Loss.

This week my uncle Ted lost a very dear friend of his, Dr. Vert Mooney, in a car accident. This man was one of the primary reasons that my uncle moved to San Diego. Dr. Mooney was one of the premier spine surgeons in the world and from what Ted said was also an incredible intellect and an all around thoughtful and loving person. Though I have only met Dr. Mooney once in my life, I feel as though I knew him well. More than anything, I know how much he meant to Ted. When I got the voicemail from Ted that Dr. Mooney had passed, I cried. It was as if I was channeling Ted's loss.

Sometimes it takes the loss of someone to realize the close bonds that you have with the people who are still living. I feel lucky to have people in my life that I feel vulnerable enough to cry for.

Hip Hop for Health

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a Hip-Hop for Health program event at Berkeley Middle School just outside of St. Louis City. This program was established by St. Louis County Department of Health and is one of the 20 programs I work with through my job. I have been looking forward to this event since I heard about it last year from the folks at the health department. The kids train for 6 weeks with professional hip-hop dancers from Best Dance Center in St. Louis and they learn a dance routine that they present to parents and teachers at the end of this time. As part of the program they also receive lessons in nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle. I had so much fun at the event and I even wanted to get up and dance myself. But wisely, I didn't... these kids were WAY better dancers than I will ever be. These pics are from tonight. I took them with my phone so the quality is not the best but you can see how much fun they were having, how talented they all were, and what a great workout hip-hop dancing can be.

There were three teams red, white, and black and each team had a different routine:

Then they all got together and performed a routine:

There were some professional dancers from Best Dance Studio:

Student essay winners read their essays aloud. They talked about topics such as the importance of calcium to bone health, exercise to maintaining a healthy weight, and small portion sizes:

I liked this sign, it was on the wall on the way out of the gym:

In the cafeteria they had a variety of games set up for parents to experience the types of physical activity that the school has been providing to its students. Here are some geo-mats for a giant game of Dance Dance Revolution which is one of the many ways that they have incorporated dance into their daily gym classes at Berkeley Middle School:

They also had TVs set up so parents and kids could play games that involved racing bicycles and boxing using electronic boxing gloves (hard to see but in the background). These are all forms of technology that the school has been able to acquire to keep kids active and entertained thanks to funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health:

Fruits and vegetables were the snack of choice, YUM!

I can't wait until next year!

The good with the bad.

The good:

Playing basketball in a women's league of former college players. Feeling that amazing feeling when a pass hits in just the right spot, a shot leaves your hand and falls, and you know where your teammate is even when you can't see her.

The bad:

Realizing you aren't 21 anymore. The signature move is no longer effective... where is that darn backboard that I used to be able to kiss the ball off of?? Where are my legs when I need them the most? Where did this heavy breathing come from?

But there are moments, though fleeting, when I am back there on the court in a conference game, fourth quarter, and we are getting ready to take the game. It feels like yesterday and I remember why I love this game so very, very much.

Ahhh.... mornings

(This video is one that someone made up for this song.... I heart it...)

Ok, so I don't always feel so great about mornings but this morning was just grand. Why? Because I decided it would be. The weather is BEAUTIFUL. Just at the edge of Fall, every morning is crisp and the trees are starting to turn colors. It is just chilly enough to put on a colorful cardigan and a scarf (which I own far too many of). As I began my trek through Forest Park this morning I put in my earphones and clicked on my Pandora quickmix. Ingrid serenaded me with "Far Away" much like she is for you right now. When this song is on I can't help but smile. She was followed by Joshua Radin (Closer) and the Eagles (Hotel California.... classic).

Two things I noticed on my walk today:

1.) Music while walking to work puts an unstoppable spring in my step

2.) Ok, so the spring is more like a half-dance half-walk... and people definitely stare as I do this "dance" through the park and across the crosswalk on Kingshighway.

My work day has begun. On my mind today are IPC exams, survey tools, and manuscripts.

Tonight I get trained to be a mentor for Discovering Options which is an after school program that empowers at-risk children from St. Louis City. Soon I will be receiving a 4th or 5th grade mentee who I will get to spend time with every week. I am excited for the opportunity to make a new friend and I hope that my mentee and I will get to explore parts of St. Louis that I have never seen before. More than anything, I am excited to have time each week to do kid things :). I suspect that I will learn as much (if not more) from my mentee as he/she will from me.

Happy Wednesday!

Think Different, Apple 2007 Campaign

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Why I love my coworkers

Today I was walking to get something from the fridge at work. In the hallway I was stopped by one of my coworkers and she whispered to me "Hey Mariah, want to do cartwheels down the hall??" I looked at her and said... "I don't think I am dressed appropriately..." to which she replied "I double dog dare you." Of course I couldn't deny a double dog, probably not even a single dog. So tucked in my shirt and did a cartwheel in the hallway of my office. Then she did one. Then another coworker joined us, then another. Eventually there were six of us doing gymnastics down the hall at work. We had round-offs, handstands, and even one-handed cartwheels. Random? Maybe. But I was ready to tackle the rest of my afternoon of work. Yep, my coworkers rock.

Gravity.

I have been listening to this song non-stop the past couple of days. For some reason the copyright laws won't let me embed it into my blog, but the video is definitely worth watching so I have included the YouTube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBiGrHc0Xy4

It makes my heart hurt.

Life is good.

This past weekend was so much fun. On Friday night I had the chance to go see the balloon glow that happens every year in Forest Park. For some reason the whole time that I was at the balloon glow, I was thinking of the song "Moon glow, lamp low" by Eleni Mandell:

Moonglow, Lamp Low - Eleni Mandell

The balloon glow was a ton of fun. We were there with some coworkers and their children and it was great to play with them and enjoy the event from a child's perspective. Probably the best part was playing with the light sabers that they bought from a passing vendor. The toys they have these days are so cool. Here are some photos from the night.

On Saturday morning I hopped on a plane and headed to Washington D.C. for my cousin Graham's wedding reception. He had his wedding in Greece a little over a week before. I don't get to see this part of my family as much as I would like so I was excited for the opportunity to spend time with them all. My cousin Nancy picked me up from the airport and we headed to visit an elderly woman that she has been volunteering with for the past 3 years. It was so much fun to spend the afternoon with her. We helped her to decorate Halloween cards for all of her friends. Apparently she hand makes these cards for EVERY holiday and no two cards are the same.

We then went into preparation mode for the barbeque/reception that was taking place on Sunday. This involved some serious cheese grating, baking pan shopping, cowbell decorating, and just plain strategizing. It was really nice to get so much time with my family and to be part of this big celebration for Graham and his new wife Vanessa. The next day (Sunday) the reception started at noon and we came with green bean casserole in tow. All of the prep by the family definitely paid off, the reception was absolutely beautiful and a great celebration of Graham and Vanessa's love.

Nancy and I on the way to the reception.

The reception site

The guest book.

A beautiful bouquet of fresh picked flowers from Aunt Anne

I have a fever...

and the only cure....

is more cowbell.

Food prep in action.

The amazing wedding cake. The sister of the bride made it. The rocks are made of chocolate - YUMMO!

The grooms cake. Go Redskins.

Family

Nancy preparing to sing the song that she wrote for Graham and Vanessa

Singing to the happy couple and the rest of the reception guests

Did I mention she is a rockstar? She just recently released her first CD. Check her out at: http://www.nancyeddymusic.com/ - if you like her tracks, buy her CD and help support her in following her dreams.

All in all it was a great weekend. It wouldn't have been complete though without seeing one of my fave DC residents...

Thankfully, he and Michelle were waiting at the airport to give me a grand send-off. It was really nice of them to get so dressed up (though quite unnecessary).

Metrolink observations. Priceless.

I was riding home from the airport yesterday on the Metrolink and I saw a similar scenario to this one go down. I felt SO bad for the girl... but I couldn't stop laughing (on the inside) at how ridiculous it all was...

Ode to Peanut Butter and Jelly

This is officially day three in a row that I have eaten peanut butter and jelly for dinner. Not just any jelly, grape jelly. It isn't that I am too lazy to make something else, it isn't even that I don't have food to make something else, it is just that I absolutely LOVE peanut butter and jelly right now. YUMM-O.

Apparently there is a viral video on YouTube that expresses my sentiments exactly:



Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat... couldn't have said it better myself.

You know your YouTube video has made it big when Family Guy does a parody of it:



PB&J for life.

Sunday fun-day with the hammocks

While Forest Park has my heart, Tower Grove is a close second.

I had my first Division 1 competitive kickball game there today. You may scoff because kickball is traditionally a 5th grade game, but let me tell you, this isn't your old playground game anymore. Ok, it is... but people really get into it. I mean REALLY get into it. We all play for a league called "Big Balls" (pun intended). I have played on other teams but they have always been Division 2 or 3 recreational, so when my friend Patrick recruited me to be one of the required two girls on the team, I have to admit, I was a little nervous. In the end we came back to win the game 8-6, and I had so much fun playing!

The Big Balls league is notorious for making pretty racey team logos... our team name is "The Banana Hammocks" so you can only imagine what that looks like. Maybe I shouldn't show it... but, what the heck, it is nothing worse than what I saw all over the beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil so I am going to go for it. Sorry Mom :).

After the game I decided to take a jog around the park and I was quickly reminded why I need to visit here more often.

These are kids playing in a fountain in the middle of the park. There was one kid who would wait for the water to shoot up and then he would squat down on top of it and laugh SO hard. My guess is that in the future his house will be equipped with a bidet.

Whenever I hear kids laugh and see them play it reminds me of carefree times. I love belly laughs, it seems like as adults we don't laugh like that enough. I promise myself that I will always laugh hard, play hard, and run through the occasional park fountain. It is good for the soul.

An affair to remember...

Can you have a love affair with a park? Because if so, I think I am having one. I have been walking through Forest Park in the mornings before work and it is incredible. Maybe it is the dew that makes it smell so delicious, but I seriously have to stop and just take a deep breath every couple of minutes. I work in the Barnes Jewish Hospital so sirens and helicopters are the soundtrack to my work day. But for some reason, in the park, I can't hear these sounds. It is the perfect place for self reflection.

Facts for thought: Did you know, Forest Park was home to the World's Fair in 1904? (Think "Meet me in St. Louis" - man I love Judy Garland). When the park was built, they purposely designed it to get visitors lost so that they could keep them at the fair longer. When the initial plans were made for the park to be built, they were rejected and the park faced significant opposition... I am glad that didn't stop them. It is also 50% bigger than Central Park in New York... all the more space to enjoy!

One of the many wonders of St. Louis, MO.

Road rage.

I live my life constantly creating ridiculous scenarios in my head. I mean constantly. All of the best friends in my life are willing to discuss these made up scenarios with me. For hours. That is why I love them. In my day-to-day life I am less prone to sharing these scenarios with friends and co-workers. Not because they wouldn't get it, but more because I think that they might think I am crazy (not that they don't already). I did share one scenario with my co-workers today though. I felt like I was in the circle of trust. Being public health researchers and AVID proponents of walking and biking over driving, I knew that in this instance my crazy ideas would only seem quasi-crazy to them. I have a pretty consistent scenario that I create in my mind every day while taking my walk to Forest Park (a park adjacent to my office building). Each day I must traverse a 6 lane road (Kingshighway) and each day I encounter at least 3 cars that pull out smack dab in the middle of the crosswalk. This bothers me for several reasons, most involving the walker's right to equal transportion, but also the utter nerve of drivers to think that their car is more important than a person's safety. By them pulling onto the crosswalk, I am forced to walk out into busy traffic to get around them. My absolute favorite is when the cars HONK at me as a pedestrian as I attempt to cross this busy street without getting hit and while trying to make the 10 second walking man sign before I get the flashing red hand of death.

Enter scenario.

Wouldn't it be great if I stopped in front of the car and just stood there staring at the driver... silent... staging a mini sit-in right in the middle of the road, my own Tiananmen Square if you will. However, with my rage I think it is more likely that I would slam my hands on the hood and said HEY, I'M WALKING HERE! Like some crazy New Yorker in the movies who always walks out into a sea of moving taxi cabs. Or even better yet, I think that I would much rather continue walking across the crosswalk, in a straight path, as if the car is not even there. Maybe someday I will just step up on the car's tire, walk over the car's hood, and jump down as I cross the street. This would be even cooler if I could do it while riding a bike (which also get no respect... but that is a completely different blog post). My only fear is the encounter that I might have with the angry driver whose car I tread on. St. Louis is the second (at times the first) most dangerous city in the country. I have a pretty good idea who would win in that battle. Until I figure out a way to win in a face-off between myself and a car, I will continue to give oblivious drivers the most horrendous stink eye I can muster up as I cross Kingshighway in front of their shiny bumpers as they blare their music and look for the next opportunity to continue down the road that they refuse to share. Someday Mr. Car.... someday.

Laura Secord Chocolates

My Nana was a basketball star in her day. She played for Moulton College in Canada. She was a star at a lot of things, she is still my hero. Sure I had Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, and Cheryl Swoopes on my wall along with all of the other WNBA players - but the only star that really mattered to me was Nana.

She used to challenge me to make baskets around the arch. It started out as making it at all five spots in a row (the baseline, the corner jumpers and the free-throw line). I was playing for a box of Laura Secord chocolates. I guess that was how she got good at playing when she was young, she challenged herself with the reward of chocolate. I guess I came about my chocolate addiction honestly :).

It was a funny thing this motivation she provided me... it seemed that everytime I overcame the challenge she posed for me she would up the ante. It was five baskets until I could make all five, then it was two times around, then three. Needless to say I never got a box of Laura Secord chocolates. I did learn a unique lesson though... never quit challenging yourself. Set achievable goals, accomplish them, and then set more. Like in a race, try to beat the runner directly in front of you.

Today I listened to Obama's speech to the students of America and it felt like a throw back to the lesson my Nana was instilling in me. Push yourself, don't quit challenging yourself, success is hard and failure is common. Fate doesn't plop success into your lap, successful people WORK for their success. I feel proud to be in a country where our President holds us accountable for our own success and our own achievements. It makes me think of a quote from my second favorite president of all time:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Teddy Roosevelt
"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910