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In case you aren't friends with me on Facebook, I was blowing up the news feed this weekend with Ragnar updates and am happy to report that I am still alive and will have pics for you soon. It was a great race and I ran 18 miles and am not too sore! I got to spend a lot of time with really close friends and I had to hold back tears a few times yesterday.

When Rita and Amy were saying goodbye to me in Huntington Beach, I tried to be unemotional and just pretend like I'd see them later on that day like I would if I still lived in San Francisco.

Yet this is the thing - I have amazing friends in many cities and even if I went to San Francisco today, it wouldn't be the same as when I left. Rachael has her own apartment now and Rita lives with someone who I don't know at all. I have memories spanning my entire life in San Francisco so it will always have a major place in my heart, but it isn't home anymore.

New York may be where I sleep at night, but HOME is whenever I'm with you. This post is specifically dedicated to Rita, Amy, Scott & Zach, but generally to all of you. I have wonderful friends here in New York and I am fine and happy, but I am missing many of you just a little bit more today. Love you guys.

I wish I were still there.

Thanks to Derek and his amazing camera for these great photos on Sunday.




More photos to come soon.

Thank You For Being A Friend

I know that I say that I have the best friends out there, but I really do. Need proof? Of course you do.

Example 1: Last night Amy used the epilator on the back of my thigh so that I could stand the pain.

Example 2: Last night Tracy waxed the rest of my thigh where I wouldn't allow Amy to use said epilator. I didn't even flinch with the waxing after using the torture device. Seriously. And she was waxing a more sensitive area, if you know what I mean. And you do. Right?

Example 3: This morning I sent an email to about 9 of my girlfriends with some personal drama which naturally lead to the planning of my funeral, as follows:

Me: Kristy is already working on my eulogy because I think I might have an anxiety attack sometime soon and die.

Nice knowing you all.

Me to Kim:
Please start preparing a song for my funeral. If you and Zach could collaborate on Beyonce's Halo, that would be amazing.

Thanks in advance.

Silvia:

Oh my gosh even my heart beat faster now ... I am having a heart attack ....

what are you going to do Steph? I am so nervous now

Me: Kim has already agreed to sing at my funeral. If you and Justin could dance, that would be great.

Kristy: HAAAAA HA HA HAAAAAA

that's all I have to say.

oh and this

BAHHAHAAA HA HA HA HA AAAAAA

Lanae:
Let's chat soon, I need more details.

p.s. I can take care of the floral arrangements ;)

Silvia:
ok I think we can manage to dance for sure !!! Maybe some salsa to make it more fun ...

Kristy:
Steph does like herself a mean Salsa! Can you do it on the casket is the question!? With Lanae's flowers in your mouth?

Liz:
After the salsa I volunteer to properly wail and scream and fall into
your grave after you.

Jackie:
along those lines....i know a great photographer.

Steph:
Steph, this is shaping up to be the best funeral I will have ever attended and I am staring to look forward to it (not the you dying part but the entertainment). This will surely beat out the motorcycle gang/christian revival out door concert funeral I went to a few years back in the middle of nowhere, ID.

Veronica:
I'm envisioning feather boas and sequins. Lots of sequins.

Lanae:
With guac too! I think what also would be nice is an ice sculpture.

Me:
Don't forget about serving tacos. And v, I'm glad I've been working out so that I can throw myself into that vat of chocolate in a string bikini and stilettos.

Kim:
Hold it...this is beginning to sound more like a bachelorette party than a funeral.

Thanks to my good friends, I am going to have the most awesome funeral ever. Hope you all can come. I, for one, will be sad to miss it.

suicide watch 2010, heartbreak 2010, seething rage 2010

we have low expectations around these parts, but things are looking up.

Happy Birthday, Kristine Hanson.

A few months ago, my lovely friend Kristine sent me an email asking me to sign up for the Warrior Dash in Southern California in April to celebrate her 30th birthday. Apparently you really have to twist my arm to get me to do things with you, so I signed up in the next minute. A few weeks later, Kristy was talked into going. This last Friday afternoon, Kristy, Kristine, and I met up in Los Angeles to help Kristine's 20s go out in style.

Friday, 7:00pm - Cafe Rio in Manhattan Beach. The place was full of Mormons, of course.

Friday, 10:00pm - 12:00am- Karaoke

Karaoke would not be complete without Rick Buck.

The Birthday girl...

Kristy & Zach singing a duet

Zundelac!

Saturday, 11am

We went for a mid morning bike ride from Santa Monica to Venice. It was the perfect way to spend an hour.

Then we played awesome games like - spot the mannequin in the window. How many can you spot??

1pm - Met up with a friend for lunch who likes to show off his muscles in front of the ladies...

2pm - 4pm - Sat in the car in traffic on our way to Lake Elsinore for the Warrior Dash. LA traffic is not my favorite thing, by the way.

5pm - 6pm - Become warriors.

The race was a 3 mile run with obstacles all along the way that included things like climbing over hay bales, cars, through tunnels, over logs in the water, etc. The last obstacle was crawling through mud underneath barbed wire. We were super lucky to have our awesome friend Mike there who took some photos of us. Kristine wanted a mud fight, and I think she got it, thanks to Kristy. I bailed at the last second. I think that I was already over being dirty since we'd just been in the lake climbing over logs. Anyway. Below you can see that I did get muddy.

I won't blame you if this is your new desktop wallpaper. We are hardcore.

We even got warrior hats.

And I am happy to report that I think all those pushups I've been doing helped a lot. Wasn't even sore the next morning.

Sunday after church we went to the Getty Museum since we were on vacation. These are good people. Serious.

And inside the museum, we found Bertha's Great Grandma. Zach and I are paying homage to her. Who knew that Pottery Barn got their idea for a couch at the Getty museum??

And maybe there was some drama at the airport Sunday night that I won't go into here because it isn't worth talking about, but we did get to hang out with Zach and Mike for a few more hours on Sunday night after Uzi went home.

Kristine, thanks for being born 30 years ago today and thanks for instigating such a great weekend. You are the best.

And I couldn't say thank you enough to Mike for being so awesome and to Zach and Kristy for making me laugh so hard. What a great weekend.

San Franidazzle - 2009

San Franidazzle 2009 was a smashing success. I know that I am biased, but it was the party of the year. In case you don't know what San Franidazzle is, here's the low-down:

• Mirrored after Mauri Earl's infamous Holidazzle party in D.C.
• The party in D.C. is a roommate only invite - last year we had our current roommates and invited some close friends. Due to the small size of our house, the invite list stays the same from year to year with only new roommates added to the guest list.
• Dates are required
• Cocktail attire
  
• Musical number is a must
• Reverse charades
• Christmas bingo
• Amazing meal

This year we added some fun twists - but we'll get to that in a second. I don't want to have complete photo overload, so here are the highlights:

The welcome activity was to decorate a gingerbread house.

And the finished product:

And here is the best glimpse of the kitchen decor. This year we went with a snowflake theme so we hung paper chains and store bought/homemade snowflakes from the ceiling. Kirsten brought the table decor and plates from her mom's house. Everything looked amazing. I wish that the photos did it justice.

And then there was the food. Oh my. The food. In case you didn't know, Andrea Pimentel is the best chef that I have ever met in real life. I am not kidding. Here are her descriptions of each course:

stacked pear salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, and poppy seed dressing

braised globe artichoke with balsamic reduction

wild mushroom and prosciutto tortelloni
{sidenote that I don't like mushrooms and this may be the best thing I have ever put in my mouth}

lobster vol au vent - lobster in cream sauce in a homemade puff pastry shell

And for dessert, which we don't have a photo of, it was an eggnog cheesecake with gingersnap crust and pomegranate sauce.

In the middle of dinner, we had a surprise visit from Santa. I have to say that this addition to the party was my favorite thing ever. I had a friend who knew most of the party guests come in through our laundry room door and then up into the kitchen through Rita's bedroom.

And of course everyone wanted a photo with Santa.

Andrea & Marshall

Rachael & Dave

Tim & Me

Clay & Kirsten

Ryan & Kristine

Paul & Rita

What I didn't mention before is that Santa came bearing gifts. Kristine and I went to Goodwill and found the best 12 things we could find for under $30. Then Santa handed them out and then over dinner we had a white elephant gift exchange. Just looking at the photos of that cracks me up. We had such a good time laughing at the gifts that everyone got. Here are photos of some of my favorites:

It took some begging and pleading to get Dave & Rachael to do the musical number, but it was great. They played "We Three Kings" and everyone tried to sing along. I personally think they should go on tour.

Bingo!

The only photo I have from reverse charades is of Tim. Can you guess what he is acting out?

And of course our group photo at the end of the night.

And of the girls. Apparently I'm the only one who got the memo to shimmy in the photo.

Towards the end of the night, most of us girls were laying on the couch talking. It was so great having Kirsten back with us for a night and I couldn't help but think what wonderful friends I have. I could say more, but you girls should all know that I love you lots. Seriously. Here's to many more San Franidazzles to come - and to more permanent dates. :)
If you want to see the rest of the photos, click here.

utah summers are friggin' hot. i had forgotten.

there's pretty much nowhere i'd rather be than with good friends on special occasions. saturday was no exception when ben and lanae were married in bountiful, utah. what a gorgeous couple. i am thrilled for them - describing them as happy would be an understatement.

i especially loved being there with this girl. i love me some brazilians. i can't wait for nade fest in a few weeks when we get to hang out again.

i also loved spending time with my tall friend. i am afraid that we are starting to look alike, kinda like those couples who have been married for 30 years. scary in more ways than you know.

utah, you brought your game face this weekend. i appreciate it.

Celebrate!

Last night my roommates threw a little party for me to celebrate the fact that I passed my big test for work. Pretty nice, huh? Parties being thrown in your honor aren't a bad gig - people you love come to hang out with you. This is pretty much heaven for me.

My favorite part of this picture is Brant's face behind me. Nice one. Yeah - go ahead and zoom.

No comment. Yes, Joey's hand is on my thigh.

This was before they put pudding and brownie all over their mouth. And I'm in a good mood today. If you'd like a copy of that, I might be persuaded via email.

Thanks for the good times, friends. You're the best.