photo of the week

A friend of Derek's posted this photo up on facebook and it just cracks me up! (Read the comments below)

brian wilson's latest

Ohhhhh BW, will the "act" ever get old? Sometimes I think he tries way too hard to be a comedian. Let's just stick with baseball, you're pretty good at that (when you're not giving your fans a heart attack on the pitching mound). I love ya Wilson, but maybe you should tone it down a little on your next nation wide television broadcasted interview.

Brian Wilson is a 'Seaman...' Who Hates Water | Lopez Tonight

the buck & 25 lusk

I've been out of commission this whole week due to another sick bug I contracted. It must have come from work (it's been going around) or maybe from partying too hard, which my body just isn't used to doing these days. I did it up big over the weekend in celebration of Mark's birthday and Girls Night Out @ 25 Lusk. Luckily its Friday and I'm finally starting to feel a lot better. I'm sure this weekend will consist of a lot of sleeping and laziness...


Here's a recap from last weekend:

Playing in Nicole's bedroom mirror.

Creepy clown wall behind the bar @ Buckshot.

Mike, Raj & Tyler at Buckshot.

The bday kid!

Happy Hans!

Outside 25 Lusk

Jen, Whit and I at the bar.

Laura and Cher

Busy bartender @ 25 Lusk

"These drinks are fabulous!"

Laura & Jen

All the (not single) ladies ;)

Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots...

Cheers to our new NFL friends

Crack faces

Laura said something funny again.

Whit, Laura, Cher & Jen @ 25 Lusk

home on ellen

The father-daughter duo returns on Ellen. You have to watch the whole video, this little girl is the cutest!

golden globes fashion

BEST DRESSED

Amy Adams in Marchesa, nominated for Best Supporting Actress in The Fighter.

Catherine Zeta Jones in Monique Lhuillier. I love this color!

Olivia Wilde in Marchesa. This is such a fun dress, although I'm not sure I'm a fan of the shoes...

Dianna Agron in J. Mendel, ones of the Glee stars.

Emma Stone in Calvin Klein., nominated for Best Actress in Easy-A. She should permanently go blonde!

Megan Fox in Armani Privé. I love the dress but she still looks like an alien.

Mila Kunis in Vera Wang. The one-shoulder really works here.

And my favorite dress of the night award goes to...Anne Hathaway, in Giorgio Armani Privé

WORST DRESSED

Christina Aguilera looks like a drag queen. Is she pregnant again?

Heidi Klum, you look like a Miami circus clown.

Why am I not surprised by Helena Bonham Carter's outfit? She's a weirdo on and off the screen.

Jennifer Love Hewitt could pass for the Ice Queen from Narnia.

Is that Julianne Moore or The Blob?

Natalie Portman, you're adorable but this dress is awful. I'm still glad you won for Black Swan though!

Leighton Meester, did you find this dress in the Little House on the Prairie?

Michelle Williams in the worst dress of the night. Hippie couture. Yuck.

coachella 2011

The 2011 Coachella line-up has finally been released. $300 for a 3-day pass, no single day passes available. It's crazy how much these music festivals charge these days. Is the line-up worth it?

mirror for a dishwasher

I woke up the other morning to find that some jerk bashed my passenger mirror into pieces over night. The glass was shattered all over my hood and the entire mirror was hanging on by a thin electrical wire. Seriously, who does that?! I will never know- nor will I understand the point in vandalizing other peoples property, ever. What are you gonna do...these things happen when you live in the city- especially right by places like Circa.

As I was sulking in my misery and complaining about how inconvenient the repairs will be, I noticed something very odd on the side of the street. A brand new dishwasher up for grabs. Um, super random? A man was moving out of his apartment and no longer needed his portable dishwasher- an item Derek and I have been dying to purchase but hadn't due to the $300-500 price tag. This totally awesome discovery turned my frown right upside down. I know it might sound sad that I am so ecstatic over a portable dishwasher. Try hand-washing dishes for many years and you'll understand. Essentially my car repairs are paying for this portable dishwasher. So, I guess things really aren't all that bad after all ;)

greater things fall into place

I had an epiphany the other day: good things fall apart so that great things can fall into place. If a door ever closes in your face (and as you read on you will begin to take this statement more literally), there will always be another opportunity on the horizon. Perhaps even a greater one.

Derek and I have been looking for apartments in Noe Valley SF for the past few months, and we finally found the most amazing apartment/location. We were so excited and determined to get this place, so we arrived at the viewing an hour in advance. Derek had heard that the property manager was taking applications on a first come first serve basis, so we staked out a front row spot by the entrance. One hour later, I could not believe how many people showed up to see this place. There was a line of 25-30 people out the door with applications, credit reports, checks in hand. Clearly we weren't the only ones who thought this apartment was absolutely amazing.

The property manager showing the apartment made an announcement to the crowd that the "first person to hand her a cashier's check for a $5,000 deposit" would get the apartment. So, as you can imagine, we all dispersed by foot in different directions- crashing into walls, running to our cars to find the nearest bank. Mind you this all went down on a Saturday afternoon at 3:30. MOST BANKS AREN'T EVEN OPEN! This property manager was pure evil to subject us to this rat race. Needless to say, the door to our dream apartment closed right in our faces. And I can't blame Bank of America's hours of operation for that.

Apartment hunting when there's ridiculous competition can be an extremely frustrating thing. Although we were discouraged and bummed about the events that just took place, we didn't give up on our search. The beauty of the story is that we managed to find something greater than our expectations. In the end we were offered a fabulous home by the nicest owner/landlord we've ever met. And seriously, who wants to have a property manager who's entertained by causing other people stress? Not me. We have a great new home to look forward to on February 12th.

The front view of our new home.

Dining Room

Living Room, with a fireplace!

24th street in Noe Valley, right around the corner from us!

dunker of the century

I never would have thought that waiting until the last minute to buy tickets to an event would score some of the best seats in the house! It's risky but it worked for Derek and I this past Friday when we decided to go to the Warriors/Clippers game an hour before it started. We found an awesome pair of tickets at 1/2 price on Craigslist just minutes before and sat in the 7th row. Up close and personal with Blake Griffin. Neither of us are huge NBA fan's but Derek was not about to pass up the opportunity to watch Blake Griffin live in action- (he's an Oklahoma alum, of course).

Derek has sat me down and made me watch YouTube highlights of Blake Griffin's slam dunks, so I was fully prepped on what I was about to witness. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty well educated when it comes to sports players affiliated with Oklahoma these days. It's called OU Sports Edition 101. I've passed Derek's classes on Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray, Blake Griffin, Marcus Dupree, Landry Jones, Adrian Peterson, Ryan Broyles. I could go on but I'll spare you...

Blake Griffin definitely did not disappoint in his performance. Basketball suddenly seems more interesting to watch live when there's a beast running around on the court jumping and dunking over other professional athletes. And he's only 21. I wish I was his age and signing contracts worth $60 million.

My masterpiece.

 

life in advertising

This amazing website pretty much sums up my experiences in the world of online advertising! Hilarious.

suburban relaxation

The Ducks have left the Bay, and the Wildcat is here to stay! On Saturday the fam headed out to Arizona for the long weekend to attend the BCS Championship Bowl game- Oregon vs. Auburn. Meanwhile I stayed behind and watched over Wyatt and my parents house in Marin. Over the course of the weekend I couldn't help but laugh at the circumstances I was in. At one point I was on a walk picking up after Wyatt's (let's just say) "dinner" and I received a text message from one of my sisters reading, "It's Margarita time!!" with a picture of the fam at a Scottsdale Resort sipping margaritas -- and wearing nothing but t-shirts I might add. And there I was, picking up Wyatt's dump in the freezing cold and walking him back to Cornell Ave, you know, back to the house with the giant OREGON flag out in front of it? I felt conflicted with tears, jealousy and laughter at the same time. It really was quite hysterical. Since I know my family is probably reading this, I should say: no hard feelings on leaving me behind. I probably would never have agreed to go to the Oregon game anyway, ha!

Overall, I was relieved to take a break from the city and stretch out my legs for the weekend. Derek and I often feel like we live in a cardboard box in San Francisco. That is to say, a cardboard box we pay almost $2K per month for. I love the city but I do appreciate suburban life to a whole new degree now. More space, no parking stress, crowds, laundromats, loud noises in the middle of the night. It's nice to take a break every now and then. Luckily I have that opportunity here.

View of the Creek off the bike path in Larkspur

Wyatt's favorite part of the day.

The Margarita text message.

Tailgating before the game. Looks like Christmas morning for Mark.

A gloomy and freeeezing day for a walk.

Derek's a better disciplined dog-walker than I am.

Derek trying to explain the game of "Canasta" while Adam, Arin and I stare at our cards with blank expressions.

Serious card players right here!