FRIDAY
Hooray, it's the weekend! And I'm actually in town to catch up on life instead on the road somewhere!
It's hard to believe that we're in the thick of holiday season...
In year's past, I usually take the bulk of the lion's share in planning a holiday dinner that just kept getting bigger every year. This year, the idea of a big dinner/party night got kyboshed when I wasn't around for most of November to do the planning and frankly, it's a lot of work. Maybe next year, I'll have the energy back, but this year, it'll be a quieter holiday season. I even RSVP'd no to the annual Genentech ridiculousness, which is a madhouse and you can never find your co-workers that you actually want to hang out with.
Anyway, Friday night rolled around and some Brass Monkey teammates threw out the idea of a karaoke night at The Mint...brilliant! Will, Coco and I were walked down to the Castro from our house in the light rain (SF winter has begun!) and were stylishly late, showing up after 10 pm, where a light smattering of our teammates had gathered.
The Mint is not your typical cheesy karaoke establishments, as there are many "regulars" who can make you look like a sheepish fool behind the microphone. There's a dude named Frank who's the MC/DJ and he runs a tight ship. It's high-pressure karaoke. I chose to drink Captain n' Cokes instead. And boy, did I ever.
Matty was brave and did a sweet rendition of "Tainted Love", originally made famous by Soft Cell.
Heather stepped up as well and belted out Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds". It was awesome.
Next thing we knew, the lights were up and we were getting herded out the door and into the misty rain. I really should've drank more water before I hit the pillow...
SATURDAY
Saturday morning wasn't pretty, as I barely dragged my tired and hungover butt out of bed sometime after 10 am. I spent most of the day being "productive" by cleaning upstairs, doing laundry, all that boring, allergy-inducing stuff. It was all in anticipation of my sister and her family arriving later in the early evening. Angie, Jack and Olivia were going to a holiday party in the city, while Will and I were going to babysit the twins (oy!).
It was insane the amount of "stuff" they brought up for one night, including a pack-and-play with changing station, two swings, baby bath, bags and bags of diapies, wipies, bottles, formula, breast milk, blah, blah blah...
Once we finally got everything set up, it was better. Poor Charlotte showed up in "hungry" mode, so she was unhappy from the get-go, but chilled out after a while. Simon, on the other hand, was boy-sunshine in his party chair all night, the most easy-going baby. After a couple feedings, a bath, and a couple monumental diaper changes, the babies were asleep by 9 pm, and Will and I could finally eat dinner...phew!
SUNDAY
On Sunday morning, the babies were up pretty early (5-6 am), so I helped my sister out with feedings, and we hung out with the kids. We packed up all the "stuff", it took a while. Then we embarked on the monumental (I know, I keep using this word, I do know what it means, it just seems like the most appropriate descriptor) task of going to brunch with kids.
We headed to MoMo's, in SOMA and across the street from AT&T Park. Angie was craving a good egg's benedict and all the places we normally brunch at would result in a long wait and aren't necessarily easy with kids (eg. little tables, super busy, etc.). It ended up being a really good decision. They had valet parking, gave Olivia crayons right away, sat us in a big booth with plenty of room for the baby seats and were super-accomodating.
We had a couple starters:
- herbed flatbread with warm Cambozola cheese, dried figs and baked apples
- roasted beet salad with toasted hazelnuts, Stilton cheese, sliced apples and frisée
- French onion soup
I ordered the macaroni and cheese with black forest ham, which was delicious. It was a good thing I ordered it, as Olivia was not interested in her french toast and shared my mac n' cheese.
A washed-out picture of Angie's Egg's benedict.
Will went for the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw and Fries.
Olivia can draw a schoolbus...she's not even 4!
After brunch, I had to go home and take a nap. Kids are exhausting. My sister's an amazing mom.
On Sunday night, I headed over to Berkeley with Coco to Jenny & Nate's house for their holiday party. Everyone had to bring a mixed CD for a CD exchange (great idea!). It was great to see a bunch of faces that I hadn't seen in a couple months and hear all the great stories from the folks that went to Frisbee Worlds in Perth, Australia. I ended chatting so much that I didn't take any pictures! (Inconceivable!).
I chose the mixed CD that Jesse and Lindsay made, a self-proclaimed "booty" mix. It's pretty hot. If you're nice to me, maybe I'll pass it on...
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