The Trail we Blaze

As most of you know, a birthday present to myself was not spending a single day in the new decade working in a job that really just put me in a bad mood. I completely understand the need to earn an income, take care of some regular adult responsibilities, and generally contribute to society. My contribution had become putting together giant documents in pdf format. I think I was using about 0.05% of my total brain power and every day I annoyed another friend/family member with my "I hate my job" complaints. So I quit. Turned in my safety gear, activated the "out of office", packed up (well, shredded) project documents that were already being stored electronically, and turned in my badge. Freedom feels great.

To celebrate my corporate emancipation and pass some time before heading back to the great Sunshine State in mid-December, I have vowed to experience every possible inch of the Bay Area. There are new foods to taste, festivals to attend, occupy protests to investigate. Pax and I have yet to explore a few neighborhoods on foot, and he is just dying to get in a few more swims in the Pacific before heading to bask in the hot summer sun on the brick pavement of 1127.

Hikes and Play Areas:
Fort Funston -
Incredible Views of rolling hills, sunsets, and plenty of room for dogs to play with or without each other. Mine always chooses without. It was a bit of a drive to get there, but completely worth it. In stead of heading straight down the cliff toward the water, I somehow convinced Pax to walk around the area a bit and explore. Since he's not really a fan of other dogs, I didn't know how he'd react to balls being thrown every where and not being able to chase them. His aging self is still the fastest on the playground. He used to get teased about not having a "nose" as he was always losing his ball in the snow or woods. When we're home in Orlando, I have to get my dad's dog Captain to find the lost ones. Captain can hunt those things down even if he never saw where it landed. Potential day ruiner occurred during the first set of waves. After a short, but very steep walk down the cliffs, I released the ball into the first set of waves. Pax pounced, got some salt water to the face, and lost the ball. Whoops. 20 minutes later, out of no where, he finds another one. Whew. Anyway, I know our readers probably don't like the dog stories as much as the baby stories, so I'll spare you the gushiness, but these little side adventures are made 100% better with my best 4-legged friend along for the ride.

Yes, my feet are in the icy ocean. Worth it.

Failed attempt to catch a hang glider but the landscape's not bad!

Bliss

Tilden Regional Park & Lake Anza

I kind of love Berkeley. It's amazing there. It was beautiful Fall weather, people were out getting exercise, reading, chatting with friends and it just all seemed so pleasant. Then I stumbled upon the Occupy site. We at Coastal BS have learned our lesson in publicly sharing our political views, but I continue to be pretty impressed with the layout of these occupy sites. They have a library for crying out loud! Not to worry, I kept on moving. There were trails to conquer. When I got to Lake Anza, I noticed that the lake was divided and included a "beach" and swimming area. Pretty cool idea but seemed to be missing a rope swing and blob. Some kinds had jumped the fence and were swimming at the time. Crazy kids - it felt like glacier water. Pax didn't mind and jumped right in, hoping to catch a few ducks that crossed his path. This particular trail led through so many different kinds of landscapes. We hit a meadow, lagoon, forests, and rolling hills in a single 4 mile stroll. We also ran into a pack of dogs being led by one lady. Pax had to just stand there and get sniffed. Poor guy. Don't feel too bad for him though - shortly after that he threw himself into the nearby creek, right next to the "No Dogs" sign. Sigh. He did a few barrel rolls and finally came back, wet and happy.

Lands End
This hike/walk is supposed to be amazing, but I didn't like it. Way too crowded, dog had to stay on the leash, and way too crowded. I have no idea how the person who took the photos associated with the hyperlink got ones free of people. Maybe she photshopped them out? Did I mention how many people were there? Still, the views were pretty amazing. I might head back to do the whole Coastal Trail on a week day (since I can do that now) in order to really get a better opinion of it. Then again, might just call it a wash and explore a new place.

 

The New Beginning Continues

There are a number of directions I could go with this post, being that it's been a while since I've updated you all. But, I think I'll start off with something I think is cool that you may or may not have any interest in. As a fair warning, I think this one will be of the longer variety, so strap in.

I was watching "Live From the President's Cup" on The Golf Channel, I like to check up on my former employer from time to time just to make sure they are still on the air after my departure, when I came to the realization that Jay Haas is an assistant captain and his son, Bill, is one of the players. How cool is that? The first time there has been a father/son duo. I have had the distinct pleasure of playing with Jay (and another son of his, Jay jr.) and meeting Bill in back to back years at a Father/Son golf tournament RBD Jr, RBDIII, and I have played in. Both great guys. Another one of the players is Dustin Johnson. He is the guy that I joke around as being "my close, personal friend" because of being in a couple commercials with him.

So after watching a while, I sent out the following tweet: "Looking forward to watching "my close, personal friend" (aka commercial buddy) @DJohnsonPGA at the Presidents Cup and @WhitWatsonGC cover it"

Now, I have known and worked with WW going all the way back to my sophomore year at UF in 2004, so I like to give him a shout out every now and again. I was actually unsure about sending the first part out because, while people I actually know would get that I was joking, what if DJ saw it and was like, "whoa, who is this creeper?"

When I got up this morning and was scrolling through my social networking sites I noticed that @DJohnsonPGA had sent back this: "@(my twitter name) MD! Should be a great week for the #USA" (he also didn't say MD, he said my first name, but you get the point).

Anyway, I thought that was cool. He at least pretended to remember me. And as a reminder for all you fine folks, here is the gem in which DJ and I were introduced. Maybe when I start getting invited to the Pebble Beach pro-am, we can team up.

By this time, we are practically besties.





Who cares if I was green screened into footage of him winning. It still counts.


Anywho, what has been going on in my life over the past few weeks, you ask?

I continue to do casting director workshops, and I feel like I am making some good first impressions. Again, it's kind of hard to tell, but, I've gotten positive feedback so that's good. One of the workshops, we were given some sides (sides = scene) that the CD had previously cast. The one I (and my partner) received was comedic, and it got laughs from both the other workshop-ees as well as the CD. So, that felt good. I never really thought myself a comedic actor, but getting laughs was nice, and some of my new friends say they could see me in some comedic roles. I'm going to take some improv classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade when I get back to LA after the holidays.

The next workshop was with a CD that does a lot of hour-long TV dramas. It was a two-nighter, so the first night we brought in a scene to preform for her. It was one-on-one, which was nice, since the others had been in groups. A nice change of pace, and it allowed, I thought, for more personal feedback from the CD. Well, after night one, I was worried since I basically got, "that was really nice. It sounded very natural" and that was it. Now, I know, it sounds super positive when reading it. But, really only the second part is actually a compliment, and I just thought I was going to get more than two sentences, but, alas, I did not. The second night, she paired us up and gave us sides from things she had cast. My partner (a very attractive female) and I crushed it. Then the CD asked us to make a few changes, which we did. After which, she praised us for making "some really great adjustments". We exited and both agreed that she genuinely liked us and thought we were good. So, I felt that was a success.

As far as "life stuff" goes, it really couldn't be going any better. I am slowly working my way into the friend group of my roommate. I still tag along places, but have been invited on my own to a few things, so that has been good. One of the girls had a 70s themed birthday party at a roller rink. Now, I was excited to be invited, and I knew it would be a good time, but as a few of you know, back in the day, I had a little "incident" on an ice-skating rink that has stuck with me to this day. If you have had to sleep in the same room as me, it has affected you as well. The broken nose. Obviously, we are not dealing with ice here, but we are dealing with some adult beverages. When it came time, I bravely laced up and headed onto the rink, determined. It took about a half a lap for me to eat it- hard. I couldn't let that deter me, so I hopped back up and continued racing around like I knew what I was doing. Thankfully, I managed to escape the evening fully intact. Did I mention there were costumes? Here was mine:
This picture doesn't show some of my accessories(a baller chain and ring) but it gives you some idea of what was going on. That was this past Friday. On Sunday, the roommates and I went down to the local Farmer's market to pick up some food stuffs. It is really a great market, full of delicious eats and plenty of people watching, as is the case wherever you go in LA. We had all but finished up selecting our meats and greens when we came across a seafood tent, CS wanted to stop in and maybe get some oysters. Well, we didn't end up getting any oysters, but we did end up getting something way awesomer. Sea Urchin. Yes. And it was delicious. My meal that night, and again today was: Ground Bison over Quinoa with Kale and Onions. Quite tasty if I do say so myself.

Reppin my city. The 4-0-7.

So that pretty much brings us up to date on the happenings in my life. I am now headed east for an extended stay in Orlando with stops in Fairhope, AL and Wilmington, NC for some weddings. I am excited to get back for a while and spend some qt with family and friends.

Until next time readers.

don't eat the pizza! and other adventures...

I'm blogging! At 10 am!  How is this possible?  A baby swing and an iphone.  BML and I are new to the iphone world, we didn't know what we were missing!  LTD gave me an itunes gift card for my birthday and one of the first things I spent it one was toddler apps since yay yay! already introduced them to sweet p during her visit.  He is now perched on the couch in "Fish School" learning his letters.  And sweet l girl is quietly napping in her swing.  AND!  Thanks to FTD my house smells delicious with a concoction of cinnamon and vanilla simmering on the stove. (check out this link) I have even brushed my teeth this morning, and last night I read a book!  Only 10 pages, but a book!  Oh quiet time...it's good to see you again.

Yesterday was a completely different story.  We headed to Whole Foods to grab something to eat as our refrigerator was completely bare.  Completely.  And Whole Foods has a parking garage under the store so its easier to maneuver both kiddos in and out.  Except that P refused to ride in the cart, so I let him walk provided he stay by my side the whole time.  It was an experiment, and he did pretty well!  We played I spy with all of the items on my list.  "Where are the bananas, P?"  and he ran to the bananas, I picked them up and he put them in the cart.  We had a little trouble with the eggs, but we managed to make out with them all intact.  We stopped at the pizza spot for some quick lunch - I picked P up to check out the slices and he promptly let our a huge sneeze and splattered the glass with snot.  sick.  the snot, and P.  oops. 

Like I mentioned last time, I spend a good amount of time at night on pintrest.com while nursing L.  Sometimes I spent too much time in the food section and pin all things delicious and bad for you.  But as you all know if you have been following, P loves to help bake, so it's a good activity.  But not good for dropping the baby lbs, especially since I am not doing a lot of exercising lately.  I did about 20 minutes of yoga a few days ago and my body is still yelling at me.  Anyway, a couple of days ago I found this http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/ with all kinds of activities and I thought, we could do that stuff, no problem.  It overwhelms me though with all the set up and I never have everything you need and I'm not great and knowing what I can substitute so we did the old vinegar & baking soda experiment.  Success!  We played with the eyedropper making volcano's for 45 minutes while L was sleeping.  I managed a couple pictures...

This last picture is us making FTD some art since she has requested some via twitter.  P is making his way toward L sleeping in her swing so I'm signing off...here he comes!  What a lovely 15 minutes...

November Rain

One of the reasons LDL and I even started thinking about writing a blog was that we were cracking ourselves up with various stories of each other's lives. I would laugh (or complain) about the old men who hit on me at work, the lack of social skills in the engineering community, and the inevitable and always hilarious predicaments I would get myself into because I just can't hear that well. LDL stories were focused mostly on the ridiculous things strangers said to help her take care of sweet p even though it was not welcomed, what it was like to be married, or the trouble she and p would get into through out the day. Pretty different daily lives for such a close friendship. So you read the story of how she celebrated her 30th birthday. Here's how I celebrated mine.

I woke up completely free from the tethers of a corporate engineering job that I absolutely hated and to a phone call from LDL, LTD and PDL. That was reason to celebrate by itself. I was late to my tennis match with the old ladies - it started at 10am, they wanted to be there early to warm up by 8:30am but NO LATER than 9:15. The capslock are not mine, but those of that weeks captain. Who needs to warm up for more than an hour before the match? So I stroll in late and without a racket to find out that I am playing with the oldest, and slowest player on our team. She's ranked higher than I am, which I guess it was happens when you play more than 3 times a year. So she's got a killer drop shot and all I have are ground strokes. You'd think that being able to chase down a ball would score more points in my favor. Anyway, we lost and it was her fault. Semi-annoying but at least I got some exercise in the morning.

My friend SAB came over to the house, and we were ready for a night out on the town, promising ourselves that we'd try out new neighborhoods and haunts. Things rarely happen the way we plan them. Our big idea of walking around the Mission District and perusing local shops and cafes seemed a bit ridiculous given the heavy downpour. SAB and I decided to make our way toward the restaurant early and try to grab a drink to watch the football game. MUNI once again took forever. I thought that 30th was as old as I would get, since I was stuffed between a mean looking hipster with piercings every where and a giant man with music blasting through his headphones (he's going to be deaf by his next birthday).

Location # 1 - Andalu
Friends were waiting for us by the bar at Andalu and slowly the Birthday Festivities were underway. MKC ordered for the whole table - she's amazing like that - and deliciousness just kept coming out of the kitchen. Mac and Cheese bites, brussel sprouts, short ribs, polenta fries, cheese fondue, fresh donut holes dipped in hot chocolate. Every thing was amazing. Then, right around the time the crowd sang happy birthday, glow in the dark bracelets and whistles appear from SAB's purse, courtesy of my mom. Pretty much every one at the party said she was the coolest mom ever. The night gets a little crazy from there, but I'll shelve my pride and leave you with not so flattering pictures with captions so you can get the idea.

Getting creative with the glow bracelets

Location #2 - Kilowatt


Just in case we get separated



Initially we were going to go straight to the dance club, but since our dinner reservation was so early, we decided that we needed to post-dinner pre-game elsewhere. Enter Kilowatt.



testing the whistle



Location #3 - Double Dutch

Here is where we started to meet some interesting characters. A guy from Yemen kept following MKC. Being the nice, but newly married member of the group, she brought himover to dance with us and gave him a glow bracelet. It kept coming off and those things are hard to snap on your wrist without help. I carefully put my glass in my mouth touse both hands and SNAP. Nope, not the bracelet, my wine glass broke.Thank goodness there was no blood. We lost a few members of the group to fatigue but four of us kept on.

Location #4 - Martuni's Piano Bar

Martuni's is on the list of places you have to try onthe online magazine 7x7. SAB and I decided a while ago we were going to do our best to cross off all locations on the list before the new year. Piano Bar or Bust, in the pouring rain. Turns out, it was a bust. We managed to squeeze into a tiny space near the martini bar, but had no hope of getting near the piano. SAB spent some time chatting up a man in drag who did not understand why we were drinking cosmos and wearing glow sticks. Think about that.

Location #5 - Mint



It was late! And Raining! And my birthday!



The inevitable Karaoke Bar that happens when you get a bunch of girls together with glow sticks and celebrating a birthday. A 5th location! We landed in a prime spot, just by the stage. The goal was to just be close enough to see the lyrics on the screen ahead, but no one had any plans to actually get on the stage. Until a man climbed up there and starting singing - and butchered the lyrics. You guys know how I am about lyrics. So, apparently, I thought it was a good idea to get up there and help him out. It sounded terrible, but it was a lot of fun.





So there you have it readers. My birthday extravaganza from over here on the left coast. Completely weird spending it without my sister and we probably won't do it again, but my friends stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.

2nd Star to the Right...and Straight on till Morning!

 Warning: potentially long update ahead...depending on how much free time I have to write.  But given that it is Sunday night and Yay yay! is here, I'll have plenty of time.  P man headed to bed, BML is hooked on fantasy football, and Yay yay! can't get enough of holding and rocking sweet L to sleep.  So here I am. 

I think it's kind of funny (interesting funny, not ha ha funny) that this post will cover Halloween where we dressed as Peter Pan and my 30th birthday...speaking of Never Never Land and not growing up...oops.

We'll start with late October and picking out our pumpkins.  P picked up almost everyone of these mini pumpkins to inspect before picking out 4 perfect ones.  He loves the pumpkins & has begun his usual matching game, finding all pictures of pumpkins and bringing his real ones over to sit on top of the book, or coloring sheet, or whatever.  He's pretty hysterical.

We got out our frog painting set (which I have to hide when we finish with it since P wants to paint outside all day every day regardless of the weather) and set to painting our pumpkins.  We got paint on absolutely everything - P took his painting VERY seriously.

So here we all are, smallest to largest, all painted by P man himself.  I put them up on the windowsill and attempted to take them down today.  P basically said "not so fast" as he picked them up from the floor, yelled "up! up! up!"and as I picked him up he put them right back on the windowsill where they belong.

Halloween....I saw a sweet Peter Pan costume on pintrest.com and thought, my guy would be an incredible Peter Pan.  The woman who posted about it made her costume.  No problem, I thought.  So, I made myself a costume....omitting the sewing part.  The hat and the top took me about 2 weeks to finish making since I pretty much could make one cut with the scissors before either P or L called for my attention, but I did it!  I am actually pretty proud of myself, I may even recycle and use it again next year.  Robin Hood?  Oh, I also made a felt knife for Pan to wear in his belt - that didn't make it into any of the pictures.

First we went to a neighborhood Halloween party where there was a pinata.  In typical P fashion, our sweet boy just watched all the other kids take their turns whacking for candy and when it was all over he swooped in, grabbed some kit kats and starburst and took off to his little corner of the yard to consume his stash in peace.  He is so pleased with himself.

Below is the required "I'm flying! Flying!  Look at me way up high, knowing I can fly! Wendy, Michael, John, TInkerbell, come on!" picture.  He's not sure what is happening. Oh look!  The knife I made, and unfortunately the kitchen knife he preferred to carry...don't call child services.

  

I wish I had pictures of the actual trick or treating.  BML and I weren't sure how our timid, tenderhearted boy would do.  Once he discovered that there was candy at the strangers doorsteps he was all over it.  He walked straight up to the candy bowl, picked out one piece of candy, dropped it to trade it in for another piece, and waved goodbye.  No words were spoken at all during this exchanged, but he still managed to be a pretty polite trick or treater.  Here Pan is with his Dad showing off his loot.

and here he is hoarding it....

can't really believe all this candy is his!  (he forgot about Halloween by morning, so I get his chocolate).

Birthday time!  Honestly, I was kind of bummed to not be spending my 30th with my favorite womb buddy, FTD.  But BML, P man, L girl, and yay yay!  all made the day extra spectacular.  BML picked up a delicious flourless chocolate cake - P loved it.  We all loved it.

and even sweet L girl got in on the action, showering me with lots of love on my big day.  BML and I were able to go out for a bit and celebrated at Level in downtown Annapolis.  We had one fantastic drink (a bourbonapolis for me....with pumpkin puree....so good.) and then B embarrassed me to bits by telling the bartender it was my birthday.  The embarrassment was so worth it when the bartender called "birthday shots for everyone!!"  I felt like I was 21 again...though I can't wait for FTD to blog about her big birthday.  I am sure they were quite different since when I was calling it a night at 9pm EST she was just getting started!

That is about all I can muster at the moment, and dinner is being served so I leave you for now!  (look at how big MLL is getting so fast!  she is trying to hold her head up, smiling and laughing, and waking up to the world!  7 weeks old...goes by so fast)

p.s.  i am not proof reading  - please be kind with your grammer / spelling checks - I am talking to you FTD and nitadee!