An Email Message on January 20, 2009--INAUGURATION DAY!

I sent this email to one of my dear friends after watching the U.S. 44th Presidential Inauguration:

"Guess what...we have a black (bi-racial) president!!! Is that not the coolest statement ever??? I never thought I would be able to say that in my lifetime. Damn, it feels good to be an American today (a bit emotional, but a damn good feeling). As I watched and listened to Obama take the oath I could not help but reflect on the civil rights struggle and how far this country has come, and how many lives have been lost to cross the deeply-seeded racial barrier. (Sure, in this racially divided country, we still have a long way to go, but this is unequivocally a step in the right direction.) Also, my tears fell upon the baggage which carries my American identity. I concede that I am a bit jaded by the anti-American sentiment I experienced while living abroad. However, today I actually felt a bit patriotic; a feeling of which I had no prior comprehensive. Today...I understand what patriotism is and how it feels. Incredible."

As I was reading Yoga Journal, I saw these ads with Obama doing yoga...I could not resist posting them.

I am a Traveler (Stuck) in Georgia....

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” - Martin Buber.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller.

I have decided to become a traveler/tourist in this place I call home...Georgia. So, today I launched this new perspective with the annual Indian kite festival--a festival celebrating the change of seasons--held at the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha Indian Mandir in Lilburn, Georgia. I was expecting a tiny temple with a few deities (gods), and what I discovered was much more grand and delicious to the eyes. Over 80,000 Indians reside in the metro Atlanta area, and this Mandir was built by the hands and volunteer hours of many in this community. The Mandir opened its doors in 2007 and was built in 17 months; this is no small feat when you experience it up close. Over 34,000 individual pieces of Turkish limestone, Italian marble, and Indian pink sandstone were hand-carved in India and shipped to Georgia. Then, volunteers pieced it all together like a beautiful 3-D puzzle. The festival included ambrosial (yet spicy) Indian food, hot chai, and copious amounts of paper kites. The whole scene was quite surreal...the hum of a foreign language, colorful kites flying high in the blue sky, the smell of cardamon in the air, and the spectacular Mandir sparkling in the backdrop. I kept asking myself, "Am I really in Georgia?"

A Road Trip to New Mexico & Arizona

My father is what they call a "snowbird"...a retiree who flies south for the winter (literally). After the holidays, he packs up his SUV--golf clubs, tennis rackets, and beer--and heads down to Phoenix, Arizona (in the southeast of the U.S.) for 6 weeks of sunshine. This year, I decided to take the road trip with him, as my father is my travel hero and it is always such a blast traveling with him. Plus, I figured it might help curtail that travel bug that causes utter restlessness.

Here is how it went:
Day 1: We drove 385 miles and stayed overnight in Santa Fe, New Mexico and enjoyed hot tamales, as my father's eye progressively got redder and redder. "What's up with the red eye?"
Day 2: We drove 330 miles and spent the night in the mountain town of Flagstaff, Arizona where snow had piled up on the sides of the streets. We enjoyed an art walk in the historic district as my dad's eye gushed out lots of liquid and a few styes formed under his eyelid. (SEE PHOTO...ick!)
Day 3: We drove through the INCREDIBLE red canyon of Sedona--the color of my father's eye-- before pushing on to Phoenix.
Day 4-5: In Phoenix we met up with my sister and brother (yes, it was a family affair), hiked Pinnacle Park with the saguaro cactus and spent time with old family friends. Luckily, there was a Dr. in the group who looked at my father's eye and said, "Yep, looks like raw meat, but it shouldn't fall out."
Day 5: Fly to Atlanta! Say goodbye to my father who had gained a bit of whiteness back into his eyeball.

Reconnecting with Childhood Friends!

A blast from the past! Spending time in Colorado is always exciting because 1.) it is "home"--where my heart is--and 2.) I get to spend time with all of those people in my life who have known me through some of my best and most awkward moments (i.e. big hair phase in the late 1980's-early 1990's ). The advent of facebook has made reconnecting with old friends much easier. Lost are the days when calling up an old friend by a land line was all the rage. Now, reconnecting is as easy as typing in a name and stepping into the shoes of voyeurism. This year, through the help of facebook, a group of us rebellious high school friends (a.k.a. "Party Brat Pack" (PBP)) convened at a local watering hole for some catch-up time and a few strolls down memory lane. (FIRST PHOTO) Lots of laughs were had and the love within our group was just as strong as those crazy days at Rangeview HS.

I also had a chance to reconnect with my youth tennis coach and all of my summer tennis camp buddies (SECOND PHOTO: here is a photo of my childhood tennis buddies: the Weimer kids, Walker kids & Connolly kids).

Then, after a road trip to Arizona, we spent time with another family that I grew up with...the Hlavka's. (THIRD PHOTO: My sis, Cory (the cool chick I always inspired by when growing up) and me.) It does not matter how much time goes by, there will always be a genuine connection with these people who helped shape my youth.

Happy New Year (with hats)!

Ringin' in 2009 was done in true Colorado style! My dear friend Brent (from my CU-Boulder days) hosted a New Years Eve hat party at his mountain house in Breckenridge. A few of us went up early to enjoy a day of rest, relaxation, and winter sports before the craziness ensued. After a lazy morning of yoga, lion's breathe, and lots of laughter, a few of us strapped on our snowshoes and headed out into the sunny winter wonderland. The Colorado mountains recently got dumped on...so, as Liz would say, "safety first!" No snowshoeing across avalanche slopes, but that did not stop us from having an "extreme" snowshoeing experience (breaking trail, walking across a rock field, and being whipped by gale force winds.)

Then, HOT TUB, a delicious dinner, taboo, charades, fire, snow, fireworks, worms, mezcal, and the rest of the evening was history...Happy 2009!