So on Wednesday night, since I got in so late, I decided to make my friend Sharon let me sleep on her couch. Thankfully, she’s a good friend and let me do so. We got to catch up for like an hour before we both passed out and her little puppy wondered why the party stopped.

Isn’t he so cute??

I had to rent a car since I was flying into SFO, staying in Novato, which is just north of San Francisco, and attending a wedding in Sonoma, which is about 30 miles east of Novato. I always opt for the economy car since I’m one person, not driving that much and really don’t care.

This is what they gave me.

The Kia HAMSTER CAR! I was kind of embarrassed. And by kind of, I mean a lot.

But then I drove it. And you guys, it’s a really nice little compact car. It is roomy, higher off the ground than a sedan and a pretty fun little car. I’m kind of sad to admit that I’m seriously considering it for my next car. For reals.

Thursday was spent doing a lot of nothing. I had breakfast and coffee in the City since I wanted to wait out the traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge before heading to my hotel. Once I got to my hotel, I checked in, grabbed some water and snacks (and wine) at the nearby Safeway and changed into my bathing suit and headed down to the pool.

It was so warm out! I even went in the water! I only lasted about 30-40 minutes because I was exhausted and wanted to nap. So nap I did! Because I could! I was on VACATION!

(Also, what is up with getting older and getting jet lag? I’ve never really experienced it before, mostly because I can sleep whenever. But this trip I was wide awake every morning at 6 AM.)

Thursday night I spent in my room. I ordered food from the bistro café in the hotel and paired that with my bottle of screw-top wine and hunkered in for some good TV. (Jersey Shore, Vampire Diaries and Grey’s, OH MY!)

Friday I was lucky enough to sucker Jennster into being my designated driver for some wine tasting. She doesn’t really drink, which worked out well for me. It also worked out well for her because she had never really even been to like half of the wine country in Napa. She’s all “Silverado Trail, what the hell is that?” So I took her to Mumm and ZD, among others, and then she made me go to Sutter Home. Where the wino in me was embarrassed. And also glad their tasting was free, seeing as it was White Zin, “sweet red” and moscato.

(My palate is way too refined for sweet wine. But I’m OK with cheap.)

On Friday night I was invited by my bride friend to a gathering after the rehearsal dinner. Sadly, I did not make it to that. I decided I needed a short nap after wine tasting and…….fell asleep until 11:30 PM. Sorry Tina!

Saturday was wedding day! The wedding was in the evening so I spent the morning relaxing and getting a pedicure. I was meeting my friends Kirk and Teri at a winery prior to the wedding for a private tasting. (It’s good to know the people who know people.) It was amazing and if you ever get a chance, do the Moone-Tsai tasting at Luna Vineyards. Our tasting came with a food pairing and I even ate pate for the first time in my life! AND LIKED IT! (My mom just fainted.)

I had so much fun catching up with Kirk and Teri. Kirk was my boss at the 49ers. I still refer to him as “my old boss” even though I haven’t worked for him for almost 7 years and now we’re just friends. But I miss living near them and I’m so glad we hung out before the wedding and got to catch up and laugh and talk really, really loud, like Teri and I are wont to do.

The wedding was perfect. My friend was beautiful and just GLOWING with happiness. I’ve know Kristina since 2001, I think. And she’s one of my closest friends. We’ve been through a lot. And I cannot be happier for her. Her new hubby is great and they are just perfect for each other and GAH! My heart swells seeing her that happy! She deserves it!

Congrats Brandon and Kristina!

Then Sunday, I stupidly booked a flight at 5:45 PM, which meant I got home after midnight. But at least I got to spend some more time back in SF and have lunch with Betsey and Hoddy and their son Max. We all met in SF and they now live in Minneapolis and I miss not living near them.

After lunch, I found a bar showing the Bears game, had 2 beers, almost got tackled by a drunk dude and then headed to the airport.

It was really a great trip. It was the perfect mix of relaxing and busy. I like having things to do, especially when I travel by myself, but I also love being able to sit around and do nothing. And not have to make my bed.

Although my bank account isn’t too happy with the amount of fine wine I purchased.

I haven’t been back here in awhile. It was 2008, I think. To say it is weird being back is an understatement.

I spent six years in the Bay Area. It was really my most formative years. I became who I am today in those six years. It was post-college and I was exploring a whole new world of becoming an adult. And not only that, I was living 3,000 miles away from my family and knew not a soul in California.

I wouldn’t trade those six years for anything. Yeah, looking back, it was not always the best time, but I met some of my very best friends and strengthened the friendship with my two best friends who moved up to join me in CA a year after I did.

But I don’t miss being there. It was surreal to be driving up the 101 after I landed Wednesday night, into the City, past the football stadium where I spent a majority of my Sundays. The feeling I had wasn’t of longing. It was more of trepidation. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I went through A LOT there. Like I said, it shaped who I am.

And maybe it would be different if I was coming back to a place that was the same as I left it. It’s not. Most of my people aren’t there anymore. Yes, there are a few that are, but the rest of us are spread out all over the country.

Maybe that’s where the bit of sadness comes in. I was there alone, relaxing, and I miss people. Driving up to SF isn’t the same when you know that there are people who don’t live there anymore.

But I made the most of it and hung out with my friends who are still there and even got to see friends from Minnesota who were in SF to visit. They came as I was leaving and we had just enough time to catch up over lunch on Sunday!

More about my trip when I recover from it and the actually get some damn sleep. STUPID JET LAG!

I was sad to leave.

It was such a perfect weekend. Well, until I was dropped off at the airport on Sunday evening, but that was no fault of the Martells and all the fault of Mother Nature. She’s been out to get me since I wrote this post.

I arrived Thursday night, met a hot customs agent and then tried to pick him up. He was not impressed because when he asked if I had brought gifts, I showed him my bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee. And he was all “coffee, really? Some friend you are!” And I tried to tell him “no, you don’t understand! This coffee is so good and you can’t get it in Canada!” And then he stamped my passport and wished me on my merry way.

After arriving at the Martell Bed & Breakfast, we chatted, the kids went to bed and then we watched Jersey Shore. People, if the first episode in Italy was any indication, this will be the best season ever.

Yeah, buddy!

Friday morning, I went downtown to the St. Lawrence Market and walked around the market and downtown Toronto by myself until lunch time, when Ali was done working. I remember 2 things about my morning – 1) there was some sort of big news conference outside the market with some person that no one in Toronto, or Canada, knew. Well, according to my Twitter. 2) I had this corn muffin at the market that was probably the best muffin I have ever eaten. I want another one, or 12.

After lunch, we picked up some food and drinks for the ensuing inaugural BBQHer event, which was dinner and wine. And in my case, even more wine. The lovely Sam joined us and it was so much fun. We stayed up until 3 AM drinking and talking. And laughing. Lots of laughing.

Saturday morning, after I slept off that giant 1.5 L of wine, was more talking and drinking (coffee, this time) and laughing. Then we made our own grilled pizzas and had lunch together outside. (FYI, the food all weekend was amazing. I even wrote about Gabe over on Food Lush.)

After lunch, we headed out to the Toronto Beer Fest which, let’s be honest, is my idea of heaven. Except for the fact that they don’t give you unlimited number of beers and you have to buy tokens. I sampled many a Canadian brew and even donned moose antlers. Which I’m pretty sure makes me 1/2 Canadian already.

Sunday was spent sleeping in and relaxing. We had a lovely brunch, played some games (ALI WINS EVERYTHING!!) with the kids and watched a Toddler and Tiaras marathon. It is Isabella’s favorite show. And well, I had never seen it before and it is impossible to look away when it is on.

I left for the airport super early because Gabe mentioned that the customs line would be insane. And since he travelled back and forth between Atlanta and Toronto every 2 weeks for a whole year, he would know. He was so right. The wait was over an hour. There were a few families there with small children and all I kept thinking was “travelling with kids is hard enough, let alone waiting in an hour-long customs line!”

Little did I know at the time, that it didn’t matter. Because my plane would not take off for another three hours. We were delayed. Then we got on the plane, only to sit on the tarmac. To then race across the airport because our runway changed. To then head back to the gate because there was a ground stop in Chicago due to weather and we were running out of gas. To then waiting for the ground stop to be lifted. To then having the ground stop lifted and then having to wait 30 minutes for the fuel truck. To then finally leaving, after sitting on the tarmac for a little bit longer.

Overall, I landed at 10:30 PM, which isn’t too bad. Thank God for the hour time difference. But then our luggage decided to not show up. Not just mine, everyone on our flight. The flight number had disappeared from all the baggage claim screens and yet, NO BAGS. Finally, at a little after 11:30, I got my bag and headed outside to catch a cab home.

NOT SO FAST, KRISTABELLA!

The line for cabs was like 100 people deep. Not surprising, since everyone was delayed coming into Chicago. Thankfully there were tons of cabs and the line moved quickly. I think I made it home a little after midnight and was in bed about 20 seconds later. (Not really, because I’m always WIRED when I get home, no matter how badly I want to sleep.) Also, the cats were very excited to see me and have me turn on the AC again.

And as tired as I was, I CANNOT WAIT for the next time I get to do it all over again!

There were a few reasons for it. One, money. I mean, San Diego is far and I’ve already spent a lot of money this year on my trip to Jamaica. Two, time off. I was hoping to have a new job some time before August 2011 (WHICH I DO, YAY!) and knew getting time off wasn’t going to be easy. Three, last year was super overwhelming and hot damn there were a lot of people. Four, a lot of my people weren’t going. And while I do have many, many friends that are going, my roomies weren’t going. And once you’ve roomed with the same people so many times, why switch it up? We had it down to a routine!

So instead, I’m going to Toronto to visit part of my home base. Because she too is not attending this year. And we have dubbed the weekend BBQHer because……well, I don’t know. I think because he BBQs?

Don’t worry, we won’t be eating people. That I know of. Canada is a whole other country.

But apparently there is a fun weekend of activities planned! Including the Toronto Beer Festival! And catching up with my favoritest people! And games with three adorable children! And grilled meat! I am so excited, I have no words!

I’ve been to Toronto once before. I never wrote about it on here. Mostly because I may have not mentioned the trip to my boss at the time, who thought I was working from home. (Actually she was on vacation, so she didn’t care at all.)

Well, if this is working, then I was doing just that.

We also went to a pumpkin patch. There was a petting zoo. And they had a hay ride and some weird ride that made me dizzy for the rest of the trip. And then, on the customs form on the way back, they asked a question about being around LIVESTOCK and FARM ANIMALS and I LIED! I said I wasn’t because was I going to be detained? I DIDN’T EVEN PET THEM! I JUST TOOK PHOTOS! HOW COULD GOATS BE HARMFUL?? WE LIKE FARM ANIMALS IN THE UNITED STATES!

(Wow, this post is just full of confessions! I really am an honest person! Swearsies!)

So now I’m going to go finish packing. And try to focus on making it through work tomorrow and not filling out any of the wrong forms for customs lest I get detained and this girl doesn’t get her American goodies!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Peace out, friends! Have a wonderful weekend!

The trip was AMAZING! I had such a nice, relaxing, fun time. It was just what I needed. Which I didn’t even realize until I was sitting at the pool bar, drinking Red Stripe Light, feeling the stresses lifting off my shoulder and making me calm and serene.

I don’t have much to detail about the trip. Besides the wedding and wedding festivities, which were why I was there in the first place, there was a lot of lying around by the pool. And making friends with the bartenders. And drinking slushy rum drinks. And just enjoying myself.

This was my first beachy vacation I’ve taken as an adult. Usually I travel to some place in the States to visit a friend and/or go for a goal/purpose – conference, wedding, tourist attractions. This was the first time that I really took a trip that was 5 days of a lot of nothing. I get it now. You don’t get bored. You RELAX. And enjoy yourself.

I packed a lot of clothes for this trip. I figured I would be on the go and it would be hot and I would be sweaty and I would need to change two or three times a day.

In reality, I wore my bathing suit more than anything else.

Here are how my days usually looked:

Morning (before 10 AM) (I KNOW!!)

• Get up, brush teeth, throw on bathing suit, cover-up, sunscreen
• Head down to breakfast
• Eat a plate full of bacon
• And maybe some other things
• Get beach towels
• Find spot in shady area near bar
• Lay out and read book until 10 AM when the bar opens
• Alternate between drinking at the bar, relaxing in the lazy river, or going down the waterslide.

Afternoon

• Lunch from the pool bar – BLT wrap and fries every day (MORE BACON)
• More drinks
• More reading
• More sun time
• More pool time
• Possibly a nap or two (either indoors or outside)

Evening

• Shower
• Dinner
• More drinks
• Close down terrace bar
• Head to night club to people watch and eat snacks
• Go to bed

Wash, rinse, repeat.

The only difference was for the wedding. It was absolutely beautiful and has totally changed my opinion on destination weddings. Before this trip, I thought I wanted to get married in Chicago, in front of everyone, with a huge party. Now? I think this is the way to go. With this kind of wedding, you can relax and enjoy yourself and know that everyone that shows up is there for you and loves you so much that they are willing to travel for your wedding.

Plus, getting married in front of this kind of backdrop? Ain’t half bad.

I had never been to Austin before. The only thing I knew about Austin was that they like their football and burnt orange. Then Regan moved there and opened to my eyes to all the amazing food that was available to shove into my piehole in Austin. So when asked what I wanted to do while I was there, I just said “eat with reckless abandon.”

And I think I did well.

First on my list was Frank, where I had the most amazing sausage ever. It was house-made beef, pork, caramelized shallot and fresh cilantro sausage, with cheddar cheese, scallion, sour cream, guacamole, diced tomato and refried beans. It was freaking delicious. I felt right at home there.

We met Natalie for lunch and it was so lovely to meet her in person. I only wish I could have hung out with her more!

On Friday night, we continued the bloggy theme of the weekend and met out two other bloggers for dinner. I have known TUWABVB online for years and it was such a pleasure to finally meet her in person and hug her and thank her again for keeping me sane through my whole condo-buying experience.

We had dinner at Max’s Wine Dive, which pretty much describes my version of heaven.

Saturday was filled with more food, of course, including lunch at the famous Austin haunt, The Hula Hut.

Then Slynnro took me around Austin, showed me the campus of UT and the capitol building.

And then we went back to the hotel to take a nap. Because we are hard core like that. And let me tell you, it was a glorious nap.

Saturday night was dinner out with Regan and her husband and home early to put on stretchy pants and watch a movie. It sounds boring, but seeing as Regan is pregnant and I’m old, it suited me just fine. It was a perfectly restful, relaxing and enjoyable vacation.

We parted ways on Sunday, not before having one more meal. This one was an amazing fried egg sandwich on challah (HOLLA!) at Diner 24. Yes, again, tasted as good as it looks.

Was a perfect weekend away and it was definitely worth it to finally meet this handsome fellow in person (and chase him around the house and play with his Legos):

Austin, I am in love. I will be back. Next time let’s work on some better weather, shall we?

Actually, that’s probably a little hasty. I have had two successful trips on Delta in the last 12 months. Once to Atlanta last December and then to NYC in August to BlogHer. My August experience wasn’t perfect, but that was mostly because I was one of the first flights out of the day and I don’t think the people working the check-in counter had had their coffee yet.

(And I will say, fly Delta Shuttle to LaGuardia because they are in this small little terminal and it is just them and you’ll be in and out so fast you’ll forget you’re flying into New York City.)

Anyway, as I mentioned in my previous post, I spent the weekend in Minnesota. It was kind of last minute. My friend Lori from Arizona sent me an email about a month ago and was like “I’m going to be in MN and Mike (her hubby) is going to come up for the weekend with me and you should totally fly up to meet us because MN is a lot closer to Chicago than AZ!” And I was like “FUCK YEAH! I’m so there!”

So the thing is, I’m out of vacation time for the year. Because I was poop sick and had to use all my sick days and two vacation days to stay home and pretty much be chained to my toilet. You’re welcome co-workers! I stayed home and didn’t give you c diff! It’s highly contagious! I should get a free vacation day because I’m SO NICE!

Since I had no vacation time, the plan was to go up there Friday after work and come back Sunday evening, since it is such a short flight. Since I work near O’Hare, it is easiest to fly out of there at a reasonable time and not miss any work. It was a perfect plan!

But then I remembered that O’Hare is a nightmare on a Tuesday afternoon. On a Friday evening, it was going to be insane. So before I left the office on Friday I said to my cubemate “wish me good travel mojo! I don’t have time for delays this weekend!”

Dear self, NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN. EVER.

So I got to the airport. The security line was a little long, but I had plenty of time. I stopped to get some apple juice (my go-to airport drink) and went to chill at my gate. My flight was supposed to leave at 6:10. As soon as I sat down, they announced there was a slight delay due to some mechanical issue. Slight delay became a longer delay. Longer delay became cancellation. CANCELLATION! And while, yes, I’m glad they canceled it, rather than put us up in the air in a broken plane, I was still very mad about the cancellation!

The gate agents were very helpful. They worked to get everyone on another flight that night. I got put on a United flight that was leaving at 8:10. So I was only going to be 2 hours delayed. But it killed all the plans I had for seeing some of my friends that evening. But all was not lost, since I was going to get there! And on Friday night!

The trip was awesome. I had such a great time with my friends. We can just sit around and do nothing and we can have a good time. I got to see the Twins new OUTDOOR ballpark, meet new babies, see another toddler that is no longer a baby and is now my BFF because I’m the crazy adult who will tickle you and act like a kid!

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. My friend Julie and I had a great brunch, went shopping and got our nails done. On the way to the nail salon, I got like three missed calls on my phone from some 800 number. I ignored it because I don’t answer calls from people I don’t know (or people I don’t like). After the third missed call, I called the number to see who it was. It was Delta. I knew it couldn’t be good.

So I immediately checked my email. My 5:15 flight had been canceled. CANCELED. AGAIN! And they had so kindly re-booked me on a flight on Monday morning at 9 AM. That went through CLEVELAND. It got me back to Chicago in more time than it would have taken me to drive. Clearly this was unacceptable. And I called Delta and told them just this.

The woman on the phone was very nice. She said she could confirm me on the last seat on the last flight of the night at 9:30. I said “I’ll take it!” because I needed to be at work Monday morning.

I spent the afternoon on Julie’s couch, watching football, drinking a beer and writing blog posts. I even caught about 45 minutes of the Bears debacle before leaving for the airport.

I got to the airport in plenty of time. I went and sat at my gate and found a plug to charge my phone. I was ready to be in the air at 9:30.

Oh silly me, I should have known better by now! Our flight was delayed! Because we had no crew! They were on a flight to Minneapolis from Philadelphia! So we would leave once they finally got there. Which they were hoping was soon!

Soon is a relative term in the airline industry. Because I think 30 minutes is soon. They think “still today” is soon. The crew finally got there a little after 10 and we finally boarded and took off a little before 11. Which means we landed at almost midnight. Only 2 hours later than we would have gotten in.

I got home about 12:45. Because I had to take a cab. My car was at the work parking garage, close to the airport, but I didn’t know if I could get in and out of there after midnight, so I didn’t even want to risk it. I wanted to get home and pass out from exhaustion, preferably still in my clothes. Because changing would have been too much work.

Throughout all of this, I made sure to let Delta know my feelings about them on Twitter.

Delta is very responsive on Twitter. But as I’ve found in my multiple dealing with them, their response is always “sorry, let me know if there is anything I can assist you with.”

And unless you can assist me with your airline not fucking sucking, then stop wasting my time.

Thus ends your PSA for the day. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Last weekend I drove up to Madison with my friend Jess to go see ASU play the Wisconsin Badgers. We were meeting my friend Julie and her husband a bunch of his family, and my friend Amanda, who was driving in from Milwaukee. The weekend was a blast and it was so nice to hang out with everyone and watch my Sun Devils almost beat the 11th ranked team in the country.

And we represented well, horns and all.

.

After getting back from Wisconsin and spending Sunday afternoon (and evening) in the bar with the cutie bartender, I was off to New Orleans for work. It was a very long three days, but fun. And I got to eat beignets, so there’s really not a bad thing about that.

But I got back Wednesday night at 9 PM and was back at work today. And apparently I thought I was still in New Orleans, out on Bourbon Street, most of the day at work. Case in point:

Me: *sneeze*

My cubemate, after a five second delay: “Bless you. Sorry, I was swallowing.”

Me, in a really loud voice: “That’s what she said.”

So now I’m off to bed. Because I think tomorrow is Friday and I have to go to work. But for all I know, it’s Thanksgiving tomorrow and I’m in Helena, Montana.

It’s been that kind of week.

When I last left off, I was boring all of you with details of my trip. So to continue, I will keep boring you with details of my trip, but at least talk about Rhi’s wedding, which should be far more entertaining.

So this was my first “blog” wedding. And by that I mean this is the first wedding I’ve attended of a person I met through the internet. It’s not that big of a deal. As I’ve mentioned a million times before, I’m happy to have started this blog if only because of the fantastic friends I have made through it.

But, this becomes a little odd when you attend an event like a wedding and people ask “so how do you know the bride or groom?”

I wasn’t actually posed with this question until Friday night at the rehearsal dinner. Most of Rhi’s friends knew me and knew I was from the internet, but we happened to sit with some people at the rehearsal dinner who weren’t aware of this.

Internet, meet Nick. He was one of the groomsmen, one of Bill’s longtime friends. He had the fortunate, or unfortunate, pleasure of sitting with us at dinner and getting to hear all about blogging and Twitter:

Nick did not understand Twitter at all. Most people who aren’t on it don’t understand it. And I can’t explain it very well besides telling you it is awesome and I love Twitter. Because sometimes people NEED to know that I’m out drinking, or my thoughts on Jersey Shore. People are dying to know this!

Nick’s solution? Why not just create an email distribution list with your friends and send them updates. And well, I laughed and then I didn’t have an actual response. Because how is Twitter different than that, really? Again, just get on Twitter. Just try it! You’ll like it!

I told Nick I would blog about him and even gave him one of my blog business cards. He was all “Full of Snark, that’s cute. Is Snark your last name?” Oh Nick, I wish.

:::

Anyway, so back to my trip. Saturday was spent doing lots of fun Portlandly things, like going to Powell’s Bookstore and getting a photo taken in front of their sign! It was a green screen:

And day drinking Oregon beer and eating my weight in pretzels and beer cheese at Deschutes Brewery with Kerri.

And seeing the Portland skyline from the beautiful Rose Garden. (Portland is the city of roses, you know. And they aren’t kidding.)

(Kerri stops to smell the roses. I’m pretty sure no one has ever thought to take that photo.)

And then it was on to the wedding! Rhi looked absolutely stunning in her dress and it was a perfect evening! Except for the fact I forgot to get new batteries and my camera died during the ceremony. This was the last one I got, not too shabby.

This was the table I was seated at. (Fitting, no?) (It’s actually a brewery in Portland!)

The food was amazing, we danced until we were soaked with sweat and a good time was had by all. It was a blogtastic wedding!

(Photo of me, Kerri and Kramey, courtesy of Kerri who took photos with me in them after my camera shit the bed.)

:::

My last day in Portland was pretty chill and relaxing. We had brunch, walked around the waterfront and then decided to catch a movie. We saw Get Him To The Greek, which is high-larious! Puff Daddy should get an award nomination for his role. Like “most unlikely person who Kristin thought would be hilarious!”

The best part, though? Portland movie theatres serve beer! And for a good price! They have beer/popcorn combos! I HAVE FOUND MY HEAVEN!

It was such a great trip and I was so honored to have been apart of Rhi and Bill’s special day. And it was nice to spend time with Rhi and Kerri outside of BlogHer, when there isn’t 2,000 other people around, and really get to hang out and laugh and talk and totally prove that internet friends really are the best.

If you want to see more photos, you can find all my Portland photos here.

Besides my trip to Atlanta in the fall, I never really have a plan to do much. I always try to eat a #1 Original at Chick-Fil-A. I prefer to eat at The Flying Biscuit at least once. But other than that, I have THE BEST time in the world hanging out with Ali, Gabe and their kids. Seriously. We can be sitting quietly at the table, both on our laptops, or we can be laughing at Emily experiencing Pretty in Pink for the first time and it is always a shit-ton of fun. It’s very rare to have friends like that. I’ve become so close with the whole Martell clan that I feel like I’m part of the family. And am already planning a trip up to see them after they move into their new house in Toronto this summer.

I mean, Isabella made me a card to welcome me!

So yeah, we watched TV. Ali was under the weather so there wasn’t much she was able to do without dying. So TV it was! We gossiped. We talked “shop” about the blogging world. We laughed, a lot. I learned about famous Disney stars. And watched 17 Again for the first time. And then laughed some more.

And Ali gave me her sickness. I mean, the whole house was sniffly and coughing, it was going to be some sort of major feat if I didn’t get sick. That and the coughing, sneezy, sniffly lady I sat next to on the plane home. So really, a sore throat and runny nose was well worth the trip out there.

Also, because Ali’s husband Gabe, he likes to cook. He has a cookbook and a cooking blog. And he makes REALLY YUMMY stuff! So on Friday night, I got to pick and I picked this. And you all need to make it. It was delicious! But don’t just take my word for it, you can also ask Darcey and Adam, who came over for dinner too. It was a blogstravaganza! (Seriously, Ali, Adam and I spent the whole day sitting at various tables and chatting and laughing. GOOD TIMES!)

Ali also finally showed me the magic that is a Canadian TV show called Rent-A-Goalie. It’s a real show, apparently. And actually quite hilarious. And very raunchy. Please try and convince me that staring at this hottie, episode after episode, is a BAD thing.

His name on the show is Cake. Let me tell you, the fact that I love Cake has taken on a whole new meeting. I’m thinking of moving to Canada.

But now I’m going to go catch some Zzz’s, like my favorite lazy puppy Indy, and hopefully get rid of this damn cold. That dog does sleep right!