Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival

On Sunday Sean and I bought tickets for the San Francisco Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. It's a three day music festival August 22 - 24th in Golden Gate Park and the main acts are Jack Johnson, Tom Petty, and Radio Head. The other acts I'm really excited about are Beck, Ben Harper, ALO, and Donavon Frankenreiter. There are over 30 bands and it's going to be amazing. The tickets were pricey, but it's definitely going to be worth it, especially considering it's for 3 days. And to top it all off the venue is a short walk or bus ride from our apartment. If you are interested, here is the website:

http://www.sfoutsidelands.com/

Lauren the trickster

This past weekend some friends and I went to the Nob Hill Spa (see Grapes and Salami post). While we were soaking in the hot tub, Regina randomly announced "Lauren is getting engaged!" Side note, the Nob Hill Spa hot tub is EXTREMELY hot. It's advertised as 104 degrees, but I think it's actually 140 degrees (i.e. hot enough to burn human flesh). The furthest I could go in was up to my belly button, and it took me about 10 minutes to get that far. And for some unknown reason when the jets were on, honest to goodness bubbles formed. It looked like someone poured a bottle of dawn in there, and at one point when I was losing the feeling in my toes and was surrounded by bubbles and crazy jets I felt like I was in a human dishwasher. BUT, the spa was amazing and I had a great massage and had some good quality time with my friends.

Anyway, so after Regina's announcement everyone was very excited and started grilling Lauren about the details. She told us that in February Steve told her that he was going to propose sometime before her birthday in June. We started asking questions about if they had gone ring shopping, and how all this came up and if she was excited etc etc. She seemed a little subdued about the whole thing, but I figured it was because we were bombarding her with questions. Then about 3 hours later after all our services were completed, we were sitting by the fireplace (eating our grapes and salami) and Lauren puts out her left hand and says, "look what Steve gave me." Silence. Everyone was completely stunned. Emily was trying to figure out which hand Lauren was showing us, Regina looked really confused, Sarah's mouth was wide open and I was wondering why Steve gave Lauren a diamond promise ring 2 months before he was going to propose anyway, that made no sense. Then we all realized that she was already engaged and she was surprising us. It was awesome! We were screaming and making a big commotion and it was a great end to our evening. Lauren told us Steve proposed on February 17th. Let me tell you, Lauren is a great liar. She had been engaged for 6 weeks and didn't tell any of us and three hours before all this she lied straight to our faces! Lauren and Steve have been surprising all of their friends and family in person and they have a picture album of people's reactions, it's really cool. Their kids are going to have amazing surprise parties.

Congratulations Steve and Lauren!!!!!

Grapes and salami

In just two short days I will be relaxing at my favorite place in San Francisco, the Nob Hill Spa (Lahore Indian/Pakistani food on O'Farrell and Leavenworth is a close second). Every year since 2005 a group of us have had an annual spa day to relax and enjoy each other's company. Last year we flew down to L.A. and went to the Glen Ivy spa in Corona and it was like an adult Raging Waters on crack. There were about 300 people running around caked in mud (the mud bath was Glen Ivy's thing. It was basically an outdoor fountain and you just grabbed mud and rubbed it on yourself. A bit strange if you ask me.), the locker room was a mad house, the food was less than desirable, and there was about 5 inches of space between each person in the pool (not to mention random hairs floating around. Yuck.). Let's just say it was NOT relaxing. I will admit, that I might be just a tiny bit jaded by my personal spa service. I got a facial, which was great despite the freezing cold room. I also got a bikini wax. I won't bore you with the details, but feel free to use your imagination when I tell you that this was the first time this lady had ever given a bikini wax and she had never even been trained (I'm not making this up, she actually told me this).

So this year, I am looking forward to the Nob Hill Spa. If you have never been it is an absolute must. I'm going to get an 80 minute massage and I'm stoked. Our appointments aren't until 6:00 but we are going to spend time beforehand relaxing in the steam room/sauna/hot tub/pool and after our appointments we are going to have snack time by the fireplace. Sarah is bringing wine, Emily is bringing cheese and crackers, Regina is bringing something choclatey, Lauren planned the whole thing so she doesn't have to bring anything, and I'm bringing...grapes and salami. Does anyone else think grapes and salami is a bit random? I actually started cracking up when Emily sent the email listing out what we are bringing. I responded by saying that my items sound ridiculous and she laughed and agreed, but reminded me that that's what I volunteered to bring. Which is true. Weird things happen to me on spa day (see above paragraph), but I think it will really round out snack time quite well.

Adult Alternative

I think I'm officially an adult. I don't have kids, own a house or itemize my taxes, but I've taken a turn down a long, dark road and I forgot to leave bread crumbs (or crumpled up bits of punk rock discs, as the case may be) to find my way back. Somehow Adult Alternative music has seeped into my brain...and most disgusting of all I actually enjoy it. I consciously opt to listen to the Soft Rock HD radio channel at work and I switch between Singers and Standards, Adult Alternative and Alternative on my digital TV at home. Alternative only joins the rotation on the weekends and when I'm driving. The last thing I want to do when I get home from a long day at work is listen to kids thrashing around on their instruments like if they don't get all of their aggression out right NOW they will collapse and die (a). And to get my point across as to how far down this long dark road I have gone, when I was filling out my application for guitar lessons, I said that I would like to learn folksy adult alternative type music. Where did that come from???

For those of you who have known me for a long time, this probably comes as a shock. I've always loved punk, classic rock, alternative rock etc. The Warped Tour was my favorite concert in high school. I saw Blink 182 at the Paso Robles fair in the late 90's and was in heaven (b). And I still love rock music, but as I get older I also like soft rock, and that distresses me. Although to my credit, soft rock these days is like alternative from when I was growing up. It's no longer Kenny G or Peter Frampton siging about dragonflys in summer time (that one's for you Mom), so maybe it's not all that bad.

(a) On a side note Miles Davis after a long day of work does the same thing. I think my blood actually starts to boil.
(b) Another side note: I seriously hate fairs, be it Renaissance, Dickens or the good old fashioned kind with toothless operators of rusty death traps that people actually pay to ride. This will be my next poll...watch out for it.

How to make a duct tape top hat

I was online today checking out my new igoogle homepage (thanks for the tip Marina!), and at the bottom there is a window for some how-to tips of the day. Today the link was "how to make a duct tape top hat." I couldn't help but click the link because really, who wouldn't want a top hat made out of duct tape? There was a full on in your face website dedicated to this craft. There were detailed instructions, pictures and numbered steps. And, it was in all seriousness, there was absoluely no irony or second thought that perhaps this website was dedicated to something a bit strange. My favorite part was that there were links to other things to make out of duct tape. How to make a duct tape wallet, a duct tape fedora, a duct tape mini skirt etc. I actually think it was really awesome. I would like to make an entire duct tape outfit. Maybe next Halloween Sean and I can be duct tape versions of Fabio and his wench.

Here's a link for anyone who would like to increase their skills with duct tape: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Duct-Tape-Top-Hat

Are you kidding me, part 5?

Last night Sean and I saw the movie 10,000 B.C. and the previews didn't lie, it was as stupid as it looked. In that sense it wasn't disappointing. There's nothing worse than seeing a movie that looks awesome in the previews and then lets you down. The one saving grace for 10,000 B.C. is beneath all the dirt and grime the main character is pretty hot. The most annoying part of the movie was the people sitting behind us. They were whispering almost the whole time, which I can deal with, but the obnoxious part was the guy was hacking away constantly. It's like, I don't want to sit in a movie that's ridiculous and then on top of it all listen to some guy trying to make music with his sticky mucous. It was disgusting and surprisingly loud. Take a throat lozenge or a sip of water or don't go to a movie. I personally think they should add the sound he was making to the "don't make your own soundtrack" preview along with the crying babies. And on a side note, every time I hear those babies I always think they are real and start looking around. I think it's because they only have them coming out of the back speakers. Stereo sound, it tricks me every time.

I just puked a little in my mouth

Sean and I have had an ongoing joke for about 7 years now. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Sean has had an ongoing joke and I've given him 7 years of disgusted looks, wondering how I married a man who has the sense of humor of a 12 year old. I'm not even sure how the joke started, I think it was a scene in a movie, but the image is a guy sitting around in his underwear with a bucket of KFC, wrapping french fries in fried chicken skin and dipping this greasy concoction into a bowl of baked beans. And then eating it. For some reason Sean finds this hilarious and every time we pass a KFC (for the past SEVEN YEARS) Sean references it somehow. Lucky me.

Last Sunday we met Sarah's boyfriend Rich for the first time and what does Sean start talking about to make his first impression? That's right, KFC fried chicken french fry baked bean goo. Gross. And embarrassing. Rich was a good sport though and they get on to the topic of the KFC mashed potato bowls (which Sean also thinks is hilarious, but I'm not sure KFC is trying to be funny). We were going to go after brunch and get the mashed potato bowls to try them out, but the thought of it made me puke a little bit in my mouth. Sean and I have decided that sometime in the next week we are going to try them and then if I can pull myself away from the toilet I will report back.

To be continued...

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Happy blogging,
Nicole

Are you kidding me, part 3?

Last night Sean and I went to a great little restaurant in Russian Hill called Ristorante Milano. About a month ago we went to Swensen's for ice cream for the first time (if you can believe that) and that is when we realized how cute Russian Hill is. There are a ton of quaint restaurants and wine bars and we vowed to come back (and move there if we ever have enough money). So when our friends invited us to dinner at Ristorante Milano we jumped at the chance. Because this was our first time going out in Russian Hill and because we live in the super un-cool Inner Richmond, we didn't realize how ridiculous parking would be on a Sunday night. We drove around for 30 minutes looking for a spot. We saw about 10 people get spots but we apparently weren't in the right place at the right time. Anyway, we finally made it to the restaurant, had a lovely dinner, went to our friend's house to hang out on their roof deck and when we were making our way back to our car I saw the strangest thing. It was 11:30 pm on a Sunday night...in MARCH....and a lady was taking out her Christmas tree and putting it in the trash. WHAT, are you kidding me?? Has anyone ever seen that 80s movie Flight of the Navigator where the kid (is it Fred Savage?) goes to school and when he comes home all of the locks have been changed and he walks around the side of the house and peeks in the window and it's a totally different family living in his house? It turns out he was abducted by aliens and thrown into the future (bear with me, this is my muddled memory of a movie I saw 18 years ago). And he has that fuzzy creature that lives in his backpack. Well anyway, it was like that. I thought it was March 2008 but unbeknownst to me when I crossed the corner of Sacramento and Hyde I fell into a black hole of time and it spit me out into January 2020. Too bad I wasn't there long enough to see if I was unfortunate enough to still be living in the Inner Richmond. Very strange.

Proud to be an American

Ok, so here's the deal. Our economy is going into a recession. The price of crude oil is the highest in history, the housing market is a smelly pile of fraud and idiocy, our government has led us into a major deficit, no one under 40 will see their hard earned social security benefits, healthcare is a cluster fuck, and the list goes on and on...and on...and on. But despite all of this, I still believe that our country is the best. We have one of the highest standards of living on Earth, we are innovative, we have rights that millions of people living under oppressive governments don't have, we have reality TV shows and we have a Starbucks on every corner. Everyone do your part for our economy and our country - when you get your special tax refund spend it in America on American products/services. Don't go to Walmart and buy a toy with lead in it or bad dog food from China. Go to a nice restaurant, travel to a new place and stay in a fancy hotel. Don't put it in your ING account. The purpose of the special tax refund is to stimulate the economy so go out and do what Americans do best - waste your money!

Winter, go away

I don't know about anyone else, but I am SO sick of winter. It's my least favorite season and it always seems to drag on. The last two weeks in SF have been beautiful, which has started my end of winter itch. Of course, the clouds have rolled in for the weekend, but I took a walk every day this week at lunch to take advantage of the sun. At 2:00 am this Sunday Daylight Savings begins, which is awesome, and perhaps the one good thing President Bush did during his 8 year term (he extended Daylight Savings by a month a few years ago). Let's all take a moment to celebrate an extra hour of daylight (sorry Arizona and Hawaii, you're not included). I think I will celebrate by not being annoyed that it is already Sunday.

Happy birthday Marina, bringer of light!

Book Club

Sean and I were invited to join Mike's new book club (Mike knows Dan who is Stephanie's boyfriend who is Sean's friend at Hastings). I've been wanting to join a book club for the past 3 years or so and I'm really excited about it. Our first book was And Then We Came To The End, and it sucked. Well ok, "sucked" is too harsh a word, but it was only available in hard cover and it definitely wasn't worth the $25. Oh, and I didn't enjoy reading it. It was about corporate office life and followed a bunch of characters that were annoying and nothing really happened. And I didn't like the prose, it was very choppy. Our second book club meeting was last night and we read The Maltese Falcon, which was excellent. Riveting characters, interesting story and very well written. It was descriptive without going over board and the character development was superb. Next we are reading The Princess Bride by William Goldman, per my suggestion. I hope it's good!
The book club is great because I've met some wonderful people and it's fun to sit around and drink wine and be social. We usually only talk about the book in little spurts throughout the night, the main point is to just hang out. The only slightly annoying part is that you don't have control over the books you read. Our book club is half guys and half girls which makes it that much harder to figure out a book that everyone will enjoy.