The list of activities over the past month continues. Other recent happenings of note: fabulous farewell sushi dinner with Deborah-Miriam and Julia; early morning hot tubing; winery tours and tastings and garden tour with Diana, Christana (at left), and Richard; new (and free!) cell phones and updated California phone numbers (email Carrie for info); website planning and crafty shopping with Christana; sightings of pelicans, egrets, and a great blue heron; tasty sushi at Ume in Windsor (their special tiger tail role–a spicy tuna roll with mango, avocado, and salmon wrapped around it–was unbelievable!); episodes of the Colbert Report; lunches on our patio; blackberry picking; and oh so many runs around Spring Lake.

We also have a new pet: a carnivorous pitcher plant named Seymour. So far he seems happy on our patio and has grown quite a bit.

Also, Joe Tom’s surgery in Colorado went very well! Please send healing thoughts his way! Get well soon, Joe Tom!

What a crazy, whirlwind summer we’ve had! In the last month and a half, we’ve had a steady stream of visitors: my aunt and cousin (twice!), my mom, David’s mom, my boss and his family, friends from Silver City, and now we have a bit of a lull before David’s cousin and her boyfriend get into town. Let me tell you — seeing so many family members and friends has totally rocked! Not only have we spent quality time with a variety of people, we’ve also embarked on adventures all over Sonoma county and I am really getting to know my way around… and really starting to call this lovely place home.

Here’s a snippet of some recent activities: daily runs in the parks; weekly trips to the farmers market; many visits to Healdsburg shopping for fabric, touring the galleries, and spending time with friends; gallery hopping in Sebastopol, Graton, Occidental, Forestville, Bodega, and Bodega Bay; trips to the beach; tours of Luther Burbank’s gardens and the Charles Schulz Museum; excursions into San Francisco for excellent tapas and Mexican food in the Mission and fine art in Golden Gate Park; delicious dinner with family friends in Vallejo; two great visits with Joe Tom and his family; sightings of hundreds of carnivorous plants; and we’ve eaten so much good food. It’s been such a blast!

Now we’ve had a week on our own and are settling back into our routines of daily runs in the park, yoga classes on Thursday nights, David’s weekly mountain biking excursions with the guys from work, my frequent trips to the library, and walks to Whole Foods. I’m also working on a new quilt, finishing up a knitting project, and halfway through stringing a necklace, as well as in the process of completing a large project at work. In addition, this past week we’ve started something new at the direction of our doctor: allergy elimination diets. In an attempt to sort out those pesky food sensitivities and jump start my detox regime, we are primarily eating organic vegetables, fruits, and non-gluten grains (like millet and quinoa) (basically we’ve removed both sets of our rotating foods, plus dairy). I’ve baked all sorts of yummy things like carrot cake and blueberry muffins and cooked various quinoa, millet, and raisin pilafs. We’ve been eating giant salads with lettuce, sprouts, apples, cucumbers, avocadoes, chickpeas, and tuna with dinner. Right now, thanks to the diet (and perhaps the increase in raw foods?) and exercise, we are feeling so healthy and so good. Obviously, California living agrees with us.