Archive for the 'Family Portrait' Category

September 15, 2010 | Family Portrait,Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me

No, this post is not about the old 70′s show. Babendude and I drove up to San Francisco last Thursday. It was our 4 yr anniversary that day and since I signed up for a seminar there, we decided to stay for the weekend.

Thursday – Babendude and I wake up hella early and leave at 4am. We arrive in San Fran about 430pm. We drove through Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World, and boy can you smell it. We took the country route and in certain parts of the town, you can really smell it. Needless to say, there are no vampires living in this town. LOL. My parents hooked us up with 3 nights at the Suites on Fisherman’s Wharf. We have a clear view of Alcatraz, between two buildings.

We’re in walking distance of Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, among other things. We ate at The Franciscan for our anniversary dinner. We first had a shrimp/crab legs/mussels combo. When that wasn’t enough, we ordered another fish dish (sea bass) and it came with really good sweet cream type of ice cream. It was good. I had a Chocolate Fog (coffee, chocolate liquer,Amaretto) to warm me up. It warmed me up, all right. I don’t drink, when I do it’s usually sangria, and even then, not very often. Needless to say, it didn’t sit well with me.

Friday - I attended the 826 National 101 seminar. Just like it states, I got an opportunity to see how 826 operates. I want to do the same thing, but on a smaller scale. I got an overall look at how they do things, and while I don’t want to do everything they do, I can take bits and pieces and work them to my advantage. The best part of the whole seminar was MANNY THE INCREDIBLE DANCING COW (I’ll post the story another time). That’s the name of the novella me and 19 other people collaborated on. LOL. We all received a copy at the end of the seminar. Bookbinding and Storytelling is one of the workshops all chapters of 826 offer and to see it in action was pretty awesome. Can you imagine how a child must feel, when, at the end of a 2 hour workshop, he or she has something to show for it? I think that’s so cool and something I’d like to offer as well. As we were creating the story, Chad the illustrator, was drawing the scenes. It was pretty cool to see it live and in action. Here’s the finished product.

Chad’s illustrations

And the author photo.

This particular chapter, which is the main headquarters, has a pirate themed store. As we all arrived for the seminar, they took our picture with pirate-themed props. I thought they were going to be used on the website or something, but this was even better. Here are some pics from the pirate themed store.

While I was attending the seminar, Babendude walked about 10 miles! He visited NikeTown in the Financial District, Chinatown and Japantown. He even hopped on the BART and ended up in West Oakland. LOL. Too funny. Needless to say, his calves were feeling a little sore by the time he came to get me. After the seminar, we went to eat at The Stinking Rose restaurant. Our table was really cool. It was a private booth with a curtain that you could close for privacy (you can see it if you click on the link). If you wanted to. I think. I had clam pasta with black linguine (yes black) in garlic shallot sauce. It was quite good. Babendude had lasagna. For dessert, I had Tiramisu Grande (it was in a large martini glass) and Babendude had a Super Sundae. Another one of the desserts was the famous Gilroy Garlic ice cream. With caramel mole sauce. Blech! Our waiter told us that, surprisingly, they sell out of the stuff. Gross!

Saturday – We took a hop on/hop off open top bus tour of San Francisco. 21 sites in an hour and a half: Fisherman’s Wharf, Fisherman’s Wharf B, Fisherman’s Wharf Activity Center, Piazza Market, North Beach and Coit Tower, Wells Fargo Museum, China Town, Union Square and Grand Hyatt Hotel, Union Square and Macys, Union Square and Galleries, Union Square Hotel District, Asian Art Museum, City Hall and Civic Center, Herbst Theatre, The Opera and The Symphony, The Painted Ladies and Alamo Square, Haight Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge (Vista Point South and North) and Presidio Park, Palace of Fine Arts and The Exploratorium, Chestnut, Fillmore and Union St. Shopping, Ghiradelli Square/Cannery Shopping/Cable Car and Maritime Museum, Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39/Alacatraz. Mind you, these were only drive-by sites. They stopped in certain spots, you could hop off and catch another bus later. The ride across the Bridge–and back–was a little bit nippy on that open top bus, but it was fun. We hopped off in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood and explored the shops there. Bought a couple of T-shirts (the other one’s for my niece) and a bumper sticker from this cool store called Giant Robot.

Yes, reading really is sexy.

And got some hi-top Nikes. Charcoal gray, my favorite color, and they feel like the cotton sweatsuit material.

We then checked out the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf. Needless to say, it was so unimpressive, I almost forgot to write about it until Babendude mentioned it. LOL. We paid $21 to get in and I told him that if he’d ever seen Madame Tussaud’s, he would’ve been ashamed he ever paid that much to see this one. Halle Berry looked like Kelly Rowlands from Destiny’s Child, J. Lo looked like she got a nose job and I’m not even sure if that was really Beyonce. We took a quick peek at the International Spy Store, but it was nothing like the International Spy Museum in Washington. We ate at a pizzeria near our timeshare for lunch and then hit up Miyabi for dinner. Headed back home on Sunday.

Overall, we had a great time. Our timeshare was spacious and quaint. Everything was so…compact and close together. Loved the condos/flats/whatever you call them. They were so cool and the ones we saw in Haight Ashbury were painted bright colors. We left our rental car in the parking garage of the timeshare and either walked or took the bus. Traffic always seemed a bit crazy in our neighborhood and we were glad that someone else was doing the driving. Glad we gotta chance to get away for the weekend. Oddly enough, I’m glad to get back to the heat. I’m not much for being nippy, although the weather was great.

To see pics from the trip, go HERE.

Technorati Tags: San Francisco, Gilroy, Garlic Capital of the World, Suites on Fisherman’s Wharf, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, The Franciscan, 826 National, NikeTown, Financial District, Chinatown, Japantown, BART, The Stinking Rose, Piazza Market, North Beach, Coit Tower, Wells Fargo Museum, Union Square, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Union Square Hotel District, Asian Art Museum, Herbst Theatre, The Painted Ladies, Alamo Square, Haight Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge, Presidio Park, Palace of Fine Arts, The Exploratorium, Ghiradelli Square, Cable Car and Maritime Museum, Pier 39, Alacatraz, Giant Robot, Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, Madame Tussaud’s, Halle Berry, Kelly Rowlands, Destiny’s Child, J. Lo, Beyonce, International Spy Store, International Spy Museum, Miyabi

September 9, 2010 | Family Portrait,Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me

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It’s me and Babendude’s 4 year anniversary today! We made it! Technically, it’s more like 9 yrs; we dated for 6. No wonder why it feels like forever! Just kidding, Babendude.This picture was taken at a friend’s wedding earlier this year and before you ask–because I know you are–I have no idea he’d made this face until I saw it posted on Facebook.

Where I promptly LMAO.

It looks like I’m strangling him or something. LOL. But I’m not. He was just being silly and probably acting up because he doesn’t like getting his picture taken. And our friends tend to take paparazzi-like shots. It gets a little crazy.

Last month, we celebrated my parents’ 45th anniversary. I hope Babendude and I are together that long. And longer.

June 7, 2010 | Family Portrait,Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up

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Saturday was my birthday and we spent THE WHOLE DAY at Wet’n'Wild water park.

From 10am to 6pm.

That’s me in my little $161 tankini. LOL.

I’d wanted to go there last year when it first opened, but never got a chance to. Babendude’s company had done some of the lighting for it and ever since he’d told me it was coming, I’d wanted to go. It used to be called WaterWorld. And it was weak. Real weak. When we went last year, we’d gotten there about 4-430. By 6pm, we were done. The rides were so weak.

Needless to say, I’m glad this place got an overhaul. The rides were frickin’ awesome, even though I went on all of them only once. The later in the day it got, the longer the lines. Around 4-something, I was done. Just hung out in the cabana with my niece while everyone else was still in the wave pool or on rides. It was definitely worth the rental fee.

It wasn’t our intention to stay the whole time, but some guests showed up late, the lines were getting crazy long for the rides…it just happened that way. I’d wanted to get there when it opened so that we could rent a cabana. It had two lounge chairs, two regular chairs, a small table, a ceiling fan, satellite T.V. and food service. Awesome.

It was just a small group of us: me, Babendude, my niece, Crouch, Joe, J.T., and my co-worker Lisa and her husband and daughter. We all just had so much fun. After going home to change, Babendude and I went to Kabuki for dinner. We were both so tired after that, I’m surprised we made it out of the house. LOL.

Birthday gifts:
$200 – Mom and Dad
$25 BN gift card – Friends
16GB black iPod (to replace the 6GB that’s close to full), Betty Boop flip-flops and $25 iTunes gift card – Babendude
Tons of birthday wishes and phone calls from family and friends

Best. Birthday. Ever. You can view the rest of the pics here.

Technorati Tags: Wet’n'Wild

May 25, 2010 | Family Portrait,Life in General,Weekend Wrap-Up

Mr. Blue Eyes is my niece’s boyfriend. He’s a marine currently based out at Camp Pendleton. Today, he left for Virginia to start his job training (bulk fuel). Over the weekend, Babendude and I drove my niece down to San Diego to see him before he left.

Don’t they make the cutest couple? Our time with him was much too short. We left at 430am. We got to the base about noon. He was supposed to be released between 11am-1pm.

He didn’t get out of there until 330pm.

He told us that they were supposed to be released at 8am, but, well, it’s the military. They’re gonna make you work for your liberty (aka free time). We stayed at a hotel in Oceanside (he couldn’t go too far) and went to the nearby beach. We walked the pier and it was a beautiful sight.

It was a little bit cooler than Phx, in the early 60′s, but we still had a good time.

We had dinner Saturday night, had breakfast the next morning, then went to the mall to kill time.

We had to have Mr. Blue Eyes back to base by 330pm.

That’s Mr. Blue Eyes (on the left) with bunkmate, Starch. They don’t know each other’s first names. They all go by last names here.

We didn’t realize how big the base was until we went through one gate…and then had to pick him up all the way on the other side. It took us at least 20 mins to get to Area 52, where we had to pick him up. It’s ca-ra-zy how big that base is.

“I wonder if anyone has gotten lost out here. And never been found,” I say, as we drive to to the other side. LOL. Seriously. It felt like we were on another highway, driving through the mountains.

And then we passed an airfield filled with helicopters.

Mr. Blue Eyes later told us that if we had stopped to take a picture of that airfield, we would’ve quickly find ourselves surrounded by MP. Good thing we didn’t stop. Seeing as how my Dad is former military, you’ve seen one helicopter, you’ve seen them all. LOL.

Mr. Blue Eyes was very grateful–and thankful (can’t tell you how many times he thanked us. Profusely)–that we came down with my niece. He so needed to be with her, to see her, before he left. She may be 20 yrs old, but I still didn’t feel comfortable letting her drive down there by herself. Besides, it was a great, spontaneous road trip for me and Babendude.

We got a chance to get to know Mr. Blue Eyes better and find out a little bit more about the military life and what it’s like to live on base. Rules, rules, and more rules. LOL. I’m not surprised, though. Before we knew it, it was time for him to get ‘on line’. He’ll be coming home for good around the second week of July, but for the two of them, it’ll seem like another 3 months (boot camp was a killer).

My niece found a great guy, though. I highly approve of him. I liked him before he enlisted, but this experience has definitely changed him. In a good way. He stands straighter and is more confident and I thank God his personality didn’t get stripped in the process. Don’t worry guys. It’ll be over soon.

March 8, 2010 | Family Portrait,Life in General,Movie Queue,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up

There’s still time to inspire an at-risk teen to write. Donate a journal

Friday evening, I went to see VALENTINE’S DAY. This reminded me of the movie CRASH, in the way that all the characters in the movie were connected somehow. The best part was that I had the whole theater to myself. Yes. The whole theater. I could’ve run up and down the aisles, screaming my head off. And no one would’ve known. Or heard me. Pretty cool. So, I was impressed by the whole interconnectivity of it all, but they should’ve replaced Taylor Swift with Miley Cyrus.

Seriously. She already has the blonde wig.

Or maybe she should’ve received a few pointers from Miley’s acting coach. I was wholly unimpressed with her acting. It’s like she was trying too hard to be a ditzy, empty-headed blonde because we all know she’s not like that in real life. As the gang from High School Musical 2 sang, “stick to the status quo.” Singing is your “thang”, honeybabydoll. Don’t stray until you’ve got a few more lessons under your belt.

Moving on…..the rest of my weekend was pretty uneventful. Mr. Maul was sick all weekend, though we managed to eat at Ron’s Place on Saturday and do a little shopping afterwards. It was cold and rainy on Sunday and that called for staying in.

Still trying to upload pics from our Orlando vacation. I was going to do a daily breakdown and realized that it was going to take too long. If I had written it ahead of time, I would’ve done it. Now all you’re going to get is a link to my flickr account. So sorry. I’ll let you know when it’s all been uploaded.

So, how was your weekend? Did you watch the Oscars? Who won?

Technorati Tags: VALENTINE’S DAY, CRASH, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, High School Musical 2