Jordanian Journey

Because we like to do things differently, we spent our first Easter as a family in a Muslim country (nevertheless, we actually managed to squeeze in a pretty special religious moment on the trip--more on that here). Visiting Michelle and Joseph in Amman, Jordan allowed us to explore a corner of the world to which we might not have otherwise ventured. After 32 years of friendship with Michelle and many previous trips under my belt, I had an idea that this probably would be a fun-filled whirlwind of a trip.
How an 8 month old would deal with this much excitement was the only mystery to be solved as Joseph had planned out an impressive 5 day tour of the country's highlights.

Awake after a very brief nap. Only 3:54 to go...

Luckily, Dillon rose to the challenge and was quickly nominated MVP for his ability to charm everyone in sight, obtain early hotel check ins and withstand the occasionally non-baby friendly portions of the trip (aka planes, multi-hour hikes, skipped nap times, etc.).







Here are a few photo highlights of the trip:

Our hosts' pad in Amman

Soaking in the Dead Sea's therapeutic mud 

Best buds

Camel Country

Guyz n Style

Not pictured highlights:

• The time when Michelle flagged down a random driver blaring Tupac to give us a ride. After the end o the jam, he inquired if we also liked Michael Buble and proceeded to blast those beats without noticing the slight inconsistency in his musical tastes.
• The time when we almost ran out of gas in the desert and stopped at a fire station for directions. Almost 20 firemen poured out of the building to help, bearing freshly baked treats and offering to siphon gas out of their personal cars. 
• When our personal dance party got so extreme we broke a bench which we then tried to blame on faulty construction

Overall....a trip of a lifetime with great memories and photos to match.

3 decades down, many more to go...

As promised, I have a few more pictures to share from the wonderful weekend that was my 30th birthday celebration....

With lots of friends and family to help celebrate, we had....

a cake graciously transported to Austin by Carol, commemorating my extreme nerdiness,



a strong, worthy opponent of a pinata...



and a day at the lake with more than a few beers to keep the good times flowing.
(Note the "shotgun" master preparing to blow me out of the water with his skills)

All in all, it was a great weekend that not only left me feeling more than a little bit loved by those around me, but also confident in the good times to come in the next few decades...

Punxsutawney Phil Knows Best

Hangin' tight, flexin' our flow, and chillin' out max with visitors galore here in sunny SF.  That's right--sunny SF.  Frequent blog readers will know how I feel about San Francisco weather (supershittycalifradulent). Nevertheless, I have to say that I am definitely seeing the upside of not having seasons- no summer, but hey, no winter!  As the rest of the country wallowed in snow and ice for the past week, we have had some of the sunniest weather we have seen in the city thus far.  Punxsutawney Phil must know what he is doing because it has been rather spring-like here in Fog City.

Not one to waste a sunny day, I dragged our weekend visitors Christie and Adam outside as often as possible.  Planning our day?  Let's discuss in the park.  Where should we watch the Superbowl?  Let's think about it in the park. Tired? Hey, I have a blanket we can bring to the park...

Sunday, we ensured that that the entire day would be spent outside by purchasing a brand spanking new hillbilly golf set (yes, we understand that this makes our set very drugstore cowboy, but honestly, I didn't quite have the wherewithal to saw and measure PVC pipes on that particular Sunday morning) and a few tasty libations.  As we took up a disproportionate amount of space and explained our foreign sport to other park goers, we realized that life isn't so bad here in SF. 

So if you are currently buried in snow, dreary weather, and/or the winter blues- book a trip out west because you know that we always keep it classy here in San Francisco...

Escape to LA

My lovely hosts

Only two weeks back in SF and a week into the new job (more to come on that one...) and I was already ready for a serious vacation!  Luckily, Whitney, Nicole and their posse are only a short plane ride away and MLK was a great man deserving of a national holiday.  Enter a 3-day weekend of fun in the sun and corresponding wardrobe makeover courtesy of my pint-sized friend (SF uniform of hoodie and jeans just wouldn't do on the Venice boardwalk).

 LA might be a lot of things, but no one ever called it dreary...

Enjoying memorable food & conversation at Gjelina



9th Annual DAT

Once again, competitors arrived from near and far to compete in the annual Day-After-Thanksgiving foosball and ping-pong tournaments. Representatives from Korea, California, New York, Italy, and Texas battled it out in an epic struggle for greatness.  Only those with the greatest table-sport abilities and resistance to the often crippling effects of spending too much time around the keg emerged victorious.

Despite the heckling of onlookers from the "walnut gallery," a previously unknown 16 yr-old ringer won the ping-pong tournament in a last round defeat of the perpetually-confident Michael Galvin.  Discouraged by the pattern of globally ranked  underage tennis players taking the title, minimum drinking requirements might be instated in years to come to ensure a level playing field for all competitors.

 

Inside, an unsurprising series of events took place as the "randomly" selected team of Tara & Dad Galvin worked their way to the top of the ranks and to eventual victory.  Neither Jared nor my team made it into the final rounds, but we definitely made a respectable showing and transferred our efforts to socializing and tending to the needs of the keg.

All in all, the 9th Annual DAT party was an unquestioned success!

Victory Lap

Before heading back to Texas for the Thanksgiving holidays, we celebrated Jared's 29th birthday with a collection of friends we have made since moving to San Francisco. 

We kicked off the rainy evening at Tony's Pizza, universally recognized as the best example of Neapolitan pizza in the Bay Area and according to our Northeastern friends in attendance that evening "not as horrible as most pizzas on the West coast".  Several delicious pies and more than a few bottles of Italian red later, we dashed through the rain to nearby Mojito, to check out a local funk band, the Grease Traps. 

Although the music didn't exactly blow any one's mind, it was the perfect backdrop to a rowdy evening with friends and a great way to ring in Jared's victory lap through his twenties....

Texas Two Step

I've been lucky to have had not one but two trips to la patria in the past month.  The first trip was strictly a ladies weekend, full of wine drinking, outfit changing, and artistic photos.

The second visit was to celebrate the wedding of two of Jared's MBA pals: Sam Brown and Melissa Sprinkle.  Being an MBA event, the party wouldn't have been complete without a theme and corresponding costumes.

 

The Texas-themed rehearsal dinner had more than a few interpretations of what a "Texan" might wear, but I still feel pretty confident about our choice to go dressed as the "Jean King and Queen."

 

Down yonder in Texas town, we ran into few familiar faces and had a few laughs.

Sometimes Willie just puts it best, so to Texas we say: if you've got the money, honey, we've always got the time...

Dinner and a Movie

Although we had always known it was pretty awesome to live right on one of the most popular parks in town, the stars aligned on Saturday night and its awesomeness was skyrocketed to a whole new level.  To make a perfect San Francisco evening follow the following recipe:

Add 1 brand new mini-grill

 A very excited and often well prepared crowd

An awesome movie

and a handful of good pals

Mix well with a generous portion of alcohol and voila! a perfect Indian Summer night!

King of the World on a Boat Like Leo

Pop Quiz:  What is the deepest lake in the U.S.and the 9th deepest in the world?  If you answered Lake Tahoe that would be incorrect.  But good guess.  Crater Lake in Oregon at 1,949 ft is the winner.  Tahoe is pretty weak at 1,644 ft deep, good for the silver medal in the U.S. but a loser-esque 16th place in the global rankings.  Despite its depth lameness, we decided to give it a whirl for Labor Day weekend at our friend Ali's place.  Turned out to be a pretty solid gamble.

The Host

The House

The Crew

The Bartender  

The Badass

Crawl to Walk

This weekend, I held down the fort in SF while Jared continued his tour-de-Phish in Colorado and continued onto Dallas for his 10th high school reunion.  Although I am sure that I would have enjoyed the awkward moments that Jared certainly encountered reuniting with the Class of 2000, I had important work to do: drink and dress up in a ridiculous outfit- all for a great cause.  Last Halloween weekend, a friend from high school, Kendell Hall (pictured above, right), was in a terrible car accident that left her paralyzed from the chest down.  Since that time, she has made an amazing and incredibly inspirational recovery that has allowed her to regain full arm movement and progress toward walking again!  Her determination and hard work has led to features on CNN news and Anderson Cooper.  Learn more about Kendell and contribute to her recovery fund at www.help-a-fwend.com .

 

To help cover the costs of Kendell's rehab program, her family organized a pub crawl, "Crawl to Walk" in SF this weekend.  The pub crawl was jazzercise/workout themed as a tribute to her intense daily physical therapy sessions.  High school friends Whitney Ashley and Nicole Zaccanelli traveled up from LA for the weekend, happy to embarrass themselves and practice drinking endurance in support of Kendell. 

I am not sure how much we raised from our cut of the bar tabs, but from the amount of silliness going on, I would guess it was pretty substantial.  So here's a big cheers to Kendell, the Hall family, and to the purple stretchy pants that are now a part of my wardrobe!

The Finer Things in Life

A recent excursion to the De Young fine arts museum allowed me to showcase the impressive cultural offerings of our new city and the importance that fine arts play in our lives here.  

OK, I can't continue any longer with this charade.... it was free day at the museum and I thought it would be more fun to view the impressive collections with others that were sure to be as equally clueless as I.  In actuality, with our artistic knowledge combined (my "mastery" of Latin America + Addie's obsession with colonial America + 2 kids with cultural parents + Michael's eclectic college coursework), we could follow along fairly well.

The actual structure of the de Young is equally impressive as its collections and we braved the crowds to check out the viewing tower, which overlooks Golden Gate park and part of city.  If I had to describe the structure, I might say that it is, "Constructed of warm, natural materials including copper, stone, wood and glass, the new de Young blends with and complements its natural surroundings. Ribbons of windows erase the boundary between the museum interior and the lush natural environment outside, and four public entrances segue naturally from the park’s pathways, welcoming visitors from all directions."  What is really crazy is that the museum's website describes it in exactly the same way!

Never ones to rush the finer things in life, we took the opportunity to stroll the rose gardens after leaving the museum and were moderately impressed with the array of varietals and some of the clever hybrids the gardeners had engineered.

After a tranquil day viewing lovely specimens of natural and human creation, we looked forward in anticipation to the beer, fast food, and jam band music fueled weekend that was to come.

Southern Visitors

Look who's here!

Two of our favorite zany characters from Cape Town, Paul and Addie, are visiting the Bay Area on "business."  Between lectures at Ivy League schools and making human DNA a less mysterious world, Paul has managed to squeeze in no fewer than five Phish shows out here on the West coast.  Good thing Jared requested a week off from work for musical reasons.  In the meantime, Addie and I will be filling our time with Cape Town non-profit gossip, comparing SA and CA wines, and losing at Pictionary.  Stay tuned for post-concert pictures and adventures....

Frisky Fourth

4th of July weekend: A celebration of America's birthday and... our first visitors!  Conor and Natalie, who usually only travel for the 35+ weddings that they have attended this year, made the trip out west to see what all of the hubbub is about. 

Between the 20-30 bars that we absolutely had to to take them to, a Jazz festival, a disastrous road trip to the beach, and many a dance party, we managed to show them a good time.

We were even able to arrange for Conor to try his namesake burger: the McCarthy burger (verdict: a little saucy, much like its namesake).

Despite Jared's personal form of torture via Huey Lewis and the News on repeat, I think there is a chance that they just might visit us again.

Happy Birthday to.... ME!

That's right, another one down in the books.  The good news is that I have also entered into my 5 months of dominance over Jared when it comes to age.   Although the day didn't start too amazingly (unless you really love laundry and Target), we had no problem rounding out the day with some serious birthday activities.  First on the agenda: decadent desserts during the middle of the day.  Destination: Tartine, one of the most highly rated bakeries in town.  We settled on the chocolate bread pudding with fresh strawberries and a chocolate walnut cookie.  Both were both amazingly good, but things really hit 11 when we mixed the two together.   For the record, Tartine is totally hype-worthy. 

Later, we picked up some pink champagne, St. Germain, and just a bit of absinthe to really kick things off.   A sunny afternoon in the park, segued into pre-dinner champagne, into a lovely little Latin meal at Charanga and the night was off to a great start.  Mix in a few new compadres, half a dozen local Mission bars, one pants leg covered in paint, and things got downright celebratory.

Thanks to all of the friends and family for the well-wishes and know that if you are ever trying to find a place to show yourself a good birthday time, we can add LGD29 to our San Francisco resume.