Summer preview

Whew. It's been a while. I feel like I have barely stopped to breathe in a while, although I can tell you for a fact that I have stopped to sleep and lie on the couch watching Veronica Mars. My poor blog has been somewhat neglected as a result. I feel like a lot is going on, and in some ways it is -- I went to Monterey this weekend, the weather was gorgeous in the Bay Area the whole weekend and so I had my first lazy Sunday afternoon in Dolores Park (the first of many -- I'm not even sure I'm ready for this season to start up again), I was in LA last weekend, I am already planning trips for this spring, I feel that spring mania coming upon me. And it's only February! So I feel like my thoughts are just churning around like crazy, mostly in a good way.

One thing I am really jazzed about is Valentine's Day. Why, you ask? I admit I got as much of a chuckle out of this piece Pablo sent me as you will, except that I love Valentine's Day. I can't quite explain why I like it so much (I do think part of it is that my family always did and still does treat it like a family holiday, so we got little Valentine's Day gifts with zero romantic pressure), but I do. This year I'm celebrating with a little "nuclear urban family" (my term, it applies to my roommates plus Justin, who is our fourth roommate-in-spirit/Kramer) dinner. The menu? Definitely part of my excitement, since it consists of both cheese and chocolate fondue, a charcuterie plate, and champagne cocktails. Sign me up, right?

A short summary of my weekend: Friday night my boss let me go early so I started my weekend with a few episodes of Veronica Mars (I'm on the second season) on the couch, broken up by Peruvian food with Dan for dinner (weirdly reminiscent of Asian food, I know, I'm strange). Around 11, Dan and Justin and I headed down to the Elbo Room, where my friend Phia was throwing a fundraiser event (in conjunction with the Elbo Room's usual "Free Funk Fridays") for dyslexia. It was a pretty good time and I rallied despite being completely exhausted. There were a good 10 or 15 people that I knew there, which always helps, and Phia raised almost twice what she expected to that night.

Saturday I woke early (grudgingly) to drive down with six friends to Pebble Beach where we watched the AT&T Pro-Am. Celebrities sighted: Luke Wilson, Chris O'Donnell, Josh Duhamel, Ray Romano, Kenny G (his caddy had "Kenny G" on her back instead of "G," to my disappointment), Don Cheadle, and some more. Besides Luke Wilson, who we all school-girlishly (and this was me, one other girl and five guys) huddled next to a fence to see walk by (signing autographs for less-embarrassed fans), the highlight was the weather. It was actually HOT, and not windy at all, and just plain gorgeous. The only downside was that I had prepared for much cooler weather and was as a result roasting the whole time. I did escape a sunburn pretty much accidentally, and the heat meant that I thoroughly enjoyed both of me $6.50 Bud Lights (it is possible). We also spotted this seal on the beach that looked dead but, it turned out, was totally fine and had been there for like two days just chilling. (We called the Emergency line at the Monterey Aquarium to verify this.) Much of the rest of the day, once we checked into our hotel, was spent watching basketball (Go Stanford! and also I sat through my first Warriors game, albeit on mute) and playing drinking games as well as this awesome no-skill-involved dice gambling game called Three Bill. A brief jaunt out to a pub in "Old" Monterey where I had a Young's Oatmeal Stout, and then four of us went to bed early.

Yesterday was only slightly less sun-drenched. We drove up to Santa Cruz and met Peattie's parents for brunch at their classic brunch spot Zachary's, where I had the best home fries I've ever had, I think, as well as a "Velvet Hammer," which is champagne mixed with Guinness. (I really didn't need more booze, but I had to try that combo.) When we got back to the city we went straight to the park for my first Dolores Park afternoon of 2008. It felt so eerily familiar and I find it crazy that I've been living in the city for as long as I have (I know I didn't actually move there until July of last year, but I started spending much more time there starting in February, so I feel like I'm going through an anniversary of sorts). We considered carrying on and having a barbecue or something, but all kind of trickled out. Ace and I finished the weekend the way I began it, watching Veronica Mars until it was time for bed. All in all, not bad.

Anyway, I basically wanted to check in. I won't leave you hanging for so long again.