And I'd like you to meet...

Where are my manners? I have completely forgotten to introduce the major players in my life. These are the folks that I share my life with, so they definitely deserve a formal introduction.

First, there is Cliff, my husband and partner in procrastination, with his infinite good humor (in the face of my frequently frenetic and impulsive craziness):

Likes: sleeping in, sunny days, hiking, cycling, tennis, Bruce Springsteen, cafes with free wi-fi, beaches, New Jersey. Dislikes: rain, driving fast, mayonnaise, egg salad, unkind words, when voices are digitized in songs, bulls%*@ (bureaucratic, personality, or other) that gets in the way of trying to cure cancer.

And of course, there is Napali, the light of our lives, our muttly little rascal with the funny ears:

Likes: sleeping in, walking along the back of the couch, snacks, under-the-collar scratches, other dogs, swimming, dog parks, hiking, licking CGT's head. Dislikes: the cat next door, late bedtimes, baths, being touched or poked lightly in the side in some mystery spot (maybe it tickles?), getting her toenails trimmed, being left home alone.

Lastly but not leastly are actually the most veteran members of this family, Squeak and Kasey. Here is Squeak, with attitude written all over her face ("hurry up and get out of my face with that camera"):
Likes: water from the faucet, canned fish (any kind), clean kitty litter, birds in the backyard, spaghetti sauce, rubbing up on people (especially if they're wearing black). Dislikes: loud noises, being picked up and carried.

And Kasey, looking all sweetness and innocence (don't let it lull you into complacency):

Likes: water from the faucet, laser pointers and flashlights, dust motes in the sunlight, catnip, furry toys, soccer on TV, taking random swipes at the dog. Dislikes: loud noises, sudden movement.

Catching up

Okay, it's Friday night and I'm going to actually force myself to come back to this thing and catch up. And while I haven't used my camera nearly as much as I have been meaning to (I keep forgetting that I have it with me), I'm glad that I've at least taken a few pictures to jog my memory...otherwise I'd really have no idea what I've been doing for the last couple weeks.

Let's see, after a month and a half, we finally got together with Doug for dinner. CGT and I met him and his new gf (Karen) at his apartment in Midtown and walked over to 58^o And Holding for a bit of wine before dinner. I'm afraid that I have a horrible memory for wine labels and vintages, but I do know that I found both a zinfandel and a malbec to be quite yummy. After some discussion, we then trekked over to a new-ish Vietnamese restaurant that Doug had read about in Sacramento Magazine. After a gazillion ten blocks, we arrived at Tamarind, which was not at all what I expected--it was shiny and luncheonette-ish and operated by clearly non-Vietnamese staff. Still, I was optimistic...but I would have to say that my first impression was right. You wouldn't think anyone could mess up pho, but it was some pretty untasty stuff. We finished ourselves off with a trip to Rick's Dessert Diner, though, so I couldn't be too dissatisfied...plus, on the way to Rick's was this lovely emblem painted on the sidewalk.

Had to snap a shot for Steve (and Webb), who until this moment were the only people I knew to use this lovely term.

Other momentous events:

• I got my uber exciting, absolutely perfect, slightly belated birthday present from Dani! I love the color, the fabric, the size, the pockets, the zipper pulls, everything. Here it is, isn't it lovely?

• The combination of early daylight savings time and our frighteningly global-warming-ish heat wave induced me to run out to Capital Nursery and buy all sorts of veggie and herb and flowering plants. Of course, by the time I got home, I was too wiped out to actually garden. A few plants (impatiens and alyssum for the front pots, and strawberries for the strawberry pot that has been home to dead strawberry brethren for 2 years) got planted during the week, and I'm going to hit the rest of them tomorrow.

• Our first Secret Pal exchange was yesterday. I have such a bad poker face, I don't know how long I'm going to be able to sit through the exchanges without giving myself away. My St. Patty's Day gift to my Pal consisted of some herbal bath, peppermint soap, a pouch (knitted from Soysilk Oasis) holding a 4-leaf clover charm, and stitchmarkers I made from beads from The Bead Fetish. I got four skeins of Berrocco Cotton Twist in a blue/green/brown colorway (what to make, what to make...?).

Impatience rewarded

Itcameitcameitcame!!! Isn't it a pretty, shiny box?
It actually came around 1:20pm, but I've been busy charging the battery, reading skimming the instructions, playing with my new toy. Of course, now that I have taken gobs of high resolution photos, I have come to the realization that I only have 217MB free on my hard drive. Hmm. Probably not such a good thing. Maybe I will delete the old photos I have on here since they are already saved to the backup drive. That should give me enough room to have some breathing room and download the new pics. Then it'll be time to think seriously about portable hard drive options...

But in the meanwhile, here are some offerings:

Waiting....

I have to say that I still don't quite get this blogging thing. Maybe partially because I haven't told anyone (other than CGT) that I have a blog because I'm not really sure that I want anyone to read it. I mean, I'm just not really all that sure that I have anything to say that anyone else would find interesting. I think I'm really sort of doing this to try and make sure that my days don't just fly by unnoticed (by me). But then I think, what's the point if no one reads it. Oh well, I'll think about whether I'm going to tell DLJ (who is all bloggyful).

So why do I have time to blog in the middle of a day on a weekday? Because I'm working from home today (well, clearly not right now) so that I can wait for my CAMERA to be delivered!!! Yay!!! They tried to deliver it yesterday but no one was home and they won't leave it without a signature.

Sigh. Waiting.