My January

January is always kind of a depressing month.  The holidays are over, the lights come down, and it's usually drizzly and cold and still getting dark at obscene hours.  This January hasn't been too bad, however.  It's been incredibly perfect running weather (except for Saturday for the race, of course), the days have flown by so I haven't even noticed the Christmas lights are gone, and it seems to be getting lighter and lighter by the minute.

I do believe this sunset was at 5:05, not 4:00 as it was in December.

I've obviously been a little blog MIA, but that means that I have been more present in my actual life.  Well, sort of.

The highlight of January was the family reunion.  My great grandmother would have been 100 this month.  Her plan was to take the entire family to brunch at a fancy hotel in San Francisco.  She had taken her children and the grand children for her 95th birthday, but she wanted to include the great grandchildren (my generation) once she turned 100.  Unfortunately, she only made it to one month shy of 98.  She was the most incredible woman.  She was the strongest, most independent woman I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.  She also was the one who instilled a love of education into our family.  She was a speech writer for Wilson Riles, who served three terms as California State Superintendent.  Long story short, we wanted to still celebrate her memory and her 100th birthday, so we all went to brunch anyway.

My section of the family, minus four cousins.

We drove down just for the night on Saturday.  My portion of the family had rented a few hotel rooms in Alameda, which is across the bay from San Francisco.

No really, it's directly across the bay.

We didn't leave my town until 10am, which put us in the Bay Area around 3.  I was hangry, so I forced my mom to stop for lunch.  By the time we got to the hotel, it was sunset time.  Luckily, our hotel was approximately 16 steps from the beach.  So, we watched the sunset.

I also caught up with my cousins who flew in from Connecticut!

My brother drove up from SLO, which was super exciting.  After the sun set, we hung out in my grandma's hotel room and had dinner.  The kids still have their own table.  

No, I did not drink 17 diet Dr. Peppers.  I didn't drink any, actually.  But I did eat that entire veggie platter.

The hotel took me right back to 1991.  The TV was screwed down so that no one would steal it, because everyone wants a TV circa 1983.  And I tried to figure out what this thing was and why I couldn't take a selfie with it.  

We also practiced for the Olympics.  My brother made it through the Olympic Trials, but I failed miserably.  I was incredibly disappointed in myself.  Maybe I should stick to running local races.

Sunday morning, I hopped out of bed nice and chipper and ready to run!  Actually, I debated whether I really wanted to run in the drizzle and cold, alone in a completely new place.  But I forced myself out of the door and I am really glad that I did.

It ended up being a great run and it was perfect before hopping on the ferry to the city.  I hadn't ever taken the ferry before, so it was kind of an exciting experience.  And so much better than taking the BART underneath the bay.  Nope.  No.  No.  I do not like doing that AT ALL.

There was a little mishap with the tickets, and instead of getting off at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal, which is only two blocks from the hotel we were eating at, we got off at Peer 41, which is two miles from the hotel.  

If we look confused, it's because we were trying to figure out how many taxis we needed and how many of us were walking.  Of course, I opted to walk the two miles.  San Francisco is like a second home and I can basically get anywhere in the city without feeling lost.  Plus, two miles is nothing for me.  But I realized that, when walking, two miles feels like FOREVER.  We took a wrong turn and ended up in the jungle.

Okay, we made it just fine and had a lovely brunch with the entire family who I really don't see very often.

After brunch, we walked back to the Ferry Terminal and had some more quality family bonding time on a bench.

It was a lovely 24 hours in the Bay Area.  I'm so, so lucky I have the most wonderful family on the planet.  The rest of January has looked a lot like this.  

And this.

I have been working out a lot with that guy.  He's an aide at my school and we have become best friends.  He is probably my favorite person in the world.  Also, he's incredibly strong, but lets me look stronger by lifting smaller weights than me.  ;-)  He taught me that if I want to be taken seriously, I have to tuck my shirt in.  So, I've been doing a lot of that.

I also have been very creative with my Positive Thoughts in my classroom.  

January has been a pretty good month.  The weather has been beautiful, my workouts have been lovely, and I got to see a lot of family that I don't normally get to see.  

How has your January been?