This shelf can survive a 5.6 earthquake. Last night it was tested.

Family Time

On Saturday I had the great opportunity of babysitting for my cousin. I watched her two cute kids at my grandmother's house in Vallejo and we had a blast if I do say so myself. We had a dance party, I taught them some card games at the same table that my Grandpa taught all of his grandchildren how to play cards, we made pizza, and read stories in bed. Taylor thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures with my camera while I read Ryan a story. Here are some of my favorites:

Pretty good for a 7 year old, eh?

Are you There God? It's Me, Stephanie

I saw this book on the Time's All Time 100 Novels list a few months ago, so I "mooched" it and within a few days, it was in my hands. It only took me a few days of light reading to get through and I have to say that maybe I'm just not 11 anymore and so I'm not sure what exactly about this novel helped it make the list. I do understand that it was probably the first of its kind and that no tween books had been written before to help a girl realistically understand their soon-to-be pubescent life. That's all I'm really going to say about it because I'm sure that most of you have read it and if you haven't by this point in your life, let's be honest. There are better books out there. Don't get me wrong. I just would rather spend my time reading books about something that I maybe relate to at this point in my life.

Halloween Part 1

Last night was the big Halloween Party with my friends out in Danville. I love this holiday because you get to see how creative people are and plus, its just plain funny seeing your friends dressed up like this:

Little Red Riding Hood & the Wolf

(Silvia & Justin)

Siegfried & Roy
(Todd & Jason)

Caveman
(Rob)

Baton Twirler
(Tiffany)

Ladybug & Rockette Toy Soldier

(Donna and Me)

Yep, that's me. I figured that you'd want a whole body shot. Oh yeah. A full on Rockette. Biz, consider my costume a dedication to you and our friendship. ha! And for the record, only Colin knew that I was a Rockette. Here are some other great costumes from the night for your viewing pleasure.

Cowgirl & Cowboy
(Caisa & Adrian)

The Roller Derby Girls
(Sara, Kristine, Erica, & Juliann)

Me just loving Adrian.

Jason giving his tiger a drink.

I like to interpret Bex's costume as Nicole Richie, but really,
she was any given celebrity over the past two years.

I'm not exactly sure who Brittany was supposed to be, but she had an awesome costume!
Nya was Cleopatra and she looked great!

Something tells me that Marshall has an inner Goth.

Zorrooooooo!
(Dave Haynie)

This is what was directing us out of the driveway.

I should have taken a video, but you can imagine it for yourselves, I'm sure. Hilarious!

What are you going to be?

I've been keeping my costume a surprise from most people. Not for any particular reason; mostly just because I think its fun to show up to a party when people don't know what you'll be dressed as. As you might recall, last year I was dressed like Nicole Richie. This year's costume is definitely unlike anything that I've been before.

Growing up, my mom always made me and my sister the best costumes. Here are some costumes from my past that I can remember. Mom, feel free to contribute to the list if you can remember them.

Age 3 - Witch
Age 4 - Strawberry Shortcake
Age 5 - Fairy Princess
Age 6 - Spanish Flamenco Dancer
Age 7 - Minnie Mouse
Age 8 - Cinderella
Age 12 - Pocahontas
Age 14 - Little Bo Peep
Age 15 - Gypsy
Age 17 - Dead Pilgrim
Age 23 - Rachael Ray
Age 24 - Disco Queen
Age 25 - Nicole Richie

Looking at the list, I'm noticing that I've always been something super girly. Some of my favorites were the Spanish Flamenco Dancer and the Cinderella Costume. It was always so much fun having my mom put her MaryKay makeup on us and of course our costumes were always unique since they were homemade. We loved it.

With the help of the ever lovely Roommate, my costume for this year is pretty near complete. A few safety pins, some tape, and some spray paint when I get home and I'll be ready to go!

Anyone going to any fun parties?

Next Time, Bring Me Some Pants With an Elastic Waist Band

When Scott told me that he and Zach were coming into town a few weeks ago, I had no idea what I was in for. I mean...I'd only seen both of them twice before in my entire life. All I really knew was that they make me laugh. A lot. With that knowledge alone, I was ready for them to come. I'd been needing a weekend full of laughs for a while, so it was just what the doctor ordered.

We started the weekend off right with dinner at Tasty Curry. Pants down, it is my favorite Indian Restaurant in San Francisco. I could seriously eat it every day. I've blogged about it before, so you know how I feel already. We saw some familiar faces there too.

Later on that night when we got back to my house, Rebecca and I introduced Scott and Zach to The Twins. Hello, Chuckie. Scary! We had many more photos from this little photo shoot, but I figure that this is enough to give you nightmares for a few days.

For lunch on Friday, I met Zach and Scott down at the Ferry Building for lunch. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, we sampled these amazing dipping oils. At $14.95 a bottle, we figured it was best to just sample and not buy our own.

Sometimes you see something and you have no idea that its really foreshadowing your next couple of days.

Finally, our entire party was there, so we went to the Slanted Door for some fine Vietnamese cuisine. I'd never been there before and had always wanted to go; and let me tell you. It was worthwhile. The company was great too. Erica and I have a mutual friend from Utah who was in town for a few weeks, so she met up with us too. Our moms are good friends and neighbors in Utah, so it was great catching up!

Though I don't have any pictures from Friday night, we went to Cha Cha Cha's on Haight and wow. Being with Zach & Scott on Haight was quite an experience. I've never been offered drugs so often in my entire life. The food at Cha Cha Cha's was great, but since I was with 3 guys, we went to the Crepevine for dessert.

Saturday we met up with Rita at The Grove on Chestnut before heading out to Muir Woods. I hadn't been there since I was a little girl, and it was awesome.

So awesome in fact that we acted like Roman sculptures while standing on a big rock.

Ingonyama nengw' enamabala

Ingonyama nengw' enamabala

From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun

Just kidding. ha! I'm sure that everyone who goes to Muir Woods has this picture, but what can I say? We're inside a tree! Hello!

Since I hadn't been to Muir Woods in quite some time, I don't know if this is a seasonal thing, but hello, LADYBUGS! They were everywhere...and lucky for us, they weren't flying. I did feel them crawling up my legs though after we'd been standing there for a while. Sick! Don't they look like little candies?

And here's the Power Point that we arranged for this photo.

Somewhere beneath these ladybugs you can see Zach's nose and facial hair.

Our next stop was Muir Beach. Scott swore to us that you could find sea anenomes there, but all we saw were huge waves and some people braving the cold water.

On our way back into the city, we stopped for a group photo. It's weird thinking that I just met these guys within the past 6 months. I love things like that.

For dinner that night, we met up with some friends of Scott & Zach's at Jackson Fillmore. We were due for some much desired Mitchell's Ice Cream. By the way...are Scott and Zach making my butt look big??

And don't you worry. Italian food & ice cream were obviously not enough because we had an 11:30pm reservation at Mexico DF for some tacos.

On Sunday afternoon, we had one thing left to do before Scott & Zach left town. It involved peanut butter and one slice of bread each.

FOLDYOVERS!!

This is where our friendship all began.

Don't be confused. This is not a half sandwich. Maybe a distant relative though.

Man I love these guys.

And you know, a lot of girls may have been running some type of marathon this weekend, but I was running a different type of marathon. In fact, I called it the "Lane Bryant Eat Your Way Across San Francisco Marathon"...and I won a pumpkin pie trophy.

On more than one occasion, I looked at Zach and Scott and said "You guys....I'm going to be bulimic for a few weeks after you leave." Don't worry...just kidding, but really, anyone have any ex-lax?

Tagged

So my cute cousin Audrey tagged me today, and since I haven't been "tagged" in a while, I'll take it. Let's be honest though; if you've been reading this blog for a while, you probably know more about me than most people who know me and never read my blog.

here goes me trying to tell you something that I haven't divulged before.

1. I went to my senior prom with my crush from kindergarten. awwww, I know. After all of these years, I still think he's one of the cutest guys I've ever known.

2. The only time I ever snuck out of my parent's house was at the age of 22 when I was living at home for the summer.

3. For those who know me well, you already know this. I have an amazing memory. I can remember the oddest things. My high school ID number was 0069318. Why do I remember useless information? For example, old phone numbers that I haven't even thought about since 2000....359-8240 was my birch plaza phone number. See? I am weird.

4. I have THE hardest time getting out of bed in the morning. I could snooze for hours.........its definitely a problem. hm..maybe I should go to bed?

5. I have a weird tendency to live with or be good friends with Brazilian girls ever since high school. A girl named Patti lived with my family my sophomore year of high school. Then I lived with Glaucia from Sao Paulo in 2001 up in Idaho. And most of you....you know about Silvia, the PopoZao here in San Francisco. I've also lived with a few Asians, but that is another story.

Beautiful Photos

Yesterday I received some pictures from Ben & Kristi's wedding, which I blogged about a few months back. Here are some of my favorites:

And oh how I love Mama D.

This just displays their relationship perfectly.

This one just kills me. ....sigh.