Blah in Berkeley

Hey All,

It's been awhile. I haven't written much about my adventures lately because I haven't been having any. For those of you who don't know, I've been home twice in the past month for funerals. Needless to say, it's been a rough few weeks and my body just couldn't keep up. The flu has struck and I am officially blah in Berkeley. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not a shabby place in which to be blah with herbal remedies out the wazoo and every kind of tea and soup you can imagine. I still wish I had a big couch and a TV to curl up in front of while the healing process gets under way. We don't have access to a television here at the Institute so Grace and I took our sick selves down the hill to a pizza place and watched Sunday afternoon football for a few hours. It was a nice way to get out of the institute (where I'd been holed up for two days) while still taking it slow and easy. I carried around an entire box of kleenex in order to have one on hand at every moment.

Speaking of Grace, she got officially accepted into the 6-month work study program on Friday and I am thrilled. She fits right in and everyone loves her around the office. We got a new room, this one facing the bay instead of the prayer garden and the view is breathtaking. It's going to be quite the adventure having her around. As for other updates...TAPs major event is closing in on us. Taste & Tribute is on Nov. 21st and we can already feel it breathing down our necks here at the office. I have been gone so much that I am completely out of touch with what progress we've made and several of my projects had to be finished by co-workers. It's been rough to be so out of the loop and then to get sick and miss two days of work didn't help. I'm slowly but surely plugging myself back in and getting into the swing of things. It helps to have Grace around to keep me posted about what I've missed. She's more in the loop that me right now.

In other news...We got invited up to Ratna Ling again. Ratna Ling is the gorgeous country retreat center in Sonoma County that I wrote about in a previous post. Basically, their major book shipment goes out soon and they need our help getting everything ready. We're going to finish up our event, get things tied up around the office, have a couple of days off for Thanksgiving and then head out there. I'm so excited. I love it there!

That's all I've got for you now. Next time I'll write about my Halloween adventures, my drum classes, and my dad's visit (he comes out on Sunday). Love and miss you all!

Liz