Mother-Daughter Weekend

My mom asked me in the beginning of last week if I wanted to have a Mother-Daughter Weekend. I, of course, jumped on the chance to get some alone time with my mom! She has been busy all summer with baseball games and summer BBQs, so it was wonderful to finally get her all to myself for a weekend!

On Friday, I went home and we had a family night at the Concord Drive In. We saw the new Harry Potter movie over wine, a picnic and my family and friends! The movie was not my favorite the first time I saw it, so as you can imagine, it wasn’t my favorite the second time. I am glad, though, that I had seen it before because I was explaining the entire thing to my mom because she couldn’t hear the sound from the car stereo

On Saturday, my mom, step-dad and I went for a walk around the reservoir and we had a really great conversation (after explaining the entire HP movie to my step-dad). I now stand a bit taller and am much happier! I love those kinds of conversations!

After our walk, we showered and got ready to head out for our fun night away! We drove through the Napa Valley and ended up in Calistoga at a small hotel and spa, Mount View. We got there around 2 and we had a spa treatment for 3 so we changed into our swim suits and sat by the pool and played Dominoes (one of my mom’s FAVORITE games) and we drank a bottle of J Champagne, definitely my favorite Champagne(So Far:-)). It was a BEAUTIFUL afternoon! A little before 3 we went back inside and changed and got ready for our spa treatment. We were scheduled to have a Seaweed Wrap. Neither of us have had a wrap, so we were excited and anxious to see what to expect. I got into the room and had a huge TL FML which I will write about in a few!

The massage therapist did a full body citrus scrub, which was amazing and smelled wonderful! Now, I was expecting to be wrapped in big seaweed leaves…NOT what a seaweed wrap is…he then spread this hot seaweed liquid all over my body and then wrapped me in the blankets that were on the table then he left me in there for a few minutes to sit in the warm room with the delicious smells. He came back in a few minutes later and massaged my feet and my scalp. It was quite relaxing, but then again, wait for my TL FML. I showered and then met up with my mom. We got ready and went up to our room (which wasn’t ready when we arrived at the hotel).

Mount View does a very unique thing with their rooms. Each room is sponsored by a different winery in the area and each room has a complimentary bottle of wine from their winery in their room. Our room was sponsored by Hans Fahden. The room we stayed in was gorgeous! The front door opened into a sitting room and then off to the left was the sink, shower and toilet and to the right was the king size bed and further to the right was another small room with a gorgeous bathtub! We got ready to go out for dinner and decided that we wanted to get a lot out of our night.

Calistoga is a small town with one main street, Main Street. We walked to the beginning of it and went into a restaurant called Pacifico (a Mexican restaurant). We had a drink and an appetizer. We ordered Empanadas. They were DELICIOUS! The chips and salsa were amazing too! My mom always says that if the chips and salsa are good at a Mexican restaurant, the rest of the food will be yummy too!) We got the check and decided to go “Restaurant Hopping.” We walked about a block down the street and stopped in another restaurant and had another drink and another appetizer. We did this one last time. The first restaurant is the only restaurant worth mentioning because it was delicious!

We went back to our room and opened the bottle of wine that was in our room. We drank our wine and watched a movie while we played cards. It was such a nice and relaxing day!
We woke up in the morning and we watched a TV show and it was super exciting because (my sister is in a band: Joy Zipper) Joy Zipper’s song “Go Tell the World” was on a commercial! I have never heard one of the band’s songs on the radio or on a commercial! It was super exciting!

We got up and got dressed and decided to go to the Hans Fahden Winery to try more of their wine and take a tour of their “famous” caves. The Winery was gorgeous and was voted one of the top places to have a wedding reception-when we got there, they were setting up the main hall for a wedding. We stayed and spoke with the owner of the winery and then headed out. We drove to Duckhorn Winery and tried a huge assortment of wines. The winery was BEAUTIFUL! At this winery I decided that when I get married, I want to get married in Napa at a Vineyard!

After Duckhorn we drove to the river and had lunch with a very close family friend at a small French Restaurant, Angele. French food is not my favorite, it seems, always, to be too heavy, and the only thing that I could read off of the menu was a Hamburger so, that is what I ordered. It was really good and their fries were delicious! We then ordered an assortment of 3 scoops of ice cream- Chocolate Peanut Butter, Strawberry, and Vanilla. It was very yummy! We enjoyed our lunch and company for about 3 hours! We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the sunshine!

After lunch, we headed on our way home. Overall, my weekend with my “madre,” as I like to call her, was extremely relaxing and wonderful!

If you are ever in Napa/Calistoga, I definitely recommend staying at the Mount View Hotel and Spa! It was wonderful and it is so quaint inside!

Nirvana Restaurant and Bar

Last week, my new senior staff, boss and I went out for a staff dinner at Nirvana, a restaurant on Castro Street in San Francisco. I was not sure what to think about this place because I was told that it is an asian fusion place, and I was not quite sure what that could mean.

It turned out to be delicious! We ordered the sample appetizer platter, to share, and it was really good! They have this onion bread that was sooo good! The restaurant also has specialty lemonades, so we all ordered a different lemonade to taste! I ordered this chicken dish that totally hit the spot! If you are in the area and want something warm and hearty, Nirvana is the place to go!
Since we were on Castro Street, we had to make a stop at Hot Cookie. A bakery that makes novelty cookies. Their chocolate chip cookie was very yummy! On our way to Hot Cookie, what do we see, but a man dressed up as a penis! Leave it to have a man dressed in a Penis costume on Castro Street :-)

Just Because

I was thinking, yesterday, that there are so many people that I appreciate in my life and those people should be recognized and celebrated. These people are amazing and so much to offer this world and everyone should acknowledge the wonderful and the beautiful things that they do. I would like to thank each and every one of them for helping mold me in to the woman that I am today.

I am going to start recognizing them on this site. I want to show my appreciation and my thanks to them..."Just Because."

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Cafe Divine

I like to see FRIEND at least once a week.
To start the week off right, we decided to go out to dinner on Monday. We originally were going to the Castro to find a place on the street and saw a HUGE line around the block for the movie theater. We decided that the parking would be CRAZY and decided to go to the Fairmont Hotel and eat at the Tonga Room. We find a place to park, quickly, and jump out of the car. By this time we are hungry! We get down to the Tonga Room, and they are closed! We are shocked because it is by far one of mine and our favorite places to eat! Since we were up by the Fairmont, we decided to go down to North Beach and try to find a place in Little Italy to eat. We spend about 45 minutes looking for parking!
We finally find a great spot right next to the square and begin to walk down the street to find a new restaurant to try. We stumble upon Café Divine. We took a look at the menu and decided that it was within our budget and that we wanted to try it. We walked inside and the place is ADORABLE. It is small and quaint and there was live music playing in the restaurant. There is someone playing on the accordion and it reminds us of a little family run restaurant with beautiful ambiance.
The menu had a number of different entrees to chose from and it was relatively inexpensive. I ordered their “Blue Plate” which, last night, was a salad and pasta Bolognese all for $12. I thought it was quite the steal! We decided to go to the Fog City Diner for the Peanut Butter cups for dessert. After getting “a little turned around” We made it to the diner and enjoyed a delicious dessert with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream-so yummy!
It was a beautiful way to start the week off right-with a Fabulous Friend Date!

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The Fundamentals

I love to listen to live music at outdoor venues. One of my close high school friends’ moms celebrated her birthday at a park in Pleasant Hill listening to a band called the Fundamentals.

Christine, one of my closest friends, and I have a song-Smooth by Santana. Earlier this year, she and I went to see the Fundamentals play at another venue and we begged the lead singer to play our song. The band did not and we were VERY disappointed! On Sunday, we were remembering this experience that we had with this band and how we were so upset. We still had a good time dancing and singing along to the other songs that they played that we knew. We were exhausted so we sat down on our blanket with the rest of everyone who was celebrating her birthday and all of a sudden we heard the intro to Smooth and screamed and got up and went to the front of the stage and WENT WILD! We danced and sang and had a BLAST!

It was for sure a great end to a PERFECT weekend!

We are ALL Suspects...

I have had a very eventful past few days!

On Friday, I got a pedicure-a MUCH needed pedicure. I went home and got packing to move back to school and start training for the rest of summer until school started. I went to a BBQ with my family and one of my very best friend’s. After the BBQ I decided to head to SF to move the first load of things in to my temporary apartment. While all of this was happening, My Sweeter was driving from southern California to come up and visit me for the weekend. I got settled in to my apartment and waited for him to get here. He didn’t arrive in SF until 4AM! I let him in to my building and we fell right to sleep.

On Saturday we had a leisure morning, because of the late late night and headed on our way to Sacramento for the evening with a quick stop at his family’s house. We had a quick sandwich from a local deli and got to see FRIEND in the process. We went on our merry way to Sacramento to have a fun evening on the Delta King River Boat and see the Suspects Murder Mystery Dinner. The poor guy was so exhausted that he slept in the car almost the entire drive to Sacramento.
I am an SPG member and get points when we stay at any SPG hotel. It is a great deal and right now, every two nights that you stay in a hotel, you get a free night in ANY SPG hotel (with a certain rating) for free. It is a good deal for My Sweeter and I because we stay in hotels very often!

In Sacramento we stayed at a Sharaton super close to the river. We were so exhausted from being up so late the night before that when we got to the hotel, we lie on the bed and fell asleep until 6:30! We woke up in a hurry and rushed to get ready for the dinner; we caught a cab to the river and drove to the Delta King. We got there and the boat was very quaint and captivating! We went up to the Bar and had a drink and then were welcomed by the Host of the show to come and get all of the guest for the Suspects Dinner.

The host was extremely outrageous-which made the night HILARIOUS! His name was Rowbear Baguette-I think that that says it all!The night started with everyone introducing themselves and trying to “get clues” to begin to figure out the murder mystery part of the dinner. A woman came to our table and asked us if there was a specific woman sitting at our table. I turned and addressed her and she commented on my eye color. She said, “You have the most beautiful eye color.” I thanked her and she responded with, “What color is that, a gray/green?” I was puzzled because I have very blue eyes and I pointed that fact out to her and then she told me that she was jealous. It was quite an interesting experience.
They served us a salad, a main course and a dessert. The salad was good, but it had a little too much dressing on it. The main course was a choice between steak, chicken parmesan and a vegetarian pasta. My Sweeter got the steak and I got the chicken and to both of our surprise, the dinner was not that bad. The dessert consisted of 3 small crème puffs with whipped cream on top. Over all the dinner was pretty good!

The show was not quite what I had expected it to be. I was expecting it to be more serious, but I felt that it was mainly focused on being a comedy with some mystery intertwined. Overall I would recommend going to this if you are willing to make the drive to Sacramento.
The night ended around 11pm and since our hotel was close to the Delta King, we decided to walk back to the hotel. With the weather being so hot, it had cooled down enough to be a very pleasant walk back to our hotel.

On Sunday, we had to check out of the hotel and asked the front desk where she recommended for us to go to breakfast that was close to the hotel. She recommended a place that was just two blocks away called Bistro 33. We were able to walk there and were seated right away. The bistro seemed to be a bar at night and restaurant during the day. The ambiance was interesting for a breakfast place but we decided to give it a try. We both ordered omelets and they were delicious! During our meal, there was a group that was sitting near us that ordered something that came in a white paper bag that needed to be shaken. It turns out that the bistro serves homemade donuts with different dipping sauces. It smelled heavenly! My Sweeter and I decided that from what the waiters and waitresses were wearing that the restaurant is known for these donuts. We decided that we would have to come back for the donuts another time! Again, if you are willing to make the drive out to Sacramento-or over to K and 16th street, Bistro 33 would definitely have to be a must visit destination!

New Chapter

As today comes to a close I look back on the past 6 weeks-my last summer vacation. Today is my last day at my summer job. As much as I complain about being bored or not having anything to do, this job has given me something to do and I feel all grown up waking up for work and taking BART into San Francisco. Today is a sad day because I have made a good friend here over the past 6 weeks that I have had the joy of seeing virtually every day, even going on a road trip with her, and have grown close with her. We have planned to make time during the week to get together and hang out.

Jamie made me homemade brownies! They were totally homemade and they were delicious! She

made them from scratch and she puts symphony bars in the middle to make them extra rich!

Today has been a great reunion day because I was able to get lunch with someone who I basically consider to by my older sister and I haven’t had the opportunity to see her in a VERY long time! I have two little brothers and the friend I met today is a woman who used to babysit them while I was in school. She helped me through a lot of things and has always been like a sister to me! It was wonderful to see her and spend my lunch hour with her!

We went to a place in an alley on Belden Street that is full of restaurants. It feels like you are in Italy because the host/hostess is standing outside of the restaurant marketing their restaurant and getting you to eat there! We ate at Belden Taverna. The place was small and cute. Unfortunately the service was not very good, but it was a beautiful day and we sat outside so I didn’t mind having to wait around. Before they bring you your meal, they bring you bread and hummus. The hummus was delicious and the bread tasted really fresh. I ordered the Taverna Burger and it was really good! The fries were amazing!

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I'm NOT lost!

One of my very closest friends told me a few weeks ago that she never says that she is lost unless she can absolutely not find her way. She always knows how to put a positive spin on life-this is why I love her!

Watch Out!

A girl at work sent me the link to an article about a man who everyone should watch out for! He might knock on your door naked and then run off...!

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?type=lnews&id=113386

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Harry and Pepper

As some of you may know, I sit in front of a computer all day long, while at work. There are times during my day that I have free to check up on News articles. The two news sites that I frequent are CNN and SFGatge. This afternoon I had some down time so I checked CNN and saw a video about two gay penguins at the San Francisco Zoo.

If this video does not make you smile, I do not know what will! Its about love, getting hurt, letting go and making it through a difficult time.

I need some help!

I am trying to make my blog look cute! I am having the hardest time figuring it out! I like the templates on this site, but I would like something different! Any ideas??

Light Bulb

I know that this should have been my first blog but I did not know how to put how I was feeling in to words. I have never thought that I would write a blog. I feel like what I have to say is not that important and/or interesting enough for people to read.

I realized today that my blog isn’t for everyone else, it is for me. I am writing to keep a log of the things that are important to me; things such as my family and friends, what I like to do on my spare time and fun quotes that I want to remember, to account the funny experiences that I encounter, alone or with my favorite people, and to give book and restaurant reviews and of course just to have a place to express my every day thoughts.

I appreciate you for reading my entries, thank you for showing your support!

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TL FML

Friend and I believe that the FML website is a joke and the daily "FMLs" are made up so we have come up with our own "FMLs." We call them "TL FML" which stands for "True Life: F My Life."

TL FML...I have been working on a scrapbook and I was on a page that had a few pictures of me with two other girls, Friend and one of her friends. Friend and I have both been told that we look alike and that we could be related...we go along with it and make jokes about it, even though we don't necessarily agree. So, my brother looked at one of the pictures and pointed to one of the girls and asked who she was. I responded by telling him that she was a friend of Friend's. While I was explaining who she was to my little brother, I felt the need to point at Friend to further explain who the other girl was. I pointed at myself! TL FML

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Fog City Diner

Last night I went out to dinner with my Big Sis in my sorority. We were trying to decide where to go and I have started to look on open table and yelp for some fun ideas on restaurants.

I was looking for a place that was kind of close to my work because I have to take BART home and want to not be too far from a station. We decided on the Fog City Diner. I always see it on the Embarcadero and want to eat there but never have, so I figured what better place can I go to dinner with a friend?

The Fog City Diner is a glorified diner with fancier “Diner” food. It was really good! We shared this cheese bread that was delicious! I ordered the diner burger and the fries were amazing! We then shared these Ghirardelli peanut butter cups that were amazing! The dessert should have been paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to counter how incredibly rich they were.

It was reasonably priced; it cost me about $25 with tax and tip for my starter, meal and dessert.

It was a delicious dinner and I have no complaints, I would definitely recommend it!

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Sushi Groove

Friend and I love sushi-well she introduced it to me and we love to go together. This summer we have been trying to get together at least once a week and do lunch on my break or get together after I am done with work to make dinner and have a sleep over.

Last night we decided to go out to dinner and, of course, we chose to go to a sushi place. I asked a friend at work if she recommended a place in the city and she told me about Sushi Groove in Russian Hill. She told me that it is her favorite place to go and she even recommended a roll.

Friend and I went to the place for sushi after work. It was a little hole in the wall place on Hyde Street. We passed by it when we were driving because it is not clearly marked. We walked in and it is a small little place that is very quaint. The tables were a little close together but it was nice and homey. The waitress was very kind to us and very attentive!

We ordered as a starter: edamame, our favorite roll: the Caterpillar Roll, the Spider Roll and the Pete’s Roll (Which is what was recommended to us). We read the description of the Pete’s Roll were not impressed but decided to get it anyways and it was AMAZING! If you go there, you should order it! It was really good!

After we ate dinner we walked across the street to Swensen’s Ice Cream for a waffle cone-this was delicious and I am not a cone eater J

I definitely give my thumbs up to Sushi Groove and Swensen’s Ice Cream.

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Tardiness

I hate it when people are late. I think that it is rude and frustrating especially when there are reservations or other plans involved…which seems very hypocritical for me to say because I am notoriously late! I am not late because I am being disrespectful of other people’s time; it is something that I just can’t help because no matter what I try I am always a few minutes late! I have tried to set all of my clocks fast but I am still late.

I think that the reason why I am always late is because I think that the things I do will take less time than they actually take. I also get distracted easily and like to take my time when doing simple tasks.

My Sweeter always makes fun of me because he knows that when I say 20 minutes, I really mean 30!
Being on time more often is something that I am trying to work on and I am slowly but surly making a more conscious effort to be on time!

All of this said, I am very proud to say that today, not only was I on time- I WAS EARLY to my dentist appoint this morning at 7AM!

Wish me luck! How do you make sure you stay on time?! (I want to know your secrets!)

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BART

So today I had a funny and random BART ride.

I walk to BART from my house every morning to get to work. This morning seemed to be a normal morning- I made it to the train I needed to catch to be at work on time and I even got a seat! I was excited, too, because I got to start a new book today! So I sit down and there is a young girl sitting in the seat in front of me. She is listening to her iPod and playing with a rubix cube. She was AMAZING! She would sit there and bob her head to the tune of her iPod and un-do and re-do the rubix cube.

So I continue reading my book and all of a sudden she taps me on the leg and says “Excuse me?” I was thinking what could she have to say to me…maybe she wants to show me how to fix a rubix cube…and to my surprise she says “You have a bug in your hair.” I looked at her and was stunned because that was the LAST thing I was expecting her to say! She then continues to pull it out of my hair and there it was- a little green bug in her hand…

Interesting morning! I knew today would be a Merry Monday!

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