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!

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!

baby dominic!

this weekend was not only natalie's wedding, but our first occasion to meet baby dominic, the 3 month old baby of our friends jenn and jon. what a darling sweetheart! the pictures speak for themselves...



he was very well behaved while he got passed around from girl to girl...to girl...and back again. what a pumpkin!

friends [this pictures says it all]

i don't have much more to say than ladies, you mean the world to me and i love you all to pieces.

wedding weekend

natalie's wedding was this weekend, which was a fantastic end to my 6 weeks of madness--and what a gorgeous, amazing wedding it was! such a fun party. the site, the food, the drink, everything was just perfect.

"in my dreams, i see myself hitting a baseball"

so tuesday night was my first baseball game of the season, and what a perfect night for it!
and yes, this was how the sky actually looked--no photoshop enhancement here!

we played the padres, and it turned out to be a great game. warm weather (read: i was wearing capris and a tanktop. i put on my baseball hat by the end of the game to keep warm), a grand slam (by the giants), some excitement over what we thought might be a bad call (it ended up being the right call), good friends, and a win! what more can you ask for.

race time!

race day arrived! man oh man. we trained for the mileage, but not really the mental aspect of racing OR the heat. well, to our credit, unless it's a day like today (over 85+ degrees in san francisco???) it makes it pretty hard to train for heat in sf. of course it had to be the hottest weekend in MONTHS for our first half. i am happy to say, however, we made it! it was tougher than i anticipated, but i'm glad we did it. i'm very proud of brandon, jessi and i, and thanks a bunch to josh and garrett. josh paced me and encouraged me to keep my legs moving, while garrett ran with jessi to keep her motivated.

now, to back up, our "race weekend" began with a delicious home cooked meal. we got our farm fresh to you box on wednesday, so we decided to use a bunch of the ingredients. i made:
* a green salad with carrots and tomatoes
* roasted potatoes and carrots
* sauteed chard and yellow onions over chicken

yummy!

on saturday josh picked brandon and i up to take us to the santa cruz area, where we spent the night...

so today was the big day, and it ended up being WAY hotter than we thought it would be. thankfully, i purchased shorts the other day. i was worried about running in them because i had never worn them for a long run, but they turned out to work great! i would have DIED in pants. my parents were kind enough to come down, cheer us on, watch us cross the finish line, and hold me up afterward (thanks dad...i thought i might collapse into the sand). we gathered ourselves, got our t-shirts, and then hobbled out to the car to go get some brunch/lunch. overall, a successful (if not slightly painful) race day. i have a whole new level of admiration for marathoners...

nat's bridal shower

whoooops...when i went to type the title of this post, i wrote baby shower. luckily, i fixed this...no need to start rumors! natalie's BRIDAL shower was this weekend, and boy was it beautiful! it was held at metro lafayette, which had amazing food and a great environment! i highly recommend--i would love to go back sometime.

anyway, it was a gorgeous sunny (slightly breezy--yay allergies) day with lots of beautiful ladies and a relaxed, fun time. i cannot emphasize how great it has been to hang out with the high school girls--we've now seen each other three weekends in a row! i love spending time with this wonderful group. again, i am so fortunate to have them!

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all-in-all, a perfect day (minus the sunburn on, eh hem, one side of my nose only. luckily it has faded away today)

unfortunately i had to miss joanne's engagement party with the girls today in order to get some things done before new york, but i hear it was lovely! halfway through my crazy 6 weeks, only 1 trip to ny, 1 half marathon and 1 wedding left!

vegas! (aka joanne's bachelorette)

so, this weekend i went to vegas for my friend joanne's bachelorette. it was SO amazing--there were 7 of us from high school plus two of joanne's other friends. we had a blast! it was fun/tiring/relaxing all at the same time. we flew in friday afternoon on virgin america. the plane was full of bachelor/bachelorette parties!
the lovely bride and friends

when we arrived, we checked in the hotel room and chilled until we had to get ready for the night out! we got all dolled up, went to dinner and then out dancing at a club, thanks to hookups from tati.
saturday morning i got up early and went for a 10 mile run with tati--it was her first time going 10, and she did great! i was proud. we then went back to her house, showered, baked some cakes for later, and headed back to the hotel to meet up with everyone else, who were resting poolside. i have to say a bloody mary after a long run is just about the most amazing thing EVER. it's a heavenly way to replenish all the salt you've lost.

after the pool, we had a mini "shower" for jo, where we unveiled the shirts i had made for us to wear.

to give some background, in high school joanne's mom shared something with joanne about kissing, which joanne passed onto us. it's sort of a "classification system" for kisses...we were always pestered with the question "was it a peach, a plum, or alfalfa?" now, if you say these aloud, carefully pay attention to what your mouth/tongue does and you will see what the differences are.

anyway, we came up with the concept of using peach/plum/alfalfa for the shirts, all of us being peaches and plums, and joanne being alfalfa. i made up some graphics on my computer and then screenprinted them.

so saturday after the shower we got ready, all wearing our shirts, and went to dinner and then danced for a bit while waiting for our show to start.

group photo courtesy of melissa

all in all, a much needed, much enjoyed girls weekend. we should have these more often. not to get all sappy, but i'm so thankful to have such a wonderful group of friends. whenever i'm with them i am amazed at what a fantastic, beautiful group of girls i have as friends. it says a lot that here, almost 10 years after high school, we're still hanging out. thank you, girls, for being so fabulous. i love you all.

happy birthday, brandon!

sufficient to say march 24-25 is an emotional roller coaster in our household. poor brandon gets a depressed wife the day before his birthday, but i always perk right back up to celebrate him. i try and look at both days as a celebration of life, but march 24 will always be difficult.

anyhoo, first off happy birthday, husband! i'll save all the gushy stuff to say to him in person, but i'd just like to say how incredibly glad i am to have him in my life. he's such a rock for me, and he keeps me sane. we decided to keep it low-key, because he's been working on an architectural competition and i've been busy getting ready for vegas so we're both exhausted. i got him his favorite cupcake from the place down the street from my office (that takes the cake)--it's a cupcake filled with peach cobbler, but i'm mad because his present didn't arrive in time, and it's my fault. i put the wrong sf zip code. i put my home zip with my office address...whooooops. at least he got a cupcake, right?

also happy today, flowers from tati arrived! i'll take better pictures in natural light tomorrow, but this is what i snapped tonight. she meant them to arrive yesterday (we had the fortune of living together when we went through the loss of stacy, so we have an extra bond when it comes to that) but ups can't leave stuff at my house because they can't get in our lobby. i was THRILLED to see they have a feature where you can request a different delivery address online. it says 'in close proximity' but i chanced it and put my work address--they arrived! they are a gorgeous mix of bright pink, pink/orange, and orangey/peach roses. it got a little awkward at work to explain why i had flowers, but for the most part i avoided the conversation. one person, however, pestered me until i spilled it. it's not that i mind talking about it--in fact, i don't mind at all. i typically just feel bad for the person who asked--it's never what they expect and usually makes them feel awkward. oh well! i love my flowers.

saturday fun

so saturday was busy. 8 miles in the morning, then i met up with my parents, sister and claire for some shopping and lunch, then home for natalie's bachelorette party.

first stop: downtown. we ran into an anti-war, anti-occupation protest/parade, so i wasted time taking a couple pictures while the parade passed


claire sporting her new giants gear...go black and orange!
and a few pics from the champagne toast at kristin's and dinner after for the bachelorette...

this was taken at beretta, where we ate a delicious dinner...

friday friends

friday night, my friend katie came into town and brought a college favorite, woodstocks pizza (there is one on her way from sacramento). it was a fun mini-reunion of cal poly people on a random friday night.

gotta love the cinnabread

chris and brandon, giggling about something...up to no good always
it was a glorious evening!

saturday afternoon

saturday afternoon was beautiful, sunny...not a cloud in the sky. while brandon helped our friend adam move, i met up with sara for a long overdue (and much anticipated) mojito at our favorite mojito place, the orbit room.

it doesn't get much better than this.