it's electric!

After many months of waiting, two weeks ago my co-worker's Tesla Roadster was delivered! Check out these pics from the parking lot! I didn't get a ride, but I did get to check out the enormous battery pack in the trunk area. Super cool!

double panes

This weekend I got an email about a video created by some students at Stanford, including a friend of mine. Check it out - it is so funny!

"This record's going LEED platinum

Got those skinny windows? Better fatten em."

bananas for breakfast

steel cut oatmeal + bananas + honey + coffee = heaven

have a good weekend!

New Orleans to San Francisco

This past weekend I had four friends from high school come to the Bay Area to visit Rachael and I. Rachael lives in San Francisco and is leaving soon to attend grad school at Tulane. The six of us had such a nice time together! We did lots of touristy things like chocolate sundaes at Ghiradelli Square, but we also did less touristy things like watching Steel Magnolias and eating our weight in cheese and fun fetti brownies. Rachael has a lovely (and very large) apartment in a neighborhood called nopa (north of the panhandle), so the 6 of us were very comfortable over the long weekend (I took Friday off of work).

One of the more memorable moments occured when we went to R Bar on Friday night - which also happened to be the last stop on a Snuggie bar crawl. Snuggies are basically blankets with arms. People got creative and we saw lots of snuggie costumes - snuggie Merlin, snuggie toga, snuggie princess, etc. If you look closely in the background of this picture, you will see some snuggie costumes.

Julia, Elizabeth, Lisa, and Emily - thanks for coming across the country to visit! This weekend was so fun.

UPDATE: see this SF Chronicle article on this very bar crawl

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/29/LVTI16LG23.DTL

arts and crafts

Since moving in with my fiance about a week ago, I have been SLOWLY integrating my stuff in with his stuff. The newest addition to our place is my Simon painting (see above). It is surrounded by corkboard tiles (from Ace Hardware). Over the next few months we plan to pin up things for our New Orleans wedding around this New Orleans painting - sort of a living inspiration/mood board. Then after the wedding, it can display cards, recipes, or whatever! I am pretty excited and we both really like the way it came out.

By the way, I gave my fiance his very own Simon painting for his birthday, which is also hung in the kitchen (see below). Simon doesn't have a website, but you can call him (he works out of an antique shop on Jackson Ave.) and he will pretty much paint whatever you want. His paintings are found all over New Orleans. As chance would have it, I actually have red beans cooking in a crock pot at home today. :)

I'm in heaven

Since I visited B in NYC in October of 2007, I have really wanted a pair of Frye Dorado boots.  However, as a student their price tag was always way too high to buy from Frye or Zappos or whoever.  After 1.5 years of an ebay saved search, I found a brand new pair for half-off the list price!  I have worn them almost every day since I got them in the mail on Friday.  Aren't they lovely?  

Frye was founded in 1863 and is the oldest continuously operating shoe company in the US. Frye boots were worn by Union and Confederate soldiers during America's Civil War, as well as soldiers in the Spanish- American War including Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders. By mail order, the company supplied thousands of WWII servicemen with Frye Wellingtons, known as Jet Boots.  Frye boots traveled the world on the feet of U.S. soldiers during the war - even General Patton wore a pair. 

Looks like I now have a piece of history.  :)

bridget as a bride

Now might be a good time to mention that my sister Bridget does some modeling.  She has done lots of things, however my favorite Bridget photos are those she has taken for McCall's patterns.  My mom sent me this photo of B reminding me that we could always sew my wedding dress.  Although I have no intention of making my own dress, it always puts a smile on my face to see B lookin good on the cover of a pattern.  

p.s. B I tried to find the photo of you in the cat sweater, but had no luck.  I love you!

benterprises

Last week, one of my best friends from college Ben made the long trip out from Maryland to the Bay Area to give a presentation at NASA. Although I can't say that I am thrilled that NASA supports flying across the country for a day to deliver a 60 minute presentation (that could be done over VC), it was great to see Ben! I took him to Fraiche, a Palo Alto natural yogurt shop. It is very California and really good. I don't need any excuse to see my terps!

p.s. check out Ben the last time he visited in the fall of 2006 - has it really been that long?!? We went to Muir Woods and Ben played the trees... 

shamrock shenanigans

Last week at work, Kevin informed the group that we should take a run to get shamrock shakes at McDonalds.  Turns out there is a 2.5 week period every year when McDonald's makes a mint milkshake for St. Patrick's day.  Although my stomach churned a little that afternoon, overall I forgot how good McDonald's shakes could be.   So run out and get yours before it's too late... 

safety first

As my home heater was blasting the other day, I suddenly had a thought about carbon monoxide.  Carbon monoxide, a product of incomplete combustion, is a colorless and odorless gas that can be quite dangerous.  Wikipedia says that it is the most common type of fatal poisoning in some countries.  With detectors abount $25 each, carbon monoxide poisoning is preventable.  Although this post would have been more useful at the START of the winter season (closed up homes + natural gas heating  can equal trouble), it is never too late to get a monitor for your home.  I got mine at Ace Hardware.   

Have a good weekend!

red delicious

This year for Christmas, my brother Tommy and his lovely fiance gave me a gift certificate to Williams Sonoma.  I finally spent it two weeks ago on this beautiful Emile Henry red ceramic casserole dish.  I used to to make the roasted root vegetable pot pie for our friends Kelsey and Spencer last week. Thanks so much Tommy and Mallory!!  

p.s. My new dish perfectly matches the Emile Henry ruffle pie plate that I got from my secret santa (Zizi and James) for Christmas this year.  Thanks to them again!  Check out the lemon meringue pie we made with lemons from my fiance's (!!) meyer lemon tree.

summer in the light

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."  - Charles Dickens

My mom sent me this lovely quote today and it seemed like an appropriate description for the weather over the weekend in Half Moon Bay. 

photo: half moon bay, ca

gonna get married!

I'm engaged! Check out my wonderful engagement ring!  

So it turns out that the plan was never to go shopping, plant roses, and play bananagrams on Saturday!  My boyfriend (now fiance!) was planning a surprise engagement - and believe me I was VERY surprised to hear "will you marry me" right before I went to take a big bite out of my eggplant sandwich!  He proposed on Stanford's campus near the red fountain where we had had one of our first dates.  It was wonderful and sweet and I was literally speechless for what felt like minutes!  Speechless! 

Meeting my boyfriend (now fiance) allowed me to believe that there was magic in the world.