The Rest of August

Or "The Post With (Almost) No Pictures"

Start playing your saddest music, it's pity party time! Once we got back from Mendocino and visiting little Ace, life swung right back into, well, full swing mode. We never stop going here in Thathouse. And I took TONS of pictures to document all of our adventures. And then September came rolling around and we headed to Hawaii. (Okay, so this isn't the pity party yet, but I promise it's coming REALLY soon). While we were in Hawaii, my camera died a slow and pitiful death. First the lens stopped closing right, which led to a bunch of SUPER overexposed cameras (those of you with SLRs understand what I'm talking about). And then all of a sudden, "poof" the entire thing went dead. No power. No on. No off. No picture taking. And in this "poof" moment, I think it wiped out ALL the pictures on the memory card. (Because I tried to take the memory card to one of those photo kiosks and it kept telling me there were no pictures on the card.) So I have no fun photos for you from the end of August till the middle of September. (Don't worry, I have loads of fun Hawaii pictures for you since Thatboy brings his fancy camera everywhere we go)

I'm also in the market for a new camera and taking recommendations! I'm trying to figure out if I want to stick with Olympus because I REALLY loved my camera (although I don't love the new version of my camera), or even if I want to get another waterproof (because it was super fun for snorkeling).

So my brief bullet points for what you're missing pictures of:

* The Del Mar Races. I've been trying to get Thatboy to the races since we moved to San Diego. I was finally able to get him to go because of the next bullet point. We had tons of fun, drank loads of beer, and made some new friends who explained to us novices some of the finer points of racing. We made bets and lost, picked favorites in every races, and I even wore a giant hat! (It was all I could to refrain from yelling at the horses to "MOVE [their] BLOOMIN' ARSES."

* Weezer! The reason I was able to get Thatboy to join me at the races is because Weezer was playing a concert after the last race. Which is one of the best parts of the races if you ask me. Every Friday and Saturday night after the last race is concert time. And you can pretty much get Thatboy to do anything if Weezer is involved. The concert was AMAZING. SO much better than the last Weezer concert we went to. They played all our favorite songs. Rivers was on his A-Game, complete with an awesome mash-up of MGMT's Kids and Poker Face. Rivers in a Lady Gaga wig? Fabulous. Thatboy, who also loves MGMT didn't think they would appreciate the homage. The audience sure did. I was even able to find a video of it on YouTube. (Is there ANYTHING YouTube doesn't have?)

*Thatdad's unveiling. Okay, even with the camera this wasn't something I'd have pictures of. It was hard, but we had a lot of family and friends surrounding us. And it's nice that we now have a headstone to look at when we visit the grave. We chose a quote from Billy Joel's "Lullabye" for the inscription:

I promised I would never leave you
And you should always know
Where ever you may go
No matter where you are
I never will be far away

*Disneyland 5K! Thatmom and I signed up for this months earlier when I was debating running the half or just the 5k. But it looked like the 5k spent more time actually in the park so that was the winner. Ms. Grumble McGrumbleson wasn't happy in the days/morning leading up to the race itself. (It didn't help that we HAD to go to the expo on Friday night before 7pm. HELLO, some of us don't live in Orange County!) In fact, as we waited for the race to start, she made me promise that we'd never run this race again. And then we started. And somewhere on Main St., Ms. McGrumbleson disappeared as Ms. Iloverunning turned to me and said we should all do this race again next year. There's something magical about Disney. I took a million pictures of Thatmom racing through the castle, in front of Small World, and of course all the characters! (Both the ones that work for Disney who are strategically placed throughout the park for people to take a "race break" and get pictures and autographs, as well as the many runners dressed in crazy costumes.)

Because I hate posts that have NO pictures (because really, do any of you, other than my grandmother, read this for my scintillating writing?) I figured I'd toss a recipe your way. When we went to the Weezer concert we brought our own dinners, because WE COULD. And we wanted to spend our money on overpriced beer, not overpriced concert food. This is a sandwich that is equally delicious both hot and cold. Which is probably due to the bacon, which makes everything delicious. Honestly, I never really got the allure of a BLT, because as delicious as bacon is, I need a little more than a bacon sandwich. So add some chicken. Grilled chicken- which loves bacon almost as much as a certain blogger I know.

Grilled Chicken BLT Sandwich

2 chicken breasts
4 slices of your favorite bread
honey mustard
lettuce
sliced tomato
bacon, cooked

1) Grill chicken breasts
2) Place lettuce, tomato and bacon on bread. Top with chicken
3) Place honey mustard on top of chicken
4) Top with the remaining slice of bread.

Babes of Summer

As usual, my summer was just brimming with babies. But I'm not going to complain, because these were some VERY special babies.

First came a baby that wasn't so much new, but he was certainly new to me! As you may remember, the last time I saw Faye she was living in Italy and expecting a little bambino. And for the past year, I've watched Bambino grow more and more gorgeous (I know, he's a boy, but he is a GORGEOUS boy) through pictures. And when Faye and family moved from Italy to a whole 'nother continent, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I'd probably never meet Bambino till he was old enough to drive.

And then came one of the bestest emails ever. Faye was coming to San Diego for a WHOLE MONTH! The month of her birthday AND Bambino's birthday. I was going to get to meet Bambino!

And meet him I did. I was lucky enough to get several visits with both Faye and Bambino, including a lunch date with one of my other favorite mommies - L&J.

L&J brought her gorgeous baby boy also. (Seriously, these are some of the cutest babies ever.) And I was completely outnumbered. But in a good way. We went out for cupcakes after our lunch date which inspired L&J and I to get together to make cupcakes to celebrate Faye's birthday. (L&J introduced me to the best cupcakes in the world. Technically it's not her recipe, but they will ALWAYS be L&J's strawberry cupcakes to me)

But all good things must come to an end, and eventually Faye and Bambino headed back to their new home. Which brought us to another summer baby!

When we visited last Christmas, Thatboy's BFF Magski she let us in on a little secret - they were expecting! And her due date was the week of our anniversary! So we decided to plan our anniversary trip around the arrival of her first child. Which is one of the other reasons we chose Mendocino as our destination, because Magski lives in Northern California. Of course this meant we waited for the last minute to book everything because we weren't sure if we were going to be seeing her before or after our anniversary.

Little Ace didn't want to wait until our anniversary, he decided to show up on Magski's anniversary instead! When we got the text in the middle of the night that she was in labor, I turned to Thatboy and said "Umm - tell her congratulations and happy anniversary!" Once we knew Ace had arrived safely, we booked our trip so that we could visit Ace on his 2 week birthday - giving Magski and her husband time to settle in to a routine.

I seriously LOVE visiting new moms. LOVE. They have such a sense a zen. Magski seemed so happy and balanced - although a little stir crazy, it's hard to adjust to being in the house all day when you're as active as she is. She confided in me that she usually skips naps, because her only time to get out of the house for a walk is while Ace sleeps in his stroller.

Since we were coming from Mendocino we couldn't load Magski up with our usual assortment of new mom meals. Instead, we bought cookies! Because no one likes a woman who loses ALL of her baby weight within two weeks of having the baby.....(*cough*Magski*cough*)

Because not everyone likes chocolate, I brought these coconut sandwich cookies. These are good. REALLY good. Good enough where Thatboy thought maybe we should keep them all for ourselves.

And because other people DO like chocolate, these Reeses Brownie Bites. I've had these before made with peanut butter cookies, but they're extra rich when the reeses is in a brownie! Magski called her husband in from another room once she took a bite of these. I'd be surprised if they lasted through the night.


After our visit with Magski, we headed back towards home. As far as I know, Ace was our last new baby of the year, but you never know what 2011 will hold!

Beer, beer, beer, and Mendocino

You know what's sad? When you haven't blogged since September.

You know what's sadder? When the last thing you blogged about actually took place in August.

You know what's saddest? When a friend of yours sends you a "Happy Anniversary" email in October, because she doesn't notice that your blog hasn't been updated in a month and talks about events that happened two months ago.


There's been a heck-a-lot happening in Thathouse which has severely limited my internetting capabilities. More on that later. Probably a lot later. Because I have SO much to catch you up on. But I should probably finish up with our Mendocino anniversary trip first!


We started off our last day by visiting Point Cabrillo Light Station. I almost felt like Alice going through the looking glass since we have our very own Cabrillo lighthouse down here in San Diego.

Our Cabrillo has a little museum dealing with whales. Because it's a prime whale watching point. Actually, it's a prime San Diego watching point. You can see everything from up there. But this Cabrillo light house, since it's in Northern California, give you an up close and personal view of Abalone (which might be the national animal of Northern California).


(This is what an abalone looks like when it's still alive, not on your plate)

But like the San Diego counterpart, this Point Cabrillo had some truly spectacular views.



For most of our trip the ocean was covered in a dense fog. But as if Mother Nature knew we'd be leaving soon, she wiped it all away for our final day.






All that walking around and gazing out at the water made us hungry, so we headed up to Fort Bragg because one of the things Mendocino has to offer is an amazing array of beer. Before we headed to Mendocino we bought all the Mendocino beer we could get our hands on. We really enjoyed some of the beers from North Coast Brewery so we made a point of getting there on our trip.



Thatboy saw a chili dog on the menu and was all in. Because, you know, we all need food to go with our beer. Or some of us do. But to be fair, how often do you see chili dogs on a menu?



I went super high class. Well, high class as compared with the chili dog - ham and brie with mango chutney on a croissant. Did you notice the fries on both of our plates? They've covered in garlic. As all fries should be.

But we should get to the part you're all anxious for, the beer!



We ordered a sampler so we could try all their beers. And we took notes. On a napkin, but notes nonetheless.



We already knew we loved the Brother Thelonious (in fact, we just had a bottle tonight), but we found some new favorites. We especially loved Pranqster which found its way into Thatbrother's birthday present last month.

And after all that beer, it was time for more walking and gazing. There was a lot of walking and gazing on this trip. This time we headed to a park that would allow Thatdog - Russian Gulch State Park. And we headed out on a coastal trail that let us take in how amazing the day was without the fog.










I love these guys playing mirror mirror on the picnic benches. Thatdog loved them too. He loves to charge them and let them know that it is NOT okay for them to be anywhere he can see them.


I love my artist in action shots.



And honestly, we we hadn't had enough gazing, so we headed back to our room to gaze some more. I mentioned before we had a spectacular view of the ocean. We decided to take advantage of it since we could actually see it. Besides, how romantic is it to sit with your honey and watch the sunset?





Well, maybe with your honey it would be romantic. I was stuck with this guy:



At least we had pizza!



I let Thatboy pick out our pizza from Piaci Pizza. He ordered one that was divided in fourths, with each fourth having a separate topping. (Mushroom, cheese, roma tomato, and ham) Which he didn't realize when he ordered it, even though the menu spelled it out explicitly.




We both loved the Roma Tomato section best.


The next day we headed out - but not home. Because really, what fun would that be? Thatboy took the scenic route this time, which wound along the coast and made me feel like I was in some Merchant Ivory film. We made a stop in Point Reyes and discovered the mothership:



Cowgirl Creamery! I'm lucky enough to get this at my local cheese store, but not with NEARLY the selection you can get at their home base. And even what I can get isn't nearly as fresh. Thatboy and I had a picnic in the grass with leftover pizza, watermelon, and Red Hawk cheese that had been made that morning.

Okay, that's probably good for now. I'm EXHAUSTED and Thatboy's promised to pull the couch out so we can have sofabed Saturday night. PLUS I've got some sugar cookie dough that is just dying to be put in the oven. So bear with me - I'll post when I can and make the posts as entertaining as possible, but I can't make any promises as to frequency.

Mendocino's Sites and Tastes

I woke up bright and early our first morning in Mendocino to go for that 10 mile run I mentioned in my half marathon recount. The first mile of it was running along the freeway, on the shoulder which hardly existed. Anytime a car came near I slowed to a walk and pushed myself as close to the drop off as possible. Luckily, that early in the morning there wasn't much traffic. Eventually I came to my destination for the majority of my run - Russian Gulch Park. I wish I had brought my camera because it was SUCH a gorgeous run, over the bridges and through the woods, through fern gulches with huge pines towering overhead. I came home in time to jump in the shower and head to breakfast before we headed in to Mendocino itself for a little exploring.

The town of Mendocino is VERY small. Thatboy had warned me about that. The downtown area really consisted of two main streets, one of which was mostly consumed with historic buildings.

But we did happen to stubble upon some incredibly fresh raspberry bark and couldn't pass it up. After I bought a couple sticks for the two of us, I was chastised by someone in the know for not treating them reverently enough. We kind of rolled our eyes.

And then we tried them. And all of a sudden, I was very kitten mittens with our extra delicate cargo that couldn't be messed up AT ALL because they were one of the best things we've ever eaten. How come everyone doesn't eat these all the time?

Fittingly for our fourth anniversary (traditional gift = flowers) Mendocino was abloom with. . . blooms. Gardens poked out from between buildings, homes, and in every free space there was.

When we had finished going in and out of the local shops, we headed for a little hike along the coast, which ended down along the beach.

Thatdog LOVES running along the beach. We're lucky enough to live in an area where we can take him to the beach on a fairly regular basis, so he knows exactly what to do. What to do = chase the waves as the come in until his supreme machoness makes the waves retreat.

After a full day, we headed back to the Inn for some wine and appetizers where Thatboy fell in love with some artichoke spread. And then it was off to our very fancy anniversary dinner.

When I was researching places to eat in Mendocino, one restaurant continued to pop up - La Petite Rive. Reservations were a must since there were only 8 tables and 2 seatings for dinner. But we were able to get in, which made me feel very fortunate indeed. And this was before we discovered that the innkeeper who called me his "little runner girl" was the chef at the restaurant along with his wife. We happened to dine on a night where his wife ran the kitchen. And honestly, we couldn't have asked for a better meal!

La Petite Rive works similarly to a tasting menu you would find elsewhere - with a twist. You order your entree, and they take care of bringing you the other four courses. While we waited to order, we ordered a bottle of Cabernet Franc by Rivino. AMAZING. We were blown away by this wine, and we definitely were impressed when we saw what a small batch it came from - only 46 cases were produced. Have I gushed before about how much we love small wineries? So we were tickled when our amuse bouche arrived - beef rolled in gorgonzola and walnut with a small taster of the cab franc. Guess we made a good selection!

Next came a garlic soup which might have been THE BEST SOUP I'VE EVER HAD. Seriously. I'm tempted to email Troy and offer our first born in trade for the recipe. I've seen Troy with kids...he might take me up on it. This was amazingly delicious. Good description right? I can't help it. SO GOOD. No words are enough. Even if the rest of the meal was a fail I would come back for this soup.

And then our salad - greens dressed with a citrus vinaigrette and yummy toasted almonds. I love how something so simple can taste so amazing. Nothing fancy, but every note was pitch perfect (that works for more than just music, right?)

As we ate our salad, I noticed our waitress outside picking flowers. Those flowers then showed up as garnishes as our palette refreshers - mango sorbet. Really, what's not to like about sorbet? Cool refreshing, and obviously cleansing.

For a main course, Thatboy had the filet mignon. I love filet mignon, so take my word for it when I say this was perfect and tender.

But my meal was definitely the winner. The rack of lamb, encrusted in baked goat cheese. Seriously - lamb in goat cheese????? How I could I NOT order this? And it lived up to the hype I had created in my head. The goat cheese was such a great creamy, tangy complement to the sweet rich meat.

For dessert we ordered the chocolate cake. Mostly because Thatboy loves chocolate and dessert and me? I was just fine with my wine and lamb. Although I did eat all the strawberries on top of the slice.

But it's always nice to end an anniversary celebration with cake, right? And this was definitely the way to go out. It was SUCH a fantastic end to another year of marriage and gave us hopes for the next.