Blog Master G

I woke up from my very deep sleep sometime around 5am this morning. I walked down the hall to the bathroom, then climbed back into bed. Two more hours to sleep. I didn’t fall back asleep right away. Strange, considering the whirlwind, action-packed weekend we had. Jen also woke up around the same time. When 7am rolled around, we both struggled to get the day going. What follows are some hazy reflections on the weekend.

Ben, Jess, Enoch, James, Jen, and I joined Kat (back in town from her South American travels) and Brian at Albatross in Berkeley for drinks and games (Enoch and Brian cleaned house in Pictionary). James passed around his flask of Hot Damn. My favorite toast of the evening on the topic of people who mountain climb and bike and do lots of outdoorsy things: “I don’t do stuff. I drink,” said Kat. We all drank to that. Someone called Dan in New York around 1am CA time/4am NY time. He thanked us via email the next morning. …2am bird dog and lemon chicken dog at Top Dog… mmm, mmm, good.

Lazy Saturday working on the soon-to-be-announced wedding photo site, followed by James and Enoch arriving around 2pm to pick us up for a late brunch at Kate’s Kitchen in the Lower Haight… while we waited for Ben and Jess to arrive, a crackhead tried to entice us into purchasing stolen grade schooler’s artwork (valued at a million dollars)… the French toast orgy (photo from the first time I had it on 1.20.2003) kicked my ass, so my wife helped me finish it.

Sunday Zinfandel dinner party at Jane and Sarah’s in beautiful Montclair… I ate some red meat, which I rarely do (maybe once or twice per year, and usually only at Jane and Sarah’s or James’), and some delicious lasagna… Jen and I brought a $10.19 2000 bottle of old-vine De Loach zin that we thought (as usual) was a shoe-in for victory. As usual, though, we thought wrong. Our bottle placed 13th. Of 14. But I gave it a perfect 15 (and suspected it was ours, since it was colder than the rest, as was the Safeway from which we had bought it; so I tried, apparently unsuccessfully, to convince others to score high for good ol’ #8). And proving that wine tasting isn’t the most scientific practice, one bottle of $3.99 Forestville placed nearly last, and another identical bottle placed in the top 5. Gotta love it. Jen and I once raved about the glory of Forestville (unbeknownst to us that it was Forestville) at one of the previous varietal parties (Cabernet, perhaps?). Timid Timmy the greyhound rescue let me pet him for the first time ever. Joe and I compared notes on investing in real estate. We both want to be landlords. Joe’s Jen confessed that she’s a fan of my blog (yay, Jen! and don’t worry — I can’t really tell when you’re reading this). Kudos to Jane and Sarah for another smashtastic event.

Sunday we took Stella to Crissy Field, her favorite dog beach. She frolicked in the ocean, chased her tennis balls, and tried to start a fight. She’s such a grumpy old dog now. But maybe some dogs just like to do their own thing the same way some people just like to do their own thing. Then we had a book meeting with Suzanne and photographer Reggie to discuss the production of the next 100 Faces of Marin… we get to buy a new Mac; I’m excited about that. I toured four open houses… it’s really hard to find something that feels right. Delicious seafood dinner with Ben and Jess at PJ’s Oyster Bed to celebrate his birthday and their moving to Menlo Park (we’ll miss you guys)… my grilled trout topped with bay shrimp, onions, peppers, tomatoes served on the skillet was incredible… then we watched Sex and the City at our (just-cleaned) apartment while sipping limoncello…

Another stellar weekend for the memory books.