A Meme... ganked from the Angry Black Bitch

click the title of this post and go check out her blog!


1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? Wen'l would soooo be doing me if he were here!
2. How much cash do you have on you? I spent my last $5 on breakfast.
3. What’s a word that rhymes with "DOOR?" Floor?
4. Favorite planet? The one I'm living on... hello!
5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? I've only got 3 peeps on my missed call list right now.
6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? The only one I'm currently using sounds like music from a 70's porno.
7. What shirt are you wearing? A beat up blue t-shirt. I'm currently doing the dessert-making for dinner tomorrow.
8. Do you "label" yourself? Oh, all the time.
9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing? Teva.
10. Bright or Dark Room? Currently, bright.
11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? I wanna be just like her when I grow up!
12. What does your watch look like? I do not own a watch.
13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Reading the cover story in the new Rolling Stone.
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say? That my bill had just been paid and my current balance was now $0.
15. Where is your nearest 7-11? Hell if I know... I buy all my booze at BevMo and Trader Joe's.
16. What's a word that you say a lot? I've been known to drop the frequent F-bomb.
17. Who told you he/she loved you last? My husband.
18. Last furry thing you touched? My husband's gang o'pubes. He has a bruise mere millimeters above his swipe and I had to kiss it better.
19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days? Copious amounts of thc, 6 800mg vitamin i and 6 robaxin.
20. How many rolls of film do you need developed? None. We don't have one of those Flinstones cameras anymore.
21. Favorite age you have been so far? I'd say 37 except for the fact that my mom died this year. Other than that, it's been great.
22. Your worst enemy? The hills of San Francisco.
23. What is your current desktop picture? A stone wall covered in color-changing foliage at the Hess Vineyards.
24. What was the last thing you said to someone? Fuck that bruise looks gnarly honey!
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be? Definitely the money.
26. Do you like someone? I like plenty of people.
27. The last song you listened to? "Who Cares" by Gnarls Barkley.
28. What time of day were you born? 11:50 am.
29. What’s your favorite number? 13
30. Where did you live in 1987? Cerritos, California.
31. Are you jealous of anyone? As if!
32. Is anyone jealous of you? I'm certain someone is... why, I have no idea.
33. Where were you when 9/11 happened? Asleep.
34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Break a toe kicking the &%$#@! thing.
35. Do you consider yourself kind? I'm afraid so.
36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be? Someplace right over a bone, so it'd hurt like a bitch. That way, I wouldn't be tempted to get a second.
37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be? Italian.
38. Would you move for the person you loved? Yep.
39. Are you touchy feely? Wen'l sez so.
40. What’s your life motto? To thine own self be true.
41. Name three things that you have on you at all times? Cell phone, a pack of butts and my wedding ring.
42. What’s your favourite town/city? Long Beach, California.
43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? A breakfast burrito from Harry's.
44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? Sometime in the week or so after my mom died.
45. Can you change the oil on a car? Yes.
46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her? That he's still a shiftless prick and that he's currently living in Hawaii.
47. How far back do you know about your ancestry? Um, I know where my parents were born and that's about it.
48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy? It was all black, a sweater and skirt. Anniversary dinner in Napa.
49. Does anything hurt on your body right now? The sciatica is acting up bigly... been on my feet cooking for 2 days.
50. Have you been burned by love? So bad I'm surprised I didn't need skin grafts... but not by my hub. :)

mi nombre es...

sienna. it's what color i am and i answered enthusiastically to it the first time my peeps called me that.

i'm taking a nap right now, right at jOoLz's feet. i'm a rambunctious little shit and i need to recharge my batteries quite often. i'm getting better at doing my bidness outside, and my peeps are giving me lots of praise when i do.

wen'l is also trying to teach me to sit, like i don't already know. what i don't know is how to do it when he wants me to, but i'm trying my best to learn.

i like mornings best so far. it's when they fill up the cool life is good bowl they put my food in. plus, after i'm done, someone always takes me for a walk. i'm really liking discovering my neighborhood. when we're done i always have a nice long nap. i think i heard jOoLz laughing at me during my sleep. i've been dreaming about chasing that icky feral cat out of MY backyard a lot lately.

anyhoo, it's time for me to wake up and start bouncing off the walls again. poor jOoLz... she's probably going to lose 5 lbs this week chasing after me.

*big slobbery kisses*

the baker

my honey baked 2 loaves of bread for me today. one to mow on and one to make stuffing with thursday.

i know you're drooling just looking at it so i won't mention how delicious it was. :p

our new puppy

yay!

ain't she a cutie? we got her from the OC pound. haven't thunk up a name for her yet though. naming a puppy is harder than i thought!

any suggestions?

a (wonderful) change of plans

so... i'm a total pussy. san francisco is lovely, but until i can have a wee surgical procedure on my right knee, it's not my kinda town. it looks flat on a map, yo. i think the only part of town that actually IS flat is the waterfront. plus, there were an assload of USC alums in town. they don't call it the university of spoiled children for nothing, you know. the trojans were in town (well, actually down the road in palo alto) to play stanford. everywhere we turned there they were. i think the prospect of having to wait in line for 2 fucking hours to eat breakfast was what finally made me snap.

i enjoyed my wee stay in SF, had a great dinner with wen'l at a place called brick on friday night. everything is plated to share at brick, which made for a surprisingly romantic meal. i had a meltdown on sutter st., walking back to our hotel from jam-packed union square. we checked out when we got back. we weren't going to go home, but we were going to get outta dodge. we went to fisherman's wharf and had lunch on our way out of town. everything i've ever heard about the place was true... total tourist trap. BUT, everything i've ever heard about dungeness crab is also true. it is just better up there. we had crab cakes and a lovely chowdah for lunch, and watched the fog recede from the golden gate bridge. the crab house had a fantastic view of the bay, and i got chills just looking at alcatraz.

we drove over the golden gate, which was being re-enshrouded (is that a word?) by the fog by the time we got there. wen'l had never driven over the bridge, never been in marin county... we had a lovely drive up to the napa valley. neither one of us had ever been there, and we learned a few interesting things on the way up there. did you know the leaves on grapevines turn colors? i didn't. it's absolutely gorgeous.

we ended up staying at the first place we found, a place called the wine valley inn. my only requirement was that our night's lodging wouldn't break the bank like some places up that way can (ie, the auberge du soleil in rutherford). we relaxed, got settled and started thinking about where we'd eat dinner. it was our anniversary, after all, and dinner had to be somewhere worthy of the occasion. after much discussion, we came up with a place, got ready, and headed on down. we were told that w/o a reservation, we wouldn't be seated till 9:45. i wanted to be about half done with the bottle of 1999 veuve clicquot we'd brought along by that time, though, so we ended up going with what was my husband's first choice, a place called angèle, right on the banks of the napa river. click the title of this post to check out their website.

what a fabulous meal! we picked the *palourdes au basilic*, a ragoût of littleneck clams, prosciutto, white wine and shallots as our appetizer. i'm definitely going to do that at home. wen'l had the *magret de canard*, a duck breast w/ roasted figs, baby turnips and duck jus. i had the *boeuf bourguignon*, something i've been known to do here at home. it was one of the specials that night, and wen'l said he knew when he heard they had it that i'd be ordering it. it was tres delish. they put haricots verts in their version, something i'll definitely be trying out. yum! we each had our own dessert. normally we split one, but i wanted this banana thing with caramel ice cream and an almond crust, and wen'l is not the biggest fan of hot bananas. he had the chocolate fondant. gawd, i'm being very clinical about it, aren't i? we didn't have our camera with us or i'd have taken some pics. angèle is in a restored old boathouse, and it's breathtaking. the ceiling in the main dining room especially. absolutely romantic, and the place left me aching for something like it in our neck of the woods. food like that (rustic french... yum!) and atmosphere like that are something sorely lacking in orange county.

so after dinner we made our way back to room #41 of the wine valley inn and uncorked our champagne. we had veuve clicquot (the nonvintage stuff, which is quite lovely actually) at our reception and we've made it a habit to drink it for all our special occasions since. this year called for something special though. firstly, we were going away for our anniversary. hell, we didn't even have a honeymoon! secondly, we're doing better financially now and spending more than about $40 wasn't going to put us in the poor house. the 1999 was a decent-sized bump up from what we're used to. i think next year we might go whole hog and get la grande dame. i'm mighty curious about it now. the next morning we had breakfast at a place in town and made our way out to the hess winery. we couldn't very well be in napa and not do a tour and tasting, right? even if it was before noon?

here it is:

beautiful, no? and what a lovely day it was! just getting there was a treat. the mountain road leading up to the winery was amazing, and the air smelled alive in a way i don't think i can explain. we toured the grounds and the art gallery housed in the building above. i bought a book about wine, a nifty new corkscrew to replace the rickety one i've been using, and a bottle of their 2003 cabernet sauvignon that we ended up sampling during our tasting. i picked a winner! i'm going to serve it at wen'ls birthday dinner in december. i think it'll go great with the turner new zealand rack of lamb i'm going to do.

we headed back home after our time at hess, and decided the next time we head up to napa that we're going to do it right. start way up in the northern part of it and work our way south. do like 4 or 5 wineries a day. have a wonderful dinner in one of the local restaurants (and we'll remember to make reservations this time!). i'd even recommend a getaway to the napa valley to anyone, whether they were into wine or not, especially in the fall. it was just breathtakingly beautiful and there's plenty to do besides slowly get drunk.

it was a wonderful weekend after all.

:)

we're gettin out of dodge at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow. saturday is our anniversary. numero dos.

i'll write a big, mushy post when we get back from san francisco.

rented a volvo S60 (kinda diggin it so far... it's a lot different than my usual hooptie tahoe!). stayin at a boutique hotel on nob hill. gonna do a bunch of walking, some shopping, and a whole lot of eating. AND, we're gonna take the scenic route home. wen'l has never seen the central coast.

have a good weekend kids!