North Beach Jazz Fest

We encountered a major setback on Saturday when Stina woke up to find that her back was all messed up. This was weird since Friday was an off day (meaning her one day of non-exercise) and it wasn't bothering her when she went to bed. I was rather surprised to see her still at home when I crawled out of bed at 8 to go the bathroom, fully expecting to sleep off my hangover for another couple hours. Thus, Saturday was not the greatest - Stina incapacitated on the couch and I was totally wrecked from the night before.

We were planning on seeing ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) at the North Beach Jazz Festival on Sunday. Stina had been really looking forward to it, and no amount of chastising from me would deter her from her goal. So we split up - I got a sweet motorcycle ride from Dave SG and she got in a cab. I learned how much faster it is to get around on in the city on a bike, though I already knew how much more fun it is. Stina left 5 minutes before we did, and we totally caught up with her cab half way there, and blew past it. I LOVE getting rides from Dave SG. Total bliss.

It was an atypically beautiful day in SF, and it was a perfect day for the festival. We met up with a bunch of friends and did some boogieing and relaxing. ALO set just the right tone – their trademark happy, bouncy vibes and some choice lyrics were spot on. I wasn’t exactly pleased with their setlist though – now that I’ve been listening to them a bunch on archive.org, I had a nice wish list of songs that I fully anticipated to hear. We also caught some of Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, who brought some big New Orleans swing to the festival. He’s an incredible rag time piano player/singer.

Natalie and Jeff hosted a post Festy BBQ at their place, which is never an event to miss. Those guys bring hosting to a new level. They are extremely generous, always providing a wide assortment of food and beverage. So we ate well and watched some of their Maui wedding DVD. We were very fortunate to be at that first wedding in Maui (they did three back to back weddings in three different locations). That was a trip of a lifetime, since we are able to spend half the week with our friends Gail and Dan and then spend the rest of our time at crazy resort with all the insane wedding guests. If I ever get around to retrospective blogging posts, I could do a long one about that trip. Needless to say, the tropical wedding in paradise lived up to its promise.

Anyways, Stina seems to be on the mend. She did two swims today and is moving around much more then yesterday. Hopefully this won’t impact her training too much.