This weekend was quite an adventure indeed!
Life is a series of roller coasters!
Up and down the emotions go,
to the right and to the left the adventures wind –
sometimes slow…
Never knowing if you will be left in a bind,
No matter what happens – you just have to know
You are being kept in mind - Be strong! Be healthy!
Live in Love and Light – Lovin – Livin – Life can be out of sight!
Friday
Friday was my cousins funeral. He was 48 years old. A father, a husband but most of all a FUNNY FUNNY GUY! 
I listened to the pastor, friends and colleagues speak of impressions, experiences and kindness he displayed throughout his existence. I’m happy I knew him and had the opportunity to enjoy his personality and it was wonderful knowing this soul!
I send his soul love and light now. The moment his breathe left that day – his soul left.
Yoga teaches us to face death before it ever happens. It teaches that death is not finite, but instead another experience. A new journey to open ourselves up to. My cousin is onto his next phase of soul work.
Saturday
We opened the store as usual. In the evening, my taste tester and I went to the Luckman Theater - Cal State Los Angeles.
Paco Pena was performing!
For those of you who don’t know who that is… He is a Flamenco guitarist hailing from Cordoba, Spain! He plays traditional Spanish folk music and plays with Flamenco dancers and singers in a traditional setting.
Great Music + GREAT FLAMENCO DANCERS = Great Time by all!
We had invited my sister and her husband for a night out on the town! They really enjoyed the performance! That made me really happy.
It was nice to see the dancers and enjoy the music. It took me to a different part of my mind I had totally forgotton about until that moment!
My mind skipped to a time when I was young and experiencing Spain for the first time. I was 11 years old and was able to experience Flamenco Dancers and Singers in a small cave/tavern type of setting. It was the first visit to Europe we would make as a family. I remembered the olives and tapas from that night long ago. The brightly colored sangria in the pitchers on the table. The sliced oranges, cloves and various other cut fruit. The candles dancing off of the glasses and walls – while I watched the women dancing and the singers mesmerizing everyone in the room! The women were SO beautiful and the ambience was absolutely HYPNOTIC!
There was a 20 minute intermission and then another hour long performance on Saturday! What a treat! 2 hrs of Flamenco dancers, singers, and guitarists!!!
After the performance we ventured over to Pure Luck in Hollywood!
I had the Fiesta Plate! My taste tester had his usual Jackfruit Burrito. We had dinner and went straight home. We needed to get up early since we were running our first 8k. It seemed like a perfect race for someone who is into 8′s! Right?
Sunday-8k
The 8k was located in Brea, CA which is approximatley 35-45 minutes away. The race started at 8:00am and we still had to pick up our bibs and timing chips for our shoes!
We left the house at 6:15 am. We woke up to 32 degree weather with frosted windshields and icy sidewalks!!! Brrr!!!
We dressed accordingly and we were off!
We arrived at 7:20 am – parked and headed to registration check in!
My bib number was 1718. Once I did the math 1+7=8+9=17=8 and ended up with an 8 I knew great success was at hand!!! Love the 8′s!!! Very lucky sign!!! I dedicated the race to the memory of my cousin Rick!
He died February 13, 2011 – The day of the Firecracker Race and he was buried on Friday February 25, 2011. It seemed only right to run in his memory! Something positive in his memory I thought!
As always everyone was ULTRA positive and kind! Much less people than I had seen in a while. That was nice!!! No problems with bathrooms or anything like that! YES!
Here is the START line!
The actual start line was approximately .25 mile away from our place in line! There were a total of 2700+ entires – much less than the Chinatown Firecracker race! It worked out well!
The Course
The course was a series of 3 hills. One being Heart Rate Hill! Ok yeah! Wish I has known about THAT HILL! It was alright though. I made it!
The initial hill took us through a bit of a residential neighborhood and looped around the Brea Marketplace. We then went around another residential area – a bunch of condos and up a small hill. We then did another loop and went on to the base of Heart Rate hill! After Heart Rate hill we did a straight a way for about .75 of a mile and looped around another neighborhood, another hill before we headed over to the FINISH line. I was happy. I completed the 5 mile/8k race in 1 hr 3 seconds.
I will definitely do this race again next year!
Psst…I am determined to make Heart Rate Hill my B*%@#!
As we traveled home I saw the most beautiful snow topped mountains! That is not a usual occurrence for us here is Southern California!!!
I actually saw a few people from the Pepperdine Run in January so that was cool! If I see them again I will definityly say HELLO!
Once we went home I made a huge salad with avocado, salsa and FRESH GREENS!!!
We also enjoyed a large glass of REJUVELAC! Yes still brewing Rejuvelac!
About an hour later I served a halved avocado to my taste tester and topped it with some salsa. Finished the laundry and made another salad!!! We had a total of 3 large salads on Sunday! Each with Avocado and tomatoes and tahini dressing! It wasn’t until the evening that we had asparagus with a mushroom medly! (Garlic, Shitake, Portobello, Lobster, Crimini and Maitake mushrooms!) It was great. Went to bed at 10:30pm and woke up 12 hours later on Monday!
Thanks for reading!!!
Love and Light!
What did you do this weekend?
Have you dealt with a loss of a loved one recently?
Let me know! Give me a shout out!
Namaste!
