Alex and I met for breakfast one morning (Wednesday?) and we ended up on University Ave at Paris Baguette. It reminded me of a place we had in Australia called Breadtop; you take a tray at the beginning and you basically go around and choose from a very large variety of pastries. It was funny because we each walked around the table a couple of times before choosing something and we also saw one of our friends working there behind the counter. We took our time and then I drove him to the gym. It was a nice way to start the day and I had a good time coaching that evening.
Our food adventures continued on Friday when I picked him up from campus and we went to Sprouts for lunch. It's a really nice salad place and we each had a healthy mid-day meal. Afterwards we went to campus because Alex had some things to take care of. It was so nice outside and we just enjoyed walking around without the worries of homework and school in general. We stopped by the equipment room to inquire about his fourth-year letter award before swinging by the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. The men's gymnastics box needs to be updated/redesigned so we spent some time throwing around ideas. Later we found ourselves in the brand new business school (which is stunning by the way) looking at some of the modern art and stopping at Coupa Café. I didn't feel like getting anything but Alex let me try some of his tea and I was pleasantly surprised. I left after he got on the phone with the national team nutritionist and headed to the gym.
Saturday morning I got up to coach and then again met for lunch. This time we went to JJ&Fs, which was one of the places on my "to-do" list. We got our sandwiches but headed back home before we could eat them. I took a nice long nap after lunch and then got ready to go to the Stanford Open. Stanford was competing against Cal and Nebraska (men) and then there were some mixed groups consisting of level 10 boys and elites. I had a bit of trouble watching everything but it was all very exciting. I look forward to that competition every year and this was no exception. After the meet T left to get ready to spend a night on the town while I accompanied Alex to a post-meet dinner. It was just the two of us since most of the boys went out together (to celebrate because they won!) and he got an amazing looking crêpe at Crepevine while I sipped on a yummy chai tea. We talked for a long time before he took me home.
I went to bed because this morning I had to get up bright and early. I went out to San Mateo to watch the level 7's and 8's that I've been working with compete. Technically I wasn't supposed to be on the floor because all of my certification isn't done yet, but Allan gave me his credentials and told me to come on out. It turned out to be pretty exciting and definitely much better than sitting in the stands with the parents. I didn't do too much on vault but I helped set the bars and move the mats. Erika then asked me to start getting the 7's warmed up for beam because she had to go tend to her daughter, Tula. I said okay and the next thing I knew I was coaching the beam team through warm-ups and competition on my own!! Erika had more trouble than she initially thought so she was stuck outside of the arena while Allan was working with the 8's. We all made it through and I was so excited for the opportunity. In the end the girls did well and won team, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. It was also quite the contrast to what I'm used to with SWG; the girls were so quiet the entire time and there wasn't too much excitement. I'm planning on trying to loosen them up because I really think it will help them compete better in the future. Allan said that I "saved" him and Erika today and all the parents were so thankful so I'm feeling pretty good :)
This evening Dani came downstairs and convinced me to go to The Dish with her. We ran up the initial hill and then pleasantly walked the rest of the way. It was cool to spend time with her because I don't get the chance to do that very often. Along the way we decided that it would be nice to have Sunday dinners with our apartment-mates so we stopped at the store to pick up some ingredients. We ended up making pasta with meatballs, a nice pear/feta salad, garlic bread, and broccoli with garlic. It was all really yummy and CJ, T, Dani, and I had a nice time sitting around the table talking with one another. I'm hoping we can keep it up and maybe Weedge will be able to join us at some point. After dinner Dani popped in the cinnamon rolls she bought and we sat down to watch Ides of March. It stars George Clooney and Ryan Gosling and is really quite fantastic. We all enjoyed it and we left with the wheels in our heads turning like crazy. I would recommend it if you haven't seen it already.
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