A Decade Gone By!!!

10 years in a nutshell

I decided that this birthday instead of feeling sorry for myself that I’m that much closer to 30 and that much farther away from 20, I would instead reflect and celebrate the past decade of my life! I mean age 17 to 27 has got to be one of the most exciting decades of a person’s life, so much happens to a person in that decade so here is a journey you can join me on as I take a look at mine!

Memorial Day

I'm off to a memorial day picnic on this beautiful Monday. Where are you headed today? I hope you go out and enjoy each other's company and remember to honor those veterans that gave their lives in service. Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

75 Years and I was here!!!

I'm so excited to be a part of the celebration of one of our countries national landmarks!!! Yup that's right today is the 75th year anniversary of the Golden Gate Bride, which is considered one of engineering's seven wonders of the world. Did you know that at the time the Golden Gate was built it was considered an unimaginable impossible task to build a bridge connecting Marin to San Francisco. The idea for the building of the bridge was posed in 19th century, but due to impossible conditions such as tidal rips, frequent dense fogs, 372-foot-deep channel and occasional winds past 70 mph the task was seen as impossible. Joseph Strauss however an innovative engineer tackled the many challenges in his design and the bridge was built. The bridge was estimated to cost $27 million dollars which at the time was an insane amount considering the US economy was just $59 billion at the time. The construction of the bridge began in 1933 and the bridge opened just 4 years later  to cars 75 years ago May 27, 1937.

So here are some interesting facts about the bridge!!!

1. The color the bridge is painted is called "International Orange" the choice of color was suggested by William Morrow for 3 reasons: to distinguish the bridge from the usual dull gray accorded such structures; to make it more visible in the bay’s famous fogs; and to help it blend harmoniously with its natural surroundings.

2. The bridge is painted all the time by a crew of 28 painters 5 helpers 13 ironworkers and 3 helpers and one chief bridge painter. Currently, the two main cables are being repainted.

3.The bridge’s name reflects its location, not its color. Famed explorer John C. Fremont is credited with naming this 1.5-mile passage that connects San Francisco Bay to the open ocean.

4. Over 2 billion cars have crossed the Golden Gate Bridge.

5. The current toll to cross the bridge southbound is $6.

6. Many superlatives rested in the bridge when it first opened. The suspended span of 4,200 feet was the longest in the world and remained so for 37 years, until New York’s Verrazano Narrows Bridge beat it by 60 feet in 1964. The two suspension towers, 746 feet above the water, were the tallest in the world.

7. The construction project cost 11 lives, a safety record by the standards of the times. (Though it’s worth noting the Empire State Building was built with six fatalities.)

8. A really sad and unfortunate statistic is that the bridge is a popular spot for suicides — more than 1,200. A suicide-prevention net is planned soon. (a moving documentary on the golden gate bridge suicides was made by Eric Steele to gain awareness on the serious problem, the documentary The Bridge takes a look at why this spot is one of the most popular suicide destinations in the world.)

9. It would also be accurate to call this the “people’s bridge” — it was bought and paid for entirely by the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area. Neither the federal nor state government contributed anything to building the bridge; in fact, it was declared folly by many to embark on such a project in the height of the Great Depression. The residents of San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Del Norte, Napa and Mendocino counties inside the new Golden Gate Bridge District voted more than 3-1 on Nov. 4, 1930, to issue bonds for the project.

10. It has been closed by winds only three times — the highest gusts reached 75 mph.

11. It's highest-traffic day was on Oct. 27, 1989, at 162,414 vehicles.

12. Despite its position almost directly atop the San Andreas Fault, it easily withstood the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, strongest in the Bay Area since the 1906 quake.

13. Below is my favorite picture of the bridge taken by my sister Elena Antichevich January, 2012 during her visit here!

For more information on the Golden Gate Bridge click here
For more images on the opening of the bridge click here 
Images of the golden gate at night click here

3 Day Weekend!!!!

Well it's memorial day weekend and I have a few things planned for my days off such as celebrating the 75th year anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as some fun picnics! Going to be a great weekend! I hope you get out and enjoy the weekend! I'll be posting more fun soon!

I Love Your Face

I was lucky enough to marry a handsome man and the thing I love most about him is that he can fit into any situation. He has a wonderful personality that keeps me entertained and a face that a person just can't forget so this is a post about the many faces of Tim Fischer!

The scruffy beach bum look

The I'm watching a game can't talk look

The work look

The shaky face

Gross!!! the pedophile mustache look

Uhhh.... no words

The getting barreled look 

The beard yikes!!!

 And just for fun the i'm flying look!

San Francisco Recommendation

So this is going to be an obvious one but I do recommend going to the vineyards just across the bridge. I have only been wine tasting twice up here, once in Napa and once in Sonoma, I actually just went this past weekend for a friends birthday party. I was the designated driver so I only had a small glass but I would love to go back and really make a day of it take a picnic basket and go with Tim and stroll along the hillsides covered in grape vines. Day dreaming that we are living in the movie "A Walk In The Clouds"! There is something so romantic about being outside and enjoying some vino and picnic with your love, you can almost imagine you are on some old french or italian vineyard thats outlived centuries. The closest thing we have to Europe I suppose.

Here is a little pic from my recent trip!

For some great coupons to the Sonoma Vineyards  CLICK HERE for a good map CLICK HERE 

For some more great coupons to Napa Vineyards CLICK HERE for a good map CLICK HERE

And to read up on the Southern California Vineyards CLICK HERE 

San Francisco Fun Thing To Do

Pacifica gives a taste of home!

So this past Monday Tim and I decided to enjoy the beautiful 74 degree weather that we are currently having up here in San Francisco. We decided to take a short drive to Pacifica this is a part of San Francisco that is just south of the city, but the atmosphere feels so far from the city probably why I loved it so much (feels like San Diego!!). Tim decided he was going to surf, and I being the wuss that I am decided to avoid the freezing cold great white infested waters and go for a little jog/hike (poor Tim thought he married a surfer girl than she moved to SF where she is a real fish out of water, oh well someday this bird will fly south se la vie). Anyways it was a real nice day in the great outdoors, Tim enjoyed the ok surf and the beautiful sunshine of the pacific while I explored the beautiful spring flowers growing on the sea cliff hillsides, and hopped gracefully along the jagged edged tide to find treasures among the tide pools overall I have to say it was a great date night (or semi date night since we were apart). 

Exploring the tide pools I found this little buddy, a big beautiful starfish!!

I also found this amazing collection of seashells just hiding under a rock, I picked out one of my favorites triple checked for hermit crabs living in it and placed it in my pocket, little did I know there was a crab hiding in it so I quickly returned the little fellow back to his sea shore home! 

 Love this birds eye view up here, and that little speck way down there in the water is Tim surfing the wild surf!

If I were a flower I think I would like to grow here too! Wouldn't you I mean the view is to die for!

 With my little twinkle toes I hopped from rock to rock exploring the various treasures along the sea!

The lush coastline! I just love it!

RIP Maurice Sendak

“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.” 
― Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
Today, the author of a beloved children's book has passed away, so today's post is about the book that he is best known for "Where the Wild Things Are". Maurice was an illustrator who decided to make an attempt at writing and illustrating a story, so he gave us "Where the Wild Things Are" published in 1963. Did you know according to Sendak, at first the book was banned in libraries and received negative reviews. It took about two years for librarians and teachers to realize that children were flocking to the book, checking it out over and over again. The story was originally supposed to be about a boy who, after a tantrum, is punished in his room and decides to escape to the place that gives the book its title, the "land of wild horses". Shortly before starting the illustrations, Sendak realized he did not know how to draw horses and, at the suggestion of his editor, changed the wild horses to the more ambiguous "Wild Things", (a term inspired by the Yiddish expression "Vilde chaya", used to indicate boisterous children). He replaced the horses with caricatures of his aunts and uncles, whom he had spent much time creating in his youth as an escape from their chaotic weekly visits to his family's Brooklyn home. Sendak gave the monsters the names of his relatives: Tzippy, Moishe, Aaron, Emile and Bernard. This story that Sendak wrote has the ability for children to relate to the character Max, which has created the opportunity for the story to remain a classic. This  book is "one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate, and beautiful, use of the psychoanalytic story of anger". Mary Pols of Time magazine wrote that "what makes Sendak's book so compelling is its grounding effect: Max has a tantrum and in a flight of fancy visits his wild side, but he is pulled back by a belief in parental love to a supper 'still hot,' balancing the seesaw of fear and comfort." Thank you Maurice Sendak for giving us a classic to share throughout generations! 

Carbs and Curves

"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." ~Sophia Loren

So this past semester I took a psychopharmacology class (try saying that 5 times fast), and one of the things that stuck with me was the lesson on the brain and the neurotransmitters. We had a guest speaker come and talk to us about how different substances effect the re uptake process of neurotransmitters. I'm not going to get too scientific on you but one thing he said that I'll never forget is that carbs are just as important as proteins! Did you know if you eat too many proteins and not enough carbs (i.e. atkins or any other high protein diet) it not only effects your body it affects your mood, those body builder types that only eat protein tend to be more angry than those that have a healthy balance of carbs and proteins. As a grad student in the mental health field depression and anxiety are of concern for more people than you think and it's so important to keep not only your body but your mind healthy as well. So go ahead and eat up those carbs. I have found that as I get older I am not so focused on having a stick skinny boyish figure, and that I actually enjoy having curves, just like sophia loren I think women should embrace their curves. 

(Just remember that when reading labels you want the fiber count to be much higher than the sugars when picking healthy carbs)

for more information on this here is a reader friendly article that basically says the same thing as the scientific articles, but in an easier reading format. 

Also this is a great book on the eating a balanced diet to sustain your mental health its called Potatoes Not Prozac.

Girls Gone Hiking

              Today's Happy Feet post is about a new group  called "Girls Gone Hiking", a friend of mine decided to start this group recently and the group is about three girls who are finding all the best urban hikes to hike in San Francisco!! So how it all began, well  a few days ago my friend Emily and I were sitting at this beautiful seafood restaurant overlooking the lovely Sausalito harbor, and as we were sitting there eating our delicious side salads (that being all we could afford there since we are poor grad students) we decided its time to get out and enjoy the beauty around us, so we decided to plan a hike for the next day off!

             Well on our first hike Emily and I realized we were seriously out of shape (thats what grad school can do to ya) and Emily didn't even own any workout gear.  So we quickly realized that we wanted to make this a routine thing, because after our little hikes we felt so alive (we were really living now!!). We had another friend Melissa join up with us and well shortly into our first hike with Melissa we realized that she is definitely a trail blazer Emily and I could barely keep up with her! So she quickly joined our hiking ventures as the main motivator of our group!

       It was when we were hiking this 9 mile hike (don't worry we got Emily some real shoes) in Point Reyes National Park that Melissa came up with this hilarious and wonderful idea to start a group a hiking group where we could remain motivated by posting all of our best hikes while also giving recommendations. Each of us has a role in the group, Emily recommending a first time to working out view point (you know what equipment to buy for those who don't even own tennis shoes), Melissa the brain and motivator (how to push two very lazy and girls on the trail), and me the day dreamer, observer (what kind of things you can find if you stop and smell the roses, mostly consists of me taking pics of flowers and animals). So we came up with the name Girls Gone Hiking (instead of girls gone wild), and Melissa immediately made this facebook group! so check us out! And post any recommendations on our page.

Feeling Free

Well I officially have time to write posts on the blog again. My semester ended and I am so surprised that I was able to survive. I decided to live on the edge this semester and take 14 units, yes you heard my right 14!!!!!! thats suicide for graduate school 4.5 being the amount you need for financial aid I went a bit overboard. Not only did I make that first mistake of taking too many units, I was in the second semester of Practicum (the 750 hr unpaid internship) which requires an intense Oral Qualifying Review, which I completed and passed with flying colors! Then I was in the Thesis Project class!!!! in which I was required to write around 40-50 pages! And somehow I managed to survive to the end and pass, and get approved by the IRB!!! So time to celebrate for a couple weeks then summer school begins and after that my final semester this fall! I can't believe I am so close to finishing it feels like I can almost see the finish line. Anyways I'll be posting more often now that my load is lighter, and I will be filling you in on all the wonderful things I've been up to in this crazy San Francisco City, which I have come to develop a love hate relationship for. You will be hearing more about the life and times of surviving this 7x7 mile city! Anyways here is a cute little pic to enjoy for your Tuesday morning!!! I feel as free as these funny little swimmers!