Dog beach and Indian pizza=The best Saturday!
Posted by Lisa On May 2nd, 2010
This weekend was Kevin’s first weekend working (which is going to be a very regular thing from now on!) so Lola and I were on our own for the first part of Saturday. What better way to spend a warm, sunny Saturday than a day at the dog beach! We visited Crissy Fields a time or two before and I knew that this was the best place to wear Lola out. 🙂
After Kevin’s long day at work we decided to try out a new place to eat: Zante’s Pizza! I had tried their Indian Special Pizza a few months ago at a get-together and have been raving about it ever since to Kevin, so we thought it was a great night to check it out.
Hands-down the BEST pizza ever!
Whoever the next lucky visitor to SF is can request to come here and we will GLADLY take you! 🙂
Lola’s best friend
Posted by Lisa On May 2nd, 2010
Our friend Carleigh came over on Friday night for some carne asada, wine and doggie play time! The three of us went to Millikan HS together and we’ve reconnected in the past few months since we moved up to SF where Carleigh has been for a few years. Her boyfriend Scott had to work late so couldn’t join us for dinner 🙁 but Carleigh and their adorable dog Bailey joined us for a fun night!
Lola and Bailey had met a few times before at St. Mary’s dog park. But this was the first time that Lola ever had a doggie visitor to her home and she was the perfect hostess!
Here’s a video of them in action:
We absolutely loved having Carleigh and Bailey over to our place and we’re so happy that Bailey and Lola became such good friends!
Time travel on the cheap!
Posted by Lisa On May 2nd, 2010
A friend of ours sent us this video and I thought it’d be great to post it on our blog! It’s a video taken from a streetcar just days before the big earthquake in San Francisco in 1906. I travel these same tracks everyday for work and I pass by the Ferry Building clock tower (where the streetcar in the video is headed) each day, so it’s amazing to see what it all looked like over 100 years ago (especially knowing that this was taken only 4 days before the big earthquake).
And you’d think that the streets of SF were pretty dangerous for pedestrians, cars and buses today…but just imagine living back then! All I gotta say is that the guy at 2:36 had a death wish, haha.
Enjoy!
Maya’s farewell–Part II
Posted by Lisa On April 28th, 2010
Maya’s got one week left in the Bay Area 🙁 and I was so happy that she was going to be in the city tonight and wanted to spend some time with me! She’s been staying out in Sacramento with a friend so for the night she stayed in a hotel in Union Square because tomorrow’s the final walk-through with her former landlord. She checked in and I went up to see the room for a few minutes. The hotel is called Hotel Diva, awesome! It was a little out of control…they even had complementary “Diva” temporary tattoos! haha
We walked through downtown for a bit and then decided to eat at a very high-class restaurant…Del Taco! Being from Boston and this Del Taco being the only one in SF, she had never been before! We used to talk about going there after work, so what better way to send her off to the East Coast than a trip to Del Taco? haha
We then decided to have a little bit of dessert and we enjoyed two choclate-covered and chocolate-filled eclairs from Beard Papa bakery in the Westfield Mall food court (that is the most posh food court I’ve ever been in!) The eclairs were nothing short of amazing.
I’m hoping to spend a day with Maya and her friend Katie out in Sacramento at Katie’s new apartment over the weekend, so check back for “Maya’s farewell–Part III” coming soon! 🙂
Lola, the newest homeowner on the block
Posted by Lisa On April 28th, 2010
So we’ve had Lola for 9 months now and we still hadn’t gotten her a dog house. 95% of the time it’s been fine but for those gloomy rainy days, we’d have to leave her inside while we were out. For the time Kevin’s been unemployed it would work out because he was at home until 2:30pm and then I’d be home at 5pm so it was only a few hours of being left alone. But two times in particular we’ve left her outside when we thought the weather was going to be fine and it ended up raining on our poor little girl (and one of those times it was hailing!). So now that Kevin got a job, we could finally seriously look into buying a dog house!
This morning I went on Craig’s List to see what was available. When I searched “dog house” in San Francisco, two popped up and one happened to be for a medium-to-large dog, they were open to suggestions for price, and they were in the Portola District (the same neighborhood we live in!) So I e-mailed him and he got back to me right away and we set up a viewing for 3:30pm. Turns out not only do they live in the same neighborhood…they live 5 houses away!!! So I literally walked down the street with Lola to check out the dog house. Amazing!
Luckily the dog house was just the right size and when I offered them $30 they accepted! I think it was meant to be. 😉 I spent a good 15 minutes in the backyard with her trying to get her into the house and after using the techniques that I learned from our dog training at the SF SPCA, now when I say “Go to your house”, she goes in and lays down! I should be a dog trainer.
So now Lola’s living it up in her new dog house!
Kevin’s new job!!!
Posted by Lisa On April 28th, 2010
Yup, you read that correctly…Kevin got a new job!!! He interviewed last week at Pet Camp in SF and on Friday he went in for a trial run to check out the job. Yesterday he got the phone call that we’ve been waiting for offering him the job!! 🙂 It has been such a huge relief and I couldn’t be more proud of him!
He started this morning and is there as I write this blog post. He’s their newest Pet Care Technician and he’ll be feeding & exercising the dogs and, of course, pickin’ up dog poop! hehe One of the coolest perks of the job is that we get 2 weeks of free boarding if we go out of town and need a place for Lola AND he gets to bring Lola in to work with him!!
This morning before his first day of work we went to celebrate with breakfast at Just for You cafe in the Dogpatch. We hadn’t been since Brianne & Brian’s visit in October and had a delicious celebratory meal together.
Lisa’s visit to Long Beach
Posted by Lisa On April 28th, 2010
I just came back from a fun-filled time away in Long Beach! Kevin unfortunately wasn’t able to go because of school (he has to clock in and out so he can’t just skip class!) so he and Lola were holding down the fort while I was away.
Wed. 4/21
After a full day of work I left home at 6pm for the drive down to Long Beach! I made it in record time (3 minutes shy of 6 hours) and it was the best drive down the 5 yet! I generally leave in the wee hours of the morning and though it’s beautiful seeing the sunrise, there’s nothing quite like the way the green, rolling hills look when they’re bathed in the golden light of the setting sun (wow, I guess I’m more of a poet than I thought! haha) I was pretty blown away with how beautiful it was and I just wish I stopped for a few minutes to take some photos! I got in right at midnight and went straight to bed after a quick reunion with my family dog Lukey!
Thurs. 4/22
I woke up bright and early and went to breakfast with my mama and my second mom Diane! Diane suggested we try Brulee, a fairly new breakfast/brunch/lunch spot off PCH/Loynes Drive in Long Beach and we were definitely not disappointed! The food was absolutely delicious with very reasonable prices and super friendly staff.
After breakfast my mom and I went shopping a bit (I needed to buy a dress for the wedding I was going to that weekend) and I worked from home for a few hours in the afternoon. Then that evening we went to dinner with Allen, a Chinese student who is renting a room from my mom while he attends CSULB. We went to Cho Dang Tofu House restaurant in Cerritos, one of my favorite restaurants ever! The soup comes out boiling and you get an egg that you crack and cook right in your bowl! It comes with a steaming bowl of rice and a ton of little dishes full of yummy treats (kim chee, seaweed, etc.) And to top it all off, they have soft-serve ice cream available at the end of the meal, included in the price! 🙂
Fri. 4/23
I took it easy Friday morning trying to catch up on some sleep and get rested up for the big Girl Scout camp out weekend! The main reason I went down to LB was because of the Junior Jam GS camp out that my niece’s troop was participating in. I was the co-leader with my sis-in-law Judith for the past two years and as 4th grade Juniors last year we participated in Junior Jam in ’09 so we had to participate as 5th grade Juniors this year as it’s their last year as Junior Girl Scouts! And of course I had to come down to be with them. The girls didn’t know I was coming so it was a big surprise for them. 🙂 Junior Jam is a camping skills competition weekend, so they competed in a ton of skills like putting up a tent, first aid, fire-building, knots, lashing, emergency preparedness, GS know-how, compass and trail signs, etc. I think it is such a great event where 500 Junior Girl Scouts come together to demonstrate their knowledge with these type of skills. And on top of that, a High School GS troop is the one that puts on the event every year! It’s quite amazing.
So Friday night we set up camp, had dinner, and the troop participated in a camp-wide night games which was kind of like “Amazing Race”.
Sat. 4/24
We woke up bright and early to eat breakfast (mmm breakfast burritos), decorate our campsite (the weekend’s theme was “Jammin’ Holidays” so our troop’s theme was “birthday”), and get ready for the competition!
The troop named themselves the “Party Bashers” for this camp out (last year it was a music themed camp out so our troop’s theme was the 80’s and the girls named themselves “The Crazy 80’s Ladies”, they sure are creative!)
And now for the skills…
The girls did a fantastic job with the skills, I was so proud of them! After eating lunch with the troop I had to leave early so didn’t stick around for the campfire that night or the awards ceremony the next morning. But I found out that the girls placed 5th!! 🙂
Saturday afternoon I tagged along with my mom and her boyfriend Steve and their friends to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Irwindale! The Renaissance Faire is one of my absolute favorite things to do so I couldn’t pass up the offer to go with them while I was in LB! We had a fantastic time and it was great spending the afternoon there until they closed…definitely the way to go to beat the crowds and still enjoy yourself!
Saturday night I got together with our good friend Brianne and her sister Laura & Laura’s friend Kylie. We had some snacks, had some laughs, and played some fun games (our favorite past-time!) I was so happy we were able to get together, Brianne and Brian are two friends we miss so much being up here!!
Sun. 4/25
I had another early morning because I wanted to squeeze in as my visits to people as possible! The morning I spent a few hours with my in-laws Dorothy and George (with a short-but-sweet visit with my bro-in-law Thomas too!). It was great catching up with them and I really do miss our talks!
Mid-morning I drove out to my friend Kim’s house to visit with her and her three monkeys (I mean sons!) Kim and I are training for the half-marathon together (check out our running blog here!) and we hadn’t seen each other in about SIX YEARS! It was SO GREAT catching up with her in person and seeing her boys (who are a blast!)
After a few hours of hanging out with her clan 😉 I had to rush back home to get ready for Evon’s wedding! Evon and I were in a sistahood at Redlands together (Wadada Wa Rangi Wengi or WRW) and she married her wonderful fiancee Russell! I was so honored to be a part of their special day and it was so great reuniting with so many of my WRW sistas! I carpooled with my good friend Alison and her husband Seth and it was so nice spending some time with them!
The reception was a few miles away at a reception hall and it was gorgeously decorated and we had the most amazing spread waiting for us! The crazy thing is that that was only the first course of over SEVEN courses!!
And each table came adorned with a bottle of whiskey and vodka…
Mon. 4/26
Monday wasn’t too eventful except for the 6 hour drive back up to SF! And yes, even with the LA traffic I hit going up I made it in exactly 6 hours…I guess it pays only having one person and making only one pit-stop during the drive! I had a wonderful reunion with my Lola and after a power nap that evening I stayed up until 11pm so that I could see Kevin when he got home from school! 🙂
I had such a wonderful trip, thank you all for taking the time to see me and spend time with me!
Run, Lisa, Run!
Posted by Lisa On April 19th, 2010
Alright, blog world, I’ve got an important announcement to make…are you ready? Okay, here it goes…I’m going to run my first half-marathon this year!!! 🙂
Kimberly, a friend who I used to work with at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and I have decided to train together for the Long Beach Half-Marathon in October (on 10/17 to be exact)! She’s still living in Long Beach so we’re going to be training long-distance together. We’ve already been at it for a few weeks, so I thought it was about time I made the official announcement on here. 🙂
We’re both avid bloggers (one of her other blogs about her adorable sons can be found here) and so we decided to make a blog together about our journey! We’re working on updating it more, so right now it might look a little bare in terms of posts. But hopefully you’ll all become followers over there too!
I’ve been running with Lola three days a week and this past Friday I asked Kevin to go along with me and to my surprise he said yes! We went to Golden Gate Park to run along the trail.
We decided to reward ourselves with a DELICIOUS lunch at San Francisco Meats & Delicatessen. We’d been there once before and remembered how freaking good their sandwiches are so made the drive from GG Park to Ocean Avenue just to get our hands on a couple of their sammies…and boy were we happy we did!
At least we worked out before eating there, I guess it’s better than us just driving over there without working out all day…right?? 🙂
On Saturday night we were invited to a housewarming party for some new friends of ours. Terri and Scott are friends of Mika and Matt who we met through our friend Cynthia from Long Beach (Phew! That was a mouthful) They recently bought a new home in Concord (just past Walnut Creek) and we had a great time at their shindig. I didn’t take any pictures at the party, but Mika, Kevin and I took a quick trip to Baskin Robbins (Mika’s pregnant, so she was our excuse, haha) and lo-and-behold what do I find….?
Lisa’s Hot Dogs & Burritos shop!
Their reviews look pretty good on Yelp, so maybe next time we go visit Terri & Scott we can have lunch at my hot dog shop. 😉
Jessie’s 28th birthday
Posted by Lisa On April 19th, 2010
On Thursday 4/15 for Jessie’s 28th birthday we celebrated in style at Morac, a delicious Middle Eastern restaurant + hookah bar.
After dinner a few of us decided to keep the fun evening going and went to The Mint karaoke bar.
Jessie and I decided to sing a duet–“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. When we got on stage and the lyrics popped up and the music started to play we noticed that the music was a lot slower than we imagined…then realized that instead of the Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell duet version, we chose Diana Ross & The Supremes much slower version (click the links to hear the difference between the two)! Luckily we were brought up on oldies so quickly figured out our mistake and I think we pulled it off. 🙂
And we ended the evening with a Sister, Sister! photo shoot 😉
Maya’s farewell–Part I
Posted by Lisa On April 12th, 2010
My co-worker-become-friend Maya (who we’ve bonded over our love of game night, good food, and funny, too-inappropriate-for-blog-world television one-liners) has decided that she’s had her fill of California and is moving back to Boston in the next few weeks! 🙁 Her last day at work was Monday 4/12 so after work a few of us got together at The Red Jack Saloon up the block for some drinks.
There should be lots more celebrating in the next few weeks, it’s going to be a bittersweet farewell!!