Matchy Matchy Brown Squared

Here are Erica and Courtney in matching adorable brown dresses at Kara's wedding. Being Mormon is super great, it really is. And temple weddings are wonderful. I can't imagine my life any other way...but this also means that I rarely get to attend any of those fancy weddings that grace the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings with the bride walking down the aisle at a vineyard and everyone is in pretty dresses and then you eat awesome food and dance all night. So, you can only imagine my delight when Kara invited us to her wedding. Her big fancy, in a vineyard, pretty dress wedding. She looked gorgeous. The weather was gorgeous. It was storybook. It really was. Here she is walking down the aisle.



And here is the beautiful Vicky Hill as a bridesmaid. She set up Kara and Adam and look how that turned out. The two of us get to visit teach each other which is awesome! Plus, she looks gorgeous in her dress too.



I have to say that driving for over 2 hours to cover just about 35/40 miles was well worth it when we got to go to the wedding. Thanks Kara for letting us come and for the beautiful wedding. Plus, it gave me a chance to wear my shoes that I'm still totally in love with.

A Hiking We Will Go

I woke up really early on Saturday to spend the majority of the day staring at this:



Don't get me wrong, Gnu's got a great little toosh, and I'm sure his adorable fiance Whitney loves it. However, it was really early on the start of a super long day. We went up hiking near Pt. Reyes. If you haven't been there, go, it's gorgeous. I bet Gnu would even join you if you want to stare at his toosh all day!

Hiking along the coast line made me super glad that I live in California. Sure I had gorgeous mountains in Utah, but they weren't right next to the ocean.



We hiked up a really steep hill that reminded me that I'm not as fit as I once was and even made me consider passing out along the trail thus missing my opportunity to see this:



You may notice that I am still out of breath in that picture and barely standing up. Thank you Amy for preventing me from falling to my death. I don't think I fully recovered until I was down at the beach.



and able to jump this high:



Thank you Gnu for my first ever jumping picture. I'm really proud that you were able to get it on the first try when I used about 35 pictures to get you jumping--at least you aren't in the film era anymore, right?



I got some well needed rest eating lunch on the beach and was ready to book it the 5.5 miles back to the car in order to get home in time to shower for Courtney's graduation dinner at the Gingerbread House.

It didn't take me long on the 5.5 miles back to the car to realize how stupid we were to keep hiking past our original 4 mile turnaround point. The out-of-shape factor was definitely starting to play a bigger role in my tired level. With the help of adorable new girl Tori, I was able to make it back to the car with 0 seconds to spare. Gnu and I jumped in, pawned off our carpoolers on other people and headed for dinner. (Home to shower first and then dinner--yes, I showered and got ready in about 10 minutes, I'm amazing!)



Ever since Courtney and I first discovered this little gem by the freeway on our way to the tube to Alameda, we have often wondered what it would be like to actually eat there. Courtney's graduation was as good an excuse as any...and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I do hope that Courtney blogs about it because she has all of the pictures. It was definitely an experience.

True to form of late, last Saturday was exhausting. I miss the good ol' days where I could sleep in until 11 and then watch an ABC Family movie marathon all day. When did I sign up for this event filled lifestyle? It's fantastic.

Blogging from the Bus

Today I saw a pale man with white hair. Imagine this. A pale man with white hair. He didn't have white hair just on his head. No. In fact, his arm hair was white too. Are you imagining this? Contrasted with his black t-shirt and black jeans, I was freaked out by this phenomenon. He was so white...it made me look tan by comparison. I hope I see that man again so we can become friends.

As the title of this blogs states, I'm blogging to you all now from the comfort of the bus. (Well, it was a lot more comfortable before some man thought he could sit next to me. There are plenty of other seats available, why would you sit next to the person with a computer open on her lap and her bag next to her only to make her move her bag and type on the computer all awkward like? Jerk!!) Anyway, back to the story: Technology is awesome. I'm on the internet on the bus. Who would have ever thought that we could live in a world where such luxury was possible? I wonder what fine things will be next? Teleporting? I sure hope so!

Stealing the Show

As many of you may recall, Courtney and I began serious rehearsal of the Air Supply classic, Making Love out of Nothing at all, several weeks ago. I told you all that we were trying to perfect it for open mic night or other such opportunities to showcase our talent. Well, to be quite honest, I wasn't planning on ever letting a performance of that song leave the apartment. Much to my surprise, Courntey was. Last night at acoustic night at the institute, we held nothing back and performed our best to date performance of the Air Supply classic.



We moved many in the audience to join in and sing the chorus. Look at the smiles of happiness and glee from those who could witness the spectacle.



Now, to be completely honest, it was mortifying. I don't sing in public and I'm pretty sure Air Supply is the only band that could inspire me to do so ever again. We did fall apart a little at the end when I couldn't control my giggling when I was supposed to be doing the "Making Loves" but we were able to pull it together and finish on a very lovely "Out of nothing at all."

Even better were the not so subtle promptings to join the choir that were focused in my direction all day at church. Sorry Mackenzie, I don't do the choir. I'm going to go ahead and hide that "talent" under a bush. We'll save the choir for the real singers.

Copying Natalie

So, my life coach posted this on her blog, therefore, I must follow. This is actually pretty funny. I went to Google and typed in "Alisa needs" and pressed enter. These are the top nine things that I need:

1) Alisa needs a home without children (this is so true, I have sticky issues. I love my nieces and nephews but prefer living with adults)

2) Alisa needs to quit working (again, couldn't be more true if I made this stuff up))

3) Alisa needs to think through the issues (like I'd admit if that one was true))

4) Alisa needs food every couple of hours (preferably chocolate!) (I didn't even have to add in that last part, it was already in Google, so true about the food though))

5) Alisa needs help...and not just the psychiatric kind (now this is getting a little self-destructive))

6) Alisa needs to get her own (don't even ask))

7) Alisa needs to wait for Annette to not be around because she doesn't want her...(again super true, I don't know what comes after her...but I know it has got to be true. I don't want anything to do with Annette, I can't stand her.--if an Annette is reading this I'm not talking about you, promise))

8) I'm not saying Alisa NEEDS any enhancement, but her size seems to vary (ha ha ha ha ha, awesome!))

9) Alisa needs to sing deeper more (how perfect is this because it leads me to my next blog subject))

Thanks Natalie, that was fun!

You Should Never Tell a Lie

Before you all head out for a weekend of fun, please keep this following lesson in mind:

Other People's Kids

Okay, I'm sick of looking at my feet every time I open my blog...yuck...what was I thinking when I decided to post my feet on the internet. I've reached an all time low. The shoes are great, but next time I will refrain from showcasing my feet with them. They are much cuter from my angle anyway (looking down from just over 5 feet away).

Anyway, I've recently become an aunt for the 5th time. I love being an aunt. It is so fun to spoil little children and dress them up in adorable little clothes. I am also lucky that I get to live by one of my nephews and the baby in utero (Heidi Anderson--no mom and dad, Stephanie and Erik aren't going to name her that, but I think it would be funny).

Berkeley, my adorable nephew, just loves animals. I went down to Stanford to go to the local carnival and study math with Stephanie. It was an awesome day. Here is my adorable little nephew:



I never knew how much of a Dr. Dolittle he was. He is riding that pony like a John Wayne natural.









After that horrible experience was over for Berkeley, we decided to test his love for animals out in the petting zoo.







The whole ordeal was so traumatic that it took a Capri Sun,



a sno cone,



and another Capri Sun to help the poor kid recover.



We eventually went back to Stephanie's for so much needed naps. Berkeley is a good kid and I'm sure he's going to be a great big brother in August.

I'm in Love

That's right mom, I'm in love. Don't start planning the wedding though because it's not like that. When I was in Portland I got distracted by all the fancy shops and got sucked into a Nordstrom only to fall in love with these:



My feet have never been more happy wearing animal bi-products (although I'm pretty sure that no zebra's were killed in the making of my shoes). I hope you all enjoy the nice shot of my feet, they look white and big at this angle.

Remember the Cheesecake?

Well, awhile back we went to Tahoe. It was wonderful. We still talk about it. In fact, I just got back from Ali's house where we laughed about the awesomeness that was that weekend. You may remember that I made the most delicious cheesecakes, yummmm. Well, Erica was talking about the cheesecakes and then Elisa piped in and said, "Bret [Gnu] totally watched me eat it...off my chest." The entire room broke into laughter. She was referring to her fall while skiing and meant the "eat it" as in fell and wiped out. However, this was right after cheesecake talk...it was amazing. My stomach still hurts a little bit, as do my cheeks.

Oh, good times.

I know this doesn't truly appease Leslie, Amy and Natalie. I did promise Amy a good 30 minutes devoted to the blog this weekend. However, this story was truly funny.

It's Bathtime in Berkeley

That's right tomorrow is the first Friday of the month and that means everyone in Berkeley takes a bath.



I was walking around the Cal campus a few weeks ago when Brett was in town and someone had filled it up with bubbles. Awesome. I was so tempted to jump in.

I try to Blog but...

As my life coach so lovingly pointed out to me today, I've only blogged four times in the last month. I'm sorry. So, tonight while watching a very depressing first half of the Jazz game I am blogging. Good thing I can't upload any of the awesome pictures that I need in order to tell stories with.

Dang it!

I'm going to have to regroup and try something else. Wait for it folks.

Riding the 51

I take the bus. Yes, I also own a car, but it usually only comes out on weekends. I take the bus to and from work. I love this set up and always wanted to take the bus when I lived in SLC, but I couldn't seem to get over the fact that in order to do so I would have to wake up one hour earlier in order to get to work at the same time. There also wouldn't be a cost savings on gas, and I would have had to walk a couple of blocks downtown for my transfer. However, I always imagined myself one day living in a place that I could just take the bus. Now, I take the bus. My bus is usually a big fancy bus with soft seats that recline a little like tour buses. My fellow bus patrons also commute into San Francisco and are relatively quiet with the occasional loud talker on his/her cell phone. I enjoy my commute and riding the bus.

This past week I had two opportunities that made me incredibly grateful to ride Bus O daily instead of any other bus. Bus O only goes to and from Alameda and San Francisco. Bus 51 goes from Alameda to Berkeley through Oakland. I usually take this bus when I leave work really late (I take the BART to Oakland and then the bus to my house). Last week my boss' boss was in town, and we had dinner after work. We ate at a steakhouse in the new Bloomingdale's mall. Of course I went shopping after dinner. I didn't find anything, but I also spent too much time shopping because I barely missed the BART I needed, so I was left waiting for 20 minutes for the next train. I therefore barely missed the bus I needed, and I was left for 30 minutes waiting for my bus. Yes, mom, I was standing in the middle of downtown Oakland at 9:30 PM (it was dark). I was completely safe. Anyway, I met a couple of interesting people while I stood there waiting for the bus. One homeless man was really nice to me and wanted to know what kind of a store JCrew was. I guess that did mean I ended up buying something because I had a bag with me. Anyway, he was pretty funny and told me not too worry lil' darlin'. Who doesn't love being called a lil' darlin'?

Finally, the bus is approaching a new person joins the crew of people waiting for the bus. He seemed normal enough. I got on and sat down. I later realized that I only paid $1.50 for the bus when it actually costs $1.75. I guess I owe AC Transit $.25, sorry. So, it was late and cold and I was bare legged in a skirt. So I sat on the seat on top of the heater. It was so toasty wonderful. Unfortunately the new fella came and sat across from me. He kept looking at me too. When on the bus you should look forward, out the window or down if you do not have anything else, like a book, to occupy your eyes with. Don't stare at the other strangers. (Yes, I did stare at the Jason Lee guy from Almost Famous, but he was almost famous--ha ha ha, I'm hilarious). Anyway, creepy! I was totally grateful when he got off the bus a few stops later.

Overall a less than stellar bus ride. I missed my fellow quiet commuters that don't stare at me.

I took Friday off of work. I had to take my car to the dealership in Logan. Guess what? A 51 bus stop was right next to the dealer, awesome! So, in the middle of a Friday afternoon, I innocently enough I hop on the bus. Big mistake! Big! Apparently it was field trip day. The bus was full of at least 30 8 year olds. Luckily they were all in a very giving mood and decided to sing for all other patrons on the bus. That's right. They sang, the entire time they were on the bus. I learned about the planets in the solar system (Pluto was still included) and how many minutes are in an hour, and hours in a day, and days in a week, and weeks in a year. I also got to listen to Yankee Doodle, This Land is Your Land, The Star-Spangled Banner and some other patriotic tunes that I couldn't quite place. Plus additional songs that I couldn't pick out or knew. True to 8-year-old form, they only had one volume level for their singing voices: LOUD! It was the longest 10 minute bus ride of my life.

I'm taking a moratorium on the 51 bus.

There's no place like home

On my way home from Seattle, I had a layover in Salt Lake City and decided that I should definitely spend the weekend with my family. Families are awesome.

Here's me and mom. We spent Saturday up in Park City shopping and eating. By spent Saturday, I mean, we woke up around 10, got ready and left around 12 for Park City. Bought a lot of clothes for the grandkids, got lunch, and then hit two more shops for new clothes and shoes. We were home by 3 and ready for a nap. I made my dad take us all to the new restaurant Pine. It was a good meat and potatoes place.



Here's me and Jeanette. Little sisters are so fun. I can still beat her up, easily.



And here's Mike.



True to form, I have no pictures of dad. He's like a ghost or something because we can never get a picture of him. I have no idea how Kellie was able to get one in North Carolina. It must have been the pistachio popsicle that distracted him long enough to snap a picture.

I then went to the Jazz game with Paul. Jazz games are usually a ton of fun. The Energy Solutions arena can get so loud and out-of-control. Plus, it was right before the play-offs and Phoenix was in town. (I totally have a crush on Nash--too bad about the stitches). Well, no offense to Paul, but the night was very underwhelming. The Jazz got totally schooled. It was the quietest I have heard the Delta center ever.

Well my weekend in Utah was awesome. Thanks for letting me come visit mom and dad. As always, I got to do free laundry and eat well!

It rains 9 months out the year in Seattle

That's right, I learned that in Sleepless in Seattle. And it is true. Think about it like this: there are 12 months in a year and only 3 of those months are sunny or 1/4 of them are sunny. I was in Seattle for 4 days it was rainy for 3 of those 4 days or 1/4 of them were sunny. Awesome.

Good thing the one sunny day was the day I wondered around town. I had a half a day in the city and I was going to go see stuff. I went to the Space Needle.



I went to the market and saw the pretty trees in bloom.



I went to the sculpture park.




I went to the aquarium. These are blowfish. Bad picture, yes.



And I did not go to the Science Fiction Movie Museum even though the building looked cool. I knew that there was nothing in there worth $15 from me.



My first night there I went to dinner at the Pink Door. I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't. I did, however, steal a pen from the restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious. I took it to go and ate back at the hotel, but next time I'm staying for the cabaret show.

The next night I got to go out to dinner with Jason Campbell--one of the funniest guys I know. It was pretty tasty.

I went to Olympia on the rainiest of days, that wasn't too fun, but it was very green and pretty. I had been craving fish and chips and made the horrible mistake of ordering fish and chips at the restaurant we went to by the state capital building. Yuck! A mistake I won't make next time.

All in all, I like Seattle and I'm super glad I get to go there more often for work. Hurray for traveling to fun places!

I heart Luke!

Well, I have to say that French Dip Tuesday is a wonderful club to be in. Tonight Courtney and I went to Ole's and had French dip sandwiches. Side note: upon entering Ole's Waffle House I was quite sad about not being able to order waffles, but I was going to have to stay strong. So, Courtney and I both order our French dip and French fries (an added bonus).

While waiting for our sandwiches, we decided to play one of our favorite games 1-2-3. Those of you who are obsessed with Gilmore Girls like myself learned of this game after Rory and Dean first broke up. Sitting in our local diner in Alameda at a window booth set the scene for this game. For those of you who are oblivious to the game, I'll give you a quick rundown. You get three choices for your husband. The catch is you have to decide yes or no with each one. In other words, you can't compare 1 to 2 or 3. And if you say no to both 1 and 2, you automatically get 3. I was first. 1--adequate, but I knew I could do better so I said no. 2--old man postal worker, this was a definite no. Therefore, I automatically got lucky bachelor #3. A 50-some old chubby balding man. I'm sure he's nice and the two of us are going to be so happy.

Courtney's turn. 1--a very, very nerdy young man that walked with a slight slouch. Courtney said yes. Seriously. She wasn't even going to wait to see what options were out there for her. After witnessing my options she decided that age was a really important factor in her decision and she took the young guy. Watching him dine at Ole's really made her appreciate her decision. I'm pretty sure he even left a good tip. After watching #2 and #3 go by, she stuck by her decision. They were fine choices, but I really think there was a connection between Courtney and Mr. Nerdy McNerdison. I know they will be happy.

Shortly after that our sandwiches were ready. So delicious.



I hope you all enjoyed French dip sandwiches today. If not, you can always join us in June.

Now, I find it appropriate to be watching Gilmore Girls while blogging--especially because I had a Tuesday night Gilmore Girl experience playing 1-2-3 in the diner. Anyway, I do hope you all were able to witness the horror (by horror, I mean wonderful theatrical element) of Lorelai singing the Whitney Houston classic "I will always love you" to Luke at karaoke night. She started singing it to Rory but then Luke entered and blah blah blah...awesome! I hope I didn't ruin it for everyone--you must check it out.

I hope you all had a great French Dip Tuesday!

French Dip Tuesday

Hey Everyone! Remember tomorrow is the first Tuesday of the month. Not only does Brigham finally get to shower, but it is French Dip Tuesday. I'm hoping to steal my camera back from Gnu so I can take a picture of me eating a French Dip Sandwich tomorrow night while blogging and watching Gilmore Girls. I invite all to join in the festivities. French Dip sandwiches are really good. I don't know where the best place to get one is. I did have one at Tillie's once. Even though I don't like Tillie's, I may have to go back for French Dip tomorrow. Hmmm, basically I've got a lot to think about and prepare before tomorrow night.

Let me know about your French Dip sandwiches tomorrow. Natalie, you live right by the Gateway and can go to the Doto, home of the most delicious French dip. If I find out that you don't participate in this event, I will cry. (I'm testing out using crying as a threat. I haven't been able to gather enough evidence yet to truly test its power, but I'm not about to stop the test. On a side note: I have gotten more laughs as a response than I had originally hypothesized.)

Happy Eating!

Patience is divine

So, I'm sure several of you (mostly just Natalie) are wondering when I'm actually going to blog again and post pictures and tell classic anecdotes, well, right now is not that time. I'm sorry. Watch the news people. We've had exciting and dangerous happenings here. The freeway broke. Actually, this doesn't affect me all that much, but traffic is going to suck for the next several months. Really really sucky traffic.

The real reason I can't spend my Sunday afternoon blogging about my last few adventures is because Mr. Gnu has stolen my camera and is taking it hostage. He's such a jerk. Until I get that camera back I can't blog with pictures and tell you about stuff and try and be funny. Tell him you are upset by this recent event, it is all his fault.

Now, I have a real life problem. Our fridge stinks. Not smells a little, but stinks! Full blown stinky nasty so we never ever want to open it up. We have thrown away fresh, good food on the random chance that it could be bad. I have cleaned and sanitized every inch of both the fridge and freezer. All of this to no avail. We have become the stinky kids, and I'm not happy about. Not happy!!! How can I get rid of the smell? It's nasty. Nasty!

There you go, Natalie. Happy Monday morning to you. I can't blog with pictures because Gnu's a jerk and my house stinks because of my nasty fridge. On a happier note, Golden State just went into the half with a very nice half court shot tying it up. Well done local team, well done.

Every Member a Missionary

Sunday was ward conference and theme was missionary work. Missionary work is a great topic; something that I think we can all work on. It was great timing. Just last week, I walked into my office and found a pamphlet with Jesus on the cover and Plan of Salvation across the top. Right away I recognized the mormon stock art and was thrilled someone thought to leave me information about my church. I giggled inside assuming that Anita had left it for me. I don't know why I thought it was Anita. Anita is the greatest. She's this 40 year old lady that lives with her mom in San Francisco. She grew up going to Catholic School and gives up treats and chocolate every year for lent. I'm so proud of her. I'm also grateful that my religion doesn't participate in lent. Who wants to go without candy for 40 days--you Catholics are amazing!

Back to the story. The pamphlet is still sitting on my desk so I am constantly reminded that somebody else was being a good member missionary. Who do you ask was the good member missionary. A stranger on the BART. Anita got on the BART one night after work. There was a window seat available. She kindly asked the gentleman in the suit sitting on the aisle on his way home from work if she could sit there. He got up and let her in. She thanked him and sat down. He then reached into his briefcase, pulled out the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and handed it to Anita. No words were exchanged. The man got off of the BART a few stops later. Never to see Anita again.

Anita could not throw the pamphlet away because it talked about God. Therefore as a God fearing woman, she passed it on to me. Thank you Anita. And thank you Mr. Member Missionary. I'm always afraid to be bold and invite others to learn about my religion, however, your example inspires me. Thank you.

At Least I'm a Good Mother

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Breads of India...Delicious

It's a well known fact that my favorite restaurant in the bay area is Breads of India. I think that this restaurant is so great that it has pushed Indian to the top of my list of favorite foods. That is quite a feat because I love food. So, well done you amazing cooks at Breads of India. Okay, well done whoever came up with their chicken tikki masala recipe--yum.

This is one of my most favorite places that I like to take visitors. Courtney also shares a love for the tikki masala. The original Breads of India opened in Berkeley on Sacramento. It is the tiniest little restaurant and dining there allows you to dine with strangers at your table. It's great and very intimiate. Luckily for me, this was on my way home from the Bart stop every day after work when I lived in Berkeley. Unfortunately, when I moved to Alameda I didn't get to drive by as often. However, they expanded and opened a restaurant in Oakland which isn't far from our house at all. This one is much larger and decorated perfectly. You really all should come to Breads of India with us.

So, when Lynn, Drew and 63 were in town we of course went to Breads of India in Oakland. As usual, it was delicious. I am pretty sure that our guests loved it too.