Pretty Things

My parents sent me this bowl from South Africa. I love it.

Guerneville

Georgia, Lisa and I spent the long holiday weekend at a rental house in Guerneville, right on the Russian River. We had visits from Karen, Kristine and Beth. Frivolity included an 80s music dance party, swimming (for the dogs, not the girls) and orange-infused vodka.

Urban Art

Beth had an art opening last night. She does fantastic cityscapes. Visit the gallery here: www.thesometimegallery.com.


Petrina, Beth and Beth's mom

Thank you Facebook!

Thanks to a Facebook connection, Ryan and I got together for drinks last night. He's on a business trip from New Jersey and we hadn't seen we worked together at our college newspaper in Anchorage. It was great catching up!

Zeitgeist

Georgia, Beth, Dave and I enjoyed a sunny Sunday afternoon at Zeitgeist. We played Scrabble, worked on the Sunday NYTimes crossword puzzle and discussed the origins of the saying about pink elephants.

Pacific Catch

On Saturday, Lisa introduced Georgia and me to a new Japanese-style fish and seafood restaurant. My poke wasabi salad was fantastic!

The Patio

Georgia and I basked in some unusually warm after-work weather at Gordon Biersch last night. We snagged a great table on the patio and enjoyed yummy seafood salads and white wine. And, yes, the heat is supposed to last through the weekend!

Heat Wave

I tried to capture the heat on Haight Street last night. It's been in the 80s and people are wearing their shorts, tank tops and sundresses! A real rarity in SF. It's supposed to last through the weekend. Woo hoo!

Gin's Splurge

Of course it was MY fault. I left a bag of garbage unattanded. Gin looked SO guilty when I walked in the door. I yelled at her, then I had to laugh. When she loses her interest in food, I'm not sure what I'll do.

Saturday Splurge

Wine, cheese and olives are three of my favorite things. Put them together and I'm in heaven. That's exactly what I did yesterday. I went in an actual shop that only sells wine, cheese and olives and bought a miniature feast.

The cheese is from Portugal and it's made of sheep's milk. The olives are called Castel del Voltrano. I don't know where they're from but they sure are heavenly. Yum!

Oh, and the wine is part of an ongoing birthday gift from my family -- the wine of the month club!

Book Group

After a long hiatus, I returned to book group last night. I had forgotten how much I missed talking about books with a group of really smart people. We just finished a book called "Plenty: One Man, One Woman and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally." The group also ate and drank locally. And the meeting was pretty darned raucous. We chalked it up to spring fever.

The Ballet

On Friday, I attended the New Works Festival at the San Francisco Ballet. There were four new pieces by contemporary choreographers. My favorite, by far, was a piece called "The Ruins Proclaim the Building Was Beautiful" by James Kudelka, who I had never heard of. Incredible.