Restaurant and Mansion Dream

I was staying at a friend’s house, and was woken up by her babysitter (who I had never met) telling me that she had to leave for a while and I had to watch the kids. Well there were about 5 kids, not all my friend's, that ranged in age from about 2-6. So I had to get up and watch these very active kids. They were running around doing every craft imaginable, eating all sorts of things, and making a big mess.

I ended up out on the street in from of this pub sort of restaurant. Turns out it is owned by my old friend Andrea. I was chatting with a few people out front about the fact that there was a power outage on this and a few other blocks. One of the girls was also telling me that a couple of blocks up was this gas station that in this movie we all knew (which I think wasn’t a real movie I’ve seen in reality), the main character proposed to the other main character. I thought that was cool and wanted to see it, but never did.

We ended up inside the restaurant and the place was filling up with customers. They all knew there was a power outage and that we weren’t officially opening until the power came back on. But guess they were alerted that it was going to be soon, and they started getting antsy. I wasn’t really there to work, I was just a friend of the owners and was visiting or something. But there seemed to be a lot of employees running in and out of the kitchen like chickens with their heads cut off. They were trying to get things prepped, but were still waiting to get the power back so they could start cooking and stuff. Then Andrea’s Mom showed up and was trying to calm everyone down. I think she managed the place. I never did see what happened there.

I was suddenly back at my friend’s house. Not her real life house, but this made up, beautiful mansion. It was this very modern, white mansion with all clean square lines. There was a large pool outside the large plate glass windows out front. But there were also sprawling grounds with manicured lawns, another huge pool away from the house and a hot tub that could seat about 20 people. There were lots of people coming and going, some I knew, and some I didn’t. There was apparently going to be some huge party there that night. My old co-worker Jason, and his wife were there. And also a bunch of old college friends, like Adam and Bill. This group of friends and I were chatting in this one room for a long time, and they kept trying to point out to me people I may know. People were still coming and going, as I got the vibe that any and all people were welcome there and people just showed up whenever to hang out. At one point this very beautiful and shapely woman walked by the window and Adam ogled her. I jokingly asked if he was still married, and he held up his hand to show his wedding ring. Then he jokingly said, “I can still look.”. At one point I was out front just watching a handful of people heading down to the larger pool and hot tub further away from the house, and just had to ask someone for clarification, “Exactly whose house is this?” and they confirmed, Jennifer. How I didn’t know that since I was staying there, I’m not sure. Then I basically headed up the large staircase to the room I was staying in, to get ready for the party.

Then I woke up. I didn’t get to see how the party turned out.

New Year’s Weekend in L.A.

So Sarah and I met up with Steph and Bre around 8:45am on Friday so we could sort of caravan down to L.A.. We ended up taking a couple of different freeways, but remained in the vicinity of each other. They even passed us on the freeway once and didn’t know it. After making one gas/food stop together, we arrived in L.A. ten mins apart from each other. We checked in the hotel which is an older hotel, and we later learned has VERY tiny rooms. There were a ton of 20 something’s checking in at the same time. We later learned that there was some local Rave and a bunch of them were going to it (dressed very oddly… I feel old).

Sarah unfortunately had pneumonia, but came on the trip anyway. She was feeling kinda ok, but she decided to take a nap before we headed out for the evening. At 6pm we met up with Steph, Bre and Jeremy to head to El Coyote Café, that Claire and Bobby recommended to me, for dinner.

We passed through Beverly Hills and Hollywood and ogled the mansions. The restaurant was eclectic and fun. I decided on the ostrich tacos, because how often do you find that on a menu (although I have had ostrich before), and they were great. Everyone enjoyed the place. After, we decided to head over to the Santa Monica Pier, which we predicted was going to be a madhouse.

Luckily it wasn’t. Michelle and Dan had been at the Ducks/Flyers game and met us at the Pier. We walked around a bit, took some pictures with a macaroni,
scared Steph by walking to the end of the pier over the water, watched some fireworks at 9pm down the beach, then walked down to the beach. Afterwards we went to Bubba Gumps for some late night drinks, appetizers and dessert before heading back to the hotel.

We got back around midnight and all headed to Steph and Bre’s room, which was a mansion compared to ours ;-) and we all hung out and chatted and laughed (boy did we) until 3am. Steph had woken up at 3am, so Sarah thought it would be fun to see if Steph could last 24 hours, and she did.

Saturday morning Sarah wasn’t feeling so hot, so she wanted to sleep in. We were meeting the gang at 3pm at the Yard House, but unfortunately Sarah wasn’t up to it, so she stayed behind. We walked down there and luckily it was no issue getting a table for 20 at that time. Slowly but surely everyone arrived (ended up being 15 people). It was great to see all the people from the previous night, plus Heidi, her 2 friends, Des, James, Kym and her husband, Matt and Stephanie.

We had a great time at lunch/dinner, even though it took them forever to take our orders. We walked over to Staples around 5 and went our separate ways to either the store, or to watch warm ups. Luckily Sarah was feeling better that this point and walked down to meet us for the game.

We were all seated in the same row for the game, which was nice. The game itself was a little mellow. Not a lot of fights or penalties, so it seemed to go pretty quick actually. But the Sharks pulled out a 1-0 win, and that’s what matters. We took our traditional group pic next to the Gretzky statue, then said our goodbyes.

Steph, Bre, Jeremy, Dan and I ended up hanging out and chatting for a few hours. It was a good time.

Sunday however was the day we had to leave. Sarah and my goal was to leave town by 11am, but after getting out of the parking garage, and getting gas, it was more like 11:20am. So off we went on a dreary day. Sarah’s Mom already gave us a heads up that there was a ton of rain between us and home, so we expected that. One we got close to the Grapevine, we saw a sign that said “snow escort, expect delays”. We didn’t know what a snow escort was, but thought it would be cool to see some snow. Well, after we were up the mountain, maybe around 1pm, we started seeing snow.

We thought, cool, and took some pictures. Then after a while, it was starting to stick to the ground, and the hills were looking dusted with snow.


Then the snow started piling up more, and that’s when traffic stood still. We started off with 5 lanes (or was it 4?) of traffic, moving pretty darn slowly. Then the snow started coming down really heavy, and we started moving about a mile an hour.

Then we would stop, then maybe go for 10 feet, stop another minute or so, go another 10 feet, etc. And I have never in my life driven on icy or snow covered roads in a non-4 wheel drive before. I would press the gas, my wheels wanted to force me to the right, and I had to compensate by turning to the left every time. I didn’t tell Sarah, but I was pretty freaked. I was worried I was going to spin out, or my car was going to shift to the right and hit another car, or get stuck in the snow. My heart was racing.

There were even a few people getting out of their cars and walking in the snow on the shoulder, not sure why. On the other side of the freeway, we could see plows, one at a time going down one lane, then a row of cars following it. So we knew that’s what was happening up ahead of us too.


After about an hour from when we first stopped in our tracks, the 5 lanes had been merged down to 1.

Some big trucks sucked it up and plowed through the snow in some of the outer lanes (yikes), but the rest of us played follow the leader and I tried to keep my tires in the tire tracks of the car in front of me. The icy roads had turned into slush and snow, and was much easier to drive on. It took us a full 2+ hours to get over the Grapevine, in what took us maybe 30 minutes on the way down.

And I have never seen so many cars just stranded on the side of the road for one reason or another. It was insane. When we were close to the bottom, we noticed no traffic on the other side of the freeways, and the road was just covered in snow. We knew at that point they closed the freeway down. Which apparently they did at 1pm, and may not reopen until tomorrow or Tuesday. And we felt bad for all the people on the other side that didn’t know this yet.

We stopped at the first place we could to make a pit stop. The gas station, food places, etc had no power. OK, so we drove another 5-10 minutes to the next place with services, this place MUCH larger. No power to the whole town either.

OK, so we just decided to move on and make up some time and made a stop a few hours later. We finally got to Sarah’s about 8 or so hours later, which took us less than 6 hours on the way down. Then I still had about a 45 minute drive home. We both made it home safely, which is what matters, and we have a story to tell.

Article about the storm and I-5 closure. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cold-weather-20110103,0,3315839.story

Oktoberfest

So I went out to my friend Monica's on Sunday so we could go to the Clayton Okoberfest. It was fun, but a little disappointing. They did have a German band who sang and yodeled, but they didn't bring in a lot of German food or other vendors. So that was a little bit of a bummer. But it was nice to be outside and wander around. And gotta love fried zucchini, mushrooms and cheese, and a terriyaki chicken skewer. Very German don't you think? ;-) There is the Clayton House Museum on that street so we poked our heads in. It was pretty cool with all the old bedroom stuff, clothing, piano, a bunch of old kitchen stuff which reminded me of stuff of my Great Grandmothers.

Then we headed back to Monica's and took her dog Bella for a walk around her neighborhood and park before I headed home. Once I was 20 mins from my house, the sky turned overcast and it was freezing out. I had been in 90-106 degree weather since last Wednesday and that was a shock to the system, but nice.

Redding - Day 4

I slept in until 10:30am today because I was exhausted. Pam made some great cheesy/bacon scrambled eggs and toast with freezer strawberry jam for breakfast, so we all sat down and ate before hitting the road. I wanted to leave by 11am, but we packed up, said our Goodbyes and ended up out of there by Noon. We stopped on the way to pick up a thank you card for them and a gift bag I needed for Abby's Bday gift. While in that little shopping center, there was one of those guys holding a sign directing people to Quizons, and he was wearing a cheesehead, so had to take a picture of him to show Claire. So the ride was uneventful, and we arrived back at my Aunt's at 4pm which was on track. Because I needed to turn around from there and head straight to Heather's for Abby's Bday dinner. So got out there by 5pm and we headed out to meet up with all the other family members at Chevy's at 6pm. We had a really nice time at dinner, then headed back to their house. Tony went to bed and Heather, the kids and I watched Fantastic Mr Fox. Which I lost interest in at the end and just went and crashed by Midnight.

Dream... fireworks, storms, beach, diapers...

So, I have no idea where I was except in some fancy beach area with a lot of hotels and stuff. I went with some friends and we checked into our room. And it was some big festive holiday like 4th of July, Mardi Gras or New Years. I'm leaning toward the 4th of July. Somehow my friends and I got separated, and cell service must have sucked there because I was never able to get a hold of them. And for some reason I wasn't able to remember exactly which room number was ours, or who's name it was under to check. I had a room key (those plasic ones) but it had no number on it.

So I decided that I should at least go down to the beach and enjoy the festivities while looking for my friends. It was probably late afternoon, early evening at this point. It was a very large beach, and several resort people were walking around getting things set up for games. I watched them set up rows of those little traffic cones in the sand for some relay races. I kept wandering and went inside some building (hotel or mall) and they had a bar in there. It had huge, maybe 15 foot stucco walls around it, with a cut out where you order. On the outside of one of the walls was painted with the names of about 50 mixed drinks that you could order. Impressive. I was going to order one, but had to run to the bathroom first. There was this other woman looking for the bathroom as well, so we started looking together. They weren't marked well. We ended up finding one, which was disgusting. There was a girl in there who noticed our disgust and bent over and said "That's why I have this". and we saw a diaper poking out of her underwear. OK, strange. But we went on our way to find another.

At one point I must have told this woman about not being able to find my friends, so she said I could crash later with her and her friends in their room if I needed. We headed up there so I could see where it was. There were probably 8 guys and girls up there just laying around like they were exhausted. So I did too. A last minute rest before the festivities. I remember thinking, as I looked over the balcony at the beach, about how crowded the beach was getting. If I had a chance to find my friends, it would have been earlier when things were getting set up and it wasn't so crowded, so I gave up the idea.

We headed back down to the beach, and somehow stumbled upon a group of people I went to high school with. I ended up talking to this one guy for quite a while on the beach. Don't remember what about. A bunch of us from both groups ended up going to a different hotel room that someone said would be perfect for watching the fireworks from. We get there and it has this part that is like a large box sitting off the side of the room. All 3 walls and the ceiling were nothing but floor to ceiling windows overlooking the beach. There was also a small, but busy, airport next to the hotel on one side. We kept watching small planes and helicopters take off and land. It was getting dark at this point, so all the runway lights and stuff made it pretty to look at.

We then noticed a storm brewing and coming towards us. It was going to pass directly over us, so we were a little freaked being in a glass room. As is got closer the rain started pelting the windows and the room shook a bit. Then it approached faster and then it was all of a sudden like we were in the eye of a hurricane or tornado. It was something kind of like Twister. We were all looking straight up at the inside of it and could see some clear sky all the way at the top, and a funnel cloud inside. It was a trip, but scary at the same time. It passed quickly though, and in time for the fireworks. The show was amazing, like every moment was the finale. I kept think about how much money they must have spent on this display. It was awesome, and glad I had the view I did.

I'm not sure how the evening ended, and I don't think I ever found my friends. But it was an interesting night.

My dream last night... snow, boats, old classmates

And the weird dreams keep coming.

I was in a very large room, like a hangar, which had water in it like a frozen over pond. There were boats tied up all around the edges of the room, kind of dinghy to speed boat sized. There were moments I was on top of the water with snow. Then there were other moments I remember being in the water with the dinghy upside down on top of me using it like a flotation device, and just hanging out out talking to people. There seemed to be lot's of random people coming in on their boats and hanging out. They were asking me random question like I was in the education field, etc, just making small talk.

I remember seeing a couple out groups of people walking on the ice towards an area where I know the ice is broken. At the last minute a few of us call out to warn them, but they fall in the water. LOL. 2 guys were in full suits too.

As time went on, the room started having more of a nightclub vibe to it. And some random guy grabbed me to give me a hug. It was dark in there, but I recognized some people and asked if they were Piedmonters. And they were. Turned out to be a bunch of people I went to high school with. Random encounter. And that's all I remember.

Stuff I put in storage

So my Mom and Step-Dad are moving and are in the final stages of packing up. The furniture and stuff is gone already, but some last minute things need to be packed up. So I had to go over there last week to go through about 8 boxes of my stuff that had been in their basement since I moved out after high school. There were some stuffed animals and stuff that mice got into and had to be tossed, but for the most part, everything was in good shape. I just had to sort through it and re-pack what I was keeping.

I found...
- Pics from my early trips to D.C., VA and MD (from '89-'92) my trip to Florida back in '87, pics of friends and I in middle school, and stuff from when I was little (camping, etc)
- Yearbooks from pre-school (Peter Pan) through Middle School
- T-shirts my Mom brought me back from their travels through Europe, Mexico, Africa and the Orient
- Baby clothes
- Newspapers/Mags. I collect them from major events and I found the 1989 earthquake, Berlin Wall coming down, the Challenger disaster, Lucile Ball and Bette Davis passing, a mag with Krissy Taylor on the cover before passing, a mag with an interview with River Phoenix before passing, and a bunch of others that I left folded up.
- Letters from the German and Japanese exchange students we had briefly when I was in high school, letters from friends when they moved away, and a few from a friend when she spent time in Iran one summer, etc.
- 6 or so diaries/journals dating from around '86 through'94
- Many other letters, notes passed in school, etc.
- Childhood books, including some signed Zilpha Keatley Snyder books like The Egypt Game, and others.
- Ceramics I made in high school
- Art projects from Middle School and High School
- A ton of school papers from Middle School book reports to High School term papers
- Souvenirs from trips
- And much more

I was in consolidate and pack mode, so I didn't really get to take the time to sit down and read through a lot of the stuff. So that will be really fun to do one of these days. The diaries for sure are going to be a trip. I wrote about everything, and usually daily (at least in my Middle School days) about boys, dances, everything. It'll be a crack up to go back and read.

Yosemite 2010

About 2 weeks ago, Claire, Bobby and I decided to head to their family cabin in Foresta (Yosemite) for Easter weekend. I headed to their place on Thursday so we could finalize the menu, etc. Which basically means that they plan yummy food to cook, and I agree to eat it ;-) Then we hung out and played Wii for a while. My first time ever touching the thing, now I want one. We played bowling, archery, wakeboarding and frisbee. Fun stuff. Anyway...

So on Friday, we headed out early'ish and were on our way. Once we hit the entrance to the park, there was snow all around on the side of the road and in the trees. We stopped so I could take a picture. But then there was more snow to see from then on. Snow banks on the side of the road, then through the forest to the left and right. It was beautiful. The last time I recall seeing snow was at the far end of Horseshoe Lake, outside Mammoth Lakes, the last time I was there in 2008 I think. Once we hit Crane Flat, it was actually snowing, so I took some video. Then we got to the cabin and unpacked. There was no snow down in Foresta, but the weather was overcast. We decided to head down to the Valley since it was early in the day still. So we stopped at Bridalveil first. The last time I was there, the water was whisping off the top like some water through a fan. This time it was gushing down, which was great to see. We walked up to the viewing spot, in the rain, then continued on. We headed to the store in the valley and bought some last min food and stuff. I kept looking at the souvenirs and was inclined to buy something. I collect magnets, but have about 5 from Yosemite, so that was pointless. Plus, I figure that I am there every one or 2 years, so I can get stuff next time.

Back at the cabin, we settled in and they made a nice fire in the wood burning stove. Played some Scattergories, Skip-Bo, etc. And they prepped the most amazing looking Enchiladas Verde, with homemade pinto beans and Mexican rice. All made from scratch, starting with the salsa verde for the enchiladas. And me even shucking some fresh peas from their pods for the rice dish. Although my main contribution was continually reading the recipes during the process :-) Unfortunately, I started to not feel well, so headed to bed without eating dinner. It was warm up in the loft with the wood stove shooting all the heat up there. But I adjusted to it.

Saturday (late) morning we headed out to the Ahwanee to check it out (not the first time of course), just because it's beautiful. Then headed to the Valley and had a chicken/mushroom/cheese pizza down there that was pretty good. Then wandered the Native American museum and village. After we went down to check out the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, which were gushing. So we walked the path to the Lower Falls. There was a ton of snow of the ground around the path which was beautiful. Then took a few customary pictures and headed on our way. We drove around the Valley just because. And in doing so, we saw a coyote in a field, so we pulled over and watched it for a while. Then saw a few deer laying down in the distance. Claire and Bobby decided to rent bikes for an hour (which we all did several years ago together) but I opted out this time. So they did that, and in the meantime I wandered a few shops at the Yosemite Lodge, got a snack and sat and watched the ever changing Upper Yosemite Falls, Beautiful!! We headed back to the cabin after that.

Instead of another elaborate dinner, we had a recap of dinner the night before. Luckily, because I missed out. So the enchiladas, beans and rice were amazing. We had the fire stocked again, and very warm, to counter balance the supposed 25-30 degree weather outside. We enjoyed many bottles of wine and sparkling wine this trip, which was a nice change from beer and liquor. Nothing wrong with either. It was just a change :-) After keeping the loft window open for a while to cool me down as I tried to sleep, I closed it and went to bed.

Then it was the ritual of getting up to clean what you had dirtied before leaving the place. So we tidied up for an hour or 2 and headed on our way. Hours later we were back at their place watching the Sharks lose in OT, and eating an awesome spaghetti with homemade meatball and salad dinner :-) A very nice weekend!

RIP Lea and Zipper

My friend's cat has been missing for a few weeks. He is micro-chipped and they put out posters, but nothing. Today apparently, they find out he had been hit by a car and buried by a nice neighbor. I was very sad.

Then I find out that that the dog of my good friend's had to be put down today. She apparently started having trouble walking a month ago. Xrays determined Cancer and she wasn't doing so well. And they have a 6 and 8 year old. I can only imagine how they are feeling right now.

I have been crying for 2 hours now. I love you guys!

Lea


Zipper

So long 2009...

This year has had its up and downs…

1. I've been unemployed all year. That’s good and bad. But that’s all I have to say about that.

2. I went back to Juneau this last July with my Aunt to see my parents on their boat. We were popsicles, but had a great time ;-)

3. I started a diet about 3 months back. Lost 25 lbs… gained 2 back (in only 4 weeks of slacking, not bad) and will continue on.

4. Whole heartedly welcomed a new member of the family… my cousin’s fiancée Savannah. She was always family, but it will become official in February. Being there when she found “The” dress, helping with invitations, seeing the venue, etc, has been awesome.

5. Attended the memorial service for Officer John Hege. He was the brother of a close friend growing up.

6. Road tripped down to L.A. with Sarah, and spent a few days down there visiting with friends from all over, going to Disneyland and to a game.

7. Spent a few fun weekends down in San Jose with out of town friends and seeing some games.

8. Spent a few fun days on the coast and got to see a newborn harbor seal be rescued.

9. Saw the new California Academy of Sciences and the Faberge exhibit at the Legion of Honor.

10. It’s been a financially tough year, so here’s to winning the lottery in 2010 :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Secret Santa

So this is the third year in a row that we are doing a Secret Santa on The NHL Arena. In 2007 I got a guy who lives in Calgary. I got him one of these green street signs that said Calgary Flames at the top and customized it with his name (I'd post a picture, but can't seem to find them online anymore). And I got the Hockey Night in Canada DVD game from... that's bad, I can't remember. In 2008 I got a Ducks fan a Ducks Mr Potato Head.

And I got a Saskatchewan Fire Fighter calendar (Yummy!), the same DVD game as the year before (Ooops) and a Team Canada jersey magnet.

I am a big fan of giving gifts, and even a bigger fan of finding something unique and personal, if possible. So this year what I came up with for my person was too cool, and very unique. So much so, that I hope someone didn't have the same mindset in the past and they already have it. I thought it was so cool that I got the same thing for myself. So I just hope all goes well with shipping and it goes off without a hitch. Of course I'll have to keep you all in suspense until after Xmas, since there is a decent chance that my person could read this :-)

The Diet and stuff...

So my Aunt and I have been chatting the last couple of months about doing Atkins. She started watching what she was eating, but not really doing the numbers and stuff. But my cousin (her son) is getting married in Feb (mentioned that before) and she wants to shed a few pounds. So anyway, I finally jumped on the bandwagon 15 days ago. And full force. Like back when I was 25 or so, and was still biting my nails as I had all my life, so I decided to stop. And I did. And when I had made the decision to quit smoking 3 years ago (after 13 years), I picked a day and using the patch, the rest is history. So I'm hoping I can use the same will to do this too.

You are supposed to start out eating 20g net carbs a day for the first 2 weeks, then increase after that. Well, my goal is to keep it under that all the time, then if I go over on a certain day or something, I won't freak. Well, I lost 7lbs the first week, and 5 more this last week. That was exciting. I carry my little book withe the general nutritional stats for food with me everywhere I go. As well as an Atkins journal where I write down everything I've been eating. Works for me so far.

Today though, was my friend's daughter's Bday party that was happening at a Frozen Yogurt shop. For the last couple of months I've been craving frozen yogurt, so I already knew I was going to splurge and have a little today. So I did. Then that turned into eating pizza for dinner as well. My friend, being the awesome person she is, was actually looking in her fridge to find something carb friendly to make me so I didn't have to have pizza. But told her I was just going to splurge and have the pizza. Then had a root beer (not diet) with it, not even thinking. Let's just say my diet was screwed today big time. And as I was driving home a couple of hours ago, I realized I didn't feel so good. I think mentally and physically, what I did today didn't feel so hot. Back on track tomorrow, I hope. Some good friend's invited me over tomorrow night for dinner, and they are gourmet cooks. So think I just need to be mindful of what I choose to eat. It's a learning curve, but I think the results will be worth it.

Oh... and my awesome friend and her husband let me put on the Sharks game after we got back from the yogurt shop. Yay for a Sharks win :-)

Good food and stuff...

So my good friends planned a spontaneous 7th Anniversary trip to Cabo this week, and they leave tomorrow morning. They asked if I would cat sit next week, and I said yes. Firstly, I haven't cat sat for them in maybe 2 years. And even then, they had one cat and not 2 at the time. And being a dog person who loves cats, have just never had one, I needed a refresher course. So I went over there last night to get the run down. So we had some beers while they made yummy grilled cheeseburgers and onion rings from scratch. See the progression of pictures below. Good stuff as always.






Then today we all went to one of all our favorite all time restaurants, which is in Napa... Bistro Jeanty. YUM!! We each had a tomato soup in puff pastry, which I think may actually be my most favorite dish I have ever had... top 5 at least. You do not go there and not order it. I try to go back at least once a year for it. Then we all shared the crispy fried smelt with aioli, the ham and leek quiche with butter lettuce salad and the potato gratin. What a fantastic meal. I only took pictures of the smelt and soup however.





So then a nice weekend I hope, then off to their place to watch the cats for 4 days.

The good, the bad and the ugly...

The good...

I babysat (and doggy sat) for my friend's kids from yesterday afternoon until this afternoon. Nicky (one week shy of 6 yrs) and Abby (7 yrs). So at least they are at an interactive age and could help me out when I needed to know where things were, have them dress themselves for bed, etc. I have always been Auntie to them. So we had a lot of fun... Abby doing fashion show, Nicky building a book castle for his toy cars, playing in the hose in the back yard, going to the park twice, going out for pizza and watching 2 movies until 11:30pm (I'm a nice Auntie :-) ) It was pretty fun filled.





The bad...

What the hell is wrong with the Sharks? Coming off the best record in the league and can't get a break against the Ducks? I'm not knocking the Ducks in general, as they are obviously a good team with an unusually good goalie right now. But their play wasn't up to their normal standard this season like in previous. So why do we now start to lose against them? UGH!!! 2 losses down and 2-5 games left to play depending on how this all plays out. But I'm staying optimistic for now.

The ugly...

What is up with this heat? It was at least 90-92 degrees where I was this weekend, and playing around at a park, etc in that just sucked for me. I am a mild to cool weather person, that's what I like. So when we have these heat waves, I hate it. Now if I was back in Hawaii with an ocean and swimming pool at my disposal 24/7, no problem :-)

Way to go Sarah!!

So I get a crazy phone call from my friend Sarah around 11:20pm tonight. She is all wired and talking fast and there is an echo. I'm like... where are you? Well she was in the bathroom of a bar in San Jose, lol. She was calling me to tell me that Brad Staubitz (a HOT Sharks rookie) was at the bar with another young guy, likely a rookie also but she wasn't sure who. And she was freaking out, in a good way :-) She kept second guessing herself though and wondering if it was really him. Because the Sharks played in Anaheim tonight, and the game ended around 7:30pm or so. But S.J. Airport has an 11:30pm curfew, so it was feasible that they were back already and happily chilling at the bar. And I checked out what other young rookies were still on the team, since a handful were just sent back to Worcester. And the only one it could have been was Jamie McGinn. Well, after 35+ texts between us (seriously) in the course of an hour and a half, and getting another friend of ours texting her too.... she finally told me she approached them. She asked if they were Sharks players, and they said yes. And she said, Staubitz and McGinn right, and they confirmed. So they chatted for just a few and were happy to take a picture with her. YAY Sarah!! She so would have regretted not approaching them if she hadn't, but she was so nervous to do it. There is one pic of Staubitz in the back of a car in my post from 3/24. Below is the pic she got with them. They guys aren't looking so great in this pic, but it's all good.

John Hege's Service

The service was really beautiful tonight. My mom and I got there early because we knew that parking would get insane. Because he was a former Eagle Scout, there were Eagle Scouts standing around the entrance directing you to the tables to fill out the condolence cards. And even a bunch of local rugby players, that he was once part of, all dressed in their jerseys helping out where needed. There was almost a full room off people (in the seats) already when we got there. But as it got closer to 5pm, the room filled up significantly. And they even took out rows of long tables inside that had food on them to accommodate more standing room. There were about 6 speakers who pretty much just told personal stories from the hilarious, to the moving. They were co-workers at the Rec Dept in Piedmont, one of his best friends from high school, family friends and even a fellow officer and roommate who was the first one to make me cry when he broke down. But for the most part it was very uplifting and very much a celebration of his life.

After the service we walked outside and I was surprised to see the courtyard filled with hundreds more people, including probably 40 or so police officers. Some officers came from as far as Las Vegas to show their support. They had set up speakers outside so everyone could hear the service whether they made it inside or not. I wiggled my way back inside just to go give his sister (and my friend) Anne a hug and let her know I had come to support her. It was good to see her, but under the wost of circumstances. I knew I would have regretted not going, so I'm happy I went to show my support. There were many other former schoolmates and even a former teacher of mine there as well. So it was very nice to see support that her whole family received.

Oakland Officers

So not only was this incident upsetting and sad in it's own right, but now I have a more personal connection to it. A friend's husband was friends with and had worked with several of the officers. I had touched base with my friend over the weekend to see how they were doing. Which wasn't so well at the time, which is to be expected. Then tonight an old Middle and High School friend of mine said that John Hege was her brother. Why I never saw his last name and put 2 and 2 together I don't know. But now I feel a more personal hurt after hearing this news. It's awful. If I can make it work, I am going to try to make it to his memorial service tomorrow evening to pay my respects.

Article about Officer John Hege.

Friends, Sharks, and Good Times...

I had a great time in San Jose this last weekend. Although only an hour away, I didn't think about home and it truly was a vacation. So I'll try to not make this a novel, but here goes....

So I drove down to S.J. on Friday to pick up Desiree at the hotel. Which was beautiful by the way (see below).




She and I, and many others, had made plans to go see a Sharks practice at Sharks Ice. Well, once we got there, a woman saw us carrying jerseys and asked if we were there to see the Sharks, which we were. So she told us they weren't practicing there that day. Bummer!! So as the other 8 or so people showed up that we knew, we broke the news. Then just ended up there chatting out front for like an hour. Now with some free time on our hands, Desiree, Bre and I hit the mall for a few hours and grabbed some lunch. About the time we got back to Sharks Ice to drop off Bre, I received a phone call from our friends (Deserae and James) who headed to HP after we saw them last. Well, they ended up going out back to wait for the guys and got a ton of pics and autographs. So jealous!! Here are 2 of her pics...

Milan... *SIGH*

And Stubitz (left), what a hottie!!!

But after all that we headed back to the hotel and just sat by the pool and chatted for a few hours. Then our friends (Tina and Dave) who had just flown in from Ohio, showed up and chatted with us for a while. And they, and Deserae and James (who had just driven up from L.A. that morning) were too tired to go grab dinner. So Desiree and I went on our own to Teske's. This is a German restaurant that was featured on a Shark Byte episode (see below) because Ehrhoff and Goc frequent it. I love German food, so had been dying to go. Because of one way streets we got a little turned around in looking for the place, but eventually found it. And YUM!!! The place was awesome. Great ambiance and great food. I had my meal picked out from months ago while looking at the menu online (potato pancakes and the rouladen) and it was fantastic.


Then on Saturday we grabbed the breakfast buffet before heading to the Tank to see the Sharks play the Stars. It was a great game with 2 sets of back to back goals within 20-30 secs of each other and an empty net goal. Nice!! Afterwords, 8 of us went to the Tied House and then to The Brit for drinks afterwords.



On Sunday, a bunch of us had planned to meet up At The Brit for a late lunch before the game. So about 17 of us took over 4 tables, and kind of talked across the restaurant at each other. Then headed to the game against the Avs. We had one token Avs fan with us (Dave), so when we saw Sharkie outside the tank when we arrived, we knew it would be a great photo op.


And because 25 of us got group tickets, we were able to get something put up on the jumbotron. So we decided to plug the Arena :-)




It was another great game and win for us (sorry Dave). We headed back to The Brit for one quick drink, because it was freezing out to start and a bunch of people were flying/driving home early Monday morning. A few of us ended up at the hotel lounge for a drink and some yummy sliders (since it had been since 2pm that we had eaten) and closed the place down at 11pm. Deserae and I spent a few hours down in the lobby on the computers and drooling over all the awesome pictures she got of the players. When I went back up to the room around 2am, Desiree (and yes, 2 Desiree's, only spelled different) was nodding off. But since her taxi was coming at 5am, she wanted to stay awake until then and just sleep on the plane. So she and I just stayed up talking until 5am when she had to leave. Then I crashed until I had to check out at 1pm and drive home.

It was an awesome weekend and I can't wait to do it again. I got to meet more people in person that I had been chatting with online, and they are all the nicest people. I don't think I'll ever go to a game again where I don't know at least a few people who are there.

Weekend in S.J.

Last Thursday, Sarah and I picked up Desiree up at the airport, just in from Canada. Then we spent the day in the East Bay going up to the Lawrence Hall of Science to see the view, stopped in at my Mom’s house briefly, had dinner at Barney’s (YUM!), went to see the USS Hornet in Alameda and then back to San Jose.

Then I drove down to S.J. yesterday afternoon to pick up Jeremy, who was in town to see his Kings play the Sharks. So got him at the hotel, then headed to The Brit to meet up with Desiree and Rick (who had just come from the S.J. Stealth game), and Heidi and her friend Anne. We had a nice dinner out on the patio, even if it was a little chilly. And if I say it's chilly, it really is. The outdoor heaters weren't cooperating. Then we walked down to the Tank and met up with Sarah. The Sharks squeaked out a win at the last minute in the shootout. WooHoo!!

Afterwords we (Desiree, Sarah, Rick, Jeremy and I) checked out O'Flaherty's, but the people were packed in like sardines, so back to The Brit we went. Got a spot at one of the nice new outdoor tables they have, which are awesome. And had a few drinks and laughs until about 1:30am. Then back to the hotel to hop on the lobby PCs for a few minutes. I stayed up up until about 3:30am in the room watching some Rick Steves' Europe video podcasts I have never gotten around to watching. This morning I just slept in until Check Out, since Desiree and Jeremy flew out to San Diego this morning.

Next weekend will be even crazier as we're meeting up with a ton of people on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a Sharks practice, dinner, lunch, 2 games and drinks. Can't wait.

Just a couple of pics...