Last Week of 2007

Following our early Christmas in Ukiah with my sister's family, I remained behind through Christmas Day to hang out with mom and dad. Christmas Eve, dad and I made a traditional Christmas dinner to enjoy with his neighbors. The food was very good but unfortunately dad wasn't feeling so well and excused himself for much of the evening. I did a fine job entertaining the guests, both are very interesting people. The next day, mom and I watched 4 movies, that is developing into a great tradition for the two of us. When we went to the rental store the day before, we didn't really know what we wanted but that was easily solved when 3 movies grabbed my attention. Why, you ask, were these movies so obvious...they were all French. Yes, I am predictable. They were all very good, if anyone is looking for something with subtitles, I recommend A Very Long Engagement, Paris, J'taime or La Vie en Rose. We also watched the latest Harry Potter, which was a nice rest from the reading. Our special dinner that night was fresh crab. Delicious.

The next day I headed down to meet the twins. It was great to see everyone healthy and home, though a bit tired. The boys are very different, it will be fun to watch their separate personalities develop. CF and I then met MW for dinner on Santana Row after she finished work...we went to Left Bank, a nice French restaurant. (Yes, I recognize that I have an obsession.) When we arrived home we had some nice coffee deserts and played on our separate computers. The next day, after breakfast and some organization on MW's part we took off for lunch and then I dropped her off at work. I then got to go play with the twins for the afternoon. The next day CF & MW were off to work then to Davis, so it was time for me to switch houses. However, I had all day to do something fun, so after a little research I headed to SF to be a tourist.

I found this great company - http://www.sfcityguides.org/ - that leads walking tours all over the city with different topics. I had two options, Gold Rush City or City Scapes and Public Places. I wanted to do the Gold Rush tour since it tied in to my student tour job but I didn't have enough time to make it to the starting point. We met the guide at the Montgomery Street Bart entrance and we wandered around the area. With the prominence of sky scrapers very few of the buildings date back to the post-earthquake rebuild, but that doesn't make the area less historically interesting. During the 70's there was a regulation that if a sky scraper was to be built they owners of the building also had to provide and maintain an open space adjacent or nearby. My favorite space was the redwood grove adjacent to the Transamerica Pyramid. A more recent regulation is that the roof lines on the newest sky scrapers must be of interest. I found one for MW. If you ever need a fun, informative way to pass some time check out one of these tours. After the tour, I walked around North Beach and found some Italian food for a late lunch/early dinner. It wasn't the best food, I tried to use Yelp to find some thing good but I got impatient and hungry, so I settled for something close. After fueling up I walked over to Union Square so I could enjoy some holiday spirit and then to the Bart station for the trip back to my car. I arrived at the DP's just before they returned from dinner, we spent the evening drinking Pinot and playing Trivial Pursuit.

Saturday was the last day of Christmas for me, finally. The DP's had yet to meet their new nephews so we headed to SC for a visit, but on the way we stopped for half price burgers at St. John's. Delicious. We then spent some time with the twins and saw some friends that were visiting from Ohio. From there it was off to the I household for some chaotic, Christmas fun. With 9 adults, a 6, 5, 4 and 3 year old plus the 6 month old we were in the middle of a whirlwind. The A's were out from Atlanta and I hadn't seen them since last Christmas, EI has grown since I saw her in October and CK & KK just get cuter every time I see them. My favorite moment was the dinner picnic & a movie in EI's room. Next year will be even crazier when all 8 kids are roaming around and the 11 adults do our best to ignore them.

Sunday is made for football, so the DP's and I watched a few games, PDP put Christmas back in the box and TDP wrote a few letters. We drug ourselves away from the teev in order to meet the A's in SF for a couple of drinks. TDP discovered a great drink...Basil Lemonade and we got to have some grown up time with K & A. After the A's & M's departed for dinner, the DP's and I headed to Half Moon Bay for dinner at Sushi Main Street. When we returned home we played more Trivial Pursuit and drank more wine. PDP won the rematch that night, I wonder if it had anything to do with him not drinking with us. Nah.

Monday, I came home, though, not for long. I unpacked the car, had some lunch, repacked and at about that time the DP's arrived to pick me up for the ride to the W's. We had a drink, chatted for a while and then headed to Chicago Fire for some delicious pizza. Then it was off to Roseville for the NYE party at the S's. They recently purchased a new house, that is big enough that there is very little furniture. Perfect for a party. CF brought some Belgian beer to share with all of his friends, I sabered a few bottles of champagne and the S's put out a great spread of food. The hosts provided everyone with New Year's resolutions, mine was to buy new underwear, which I find hilarious. PDP's was to get a better haircut and as many know, he needs it. We had very nice evening. After an uneventful trip home and a great nights sleep, the 5 of us watched as much football as humanly possible with only one teev but with NW's talented control of the remote.

I am now home to stay for a week or so at least. I do enjoy being in my home, really. Like most, I have made a few NY resolutions but they aren't very exciting. However, I plan to spend less time playing around on the computer but more time blogging. Let's see how that goes.

Thanks for reading.