playing catch up

So here's what I've been up to:

Last weekend, we bought and built a patio swing!
Mishka approves, as does everyone else who came over.

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We also went to Monterey, which was really nice. Beautiful beaches, nice weather, lots of people, cute shops, and outdoor music.

Saw some seals

Ate on the private patio of a restaurant with this view.

On the way back, we drove by a strawberry ranch. I never knew they put plastic covers on the ground to keep the berries clean!

(Mishka clearly enjoyed all the smells. :)



I also finally went to Santana Row last weekend - I'd been back more than 6 weeks and hadn't gone yet, which is very, very unusual for me! I had lunch there with a friend from H.S. who I hadn't seen since last summer, and who for some reason thought I'd lost a bunch of weight and "looked like anorexic." (qualified with a "not really, but still!") Which I guess is nice...? Anyway, that was funny. and a first.

Also finally saw a movie in a theater! (Hadn't done that since seeing Thank you for smoking 3 months ago in NH!) Irinche & I saw Devil Wears Prada, which was fun, kind of made me think, but had some plot issues.
One of the last moments in the movie: throwing her treo out in the fountain in Paris. (Spoke to me. :)

Something that was a scary thought is seeing how it is so easy to get sucked in... from thinking it's ridiculous to believing it and thinking it is important & worthy. (This was also the day after the K&E promos and reading the Orinkerr comment from the person who said when he was a Biglaw associate he actually believed "work, dinner, work again" = balanced life. )
Another thing I didn't like was the switch: She went from thinking it (the fashion world) is silly to not wanting to do it not because it's silly but because to do it and succeed is too demanding and would make her like the "devil" boss - cold and ambitious. Which are obviously bad qualities and good reasons to not want to do something, but somehow that seemed to gloss over the fact that whatever career she chooses, if she wants to actually really do well in it, she'll probably still have that problem. That's not something that's unique to the fashion world.

The irony was that I wanted to see a fun/thoughtless movie. Not Break up because i wasn't in the mood. Not Click because i didn't want to think about problems of workaholics. and this one had both themes. though, with a happy end of course. just like movie style.

And then during the week I saw a movie with some people from work. I guess things come in clumps, just like baseball games. :) We saw An Inconvenient Truth, which is a movie everyone should see. It's Al Gore's documentary/slide show about global warming. Really good. www.climatecrisis.net

This weekend I actually went berry picking myself at a Stanford alumni event with Joe and Wes (who I hadn't seen in 3 years since SIW, and who still recognized me as I was pulling in to the wrong ranch - I was impressed :) It was at Webb Ranch, which is apparently the last functioning farm on the peninsula. The only reason they can stay afloat is because the land is owned by Stanford & they lease it. In 2002, the land value was $300 million! (which is why all the private farms are out). Also found out that it takes 3yrs to become certified organic. I guess it must actually mean something then? Oh, one exciting find there was a baby bird nest!! It was nestled :) right in the blackberry bushes!

Then I went to a crawfish dinner last night at a partner's house which was had a fun New Orleans theme, and a staffed built-in bar in the back yard. Must be so nice to be able to get a real, freshly made margarita antime you want... :)

And now I'm off to SF to see my cousin who finally just moved back from Philly!

Ok, that's it for me. Oh, and next week promises to be insanely busy as I will have about 4 hours of commuting a day - I'm spending the week in the SF office, which should be fun, but quite tiring... Well, hope for the best.

p.s. for some reason blogger isn't letting me upload more pics, so I will "enhance" this post later. :)