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. Â
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.