Angela Reads: Songs Without Words

Or maybe the title should read - Angela doesn't read. After getting through 100 pages of this book, I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. And that is really unlike me. I typically finish most book regardless. But unfortunately this was just one of those books that I didn't feel valued my time. It happens.

I read The Dive from Clasen's Pier by Ann Packer years ago. And although I wouldn't consider this one my more favorite books, I got though it, it was good, not great, but good. The book was later turned into a very disappointing Lifetime movie.

The Best Birthday Card........for a 16 year old.

Or a 34 year old Mother!

Jamie got me the card. Love it! And even though he doesn't understand it and makes fun of all things Twilight, he does get me. I fancy that guy. Jamie, that is.

As for this guy......a girl can dream.

I also got these babies.

Birthday Suit

Happy Birthday To Me!

Here I am in all my Birthday suit glory.

And just so I'm not alone in this. Here is Jamie.

And while we're at it. Annmarie.

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Jamie and I went to Oliveto on Saturday to celebrate . Fantastic!

Annmarie's Day

Here is how Annmarie's day went like on Monday and this is what the Nanny prepares for us. It's great! Monday was a good day. She ate well and napped well and went to recess.
And here is what she looked like this morning before we left the house. Our little Dr. Evil. But happy.
Nice profile.
But then I got this text at 11:00 am.

Guess she was in mood. She woke up happy and the rest of the afternoon she was in good spirits. But don't you love technology. I know there is some controversy over Nanny's texting. They should be watching the kids some say, not texting. But I typically only get texts from the Nanny when AM is asleep and I like knowing how her day is going and sometimes I get pictures!

Dr. Smilie's Baby Shower

On Saturday Annmarie and I went to Smilie's baby shower. Smilie is the mom-to-bes' nickname. I don't know the whole story behind the nickname, but I'm guessing it's because she has beautiful smile and often has one on her face. It's great. She is one of the nicest people I know and I'm sure that makes her a wonderful Doctor. Jamie has often gone to her for advice for his feet. You know with all his running and Smilie is a Podiatrist.

It was a great shower and Smilie has a lot of wonderful friends and family that are so excited for the arrival of their little guy. I wish I would have gotten some better pictures, but Annmarie was there, so I spent most of my time keeping track of her. Thankfully, Bonnie was there so she helped me out.

The favors.
I'm loving this diaper cake. And I really wish I would have gotten a picture of the real cake, because it was fantastic!
Here are some darling pictures of Bonnie, Annmarie and Priscilla, but you really can't see Priscilla. Annmarie loved their dog and would follow it around and try to feed Priscilla her Cheerios. Love this pic and don't you love AM's banana slug.

It's also about 20 degrees warmer on the other side of the bridge, so AM got to wear a sundress, where on Sunday she was bundled up for the beach.

We can't wait to meet the little guy and who happens to be due right around draft day. Draft day = Fantasy Football.

Is it really almost football season? Sigh. Smilie's husband is in Jamie's football league. Well, nothing like starting them early.

Baker Beach

This morning we headed out to Baker beach. I can count the number of times we have been to this beach. It's always cold and foggy, this morning was no different. But Annmarie had a good time and we saw dolphins (or maybe they were porpoises?).

I’m not a Vegan…….

I just play one on my blog (sometimes).

I enjoy eating vegetarian and vegan and can appreciate good veggie food. So when my two closest vegan buddies, Bonnie and Lauren (well, Lauren may not technically always eat vegan, she's pretty darn close) asked me if I wanted to try Brassica Supperclub, I enthusiastically told them to count me in!

Brassica Supperclub, “an underground dining experience” is a fairly new concept in dining (for me at least). For more information see their website here.

For a play by play account of our dining experience on Saturday…..read on.

So the day before Saturday Lauren (who kindly made our dinner reservation) received an e-mail containing top secret details for the evening. The e-mail disclosed the secret location, a password phrase we were to give at the door, and a tentative menu. The e-mail also informed us that they do not serve alcohol, but encouraged you to bring your own (BYOB). OK. Sounds interesting. So every time I hear BYOB, I either think of college potlucks or the time Jamie and I visited Martha's Vineyard and we had dinner at The Black Dog. When we got to The Black Dog we learned that they did not serve alcohol, but encouraged to BYOB. Jamie jetted out of the restaurant found the closest place that sold wine, which happened to be a gas station and picked up a bottle of wine. I got a kick out of that. So I'm thinking that this dinner could either turn out to be like a college potluck or a pretty cool dinner.

We arrived at our secret location and were welcomed with a wonderful aroma. We were seated at low tables and given pillows for our bums. This would be my one criticism of the evening, because after 3 hours of sitting on the floor it got to be a bit uncomfortable. I totally get the novelty they were trying to capture by having us sit on the floor and for a quick eat it would have worked for me, but for a 4 - course dinner, my back and legs would have liked a chair.

Now that I got that off my chest, let's talk about the fabulous food. Because that it was.

We started with - Thai Lettuce Cups with Seared Oyster Mushrooms and Grilled Corn, and a Sweet Peanut-Coconut Sauce. To add to your lettuce cups were limes, onions, grilled coconut, peanuts and some other wonderful items. Fantastic. Love me some lettuce cups! It would have taken me forever to prepare something so pretty and to have the patience to delinquently cut everything up.

Next was the soup, a Duo of Tomato Cream Soup and Corn Chowder served in mini-bread bowls. The corn chowder was awesome and I really liked the tomato as well. The bread was a fabulous rosemary bread.

Also, in case you are curious we opted to bring a bottle of Chianti as our choice BYOB beverage (and I'm just trying to see how many times I can use BYOB in a blog post).

Here are the lovely little soups.

To side track a little. I think one of the great things about having a dining experience like this, other than having a wonderful organic healthy meal, is the social interaction that goes along with the evening (I totally took that from Bonnie). But, I truly do look forward to my girl time and appreciate my girl friends. I luv you (wo)man!

Moving on......

As a small intermezzo we were given some wonderful fresh watermelon juice.
And here is the Entree. I labeled everything (click on image to enlarge, please). It's so pretty. This was my first time trying tempeh. It didn't knock my socks off, it was good, but I'm also thinking it may have contributed to some issues I had the next morning. And I'll just leave it at that.Last, but certainly not least was dessert - Almond Genoise Napoleon, with Amaretto Cream & Caramelized Nectarine Filling, and Nougatine, Caramel Sauce, and Nectarine - Cinnamon Granita. Wow! Incredible. Vegan desserts are a hard one to pull off (for me at least). I mean, how can you not use real butter and milk cream. Well, they pulled it off with this one.

Ta-da!

The night ended with a introduction of the chefs. Where we learned more about the food, their backgrounds, and their goals. It was neat evening. Something totally different. Gotta love S.F. I'm happy for the experience.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my Dad's Birthday.

And Annmarie will be 20 months tomorrow.
Is it possible she is going to be 2 in four months?

Luke's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday we got to celebrate baby Luke's 1st Birthday!

He loved him some cupcake.

And us parent folk loved us some pizza and beer at Skipolini's in Walnut Creek.



And Annmarie loved this huge Teddy Bear!!
She seriously loved this bear. Once she spotted Luke's uncle bring the bear in, she didn't take her eyes off of it and had to go over and give it a hug.
It kept her entertained for almost an hour.
Zachery also wanted to check out the bear.
Annmarie wasn't too sure about that.
Then others joined. And everyone actually got along. I know AM was thinking "what are you doing", but she behaved herself.
I was a little scared when it was time to leave, that AM may get upset to leave the bear. But we told AM we had to say good-bye to the bear and she waved good-bye. Whew. We'll just have to schedule a play date with Luke, so AM can spend some more time with the bear. Luke's one lucky little boy.

Great party!

Good Times!

Go Carefully Airstream Driver

No, we are not buying an airstream, nor are planning on driving one anywhere.

It appears that only a select number of people will actually get the title of this post. As I talked to people about a concert I was going to on Friday night, people had no idea who I was talking about and I was not the only person that experienced this phenomena. The same was true for Bonnie and Jamie. So, let me tell you about a very talented band that goes by the name - Gomez. “They're English” Bonnie would say, but people still didn’t get it. We can give credit to "The Double" for introducing us to Gomez. The Double took Jamie to see them 2 years ago in Austin, and he was sold. Now for the past 2 years he has been playing their music often and saying "honey, we gotta go see them when they come to town".

Let me put it this way, there are not a lot of bands that compel me to go out on a Friday night, at the Fillmore (standing room only), with the band going on stage at 10:00pm. That’s typically my bed time. (However, Jamie thinks the Fillmore is the best place ever). Well, Gomez would be one of those bands for me. The others would include; Coldplay, although I passed up going to their concert, because it was on a Monday night and I have already seen them. Dave Matthews, but unlike my husband, seeing them once a year is enough for me. Sting, he’ll always do it for me. And maybe one or two others.

I’m a little surprised that more people are not familiar with Gomez. Maybe it’s because they have three vocalists in the band and that confuses people. Or people don’t listen to KFOG all day like I do. Or maybe it’s because they haven’t been played on Grey’s Anatomy...oh wait...scratch that last part. But thankfully they haven’t caught onto the masses like the Fray have. Because going to see a band you really like play in your town in a small venue for under $40 is a good thing. While I like the Fray, Gomez is HELLA better.

About the evening. After dinner at Dosa and three glasses of prosecco (who do I think I am?) later, I was armed with a comfy gap tee and running shoes to stand on my feet and watch Gomez. While I didn’t recognize some of their older music, I was able to get my groove on to, Airstream Driver, Girl Shaped Love Drug and Get Myself Arrested. And loved hearing Notice, one of my favorites. The crowd for the most part behaved themselves from where we were standing (which was very close to the stage). I took two breaks to get some air and was exhausted by the end of the evening. I enjoyed the show and thought it was worth sacrificing some sleep.

Fortunately, the next day I took a nap which got me back on track.

Angela Reads: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Just read - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

This is a charming book.
Yes, charming, is how I would describe it (said in my most charming British accent).
The book is also rich with emotion. And an easy read.