Calling all pirates, bandits & rebels!

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Heat waves and warm nights that don't require a sweater

2. This John Varvatos pirate tie:

3. Jersey dresses that feel like pajamas

4. Special K Red Berries

5. Goat Hill Pizza's all you can eat Monday nights

6. When dogs howl at sirens

7. Hymns

8. Aquariums, especially the Monterey Bay Aquarium

9. Big Chunky statement jewelry

10. The posters for SMUIN Ballet: (located on Haight St on the side of Andy's builing)

Wild About Otters!

Andy took the day off Thursday and we drove down to Monterey to go to the Aquarium and have a fun Whole Day. We started with a coffee and a croissant from "No Mas Pan" (which is really the Italian French Baking Company on Grant and Union) (how ALL Whole Days start) and headed out of town.

We made it to the aquarium too late for the penguin feeding, but just in time for the otter show, which isn't a show WITH otters, but ABOUT otters. Andy didn't get picked to play on stage, and thus did NOT win an energy-saving light bulb, but we DID have a GREAT day at the aquarium, and DID write to the Govenator to communicate our support for coastal marineland protection, and that we vote.

Aquarium highlights include:
-those four little otter gals are a riot of good times, I think I'd like to have one.

-a harbor seal out in the real water, swimming around in the cove!

-seahorses galore

-a private q&a session with a docent whose time we monopolized

-asian otters who act kind of like cats (andy liked, me: ehh)

-penguins!! even if they weren't emperor penguins, or swimming.

-reading the best chapter of Cannery Row ON Cannery Row (concerning the gopher in the vacant lot)

-LOTS of schooling fish (I love it when they school)

-the Archer Fish, which spits a spout of water at a bug to make it fall into the water to eat it!

-the only albatross in captivity (who looks interestingly similar to a seagull...)

-scuba-diving window-washers / aquarium maintainers

-amazing jellyfish

Then we ate our packed picnic lunch of quiche and salad with lemonade and champagne in the back of Andy's car. We strolled through Cannery Row, took our own walking tour through all Steinbeck's spots, watched an otter who was right offshore, and walked along the Monteray coast for the afternoon, before heading back up north. We stopped at the beach on the way home for a nice long walk, and then for late-night tacos in Capitola, before making our way back to the city.

I crawled into my bed a tired, happy girl.

Happy Easter!

We dyed eggs on Easter Sunday!! Sold out of Paas, we used this "tie-dye" system from Andy's aunt, that wasn't as romantic as the old school hot vinegar and tablets with copper dipper, but it made pretty eggs! I love holiday cheer.

Don't Cry Over Spilt Wine: PART TWO (in which I become zen master of cleaning.)

I realized, this is the time in our lives when we learn how to treat red wine stains. There is no time in lives like the present, when we have parties with high occurance of over-service, when we are drinking wine instead of mixed drinks, when we are careless and accident prone with our wine, which is why, when I shared with the girls in my cab, that I spilled an entire glass of red wine on my carpet and bedding, they each had a[n amazingly accurate] remedy.

Here follows, my successful recipe for removing the set red wine stain from my light blue carpet:

Immediately at spill: blotted stain and dumped as much salt as I had on hand on it. (This sucks up the wine, pulling it out of the carpet.) Left it for two days (not the best idea, I readily admit, but did not have time (what?!!) before now to deal).

Tonight:
-cleaned up the salt, scraped it up and tossed it.
-Vaccummed everything else up, super well.
-Consulted How To Clean Practically Anything (4th ed./updated, Comsumer Reports Books, Kippel; Appendix B, pg 198.)
-found an old opened bottle of white wine in the back of the fridge, and grabbed a clean white rag towel.
-turned on some MGMT.
-poured the white wine onto the red wine stain, and blotted, pushed around the pile to agitate only a little and soak up as much as possible. repeated (maybe even two or three times).
-back to the kitchen, I made a solution of Detergent*, put a kettle of water on to boil, and turned an old white skirt into a new clean white rag.
-I poured the soap-water onto the stain, let it sit for a sec and then began firmly but with not much action to agitate the pile, and almost scrub, alternating with soaking up the stain and soap-water. Again, repeated, maybe even twice.
-poured hot water onto the stain to "rinse" out the detergent and abolish any remaining stain and blotted like crazy with a pair of old white and blue seer-sucker pants I'll not wear again turned blotting rag. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

It still needs to fully dry out, but looks awesome. (I definitely worry I didn't get enough detergent out and it's going to soil again quickly... we'll find out!)

-poured myself a tall glass of red wine to celebrate.

If only the girl in Can't Buy Me Love had my cleaning abilities, she'd never have fallen in love, but our hero could have had a new $1000 telescope.

*Detergent (From HTCPA's Spot Removal Kit, Appendix B, pg 182) (mild) Mix one teaspoon of a clear (not colored) hand dishwashing liquid per one cup of lukewarm water. Hand dishwashing liquid residues can cause rapid resoiling, so rinse thoroughly after using. Never use laundry detergents on upholstery or carpets because they contain optical brighteners that may discolor the fibers or afffect light and white colors.

Don't Cry Over Spilt Wine, Part ONE: (the boring set-up)

6:10pm Saturday night: arrive home from work via Cable with Ali, and have only 20 minutes to change and become fabulous (without having shopped for over 40 days) for dinner with nine gorgeous girls at Luella, followed by a night of dancing and cocktails at Le Colonial to celebrate Ali's 26th Birthday. Also vying for time in that 20 minutes is changing the sheets on my bed, which desperately need refreshing, a swift clean-up, and planning something brunch-ish to take to the next morning's book club meeting (this was originally make, or at least prep, a spinach quiche when I was planning on leaving work at 4:45 instead of 5:45). Get it started by pouring a tall glass of red wine to make the evening stay within my ever tightening budget, amongst a group of people without one.

Quick clean, begin stripping the bed. Duvet one over and off; duvet two toss (FLING?) too hard and mentally gasp as I see it cover the front top of my desk and pull things onto the floor, in slow-motion as I realize my glass of red wine, barely sipped from, is caught under the cream duvet, and has been spilled all over the carpet and soaking both duvets. EFF. eff. eff. eff.

There goes my twenty minutes, and any hope I had of puting on some makeup. Luckily I'm great in an emergency, and I immediately run to the kitchen and grab a dish towell and my carton of salt, mop up as much of the wine as I can, and pour the entire remaining contents of the salt onto the spot(s). Even luckier, Ali calls and also found it impossible to be ready in 20 mins, thank goodness for cabs, no thank goodness for 7pm reservations. I throw on my clothes, which incredibly looks as okay on as the idea did in my head, add a little makeup and grab (stupidly wrong, look awesome, after only two hours felt awful, so much that walking home even BAREFOOT, at the end of my night, hurt like heck) shoes and run outside to meet the girls' cab. Ready in five minutes, forget about the wine that just wrecked the carpet, two down comfortors, two duvets and my $800 deposit.

Overheard at Luella

To Chris and Chase during Ali's Birthday dinner Saturday night:

"My life is so understaffed right now, I have no time for anything! I realized I haven't talked to some of my best friends since January, and forget about laundry."