Tuesday

Yesterday? Sucked. It was one of those days when all of these little, seemingly insignificant yet highly annoying things kept happening to the point where I had to ask myself, several times, what did I do to deserve such bad karma?

First, my alarm didn’t go off and I woke up almost an hour later than I had wanted to. Sometimes, when I’m getting ready, I check my work e-mail. When I did, I had an email from my boss wanting to meet at 8 or 8:30 am (we don’t have to be in the office until 8:30, but he’s a morning guy.) I told him I might be able to meet at 8:30 but that I was running late. Then I realized I had to stop for gas. And then I hit a wall of traffic because of bridge construction. So I didn’t make my 8:30 meeting. Not a huge deal, but annoying for all involved, I’m sure.

The majority of my work day went as normal, until 6pm when I left work in a hurry for another meeting. But the gods must have been against me because it took me 30 minutes just to get out of the downtown area. THIRTY MINUTES when it normally takes three to five minutes. So I missed my second meeting of the day.

Then I get home, and my U-verse is out. The U-verse I just had installed on Saturday? Yep. Out. On Biggest Loser night. And when U-verse goes out, it doesn’t only affect your TV. Oh no. It knocked my wireless out too. I spent 35 minutes on the phone with the tech only for him to tell me someone will have to come out tomorrow and I’ll have to be home by 4pm to wait for the repair guy.

Around 8pm, I finally made myself some dinner – a grilled cheese sandwich – and somehow proceeded to burn it. I made another one and burned that one too. You would think it was my first time making a grilled cheese sandwich. Actually, I think I made a better grilled cheese sandwich my first time. I don’t know what happened but I’m blaming the pan.

I decided to take the dog for a walk. It was raining. So that was fun. Then I went to Blockbuster and the grocery store (uneventful, thank goodness) and called it a night. I figured that once I went to bed, it would be over and I could look forward to tomorrow. Except my mom called this morning to tell me my step-dad’s mom (my step-grandma) passed away last night. So apparently Tuesday was much worse than I originally thought.

So you over there, you with the voodoo doll that looks a lot like me? Put that down and give me a break. I’m not in the poking mood.

Sister

This past weekend we had an impromptu visit from my sister-in-law and her daughter (our niece). At first, I was mostly concerned about the bad timing (bathroom remodeling going on in the guest bathroom, no time to clean the house, interruption of quality time with the husband), but it’s not often that she makes the 8 hour drive to visit so all that other stuff was just no big deal. We were happy to se her. Usually we only see her when we go back to my husband’s hometown to visit his parents – like the holidays – when everyone is running around crazy and stressed out. It was nice to see her in a more relaxed state.

She split her time between visiting us and visiting my husband’s aunt, though I’d like to think she had a better time with us. Especially since I baked for her and we took her to the Rams game (they lost, of course, but we were just there to see Brett Favre anyway.) We really loved having her here, but there was something a little strange about the whole visit. And that would be, the bun in her oven. It was just about two months ago when she announced she was pregnant and we all thought she was joking. I mean, she has three kids already, the oldest of which is 16 and the youngest is 6. At first, we thought she was crazy for having a fourth kid. But the more I thought about it, the happier I was because this now meant two things: 1) the baby spotlight was off of me and 2) when we finally decide to have kids, their cousins won’t all be 10 years older than them. Since my husband is the youngest of three, and we’re also waiting longer than his sisters did to have babies, that means all of our hypothetical children’s cousins will be much, much older than them. And that makes me sad. And even more pressured. Until now. Her pregnancy has just bought us a couple more years, now that the family will have a new baby to coo over soon. The pressure is off!

But being around a pregnant woman also has its deterrents. Like when she threw up in the parking garage on our way to the football game? Yeah, that makes me think the whole baby thing can wait. For a really long time.

Napa Valley

On our way out of San Francisco, we made one more stop by the Golden Gate Bridge before heading out to Napa Valley.

We also stopped by Muir Woods, which is sort of a scary drive with all the twists and turns. But it was Sunday, and gorgeous, and therefore we couldn’t find a parking spot at the park to even park our car. Well okay, that’s a lie. We found one, but it was about one and half miles away from the park entrance and it was so hot, we decided to save that excursion for some other time.

The further out of the city we drove, the hotter it became. We drove through Sonoma and then into Napa to our hotel. The Silverado Resort was everything the pictures showed it to be. Even better was the complimentary room upgrade to a Jr. Suite and the surprise fruit basket, cheese platter and bottle of Chardonnay delivery we received just minutes after settling into our room. (side note: I had been corresponding with the resort’s resident Twitterer prior to our trip, which is how we even found out about the resort in the first place. She was kind enough to arrange some of those special extras and we couldn’t have been more impressed. Thanks Erika!)

Since we now had everything we needed in our room, we saw no need to leave the resort. So we walked across the street to the spa and made appointments for our couples massage that evening. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool while we waited. (Both the resort and the spa have a pool, plus the spa has a jacuzzi, so we pool-hopped for a couple of hours.) I haven’t been to many spas in my life but this had to be one of the better ones. Robes and slippers waiting for me in my own locker, steam rooms, saunas, hot tea, citrus water…I could’ve lived there.

After our massage we simply walked back across the street to the resort restaurant where I had the best corn and crab chowder I’ve ever tasted. I need to learn how to make it. Soooo good.

The next two days were all about winery hopping. We visited:

Whitehall Lane Winery (we had two free tastings vouchers)

Markham Vineyards (also free tastings voucher)

Castello di Amorosa (my favorite. No voucher. I bought a bottle of wine calld “Fantasia” to bring home with me.)

Chateau Montelena (of the movie “Bottle Shock” fame)

And since it was crush season, we got to see the wineries in action as they literally crushed the grapes to extract the juices.

Beringer Vineyards

Day 2 of winery hopping:

Domaine Carneros (great for Champagne lovers)

We sat on the patio and enjoyed the view

Artesa Winery (just look at the view beyond the fountain! We were told this place had the best views of the Carneros region and I’m willing to bet they were right.)

Cuvaison Winery

Simply gorgeous! I think we picked the perfect time to year to see the valley and the weather was wonderful. And with more than 350 wineries in Napa Valley, there’s enough there to hopefully make a return trip some day. If you’ve never been to Napa, note that everything closes pretty early. Most of the wineries close at 5 or 6 pm (and open as early as 9:30 or 10 am!) and the restaurants stop serving food after 9pm. Not much night-life in the valley, presumably because everyone is already passed out or drunk from the full day of drinking. Since we only did tastings, and even shared tastings at times, neither of us ever got drunk so the nights were kind of boring after dinner. Except for the last night when we met a couple from Louisville, Kentucky at the local bar (one of only two  bars in the downtown area that stay open past 10pm) and spent the entire evening hanging out with them until about 12:30 when the place closed. They were a lot of fun and we exchanged contact info so we can potentially meet up in the future when we pass through that way (which we do a few times a year to visit the in-laws and my parents).

Though it was one of the most expensive trips we’ve ever taken (maybe more than Hawaii), we had a blast and hope to go back some day.

San Francisco Day 2

After a great first day in San Francisco, we woke up the next morning (my hubby’s official birthday), anxious for the day’s main activity: watching the San Francisco Giants play the Chicago Cubs at AT&T Park. Since the game didn’t start until 1pm, we took our time waking up, watching the Michigan game, and getting ready for the day. We had already planned to eat lunch near the ballpark at a bar & grill called 21st Amendment. It was recommended to us by a local we met at the wine shop the night before. Since we didn’t have a car and the ballpark was not within walking distance, we decided to use public transit rather than cab it. As per usual, I was navigating until I lost all self-control when I spotted a cable car that had stopped for loading/unloading. I may have said “That’s our cable car!” in order to make my husband think that was our ride. We quickly hopped on only to realize it was headed in the complete opposite direction of the ballpark. The great thing about cable cars though, is the fact that they go up and down the same street, like a train on a track, just stopping at intersections for people to hop on and off. So we just stayed on the car until it ran out of cable and returned to the same spot. Waste of time? Perhaps. But it was fun and we can say we’ve rode on a San Francisco cable car now.

After a couple of bus switches (and realizing it would have been cheaper to take a cab) we made it to AT&T Park.

We purchased our tickets and with time to spare, found the 21st Amendment bar & grill. Fortunately, they were playing the Michigan game, and we just happened to sit next to another couple where the guy was also a Michigan fan. It also helps that they won that day. After lunch, we went to the game and I have to say that AT&T Park has one of the most gorgeous views of any ballpark we’ve been to.

That was the view from our nosebleed seats. We didn’t stay there very long, mostly because it was just so hot and the sun was beating right down on us. So we went down a few levels and just walked around for most of the game. Two things that shocked me: 1. The sheer amount of Cubs fans. In fact, there could have been more Cubs fans thans Giants fans at that game. It was hard to tell. 2. Garlic fries. I’ve never seen garlic fries at a ballpark, but they were more popular than nachos. Weird.

We spent some time walking along the perimeter, just looking out at the bay. The most notable boat had to be this one.

Just as we were getting bored and ready to leave, I ran into a girl that I went to high school with. She graduated the year before me so we weren’t really friends, but we recognized each other and I gave her crap about wearing a Cubs shirt (if you’re from St. Louis, like we are, then you’re assumed to be a Cards fan). They were visiting San Francisco for their one year wedding anniversary so she claimed she was wearing the shirt as a gift to him. ha!

After the game, we cabbed it over to Chinatown. We weren’t big fans. So then we walked over to the Italian district, which was much more our style. We ate an early dinner by sharing a calzone at one place and had dessert of tiramisu gelato and a cappuccino at another place. After that, we felt like we were out of things to do so we went back to the room, changed, and walked across the street to a building where you can go up to the 52nd floor and view the entire city. I forget what it’s called but it’s sort of like the Rainbow Room in NYC. So we had some overpriced drinks and a crab cake appetizer there while we took in gorgeous sites of the city at night.

San Francisco

We left early Friday morning and even despite a few delays, we finally landed at SFO around 11:30 am local time. We hopped a cab to the fabulous Omni Hotel. (Travel Tip: For the best deal, use third-party travel sites like Kayak.com or Expedia.com and once you’ve found your top three hotels, check their websites to see if the hotels themselves are promoting even cheaper deals than those third-party sites.) We arrived a few hours before official check-in time and the couple in front of us had just politely been told their room wasn’t ready, so I stepped up to the front desk with my friendliest smile and even though our room wasn’t ready, the front desk clerk was more than happy to find us a similar room that was ready. He also recommended a 3.5 hour city tour and though the tour was already booked, he was able to squeeze us in with the tour company at the last minute with some sweet-talking of his own. So we dropped off our stuff (our room was perfect!), grabbed a snack from the snack shop next door, and waited for our tour.

Most people know that San Francisco is incredibly hilly, and therefore not much fun if you tried to explore it on foot. It’s also a runner’s nightmare, so even though I had every intention of jogging, I figured it could wait until we hit Napa. The tour was okay. We took a bus past Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, the Italian District, to the Golden Gate Bridge, to a museum, up to twin peaks, past the painted ladies (the houses featured in the opening sequence of Full House), through the old hippy hangout area of town (I forget what the tour guide called it) where Janis Joplin used to hang out. So we saw quite a bit of the city. The biggest downside was that our tour guide’s first language was not English, so it was difficult to understand him at times and we only caught bits and pieces of what he was saying. So enough talk, let’s look at pictures:

A foggy Golden Gate Bridge

View of the city from twin peaks (at least I think that’s what it’s called).

The painted ladies. I was probably more excited to see this (and the Mrs. Doubtfire House, which I didn’t snap a good picture of) than anything else on the tour.

The tour ended a Fisherman’s Wharf so instead of going back to our hotel, we just stayed at the wharf and walked around.

From the wharf, we could see Alcatraz.

And the Golden Gate Bridge.

Alcatraz from Pier 39. If the flag is any indication, it was windy. And cold. So most of our photos from here have me awkwardly holding my hair back in a faux ponytail. Like this:

Shortly after this picture, we bought my husband a jacket because he was freezing his arse off in that thin short-sleeve shirt. Oh he had a jacket or two, back at the room, but we considered it a souvenir since it says San Francisco on it.

We ate dinner at a place called Scoma’s since it was recommended to us by a friend, but even though the food was okay, we were a little disappointed. It was sort of pricey, the portions were small, and we just weren’t impressed. I think we expected more East Coast style of seafood dining. After dinner, we kept walking until we hit Ghiradelli Square.

The store even gives out free samples! But I couldn’t make up my mind on what to buy, so I walked out with nothing at all. Instead we went to the little wine shop across the plaza and did our first California wine tasting. I ended up buying two bottles of sparkling Shiraz and had them shipped to us because 1) it’s delicious and 2) there are only three places in the US that make it. It’s a good holiday wine, so I’ll have a bottle for Thanksgiving, when all the family comes in town, and another bottle to take to the in-laws’ house for Xmas. They just arrived yesterday and they kind of look like champagne bottles. I’m so tempted to break into one early.

We got back to our room around 10 pm to discover this:

When I booked our room, I noted that it was for a birthday celebration (my husband’s) and even though his birthday wasn’t until the next day, we were pretty excited to come back and find a huge piece of chocolate cake and a small bottle of champagne waiting for us. And of course, I even lit the candle that came with it and forced him to make a birthday wish. Thank you, Omni Hotels!

A sweet ending to a wonderful first day.

Happiness is…

(I’m still sorting through our vacay pics, but in the meantime, let’s look at all the happy.)

Happiness is…

A very realistic dream where I was hanging out with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. More importantly, James McAvoy. I almost never have dreams that involve handsome men. Especially not handsome, famous, SCOTTISH men. Le sigh. Stupid alarm clock.

New boots! I’m not much of a shopoholic, but the desire to buy at least five new pairs of boots is hitting me hard. I covet these immensely and plan to purchase something similar this weekend. These are Aerosoles. You see, I’m experiencing some slight foot pain and I think these would be both stylish AND comfortable. I’m all about the comfort, baby.

We just signed up for AT&T U-verse service. I’ve been wanting this for at least a year, and it’s finally available in my neighborhood. More HD channels! DVR! DVR on ALL three of our TVs! And for less than $20 more than I’m paying for basic service (with no DVR) with Charter. I’m so excited for the switch! And to finally have a DVR! Bye bye Charter!

Speaking of TV…

I can’t wait to veg out on the couch with my hubby and just relax and catch up on some movie rentals this weekend.

So what’s making you happy lately?

And we’re back

I’m still in my post-vacation haze, trying to get back into work-mode and I’m finding the mix of emotions to be a bit more challenging this time around. There’s the post-vacation depression (made worse by the empty-wallet syndrome), the happy-to-be-home smile, comfort and warmth that comes with nuzzling a certain special fur-baby, who has just been bathed and is just so darn happy to see us. Then there’s the foggy-headedness that comes with trying to remember where all of  my 15 work projects stand and then the subsequent, overwhelming stress that hits once I do remember. The same goes for all of our household obligations, like bills that need to paid, customer complaints to Charter that need to be made, and home maintenance work that needs to be scheduled. The strongest desire to clean and organize comes as soon as I walk in the door and realize my home is nowhere near the cleanliness standards of the hotels I’ve been resting my head in for the last few days. And of course, the worry, sadness,  and sympathy that occurs when having to visit my grandpa in the hospital after two cancerous tumors were removed from his colen. But also relief, that it’s over and he’s okay, all things considered.

It’s a lot to take in, especially when the only thing I allowed myself to take in for the last few days were views like this:

But we’re back to reality now. So I’ll post more pics and details of our trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley as soon as I’ve readjusted to my regularly-scheduled life.

Are we still talking about Fall? Um, yes.

Do you ever feel like writing but just can’t form a cohesive thought worthy of putting on paper (or Internet, as the case may be)?

Yeah. Me too. So here’s my stream of consciousness…

Fall is officially here and I’m both excited and also completely unwilling to accept that summer is over. I think what I hate most is the fact that the days are getting shorter. I can no longer go to my outdoor running trail because by the time I get there, I have less than half an hour to run it before it gets dark. And seeing as how it takes me more than 45 mintues to do this trail, I’ve had to start running at the gym instead. And I hate it.

Work is good. For about six weeks, I was stressed the eff out. And it showed, which is never a good thing. So I took a step back, took the proverbial chill pill, and basically just told myself to suck it up. Everyone’s stressed, everyone’s busy, get over it. So I did. And I’ve felt much better ever since, even though I’m still ridiculously busy.

And now for some photos.

My dining room has a “wine” theme to it so my grandma painted this using watercolors and surprised me with it. She had it professionally matted too. Here it is, proudly displayed in my dining room.

Also new in this picture: the coat rack, which is really more of a purse and key rack right now. And my new fall table cloth, which looks much better in person than it does in this photo. I’m especially fond of the texture:

The table actually looks better naked (see below), but when it’s just us, we put a tablecloth on it because repeated tossing of keys and things onto the table will leave scratches.

This was taken a few weeks ago during the birthday celebration weekend (notice the presents in the corner. And the very bored dog in the foreground). Next up on my home improvement list? Wood blinds. So I may continue my avoidance of curtains.

Excited for…

San Francisco – We already booked our hotel for the days we’re in the city but we’re still deciding which luxurious resort to stay in while we’re visiting Napa and Sonoma.

The Biggest Loser - Watched the season premiere on Tuesday and I can already tell this is going to be another great season. I heart Jillian Michaels.

Fall – Though I’ve been in denial these last few weeks that summer has come to an end, I’m excited for chili cookoffs, home-baked apple pie, sweatshirts, falling leaves, fall decorating, cute jackets and boots, pumpkins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin beer, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie blizzards from DQ…I REALLY like pumpkins. I already have my autumn door hanger up.

Halloween - We REALLY get into the holiday. I’ve waited my whole life to live in a house where kids actually come by and trick or treat. Our house has been the first house where I’ve ever been able to hand out candy to all the little kids. What’s even better is that Halloween is on a Saturday this year so I’ll have the entire day to get ready and I won’t be rushing home after work to change into costume while trying to answer the door. The kids in my neighborhood start EARLY. Then, at around 9 or 10, we’ll walk across the street to our neighbor’s house and party through the night around the firepits (yes, that’s plural. As in SIX firepits in one driveway.) The theme this year is “Wild West” so I should probably start thinking about my costume now.

U-verse - We can FINALLY get U-verse in my neighborhood. Hopefully I’ll have it in my home before Thanksgiving.

5K - I’m participating in my first 5K in October and though I’m excited, I’m also a little nervous. Hopefully the weather is nice this weekend so I can continue my training outdoors.  

What are you excited for right now?

Relieved

I was on the phone with my grandpa on Friday when I pulled into the driveaway.

“So tell me about the new neighbors,” he said.

“I don’t know! They closed today and I’m pulling in right now. I see a car. And the yard looks empty which means no dog, so that’s good.”

And then the barking.

SHIT

“What’s that noise? Is that barking?” grandpa asked.

“Yeah. I spoke too soon. They have a dog.”

Then a guy in his late 20’s stepped out in his camo military uniform. For some reason, I instantly felt better. I like almost anyone wearing US military uniform. I told my grandpa there’s a guy in camo standing there and quickly got off the phone. I let my dog out into the yard and of course, much more barking ensued. Great. But we introduced ourselves and I asked him a million and one questions about where he moved from, what he does for a living, if he has any kids, etc. About 15 minutes later, his girlfriend showed up and she looks to be about my age. She works in marketing (same as me) and I was so excited at the prospect of possible new friends as neighbors that I nearly jumped over the fence and tackled them both in a great big bear hug. Here I was, assuming the worst, and now we might have new friends!

They won’t be all moved in and settled for another couple of weeks they said, but I’m already cleaning my house and planning nights around our firepit, which we’ve refrained from using too much because the old neighbors had itty bitty kids that we didn’t want to disturb. 

Hooray for non-sucky neighbors!