2009, Feb 20-21: In the company of family

So we had two family visits in one weekend. Ron & Diane are D's stepparents and they stopped in Reno before they headed up to Royal Gorge for some cross country skiing. Homecooked meals by Diane were delicious.

My next family visit was in Sonoma. D's mom, Jenny invited the three daughter-in-laws to stay in Sonoma for the night. We had a great time going window shopping, eating, and drinking some wine!

My way home on Sunday was a bit eventful. I had to stop near Soda Springs and had to pay someone $30 to put on snow chains. For about 10 miles, I had to drive 25 mph - bogus! Luckily, I was heading home to Reno with no traffic while everyone heading home to the Bay area were stuck in traffic b/c of the snow. A two hour wait in I-80 was bogus for them.

2008, Feb 14: Delicious Dinner by Delightful Doug

We both agree that Valentine's day is overrated. We don't buy into doing anything on this day. D knew from the beginning that he was dating someone who was not into romantic things; that can be a good & bad thing for him. Good thing is I don't expect him to buy me materialistic things. But the downside for him is that I'm not too romantic. To me, I think it's more important to emotionally appreciate one another's qualities instead of buying things that are meaningless (ok, unless it's an engagement ring). Telling someone how much you appreciate them goes a long way than a dozen roses. So here is my appreciation for my man on this day:

I am blessed with a man who enjoys cooking and whipping up new meal ideas. This time, I couldn't resist sharing one of his wonderful concotions.

Pan seared NY steak w/light seasoning. Seared to medium/ rare. More rare than medium (we like steaks that are juicy!) Side dish # 1 consisted of warm mushroom & onion polenta w/infused white truffle oil, sprinkled with oven roasted poricini mushrooms. Side dish # 2 consisted of oven roasted asparagus wrapped in proscuitto brushed with olive oil, and crusted honey wheat buttered bread. And to complete the dinner was a decanted bottle of 2002 Ledson Cabernet Savignon - YUM!

Shall we look at the $ figures?
Jewelry: $100+
Dinner at a fancy restaurant plus wine: $100-$200+
Massages: $100-$150
Roses: $50-$100
Movie w/ popcorn: $30
Chocolate: $10
Total: $$$$$$
vs.
A homecooked meal with my Delightful Doug: PRICELESS :)

2008, Feb 13: Tea Leaf Green & Mother Hips Concert at Crystal Bay Club

ok, i'm going to make this short since this was D's event. so the concert was at the Crystal Bay Club in North Tahoe w/ a reserved booth. It was nice to have a booth so we can sit & put our drinks. I took a photo of the keyboardist & vocals, Trevor. It's one of his favorite bands, the music was ok, not my favorite but it was fun seeing friends.

2008, Feb 6: Night out with the ladies!

My coworkers were giving me grief that every time they went out, I always had an excuse for not going out with them. Not that I didn't want to hang out with them, it was probably b/c I was never in town or I had already made plans. Nevertheless, I finally coordinated a date with them and we decided to go out.

The main goals that evening were to get them to the local divey bar called Shooters and to dance on top of the bar. Yep, that's right, on top of the bar. If you know me well enough, you know: 1) I love to dance, 2) I love making a fool out of myself while dancing. Jennifer deposited coins into the jukebox and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" came on. A few of us climbed onto the bar to dance. The bouncer came by and passed a hula hoop over to me! Hula hoop on top of the bar? seriously? no thank you! The Hula Hoop was passed over to Stacey & Christina. As you can see Christina was successful in her hip action!

At 3 am, we closed out our night to a visit to the Little Nugget on Virginia St. That's right a yummy, greasy Awful Awful. No need for any explaining. If you know it - great! If you don't - too bad!

2008, Jan 31: Limo ride to Amador Wine Valley

Doug's buddy, Phil & his wife Tanya invited us over to their house in Folsom for the weekend. Phil invited his sister, Slyvia and her husband Jacob (they live in San Diego). Phil just celebrated his bday and as a bday gift from Tanya, we had a limo take us to Amador Wine County which was about half hour away from Folsom. What a beautiful day! We took a tour around Amador/ Shenandoah Valley sipping wines here and there. Oh what a tough life! We stopped at Villa Toscano for lunch and stopped at Renwood for some fun cowboy hat action! I couldn't help myself at our last stop.. I had to stick my head in the wine tank! I love wine!