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...?).