Bunny’s TMI

I finally have some time to clear out my mailbox and get somewhat up to date here. I think some of this I may have made time to blog about, but not all of it.

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Lets see… actually mailed all Christmas cards BEFORE Christmas for the first time ever!

The office is all decorated, including my desk, and people have started adding to my penguin collection.

Last weekend was San Jose to have lunch with my pirate’s parents for his birthday. Then a nice nap followed by a holiday party in Redwood City. Lots of good food, conversation and a fun white elephant exchange. Sadly I didn’t find my pirate’s bears from last year till the next day. So they’ll have to wait till next year to pass on!

The next day we had dinner with his cousin & family and had a great time. I made the slow cooker chicken again (without the insane lemon this time!) and we’ve been having leftovers all week.

I found some pilates videos I liked at the library - the Gaiam dvds by Ana Caban. So those are on my Amazon wish list to get at some point.

I also got my Amazon gift card in the mail so the last Harry Potter book should be showing up soon.

This coming weekend is going to be relax time and chore time. Which will be great after so many busy weekends! Oh, and I’m donating blood tomorrow morning. I can make the early appointments now since I can take time off work to volunteer.

The thing I’m most thankful for is the abundance of wonderful people in my life for me to love! *hugs*

The chocolate factory tour was educational, interesting and yummy! Lunch at their cafe afterwards was tasty, and we followed that up with wandering 4th Street in Berkeley and then Emery Bay Street Mall and dinner there at Askew (a kabob place - I got yummy grilled artichoke and butternut squash soup).

I don’t recall too much of Sunday, we watched some anime and avatar online, and then went to get the ring! After that I was kinda in a giddy cloud. We did stop by REI which was nearby and they had a hang board of the right color in stock! We’ve been looking for a month or two now for one in a color I wouldn’t mind installing. So now we just have to find a couple studs above a doorway to install it. I dragged my pirate around the Expo Design Center some too before we headed home.

Monday night my friend JG took me out and got us both french manicures (since I’ll be showing off my hand for a while yet!) and then to dinner where we looked mostly at wedding dresses in magazines. We have a lot of similar tastes we discovered when discussing wedding ideas.

Tuesday night I cooked my carrots vichy recipe and my sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving. I replaced have the sweetpotato with a butternut squash I needed to use up, and I accidentally dropped somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of pepper in (I was trying to only tap one shake in) but luckily I had decided to use the black and white pepper I have which is milder. So it actually turned out really well. I think so at least, which is good since I’m going to be eating leftovers from it for the next week.

Wednesday night we were allowed to go home early, which for me ended up being around 5:30. By 6:30 we left to drive to San Jose.

This morning we all piled in the car and headed to Santa Rosa. It took about 2 and a half hours and traffic wasn’t too bad. Getting onto the Golden Gate Bridge and the Novato Narrows were the only bad spots. My brother was able to join us in time for dinner, and we just barely managed to fit everyone at the table except for my future step-father. He stood in the kitchen next to us eating and serving the food. Everything was good and we all had a good time talking and laughing. I think if we can eat together and laugh together, our families are going to get along just fine. We went for a walk after dinner and my pirate gave the dogs a run like we’ve gotten into the habit of doing when we’re with my mom. The dogs love it and my pirate usually has the energy to spare. We had pie and Belgian chocolates for dessert and then headed out. I got dropped off at home to take care of the kitties (who are all curled up in bed with me now) and my pirate and his family headed back to San Jose.

I’ll miss him, but I want to go through the wedding books my mom lent me and also get my Christmas cards done, along with laundry and some other chores and projects.

Time to do some reading and kitty cuddling!

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Originally uploaded by JennyUsagi

Ok, so we went to a B&B in Napa to celebrate one year together…. Saturday night we were cuddling on the floor in front of the fireplace enjoying the flames and talking. And my pirate mentions how hard/scary it is to say “Will you marry me?” and I practically die even though I know he just said it as an example. So I replied that of course my answer would be yes. So I’m sitting there going nuts thinking that who knows when he’s going to say it for real… when he does. I think I said something like “Yes, absolutely yes!” and then tried not to cry from happiness. Then he realized that our actual anniversary wasn’t till Sunday and said he’d propose again then so he wouldn’t have to remember two dates. Which he did do in the morning, but I’m still going to tease him about. Besides, 3+4 = 7 which is one of my favorite numbers (along with 3).

Sunday we wandered Napa some more after a tasty breakfast (and finding out we forgot to set the clocks back) and of course browsed the jewelry stores too. We stopped at Fenton’s on the way home to try their ice cream. It was good, but since they didn’t have the dark chocolate with raspberry I wanted to try I ended up just getting dutch chocolate which wasn’t anything super special.

Monday we went to the Shane Company store in Roseville and picked out a band. Wednesday my stone came in and we approved it. They had it set by Sunday, but I didn’t get back from Georgia till Tuesday night after they closed. Wednesday we went to get it, but it was set too high, so it won’t be ready till Saturday after 4pm. If we don’t get back from the chocolate factory tour before they close we’ll go pick it up Sunday. At which point I’ll take a picture and then post it here. :D

We’re aiming for Nov. 7, 2009 for the wedding date.

Things have been interesting the last couple days. I biked with my pirate to the ARC Thursday morning, but had to bike back once we got there. On the way home a guy fell coming down the steep part of the Putah Creek Undercrossing. He got scratched up pretty bad so I asked him to come home with me so I could patch him up. So my first aid kit finally came in handy, as did my athletic tape to keep the gauze pads on. Then work was crazy busy all day. On the way back to work from lunch, a huge branch cracked and fell from one of the olive trees lining the exit drive. Luckily no one and nothing really got hurt, but the little kids playing outside and I were really startled. I stayed a few minutes after work to change Jin’s water. I’m starting to get good at it. It’s tricky getting him out of his big vase into the little one I use for him when I clean and refresh the water in his big one.

Friday was more normal, though still really busy at work.

And today we’re going to the Scharffenberger chocolate factory tour! Wheeeee!

I flew out Friday night after work, and arrived in Florida Saturday morning. We tried out a sushi place that had gotten great reviews, but it didn’t live up to them. We went based on this review: Tastememory.com Botan Japanese restaurant but it didn’t get updated with the info about the change of ownership till after we’d already gone. It wasn’t bad, just nothing special.

I was zonked out most of the drive back to Savannah (I didn’t really sleep much on the plane due to a sore neck) and then we all took naps when we got there. This was followed buy a fabulous dinner at Tantra Lounge - I had the Yum Yum Soup which was beyond yummy! It’s one of the best I’ve ever had, up there with the tomato broth soup my pirate’s mom made and Coco’s chicken tortilla soup.

We wandered downtown some and ended up at Lulu’s Dessert Cafe. I had the Mocha Tarts and Nagiko had the cheesecake with raspberry and chocolate (or something like that). All very tasty. Tora and I were up super late watching all 6 (?) discs of Trinity Blood. I really enjoyed it, the main character’s personality, and even some of the plot points made me think of Vash the Stampede, another really good series.

I slept in Sunday and then we had mexican for lunch and wandered downtown getting all sorts of photos of the architecture and details (I’m really behind on downloading my photos and uploading to flickr!). I think dinner that night was at the Bonefish Grill, then more anime watching, this time Tsubasa. Monday Tora took me around and we browsed the shops for four hours until I was happily exhausted. I also had some of Leopold’s ice cream. Literally the best ice cream I’ve had in my life, and thankfully safely across the country from me. Though funny enough the girl who served me used to live in Davis too!

Running out of lunch time, so gotta finish up here!

Dinner at Zen Sushi - yummy, dessert - brownie sundae at Bonefish grill, read the rest of the xxxHolic & Tsubasa manga to get caught up, sleep, drive to airport, fly home. Got pulled out of line to check my bag - the rice heat pack I brought for my neck showed up as an “organic blob.” It made me a little bit nervous, but nowhere nearly as bad as it would have one upon a time. Prior to landing the pilot thanked the military guys on board, and everyone on board started clapping. Arrived home again, passed out!

This month is off to a great start already. Khalua played fetch for a while this morning which was really cute, hopefully she’ll make it a regular game to play rather than a one time fluke. I woke up early enough to do some chores this morning too.

Last night was dance class which is always good. Tonight is probably dinner and or climbing with some friends, and I’d like to get the map for Spotlight done too. Then Friday I can do my freelance work.

Saturday we have haircuts (my hair is finally at that annoying flip out phase of growing it out, fingers crossed my stylist can conquer it) and then we go to Napa to a B&B for the rest of the weekend for our one year anniversary.

The weekend after that I go to Georgia to see Tora and his lady, then the next one we’re going to the Schaffenberger (chocolate) factory tour, then it’s home for Thanksgiving, then my holiday party, then a friend’s holiday party. Then finally a weekend free again to relax! I have no clue if I’ll manage to get my Christmas cards out on time. Hopefully!

Time to get ready for work!

My tension headaches have started to come back, so yesterday I ended up having to get a shot to kill the three day headache I had. The pharmacy didn’t have the other med my doctor prescribed me, but I have an appointment with my psychiatrist on Monday to go over my meds. My antidepressant is also used for headaches/muscle tension. I’m hoping to try moving to just a muscle relaxant, since the only time I really get moody anymore is when I’m in pain from the headaches. And since the muscle relaxant part of my meds aren’t working, I’m sure the antidepressant isn’t either.

I’m still pretty tense through the neck/shoulders, but at least I didn’t wake up with a headache today. I’m heading up to Tahoe this afternoon to spend tonight and tomorrow in a friend’s uncle’s cabin to celebrate the birthday of three good friends of mine. So I’m looking forward to that.

My 10 year high school reunion got canceled, otherwise I’d have been going to S.R. this weekend. First it got rescheduled last minute from Oct 6 to Oct 27, and then canceled because not enough people could make it.

Next weekend my pirate and I are going to a B&B in Napa for our 1 year anniversary. Yippee!

I’ve started making tacos again at home, I forgot how yummy and easy they are, and it helps that I can stand to look at the raw meat now (though I still dump it from the package to pot without touching it). Someday I might even manage to try meat balls or meat loaf… probably with plastic gloves.

We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch last weekend, and then to the Indian grocery next door, so I’m going to try making some curry and stuff soon.

I have some friends down in So. Cal., but so far everyone is safe from the fires there. I really hope they get them under control soon!

Also, my dad just got back from his trip to India, so I’m glad he’s home safely, I missed talking to him on instant message regularly.

I think the only Halloween plans are to buy a bag of candy to give out, and watch Rocky Horror Picture Show since my pirate has never seen it.

Time to get some chores done before I head off to Tahoe!

Saturday I spent in the day in the bay area with my pirate and friends. We went to Lychee Garden in SF for my first dim sum ever. I wasn’t really impressed with it, and they didn’t have the one thing I really wanted, just the plan bao rolls. They only had the pork bao. After that we went to Daiso in Daly City. It’s basically a Japanse 100 yen store, only over here it’s all $1.50. I managed to find $77 worth of $1.50 items, though I think that’s with tax. After that we headed over to Pao-sama’s place in Redwood City for a bbq. We sat around talking and eating and didn’t get home till 2am.

Sunday I got some chores done, but mostly it was making up for lost sleep day.

Monday I think my interview went pretty well, and I’m supposed to hear back by the end of the week.

Tuesday we went to $1 cone night and then to see Surf’s Up. It was good, but the previews beforehand were horrifyingly bad. (Daddy Day Camp, Under Dog, Bratz) I threw together some chicken and pasta for us to have afterwards.

Tonight I hope to get some shopping done at IKEA and Target to help with the cleaning/organizing I want to do before my party this weekend. I have everything ordered for delivery from Safeway on Saturday morning, so I just have cleaning left to do.

Tomorrow night should be climbing, and then a friend’s party on friday since he’s leaving for his summer internship soon. I might as well get my socializing in while I still have the time and energy!

Friday night I was up late copying my data off my old PC so that I could take it back to Santa Rosa for mom. I ended up staying home and then getting up around 6 or 7 am and driving to Santa Rosa. Mom didn’t expect me until noonish, so I ended up having time getting her data moved over to the new computer and the DSL all set up. Mom thankfully did the driving out to Van Damme State Park, which was a really pretty drive. Everyone got back from kayaking shortly after we arrived, so we all went to Mendocino to get some lunch and then wander the shops. My cousins and I explored the plateau on the edge of town and took a bunch of photos. AG even let me try out his new Canon Rebel XTi. *drool*

I had a ton of flamed marshmallows that night. The next day we went on a hike (2.5 miles each way) and again took a lot of photos. AG and I were the slowest ones since we kept stopping to take pictures.

After that we had to pack up and head out. We decided to try to go see the Pygmy Forest, but we didn’t have good directions. After two tries at finding it we went back to Mendocino for lunch at the ice cream/pizza shop that mom’s friend owns and runs. We wandered town a little bit, and finally found someone who knew the way to the pygmy forest. We’d actually been going the right way the second try, but hadn’t gone far enough. So we finally made it there, and it was very unimpressive, but at least we can say we’ve been there and done that! After that was the ride back to Santa Rosa, and then the drive back to Davis.

The park and Mendocino were both nice, I’d definitely like to go back again sometime and take more time to explore the town and also make it to the beach.

The flickr photo set.