Rainy Weekends

Rainy days make me smile. Don't get me wrong, I'm still clamoring for the warm summer sunshine when I can spend my days in tanks and flip flops. I just love the rain. It makes for excellent indoor relax weather. I did an invitation mock up design Friday night while the fiance was at work. My mom loved it and so did the fiance and his mom when I showed it to them Saturday! I'm really excited about it :)

The fiance ended up being able to work from home Saturday and Sunday, so we had some nice hang out and relax time. I got signed up for the Wilton level 4 Fondant and Gum Paste class, I start tonight, I'm SO excited!!! (don't worry, there will be pictures over the next few weeks) We spent a pretty relaxing weekend. The fiance wanted to try his hand at fondant. I didn't want to touch it until I did my class, so he was on his own, but he did a really good job. We watched a bunch of House too this weekend. One disk left of Season 5...the last episode we watched last night was rather depressing though. I'm half convinced that Joss Whedon wrote it. (not that I don't love Joss, but still) The fiance also made an incredibly delicious tortilla soup. Perfect for a stormy day.

That said, bring on the sunshine. I'm ready for sunscreen, sandals, sand and fun. I promise not to whine about how hot it is. Well, at least not very loudly. :)

Photostory Friday: Pumpkin Pie

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

The challenge:

3 guys. 3 8" pumpkin pies. 1 can of whipped cream. Full office of spectators.

The prize:
Came to $20.

The title: 2009 First Annual Inter-departmental Pumpkin Pie Eating Championship Contest

The progress:

The winner:

$20 at the price of a small stomach ache. He even ended his pie with a squirt of whipped cream straight into his mouth. Interestingly enough, all three guys were hungry a few hours later.

The inner happenings at an IT Help Desk when we have way too much pumpkin pie in the office.

Welcome to my world.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

San Francisco - Day Two

Saturday morning began beautifully sans alarm clock, which was definitely nice after a week of early alarms. We started with a great continental breakfast in the restaurant that is complimentary for Club Level guests. (we really enjoyed the Club Level perks) We set off down to the cable car turn around to get a 3-day Muni pass that let us hop onto any cable car or bus for three days. We took our first San Francisco cable car ride all the way down to Fisherman's Wharf. It was an absolutely beautiful day, lots of sunshine and plenty of warmth, with a hint of a breeze to keep things from being stifling. It's crazy to see them turn the cable cars around. I guess that's part of the charm. They roll it onto the circle platform and then the two guys spin it around and push it back onto the opposite set of tracks. It's all done by manpower...it's incredible to watch. I think being a cable car driver would be really interesting, but I think you have to be a guy to do it because those things take muscle and they definitely are not light. But I bet they meet so many different people and hear so many crazy stories. They probably see their share of freaky people too, which probably provides for some interesting dinner table
conversation. I can just imagine the stories.
We went all the way to the end of the line and then walked the last couple blocks to the wharf. It was gorgeous along the water. We explored all around, saw a submarine and some ships from WWII. There was a little museum type place that had all sorts of old fashioned coin operated games, a lot of which you could still play. It was a neat place. We wandered around Pier 39 looking at the various shops and places to eat. I love seeing all the street performers...they are definitely creative. We also saw the famous bush man! I was so excited. My cousin warned me about him before I went to San Francisco in high school, but I never saw him. He is a homeless gentleman who hides behind some branches that he's cut and scares people as they walk by. I saw him as we were approaching and got really excited. We got to watch him scare a few people, it was absolutely hysterical. The funniest part is that a lot of the people went back and paid him because it was so well done and to be honest, quite clever. There were also the standard silver guys that freeze in poses. We saw all kinds of interesting acts. The bf's co-worker joked that she was getting ideas to file away just in case for later, what with the economy and all.
We also got to see the famous sea lions that laze in the sun on the floating docks just West of Pier 39. I love listening to them, they're so cool. I got some great pictures of them sunning and playing. This one is one of my favorites because I caught several of them in their "proud" pose while enjoying the warm California sunshine.










We also got our first views of the Golden Gate Bridge from down along the wharf. Luckily the fog wasn't obscuring it, but rather sitting just below it which made for some awesome pictures. It's really such a magnificent and beautiful structure, and definitely a well known California landmark. We didn't cross it or anything on this trip, but I did get to drive across it in our bus on my high school trip up there. It was cold on the other side from all the wind. Cold but beautiful. We walked up to Ghiradelli Square on the recommendation of the bf's
There was incredible wine store there that had a port syrrah that the bf and I tasted. It was pretty good, but not as good as the price would indicate. We enjoyed tasting it though. The bf's co-worker and I both got ice cream from the Ghiradelli Ice Cream Parlour. She got some ice cream in a cup. I got Ghirdelli chocolate in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. It was intensely delicious. I finished that off as we headed back down the hill (there are seriously a LOT of hills there...just in case you didn't know) and back down to the wharf. We got clam chowder bread bowls from Boudin's Bakery Cafe. They were mouthwatering and very filling. Boudin's makes the BEST sourdough bread, I absolutely loved it. We got sourdough complimentary with nearly every meal we ate in San Francisco. We took a break to rest at the hotel before dinner. Dinner took us back down to the wharf to a seafood restaurant right on the water at Pier 39, I believe it was called the Pier Market. I got fish and chips which was so perfectly cooked. The bf and his co-worker got a sea food sampler that had calamari, fish, crab and I think shrimp. We all agreed that the food was wonderful there. We also had an incredible view of both the city scape and the bay from where our table was situation near the window. It was back to the cable cars for the trip back to the hotel. I got to ride on the runners, it was SO much fun! It wasn't hard at all either, you just have to stand on the running board and hang on tight (don't worry, the bf was nearby making sure I was safe, he's protective like that...I love him SO much!) Here's a shot of how steep some of the hills were. Just imagine the downward view...it was pretty exhilarating. I'll end my day two recap with this night shot of Union Square as we approached it on the cable car. Our hotel was just around the corner. Saturday was a fun filled and fabulous day. I
definitely slept well that night when I got to bed. I have to say, the beds in our hotel practically sucked you into them they were SO comfy.

Breakfast

Quite honestly the best meal of the day. There is just something about breakfast foods that are absolutely divine. I could eat breakfast three times a day! (and occasionally do!) Eggs of all kinds, toast, waffles, fresh fruit, bacon, french toast, pancakes, sausage, muffins and pastries-breakfast foods are just delicious!
This post was supposed to be yesterday, but I ran out of time in the morning and was gone all day. But this was my exquisitely delicious Saturday morning breakfast. Strawberries and tangelos courtesy of my Farmer's Market trip last Sunday. Sadly, I won't be getting there today since I have to go play my flute with the handbell choir in just a little bit. But I still have plenty of yummies from last weekend. Just have to stop by Henry's on the way home to get a few other things that I'm low on/out of. I'm going to actually start the green smoothies today. I've been too busy and kept putting it off. All week. Haha. I know that once I start it won't be so hard. :)
And later today I will post about the amazing and beautiful day that was yesterday. Seriously, life is good, and sunny and shiny and I love it! I hope you are all having an equally lovely and amazing weekend.

Photo specs:
~taken April 26, 2008
~setting: full auto, flash fired- auto mode, red-eye reduction

Ripple Effect

Green smoothies and raw living. These seem to be the "buzz" words in the blogosphere lately. It seems I can't go a day without coming across some trace of these things. A friend of mine attempted the Green Smoothie Challenge. It sounded pretty cool, but I hadn't really gotten into it. Too busy I guess. (which I realize is a lame excuse) The whole raw food thing is very interesting, but I don't know how well I could commit to something like that, though I think I may use bits and pieces of it. But I've been thinking more and more about the green smoothie thing, and it culminated in the results post of the challenge. I think it could be good, and I love smoothies. So, while I won't be participating in the actual challenge, I can have my own personal challenge. There are some recipes provided on the original challenge post, and of course, Google runs the world. So I think I'll give it a shot. I have been trying to live a healthier life. I've started playing tennis (which, incidentally, helped bring me and the bf closer together and probably had a role in our getting together when we did) I'm still struggling to get back those beautiful abs I had back when I didn't care enough to realize the crunches game I played was actually quite beneficial. I half-heartedly did the South Beach thing again when I moved into my new apartment, but with 3 weekends in a row home, I wasn't too strict. Granted, the good results of that are I really have cut back on the bad carbs. Haha, reading all this I realize I sound like a nut, but I'm really not. Sure, I've put on 10-15 lbs I could stand to lose, but I'm not unhappy with my weight, just higher than I'm used to. See, as always, I did things differently than the rest of the crowd-I got the freshman 15 AFTER I graduated. But with tennis a few times a week, and more long walks with B, I'm at least getting the whole regular exercise thing under control. Add in daily ab work along with my old trusty physical therapy leg exercises, daily stretching and some basic 5 lb hand weight arm exercises, I should be pretty good to go...so long as I keep on it. That's where I always lose it, in the long term part. But hopefully I'll be able to stick with it. Maybe shed those extra pounds I've managed to pick up, but mostly just be healthier. And honestly, I'm one of those people where as long as my abs are okay (which at the moment, they're only so-so), I really don't care what the scale says. I just figure I should get my health habits under control now...it'll be a lot less work to establish them now than if I wait until later. Right?
So this loooong roundabout to say, I think I'm going to institute this green smoothie thing into my daily diet. One a day (at least) Already have some recipes to try, maybe I'll get a few more from B, because she's been doing the green smoothie thing for a few weeks.

And as always, my picture with the post. I struggled choosing between a few photos, I tried to come up with something that made sense with the green smoothie topic. Unfortunately, my pictures of the produce from one of the Farmer's Market Sundays are no longer on my work computer, and I'm posting this now. So instead I settled for a beach picture from my cousin's visit. Not exactly edible, but natural all the same. I was fascinated by the rippling effects in the water as the tide fluctuated that afternoon, it was really neat to photograph. I am SO looking forward to summer. It's going to be a blast, I can't wait. :)

Picture specs:
~taken March 30, 2008
~setting: landscape, flash did not fire