Busy Again

It has been a busy week at Willow's Cottage.  There has been work, a little bit of play and a whole lot of driving.  As I walked and worked through my week, I tried to focus on what was the best part of each day, what I enjoyed, what I learned.  That's what makes up my Friday Fave Fives, those memories of goodness and thankfulness.  I truly appreciate the opportunity to share FFF every Friday.  Even if my week has been busy and I haven't been online much to post here or to read other blogs, I try to pull everything together to share my best moments for Fave Five.   Thanks goes to Susanne who hosts this every week at Living to Tell the Story.

1.  The Tall Ships sailed in to Ventura Harbor last week.  Although we have seen them before in other harbors, we decided to head over to Ventura to tour the two tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Adventure.  Can you imagine learning how to identify all those ropes to furl and unfurl the sails and keep them from tangling up?

2.  On Saturday, we drove to the southern part of Los Angeles County to meet a very special person-- the little girl who recently arrived from China to join our friends' family.  The dedication and welcoming of this sweet baby was a long anticipated event.  Out of respect for the privacy of the family, I won't post photos, but we were thrilled to meet this little one and celebrate with her new family.

3.  We took a second trip to Los Angeles on Monday afternoon to meet up at Farmers Market and The Grove with our daughter Mia, her husband and their friends.  Dinner at the Singaporan/Indonesian restaurant in the Farmers Market was oh so wonderful.  There's nothing like gado-gado with peanut sauce, mie goreng and es cendol!  Oops~no photos! In my excitement to see my kids, I left my camera in the car.  Here's a little history of Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax in West LA--it was first opened in 1934 as a weekly farmers market in the fields of a local farm where fresh vegetables and fruits were sold to area housewives.  As the market grew in size and popularity, it moved into a permanent building which is where the market still thrives, attracting celebrities, local students, and foreign visitors from all over the world.

4.  Did I mention work?  Yes, classes started again this week.  I loved greeting each group of students as they arrived--the smiles and excitement were contagious.  While I do greatly enjoy my vacation times, I also love to teach.  I have no interest in 'quitting my day job'.

5.  I have really missed having walking buddies to keep me accountable for my exercise.  This week, a local group has formed to challenge each other to walk 10,000 steps every day for the next two months.  I have walked my 10,000 steps only one day this week, although the other days I've exceeded 6,000 or 7,000 steps. But that's OK with me because I'm back on task with others to encourage me.  It's amazing how many steps you can accumulate walking around a grocery store while you are gathering your bananas, cereal and frozen peas.  Who knew shopping for food could be exercise?  Some days, I acquire unusual walking buddies like this deer which kept pace with me as I walked along the street that winds up the hill in my neighborhood and she pranced to meet her buddies who were waiting for her behind the bushes.

That was Willow's Week!  What wonderful things happened to you?