Tahoe Time

We are packing up and going to Tahoe today. Should be fun!! We hope to get up there early afternoon and get settled. Hope Evie remembers what snow is like & isn't a baby about it. We all know how she hates the rain. We will be back on Sunday night. I can't wait to get in the hot tub!

I'll post pics when we get back. Have a good weekend!

WICKED - Take 2

We went to Wicked last night. This was my 2nd time seeing it. First, we went to Heaven's Dog for dinner which was so good. We had this amazing rice with Dungeness crab in it, shrimp, spicy chicken, clams, dumplings....

Wicked was awesome. Love seeing shows more than once, they are always better the second time around. Galinda is hilarious. The songs are so good. And, Defying Gravity is just amazing.
So, of course, I have the soundtrack on today. I think if I could be anyone in Wicked, I would be Elphaba. I mean, she is an animal activist and gets to fly and gets to sing Defying Gravity.

After my revelation about living here, I felt very lucky to see Wicked last night. I was able to just go see Wicked one night after work. Some people cannot do that - going to a show is a big deal/have to travel to get there. So once again, something to appreciate.

Tonight, I am staying home to do laundry/get ready for Tahoe!

Tuesday

This weekend, we were really low key. I think we really just did errands and hung around. Actually, on Saturday, I went out with a couple girls. My friend Lauren was up from San Diego so a group of us went out to dinner and drinks. It was good to see her and we went to a yummy Mexican restaurant, Mamacita.

I have been watching a ton of Olympics. Snowboarding, ice skating, and skiing are my fave. Everyone has been wiping out on the downhill though. Ski Jumping is crazy. Biathalon is strange.

Anyway, we are preparing for our trip to Tahoe this weekend! We leave on Friday AM and come back on Sunday. I was told we might need chains on our tires to drive there. Um, what! We never had to do that in VT or CO or UT. Oh well, I guess we will see if we need them. It should be a fun trip. We have an awesome house with a Hot Tub!!



Tonight, I am going to see Wicked again!! Michael and I are bringing our client/friend to see it. Should be fun! I think I'll try defyyyying gravityyyyy!

Friday

On Friday, we went to our second non-profit, The Upside of Downs. This group was pretty different from the Thursday event. They had a ton of kids there and were already taking pictures when we showed up. Seemed like they were a little more well versed on perhaps receiving grants and having photographers come visit. Needless to say, we were happy to interview people and get great photos. The grant money will be used for new play room and toys that fit the needs of these children.

Check out this awesome mural they had painted on the wall!

After this visit, we went to the airport where we unfortunately had a 3 hour wait before our flight and nothing earlier to get out on. We had lunch at a restaurant in the airport, made nicey with the bar tender and watch the Olympics.

This is me & Michael - my traveling buddy. Thank God he likes Glee & Broadway to listen to in the car! haha. At this point we are exhausted from three days of fun.

I had to connect in Chicago, which is NEVER easy. You seriously never get out of Chicago on time. Ever. Of course, we were delayed an hour. The best part was somehow, I got put into first class for my flight from Chicago to SF. I don't think I've ever flown in 1st Class but it was great. Now, I want to be in first class all the time. haha. Free drinks that they just keep refilling. We had a three course dinner of salad & shrimp cocktail. Then, ravioli dinner. Finally, a brownie sundae for dessert! I finally got home around 930pm. SO happy to be home!!

Cleveland Cavs

Since we were in Cleveland, we decided to hit up a Cavs game to see Lebron and Shaq play!
They lost in overtime to Denver. If Cleveland won, they would have had a 14 game win streak and a franchise record. Oh well!

Ohio

We drove 5 hours to Cleveland on Thurs afternoon. This was the fastest way to get there. Flying would have had us making connections at other tiny airports and would take even longer! We made a stop at the most amazing place ever - Grandpa's Cheese Barn. I jokingly said we should stop there & thank goodness we did. Two floors of amazing food - homemade salsa, jams, butters, and of course, cheese. TONS of cheese, dips, sausages...you
name it. Plus, milkshakes! We walked out of there with a bag full of stuff.

Ashland, KY

Hi Everyone - I am back in SF. It was a long 3 days of travel and work. It was actually pretty fun though. We went to visit two non-profits who received grants!

The first non-profit we visited was For Jamie's Sake. This is a great organization. Their mission is to:

To raise awareness and diligently recruit new foster and adoptive families.

To normalize adoption as a means of creating a family.

They were SO excited to see us. The Director was so grateful and excited to receive the grant. Lots of volunteers and foster kids were there, too. We were able to get a tour of the facility and meet the kids. When a child goes into foster care, Jamie's Sake provides them with a suitcase, outfits, toiletries, etc. This allows the child to have some stuff of their 'own'. The thing that impressed me most is that no one, not even the Founder, gets a salary. They operate purely on donations.

One thing that really hit me was when the Founder said, 'Most of us can't imagine not having our family, and these kids can't imagine having one'. I also thought about how much stuff I give to Goodwill and much better it would serve to give my clothes to an organization like this.

The local newspaper showed up AND the local news. I was very surprised when they wanted to interview me. Oh yes - I was probably on the local news in KY saying how excited we were to give them this grant. Overall, it was a great experience at this non-profit.

After this, we drove FIVE hours to Cleveland, OH. Glee, Broadway soundtracks, and Ipods got us through...

Hello from KY

I traveled allll day today. Up at 4am. Picked up at 430am. Arrived in Dallas at 1130. Arrived in Kentucky at 4. Got to hotel at 6. We got dinner and then I came back to my hotel room, got in bed, and watched Olympics. These snowboarders are crazy in the half pipe. They fly!

Anyway, flights were fine. Its cold here. Excited to go to Ohio b/c they have....DUNKIN DONUTS!!

Quote

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you."
--Princess Diana


Love this quote. Help one another & Give back.

Off to the MidWest

I'm off to Kentucky tomorrow at the God Awful Hour of 430am!!! Ugh. At least a car is picking me up and not Super Shuttle. And, I am connecting in Dallas and get to eat at Au Bon Pain in the airport. It is going to be COLD. The weather says 'Will be 30 degrees but feels like 19'.

So, tomorrow I'll be in KY. Thurs in OH. Fri - come home. Evie is going to camp for 2 days so this is a nice little vaca for each of us. Evie gets a break from us. Erik gets a break from walking Evie mid-day & the bed all to himself. I get to see the lovely midwest.

I'm sure it will be super cute seeing these kids, too!

Happy Birthday, Presidents!

Today we are off for President's Day! It is beautiful here today - Sunny and 60-65 degrees. I walked Evie down to Duboce park in a t-shirt & jeans! The park was full of dogs & people chillin on the grass. The dogs are mostly off leash but Evie still plays with them. She is getting really good about meeting dogs & not jumping on them. Of course, there was one Husky dog that was harassing everyone. The owner was just chatting and not watching him. He was jumping and biting. He would not leave this one dog alone and another owner was swatting him away. Finally his owner came and got him but let him go again. If your dog cannot control himself, he should not be off leash! People ask me why Evie is on a leash & I say that she plays rough, which she does. They might think I am crazy but I think it's only right & responsible to keep her on leash. I would never want her biting another dog!

Sunday

Happy Valentine's Day! It was so warm & sunny out on Sunday. I took Evie for a walk thru Alamo Sq and then went back up to sit in the park & read.

Amy & I went for dinner to this new place called Tacolicious. Everytime I say that name, I think of Fergilicious the song. ha. Anyway, this place was pretty good. Service was pretty bad. I probably wouldn't drive all the way to the marina just to get these tacos but if you're in the area, stop by & you'll be happy!

Saturday

Saturday was also very fun! We went down to Half Moon Bay for the day. First, we picked up Betsy & Greg, got some lunch to go, and drove down to the winery to get our bottles filled for $5! The Maverick's surf competition was going on too, and boy did we hit some traffic. Oh well, we still made it in time to get our bottles filled. Yesterday's wine was a Barbera wine from Napa. It is pretty good. We got an entire case of wine because that is just too good a deal to pass up.

We were able to sit outside in the picnic area and drink wine for a little while too. Then, we headed back to SF and went to dinner at EOS. We had never been before. It was delicious. We got a bunch of small plates to share including: garlic green beans, sesame seed brussel sprouts, soy glazed chicken, ahi tuna tower, and the most amazing mushroom dumplings in the world. These dumplings were so good, we got two orders. They had a carmely/butterscotchy taste to them and they melted in your mouth. I am still thinking about them! haha.

Fun day!! Also I would just like to announce that we had not made advance reservations. We literally decided in the car to go to dinner. How do you guys like that for spontaneity! I am trying!! :-)

Friday

Friday night was so much fun. First, four of us went to dinner at Tropisueno for mexican food. Movie night is fun because we are a mish mash group of friends & people who are just meeting. The mexican food was really good. Valentine's Day was essentially Love Actually but set on V-Day. Six storylines all intertwined. It was cute & funny but also predictable and cheesy. I would put it on the list of something to watch for the "holiday".

I give this movie a B+.

Love is in the Air!

Happy Valentine's Day weekend! To kick-off the weekend, tonight is monthly movie night and we are going to see....Valentine's Day! I'll let you know how it is.

We also have plans to go down to that $5 winery tomorrow to stock up on red wine.

Erik sent me this super cute rose plant at work. I can't wait until they all bloom & then I can plant them in the little garden I am planning on for the back porch!!

Valentine's Day should be just another day that you tell those you care about how much you love them. You should tell your friends & family how much you care about them all of


the time!

Love is....



Sisterly love


Traveling together


College buds

Freezing in the rain together


Spending the holidays together

Childhood friends

Dying laughing


Family visits


Silliness to the max


Unconditional love


Family


Grandma

New families



New Friends



Friends far away but always close to us

Ohio & Kentucky

Well, I just got roped into going out to Ohio and Kentucky next week. Can you believe it? Me & my co-worker Mike are going to Lexington KY & driving to Ashland(2 hrs). Then driving to Cleveland(5 hrs) and flying home from Cleveland. We are going to visit two non-profits that are receiving grants. It should be cute to go to the non-profits. One is a group for foster kids and another is for kids with Downs Syndrome.

It wont be SO bad but the driving part sucks and paying for Evie to be in camp sucks. Work says they don't pay for day care so they won't pay for dog care. Hopefully I will have some good pics or stories. We are gone next Wed - Fri.

Best Kitchen Device

Best Kitchen Device Ever. A hand held juicer. You get SO much juice out of the lemon or lime when you use this. Simply cut the lime in half & squeeze. Watch the juice pour out.

Thursday

Tonight, I started volunteering at the hospital! I am assigned to the maternity ward. I got to help with charts and make ice packs. I even got to run a test to the lab and ask for it 'stat'. haha. So I will be going weekly or every other week to help out.

Worked from home today which was great. It was so nice out today. Sunny and in the 60's. Took Evie for a walk in Alamo Sq mid-day. They had mowed the lawn and it just smelled fresh & like spring. Supposed to be sunny & in the 60's this weekend.

Headbands

My colors that I love for spring are orange, yellow, and purple. Normally, I don't do yellow because let's face it - when I wear yellow, my skin and hair blend in with the color. I think if it is a bright yellow, it might work. Anyway I was perusing Etsy.com and saw these cute headbands.
I like how they have a little character to them. Etsy has the cutest stuff.

Butterflies


Orange


Pansy


Peacock

Movie Review: All About Steve

Avoid this movie like the plague. Sandra Bullock is nominated for a Razzie for this horrendous movie. She acted a little like her Miss Congeniality character, pre makeover. She falls for this guy who does not want to give her the time of day & she is a strange girl who is like a walking encyclopedia. Of course, tragedy strikes and does the guy she likes come to her rescue & see the real her? I'm sure you can guess.

Movie Grade: F

J'Adore

these shoes!! Super cute. They are from Boden.

Accident Update

Remember when that girl was tragically hit & killed outside of our apartment building? Well, they just released more conclusions on the accident. Turns out the girl had extremely high Blood Alcohol Content - at 630am.

Here is the conclusion & the article:Two parties – a motorist and a pedestrian – crashed in a tragic incident on Fell Street. The actions of both are judged at fault, to unstated degrees. The pedestrian died. The motorist may have suffered emotional distress from the collision, but he will not be penalized or fined and his license will not be suspended. At least not in criminal court proceedings. Even his name has not been revealed. Perhaps this sad and unfortunate event on NOPA streets will spur the discussion of new legislation for "vulnerable road users" as a means of authorizing consequences for a motorist when a degree of fault is determined.**

Awesome Tea

Found new tea, I love. I discovered Roobios tea at Starbucks and was delighted to find it in the store! Celestial Tea makes Madagascar Vanilla Roobios tea. It is so yummy even by itself. It tastes like cake batter!

“Native only to the mountainous Cederberg region of South Africa, Rooibos (or red tea) is naturally sweet and has a slightly nutty flavor with hints of cherry and toffee. In Madagascar Vanilla Red, pure Rooibos is perfectly complemented by the rich flavor of sweet, creamy vanilla – resulting in a sublime and satisfying tea experience.” — Charlie Baden, Celestial Seasonings Blendmaster Since 1975

About the Tea

100% Natural
This product contains all-natural ingredients and flavors, and no artificial colors or flavors.

Crazy of the Day

Apparently, this MUNI bus was stopped at the bus stop & lurched forward. It hit the fire hydrant and water went everywhere. Check out this picture. I would have been dying laughing if I was on that bus.

Weekend

Ah we did nothing this weekend! We did not go out on Saturday to try that wine bar. I am JUST starting to feel better. On Friday - I stayed in and watched movies. Saturday - Lounged. Erik made us breakfast AND lunch. We went out to the store for a little bit. Watched Princess Bride. Picked up some Mucinex and NyQuil. They are helping me feel better. Erik is becoming quite the chef. Last night, he made his own pizza dough and made two pizzas.

Today, we just did laundry and stuff. Flipped on and off to the Superbowl. Its so nice the Saints won. I think that team and the community deserves it. It is the first time ever that the Saints went to the Superbowl. Plus, New Orleans has been through hell & back. That NFL team is something everyone in that city rallies around them.

Ah off to a busy week, once again. Oh so we did not get the rent reduction. We can move over one apartment or stay where we are but our rent won't go down. I think that game is over. Oh well. We will stay put.

Have a good week!

Rent Reduction x3?

Our neighbor across the hall moved out and guess what - they are renting her apt for $150 less than we pay. So, once again, I will ask to move out or get our rent matched. I'll keep you posted.

Friday

Well I am still feeling sick and rundown. I left work a little early, came home and got in bed. Napped for a little bit. Watched a few movies. I plan on lounging this weekend. I think Erik wants to try a new wine bar tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend!

Movie Review: Love Happens

Watched Love Happens tonight. I give this movie a C. It was kind of sad, kind of dragged, and definitely reminded me of Up in the Air. Traveling guy, dealing with baggage, and figures out who he really is/wants to be.

My reco - If there is nothing else to watch, check it out but don't run to Netflix to get it.

Fave Actresses

I love these two actresses!



Joan Cusack. SO funny. You've seen her in everything from 16 Candles to School of Rock

Judy Greer -Also hilarious. Wedding Planner, 27 Dresses, The Village.