Thanksgiving!

I know I'm a little late to be reporting on Thanksgiving... Now Christmas is what's on everyone's mind!

Brian and I had a fantastic, fun trip out to Massachusetts and Vermont for Thanksgiving. After being picked up at the airport by two of Brian's uncles, and a few road soda's later, we found ourselves dancing until 3am with Brian's Aunt Linda & Uncle John--good times! Not so great of a good time the next morning however... ;)

Thanksgiving dinner was, of course, delicious and I feel head-over-heels in love with the caramelized pearl onions that were made and I'm hoping Brian will recreate next year at my family's Thanksgiving. After dinner we, Brian's parents and sister, as well as his sister's boyfriend headed up to Vermont for the remainder of the long weekend. When the rest of the family arrived the next day we did what every hot-blooded American family would do--we had a second Thanksgiving, and it was glorious!

There of course was also the cutting of the giant Christmas tree, gluttony in many forms, football, hot tubbing, some Words with Friends battles and seeing Brian's pals who were also around for the holiday. Great time all around!

Exciting Week!

First off, today is someone's (Brian's) 31st birthday, so we are celebrating by going out dinner and opening a few presents--I can't wait for him to open up his gift(s)! :)

Then tomorrow we are off to the East Coast for Thanksgiving! Have a great one everybody!!

Everybody's Workin' for the Weekend

Oh, hi again.

Brian and I had an awesome weekend filled with friends, children of friends and football! We had the opportunity to watch little Alex for a while on Saturday and it was a lot of fun--boy, is he cute! And (sorry Shannon) I think about ready to start walking... although seeing as my knowledge of babies is quite limited, perhaps I am dead wrong.

After that we hit up "Spamalot" at the Morrison Center here in town--awesome. I have been a fan of the movie for many years but Brian had never seen it before, so I think it probably would've been more fun for him if he had. We still had a great time, but the play "Spamalot" is really only the highlights of the movie "Spamalot" so a plot was nary to be found...

On Sunday we hosted a mini-Thanksgiving at our house as we had received a free turkey from Brian's work and thought we should put it to good use! We had a blast eating all the delicious sides everyone provided, as well as watching all the kids present play--there were about five in all (Ranging from 5 mos. to 4 years) and things got a little crazy at times! I didn't realize just how high those little guys could reach...

Well, on to the next weekend! But first, Sippin' in the City tonight with Shannon! :)

The Life of Brian.

We had a nice, quiet weekend at home which was especially relaxing after the past few (awesome) ones. Literally, Friday consisted of us eating pizza, drinking wine and watching "Hall Pass." Heaven.

Things here are going okay--Brian and I are trying to be social and do a bunch of things (in fact, leading one of his co-workers to say last week "wow, you guys sure are a social couple!" Not really though, we just aren't lame) but the main problem is, we seem to be doing most of them with just each other! :) Not all the time or anything, we do have some friends here thank you very much, but we are definitely missing our East Coast pals and all their mid-week, casual festivities and hang out sessions. Especially Brian, after all the Patriots games he's had to watch by himself or with only me as company (read: someone who really doesn't care but is trying to be a nice wife).

But I am excited for a few Happy Hour's this week--those are always a good time! Again, except for Brian, who will now just eat yogurt for dinner for the next two nights. Sorry, hubs!

San Francisco--a real treat (get it?)!

Sorry for the delay in posting--things have been pretty busy in my little world and that didn't leave much time for blogging. Last Tuesday I flew into San Francisco (well, Oakland technically) to be picked up by Mush, and taken over to her and her husband Brian's place for some delicious fajitas made by the man himself--you can read about it here. We had a great time, and I'm pretty sure I drank most of their bottle of Rose... weird.

Both Wednesday and Thursday consisted of meetings in San Jose for work, as well as some stops at a few of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco of course. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Maru Sushi by Union Square, be sure to order the Popeye and the Jalapeno Bomb... you are welcome in advance. The other restaurant I love is Nopalito--great, upscale Mexican food in a relaxed environment. On a side note, we discovered a little gem of a pizza place in San Jose called Pizza Bocca Lupo in San Pedro Market if you are ever in the area.

On Friday, Brian flew in and we ate at another of my favorite Mexican places Don Pisto's (are you sensing a theme here?) with my co-worker--fantastico! After that we headed to AT&T Park to catch the premiere of TOTEM in San Francisco--the show was AMAZING and since I hadn't seen it since February, totally re-inspiring for my work inspirations. Brian loved the show as well, his favorite so far! After the show we hit up a few bars and then lay our little heads down for rest... around 3 a.m.!

The next day consisted of a work activity in the morning, and then we hit up ThirstyBear Brewing Co. inbetween the nighttime event we also had scheduled. The Halloween event, held at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, was amazing and both Brian and I had a great time. Of course afterwards we hit up a local brewpub, Social, which Brian really enjoyed (and me too!).

Sunday morning was spent exploring Alcatraz, which we both really liked. Neither of us had been there since we were kids and to be honest I really didn't remember much at all! I would highly recommend this tour to anyone--really insightful of the island's past.

Last but not lease, we HAD to hit up my number one Mexican stop, La Taqueria, before Brian could leave on Sunday (I was a few hours later). I had talked up the carnitas burrito quite a bit so I was happy when Brian said it lived up to all his expectations! :)

Old Pen

This past weekend out friends Sarah & Brian were in town visiting, and we had a fantastic time. One of the highlights was a tour of the Old Penitentiary, which was used from the late 1800s to the mid-1970s, when a riot and general condemnation forced its closure.

We really enjoyed the guided tour and learning about all the failed attempt escapes--it seems the criminals really never put so much thought into follow-through, many inmates got through one security barrier but forgot about the next 2-3 and I think there were only two successful escapes in the jail's history. Amazing!

It made me really excited for our tour this next weekend of one of the country's most storied jails--Alcatraz!

Things I'm loving right now.

1. "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO.

2. My Tassimo Brewbot... Chai Tea Lattes every morning? Don't mind if I do!

3. Southwest Airlines--they've just been rocking my world lately with their customer-friendly policies.

4. Our new couch.

5. BodyJam class at the gym--imagine eight 25-45-year-old women dancing to hip-hop. Amazeballs.

6. ... to piggyback off number 5, only having a 4-5 minute walk to the YMCA for classes is also pretty rad.

7. Brian's cooking--I was graced with beer can chicken and a delish sweet potato salad on Saturday, and braised shortribs with herbed mashed potatoes on Sunday. I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing cook!

8. The new fans on my MacBook.

9. This commercial.

10. Frozen M&M's.