Happy Birthday Grammie Pat!

 

Rich’s grandparents drove down to San Francisco to spend the weekend with all of us for Grammie Pat’s birthday! We had a great time celebrating this wonderful woman! We had lunch on Saturday at Tadich Bar & Grill and on Sunday we were able to have breakfast together!

 

 

We are blessed to have a these wonderful people in our lives and we are so grateful that we were able to celebrate!

 

Cheers to 75 more years! :-)

JDRF Walk–SF

 

 

 

 

 

The sorority I was affiliated with in college, and am still active in, donates money and time to the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation which supports Diabetes Research. In San Francisco, yesterday a couple of us got together to participate in the JDRF walk. It was a bit cloudy out which was perfect for walking.  After the walk, we headed to the Marina for brunch and while we were in the restaurant this happened next door! It was so scary to have all of the patrons rush into the restaurant off of the patio as well as people rushing to the back of the restaurant. Eek!

 

It was quite an eventful afternoon!

Oh Bart - vol. 1

At my last job I was exposed to some hilarious people which provided me and everyone around me with some great stories and entertainment! Now that I have moved out of working directly with customers I don’t have any fun stories to share. What am I to talk about? And then I realized that I have a whole new opportunity to share some crazy stories – my daily commute to work on BART!

On Friday night I had a crazy experience: I was snuggled, on BART, by a stranger.

I hopped on a BART train headed for my final destination, home, and sit next to a young man, he was sitting to my left and I was sitting on the aisle. I pulled out my magazine and started reading an article about people who seek out haunted houses and like to scare people. There was a picture of people in a jar in the article. A few minutes into the ride I could feel that he was looking at my magazine. I didn’t thinking anything of it and continued reading. All of a sudden, he pointed to the picture (described above) and then moved his head to be in between mine and the magazine, to, I guess, get a better look. And so I made some small talk with him regarding the topic of the article and continued reading. Then, without any warning he readjusted his his body to lean in toward me and he put his head on my shoulder! I was speechless – almost literally. He did this and I laughed and looked at him and said: “Are you tired?” He nodded and snuggled in a little more. I literally had no idea what to do! So I started to shrug my shoulder so he would get the hint – fortunately he did and he got off of me.

#friendlypersonproblems #strangerdanger (thank you for that one, Linz!(I laughed out loud at that one!))

I really don’t like confrontation. I would rather be uncomfortable than make someone else feel uncomfortable. And when he did this to me it made me really nervous – he is clearly shameless and I didn’t know what he could do if I called him out for his actions. (I tend to think the worse)

Moral of the story: I have decided that I am going to start my New Year resolution early and learn to stand up for myself. Let’s do this!

New Job!

I have now been at my job for a few days and I am starting to feel more comfortable with the routine of going to sleep at a decent hour, waking up early and the stimulation of working! I commute using public transportation, which is super easy; however, this whole BART strike is really throwing a wrench into my daily routine…fortunately I have a couple of coworkers who are awesome who live in the area and we are able to carpool together!

I am a project manager for a social media startup. The company culture is awesome, I feel taken care of and the people I work with are friendly and patient! I feel so fortunate to be part of this industry and be working in such a cool environment.

All meals are provided on site with tons of options. For breakfast, they have fresh fruit brought in, every day, and I feel like I am in the bulk aisle at Whole Foods with how many different types of cereal is offered. Lunch is catered by 3 different restaurants, there is an afternoon snack of sandwiches and cookies and dinner is also provided, on a much smaller scale, for those who stay later. There are multiple chess boards, a ping pong table, foosball and pool and did I mention that a yoga instructor comes in twice a week for classes and there is a keg with 2 beers on tap. I like to describe this place as an amusement park for adults! It is amazing!

My first day was also my department’s team outing. Pizza was catered for dinner. While we sipped on beer and margaritas I was able to meet most of the team which was followed by being bussed to a karaoke bar for what will always be considered the best first day in the history of first days!

I hope I didn’t just make you all jealous of my new job….Just know that places like this are real, not just a fantasy you see portrayed in movies and documentaries about Google and Facebook! Are you all about to put in your 2-week notice and move to San Francisco to work in the Tech Industry?! Yeah, I thought so! :-)

Happy Wednesday!

Happy 1 Week Birthday!

One of my best friends became a mother last week. 

I would like to introduce you to sweet baby Elle Parker. What a little bundle of joy who I cannot wait to meet, hug, snuggle and kiss next month! Isn't she precious!? 

Sam and Jame will be wonderful parents and I can't wait to watch this little munchkin grow up into a beautiful, loving, kind and passionate woman! She is blessed with an incredible family and will be so loved and adored by everyone! 

What a precious gift this world has been blessed with! <3

That one time…

… I got hit on at Starbucks with FRIEND SIL (this post dedicated to this lady…you.are.welcome.)

We were sitting at a table across from each other at Starbucks. The door was behind me and there was a table with a guy sitting at it, alone, behind FRIEND SIL. You know when you can tell that someone is looking at you, well, I could tell that the guy at the table was staring at me. At first, I thought that maybe he was looking for someone because the door was behind me. Finally, I looked in his direction when I thought he was looking at me and we made eye contact. I whispered to FRIEND SIL that the guy was looking at me and a few minutes later, she turned around (when he was looking at me) they looked away and when he looked away, he smirked – I think he thought I was excited about the situation… weird.

So I decided to start scratching my face, talking with my hands, fixing my hair…whatever I could do with my left hand to try to get him to see that I was married. I thought he got the hint because he packed up, got up and walked away. We went about our coffee date and a few minutes later the guy comes back and walked over to our table:

Guy: Um, excuse me, do you have a boyfriend?

Me: Oh, actually, I am married…

FRIEND SIL: Yeah, to my brother!

Guy: Oh you two look like sisters.

Me: Yeah we get that a lot…

Guy: Well, I saw you from the corner and thought you were sweet and I know the perfect person for you.

Me: Oh, thank you

Guy: You would be good with one of my friends…

Me:..Ok...Happy Weekend…

Good save on your ego, buddy…ha!

Online Shopping…

…Can be very frustrating! Alright, I don’t complain on this blog, much, but today I have to be a little frustrated…

1. I have 2 27x40 posters that I want to have framed. I did a search and found the lowest price at ::cough.walmart.cough:: I ordered 2 frames and both were delivered broken. Instead of waiting weeks to return the frames via mail, I decided to return them to the local ::cough.walmart.cough:: I returned the frames and decided to check out the frame section to see if they had any frames that were not damaged. Of course, they had 2 left so I asked an employee to do a price check and the frames happened to be more expensive! Alright, long story short, ::cough.walmart.cough:: wouldn’t price match their own store. I was about to bite the bullet and buy the frames when I noticed a big scratch on one of the frames, so I decided against it.

Moral of the story: ::cough.walmart.cough:: will price match other store prices, but not their own? Oh well….If I remember correctly, ::cough.walmart.cough:: and their online store are different and it could be really bad for their business, but not so great for me their customers.

2. I went to Nordstrom because I had a couple of gift cards. I found 2 shirts that I liked but they didn’t have one of the shirts in my size, so the associate asked me if I wanted to have the shirt sent to me in the mail, so I agreed. We went through the entire process and I left the store really excited. A couple of hours later I get an email saying that my order was cancelled and it said that my card was not charged…little thing….I used an entire gift card and had the associate trash it and a bit of another one. So, I called the store and they told me that they could reorder the shirt but we would probably have the same problem so I was told that I couldn’t use the gift card – and what is the point of having a gift card if you can’t use it?! Anyway, I decided to call back and speak to a manager and she was the nicest and most helpful person - umm ever! She got it all taken care of for me! Yay!

Anyway – I don’t have the patience for online shopping and I have to try everything on before I buy it…I don’t do well with online shopping..ha!

New Job!

I am happy to announce that today is the first day of my new job! Yay! 

After this post, I was offered a job and a week later I was offered another, even better, job! What a lucky gal I am, in this market, that I was given two opportunities to choose from. I cannot wait to start this new chapter in my life and get back to work! Woohoo! Once I get into the swing of things, I will share more details!

Wish me luck!

Weddings On My Mind!

I was able to go to a wedding fair with my best friend and her mom this weekend! We had such a blast! Walking around, tasting cakes, sipping champagne and wine and looking at all of the pretty jewelry and wedding dresses! p.s. Photo booths are so much fun!

And I would also like to direct your attention to one of my other best friends: she is recently engaged and her thoughtful fiance recorded the entire proposal! Watch this video....it is so sweet and totally perfect! 
Weddings are so much fun and I am so grateful to have some of the most amazing people in my life falling in love and getting hitched! I am over the moon excited for the lifetimes of love, adventure and fun that will come and I can't wait to share in these special moments! 

#Sisterhood

#bestsororitypicnicever #somuchfun#skeletonface #firstblogpost

We decided on a picnic in Golden Gate Park. The day started out a bit overcast but fortunately, for us, the sun came out! We had quite the spread, enjoying lots of snacks, wine and laughter! (and not to mention we experienced some very “SF” things…but I guess that is GGP for you! ;-) )

So...if you are an Alpha Gamm in the Bay Area looking to meet people, please come out to our next event! Can't wait to see you/meet you!

Groth Wine Reserve Party

Being in the Bay Area means that I get to spend a ton of time with a beautiful woman who I am blessed to call my mom! Another perk is that said beautiful woman is a member at a ton of wineries in Napa, which means that I get to be her plus 1 at super fun wine club events!

This past Saturday, we went to the Groth Winery Reserve 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Release Party. It was a g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. day in the Bay which means it was perfect in Napa. We put the top down, fun music on the radio and headed out to Groth for the afternoon for some wine tasting, photobooth fun and delicious food! Suzanne Groth, the daughter of the owners of the winery, is also an artist and her latest painting was unveiled at the party. We had the opportunity to meet her and she signed 2 of her painting posters to me and I can’t wait to hang them in our house.

After Groth, we went over to Trefethen for some tasting and then on to lunch at Oxbow Market for oysters. It was an amazing day!

A’s Game Post Season

LET’S GO OAKLAND!

On Friday night I went with my mom, dad and littlest brother to the A’s game. Sadly, they lost, but fortunately they won on Saturday night! We had a great night sitting way up in the nose bleeds in the upper deck. The energy in the stadium was more than I could ever explain and the weather was perfect!

It is so much fun being back in the bay area and close to my family! I love getting to see my family and spend time with them, especially since Rich is so busy studying/reading/being in class!

Happy October!

Happy October!

Hopefully this month brings your Treats and no Tricks!