RIP Baby Khajit.....

    It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing the heartbreaking death of one of my cats, Khajit. He passed away on October 27, 2012 at the young age of 5 years.  Cody and I have been hit pretty hard by this. We will always love and remember him as our fat, grouchy yet loving Khajit. He loved climbing his cat castle, liked to play rough, loved eating every hour and always insisted on a full plate. He would always wake me up around 5-6am for his morning feeding by placing his claw on my jugular and he loved humping his brother to assert dominance. He also had penchant for eating yarn, which is what led to his untimely death.  Rest in peace my lovely kitty.  I love you and so does daddy.

Cody and I are now focusing our attention on Nala so that he doesn't get depressed at the loss of his brother. We have been spending more time with him and even taking him on trips with us, but I'll tell you more about that later, after I update with everything that's happened between last post and this one. And it's actually quite a bit, so I'll be doing it over the next several days (hopefully).

Support

I'm at a place in my life where I can find my own motivation and feel confident to do things on my own, but it's always nice to feel and have the support of loved ones and friends.  And Cody is certainly a good source of support for me.  He is always there for me, from helping me fill out county papers at midnight, staying up with me to keep me company when I'm feeling all kinds of crazy, to getting up early (on his day off) to give me a ride to get my parents' dog spayed.  On top of that, he gives me flowers!

 

I should be the one giving him flowers as a thank you, not the other way around. But he can continue doing so if he wants :)

Just like my family who has always been here for me through both the good and tough times, Cody has become someone I can always count on. And why not? He has become family.

Cody's Friends are My Friends Too

A few weeks after our Yosemite trip, we hung out with some of Cody's friends. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures, but it was nice getting to know more about Cody through his friends.

River Rafting:
Cody and I joined Adrienne, Mike, Chase, & Carrie on the American River for a day of rafting.  I had never gone river rafting, which is a bit hard to believe since I've lived next to the river almost all my life.  The experience was nice, except for there were TONS of other people rafting too. And they were all rowdy! Plus, all the trash!  This activity illustrates perfectly how horrible humans treat nature.  Loud, rowdy, polluting people disturbing the peace of the river. I suppose it wouldn't have been so bad if the river wasn't so crowded; I would like to take my family river rafting someday. But even the cost of this activity, I feel, discourages certain people from participating.
 Ignoring all the noise and trash left behind by rafters, you could really enjoy the riparian ecosystems. We saw tons of ducks. Cody pointed out all the different types, as well as some plants.  We saw some pretty cool rock and riverbank formations.  And when the sun got too hot to be under, we slipped into the water :)  The water, of course, was super cold! Afterward, we all hung out at Adrienne & Chase's house for grilled eggplants and tofu. Earlier that day, Adrienne gave Cody and me a pair of string bracelets from Brazil to make a wish. I wished for ****** ;p  Supposedly, your wish is suppose to come true when your bracelet falls off on its own. So I tied Cody's bracelet on him and he tied mine. Mine fell off within the hour; I guess Cody didn't tie it strongly enough, but that meant that my wish is going to come true really fast, right?

Dinner with Stacey & Derek:
Derek is an old friend of Cody & Mike, so they've known one another for years.  Derek got engaged over the summer, to a very special lady, Stacey.  So we had all been meaning to meet some time, but just never gotten around to it, until last weekend in August.  I kept hearing amazing things about Stacey from Cody, who heard it from Derek, and guess what, she really is wonderful.  We decided to have a potluck together, but ended up eating as if we had gone to a 5 star restaurant! She made some amazing, mouth-watering, spicy bbq cauliflowers (in lieu of bbq chicken wings). She also made really good tomato and portobello sandwiches with cheese.  AND delicious, delicious (no, that's not  a typo) humus. Plus, they provided the wine.  Cody and I made spring rolls for them- not as fancy, but still fun.  While the food was cooking, I got a tour of their home and WOW!  It's so artsy!  and yet, nicely decorated.  Not at all like my place would be if I had all that space to throw my brushes and projects on the floor.  All those projects that I pin on pinterest, I bet Stacey would be able to do them and actually follow thru with it. After dinner, we played  Cards Against Humanity, which is like Apples to Apples, but more perverse. We all had fun and I had a great time being more open with Cody and his friends. I'm glad Cody isn't afraid of showing me to his friends. They're all pretty cool.

Tuolumne Meadows

Oh my, where to start!  It's been such a long time since I've updated and so many things have happened. I only hope I can remember all the details so that when I read this many years later, I can recall the stillness of the woods, the bone chilling drop in temperature, and the smell of fresh pines in the air....but more on that later.

     We took our trip in mid August, before all the craziness of school and work started, and we headed to Yosemite the same way we drove when heading to Bishop. Last time, the road had snow a couple feet deep on its sides and the trees were loaded with pure snow on its branches. This time, however, everything was green and clear; plus, it was day time. I've said this before, but I'll say it again because it really is true: I love road trips with Cody.  I love what we talk about, I love the moments of quiet and the moments of laughter. I love all that he teaches me about the mountains and I love all that we learn about each other.
    I hadn't been in the Yosemite area since 2007, so I was  anxiously looking forward to our arrival as we left hot Sacramento behind us. The temperature got cooler as we got closer, and I felt a twinge of guilt knowing that Cody and I were escaping the heat while our families were stuck in 100 degree weather.  And I guess Karma hit us when we arrived at Ellery Lake, because the temperature dropped like 40 degrees (er, I may be exaggerating, but it was hailing!!!!). Yet, instead of focusing on the negative, we decided to get out of the car and experience the rain and hail by prancing.  Ok, so we didn't quite pranced; it was more like, "whoa! too cold, back in the car, quick!" But just being able to experience the change in temperature was awesome. And it's funny because, at the end of that day, when it had stopped raining, we drove by that lake again and this time, it had an orange glow from the sunset.

    Once we passed through the entrance, I kept expecting to see a bear at any moment, so I kept my eyes open for them. I was constantly disappointed when I kept mistaking logs and dark boulders for bears.  Apparently, Cody found this really amusing.
     We stopped to have lunch and who do you think we ran into?  Matt and Kate from the Bishop trip!  Cody knew they were going to be there that weekend but they made no plans to meet up.  And it's a BIG park! So what could have been the chances of running into them? But regardless, we climbed together after lunch.  These rocks had lots of little knobs that made it easy to climb; I think that area was called The Knobs.  I liked it there. On the way to our campsite, we stopped by a creek and soaked our hands and feet.  Cold water really helps aching fingers and toes.

      At our campsite, in June Lake, we saw some shooting stars :)  We made ourselves a ready to eat meal: Naan and Curry. At night, we heard a loud noise and people trying to scare a bear away.  It wasn't a very pleasant site because in the morning, there were lots of trucks and cars turning on their engine.  It was quite noisy and seemed like a truck stop. I was disappointed that I didn't actually get to see the bear raiding the campground.
       The next day we played on Puppy & Kitty Dome Rocks.  The day started out beautifully and there was an alluring little pond with a small waterfall into it that I told myself I would take a dip in after climbing. At Kitty dome we had a majestic encounter with a doe. While Cody was climbing a guitar rock, there was a doe that stayed near by. It started sprinkling, so Cody took a break from his rock, and while we were standing still, the doe came closer and closer.  We were so happy! So we kept still longer. Everything was still, and then, she started making sounds.  And do you know who answered her? Her fawn!- who was just about 10 feet away from us! The doe reached her baby who promptly proceeded to suckle and then they both started walking away, but not before the fawn looked at us and stomped its foot.  The mom yelled at her kid to get away from those humans and follow her.  Amazing, amazing nature!
    After kitty dome, we stopped by the pond again, but by this time, the temperature was cold, cloudy, grey, and sprinkling. But it's YOSEMITE man! I went in anyways, freezing water, thunder, and all! I hiked back to the car all wet with squishy shoes.  Still no signs of bears.

      On this night, we didn't stay at our reserved campsite. Instead we decided to go primitive!  And found a cute little spot next to a creek on free land.  We set up our tent and it was the best spot we've ever had camping. It was also a short drive to Lee Vining, so even though we were primitive, we had the option of escaping back into town.  We made ourselves some chocolate abuelita and cooled it off in the river.  I was scared of the dark, so I turned on our headlamps every now and then. It looked like we were in the middle of the woods, but it was right next to the road.  I want to go back to that spot.

The following morning, Cody made me pancakes!  Camping pancakes! Camping Banana Pancakes! With maple almond butter.....I love this boy.  He has the  sweetest and most caring soul.  I love my Cody.  As today was going to be our last day, we decided to climb in an aspen grove one last time before heading over to Yosemite Valley. On our way there, we stopped to take pictures at a lookout point and decided that we wanted to climb one more problem: CREATURE OF THE BLACK LAGOON.

If there is one problem I would try over and over again, it would be this one.  Not that I was even able to finish Creature of the Black Lagoon, but I will try again. We will go out out there again someday, preferably next year, to try it. And if I am able to finish it, I will do it over and over again.  Such a beautiful spot, but very swampy. Trust me, you did not want to fall into that murky water.  However, it was a relief knowing that if you did fall, the water would break your fall. Letting go of the fear is a big part in accomplishing any problem.

    Well, after 4 days of camping and no shower, I was down to my last clothes.  And knowing that I would surely fall into the water at some point, I wanted to take my pants and shirts off.  But unfortunately, there were other climbers there too, and though I'm sure they wouldn't have minded if I had stripped down, I'm still not exactly comfortable doing so in front of others.  So I only took one of my shirts off.  With only one dry shirt of my own and a borrowed long sleeve from cody, I ended up looking like this by the end of that project:

Ridiculous!

So, after this, there was only one more place to visit, and that was Yosemite Valley. We walked up to Lower Yosemite Falls where we found a few small pools of water,  but mainly, everything else was dried up. The "falls" were just a trickle, but still cold. We sat on some huge rocks and read our vows to each other, while eating bread and cheese (Cody broke veganism for the trip).  The sun started setting and we knew it was time to head back home. I didn't get to see any bears during this trip, but there's always next year, right?

Weekdates

It is in the day-to-day occurrences, that my love for Cody grows the most.  Even any old, middle of the week day, can turn into a sanctuary when I share it with him. So here's an example of a week full of Cody, where none of the things we did were planned ahead of time and yet, we ended up having days full of fun and more importantly, growing closer together.

Fridate

    Nice day for a bike ride. I love riding my bike, even if I do crash every once in a while, so I suggested to Cody that we go on a long bike ride.  We went to Discovery Park to ride sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
Sometimes even stopping to pick blackberries.
It's a good place to go fast if you like and on the way back home, stop for a dip in the river, which is what we did and then rode back home in wet clothes. At home, we made ourselves a delicious frozen fruit smoothie.








Sundate

    We had planned on watching the Orphanage on this day, but instead me just ate a spaghetti dinner and drank wine.  We also had a HUGE delicious! salad.  Salads with Cody always taste amazing!! We spent the rest of the night talking and before we knew it, we had run out of time to watch the movie.  It was still a very enjoyable night. Wine makes us giggly.










Tuesdate
     Ok, this date was planned, because we told ourselves that tonight would be the night to watch The Orphanage. I've seen it countless times, but Cody hadn't and he loved it! He brought me cherries as a present and I ate them as we watched. Though eating during a scary movie takes away from the ambiance, I'm glad I was able to watch it again. After the movie, we talked some more.  I was feeling a bit upset from earlier in the day and though I had enjoyed the movie, that feeling was still in the back of my mind.  But after talking with him, I felt a lot better! It was a very uplifting date:

"I believe in you.
I know you can do it.

Trust yourself to do what you have to do to progress and grow.

We will get through this.

I love you."

Fridate

     And all things come back to where they start, or at least this post does, because not only did we have another Fridate, we also went to the river again.  Only this time, it was back to my favorite swimming spot in Auburn. I wish I could take my family here, but I guess I just have to accept that I can't bring in everyone into my happy world, especially if they make it difficult to. 

Afterward, we went to this tiny spot in Rocklin to boulder in an old quarry site. I, however, couldn't do anything at all on account that I had scraped my leg when I slid off a rock in the river. 

 

On our way home, we stopped by Subway for- yup, you've guessed it!- a veggie patty sandwich. As Summer draws close to an end, I think I will remember back on this summer as being The Summer of River & Subway Love (unless, we keep going to a lot of rivers during other summers. In that case, I will start confusing my summers if I call it that. Good thing I have this blog to keep me straight.)

More Movie Dates

Dark Knight Rises

 WOW! This movie is AWESOME! Cody LOVES Batman & Christian Bale, so he was quite excited to see it.  I like Batman too, but I wasn't too excited about the movie, (I'm not big on action). But the trailer made it seem pretty cool, so I wanted to see it, I just wasn't peeing my pants for it.  But OMG!!!! You have to watch this even if  you didn't think it'd be that great; it'll blow your mind once you see it!.  The last 10 minutes especially, had me gripping Cody's hand really hard. And when the movie ended, I wanted to jump up and down and hoot and holler.  Even hours after we came out of the theater, while sipping our Jamba Juice in McKinley Park, our minds were still on fire from this movie.  So exciting! So good!  The rest of the day was spent chilling in the garden at home, talking about the movie.  

We also talked, like everyone else in the country, about the Colorado shooting.  I feel sad for the victims and also mad that someone could turn what is suppose to be an entertaining break from life into a real life massacre. I mean, there were kids there too! Arrgh, it makes me mad....

Polisse

 We saw this a few days ago, and let me tell you, it was intense! Our first French film! Though we were on a movie date, it wasn't quite so cheerful because this movie is an emotional downer.  Don't get me wrong, it's really good; it does a good job of portraying the emotional turmoil that the Child Protection Unit in the French Police go through in trying to punish those who take advantage of children.  Atop of the personal problems these officers go through, there is also the sickening acts that adults do to children. Yet despite all the gut wrenching, I believe one of the points of the story is that they do punish the offender and doing so, they offer hope, not just for children, but hope for humanity as well. But the film's last scene does a good job in emphasizing that pain and hope are present at the same time in life.

One of our favorite scenes is the one where a little boy is left at the station by his mother because they are homeless and she doesn't want him to grow up in the streets.  They've exhausted all the possibilities of staying at a shelter and even the CPU couldn't obtain shelter for both of them, just the little boy. The mother therefore had to be separated from her son and he is inconsolable, but in a very touching scene, one of the officers tries to offer some comfort. You can feel the boy's pain, as well as the officer's. Cody and I both wanted to cry.

And another of my favorite scenes was when an officer of Muslim descent chews out a Muslim man who has sold his 12 year old daughter into marriage, confronting him that no where in the Qur'an does it say that its ok to sell your daughter and let her be raped by her so called husband. She even throws a copy of the Qur'an in front of him.This serves as a reminder that it is we as humans who are ultimately the root of evil, but also, because it is our actions that make us evil, they can also be our salvation by doing the right thing. We can, as people with different religions, co-exists peacefully, as long as we keep in mind that WE are responsible for our own actions.

Hmm...this post has turned a bit philosophical, sorry.  I'm kinda scared to make this post public, but why should I be ashamed of what I think? If anything it's an invitation for conversation and growth.

Our next movie date is El Orfanato.  I've seen it many times, but it will be Cody's first time. And he will get to practice his Spanish!  I promise my next post will be cheerier. 

I Heart Sonoma County

[Sung to the tune of Lollipop] Sugarloaf, sugarloaf, oh sugar sugarloaf. sugarloaf, da dun dun dun dun dun.

Well, it goes something along those lines.  But what I do know for sure is that Cody and I had a lot of fun on our most recent trip, which was to Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma County. It was only for two days but they were two very relaxed and fun filled days. Cody's main goal was to boulder in the area and mine, of course, to just scramble on the rocks, which I do enjoy very much even if there is no technique to it.  But even whimsical scrambling has its dangers; I almost twisted/sprained my ankle when I slipped off a rock. Thankfully, it only hurt when I pressed down a certain way.

Cody on the other hand, is so much better than I am and looks good doing it too! There was this one problem that he just couldn't get even though he tried and tried. And then, when he had given up, he said, "one more try." But first he closed his eyes and breathed in for a while.  I guess he was collecting his mind in preparation for one final try.  As he was doing this, an insect started making a whirring sound.  It started softly, but it increased in loudness as the seconds ticked off.  Then an owl interrupted that sound by hooting softly a few times.  With this new motivation, Cody started the problem one more time, by traversing diagonally across the face. But then he reached the edge of the face where he had to go straight up; this is the part where he had fallen all those other times. Everything was quiet and even I was holding my breath.  Just as it seemed that he couldn't hold on any longer and was about to fall, the owl gave another singular hoot. It was as if he was cheering Cody on to not give up. That owl lent him the strength to make that final push over the difficult part onto a good hand hold. From there on, the rest of the problem seemed like cake as Cody lifted himself unto the top of the rock.  Sweaty, out of breath, and with trembling limbs I believe this problem, along with the magic of nature, reaffirmed Cody's love for this sport. I feel so lucky that he includes me on his trips and lets me witness this.

It was a hot day, so during a bouldering break, we went in search of a waterfall that was suppose to be near by. Cody warned me that this far into the summer, there might not be a waterfall and that we'd be lucky to even find the creek. But I didn't lose hope and so, we kept on hiking downhill towards the water.  I guess it would be nice to say that we found a majestic waterfall with circling mist at its base, but we didn't.  However, we did sort of find a little one. It was just a small shower falling down the rocks, but it had a beautiful rainbow across it and the water puddled up in a small pond encircled by moss covered boulders. The creek was ankle deep in some places and knee deep in others.  But at the base of the trickling waterfall, it was waist deep (at least on me), so I took off my clothes and went swimming in my undies. The water was very, very cold, but it felt so good too. Cody kept a look out for other hikers. And trusting that he would do a good job, I let myself feel free in the small waterfall pool like a little 3 year old splashing in a bathtub.

We got back to the campsite a bit before sunset to shower. Yes, there were showers at this site: 1 quarter = 40 seconds of water (they're on a well system). And the neat thing is that their bathrooms have AC. Anyway, once we got cleaned up, we realized we still had time to visit Santa Rosa's Night Market, which is like a farmers' market but with live music and stalls for city businesses and organizations.  It was very lively and it had cheap food too.  We got a big helping of thai food with dessert, and extra sides, as well as tai chai tea all for just $13!! We had a blast at this market and we left with fond memories of Santa Rosa. Oh, and while we were there we decided to use different names: Cody was Crash and I was Evening-Bird-That-Sits-Under-A-Willow Tree-Singing-Songs-Over-The-River; too bad nobody asked us our names.

 

And this was all just in the first day! The following morning, we packed up and were debating between visiting Jack London's House or go further north for perhaps more bouldering and swimming adventures. I had always wanted to go to Jack London's House, ever since I saw an episode about it on some show on PBS. How could I have lived so close to all these different and cool places and never even known about it, much less visited! Well, as much as I wanted to visit JLH, we decided to wait until Cody reads some of his books. So then it was decided, MORE SWIMMING AND BOULDERING!  I love riding in the car with Cody; it doesn't seem like a chore when I'm with him. We talk and listen to radiolabs and music and I sing outloud. He is the only one that stands my singing and for that I am grateful because its also very freeing to sing out loud with no worries of people criticizing you or telling you to shut up.

But we hadn't gotten very far when I noticed another creek. I wanted to explore it, so we got out of the car and spent  a looooong time there. The further up the creek we got, the more isolated it became. We saw a cool yellow and black dragonfly that kept dipping its tail in the water. I think it was laying eggs!  And there were spiderwebs everywhere! So cool! And Cody found a salamander! (But I forgot what kind it was). That creek will be forever in our memories.

But on with our travels! We soon arrived at the Russian River where we swam for a while. The water was cool, but not freezing, and again, it was a hot day, so it was very refreshing. However, this time there were people around, so I couldn't take off my clothes. No matter, we went in the water with our clothes on. I had a lot of fun swimming in that river but hunger drove us in search of food, which the town we were in (what was the name of that town?) had very little vegan options, but at least there was subway. Not that there's anything wrong with subway; we love the veggie patties.  

Afterward, we drove on to Goat Rock near Jenner on the coast. It was gorgeous out there with the coast to our backs and the sunset's light casting its golden glow on us. There were other climbers there too, so I think it must be a popular rock. The only thing I did not like about this location is the actual rock; it was too slippery. Rough stones may hurt your hand, but at least you don't slip from them. I got stuck on top one of these rocks and I almost started crying from panic when I was trying to come down. Once I was on the ground I felt silly for wanting to cry because I realized that I was only about a foot off the ground. It seems like no matter what trouble I get myself into, Cody is always there to help me through it. He doesn't solve my problems or gets mad at me for getting myself stuck, he just very calmly reassures me and tries to guide me.  I love that about him.

Wow! I've written so much!  No worries, we are reaching the end of our trip.  After bouldering for a while, we made ourselves a dinner in the back of the car and then drove on home.

 As far from home as I felt, it really didn't take long to get back.  We were even home in time for bedtime. This was one of my favorite trips because of all the different activities and locations, plus I saw about 8 cute little deer, as well as all the other wildlife. Thank you Cody.