Ahhhh The End of an Era. Ok, Weekend.

It's Sunday night, yet again, entering into my life with all those "shoulda's" that I was supposed to get to today. Should have mowed the lawn. Should have done more laundry* (funny story here, see below). Should have put away clothes. Should have cleaned the house. Big time. But no, Sunday night arrived, I needed to eat, and there it stands. I also needed to watch Thursday's Office because I can't live without some little Michaelisms.


*Funny story (funny possibly just to me, but so typical of my brain lately, I had to share): So I have one scoop of Gain left. As everyone knows, Gain is possibly one the best smells on the planet. I turn on the washing machine. I put in my last scoop of Gain. I shut the lid to adjust the temperature. I start making nachos. I'm multitasking and not doing it well. After some email checking, nacho checking, more internet surfing, nacho checking, I realize that I just did a load of laundry with no actual laundry in it. Yep, a full washing machine cycle of imaginary laundry. Eco-police? Arrest me now.


Friday night I headed into SF to meet up with J-Rock and her sidekick Blog Master G, Rockstars of the East, at Thirsty Bear, my long lost friend with the vanilla beer. It's always so much fun to see them and their CA posse - That's Hot Enoch and Funk Master P, brother of Blog Master G and new blogger-extraordinaire.


Sacto was in the cards for Saturday and Sunday - wedding dress shopping with Kellogg and her mom. I think K decided on a dress which was a feat in and of itself - choices, choices choices. I think this pictures tells all:

Did she buy that beautiful headress, you may be wondering? You'll have to wait until May to find out. I don't want to spoil the surprise for her fiance.

Cheers to wedding dresses I mean bridal gowns and the Rockstars of the East!!

The Mobile Tasting Room

Last Friday was my good friend's 50th birthday. We enjoyed an awesome dinner at Arrivederci in San Rafael, one of my favorite places to eat. The atmosphere buzzes, the food is delicious, the service impeccable. Being that I work in the industry, I arrive with a case of wine, sort of a given these days. Sidenote - who would have ever thought that *that* would be me...?

Anyway, I brought a plethora of vino to choose from, from Pinot Grigio to Cab and everything inbetween. I knew there'd be an eclectic group of folks there, so I wanted to be sure everyone was happy - and they were. In addition to my box o' wine, and not the 3 liter kind, others had graciously brought some as well. In the spotlight was a 1999 Trefethen Cabernet Sauvignon that melted in my mouth, as smooth and silky as a dark chocolate truffle but with enough kick at the end to keep life interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the dance off on my palate. PS - when you work "in the industry" you use words like "palate" a little too often. It's in the vocabulary toolbox to help make you sound WineSmart.

With a surprise visit from her sister and 20 of her closest friends enjoying her big day with her, she beamed like she was turning 21 all over again. Ok, maybe 22.

Cheers to C's 50th!

The Crazy Thursday

I haven't yet written about the party-hopping Thursday night a couple of weeks ago. We started that week insanely busy with work because our team had flown in for a 3 day meeting. As much as I hate sitting in a grey conference room that lacks windows or normal temperatures, I learned so much! But I digress...this post is about parties not work.


We headed from work to a pouring at the Culinary Institute, then from there, to the Chandon Pink Party. I hadn't had the pleasure of attending a Chandon Pink Party to date, so this was big for me. Decked in boas and pink eyelashes, we danced our way to the bar for some pink champagne and then danced our way to the dance floor. This place was CRAZY! I absolutely loved it. They need to do that every week. Ok, they used to but had to shut it down because of fights. What is WITH people?? Anyway, after we danced the night almost away until 11pm, we headed to Ana's to top off the debauchery. Yeah, I'm lying, there really wasn't any debauchery. Imagine a pink punk wig, those eyelashes that made me feel invisible (see previous post about Snuffleupagus), and a couple of pink boas. And lots of champagne. No need to imagine...












Wenis and I at Ana's


There's a reason I don't drink champagne...I remembered that reason early Friday morning when I had to head into work.

Last Saturday, to keep the pink going, we did the Walk of Hope. It was a great day in the city, warm and clear, and we walked our tails off on the walk, then the trek down Market for some shopping. Still wearing our Walk of Hope shirts, we went into stores, and people actually congratulated us for doing the walk! First of all, I didn't think SF people were THAT nice, and second, in the grand scheme of things, all we did was walk. I guess every little bit counts, and I am happy to have participated in Walking for Hope.

Cheers to pink everything!

Interesting Driving Thought

As I was driving to a work dinner this evening, I was thinking, wow, I need to get my eyebrows did. Badly. Then I thought, I have whacked eyebrows - I think I'll blog about that. Then I realized that I have blogged about my eyebrows before and that's just weird, creepy OCD. Then my crazy train of thought went to this.........

I have Big Bird's height and curiosity.
I have Cookie Monster's love of all that is sugar. C is for cookie that's good enough for me....
I have Oscar the Grouch's realism.
I have Snuffleupagus' invisible qualities, like when I wear costume items.
I have Ernie's sense of humor.
I have Miss Piggy's love of shoes and things that sparkle.
I have Animal's passion.
I have Kermit's sarcasm and the ability to burst into song.
And of course, I have Bert's eyebrows.

Cheers to the Muppets - whether they are on Sesame Street or The Muppets - and all that they encompass!

Surprise!

Big shocker of the day - my arm hurts. Monday, I saw an orthopedic surgeon whose main job in life is to torture poor souls like myself. In April of 2002, I was snowboarding with Kellogg. We were getting off the lift at Death Drop 2000 (for those who don't know this run at Heavenly, it's also known as Patsy's Run on the California side). It was warm - tshirt weather - and we were already sunburned and scraped up from the ice. Now, being the hardcore snowboarder that I am (read as: I suck), we decided to do one more run and then head down for some sunscreen. As all skiers and snowboarders know, "one more run" is a cursed statement. I got off the lift on a board without a stomp pad, my foot slipped, and I slammed onto the ground. There is a long story after that that includes a trip to the clinic in NV, followed by many years of pain, with some stuff inbetween. In any event, yes, my arm hurts. This doctor guy, aka torture man, gave me two shots in my shoulder. TWO SHOTS. Yes, I almost pssed out. Yes, I almost passed out again. He sent me home with an MRI referral (another thing I hate), physical therapy and a date to talk about surgery. Fun fun fun till daddy takes the t-bird awaaaaaay.

This morning, just like I always do, I got up and headed into the shower so as not to offend my coworkers with Dirty Megan. I proceeded to almost pass out. Whatever if going on with me is sorta scaring me. According to WebMD, I have MS, diabetes, heat exhaustion and a mild stroke. I should get those checked out.

Cheers to...um, well, nothing, because I hate doctor stuff.

Hm.

It has been a chaotic week in the lives of people I'm close to...bad car accidents, a family feud and not the fun-TV-game-show kind, deaths of close friends...It's been a week to reflect. I am grateful for what I have, who I have, where I am.

On this gloomy day in October, I cried at work. Linked to from one of my new favorite blogs , I read an article about Officer Mark Daily written by Christopher Hitchens, in Vanity Fair. I haven't been that moved by an article in quite some time. I don't have many words to express how I feel about this. With emotions ranging from deep sadness and an overwhelming sense of loss for someone I didn't know, to anger over the reasons we have taken it upon ourselves to "fix" other countries, to confusion about my actual stance on this war, I sit here and think. I think about how my brother, Brandolian, was gung ho about joining the Army after high school, right before we declared war. I had very selfish reasons for his not going, then with the timing of when we went into Iraq, Brandolian decided to move to San Luis Obispo instead. I was overly thankful for his decision - I can't imagine losing him in the way that Officer Mark Daily's family lost their son, husband, and brother. I want to thank Officer Daily for serving our country, for giving his life for what he believed in.

Cheers to everyone in my life!