Archives for the month of: May, 2008

meghan, watson and i went hiking and saw some cool trees, pretty waterfalls and a lot of people with soft spots for super-wiggly blond pups.

i just saw a baskin-robbins commercial and how adorable is this – their tagline is ‘yay!’ and a chorus of little kids yell it. ADORABLE.

maria skimboarding

i managed to sunburn half of my stomach and one long strip down the back of my leg. but still, there are worse ways to spend a holiday then falling asleep on the beach, reading comics and eating scallops.

oh god i want this wood grain desk set from elum so so bad. WANT.

i liked it. the end.

just kidding. ok it had problems – a couple of times i was taken out of the movie by how ridiculous things were getting or a line that was over the top, but overall? it was a lot of fun. it was non-stop action and i hate that i have to admit this, but i even liked shia labeouf in it (typing that phrase hurt. a lot.). harrison ford looks his age, yes, but he still kicks ass. the set pieces in this movie are insanely cool. the thing with the big staircase? my parents and i were in the stage at warner bros where it was shot, so that was kinda neat.

maria and i saw it by ourselves because for some inexplicable reason, clayton didn’t want to see it. i know – we’re all confused too. how can you NOT want to go see indiana jones? IT’S INDIANA JONES. everyone! you should go see indiana jones! i feel bad for the x-files movie though. indy totally beat it to the punch.

update: watching ‘raiders of the lost ark’ and oh my sweet lord harrison ford is hot. no – he’s hawt.

someone please explain to me why jake gyllenhaal is going to be the lead in the prince of persia movie. then explain to me why ben barnes (prince caspian in prince caspian) was not cast instead. and don’t give me some bullshit about him not being an a-lister.

twins

update: photos

it’s cold in san francisco. like, real cold. wasn’t it just unbearably hot here? wha happen’d? when i got to this coffee shop (no free wifi at hotel) i was sweating from hauling my huge work laptop up the hill so i ordered an iced tea. now i’m shivering in my coat, ready to put on my scarf, and giving my iced tea the evil eye. i’m actually considering ordering some coffee just to warm up. me. coffee. *shudder*

why am i in sf? yesterday morning arden invited me along on her trip (she’s doing some training), and since i only need my laptop and an internet connection to work, why not? we left last night (after cameron and i looked at apartments and houses – they were all way better than expected) and got to the hotel at 1am. we’ll be here until wednesday night, and so far – aside from the staggering cold (and really, it’s not even that cold) – it’s pretty great. there are buildings here made from REAL BRICK, how novel. clearly i’ve been away from the midwest for too long.

tonight ian is driving into town from sacramento, picking up eric on the way, and we’re all going to hang out. there are some galleries around here arden and i want to check out, including the sf g1988! they’re having a sale too, so maybe i’ll buy some more art to add to my collection. also? joyriding in ian’s A4. maybe we can have some street races! ian in his A4 versus arden in her TT! ok, DONE. this night is all sewn up.

Finally, I’m starting to post photos from the Alpine trip again. My goal is to be done by the time the one-year anniversary rolls around. Only four months to go (oh crap only four months until i’m 27.) and over 550 photos left to go through. *sigh*

Day 5 was my birthday, and at breakfast in Munich I was serenaded! We drove to Austria and stopped in Salzburg. It was chilly and rainy, but our walking tour was still really enjoyable. We saw the birthplaces of Mozart and Doppler and walked through the Mirabell Gardens. We saw an old cemetery at St. Peter’s Archabbey.

For lunch, I spotted a restaurant in the square across from Mozart’s birthplace called zum Eulenspiegel. The building itself is over 650 years old and it’s held the restaurant since 1713. Inside you walk up a narrow winding staircase and are seated in one of the smaller dining rooms. Ours overlooked the Salzach River from a wall that made up the archway to the square. Each room is themed and very cozy. It was an excellent birthday lunch and I highly recommend zum Eulenspiegel to anyone who is lucky enough to visit Salzburg.

When we were loading the bus to go on to Vienna, our tour director, DeeDee, had to go back to look for a few of our wayward companions. A police officer started giving us a hard time for staying the loading zone for so long and finally our driver had to…show the policeman some good will, as it were, and gave him a bottle of wine from a stash in the glove compartment. We were no longer bothered. Once we were on our way, DeeDee played the "The Sound of Music" soundtrack on the bus’s stereo.

In Vienna we made a brief stop at the hotel then drove to Grinzing, on the outskirts of town, for dinner and drinks at a heurigen wine bar. On the way we saw the Minopolis, the much reviled ‘golden cabbage’ the stadtgartendirektion and a swimming pool on a barge in the Danube canal.

At the wine bar, we were served a giant platter of various meats (including wienerschnitzel of course) and spatzle and…never-ending pitchers of wine. PITCHERS. OF. WINE. Um…things got a little crazy. There were these great musicians walking around playing music and taking requests and my mom and cousin got up and danced and got other people to dance and my mom sang like Louis Armstrong. And still the wine kept coming. Everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for me and ‘Happy Anniversary’ for a couple in our tour and I got a birthday cake – the famous sacher torte! By 9pm everyone was feeling pretty good and soon the night was over, much to everyone’s chagrin.

Laura: It’s time to go??

Amy: Oh shit.

Also, when we were loading the bus to go to the hotel my mom commandeered the bus’s microphone to reprise her Louis Armstrong impression! I’m not sure how future birthdays will top this one.

my first attempt at a ficlet! ficlets are like exquisite corpses, but online and with people you don’t know. some of them get pretty interesting – my favorite story so far starts here.