Friendship at first sight and more December #gratitudes

I am savoring my cup of aromatic and delicious Gyokuro tea as I continue with the second half of my December gratitude blog. It is a cherished gift from a friend who bought it in Kyoto, and it has now become my Sunday afternoon routine to drink one of the teas from the gift box. I am grateful for Susan, with whom I have spent more time than anyone else in the last year. She takes care of me not just by bringing me unique teas, but giving me strength when I need it the most. 

The night after Nate's birthday, it was time to celebrate Gosia's. This woman is magical, at least to me. The first time I met her, I knew in my heart that she was someone I wanted to have in my life. Yes, it was "friendship at first sight". She makes me feel loved, and in a strange sort of way, she makes me feel safe. I am grateful that I had the honor of celebrating her milestone birthday.

The morning started with a hike. Yes, it was quite easy to wake up early to head out to Wunderlich, after a few tequila shots the night before and getting home at 2am. It had rained heavily the previous day, and had started to drizzle when I left. Geralyn and I were not going to be deterred from the last hike of the year by a little rain. The beauty that awaited us, in an already beautiful place, was overwhelming. We had joked about how we would burst into song and dance when The Meadows turned green, a sight many of of my new hiking companions have never witnessed because of the drought. Well, The Meadows was green, and the hills were alive! Unbelievably, it was I who asked Geralyn to sing "the hills are alive with the sound of music" with me. We pulled up the lyrics, found the music, and sang along with Julie Andrews while recording The Meadows. I am grateful that The Meadows exist a short enough distance from where I live so I can make it there on so many weekends. I am grateful that we have rain. I am grateful for the melodies the beautiful surroundings inspire. 

The evening started perfectly. I had already decided to debut the gorgeous dress Poonam bought me. Is there a better way to debut a birthday gift from a dear friend other than at the birthday of another dear friend? The necklace from Palvika complimented the dress perfectly, and “I was ready, set, go” for drinks with the Vohra crew before leaving for the party. I am grateful for Poonam, for many reasons, but in this case, gifting me many party dresses over the years, some that have made me famous (or infamous), and nursing me back to a stable standing state after one of those parties resulted in my hitting and staying on the floor for a while.

And that is a perfect lead in to the next gratitude. I planned to go to the Macha Holiday Party, the best one every year, after Gosia’s birthday celebration. I was, however, delayed because I was asked to pick up food on the way home for the 4 musketeers who were already at the party. It was midnight when I got to the party, and the 4 musketeers, whose names you can guess, had left the party. I am grateful that my friend Kerri let me in, although almost all the other guests had left, and played one more song to dance with me to before I delivered the food. I am grateful for Kerri, the most organized person I know, who willingly gave into a little chaos by my showing up late.

So many gratitudes for one weekend, I have barely made it to the week of Christmas. More motivation to continue writing as the gratitudes, many of them inspired by a lot of funny moments, will continue. 

A December to remember - so much to be grateful for

January 2015 promises to be a very busy month at work. At a busy time, it is very important to stay focused and be grateful for all the little things that enrich our lives. I will dedicate the first blog of 2016 with a few of my gratitudes from December. 

I kicked off the first weekend in December by a visit to the salon to color my hair (yes, one of the secrets to my youthful looks), and spending the rest of the day with my cousin, more like my daughter. I wrote about her in my January birthday blog last year - Three birthdays and a joyful blog. I love having her around, and wish I saw more of her. And of course, the weekend would not be complete without hiking with a couple of my favorite people. I am grateful that I have the always amazing Jassi and my hiking buddy, Fabiana in my life. 

The next one is a gratitude I posted on Facebook - "Gratitude for today - all my American friends who shared this post and condemned Trump, going as far as asking people who agreed with Trump to unfriend themselves. They make me proud." This gratitude came out of an unpleasant and negative emotion, and I had to give a shout out to those who had the courage to stand up for Muslims in the United States. I will add that almost all of these posts were from friends on Facebook who are neither Muslims nor immigrants. I am grateful that despite the negativity in the mainstream media and on social media, I have friends who are open-minded, can think for themselves, and have the courage of their convictions. 

Needless to say, all the drama and negativity generated by the anti-Muslim rhetoric was washed away on the weekend with a beautiful hike when Geralyn and I bravely ventured out to Edgewood County Park, unafraid of the mountain lion signs posted at the beginning of the trail. The #newnormal of doing new things continued. I braved a heavy thunderstorm to drive to a nursing home in Daly City to support Geralyn's choir. My intention was to blend into the crowd, smile at everyone, and cheer the choir. Much to my disbelief, and likely the agony of the listeners, I stood next to Geralyn, and sang every carol. Escorting Aleya around to give out gift bags to the residents, and seeing the joy in their faces, was worth every second of anxiety over the singing. I am grateful to have people like Geralyn in my life, who inspire me to be a better person. I am also grateful that I now have a Santa hat. 

On December 15th, my Facebook memories had a picture that made me smile for hours. It was of a cardboard laptop built by the students in the first Junior Achievement class I had the privilege of teaching. I still have all the individual thank you notes, and chuckle over one note that said, "Fayeza, thanks for wasting your time with us". It was supposed to say, "spending your time with us". I am grateful that I had the privilege of volunteering at an elementary school with kids who I learned from more than I taught them. Because of them, I conquered my fear of standing in a room with 30 curious kids with questions that were often tough. I miss that experience, and am very happy that I got the opportunity when I worked at Oracle. Special thanks to Jay Patel who is an advocate for the program, and led it for many years when he was at Oracle. 

And then, just before the weekend, I got to see my joon. Almost a year later, which is kind of sad, but it felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other. It was also an evening out with Jeni and Mark, and tequila was involved. We celebrated Nate's birthday which was falsely advertised in the invitation. We were invited to the San Francisco Armory, but received a clarification stating that it was actually a bar across the street called the Armory. For many of us, it was a lost opportunity to visit the San Francisco Armory under the pretense of celebrating Nate's birthday, but Nate's party was pretty darn good, and we all forgave him. He is really easy to forgive, that is if you actually ever get mad at him. I am grateful for my joon, Nasim. I am grateful for my friends Jeni and Mark, who make me feel alive simply via a chat message. I am grateful that I know Nate, an incredible human being who makes every person feel special and unique, and in his company, you can only see the joys in life. I am grateful that in my 10 months at Jobvite, I connected with incredible people who I feel I have been friends with all my life. 

Wow, I am only halfway there, and the next gratitude is so huge that it deserves it's own blog post. Not to mention the many gratitudes that I have yet to write about for December alone. I will end this blog by saying that I am grateful that I have so much to be grateful for. 

Another year, another blog, that trip to Vegas, and reaching out for a new normal

I did a lot of reflecting when writing my last birthday blog - Call me crazy. A month and a half later, do I have more to add? More hikes and more selfies for sure, but there is always something more, sometime with the same co-conspirators, and sometimes new ones. 

For someone who swore never to wear a tutu in public, and never owned one, I did it again! In fact, my co-conspirator Fabiana and I were the only ones wearing a tutu on the Thanksgiving Gobble Wobble race, and had the pleasure of being stopped frequently to have our picture taken. Because running at 10K in 40 degree F weather was not enough, I went hiking with Steph in 36 degree weather on Friday morning. Even my car warned me that it was only 36 outside! But that was not going to stop me from the Saturday hike to Skyline, the 4th this year, with my regular bunch of crazy hiking friends, and even getting a movie companion for the evening. All that activity helped burn off any extra helpings at our Thanksgiving dinner. 

But now, let's talk about what happened in Vegas. Yes, what happened in Vegas will not stay in Vegas for this crazy bunch of friends, as we are only going to build on the success of that great trip. I planned it perfectly - with the right group of people, of course. Some older, some younger, but all fun-loving friends who went on a little birthday celebration with me. Steph and Lovey really put the pedal to the metal by getting on the flight and room reservations, months in advance. Mark, our aspiring Olympic weigh-lifter in training went with us as our bodyguard. And Jeni, our nightclub VIP guest list connection was the star of the weekend. 

Some of the highlights of the trip included my first trip to a Vegas nightclub, tipsy bodyguard, lots of tequila, lots of dancing, lots of coffee to stay awake for the lots of dancing and tequila, MJ One, another visit to a nightclub with a sober bodyguard, more tequila,more dancing, and pizza at 2am. 

Lovey got over her frustration with her Fitbit not recording her dance steps by walking up to the very last minute before boarding the plane back home. She also discovered an enjoyable way of gambling, and winning, by hanging out with me at the roulette table. She did lose most of her winnings by sneaking out of the nightclub to go gambling by herself. 

To summarize as they do in the Amazing Race - 
20 miles walked
10,000 dance steps (accurately recorded by Jeni's Fitbit)
8 hours of sleep over 3 nights/days
"x" number of shots (no one counted)
"x 3" coffee consumed
4 meals at celebrity chef restaurants

Let's just say the trip in Mark's famous tipsy sentence was "one, two, three, four, boom"! 

To everyone who celebrated my bonus year with me, thank you! My life is what it is because I have you in it.

In conclusion, the single biggest gift this year was my brother's trip. It was only 3 days long, but spending even that with him after 3 years reminded me of how much I miss him and his family, and wish they were closer. 

Wishing everyone a joyous, healthy, prosperous and active 2016! Reach for the stars, and think of every new challenge as the new normal. 

Call me crazy..... A blog for my birthday

It's raining! It's cold! And it's 6 am on a Sunday morning! The first thought after texting, "yes, we are" to Sheena's question, "the sky is falling, are we still on?" was to stay under the covers for 15 more minutes. But I was wide awake, and instead of wanting to go back to sleep or curling up with a book, I wanted to get into my warm rain-proof clothes and hit the road! 

Yes, call me crazy, but Geralyn and Sheena have made waking up early on Sunday mornings somewhat of an adventure to look forward to. 

From the first time that Geralyn showed up to hike with me, really nervous about being able to keep up and finish what I claimed was an easy 3 mile loop, to the day she asked when we would hike the 13 mile loop I had promised, it has been months of very joyful hikes every weekend. And then Sheena came along for a 13 mile hike, breaking all kinds of records on her first day using her Fitbit. The jewel in the crown - Geralyn's idea to hike at Land's End followed by brunch at Louis' for Sheena's birthday. Aloma joining us was a big bonus! 

We walked, we laughed, we took a lot of pictures. And we started a new tradition - birthday celebrations at Land's End! 

Call me crazy, because I started my birthday morning by waking up at 4:45 am, driving my cousin to the airport, and then heading out for my practice 10K to prepare for the Thanksgiving Gobble Wobble. I answered birthday calls, texts and Facebook messages while on my walk/run. And I spent some time thinking back on the year since I wrote my first blog for my birthday. 

This year, I did a few things that most people who know me would consider either crazy or just not me! I made choices that would normally scare me, I made decisions that were unlike me. I learned that, in life, you often feel that you are rationalizing decisions to reconcile them with your core values, but when you are rooted in those values, you are simply finding ways to make sure that your decisions don't go against them. This allowed me to open my heart to new friendships, and embrace people I felt I had nothing in common with (and could never work with). It made me a believer in second chances, for myself and for others. 

Among other things, I spent a whole day in Disneyland wearing a tutu, and even danced with the band. And I wore pink Minnie Mouse ears with a red tutu - shockingly unfashionable! I climbed on a fallen tree, and tried to balance on it. I crawled up on a tree trunk, and pretended to sleep (while getting sticky sap all over my clothes). 

Call me crazy, but I believe that being in the company of nature with someone else who believes in you is the most therapeutic thing you can do for yourself. 

I am going to end this birthday blog with a quote from Sheena that is going to be my mantra. 

"Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no selfie hard enough" 

It's the little things #Oahu2015

The ocean, the beaches, the mountains, Pearl Harbor, and many many more breathtaking experiences await on a trip to Oahu. I will blog about that another day. Today, it's the little things that made us, and still make us laugh that I want to put down in words.

When you get on the Interstate..... Wait, what? Yes, there are Interstate highways in Oahu. I don't think they connect to another State in the United States, or we could drive to Oahu from California.

There are people who wear beach wrap hoodies. Apparently, it protects their head when it rains. I don't think Stephany was thinking about that when she bought one. So when a torrential rainstorm hit us, she pulled up her hood and proudly said, "Fayeza, look! I have a hood!" Except, the hoodie was a crochet pattern with big holes in it. Her head was just as wet as the rest of her. 

The only person who didn't see the perfect parking spot that was completely different from what everyone else in the car saw was the child in the child seat. She kept her opinion to herself as she was asleep until after the big car was parked, and missed out on the discussions, suggestions, hand signals and cursing that accompanied our parking adventures. Jay's hang loose signal at every opportunity only added to the hilarity. 

Speaking of the child, we learned a few new things from her. She does not sleep when her "body is not tired". She can't sleep when she drinks. But best of all, a new word - "dangerrocks"! A word she came up with when I asked her to be careful on the "dangerous rocks". 

The most precious moment of the trip was standing in a shaded spot on Lanakai beach, listening to and looking at the beautiful ocean, and suddenly hearing a little voice singing - "do a deer, a female deer......." 

So long, Oahu! 

The hiking chronicles: stories of friendships, love and advocacy - the early days

It wouldn't be an exaggeration if I said I have thousands of photos, to be precise, iPhone photos, of my hikes. Over the last few years, I have hiked uncountable miles, mostly in Woodside.

I cannot remember precisely when I got interested in hiking. I always loved walking, but going into the woods on trails was something that was new to me. I remember the first time I struggled up the Alambique trail in Wunderlich Park. It took several stops before I made it past the first half mile of that steep incline. The friend I was hiking with is an amazing storyteller, and her funny stories made the huffing and puffing worse as laughing itself was quite difficult. I somehow made it that day, but the best part of the day was really the delicious burger we treated ourselves to after the hike. This is before Facebook and iPhone, and there was no bragging since I was not really sure it was worth bragging that I hiked a little over 3 miles in 4 hours.

After listening to me talk with such wonder about the beauty of hiking, my close friend Aloma said she knew of the perfect place to try next. It was the weekend of the 4th of July in 2004. We headed to Purisima Creek in Half Moon Bay. We picked the longest trails, because, yeah, we knew we could do it. We went up to Skyline and back. We saw the Pacific Ocean and Mount Tamalpais from an amazing location. We walked, we talked, and ate all our snacks. It was just a little over seven and a half miles. We crawled back to our car. We still felt great, until it was time to get out of the car. And we could barely move! I think we lay flat for hours for the fatigue and soreness to leave us. I still remember that beautiful day, and I repeated the hike with a group of people a couple of years later. That second time, it was on a Sunday morning after a sleepover at my house the night before. A sleepover where we had to force ourselves to go to bed at midnight since we had to be up early to hike.

Aloma and I wizened up a little, and picked shorter hikes after that adventure. The real adventure started a few weeks later after a friend generously gave me his book on the best hiking trails in California. Little did I know that reading the words and navigating a trail are very different things. Maps only confused me more, and it didn't help that my orientation did not always match that of the map. We hiked every trail in Pacifica and Woodside, carrying the big book with us to guide us. We often got stuck on very narrow trails at the edge of a precipice. Talk about being paralyzed with fear!! More than once, we had to crawl on our butts to make it to a safer path.

One of my favorite memories is what I call "the cobwebs incident". As Aloma and I were slowly making  our way down on the Bear Gulch trail in Wunderlich reading the fat hiking book. Aloma was reading out loud, and said something about the beauty of the Redwoods clearing the cobwebs in our heads. Just as she was done reading that, we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by the most amazing Redwood trees, and cobwebs! The cobwebs were everywhere! Small and big, and I as a spider-hater, I hate to admit that they were beautiful! We burst out laughing as we both had the exact same thought. The cobwebs in our head would soon join the ones left there by previous hikers :). 

For Aloma and I, hiking was never about the exercise or the great outdoors. It was a chance to talk, bond, eat, and spend time together uninterrupted by anything else. We laughed, we vented, we strengthened an already strong friendship. And somewhere along the way I fell in love with the trails, the Redwoods, the fresh air, and the exhilarating feeling of accomplishment every time I conquered a difficult uphill trail. 

I dedicate this post to my bestie who got me into something I love so much now, for listening to me for hours with no sign of escape, and for inspiring me to perfect my spicy egg toast that I made for our hikes. 

Pictures below are courtesy of another very patient friend who humored me by being the photographer.

Routines, spontaneity, and my secrets of adulthood

Until about a decade ago, I didn't think I was a morning person. Honestly, I have no idea why, as I did my best work early in the morning. Perhaps it was because almost everyone I knew wasn't a morning person, and I wanted to fit in? In the last few years, I got into a routine of starting work early with a few occasional exceptions. I also started hiking early, and this has become an important routine. I was also not much of a routine person, and today I realized that I actually like having some routines but like the spontaneity of other things. Just as I realized and recognized that I like some routines, while driving back from one of my favorite routines, my early morning hike, I decided to do something very spontaneous. I stopped outside a friend's house, called her, asked her if she was home, and said I wanted to give her a hug. She asked me three times if I was really parked outside, then she told me three times that she was still in her pajamas but she would love a hug!

This is a good time to come up with the second list of "my secrets of adulthood". 

I wrote my first list over a year ago, simply called "My Secrets of Adulthood" and talked about my inspiration. That list is still true, and I am now adding a few more to that list.

I will kick it off with one from the previous list:

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in while (from Rubin's list)

You can love structure and still succeed in ambiguous situations

Routines are important, and if you can't think of one, brushing your teeth counts 

Drinking half a bottle of wine the night before an eight mile hike is perfectly okay
A regular message that makes you laugh is more valuable than an occasional dinner
It's okay to love Facebook and Instagram
Giving someone a second chance may sometimes help you survive

And to end, a quote from my favorite television personality -

"The best defense against bullshit is vigilance. If you smell something, say something" - Jon Stewart

Spicy scrambled eggs

If you have read / tried my other recipes, you already know that green chillies are an ingredient in most of them. I use either Serrano peppers or Thai chillies in many of my recipes, for their flavor and of course, hotness. And my scrambled eggs also include this spicy and flavorful ingredient. Over the years, I have experimented with a few ingredients that enhance the flavor of the scrambled eggs I love to cook, and eat. And I can eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime in between.

Ingredients:
4 eggs, well beaten

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, chopped

2 Thai chillies or Serrano peppers, chopped (add more or less based on your preference)

I clove garlic sliced or 1/2 tsp minced garlic

I tsp red chili powder

Pinch of turmeric

1 tsp salt 

Mix the eggs, milk, chili powder, turmeric and salt. Set it aside. 

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the green chillies and onions, and fry until the onions start changing color (about a minute). Add the garlic and mix well with the onions. Add the egg mix and stir to mix well with the fried onions. Continue to gently stir so the eggs don't stick to the pan. Continue on low heat until the eggs are fully cooked. 

Serve with bread, chappatis, or tortillas.

An ode to sentimentality - selfies, hashtags, and the Jobvite days

Ode: a poem in which someone expresses a strong love or respect for someone or something

A poem, I cannot compose

A post, I can

That is how far I got with the poem......

Those who know me know that I love taking pictures, and being in them. Selfies, however, scared me. I had no problems being in other's selfies, but posing in my own was, well, scary. And then I joined Jobvite! 

I walked in wearing my favorite outfit on my first day, was handed a beautiful orchid by my manager, and heard someone say, "if that dies, you are fired". Considering that none of my previous orchids survived, my days were numbered if I didn't prove myself in other ways. As I settled in at my new desk, trying not to look at the beautiful orchid that could end my career at Jobvite, I was handed my next challenge - a scavenger hunt! A scavenger hunt, with scenarios on a spreadsheet for selfies! Scenarios on a spreadsheet - love it! Scenarios for selfies? Not so much. 

Over the next few days, I was added to the employee Facebook page, provided instructions for publishing jobs on social networks, and I favorited all things Jobvite on my social networks. I slowly embraced my new world of hashtags and selfies.

 #Jobs for the Jobvites on social networks

#carded selfie when our business cards arrived

#Twinkie selfie when we dressed in matching outfits

#CSFoodDrive when our team won the Second Harvest challenge

#StevieSilver when our team won the super awesome Stevie Award for Customer Service

It was fitting to celebrate my last two weeks at Jobvite in a manner similar to my first two weeks. Between meetings, and other things considered "working", I ambushed people who passed my area, and even stalked those who did not, to capture selfies. With some, there were almost daily selfies, sometimes more than once. With one person in particular, who never allows selfies, every selfie was a special moment. And of course, sometime during the day, the selfies were added to Instacollage and posted on Instagram and Facebook with the appropriate hastags.

Along with the many friendships and amazing memories, I will take with me the unforgettable hashtags that will always remind me of my days at Jobvite and the lifelong friendships.

#Awww for my partner in crime (only those that are not punishable by law, of course)

#myheartandsoul for the friends who lifted my spirits when I needed it the most

#loveyousomuch for my friends forever

The last day was long, and it went fast. My #Awww made me a book of selfies that I will cherish forever. I arrived in the same outfit that I wore on my first day. I made sure that I had enough charge and memory on my phone for selfies. I also made sure that those who avoided eye contact in order to avoid a selfie were ambushed and gently persuaded to take one. And I have to go back for those I missed.

The last picture of the day, however, is not a selfie. It is a picture with my manager, proudly holding her Stevie Gold trophy and the two Stevie Silver plaques that our team won that arrived earlier that day.

Special mention - the orchid is thriving, and I hope to watch it bloom for a very long time!

So long Jobvite, or should I say #solong #Jobvite?

Smiling all day :)

I smiled all day! At people I could see, at people on the phone, at people on my monitor, at my headset, even at the bathroom door! I want to capture this feeling and save it for a day when I feel like throwing things at all of the above. 

This is the power of gratitude! 

I got to work a little after 7am, and scanned my emails before dialing into my 7:30 call. I only had time to read a few, and even less time to respond to any. Of the three I read, one started with "Thank you" in the subject. Thank you notes are so special, they always make the priority list. It was no ordinary thank you note. Written by one of my toughest clients, it elevated my spirit and I knew that no matter what happened, nothing could ruin my day today. With 4 back-to-back calls, no time for breakfast, and just a few minutes to get coffee, reading that email every time a tough moment was about to arrive just made everything easier. 

A couple of years ago, I received a similar email. It blew me away, and I think I fell from my chair. My ridiculous but genuine response was, "believe it or not, I am speechless". I didn't just save this email, I created a special folder for it. 

My response today was genuine but slightly more polished. I didn't create a folder for it, or add it to my Love Letters folder. I left it in my inbox as an unread email. Now I see it every time I go over my unread emails. 

I will wake up tomorrow and think about this. And tomorrow, I will wish two very amazing women a Happy Birthday! A friend whose passion for volunteering brought us together, and whose wit, charm, and compassion kept me wanting to be a part of her life. She was also my SQL accountability partner, amongst other things, and I know I wouldn't have made it without her. I will celebrate the birthday of my niece, whose intelligence, talent, perseverance and can-do attitude will inspire many others. She is an amazing young woman who is doing great things, and I can't wait to celebrate her future successes! 

Still smiling :)