Month: May 2007

The flowers blooming on my kumquat tree…oh the smells!

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This morning I was super productive…I played with lard for hours.

Looks like lard, but it is not.

Actually, the lard was lotion that I attempted to spoon feed from one bottle into another (the pump stopped working in one of the bottles).  Yes, it was one of my most accomplished moments.  I did a mighty fine job of convincing Cooper that I really was playing with lard for hours. 

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My reading spot in Puerto Vallarta

Since I have been back from our Mexico trip, I have had one strong craving…reading lots and lots of books.  Thank goodness for the Half Price Book store and their clearance $1 section!!  Luckily my craving is fairly healthy compared to some of the other things I could easily become obsessed with, but it also hinders on my ability to do other things with my day (besides playing with lotion that looks like lard).  Reading is somewhat like the Pringle’s chip commercial…”once you pop you can’t stop.”  Once I get going I can’t put the book down.  Just in the past couple of days I have read nearly two books.  Tomorrow I am going to force myself to paint and walk up the wazoo. 

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Actually, I have to take that back, I do have two other craving since Mexico…I LOVED the tortilla soup and chilaquiles that I ate religiously while in the land of paradise.  As a matter of fact, I think I may need to try and make chilaquiles tonight for dinner (although normally it is a breakfast food).  I shouldn’t be hungry, but even the thought of chilaquiles makes my mouth water buckets of saliva.   

Emily the gnome.  Bay to Brakers 2006

Whoa.   I first started to get stretch marks on my legs when I was in middle school. Quite simply, puberty caused me to grow up too fast (vertically). After this weekend I think I may have added a few extra stretch marks (horizontally) to by body from overeating.  I suppose it goes without saying that my girly weekend with Emily was a success.  We went to nearly all of our favorite bay area spots all while walking and shopping.  A play by play (as guys in the sports world may say) of the events that caused additional battle wounds on my body:

Friday night: Beers at Ben and Nicks.  

Saturday: We started the day in the only way imaginable: Cheeseboard.  We devoured their cheese muffins, chocolate things, oat scones and fantastic coffee.  After cheeseboard heaven we spent a good hour or so at Elephant Pharmacy.  I made my first ever wrinkle reducer product: eye cream.  We then walked down Shattuck Ave to the Half Price Books where I bought four really good books for $5.  Remarkable.  Unfortunately, however, I noticed that they had the salsa dance lesson DVD that I had just purchased off of Amazon for about half the price.  Bummer.  After our book buying adventures we walked through the farmer’s market then back to my apartment for shopping/eating adventures part two.  We walked the College Avenue route to Telegraph and the edge of the UC Berkeley campus.  Along the way we of course enjoyed all the shops.  Our stomachs led us on a trip to Naan ‘n Curry for the favorite but deadly chicken tikka masala then to Ici for the most amazing lemon pistachio ice cream.  Yes, we felt topped off for the rest of the day…that is, until we had beerz.  We went back to my apartment to let our innards digest and relax while watching Children of Men.  Watch this movie.  After the sun went down and the night began, we met up with a TPR friend for beers at Barclay’s, one of my top picks for a watering hole.   Every time I would walk home and pass Barclay’s my mouth would water for a beer and their pickle chips, so tonight we were living my dream.   Unfortunately, Emily and I are lightweights so it didn’t take more than a beer to make us happy and hurt a bit the next day.

Sunday: We woke up at 6:00am with the eager attitude to try and get to Dottie’s cafe for breakfast before the crowds.  As we arrived at a closed BART at 7:00am, we realized that our ambitious efforts were wasted.  Bart didn’t open until 8:00.  I went back to bed.  When we did finally leave, Emily had the fantastic idea of bringing her ipod with the season finale of The Office so we had something to pass the time while on Bart and waiting in line at Dottie’s (being such lightweights, we were both feeling a bit clouded over).  Oh, how I love The Office.  Our meal at Dottie’s was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo fantastic…it was worth the pain and agony of getting up twice, waiting in line, and feeling lousy.  Then the shopping venture began: H&M, Sephora, Forever 21, Anthropologie, the Apple Store, Camper, Zara.   We went to all of our favorite stores.  I am proud to report that I only purchased one thing: the highly recommended (by Emily) but under $20 Bare Escentuals Buxom Dolly lip gloss (it makes your lips tingle!).  Love it.  About three quarters of the way through our shopping I started to feel as big as Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate factory (preferably the original version) when she blows up like a blueberry.  I decided to let Emily shop and I went to Union Square to sit and digest.  Oddly enough, my time in Union Square was not alone.  The minute I stepped on the stairs of the square I had two brothers ask me to take their picture, then a group of kids on a scavenger hunt needed me to take a group photo which then led to two guys who came up to me to talk about how fun scavenger hunts used to be as kids.  The two guys didn’t leave and ended up asking for my number, but luckily Emily was then in the picture and gave me an excuse to need to escape.  We headed back to Oakland until Emily had to go.  It certainly feels refreshing to have some good girl time and get to spend the day eating, walking and shopping.  As a matter of fact, if I had to do three things for the rest of my life they may be it.

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Cooper comes home tonight after 5 days with 10 guys.  Perhaps he will have finally grown the mustache I have been requesting for about 6 years now.  Chances are slim, but my fingers are crossed.  As a welcome home treat and a homage to Emily, I am planned to make Emily’s famous pizza for dinner as well as horchata and margaritas…I figure Cooper will need to slowly ease back into his life in the U.S. after having spent a solid month in Mexico.

Fish food commercial, R.I.P. Weinerschnitzel

I realized something the other day when Cooper and I were sitting by the pool in Mexico doing nothing…the first part of your life you listen to other people tell life stories and you begin to create your own.  The second part of life is (primarily) filled telling the stories you created.  Actually, maybe life is broken into thirds: the first third is listening to stories, the second third is creating and telling stories, and the final third is simply telling the stories.   

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When I got back from my trip the other night I came home to an apartment filled with a new smell.  It is the smell of all the flowers blooming on my kumquat tree!  I will have to post pictures once Cooper returns from his bachelor party with all the camera hookups…I never would have imagined that 1.) the tree would still be alive and 2.) that it would produce so many sweet smelling flowers.

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While Cooper is away eating meat, drinking beers, and grunting like men do…I get to enjoy a little girls weekend with Emily Abbott.  I can’t wait to get to go to our favorite Berkeley eateries and spend a good portion of our time fixing cars…I mean shopping.   

short story #1:

Cooper and I left our fantastic condo in the Puerto Vallarta romantic zone for our next stage of the vacation: the all-inclusive in Nuevo Vallarta.   The drive cost a good $20 and we had to wait 2 hours for check-in time, but once we got our little corner we headed for the pool and lunch.  The lunch buffet consisted of what Cooper deemed “worse than school cafeteria food”…nachos with really bad nacho cheese, boiled hot dogs, chicken wings, mystery meats, etc.  Yes, we ate what we could and tried to put on a smile, but we were both thinking…this is terrible!!  We took a walk on the beach which was nice, but because the beaches in Puerto Vallarta are on the pacific side they are not the crystal clear green waters like we have experienced in the past in other areas.  We went back to our room after our walk to let the bricks in our stomach settle.  Unfortunately, Cooper’s stomach (which was on the mend) only got worse.  After lots of down time (and many trips to the loo for the boy), it was time for dinner.  Again, the choices were steam table delights…a sight which made Cooper even more nauseous.  I then ate my corn rice, corn pasta, and corn soup by myself while sipping on sangria and horchata (I am addicted to horchata!).  I watched part of the “International Show” which wasn’t worth my time, then went back to check on the boyfriend.  Poor Cooper was again in the loo.  We went to bed to the sounds of the dischotech outside our door, a woman in the next room coughing all night, and the never ending sounds of people in the halls which were amplified beyond any measure.  We awoke to the ringing of a wakeup call at 8:00am which we had not requested.  Yup, we didn’t get any sleep.  We attempted the breakfast buffet, but it was just more steam table food which was barely palatable.  We then decided…this isn’t worth it.  We can’t stay here for three more nights and survive.  We went to the internet cafe and talked to some college guys from Texas who had been at the all inclusive since Wednesday and said the food doesn’t get any better.  So, we looked up new hotels.  We did end up convincing the manager to let us leave early and be reimbursed for the remaining stay, but it took a good 2 hours and long, expensive, hard to hear calls on Cooper’s cell phone to make it happen.  We left and got a place at the Sheraton which is like heaven compared to the hell we were in the night before.  Perhaps I am now spoiled, but I also know that I can’t spend $116 a night for crap food and no sleep.  Oh wow…that was a lot of venting.

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short story #2:

Today I cried in the pool.  Yup, I cried in the pool.  I cried because the hotel was offering salsa lessons and although Cooper and I really want to learn to salsa, I didn’t have the courage to go.  Cooper was excited about the idea, but I just couldn’t build up the inner salsa self in me to go.  So I cried.  The crying ended in laugher between the two of us because how many times does anyone 1.) cry in a pool or 2.) cry in a pool because they don’t want to take salsa lessons?  Cooper and I concluded that we are going to get a dvd first so we can practice on our own before attempting a class.  Man, I am such a dork. 

What is a vacation without a lot of good food adventures? With one traveler experiencing intestinal issues we have kept it fairly simple, nonetheless we have still managed to seek out some of the local favorites…here are the highlights: 

1.) Baked goods at a panaderia.  It was no Berkeley Cheeseboard, but the banana muffins were amazing.   

2.) Un kilo de tortillas from the tortilla factory.  We had gone the day before to get the freshly made wonders of the world, but at 4:00pm they had run out of dough.  The guy at the factory advised getting to his shop before 1:00pm in order to snag the last of the bunch or at 4:15am to get the best of the best.  We settled for 10:30am and paid $0.90 for a stack of steaming tortillas.  In my bag they felt like a warm precious child or something.  So good. 

3.)  Un pollo from the Super Pollo Rotiseria.  Cooper had been eyeing the lines of rolling chickens at the rotisserie chicken shops near our condo.  We finally broke down and bought a chicken and papas to make tacos with our fresh stash of tortillas.  Yes, as seen below, Cooper had a strong affinity for the pollo.

4.) Mango margaritas.  Every afternoon for the past couple of days we have experimented with different types of margaritas.  We first started with the traditional fresh lime, then ventured to strawberry jam (our ingredients are a bit limited), but the favorite so far has certainly been the mango.  In an effort to use up all of our groceries by Saturday we may have to try making caramel and peanut butter margaritas, or maybe Cooper can recreate his enchilada margarita.  The possibilities are endless.

5.) The other day I found something rather unique (at least it is unique in my world): Hershey’s Chocolate Bubble Yum Gum. The taste is similar to a fudge roll up or fudgsicle from way back when.  It was kind of an odd sensation to bite into a piece of gum that semi-tastes like chocolate but then never melts in your mouth…it just stays there.  For anyone on a diet who likes chocolate, this gum may be the way to go (although the flavor doesn’t last too long).    If only they made dark chocolate gum, then I would be in heaven.  Oh, and the image of the brown gum in your mouth is something…I’ll leave you to guess what it looks like.
  

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Last night we went out to the downtown area and watched a puppet show.  The puppeteers were from San Francisco which was a little funny, but the best part was watching the locals get really into the show.  People were so enthusiastic and seemed genuinely happy.  Hopefully our intestines are strong enough to venture back downtown to see what may be going on tonight.

Whoa!  We actually have a few minutes to rest and relax in Puerto Vallarta.  I also now have a few minutes to use the computer since Cooper is facing a bout of Montezuma’s Revenge.  Poor guy.  At least he is having hay day with the toilet now rather than while we were shooting weddings.   The following photos capture only a glimpse of what we have seen and done over the past week.  Enjoy!

First off…a smidgen of the promised Amelia pictures from a mini photo shoot.   My how I love that little character.

 Our condo in Puerto Vallarta:

Selva Romantica, Puerto Vallarta

My oh my did we luck out!!  Our condo in Puerto Vallarta is perfect for our lengthy stay here.  While swimming in the infinity pool at sunset, Cooper and I talked to the architect of the place.  He said that the site had formerly been bungalows, then a religious retreat, then a restaurant…now they are awesome condos.  For $75 a night it can’t be beat.  We can walk to downtown, the supermercado, restaurants, the beach.  Perfecto. 

Wedding #1


La Playa Fiesta, Mark and Katrina

The first wedding was for an American couple who now live in Seattle…Mark and Katrina.  We got lucky in getting to shoot their wedding because they were a really fun and extremely personable couple.  Upon the first meeting Cooper and I seemed to click with them immediately..and they agreed.  Katrina said it felt like we were their good friends going to their wedding.  Ahh shucks.  The ceremony and reception were both beautiful…I have to give the wedding planner/site owner Lindsay a lot of credit for putting such a fluid and striking wedding together.  As always, Cooper has some amazing photos of their wedding (mine never do the event justice) which should most likely be posted once his bowels return to normal.   

Wedding #2

Las Caletas, Fabio y Serena

Destination wedding #2 was completely different than wedding #1.  To get to the event site Cooper and I had to take a speedboat with the other vendors.  The boat, aka panga, was such a thrill…we skidded over the top of the ocean so quickly and with such dramatic bounces…I could barely catch my breath.  I certainly can’t recall any other time when I saw dolphins swimming next to me as I went to work.   Once we got to the site we sat on beach chairs overlooking the ocean for about an hour waiting for the girls to start getting ready. I had one of those moments when I thought, “Man, I can’t believe this is Cooper’s job and I can’t believe I get to be here with him.” The wedding itself was a perfect blend of all types of people and cultures…the bride and groom had friends/family from Mexico, America, Venezuela, and Italy.  And the dancing!  Serena and Fabio were like professional dancers, not to mention one of the silliest couples we have ever shot.  At one point Cooper and I realized that for the first time we had difficulty capturing the emotion of the event…guests were dancing all over the cove (much like a scene from Soul train).  After the reception, we joined the guests and took a party boat ride back to the marina.  Our wedding time was over and it was then time to begin mass amounts of relaxation.

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Sunday morning I tried not to wake Cooper so I decided that rather than opening the kitchen doors I would attempt to climb through the high window in the bathroom and shimmy my way into the kitchen.  When I finally got the strength to hoist myself onto the window ledge I realized that the kitchen door was open….and Cooper was awake.  Needless to say, he caught me sitting in the bathroom window and had to help me down.  It was a silly way to start the day. 

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After sitting by the pool all day, we finally decided to go out at night and get some dinner…Cooper accidentally dropped a major portion of his enchilada into his margarita…and then continuing to drink his now enchilada margarita. 

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I have tried to convince Cooper to grow a mustache while in Mexico, but he says he hates mustaches.  My thinking is that Charlie might appreciate Cooper sporting a nice and thick mustache for his bachelor party, but Cooper refuses.  If anyone would like to help me in my cause of convincing Cooper to grow the stache…please feel free to e-mail him.