Finding Balance in San Francisco

Odds and ends

Sometimes life's going by so fast it's hard to keep track of the moments and memories. Here are a few of our odds and ends.

From YMCA Healthy Kids Day:

Hula Hooping, with the lovely Miss Clara from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

Healthy Kids Day- bike course from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

The boys with my cousin's dog, Eagan:

Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon:

The Hamilton Family Center 25th Anniversary celebration and presentation to Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the Poverty Prevention Award June 3rd at the von Bothmer's beautiful home in Pacific Heights:

Here's my big moment to get a shot with Speaker Pelosi... alas, sometimes it just doesn't work out.

Quinn's graduation-inspired artwork- it reads:

My name is Quinn. I am 5 years old. I like to play. I do not like to loose.

And one sweet morning in May:

and the crown goes to... Phil and Amy

Phil and Amy's victory embrace today was so touching- a fitting antidote to the Tiger conflict that's been dominating the news. 

I like a redemption story as much as the next guy, and I'm happy that Tiger's back in the hunt- but the crown rightly belonged with Phil Mickelson and his family today.

11 months ago, Phil's wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and he suspended his PGA tour schedule indefinitely to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her while she battled through cancer treatments. Phil returned to the PGA in August, but today was the first tournament Amy's been to since being diagnosed- and apparently she's been in bed all week. In a cruel twisting of the knife, Phil's mother Mary was also diagnosed with breast cancer, last July. Both Amy and Mary got some much-deserved joy today, cheering Lefty on to his 3rd green jacket. We are all lifted up by the courage, the strength and the purity of their heartwarming triumph.

Usually Tiger's the guy to beat, and our billion dollar Madison Avenue icon has always been compelling to watch. He's an attention magnet all the more so now, with racy mistresses all over the tabloids, luridly raunchy sext messages on the Internet (what was he thinking) - such a contrast to the Mr. Perfect bag of goods we'd all been successfully sold (and poor Elin). The shameless plane taunting stunt, the brilliant- if creepy- dead father Nike ads (funny spoof here), it all just adds to the spectacle of Tiger Woods. I can't say I didn't turn on the t.v. today in part because of Tiger.

But, Tiger story aside, there was something almost superhuman about Phil determined to win one for his family. The emotional payoff when he hugged his wife off of the 18th hole was huge, too. It has to be one of the top 5 post-game hugs in the history of the Masters.

At the end of the day, it worked out beautifully. Tiger finishes in a fully respectable fourth, still on the path to redemption, noble Phil brings home the crown to bask in with his deserving family. 

Nice to see the good guy finish first this time.

Facebook, the time machine

Facebook can be almost erie at times.

In the past week, I've reconnected with 2 different friends from 2 different parts of my life- both of which were over 20 years ago- and I feel like I've been thrown into a time warp.

Last Friday, my elementary school friend- Angela with the long, thick, dark hair and I did the Facebook "oh wow" reconnection dance. She looks beautiful and happily married, living in picturesque Hawaii. I was so delighted to hear from her and immediately asked how her happy-go-lucky twin, Tony, was.

In grade school, Tony was the class clown and made us all laugh and laugh until we almost peed our pants. He was often rewarded with masking tape over his mouth (can they even do that now?), so it sort of felt like he was sacrificing himself for the sake of making more laughter in the classroom, and we appreciated it and he was very well liked by all.

I remember that when we'd play handball and dodgeball on the playground, he'd strut around with his chest puffed out singing Pat Benetar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" to get the opponent riled up, and it both worked as intended and made everyone on the playground laugh.

Angela wrote back that he'd passed away in 1996 after a terrible car accident. I've felt just crushed by this sad information since I received it. I hadn't seen Tony in 25+ years and the accident happened 9 years ago, but here in March of 2010 it all felt so fresh. RIP Tony.

I also reconnected with my college friend- Martha with the long, thick blonde hair. She also looks happy and beautiful and is living in picturesque Key West. I'd actually had a dream about her out of the clear blue and impuslively got up in the middle of the night to check to see if she was on Facebook, and lo and behold, she was. Love how FB can be an instant gratification like that, even at 4 in the morning.

Happily, no tragedy on Martha's side- just art dealing and historic house refurbishing and one fabulous shiny gold dress that she wore on a Dragon Boat float in the Fantasy Fest parade.

21 years!? Yikes! How on earth could I have been 19 TWENTY ONE years ago??

Thinking about Martha and our crazy car trip from Arizona to Colorado has been so much fun. I remember that this guy (whose name I forget) in our dorm had just gotten a new car and for some reason he decided to lend it to us to take for our week long road trip across state lines. Why would a rational person do this? Martha talked him into it, with ease and grace.

Almost as soon as he handed over the keys, Martha got an air of mischief about her and busted out with this bumper sticker that she actually stuck right there on his brand new rear bumper right in front of him and the rest of us standing around:

"Skateboarding Is Not A Crime."

The guy looked dumbfounded, and flabbergasted, and I almost died from shock and delight.

The car had been a boring itty bitty beige thing, and the bumper sticker actually made it 10 times better. Martha became my instant hero and off we went. Our week included rugged Alaskans BBQing in shorts and t-shirts (and no shirts) in the snow and great skiers with dreadlocks who showed us the back roads and back trails of Telluride.

When I start thinking about it here in the spring of 2010, it feels like that spring break is still within reach, and I'm transformed into that carefree college girl along for the ride. Cool how a little tool like Facebook can bring old memories back to life in such a vibrant and poignant way.

Christmas is officially over

We're about to take down the Christmas tree. School and work start again tomorrow and normal life resumes again. I'm at the same time eager for it to be over and already nostalgic and wistful. It's been a good break, with Christmas parties

and Ry's birthday celebrations

This was the year of the boys making faces for the camera... or maybe it was the first year of the boys making faces for the camera... we shall see

I always enjoy the holiday cheer and festiveness of the season, and I love having a decorated Christmas tree in our living room.

It was great to have Nana out to San Francisco for a visit

and spend the holidays with family

Our fun in the snow trip to Tahoe was a great way to leave 2009 with a bang

and now it's almost time to pack Christmas away for another year. We've been horsing around this morning, dressing up in costumes

and cavorting.

Last Day of Christmas Break 2010 from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

All the while I've been mindful that this is the last day, the last hours of Christmas break. I've been procrastinating a little on taking down the tree this morning because it feels like the official end of the holidays.

The Christmas tree is a symbolic way of saying goodbye to 2009. Au revoir, tree, arrivederci holidays. The 2010 door is already open, and putting away Christmas is as good a way as any to let go of the past and look ahead. Better go take that Christmas tree down now- it's time.

Skiing into the new year

We just got back from skiing at Heavenly- a great way to close out 2009 and welcome 2010.

and of course the obligatory trying to make a face shot from Jordan

We stayed in a nice little South Lake hotel called Lakeview. Decent spot, close to the mountain and breakfast was included, which was nice. A little ratty around the edges, but manageable. The boyz were delighted that they got to watch a few videos (Chip and Dale is the current favorite) and they liked the little holiday display out in front of the hotel.

The kids really enjoyed ski school at Heavenly (all day- 8:30 - 3:45)

and Ryan and I enjoyed getting to ski by ourselves for a couple days. The snow was really good- just how I like it with some fresh powder but not so much that it melts my legs in a couple hours. Only have just this bit of video because I gave Ryan a well-deserved reprieve from my shutterfly ways

Ryan skiing at Heavenly from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

On New Year's Day we went sledding

Started on a little hill, then quickly moved on to larger targets. The hill in this video was a good one but almost gave me a heart attack each time they went down it because it dumped out right into the parking lot

Sledding on New Year's Day 2010 from kathy hassanein on Vimeo.

I feel relaxed after a good little vacation to the snow. The first night we got there, Ryan said to the boys "dream about snow and nothing else, " which Quinn claimed to have done the next morning.  Maybe that's why the snow was so good.

Happy New Year to all!!