Memo to Emily,

our next door neighbor little girl.

Don't come to our front door wanting to play with Violet when you are holding your kitten.
Barabbas will run out the door and try to eat it.
The kittie will claw you to escape, and hide under the neighbors bushes.
I will have to rescue the cat while restraining the dog and trying to calm the hysterical 4 year old girl.
And I hate cats.

That is all.

It was only a matter of time

before Violet decided to try her hand at cutting her own hair.

Indeed.
No photos yet. Still too upset.

Always fun! And cool too!

Find out the meaning in your name

here's mine...

Jessie

Wealthy one, He beholds : Hebrew

You are an inspiring leader whose originality, creativity and wisdom are applied to creating practical solutions to "unsolvable" problems. Humanitarian and idealistic your vision is to make the world a better place and you will work to this end. Hardworking and tenacious people admire you for your honesty and integrity. You are a loved and loyal friend and partner. You have the potential to achieve enormous success in the world.

and here's the info for my full name, Jessica:

Jessica

Wealthy one, He beholds : Hebrew

You are charming, talented and have a very positive attitude to life so it is hardly surprising that you attract success and recognition. Focussed and patient you understand that material rewards are a result of discipline. Being so creative and with a need for self-expression you may be drawn towards the arts, travel is also likely to be important. A loyal friend, you are a person who must be allowed freedom and independence.

Let me know what yours says!! :)

Phase 2 of the new 'do

Now I have Puerto Rican hair. :) :) :)

Cleaning out

my scraproom. Val, aren't you proud of me??

I am listing a bunch of stuff on ebay. Check it out...
My Ebay Listings

If you know anyone who wants this stuff, let 'em know of my fabulous ebay deals!!

New hair... Phase 1 - brown

It will be darker on Tuesday, but this is Phase 1 of the New Hair Process...



I am digging the brown so far... ;)

Tomorrow afternoon

I am getting my hair done. Time for a change. Hopefully it won't look like crap on a stick.

If I like it, I will post before/after pics.
Well, I will probably post them anyway. Just cause. ;)
But I am ready to have a different look. Stay tuned............

Melissa, whom I love

Some girls have all the luck.
In my life, that girl's name is Melissa. You may have read of my adventures with her in previous posts (Star Search and My Fabulous 30th Birthday), and I don't think I was blogging when she and I ended up BACKSTAGE with her AT THE RADIO MUSIC AWARDS in 2003...

Yes. Melissa, whom I love. She's amazing. And the luckiest girl ever. She is forever winning things off the radio, getting onto game shows (she was on Wheel of Fortune and won TONS of cash & prizes... even hitting the $10,000 space!!). Well, two years ago she won a shopping spree at the Venetian with Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray... this is what subsequently led to our ending up at the RMAs, backstage, as his special guest, meeting allllllllllll sorts of fabulously famous people. It pretty much rocked.

Fast forward to September 15, 2005, when Melissa called me on the phone. She told me to keep the night of the 22nd open CAUSE SHE JUST WON TICKETS TO SEE SUGAR RAY. Yes. She won them off the radio. AGAIN. I love her. Cause not only did she *win* the tickets, she thought she should take *me* with her.

And of course, when Melissa and I get together, something FABULOUS is bound to happen.

So. Thursday night. The 22nd. We are going to the Nina's Night Out concert to see Sugar Ray and Vertical Horizon to benefit the Rape Crisis Center. SWEET. But unfortunately we found out that we did *not* get the VIP tickets, just general admission. So no pre-concert VIP party. No free food. Melissa thought of a long-shot technique at getting in the VIP event, and sent an email to Mercedes, the girl from the radio station that went shopping with Mel & Mark McGrath in 2003. The text of her email read:

Hi Mercedes! My name is Melissa, and a couple of years ago, I won the shopping spree with Mark McGrath, where you and I shopped with him at the Venetian. A couple of days ago, I won tickets on your show to the concert on Thursday night, but apparantly they are not for the VIP party ahead of time. I was really hoping to have a chance to get Mark to sign my picture from the shopping day. Is there any chance you can get a friend and I into the party--at least long enough to get his autograph on my photo? Please let me know. Thank you very much.

Mercedes emailed her right back (how cool is THAT?) and told her that she wished she could do something, but it wasn't possible and she was totally sorry. We knew it was a long shot, but I was glad Mel tried.

Mel & I decided to meet at 5 p.m. and get a bite to eat at Garduno's or another restaurant at the Palms while we waited for the doors to open at 7 p.m. for the concert. The VIP party started at 5:30, but we knew we weren't getting in there. We saw the table with info for the VIPs to check in and go up to the Ghost Bar (on the 51st floor of the Palms). We picked up a brochure and saw that they were actually doing a silent auction with some really great stuff to bid on. I thought, "we've GOT to be able to go up there to at least *try* and bid on some great stuff!" So I decided to risk it. I walked up to the bouncer and showed him our tickets and asked if there was any way we could go upstairs to bid on some of the silent auction items. AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT... he looked at the two of us and said, "Sure!"

I nearly peed my pants, but had to remain calm as Mel and I went to the big fancy elevator with bouncer #2... oh jeez. But all he did was ask to see our IDs, which after much fumbling, we produced. And then we were going up the elevator. To floor number 51. To the GHOST BAR. To the VIP party where everyone but us paid $100 to get in the door. YESSSSSSSSSSSS.


Us at the Ghost Bar at the Palms

When we walked in the door, a cute girl standing with her hubby saw us and waved and said, "Hi Melissa!" And since we were not expecting to see *anyone* we knew, it was a bit of a shock. Soon we realized that it was MERCEDES! She came over and talked to us and said she was so excited that we got in anyway. She was so very sweet and said how she had tried so hard to get us up in the VIP party and even contemplated how she could get a hold of Melissa when she got here and realized there was a back way to the elevators. It was so cool! She totally remembers Melissa from the shopping spree and said that if we ever wanted any sort of hook-ups like that in the future to call her and she would see what she could do. RAD.


With Mercedes, our new best friend ;)

Soooooo we browsed the floor, checked out the auctions (some of them were really great, but all of them too rich for our blood!), ate some horse doovers, and looked around for famous people.

Oh and we saw some!
The guys from Vertical Horizon were there... Matt and Keith. We walked up to them and said hi, shook hands, and talked to them for a bit. They were so very cool. I asked a girl nearby to take a photo of all of us together. I think she was scared of my huge camera cause this is the pic she took of us:



Notice, Keith is not in there. Keith is just to the left of Melissa. Did she not see him, I wonder?? I was so sad, cause I showed them the pic and Matt laughted RIGHT OUT LOUD about Keith being missing, and then they had to go warm up and I wanted to get another pic but it ended up being too late... and they were gone. I didn't get a pic with Keith. Sigh.

So we walked around a bit more and found Nina Radetich, the host of the event, and thanked her for a great party. She reminded us to drink up while the alcohol is free.

*WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY????*

Okay we are dorks. HOW did we miss out on THAT one?? Well, we weren't gonna miss out on an opportunity for free champagne!!!



So we had one... or two... each... ;)

At about 7:30 the party was winding down so we headed to the concert. As we got to the elevator, we got our VIP goodie bags with T-shirts, info on the Rape Crisis Center, and free movie, drink, and popcorn tickets!!! YESSSSSSS!!! AWESOME!!! Being a VIP rocks.

When we got into the concert venue (at the RAIN nightclub in the Palms), lots of people were already there and had staked out all the available seats int he joint (which were very few). It was a standing room only concert, which was fine with me. And oh... look. There's a spot for us. RIGHT AT THE STAGE. RIGHT THERE. Sweet!!!



Did I mention cameras weren't allowed in there? Thank GOD for 1600 ISO. Since my big ole camera didn't need a flash, I got away with taking quite a few photos. And since we were VIPs, my purse was never searched so no one knew I had it. ;)

Here's a few of Vertical Horizon:




Matt, the lead singer


Keith! I just thought he was adorably cute. I swear he kept looking at me ;)


Mel and I both decided we need to buy these guys' CDs. They were that good!

And then it was time for Sugar Ray. WOOOOOHOOOOO! Here are a few photos from their set, which was just awesome-spaz-tastic. Mark McGrath is a complete spaz - but seriously so entertaining!!








mmmm. ;)


loved this dude's pants. ;) (Melinda - remember my overalls like this?)


CAN YOU SEE HOW CLOSE HE WAS TO US??? He was seriously sitting INCHES from us.


Melissa was *so happy*...
(I need to add that she posed for this photo... although there were plenty other moments when she was not posing and they mostly looked like this... lol)


I think this shot is cool...

So as you can see the concert was completely great.
Afterward we were trying our hardest to figure out how to see Mark again. We knew he was staying on the 20th floor... but we couldn't get to the room elevators without a key - and by this time the bouncer population had multiplied tenfold... they were everywhere. We were kind of out of luck. Oh yeah - and starving. We hung out around the area where people were lined up to get into the clubs, cause the Palms is famous for its celebrity sightings. And of course Mel and I were pretty good at that. ;)

And that was when we saw Keith! We walked up to him and he TOTALLY REMEMBERED US and laughed about being cut out of the first pic. I asked if we could try another photo again and he was completely cool and let us take one (and even stuck around to be sure it was a good one!)...



and then he spent several minutes talking to us about the show! We told him how much we enjoyed it and he talked about the venue and how he wasn't sure if it would work and it was so cool and like he was our friend and not a celebrity. We didn't want to take up his time, so we thanked him and left and that is my only regret of the night. WE *SO* MISSED OUR CHANCE. All I needed to do was say, "Hey, are you going into the club? Mind if we join you?" He would have totally let us. But I wasn't quick enough on my feet. Sigh. So I had to just settle for the fabulous night we had.

And it was fabulous. Culminated by a lovely burger and shake dinner at In-n-Out Burger. I love Melissa.

I totally

have to share what I did on Thursday night... but it'll take awhile to put together the post and photos that go with it. So I will leave you with this little gem from Riley as he was watching The Little Mermaid this morning.

"Mommy... I like Ariel's booboos."

Chair

There is a store in Phoenix called Annalis Scraptique where they feature chairs in their workroom that have been designed by different artists. The store owner, Suzy, asked me to do one for her store, too. This is what I came up with...




The seat reads: The personwho sits in this chair is an artist. She paints her pictures with words and photos onto a 12 inch canvas of paper. Her heart spills onto the page as she shares what truly matters most in her life. She is creative - MORE CREATIVE THAN SHE BELIEVES. She tells stories with her hands - and her heart. When she is deep in the throes of her work, time does not exist. Nothing does except the photos, the words, and the LOVE that pours from her soul. She is an ARTIST. She is a SCRAPBOOKER.


Create what matters most.


Listen to the artist within.


Hang your art from the clip on the back ;)

Technique Tuesday Stamps

are so freaking amazing I am trying to hold myself back from getting THE ENTIRE COLLECTION. Seriously. I love them more than any other stamp EVER MADE. They are clear acrylic and they come on clear acetate sheets that are hole punched - so you CAN KEEP THEM ALL TOGETHER IN A HANDY DANDY NOTEBOOK. I swear this company is freaking BRILLIANT. Check out their stamps here: Technique Tuesday

So of course I did a page with the stamps this weekend - I used them for the title here, as well as those dots and flower accents on the page.



I had a fabulous time at CK-AZ Phoenix this weekend. Spent Saturday night at my friend Alana's scrapbook store, scrapping, breaking things, scrapping some more, and breaking more things. I think she's glad I live several hundred miles away... LOL

School Girl

Violet's a Kindergartener!



Her special lunchbox from her Aunties... we used some Big Honkin Stickers to put her name on it. :)


No fear at all... she walked right into the crowd like she owned the place. Didn't she know she was supposed to cry?? But the only one with tears in her eyes at this point was Mommy.


Her room is AMAZING - it's all decorated like a Bug Garden. Bright and cheerful and full of ladybugs, bumblebees, butterflies, and other fun little creatures. Violet found her seat right away, and humored me with this photo... but then told me it was time to go now, Mom.


And we survived the first day - and first WEEK - of school. She's in her element. Riley's adjusting to life without Violet at home. At least he gets to play with Ashlyn and Reece three days a week... gives him something to do. He calls it his "school." :)

Tagged!

I thought I was free from this whole "tagging" business by being unlisted in the blog world, and then April got me.

So without further ado, here is the List of Five Random Things You May Not Know About Jessie:

1. I have been kissed by Mark McGrath. Yes indeed. I have. At the Radio Music Awards. When I was backstage, hanging out with alllllll sorts of famous people, like my friend Melissa ;)

2. If you give me a street address in Las Vegas - any street address - I can tell you the major cross streets within a block or two. Apparently this is a quirk and not many people can do it. But I can. I used to deliver flowers when I was in high school, and I got to know the streets in Las Vegas pretty well. So throw away your maps, kids!! Just rely on Miss Jess to get you where you need to go ;)

3. The use of the term "Whole 'nother" g~r~a~t~e~s me to no end. The proper term, if you'd like to use it, is "an whole other," which also sounds dumb. So find something else to say, please. I keep various running lists: Words That Annoy Me (i.e. moist, slacks, whimsical, delicatessen, paradigm, shellac, discharge, airy....), Ordinary Words to Use Someday in the Dirty Novel I'll Be Writing with Melissa (i.e. shaft, rod, staff, member, organ, mound, thrust, heave...), Words That Riley Says in a Super Cute Way (Violet=dot, eyelet, diet; Breakfast=brekkis; Love=yuv; Fork=shork...), and many more.

4. I have to read novels in the accent in which they were written. So Harry Potter must be read in a British accent, Bridge to Terabithia in a southern accent. Of course the accents aren't perfect, and neither am I. But you still love me!!!

5. I can white-girl rap like no other. Seriously. Give me a mic and a stage and I will be all over Mr. Wendel, Ice Ice Baby, and more. Let me remind you that I am *very* White Girl. But it does promise to be entertaining!

And now, I tag Liane and Melinda. Oh and Shontell. ;) (I would have tagged you, Melissa, if you *had* a blog, thankyouverymuch.)

Survived

The first week of school for me as an art teacher is over... and I survived. :) I don't have a classroom. They finally found me a cart that I wheel from class to class and it's workable for now. Of course I need to order supplies to go *in* the cart... but those will come soon. I even have an "office"... okay, it's a walk-in closet between two classrooms and it has no power, and it barely fits the wardrobe and a student desk in there, but it's MY PERSONAL SPACE and I really like it! I got an extension cord adn power strip, found a desk lamp with integrated pencil holder, and even got myself a lime green rolling chair and sassy lime green mini flip top trash can. I need to hang some stuff on the walls so it feels more like an office and less like a closet. Oh and music. Somehow I need music in there. I think I need to get an iPod with my first paycheck!!

Tuesday I taught a 7&8 grade combo class first - 16 students. Good times. We discussed teh question "What is art?" and then they made a page using words and drawings that described art. they actually came out quite well :) Next was second grade - we talked about how art related to the 5 senses and we did a drawing activity to illustrate that. Some of their projects were really great! I also had third graders on Tuesday. They did the 5 senses, too.

Wednesday started out with 5th grade doing What is Art, then 1st grade doing a Favorite Colors assignment, then 4th grade doing the 5 senses.

Thursday was the 6th graders with What is Art, then kindergarten with Favorite Colors.

The teachers are really cooperative and great. I only have half an hour for the k-4th, so it's barely enough time to do anything. I will be doing a LOT of stuff that requires more than one session, but it's all good.

Next week I'll be teaching color theory stuff. Starting with the color wheel. Should be fun ;)

Picasso

for our tenth anniversary dinner (I know what you are thinking... "didn't you already *have* one of these?" and maybe I did but the 19th was our *FOR REALS* anniversary so we went out again. PLUS it was our tenth anniversary, and that deserves to be celebrated as many times as possible!!).



We had the most AMAZING dinner at Picasso at the Bellagio. We sat on the terrace and enjoyed a lovely prix fixe multi-course meal with wine while we watched the fountains. And we walked through the restaurant and got to see all the incredible works of art by Picasso himself. I mean - THERE IT WAS - the canvases HE PAINTED ON. Right in front of us. WOW. I was in *heaven.*

Old hair, new 'do

So we were at my mom's house yesterday when we came upon one of her old wigs. Yep. She used to wear it back in the early 70s, so she wouldn't have to "do her hair." LOL.

We all had a laugh trying it on... Luke looked especially precious in it. HAHA. And then I tried it on. And I loved it. I think it makes me look like Elsie Flannigan. And I *heart* Elsie. So I decided I needed to keep it. And wear it when I needed to feel extra sassy and creative. So yeah. Don't be surprised if you see me with short black hair sometime. And don't point and laugh like my family does. ;)

My fun hair!


Rick's reaction:


Riley's reaction:


Violet's reaction:


I love my family. :)

Check it out!

http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/scrapbookfun/category.ihtml?idx=117 Mine is the second one down. Hey Liane! Can you see yourself? LOL

Thanks to April for the link. :)

Harvest!

We have watermelons in our backyard!


The kids were thrilled to pick the two that were ready today...


Riley loved his so much! He kept thumping it like a drum...


and he didn't want to wait for me to cut it open to eat it!
But he did... and we had it for dessert tonight.
YUM! Nothing like fresh watermelon right from our garden.

Fabulous weekend.

We missed our flight Thursday because we didn't hear our alarm... oops! Of course it was also the one day the kids decided to sleep in as well. No biggie. We got on the next flight, which left an hour later.
We arrived at the house in Kensington about 11 a.m. - just as beautiful as we remembered it. Jan & John left us the keys to their car, and we decided to drive into Berkeley.
Saw Charlie & the Chocolate Factory at the creepiest theatre EVER. Seriously it was straight out of a creepy film. Everyone who worked there was totally Goth. The decor was all old movie posters - in French - The seats were old and small... everything was just very creepy. And that just was the perfect place to see this movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed... so much so, I *must* find myself a pair of those fabulous glasses.
We found the perfect place to have dinner - Rivoli, a small Italian restaurant that we went to ten years ago on our honeymoon. Dinner was lovely and so was the wine - a Pinot Noir labeled "bio-dynamic" from Robert Sinskey Vineyards. The waitress explained that "bio-dynamic" meant that the wine was certified organic (okay, that's cool), and the growers take special care to also be sure the grapes are planted taking into consideration the position of the sun and moon, as well as being sure the fields have other things planted on them. All of it is supposed to somehow contribute to a healthier earth. Um, okay. Alls I know is that it was goooooood wine ;)
Friday we slept in till 10:30. YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT!!!!!!!!! TEN THIRTY!!! We haven't done that since our children have been born. What a glorious sleep it was. After taking our time getting ready adn eating a late breakfast/lunch, we decided to drive up to Napa (45 minutes north) and check out the wineries.
Napa was beautiful - the weather was VERY warm and the landscape was gorgeous. We stopped at the visitor's center and got a map of the wineries. Dad told us to pick a good place to have dinner and he would treat (AWESOME!) as our anniversary gift from him. He recommended a few different places, and after making the calls, we got reservations at Chandon for 6 p.m. Oh and of course there was a dress code - business casual. Neither of us were wearing "business casual." We walked over to Mervyn's and each found some great clothes - Rick found a nice embroidered shirt and khakis on the clearance rack, and I found a cute dress with matching cardigan. My dress/cardigan set ended up ringing up at EIGHT DOLLARS! Rick's shirt and pants were 18 altogether - for a total of $26 for two complete outfits. Nice!
By now it was 3:30, so we got a map of the wineries and headed down the street. Lo and behold - up the way we found Robert Sinskey vineyards! We stopped in for a tasting. It was $20 each, or free with a purchase of two bottles of wine each. So we thought we'd try it out. All the wines were wonderful, and we especially loved the Cabernet Franc (mmmmm). We also loved the Chardonnay, too... it was wonderful. It had a lovely, full-bodied flavor without the trademark "buttery" taste that most Chardonnays seem to have (and what I think makes them taste heavy). With each tasting (and we tried eight different kinds) we had a different little appetizer accompaniment, which was wonderful - and it made us understand so much more why certain wines are paired with certain foods.
After leaving Robert Sinskey with four bottles of wine, we went to Robert Mondavi to try and take a tour - but we just missed the last one when we got there. We did a little exploring of our own and checked out the different areas of the winery (though we couldn't go in and see how the wine is actually made, which is what I wanted to do).
By this time it was just after 5 p.m., so we went down to Chandon. The grounds were BEAUTIFUL there. We walked around, exploring the different areas of the place, and we found the restaurant and looked at the menu. There were two options - the Summer Tasting Menu, which was a fixed price for seven courses plus wines to acocmpany each, or the a'la carte menu, which we realized would add up to nearly the price of the Tasting Menu once we added some wine. We opted for the tasting menu, and I am so glad we did. Again - understanding how and why different wines (and in this case, sparkling wines too) combined with different flavors and textures was so amazing. This was really "outside the box" for Rick, who normally eats a pretty traditional menu... and this stuff was anything but traditional. The names of the different courses gave us no clue as to what to expect. We tried everything from raw fish to cold soup to stinky (GROSS!!) cheese, to amazingly wonderfully prepared beef to scrumptious fish to fabulous desserts. And the only thing that was completely unpalatable for us was the cheese. It's called Red Hawk... it looked just like Brie, but it smelled just like the leftover milk at the bottom of the kids sippy cup after it's been left in the car for several days. We tried, bt we just couldn't do it. But the wine was wonderful. Three different sparkling wines, a chardonnay, a pinot (mmmm that pinot was awesome!!), and another sparkling wine with dessert. Awesome!
After dinner, we walked around a bit more, did the deed among some grapevines somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, and then looked for a Starbuck's to have a coffee. We found one that had just closed, so we went next door to Cold Stone Creamery and had chocolate ice cream to top off the night.
After another 45 minute drive, we were back in Kensington and ready for a long night's sleep again.
Saturday we slept in... again! Woohoo!! We spent the majority of the day reading and relaxing and just doing a whole lot of nothing. We went into Berkeley in the afternoon and got a shake and onion rings at a 50s diner and then went to see the movie Crash. Excellent movie. VERY emotionally charged. I was unprepared for a specific scene in the movie - so much so that I ended up completely hysterical in the theatre - crying VERY LOUDLY like an idiot and then spending the next 15 minutes hyperventilating. If you would like to be spared the emotionality of that scene, I am more than willing to prepare you for it with a single sentence. Email me and I will share it with you. It won't ruin the movie for you, I promise. It will just make that moment a little easier to deal with.
We went out to dinner at a place called Jupiter that night - very cool. Very Berkeley. Live music, eating outdoors, funky dressed people. Just fun.
On our way home we stopped at a store and got Jan & John a huge bouquet of flowers, a thank you card, and a bottle of wine, then we filled up the car's tank with gas. That night we put the flowers in a vase on the table, did all the dishes and cleaned up after ourselves, and made the house look just a little better than when we arrived.
About 9:30 we started hearing what we thought was thunder outside - but there was no lightning. We could not figure out for the life of us where the sound was coming from - the skies were all creepy and foggy, and the booms continued. They sounded like a cannon being fired off in the distance... but it was louder than we expected, because it soulded like it was coming from way out in the Bay. It totally reminded us of the Langoliers. Creeeeeeeeeeeeepy. We turned on the TV and there was nothing on the weather channel or the news reports. But we certainly weren't imagining it. And after about 20 minutes, the sounds were done. Just as oddly as they started... After awhile we concluded there must have been a fireworks show after a baseball game that night. Never mind that the game that day was an afternoon game, and never mind that we saw no fireworks. That's just what we decided.
We woke up Sunday about 8 a.m. and called a cab to take us to the BART station so we could go downtown. By the time the cab arrived and we got to the station, got on a train, and at our destination, it was after 10:30 a.m. We dropped off our bags at the Ramada hotel next to the Orpheum Theatre and set off looking for a place to eat.
Rick wanted pancakes.
I didn't care. I just knew that if we wanted breakfast, we needed to have it SOON, before they stopped serving it. We walked through town looking for a good place- but everywhere was either crowded or a cafe. And no pancakes anywhere. I was getting irritated. Rick was getting frustrated. Then we saw it. Lori's Diner. Two spots at the counter, calling our name. And breakfast served till noon.
Rick had pancakes. I had French toast. We drank coffee. We relaxed. That place was HOPPING. We left at about noon and took a cab to Ghirardelli. THE SCARIEST CAB RIDE EVER. I was so sure the brakes were going to go out on that cab as we were flying up and down the hills, it was crazy.
Once we arrived at Ghirardelli, we strolled around the shops, got some shirts for the kids, got some chocolate (60% dark chocolate - not 70%, Liane, but still very VERY good), and just enjoyed the afternoon. We visited the shops at The Cannery and headed toward Pier 39 but we never got there - it was 1:30 and our show was at 2:00. We found a cab and hopped in. Only this time the cab driver took the long, slow way. I swear he hit every single red light possible. The cab fare was DOUBLE what it was last time. And we barely made it to the theatre in time.
The theatre. The play.
WICKED.
It was SUBLIME.
As soon as it was over I wanted to see the whole thing over again. I needed the CD (Rick got it for me!!!) and a pin for my stocking. I wanted a shirt, but we had already spent $35 on a CD and a pin, so I had to hold back on the $35 shirts. I wanted to relish and remember every single moment. Like my favorite line that Fiyero spoke: "Excuse me, there's no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow." I think that needs to be my signature online ;).
After the play, we got our bags and walked around the city looking for a good place to eat. Unfortunately, we didn't find one that fit our budget or time, until we saw "Lucky O'Doul's Pub and Piano Bar"... perfect! Total comfort food to fill us up till tomorrow and under $10 apiece. After a filling meal, we boarded BART and made our way to the airport.
We got to the airport in plenty of time - and were sitting at our gate with two hours to spare. So I read Harry Potter aloud to Rick to pass the time. He loves it when I read in all my accents, and I enjoyed getting a chance to read some of it again. By the time we were ready to board, we had just finished chapter 21. (no I didn't read that much! We just got through a couple of chapters that night).
Our flight took FOREVER to leave the gate (it was reeeeeeeally foggy), but we finally took off and arrived in Vegas at 12:01 a.m. Jim and Val picked us up and took us to get the kids, who were asleep at Mom & Dad's house.
I think my head hit the pillow just before 2 a.m... and now it's back to reality. :)

six o'clock in the morning

I have to get up...
Rick and I are flying to San Francisco tomorrow for our tenth anniversary trip.
I'm glad he still likes me now that he's had ten years of living with me.
Sometimes I don't think *I* would put up with me ;)

We'll be back laaaaaaaaate Sunday night. So Monday I will be back in the swing of things... hopefully then I can work on the photos from the Rebecca Project (trying to get them into a manageable size for viewing, etc) and get some posted for you all.

Have a great weekend! Don't have too much fun without me! Okay, well you can have fun... cause I will be having fun, too! ;)