I'm baaaack!

Sharp cheddar, mild swiss and a lovely brie with a selection of Napa, Sonoma and Livermore area wines.

So much to reflect on.

1. San Francisco was different than I'd pictured. I thought it would be full of beautiful rich people. Instead, people were down to earth and friendly, for the most part. And the city itself was more spread out than I thought. Not as much focus on the coastal areas as I thought there would be. The city was pretty clean and easy to navigate by foot. Public transportation was innovative & fairly clean. I would never again attempt to drive in the city at night. Stupid one ways, angled streets, cable & street car traffice, etc.

2. Wine country was awesome. Sonoma and Livermore (by Catt) were my favorites. Napa's Silverado Trail wineries had a beautiful backdrop, but they were WAY too crowded. And it's the offseason (and it was Friday)? In total, we had a case & a half of wine to ship back. Since we only bought a few bottles at each winery, it would've been uber expensive to have each winery just ship our one-three bottles individually. So we just too it all back to our hotel room & thought we'd hit a Fed Ex. Well, only places with a "wine shipping permit" (as most wineries have) can ship wine out of California. Carp. We figured it was going to cost between $50-100 to ship the wine (which was moot, because we COULDN'T ship it), so we instead bought a giant duffle bag suitcase on rollers and stuffed the styrofoam packaging and wine bottles into it. $39.99 and we were set. I was relieved to see the bag didn't leave a purple trail as I was wheeling it to the car last night. No brokens!

3. Dinner with Carey and Chelli was amazing. I know, I've already talked about it, but words can't describe how warm and funny these two are. I want them as roomies. Chris was completely enamored with them, too. I think he wishes we'd spent far more time with both chickies.

Carey's generosity was amazing, as was her humor. Seriously, she's even funnier in person. A thousand *smooches* for being such a caring, hot dog loving woman. I've met few people that care about their friends more than she does. I think she might have even gushed a bit about missing all her visitors. *bonus smooch*

Catt is warm, welcoming and in so many ways, like me. It was such a comfortable feeling to spend the day with her. We laughed, we cried, we sang, we drank. I hope we didn't do anything illegal. :-) We found awesomely fun wineries out by her. Closing time was a little wacky. We had some great wine and some effing great pizza. And I want some of those darn wasabi almonds. *drool*

4. I had lunch with Sharnina. Yet another warm, friendly person. While we come from different political and religious sides of the coin, there was never any tension. We talked about how OT really opened up our viewpoints and understandings that we'll all never agree, but we can still try to understand and respect eachothers views. But mostly, it was just a lunch between friends getting to know eachother. Her two daughters were soooo well behaved and friendly. We got to draw lots of pictures on the tabletop at a rather fancy restaurant.

I also had the FABULOUS coffee & tea meet with MTW. He brought us brie, bread and candy. Sooooooo good! We blabbered incessantly. No awkward lulls in conversation. I, however, don't think we convinced him to move to Wisconsin. And Peet's? Is awesome.

5. My muscles have recovered from the bike ride. ugh. Meh, I guess the pain was good for me.

6. My conference was average. I wasn't supposed to present at this one, but at one session (of about 60 audience members), got asked THREE minutes before starting if I'd sit in on a panel for my boss (who couldn't attend at the last minute). I had NO briefing on the topic. ACK! I managed to fudge my way through, but was sick afterwards thinking about what I could've said, or what I could have clarified.

7. I had a $3 cupcake. It was good.

8. If you are ever in downtown SF at night & want to get a fun drink, head to the Gold Dust. It's an old fashioned cocktail bar. GREAT bartenders, average prices, very tasty drinks and classic musical entertainment.

9. Other big thumbs up: Lefty O' Douls for a good cheap breakfast, Sinbads for seafood with a view (if you take Carey and Catt, they'll even manage to get a free round of drinks from the waiter), Sonoma and/or Livermore, Golden Gate Bridge, views from the coast (but think twice about renting those bikes!), The Beach Chalet brewery & restaurant, the spicy prawns at Thirstybear brewpub

10. Chris got hit on by a bartender while I was at conference. :-)