The Week...

I don't have too much to say....pretty burned out from the past week. My garage sale...well....it was a garage sale. I made like $200 which when all is said and done is not. enough. for. all. the. work. Then again, it's $200 I didn't have last week and it cleared out the house a little, so I guess it's ok. The best part was hanging out with my family and friends! Everyone was right - garage sale people are weird.

Z came into town late on Saturday and ended up staying for a while. We did random stuff which was super fun. While he was here, we went to one winery (I swear it'll be better next time, Z), I tasted 4 Baskin Robbins flavors (butter pecan, jamocha, cookie dough, and pistachio), had a fancy dinner at Go Fish and watched Superbad (FINALLY). It rocked.

My birthday is in 6 days. Six. Days. Wow. In regards to The List, I have 27 more flavors of ice cream to eat and I should probably make waffles at least once more. The rest will just have to roll over to next year (year 32, that is.) They're perfectly good List items, there's no reason I can't use them next year.

The past two days were spent in my personal hell - a public speaking class at work. Yes, I just did this in January. This course was different, but the requirements were pretty much the same - speak and they will film you. It's just lovely. I now know that my cute jeans aren't that cute and my flattering blue tunic is super unflattering. My hair is awkward and my arms do this weird floppy thing when the left decides that it's ok to relax and not mimic Bob Dole. I'm usually quite animated in real life and when I speak on camera, I am as boring as Toby from The Office. It's weird. As you can tell, I had an awesome time doing this. Oh well, it'll make me a better, more well-rounded person, right? Oh ya know what else would make me more well-rounded? Finishing my list. That's also a tad bit more fun.

Cheers to a random and awesome week (exceptforThursdayandFriday).

Things That Are Rad, Chapter 4

A brand new tube of toothpaste

Jeans on Friday

The potential to sell stuff I don't use anymore

A cozy bed

Microfiber

A dining room table that was a steal at Cost Plus

My fluffy white robe

A good book

My laptop connected to my TV & working correctly

Improv

Any sort of improv is awesome. Purely awesome. When these people dance to Do Re Mi from The Sound of Music (one of my favorite movies ever) in Belgium, I just get all happy like a 3 year old with an ice cream cone. It makes me feel like there really IS a sense of community and it's just such raw entertainment. These people are not out there to make a buck, they're not hired actors, they're not some company. They're funny people doing funny things just. because. And I love that. I don't do nearly enough of things just for the halibut.

Improv Everywhere is one of those organizations. HILARIOUS. My favs are the Best Buy one, the Slo Mo Home Depot, and Frozen in Grand Central. I get all giddy when I watch these, both for the funniness of it all and the comraderie. It just tickles my fancy.

Cheers to giggles again. I heart them.

PS - When I lived in the city with WU, she had to take an improv class in school. Nerves were getting the best of her, so I met her at The Gold Dust for early afternoon shots. Yep, shots. She went to her class buzzed. Given how funny she is already, I think I missed a good show.

Yoga

So I haven't tried yoga since like 2003 because it hurt my bum shoulder pretty bad. On Monday night, Z and I went to Drank's house with Q and did yoga in her living room to a DVD. It was the exact opposite of Frozen Yoga - it's been SO hot here it was more like free Bikram Yoga. Anyway, I'm sore. I don't know if it was the yoga or the laughter at things in the DVD like "let your organs soften" and "release your spine down to your pubis." I mean, seriously? Who talks like that?

Reason #3829 why I don't do yoga - it hurts my shoulder.
Reason #24579 why I don't do yoga - it's cheesy and makes me giggle.
Reason #1947 why I don't do yoga - I'm not that bendy.

Cheers to the giggles...without them, I don't know how I'd go on.

PS - Imagining us doing yoga in Drank's living room is actually quite funny.

The Countdown

For some reason, this birthday is looming more than my 30th. Is it because I'm now officially in my 30s? Is it because this isn't where I expected I'd be? Is it because life is flying by and I can't help but wonder where it went? Hmmm.....

In my old age, I keep thinking about what I've done, what I haven't done, how I've lived, and who's impacted my life. With Z here for the past few days and the hours and hours of conversation with him, with the wedding on Friday and seeing my friends of 10+ years (!), I guess I'm feeling somewhat reflective. Cheesy, I know. Please feel free to make fun.

I think I've lived well, though I know that not everything I've done is honorable. Now that I've grown up somewhat, I take pride in how I treat others, and I thank my parents for raising me right. I'll never understand those who take advantage of people, those who are rude for no reason, and those who are self-centered. I'd rather be friends with people until they give me a reason not to be than the other way around. 

Ok, I'm done. Proceed with the mockery.

Whirlwind Weekend

This past Friday, my friend from college, ABB, got married in the East Bay. Gorgeous venue, great food, pretty everything. They even had a photo booth!! (Photos to be posted shortly) This was the first wedding where they played some sort of ice-breaker type of game which was extraordinarily entertaining! First the DJ tells us that if we pass a dollar bill around the table during the music, whoever ends up with the dollar gets the flowers out of the centerpiece. We pass. And pass. And pass. KMNK's hubby gets it, but then the DJ throws in a twist - whoever is holding the dollar has to get up and dance around the table. So there he went, dancing around our table. He stops behind me when the music stops. Now I have to get up and dance around the table. It was awesome looking around the room seeing people dancing around fancy dinner tables. I stop behind KMNK, thinking, yay - she gets the flowers! Um no. She now has to play musical chairs on the dancefloor! That pregnant friend of mine (or as we called her that night, El Preggor) danced her little booty around those chairs, butt-bumping grandmas and uncles galore. It came down to El Preggor and Uncle Tom (or something) and as Kung Fu Fighting stopped, El Preggor landed her backside in that chair, winning all dollar bills from all tables. It was extremely entertaining and will be on You Tube soon.

Saturday consisted of cooking (yes, I cooked) and cleaning (yes, I cleaned) for poker night. The girls came over around 7pm and we had BBQ chicken, creamy polenta, and my spiffy citrus salad (#13 on The List). We finally got to poker around 9:30pm and played till about 11:30. Another late night was had.

Sunday, Z and I headed to the city for a Giants game. ABB's dad got us tickets to the game so we were with a lot of the people from the wedding. So fun. So HOT. I don't think I've ever sweated that much in San Francisco. Ever. It was melt-your-kicks, get-me-another-beer, so-glad-I-wore-a-dark-shirt-so-you-can't-see-my-sweaty-back hot. Since Z and I didn't want to waste a warm day in the city, we randomly decided on our drive out of town to stop at the Cable Car Musem (#17 on The List) which was so so cool. Thanks to my dad for telling me to add that one! We saw the home of all 4 cable car lines. SO cool. We then decided to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge (#16 on The List) - Z had never done that! It was unbelivably warm still - how often do you see people on the bridge in a tank top....it rocked.

All in all, a killer weekend! Too bad I can barely keep my eyes open and want to go to Marine World. Too bad I have to earn the money for a $30 ticket to ride rollercoasters. Doesn't it sound awesome though?

Cheers :)

PS - I no longer have cable. Lame.

A Year?? Get out!

It's been a year and one month since my worst. date. ever. How can that be? I haven't had another date that bad since. Either that means that I'm not going out much or I'm going out with somewhat normal guys. I think it's both.

I just had to post this because it's really funny. Wrong in so many ways, yet still quite entertaining.

Cheers.

Follow Up.

Thinking about my poor Things-to-do-before-I-turn-31 List, I'm actually disappointed in myself that I didn't accomplish as much as I thought I would have. I'm really bummed I had to cancel my jaunt to the east coast and really need something to look forward to. Time to plan some small, cheap getaways...

I've wondered lately why my friends and I don't take more trips. We all love the same things, we get along so well, and we travel well together on the small road trips we do take. We can talk for hours and hours and hours about nothing and feel like we accomplished a ton. We all value the importance of girl time, even those of us who are attached to that species we call boys. We giggle, do random things, have random things happen to us, and can enjoy a weekend in some tiny town just because it's somewhere we've never been. We have so much fun and I wish we could live on a cul-de-sac all together and ride golf carts everywhere we needed to go. I imagine us in the future all living on our little street, having block parties, and our kids all playing together.

Given that none of us live THAT close to each other, I thought I'd enter us into a spa-getaway contest at Uptake - a travel website that I just learned about. My girls and I rarely pamper ourselves - we can be too practical or too broke - so who knows! If I win, I can honestly say that we'd have the best time that anyone could possibly have on a spa weekend. We'd make sure that even the staff had a blast.

Cheers to contests (gotta love 'em) and friends (gotta love 'em too).

THE LIST.

Sooooooo in 23 days I turn 31. Um. Yeah. I sort of don't think that I'll accomplish most of what's on my list in the next 23 days. I've only done 7 so far. SEVEN. I canceled my east coast trip (#s 2 & 3. Bummer. I'll miss you guys.), so there goes two anyway.

So what I'm thinking is that I'll roll this list over into my 32nd year of life, change out the ones I did for new ones, and add one, hence my new list: 32 things to do before I turn 32.

One thing I promise to do before I turn 31 is try all 31 flavors at Baskin Robbins. I mean, that doesn't exactly translate to my 32nd year very well, and hey, I love ice cream.

Don't be disappointed in me. I tried. You'll just have to follow me through the next year of my life to see if I accomplish any of those. If I do, I'll probably have some funny story to share because weird things happen to me. They just do. I don't know why.

Cheers to trying new things....again.

PS - I keep typing "21" instead of "31" - I think it's a sign.

Stuff White People Like

I started reading the hilarious blog 'Stuff White People Like' a looooooong time ago, but I think that after the book thing, this blog has jumped the shark. It's pretty unfortunate because the postings are so. true.

Take, for example, the one about North Face. Read it. Now walk around San Francisco on a freezing cold summer day and you'll see that this is absolutely dead on. Most of these are dead on, and more power to the author for writing what we all know, what we all think is funny, and getting a book deal out of it! If only I could be so lucky...

In any event, it's too bad that the SWPL postings have come less often and they have been less funny. I guess that's what happens when you get famous.

The Island: Story 1

I miss living on Treasure Island. It was such an interesting place, creepy mostly, but interesting nonetheless. The history of the Island is so fascinating - it was the home of the 1939 World's Fair. Over the years of living there, I learned a ton about the Island's history.

I just read this article on SFGate about the olive trees that were planted at the World's Fair and how they are still thriving. This is really cool but I just keep thinking about the part of our lease where it recommended that we not have a garden in the ground because it was toxic. I'm not sure that I'd eat Treasure Island Olive Oil but I'd definitely buy it if I saw it.



More Island stories to come in the future...I sure have a lot.

A Noseglasses Update

Just for the halibut...



I really need to get that website going.

Millennials...and Wine.

I have a blog devoted to wine, which, honestly, for how much wine I taste, I should keep that blog waaaay more updated, but anyway.... Because I have that blog, I should probably post this there instead of here...but that's why the interweb created hyperlinks.

I just read this article in the Press Democrat: http://tastingroom.pressdemocrat.com/default.asp?item=2361384 (I'm "WineChick" in the comments.) I generally like the PressDem because they have comprehensive stories, a lot of extras and they're on top of it. This article is interesting and touches on a very important piece of the wine business: millennials. Being at the top end of this generation (most report the born on date is 1977-1994), I think that this is such an interesting and relevant subject.

As wine marketers, winery owners, and field sales, we have to understand this generation completely. We need to do what they do, attend what they attend, and accept that they are unlike any other wine consumer. Old school tendencies like sticking with one brand and one brand alone and lower price points don't cut it with these wine lovers. They like adventure and teasers, cult wines and value. By value I don't mean bargain basement wines, I mean a stellar wine for a reasonable price.

We can't ignore this consumer, they are coming fast and furiously, and they. like. wine. A lot. They like new, they like different, and they like to be surprised. They follow wineries on Twitter, Facebook, and the next social media outlet that comes along. They'll download your app for their iPhone and will expect the most out of it. They want you to hook them and reel them in, they'll recommend you to everyone they know, then they'll find the next best thing. Get in with these guys and word spreads like wildfire. Getting in with them may be trickier but it's being done all over the place. Keep at 'em.

Cadbury Creme Eggs

The season of Cadbury Creme Eggs is almost over. This makes me sad. I need to get to Safeway/Target and stock up. Like, now.

Maaawwwage maaawaage.

I just love The Princess Bride! I forgot how much I love this movie...I can't wait until I have kids and we can watch this movie together and say "Stop it now I mean it" "Anybody want a peanut?"

Thank you, Bravo, for airing this on a lazy Monday evening.

Emails

I love getting emails. It's a bit like getting non-junk-mail in your mailbox. Remember those days? We don't get much of that, though part of my 31 List is to send more! I especially like getting emails from my mom. She writes them as if she were writing a letter which I love. I, on the other hand, write them how I speak.

Mom example: my mom starts them off with "Dear XXXX," and ends with "Love, Mom" - I heart it.

Mine: "sup dudes, whatchya wanna do this weekend? I know it's only Monday but I can't wait for the weekend!" - no intro, no close, and if you're lucky, I'll remember to sign an "M"

Cheers to my mom finally using email - though now I miss her letters! - and to her emails!

Guess What I Bought?

I bought noseglasses.com recently. I've been hoping for it to be abandoned and the noseglasses gods were shining on me because it was just regular priced and I'm happy. Granted, I don't have the time or means to build a website for it right now, but I have to do SOMETHING with it!

Send me your photos of noseglasses and you, noseglasses and your friends, noseglasses and your dog and some way, some how, I'll get those posted.

Pets.

I just have a quick thought...

What is it that people look like their pets? This is usually a dog/owner phenomenon, but maybe some people look like their cat/bunny/frog/hermit crab/bird thing too.