new music!

so brandon and i went to a ben kweller concert. if you've ever talked to me in person about ben kweller or a ben kweller concert, you know how giddy i get. i immediately transform into a 14 year old girl (thankfully without the squealing).

anyway, this time we were beyond pleasantly surprised with the amazing opening acts! in the past, i've liked some opening acts, i've not liked others, but rarely do i get as excited as i did about jones street station and princeton. princeton opened for jones street station, who opened for ben kweller. both are relatively new and unknown bands, but i think they have great potential!

just a tip: jones street station is streaming their entire album on their website. i highly recommend a listen! they are a folksie/bluegrassy kind of good summertime jam band....i hope you like! two of my favorites: last time and tall buildings

happy fathers day!

just wanted to give a great big "happy fathers day!" to all the fathers out there, especially my own fantastic dad, and josh ( my brother-in-law), seeing as it's his first official fathers day.

dad, you're the greatest!

photo courtesy of edyta szyszlo photography

claire and her gecko friend

when my sister, josh and claire were in hawaii (they just got back last week), they had a little gecko friend that visited them in their room. here is yet another moment showing claire's affinity towards animals...makes me crack up every time...

8 months

i can't believe this muffin is already 8 months old. i love this baby so much! she's such a little joy and blessing. i got to spend saturday with claire, josh, jen, my parents and brandon for my dad's birthday and boy did we have a lovely time, although as you can see most of the time i was distracted by the baby.

she's not crawling yet, but she gets close. she also is all excited to stand up and take a few steps--with help, of course.

as you can see in this picture, claire's hair is finally becoming apparent...

she likes drinking water out of a straw, although she makes a funny face and ends up with half of it down the front of her...

she also loves animal. if you saw the gecko video on my sister's blog, you could get a taste of that. at my parent's house, she saw miss kitty and giggled and smiled and tried to move towards her however she could--looks like she takes after her dad's affinity for animals (that's what she's doing in this photo--going for miss kitty)!

i love spending time with claire, and thankfully she enjoys me (so far). i got in the car on saturday when we got picked up from bart, and claire got a big grin on her face. i was able to walk around the store with her away from my sister and she was fine (i even caught her smiling at little boys in the shampoo aisle). i can't believe 8 months have already gone by! i can't wait until i see this little pumpkin next!

ny times

image courtesy of James Estrin/The New York Times

so, the headline on nytimes.comright now is regarding this dusk-to-dawn drop-off program for people with alzheimers and dementia. the idea is simple--it's a place for people to go to occupy them during restless nights, and to give them a place to be to ward off night terrors--to generally help them avoid "sundowning." just read the article--it's adorable and an uplifting article to read in times where 99% of the news is depressing and heart-breaking.

busy girl

so, i've been a busy girl, although i'm not really sure what i've been doing. training has been a failure--i've been uber exhausted, my legs have felt tired and achy, i'm not really sure what's going on. work has been really busy, so i've been working late and laying low in the evenings. i feel like i've sort of neglected the blog, but mostly ben and stu on the blog! it's not because they haven't been up to cuteness and mischief, either. i haven't captured a picture yet, but ben has been jumping on our flat screen tv nightly, which has been his go-to bad cat behavior as of late. when this happens we quickly whisk him into the bedroom, at which time he cries and cries and cries until we let him out. he usually has to go in a few times, but it seems like he's learning...maybe. stuart has been..well, stuart. the loaf/walrus/blob of the house, he wallows around, rolling on his back, squeaking when he hears plates clanking around. everyone want to join me in a round of "ooooh stuuuuuuuuu..."?

anyway, i finally uploaded some pictures and also took a few of these devilish boys showing their softer side...

group groom





and now, a little video showing why one of stuart's nicknames is growlypants...

birthday pub crawl

thursday was chris' birthday, and so he planned a pub crawl for saturday to celebrate. the weather was foggy and overcast, but that didn't stop us! first stop was alembic, on haight street. i had heard of this bar about a year or so ago, but i hadn't made it there. saturday was the day, and alembic did not disappoint. great atmosphere, cool interior, and delicious drinks made for a great first stop!

this is not it (that was chris' drink), but i got a drink called bees knees--gin, lavender honey, and lemon juice. so delicious!
next stop was magnolia pub & brewery, where we enjoyed beer and some french fries. sara and i discussed sewing machines and affective filters, while everyone chatted most likely about more normal things.


next stop, toronado, a bar in san francisco known for it's bajillion beers on tap. okay, so maybe bajillion is over-exaggerating, but there's still of draft beers. after toronado we had drinks at elbo room, famous to us for their photobooth. more chit-chatting, more people, more fun. after elbo room it was definitely time for dinner, so we went and grabbed some tacos at a nearby taqueria, where chris got to enjoy a birthday cupcake, courtesy of annie.


after dinner, before parting ways we decided that ice cream sounded delicious, so off to bi-rite we went!

a tasty way to end our pub crawl adventure. it was a fantastic day of drinks, friends and fun. thanks, chris, for organizing the outing!

cat saga

so. on friday, the bed we had ordered arrived, and friday night i decided to assemble it. alone. brandon was in iowa for his brother's graduation, so i decided to tackle the assembly--i am known to decide to take on feats like this, which usually end in tears and frustration.

first off, i come home to find a champagne glass shattered in the kitchen, and a vase knocked off the counter, prevented from plunging to it's demise only by the corner of a stool which was holding it up. great. first task upon arrival from work--clean up the glass that is all over the kitchen. literally ALL over the place.

so clearly the cats were already going bonkers, confused because brandon wasn't home. on top of that, these big boxes and packaging set them into a flurry of activity. i would have taken photos had i not been so focused on finishing the bed. imagine stuart chewing on cardboard, ben chasing his tail in a pile of bubble wrap, the cats running up and down the mattress which is leaning vertically against the wall. at one point stuart decided he was king of the castle--he was lounging on top of the mattress, laying on his back, lolling about. ben would run up, stuart would bat him in the face, and then ben would run back down. repeat 4 or 5 times. more tail chasing. then stuart would try and run off with the allen wrench. you get the picture.

two hours, some sweat and a little blood later, i was done with the bed and it was time to put on the mattress and box spring. the latter was down the hall in the bathroom, to help prevent the cats from climbing up and down it. i tried to slide it out of the bathroom vertically, which it turns out is a bad idea, because it didn't fit all the way through. the box spring is vertically half way through the door, stuck, and ben decides to climb up the box spring on the inside of the bathroom. while i'm trying to get him down so i can slide the box spring back into the bathroom and flip it, stuart climbs up on the outside of the bathroom. i now have a cat on either side of the box spring, neither really knowing how to get down, both pacing and meowing. because the thing is in the doorway, i cannot get a stool into the bathroom to help ben down. i try a number of tactics but none work. i then work on stuart, who just clings on for dear life when i try and pull him down. total failure. fast-forward 15 minutes, both cats are still there, i'm begging them to get down, it's midnight, i'm exhausted and on the verge of tears. i even try beckoning with treats and that doesn't work. ben FINALLY got down (dug his claws in, threw his back legs around and shimmied down), and about 10 minutes after that stuart got down the same way. hilarious now, infuriating at the time. i swear--do i have cats or toddlers?

good morning!

happy monday morning from ben and stuart!

the weekend (so far)

so far, this has been quite a lovely weekend. it started out with a baseball game on friday night in amazing seats (they were given to me), and then followed up with a drink with kelly and shane, who are in town for the weekend. it was great to catch up with old, dear friends!

today was the great urban race, that josh and brandon participated in.

it's basically a scavenger hunt/race throughout the city--like the amazing race, but only in one city, not all over the world. brandon and josh had a great time, but are now absolutely exhausted. while the boys were racing, my sister and i were on internet duty to help the boys decipher some clues. we also had entertainment in the form of claire while we waited...today she ate some carrots for us, and we giggled at the faces she made



after the time with claire and jen, i headed up to the orbit room for birthday mojitos for sara's birthday. YUM!