We'd planned to climb on the roof to see the fireworks. But it was really foggy! We could only see a few little ones near the ground. It would have been far worse for all the people at the Embarcadero, though - they could see even less! And they waited (in the fog) for hours....
At 4pm I walked down to Fisherman's to go to Trader Joes (supermarket) as the buses weren't running due to the enormous number of tourists. The whole area was packed with people getting ready to watch the fireworks. (I had to walk all the way home, as well. I was running late. I was not amused.)
There were also a lot of people camped out at the top of our street. But I think we had the best deal - the view was better, and we could just go back inside! It was a shame, because we could hear everything but not see it. Neither could anyone else in San Francisco, I think.
A tall building a few streets away caught on fire at the corner - I discovered our landline doesn't work when you try to call 911!
Overall, the party was a success. We had lots of fun.
If you're in America, we have some stuff to give away just before we leave - we're still using it! Come and see us on the 18th.
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
New Year's and other such things...
So it's been a bit quiet on the blog front recently. This is because we've been rather busy! And, I've spent the last week and a half with something that's a severe cold, but won't go away!
Brendan and Tina waiting for Midnight Mass to start
Christmas was fantastic - Brendan and I went to Midnight Mass in Grace Cathedral... aaaaahhhh. So lovely. Absolutely amazing and beautiful, and even nicer than I thought it would be. We had to get there around 9.30 just to get a seat! The men and boys choir sang, and the orchestra played, and Brendan mentioned that at times with the acoustics, it sounded like a soundtrack for a movie! I absolutely enjoyed it. And even Brendan did.
The day before Christmas, we also talked to our families as it's Christmas the day before in NZ. I missed mine a lot that day. For once almost all of them were in 1 place, which almost never happens!
Slightly blurry photo of the cathedral at Christmas which I took earlier in the day of Christmas Eve
On Christmas Day we had a picnic in the park, in the sunshine, and ate the most yummy things we could think of to buy, like cherries and Camembere (sp?) cheese which is Brendan's favourite in all the world, and fed whole crackers to the pigeons just to see what would happen. (They couldn't break them, and had to wait expectantly for someone to step on it.) Only thing is that I took the camera, and forgot the memory card.
After, we went to see a friend for a few hours. We also spent quite a few hours in bed reading the fantastic-ly useful presents from Brendan's dad... thanks for that. A lot. We likes. And then the other day, we also got another parcel in the mail... from Brendan's mum! It contained a bubble-blower among other things, with which Brendan gleefully set about pouring wet bubbles all over me....
The weekend before New Year's, we went down to Pinnacles National Monument. Arounf 45 minutes south of Hollister or 2 hours south of San Francisco. It has extremely weird rock formations as it's an old volcano, and is now moving at a rate of around 2cm a year! The rocks are either pastel pink or pastel green, very odd. It also has cave systems made when water moving through some rocks made others fall on top of them - unfortunately half the caves were closed as it was rare bat maternity season. Some of the caves had smooth polished jasper rocks where thousands of people had brushed past them... so pretty. I immediately thought of my sister Fia, who would have loved them.
(Warning: What Lina calls Pic Spam ahead! I.e., many photos!)
Look! It's a coyote! It wants our food....
This one looks better in close-up. Click on it! Now now now!
The first day we came, it was cloudy, foggy and threatened to rain. The whole park was a mass of white fog and water droplets, and we could barely see anything until around 2 o'clock when the mist lifted for a bit and then just as quickly, closed up again. We were unimpressed until we realised that almost no tourists probably see this, and that it was reasonably pleasant with no heat. So we took lots of photos of raindrops....
We had marshmellows over a campfire in the camping grounds all alone by ourselves, and spend a long and uncomfortable night (for me!) in the car. Note to self: the backseat is not the answer.... the stars were amazing, though.
The next morning was bright and sunny, and I watched Californian quail clucking round the campsite. We walked from one side of the national park to the other, and then back over the high peaks again - a total of around 16 km! It was really nice, and we saw endangered condors (related to turkey vultures, I think) flying around quite close! A rather steep walk in the sun, though - signs everywhere warn to take plenty of water on the exposed trails. In summer, I think the "strenuous" paths would really deserve that designation in the hot San Jose sun!
The entrance to Balcony caves
Part of the caves... the rock on each side was all smooth and polished to a deep magenta where people squeezed past
A huge rock at the exit from Balcony caves!
Balcony cliffs! Look for the people at the bottom
The stunning view from the carpark on the other side of the park - we walked right across!
This photo is for Fia. It is called "The Sphinx".
Compare this view near the top to the day before:
Brendan had to "be available" for work the next day, unfortunately, so we couldn't really stay much longer.
On New Year's Eve we had a small party with our friends from San Jose, who made the trek up and stayed the night. It was really fun, I'm glad they came. At midnight we climbed up onto the roof via the fire escape to do the countdown and watch the fireworks... which were obscured by some tall buildings downtown. It was freezing! Then the neighbour who lives below us came up onto the roof and was very drunk, it was quite hilarious as no-one else was really drinking.
view from our roof!
Funny story from the other day: the neighbour who lives next door to us is somewhat of a saga, as she's 55 and acts as if she's 90, never leaves the house, and is not the brightest of people unfortunately. Her communication to us is mostly in strangely-written letters shoved under the door whenever we complain about such things as 4am shouting matches or rubbish piled outside the door all week, every week. We think she's probably going senile from having lived in the same house 'for 40 years".. making her something like... 17 when she moved in!
So the other day, Brendan tells me the police are outside his door. Whatever for? Well, obvious to everyone else but Sara, if you ask someone to buy you something from a shop and then refuse to pay them because you don't have any money, you shouldn't be surprised if they get mad.
Instead, if you're Sara, you call 911 emergency because the man is standing outside your door, ringing your doorbell, and you've already decided you don't want to pay. The police officer was apparently infinitely patient with her (to the tune of an hour or so!), and when the guy turned up again, told them they would sort it out right there and then. I have a lot of respect for that guy.
Finally, in other news, I have a second new client at work now! The CEO is from NZ, and flies back and forth from Auck every few weeks! They're very nice. I'm pretty excited really. They do interesting search engine stuff. We're having dinner with them on Thursday night. Time to get out my suit!
Right, now I've finally uploaded all the pictures I should really go to the gym before it closes!
Brendan and Tina waiting for Midnight Mass to start
Christmas was fantastic - Brendan and I went to Midnight Mass in Grace Cathedral... aaaaahhhh. So lovely. Absolutely amazing and beautiful, and even nicer than I thought it would be. We had to get there around 9.30 just to get a seat! The men and boys choir sang, and the orchestra played, and Brendan mentioned that at times with the acoustics, it sounded like a soundtrack for a movie! I absolutely enjoyed it. And even Brendan did.
The day before Christmas, we also talked to our families as it's Christmas the day before in NZ. I missed mine a lot that day. For once almost all of them were in 1 place, which almost never happens!
Slightly blurry photo of the cathedral at Christmas which I took earlier in the day of Christmas Eve
On Christmas Day we had a picnic in the park, in the sunshine, and ate the most yummy things we could think of to buy, like cherries and Camembere (sp?) cheese which is Brendan's favourite in all the world, and fed whole crackers to the pigeons just to see what would happen. (They couldn't break them, and had to wait expectantly for someone to step on it.) Only thing is that I took the camera, and forgot the memory card.
After, we went to see a friend for a few hours. We also spent quite a few hours in bed reading the fantastic-ly useful presents from Brendan's dad... thanks for that. A lot. We likes. And then the other day, we also got another parcel in the mail... from Brendan's mum! It contained a bubble-blower among other things, with which Brendan gleefully set about pouring wet bubbles all over me....
The weekend before New Year's, we went down to Pinnacles National Monument. Arounf 45 minutes south of Hollister or 2 hours south of San Francisco. It has extremely weird rock formations as it's an old volcano, and is now moving at a rate of around 2cm a year! The rocks are either pastel pink or pastel green, very odd. It also has cave systems made when water moving through some rocks made others fall on top of them - unfortunately half the caves were closed as it was rare bat maternity season. Some of the caves had smooth polished jasper rocks where thousands of people had brushed past them... so pretty. I immediately thought of my sister Fia, who would have loved them.
(Warning: What Lina calls Pic Spam ahead! I.e., many photos!)
Look! It's a coyote! It wants our food....
This one looks better in close-up. Click on it! Now now now!
The first day we came, it was cloudy, foggy and threatened to rain. The whole park was a mass of white fog and water droplets, and we could barely see anything until around 2 o'clock when the mist lifted for a bit and then just as quickly, closed up again. We were unimpressed until we realised that almost no tourists probably see this, and that it was reasonably pleasant with no heat. So we took lots of photos of raindrops....
We had marshmellows over a campfire in the camping grounds all alone by ourselves, and spend a long and uncomfortable night (for me!) in the car. Note to self: the backseat is not the answer.... the stars were amazing, though.
The next morning was bright and sunny, and I watched Californian quail clucking round the campsite. We walked from one side of the national park to the other, and then back over the high peaks again - a total of around 16 km! It was really nice, and we saw endangered condors (related to turkey vultures, I think) flying around quite close! A rather steep walk in the sun, though - signs everywhere warn to take plenty of water on the exposed trails. In summer, I think the "strenuous" paths would really deserve that designation in the hot San Jose sun!
The entrance to Balcony caves
Part of the caves... the rock on each side was all smooth and polished to a deep magenta where people squeezed past
A huge rock at the exit from Balcony caves!
Balcony cliffs! Look for the people at the bottom
The stunning view from the carpark on the other side of the park - we walked right across!
This photo is for Fia. It is called "The Sphinx".
Compare this view near the top to the day before:
Brendan had to "be available" for work the next day, unfortunately, so we couldn't really stay much longer.
On New Year's Eve we had a small party with our friends from San Jose, who made the trek up and stayed the night. It was really fun, I'm glad they came. At midnight we climbed up onto the roof via the fire escape to do the countdown and watch the fireworks... which were obscured by some tall buildings downtown. It was freezing! Then the neighbour who lives below us came up onto the roof and was very drunk, it was quite hilarious as no-one else was really drinking.
view from our roof!
Funny story from the other day: the neighbour who lives next door to us is somewhat of a saga, as she's 55 and acts as if she's 90, never leaves the house, and is not the brightest of people unfortunately. Her communication to us is mostly in strangely-written letters shoved under the door whenever we complain about such things as 4am shouting matches or rubbish piled outside the door all week, every week. We think she's probably going senile from having lived in the same house 'for 40 years".. making her something like... 17 when she moved in!
So the other day, Brendan tells me the police are outside his door. Whatever for? Well, obvious to everyone else but Sara, if you ask someone to buy you something from a shop and then refuse to pay them because you don't have any money, you shouldn't be surprised if they get mad.
Instead, if you're Sara, you call 911 emergency because the man is standing outside your door, ringing your doorbell, and you've already decided you don't want to pay. The police officer was apparently infinitely patient with her (to the tune of an hour or so!), and when the guy turned up again, told them they would sort it out right there and then. I have a lot of respect for that guy.
Finally, in other news, I have a second new client at work now! The CEO is from NZ, and flies back and forth from Auck every few weeks! They're very nice. I'm pretty excited really. They do interesting search engine stuff. We're having dinner with them on Thursday night. Time to get out my suit!
Right, now I've finally uploaded all the pictures I should really go to the gym before it closes!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A quick update...
We've been a bit slack lately on the blog side, mostly because nothing's really happened! After all the excitement of moving, we both just want to stay home and hide on our computers and play games.
On Monday it was my birthday (but you probably already know that!). So the Saturday before, we had a joint flatwarming/ birthday party. We invited all the neighbours so they couldn't complain, and set the time for 7pm knowing full well that noone would turn up then.
Finally around 9, a few friends turned up, as did the neighbour from across the hall, a great Chilean guy. He was very cool and brought yummy Chilean food for us to eat. It was chicken, but I still ate it not to be rude. Then I forgot and all three girls who attended were talking about how we were all vegetarian. Oops...
When people all finally arrived by 10, 11, 12... it was very fun. Around 1pm, after waiting for a couple to drive up from SJ, we went down to Ruby Skye which is on our street, where a DJ we really like was playing. It was hectic there, with a huge line and limos everywhere. The bouncer told us the club closed at 2am, and the line was an hour long... so it wasn't really worth it even for Benny Benassi! So instead we all walked down a much farther distance to 1015, and had some fun. All in all, it was a good party and a good night!
Last night, Brendan told me to come home from work early (where early = by 6-6.30pm.) to get my birthday present from him. So I did...
When I got home, Brendan asked me to change into something “semi-casual, semi-formal”. I had no idea what he meant, until I noticed he was wearing his suit jacket over his t-shirt – this is highly formal for him (short of an actual black tie dinner!) so I wore something semi-formal. We had dinner at our favorite restaurant, and went to the SF Playhouse Theatre to see “Six Degrees of Separation”, about a young man who gains access to the houses of rich people by pretending to be the son of a famous actor. It was a fantastic play, we both really enjoyed it. And it was a nice surprise – I never expected anything like that! The director was Bill English (not the politician!) and some of the cast have been in lots of other things, like Jessica Siebel in Valley of Elah.
oooh... that reminds me... I made a birthday cake and took the remains to work... I completely made too much icing about 2 hours before the party and had to run to the dairy a block away and buy 2 boxes of icing sugar. And now there is far too much icing... gotta keep it away from Brendan or he will eat it all and ruin his diet (his words!). So I'm just going to pop downstairs and get some cake!
And if the formatting is screwy, I did try and change it!
On Monday it was my birthday (but you probably already know that!). So the Saturday before, we had a joint flatwarming/ birthday party. We invited all the neighbours so they couldn't complain, and set the time for 7pm knowing full well that noone would turn up then.
Finally around 9, a few friends turned up, as did the neighbour from across the hall, a great Chilean guy. He was very cool and brought yummy Chilean food for us to eat. It was chicken, but I still ate it not to be rude. Then I forgot and all three girls who attended were talking about how we were all vegetarian. Oops...
When people all finally arrived by 10, 11, 12... it was very fun. Around 1pm, after waiting for a couple to drive up from SJ, we went down to Ruby Skye which is on our street, where a DJ we really like was playing. It was hectic there, with a huge line and limos everywhere. The bouncer told us the club closed at 2am, and the line was an hour long... so it wasn't really worth it even for Benny Benassi! So instead we all walked down a much farther distance to 1015, and had some fun. All in all, it was a good party and a good night!
Last night, Brendan told me to come home from work early (where early = by 6-6.30pm.) to get my birthday present from him. So I did...
When I got home, Brendan asked me to change into something “semi-casual, semi-formal”. I had no idea what he meant, until I noticed he was wearing his suit jacket over his t-shirt – this is highly formal for him (short of an actual black tie dinner!) so I wore something semi-formal. We had dinner at our favorite restaurant, and went to the SF Playhouse Theatre to see “Six Degrees of Separation”, about a young man who gains access to the houses of rich people by pretending to be the son of a famous actor. It was a fantastic play, we both really enjoyed it. And it was a nice surprise – I never expected anything like that! The director was Bill English (not the politician!) and some of the cast have been in lots of other things, like Jessica Siebel in Valley of Elah.
oooh... that reminds me... I made a birthday cake and took the remains to work... I completely made too much icing about 2 hours before the party and had to run to the dairy a block away and buy 2 boxes of icing sugar. And now there is far too much icing... gotta keep it away from Brendan or he will eat it all and ruin his diet (his words!). So I'm just going to pop downstairs and get some cake!
And if the formatting is screwy, I did try and change it!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Party weekend! Saturday night birthday party for Eric at the Cellar
The Cellar is a great San Francisco club right in the heart of the entertainment district. Alla's boyfriend Eric is an amateur (but very good) DJ, so for his birthday she organized to book the club for two hours and let him play dance music.
So it was very fun. We drove up and parked right next door where they have valet parking - a weird experience when someone else takes your car keys and parks your car - I prefer it given my track record with a couple of near-miss reversings recently!
The bar was a long expanse of pink and blue fluorescent lighting, with the entire bar table lit up from underneath and slowly changing colour. It made every drink go pink, which looked very cool. Here are photos from the official club photographer, (the first few only) and from Alex, who is a surprisingly good dancer. And Brendan danced a lot, and very well, and he normally isn't that keen so I was pleased.
Alla had put on great mini-fruit muffins and chocolate brownies and other yummy finger food, and everyone danced for ages. At 10pm the club was opened to the rest of San Francisco, and so we danced for a few more hours in a packed club with another DJ and tried to avoid the couples who climbed on the equivalent of tables there. Hmmm...
We left just before 12 and drove home (once we worked our way out of San Francisco proper - our instructions on the way home missed the first, crucial step) to our little house in San Jose, thinking of the great time we'd had and playing dance tunes in the car. We even arrived home just past 12.30, a journey which normally takes an hour.
We really must find a good club which plays techno. And get our nap times to work in the car. I haven't been out in so long.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Party weekend! Friday night leaving party for Timmo
While discussing this party with an acquaintance here, we both came to the rather embarrassing revelation that neither of us actually knew who Timmo was! We'd just received invites via other people (always the best way to meet new people! I like parties...).
So we turned up after our nap to find the party underway and going strong, and the fooseball table manned by keen German peoples mostly who had had lots of practice at fooseball.
To see more pictures of the event, click here. I've kept it brief because there are so many other pictures floating around on various photo-sharing networks about this party.
The sad thing was that when we talked to Timmo (and actually met him!) who was going back to Germany because he'd failed to get a different visa to stay here, we could see how upset he was to be leaving. His face visibly dropped. If he ever did manage to get another visa, it would be after a year. We both felt pretty bad for him. His American girlfriend is also going to come to Germany for a few months to visit him, but it would stil be pretty devastating.
So we turned up after our nap to find the party underway and going strong, and the fooseball table manned by keen German peoples mostly who had had lots of practice at fooseball.
To see more pictures of the event, click here. I've kept it brief because there are so many other pictures floating around on various photo-sharing networks about this party.
The sad thing was that when we talked to Timmo (and actually met him!) who was going back to Germany because he'd failed to get a different visa to stay here, we could see how upset he was to be leaving. His face visibly dropped. If he ever did manage to get another visa, it would be after a year. We both felt pretty bad for him. His American girlfriend is also going to come to Germany for a few months to visit him, but it would stil be pretty devastating.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Cinco de Mayo....
is Spanish for "The 5th of May", a Mexican holiday celebrating the country's win in a battle against France, of all things. (Here's the downtown San Jose report.) So in true "living in America" style, we went to Alex's flat to party!
There were about 6 Germans, and about half the Kiwi contingent, and various other IBM-ers and non-IBM-ers. So it was great to see some more familiar faces, and meet some cool new people. We ate some German pretzels, barbecued food in different states of charcoal, and Kinder chocolate with white chocolate and honeypuffs in it! (The same brand as Kinder Surprises.)
We brought the 42 Below Feijoa vodka which we'd brought over from NZ, and lots of ice and lemonade to make Falling Water cocktails (recipe courtesy of Ida via the Matterhorn Bar in Wellington). They're our specialty, it seems. There was much interest as many Americans and certain Kiwis had no idea what feijoas were. Trying to describe them is a bit hard. Although Stefan tells us that NZ is the only country to commercially grow feijoas, hence their unknown quality. Luckily people seemed to like the taste. And the picture of NZ on the bottle came in handy.
There were about 6 Germans, and about half the Kiwi contingent, and various other IBM-ers and non-IBM-ers. So it was great to see some more familiar faces, and meet some cool new people. We ate some German pretzels, barbecued food in different states of charcoal, and Kinder chocolate with white chocolate and honeypuffs in it! (The same brand as Kinder Surprises.)
We brought the 42 Below Feijoa vodka which we'd brought over from NZ, and lots of ice and lemonade to make Falling Water cocktails (recipe courtesy of Ida via the Matterhorn Bar in Wellington). They're our specialty, it seems. There was much interest as many Americans and certain Kiwis had no idea what feijoas were. Trying to describe them is a bit hard. Although Stefan tells us that NZ is the only country to commercially grow feijoas, hence their unknown quality. Luckily people seemed to like the taste. And the picture of NZ on the bottle came in handy.
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