Park Place Paradise!

Check out Bub's amazing re-creation of our new cottage. I have NO idea how he did this. Amazing. So over my head...

Yayyyy!

The trip was a success! A wonderful lovely success! We had an easy flight out there, leaving SF around 9:30 and taking BART to the airport, which caused us some delays, but we are up for running across terminals. We munched on a baguet of sourdough bread and chedder cheese for dinner and sipped tiny bottles of red wine we brought which made falling asleep a whole lot easier. Transfered at Chicago and arrived in Raleigh around 10am. Picked up our rental car (my first rental!) and immediately went to Chapel Hill, about a 30 minute drive. We were both sitting there thinking.. what in the world are we doing here? This is SO different! And the restroom at the rental car agency had a painting of the Golden Gate Bridge.. which was hard on me.

But then we pulled into downtown Carrboro, the adjacent town, right during their Sunday morning goings-on. And it made everything okay. It was exactly like Davis! An Irish band was playing, there were tons of children and dogs running around on the lawn and everyone was eating yummy food from the very Nugget-esque grocery store. I was starved and had a wonderful salad and Trent had a bagel. We didn't have many appointments Sunday, but drove around and got the feel for the area. A lot more places were available than seemed on the internet, and we called a lot of signs posted in front of houses. We looked at a couple but they weren't for us, sharing a house with a man with kids, and living in big apartment complexes on the outskirts of town.

Finally we were simply exhausted and headed back to Raleigh. We stayed with Trent's future co-worker Heather, and her sister Jenny. They weren't home yet, but left a key under the mat. We let ourselves in, said hello to their three cats, and fell dead asleep on their sofas. Luckily Trent woke me when they got home and we sat around and chatted the rest of the evening. Her sister had lots of questions about biology which was fun for me to be all nerdy, and Trent and Heather talked work. They filled an air mattress for us in a vacant bedroom and we crashed. The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast with them before heading off. We had several more appointments scheduled and saw some very respectable places that would be decent. But we had found one yellow house that I was totally smitten with, but had no luck in contacting the landlords. We met with Penny's agent Sharon who showed us a nice place that was tied for our second place option.

Most places were looking to rent earlier than we were interested and we thought we would have to settle for paying for a month or so that we weren't there. We had lunch at a cute restaurant called Carrburrito, which to my delight had quite respectable burritos! All is not lost! We had our last meeting at 7 or so with an adorable place that was a bit out of our price range. Then while driving home, Trent discovered an adorable neighborhood just east of campus. All the houses were huge and amazing, big porches and very forest like. He found a "fixer-upper" that we actually called about, but it turns out it was being demolished due to being unliveable. Then, just was we were about to head back to Raleigh, we spot a sign saying "Cottage for Rent." We immediately pull into the drive and I whip out my cell phone. A man named Bob with a thick Southern accent answers. There are 4 cottages in a row, all different colors. One is left for rent. Which just happens to be the appropriate size, the perfect price, and availble August 1st! I nearly yell for joy. But he can't show it until tomorrow.. he thinks. I guess I sounded desperate enough that he gave in and showed up 10 minutes later.

Unfortunately, the people were still living in the cottage.. but they were nice enough to let us invade their home and take a peek. It is pretty small (bigger than what we have now, but just one bedroom). It has a livingroom with a fireplace and built in bookshelves, a dining room with built in bookshelves, a bedroom with three reasonable closets, a small but big enough bathroom, a laundry room with washer and dryer included and a narrow but well designed kitchen with a big stainless steel sink. There is a big porch out front for bbq-ing and it is very heavily forested. The cottage arrangements makes it feel like summer camp! It was amazing. I immediately fell in love. When we were looking earlier, I kept stressing wanting more space, two bedrooms or such, but I just knew this was the perfect place for Trent and I. Cozy, warm, with tons of character, it was perfect.

The cottages were originally built in the 1940's for the GI bill, for soldiers to go to UNC. His wife's family bought all of them a while back and began renting all of them, except the red one, which his mother in law occupied. She added the living room and laundry room so it is the largest and best well kept of them all. And it is ours!! This fall! We definitely saw bigger places, but the charm, combined with the insane closeness to campus and the ease of Trent's commute made it the winner. And, this sounds totally cheesy, but it seemed like a place where the Carters would live. Something about it. We signed the lease right there on the tailgate of his truck after talking a bit about ourselves and getting to know each other. He seems like a very nice fella. Hoooray! We drove back to Raleigh afterwards and shared the good news. We went to dinner at a pub in downtown Raleigh with Heather and played Pub Quiz (much easier out here, our group of three came in second place!).

Tuesday we slept in a bit before cleaning the place up a bit and then going to Jordan Lake, about 8 miles south of Chapel Hill. Beautiful hike out to the lake with tons of frogs hopping around and several nice people along the way. The lake is huge and very unoccupied, and there are supposedly bald eagles nesting in the forests around it. We didn't see any, natch. We scoped out the shopping around Chapel Hill (there is a Cost Plus and Linens and Things not too far away.. good to know) and then dropped off the car and flew to Chicago. There we were delayed for a couple hours, a big lightening storm hit right when we boarded. We got to SFO at 11:40 and madly dashed to the Bart station to catch the last inbound train. Easy transfer to a bus and we were home. And fast asleep!

So, it feels great to have that done with. I was initally concerned that I had let my overwhelming attraction to the place come before logical thought, but Trent assured me that no bikes will be in the kitchen like they are now and it will be perfect. I feel a whole lot better about this move now. I really like Chapel Hill. The campus is beautiful, everyone was SO friendly, and I didn't really mind the heat. I felt like Dad when he blasts the furnace and then says.. finally, I am comfortable! It will definitely be a change of pace, there were some "southern" things we will have to get used to, especially that sweet ice tea.. I just can't do it! But I think it will be a great experience for us to try something totally new and different.

So come on down and visit us at our Park Place cottage!!

Week in Retrospect

This week has been manic busy and filled with really big decisions regarding housing in NC and Bubs telling his office that we are leaving. Craziness. I am really looking forward to our weekend get-away to Chapel Hill. But not before some good times shopping with Em! What did I learn this week-

1. Science requires a lot of math. And planning. But even with all the math and planning in the world.. you can't always make pig snot glow.

2. Dating a couple is fun. But not fun when you do yoga too soon after riding 200 miles. Then it is just kinda painful.

3. WHY IS FLIPCUP SO FUN? Seriously? My fridays are beginning to have a headache trend that is ridiculous.

4. Maybe all Aggie alums are not as cool as they should be.. darn you faux purple team!!

5. Bubs makes a mean watermelon margarita.

6. It is quite possible to have a beach bbq themed dinner party in a 500 square foot house. Maybe more fun if you tell the dinner guests, but they were good sports.

7. Someday all the free time you had at your job will all be snatched away and replaced with really big gross tracheas. (well, maybe not "your" job)

8. Sometimes life hands us baggage that we just have to carry. And deal. Because there is really nothing else to do. Except move to Ghana maybe. But I wouldn't be too surprised...

Anyways, we are off to the country this weekend, lots of cute apartments to check out. We'll take lots of photos and hopefully post pics of the winner next week. Gotta finish up some stuff around the lab then off to meet Bubs at the climbing gym before teaching some "urban youth" how to swim/not drown themselves. Maybe thai dinner afterwards? Yuuummmmmy!

Eastward bound!

We're off to North Carolina this weekend!! After other housing options fell through, I was beginning to get a bit nervous about getting stuck with a lame-o place next fall. But Bubs came to the rescue with some cheap tickets, cheap car rentals, and a place to stay! All in like.. 6 hours! Amazing. So we are heading to the country, hoping to find an amazing place to rest our heads for a little bit. Should be interesting to see how "the south" celebrates Memorial Day weekend.. I bet they won't have a Carnival! Anyone interested on going to this Saturday (we don't leave until late that night) or maybe doing a little shopping (*Emily*)?? Gotta get some fun sundresses to wear this weekend! (k-maybe not that dress.. but forever-21/zara's version of it)

Crazy scientist

Yesterday, after an already fairly busy day including one trachea dissection, I was slowly tapering off and thinking how I would get home rather early. Then the phone call. At 4 pm. From the morgue. Ew. But we have been unlucky with our cells lately, so I bucked up and headed over there to do my job. Seriously, like the tallest man I have ever seen. Which meant I got to take about 8 inches of trachea. It was unreal!! And really really gross. But it meant it was going to be a long day in the lab. Around 6:30 I was finishing up, and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I had a semi-cute outfit on, my old Seven jeans and a Gap sweater, and the fantastsic purple sneaks.. but by then I was looking ragged. Hair tossed up in a ponytail, labcoat speckled with things I don't want to know what they are (Em- I don't wear your nice lab coat for gross stuff, fyi), and about a bizillion pens/spatulas/vials in all my pockets. I don't know when this pocket packrat-ing began, but it was become overwhelming! So today I wore a skirt with no pockets and didn't wear my lab coat much just to remind myself I wasn't an insane-o scientist quite yet. And cute little sperry-topsider-esque wedge heels. That helps. I got the usual, "you have a date tonight?" or "interview?," but it was worth it to be one stylish scientist.

Oh and tall man paid off.. I set my epithelial cell record... 265 million cells! Whoohoo. But oh man did I have a lot of work to do today.

Thanks muffin for treating me so good when I finally got home last night, the watermelon margeritas, the quesadillas and especially the sweet bird gifts from Mickey's. You are my favorite!

My Pick's

I know a good burrito. And I thought Pancho Villa's was my favorite SF taqueria (nothing comes close to Chili Peppers in San Luis Obispo!) But last night, after a very crowded and hard on the sore every single part of my body yoga class, we went to El Metate, with friends Ben and Stacey. The lucky folks live a block away and know the owner of this fine establishment. And hands down the BEST vegi burrito I have ever had. It had carrots and zuchinni in it!! Sounds kinda gross, but it was SO good. Then bubs and I had an adventure getting home, ending up downtown before taking the bus home with some uncomfortable call girls with fugly dudes and going to the Safeway because we thought it would be less crowded at 10:30pm. Umm, it's not!! So tonight.. nothing... just laundry, cleaning, eating, and finally getting to rest up!

I would bike 200 miles just to be the girl to be with you...

You would never imagine that this picture was taken at mile 133 out of 200. But it just happened to be the the end of the big climbs, so there was plenty to be smiling about. Oh man, if I knew how bad my heiny would hurt the next day, I don't know if I would have looked so happy there. But congrats to Bubs for being my tanden capitan and keeping me safe and as happy as possible. And many thanks to our new double century friends, Tim, the sweet doctor dude, and the 100 or so people we managed to beat! Go go Davis Double Century!

la difference?? Sucking!

So we all know I have this problem with online shopping. Mostly that I hate its delayed gratification, unsure sizing, and sketchy shipping. But it is SUCH a great deal. And man, I really do hate battling Union Square on a Friday afternoon (although that is where I have found myself nearly every Friday afternoon.) So I am really trying to get into this online shopping. Some favorites:

Eyes Lips Face- great cheap makeup that doesn't make you weep horribly when it crashes down from the precarious rack that holds it due to the utter lack of counter space in the bathroom.

JCrew- More just for dreaming about beautiful shoes and even more beautiful weddings. Seriously, have you seen their "wedding album" pictures?? TO DIE FOR!

FayCullen- Antique bling. Soooo pretty :) Again, not really practical though.

Trunkshop- I am very happy with my pretty gold bird necklace. Especially when paired with my virgin mary charm from Emily. It embodies my entire religious belief system.

I guess I don't really have many practical websites. But I do have one that is now on my blacklist. LaRe-freaking-doute. I had been eyeballing their stuff for a while, cheap, cute, french. But it wasn't until a free shipping offer was discovered that I finally gave in. And.. they had my perfect pencil denim skirt back in stock. And a super cute white eyelet blouse. I threw in a couple other things that I kinda liked, and some requests from Emily, and off I was.. online shopping! However, the other shoe has fallen. I got an email today announcing my order had been shipped. Hooray. Except the skirt order has been cancelled and the white blouse is backordered until late June. FANTABULOUS!

sorry em.. i know you liked this place. don't worry.. YOUR order shipped just fine. lousy french!

I am a freaking bad ass. Check out Trent's webpage for some more Wildflower pics!

I was cursing that race nearly every minute of the three hours and twenty two minutes it took..

So why am I pondering what race I should do next??

It is a disease!!

Week in Retrospect

This has been a lovely week. Quite unlike most of the other weeks leading up to it, due to the lack of two trips to the pool, long runs, and bike rides. Sometimes it is nice to take a break.. Here are things I learned this week:
1. The recipe for recovering from Wildflower : Copious amounts of Sooth-A-Caine, a steady stream of Advil, pedicures and manicures from Dolci spa and as much food as possible, especially nachos, ice cream and cottage cheese with triscuits.
2. The thing to avoid after Wildflower.. doing yoga class too soon. It just becomes a stressful, painful, embarrasing, debacle.
3. I am remarkably good at flip cup. And pool. But I think this is just due to being very, very, drunk.
4. I am not remarkably good at kickball. Maybe this would be helped if I was more drunk?
5. I have very limited artistic ability, I am aware of this. But I am damn good at construction paper cut outs.
6. I need to live here in the fall. It is imperative.
7. It takes forever and a half to get from 16th and Harrison to little Marina Green fields. But oh man, it is beautiful out there.

That's about it, I guess. Having a lazy friday, work has been kinda slow this week as we are in between projects and there are no tracheas to be found. Off to have lunch with Emily and then downtown to drop off my fancy new jeans at the best hemming place in SF (according to nathalee). And hey, if I paid a ridiculous amount for these jeans.. I am not skimping on the hemming! A man I met at the NIH was just on Talk of the Nation Science Friday, talking about the bird flu. That just rocked my world. Tonight we have swim lessons at Hamilton (I am just now realizing I am going to look ridiculous with my wicked shorts tan) and then home to clean our barn-like apartment for my visiting amiga Jen who arrives tomorrow. We have some wedding planning activities to do for her, and then KFOG KaBOOM! The best fireworks ever!! And maybe a bike ride tomorrow morning and bay swim with friends Stacey and Ben on Sunday.. so life is back to the way it was. OH well, it was a nice break while it lasted. Ciao :)

daydreaming...

With a bit more free time on my hands these days now that my huge RNA project, and Wildflower, are done.. I have started to focus in on the impending move and starting back at school. And when it all seems like it is tooooo much to do.. I dream about how fabulous of a professor I will be. And all the fabulous clothes I will wear. :) Put this all together :

1. This tote. Perfect for carrying all my lecture notes and the latest edition of my textbook on the biomedical applications of algae.
2. This skirt. Professional with a touch of sass.
3. These shoes. Because I will be one fit lady from all my triathlons and can show off those cycling calfs.
4. This sweater... in every color. It will be like my uniform.
5. Arrive to work in this car. Imagine pulling into a spot dedicated just to me at University of .... wherever.

So apparently, I just need to work enough to afford JCrew and vintage Karmann Ghia's to be insanely happy. And that, my friends, makes this whole adventure seem do-able!

WildFlower Recap

Alrighty.. Wildflower. Here we go- realllllly long, watch out.

So I wasn't feeling so hot Thursday but felt better Friday. Worked a half day, stopped by SportsBasement for some last minute super caffinated Gu and some quick draw laces, came home and made cookies and did last minute packing until Trent got home. We then threw everything (and we had a TON of stuff) into the Subi and headed off, with a quick stop at kinko's for some illegal camping pass copying. Got stuck in some fairly bad traffic but managed to get to King City around 7:30. Got last minute gas and water at a station then headed in to the park. Snuck through the front gates and finally found Trent's homies after cruising through a bizillion campsites. SO many people there. Unloaded and set up the tent and fretted about the illegal camping pass until T decided just to move the car outside the campgrounds for the evening. He rode back and we ate some cold pesto pasta and chatted with his friends, then benedryl and off to bed. Love that stuff.

Trent got up insane-o early Saturday morning and finally kicked me out of bed around 6. I grabbed some of his gear and caught the shuttle down the outragous hill (that I would have to battle several times the next day) while he rode down. Got him registered and drawn all over with Sharpie, and found his numbered transition area (I do like that they assigned you one..). I realized I was completely not ready to be down there for the day, so hopped on the shuttle back up and grabbed some food and clothes, and then headed back down. Helped set up the transition area and apply lots of bodyglide and Pam (nothing says I love you like greasing up your man). The pro's doing the longcourse started first and we watched with awe as they tore up the swim. Trent was the first heat of the mountain bike race, a very short swim that was filled with a lot of folks who didn't know what they were doing.. but Trent put in a very respectable time and was the quickest one out of T-1 and off on the bike. I had a hard time running around to be at the right place when he came by, he was going so fast!! Managed to get to a good location to watch him come zipping back in on the bike 30 minutes later and off he went on the run. I scrambled up the hill to see him come in 7th (!!!) in his wave, behind some ridiculously fast young'ns. Went and cleaned up his transition area, and I ran into my dear friend Nate Hamm. Good to see him. Quickly walked through the venues, and met with the Louis Garnou reps, before staggering over the hill (actually poor bubby had to push the bike with all our crap on it, cuz i needed to "save my strength".. I am such a lucky girl) back to camp.

They closed the road in and out of the park to cars because of people doing the long course (a 56 mile bike ride!) so we just chilled at the camp site and watched folks go by and cheered on the Lombardi team. Changed my back tire and T gave a little seminar on changing flat tires to all us girls who usually have someone else around to do that for us. Finally around 2:30 we snuck the Subi out, thanks to its awesome off road capabilities.. and headed to SLO. Surprised the parents at their house and hung out and admired the new windows and paint before taking the dog to the park and then stopping by the fish store for some awesome sea bass. Trent did a wonderful job preparing it (my dad was going on and on!!) and it was especially good with the artichokes and clam chowder. Had a lovely time, but needed to get back before it got too late, so we headed back to the campground. Got in, packed a bit, another benedryl (a must for crowded campsites and pre-race jitters) and crashed.

I got up around 6:30 but tried to get back to bed until about 7 when I just decided to get up. Trent warmed up some of my mom's famous turkey barley soup that will get your ready for anything and I made sure I had all my necessary equipment. I hate the time before races.. all nervous anticipation. And my wave wasn't until 10:10!! I got my first ride down Lynch hill while Trent rode the shuttle down. Set up my transition and got body marked. Then realized we still had a ton of time. So we watched the collegiate championship waves start and I got my first look at how freaking long the swim is. Ran into some old Davis folks and some friends from the city. Trent got me all body-glided up, and after a quick kiss goodbye, I was off to the start. As soon as I could, I got in the water and tried to acclimate. We had about 5 minutes to warm up. So I am out 50 meters or so, and realize that EVERY other girl in my heat was already standing out of the water ready to go. Kinda panicked, but then just realized they were weenies and I was probably better off staying out a bit longer. Finally got peer pressured in to go start, but got stuck in the front cuz due to my late arrival. Not my most favorite place to be on a swim start. The buzzer went off and it was absolute mayhem, legs, arms everywhere. I tried to run in as far as possible and then swim to the outside. But still got pretty hammered. The swim went pretty well, it is hard for me to push myself because I have no idea how long 1.5km should take me, or how fast I am going at any given time. But I didn't do any breaststroke, and I managed to stay relatively on course, and before I knew it we were rounding the top buoy to head in. The last 100 meters seemed the longest as I tried to kick my legs awake, but it was great to get out and start running towards the bike. I felt good, until I got to the bike and got REALLY dizzy. Had a bit of trouble getting the wetsuit off (it was borrowed from Jill and fit great, but it is stil an adjustment to use a new one). Finally just sat down and pulled the darn thing off and put my cycling shoes on. Trent was still in transition (a big no no, sneaky monkey) and cheered me on as I grabbed the bike and headed out.

Got on the bike no problem and immediately faced Lynch Hill. I tried to stay in my middle chain ring for as long as possible, but it finally became to steep and I switched to the small ring. And immediately started passing people left and right. I felt really good, my legs weren't tired or numb and I was excited to get the hill over with and off on to the main course. A deer ran across my path at about km 2, but no problem. Finally got out on to the main road, and .. oh no. The tell tale loud rattling, the bumpy ride.. I had a flat tire. My first flat tire in a race. I tried to ignore it for about 200 meters, until this girl rode past me (cuz i was only going about 15mph on the flats) and asked if something was wrong with my bike. I admited defeat and pulled over to the side. But instead of waiting for assistance, I immediately turned my bike upside down, grabbed that wheel, and started changing the tire like a pro. Good thing T gave the seminar the day before, and especially good thing he had strapped a pump to my bike! It wasn't record breaking tire changing, but I was really proud of myself for getting it done and motivated to pass everyone who was riding by. Got back on the bike a few minutes later, and had a very excellent rest of the ride. I passed a ton of people, set my personal high speed obtained record, and tried to be supportive to people dying on the big climbs. Glad we did our few Marin rides, I whooped booty on the climbs!!

Sped down Lynch Hill into T-2. Quick transition and I was off on the run, with bubs there cheering me on. The run is my favorite part because I actually have some advantage over all the tired people. I passed a ton of folks on the first 3 km, and then got pretty beat up by the big hill climbs but didn't get passed, and then got my momentum back around the 6th km. The 7-10km were awesome, tons of people cheering and yelling Go Aggie! (I was rocking my old UCD Tri jersey). We got to run down Lynch Hill and I just opened up and let gravity take me down (my knees are not so happy about this today). The last km is one long finishing chute, lined with folks cheering and ringing cowbells and all the sudden all the hard work and all the times you didn't want to go swimming but did any ways, and all the nervous jitters before the race started.. were worth it. Having the announcer yell out your name, crossing the finish line, and knowing you did it, you accomplished that huge race and still having a smile on your face, it was awesome. Trent was right there as well as lots of friends congratulating each other.

We quickly packed up my transition area and skadadled out of the course, poor Trent had to push the bike over the hill again (not my most favorite part of an otherwise very well run and supported race) cuz I was so exhausted. Got to the car and threw the last bits in and snuck the Subi out through the off roading once more. I pretty much blacked out as soon as we got out of the park and woke to Trent taking us to Carls Jr. in Soledad. Ohhh, the glory of getting to eat as much as you freaking can with not a smidge of guilt. It was about then that I realized that my yummy smelling sunblock was no match to the three hours spend in the hot sun after being in the water for half an hour. I am toasted!! So we stopped by Target to get some super aloe spray with lidocaine, and some blond highlight shampoo to try to get the lake water off my nice hightlights, and headed home. Trent managed to find a nearby parking spot and we unloaded all the crap from the car and realized we kinda smelled like really really gross stuff.. so into the shower. All clean, I wrapped myself up in a comforter with the Oprah magazine our upstairs neighbor gives us, and had half a beer and konked out. Woke up and Trent was working away on his latest bike, I called my parents and assured them I was safe and sound, had some turkey soup, and then back to bed.

Today, I am mostly hurting from the sunburn, but I realize that every part of my body is sore. Things that are usually commonplace are a challenge and I can hardly make it up the 24 stairs to my second floor lab. But I am so happy to have completed the race and so lucky to have a bubs like mine who keeps me training and working hard so I can enjoy them, and who is so proud of me even though I didn't win the darn thing. And happiest of all?? I just happened to beat my least favorite triathlete EVER.. by nearly 2 minutes. Even though he started about a half hour ahead of me. And that.. that makes it ALLLLLL worth it.

pictures to come soon, I need Emily's assistance getting the frantic camera phone pictures of trent off of my phone and online.

wildflower teaser

I want to write about Wildflower.. I really do. I have it all planned out in my head. Trent's spectacular performance... my ability to perservere and have a great race despite some setbacks.. there is practically a novel there. but I am just too tired. and sunburned. and sore. so maybe later.. good thing i am at work and can rest up :)

more to come later.. promise

hmm, what to do??

My desire to be a super stylish scientist has met a new obstacle. The fact that the weather is nice, the bus is crowded, and Trent built me a sweet commuter bike. Not only does this mean that by the time I arrive, I am all huffy and puffy and my hair is an utter mess from my helmet, it definitely limits my outfit variety. Luckily I can get by with a nice pair of jeans/sweater combo but I do like to mix it up now and again. Any recommendations? Am I stuck with this as my only dress up option? Or is it back to the 22 with my cute peep toed pumps?

My new favorite thing are these headbands. A steal at Walgreens and an instant remedy to morning laziness. Right now I am rocking the black one a la Brigitte Bardot, complete with smudged grey eyeliner from E.L.F. They also help with my need to have longer hair. I can pretend that my hair is long enough to be in a perky high ponytail, as the headband discreetly hides all the loser hairs that didn't quite make it up there. Only side effect.. the ponytail itself looks pretty much like the measly "sugarbowl" pigtails I used to wear as a child. Oh well.. I am trying..

online shopping update

Yesterday Trent was nice enough to bring home my E.L.F. package from his work, can't send stuff to the apartment, and I still feel a little sketch having it sent here. All in all, I am pretty pleased. Initially I was concerned that the bronzer was too dark, and I am pretty sure that the nailpolish isn't exactly like the one shown on the website, but for $1 each, everything is way nice enough to be a great bargain. And the bronzer isn't too dark! Online shopping experience : not too shabby.

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was so fabulous. Seriously. I can't believe we did everything that we did in only 48 or so hours. Started off Friday afternoon when I headed downtown to meet up with Trent's coworkers for some margaritas and bean dip (perfect!). Got pleasantly relaxed and then realized we were running late, and dashed over to Lombardi Sports to pick up T's new tri race jersey and his fancy new bike frame. Then we quickly stopped by the house to pick up our gear for swim lessons! Much better this week, I actually kinda felt like I knew what I was doing and I got to teach the first class in Spanish. Que bueno! Finished up lessons and headed out for our fancy date night. Dinner at the Moffitt Hospital cafeteria and then Transamerica at the UCSF auditorium. How very romantic :) It was fun to be over there for other than work reasons, and the movie was realllly well done. Mad props to Felicity Huffman, she did an amazing job.

Saturday we got up really early for some bike riding madness. Trent's old crew coaching friend Colleen is getting into cycling so she and I headed out at 7:30am for a nice ride. Except for a flat tire. But luckily Trent was with us for that. And about 500 AIDS LifeCycle bicyclists, all eager to help out. Trent met up with some Lombardi teammates and did a longer ride, but Colleen had to get back by 10, so we headed home. It was a foggy day, but I have never seen so many people out riding, surfing, sailing, running.. I ran across the bridge, in a mini-brick workout and was amazed to see people swimming, sans wetsuits, from the Marin headlands, under the bridge, to Aquatic Park! Crazy crazy. They stopped to wave at me and the current swept them out to sea nearly a few meters! Luckily they had lots of people in boats watching out for them. Met up with T back at the car and headed home for some super yummy breakfast and a quick nap before heading out to Feria Urbana. The 71 bus goes right to the Canvas Gallery, which always has something cool going on, we've gotta be better about checking it out. This Feria Urbana was a little less insane that the last one, but still lots of great goodies and yummy lattes. I picked up my new favorite shirt from a guy who is in the band Tarfuti, and gave us a cd. Love the shirt, the band is almost really good, needs a little work. Felt good to support local artists.

Stopped by some local bike shops on the lovely walk home to decide which water bottle cages weigh less and ponder the insanity of spending $60 on a titanium one. This new bike is going to be amazing, that is for sure. Then T got a call from an old Davis buddy who also climbs at Mission Cliffs. We had seen him that morning while he was training with the other Aids LifeCycle folks. Turns out he was having a bbq to raise funds for the race. We scooted on home, and drove out to the Outer Richmond immediately. Which was very very much too early. So we wandered around the neighborhood and Trent spent an incredible amount of time in a little hardware store finding makeshift tools for his bike. Plumbing pipes?? Trust me. We finally went over and had a lovely time meeting tons of great new people and in the small world that SF is, people we knew. A firecrew buddy of Trent's, a girl who climbs at Mission, and the infamous dude who fell off the wall at the climbing gym and broke his leg! He even showed us his massive scars. I thought is was an urban legend.. Anyways, good food, lots of beer, and an amazingly good 10 year old video gamer and we finally called it a night around 8:30. Came home and watched Derailed, which was intense, but pretty good.

Sunday we finally got to sleep in a little bit before starting a massive cleaning spree. Laundry, dishes, scrubbing everything. It was great. But we felt a little sad cuz it was SOOO amazingly beautiful outside. So I went down to Estela's sandwiches and picked up lunch and we had a picnic in our bathing suits on the roof. Almost like the beach, eh? It got a little windy up there so we headed down and grabbed the bikes to go find an open tennis court. Dolores Park was packed with people rallying for immigration, but Buena Vista courts were open. And there were a ton of people climbing on that random rock wall. A bit windy, but we had a great time playing. Got home around 6, T made me a fancy dinner, and we watched Tristan and Isolde. I had no idea what this one was about, but it was really well done and got me very into it.

Whew, what a busy and wonderful weekend. And today is looking like it will be awesome as well. Rode my urban assault bike with no problems and made it here in about 1/5th the time the bus requires. Still wearing my favorite new shirt.. drinking my favorite green tea with orange, jasmine and passionfruit flavors.. Can't complain!!