the ny times listed it's favorite top 31 places to visit this summer. damn. look at these pics! i'm really looking forward to mine and brian's summer west coast trip.

#1 Texas Hill Country -
What to visit: Salt Lick (pictured below) and wineries

#5 Western Road Trip (this one is for Katie and Derrick)
What to visit: the wild west

#13 Oregon Coast
What to visit: um, the coast

#19 San Fransisco
What to visit: everything

The weekend was full of awesomeness. Friday, Brian and I met Michael and Matt in the park for some afternoon frisbee fun. I couldn’t help but notice how giddy and happy we all were just throwing the Frisbee around. Afterwards we headed to Hopvine for drinks and food. Our neighbors had some wonderful photographs hanging inside one wall of the bar. They promised a picture if I decided I liked any so I picked out a really nice sunny picture of boats at a pier. I know exactly where the photo will go in our apartment.

Saturday morning we woke up early. I volunteered for SIFF at the Harvard Exit. Working will call is a lot of fun. Being at the Harvard all morning long gave me a glimpse at what it’s like to work at a theater. Every paid employee I met was so nice. I pre-paid 3 lattes at Joe Bar so I had coffee for my next 3 Saturday shifts at the Harvard.

Later on Saturday evening, Regina, Maeve and I set out for a serious opening weekend screening of Sex and the City movie. Rachel would have had a ball with us ladies. The theater was a spectacle of women dressed up in high heels and short dresses. I felt like I had walked into a room filled with the pigeons. There was not one straight man (in his right mind) in that theater on Saturday evening. When the movie started, all the ladies clapped. You could hear the “oohs and ahhs” echoing through the theater when Carrie appeared in a new outfit. The movie was pretty damn ridiculous but I’m such a mega-fan that I chose to ignore the cheese factor. You had to! Afterwards, we got pretty damn drunk at Sun Liquor. I drank 3 punatazos almost setting a Chris Price record. Oh well!

Sunday was the best bbq ever at Chris’s new house in the U-district.

Cedar planked smoked salmon
Bbq ribs
Roasted red potatoes
Salad with homemade croutons
Cheese dogs
a cheese plate filled with crackers, salami, fruit and an assortment of cheese

It was a glorious afternoon filled with delicious food, champagne mixed with guava nectar, and Rainier beer.

i want to rock!

The Memorial Day weekend was fantastic! Brian and I checked out those movies on Friday night and wow! The Edge of Heaven was an incredibly, gorgeous and somber movie. I’m so glad we were able to squeeze that movie into our already very full evening. The Wrecking Crew was good too but cheesy at times. A bunch of old men talking about “the good ol’ days” so after awhile you begin to realize that these stories have been told more than 50 times in their lifetime. The facts I learned in that movie were astonishing though. I can’t believe how many song that band of session players recorded/made. Pink Panther theme, Batman and Robin, Captain and Tenille, Sonny and Cher, the entire Pet Sounds record, The Ronettes…the list goes on. At one point, we were driving around in Portland with the oldies station blasting in the car and at least 8 songs in a row played that were all by the Wrecking Crew.

Portland was so nice as always. Saturday’s weather was perfect for lounging in the park. We met Dan and Vanessa at Pine State and took our food to go. We walked to a park and sat under a huge tree. I think Vik and Charisse were pleasantly happy with their biscuit meal. Afterwards, we headed to the Saturday Market where I found a really cute bag but for $85! So I decided that instead of purchasing it I would try to make it. After the market we headed to the park by Dan and Vanessa’s and played bocce, drank beers, and headed to Re-run for thrifty finds. That evening we ate at a delicious bbq joint called Dixie…I don’t remember. The clouds rolled in and the weather got shitty really quick. We eventually got caught in an insane thunder and lighting rain storm and had to run all the way home. It was intense and scary and of course everyone was laughing at me because I kept screaming every time there was lightning or thunder.

On Sunday, we drove to Haystack Rock at Canon Beach with Dan and Vanessa. The drive out was relaxing. We stopped at Camp 18 for breakfast and a few “viewpoints” for pictures. Vanessa took most of the pictures but I did take this one. Later in the evening, we rode our bikes to a bar, it was closed, then to another bar on the other side of town. Portland is ridiculously flat. I can’t believe I can ride around on my 3-speed and only used the hardest gear the entire time!

Monday was thrift store bonanza! I stocked up on lots of goodies for mine and Charisse’s booth at the Fremont Market. Opening day for Fake Banana is June 22nd. I also bought a sweet, 60’s Danish modern ottoman for $3.99. Wow! After thrifting we headed to Fabric Depot and purchased all the materials for my bag that I’m making (i.e. bag I’m copying). Everything was 30% off and I bought some cute Strawberry Shortcake fabric so that I can make a sun dress for Marisa.

Brian won some last minute tickets to the Red Sox v Mariners game. Can you believe the Mariners are the worst team in baseball? Wait, don’t answer that question. Okay, how about this…can you believe they won last night? Wow! I’m their lucky charm. It was a lovely evening at the ballpark. I just hope I don’t stink of garlic from those damn garlic fries!

SIFF Gala Update

So there were 3 star sightings: a grumpy Michelle Rodriguez (we all know her as Analucia from Lost, so glad Michael shot her ass), Andre3000, and Charlize Theron. My duty was to pour champagne and serve. The serving part was a bit tricky, I was so sure that I would throw champagne all over some “Platinum level” guest so I put down the tray. For a Seattle event, the SIFF gala was posh. After the pre-party was over, the crowd moved into the theater for the screening of “Battle in Seattle”, then it was time for the real gala. I ran into a few friends during the event, Jason, a girl I used to work with at CW, and a sighting of a friend’s ex-girlfriend. I did make some cool new friends though. Leah and Noah are the cutest most hilarious couple I know. I took those two and two really darling Japanese guys to the Metropolitan Market with me so we can buy $55 in ice and just so you know that is 33 bags of ice. It was obvious that we were really overstaffed with volunteers so taking 5 people on a task to push two carts of ice was just the kind of thing that happened all night. Oh well, it was fun. Pouring champagne was fun, drinking the remnants of open bottles after clean glasses ran out was fun, serving sushi to really rich people was fun, watching bitchy girls get turned away from the VIP tent was even more fun. Hahaha. SIFF was a success but in the realm of movie premieres and film festivals around the world it was small beans for sure.

Pictures I found on The Stranger’s blog, The Slog. I figured they were just about as quality of a pic I would’ve taken. Haha.

The legs of Charlize Theron

Andre 3000 - so dapper

the grumpy Analucia

Brian and I are going into SIFF with a strong focus. Tonight we have tickets for two movies at 630pm playing at the Egyptian, Auf der Anderen Seiten (The Edge of Heaven) and at 930pm playing at the Harvard Exit, The Wrecking Crew. Tomorrow, Portland! Have a good holiday weekend.