotel only to have to then turn around 5 miles later and ride back to it just to hit the 50 mile mark. Our training was woefully inadequate. (It involved riding 30 miles last weekend. That was it. Not, as it happened, nearly enough. Just ask my butt.) The weather was cool and windy with a hint of rain in the air. Lovely, except for when we had to ride into the wind, or it buffeted us as we rode down the highway, or when we had to climb what appeared to be nearly vertical inclines (the nearly vertical part may have had something to do with the inadequate training). Still, it’s a fun ride and really well supported (love those chocolate chip cookies at the sag stops!). Chuck and I have new big kid pedals that you click in and out of, so I spent most of the ride worrying about the next time I’d have to click out and whether I’d fall over in the attempt. Happily I stayed upright. Chuck tipped over once, but suffered no ill effects other than a slight dent to his dignity. Today we get to do a little wine tasting, then a little kicking back before driving home bright and early tomorrow morning.

Next up, we travel to Sacramento for the annual California Library Association conference. Among other things, we’ll be doing some gaming and introducing people to the Xbox Kinect which is the most amazing gaming device I’ve ever seen. I mean, we’re talking SERIOUS fun. Oh, and we have to dress as pirates, and that includes our almost life-sized stuffed gorilla. You know, your basic dry and boring library conference (hah!).