Saturday
I packed my things into the van, and the five of us went in Nate's car to Palo Alto to get a pre-leaving brunch! Nice to stuff one self before a long drive. Parking was found in the exact same place we parked a few days ago when Nate was picking up his mail. The brunch place, Crepevia or something, had a line but it moved along pretty fast. You ordered once you got to the front of the line, paid up, and then were seated. Pretty efficient system. No waiting for the bill and all that. I had the black stone eggs benedict, Helen got pasta, Mom got a salad, Dad got a different eggs benedict, and Nathan...I forget what he got. I was the only one to get coffee. I tucked my napkin into my collar and devoured the eggs. It got over my fingers and face a bit, as it typically does when I consume eggs benedict, but I used my napkin and wasn't too much of an embarrassment. What can I say, I get into my food. After brunch, I got a bunch of pastries to eat on the road from Paris Baguette or something. Tasty looking ones, too. And I got two things of Blue Bottle New Orleans Iced Coffee. The stuff with chicory in it! I need to find out how to make it at home, because it's my second favorite coffee next to, of course, Courtney Coles' iced mocha.
Dad got a Stanford Dish light hoodie and then we returned to the car, returned to the house, said our goodbyes, and then North we went! Didn't have too hard of a time getting out of the city. Some traffic, sure, but it wasn't too gnarly. I put on Harry Potter, I snacked, I worked on my crossword puzzles. We got into Yreka once again and stayed at the Miners Inn once again. We watched tv, had some wine and food, and went to bed. It was very chilly with the heater off and I didn't think to grab my blanket from the car so I got a bit chilled.
Sunday
Long hauled it! Had our hot hotel breakfast and off we went. It was below freezing and the stuff in the car was cold. But eventually we warmed up. I had one of the BBNOIC. The pastries I got were a strawberry sponge cake, a creme cheese mini doughnut, a chocolate dipped chocolate filled pastry, and a strawberry turn over thing. I didn't eat them in that order, but I did eat them all. The turnover I think was the best.
We stopped at the Oregon Gardens near Silverton. We walked around the Gordon House that is designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (which was also at the gardens) and went into the gardens proper. We did a bit of a figure eight and checked out the different gardens. A lot of things were cut back and dormant, but there were still some nice trees and features and things. I took lotsa pictures and it was good for all of us to stretch our legs because we had 4+ hours of driving left.
Prisoner of Azkaban was finished, and we listened to two episodes of Mystery Show. The Kotter and Belt Buckle episodes, specifically.
We swung by a QFC and I got a couple things. Mom got some wine with birds on the label. We probably all looked a bit bedraggled.
Home was chilly. I got a thank you card from Mel in the mail. Mom heated up left overs. I stayed for a bit and ate some of the left overs and then returned to Pulali.
There were some major branches down, but nothing I couldn't easily move. The plastic chest on the porch had been blown about five feet over. The tarp from the grill was blown off, but I found it stuck but the wood pile and put it back on. I didn't do much clean up, just gave everything a looksie before going inside. The internet wasn't working. So I just went to bed and was very cold. I turned on the heater but didn't make a fire and in retrospect I should have put my blankets in the dryer for a few minutes right before bed, ya know...to warm them up.
Monday
But I did eventually warm up! Slept in a little bit. Got up. Started a fire first and foremost. Showered, fed, tidied up. The internet had been reset with a new password given to us by CenturyLink due to something about the rapid fire power outtages that I missed. I just had to reset the wifi booster over at Celia's, give the extension a new name, and I was good to go again.
Celia made a tasty turkey pot pie and I had some of that. Also got my new wreath! So pretty.
I sat in front of the fire, I thawed out the house, I got the branches out of the way, I moved my summer dresses into the garage closet and pulled out my winter coats, and generally was cozy.
I go back to work tomorrow and we are doing some super listing on eBay in this coming week! So tomorrow I'm busting out photographs. I'm excited! And I'll be happy to see precious Bodi.
Back into the fray.
hi
Showing posts with label nate and helen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nate and helen. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Friday, November 27, 2015
First RC Thanksgiving
Arrived in Redwood City safe and sound, and I finally got a good night's sleep!
Oh and Thanksgiving went off without a hitch.
The Road Down
Yreka was snow covered in the morning. We had our hotel breakfast and headed down in a straight shot. Almost straight shot. The weather got warmer and the roads cleared and mom failed to buy me candy at a rest stop. We arrived in Redwood City an hour ahead of schedule, so we got sushi at Sakura 2.
The AirBNB
The AirBNB is a house boat...a very small, shabby, bare bones house boat. Not many amenities, or soaps, or space. I'm not sleeping there. Ma and Pa are sleeping there. It has it's charms...kinda.
Nate & Helen's House
After settling in to the AirBNB and taking a nap, we headed over to Redwood City proper to see Nathan and Helen's new house. It's cute. Two bedroom, two bathrooms. Back yard with a pool. Front yard with a yard. We five went out to Vesta for dinner. Fancy pizza place! We had this good pear and cream appetizer and brussel sprout thingy appetizer. The pizzas were sausage and honey, and marghereta, Very delicious! We ate them all with vigor and cleaned our plates.
Back at home, Ma and Pa returned to the houseboat and Garth (who lives with N&H) and I walked downtown to have a few brewksis.
Thanksgiving Day
I was first up at the house and I got my potatoes peeled ahead of schedule. They made it into the crockpot with garlic and milk and butter to turn into mashed potatoes early in the game. But they had a while to go. The turkey was prepped. Helen made two kinds of stuffing and a yam dish and a green bean dish. And bread was toasted. And our apple juice was decanted. And Helen's Dad came over, and Helen's sister and husband and kids stopped by for a little bit.
The table was set and it looked lovely. My potatoes mashed up great by the way. And were quite the pile of taters. Oh and there was cranberry sauce and gravy too, but were premade by other people. Still very delicious! We sat down and ate heartily. We sat around for a bit, digested, talked, and then had Nathan's apple crisp and some pecan pie for dessert. Then we were totally stuffed. We watched some Netflix then we to sleep. Well, Nate and I stayed up and watched some One Punch Man.
Such a good pile of food.
The Day After (Today)
Ate left overs, then Ma, Pa, Nate, and myself went on the Stanford Dish Hike. A nice long one with hills and a paved walk way. Some nice vistas of the city and mom saw many birds. I was attacked by allergies the whole way through. Not fun. We made a coffee run and returned to N&H's house to chill. I talked about flags, people watched stuff on tv, we had leftovers for lunch. In the early evenings, Ma decided we'd all watch Frozen. So I took a walk by myself around the neighborhood. I'm not a fan of Frozen. Back at their house, we chilled and watched TV and now Nate and I are watching some more One Punch Man.
Tomorrow it's back north!
Oh and Thanksgiving went off without a hitch.
The Road Down
Yreka was snow covered in the morning. We had our hotel breakfast and headed down in a straight shot. Almost straight shot. The weather got warmer and the roads cleared and mom failed to buy me candy at a rest stop. We arrived in Redwood City an hour ahead of schedule, so we got sushi at Sakura 2.
The AirBNB
The AirBNB is a house boat...a very small, shabby, bare bones house boat. Not many amenities, or soaps, or space. I'm not sleeping there. Ma and Pa are sleeping there. It has it's charms...kinda.
Nate & Helen's House
After settling in to the AirBNB and taking a nap, we headed over to Redwood City proper to see Nathan and Helen's new house. It's cute. Two bedroom, two bathrooms. Back yard with a pool. Front yard with a yard. We five went out to Vesta for dinner. Fancy pizza place! We had this good pear and cream appetizer and brussel sprout thingy appetizer. The pizzas were sausage and honey, and marghereta, Very delicious! We ate them all with vigor and cleaned our plates.
Back at home, Ma and Pa returned to the houseboat and Garth (who lives with N&H) and I walked downtown to have a few brewksis.
Thanksgiving Day
I was first up at the house and I got my potatoes peeled ahead of schedule. They made it into the crockpot with garlic and milk and butter to turn into mashed potatoes early in the game. But they had a while to go. The turkey was prepped. Helen made two kinds of stuffing and a yam dish and a green bean dish. And bread was toasted. And our apple juice was decanted. And Helen's Dad came over, and Helen's sister and husband and kids stopped by for a little bit.
The table was set and it looked lovely. My potatoes mashed up great by the way. And were quite the pile of taters. Oh and there was cranberry sauce and gravy too, but were premade by other people. Still very delicious! We sat down and ate heartily. We sat around for a bit, digested, talked, and then had Nathan's apple crisp and some pecan pie for dessert. Then we were totally stuffed. We watched some Netflix then we to sleep. Well, Nate and I stayed up and watched some One Punch Man.
Such a good pile of food.
The Day After (Today)
Ate left overs, then Ma, Pa, Nate, and myself went on the Stanford Dish Hike. A nice long one with hills and a paved walk way. Some nice vistas of the city and mom saw many birds. I was attacked by allergies the whole way through. Not fun. We made a coffee run and returned to N&H's house to chill. I talked about flags, people watched stuff on tv, we had leftovers for lunch. In the early evenings, Ma decided we'd all watch Frozen. So I took a walk by myself around the neighborhood. I'm not a fan of Frozen. Back at their house, we chilled and watched TV and now Nate and I are watching some more One Punch Man.
Tomorrow it's back north!
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Helen & Nathan
Friday
Ma and Pa went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and I opted out to have some me time. I put on a dress and grabbed the AirBNB free pass to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I took the buss, the Jazz B line, downtown. Easy peasy. The aquarium had clusters of school kids on a field trip, but it was nicely not packed. All the kids were well behaved. No runners or screamers. I could take my time with the exhibits. Had a wonderful time. I saw the otters get fed, saw the puffins get fed, saw the penguins get fed. Saw many jellyfish, which are my favorite exhibits in aquariums, and cuttlefish, and a hammerhead shark in the big open sea tank. Very nice! I had lunch in the aquarium. Ma and Pa picked me up from the front (after I helped people take many photos) and we got ice cream, and then headed out to see cousin Annie and Paul at their hotel. We had drinks in the hotel bistro and caught up.
Then it was back to the hotel to get some rest before the big day!
Saturday
The wedding! The big day! We had our little breakfasts and I took my time getting all lathered up and spackled and false eyelashed. I put my hair up and then took it down. Put on my pretty dress and shoes and then off we went!
To Wendy's! Because dinner wouldn't be for a while. Then up into the hills to the ranch for the wedding. We got there early because we were part of the procession. Hung out in the games room with the groomsmen and the groom, who looked swell. People arrived. Family. Ben, Erin, Muchim, Averie, Dan, Brynne, Celia, Annie, Paul, Carmen, Josh... New family too! Janet! A new Janet in the family. I walked down behind Nate and Ma and Pa with Ben and sat in the front row. It was a nice, quick ceremony. OH! I also was the witness to the marriage signing thing. So that's nice and official.
So the ceremony was nice. Helen cried and Nathan held the tissues for her. Then they were married! Whoooo!!
Photos happened during cocktail hour. I was in a few of them, then I went to join the rabble and drank some lemonade and a glass of wine and talk to this person and that person. The weather was perfect. Warm, with a minor breeze. It cooled down in the evening. Dinner was consumed at a long table, with plates going back and forth. The Carmen and Josh way. I had a bit of everything. Yum! I was seated between Carmen and Garth and across from Nate and Helen, so a prime location indeed. I ate and chatted and the dance floor was opened up, as was the donut machine!!! I had several and they were very good. Fresh, hot, sprinkles. Mmm! I played large jenga, danced a little bit.
The night wore on and I opted to go hang with Garth, Danny, Mike, and Sarah after the shindig, but the drive down left me sick and I ended up just crashing at their AirBNB instead. Oops. Oh well.
Sunday:
Called Ma and Pa and they came and picked me up (an alternate driver wouldn't have been available for a while, and Ma had tickets to this birdwatching kayak tour on the Elkhorn Slough. So I groggily showered back at the place and off we went!
I was tired but it was a wonderful trip. It was just us and the guide, Rachel, out on the water. Ma and Pa had their kayak, and Rachel and I had our own. Oh! And we had wetsuits as part of the tour, so that was nice. I was very cozy and snug. We saw Bonaparte Gulls and and Oystercatcher and a batray, well the fins of a batray, which was very cool! And otters and seals and sail jellies and lots more birds that Mom is better versed on than I. The weather was good. A bit of sun, a bit of shade. No rain. I eventually felt less groggy, though I was looking forward to a nap.
After the tour, we returned to the house and took naps. I stayed behind and vegged and watched TV and got caught up on the internet. Mom and Dad brought back chicken, artichoke, anchovie pizza. I'm not keen on fishies on pizza.
Tomorrow we head back. It was a lovely wedding. Only happy tears.
Ma and Pa went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and I opted out to have some me time. I put on a dress and grabbed the AirBNB free pass to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I took the buss, the Jazz B line, downtown. Easy peasy. The aquarium had clusters of school kids on a field trip, but it was nicely not packed. All the kids were well behaved. No runners or screamers. I could take my time with the exhibits. Had a wonderful time. I saw the otters get fed, saw the puffins get fed, saw the penguins get fed. Saw many jellyfish, which are my favorite exhibits in aquariums, and cuttlefish, and a hammerhead shark in the big open sea tank. Very nice! I had lunch in the aquarium. Ma and Pa picked me up from the front (after I helped people take many photos) and we got ice cream, and then headed out to see cousin Annie and Paul at their hotel. We had drinks in the hotel bistro and caught up.
Then it was back to the hotel to get some rest before the big day!
Saturday
The wedding! The big day! We had our little breakfasts and I took my time getting all lathered up and spackled and false eyelashed. I put my hair up and then took it down. Put on my pretty dress and shoes and then off we went!
To Wendy's! Because dinner wouldn't be for a while. Then up into the hills to the ranch for the wedding. We got there early because we were part of the procession. Hung out in the games room with the groomsmen and the groom, who looked swell. People arrived. Family. Ben, Erin, Muchim, Averie, Dan, Brynne, Celia, Annie, Paul, Carmen, Josh... New family too! Janet! A new Janet in the family. I walked down behind Nate and Ma and Pa with Ben and sat in the front row. It was a nice, quick ceremony. OH! I also was the witness to the marriage signing thing. So that's nice and official.
So the ceremony was nice. Helen cried and Nathan held the tissues for her. Then they were married! Whoooo!!
Photos happened during cocktail hour. I was in a few of them, then I went to join the rabble and drank some lemonade and a glass of wine and talk to this person and that person. The weather was perfect. Warm, with a minor breeze. It cooled down in the evening. Dinner was consumed at a long table, with plates going back and forth. The Carmen and Josh way. I had a bit of everything. Yum! I was seated between Carmen and Garth and across from Nate and Helen, so a prime location indeed. I ate and chatted and the dance floor was opened up, as was the donut machine!!! I had several and they were very good. Fresh, hot, sprinkles. Mmm! I played large jenga, danced a little bit.
The night wore on and I opted to go hang with Garth, Danny, Mike, and Sarah after the shindig, but the drive down left me sick and I ended up just crashing at their AirBNB instead. Oops. Oh well.
Sunday:
Called Ma and Pa and they came and picked me up (an alternate driver wouldn't have been available for a while, and Ma had tickets to this birdwatching kayak tour on the Elkhorn Slough. So I groggily showered back at the place and off we went!
I was tired but it was a wonderful trip. It was just us and the guide, Rachel, out on the water. Ma and Pa had their kayak, and Rachel and I had our own. Oh! And we had wetsuits as part of the tour, so that was nice. I was very cozy and snug. We saw Bonaparte Gulls and and Oystercatcher and a batray, well the fins of a batray, which was very cool! And otters and seals and sail jellies and lots more birds that Mom is better versed on than I. The weather was good. A bit of sun, a bit of shade. No rain. I eventually felt less groggy, though I was looking forward to a nap.
After the tour, we returned to the house and took naps. I stayed behind and vegged and watched TV and got caught up on the internet. Mom and Dad brought back chicken, artichoke, anchovie pizza. I'm not keen on fishies on pizza.
Tomorrow we head back. It was a lovely wedding. Only happy tears.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
the road down and the place is how it was
Sorry Mom! Haven't updated when I totally have been in the position to do so. All those months of irregularity have given me a bad blogging habit.
Job Application:
I drove to Chimacum and dropped off my job application. Chatted with the manager just a little bit and I should hear from them on Monday. If I get called in for an interview, that will put the Olympic Penninsula on par with the Bay Area in terms of "calling Trillian in for interviews".
Getting a going:
Dad & I packed up the van and departed NoonThirty on Friday. And all in all, it was a largely uneventful day of driving. No crashes, no near misses, nothing too bad. We hit traffic around Portland, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. We got dinner in Eugene at the Oregon Electric Company, or some place. I had gnocchi and tea.
Taking over:
After Eugene, at the first rest stop, I took over for driving for about 4 hours. We got across the border. Dad dozed and snored. I listened to Bob Brozman and Beatles and all sorts. I play podcasts. Dad educates me on the classics. It's a long drive, but it's not long enough to get too repetitive with content. We caught some shut eye at a rest stop.
Mountain View:
San Francisco rose in the distance not as a skyline but as a wall of fog. We got to Mountain View at 9am. Nate, in his jammies just as I was, let us in. Showers we had. Snacks were consumed. Wifi was connected to. And damn I am so allergic to the kittens Nate & Helen are fostering! Cute kitties but I was oozing snot almost immediately. I took a claritin, and the kitties were dropped off to be fostered, and I eventually cleared up. We scoped out this winery as a potential place for a thing. It was a nice day, but everything in California just feels so dry.
After that, we got some food. We four went to this nice burger place where you select a patty and toppings and cheese and theres so many options! I went for beef, mozarella, grilled onions, carrots, tomatoes, with horseradish aioli spread. SO GOOD! And I finished it all. My appetite has changed to where I find myself finishing larger portions. I would think I would be eating less, what with my jaw issues (while hauling wood something popped in my jaw and the troubles I've been having since the Adirondacks have almost all gone away, it still feels a bit odd but I can eat again). Also having been on the road and random portion availability, it seems like I would be unable to eat large plates. Whatever the reason, I probably shouldn't eat as much as I can because I've gone all soft after four months of being on my butt. Hopefully Pulali provides me a workout! Dessert was deluxe smoothies. Mine was bright pink and very tasty! It had "pitaya" in it. After smoothie time, Nate dropped me off at Garth's. I didn't feel like sleeping on the floor, so I asked if I could crash at his. Plus it'll be nice for Nate and Dad to have some father son time. I met Garth's friend Adam, and we hung out watching stuff and playing video games and drinking beer. In the morning, Garth dropped me off at Nate's. They live about 15 minutes apart, so it's very convenient.
Santa Cruz:
I snacked at Nate's and then we packed up the van with Helen's floral arrangements for this auction, and we set off to deliver them. After dropping them off, we parted ways with Nate and Helen and drove to Santa Cruz. We cashed in points at the Holiday Inn Express that is just off Ocean Street. Katrina, the manager, was very nice. After scoping the room, we set off to get lunch. Zoccoli's of course. We got sandwiches and a prickly pear soda to split and Dad bought a Zoccoli's tee. Ten bucks is the right price for a Gildan single color left chest, single color back printed shirt.
From there we got a trailer and put it on hold, then Dad drove me over to Ryan's and dropped me off and I hung out for a few hours. We watched Bojack Horseman and I drank some iced coffee and just chatted and caught up and it was lovely. He took care of my Jade plants in my absence, and they both are alive and well! The big one is so vertical now. It was really leaning over. Dad picked me up again at 8. He said we went to the harbor and drove around and got some food. It was a good day to hang out in Santa Cruz, though he didn't go stand up paddling! But he saw people that did. I borrowed the car and drove over to the Newport house and saw Tara & Jeff. Mostly Tara, but Jeff for a little bit too. I had to reclaim my alpaca plushie. Caught up, talked, I told a few tales of the road. It was a nice mini visit. Not a big one because Tara works hard for the money and was getting tired and we have a long day ahead of us, so off I went back to the hotel.
So! Tomorrow we will get up, get food, go get the Uhaul, pack it up, and head on out and up and north once again! The uhaul is scheduled for a 10am pick up. Let's do this!
Oh also the moon was very beautiful tonight. The water was all sparkly in reflection.
Job Application:
I drove to Chimacum and dropped off my job application. Chatted with the manager just a little bit and I should hear from them on Monday. If I get called in for an interview, that will put the Olympic Penninsula on par with the Bay Area in terms of "calling Trillian in for interviews".
Getting a going:
Dad & I packed up the van and departed NoonThirty on Friday. And all in all, it was a largely uneventful day of driving. No crashes, no near misses, nothing too bad. We hit traffic around Portland, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. We got dinner in Eugene at the Oregon Electric Company, or some place. I had gnocchi and tea.
Taking over:
After Eugene, at the first rest stop, I took over for driving for about 4 hours. We got across the border. Dad dozed and snored. I listened to Bob Brozman and Beatles and all sorts. I play podcasts. Dad educates me on the classics. It's a long drive, but it's not long enough to get too repetitive with content. We caught some shut eye at a rest stop.
Mountain View:
San Francisco rose in the distance not as a skyline but as a wall of fog. We got to Mountain View at 9am. Nate, in his jammies just as I was, let us in. Showers we had. Snacks were consumed. Wifi was connected to. And damn I am so allergic to the kittens Nate & Helen are fostering! Cute kitties but I was oozing snot almost immediately. I took a claritin, and the kitties were dropped off to be fostered, and I eventually cleared up. We scoped out this winery as a potential place for a thing. It was a nice day, but everything in California just feels so dry.
After that, we got some food. We four went to this nice burger place where you select a patty and toppings and cheese and theres so many options! I went for beef, mozarella, grilled onions, carrots, tomatoes, with horseradish aioli spread. SO GOOD! And I finished it all. My appetite has changed to where I find myself finishing larger portions. I would think I would be eating less, what with my jaw issues (while hauling wood something popped in my jaw and the troubles I've been having since the Adirondacks have almost all gone away, it still feels a bit odd but I can eat again). Also having been on the road and random portion availability, it seems like I would be unable to eat large plates. Whatever the reason, I probably shouldn't eat as much as I can because I've gone all soft after four months of being on my butt. Hopefully Pulali provides me a workout! Dessert was deluxe smoothies. Mine was bright pink and very tasty! It had "pitaya" in it. After smoothie time, Nate dropped me off at Garth's. I didn't feel like sleeping on the floor, so I asked if I could crash at his. Plus it'll be nice for Nate and Dad to have some father son time. I met Garth's friend Adam, and we hung out watching stuff and playing video games and drinking beer. In the morning, Garth dropped me off at Nate's. They live about 15 minutes apart, so it's very convenient.
Santa Cruz:
I snacked at Nate's and then we packed up the van with Helen's floral arrangements for this auction, and we set off to deliver them. After dropping them off, we parted ways with Nate and Helen and drove to Santa Cruz. We cashed in points at the Holiday Inn Express that is just off Ocean Street. Katrina, the manager, was very nice. After scoping the room, we set off to get lunch. Zoccoli's of course. We got sandwiches and a prickly pear soda to split and Dad bought a Zoccoli's tee. Ten bucks is the right price for a Gildan single color left chest, single color back printed shirt.
From there we got a trailer and put it on hold, then Dad drove me over to Ryan's and dropped me off and I hung out for a few hours. We watched Bojack Horseman and I drank some iced coffee and just chatted and caught up and it was lovely. He took care of my Jade plants in my absence, and they both are alive and well! The big one is so vertical now. It was really leaning over. Dad picked me up again at 8. He said we went to the harbor and drove around and got some food. It was a good day to hang out in Santa Cruz, though he didn't go stand up paddling! But he saw people that did. I borrowed the car and drove over to the Newport house and saw Tara & Jeff. Mostly Tara, but Jeff for a little bit too. I had to reclaim my alpaca plushie. Caught up, talked, I told a few tales of the road. It was a nice mini visit. Not a big one because Tara works hard for the money and was getting tired and we have a long day ahead of us, so off I went back to the hotel.
So! Tomorrow we will get up, get food, go get the Uhaul, pack it up, and head on out and up and north once again! The uhaul is scheduled for a 10am pick up. Let's do this!
Oh also the moon was very beautiful tonight. The water was all sparkly in reflection.
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