Pumpkin Picking

This weekend, it was so nice out. Warm, sunny. On Friday, I met up with Betsy & some of her friends for drinks & dinner. We were home by 10pm which was awesome since I was exhausted.

Saturday, I went to my gym class and then we went down to Half Moon Bay. We went to the Ararta Farm to get pumpkins. They have a pumpkin maze, too. They also had a haunted barn(no thanks!), hayride, etc. It was fun.

Here are some pics.



Hayride, but we didn't go on


They had some strange pumpkins - white ones


misshaped ones


baby ones


They had little huts made out of corn stalks




They had so much stuff built out of hay. This was a jousting ring!


Joust



Erik eating Pumpkin Ice cream. There was no warm cider or hot chocolate to be found. They had ice cream and a bbq there. That is what you get for pumpkin picking when it is 75 out!


We went into the maze. Omg. It was hard to get out. It was like playing a video game where every path you take is wrong and you hit a dead end.


Look at me. I'm so happy, I'm in a maze


Get me out of here!!


And we made it!


Woohoo! I made it out.


Today, I did gymnastics parties & made cupcakes for Erik's co-workers. Have a good week!

The Nie Nie Dialogues

I wanted to share this blog with you guys - THe Nie Nie Dialogues. This woman, Stephanie, is around my age and has a loving husband & 4 kids. Last year, her & her husband were in a horrific plane crash & lived. They were in a small plane with just the pilot. The pilot did not survive, the plane was on fire, and her husband rescued both of them from the plane. They both received substantial burns but, they are alive.

I recently saw them on Oprah & she is really inspiring. Despite the fact that she looks totally different, is burned & cannot do some things she used to, she is happy to be alive and with her family.

Here they are.....The Nie Nie Diaglogues.

Win $100K

Heres another one - Win $100K. Um, yes please!

Win free groceries

Win $1,000 for groceries from Kraft, HERE.

Friday

Whew. Thank God it is Friday. Today, we moved our seats at work. We now sit on the 5th floor with DDB, the ad agency. It feels like we work at an agency again. Before, we were on the 9th floor with just the two of us plus some DDB finance people. It was ridic. So now we have new seats. It will be weird to press the 5th floor in the elevator after 2 yrs of pressing 9! Oh well.

I am so tired today. fridays - i am exhausted. I am hoping to go out tonight for happy hour w. betsy & her two gay guy friends who are hilarious.

Tomorrow, we are going pumpkin picking!!

Thursday

Last night, i went to kickboxing. I was SWEATING. It was great though. I love going to the classes. Its like you are getting trained by someone without paying $100 per session. Afterwards, I watched Biggest Loser. I love Daniel, Shay, Abby & Liz. Liz is like 65 and out there pushing herself to lose weight. Last season, that 65 year old Grandpa lost over 100lbs. Its very inspiring!! OH & for those of you who were with me on the Marthas Vineyard trip back in like 2005 or 2006, they played 'You dropped a bomb on me' in kbox last night. hahahaha

I cleaned and did laundry last night. I like getting it all out of the way during the week so you don't have to worry about it on the weekend. Today is busy busy busy at work followed by happy hour. I might see if we get out early enough if I can make it to the test. If I am home by 6, I can make it.

Evie & The Vacuum

Evie loves to fight with the vacuum cleaner. Here is a video of her doing just that. Also, when I typed in vacuum, i wrote 'vacum' and it said it was spelled incorrectly. I have been spelling that word wrong my entire life. I never knew there were two u's. what a strange word.

Beach

Here are some pics from when we went to the beach last Saturday. You can see Mr. Surfing Safari in his gear -






Don't know who these peeps are but look at the board - it looks like Nemo!

Funny

Erik was walking to the car yesterday with this surfboard. This homeless lady goes, are you going skiing? hhaha. Then, she started to tell him about how she has rugs for sale in the shape of fish or something. Cuckoo.

Old Navy Coupon

Good coupon at Old Navy. Click the pic to get the link to print coupon

Crash & Burn

Hmmm....I fully expect Lindsay to be the new Britney. Expect a head shaving, suicide attempt, or something ca-razy in the next few months.

Tuesday

It rained yesterday but I guess it was more like a flash flood for the city. I caught it on the news that it was this unpredicted, heat/cold/rain thing that caused the sudden downpour aka havoc on the city. here are some pics--

Water was spraying up from manholes

Flooded streets & highway

But, a rainbow after the storm!

I made that Lo Mein last night & it was so good.

Crazy of the Day

Um, I ride this bus home sometimes!!

On Friday night, a dead body was found on a 5-Fulton Muni bus. As the corpse showed no signs of trauma, investigators are still trying to determine the caused of death. (Our guess is the excruciating wait for an elusive 5-Fulton bus did him in.) According to police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka, "Workers discovered Feasel around midnight Friday at the bus yard at Presidio Avenue and Bush Street," but the bus was parked at around 6:30 pm that night.

Investigators will also use surveillance camera footage to see what, if anything, happened on the bus.

Rain

It is raining again. It is officially 'rainy season'. It means you have to carry your umbrella with you b/c at any given time, it could rain. Some days its a light rain, others it pours all day. Erik was driving to work & said that it was flooding in one area.

Its already dark & dreary out at 3pm. blah. Not good for going to the gym or studying!!

Tonight I am making Chicken Lo Mein:

Chicken Lo Mein Recipe

INGREDIENTS

3 Tbsp cornstarch
3⁄4 cup chicken broth
1⁄2 cup reduced-sodium teriyaki marinade & sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp each chopped garlic and fresh ginger
1 pkg (8 oz) wide lo mein noodles
1 lb chicken tenders
2 Tbsp oil
3 cups broccoli florets
4 oz sugar snap peas
1 red bell pepper, cut in 1-in. pieces
3 scallions, sliced

PREPARATION

1. To make sauce: In a small bowl, stir 1 Tbsp of the cornstarch, the chicken broth, teriyaki, sesame oil, garlic and ginger until blended; set aside.

2. Cook noodles as package directs in salted boiling water; drain. Meanwhile, cut chicken diagonally into 1⁄4-in.-thick slices; place with remaining 2 Tbsp cornstarch in large ziptop bag. Seal bag and shake until evenly coated.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add chicken; stir-fry 4 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove to serving platter.

4. Heat remaining 1 Tbsp oil in same skillet; stir-fry broccoli, sugar snap peas and red pepper 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Stir sauce to reblend, add to skillet and cook 30 seconds or until thickened. Stir in chicken and noodles. Sprinkle with scallions.

Other Blog

I deleted the other blog. I like to be organized but I cannot do 2 blogs!

Triple D

If you love this show like I do, here is your chance to meet Guy & go on a taping!

Monday Morning

Get to the bus stop & it says next bus in 22 minutes. Sometimes it does say that but it's just joking & will come in like 3 min. Nope. 22 min go by and the bus is FULL and refuses to stop or let us on. Wait another 12 min and get on the bus. It was drizzling out this AM and of course, that means that things/people stop functioning properly. Annoying! I didn't get to work until 9:15. I could've been here at 9:30 if everything went smoothly. I'm exhausted already and its 10am!

Weekend

This weekend was pretty fun & relaxing. I had the day off on Friday. Saturday morning, I went to the gym to this HARD class. It's weights, punching, kicking, stepping, lunges, squats...but it's good. I can't believe how some people do a class like that for an hour & then get on the elliptical. What are they thinking!Maybe they are in shape & don't think the class is that hard.

Anyyyyway. It was so nice & sunny & warm here on Saturday. We drove down to Pacifica. Erik surfed while I sat on the beach & studied. It was nice out. I was wearing jeans & a sweatshirt but it was fun & cozy. Saturday night, we took Irene, her sister & her Mom to dinner. We brought them to Firenze by Night - a place we love. It was horrible. I feel so bad b/c we pumped the place up big time and then it sucked. Everything was off - it was too loud, hot in there, we had to wait a good 20 minutes to sit. Then, Irene got two dirty glasses. Everyone's food was 'just Ok'. Not a good dinner experience. If it was my first time there, I wouldn't go back. Maybe it is finally time to try one of the other 50 italian restaurants in North Beach.

Today, we went to the Nike Marathon to watch Bailey, Chrissy, and Irene! We waited at Mile 13 to see them. Then, I studied, food shopping, and finished the night by going out for tacos with Betsy.

It was a nice, relaxing weekend!

Dog Food

Evie has successfully switched dog foods. They stopped selling her old brand at Petco. I switched her to Candiae. I've read/heard a lot about it. So far, she LOVES it. Listen to what is in it - it's crazy.

Human grade chicken, turkey, lamb
Brown rice
white rice
sunflower oil
omega 6 &3
Eggs
Flaxseed meal
Alfalfa
Sage
Rosemary
Cranberries
Apples
Kelp

Is that funny or what? Well the sunflower oil is going to 'produce a beautiful skin & coat'. Lucky her.

Rain Aftermath

Here are some pics of last night after the rain & wind stopped.

Burger

I think this is where I should have my hamburger. The great Hubert Keller is opening a....burger restaurant!!

The week's mega-opening, Burger Bar, doesn't happen until Friday and even though a more formal Eater Inside tour is en route, here, now, we have a special sneak peek of Hubert Keller's shiny new burger joint, courtesy of a tipster. The pretty interior shots will come later this week, but in the interim, feast your eyes on how Burger Bar plays into the context of the Macy's sixth floor and how it even boasts its very own elevator (kind of), which we're assuming will be key for those late nights where Burger Bar is open until 2am. Lest you have burger aficionados running around Macy's.

Rain in SF

Check out photos of what today's 'storm' did to the city!

Raincoat

I need a new raincoat. We got raincoats when we first moved here. We had no idea what the rain would really be like. It is a pain to commute in the rain. I have a short, pink Marmot raincoat that gets SOAKED when I go in the rain = doesn't really work that well.

After seeing what other people wear, thinking about what I need in a coat - here is the solution from Patagonia -


Unfortunately, it is $250. I will be on the hunt now to find it cheaper!

Hamburger

I am dying for a hamburger. I know I will probably get a stomachache but I think I should stop talking about it and just eat one! Especially watching that show Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. He comes to places near us and I just want to go and mangia!

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Today, we woke up to torrential rain & wind. It was so dark and stormy out. We are working from home today because it's so bad out. My boss lives in the Oakland Hills and they get weather worse than us. Plus the bridges are probably a mess. Our street is partly flooded! It's crazy. Apparently, it's an el Nino year so we will get a lot of rain.

Evie refused to go potty this AM. Its now 1030 and she hasn't gone yet. I guess she will go when she is at her breaking point!

Sunday

On Saturday, we got back from Napa & picked Evie up at camp. We came home & immediately left again to go meet up for beers with Betsy & Greg. Miss Evie was pretty mad about that. When I came home, we had a surprise - She had gone into the bedroom, into my work bag & pulled out my lunch bag. Carried it into the living room. Opened the bag & pulled out a tub of cream cheese(totally forgot that was in there). ATE THE ENTIRE THING. I'm sure it tasted good going down but she was miserable on Sunday. She is pretty sensitive to food anyway so eating an ENTIRE tub of cream cheese was not pretty.



Laying UNDER the covers on me, on the couch

Mommy - I'm so sick. I never should've eaten all that cream cheese

It was COLD - 50 degrees, foggy & gray yesterday. We were being so lazy!

ughhhhhh - make this feeling go away. no more cream cheese.

Napa

Yesterday was a great day! Here are some pics. We went to our winery, Alpha Omega. We drank & sat outside. Then, we had dinner at Market. It was amazing.The service was great. Free corkage for your wine. They have 'American' food - halibut, fish & chips, fried chicken, steaks.



We took the GGB to get up to Napa this time



Beautiful ride thru Sonoma




Love the grounds of this winery!

It's Harvest season! This means all of the grapes are coming in and will be crushed to make the 2009 wines. We got a behind the scenes tour on how it all works. It was really neat. 1st - They hang on the vine getting ready to be picked.


Waiting in their boxes to be de-stemmed




This machine de-stems the grapes


Leftover stems!


The grapes go into this barrel and start mixing. They have to keep dry ice under the barrel so the grapes do not start fermenting.









We shared the Tuna Tartare & Heirloom salad/mozz cheese/watermelon salad. Then, I had the halibut and Erik had the fish & chips. We shared though. For dessert, we had the butterscotch pudding in a waffle cup. This dessert was featured in Bon Appetit magazine! I cannot wait go back and try the rest of the menu!