I despise Halloween

Yes, it's true...I really do hate Halloween.

Yes, I love the candy. But I can get that anytime of the year.

Yes, I think the little kids all dressed up as Winnie-the-Pooh & Piglet are adorable.

What I HATE is the grown-ups dressed up in scary masks and I especially despise haunted houses!

Some of my friends from work went to a haunted house last weekend and I had goosebumps and nervous stomach when they were re-living the scary stuff. I hate them.

I hate scary movies. I just don't like scary stuff in general.

So, for the most part, in years past I have just boycotted Halloween. One year, though, Brian and I did dress up as a hillbilly wedding couple for an Eagle Angel party. It was fun but just not my cup of tea.

Anyway, this year, we are joining my cousin who has 2 kids for some trick-or-treating and a little get-together at their house. We are not planning on dressing up BUT last night while watching my regularly scheduled J&K+8, I thought HOW PERFECT! IF (big IF) we were dressing up, it would be so perfect for us to be Jon & Kate (in the happy years, of course!). You all know how obsessed and very loyal I am to this show and it would just be perfect. They were talking about the "Kate" wig that is out this year.

I figured I can do the wig with the mini-skirt, purple shirt and red jacket from one of the photos that is often used in magazines. Brian could put on some (fake) Ed Hardy and some earrings (of course, that is post happy years Jon) but it would just be perfection. And yes, I know Brian is Mexican and not Asian but we could so make it work!

But, let's go back to that BIG IF :) We won't be dressing up this year but it was a nice thought.

So I guess I have the Baahumbug-ness when it comes to Halloween. But I just really don't like any aspect of it....especially the scary movies and haunted houses!

Much Love!

TGIF!

I think i already have a post with this title. However, it really applies to today. I have been waiting for Friday for at least 4 days :) My plan for the weekend: doing absolutely nothing. I guess with the small exception of laundry, tivo-ed shows and eating.

I went to the eye doctor today. Lately, I've been having to squint to see the tv menu (important things in life!) and when I go to volleyball games, for example, the faces of the kids on the court are blurry. As most of you know, I had lasik eye surgery when I finished college in 2006. The eye dr. today prescribed glasses for extracurricular use :) That's what I call it anyway. I can make it without them but it is just becoming more uncomfortable and irritating. I refuse to go back to contacts so if it gets that bad, I will go for the surgery again. It's worth it! Oh, and P.S. glasses are expensive.

I also made an appointment with my regular doctor. Although it is of no concern to some of you, I have been having sharp pains under my rib cage for about a week. It has gradually gotten to be a sharper, consistent pain. Mom and I seem to think it may be my gallbladder so I will be going on Monday to check it out. If the pain gets as bad as it did last night, though, I will be visiting the ER. Although, as the daughter of a nurse, I despise the ER process and I despise that I have a much higher ER co-pay for my insurance. I will try to tough it out until Monday. Note to my doctor (who we all know doesn't read this): You should really take appointments on Friday afternoons. It would have solved my problem today :) Thanks.

On a happier note, I have been thinking lately about things to blog about as this is sometimes the reason that I don't blog - I don't have much to say (surprise! I know). But I wanted to share with you how much I love living out in the country, with the exception of poor cell service. Every morning (& usually afternoon), I get to see this:

Okay, maybe not this close but there are people who live down the street that have deer. I don't like to call them "pet deer" because they don't have leashes and they graze on their land pretty freely but there is certainly a fence around the property. I LOVE THEM! :) They make my morning. I especially love when momma deer have babies. The people, I guess after the babies are born, let the mom and babies be in the "front" yard for a while and the little babies can barely walk. They are the cutest things EVER. Sometimes, I just pull over and watch them. Brian makes extreme fun of me with my high pitched "Oh, look at the babies!" but they do truly make my day. They are such beatiful creatures.

I also get to see this:

Baby goats look just like puppies when they are romping around in the grass. :)

Anyway, I love living out in the country for many reasons but this is up there on the list. They are crazy cute and make my morning.

Good Luck to Hachie tonight! They have a tough remaining schedule and I have high hopes (are you singing that now?) that they will make it through with 3 more "W"s.

Hachie! Hachie!

What a great weekend!

Those Hachie NDNS won AGAIN! :)

Texas State Bobcats won on the road!

And our Texas Longhorns pulled off a win over OU!

Brian and I were in Hachie this weekend for Brian's 10 year reunion. I ended up not going to the dinner in exchange for shopping :) It's what I do best! We had a great time. I got to spend time with my mom and sister and Brian had so much fun at the reunion. We also went to the homecoming parade on Friday. There are pictures below:

Here is Dad waving at us from the football float

This huge monster truck was in the parade - pulling the golf team

Brian, Roger & Christy talking at the Pub

Here is Dad with Boomer, one of our former QBs

Nothing much else going on here. We got new phones today (same numbers) and I love them! We got the Palm Pre with Sprint and it's fabulous, so far :)

This week is just full of work, work, work and then Brian works this weekend :( I will be catching up on Tivo-ed shows since I'm backlogged by about 2-3 weeks from the San Fran trip.

Which by the way, I am going to try to put together a book of that trip. We'll see how that goes. I will get it started if I ever go get the pictures printed out :) I barely have enough time to blog, much less print pictures and put together a scrapbook :) However, it was a great time and I want something to put all of our memories in.

I will try really hard to get back to my daily blogging routine. I have missed it but honestly, haven't found the time to sit and chat - it would really just be about work anyway! That's all I've been doing! :)

Much Love!

I'm Baaaack!

Apologies to my disgruntled, loyal followers. I have been out of commission since San Francisco. I got back to work on Tuesday and I was slammed. I have a new co-worker so not only did I have to teach her things but catch up on work and get ahead since I am off today too.

We have not been doing much this week but work and laundry. I had 4 piles of laundry to do when we got back so of course, at my pace, it took me 3 days to do that. We also had no dogs at the house so it was quiet and a little weird...no one to bark and greet me when I got home :(

However, we got back to Hachie last night and had a very happy reunion with the pups. They were so excited to see us - I think they thought we left them for good.

Tonight is Homecoming for Hachie. Brian's 10 year reunion is also this weekend. TX/OU is on this weekend too! busy, busy.

Hachie *clapclap* Hachie *clapclap* :)

Hopefully I'll have some more interesting blogs when we get settled back home.

GO NDNS!!

GO BOBCATS!!

GO LONGHORNS!! (For Ali)

Dreams do come true...kind of

Today was 49er day! My title says it all: Brian's dream came true when we arrived at Candlestick Park. He loves the 49ers and we had great seats. The 'kind of' part comes in because the beloved 49ers lost 48-10.

We rode the Muni bus to the Park:


Once we got there, Brian was like a kid in the candy store. He was in love :)

We got there pretty early and were able to watch some warm up and just take everything in. The stadium is definitely in need of updates but it was so neat to see so many 49er fans since we never see any in Texas :)


Here is the back side of Coach Mike Singletary. I like him a lot...he's old school and that is not common in the NFL. We got to watch the individuals warm up early on and then the entire team came out for their warm-up.



Two of the SF Goldrush Cheerleaders:


We got to see Brandon Jones play a couple of plays. I had my eye on him the entire time hoping that he would get in there but he is just coming back from an injury. He got in on a play at the beginning of the game and then a few more towards the end. I could tell he was eager to get in because he was always stretching and was right next to the coach the entire time that the Niners were on offense. It was so neat to know someone out there and have someone to cheer for.

He also was always out helping the QBs warm up.

It was quite an experience, getting to finally see the 49ers. Brian had a blast even though they lost. I am so glad that we got to do this while we were out here. We are already thinking about making another trip out for next football season. Hopefully in the near future, the Niners will have a new stadium that we could come enjoy. This was definitely the highlight of the trip and a great way to cap it off.

After the game, we rode the bus back to town and got off on Lombard St. I wanted to see the "crookedest street in America" before we left. We climbed up the biggest hill ever to get there but it was really neat. There were cars lined up for about a mile just to drive down the street. And I couldn't believe that there were houses on that street. People actually live there - I can't imagine trying to park your car on that street just to get home!




And a picture that I should have posted on the first day is below. A picture of our hotel. As I wrote on our review card for the hotel, the only drawback was the size but it certainly would not stop me from staying here again. The staff was extremely helpful with food recommendations and directions. The hotel character and charm was fabulous. The bed was heavenly! And tonight, for our last dinner in the city, we ate at the Italian restaurant that is part of the hotel and it was so delicious. I would recommend this place to anyone.

Tomorrow is our long day of travel. It is good-bye city of SF, hello wide open space of Texas. I have loved San Francisco but I am always eager to get back to Texas. (Even though I will be without my dogs for 3 more days - sad!)

Much love!

San Francisco: Day 3

Today, we walked around the tourist-y part of San Francisco. We decided to do Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 and the Ferry Building. We got two very special treats today. The first was that there was a Blue Angels air show today. It is Fleet Week here and they did a special show...very neat! The second is that Brian's cousin, Dan, came over from Castro Valley to meet with us and spend the day.

You can barely see the Blue Angels but they flew by with red, white and blue coming out of them. Below is a great picture of Brian and Dan:


We started off at the Ferry Building. There is a farmers market every Saturday and it is big and very tasty :) All the booths had samples and every sort of fresh, organic produce that you could think of. They had fruits, veggies, herbs, a little bit of everything.



We went to AT&T park after that. It's where the Giants play and it was such a pretty building :)



When we were walking back towards the Pier area, there was this dog that was creeping up on the birds on the rail and on the ground. It was soooo funny! He was terribly cute and he would stand in a pointer type position and stare at the birds. And then, he would slllllooooowwly walk, step by step, towards the birds. Everyone was standing there watching him. When some of the birds flew away, he looked so disappointed :( He'd run around and find his owner and then go back to the birds. I love dogs!:)



We headed to Pier 39 and had some lunch. I had crab & shrimp chowder in a sourdough bread bowl - Fabulous! We also got to see the seals. They were so much fun to watch - very entertaining! But they were so very stinky!



Since it is Fleet Week, they had USS Pampanito that you could tour.



They were selling all sorts of sea food by the piers and they had Dungeness crab everywhere:


Ghirardelli Square was right across the street and it was not what I expected. We got to see some chocolate making and I got a cupcake from this little shop...yummy!


We had such a good time today and again, got to see everything that we wanted to. We walked a ton and got a little sunburnt! :) Today was the sunniest day but also the coldest day, by far since we have been here. I know that sounds weird but all day it was so sunny and perfect. It was pretty windy but then the sun went behind some clouds and it got super cold. We had to close the window in our room tonight for the first time on this trip because it's too cold out there. Tonight, for dinner, we tried out a Thai place only about half a block from our hotel. It was perfect - we are exhausted and didn't want to go far.

It's off to bed. Tomorrow is the big game! :) Brian is so excited and I know we will have a great time.

Here is a picture that I randomly took because, of course, I had to have a picture of the famous trolley car:

Hello! We have had a full day outside of the city today. We rented a car to go north of the city to see some sights and had a great time. It was a full day and we are exhausted again. I do have to say, the hotel bed is heavenly! I slept like a baby last night and plan to do it again once I'm done here.

We started off the day driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a lot shorter than I thought it would be but still pretty neat. It took us out of the city to the next town of Sausalito.


Here is Brian with our rental car. We got a PT Cruiser although Brian wanted a convertible :) It was perfect for us though! We stopped by Starbucks on the way to Enterprise for a morning pick-me-up. There is a Starbucks, literally, on every corner here. And I think they all stay busy every minute of the day.

Here we are in Sausalito. It is such a cute, quaint, warm town. LOVE IT! It has the cutest little houses that look out onto the bay and cute little boutiques with all sorts of clothes, jewelry and art. We were able to get someone to take our picture with SF and Alcatraz in the background. Very neat!
Here is a view of the houses and some of the shops. I could have moved around that big pole in the middle of the picture but I didn't even notice it :)

After we left Sausalito, we headed to the Muir Woods National Monument. We drove up and down the windiest (is that even a word?) road ever! It was beautiful though. We got to the park entrance and the parking options were horrible. We were going to have to park about 3 miles away and walk to the park . Since we had walked about 6 miles last night, we passed. We took some pictures and went on our way.
We stopped at a scenic overlook and got a great view of the forest from there. It was amazing!
After the forest and hunting for a bathroom (that Starbucks shaken tea had filled my bladder), we made it to Santa Rosa. Unfortunately, when we got there, we found out that Tex Wasabi's was still closed for renovations. Their website says it was only closed until the end of September but I guess there was a change in plans. I made Brian get a picture with the sign though anyway. In case you didn't know, Guy Fereri from the Food Network owns Tex Wasabi's. Brian and I love the FN and Brian is a big fan of Guy's Diner's, Drive-Ins, & Dives.
We found out that Guy also owns another restaurant in Santa Rosa called Johnny Garlic's so we used our handy dandy GPS to help us get there. It was great food. This picture makes us look like pigs - and we kind of were :) By that point it was almost 1pm here and I had only had a muffin and OJ for breakfast. If you know me, you know I have to eat! :) So we had garlic chips for an appetizer and they had the best bread too. I had the turkey, bacon, & beef club. Picture below - it was HUGE! Brian had the chicken parmesan and loved it. Then we headed to wine country. We decided to go to Sonoma as it is smaller than Napa and we were really only wanting to stop at one vineyard for a short visit and some pictures. It was beautiful! Here is a picture that I took coming into Sonoma of the vineyards and the mountains. Just fantastic!


We stopped at Ledson Vineyard upon the suggestion of our waitress at JG's. It was breathtaking. Here is one section of their vineyard. But the house is the best, pictured below. Here's me with the water fountain, the roses, and the vineyards behind me. It was neat that every vineyard we passed had roses growing around it.

And here's the house, um, mansion. This actually used to be someone's home but was bought and changed into a vineyard. This vineyard is family run and the grounds are just gorgeous. They had tents set up for weddings and I just couldn't imagine having my wedding there...what a fairytale that would be!
We participated in a tasting and bought a bottle. We always prefer the sweet stuff and got to taste some great variations. The lady that helped us used to be a trader on Wall St. and this is her "retirement". She was fantastic - knew so much about wines and grapes. When we came back in to the city around 5 ish, we were headed to the car rental place and passed this:
It was a bunch of hotel workers. I am not sure what they were yelling - I think it was in another language, at least some of it. But their signs said 2009 Hotel Workers Contract Campaign. We asked our bartender about it and he said they have these picket lines all the time since they have so many unions here. It was pretty neat to see though.

Tonight we went down to the Italian restaurant that is connected to the hotel for our free glass of wine that is offered nightly. We had a quick dinner at a diner nearby and we are ready for bed now!

We definitely got the most out of our one-day car rental and got to see such a beautiful part of the state. It's off to bed now. We have the HUGE farmer's market in the morning and we are meeting Brian's cousin for some lunch. Just hanging out at Fisherman's Wharf and seeing the tourist-y sights.

Much love!

San Francisco: Day 1

I am going to try to make this quick because it is 11:05pm here, which means it's 1:05am our time. We are exhausted!

We were up at 5am for a 7:40 flight (so don't talk about how horrible I look!)
We stopped in Phoenix then changed planes in Vegas with a super long layover. We finally took off an hour later than scheduled. Here is the Hoover Dam:

We finally got to SF around 1:30pm (West Coast time) and got to our hotel around 2:15ish. We are staying at the Andrews Hotel and while it is on the small side, it is very quaint. It's a very old hotel but we love it!
Once we got to the hotel, we went to get something to eat and then came back to the hotel to rest up a little bit. We found this great deli by our hotel, Cafe La Taza. They have great paninis and all sorts of coffee and drinks. We only got to rest for about an hour and we headed to Pier 33 for our Alcatraz tour. We were early so we explored Pier 39 for a bit. We sat out by the water for a bit. There was a couple sitting down from us smoking pot...and Brian's explanation was "well, we're in San Francisco" :) haha
I really liked Fisherman's Wharf and we will do more exploring of that on Saturday. Brian found an NFL store and was in heaven so we will be visiting that store before the game too. At 6:15pm we boarded the boat for Alcatraz. The tour was really neat. Here is Brian on the boat with the city in the background:

Once we got to Alcatraz, we all took an audio guided tour of the cellhouse. What a history! That whole place amazes me and I didn't know that families and kids of the officers grew up there as well. What a way to live! We got to to see how some of the prisoners attempted to escape, the cells, and the isolation cells, known as the hole. Here is Brian in one of the "holes":
I can't even talk about the whole island in this post. It was so awesome! We were there for 2.5 hours and enjoyed every minute. Now, it had gotten very cold by the time we boarded. Luckily, as I usually am, we were prepared with our pullovers. There were some people there with t-shirts on! On the way back, here was the view we had:I already love San Francisco! However, as I told Brian, the city reminds me of NY. The smell makes me want to throw up and I love the openess of Texas :)

We certainly miss our doggies but I know they are in good hands. Plus they would never fit in this double bed that we have to sleep in! :) haha

Our feet are so sore from walking but we are loving this trip. It is great to just be away, the two of us. Tomorrow is our road trip. We have rented a car to see the rest of Northern California.

Much love to everyone at home!