That dog looks sad ...

My grandpa and dad are visiting this week. They arrived yesterday.

When Curt and I got home from work the request from Grandpa was scallops for dinner. So we headed to Skates. We had a delicious dinner, good beer (Trumer) and we had an amazing view of the Bay, the city and the sunset. Somehow we lucked out with window seats right on the water

Today I came home from work a little early and did a little work from home while Grandpa and I watched baseball and chatted. My dad has some meeting tonight. So once Curt got home the three of us headed out to dinner in the 'hood. At dinner I had a lemonade cider--which pretty much tasted like Mike's Hard Lemonade--but much fuller and better flavor.

On the way walking to dinner tonight we saw a black lab sitting outside a bar/restaurant and a little girl saw the pup and said, that dog looks sad. Awww, we want a lab. Someday ...

Dinosaur weekend

Curt and I had the privilege of participating in Dinosaur Weekend while visiting Mark, Suzy, Ophelia and Aidan.

Mark prepared pancakes in the shape of T-Rex foot prints, banana (bones) and a dinosaur egg for the kids. I got regular yummy cheesy egg goodness.

If I remember correctly Mark said he has been doing Dinosaur Weekend for about five years now or maybe six. Something like it. The kids love it. Heck, I love it.

I have to say I really enjoyed watching Jurassic Park on a big-ish screen in their living room. And the sound was pretty good, too.

Tomorrow my dad and Grandpa arrive for a visit. Sunday Ed (father-in-law) arrives for a few days. So there will be lots of activity and a full house.

Two of the most well-behaved children ...

Curt and I spent the weekend in Tacoma visiting Mark (my cousin), Suzy, Ophelia and Aidan.

We had a lot of fun. We get along great with Mark and Suzy. When they were visiting us in February I had almost forgotten how well Mark and I get along. We really always have since we were kids.

Mark's kids, Ophelia and Aidan, are two of the most well-behaved, well-mannered children. I really enjoyed hanging out with the kids.

We arrived late Friday night. Saturday we started Dinosaur Weekend with pancakes shaped like T-Rex foot prints and bones (cut up bananas). Oh, and we had some amazing coffee.

I played light sabers with Aidan. I had never done that before. I ended up with a sliced hand and Aidan was missing an arm. He told me if our legs were cut we were dead. Curt and Ophelia hung out and looked at pictures from our latest European vacation.

After breakfast and fighting bad guys we headed to Seattle for the day. We hung out, walked around Pike Place Market, looked at a gross gum wall, ate some delicious blueberries, walked around, etc.

At one point we split up for a little bit. Curt and I hung out and had a beer. When we came home Dinosaur Weekend had continued with a viewing of Jurassic Park on this huge screen Mark had set up in the living room. We watched the movie, relaxed, had pizza for dinner (Dijorno is actually pretty damn good frozen pizza) and just had a good time.

Sunday morning Mark prepared another amazing breakfast. He made cinnamon toast and chorizo. And he actually made the chorizo from scratch. It was so flavorful. Ophelia tried it and liked it. I was impressed with that. That kid has an amazing appetite. Both the kids are good eaters.

After breakfast we got ready and headed to the Tacoma Zoo. We got to see baby tiger cubs. They were so cute. Ophelia is enamored with sharks. So it was cool to see her get excited about them. Aidan likes elephants. The meerkats were so cute.

At one point we stopped for ice cream. It was truly enjoyable watching Aidan eating that Blue Goo waffle cone. After our snack more animal watching.

When we left the zoo Curt and I headed to one car. On the way there we got a peek at the reindeer. They were pretty cool looking. We also saw a baby mule deer wandering around lost. I was a little worried that the mama was gonna come looking for her baby. Curt and I just tried to get the baby back into the woods.

We hurried back to the house and packed. And then the six of us headed out to dinner. (It was so cute, Ophelia changed into a dress--I mean we were going out to dinner. She had a nice dress, pretty shoes and a purse.) We had a nice dinner and then Suzy and the kids headed home and Mark took Curt and myself to the airport.

We had a really great weekend. I was exhausted today, but it was worth it. It was fun telling the kids stories about their dad and reminiscing about when we were kids.

Equal rights ...

I am a member of the Human Rights Campaign and I get periodic e-mails, usually regarding politicians.

I have to say, this guy is awesome:

Joe Sestak, the highest-ranked military official to ever be elected to Congress, who is running for the U.S. Senate after two terms in the House. He's brought his military experience to bear on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" – as he puts it, "How can you ask someone that you went to war with not to have the same equal rights as you?"

You can't argue with that, now can ya?

Comment Contest Tuesday

All right. Comment Contest Tuesday is back.

Click here to read and then comment away. You might even win a prize.

Thanks for your support of Go Fit Girl!

Lonely planet app guides reviewed

Another one of my app reviews, Lonely Planet city guides, was posted late last week.

That's a total of three reviews written and three reviews published.

Laughing till I cried

That usually happens when I hang out with my friend Dave.

Jen and Dave were in town this weekend. (Technically they are now. They fly back to Phoenix tomorrow morning.)

On Friday Curt and I met up with Jen and Dave at 21st Amendment for a drink before the Giants game. We had awesome seats and had a great time at the game. Barry Zito pitched a good game. We stayed for the fireworks after the game, and those were pretty good, too.

Saturday morning I hit the gym for spin class then hurried home to shower and get ready. We left our house about 11 and picked Jen and Dave up and headed to Napa. We had a delicious lunch at Bistro Don Giovanni (our regular lunch stop).

After lunch the wine tasting began. We first hit William Harrison and sipped our wine outside. We did a quick stop at Mumm just to pick up some sparkling wine. They were so busy there was no way we could have done a tasting. Then we hit Andretti where the tastings are free flowing. Jen and Dave got a couple of bottles there and I got a bottle of Riesling.

Hanging out with Jen and Dave is always a blast. I am always having a good time and laughing when we all hang out.

After Andretti we headed home. There was a little napping on the way home, too--by everyone but Curt, which was a good thing since he was driving. Once we got home we were ready for dinner. So we took Jen and Dave to Art's Crab Shak. The crab there is amazing. Dave also ordered some catfish, which was so good and so fresh.

We drove our guests back to their hotel. (We would offer for them to stay with us. But they are both allergic to cats.) We had a drink at the hotel bar (and many of the free cookies).

Today I ran a few errands and did lots of stuff around the house, cleaned, straightened up the pantry, got the spare room in order, did many many loads of laundry, etc.

I spent this evening knitting, watching "Valentine's Day," which was cute and sad. Good chick flick. Curt and I are watching Sideways right now. And I am gonna get a little more knitting in.

Good night.

I dropped a stitch ...

For some reason I never learned how to fix a dropped stitch when knitting. I think I was afraid of it and figured it was too difficult. (I felt the same way about purling at one point--and now I actually enjoy purling more than basic, regular knitting.)

I was working on a troop hat over the weekend and was close to the end when I realized I had dropped a stitch many rows below. There was no way I was gonna rip that whole thing apart and start over. (Since I was almost done with the hat that would have been about 4 hours of work sacrificed.)

So I pulled out my Stitch 'n Bitch book and read up how to do fix a dropped stitch. It ended up being much easier than I thought. My dropped stitch isn't perfect--but it looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself. I showed it to my friend and co-worker Khamla today while we were having lunch and knitting and she told me that was nothing. That made me feel pretty good.

I am now knitting No. 14 troop hat. I am going to have to order some more yarn soon. With the yarn I have I think I will get to 18 hats. And I have time to make many more. I have about 3 1/2 months to go.

Curses to you, Paul, the Octopus

Friday night I met girlfriends Alicia and Mia for dinner. We ate at a place called Fonda. The food was amazing. I ate way too much. But everything was so good. It's always great to get together with girlfriends and just have some girl time. Love it!

Saturday the norm 2 hours at the gym. Then I treated myself to a massage at Bellissima. Man, I needed it. I need to make that a more regular occurrence. Thanh did an awesome job.

After my massage I came home and washed the peppermint grease off and headed to Monica's for a purse party. Monica had purses donated to her (mostly from her mom) and she hosted a party where we had munchies, cocktails and purse shopping. I ended up with four purses and a wallet. :) I have a purse for every season (2 black, one red and one white). I am trying out the white one tomorrow and the new wallet. The new purse and wallet have forced me to downsize a bit--but that is a good thing. I could probably do more thinning out.

Sunday we had a crowd over to watch the World Cup final. What an exciting game! I was rooting for Holland. (Hup Holland!) I am not a big fan of the color orange. The only orange shirt I have is a Halloween shirt, so I wore that.

I hope Manny the Parakeet is OK.

It's boots weather

Yup, it is July in the Bay Area and I wore boots today. Next week I may be wearing my wool coat. And the week after that it may be so warm I am gonna wish we had A/C for a few days.

We have lived here for a little more than five years and I just can't get used to the weird weather. I love the Bay Area but I don't like the "mild" weather, as some people call it. Yes, it doesn't get really cold or really hot or really humid. So I am thankful for that. Being an Arizona girl I appreciate a real summer--but I also don't need it to be 110. I am more of an 80 girl.

Knitting, beer, visits, movie watching, lounging ...

So it is nearly 10 p.m. on Day 3 of a three-day weekend.

We didn't do a ton this weekend. It was quite relaxing. Which I needed. The next many weekends will be rather action packed.

Friday night we met newborn Emi. Our friends Nicole and John had a baby girl last Tuesday. She was so tiny and sweet. She almost looked like a doll. We were impressed with John's swaddling skills and how great Nicole looked. The both seemed like naturals.

Today I actually slept in until almost 9. Hardly ever heard of. I did wake up a few times between 7 and 9. But the fact that I was able to go back to sleep was pretty awesome.

I lounged this morning and then headed to spin class a little before noon. After that errands at Petco and the grocery.

Curt and I visited McNally's today, of course, right. Curt headed there first and said he would text me on the goings on. It's funny because I noticed that I have a few texts from him on various days regarding McNally's.

I did some more knitting. (Now on troop hat No. 13.) Some lounging and movie watching. I watched "Remember Me." It was actually better than how the previews made it look. I thought I only liked Robert Pattinson when he was vamped out.

OK, time to wrap up for bed and another workweek. Good night.

Happy 4th of July

So far a pretty relaxing day and weekend (and the best part is there is still one more day of weekend).

Today I have cleaned the house, did laundry, cleaned up cat puke (one of my faves), did some knitting on a troop hat, watched Lifetime movies. Curt and I hit Christopher's Burgers for beer, burgers and onion rings not too long ago.

This weekend is one of our few weekends over the next 5-6 weeks where we don't have a whole lot of plans.

Yesterday we met Dad and Hilda for lunch at Tadich Grill. The food was amazing and the ambiance was pretty cool.

Since today is the 4th of July I thought it would be nice to update on the progress of the knitted troop hats. I have 11 completed and the 12th is in the making (pictured above). I went through my 100% wool yarn that I have purchased for this project and I think I am going to run out of yarn before my deadline. I may have to buy some more yarn in a month or two. I will evaluate my yarn stock at the end of this month.

Meet Onyx's newest ...

Sr. Patent Paralegal, Trademark Administrator ...

Effective today I have been promoted. I feel lucky to work for a company, team and boss who recognize my hard work and support my growth. In April 2005 I started at Onyx as a temp; October 2005 I was hired FT as an administrative assistant; a little more than a year after that I was promoted to senior administrative assistant; a year and a half after that I was promoted to patent administrator; and today (about 2 years after the last promotion) I was promoted to senior patent paralegal, trademark administrator.