busy weekend!

What a weekend! Thursday was the conference, then afterwards JR & I hung out with our friends Mandi & Mike who came in for the conference from San Antonio. The four of us went to Swatdee right around the corner to have Thai for dinner. After dropping M&M off at the place they were staying, we drove out to the airport to pick up Colleen & Jeff, JR's sister and brother-in-law, at about 10:30pm.

On Friday morning we had breakfast at Tartine. I had the always delicious bread pudding.



The whole day was essentially a slow photowalk; down 24th and Dolores, up and down Valencia for a while, taking photos and shopping. It's great to just ake your time to notice what's around you.



After having lunch at Papalote, we came back up to the house and I took a loooooong nap. We left at 6pm to head downtown for the Giants vs. Dodgers game. It was great (albeit freezing cold)! We got to have totally bad for you ballpark food, because that's the law, you know.

Saturday morning we went down to Kookez and had a delicious breakfast, which includes enjoying the company of Shy & Deano. We loaded up on carbs to be fully fueled for our visit to Muir Woods. It was beautiful as always. Got to see an otter, and several chipmunks. We continued on to Muir Beach, and then Stinson Beach where we had a late, late lunch that was pretty meh. Unfortunately, I was messing around with the settings on my camera, and came out with hardly any decent shots. Colleen's photoset of this weekend kicks my photoset's ass. Check hers out.



Everyone started working on photos and blogging and doing computer work, and it was nearly 9pm when we realized we needed to get some dinner, and most places around here close at 9:30. We almost ordered in Chinese, but decided to drive up to a little place we know. We were afraid they were about to close, but imagine our surprise when we open the door and hear karaoke streaming from the bar. We had a great meal and a number of alcoholic beverages before we moseyed on over to the bar area to watch the karaoke.

My favorite singer of the night was a middle-aged Chinese man in a Metallica t-shirt who only sang heavy metal. I'm talking 'Feed My Frankenstein' & the like. And his wife was dressed in full San Antonio style headbanger getup, complete with teased up hair and mini-skirt. Very entertaining.

I was literally pushed into doing a song, which I promptly slaughtered: Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond. Apparently the number of Tsing Tao beers you drink is not equivalent to the same number of Mai Tais everyone else is drinking which make them bulletproof on stage. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Fun times.

On Sunday, we split up; Colleen & Jeff went down to the wharf, while JR & I ran a ton of errands in an effort to be ready for the party we're throwing this coming Saturday to launch "Backyard 2.0", which we've finally finished. It's awesome. Still much party prep to do though, and since I woke up pretty damn sick Monday morning, I haven't been much help. The turnout is going to be frighteningly good - I'm not sure where all these people are going to fit!

Back to coughing and moaning and generally feeling sorry for myself. And pizza - pizza is on the way has arrived, which makes everything better.

how i feel about soup (and more)

The Bloggess's Soup: Real Life vs. In My Head sums up how I feel about soup. And I mean EXACTLY. It's kind of freaky how much this is identical to how I feel about soup.

And here I was, thinking I was the only person in the world who hates soup. You hear that, internet? (and JR...) Hating soup isn't un-American. I am not a freak!

Same thing goes for celery, carrots, cucumbers, cantaloupe and cauliflower. (Huh. I never realized all these things started with a "C" before.) I hate them, and their very flavor infects everything they come in contact with. Particularly cantaloupe. If that crap comes within a foot of a slice of watermelon, you can taste it. Infected, you hear me!?!

And I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. I am not one of those weirdos who can't stand it if the stuff on their plate touches.*

*But... the things on my plate do have to be in a certain order. Meat/brown food at 6 o'clock, potato/starchy white to tan or yellow food at 2 o'clock, vegetable/green food at 10 o'clock. That's not weird. That's just how food on a plate has to be. I'll come back and post a photo. You'll see.

happy birthday, jr!!!

Well, we did it! We successfully pulled off a surprise party for JR tonight! Despite a close call when Shannon hadn't gotten my e-mail yet and kept saying, "Absolutely! We'll go celebrate your birthday with you on Friday night!", and Aaron kept saying, "But that's date night. We can't go.", and the back and forth of "We can do date night any night!" and "We'll see...", he was still surprised. He had no idea.

The plan was for just JR and I to go to dinner at Kookez and then to go see a movie, just the two of us. Unbeknownst to him, Deano and Shyer had made a cake, and Aaron and Shannon were waiting for us at a special table at Kookez, with balloons and everything, even a mug full of sugar-free candy. We had a nice long dinner with all our bestest friends, drinking wine and beer, and JR and I took a night off from our diet.

Deano and Shy put 31 candles on the beautiful cake Shy had made, and brought it out in a fiery blaze. :) The cake was delicious! After we had our cake, we all counted through the candles and recounted our entire lives up to this point. JR started it off, and he noted the last 2 candles as the best years, starting when he met the best girl. I'm totally keeping those 2 candles.

I love you, JR. Happy Birthday. Best years of my life too. And only more to come.

ask ashley™, #2

Stepping outside the box, today's question is from an actual reader! (An almost-lawyer in Houston who would prefer to remain anonymous.) :D

Dear Ashley,

My neighborhood pub has $12 steak night every Monday during happy hour. I like steaks, and I like happy hour, but the two combined always render my Monday evenings completely useless. What can I do?

—Nap-Time Nelson

Dear Nap-Time,

Looks to me like you're screwed. How can anyone resist $12 steak AND happy hour?!? Accept that Monday nights are reserved for uselessness. As some Zen master said, "It is what it is."

Also... are Stella or Duvel included in happy hour? If so, you are truly lost my friend. And I might come visit you next Monday.

—Ashley

Ask Ashley™ is not to be confused with (or impinge upon the trademark rights of) Ask Abby™.