New Shoes

Alright alright, new shoes are not exactly *news* but anytime I get Payless Shoes I'm in love with some how it feels even better! They won't just due, they aren't flip flops, they are cute adorable weekend shoes!!! IMHO. I love them. They are American Eagle Flutter Mary Jane Skimmers. I saw them in an e-mail ad and thought I'd go check them out in person while I was out running errands. I loved them just as much in person AND they had a pair in my size. They are a little big, but the next size down was too tight so they will work!! I can't tell you how many shoes I've tried in similar styles, but I think I found a winner.

Notice Anything?

So this last weekend we headed off to see family in Oregon. Notice the blue palace beneath the sign? I was so intent on getting a picture of the sign this trip up I didn't even notice the port-o-potty in the frame. It was a good trip, but entirely too cold (notice the snow by the sign?). I'm a CA girl, not used to such "extreme" temperatures. ya ya poor me.

Night @ the Improv

So last night we went and saw Dana Carvey at the San Jose Improv and he was great! However, the rest of the night..... not so much.

• Despite asking at will call to double check if they were serving dinner (for our full menu dinner tickets) they were not. (Turns out Tuesday nights they do not do dinner ONLY Wed. - Sunday early shows. There are no Monday night shows BTW)
• Upon arrival we were informed we would be seated with another couple (YA! ;) )
  
• Late night appetizer menu only, of which they were out of Chocolate Cake & Calamari.
• Ordered the nachos without sour cream and jalapeños. It arrived cold, soggy, and with the peppers. Kyle had to wait an addition 15-20 minutes for his food.
  
• The place was freezing cold, even with my jacket and Kyle's, downing a hot coffee.
• My heels stuck were swallowed by the carpet, stuck if I placed them near the seat.
  
• The host for the night was awful.
  

Then finally.... the opener... relief.. He was funny! Then Dana Carvey came out he was awesome. Just about worth all the pain. I much prefer going to the Flint Center when possible or just about anywhere that's not a club... something about having to buy 2 of something while trying to enjoy a show.....

Merry Christmas

Christmas at our house usually means more toys for our already spoiled cat. I mean just how many toys does one house cat really need? And for our part we buy him a new "outfit" which is really more for our enjoyment than his. This year however though I think we both win. Check out Pixel's new tie!!! Unlike his usual hats and gear that he immediately starts wriggling with a funky walk hoping it will fall off this year he's all happy and proud as he walks ("lies") around the house. Merry Christmas!!

Enter... Exit... ????

I'm sure this combination of signs seemed perfectly logical to someone..... We however did get a little giggle out of it.

Things that make me laugh

Originally uploaded by jalderete

My friend Jen took this picture at a Bart station. I'm easily amused. What can I say? I still think it's funny. LOL.

December ...Now?

Well I guess so. The holidays have completely caught me off guard this year. Usually I'm just about done with holiday shopping and just putting the finishing touches on last minute gifts. This year.... I'm not sure I've really even started. I've got a couple craft projects in the works and a few items ordered, but I think it's gonna be a low key Christmas. We are trying though. Last weekend we headed off and cut down a tree. The pictures from our little outing are on flickr .

Happy Holidays!!!

Weekend in Sonoma

In need of a little get away we headed off to wine country for a little R&R and wine tasting. We stayed at the El Dorado Hotel in downtown Sonoma Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday we visited 4 of the local wineries, headed back for a quick look around town before dinner at the El Dorado Kitchen. I had the free range chicken breast for an entree, and we had coffee pot de crème for dessert. It was an excellent meal. We didn't take too many pictures this trip and this was the best picture we had of the two of us from the weekend.

I'm friends with a (tech) rock star!

The tech world is all a buz after Scott Petersen's presentation at Adobe MAX 2007 in Chicago this year.
He's even giving interviews now:
Ryan Stewart - Rich Internet Application Mountaineer » Interview with Scott Petersen on the C/C++ in Flash Player Sneak

A Room With a View

I'm not sure how my current obsession with the grand port-o-potty began, but they seem to be springing up everywhere!! As you can see this has been the view from our window for the last several months. I suppose it could come in handy: if perhaps you really just can't make it into the house hey there's a plastic receptical just waiting in the parking lot. And maybe even it could count towards the number of bathrooms in our place?? 2 bedrooms, 1 and 1/2 bath + a very special communal partial bath conviently located nearby? To be fair they've been doing construction in the complex, and it is a natural brown color that "almost" blends right it.

GambucciGirl.etsy.com Launch!!

I finally got around to launching an etsy site. Many of my most recent cards are for sale here. Please have a look.

365 Days of Marriage

Our first wedding anniversary was this last weekend. To celebrate we headed off to San Francisco. We started off our weekend at Burke Williams Spa. We then had a wonderful dinner at the CityScape Restaurant on top of the hilton. The view was amazing. And they gave us a strawberry cheesecake in honor of our special occasion, and back at the room we were supposed to get chocolate covered strawberries, but since they were out they brought us an amazing chocolate mouse dessert. Yummy!!! The next day we headed off to Alcatraz Island and a quick walk through Ghirardelli Square.

Home from Seattle

Oh it's so nice to be home. Don't get me wrong it's great to be on vacation too. I'd been looking forward to this trip for months then finally it was time to head on out and wouldn't you know it the morning we leave I wake up with every sign of a looming head cold. But off we went for our first leg of the trip 7hrs with an 8year old off to Grants Pass to meet up with Kyle's siblings. I felt a bit better for a few days and then we were off to Portland and then on to Seattle where my cold hit me full force. But I tried to hang in there as we toured the city. We did the day and night space needle tour, wandered around Pike Place Market, did a little shopping, ate and ate, visited the Bellevue Bontanical Gardens and stopped by the Museum of Glass in Tacoma all before heading back home. I am so glad to be back home. My cold is barely letting up and it's just nice to be in my own space again. The pictures from our trip are in the web album here.

Oregon Safari

Who knew there was a little piece of Africa in Oregon? On our way up to Portland we stopped at the Wildlife Safari in Winston. It was a lot of fun. Once up in Portland we were hungry for dinner and set out to find a brewery, our first try turned out to be more bar like so we set off again, and stumbled into Henry's 12th Street Tavern and OMG so amazingly delicious. Happy tummy headed back to the hotel and crashed.

4th Of July

Our long awaited vacation finally began July 3rd. Despite fighting a head cold, we picked up Sydney and were off for a 7hr road trip with an 8 year old. We made a quick stop in Davis at Dos Coyotes, a favorite since I attended college at UC Davis. After filling back up we were on the road again. We made it up to Grantspass OR in the evening and enjoyed some family time before catching some sleep for the night.

Up early for the 4th to eat at a local breakfast joint before heading to Hellgate jet boat excursions for the morning tour. A couple hours on the water full of site seeing along the Rogue River, lunch, then the trip back. The most amazing part of the trip was the bald eagle pair; the boat drivers has a relationship with one of them, he catches fish at lunch, wistles and lets the fish float downstream, and if the bird is hungry it will swoop in and get it.... What a site!!! We also saw nesting osprey and great blue herron. It was a blast.

Later that day it was off to purchase fireworks, and head back to Kelli & Rich's for BBQ, beer and fun. We spent the evening with good food, good people and good fun.

iPathetic

For those of you living under a rock Apple released the iPhone. Since it had been a horrible week, Kyle really wanted to go people watching. So off to Valley Fair Mall we went to watch the countdown, unveiling, the black curtains drawn and the iPhone displays revealed. Among the anxious customers was Steve Wozniak co founder of apple. There was a countdown to the big reveal and lots of cheering (you'd think they were giving something away). As we moved to a better vantage point to observe the sea of geeks one girl asked "what's everyone looking at?", to which I replied, "watching people buy iPhones". Yup we were that pathetic.

LAINE's PAPETERIE Blog

Check out LAINES Blog. Second row, third column. I didn't make the design team, and I guess this isn't quite a full fledged publication, but that's OK. I still think it's pretty cool.

A Fish Tale

My brother and sister-in-law are in town for the week and I was able to take a day off work to spend some quality time with the two of them. We headed down to Monterey to the Aquarium. The freshwater otters are the current special exhibit, but I must admit I'm a sucker for the jellies. I can't get enough of them!! It was a perfect day along the Monterey Peninsula. I couldn't have asked for a better visit. The rest of our aquarium pictures are here.

Life is Rough

Especially when you are our cat. It's soooo tiring spending days basking in the sun by the window. But isn't he cute? If only my life could be so easy!

Cute as a ......

Oh I do love buttons. They are so perfect, symetrical and functional, cute and adorable, perfect in every way My mom gave me a huge box of old buttons to use in my scrapbooking. I'm in heaven. So I had to go out and pick up some containers (one of my other favorite things in the world!). I got a 6 pack of embelishment containers from Making Memories. And they are already almost full!