The Rock

Lance's adorable cousin and 3/4 of her kids came to SF on a trip. Lucky for us, we talked them into touring THE ROCK. I totally hear Sean Connery saying that as I'm typing. You?


Anywhoo, we had a blast. Angie is an outgoing talker just like me, so we got along swimmingly. The kids liked Beezie...maybe a bit too much. As in 'fought over who got to talk to, push, play with, and feed her' throughout the day. NO complaints. I got free babysitting, and Beezie ate it up.

The funmakers

It was a gorgeous day. February can go either way in the city, but we lucked out in the weather department. It was absolutely gorgeous.


We enjoyed our tour. I'm sad to say that despite living here half my life, I've never been to Alcatraz. I will have to go back when Beezie is a bit older, and able to enjoy the audio tour.

At one point, B felt sleepy, and laid down on the ground. But not before licking the concrete. Sick.


After the tour, we walked around SF, and soaked up the sun. We checked out the lovely sea lions in all their sunbathing glory.

We walked along the Embarcadero, and then made out way down to Gott's for some fancy grub.

Mmmmmm...always a hit. They have the best sweet potato fries in the world.

Thanks for meeting up with us. We'll try and make it back east soon, and you can treat me to a Wahlburger.

In totally unrelated news, Beezie has been dunking her Paddington Bear in the toitie. TWICE. I thought the first time was a fluke, but then she overlooked her other toys, and dunked him again 2 days later. He must look thirsty.

I also found the world's best white elephant gift for this annual party. I present to you....The Dollottoman!


It's a doll....it's a small ottoman...it's a dollottoman! What's not to love? We won a prize for the best worst gift. You know the recipient is having nightmares, and curses us daily for this "great find." You're welcome!

B continues to cute it up with her curly locks, big smiles, and sassy words. Seriously. This kid is secretly watching Jerry Springer, I'm positive of this. She wags her finger and says "no, no, no" while staring you down. Who else could have taught her to talk to the hand? Ain't no way she learned that from me, even though I'm all that and a bag of chips!

And Heather is Back on The Phone!

Remember this debacle?? We decided to give The Westin another go to make it right.

The Westin didn't disappoint. What is it with this group of girls? Why do we always 1. Have an issue at The Westin and 2. Let Heather get on the phone to make it right and 3. Laugh hysterically as we stand by goofing off and make Heather make the aforementioned call. It's a pattern I'm not wanting to break--AND, we did get a security guard to crawl on the floor and smell under the doors. Awesome!

We checked in--nice and smooth. We took the elevator up to the floor--nice and smooth. We get off the elevator--not nice and smooth--stinky and skunkweedy. As in skunkweed. As is cheap, crappy, stinky, um, MaryJane. Ugh. It permeated the entire floor, and got closer as we got to our room. The 2 prego ladies were not digging. Neither was I--just sayin' they were more sensitive to it, that's all.

We bust into the room and Heather gets on the phone and calls the front desk. She angrily informs them that the floor smells like "Skunk and Weed." I correct her--"Honey, it's skunkweed. One word."

In any case, security same up and checked out the room across the hall. They claimed it wasn't them, but I think it was. After security left, they stunk up the floor with their Designer Imposters Perfume. You remember those, right? If you like Giorgio, you'll love Primo! I swear I didn't wear them in Jr. High. And by that, I mean I did and now I'm totally ashamed.


As we waited for the preggos to go get a new room, we took some sneaky pics through the peephole. This is the security guard trying to track down the smoky offenders:

Besides being able to identify skunkweed, I especially love Lindsay because she's also into music. Which means she didn't look at me like I was an alien when I mentioned The Smiths and Morrissey. I especially love that she knows that The Smiths and Morrissey are not an imaginary band named "Smith Morrissey." If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just think back to when you wore Designer Imposters and go on listening to Miley Cyrus.

What would our night be without snackies? Lindsay got all Fancypants on us, and brought great shame in the snacks Department. I brought veggie dip, Hayley brought peanut butter M & M's, and Linday brings prosciutto, cheese, & sliced apples and pears. Way to go, Fancypants! We're going to take a cue from you next time.

My ghetto offerings--which pale in comparison to delish prosciutto and fruit.

Ahh, ladies. Thanks for another good night of fun, gossip, and giggles until 5 am. Then brunchie-brunch the next morning. The home for a nappie-nap. Here's to our next trip!

SF & Braggery

We've spent a lot of time in the city in the last few weeks. Every time we go up we always chastise ourselves for not going up more. Here's what we have been up to:

Our lovely friend Amy looked up a bunch of Chez Panisse recipes, and created this tasty gourmet dinner for our friends using local food from the farmer's market. It was as delicious as it looks--especially the chicken. Lancer said it best--"that chicken was so moist and juicy, it was like turkey." Well said my love. We feasted on lemon stuffed chicken, summer corn soup with garlic butter, and a summer salad with tomatoes.

Not to be outdone by the dessert of hot stone fruit, vanilla bean ice-cream, and homemade caramel. I was inspired--I am going to try and do a gourmet meal once a month. I just bought the latest issue of Gourmet for inspiration. I love me some good food.

Back to the burbs, where Dobbie ate the face off his favorite stuffed piggy. No, really.

Back up for dinner and dancing with the ladies. Our friend Mal looked up some good GF places to chow, and we settled for Zadin. IT WAS AMAZING. The chef has a bunch of celiac friends, and learned how to cook Vietnamese food without wheat. Most of the menu is GF, including calamari, onion rings, shaking beef, and a cucumber salad. I FINALLY GOT TO EAT ONION RINGS AFTER 5 YEARS!! Most of you take this for granted. I do not.


Back up to SF. Lancer and I needed t blow some hotel points before they expired, so we hit up the W. It's a fun and funky little boutique hotel near Union Square.

The view from our room

Chillin by the window

Oh, right. This thing. I wrote an incredibly rude letter to the occupants of room #1810 and left it by their door. It may have mentioned the word skanky and suggested that if they are either too drunk or stupid to remember who has the room key, they should designate one person to have the key at all times. This way, they won't have to wake the whole floor at 3 am while trying to get into their room.

Stopped in at Taylor's again. I got the same thing I always get--pulled pork sandwich, sweet potato fries, and a choco shake. Heavenly.

Hung out in the Ferry Building, checking out the local goods

Some great shots of the city, courtesy of Lancer and his mad photography skills. More on this in a second.




When we got home, Lancer got an email from a company asking if they could use his photo of the Westin in Frankfurt, Germany. He had posted it on Flickr, and someone from the company found it. He said sure, and now you can find his work here. The best part is that I am in the photo--if you enlarge it, you will see me, passed out in a pool chair, jetlagged beyond belief. I don't know why my face looks like bright red tomato, though. We're famous again--not since our fake wedding (that's us on the right) have I been viewed so many times by random people. I kind of like it.

"The Hotel is Totally Comparable to the Westin"

You know what time of year it is? Why, it's time for our 2nd annual GNO in San Francisco! We had so much fun last year, we decided to do it again. And, just like last year, we brought along a margarita maker and crockpot. Don't you bring along your home appliances to hotels? We do. And we also bring a *huge* tupperware tub full of muddy buddies.


On the way up to SF, we stopped in at Nipa Pon in San Mateo. We feasted on spring rolls, satay skewers, yellow curry, and honey chicken. All good bets. Don't be fooled by the hole in the wall appearance--it's top notch Thai fare.

We had scored a great online deal for the Westin. Upon check-in, however, they were "mysteriously" overbooked. However--they had an "excellent deal" for us, and wanted to send us to "a comparable boutique hotel" up the street. They would pay for the hotel room and even give us free cab vouchers. Score! They showed us pictures of the hotel, as shown below. Not too shabby, right??

We went for it. We hopped in a cab with the world's weirdest cabbie. He dropped us off at our amazing hotel.

See pics of actual hotel below.

Hey--this hotel is famous!! It's where the two redrum twins reside.

And here's a picture of the lovely room. Upon entering to inspect it, we heard a man next door eliminating some kind of waste from some kind of bodily orifice. That's all I'm saying. And doesn't this room look just like the one they promised??

This is Heather on her iphone, angrily looking up the number for the Westin. Throughout this whole ordeal, we are laughing hysterically. We can't imagine the Westin really thought we would buy the ruse about the hotel being comparable.

We headed down the stairs, and then saw the following. That was the last straw. Back to the freakin Westin. I draw the line at murdered bodies.

After we angrily explained the situation to the people at the desk (including mention of bodily functions) a room miraculously appeared for us. Time to bust out the margarita maker! Did I mention the pricey room and parking were now free??


I also learned my lesson from last year. The 4 quart crockpot was spacious for dipping, but too cumbersome to hide in a suitcase. Enter the Little Dipper. She did a fine job on the fondue front. This was followed by laughing, gossiping, and general giddiness until 5 am.

I have always wanted to take a picture jumping on the bed in matching pj's. That last bit was a bust, but we got a good action shot. I have to brag about my hair, though. It looks like flaxen gold.

And then we heard a snap. A loud snap. Our official story is that is was someone's ribs, and definitely not the bed.

Off to Sears Fine Food for brunch around 1pm. It was a long night. The ladies loved their plates, and mine was delish as well.

After brunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon in Union Square shopping. Sarah picked up some killer 7's, and I got a cheapie summer skirt.

Thanks for another night of delicious food, treats, fun, and serious laughs. We would also like to thank Lancer for sponsoring the transportation for our jaunt up to the city. We rolled straight up Benzi style.

Here's to next year ladies!!