DMB or BUST!!

My girlfriend Nicole and I were asked to volunteer our time to help with a catering job up at the Gorge Amplitheater in Washington. Nicole's friend Toni owns a catering company there and they were being contracted out by another caterer who tours with the Dave Matthew's Band. Being a couple of fans of the DMB, we gladly accepted and couldn't wait to take on the opportunity!

We headed out of SJC at 6:30am on Thursday, and arrived in Seattle a couple hours later. We were greeted by over cast skies and pure beauty! The weather was a calm and mild 68 degrees and the city was surrounded by tall, thick evergreens!



From there we were driven to Bellevue where we relaxed for a bit then headed out with Toni's mom who helps out with the shopping for the company. We ran around town, between a few stores, to get what was needed to feed the band and their crew. I thought I had a long list when I go shopping...sheeesh!

A few hours later, back at home-base in Bellevue, we finally packed up the vans and headed out to the Gorge which was 2 hours east of there. A beautiful drive = mountains, trees, settling fog, drizzly clouds...then rocky mountain backdrops, country roadsides, sunny skies, billowy clouds...
We had to stop and pull over to capture some of the scenery on film:)




About a half mile before the entrance to the amplitheatre, there was Cave B, the winery where Dave and the band, family and friends I'm sure, stayed for the weekend. We were actually not suppose to be on this "private property" but we couldn't resist....we drove onto the premises and quickly snapped a few pics of the grounds.



We continued to the Gorge and prepared to settle for the night. We unloaded the vans and got organized and somewhat familiar of the layout of our set up areas. With the completion of the first day, our immediate crew sat and got to know each other over pizza and beer! As the night grew darker a few of us couldn't resist climbing up onto the stage and getting a personal perspective of the view of a rock star! Yeeeowww!! Ok, so there were no mics, but we pretended;)~ Soon after we were a little spooked by the lights of an oncoming flashlight in our direction....it ended up just being someone heading towards the restrooms, wissshhoo~Thrill was over and we headed back to our habitat dome for the night:)




With only a few hours of sleep, we awoke bright and early to start the real first day of work...so the habitat dome that we claimed as our sleeping area, needed to be cleaned up first thing, to be transformed into a make shift guest room for the band and their close guests on nights of the show. Hey..no problem, anything for DAVE, right?! After driving up to the showers at the top of the hill, we quickly came back to start setting up. I must say, I've worked for a couple different catering companies years ago, but NEVER had I worked a job were the view from a single station was so breathtaking.



It definitely made all the back breaking work that was involved, more tolerable for sure:) I think I forgot how much work goes into on-site catering. It's non-stop moving and walking and/or running from start to finish. Back and forth, back and forth. I initially intended to document the entire trip through pictures, especially hoping to capture shots of the band and behind the scenes footage. Unfortunately, because we were part of the "backstage crew", we were NOT allowed to take any form of photography:( BUMMED!! AGH!! However the first highlight was at 4pm, when Dave and the band started sound check! We were outside food prepping, and were being serenaded at the same time:) Could it get any better? Yea, if I was able to take pictures of it...but ya know...

At 5pm dinner started and we were ready to monitor the dinning room and be the extra help that was needed. Most of the band's crew came in to eat first, but eventually Dave himself made his way into the room to get his grub on;) He hung out in the dining room for awhile, catching up with friends, and then made his way right outside where picnic tables were arranged to sit at. A short while after, Nicole and I thought there wasn't a better time than the present, for us to take a break and go outside ourselves....hmmm...and what do you know...as we were walking over to one of the tables to sit down, Dave was walking over towards us:) He was looking right at us, I smiled, he smiled, so I had to just do it. I continued in his direction and said hello. Nicole and I introduced ourselves, and although I was a little starstruck, I was able to speak like an intelligible human, haha. He was polite and carried a smooth demeanor so it was nice. Then I sat down and couldn't eat or talk for about 10 minutes...hahah. I'm such a nerd, I know! But did I mention that I am a huge fan...hahaha
The concert started around 8pm and the rest of the evening for us, was cleaning up from the dinner and tearing down all of the stations. At about 10pm, Nicole and I were able to through in the dish rag (yes literally, we even washed dishes) and go out on the lawn and watch the rest of the concert. YAY!

Being that this particular night was the first night of this three day tour in Washington, DMB had put together an after-party for all the staff, following the concert. Three hauling buses were backed up to the stage ramp and opened for one bar, one storage for equipment, and one that I don't even know what, cause I didn't get a chance to scope it out. Unfortunately, I didn't get to this party until about a half hour before last call. Honestly, at that point the party was pretty much a bust anyways. They were playing crappy music (amplified radio) and everyone else was already drunk. However, waiting ourselves to get into the bar area, me and one of my co-workers were just hanging out and who comes walking down the bar ramp?? Dave!! haha And he looks at me, points at me and walks over to me! For a second, I got excited...then got paranoid cause "why is he pointing at me?" "do I have something on my face, omg?"haha I pulled down a little on the bill of my hat and as he stood in front of me looking and pointing at me, I asked him "what??" And he says, "I don't know, I just like pointing at you!" What....ummm, cause he does that all the time?? Weird. But who cares, it's Dave right? haha

The night ended there pretty much. The party was over and I went to go find Nicole. She had started to not feel well the beginning of the evening. She was dealing with some physical issues and she had gone to find a spot to rest at. By morning, her illness hadn't gotten any better and she needed to get home. The combination of the strenuous physical labor, and the lack of comfortable amenities, we decided that we would cut this trip short for us and just head home early. That morning we caught a cab, that drove us to Sea/Tac airport 3 hours away...We took the next flight out and was back in San Jose around 7ish that night.

Ok, so there it was, we had officially completed our ultimate mission! We met Dave. Screw all the other stuff, right?

2nd and 3rd Week of TNT!

So as of today, I have now completed three full weeks of Team In Training! I am still alive and kicking, and by kicking, I mean running! Ha-Ha-Ha! In the start of the second week, I had a couple minor issues like shin splints and knee joint tenderness. It would come on only once I got onto the trail and/or track. I of course brought this to my coaches attention and he recommended that I first get fitted for insoles and then stretch, ice and elevate as much as possible for the next few days. So I did as I was told and the next scheduled workout meet, I got onto the track and felt the twinging strain in my shins and a little in my knees. I went through the wave routine that the coaches had us do, and by the 3rd lap around, the tenderness in my joints started to subside. Ahhhh! After the run, I quickly got home to ice and elevate. That Saturday, I was back for more. I did a great stretch first thing in the morning and headed out to Almaden Lake Park where we all were meeting for another "Regional Run". Once again, withing the first few minutes, I started to feel the twinging in my knee and shin muscles. It slowed me down a little but I was able to find a comfortable pace. Kirk, my assistant coach ran along side me to the 2 mile mark and from there I turned around and headed for home base! I knew I needed to not push it and just do the 4 miles for the day. By the time I got back the tenderness had gone away again! I of course followed the routine of stretching, icing and elevating once I got back home and stayed off heavy impact activity for the rest of the weekend.

G Baby Opened Up A Can Of Tamale WhoopAss!!

So, as you know, I am in the process of raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and as part of my participation in the half marathon in October. So in addition to my online web page with TNT, I had to come up with a few ideas to raise additional funds. For starters, I wanted to make something at home that I could sell to the masses~! Yea....ummmm what was I thinking??? ...
A new friend from TNT came over on Sunday and she helped me make my first ever batch of tamales. Mind you I had never made tamales before and although I had been
told that it was a lot of work, I still wanted to try it myself.


Don't get me wrong, in the big picture it was a great experience....I was able to crank out 111 tamales in 3 days, out of my little kitchen, and sell every last one of them! I made a whopping $262 that I was able to completely put back to my fundraising for the cause:) I had to close this little business of mine after all that though, at least for the mean time. It took a lot of time and energy and I realized that I needed to put that into my physical training for the 1/2 marathon. I would like to make some for the holidays though so the "Tamale Lady" just may rear her ugly head come November...look out!

1st full week of TNT!!

So this week was our first full week of this fall season with Team In Training (TNT)...and wow...I'm beat!! The week started with a shoe clinic at Running Revolution in Campbell. The owners there are all apart of TNT in one way or another and one is actually our head coach for the south bay run team! That mission of the evening was to educate us newbies to the up and coming world of running that we have now entered. We were given information on the who,what,where, and why of running shoes and gear. We were professionally annalyzed and measured for the right shoe and I love mine! Despite the fact that most all running shoes come in the same bright neon colors, I did find a pair of Nike's that work for me....hmmm maybe someone needs to work on that! Thanks Running Revolution and my coach Tim!!

Then on Thursday of that week, the south bay run team met for our first Coaches Workout. We meet on the front lawn at the Los Gatos High School. Each week, will consist of a 15-20min warm-up/work-out before hitting the trail for a practice run. This day we had an awesome Core strengthening coach work with us...OUCH, hahah. After we were nice and warmed up, we all headed out to the trail and did a practice run...3 miles! I have to say I did really well. I'm so proud of myself...I ran the entire 3 miles straight and only needed to stop for about 20 sec or so. YEA BABY!! The great thing about training with this group is that no matter what level you are or how fast you are going, there's always someone there to run with you and push you along. Lots of good energy to feed off of, for sure:) The night ended with most of us heading down the street to eat and get to know each other better.

Friday night, my group and one other, had a bbq at our Mentor's house in Santa Clara. This was a nice opportunity to get to now each other on a more closely and exchange ideas for fundraising and what to expect for this season. Good Times! Crazy Kids!!

Then to complete the week we had our first Regional Run in Los Gatos. 7 am came way to fast that morning for me. Unfortunatly, the night before, I tossed and turned for the main part of the evening. But none the less, I got myself up, with whole wheat bagel and water in hand, I headed to the High School to meet my team mates. The run was a total of 4 miles and this time, even despite the lack of sleep, I ran this in it's entirety!! I completed the morning with a big breakfast (egg white omlette and hash browns) and I was done ! Nap time!!

Visit my new web page....http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/nikesf08/gayala

Quicksilver or BUST!

Ahhhh...nothing like the great outdoors! A month ago a few friends and I started getting together for hikes up at Quicksilver Trail in Almaden Valley. After a handful of group sessions, we scaled down into smaller groups and for the last month, Nicole and I have tackled the hills solo. We have come to meet each others strengths and weaknesses and have found that we are very incouraging for each other. We've even started to do a run/walk the entire distance. This date marks our 11th hike and after exploring 3 or 4 different trail paths, we found that we have two favorites!! The first mile is the same starting point and it is a pretty consistant 30 % incline....then one of the two other paths is flat and steady and the other is a good combination of incline, decline, flat, windy, etc. We've tracked it to be a approx. a 4 mile round trip trek. We are now knocking it out in a little under 1 hour. Wow, what a workout!!
And what a treat to be out there amongst all of mother nature's BEAUTY!! LOVE IT:)

National Girlfriend's Day, YAY!

What a better way to spend this holiday....
My girlfriends and I got together tonight for a long awaited reunion. Although we do spend time together often, it had been a while since we were all under the same roof all at the same time. With everyone's busy work and personal schedules, we seemed that we were missing a complete collaboration of selves. So Christina, Miranda, Prity, Stephanie, Angelle, Tisha, Jessica and I all came together at Christina's casa and made a nice evening of dinner and drinks and a little dip in the hot tub. The theme of the night was cheese, cheese and more cheeeeese! Christina prepped an array of fixings for a wonderful cheese fondue, as well as a scrumptious chicken and cheese quiche! All of us other lovelies brought some things to contribute and I have to say my chocolate chip cheesecake was a hit!
What more could I have asked for on a Friday night....two of my favorite things; girlfriends and cheeeeese please:) Thanks Ladies!!

Family Ties

YAY!! I had a great weekend! My mom and little bro Marcus came up from SoCal to visit Derek and I. It had been 4 months since I had seen my mom and 7 months since I had seen my brother. Although, we keep in contact through phone calls and text messaging often, it's still way too long to go with out the physical interaction, ya know. So Thursday night I picked them up from SJC and we came back to our place and laid low for the rest of the night. I slaved over the cutting board and put together a great big 'ol salad for dinner, (hahaha)which we all thoroughly enjoyed, along with catching up conversations and a couple of glasses of wine! (a n/a sparkler for my 12 year old brother)
The next day, Friday morning, after my jog at the neighborhood HS track, I came home and picked up them up and we headed out for the day. We went and had coffee and shopped around on good 'ol Lincoln Ave. They hadn't been in awhile so it was like old times:) At around noon, we realized that the Farmer's Market was going on in downtown San Jose. It was actually the first time any of us had been, believe it or not, and we really enjoyed it! There's a little bit of everything there, in just the span of a block and a half, maybe two. Short and sweet:) If you are there and get a chance, I really recommend stopping by the Crepe table. We shared their Chicken and Mushroom crepe....chicken, mushrooms, spinach, feta cheese, bell peppers=YUM!
After our fill of the Market, we headed over to the Almaden Valley Nursery to find some plants to re-pot for the front of my door at home. I had been waiting for the right time to get out there and bring new life to the entrance of my place again. It has been a couple of years since the last time I had planted anything and that means it was way too long. I thought it would be something that the three of us could enjoy together. A way for us to spend quality time together and make something pretty at the same time!
With sooo many choices and help from the "plant guy"Dave at the nursery, we came home with 5 beautiful flowering plants and 1 beautiful flowering small tree! That evening my mom and I dug our hands in the dirt, (btw, we both agree that we LOVE the smell of fresh soil) and re-potted all 6 plants and arranged them on my porch. I absolutely love them and we both really enjoyed ourselves.

Meanwhile, our boys (Derek and Marcus) went to grab take-out for all of us and we all had a nice dinner! Along with more conversation, laughs, and reminiscing moments:) Nothing like a little moment with mother nature to work up an good appetite for all of the above!!
Saturday morning came early once again from the late night before, but wanting to stay true to form, I awoke nice and early-er to get a workout in before we started our long day. We had a Trunk Show to attend to in Los Gatos as well as a family reunion in Gilroy. The Trunk Show was a feature and sale of the arts and crafts of the Etsy/Sf group. One of my dearest friends Miranda is apart of this creative clan and she was there to sell her beautiful Hair Petals and delectable cupcakes (MiraCakes)as well as feature her mother's classically chic handmade stationary. We were all glad we were able to attend on our way out, and we're glad to have met some new creative ladies who inspired me to channel my own creative lady;)
Then it was off to Gilroy him, nor did I ever really meet anyone on that side of the family. My immediate family come from Southern California, but all of my mom's family (including her)were born and raised right here in San Jose... and there is a grip of them! Not everyone was able to make it that day but I was told that something like 400 some people were invited....WOW! I'd say though that about to meet everyone at our family reunion. After fighting traffic, making a few pit stops, and finally finding the park location, we arrived. We were first greeted by my Uncle Albert who is my mom's oldest brother and organizer of this get together. Mind you this was a union of the Robles family, which is my grandfather side, and of whom I never even really knew. He passed away when I was in the 1st grade so I never had any kind of relationship with half of that were there over the course of the day. My group were probably some of the last to show up (if not the last) but we were able to still enjoy food, meet lots of new faces and catching up with old ones...well you know what I mean, right? ;) The only bummer about there being such a big group was that it seemed that people were a little overwhelmed. So there wasn't a whole lot of intermingling with the ones that didn't know each other. Most people stuck next to their own immediate families and/or the ones that they knew best. I guess I kinda did too...Oh well!~
The day ended back at home with left over BBQ for dinner and lots of cold stuff to drink. It sure was a hot one:)
The next morning we got up early once again to tackle yet another long hot day in Gilroy. This time though we were headed to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. It was the first visit for the three of us, Derek, myself and my family, but we were meeting up with some alumni's there. Derek's two sister's and their family go every year. So we get to Gilroy and almost at the very front of the freeway exit you are being directed to drive in a single file line to the parking area. Once you park, you get out of your car and get into another line to get on a shuttle bus to the park itself. The busses were nice though, air conditioned and TV monitors getting you informed as to the festival criteria, where to go, food to expect, etc. Once in the park, it's a free for all.
We ultimately had a good time, however, for any first timers next year...I would suggest to prepare yourselves for lots of sun, long lines and lots of fried food. The garlic artichoke hearts, garlicy calamari, garlic fries all YUMMY! We spent alot of time in the wine tent, where you can do tastings from 8-10 local wineries. The cherry on the sundae there was that the tent was filled with water misters, thank god:)

The weekend came and went so fast, unfortunately, and we had to drop my mom and brother off at the airport for their return home:( But I couldn't have asked for a better visit....I'm already planning for the next one:)