A Texas Christmas - Day 9
Dec. 26th

Goodbye Texas :(

Woke up and had my mission - to pick up some Round Rock donuts! I can't tell you how many people I've heard say "I don't like donuts, never eat them. But I love RR donuts!" I was seriously glad I had my new winter coat - holy jeez it was 29 earlier that morning and by the time I ventured out around 9:30 it was 34 I think. Rather a painful breezy morning as I fueled up my Mom's car and got her a car wash on my way to get my sinful breakfast treat... eeee! I can only eat like 2 of them before I feel ill and can't begin to remember how I could down a bag of donut holes for breakfast every morning during high school. Healthy start to a quality day of education! :) After donuts it was off to the airport...

At the airport I had a very happy moment as I realized the Austin airport DOES have a ThunderCloud in it!! I never walked that far down so I didn't know! Oh happy days. I went to Earl Campbell's bar for a few beers and to waste time, then right before boarding I was going to hit up T-Cloud mmmm. This was after having a slight panic of indecision over several of my favorite Austin spots as options for my "last meal". Salt Lick BBQ... Mangia Pizza.... Schlotzky's... Amy's ice cream - oh the agony.

After being slightly delayed and sitting on the plane for about an hour, the man sitting next to me realized they were not kidding when they told us they were waiting for paint for the plane and he kinda disappeared only to come back and be the guy that saved the day! Apparently he worked for FedEx and got off the plane to make some calls and get our plane hooked up with some paint. Got back to Oakland safe and sound albeit much later than I would've liked. I was exhausted, but ridiculously happy to know Josh was on his way to meet me at the BART station :) We exchanged gifts, mine sucked. Ok they didn't totally suck, I got him what he asked, but they didn't fit him very well. He knows me well and got me a hat from this old, well known hat maker just down the street from my apartment in North Beach and a very very cool cookbook. It explains some of the technical stuff behind cooking that you wouldn't know otherwise when looking at a recipe. I'm excited I might actually learn to have fun with cooking and do it well... one day!

A Texas Christmas - Day 7 & 8
Dec. 24th & 25th

Christmas Eve!

Friday
Melanie came for a a very quick visit over coffee, but quick or not, I'll take it! I hate that my besties and I are so dang far apart. We opened up our gifts left with my mom from Chandra who spends every other Christmas in Colorado with family so we miss her terribly :( But we did receive the cutest family photo! Black and white, casual family photo taken by a professional photographer, it turned out great! Trey arrived just after Mel left and it was pouring down Texas rain style as we headed out for our day of "errands" ugh. Trey and I still needed to pick up a gift for Thomas since Dick's Sporting Goods was so helpful the other day. Academy to the rescue we found a Spurs shirt for Thomas! We swung by Cover 3 to have a yummy little lunch and to miss some of the rain, then went to visit Thomas in the hospital. God he didn't look good :( (as of writing this Mom says he's gotten a lot better, yay!) We organized his xmas cards and chatted a little considering he can barely talk :( After that we went to Cavender’s for Trey’s xmas shopping. After being convinced khaki goes with black, he got a cool jacket and we helped him decide on some jeans and then it was off to Nana's! It was a bit of a sad visit for me as her eyesight and hearing are just about gone and she seems to be getting more nice to the point of verbalizing her appreciation for our mom out loud and in front of us! (long history there) I'm afraid that means she is possibly feeling like getting her "affairs" in order. She also gave me and Trey cool gifts, inheritance items...
After Nana's we were finally on our way home to relax for Christmas Eve. Mr. Born came over as usual and brought some of his newest carvings to show me. I need to figure out when I'm going to play with mine! We had Mom's amazing tortilla soup for dinner, my chocolate glazed rum cake was a success and we stayed up chatting. I lovely evening :)

Saturday
Woke up and pulled a classic Shelby and broke one of mom's vases :( Not entirely my fault... it was in a bad place on a flimsy table! Sorry Mom. Although that was me getting Trey's opinion on my jacket mom bought me and I decided it was fantastic and I was keeping it! (earlier I had tried on Mom's new coat and liked it better which is where my indecision began). I made a frittata and english muffins with jam for breakfast and then Trey, Mom and I sat down to open presents. Mom got lots of little goodies and I got a very cool present from Nana: A purse made by my grandpa. He killed the deer, skinned the hide for the leather, designed the purse himself and did some leather work for a simple design, then sent it to be made into the purse. Amazing! I am very honored to have this and happy to have such a fun memory of my grandpa. Mom got me a cookbook and desk calendars I had picked out on etsy.com, a cute 40's looking winter hat, a scare and my new coat of course. Trey had previously gotten a wallet made by grandpa, but Nana wanted him to have this itty bitty fragile bible of hers. Mom said she didn't mean for it to be a message to Trey about religion, it was more that it was something special to her from her past and she wanted to pass it down to him. Very sweet. Trey and I had taken each other to the Spurs game so that was our gift.
Like many families, Christmas afternoon is meant for the movies!! One of my favorite things :) We all headed out to the Alamo Drafthouse to see True Grit, however once we got there they only had 2 tickets left! We were disappointed and a little unenthusiastically decided to see The Fighter instead - it was really good! Mom and I shared a bottle of champagne while Trey went with the beers and we also got chips and queso, fried pickles and a big bowl of popcorn with real melted butter! Oh... and I also had to have Amy's vanilla with espresso - mmm...
After the movie we hugged Trey goodbye as he had to get home, unpack and work the next day. Mom and I swung by Honda to get her car shopping a start. (and a few days later I learn she bought an Accord, ha!) Back home mom helped me strategize my packing, ugh. I still don't know how she can pack so neatly!! Even though I was checking my suitcase, my carry on was still a heavy pain, happens everytime I don't know why I am surprised by this or why I don't plan better. Then we sat down to bruscetta and a great bottle of wine: From Camellia Cellars “Diamo Grazie” 1999. yummy, while watching HGTV design shows. I love watching HGTV with other people - can't stand it by myself!

A Texas Christmas - Day 6
Dec. 23rd

In Boerne, TX at Trey's place. We woke up and went to pick up breakfast tacos for us and his coworkers - YUM! ...you know... I'll never understand why we don't have breakfast tacos in San Francisco. We've got Mexican food and we have the breakfast burrito. Is it really that far of a stretch to the breakfast taco?! Come on people! *sigh.
Mom was driving up from Round Rock to pick me up at Trey's work. He's a lighting consultant and his work has a great showroom so it was fun to look around and dream about what things I would get if I ever owned a place. It's over an hour and a half for sure and once Mom picked me up we were planning on meeting Aunt Elaine for lunch in Austin around noon. Well as 10:30 and then 11:00 rolled around, Trey and I had to laugh. Mom is NOT the quickest one out the door if she doesn't have to punch the work clock. However, this particular time I'll give her a little leeway as there was some incredibly heavy holiday traffic. Then once she did arrive, she had to have a chat with Trey & the guys and then of course got distracted by the fixtures, etc.

We finally left and Elaine was super sweet to be so flexible and not meet us til nearly 2pm for a late lunch. I picked East Side Cafe to eat at which I hadn't been to since my college graduation party! Love this place! It's a tiny house with a garden in back where they grow fruits and veggies that they use in their dishes and it's located on the "east side" of Austin, which is actually a cute area, but probably a hooker and a crack addict just a street over :P
We started off with brie and apple chutney and a bottle of champagne - cheers! I had a yummy salad and a side of acorn squash with ginger soy something or another. Elaine got me the cutest UT/Texas bracelet which I can't wait to wear next season as the Longhorns remind everyone how awesome they are!

After saying goodbye to Elaine, Mom and I took the scenic downtown Austin route home since the highway was still packed. On our agenda was a tiny bit of last minute shopping which took us over to the Domain where we went into Dick's sporting goods to get a Spurs hat for my Uncle Thomas. Walked in and immediately saw the racks of UT apparel, along with Texans and Cowboy stuff, so we figure there is a basketball section or something, but after wandering up to the second floor with no luck we ask the staff. No they don't carry Spurs stuff because "we aren't near San Antonio" was their reply. ... um... my reply "We aren't near Dallas or Houston, but you have Cowboy and Texan stuff... and for that matter, Houston & Dallas are twice as far away as San Antonio!" What the hell. I realized they did not carry Spurs items but I wanted a better answer, lol, so I asked a different sales person and got the same damn retort. I'm writing their marketing team because I can't handle such stupidity. I'm SO not an A&M fan, but there are a ton of them living in Austin, so if you aren't the co-op or a shop located right near campus, you should be selling Aggie stuff don't you think? After that we hopped over to Macy's hoping for better luck finding Josh a sweater he would like. He asked for one with a zipper by the neck which we found lots of, just none in his size :( I did my best, but once I got home and exchanged gifts with Josh, they were a disappointment, not the best fit. Oh well, guess we are going shopping soon! Never fear Mom and I did find a good buy ;) I got a new coat and just in time as Saturday, Christmas morning it was flippin freezing in Austin!
On the way home we grabbed ThunderCloud Subs - so simple, so good. I'm not sure many people outside of the ThunderCloud Fan Club understand. It's really sad they miss out. I worked at the RR location when I was 16 and still, to this day, best job ever! Ok... best job ever if you can afford to live on $5.00/hr. LOL! Ahhh... good times.

A Texas Christmas - Day 5Dec. 22nd

After breakfast with Dad, Tom & Barbara I packed up and we headed to San Antonio. First stop, visit Aunt Joanne's to see her, Debbie & my Mimi. Since falling twice and breaking near everything it seems, Mimi is home & doing great! Despite her requests to be taken to heaven, I am very happy to see her doing so well and am greatful to still have her with us. We made a pact that she is too stay around until I give her a grandbaby... those terms are still a bit negotiable as I'm not so confident she'll get one by her 90th birthday.


Then we headed down to the Market Square to my all time favorite mexican food restaurant, La Margarita. LOVE their food, love the market square and I love that they always have a fantastic mariachi band playing. Had a simple but favorite dish of mine: cheese enchilada with chili con carne sauce, crispy beef taco, side of guacamole and rice & beans. And of course a giant goblet of Dos XX to wash it all down :)

Early dinner left Trey & I plenty of time to get across town for our Christmas present to each other - Spurs game!! They played the Denver Nuggets and I can't begin to express what a phenominal game it was! SO MUCH FUN! Well fun and a slightly anxiety ridden 3rd quarter when they were down by 9. Neck & neck the whole game, down in the 3rd and then just a fantastic show in the 4th. GO SPURS!! Got my first jersey - #20 Ginobili :)

A Texas Christmas - Day 3 & 4
Monday & Tuesday Dec. 20th and 21st

Slept IN Monday morning due to staying up a bit late and from fighting my sinus infection, so by the time I got up there was time for a shower and coffee and then getting our butts in gear to Luling for the all time best BBQ for lunch! After stuffing my belly full of brisket, sausage, white bread, pickles and the famous Luling BBQ sauce... I asked for a driving tour to get started on my Texas photo collection. I am compiling pictures of everything that reminds me of Texas to make a coffee table book for myself one day.

We were off to a fantastic start as we stumbled upon a mother ostrich just off the side of the road hovering over her eggs! On the other side of the fence there was the male ostrich and some camels, of all things. It was awesome, I got some good shots. Then I realized my battery wasn't fully charged and that ended our photo excursion. But my Dad & Donna were troopers and swung back by the house for me to grab my other battery and we hit the road to Smithville where my Dad was born and raised and where I grew up going to my Mimi's house. I got shots of the house he was born in, his childhood home and then his 3rd house, as well as my Mimi's house and the school that both my Dad & his parents went to. Also in Smithville is the house I grew up loving, which is now known as the "Hope Floats" house. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what house I'm referring too. Coming back to Flatonia, we decided to catch Monday night BINGO at the Legion Hall. It was lots of fun, although none of us won a dime. I had the BEST red velvet cake (for $1!!), but when I tried to find a water fountain to wash it down, I found it was broken. My Dad replied "you'll just have to drink beer then". My Lone Star didn't quite pair well with my red velvet cake.

Tuesday: Today I insisted on getting my butt up in time to go to breakfast. This is not a flexible activity due to my Dad always meeting the gang at the same place at the same time every morning for yummy breakfast tacos. (Mine was egg, tiny crispy pieces of bacon, tiny pieces of potato that were fried up perfectly and homemade real mexican refried beans - mmmmm) We only had to be there at 8am, but this was more difficult than usual since I didn't fall asleep until about 1am and fought a cough that woke me up constantly all night long. After breakfast we went to the barn and sorted through some boxes of my childhood toys and books then came home and made a chocolate praline cake! Watched a movie, The Joneses, recommended, and then went to my favorite gift store where I always pick up a nick or nack. Bought a cute bobble ring. Later that evening we headed to Schulenberg to go to the "Cozy Theatre" to watch Tangled, but as officially run as the place is, Tangled wasn't the one showing, it was Unstoppable which my folks had already seen, but said they wouldn't mind seeing it again. I wasn't completely sold on the movie, but it was actually really good! Our pizza was delivered to us right before the movie started from the pizza place in the alley. Very handy, kinda like Alama Drafthouse!

A Texas Christmas - Day 1 & 2
Saturday/Sunday Dec. 18th and 19th

A slightly sad goodbye in Oakland as I had to leave Josh for 7 days during my favorite holiday. Plus I really would have loved to show him Texas and have him meet the Fam. Hopefully we will get an opportunity to go to Austin together sooner rather than later. I was, however, quite greatful to be heading out to sunny Texas as the forecast for the Bay Area was for a week straight of rain! I also left for my holiday visit quite stuffed up but this didn't seem to stop me from smelling the heavenly smell of TX BBQ as I got off the plane (the Austin airport is awesome, they only have local restaurants as options in the food court areas, one of those being Salt Lick BBQ). My Dad & Donna picked me up and we headed to Cistern to meet up with my brother and have a few beers at the bar before dinner. I am proud and thankful that the very first food to hit my lips was home cooked brisket... ohhhhhh mmmmmm.... it was technically just a quick snack for me as my folks didn't want me to starve before going to dinner. We left for dinner and yes, I wasn't all that hungry, lol, so I skipped on ordering the chicken fried steak the size of a football and went with baked potato soup and salad. By this point I was fighting some seriously stuffed up sinuses and my throat was very sore so I was just ready to go home. My Dad's netty pot to the rescue - except it didn't work too well :( My Dad said he'd never seen anyone as stuffed up as me :(

Sunday morning, another netty pot and with a little bit clearer head, we all headed out for brunch in La Grange. I was reminded how much I miss country cream gravy as I was pleased to see that every egg dish came with home fries, bacon and a side of biscuits and gravy - yum! And then, omg, I didn't realize my meal started with a cup of fruit and ended with a giant piece of chocolate cake! All for $12 - sweet! Spent the rest of the day hanging out with the folks and my brother Trey, watching the Cowboys win, goofing off on the computer and opening a few gifts. Just the 4 of us, not a big event, but some special gifts all the same. I got exactly what I wanted and needed: a little sound machine for my bedside table :) Between the squeeling tires of people doing their best to back into the most difficult parking spots on the steepest hill, my roommate coming home late with his whistling habit, drunk people walking up the hill to Coit Tower and then Ferrel Parrots of Telegraph Hill all heard clear as a bell with my 100 year old bedroom windows and paper thin old walls... I have become addicted to my "ocean sounds" app on the iphone. It doesn't work as well on my slow/old iphone 3G so I needed a replacement. I also got a UT scarf which I am looking forward to using next season - Hook 'Em!

The Frank, Rimerman + Co. 2010 Holiday Party

So this is the ONE photo captured (end of the night, hence my shoes in my hand and us looking a little too relaxed) due to me forgetting my purse on a table in the ballroom and then it being stolen. We took some really cute photos too :( which is what I'm most sad about since we were all snazzy and dressed up. "Things" are replaceable and although it's a giant pain to be stuck with my old/slow iphone now, I can't replace the photos we took that night on my camera.

On a better note! ...We had a WONDERFUL time!!

October 30th
New boyfriend, new apartment, new roommate, new neighborhood... and now new car. Not a happy moment at first since it was out of necessity and not planned. My Jeep was on his death bed, literally had a death rattle (transmission going out) and a high pitched squeal when in park. Fun times. So, after lots of time spent in front of my budget, rearranging some items and finding extra wherever I could, I was able to come up with a monthly car payment. Actually lease payment. My new and RELIABLE (yay!) car: 2010 Honda Fit sport -

NEW APARTMENT!

<--Out with the old and in with the new!-->
...with a few things ;)

Big Move!
...ok tiny move, just across town. But very excited, new place, new (and first unknown) roommate, new/awesome neighborhood... YAY!

I loved my first SF apartment, it was cute, had parking, a grocery market across the street and 2 blocks from Golden Gate Park. It was a good run. As soon as the opportunity came my way to move totally across town to North Beach (italian district with all the italian food you could imagine, cafe's and pub crawls and strip clubs, woo hoo :P ) I was SO done living way across town in the part of the city that is always foggy and colder when the other side isn't! LOL. I wouldn't have dared moved to North Beach if I didn't have parking or if I couldn't find a roommate to afford this awesome pad. If you take a closer look at the itty bitty photos offered up here (sorry), you might notice that in the photo on the left, my old apartment, I can practically give you a tour from the one photo. Kitchen, living room, bathroom and behind me, my bedroom. Done! In the photo to the right... you get to see my fantastic kitchen and a smidge of the living room. ha! It takes a few more photos to see the rest :) One large bedroom, <----mine, a smaller 2nd room and then a sort of 1/2 bedroom, better suited for an office or could be a kids room. We (and I mean me) like to use this for a storage room and the Bass' private bathroom quarters. We are on the top floor of a 2 unit + basement unit house and the above is a pic from our rooftop access. Very cool to watch the blue angles fly by during Fleet Week. Wish I'd gotten some pictures.


...work in process

ALASKA!

Mom flew up to SF on Thursday, the day before so we could begin our vacation relaxed and ready to board the cruise ship the next day. Friday we boarded the ship around 1:30pm and went to check out our room. Mom's very first cruise, my second, but it was my first time in a room with a little balcony! Made such a difference. Really not much bigger than the windowless room I shared with Mel on our cruise, but with the sliding glass door all the way across and mirrors on one side of the room, it was so much more spacious and fun to hang out in. Plus I could just be in my robe and stand on the balcony and get some good pictures, way more warm than being up on the deck with the wind blowing you around.

Our cruise left San Francisco and our first port was Victoria, British Columbia. Mom and I had been there on another vacation a few years ago, so we decided to do the bus tour through the city and up to Craigdarrach Castle.

Ketchikan was the next port on our itinerary. Not a long stop, but we had time to go on a rain forest zipline tour. I loved it!! While on one of the little bridges we saw movement in the trees below, noticed a half eaten salmon on the ground and were able to get a glimpse of a black bear walking around under all the foliage. That's Mom to the left coming down the last line.

We had a full day in Juneau which started with a bus ride and a little city history on our way to the our guided hike out to the

waters edge of Mendenhall Glacier. It was really pretty to see it so close and mom and I took a photo with a chuck of the glacier :) After that we headed out on a whale watching boat. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the boat was all windows, closed for the ride so we would stay warm and then once we found the area where the whales were feeding, all the windows folded up. Our driver, a 4 generation native, said that they almost always found whales, but would consider seeing a couple flukes a very good day. We saw like over 30! There were a handful of whales in the one area and they were up and down, up and down, cruising and then they would doing a really tight arch to begin their dive down and that is when the fluke pops up out of the water.



Skagway: White Pass train ride, bus tour up to Canada to see the Yukon suspension bridge, Liarsville/salmon bake

- work in process

Met Josh
June 20, 2010
Annabelle's

For the last 9 months I was having a blast with friends, enjoying my apartment and life in SF and also navigating the dating scene. Not a huge fan. I like dating someone, but finding the person to date is quite painful.

This particular Sunday I had accepted a movie date from a guy I'd had coffee with, but not much of a connection, he was nice, but there was nothing else. I wasn't really thrilled to go on the date, but I like movies... what can I say?
I had just bought my new camera so I headed downtown early to play around with it and take a few shots. Since I was dreading the movie date I had committed to I decided to grab a cocktail and Annabelle's was just around the corner from the movie theater. I was at the bar and nursing a martini while I perused my camera manual and then in typical fashion I began to chat with the bartenders. This guy sits down next to me and he seemed to know them so we were all chatting a bit. I'm not sure what was so fascinating about the conversation, but this guy and I went off on our own tangent for a few minutes and it was just really fun. It was the most fun I'd had in a very long time, but sadly I had to leave to go on my stupid movie date :( I felt silly since we'd only talked for a few minutes, but I figured if he wanted to hang out again it could be fun. I was in a hurry so I just gave the guy my card, felt impersonal and cheesy and I figured he probably wouldn't call. Couldn't have even told you what he looked like, but he had a nice smile and was wearing a hat. I wasn't even thinking about a "date" with him, I just new it was nice to laugh, have fun and easy conversation with someone and not feel like I was being interviewed.

About a week later I got an email from Josh, the guy :) We emailed just enough to find out we were both very busy most of the month of July, but that we still wanted to try to go out for drinks. We settled on Friday, July 23rd.

Josh's version (told by me so I might get some details wrong): He said it was a typical Sunday, he was in a bad mood from having worked and closed the bar Saturday night and opened the next day. He was about to walk right past Annabelle's and go to BART because he wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody. Then he changed his mind deciding he'd have one shot of Fernet and then go home. As he walked up to the bar he realized a girl was sitting next to his usual spot and he "wasn't going to sit by another pretty girl at a bar", he wasn't in the mood. Josh walked down to the end, but didn't find a better seat so he came back and sat next to the girl. Me of course :) He figured I was going on a date even though I never actually said I was, so although he also had a fun time talking to me, he was a little unsure about following up, even though I did give him my card.

Apparently it was my spazzy nature that lured him in. Who would've figured? :) Josh later told me that it was my physical rendition of my story of tripping and flailing into my bus seat and whacking a guy in the head with my purse that got him interested in me. I honestly didn't remember doing that and was a tiny bit mortified I did... but I guess I can't be too embarrassed since, well it's totally me and it worked!

First Date:
Got home from work on Friday to freshen up and then meet this guy Josh out for drinks and dinner. I was not in a first date mood, they are really exhausting. Cranky about it actually, just wanted to stay home. He texted me to meet him at B Bar at 7:00. Perking up... thinking "I like B Bar..." Allright, a little more motivated.
I'm at the bar early, thank goodness because I don't want to have to do the look around for the first date guy that I cannot remember what he looks like at all! I texted him I was wearing an orange jacket so he could have less problems finding me, in case he was in the same boat!
He arrived... Hello! CUTE :) I totally didn't realize when we met that he was so cute... and bald. Great eyes, Great smile and really works the bald thing. Tall and slim - just handsome! *sigh - yay me! First date already going much better than my cranky pants had imagined :) Then, within the first 5 minutes, I remembered why I wanted to see him again. We just talked like mad and couldn't stop, it was so much fun! We had to pull ourselves away to go to dinner. He took me to this really awesome place, Organic, where he suggested we start with Prosecco. (swooning) It took us forever to actually get to the menu because we couldn't stop talking! We had a delicious dinner, we shared everything, great wine, tons of fun conversation... it was the best first date ever. We talked and walked several blocks and I thought we were going to part ways at the BART station, it was getting close to midnight and I knew there was a last train to Oakland soon. He suggested one more drink at a bar on the corner. Ok I thought, he knows the train schedule better than I do and knows he needs to get across the bay. Josh said he just watched the clock, which was behind my head, go past the time for his last train, but he didn't care. He was enjoying our evening too much :) So at the end of our 6 and a half our date, he made me wear his coat while we waited for a cab for me. A week later we opted to meet earlier so wouldn't have to stay out so late to get a 6 hour date in... yeah, we met at 5:30 and managed an 8 hour date instead. ;)

Girls Visit - Buffalo, NY!
June 2010

Since Mel's move from Virginia to Buffalo, she and Tom found a house! It's really cute and has a huge lot, great for hanging out on their porch in the backyard. So Chandra and I flew up in late June for a visit. Melanie took us to downtown Buffalo for some live music and gave us a tour. We ended up hangingout in our PJ's, talking and watching movies for the majority of the time which is usually my favorite part of our being together :)

My second favorite was our visit to Niagara Falls, a first for me and Chandra. The force of all that water is really just indescribable and very cool to witness. We sprung for the Maid of the Mist boat ride which takes you to the middle of the horseshoe falls end. There is so much mist you can't really get any photos. A tiny bit scary too, feels like you might get sucked in closer and then be crushed into tiny bits from the force of the falls! The free snazzy blue ponchos are a bonus. After touring the American side of the falls, Melanie drove us over the border to Canada to see the view from that side. Equally impressive and so nice to face it and see it from a wider view. On the American side you are looking over the railing down at the falls or from the water looking up. We hung out on a cafe's patio and had a few beers waiting for the sun to set and see the falls light up. Once it gets pitch dark, fireworks go off, everyday during the summer... I think. We decided to start making our way back to the car while the other tourists stood around gazing at the fireworks. This was a great plan because we had to walk along the main street anyway so we could also watch the fireworks. Then, in typical Shelby fashion... I fell. Off the curb. Rolled my ankle enough that it hurt like the dickens. I limped back to the car, took some advil and elevated it for the ride home, then iced a bunch over the next 24 hours. It was swollen and left me limping a bit for a few days, but overall it could have been much worse! Ugh... I'm gonna need a walker before I'm 50.

FINALLY. I've been working on this scrapbook for over a year. There were some serious coupons for shutterfly so it motivated me to finalize our London scrapbook (2006 - I'm so terrible!).

Click here to view this photo book larger

Memorial Weekend in Santa Barbara!

I was so excited to have a little road trip by myself to go visit my dear friend Nicole in Santa Barbara for the long weekend. Nicole and I met in SF through Scott Edmonds (hiker Barrett's brother) about 2 years ago, but it seems a lot longer than that. It was a beautiful SF day on Friday when I left work early so I decided to take Highway 1 down along the coast for a bit of the drive and then hop over to the 101. Well... I managed to miss my exit to cut over and ended up cruising right though Carmel on the 1 and just decided to keep going. Such a georgous drive and really hard to fit into your schedule when planning a drive from SF to the L.A. area, so lucky me.

After a beautiful drive I hit Santa Barbara just as it was getting dark and found my way to Nicole's Hippy-Turd-Hold. The name given by her movers. It's really difficult to describe, but imagine the main road to the driveway of the house was taken out during a landslide years ago so there is a make shift dirt drive up a steep hill as the "new" driveway. Not in use during the rainy season, you must wear your rain boots and hike up. The neighbors pad is a barely visible and crumpled shack halfway down the hill, again due to landslides several years ago. And yes, she is in the infamous fire zone :( The charm of the hippy-turd-hole is it's expansive patio overlooking the hills of Santa Barbara, the fact that Nicole's room, once the living room, has a huge stone fireplace, a wall of windows with "the view" and a tiki bar :)

We were lucky to have a friend of Nicole's take us out for a sail the next day. Armed with my dose of dramamine it was a fantastic afternoon on the water! I was planning on it being much cooler out on the water as it usually is even in sunny Santa Barbara, but it was perfect in the sun. Sunday Nicole drove and showed me around, we went to the coolest place, an old stage coach stop which now has live music, a bar and they sell one kind of sandwich, tri tip. It was good... but I'm such a brisket girl I can't help it!! I will never understand why you would want to naw on thick cut, hard beef when you could have melt-in-your-mouth brisket! :P

We spent a lovely afternoon lazyin' it up on the beach where I showed Nic how to make a redneck beach recliner :) A couple down in front of us were staring and we couldn't figure out why until we saw they copied my sand recliner idea. I totally brought the redneck beach recliner to Santa Barbara! LOL