Amazing Friends. I Have Them.

This weekend was really really great. I spent my Friday evening with some amazing friends at the lds temple in Oakland - there are definitely some wonderful memories from that evening. Andrea reuniting with the man who delivered her (as in when she was born) was definitely one of them.

On Saturday morning I went with some other amazing friends down to Raging Waters in San Jose. I even got a season pass. That's right, folks. Yours truly got a season pass to Raging Waters at the ripe old age of 26. I guess there is a first time for everything, even if you are about 20 years late getting on the bandwagon. The beautiful thing about San Jose is that while it was foggy and cold in San Francisco all day on Saturday, it was 80 degrees in San Jose and I got a tan while playing in the water all day long. Can't beat it. I finished off the night by playing cards at home with my friends.

Sunday was no different - church was great and afterwards, Kristine and I went to dinner at the Frat House. We played Rook, Nerts, and even finished off the evening with a little Britney Spears on Singstar. Today, I just feel grateful for ...you guessed it: amazing friends. And only a few more days until I get to hang out with some friends that I've known as long as I was knee-high to a grasshopper. So while the picture below is from Duck Beach, it illustrates the point pretty well.

What I'm feeling today: Love.

What I Really Want, Is Someone Who Can Play The Drums

Last night I gathered with a few friends to play games. We ended up playing Rock Band and in staying true to the real Steph Zundel fashion, there was a lot of testosterone in the room. For most of the evening, there were only two ladies, including me. Of course it took about 10 of us to get the game all hooked up and we had a great time singing, playing the guitar, and drums. My favorite time of the evening was when the owner of the game sat down at the drums and proceeded to play “Wonderwall” at the “expert” level. Not going to lie – it was pretty amazing. In fact, I found a video on youtube of someone playing the same thing.

While all of this was happening, we were all staring at him in shock. Keep in mind that it was much more exciting than is portrayed in the above video. All of a sudden, one of his roommates yelled “Dude – this guy is going to be able to get ALL the chicks! He is awesome on the drums!”

Let me be clear here. The reason that this guy could get “ALL the chicks” is NOT due to his drumming abilities. The fact that he’s good looking AND a doctor may have a little more to do with it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Back To My Transplanted Roots

I realized today that I'm going to North Carolina in a week. My family hasn't lived there for 9 years now, but Utah just doesn't seem like home to me the way that North Carolina does. The last time I was there was for Jacque's wedding reception in 2004. At the time I was dating someone pretty seriously in Utah and was planning on staying there indefinitely to be with him. Well, little did I know that just a few weeks after my visit, I'd end up leaving Utah (and him!) and moving out here to San Francisco. A lot has happened to me since I've been back - I've grown up a lot and you can all see from the picture that I posted yesterday of me and Jacque from 10 years ago that I look completely different as well.

I only have 1 close friend from high school who has stayed in Charlotte post graduation and it's funny to me that she's still there, since it never even dawned on me to stay. There are a few things though that I can count on. My old neighbors, Lee & Barbara will still be there - and if I'm lucky, I just might catch them walking their dog. I can also count on it being unbearably hot and humid. There are a lot of people that I want to see over the long weekend and I'm hoping that I get to see at least a handful of them. The only thing disturbing me so far is that the Matthews Public Library has suddenly changed locations.

Here's a short list of things that I want to do while I'm there:

• Do a drive-by of my old house & neighborhood.
• Go inside the Hallmark store where I used to work
• See Brandy & co.
• See Jacque & co.

You know what's really funny is that when I think of places that I really want to go eat, very few favorite restaurants are coming back to me. Mostly, I ate at taco bell and chick-fil-a every chance I could while growing up. If I must eat somewhere authentic, its either Johnnie Burrito or Best Wok.

I found a few funny pictures for those from Charlotte to enjoy - I know that there are a fair amount of you out there. This picture is of a man sitting in a row boat that he built himself, that is in the pond in the back of the arboretum. (Stoners sitting right outside the frame of the picture are not included.)
And the picture below is a real gem. If most pictures are worth a thousands words, this one could be worth a million, so please consider this a special shout-out to all my North Carolina readers. I'm even tempted to have a caption contest over it. If you feel so inclined, please do so in the comments section.

My southern accent has been coming back to me this week - North Cackalacky, here I come!

You're It!

The always stylish Emily tagged me this morning. I even yelled "Oh crap!" at my desk when I saw my name at the bottom of her post. ha! Well, since she sends so many readers my way, I guess I should get to this already.

What did you do 10 years ago?

Hmmm - in June of 1998, I was just finishing up my junior year of high school. That summer, my sister went away to college and I spent my July 4th in Philadelphia on the steps of the art museum at a Boyz II Men concert with my friend Brandy and my Dad. Oh yes. You are jealous. I can feel it. Here's a blurry picture of a picture I took on my phone of me with Jacque back then. (ahem - I'm the one on the right)

Five items on your to-do list:

1. Clean the carpet in my bedroom.
2. Finalize plans for this weekend.
3. Go running
4. Get at least 8 hours of sleep tonight.
5. Celebrate with my friend tonight - today was her last day at work! Yahoo!
   

Snacks I enjoy:
I love, love, love fresh fruit. Honey pretzel sticks, guacamole, dried fruit, and edamame are also at the top of the list. I'm not a huge snacker to be honest though. I either build my life around the food or I don't eat. Reallllly bad habit.

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

Well, that's a hard question. The first thing that comes to mind is to quit my job and move to Europe or somewhere glamorous and then start traveling more. The reality though is that I'd probably just want to be with my friends and family more than I already am. Based on some experience I've had with roommates who have no jobs, I don't think I'd ever want to do that. I'd probably just work part time and spend the rest of the time visiting/traveling with the people I love.

Places I would live:
San Francisco, Madrid, Cape Cod/Martha's Vineyard, the Outer Banks, Charleston, or Capri. Really though, I just hope to end up living in Asheville, NC, next door to Jacque.

Jobs I have had:

Since my family had its own business while I was growing up, I've been working since I was about 8 years old. I can run envelopes through a postage machine better than most anyone you know, I bet. My first "real" job was at Hallmark and my favorite duty there was putting the cards out - I loved reading the cards and still do, as a matter of fact. Every summer during college I worked as a camp counselor at EFY. I've talked about it before. I loved it. Then I moved to San Francisco and got a job as a registration project coordinator. That job was a joke and I hated it - well, mostly it was just the people I worked with. And now, I work for a medical association and I really love my job. And I say this although I had some doctors yell at me today for really stupid reasons.

And now I'm tagging....Camie, Melissa R, Heather S. Boo-ya!

Rise and Shine

It is 5:30am and I've already been at work for 30 minutes. I've also already eaten two donuts to make myself feel better about it. Didn't really work, but it was worth the try. So now that I feel bad about the two donuts, I'll have to have a Diet Coke to top it off.

Looks like I'm already off to a great start to my day. Having a sweet email waiting for me from a cute boy helped a little too, I guess.

Heart

I don't really have much else to say. Brandi Carlile is amazing.

Weekend Madness

I started the weekend off with a bang. I joined 23,000 other people and watched Lucia di Lammermoore at AT&T Ballpark on Friday evening. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was in the 80s when we got there and in the 70s when we went home that night at midnight. Unheard of! Thanks to Emily, we got a great spot out in the middle of center field with our blankets and that is where we stayed. I took this picture about 30 minutes before the opera started - you can kinda tell how many people were there, but it was packed.

Lucia di Lammermore is pretty much about some crazy people who end up either killing each other and/or themselves over unrequited love. But really, what opera out there isn't about death and tragic romance? Seriously. There were quite a few people in our group on Friday, but here is a sampling for you - so left to right is Casey (KC?), LaNae, Peter, me, and Kristine.

During intermission, Casey and I decided to run the bases. Home plate was blocked off, but we ran as far as we could both ways a few times. What a fun evening!

On Saturday afternoon, Kristine and I headed down to my old neighborhood to enjoy the nice weather. I've definitely been to Baker Beach my fair share of times since I used to live about 100 yards away from it. While I was over there, I went to visit my former neighbors and new people were moving into my old apartment. Turns out - they are Mormon Dental students. Ironic, no?The above picture is a very rare sight. In all my times at Baker Beach, this is the 2nd time it has been warm enough for me to wear a bathing suit. There were hundreds of people up and down the beach - and we even saw some things that we didn't necessarily want to see. I'll leave that up to your imagination since my mother reads this.

Luckily, the weather went back to normal on Sunday. Although it is nice to have warm weather, I feel like I'm going crazy since no one - including my office - has air conditioning! The only place I can get relief is in my car! From the 80's to the 50's within a few hours. Gotta love San Francisco weather!

Last night I spent the evening with various friends around the bay area. I ended up chatting with Bruce and Leramy down in Palo Alto until almost midnight and I hadn't spent time with them in a while. On my way home, I thought a lot about how grateful I am for the good friends that I have around here and how sad I am that so many of them are leaving me in the next few months! Sometimes, getting older sucks.

In better news, tonight I'm going to Santa Cruz with some friends to see my all-time fave, Brandi Carlile in concert. Oh - and you all know how much I love Brandi Carlile. Just you wait for the update on THAT tomorrow! Yipee!

Baby, I Could Reminisce Forever

This video makes me giggle uncontrollably. Every time. Who was your favorite back then and who is your favorite now? It's hard to resist, isn't it?

Ultra Clutch

During the summer of 2003, I saw more Broadway shows in the span of two months than I will probably see in total for the rest of my life. Well, maybe that is an exaggeration, but I really did see a lot. The ones I remember are:

• Rent
• Hairspray
• Chicago
• Mamma Mia
• Les Miserables
• Aida
  
• Noises Off

I can't even remember the rest - seriously - there were a lot and it was great. Hairspray was at the top of my favorites and so when I heard that it was in town, I jumped at the chance to check it out. Last night I went and saw it with two of my girlfriends and it did not disappoint. It is filled with fun music and dancing, and best of all, it is absolutely hysterical. It's only here in San Francisco a few more days, but if you have time, check it out!

Dear "Completely Anonymous" Friend,

First off, let me tell you what a joy it is to know you. Remember that one time that I was trying to tell you something and then had to change the subject real quick? I just want you to know that I think that things are OK now and I hope that there is no more drama. I also hope that I avoid "fighting" over someone in public in the future.

This song by John Mayer has seemed completely applicable to my life lately. Don't you think it fits perfectly?? And on that note, I'll leave the rest of you readers completely confused - unless I've had a heart to heart with you lately about this weird situation in my life right now...



Love,
Stephanie

David Copperfield - the book, not the magician.

A few years ago when I was studying abroad in England, David Copperfield was on my list of books to read in my Victorian Literature class. As I never received the book list before the first day of class, I missed out on reading David Copperfield. I read all of the other books for class - there were about 6 of them if I remember correctly and all 808 pages of David Copperfield were banished to my bookshelf for the next 5 years. This year I made a goal to read it along with some other books that had been sitting on my shelf for way too long. I really loved the story and to be honest, after reading a book every day for almost 4 months, I felt like I was losing a friend when the last page rolled around. I have to say though - it put me to sleep almost every time I read it. So yeah - not a page turner, but if you're into the classics, give this one a try.

How Quickly I Forget

My trip to DC this weekend was nice and HOT! I realized within minutes how acclimated I've become to this freakish San Francisco weather. Being cold is a normal thing - and I've come to expect to be cold at all times of the year. Today I am wearing a wool sweater, for instance. In DC this past weekend I was sweating at all times of the day and I was mad at myself for only bringing long pants! Seriously - real hot AND real humid. On Friday Melissa and I went to the Holocaust Museum, which I had never been to before. We also went to the National Gallery of Art, which is one of my favorite Smithsonian museums as well as the United States Botanical Gardens. In between games of Settlers, Nerts, Egyptian Rat Screw, and sleeping in, we ate out in Georgetown, had some pizza with Generous George, and had dinner with some of my friends who live in Arlington. Oh - and dropped Marylin off as you can see in the video below.

As it turns out, Marcy never found Marylin. Still waiting for the jury to come back on whether or not we were given the wrong address or if she was stolen while we were running to the elevator, but hopefully Marylin will find her way home someday.

In the meantime, this picture on my desk is making me laugh really hard today. I usually have the top right corner covered to save some unknown person some embarrassment, but I recently reorganized my desk and pictures, which leaves me nothing to cover it with. At least I know for a fact, it isn't my rear end.

Have a great day, everyone.

Adventures with Scott

Last night Scott and I dropped Marylin off at Marcy's apartment in Alexandria. Here's a video for you of it: (It starts out sideways but quickly corrects itself)

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Marylin

A few months ago, before I moved into my new apartment, I was hanging out with my future roommate Kirsten at our/my future home. We were chatting and she said "Hey - you want to see something kinda freaky?" I'm not sure how anyone can ever say "no" to that question, but I didn't, and before I knew it, Kirsten had pulled out a black box from behind some books on the bookshelf. The black box turned out to be Marylin Saidu. Turns out, when our friend Katie moved out to San Francisco, she brought Marylin out as a joke for Marcy, who used to live in my bedroom before me. I googled Marcy's name and found this story on Katie's blog of how Marcy and Katie ended up with Marylin in the first place.

Marcy moved away and got married a little while ago, and it seems as though she forgot to take Marylin with her. Well folks, the time to reunite these long lost friends is upon us. As I'm going to DC this weekend, I thought I'd take it upon myself to make the reunion happen. But not without dressing (Marylin) up for the occasion.



I felt weird looking up how to handle crematory remains on a flight - but at least she's getting some love that she wouldn't be getting otherwise. All we really know about Marilyn is that she died of cancer at age 38. All this talk of death and cremation is making me think - but maybe I can set that aside for another post around Halloween or something.

And with that, I'm off to our Nation's Capitol for a few days. Adventures to come, I'm sure. Have a great weekend everyone!

More Goodbyes

On Sunday night I went to dinner with my aunt and uncle in Marin. While I was driving across the Golden Gate, I thought I'd stop in to see the boys at the Nauvoo house. From left to right, its Peter, Tommy, me, Stuart, and Andrea. Tommy and Stu used to be my neighbors and all of them have been my home teacher at one point or another (except for Stu maybe). Hanging out with these guys is one of my favorite things to do here in San Francisco and the dentists will be missed for sure. We've had some amazing times together - from playing on the beach in Bodega Bay to playing on the Seward Slides, I have great memories - and above all, they have been super super friends. Heart!

Fashion Help!

I told you all that I'm going to be bridesmaid again this summer right? This will be the 8th time and really, it seems as though this career is coming to an end. At least hopefully.
Today I bought this shirt as part of a bridesmaid's outfit that I will be wearing in August. I need a white skirt to go with it. Anyone want to help me find one? Also - suggestions for shoes?? I'm thinking about buying these:
Heidi & Emily - this is where you come in. ....seriously.

Two Word Tuesday

Two Word Tuesday for your enjoyment:

What made me happy last night:

Snow Cone!

Where I'm going this weekend:

D.C.!

What I'm making myself for dinner:

Orzo Salad

Where I'm going for New Years:

Paris, France
(just got a ticket today!)

Cute Birthday Banner

My cousin Brian's wife Audrey made these banners and has them for sale on her Etsy shop. As soon as this compact is over, I just might have to get one for myself! But you - you can buy whatever you want, so get shopping!

Nice job, Audrey!

So You Think You Can ...

I think I can do lots of things.

Making a s'more pie is apparently one of them.

Being able to watch Felicity without getting emotionally involved, is not.

I won't be trying the pie until tomorrow evening, so reviews (and pics) to come. Dreams of Felicity and Ben will be continuing until I finish with Season 4. Considering I'm only at the end of Season 3, it might be a rough couple of weeks.

Dusk Busters

On Wednesday night, a group of us got together to run for a great cause and to celebrate a great friend's birthday. Plus, running a 5k through Golden Gate Park is always a fabulous way to spend a spring evening.

Thanks to my running partner, Andrea, I was able to finish the race. Thanks for encouraging me when I needed it! You ARE the Italian Stallion!!

And of course our Birthday Girl won the race! Happy Birthday Emily!

I seriously can't think of a better way to spend a birthday - raising money to fight MS with a great group of friends. Many thanks to all those who donated money to support me for the race. Hopefully we are one step closer to curing multiple sclerosis.

Where Green Meets Red, and Red Meets Blue.

Yummy. I saw Matt Wertz last night at the Swedish American Hall just a few blocks away from my house. Matt, I can't help the way I feel about you now. Seriously!

I'm An Orphan

My parents left today to spend their summer in Mallorca again. Not that I live close to them or anything right now, but its always weird knowing that they are so far away, just hanging out in the Mediterranean without me. At least this summer my mom's cell phone should be working, so I won't have to yell at my computer use Skype to talk to them. Sometimes, my life seems really weird. Who really has parents who take off every summer to go live on an island? oh yeah.... mine.

What did you all do when your parents left town while you were growing up? Throw crazy parties? Get into all sorts of trouble? This summer while my parents are out of the country, I'm going to go on lots of vacations. Oh. Wait. Well, I didn't have a trip planned in June that required a plane ticket, so I just took care of that. Summer of madness, here I come!

When Church Is Early, You Can Get So Much More Done

On Sunday after church I drove down to Capitola to spend the day with Silvia and Justin. It was so great to visit with them and just spend some quality time together.

My top 10 of the day were:

10. Justin's awesome homemade limeade.
9. All the food Silvia made was yum-o. (hey - if I look like Rachel Ray, I might as well talk like her)
8. Watching a cheesy girl movie while Silvia plucked my eyebrows.
7. Getting an awesome 10 minute back/neck massage from Silvia.
6. Riding the beach cruisers down to Capitola beach.
5. Sitting on a bench at the beach and talking for an hour or so in the sun.


4. Playing Guitar Hero
3. Eating brigadero
2. Berry shortcake dessert. yum!


1. Eating more brigadero.

Thanks for the good times, McLeods! You are both so great!

Welcome to my world...

since moving a few months ago, i haven't really talked a whole lot about my new place in the mission/castro district. here is a list of things that makes it different from my old apartment in the presidio.

• i have a window in my bedroom that has no blinds or any type of covering on it. somehow, in this neighborhood, it doesn't bother me. keep in mind that this window faces a bunch of other back bedroom windows that aren't very close and it definitely isn't facing the street.
• i no longer have nice friendly neighbors next door. oh how i miss sherry and emmitt. old crazy man in the adjacent apartment thought k and i were being too loud the other night so he proceeded to bang on the wall and slam his front door shut to scare us. it worked.
  
• i can walk to several places including kristine and jane's house, the grocery store, and a bart and muni stop.
  
• the other night we were playing cards as roommates in the front room and there was a debate over whether or not the noise outside was fireworks or someone going through the trash.
  

awesome. hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend.