TBD

Stay tuned - details coming soon!

annnnnnd we're back!

Woke up surpisingly ok on Sunday...except even with a shower and fresh makeup I looked at least 35.  Let this be a lesson to you - alcohol really does age you!  But today was my chance to see the lovely capitol city of Sacramento.  Actually, there wasn't that much to do.  At the recommendation of many many people, we went to the Railroad museum - which was actually better than it sounds.  It was really big with lots of trains (obviously) and other stuff. There was also a jazz festival going on, so that was kind of cool.  We watched this short film on the RR, and some guy next to me first was complaining that he couldn't hear (and he sat in the back row??) and then talked through half of it.  There were also children on leashes. 

After lunch we walked over to the capitol building, where we saw some people getting married, and the bride had a hideous bright purple dress.  The building was cool, but we didn't stay too long - not that much to do there!

A slight miscalculation

One of the biggest attractions here in Nor Cal (and the one I was most looking forward to!) is wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma.  There are many many vineyards close together, and if you're not careful you can spend a lot of money sampling these fine wines.  Luckily, I had done research and printed 2-for-1 offers and such so that we could do it for less than $50.  Of course these wineries tend to get the most busy, so I figured we might end up skipping one or 2 if they were too hectic.  We got to the area around 10:30 and started at a free winery: Jacuzzi family winery.  It was good - but already quite crowded, and we had the privilege of witnessing a great parenting fail.  This place was rather large, and someone managed to lose their toddler - who couldn't identify or tell anyone who his parents were.  Whoops.  After that we went to Cline, where I got to feed fish and look at birds.  Then we went to my favorite winery of the day, Anaba.  it's a boutique winery that serves delicious unique and large samples while you chat with the owner and his son.  At this point, though, it was about 1:00 and we hadn't had lunch yet.  Translation - I wasn't all there.  Luckily, Mark was fine and we made it to a nice Mexican food place.  For me, things went down from there.   After lunch we still had a few places left.  You see, in my lovely trip-planning I didn't calculate that drinking wine rapidly doesn't always work out so well for me.  So after lunch we visited some nice places: Valley of the Moon, Chateau St. Jean, Arrowood (very nice - they also had to-die-for chocolate sauce) and Benzinger Family.  I don't remember Benzinger too much - I know we talked to a couple next to us from Texas, our bartender was named "Dr. Bob", and I may have stolen a glass.  After that I fell asleep in the car while Mark drove us to the hotel.  In spite of me, we managed to have a nice dinner, but didn't do much else in Suison City.  I was pretty much ready to go to bed! :)

My first National League game

For my birthday Mark, David, Tim and I went to a Giants game.  They were playing the Diamondbacks, who, as it turns out, were terrible. 

We had a really good time though, and the Giants won!  It was a very cool stadium - you could see the bay!  It got very very cold though - I thought I had been prepared, but I guess I didn't bring enough clothes!

As a bonus, we got to see crazy woman!  Not only had she changed the window, but she was actually standing outside.  She looked like a trainwreck. 

Is that a mirror or a door?

We went to Emma Prusch park, a farm in the middle of San Jose.  Most of the animals had been put away for the night, but there were still a lot of birds walking around. 

Animals seen today:

Roosters and Chickens

Peahen

turkey

other birds

cows

sheep

goats

I stand corrected - there was a funnel cloud in the bay!

Today I had the car, so I decided to make the most of my time by going to places I can't normally get to.  I ate lunch at Baja Fresh - NOMS!!  Last time I went to BF in Texas the green salsa looked and tasted different.  I thought maybe it was a fluke, but when I ate at this one it was the same thing :(  Luckily the black salsa I also love was the same...but alas, it looks like my favorite green might be gone forever!  Next I decided to be adventurous and check out the Saint Joseph Basilica in downtown San Jose.  Something amazing happened here, which I can only attribute to an act of God - I successfully parallel parked, and on the first try!  The church was stunning - very beautiful with chapel ceilings, etc.   It was really amazing.  

My next adventure took me to a park I've passed on my way to Target.  It's a Rose Garden/research center, but I was amazed at how much stuff they had.  As I was walking down these very narrow paths, I kept hearing noises.  It was like on Lost (which I realize if you didn't watch Lost, you won't get this) - when people run through the jungle and hear whispers.   I kept hearing it - and finally caught a glimpse of this lizard - and then another, and another.  There must be hundreds of them!    I also came across and orange tree, which of course fascinates me.  Unfortunately, all of the oranges within my reach had been plucked off.  Maybe some other time! 

It's not as bad as it looks

Since I got here, I've heard lots of people complaining about the weather - how it's cooler than it's supposed to be, and more significantly, the rain.  Let me break it down for you - the "rain" they have been complaining about lasts very briefly and isn't very hard.  It's been in the 50's and 60's - so I definitely am not complaining about that!  I don't think they realize that in places like Texas, flash floods, tornadoes, hail and other thunderstorm related stuff that's like the norm for May. 
The clouds were looking onminous, but it didn't every really rain and they blew past pretty quickly. 

Desperate Housewife

Most of today was spent doing wifey things - I did laundry, and cooked a nice dinner using the lemons we got yesterday. 

Menu included:

lemon drop martinis

Chicken, fettuccini, peppers and onions in lemon-thyme sauce

corn on the cob (from the farmer's market!)

garlic bread

lemon poke cake with persian and meyer lemon glaze

When she gave me the lemons, Lori mentioned that one was a persian lemon and the rest were Meyers lemons.  Their neighbor, Mark, said people don't like the persian ones b/c they're not lemony enough.  I thought maybe that was just a front, but I could definitely taste a difference between the two - weird!  I feel like a lemon expert now :)

Farmer's Market

This morning Mark and I met up with Steve (his boss), his wife Lori and their 18 month old daugter, Isabella, and went to the Farmer's Market in Campbell.  There was some delicious fresh produce, including berries, cherries and citrus fruits.  Among other things I picked up some avocado cilantro hummus and it's killer!  I have to excercise some control not to eat the whole tub in one sitting.  After the market we went back to Steve and Lori's house and had a nice breakfast.  It was fun hearing about their adventures in CA and what they've been up to.  Isabella is one of the cutest babies I've ever seen, and was very very well behaved.  My favorite part about this trip, though, was the lemon tree they have in their backyard.  Having killed just about every plant I've ever owned (including a cactus) and growing up in Texas, the idea of picking fruit off a tree and being able to eat it is very amusing - and so I came home with a bag of lemons! Lori said if I needed any more to let her know...however as we drove up to our apartment, I saw a lemon tree in our parking lot - with lots of ripe fruit!  Looks like everything I eat this week might have a twist... :)

San Jose State University

"Physics? Come on!" "Um, that says psychics, David."

On this beautiful Saturday we finally went to the big city to visit David.  On the way we stopped at J.Lohr so Mark could try some of their deliciousness.  We ended up getting to try a few extras and bought a $10 bottle that was pretty good and a rare varietal - Wildflower.  We made it to SF around 2:00 and were fortunate enough to find parking very close to David, which I'm told is a rarity.  I was reallly impressed because the house is huge and they have a ton of room - very cool.  We walked around the Mission a little and David took us to a park with slides (hint: they work better if you use cardboard and sand! ) and a fantastic view of the city.  On the slide I got going so fast I couldn't catch my balance on the way down and landed flat on my back - ouch.  We checked out the view, and then had some delicious cookies.   

After all that, we played Fluxx and Apples to Apples with David's roommate/friends Molly, Rowdy and were later joined by Tim.  It was so much fun - hopefully after we left everyone didn't think we were just total weirdos, but I wouldn't blame them if they did :)   We had dinner at a great mexican place.  Can't wait to go back and hang out again! 

  So my best explaination for this picture - David has a quasi-creepy neighbor who changes this display in her window seasonally.  While seasonal decorations are normal, creepy doll/angel/bear-bee things and old scary pictures are not.  Niether is admiring your display from every angle including across a busy street. 

Animals Seen today:

Hipsters

What's the plural for Prius? Prii?

Yay for Friday!  Mark got off work a little early, so we decided to go to Santa Cruz for dinner.  On the drive out, we found a winery in Los Gatos that was open until 6, so we decided to stop in and do a little wine tasting.  As it turns out, this winery is owned by Peggy Flemming (the skater) and her husband - and my favorite wine we tried came from John Madden's grapes.  Weird! 

Los Gatos is actually where ONR started - it was a cute town and hopefully I can go back and poke around the shops sometime.  Maybe I'll run into some ONR people, too! 

Driving on to Santa Cruz, it was very scenic - lots of trees and hills.  I had done some research and found what I thought was a great restaurant on the beach with reasonably priced food.  When we got there, it was about 7:00 on a Friday night...and we were the only ones there.  We ended up splitting food because it was a little pricey ($15 per person) but it was plenty.  It was pretty good, great view, etc. except it was weird that we were the only ones there.    Then we walked to the light house at the end of the pier.  It was FREEZING!!  I had a sweater and a jacket on, and I was still cold!  The highlight of the walk, though, had to be the seals and/or sea lions in the pier!  It was pretty cool. 

This lighthouse was pretty, but we got up close and saw that it was built in 2001 - so not exactly old/cool like it seemed. 

That's pretty much it for Friday.  Looking forward to a fun weekend!

Animals seen today:

Cat on a boat

seal/seal lions

pelicans

other birds

skunk

Asian guy in cutoff short-shorts and a tank top...I've officially seen it all

Another day of walking around the area.  I had lunch at a place called El Jardin where I had basically a $10 glorified Chipotle burrito.  It was good, but probably not worth $10 (although it was a nice atmosphere!).  Then I walked over to the movie theatre next door to the Winchester Mystery House (the only real mystery is why anyone would pay $30 to get in) - which is where I snapped this nice picture.  As it turns out I didn't want to pay $8 to see a movie, so I went to Borders and bought a book instead - I think I made the right call! :) 
I also did laundry today... so life isn't all that exciting here, particularly when I don't have a car!

Animals seen today:

Hermit crab (in a cage)

Asian guy at mall

Nothing better than a wine tasting room in a school zone

Today I had the car, so I got to drive around and get to know my surroundings a little better.  Ironically, the 2 places I really want to eat - Baja Fresh and In-N-Out Burger - I never passed.  Once upon a time we had Baja Fresh in Texas...and now we're down to 1 in Irving.  Their salsa is killer, but I digress...
I stopped in at J.Lohr and did some wine tasting.  It was 3:00, so I was the only one in there - but that's ok.  The wines I tried were really good, but the best ones were a bit out of my price range.  I can't wait to go back with Mark, though :) The room was across the street from a Jr. High, which I found really strange.
After he got home from work, we decided to check out this rooftop bar on Santana Row.  I knew it would be pricey, but figured we were paying for atmospere anyway.  It was pretty cool - inside a fancy hotel with confusing elevators.  $6 for a Stella, but we got to drink it by a firepit.  It's very nice here, but I am already missing home!

Sales tax is 9.25% here?!

Today I went across the street to Westfield Mall -which, again, is an upscale mall that is comparable to a cross between North Park and Barton Creek.  I got my free gift from Sephora (yay, happy birthday to me!) and some candles for our apartment because there's a lingering smell from the tacos we had last night.  I also decided to saunter over to Old Navy and found that they were having an awesome sale - in fact, I ended up with 4 tank tops 2 pairs of jeans a shirt and pyjama pants for less than $30.  

Then Mark came home, and we decided to check out the Japanese Friendship Gardens in San Jose.  We had a picnic and walked around - it was pretty neat, albeit not as cool as the garden in San Francisco!

Animals seen today:

Ducks (plus a duckling)

2 house cats

a woman carrying a dog in the mall - why??

Mark saw a snail

Wow, that's a really big snail

Today I ventured out of the house to Santana Row to check out the area.  This outdoor mall is reminiscent of Northpark Mall in that even on clearance I couldn't afford anything at these stores.  Well, not entirely true, because it does have an H&M!  I didn't buy anything, but I got to look around.  I was hoping for a bigger store, but I can always visit the big one when we go to the city :).  Other than that, I didn't really do much - not so much of a grand start, but I'm sure I'll find adventures. 

Animals seen today:
Snail (size of a thumb!)
house cat

This is my temporary home

Here is our lovely studio apartment in San Jose!  It isn't much, but I only have to live here for a few weeks...and it's next door to a grocery store and 2 malls - including an H&M!

Califoria, here we come

Once again we hit the road early - this time to make it to LA.  Since we had been doing lots of outdoorsy things it was a big shift!  We tried to stop at the mining and mineral museum in Phoenix, but it was closed.  Instead we walked around a nearby park devoted to memorials.  There were monuments to everything - including service dogs.  We also got to play around on the equipment outside of the museum. 

We got to Burbank/LA around 3:00, so decided to go "sightseeing".  Since my dad is sort of the LA expert, we took his recommendations and drove around Sunset Blvd, Mullholland Drive and Hollywood Blvd. Unfortunately we couldn't find the Hollywood sign (hey! It's harder to find than you might think...) and we didn't make it to La Brea before they closed.  Since it was a Saturday night in LA, we had no idea where to eat, and then I came up with a brilliant plan - ISLANDS!  Islands is a restaurant that they used to have in Texas (both Mark and I used to go there years ago), but for some reason it closed there.   We found one nearby and ate there - delicious, just as I remembered!  We also went to Trader Joe's and picked up some 2 buck chuck - not that bad for $2. 
We stayed at a Marriott and I was thinking how weird it was that they had a catalog to buy the stuff in the hotel room including the bed.  After spending the night there, though - I totally get why a rich person with all kinds of money might buy it - it was amazing!  Alas, we had to get up, and finish the drive... luckily just a few hours left!