Happy Birthday!

January is a great month to have a birthday. I share my birth month with so many people I love! So happy b-day all you January babies....

... especially to my sister Rachel because she turns 28 today, and let's face it; that's just depressing (just a little joke). AND my bro-in-law Taylor's is today too, but 27's not so bad! Happy Birthday!

Here's a few pics from my own little B-day celebration. Despite the terenchal downpour, we went out on the town. Or out on the bay rather, on a dinner cruise. This was the blurry, yet beautiful view inside the cabin (is that what it's called?)



The purpose of posting this particular picture is two fold: 1) to show how cute Jocelyn looks in her new bangs and 2) to prove that I actually attempted to do my hair that night, which is not obvious in the rest of the pictures...


...probably because I decided it would be a good idea to go outside into the wind and rain. At least I brought my coat out with me unlike some people I know


I like how my camera lens is foggy and wet because we were just taking pictures outsidein the freezing rain.


All the party goers... we were the only ones not drinking and the only ones acting like we were drunk on the dance floor. Ironic huh.


I also get to share my birthday with Brett and Joel. They share not only the same birthday, but also the same DNA (in case that wasn't obvious)


I couldn't leave out breakfast with Shayla. So much fun... and in case you haven't heard, the Monte Cristo at Mama's on Washington Square is literally to die for. I'm not joking. It's that good. In fact, for the very few of you non-san franciscans who read my blog, it's actually worth flying here just to go to Mama's for breakfast, and Trish's mini doughnuts for lunch. I'm such health nut, I know.

Per Rocia's request:

Yes I'm standing in the middle of the road and yes that car behind me is thinking, "stupid tourist, who do they think they are standing in the middle of the road for a picture." I always finding myself acting more the tourist than the local.

And here's another picture I love Cia... mostly because of Brady's face in the background

Asian Paparazzi

The other day a few of us took the kids to feed the ducks at the palace of fine arts. It didn't work out so well in the beginning because the seagulls and pigeons were the only birds getting any bread (so disgusting... but don't tell Shayla that, she's under the impression that all birds are created equal). Eventually, after we were attacked by the sea gulls, we escaped and found some ducks and swans which were much friendlier foul... until one of the swans bit Rockwell. Then the kids started running around on the grass horsing around (no, literally acting like horses) and this cute Asian guy started taking pictures of the kids with his giant camera and then trying to show us how cute they were by flashing a thumbs up sign. All the sudden there were 5 photographers following us around... It was totally awkward! But I think If I were in a foreign country I would probably be snapping pictures of all the cute foreign kids. So we didn't mind so much until a guy with a video camera started following us wherever we went. As we were leaving Ladonna said, "maybe we should check on ebay the next few days and make sure our kids aren't for sale." No worries... no black market in SF for cute little munchkins.

Special Company

Apparently Katherine Heigl is good inspiration for Josh Kelley because his new CD is really good. It's unique and has kind of a jazzy sound to it. It doesn't actually come out until February, but there's an early release on itunes. Stay Awake and Layline are my favorite tracks (I prefer the mellow stuff), but Hey Katie (which I'm assuming he wrote for his new wife) is super catchy and cute. Actually all the songs are good... don't you just love when an album comes out that you actually like to listen to all the way through? You just know something from this album is going to end up as background music on Grey's Anatomy this season... that is if this stupid writers strike ever comes to an end. I probably shouldn't knock the writers since I obviously need help in the writing department... I think I used the word actually a few too many times in this post.

Could someone please explain...

San Francisco loves to be a trend-setting city... especially when it comes to the environment. The most recent "accomplishment" is a little piece of legislation that outlaws retailers from using plastic bags. I didn't think much of it until they started putting my groceries in paper bags. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought we went away from paper bags in the first place because we were killing all the trees (which of course was destroying all the forests which causes an increase in carbon dioxide which causes global warming which could melt polar icecaps which could cause coastal flooding or increased hurricanes or possibly even make large parts of the world uninhabitable which could cause mass migration and war which could be the end of the world as we know it). Now you can't tell me a little plastic bag is worse than all that even if they do pollute the ocean or kill a few seagulls. I hate seagulls anyhow. Everyone says paper is better because you can recycle them... well you can recycle the plastic bags too. If people aren't recycling plastic bags then why would they recycle the paper ones. In all seriousness, I miss plastic bags. For one, I didn't realize how much I reused them until I didn't have them anymore. And two, I break the handles on the paper bags and then I have to make 15 trips to carry in my groceries. AND last night at the grocery store they put my stuff in handleless paper bags! I HAVE KIDS! I can't carry 6 bags with no handles and my two year old at the same time. Could someone please explain to me why we can't just have plastic bags back? I think I'm doing my grocery shopping in marin from now on... which will be better anyhow since the marina safeway is full of snooty environmentalists who think I'm overpopulating the world by having too many kids and destroying the ozone with my SUV.