Saturday, May 31, 2008

media update: may

this, of course, is more for my own remembrance than anything else. asterisks denote something i particularly enjoyed. follow this advice at your own risk.

MOVIES:
Bright Lights Big City
Barbershop
For the Bible Tells Me So
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Amelie (repeat viewing) *
Enchanted
Crazy Love
What Happens in Vegas
Away From Her *
Sidekick
The Great New Wonderful
She's Gotta Have It
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull *
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Manufactured Landscapes
No Country For Old Men
A Dirty Shame
Grace is Gone
Sex and the City


BOOKS:
"A Wolf at the Table" Augusten Burroughs

MUSIC DOWNLOADS:
The Cool Kids "88" (iTunes free download)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

six word sunday: her mother's old adage proved true







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Sunday, May 18, 2008

millions of tracks

mother's day was celebrated at my house this year, with my mother, father, sister, her fiance, and my uncle in attendance. my dad and i cooked gumbo from scratch, nearly an all-day affair. apparently it's best when it's cooked a day in advance, and this i discovered to be true when i had Jewels and Cy over for leftovers the following day. my uncle, knowing we were having gumbo, decided to put a san francisco spin on it and bring us sourdough bread bowls. delicious!


louisiana hot links and andouille sausage
gumbo prep


homemade gumbo in a  sourdough bread bowl
the final product (posted again, for posterity's sake)


this week was a scorcher. (aside: the word "scorcher" in that context always reminds me of that sears commercial for air conditioning from the 90s. "what's the paper say for tomorrow?" "another scorcher." "cool!") the heat renewed my desire for air conditioning in my home, although it's not likely that i will be getting it anytime soon. we currently have a special assessment out for the entire complex for a little over $13,000 per unit. (yes, that's thirteen thousand.) this totals over two million dollars for us to repair failing decks and balconies that are a safety risk. that i typed that without once wincing shows how well i've drank the kool-aid and am now ready to serve on the board for which i am running.

back to the heat. i went with Jewels to see, i'm embarrassed to say, that ashton kutcher movie to escape the heat on wednesday afternoon, when it was 96 degrees in the shade. i could have spent all day in there, no matter what was on screen. thursday wasn't much better, and by friday we all needed an escape, so it was a good thing we'd planned to head to the city. Sarah, Jewels and i went to the legion of honor to see the annie leibovitz exhibit. because of traffic, Jewels and i didn't arrive until about an hour before the place closed, so we raced through the exhibit and didn't see any of the permanent collection. the annie leibovitz exhibit was amazing, and i'm glad i got to see it before it left. it also served as a reminder that i need to do stuff like that more often.



the chihuly exhibit will open next month, and i hope to be able to see it


the views were amazing, and the breeze while standing on the cliff was worth the drive



we walked around some of union street then headed to perry's for dinner, as it was the only one with available outdoor seating. so many cute pups (and their owners) walked by!

saturday morning i was up early to head to (supposedly) an amazing rummage sale, and when i arrived before the thing even started at 7:15a, there was nothing but garbage. i'm surprised they sold anything at all, but one man's trash and all that. target was just up the road a bit so i headed over there and actually had to wait for them to open at 8. it would have been worse had i been the only one waiting, but there was a gaggle of us early shoppers. i spent the rest of the day running errands (nordstrom rack, getting my legs waxed, etc.) before having sushi for lunch.

i was invited to a BBQ saturday night by a friend from college and her husband, who moved back up north after he finished his residency. i hope to hang out with them more often, and hope i didn't overstay my welcome, because i had a great time hanging with them. and they're both great cooks, to boot!

i was up too daggone early again today, but at least it's cooler. headed to an advance screening of a crappy movie this morning, then headed to meet my friend Greta for an afternoon refrshment at starbucks followed by shopping at REI. she's doing a bike race next month and needed some new gear and i needed some new water bottles and reef sandals, so it was only natural that we'd head there together. it's a bummer she's moving down south in the summer, but i'm glad she found a job that will suit her now that she, too, has a "Dr." in front of her name. me hav smrt frends.

this evening was dinner with the folks before they head to maui for almost three weeks. upside? i'm absconding with my mother's convertible while she's out of town. we walked to an italian restaurant about a mile away for dinner and it was refreshing to not have to drive to get something to eat.

now? it's been an exhausting weekend and it's nearly time for bed.

six word story: the sea was angry that day







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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

mother's day, gumbo-style

mother's day 'round my place was great.

my dad and i started the day with lots and lots of prep at my place for the evening's meal, gumbo.

long story short: lots of bell peppers, onion, okra, louisiana hot link sausage, chicken andouille sausage, chicken, jalapeƱos, serranos, fresh crab and various other bits produced this.


see the steam?

drool-worthy, indeed.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Mobile blogging: digusting alert!

There was just a man in the women's restroom GOING TO THE BATHROOM WITH THE DOOR OPEN. Wtf?! I was totally shocked, of course, and the woman who walked in behind me starts screaming at him, which is pretty much what I wanted to do, had I thought about it. But he didn't respond to her. BECAUSE HE WAS TALKING ON HIS CELL PHONE WHILE GOING TO THE BATHROOM IN THE WOMEN'S RESTROOM

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Sunday, May 11, 2008

six word sunday: one of these will do you







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Friday, May 09, 2008

ch-ch-changes



on the way to have dinner with my parents a while back, i made a stop by my old elementary school. i hadn't set foot on the campus since my younger sister's 8th grade "graduation" 10 years ago, and it's been much longer than that since i was a student there.

as is the case with most things, progress came in the form of grand changes, making most of the school unrecognizable. i lamented the loss of the hopscotch court in front of my fourth grade classroom where my friend jen and i spent recess. the "upper playground" and pond areas are gone, replaced by classrooms. the ceramic tiles we made in (gulp) 1984 that adorned the front of the school are gone.

without sounding overly sentimental or cheesy (too late) it was a welcome sign to see the familiar red rubber balls on the roof of one of the buildings and be reminded that, despite so many years, some things never change. like waiting for the school's janitor to remove the rubber balls from the roof to continue games like handball and four-square.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

grand plan

seems like i just keep having so much fun!

last week i took half of wednesday off to go to a giants game. they won, and taking the train up to the city saved me $25 in parking fees and the headache of driving up there.

thursday i got my hair cut and colored. i'm totally digging my new asymmetrical bob and tri-colored hair.

saturday was jewels' shower, and much fun was had. after a hanging out with friends for a few hours afterwards, i headed to downtown san jose for dinner and drinks with my good friend tara.

sunday morning came around too early, and before i knew it we were on the road to the alameda antiques by the bay, more commonly known (by me) as the alameda flea. oh, what goodies there were to be had! i spent a little over $100 and got all kinds of good stuff. including two globes (one on a stand!) bringing my total globe purchase count for the week at, erm, three.





creepy dolls


books!





some of our purchases


after the flea, we headed to the scharffenberger chocolate factory for lunch at their cafe. such delicious food!


grilled cheese sandwich


burger and fries


brownie


here's to having more great weeks!

p.s. -- all of these pix were taken with my new camera and jewels' and cy's 50mm 1.4f lens. i'm getting my own soon. :)

Monday, May 05, 2008

solemn

maybe next year, guys?

Sunday, May 04, 2008

six word sunday: certainly not something to skimp on







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