So Proud!

Today I had the honor of watching Mike get one of the director's awards. These are basically awards handed out by the director of CAL Fire to people who have gone above and beyond their normal job duties over the past year.

My Handsome Husband

He's super shy about these kind of things (he'll probably hate me for blogging about it), but it was really cool to go to the ceremony and see the different projects that people have been working on over the last year.

Mike's team was given the award (in a nutshell) for revamping the entire EMS program from top to bottom. It was a big undertaking and will continue to improve patient care throughout the state.

The EMS Team

Mike is the cute one that is fourth from the right. :) I'm so incredibly proud of him!

My New Pony!

Today was a crazy busy day for us. Mike and I got up and headed down to the orchard to finish the fencing. Basically, Mike built Shadow a pen about a year ago and today he finished the pen for me. :) This one is 6 feet tall and hopefully keeps the deer away from my apple, apricot, orange trees and my artichoke. He made it big enough that I could expand the orchard, which I just might do! We spent some time uncaging the trees in there (they each had fencing wrapped around them, but it made it hard to do any pruning).

After that we showered and headed down to Mike's Bikes in Sacramento to look at a road bike for me. This store was absolutely fantastic! The customer service was excellent and they had really great prices. I came home with a Specialized Dolce Elite Apex Compact. It's a size 44 - apparently the smallest women's bike that Specialized makes!

My New Pony On The Trainer

The pictures don't do it justice - this is a beautiful machine! I bought the clip in pedals and all of the goodies that go with it (including the nifty biking shoes!) and my personal mechanic helped get the whole thing set up:

The Blankenheim Household Bike Mechanic

The other big purchase I made today was a new little cycling outfit. They make all sorts of nifty pants and while I balked at the idea of paying $100 for spandex shorts, Mike assured me that I would be super satisfied with my well padded posterior. He said that while I was at it, I should get a jersey, so I chose one that not only makes me very visible, but also reminds me of the beach! I think Shadow likes it...

My New Bike Outfit

Finally, once I was all dressed up, it was time to get on the trainer and test it out!

First Ride On The Trainer

For those of you who don't know, "clipping in" basically makes your feet stuck to the bike pedals, which then allows you to pedal more efficiently. The one downfall is that it takes getting used to when it comes to clipping and unclipping. Every experienced rider tells me that you will fall over with your bike at least twice because you can't get your feet off your pedals and that this almost always happens at a busy intersection where lots of people can see. I can't wait... I also took it for a little spin out on the driveway - and managed to clip and unclip on the hill. Tomorrow morning we're going to take it out for a real ride - I can't wait!

Our other big adventure for today was taking a trip over to Shane Co. to look for wedding bands. I have to say, I've been nothing but impressed with their service. The sales people are not paid on commission and there is absolutely zero pressure to buy. The guy that helped us today was funny and very patient. I'm so happy with the bands we both picked out, but you'll have to wait for the wedding to see them!

My First Bike Ride

Ok, not exactly my first bike ride. But today was my first bike ride on a road bike. Oh, and it was my first time on a category 1 climb. For those of you who don't follow cycling, they rate climbs on a scale of 1 to 4, with one being the hardest climb (technically, there is also an "HC" which means it's out of category because it's so hard). Basically, this was a serious mountain. We covered roughly three and a half miles of road with 1,800 feet of climbing in one hour and twenty minutes. I thought that wasn't that bad until the pros did it in about 20 minutes. Yikes! Here's the first picture of me at the top... don't I look invigorated and happy to be alive?

I Made It To The Top!

Mike also made it to the top (duh!). This is us after I've had some time to cool down and eat a PB&J!

We Did It!

The winner of this stage was Chris Horner. The poor guy rides for Team Radioshack, which also happens to have Levi Leipheimer. So, of course, everyone was cheering for Leipheimer, thinking he was Chris Horner. It wasn't until he was right up on us that we realized it was Chris! He finished a good minute ahead of anyone else... absolutely amazing!

Chris Horner Making The Final Climb

This one is of Jens Voigt - one of cycling's most loved people. Poor guy took a very nasty fall yesterday (see that big bandage on his knee?) but apparently didn't think to grab a new pair of shorts (check out his left upper hip!). I'm pretty sure my face looked like this all the way up the hill.

Jens Made It Too!

I did manage to snap a good shot of George Hincapie on his way back down the mountain to the team bus. This was probably the coolest part of the race - as we all headed down, the pros joined us! Apparently this is pretty rare (seriously, it'd be like professional football players heading out to the parking lot to stretch after the game).

George Hincapie On His Way Back To The Bus

Finally, the peloton came by - a good 30 minutes behind Chris Horner!

The Peloton

As always, there are the fun cycling fans:

Moose!

Finally, I left today with the mark of the cyclist - grease on my calf:

Grease Is The Word

We just watched the playback on Versus and Mike was on TV!!! Ok, my leg was too, but I'm going to let him have the glory. They caught us cheering for the 2nd group in. Woo hoo! What a great day - I'm tired and sore and going to chill out a little now! I definitely think I'll be getting a road bike!

I have more pictures - I'll post them to Facebook tomorrow!

Cats!

Today Mike and I took a lovely trip to San Francisco to see the Broadway musical "Cats". It was playing at the Orpheum Theater, which is where I believe I saw it with my parents and sister when I was little. It's a very ornate, beautiful theater inside, however, my only criticism is that the seats are very close to the seats in front of you. If I, at 5'2" feel cramped, I can't imagine how a normal person feels!

The show was spectacular. Kathryn Holtkamp played Grizabella, and if you've only heard one song from "Cats" it's likely "Memory". Kathryn gave a spectacular performance of this song - in fact, it actually gave me goosebumps when she got to the final, very emotional chorus. Click here to listen to a clip of her singing it on a Houston morning show.

The other really cool part of the show was the amazing dancing. There was sort of a clear divide between those who sang and those who danced, with the exception of one woman who managed to sing and do cartwheels! One of our favorites was Jordan Dunlap who played Victoria (the all white cat - if I remember correctly, this was Kati's favorite when we were little!). That girl can dance! It was absolutely amazing to watch some of her solo work and when she was in with the rest of the company, she was the one that stood out!

Of course, any road trip is not complete without a picture, so here you go:

Mike and I After The Show

An Evening in the Yard

Last night Mike and I spent some time in the yard. Let me remind you that I have a very serious addiction to the garden center at Lowe's. And that we had a freakish snow storm that killed off the garden I planted a wee bit early. I digress. I replanted the tomatoes, peppers (a variety of hot and mild ones), cucumbers, and watermelon. Now I'm back to patiently watering until I get some crops! While I was at Lowe's, I found some bougainvillea vines to plant in Shadow's pen. I'm wanting some pretty vines to grow along the fence and I think these might be the ones!

Here's the funny part: Mike had Shadow in the pen while he was digging and planting. Shadow was patiently watching and hanging out. I thought it was cute at the time - little did I know, he was storing away the mechanics of planting (and unplanting) things. That's right, the minute we walked away, he went to town trying to get the plants up. He was victorious with one... I replanted it, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Lesson learned!

Concert Review: Eric Clapton

This year for Christmas, Mike and I got my parents tickets to see Eric Clapton. Feeling a little selfish, I bought tickets for Mike and I to go with them... I've always loved Clapton so I thought it'd be fun to see him with my parents.

His opening act was the band Los Lobos. You may or may not know who they are... if you don't, I'll just say "La Bamba". Yup, that band. They were actually really good... they did a blend of English and Spanish songs and I have to say that their Spanish songs tend to be my favorites.

Los Lobos On Stage

Clapton was absolutely amazing. I found myself completely sucked into watching him play guitar. He could have just stood on stage and played all night without even singing a note. Mom put it perfectly... he plays so well that it's like his guitar sings. He started out with his rock set... lots of the new music with some older songs mixed in. He then followed that with an acoustic set that showcased his guitar, the bass and the drums. Then they came back out and played another rock set.

There was one point during the acoustic set where I leaned over to Mike and commented that I had never heard an arena so quiet during a concert. I meant that in a good way... he was playing the heck out of a song and everyone was just listening. It was absolutely amazing.

Clapton's Stage Set Up

This Man Can PLAY!

Here's a video of "Cocaine" - a classic. We actually heard someone debating the meaning of the song as we were leaving the show... people, I doubt there's much metaphor there:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150111480034421#!/video/video.php?v=10150111463284421

Here is "Wonderful Tonight" - it's one of my favorite Clapton songs and I think it's really romantic:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150111480034421#!/video/video.php?v=10150111480034421

This truly was a spectacular show... if you have the chance to get out and see Eric Clapton while he's on tour, I highly recommend it!

Burn, Baby Burn!

Today Mike, Charlie, Chris, Tim and Raymond put on another training burn. Basically, people donate their homes/buildings to be burned to the ground by the fire department. The homeowners don't have to pay for the home to be demolished and the fire fighters have a space to practice in. This was my third burn and like all of the others was really cool to see. Each one is a little different, but the basic idea is the same - they are able to take a space, maintain the fire for 4-5 hours and allow all of the newer fire fighters a chance to practice in a "controlled" environment.

Fire!

The whole process actually starts long before the burn itself. Mike and the crew go into the house several weeks/months before the prescribed burn and remove anything that would be super toxic (carpet, shingles, windows, etc). They ensure that gas, electric and propane lines are all disconnected. Then they take the empty space and build plywood covers for the windows and for some of the doors. This way, they're able to control the fire as it burns.

Fire Fighters Getting Ready To Go In

Kristine, Amber, Luke, Mom and Dad all came up to watch with me today. Kris and I were talking about how mesmerizing fire is... we found ourselves staring at this burning building completely unaware of what was going on around us!

Luke, Amber, Kris and I at the training fire.

We made it up in time to hear the briefing (that's where they fill all of the firefighters in on what the action plan is for the day, what happens if someone gets hurt and how the whole day is going to play out). After that, Mike and Chris lit the house using bales of hay and pallets. The fire fighters were broken into groups and took turns going into the house to practice. The first couple of rounds were a chance for them to look at fire behavior and ventilation. The rounds after that were all about actually working to put the fire out starting from the very beginning outside - putting on all of their gear. It was really cool to not only see the fire fighters practice but to watch Mike and the other experienced fire fighters control the fire.

Finally, after everyone had their turn, they let the building burn to the ground. The primary objective there was to ensure that none of the surrounding structures or trees caught on fire.

Check out my Facebook page for all of the pictures... we got a ton of really cool ones as the house burned down!

My First NFL Football Game!

Today we went to my very first NFL football game... to watch the San Francisco 49ers (my team since childhood) play the Seattle Seahawks (Mike's team). We parked in Richmond and took BART all the way into San Francisco, which was a fantastic idea. We ended up saving SO much time and frustration, especially after the game! Here we are on the train:

The very first thing I noticed when we got to the field was how HUGE these guys are... I know on TV some of the linebackers look pretty big, but in person, all of them are massive! The other thing that I noticed was how skinny the field goal posts are! On TV, they've always looked so wide... but they're only 18 feet, 6 inches apart! We got there nice and early, so we had the chance to walk down the field and watch some of the warm ups. Here's 49ers coach Mike Singletary:

Here's Mike and I, all excited to be there:

Of course, when at any sort of sporting event, it is entirely necessary to eat and drink all sorts of unhealthy things (like hot dogs, nachos and beer!):

It was a pretty fun game to watch... the final score was 40-21 with the 49ers winning my first NFL game... it's almost like they knew I was there! :)

I think football is definitely one of those sports that is WAY better to watch in person than on TV. Don't get me wrong, I love my Sunday football, but it was really cool to see and hear this live! There were a couple of field goal attempts that the 49ers made and one of the Seahawks got a hand up to try to stop it - you could hear the slap from where we were sitting! It was also amazing to see how really athletic these guys are... TV doesn't do it justice! They typically cut away from the quarterback after the hands off/passes the ball, but if you really watch, he continues moving through the play after he hands it off... to fake pass or fake another hand off. It's all stuff you almost never see on TV!

Fantastic day!!!

Ironman 2010

I am beyond proud of Mike and Sean. This last weekend we all travelled to Tempe, Arizona for the 2010 Ironman competition. For those of you who don't know what a feat this is, the Ironman consists of three parts: a 2.4 mile open water swim, a 112 mile bike ride and finally a 26.2 mile run. That's a total of 140.6 miles and the contestants are given a cutoff time of 17 hours. The pros that won the race did it in 8 hours and 7 minutes, but for me it was way cooler to watch the "average Joes" finish. There's something about seeing a normal person push themselves to do something so amazing that was just fantastic to watch.

Mike and Sean both finished before the midnight cutoff and I honestly couldn't be prouder of both of them!

Here's Erin, Sarah and I saying goodbye (and good luck) to the boys just before the race:

The swim start... that's seriously a lot of people:

Our cheering squad - we had some bright shirts made so that the boys could see us when they passed on the course:

Here's Mike on the bike:

And on the run:

And, finally, at the finish - I was incredibly happy he was still alive and judging by the look on his face in the picture, he was happy to have pizza:

Like I said (and can't say enough!) I'm so proud of both Mike and Sean... what they did this weekend was such a huge accomplishment and is utterly amazing to me. Here are both of the boys at the finish line with their medals:

This was a fantastic trip and it was so much fun for the cheering crew to run around for 17 hours screaming at the top of our lungs! Our families and friends back home got to track Mike and Sean on the internet (Ironman has a great website) and were following along the whole way!

It's Almost Here!

Wow, I can't believe it... what started out as a crazy idea between two friends is now upon us! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's almost Ironman time! No, I'm not doing one... Mike and Sean are! We're headed to Arizona this weekend for festivities and I can't wait! I swear, I think I get more nervous than the two of them do! Once he gets going, Mike is totally fine... I, on the other hand, am nervous and fidgety the entire time... only this time, it's a roughly 14 hour race!!!

We're going to hang out for an extra day in AZ and then head back home. I'm so super excited because on the way home, we're stopping to see my college (and after college) roommate Joanna and her husband Chris. They just had a sweet little baby girl that I absolutely can't wait to meet!

Engaged!

The long awaited post... in case you didn't see Facebook... I'M ENGAGED!!!!

Mike and I took a trip up to Seattle and Vancouver last week. We spent the first day on a whale watching tour that was absolutely amazing. We were out for 6 hours before they found whales, but we finally got to see a whole pod of killer whales:

They were absolutely spectacular! We were totally frozen and exhausted by the time we got back, but it was well worth it!

On the second day, we did just about every touristy thing we could possibly do in Seattle. We bought these city passes that let us get into all sorts of places. We started with the Space Needle, which had a wonderful view of most of downtown Seattle. Then we went to the Science Fiction Museum and the Experience the Music Project. They had a whole section of Jimi Hendrix guitars, costumes and other stuff (he's from Seattle) which was really awesome to see. After that, we headed over to Pike Market to see the original Starbucks, the fish throwers and, of course, the legendary golden pig! Then we went to the Seattle Aquarium (I told you we did a lot that day!).

After the aquarium, we headed out to have a yummy steak dinner. I took some chocolate cake back to the hotel for dessert later. We decided to go back up to the top of the Space Needle that night (our city passes let us do one trip during the day and one at night). When we got up to the top, there was a crazy storm and they had 30 mile an hour winds. I guess Mike had planned on proposing up there, but made the last minute decision that 30 mile an hour winds were not entirely romantic:

We headed back to our hotel (the Mediterranean Inn) where Mike suggested that we check out the rooftop viewing deck. We wandered up there and I started taking pictures of the Key Arena and Space Needle. That's when Mike told me that he had something for me. In typical Anna style, I asked if it was better than chocolate cake. He said yes and asked me to pick a hand and then held out the little box that every girl loves to see. That's right, he proposed! :) I am beyond excited and so incredibly happy. Here's our official engagement picture, taking right after:

It was definitely still a little windy, but it was absolutely perfect!

The next day we drove up to Canada, after stopping to visit with my college roommate, Jennifer. I haven't seen her since we graduated, so it was so great to spend a few minutes catching up! We drove into Vancouver where we spent a couple days hanging out at the Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park and Grouse Mountain. They had a spectacular grizzly bear habitat at the top of the mountain that was absolutely amazing to see:

This was the most amazing vacation... I'm beyond excited and completely happy! Now we've got a wedding to plan!

I've got the rest of the pictures on Facebook... if you haven't already, check them out!

Scuba

Today Kati, Mike and I took a drive down to Dolphin Swim School to take the intro to scuba class. It was $10 and I assumed that it was going to be pretty cheesy. We got there and watched the obligatory cheesy video and then it was time to get in the water. To my surprise, we spent the next 2 hours or so in the water, learning how to use the equipment and to dive. My main worry was that I was not going to be able to equalize my ears (you know me and all of my sinus/allergy issues), but I was pleasantly surprised... I had no issues at all! Keep in mind, we were only in 9 feet of water, but still, it was much better than I thought.

That first breath under water was pretty interesting... it goes against everything that your body wants to do... breathing while you have your head completely under. I did have a minute or two of "nervousness", but I kept my breathing calm and felt fine.

While I don't know that I would be the kind of person to go out to the ocean every weekend, I definitely think it might be worth getting certified so that I can do some open water dives... I think being able to see all of the ocean life would be pretty amazing!

Return from the Lake

No, it's not a horror movie... we're actually back from vacation! There will be several posts over the next couple of days (two book reviews, vacation and a concert review) because we've been so busy!

Lake Almanor was fantastic! The weather was beautiful - warm during the day, chilly at night. As is my usual tradition, I pretty much spent the first two days reading and napping. I like to call it recharging, but I've been told by some that it's letdown. Whatever you want to call it, I had a great time doing it. We fished every single morning that we were there and ended up catching around 40 fish! They ranged from big to very small (Mike set a new record on the boat!) and we had a fantastic time.

One of Mom's fish:

Dad's monster fish:

One of my fishies:

One of Mike's bigger fish:

And, finally, Mike's record-setting fish... that's right, the smallest ever caught on the boat:

Mike and I also got a great hike in... we had wanted to climb up Mount Lassen, but the trail was closed for the entire week due to helicopter training and work going on near the top of the peak. Instead, we climbed up Mount Harkness, which is about 2,000 feet shorter than Lassen. The hike was beautiful - right near the middle there were some fantastic meadows full of wildflowers and beautiful views of the surrounding lakes and mountain peaks. Once we got up to the top, we discovered that there was a fire lookout... meaning we had a spectacular 360 degree view of the entire area. It was awesome! Here are some of the pics:

Juniper Lake:

The view of Lake Almanor from the top... I've never seen it from above and was a little shocked at how big it is:

Here's the lookout tower:

It was also our week of seeing things that we'd never seen before. One of the days that we were out fishing, I looked over at the rocks (we troll at about 2 miles per hour, about 25 feet off the shoreline, so we can definitely see the rocks) and saw this sleek black looking thing. I thought it was a cat, but it turns out, it was an otter! It had pulled something (a fish?) up onto one of the bigger rocks, eaten it and then was getting ready to go swimming again. It dove off into the water and swam away before I could get a good picture, but in all of the 15ish years that we've been going to the lake, we have never seen one of those! Also, all along those same shores are falcon nests... they're constantly diving down to pick fish off the top of the water to take back up to the babies. We saw one go after a fish that we were not able to revive after catching it when all of the sudden another falcon swooped in. The second falcon was apparently very angry that the first was hunting in it's area because it smacked into it like a linebacker! We could hear the crunch from 50 yards away! The second bird sort of splashed down into the water, collected itself and then flew away. It was spectacular:

We also had some spectacular water skiing and jet skiing days... it was a wonderful trip! Tucker and Gracie also had a wonderful time... they loved swimming and running around on the grass! Gracie really took to the boat and had a fantastic time!

The rest of my pictures are up at Facebook... if you want to see more, head on over!

Death Ride 2010

I'm just going to say it... my boyfriend is a stud. Yup, that's right a certified grade-A stud. On Saturday, he and a couple of his buddies got up at the bright and early time of 3:45am to get ready for the 2010 Death Ride. For those of you who don't know what the Death Ride is, let me fill you in. It's known as the "Tour of the California Alps" - a 129 mile ride with 5 mountain pass climbs that total 15,000 feet of climbing.

Here's Mike and I at the top of Carson Pass (the last pass where we sat and cheered):

Note that he doesn't look like he's just been riding for the last 11 hours. I have no idea how all of these guys looked so good! There was a downside... about 2 hours into the ride, Mike had a pretty bad crash. His chain broke, which promptly tossed him off his bike and onto the ground. He ended up with some pretty crazy scrapes and bruises... I suspect that most of the soreness he's feeling now is not from the crash but rather from the fall. Here's a side picture that doesn't do the injuries justice:

He has some pretty good scrapes down his legs, too. Here's the part that just absolutely amazes me... this crash happened 2 hours in. He had to sit almost a full hour waiting for one of the course mechanics to come around with a new chain (his was completely broken in two). I'm pretty sure that most people would have stopped there, but not my dude! He hopped right back on that bike and rode for another 8 hours! I'm absolutely blown away!

We were also there with Sean and Erin:

Rich and Clarissa:

Of course, we set up a fantastic cheering section - Erin and Clarissa brought cowbells (who doesn't love a couple hours of cowbell ringing?!). We had a blast cheering for all of the people coming up the last pass! Here are the "cowbell girls" doing their thing:

My parents also came and brought Tucker... who woofed along with us when we cheered and rang the bells!

Tucker and Dad eventually got sick of the cowbells and walked over to the side of the road to look down on the beautiful lake below us:

Who doesn't love a good "boy and his dog" picture?

In other cycling news, it looks like Lance Armstrong is pretty much out of contention in the Tour de France. He had a couple of crashes yesterday that put him way too far back to make up the time before the end of the race. Sort of sad, since I would have loved to see him go out with a win (he's said that this is his last Tour). He's had a lot of crap thrown at him this time around... some crazy crashes and flat tires at times that were just very bad luck. I think I might have to start cheering for Andy Schleck!