The Daily Sabs

This weekend I finished up all my chores and got a bunch of things crossed off my list. As a reward Randall and I were going to spend today on an adventure. We talked about heading to tomales bay for a hike and picnic and oysters, or just going up for a lovely drive and hike in the sonoma area. Last night I even bookmarked a few pages in the day hiker's guide to california state parks (a gift for donors) and dreamt up lunch concoctions. Sadly, when I woke and threw open the windows I was greeted with rainy sludge. Booooooo. So much for my plans. Instead I sat around pouting and waited for the cat in the hat to arrive. He never showed so I made new plans instead. Randall and I headed to hd buttercup for their big furniture sale. I didn't see anything I was looking for (or not looking for) but afterwards we hit up both sight glass coffee (it had been on my list) and goody goodie for treats. Yah i know, I've been pigging it on cookies lately, but goody goodie puts kettle corn in theirs and I never have the chance to swing by there so took advantage of the opportunity while I could.

In other news, it's supposed to be nice the rest of the week. Go figure.

Ps. This photo says it all. Randall thinks I'm nuts.

Randall bought the weirdest black Friday item, a DNA analysis kit for both of us (they were 80% off). They arrived today and we got to spit into a vial and send them away. Start your conspiracy big brother comments now, but apparently I'll get to know what diseases and weird genetics i'll pass on to those children I'm never having. Money well spent indeed.

In other news I apparently did not get enough thanksgiving. For dinner we roasted a chicken over brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, and cranberries. I think I might be developing a roast chicken problem. I want to make a variation of it just about every week. Seriously. I got started in June and have probably made 20 roasted chickens since.

Ps. Sorry if you're grossed out by either spittle, chicken, or both.

Oh what a day. This evening fresh guide hosted a party at saks fifth avenue. (Believe it or not, I occasionally shop there.) Overall it was a fun party, but the random highlight was when I ran into Russ. I hadn't seen him since the old tower days (over four years ago) and it was a nice surprise. Turns out one of his new coworkers is brothers with one of the fresh guide dudes. Talk about small world. Great to see you Russ, glad to hear you're doing well!

During the party, all of us had enough bubbly alcohol. At one point both Erin and I were double fisting and the bubbles actually made us believe that makeovers were a good idea. $30 lipsticks later we might have sobered up enough to realize our mistakes. However we were not sober enough to realize that cheesecake factory was a bad idea. We went with a large crew (thanks to stacia and Morgan for securing the tables) and it took for freaking ever. I have only been to cheesecake factory once before and I kind of hope to never go again. Our server was fantastic, but man that place is too much.

Afterwards heather dale and her pal magically appeared. It was great to see her again after all this time. All these old faces, it was like a surreal version of this is your life.

Oh and if you're wondering about the pic with Randall, he and I ran a bank errand this morning. We're fancy with a safe deposit box in a ye olde vault. Everytime we go there it's like we're in a ridiculous movie. But then again, my life feels that way too. Ridiculous until the end credits.

Morm's house holds a lot of hidden treasures. Some of them, like the
seemingly overgrown grass which is actually lemongrass stalks, are
right under your noses. While others, the usual suspects like jewelry,
are squirreled away in the weirdest places.

This evening samshrew, morm, and I went on a hunt. I ended up with a
few nice things and a huge mountain of lemongrass. Afterwards we
helped morm eat a cheesecake even though she's not supposed to.
Somedays just end better that way.

In fact, she's been rocking this one for twenty-five years. She has
another 80s-era red one that she sometimes sports, but the blue is
clearly her fave. A few xmases ago, we bought her a new puffy in her
favorite color (dark purple). She never wears it. In fact I haven't
seen it since that Xmas morning. She told us she didn't need it and
that she hated the color. It should be noted that at one point 85% of
her wardrobe was dark purple and that her current old puffies clash
with about 50% of her outfits. The new one was definitely a fashion
plus to everyone but her. Although, the old school puffy has also been
known to be worn over outfits that involve sequin dresses and nice
high heel shoes. What can I say, i guess the puffy goes with everything?

In other news, us Eldredge girls proved once again that we can do
anything. Today we arrived to morm's and saw that the downstairs
toilet had a part broken. Morm wasn't home yet, so we headed to home
depot to get the pieces. Okay, so it took us two home depot trips, and
we didn't really know what we were doing, but in the end we surprised
morm and got the job done. Although with samshrew's billable rate, it
was probably the most expensive plumbing experience ever. Good thing
we did it pro bono.

This morning miss anneh came back from her excursion to Iceland and
surprised me with a delicious kleinur. It's been six years since I
last had one and it was a super awesome treat. Anneh also brought me
back the weirdest chocolate bar topped with a strip of licorice. So
strange and yet so wonderful. I need to get back to the island.

After work, Erin and I headed out to off the grid. It was bananas
there. I have never seen it that busy before and a bunch of the trucks
were running out of food. Erin and I were really craving the bao truck
pork belly bun and decided to wait in line. Unfortunately when we were
about three people back, they announced they were out of pork belly.
We were sad and defeated, but had waited so long in line, we just went
with it. Then, miraculously, right as our orders (duck and tofu) were
coming up, they said they had a few more pork belly orders. I tried to
get our order swapped, but it was too late. Surprisingly though, the
awesome bao truck folks hooked us up and we were able to do the pork
belly dance! Life is indeed delicious.iceland

The best part about coming home when it's dark is checking out the
shadows cast all over the ground.different

Our pal Amy (the golden girl roller derby queen below) is packing up
10+ years in the bay area and moving down to southern California with
her fiancé Berto (that's him in the banana suit). Before they skip
town, chris and jessi decided to throw them a party. Being that it was
also Halloween weekend, Amy told us all to dress up too. This year
Randall and I decided to go as professor Layton and Luke, Randall even
stayed in character and drank all of his wine out of a teacup.

There were a lot of great costumes (a parliament of owls, Elvis, and a
trio of candy bars to name a few), but my favorite had to be the pair
of yips. The two homemade yip costumes were so cool and fun. They even
had the yip noises down, it was totally rad. You know what else was
pretty rad? Lily's pig-nosing the glass door. Oink oink!

Amy, I hope you had a smashing farewell party and good luck with the
move, and new job, and wedding and everything else going on!

This evening Tod and I had detention and stayed at work late. This
meant I didn't get home until around 8:30. Although there was a quick
stop at the grocery store to pick up potsticker skins. I made the
filling the other day but didn't have any skins. Originally I wanted
to go to the Asian grocery store to get the brand of skins I like, but
with the detention I had to settle for what was at safeway. They came
out pretty tasty anyway. I should know, I ate an entire bowl of them.
So fast, I didn't even get their pictograph.

This evening the dk and sabs and sometimes Randall movie series headed
over to the variety screening room to checkout the social network.
Weaver was running the screening and Jimmy was meeting us there with
the wine. I'm actually surprised I hadn't seen it, also impressed by
how much I enjoyed it. It's a story I was vaguely familiar with and it
was interesting to see unfold. I also have a special place in my heart
for Aaron sorkin snappy dialogue, which this was full of. In fact it
starts off so fast I almost got lost. Just almost.

Have you seen it? What are your thoughts?