The Red Bridge...

When I was a kid, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on the 50th anniversary of its opening. Today, an article was published on SFGate: The Golden Gate Bridge turns 72 today! 72?? Really?? How the heck did that happen? That was 22 years ago! I was NINE.

When I walked across the bridge that day, I remember my brother B was in a stroller. He was 2. He's no longer that little kid with the chubby cheeks and white blonde curls. I remember hearing soon after that the bridge actually flattened a little from the weight of that many people. Flattened! I still think about that to this day when I drive over the bridge. 

I am so happy that my parents took us on this journey. I think about it all the time and am stoked that I was able to recently walk across the bridge again on one of the hottest days I've ever experienced in the city. Sometimes it's pretty sweet to live here.

Trying to Tweet Over Here.

Twitter is broken. I'm not really sure how they could let this happen, but it has. Too many tweeters in the world - everyone wants to talk at the same time. See what happens when too many people talk at the same time? Chaos. Insanity. Too much noise. Irritation. That's why your mom always said, "Don't interrupt."

The Goob on the Couch

Here I sit, watching the American Idol finale. Yay Kris Allen. I like when the underdog wins....I don't even remember this guy from auditions or even Hollywood week. Yay for him and his little blonde wife - their lives have changed so dramatically and it's fun to think about how I'd feel if it were me. Unfortunately, I'd be in the award clips for worst female, oh, I mean, Outstanding Female. Stupid Bikini Girl. Stupid Tatiana.

In other news, I got the EA Sports Active for the Wii last night. It's super cool! It's basically the bootcamp I did last summer....lunges, squats, rows, running, walking, ya know - the works. I'm sore today...though that could be from the massive amounts of boxing-tennis-bowling-baseball that Wenis and I did last night. Boxing is still my favorite....it's SO FUNNY.

I'm still pretty exhausted from our sales meeting last week... American Idol has kept me up waaaay past my bedtime tonight. Time for some shut eye.

The List.

The List ends today. Like I said 328193810 times already, I didn't do very well, though I kicked it up a notch over the past few weeks.

Since today is my 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday, I thought I'd wrap up the list and explain it. If you're willing to read on, please do, I may say something funny.

1. Learn to make Belgian waffles like my dad's So I learned how to make waffles, but I have yet to practice on anyone. Practice makes perfect on these puppies! I took copious notes, so I'll be making these for someone soon! Volunteers?

2. Visit Gabe & Jen in NY (post May 7 but make the plans!)
Unfortunately, I had to cancel my trip back east for lame financial reasons. If I can swing it, I'll be out there later in the summer to bet on some ponies and hang out on a warm beach with warm water!

3. Visit Morgan & Bobby in Martha's Vineyard (post May 7 but make the plans!) Ditto to the above!

4. Run the Maui marathon - TRAIN for an end-of-'09 marathon

Knowing me, I can't commit to anything...especially not a marathon that I'd have to train for on my own. Instead, I signed up for the Vegas Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Dec. Now if I could just start running...

5. Try all 31 flavors at Baskin Robbins - Yeah, I only got through 4. Not sure what happened on this! I heart ice cream and it should have been an easy one. I suck. Well, cheers to pistachio, jamocha, cookie dough and butter pecan.

6. Take a picnic to the beach - Yep, another one I never got around to...and I. Love. The. Beach. It's still on my list for this coming year.

7. Tahoe trip Yo check it. Headed up to Tahoe this past weekend. It was awesome.

8. Put $10 on 31 and hope for the best Put my money on 31, didn't win, but won on every other number I put it on! Came home $50 richer.

9. Rita's for karaoke - A little late, but we're going tomorrow!

10. Play a practical joke on a friend - Couldn't think of anything...have a whole year to think now....muuuwaaahhaahaaaaa

11. Drive east and shoot the whole way - Again with an easy one - looking forward to doing this one soon.

12. Visit Half Moon Bay - Oh come on now. I couldn't get to Half Moon Bay? Really?

13. Host a dinner party Check! Hosted Poker Night and cooked a rather good dinner for the girls.

14. Volunteer for a day - Yep, just selfish I guess.

15. Shoot a gun Added after the fact, but man it was a good one to have on The List. Still scary and not sure if I'll ever do that again.

16. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge Did it, and it was awesome. Kinda far.

17. Visit the Cable Car Museum WAY cooler than I expected - the heart of the cable system. Local peeps have to check that out!

18. Learn 3 all-purpose jokes What does a one-legged ballerina wear? A one-one. What does a Scottish guy have in common with the Rolling Stones? The Rolling Stones say Hey You, get off my cloud and the Scottish guy says Hey McCloud, get off my ewe. What are the two dirtiest animals on the farm? Brown chicken brown cooooow.

19. Go on a date with someone over 40 (uhhh) and someone under 30 (again.) I backtracked in life and used the horrible horrible speed dating-in-a-community-center for my over 40 and the most recent speed dating for my under 30. The kid was 22. Ugh.

20. Take another swing dance lesson - Have to do this! I love it! (don't lead, don't lead)

21. Find a kickboxing class I love - same as above - have to do it! Hiiiiii-YAH.

22. Pay cash for 5 purchases over $30I didn't like this one.

23. See Citizen Kane - Still never seen it. Will have to Netflix that bad boy.

24. Master the art of the bloody mary I had one today - it counts.

25. Shoot at least 25 photos per weekCheck! It helps when the fancy new camera arrives.

26. Discover a new band I'm counting the awesome lounge band from Tahoe on this one. I didn't discover them per se...no clue what their name was. They were cool - someone yelled Free Bird and they actually played it. Rock on.

27. Hike to the top of Mt. Tam - Given that I grew up in Marin, this should be a given, but alas, I'm THAT guy. Someday...

28. See the sunrise & sunset in the same day. Check! It was fun.

29. Go gokarting I have a need for speed.

30. Mail notes to friends/family more often. I LOVED this one and plan to do it way more.

31.Turn 31.

Check. I'm old, yo.

Cheers to my new List! Send me ideas!

Almost 31.

I'm having somewhat of a third-life crisis (sidenote: if I live to be 90+ I'll be stoked.) Ya know when a guy (or gal I guess) has been married for a long time, has the kids, the job, the house...they get into what they feel like is a rut and buy a new sports car, usually a Corvette. This is how I feel right now in life...in a rut. I'm not sure why exactly, maybe because none of the "big stuff" has happened, or even really has the potential of happening any time soon.

Should I buy a Corvette? No. I shouldn't. I need to get over myself and stop brooding. I'm lucky to have such awesome friends to make me laugh like nothing else. I love how we can be ourselves and be dorky and fun and funny and random and spontaneous and planners and adventurers. We don't take ourselves too seriously and that is my number 1 favorite thing. I'm lucky to have such an awesome family too. My brothers are dudes who have found jobs they love, girlfriends that I like (because as we know this is super important), and friends that are actually cool. They're not my little brothers anymore but my tall, skinny brothers who are adults. (Yeah, it's weird.) My parents are a cool couple I've realized this week - they go on cool trips and do interesting things all the time. They're thoughtful and helpful and considerate. My mom likes to shop and my dad is so extremely handy it rocks.

Sooooo I'm turning 31. THIRTY-ONE. Tomorrow. Wow. I hope the next year is as busy and fun as the last!

Cheers to the 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday!

Countdown Continues

How can a weekend fly by yet yesterday morning feel like it was ages ago? That is this weekend. M and I met up on a gloomy and miserable Saturday morning for a cup of coffee and decided to leave for Tahoe at 3 that afternoon. It. Rocked. I love random trips, especially ones to Tahoe and ones that allow me to scratch off #7 & #8 on The List! 

It was rainy. Very, very rainy. M hadn't been to Tahoe yet and unfortunately the fog-rain-clouds-mist-snow kept her from seeing the stunning mountains and most of the lake. There was still a ton of snow up there - not enough to ski on but enough to make what we could see of the mountains even more beautiful. I absolutely LOVE Tahoe. I love the way it smells, the gorgeous landscape, the people, the places, the random encounters, the funny stories, everything. This trip didn't disappoint. 

We did the typical one-night-Tahoe-trip. Headed straight to South Lake, with a stop at Ross along the way (I really need jeans), then found a motel closest to Stateline, and checked in. Got ready, had some EmergenC (that stuff is dis.gus.ting.), listened to fun music, then walked into Nevada to Harvey's. May is hit or miss - it's off season so the motel rates are low but sometimes there aren't people there either. This weekend though, Sammy Hagar was playing, so Tahoe was crazy. Cabo Wabo was nuts, so we stayed at the lounge band in Harrah's most of the time. Then of course, a weekend in Tahoe wouldn't be complete without some dancing. Headed into Vex when the line disappeared and danced the night away. It was awesome.

Today, we lazily made our way home, stopping for food & gas & the Verizon store. Right now, I wish I had cable. I'm posted on my couch with nothing to watch but my beloved Hulu and Netflix. It'll get me through.

What To Do With COPIA...

COPIA was a cool idea that never quite came to fruition. If cool ideas need a place to come and die, come to Napa. Not that Napa is horrible, it's just that it hasn't found the balance between locals & tourists, which in my mind would equal success. If businesses only ever cater to tourists, then 6-7 months out of the year you're stuck without much business from us, the locals.

COPIA should have offered locals passes - perhaps an annual fee of $10 that would get us in for free. Instead, they charged $10 at the door. For what, exactly? The same photography exhibit and wine shots? Sure, they had movies on Fridays and cool wine & cooking classes, but again, the costs were prohibitive for people to do that every week. Overall, it failed, obviously, since it's now been closed for months.

My idea for COPIA? Turn it into a hot spot! Napa needs one! Live music, DJ nights, comedy nights, awesome art exhibits, wine tastings, beer tastings, movie nights (they already have a theater-like room).....all of which would be fun, affordable, and cater to locals as well as those visiting our little town. There aren't too many neighbors in that area - the river runs around the back of the property and there is enough distance that I think loud music could easily be played without bothering anyone. The place is HUGE inside - there's no shortage of what could be done with it. Why not capitalize on the younger generation in this town who have nowhere to go and make it the buzz about town? Anyone care to lend me a cool mil? I'll have a sweet spot up and running in no time. I'll be sure to hire bouncers - it seems like anywhere with music needs bouncers for all the "gang" fights here that shut every other place down. Who's with me?

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.