Sex and the City

Cosmos, friends, fashion and sex! What a great way to spend a friday night! Yep, I went to the opening night of SATC! I have never done this before. I usually prefer to watch movies in the comfort of my own home and not pay the high priced movie ticket. But for the fab 4 girls from NYC, I just had to do it!
I won't say anything about the movie except for the fact I literally cried through the whole thing. Not cry, cry but just a steady stream of tears falling down my face. I love what these woman represent. Friendship. Good strong, healthy friendships. The friendships that allow you to call someone at 4am, 7am or midnight when you need something. Friendships that you know will be there when you fall and celebrate with you when you are back up on your feet. It's all Priceless really! You can have all the money, clothes, trips in the world but if you don't have true friends, you are poor in my book. Relationships are what makes the world go round.

I miss my girls in Chicago, Boston and Columbus. I am so fortunate for the girls I am meeting here and the close friendships that are developing. One girl who I was besties with in 7th grade back in Ohio, we have totally reconnected. I am so fortunate to have all of you out there who read my blog and comment. Especially regarding this last post. I needed to hear what you all had to say on the subject. Thank you.

Go see the movie or wait till it comes out on video. You won't regret it. It will make you appreciate those friendships in your life and how meaningful they are.

"True friends are angels in disguise"

Playing with my camera

So I have this friend, well, she and E have been friends for a long time. When we moved up here, she and I have become fast friends. She inspires me in a lot of ways but for now I will share how she inspires me with learning the ways of my digital camera. Said friend takes amazing pictures. I love looking at "her subjects" and the way she uses her digital camera to capture the moment. When we all were in Napa for our bike ride she shared with me basic tips on how to use our digital camera. Since then, as you can see from the changes of my blog, I have started to play with my camera. The header picture of the A's flag, I took :) Same with the side bar pics. Those are the roses from my backyard. So proud!
Last night, she and I decided to take advantage of the warmer then normal temps for this area and go have beers and mexican food outside. I really think it was meant to be. The resturant we went to is on the water and since it was so warm out we for sure thought the resturant would be packed. It wasn't! We had a 5 minute wait and received a "choice" seat outside on the patio. We sipped on Pacificos, stuffed ourselves with yummy mexican food, great conversation, laughter and watched the sunset. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my weekend. On top of the E came home from his second IOE trip later that night.
Here are some pictures from our view at dinner.

happier me...

Today was such a pisser of a day that by the time the day was over I was feeling kind of lousy.To help ease the pain, my sweet co-worker offered me a ride to the BART station on her way to the gym. This saved me a good 15 minute walk down hill in my 3 inch heels--god love her and she decided that the nights she is working out after work she would give me a ride to the station after work. Um, can I say I LOVE YOU!!!
I had a bit of a walk to the station which gave me some time to look around and see a new part of San Francisco. It also gave me time to reflect on my day and to try not be so upset about everything. As I took the escalator down into the station, there was a guy asking everyone if they had an extra "bart" card. Of course everyone ignored him. Usually I am one to by-pass people asking for money or a transfer card because after living in a city environment for the last 10 years you become jaded. Today though was different. I had a extra bart card in my purse and for selfish reasons-- really to make myself feel better I knew I had to give this guy my extra bart card. Walking past the guy, I stepped aside and fished around in my purse for the card. Finally I found it and I checked the amount left on it...$7.64--perfect! I walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder and without saying a word I gave it to him. He looked at me and said thank you and we walked toward the entry, he then looked down at the amount on the card--smiled and said now he could go the north pole and back. That my friends made me laugh out loud as I took the escaltor down to meet my train. I have no idea where this guy needed to go as he didn't follow me down the escalator, however I know in my heart that card would absolutely get him there and possibly back to the embarcadero bart station, if need be.
When I got home, I was able to end my day on a good note by talking to my dear friend Lindsay--who really has me convinced that I should name my first born after her but only if she moves here :). Seriously though this girl is my chicken soup for my soul and she is hilarous! You should check out her blog--"get your eat on". The link is located on my side bar. I also have to give a shout out to her dear friend, Cat, down in atlanta--rumor has it she has stopped by here and I hope next time she does, she will say hello!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Thursday I will be making the cross-country flight to OHIO for my best friend C's wedding. She is the last one of the 15 of us that are still friends from college to be married. I could not be happier for her and her soon to be husband. She has truly found her partner in life. C is the closet thing I have to a sister--her sisters are even sisters to me. Care--I can't wait to be by your side as you say "I do" to wonderful, wonderful man. It seems like only yesterday we were in Dana Point on a beautiful sailboat on cool SoCal Feburary day when Sergio proposed to you. I can hardly believe I kept that secret from you :) Cheers to you and sergio!!

Safe and Sound

Thank you for all the inquires if Eli and I are okay or if we are affected by the awful SoCal fires. Luckily for us, we moved to northern california---we are in San Francisco now. So we are doing just great--busy but doing great. I have checked on a few of my friends that I have in SoCal and the it's just unreal what has happened. Luckily those friends are safe and sound in their homes but many are not. Please keep all those families who lost everything in your prayers. There are many great stories coming out of San Diego about people helping each other. Those who were affected and those who weren't coming out in the dozens to help each other.

I promise after next weekend, I will be back to my regularly scheduled blogging.
I will catch up with each and every one of you! I promise!!!

Perfect way to end my whirlwind trip to the Midwest

Sunday I met up with Rusti and Jenny. These two lovely ladies were so kind to drive up from where the live to Kzoo! It was about an hour and a half trip (one way) for them. I was so honered that they would even drive that far to have lunch with someone they barely know. That whole weekend, I was so excited--never nervous. I just knew it was the perfect thing to do--to meet them.

I knew that Jenny and Rusti's significant other's were a little leary about having them drive to meet someone they have not met. So to help ease things, I had my mom drop me off--I figure that would put me in the harmless category :) Lunch did get off on a rocky start--the resturant I had picked was slammed! I guess it is a hotspot for Kzoo folks. Plus the kitchen started to back up so it pushed our wait time backward instead of forward. So a quick call to Mom lead us to Burdicks. The whole time we were laughing and chattering non-stop. No awkard silences. It was too perfect! Like we had always known each other.
Lunch ended, they dropped me off to meet my mom at the shell station. Snapped a couple of pictures and off we went--separtely. We waved goodbye to each other from our cars. It was a perfect way to end my week. I am so happy that we were able to meet. Both of these girls are so fun, caring, hiliarous--everything you get from reading thier blogs is truely who they are in person.

Blog world meets real world

in two and a half hours, I get the pleasure of meeting both Rusti and Jenny! I am so excited! I hope the drive for them is okay, it's a little cloudy this morning. It rained all night. I hope the sun decides to come out. I am mentally running through a list of topics to chat about just in case we don't have anything to say--though I know I doubt that will happen. The 3 of us have google chatted before and we were going back and forth with a ton of things to say. EEK! I am bouncing off the walls!

martinis, pink penis pinata, vinyl NYPD cop uniform and toothless bouncers

In Chicago this weekend, we toasted/roasted one of my best friends in her last night out as a single girl. 25 people showered her with many wondeful gifts as we ate and drank champagne outside near the Chicago River.



Later that night we met up at a Martini Bar and the Bachelorette festivities began. Champagne and cosmos flowed...again We played the mystery panty game which we coined "panty dropper" in honor of the infamous drinks her husband-to-be created for his soon to be wife.


We had a trolley filled with penis balloons and a penis pinata. The bachelorette had to take a wack at the pinata after we roasted her on her past boy encounters.



Then what came to be the hit present of the night--a vinyl NYPD cop uniform. CA proudly put on that uniform and struted her stuff. Repeatedly.



Next on the bachelorette agenda was a country western line dancing bar. However, the country western bar wanted nothing to do with our bachelorette cuteness. We were turned away by two toothless bouncers. None of us could speak. We were in shock. However that did not stop our determination to find another location to finish out the night.

The bachelorette had a fun night--she was in rare form and took everything with class and grace. She gave us many laughs as we shared her bachelorette memories. Today she is a little hung over as she tried to recount the night festivities.

pictures to come...i promise

We laughed, we cried, we partied till dawn...well almost

The wedding turned out better then we all could have imagined. My brother and his new wife were happy as can be. There were many laughs, some tears-- tears seem to happen when our family comes together--our emotions run so close to the surface that the pure happiness evolves into tears of joy.

E and I hung out with my cousins all weekend long and we managed to close down the bar both Friday and Saturday night. Seattle is beautiful depsite the rain.

We visited my friends T and S who now live in Seattle. It has been a few years since we have seen each other. I am so grateful for their friendship. I also met their cute little boy, Owen. He filled me up with cute baby smiles and sent me off on my way with a cute little wave of his hand.

It was a very good weekend! Here is my favorite picture of the bride and groom.

cocktails and baby fever

There are 17 of us that are still friends from college. We all keep in touch via an email list serve and try to see each other as much as we possibly can. Most reside in IL and Ohio,however, there are a few us out in WA, CA, GA and NY. We all converged on Hilton Head Island for M and B's wedding weekend.

There are two places that I go with these friends which never are a relaxing vacation--Vegas and Hilton Head. In fact these are two places that I need a vacation from the vacation. All us girls ever seem to do is drink and lay out in the sun. This last trip to HH was no different except we had 5 new babies and 2 more on the way!!!

Friday was a great beach day and we all indulged in the various fruity drinks from the Tiki Hut. Saturday--another great beach day. Indulged in drinks from frosty frogs and yummy champagne ( we had a little wedding shower picnic on the beach). Saturday night we celebrated with the beach bride to be and danced into the wee hours in the morning listening to a phish cover band.
Sunday was the beach wedding for M and B. It was a lovely wedding! Everyone was in great spirits. The bride was the happiest bride on earth that day!

After holding, playing, cooing with all the little babies this weekend--It has happened I have caught baby fever. I realize however E and I need to wait a little longer before baby fever can become baby making.

I finally have slept off my 4 day weekend hangover. Ready for this weekend for another chance at relaxing. My MIL will be in town and her and E will be heading to Chicago on Sunday to see little Rae Rae. Unfortunately with my schedule, I can't go until the first weeeknd in August. We will see if baby fever becomes contagious.

Pool Bar Jim's Here I come..

I am off to Hilton Head Island, SC. I leave tomorrow night on the red eye from LA to Atlanta and then Atlanta to HHI. I am going for a wedding of a college friend. None of the guys are going, it is just us girls and the kids. This wedding kicks off the last of my 3 remaining girl friends (from College) to get married. M could not have picked a better place to celebrate her marriage. HHI is a little sleepy town. The people are friendly and everything is cheap! And it is where every Ohioan goes for their summer vacations. During the summer months on this little island all you see are minivans with Ohio license plates. Ohioans literally invade the place!

I had the pleasure of being introduced to this little getaway when I was in college. I lived there for a summer with 7 of my best girl friends. That was the best summer of my life. Waitressing and laying out on the beach EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I even managed to bring home some money for the next school year. ahhh such the life.

It will be a nice 4 day weekend to be with my girls and now their little additions--we were laughing as we were planning out our next few days and that we are now planning our mayhem around naptime---my how things have changed :)

It will be a nice getaway--as things are changing again at the Robbins' Nest. I can't talk about it now but will be able to talk about it in few months. Nope, not preggers. (sorry mom)

Summer Swap

I know I am little early but I figure hey, I am on the west coast and most everyone is done posting for the evening, except maybe T2---she is in my neck of the woods.

So my new lovely friend Brittny has sent me a wonderful, jammin, lip smackin, eye healin, magazine readin package!! oh I can't forget the refreshing lemondade packets (seriously have I mentioned yet that Vodka lemonades are my summer drink!??!!!)

Here are some pics of my new treasures!


Love the cd--great summer tunes! I know this is going to be a staple in my car.



C.U.T.E!!!


Love the lip gloss--I think the Art Directors I met with today could barely pay attention to me b/c my lips were so shiny ;) My eyes are going to love this!




I can't wait to hear what everyone thought about this. Jenny--this was so much fun! I hope Christina enjoys her package--I know I had a hoot of a time putting it together

Still Sore

I am loving the encouragement! I am so thankful that I have a new found friend and someone who is more gym motivated then I will ever be in my life time! However, it is quite funny that I am still hobbling around like I am 9 months pregnant or just had a wild eveing with my husband..unfortunately neither of it is true. I mean seriously folks, my under butt cheeks hurt. I didn't realize that COULD hurt.

E and I are starting to have a social life!!! Last night, I met Lacy for our workout..thankfully my upper body is not as sore as my lower half. I came home and met up with E and a friend of his from work and we went to the batting cage. Still not sore and can still hit a baseball and a softball!! Haaaaay! Then went out for apps and a beer--totally ruined the workout on mozeralla sticks, nachos and honey blond beer--mmmmm good! It was good to get out and socialize!

This weekend--E is home with me!! YAY!!! We get to start the morning off with my routine of going to Yoga and my favorite teacher is teaching so I am more then excited. After that we are headed up to LA to meet our friend who is doing the Aids Ride. It is 500 and some miles ride from San Fransisco to LA to raise awareness for aids research. She arrives in LA so we are going to greet her with Fat Tire Beers and a huge hug. E did this ride two years ago and his experience inspired her to do the ride. I am hoping she enjoyed the experiene b/c the texts that she was sending E did not sound like she had a good time. Hopefully she did.

Sunday-we are going to fly. :) Very excited about that. He said he has the plane rented from 10-4pm so hopefully the weather co-operates-meaning no clouds or very little clouds because he isn't instrument rated yet and can only fly when the sky is clear. Come on SoCal weather!!!!

Workout

I feel like I was just a part of the Bravo Realty tv show "workout". I must say I have never watched the show but I whole heartedly believe that if I had I would still feel like this.

My new gym friend Lacy, you may remember me posting about her and if could figure out how to insert a link I could link back to the post...anyway.. she KICKED.MY.ASS. She is freaking hard core!!! My legs are JELL-O!! I could barely walk up the two flights of stairs to my apartment after our work today.

and I can't believe I agreed to do it again tomorrow night

coffee twalk

I am sitting here with my second cup of coffee for the day recapping my morning..it is only 11:15am..though I have to say here in my little tiny world I had a big morning. you might be asking, so what did she do that is so big...well.. I had a gym date! Yes, I made a new friend, her name is Lacy. WHOOT! WHOOT!

We decided to meet up to do some cardio this morning before our Yoga class (Lacy and I met while waiting for a Monday night yoga class). We did some cardio and chatted. We got on the subject of real estate--she is a real estate agent. We both were commiserating on the market out here. She did give me some great insight to the market that is ridiculously inflated out here in Southern Cali. We then go to YOGA--holy cow--did we get our butts kicked! I am still trying to recover from this class. I got such a great workout then I came home and just devoured my leftovers from last nights dinner out. I was so hungry! sheesh, who knew yoga and a little cardio in the morning could kick your bootie to the point you cannot control your hunger.

Last weekend I was in Chicago for SIL baby shower. The shower was nice..lots of people turned out and she received great gifts for the baby. What I really want to talk about is the house, I mean MANSION the shower was held. So I have never been in a $4MM dollar house and I do not believe I will ever be again. So I decided to take myself on a self guided tour of this place and take some pictures. The level of architecture and detail and the size of the granite counter tops literally blew me away. The house had 4 levels..downstairs had a whole nanny quarters and kitchen for their live in nanny. There was also a rooftop deck that you could see the beautiful Chicago skyline. I included some pics down below.

This week we also went to look at a few properties..OMG! THEY WERE HORRIBLE!!! I am more shocked at the level of horribleness that people allow themselves to live in and these are not dirt poor folks. I guess if we had more money we could take into account a fixer upper and see past some of the crazy things people do to their homes. I don't know my head is spinning with what is the right thing to do.

One thing I should mention is that "we are still free to move about the country" as two guys from E's work at Southwest stepped up b/c they didn't want him to quit and the three of them are going to shift trade. YAY!!! So which means E can still work at Southwest--two days a week, those 2 days will most likely be doubles which = money coming in--and we don't have to dip into our savings as much. This also means E can do the fast track program for his pilot training. AND the best part of it all (at least for me is that I still can retain the flight beneies) Those Flight benefits are my saving grace to get me back east. Those flight beneies are the reason I agreed to move out here so that I can get back to see my folks and friends at my pleasure. Deep breathe of relief that everything is working out. I am sure the "buy or not buy" question will figure itself out as well.

I am starting to smell up the joint so I must take a shower..we are heading to SF today for tomorrow Bay to Breakers and the SF youth orchestra reunion.

Here are some pictures of the 4MM house....












My girls-Corianne, Ashlee, Me and Cari