Sunday, May 31, 2009

Jenny and Pete's Wedding!


My lovely niece Jenny (John and Jamie's daughter) married the dashing and adventurous Pete last Friday at her Aunt Kelly and Uncle Doug's home in Forest Ranch! (Click here to view my Shutterfly album of the wedding.) The reception was held at the Spiritual Enrichment Center, California Park, in Chico. It was a four-day event of food, drink, merry-making, tears, and lots and lots of smiles and laughter.
Pete and Jenny will continue to reside in Utah, where they are nearly done rehabbing their home while Jenny works on her advanced education and her cougar research. Here's to your new life together, Pete and Jenny!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Photos of Sacramento


As great as our little college town of Chico is, its proximity to the mountains, the coast, and the "city" makes it easy to do a day or weekend trip. San Francisco is just 3 hours away, and Sacramento just 1 1/2 hours.
On a recent trip to Sacramento I strolled around the State Capitol area and took a few photos (click here and then on View Album to see the photos on a Shutterfly album). So many cool shops and restaurants! Had great sushi at Momiji (14th & G St.). This past year friends and I got season tickets to the "Broadway" series at the Sacramento Community Theater (1301 L St.). The offering included "The Color Purple," "Avenue Q," "Frost-Nixon," and "Lion King." I have to say, I was very impressed with these traveling shows! The upcoming season (Sept. 30, 2009 - May 30, 2010) includes Legally Blonde, Spring Awakening, Xanadu. Little House on the Prairie, and A Chorus Line.
I definitely attend and appreciate local Chico theater, including entertainment at CSUC as well as The Blue Room, Chico Cabaret and Chico Community Theater. But it's also fun to get out of town once in a while and enjoy the diversity Northern California has to offer!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Best Tattoo


Just had to share this fun photo a friend emailed to me. Don't you just love a man with a sense of humor? : )

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Hybrid-loving Cities



Once again our little Chicotown makes the grade when it comes to citywide eco-consciousness. Cars.com just came out with its 2009 ranking of "cities most interested in hybrid vehicles." Not surprisingly, three of the top ten cities were in Oregon (Portland and Eugene--another cool college town--being #1 and 2, Medford/Klamath Falls being #7). Also not surprisingly, 4 of the ten cities were in California, Chico being #8. (Click here to view the article and complete list.)

Pictured is the Dodge Zeo, which boasts the ability to travel almost 250 miles on a single charge!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Bacteria Be Gone!


My back yard strawberry plants have matured enough to produce a decent crop (enough right now for a nice fresh-fruit-and-yogurt breakfast every morning!) Such a treat. I do believe my homegrown compost is responsible for such large, lush berries.
How to effectively clean these little beauties (as well as any produce grown or purchased)? I recently came across a study done comparing 1) rinsing with water, 2) using one of those "veggie washes" you can buy and 3) simply using 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water in a spray bottle. (Click here to read the article or here to listen to the NPR report.) Turns out the vinegar solution (followed by a water rinse) removes 98% of bacteria on smooth-skinned produce. (You can soak more textured fruit and veggies.) I now keep a spray bottle filled with vinegar solution under the sink--super easy!
I also used a vinegar/salt/lemon combo recently to clean the tarnish off a brass tray my Mom wanted to display. Combined with a little elbow grease, worked like a charm. That vinegar is amazing stuff...click here for more uses (like removing those pesky stickers from stuff you buy!)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Bike to Work Week

I'm proud to say our office, W. M. Campbell Real Estate, participated in "Bike to Work Week" by riding our bicyles to the office today. (BTW, we all DID wear helmets!) Couldn't have picked a more beautiful day to do it, either! Distances varied from 1/2 mile to nearly 10 miles round trip (with my bike commute in the mid-range at 5 miles). I sometimes ride my EVT electric scooter, which is a "bit" easier than hopping on the bike if I have to run out and show a house!

Left to right: Laura Burghardt, Aggy Adamczyk, Bill Campbell, Joan Bacchus, Kym Campbell, Peggy Dudman, Becky Prater, Heather Jay, and John Anderson.

For more info on biking around Chico (including bike paths and maps), visit http://www.chicovelo.org/ Happy biking!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Sightless Skiing



You may have read my previous blog posting about Erik Weihenmayer, the blind mountain climber, whose thrilling presentation I was able to attend a few years back (click here to view that posting). Well apparently his thrillseeking adventures are not limited to scaling the highest peaks. With the assistance of an expert guide, Jeff Ulrich, Erik also snow skis, among other adventurous activities! (Click here to view a 2 min. video of Erik and his guide in action--it's amazing!)
Erik's web site states, "Erik Weihenmayer is the only blind person to have climbed the "Seven Summits," the tallest peak on every continent. He has scaled the 3000 foot rock face of El Capitan, skied down the tallest peak in Europe, and guided Tibetan blind teenagers to 21,500 feet on the north side of Mt. Everest."
Next time I'm battling it out behind closed eyelids about whether to drag my protesting body out of bed for some morning exercise, I'm going to think about Erik and his "blind to failure" attitude. This is one inspiring guy!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

CSUC Organic Veggie Project


Mission Statement for the Chico State Organic Vegetable Project: A self-sustaining education, research, and production facility for organic vegetables to support school, university, and community agriculture education, provide research information for local growers, and provide produce for the CSUC campus food services.
I hadn't heard about this project until a friend posted a link on Facebook (see how educational FB can be?). My family and I have always been fans of the U-pick peach orchard at the Chico State farm on Hegan Lane. And I have actually attended the compost workshop at Chico State (and y'all know what an advocate I am of composting--my plants & trees have NEVER looked better or been happier, with all those scraps going to nourish them rather than going to the landfill!). So I was happy to learn that CSUC students are getting this hands-on experience, learning how to grow organic veggies, providing staff and students with healthy alternatives to fast food. (Here's to the Slow Food Movement!)
Click here to view a video created by the students working on this awesome project!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Three Cups of Tea







Mountain-climbing adventurer/author/school builder/humanitarian Greg Mortenson recently visited Chico to discuss his work in fostering world peace. (Click here for a clip of Greg chatting with reporters during his visit.) His fascinating book, Three Cups of Tea, chronicles the path that lead him from his failed attempt to summit K2 in 1993 to building over 73 schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. After reading his book in my book club, we had one of the best discussions in our 10-year history, supplemented by photos one of our members had taken over 20 years ago when she traveled in that region. (His book was also chosen as the "book in common" in both Chico and Sacramento.) The kids at Rose Scott Learning Community (for ADHD and austistic kids) are busy collecting coins for Pennies for Peace, one of the fundraising projects started by Greg. (Click here for the official web site to see how you or your group can participate.) Just goes to show you that one person really CAN make a difference!