As I was getting my haircut today, which I am rocking some new bangs, I was talking to my stylist about all the marvelous places to eat in SF. As the thoughts came to me in my head and I began drooling in my char, I realized I hadn't shared some of my finest dining experiences thus far in SF. Hence.. my newest blog post.
Although I have had my fair share of meals since living in SF, there have been a few that have stuck out in my mind as both delish and blog worthy. So let me begin by breaking down a few of the deserving dishes.
La Mar: Now it could have been the company that I was with that made this dining experience so amazing. I was with my boyfriend, brother, and his girlfriend. But to tell you the truth I could have been dining alone and I probably would have still licked my plate clean.
La Mar is down by the ferry building in the Marina. It is a Preuvian restaurant that is known for it's ceveche. Now I am a huge fan of sushi, so it isn't a far cry from their fellow friend raw fish drowned in spices and marinade. After opening a fine bottle of red wine, we dined on what I like to remember it as the best cheveche/only ceveche I have ever had. Now I'm not going to lie, I have nothing to compare their ceveche to, but I am pretty sure my mouth tasted some of the most flavorful ceveche there is out there. The instant it touched my lips a thousand spices and citrus flavor ignited my taste buds. It was like Cayenne pepper and an orange were throwing one hell of a party in my mouth. It was amazing. I tried not to lick my plate when I was finished =/. After dinner we thought about dessert but I had stuffed my face so much with the main courses that there wasn't even room if I wanted there to be. La Mar by far was a great catch!
Pied Piper: The Pied Piper was actually a mistake find as my co-worker and friend Alex strolled down the streets looking for somewhere to watch the Giants game after work. We looked all over the place in the Mission for a good sports bar and happened to give up when we set eyes on the Pied Piper. "$25.00 for a Kobe Beef Hamburger and Beer"... done & done!
As we entered the place looked as though it was some swanky hotel restaurant. It looked like it should have been filled with old gangsters and aged bottles of scotch. Alex and I found our seat right by a flat screen TV and marked our spot. We were not leaving until the Giants won the World Series!
After we ordered the most delicious drinks ever, a Gimlet for the lady & a Last Call Martini for this Miss, we set the task of ordering what we wanted for dinner. We settled on two pizzas one salmon and one caprice, but these were not what was so blog worthy. Although the pizzas were good, it was what we ordered with the pizzas that made my mouth water!
BLACK TRUFFLE GARLIC FRENCH FRIES.... OMG. -Holy Shit were these good. I mean forget McDonalds and whatever crack they sprinkle on their fries to make them so addicting. These french fries were sooo good- crispy in texture, golden in color, and the black truffle oil made them taste a bit like garlic and magic. Oh man were they good. I think I had to fight Alex for the last one just as Brian Wilson threw the closing pitch to WIN the World Series. These were so good, I would go back and get them again in a heartbeat.
Sidenote: The Mission was insane that night. As Alex and I left the Pied Piper, I have never seen so many crazed fans in one area. Union Square was a mess of people, there had to be thousands of people just standing in the square and celebrating the victory! Very Very cool night!
House of Sushi: One of my favorite things to eat has got to be sushi! Now there are thousands of places in Sf to go eat sushi, but House of Sushi has to be my favorite. One for its location: right on Polk street when you are about to go out to the bars. The second: the prices! When dining at "The House" you can get about 6 rolls and sake for about 40 or 50 bucks. Between two people that is perfect! My favorite rolls there are the Fatty Tuna Roll, Spider Roll, and Spicy Tuna Roll. I mean you pretty much cant go wrong with sushi it is pretty hard to mess up in my eyes.. anything you can dip in soy sauce and wasabe.. it's a done deal!
Philz Coffee: Now since I was talking about my first love, Sushi, it would only be right to talk about who I have an affair with in the mornings when Sushi just wont do it for me. Philz coffee has to be THE BEST place to get a cup of Joe in town. Thanks to the BF I have indulged in numerous cups of delicious Philz coffee on weekend mornings. Philz coffee individually makes each cup of coffee and filters the coffee by hand, so I am assuming not one cup is the same. I mean you take one sip of the Mocha coffee and it is like you died and went to sweetened chocolate heaven! If you maybe are a little hungover or are looking for that instant caffeine jolt, the Ether would be your choice. Hands down the place to go get coffee. I am trying to encourage them to make another location closer to my house, but for now it is definitely worth the trip to have a cup of their yumminess!
Crepe Cafe By My House: Funny thing... I have no idea what this place is really called. I literally refer it to people as "The Crepe Place By My House." Name doesn't matter... what does matter is that they do crepes right. There is only one girl who works there and she makes one hell of a crepe. You can choose from all different sorts of fillers from: Strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, mango, star fruit, blueberries, raspberries, snosberries from Willy Wonka for all I know! The fruit is key in the crepe but what makes it extra special is that what hold the fruit in the crepe and that my friends is Nutella! I mean a warm crepe, with fresh fruit, and ooey gooey Nutella holding it all together.... pure bliss! I mean if Gooey Butter Cake and these Crepes were in a fight, it would be a pretty good match up!
Needless to say after these dining experiences that I have had I may have had to loosen the belt buckle just a tad, but when you are in good company the calories are worth it! The places mentioned above are some of my favorite as far as taste wise, but it is always tucked away in my head of all the fine meals I have had with those closet to me out here.
There are some nights that we decide to stay in and cook something, whether it be grilled salmon, baked chicken, or my most recent favorite stuffed turkey peppers, what makes these meals so marvelous is the people that sit down and share them with you. I have had more fun cooking in a little kitchen and throwing spices into a pot and hoping they turn out good, than paying any top dollar amount for a meal. The fun for me comes from watching someone smile after taking a bite into something that I have cooked. I have been told that I need to make a street vending cart with some of my creations, so if all fails maybe that is my calling!
Regardless the moral of this blog is no matter what you are eating, take time to not only appreciate the food in front of you, but find someone to share you meal with. They can spice up and un-flavorful dish, make any dessert that much more sweeter, and they can be that ingredient that maybe you thought you were missing.
Me.. Callie Christine O'Brien
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Happily Ever After...
My adventure back home took its course pretty early in the AM seeing as how my mom booked me what I am pretty sure was the earliest flight out of San Francisco! It was worth getting up at 2 am because I was pumped to see my family!
Around 4/12 hour later touchdown STL. My first thought:
"DAMN....IT IS FREAKING HOT HERE!!!"
I couldn't believe it... I was a true city girl at this point. I was sweating, all the curl was out of my hair, and I don't think I could have ripped my leather jacket off quicker. Hello Midwest!
You would think that living in California I would be bronzed and beautiful... when my parents saw me in a swimsuit that weekend, I pretty much got called transparent! "Callie, you have never been that white before. " "You are like a ghost." Call it what you will, but there was no way of getting around it. I was so white you could have called it clear.
It was good to be home. Grandma greeted me at the airport and whisked me back to my old stopping grounds at Bar Louie. It was good to be back in the familiar land of the bar scene. Made me feel like San Francisco was not so far away.. haha.
We had a great lunch at Bar Louie. The menu was completely different than what I remember, but all the same faces were still serving the food.
Momma picked me up at Grandmas and what a warm welcome I got! It was so amazing to see her and when I got home I think I almost mistook dad for George Clooney. Than man had lost like 30 lbs! Way to go dad!
I think we were all pretty pumped about the wedding and couldnt wait to get the whole family together since it is such a rare occasion!
On the 4 hour drive out to Joplin. I realized a few things:
1. There are no high rises from House Springs, Missouri to Joplin. If there are... they are a 3 story Gift shop called Ozarkland.
2. Missouri hills, in which I always thought were big, are in no comparison to the mountains of California.
3. Missouri is green. I never thought about it but I miss seeing trees!
4. The cost that it took to fill up in Gas was a far cry from the nickle and dime process of California gas... I was seriously contemplating If I should fill a jug up and take some cheap gas home with me.
When we arrived to Joplin we drove to our hotel the Ritz Carlton.. aka the Holiday Inn.
We threw an awesome "Mexican" themed shower with sombreros and all. I became really fond of this giant black mustache that mom had bought and continued to wear it through the night. It got passed around quite a bit and mom's car ended up wearing it at the end of the night! Later we checked into our room and immediately scoped out the pool. Little did we know that in the following days this would be our watering hole. I think the Schulte clan marked our territory because in the upcoming days we owned that thing!
Did we listen to the fact that we couldn't drink in the pool? No.
Did we listen that you couldn't drink at all period if some of us weren't 21? No.
Did we listen that you couldn't dive in the pool? No?
Did we flash people in the pool from our hotel windows? Yes (Thank you Uncle Tom.. I am partially scared for life... sorry but my ass isn't even that white!)
and last but not least.. Did we really care that we broke every single rule.... Ummm NO!
After having "too much" fun in the sun the day of the wedding we all got dolled up got ready to see Drew and holly get hitched. We all must have died and gone to heaven.. because it had to be a sin to look as good as we did.
Holly and Drew's wedding was adorable. Great touch with the photo sideshows of them growing up. My personal favorite was watching Holly's home video of her learning how to ride a bike and every time finding a tree to run into. It reminded me of the time dad took me sledding and my sled headed right to the creek instead of down the hill...
I think we were all anticipating the reception. We became instant dancing fools. Little Clohe got out there and man did she have some moves. The next dance off I have I think I am going to channel her. It was pretty much chaos out there. You had Allie, Becca, Molly, and I with the new school moves and getting low on the dance floor. Mom and Dad were trying to coordinate their moves while Mom was trying to channel something from a Ricky Martin Video. Aunt Lisa was being sandwiched by the groomsmen because lets face it.. Aunt Lisa you still got it sista, And last but not least your had Aunt Vicky showing people how the electric slide was done with style. Who would have known that we were all in our element and all we needed was a good tune like "Sweet Caroline" to all bring us together.
Overall the trip was great. We got to see a great wedding and spend some quality time as a family. I wish Drew and Holly many years of health and happiness and hope that more weddings are to come so we can do it all over again..
I wonder.. Who will be next??? (Molly did get the bouquet!)
Around 4/12 hour later touchdown STL. My first thought:
"DAMN....IT IS FREAKING HOT HERE!!!"
I couldn't believe it... I was a true city girl at this point. I was sweating, all the curl was out of my hair, and I don't think I could have ripped my leather jacket off quicker. Hello Midwest!
You would think that living in California I would be bronzed and beautiful... when my parents saw me in a swimsuit that weekend, I pretty much got called transparent! "Callie, you have never been that white before. " "You are like a ghost." Call it what you will, but there was no way of getting around it. I was so white you could have called it clear.
It was good to be home. Grandma greeted me at the airport and whisked me back to my old stopping grounds at Bar Louie. It was good to be back in the familiar land of the bar scene. Made me feel like San Francisco was not so far away.. haha.
We had a great lunch at Bar Louie. The menu was completely different than what I remember, but all the same faces were still serving the food.
Momma picked me up at Grandmas and what a warm welcome I got! It was so amazing to see her and when I got home I think I almost mistook dad for George Clooney. Than man had lost like 30 lbs! Way to go dad!
I think we were all pretty pumped about the wedding and couldnt wait to get the whole family together since it is such a rare occasion!
On the 4 hour drive out to Joplin. I realized a few things:
1. There are no high rises from House Springs, Missouri to Joplin. If there are... they are a 3 story Gift shop called Ozarkland.
2. Missouri hills, in which I always thought were big, are in no comparison to the mountains of California.
3. Missouri is green. I never thought about it but I miss seeing trees!
4. The cost that it took to fill up in Gas was a far cry from the nickle and dime process of California gas... I was seriously contemplating If I should fill a jug up and take some cheap gas home with me.
When we arrived to Joplin we drove to our hotel the Ritz Carlton.. aka the Holiday Inn.
We threw an awesome "Mexican" themed shower with sombreros and all. I became really fond of this giant black mustache that mom had bought and continued to wear it through the night. It got passed around quite a bit and mom's car ended up wearing it at the end of the night! Later we checked into our room and immediately scoped out the pool. Little did we know that in the following days this would be our watering hole. I think the Schulte clan marked our territory because in the upcoming days we owned that thing!
Did we listen to the fact that we couldn't drink in the pool? No.
Did we listen that you couldn't drink at all period if some of us weren't 21? No.
Did we listen that you couldn't dive in the pool? No?
Did we flash people in the pool from our hotel windows? Yes (Thank you Uncle Tom.. I am partially scared for life... sorry but my ass isn't even that white!)
and last but not least.. Did we really care that we broke every single rule.... Ummm NO!
After having "too much" fun in the sun the day of the wedding we all got dolled up got ready to see Drew and holly get hitched. We all must have died and gone to heaven.. because it had to be a sin to look as good as we did.
Holly and Drew's wedding was adorable. Great touch with the photo sideshows of them growing up. My personal favorite was watching Holly's home video of her learning how to ride a bike and every time finding a tree to run into. It reminded me of the time dad took me sledding and my sled headed right to the creek instead of down the hill...
I think we were all anticipating the reception. We became instant dancing fools. Little Clohe got out there and man did she have some moves. The next dance off I have I think I am going to channel her. It was pretty much chaos out there. You had Allie, Becca, Molly, and I with the new school moves and getting low on the dance floor. Mom and Dad were trying to coordinate their moves while Mom was trying to channel something from a Ricky Martin Video. Aunt Lisa was being sandwiched by the groomsmen because lets face it.. Aunt Lisa you still got it sista, And last but not least your had Aunt Vicky showing people how the electric slide was done with style. Who would have known that we were all in our element and all we needed was a good tune like "Sweet Caroline" to all bring us together.
Overall the trip was great. We got to see a great wedding and spend some quality time as a family. I wish Drew and Holly many years of health and happiness and hope that more weddings are to come so we can do it all over again..
I wonder.. Who will be next??? (Molly did get the bouquet!)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Life Is Sweet..
Well it was Friday at 5pm and my night had officially started as the work day ended. This weekend was going to be especially fabulous because I was not only attending (ahemmm) my first Giants Game of the season, but my co-worker and other half Mckensie had invited me to her hometown for Memorial Weekend.
I swear Mckensie and I are like Ebony and Ivory...like two peas in a pod...like peanut butter &.. well you get the point. Let's just say we found out we both have a tattoo on our butt and foot, and after that we decided we were destined to be friends..
Now lets be honest here. Mckensie and I could be thrown into a room of mute parapolegics and somehow still have the times of our lives, so regardless of what we were doing it would be great. But mix in a good baseball game and a weekend away from SF, this just seemed like a recipe for disaster.. aka a rocking good time.
Mckensie and I decided to be aggressive getting ready. I mean no powdering of the noses getting ready. Throw something cute on and get to the game asap kind of getting ready. We like to call it "being aggressive."
We arrived promptly a bar called Pete's and met up with our good friend Jaerk, who is the Giants announcer's son, and had a few drinks. Now Mckensie and I have been doing a detox for her preparing for her swimsuit debut in Vegas in a few weeks so keep in mind it takes us one drink to get tipsy.... this will proceed to get worse later on in this blog.
Anyway... we had a drink (or two) and then went to the game. We got amazing seats thanks to an upgrade from Jarek and sat in some of the best seats in the house. I even got a sign that read "Go Giants" that I shamelessly was carring around all the time thinking how bad of a Cardinals fan I was being. Mckensie and I had a blast at the game and needless to say it was a pretty good game. Apparently when the Giants win they play Frank Sinatra's song "I left My Heart In San Francisco" which Mckensie and I sang out loud to each other with such enthusiasm.
After the game we of course went back to Pete's for a round of celebration drinks. It wasn't shortly after that things began to get interesting. An hour or so later we decided to go to another bar and had Jarek's (sober.. yes we were being safe) sister pick us up. We were hanging out with the whole fam that night.
As the Honda Element pulled up, Mckensie and I wondered what Jarek's notorious family would be like.. and in an instant we were thrown in the car and into the mix.
Picture this. No one knows each other, no proper introduction... then in an instant "I want to be a Billionaire" song starts blasting on the radio and simultaneously every single person in the car bursts out into song and dance. It was an instant studio 54 with 6 people pilled into a car and everyone was dancing like it was 1999,
It was hilarious.
I glanced over at Mckensie and we knew we had found good people.
When we had arrived at the next bar, I had already worked up a sweat from throwing out some sweet dance moves in the car... little did I know this was nowhere near the end of the infamous dance party.
We all piled into the next bar and in an instant, there we all were again taking over the dance floor. I was busting my good ole Crip walk I had learned in the STL, Mckensie was shaking her little bootay, and Jareks brother and his BF were channeling Madonna from "like a prayer". It was AMAZING. An hour or so later and after everyone in the club probably all thought we were on some sort of drug or something from all the insane dance moves they had just seen, the dance scene parted... and here came a girl requesting a dance off!
OH heeellllll no!
Yes I said it a DANCE OFF...
Now mind you she had no idea she was in the presence of professional dancers. Well we all like to think we are that good. But too bad Wes is actually a professional dancer.
She tried and tried to bring us down, but once Wes broke out the splits, she was toast.
We literally shut the bar down. I don't think I could have drank another drink and to be honest it wasnt worth it- By the time I had gotten a drink from the bar to the dance floor, I was dancing and frailling my arms around so much that my drink was halfway gone anway... oops.
Needless to say it was a great night... and I literally think that now I know why people take jazzercise.. I was sore the next day. What a work out. These hips dont work like they used to. Must mean I am getting older.
Now this was only Friday Night...
Saturday was a new dawn of a new day and Mckensie and I were destined to Petaluma- Her hometown and old stomping grounds.
We slept in on Saturday morning (of course) and then waiting through the hellish Memorial Day traffic to get into P town. It literally took us 1 hour to get from my house to the Golden Gate bridge, which usually takes about 15 minuets or less.
The only laughable part about that was for the first 30 mins we were yellign and screaming at all the traffic-we couldn't figure out what the heck all the traffic was for.
"what the hell..."
"Ummm why is there all this traffic.."
"Who got in an accidnt now..."
We were either to hungover or dumb too realize it was Memorial weekend. As soon as we remembered that... it all made so much sense.
We got into P town about 2 hours later.
Driving through P town reminded me a lot of Kirkwood Missouri, only a bit more tropical and with mountains. It had some beautiful Victorian homes and had a really quaint and had a hometown feel. Mckensies parents house was nestled on top of a big hill and had an amazing view of the town. It felt sooo good to get out of the city for a weekend.
Her parents were a delight to meet! They welcomed me and I felt right at home.
That night we had planned on having a BBQ, so Mckensie and I decided to go to Costco and grab some wine and steaks for the BBQ. - Let me tell you Cosco is too LEGIT to quit!
SAMPLES SAMPLES everywhere. I could go to Costco and just sample everything and I would never have to buy a damn thing. If only Cosco would let you sample the alcohol section... then hell I wouldn't even have to go out to the bars!
We stuffed ourselves full of bite size samples of sausage, cheese, chicken, and whatever else they gave me on a toothpick- if it looked good and was bitesize... I tried it. Then we made our way back to Mckensie's house.
The BBQ was a delight. I got to meet a lot of her friends and her friends parents and literally got to stuff myself to the brim- so much for detox.
After dinner Mckensie told me were were going to go out to her favorite bars out in Ptown and everyone there warned me of what a treat I was in for.... little did i know they were right!
Once again we got "aggressive" with getting ready and out on the town we went again. Three or four bars into the night, I am pretty sure P-Town had won.
Mckensie owned this town. We went to one bar and she demamded the DJ play Shakira "She Wolf" he literally stopped the track he was playing and on the song went. Again we took over the dance floor.. and danced like it was going out of style.
1 am had rolled around and I was a tequila shot or two deeper than I needed to be and ready to call it a night... but ooohhh no Ptown was not done with me yet!
After party at her old friends house! So we cabbed it over to her friends house and this was a sight to see. I actually felt like I had planted myself back into Jefferson County!
Her friend had transformed his garage into a bar. I mean bar stools, light up signs, and a full service bar was in the middle of his garage. Much to my surprise... I wasn't surprised. This was something I was very familiar with, seeing as I am from House Springs.
one thing that did catch me off guard...
CHICKENS!
This guy literally had two chickens that were his pets. Mckensie and I got a laugh out of this and made instant friends with them and they instantly became part of our crew. One had a mo-hawk, because the other chicken and him had gotten into a brawl, so I was immediately drawn to the wounded solider.
Needless to say it had turned into an interesting night.
As the night grew to an end and we were ready to go home we had called a cab. Upon arriving to Mckensies house the guy didnt take credit, so he actually ended up giving us a cab ride for free... Now that is something you DON'T see in SF!
Needless to say if we are ever back in P-Town we got his card and will be giving him a call!
It was 3am and once we had gotten home and we dove right back into the BBQ leftovers. The standard for late night munchies after a night of drinking. I think we managed to eat another huge helping of steak, tortellini, and I think some chocolate cake was thrown into the mix.
Another great success!
The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. Mckensie had to work at her parents store for the rest of the weekend so I bummed around the store while she worked. I would like to say I was her "Vana White" (her parents have a mattress & furniture store.)
On Memorial Day we ended up going to her Country Club and had again another feast before we set off to go back to SF. I literally think I probably gained a good 10 lbs on this trip between the steak, pasta, chocolate cake, and the strawberry shortcake that I was literally shoving into my mouth at the Memorial Day dinner.
The weekend ended up being amazing. Good Food..Good Scenery..and most imporatntly Great Company!
I had managed to see a winning Giants game, have the best dance party I have been a part of in the back seat of a car, watch a drunk girl get schooled in serious dance off, visited a new place in California, met an amazing family, and held a chicken with a mo-hawk.
The moral of this blog is like an analogy for food:
The food was amazing this weekend. So I had seconds... and sometimes I even had thirds. -Indulge when things in life are good. Enjoy when something is great.... Remember what you felt when you tasted some good. Lock those memories in and hold them tight!
This weekend was one that I will remember for a long long time, Yes some parts may be a bit "fuzzy" but it was spent with some amazing people. Life is sweet.. so Savor it!
I swear Mckensie and I are like Ebony and Ivory...like two peas in a pod...like peanut butter &.. well you get the point. Let's just say we found out we both have a tattoo on our butt and foot, and after that we decided we were destined to be friends..
Now lets be honest here. Mckensie and I could be thrown into a room of mute parapolegics and somehow still have the times of our lives, so regardless of what we were doing it would be great. But mix in a good baseball game and a weekend away from SF, this just seemed like a recipe for disaster.. aka a rocking good time.
Mckensie and I decided to be aggressive getting ready. I mean no powdering of the noses getting ready. Throw something cute on and get to the game asap kind of getting ready. We like to call it "being aggressive."
We arrived promptly a bar called Pete's and met up with our good friend Jaerk, who is the Giants announcer's son, and had a few drinks. Now Mckensie and I have been doing a detox for her preparing for her swimsuit debut in Vegas in a few weeks so keep in mind it takes us one drink to get tipsy.... this will proceed to get worse later on in this blog.
Anyway... we had a drink (or two) and then went to the game. We got amazing seats thanks to an upgrade from Jarek and sat in some of the best seats in the house. I even got a sign that read "Go Giants" that I shamelessly was carring around all the time thinking how bad of a Cardinals fan I was being. Mckensie and I had a blast at the game and needless to say it was a pretty good game. Apparently when the Giants win they play Frank Sinatra's song "I left My Heart In San Francisco" which Mckensie and I sang out loud to each other with such enthusiasm.
After the game we of course went back to Pete's for a round of celebration drinks. It wasn't shortly after that things began to get interesting. An hour or so later we decided to go to another bar and had Jarek's (sober.. yes we were being safe) sister pick us up. We were hanging out with the whole fam that night.
As the Honda Element pulled up, Mckensie and I wondered what Jarek's notorious family would be like.. and in an instant we were thrown in the car and into the mix.
Picture this. No one knows each other, no proper introduction... then in an instant "I want to be a Billionaire" song starts blasting on the radio and simultaneously every single person in the car bursts out into song and dance. It was an instant studio 54 with 6 people pilled into a car and everyone was dancing like it was 1999,
It was hilarious.
I glanced over at Mckensie and we knew we had found good people.
When we had arrived at the next bar, I had already worked up a sweat from throwing out some sweet dance moves in the car... little did I know this was nowhere near the end of the infamous dance party.
We all piled into the next bar and in an instant, there we all were again taking over the dance floor. I was busting my good ole Crip walk I had learned in the STL, Mckensie was shaking her little bootay, and Jareks brother and his BF were channeling Madonna from "like a prayer". It was AMAZING. An hour or so later and after everyone in the club probably all thought we were on some sort of drug or something from all the insane dance moves they had just seen, the dance scene parted... and here came a girl requesting a dance off!
OH heeellllll no!
Yes I said it a DANCE OFF...
Now mind you she had no idea she was in the presence of professional dancers. Well we all like to think we are that good. But too bad Wes is actually a professional dancer.
She tried and tried to bring us down, but once Wes broke out the splits, she was toast.
We literally shut the bar down. I don't think I could have drank another drink and to be honest it wasnt worth it- By the time I had gotten a drink from the bar to the dance floor, I was dancing and frailling my arms around so much that my drink was halfway gone anway... oops.
Needless to say it was a great night... and I literally think that now I know why people take jazzercise.. I was sore the next day. What a work out. These hips dont work like they used to. Must mean I am getting older.
Now this was only Friday Night...
Saturday was a new dawn of a new day and Mckensie and I were destined to Petaluma- Her hometown and old stomping grounds.
We slept in on Saturday morning (of course) and then waiting through the hellish Memorial Day traffic to get into P town. It literally took us 1 hour to get from my house to the Golden Gate bridge, which usually takes about 15 minuets or less.
The only laughable part about that was for the first 30 mins we were yellign and screaming at all the traffic-we couldn't figure out what the heck all the traffic was for.
"what the hell..."
"Ummm why is there all this traffic.."
"Who got in an accidnt now..."
We were either to hungover or dumb too realize it was Memorial weekend. As soon as we remembered that... it all made so much sense.
We got into P town about 2 hours later.
Driving through P town reminded me a lot of Kirkwood Missouri, only a bit more tropical and with mountains. It had some beautiful Victorian homes and had a really quaint and had a hometown feel. Mckensies parents house was nestled on top of a big hill and had an amazing view of the town. It felt sooo good to get out of the city for a weekend.
Her parents were a delight to meet! They welcomed me and I felt right at home.
That night we had planned on having a BBQ, so Mckensie and I decided to go to Costco and grab some wine and steaks for the BBQ. - Let me tell you Cosco is too LEGIT to quit!
SAMPLES SAMPLES everywhere. I could go to Costco and just sample everything and I would never have to buy a damn thing. If only Cosco would let you sample the alcohol section... then hell I wouldn't even have to go out to the bars!
We stuffed ourselves full of bite size samples of sausage, cheese, chicken, and whatever else they gave me on a toothpick- if it looked good and was bitesize... I tried it. Then we made our way back to Mckensie's house.
The BBQ was a delight. I got to meet a lot of her friends and her friends parents and literally got to stuff myself to the brim- so much for detox.
After dinner Mckensie told me were were going to go out to her favorite bars out in Ptown and everyone there warned me of what a treat I was in for.... little did i know they were right!
Once again we got "aggressive" with getting ready and out on the town we went again. Three or four bars into the night, I am pretty sure P-Town had won.
Mckensie owned this town. We went to one bar and she demamded the DJ play Shakira "She Wolf" he literally stopped the track he was playing and on the song went. Again we took over the dance floor.. and danced like it was going out of style.
1 am had rolled around and I was a tequila shot or two deeper than I needed to be and ready to call it a night... but ooohhh no Ptown was not done with me yet!
After party at her old friends house! So we cabbed it over to her friends house and this was a sight to see. I actually felt like I had planted myself back into Jefferson County!
Her friend had transformed his garage into a bar. I mean bar stools, light up signs, and a full service bar was in the middle of his garage. Much to my surprise... I wasn't surprised. This was something I was very familiar with, seeing as I am from House Springs.
one thing that did catch me off guard...
CHICKENS!
This guy literally had two chickens that were his pets. Mckensie and I got a laugh out of this and made instant friends with them and they instantly became part of our crew. One had a mo-hawk, because the other chicken and him had gotten into a brawl, so I was immediately drawn to the wounded solider.
Needless to say it had turned into an interesting night.
As the night grew to an end and we were ready to go home we had called a cab. Upon arriving to Mckensies house the guy didnt take credit, so he actually ended up giving us a cab ride for free... Now that is something you DON'T see in SF!
Needless to say if we are ever back in P-Town we got his card and will be giving him a call!
It was 3am and once we had gotten home and we dove right back into the BBQ leftovers. The standard for late night munchies after a night of drinking. I think we managed to eat another huge helping of steak, tortellini, and I think some chocolate cake was thrown into the mix.
Another great success!
The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. Mckensie had to work at her parents store for the rest of the weekend so I bummed around the store while she worked. I would like to say I was her "Vana White" (her parents have a mattress & furniture store.)
On Memorial Day we ended up going to her Country Club and had again another feast before we set off to go back to SF. I literally think I probably gained a good 10 lbs on this trip between the steak, pasta, chocolate cake, and the strawberry shortcake that I was literally shoving into my mouth at the Memorial Day dinner.
The weekend ended up being amazing. Good Food..Good Scenery..and most imporatntly Great Company!
I had managed to see a winning Giants game, have the best dance party I have been a part of in the back seat of a car, watch a drunk girl get schooled in serious dance off, visited a new place in California, met an amazing family, and held a chicken with a mo-hawk.
The moral of this blog is like an analogy for food:
The food was amazing this weekend. So I had seconds... and sometimes I even had thirds. -Indulge when things in life are good. Enjoy when something is great.... Remember what you felt when you tasted some good. Lock those memories in and hold them tight!
This weekend was one that I will remember for a long long time, Yes some parts may be a bit "fuzzy" but it was spent with some amazing people. Life is sweet.. so Savor it!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Girls Just Want To Have Fun
There is something magical that happens at the end of the work day on Friday.
You punch the time card day in and day out throughout the work week and when it comes 5:00pm on A Friday afternoon you feel something sensational... you feel free.
Feeling that freedom makes excitement through your veins, your heart beat to a different drum, and makes your mind starts to think about all the possibilities the weekend can bring you.
As I sat at my desk finishing my last e-mails of the day this past Friday, I started to plan my Friday night. Although half of the planing was already done because my co-workers were g-chatting with me throughout the day, our plans still needed the finishing touches. I sat at my desk and sipped on a beer and began to chat with my co-worker about what I was going to that evening.
Now one thing I must mention working at Yelp we do have a keg on each floor. A beautiful sliver barrel that pours the most heavenly beverage that could ever touch your lips while still at work. On Fridays our days end with the sales floors being invited to a happy hour. Now to me this is a genius plan on there part. Keep the sales team sane. I mean we make about 400 calls a week, so giving us a reward in the form of a alcoholic liquid to me is smart. If you are like some of my co-workers and over indulge on his opportunity on a Friday, you may be able to forget every single one of those 400 calls.
Anyway where was I.. Oh yes final touches on my plans.
It had been pre-determined that it was going to be a Girl's Night. My two besties at work Alex and Mckensie had talked me into (with little convincing needed to be done) that the girls were going to get together and grab some drinks and venture out for the night. As I sat at my desk and punched "send" on my last e-mail, the feeling of freedom took over and Friday was all mine!
Alex, Mckensie, and I then decided that we certainly could not have a proper girl's night out unless we looked the part, so we made plans to go home change and I would drive and pick Alex up and then head over to McKensie's apartment and go out from there.
As I left work my mind began the endless conversation with itself of what I was going to wear. My virtual closet inside my head began to spew out outfit ideas while my memory was asking myself "when was the last time I wore that?" and "Oh I could wear that but lets be honest after the trail mix I have been eating this week, would it still fit?"
It took me off a few minuets while I was walking to the L to decided that maybe I should just have a quick stop in Forever 21 just to see the "new inventory."
Forever 21 is a girls dream here. The first time I went in there I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Three glorious floors of fashion. It makes the Forever 21 that I used to work at in St. Louis look like a flea market in Boise Idaho. No offense to the Forever 21 back home, but the SF one kicks your ass.
As I walked into the front entrance I noticed that their was the greeter sitting in a chair blocking off the main entrance. Oh by the way- Forever 21 has a greeter at their door in a full on suit and also serves as a security officer. He is like a member of the Fashion FBI. Welcomes you at the door, but he'll take you down if you steal any of their precious merchandise.
The greeter sat there and I noticed he was not going to let me in. I looked in the window and to my horror it looked like Forever 21 was bare inside. At this point my blood began to boil and I had a slight heart attack- did they close down?!? The greeter must have seen the look of horror on my face because he told me "don't worry they are still open just doing some renovating... use the side door." -Wheww, I almost had just fainted in the name of fashion.
Sure enough I walked into the side door and there way the good old Forever 21 I knew and loved, Now I knew that I shouldn't have been shopping, but this was really the first night out that I was going out with the girls so I made a sacrifice and used my grocery money I had saved for this week to use on clothes instead. You must sacrifice when times are rough. I figure I will just eat at work and scavenge their kitchen before I go home at night.
I went upstairs where they have the section that is more my style. I found some black leggings and a cute light teal floral top. This was perfect. I scanned my head for what shoes I would wear and decided that my red pumps would being out the little pinkish red flowers in the shirt. I figured I would pair it with my teal sequin jacket at home and this outfit was fit for a girls night out. With little time to go home and get ready I quickly went down stair and paid. I needed all the time I could get at home to shower and powder my nose!
Once home I took a shower and did my usual routine of getting ready. Shower, shave the legs, put on lotion, then set on my floor and do my makeup while my straightener heats up. There is something so fun about getting ready when you know it is going to be a good night. It is funny though because when you get ready and something is "off" it can ruin you whole night. Luckily this night was a good one, my makeup was looking good and I decided to be a bit sassy and throw on some fake eye lashes. My roommate Christie had convinced me that I should try them out because they make your eyes look great in photos. So I decided what the hell, I'll give it a go.
Two tries, 10 minuets, and an eye almost glued shut later, I had successfully obtained long luscious lashes.
I made the finishing touches on my hair and splashed on some perfume and it was time to go pick up Alex.
When I arrived at her house she was waiting for me and she hopped in. Alex is just adorable. She had on the cutest jeans I had ever seen and a headband that held back her strategically placed curls. When then were off and to Mckensie'e we went.
On arrival to Mckensie's apartment we realized she was still in her PJ's! This was not a problem because that only meant we could have a drink while she finished getting ready. As she was getting ready she did a mini fashion show until we found an outfit we all agreed on. Choosing between blue kitten heals and Jessica Simpson pumps can be a hard choice, and having the suggestions of two other girls can only complicate things. We decided to go with the Jess pumps: a.) because they were more comfortable (who knows how much dancing we were going to do) and b.) because they were new.
We then called a cab and off to the first bar we went.
The Bar scene is a funny thing in San Francisco. Depending on what part of town will depend on the type of people you will see there. Going out in North Beach will get you all the hipsters, wanna be screenplay writers, and the girls/guys who think they are all the "next big thing." If you go to the Castro you will submersed with gay bars and will probably see some things that you wouldn't see on the average bar night. The last time I went out in the castro I went to a event for work and got sandwiched while I was dancing with two tranny's who looked more like a woman than I did. If you go out in the Marina you get a lot of beach boys and swanky sushi bars. I prefer going out in the Mission or the Marina. they have a lot of bars that pull a good crowd and usually you will run into someone you know.
The girls and I decided to go bar hopping. We met up with Alex's friends at Eastside West and got a drink there, then decided to go find somewhere with a bigger crowd. The next bar we went to was so crowded I didnt have room to even breathe so we got out of there. Our final decision was to go to Colombus. It was a dive bar where some of our friends from work were. By this point we were a few drinks and tequila shots deep, so we didnt really mind where we went.
Colombus was an interesting place I must say. The girls and I stayed there till closing time and dont think that we payed for a single drink. The bartender kept offering us shots. We were to the point we didnt need anything else so I just stated adding OJ to my shot and sipped on that. I tend to make some strange concoctions when I can't even taste what I am drinking anymore..
I would have to say the most fun happened when we left the bar and this is getting to the heart of my story...
The best thing to do when one is drunk is to indulge in some late night eating. Alex was shouting that she wanted a burrito, I was saying I didnt know where any eating places were, and Mckensie kept talking about how good her bed was going to feel. As soon as Alex said "burrito" we all automatically dropped whatever we were thinking about and set our sites on getting some grub. Pizza, sushi, hell at the point I would have gone to the grocery store, bought a steak, and cooked it.
We decided on ordering pizza and getting it delivered to Mckensie's house. So we called a cab to get home. We must have gotten the best cab driver in San Francisco. His name was Joshua and he was blaring the best sing a long music ever. We all piled in and finally got to throw the dance party we had been wanting to throw all night.
We turned his cab into studio 54.Mckensie had her arms up in the air, Alex was singing into her had which she had made a microphone, and I was playing a mean air guitar. The cab driver was breaking it down himself and shouting every word of the rap song that was playing. I wish I had a video of this.
It was a priceless 15 min car ride that I will remember forever.
As we pulled up to Mckensies house we joked with the cab driver that his car ride was the most fun we had had all night. We got his card and told him if we ever needed a cab again that he was going to be seeing a lot more of us if he kept up his selection of tunes.
As we all piled on Mckensies bed and talked about our night we ordered he pizza. We had no idea what we had ordered when we got off the phone, but as long as it was pizza I don't think we cared. It seemed like weeks had gone by before the pizza actually touched our mouths. We were so hungry and by the time it got there the delivery guy must have thought we had not ate in days. Between the three of us girls we devoured a large half and half pizza and a whole order of cheesy bread sticks. All that trail mix I told you about in the beginning of this.. yeah I don't think that mattered anymore.
3:00am had come and we had declared out girls night out as a success. We had gotten dressed up sassy and classy, gone to a few bars, gotten our drink on, and made some great memories along the way. Us three girls made a night that was something to write about. It didnt matter what we wore, how many cute guys they ran into, or the fact that my eyelashes had stayed in place all night. What mattered most was that I had a night with two of my closet friends here and it was full of giggles and an occasional great dance move.
Surround yourself with people that bring out the best in you. Find friends that think you are funny. Laugh at each other. When you have a long week and maybe something doesn't go your way, erase them on a Friday night with your closet girlfriends. I can tell you from this personal experience that I am lucky to have friends that bring out the best in me, and also don't mind sharing the last slice of pizza...
You punch the time card day in and day out throughout the work week and when it comes 5:00pm on A Friday afternoon you feel something sensational... you feel free.
Feeling that freedom makes excitement through your veins, your heart beat to a different drum, and makes your mind starts to think about all the possibilities the weekend can bring you.
As I sat at my desk finishing my last e-mails of the day this past Friday, I started to plan my Friday night. Although half of the planing was already done because my co-workers were g-chatting with me throughout the day, our plans still needed the finishing touches. I sat at my desk and sipped on a beer and began to chat with my co-worker about what I was going to that evening.
Now one thing I must mention working at Yelp we do have a keg on each floor. A beautiful sliver barrel that pours the most heavenly beverage that could ever touch your lips while still at work. On Fridays our days end with the sales floors being invited to a happy hour. Now to me this is a genius plan on there part. Keep the sales team sane. I mean we make about 400 calls a week, so giving us a reward in the form of a alcoholic liquid to me is smart. If you are like some of my co-workers and over indulge on his opportunity on a Friday, you may be able to forget every single one of those 400 calls.
Anyway where was I.. Oh yes final touches on my plans.
It had been pre-determined that it was going to be a Girl's Night. My two besties at work Alex and Mckensie had talked me into (with little convincing needed to be done) that the girls were going to get together and grab some drinks and venture out for the night. As I sat at my desk and punched "send" on my last e-mail, the feeling of freedom took over and Friday was all mine!
Alex, Mckensie, and I then decided that we certainly could not have a proper girl's night out unless we looked the part, so we made plans to go home change and I would drive and pick Alex up and then head over to McKensie's apartment and go out from there.
As I left work my mind began the endless conversation with itself of what I was going to wear. My virtual closet inside my head began to spew out outfit ideas while my memory was asking myself "when was the last time I wore that?" and "Oh I could wear that but lets be honest after the trail mix I have been eating this week, would it still fit?"
It took me off a few minuets while I was walking to the L to decided that maybe I should just have a quick stop in Forever 21 just to see the "new inventory."
Forever 21 is a girls dream here. The first time I went in there I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Three glorious floors of fashion. It makes the Forever 21 that I used to work at in St. Louis look like a flea market in Boise Idaho. No offense to the Forever 21 back home, but the SF one kicks your ass.
As I walked into the front entrance I noticed that their was the greeter sitting in a chair blocking off the main entrance. Oh by the way- Forever 21 has a greeter at their door in a full on suit and also serves as a security officer. He is like a member of the Fashion FBI. Welcomes you at the door, but he'll take you down if you steal any of their precious merchandise.
The greeter sat there and I noticed he was not going to let me in. I looked in the window and to my horror it looked like Forever 21 was bare inside. At this point my blood began to boil and I had a slight heart attack- did they close down?!? The greeter must have seen the look of horror on my face because he told me "don't worry they are still open just doing some renovating... use the side door." -Wheww, I almost had just fainted in the name of fashion.
Sure enough I walked into the side door and there way the good old Forever 21 I knew and loved, Now I knew that I shouldn't have been shopping, but this was really the first night out that I was going out with the girls so I made a sacrifice and used my grocery money I had saved for this week to use on clothes instead. You must sacrifice when times are rough. I figure I will just eat at work and scavenge their kitchen before I go home at night.
I went upstairs where they have the section that is more my style. I found some black leggings and a cute light teal floral top. This was perfect. I scanned my head for what shoes I would wear and decided that my red pumps would being out the little pinkish red flowers in the shirt. I figured I would pair it with my teal sequin jacket at home and this outfit was fit for a girls night out. With little time to go home and get ready I quickly went down stair and paid. I needed all the time I could get at home to shower and powder my nose!
Once home I took a shower and did my usual routine of getting ready. Shower, shave the legs, put on lotion, then set on my floor and do my makeup while my straightener heats up. There is something so fun about getting ready when you know it is going to be a good night. It is funny though because when you get ready and something is "off" it can ruin you whole night. Luckily this night was a good one, my makeup was looking good and I decided to be a bit sassy and throw on some fake eye lashes. My roommate Christie had convinced me that I should try them out because they make your eyes look great in photos. So I decided what the hell, I'll give it a go.
Two tries, 10 minuets, and an eye almost glued shut later, I had successfully obtained long luscious lashes.
I made the finishing touches on my hair and splashed on some perfume and it was time to go pick up Alex.
When I arrived at her house she was waiting for me and she hopped in. Alex is just adorable. She had on the cutest jeans I had ever seen and a headband that held back her strategically placed curls. When then were off and to Mckensie'e we went.
On arrival to Mckensie's apartment we realized she was still in her PJ's! This was not a problem because that only meant we could have a drink while she finished getting ready. As she was getting ready she did a mini fashion show until we found an outfit we all agreed on. Choosing between blue kitten heals and Jessica Simpson pumps can be a hard choice, and having the suggestions of two other girls can only complicate things. We decided to go with the Jess pumps: a.) because they were more comfortable (who knows how much dancing we were going to do) and b.) because they were new.
We then called a cab and off to the first bar we went.
The Bar scene is a funny thing in San Francisco. Depending on what part of town will depend on the type of people you will see there. Going out in North Beach will get you all the hipsters, wanna be screenplay writers, and the girls/guys who think they are all the "next big thing." If you go to the Castro you will submersed with gay bars and will probably see some things that you wouldn't see on the average bar night. The last time I went out in the castro I went to a event for work and got sandwiched while I was dancing with two tranny's who looked more like a woman than I did. If you go out in the Marina you get a lot of beach boys and swanky sushi bars. I prefer going out in the Mission or the Marina. they have a lot of bars that pull a good crowd and usually you will run into someone you know.
The girls and I decided to go bar hopping. We met up with Alex's friends at Eastside West and got a drink there, then decided to go find somewhere with a bigger crowd. The next bar we went to was so crowded I didnt have room to even breathe so we got out of there. Our final decision was to go to Colombus. It was a dive bar where some of our friends from work were. By this point we were a few drinks and tequila shots deep, so we didnt really mind where we went.
Colombus was an interesting place I must say. The girls and I stayed there till closing time and dont think that we payed for a single drink. The bartender kept offering us shots. We were to the point we didnt need anything else so I just stated adding OJ to my shot and sipped on that. I tend to make some strange concoctions when I can't even taste what I am drinking anymore..
I would have to say the most fun happened when we left the bar and this is getting to the heart of my story...
The best thing to do when one is drunk is to indulge in some late night eating. Alex was shouting that she wanted a burrito, I was saying I didnt know where any eating places were, and Mckensie kept talking about how good her bed was going to feel. As soon as Alex said "burrito" we all automatically dropped whatever we were thinking about and set our sites on getting some grub. Pizza, sushi, hell at the point I would have gone to the grocery store, bought a steak, and cooked it.
We decided on ordering pizza and getting it delivered to Mckensie's house. So we called a cab to get home. We must have gotten the best cab driver in San Francisco. His name was Joshua and he was blaring the best sing a long music ever. We all piled in and finally got to throw the dance party we had been wanting to throw all night.
We turned his cab into studio 54.Mckensie had her arms up in the air, Alex was singing into her had which she had made a microphone, and I was playing a mean air guitar. The cab driver was breaking it down himself and shouting every word of the rap song that was playing. I wish I had a video of this.
It was a priceless 15 min car ride that I will remember forever.
As we pulled up to Mckensies house we joked with the cab driver that his car ride was the most fun we had had all night. We got his card and told him if we ever needed a cab again that he was going to be seeing a lot more of us if he kept up his selection of tunes.
As we all piled on Mckensies bed and talked about our night we ordered he pizza. We had no idea what we had ordered when we got off the phone, but as long as it was pizza I don't think we cared. It seemed like weeks had gone by before the pizza actually touched our mouths. We were so hungry and by the time it got there the delivery guy must have thought we had not ate in days. Between the three of us girls we devoured a large half and half pizza and a whole order of cheesy bread sticks. All that trail mix I told you about in the beginning of this.. yeah I don't think that mattered anymore.
3:00am had come and we had declared out girls night out as a success. We had gotten dressed up sassy and classy, gone to a few bars, gotten our drink on, and made some great memories along the way. Us three girls made a night that was something to write about. It didnt matter what we wore, how many cute guys they ran into, or the fact that my eyelashes had stayed in place all night. What mattered most was that I had a night with two of my closet friends here and it was full of giggles and an occasional great dance move.
Surround yourself with people that bring out the best in you. Find friends that think you are funny. Laugh at each other. When you have a long week and maybe something doesn't go your way, erase them on a Friday night with your closet girlfriends. I can tell you from this personal experience that I am lucky to have friends that bring out the best in me, and also don't mind sharing the last slice of pizza...
Thursday, May 6, 2010
A Dumb Blonde..
Being blonde is a funny thing.
There is a stigma that you automatically get when your hair is a a fair shade of yellow. Whoever came up with that stigma anyway? We have all heard the jokes.. and they all end with the same punch line; "Blondes are dumb." I mean some may be, but to blame a whole subculture of hair mavens to have anything less than the average IQ is a bit ridiculous.
Then there is the saying "blondes have more fun." Now this I can attest to.. but do I really have more fun because my hair is platinum blonde? And if this is true then would I have more fun now because my hair is almost white vs. the girl at the bar next to me who just has a few face framing highlights?
Then if all this wasn't enough.. you also have a stigma if you are not a "natural blonde". It is almost like if you are not blonde by birth you automatically have to prove that you deserve to be blonde. So if this is you and you attend a party you have simultaneously: act both dumb and clueless, parade around like you are having the time of your life, and occasionally run your fingers through your newly touched up roots.
My post this week goes out to all the blondes of the world. This is for the naturals, the freshly highlighted, and all all colors of blondes to the dirtiest of blondes. And hell if you are not blonde and wanna be... this is for you too.
Living in the Sunset I have learned many things. I have been submersed in so many different cultures and walk of life living in San Francisco and I can say for the first time I have felt what it feels like to be a minority. Yes I said it a minority. Now some may laugh at my ignorance but I have never been somewhere where I have felt out of place for having blonde hair.
I get on the L Train every morning and look around and realize that I stick out like a sore thumb. I mean no one can tell that I am not a true Californian, but they can tell that I am not one of two things: Asian or dark haired. The Sunset is a predominantly Asian neighborhood. So when I walk down the street it is apparent that I am different.
Laura my roommate thank goodness shares "condition" with me. We always joke when we get on the L that we look so out of place. On occasion when another blonde buddy hops on it is almost like we try to make eye contact her to say "Hey you are one of us" and give her a silent air high-five.
The most memorable "blonde moment" I have had in San Francisco so far happened a few weeks ago...
I had gotten of the L train and walking to work when I noticed from a far a flock of blondes at the corner of the street by my favorite coffee shop. As I was walking towards them I literally had this thought process:
"Wow I see a bunch of blondes up there"
keep walking closer...
"They must not be from around here, maybe they are visiting from LA"
getting closer now...
"man she has a cute purse.. and those are some great highlights. I wonder where she gets her hair done."
Then one girl stops me:
I had run into the John Frieda "Blondentourage". Yes I said it... Blondentourage. They preceded to tell me that it was National Blonde Day and that they were handing out samples of shampoo and conditioner. I laughed out loud when they were telling me this because I was thinking to myself: "well I just knew they were not from around here!"
I gladly took the free samples and told them Thank You. I then walked to work and thought to myself, "well hey at least this is a small payback for the money I spend for upkeep of these luscious locks of mine."
When I saw Laura at work I giggled to her about my experience and had some samples for her as well. I mean she deserved it as much as I did.
Forgetting about the Blontentorage I went on about my day.
5:30pm came and I packed up my things and off to the L I go. As I walked around the corner by the coffee shops again I was stopped by the blonde beauties. I told them "oh you already got me this morning, thank you though." They then all flocked around me and told me "Hey we have this giftcard for Starbucks, all you have to do to get it is take a picture of us." By the looks on their face, I had a feel these poor girls had a very..very..very long day.
I was more than happy to help them out. As soon as the photo was taken it was almost like they were a mirage. Poof they were gone. I walked to the train and confirmed that "Holy Cow, from 8 am this morning till 6pm, these girls had little choices of people to shower them with gifts... they should have gone to LA."
When I got home I saw that there was a code one one of the things they gave me. Bored with nothing better to do I got online and went to their website and entered the code. Guess what?! I won a prize! Hot dog this was a good day!
I won a facial at a spa downtown. A $65.00 value. I was so excited and I planned it for that coming weekend. All week I couldn't wait to be pampered. I had never gotten a facial.
When the day came to get the facial I was giddy with excitement. I drove downtown and arrived to find that the Spa was everything a spa should be in more. It had a pretty lobby with expensive elixirs on the shelves, it smelled of roses and sweetened air, and a receptionist was waiting with a nice glass of lemon/cucumber water. <--- Lemon cucumber water?! I don't know what that is but it must make me more beautiful.. so I drank it! The receptionist escorted me to the "lounge" and gave me a robe to slip into to be more comfortable. As if I wasn't comfortable enough...I was in heaven. I took a Cosmo magazine propped me feet up and thought to myself "well isn't this the life." I then got the most luxurious experience of my life. An oxygen facial with all these creams and smelly good things rubbed all over my face. It was far more pleasant than how I can ever explain it, but I am sure you can imagine.
90 mins later my skins was a smooth as a baby's bum! It glowed and I swear I even saw a sparkle!
As I went to the lobby to see the receptionist, to leave a tip for the esthetician. She greeted me with a gift bag and told me "Oh no tip has already been taken care of". - This was the life!
I think as I walked to my car my stride slowly transformed itself into a frolic. I was on cloud nine thinking about how wonderful my day just was. I was channeling my inner J-Lo and thinking to myself. "Yeah one day I will be having one of these a week." I literally was swooning over the fact that I had just received all of this for free and for being a blonde!
At this point life was good.
As Paris Hilton.. I mean as I was walking I slowly fell back down to earth when I noticed I had no idea where the hell my car was. Thank God for the lock button. If I press it twice my car makes a nice little "hey dumb-ass I am over here" beep and lets me know where it is.
10 mins later I finally found my street and found the Kia. I swear from afar it could almost look like the kid brother of a Mercedes Benz. As I look around for my chauffeur and try to get J-Lo back it all disappears when I see this white little paper stuck in my door...
$65.00 parking ticket for 12 min overdue meter.
... I didn't have nothing on J-Lo.
The moral of this story is simple.. Do blondes have more fun? Yea maybe they do, but it depends on your attitude about every situation. No matter what the color of your hair make each day something to write about. If you want to know if I think being a natural blonde is any different than "faking it," honestly I don't know because I have been faking it for years. Last but not least, do I think blondes are dumb...
Certainly from this story.. lets just say everyone has their moments.
There is a stigma that you automatically get when your hair is a a fair shade of yellow. Whoever came up with that stigma anyway? We have all heard the jokes.. and they all end with the same punch line; "Blondes are dumb." I mean some may be, but to blame a whole subculture of hair mavens to have anything less than the average IQ is a bit ridiculous.
Then there is the saying "blondes have more fun." Now this I can attest to.. but do I really have more fun because my hair is platinum blonde? And if this is true then would I have more fun now because my hair is almost white vs. the girl at the bar next to me who just has a few face framing highlights?
Then if all this wasn't enough.. you also have a stigma if you are not a "natural blonde". It is almost like if you are not blonde by birth you automatically have to prove that you deserve to be blonde. So if this is you and you attend a party you have simultaneously: act both dumb and clueless, parade around like you are having the time of your life, and occasionally run your fingers through your newly touched up roots.
My post this week goes out to all the blondes of the world. This is for the naturals, the freshly highlighted, and all all colors of blondes to the dirtiest of blondes. And hell if you are not blonde and wanna be... this is for you too.
Living in the Sunset I have learned many things. I have been submersed in so many different cultures and walk of life living in San Francisco and I can say for the first time I have felt what it feels like to be a minority. Yes I said it a minority. Now some may laugh at my ignorance but I have never been somewhere where I have felt out of place for having blonde hair.
I get on the L Train every morning and look around and realize that I stick out like a sore thumb. I mean no one can tell that I am not a true Californian, but they can tell that I am not one of two things: Asian or dark haired. The Sunset is a predominantly Asian neighborhood. So when I walk down the street it is apparent that I am different.
Laura my roommate thank goodness shares "condition" with me. We always joke when we get on the L that we look so out of place. On occasion when another blonde buddy hops on it is almost like we try to make eye contact her to say "Hey you are one of us" and give her a silent air high-five.
The most memorable "blonde moment" I have had in San Francisco so far happened a few weeks ago...
I had gotten of the L train and walking to work when I noticed from a far a flock of blondes at the corner of the street by my favorite coffee shop. As I was walking towards them I literally had this thought process:
"Wow I see a bunch of blondes up there"
keep walking closer...
"They must not be from around here, maybe they are visiting from LA"
getting closer now...
"man she has a cute purse.. and those are some great highlights. I wonder where she gets her hair done."
Then one girl stops me:
I had run into the John Frieda "Blondentourage". Yes I said it... Blondentourage. They preceded to tell me that it was National Blonde Day and that they were handing out samples of shampoo and conditioner. I laughed out loud when they were telling me this because I was thinking to myself: "well I just knew they were not from around here!"
I gladly took the free samples and told them Thank You. I then walked to work and thought to myself, "well hey at least this is a small payback for the money I spend for upkeep of these luscious locks of mine."
When I saw Laura at work I giggled to her about my experience and had some samples for her as well. I mean she deserved it as much as I did.
Forgetting about the Blontentorage I went on about my day.
5:30pm came and I packed up my things and off to the L I go. As I walked around the corner by the coffee shops again I was stopped by the blonde beauties. I told them "oh you already got me this morning, thank you though." They then all flocked around me and told me "Hey we have this giftcard for Starbucks, all you have to do to get it is take a picture of us." By the looks on their face, I had a feel these poor girls had a very..very..very long day.
I was more than happy to help them out. As soon as the photo was taken it was almost like they were a mirage. Poof they were gone. I walked to the train and confirmed that "Holy Cow, from 8 am this morning till 6pm, these girls had little choices of people to shower them with gifts... they should have gone to LA."
When I got home I saw that there was a code one one of the things they gave me. Bored with nothing better to do I got online and went to their website and entered the code. Guess what?! I won a prize! Hot dog this was a good day!
I won a facial at a spa downtown. A $65.00 value. I was so excited and I planned it for that coming weekend. All week I couldn't wait to be pampered. I had never gotten a facial.
When the day came to get the facial I was giddy with excitement. I drove downtown and arrived to find that the Spa was everything a spa should be in more. It had a pretty lobby with expensive elixirs on the shelves, it smelled of roses and sweetened air, and a receptionist was waiting with a nice glass of lemon/cucumber water. <--- Lemon cucumber water?! I don't know what that is but it must make me more beautiful.. so I drank it! The receptionist escorted me to the "lounge" and gave me a robe to slip into to be more comfortable. As if I wasn't comfortable enough...I was in heaven. I took a Cosmo magazine propped me feet up and thought to myself "well isn't this the life." I then got the most luxurious experience of my life. An oxygen facial with all these creams and smelly good things rubbed all over my face. It was far more pleasant than how I can ever explain it, but I am sure you can imagine.
90 mins later my skins was a smooth as a baby's bum! It glowed and I swear I even saw a sparkle!
As I went to the lobby to see the receptionist, to leave a tip for the esthetician. She greeted me with a gift bag and told me "Oh no tip has already been taken care of". - This was the life!
I think as I walked to my car my stride slowly transformed itself into a frolic. I was on cloud nine thinking about how wonderful my day just was. I was channeling my inner J-Lo and thinking to myself. "Yeah one day I will be having one of these a week." I literally was swooning over the fact that I had just received all of this for free and for being a blonde!
At this point life was good.
As Paris Hilton.. I mean as I was walking I slowly fell back down to earth when I noticed I had no idea where the hell my car was. Thank God for the lock button. If I press it twice my car makes a nice little "hey dumb-ass I am over here" beep and lets me know where it is.
10 mins later I finally found my street and found the Kia. I swear from afar it could almost look like the kid brother of a Mercedes Benz. As I look around for my chauffeur and try to get J-Lo back it all disappears when I see this white little paper stuck in my door...
$65.00 parking ticket for 12 min overdue meter.
... I didn't have nothing on J-Lo.
The moral of this story is simple.. Do blondes have more fun? Yea maybe they do, but it depends on your attitude about every situation. No matter what the color of your hair make each day something to write about. If you want to know if I think being a natural blonde is any different than "faking it," honestly I don't know because I have been faking it for years. Last but not least, do I think blondes are dumb...
Certainly from this story.. lets just say everyone has their moments.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The Price of Hard Work
I always knew with hard work comes great success... but little did I know how good it feels when hard work is also recognized and rewarded by your own peers.
Making 80 calls, setting 5 appointments, and pitching 3-4 businesses in in one day is the usual at my job. This is the standard. You come in at 8:30am.. immediately look at your phone to see if a business you called yesterday left you a message, grab your coffee mug and go into the kitchen to get your morning buzz on, and then return back to your desk and begin your day.
Dial... introduce yourself... make an appointment.
Dial..introduce yourself... answer questions.
Dial.... no answer.
You may think after a while this can become redundant... lets be honest here. Yes, at times it certainly is.
The one thing that is interesting about this job is the conversation you get to have with people on a daily basis. A good sales person cares about what their potential client has to say-not just trying to make a sale.
I try to be relatable. When I talk to wineries I tell them about Josh over in New Z, when I talk to a lot of business owners I ask where they are from to see if they have moved too, and if I can't relate at all, I at least like to make them laugh at something I say. A good salesperson to me means that even if they don't want to buy this product, they are going to because gosh darn it they like me.
The standard are the metrics I stated above. Even if you are a good sales person sometimes you have to put in the extra effort. Doing these metrics should put you at about 3 hours on the phone each day. When you look at an 8-9 hour day that doesn't seem so bad right? 3 hours on the phone should be pretty easy... let me tell you sometimes it is tough. How many coffee breaks do you take each day. How long do you go to lunch? How long to you look at facebook in between calls or chat with someone online at work? How many 3 second phone conversation do you have with people and then they hang up on you? All this can cut into your day and make those metrics harder to reach.
To me.. I don't want to be standard. I want to be excellent. So lets say that instead of making 80 calls a day, I make 90. Instead of spending 3 hours on the phone I spend 4. What would that do? I tested that out this week.
Over the last week I have made 80-100 calls a day and spent over 4 and a half hours on the phone each day. Yesterday I made 7 appointments and was on the phone for 5 hours. I have worked harder this month that I think I ever had in my whole life.
Yeah college was hard.. but lets face it. Real life work experience is a little different.
What was the outcome of all my hard work and determination this month? How about hitting my quota and then some. I also have been on the top 10 list for calls in the entire SF sales team! Me a "rookie."
The real reason I am writing this post this week: I am writing this week is to encourage anyone who reads this to challenge themselves. Choose something that you do in your life every day and tomorrow do it better. Challenge yourself to not do the standard. If you are taking a walk to get in shape walk an extra half mile. If you find yourself doing something the same at your job every day, tomorrow do something different and do it better. Even if it is something small, I challenge you to try something new for a week and see what success it brings you.
Instead of being normal.. this week put in the extra effort. I guarantee you you will see fruits of your labor. Whether it be a pat on the back, a hug from your child, or your own personal gratification. This is something I tried and it felt amazing to see the results.
My manager tells me that my hard work will flow into next month and if I keep it up he expects big things from me.
Just think if you turn being excellent into being normal.. then what would being excellent get you?
Making 80 calls, setting 5 appointments, and pitching 3-4 businesses in in one day is the usual at my job. This is the standard. You come in at 8:30am.. immediately look at your phone to see if a business you called yesterday left you a message, grab your coffee mug and go into the kitchen to get your morning buzz on, and then return back to your desk and begin your day.
Dial... introduce yourself... make an appointment.
Dial..introduce yourself... answer questions.
Dial.... no answer.
You may think after a while this can become redundant... lets be honest here. Yes, at times it certainly is.
The one thing that is interesting about this job is the conversation you get to have with people on a daily basis. A good sales person cares about what their potential client has to say-not just trying to make a sale.
I try to be relatable. When I talk to wineries I tell them about Josh over in New Z, when I talk to a lot of business owners I ask where they are from to see if they have moved too, and if I can't relate at all, I at least like to make them laugh at something I say. A good salesperson to me means that even if they don't want to buy this product, they are going to because gosh darn it they like me.
The standard are the metrics I stated above. Even if you are a good sales person sometimes you have to put in the extra effort. Doing these metrics should put you at about 3 hours on the phone each day. When you look at an 8-9 hour day that doesn't seem so bad right? 3 hours on the phone should be pretty easy... let me tell you sometimes it is tough. How many coffee breaks do you take each day. How long do you go to lunch? How long to you look at facebook in between calls or chat with someone online at work? How many 3 second phone conversation do you have with people and then they hang up on you? All this can cut into your day and make those metrics harder to reach.
To me.. I don't want to be standard. I want to be excellent. So lets say that instead of making 80 calls a day, I make 90. Instead of spending 3 hours on the phone I spend 4. What would that do? I tested that out this week.
Over the last week I have made 80-100 calls a day and spent over 4 and a half hours on the phone each day. Yesterday I made 7 appointments and was on the phone for 5 hours. I have worked harder this month that I think I ever had in my whole life.
Yeah college was hard.. but lets face it. Real life work experience is a little different.
What was the outcome of all my hard work and determination this month? How about hitting my quota and then some. I also have been on the top 10 list for calls in the entire SF sales team! Me a "rookie."
The real reason I am writing this post this week: I am writing this week is to encourage anyone who reads this to challenge themselves. Choose something that you do in your life every day and tomorrow do it better. Challenge yourself to not do the standard. If you are taking a walk to get in shape walk an extra half mile. If you find yourself doing something the same at your job every day, tomorrow do something different and do it better. Even if it is something small, I challenge you to try something new for a week and see what success it brings you.
Instead of being normal.. this week put in the extra effort. I guarantee you you will see fruits of your labor. Whether it be a pat on the back, a hug from your child, or your own personal gratification. This is something I tried and it felt amazing to see the results.
My manager tells me that my hard work will flow into next month and if I keep it up he expects big things from me.
Just think if you turn being excellent into being normal.. then what would being excellent get you?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Just another day in SF..
Well I have learned more things about California. First of all it is an amazing city with so much to do and so much to see.. but trying to get around here legally in a car to do/ see it all.. almost next to IMPOSSIBLE.. Insert here the California DMV:
So on Tuesday last week the dreaded day came that I had to go back to the DMV. Yes i said back being that this was my second trip b/c the first time after my parents had sent me my title.. the DMV decided that it wasn't good enough. (long story). Anyway, yes here I was back at the DMV and determined not to take another day off work and determined to get both my car and my California license in hand, and I was not leaving till i did so.
My appointment was at 9:30. After standing in line for my ahemmm "Appointment" I finally got to the lady and she said "what are you here for" where I replied "to renew my car and get my car registered in California"... easy right?? WRONG! I then proceeded to hand her every piece of paper I had on me.. passport, social security card, old drivers license, smog test, car insurance... the list goes on and on. On top of the 3 different papers I needed to fill out to even apply! I was armed and dangerous and full of uppercuts!! I then got a number awesome. service right away!!
Again WRONG! I waited in line for about another 30 min to get to someone that would actually start the process. My number was called and I was like please give me the nicest person possible and i can get out of California purgatory! I had an eye exam... where I cheated because I couldn't even see the first line (I think that is a sign i need glasses). Passed that great! Then I started to give her all my paperwork as she looked at me like I was crazy. She said lets get your car registered first.
So we started with that and she was like ummm excuse me for what you want to do I dont have a signature here so you will have to come back on a different day when this is signed by your dad. I almost cried. I insisted that the last time i was here i made the guy highlight in red what my dad needed to sign on the title.. guess what He in now way made my dad sign what he needed to. I am guessing this is why the DMV has like a 2 star rating on Yelp, because they suck! I was so mad, so what i had to end up doing after her calling my mom and talking to her because I was in no way taking off another day at work to get this fixed was that I had to get a California title, instead of trying to keep my Missouri one. Awesome.. California take more of my money in taxes... Anyway that was out of the way and then I had to go stand in another line (who knew.. another line.... awesome...)
So here I was standing in another line waiting to get my plates. The woman next to me couldn't speak a lick of English and I think she was having an easier time than me! About 2 hours in at this point.. and roughing it out. I kept telling myself.. you can do this you can do this. I just kept looking at the line increase outside in the parking lot going inside, so it made myself feeling somehow better that "hey at least I am not in that line"
So finally I got my plates. I was hoping to get some cool numbers or letters that spelled out something.. but no luck there. So then I went to the Drivers license line. I was thinking great this line is so small. Then when i realized I was actually standing in the line to the bathroom, the line next to the drivers license line, it didnt seem so great. Back into the correct line I went.
I stood in line to get my photo taken, thinking that hey at least out of all of this i get to get rid of the horrid chipmunk face I was making in my Missouri license! I ot my photo taken and then had to chose whether I was going to take the Chinese written test or the English one. Hmm hard choice there..
Now the tests that i took online were all pretty much common sense, What is this sign, and how many feet do you have to signal before you make a right hand turn. Online I could pretty much narrow down the choices. After taking 6 online quizzes I felt I was going to ace this test. As I went to my little cubicle I turned over the test and I looked down 45 QUESTIONS!!!! WTF!! What the hell is this I whispered to myself! I went up to the desk "Mam I think you gave me the wong test.." as she looked at me like I was a retard "Um no that is your test and you can only miss 3, if you have more questions stand in line" -I was not going to stand in line so back to my cubicle I went..
45 questions later and a piece of paper full of drawings with x's that equaled my car and arrows pointing to where i was turning, I finished. These damn questions were NOTHING like the online test. I mean what happened to 12 questions.. what happened to narrowing it down! These questions were so confusing I drew stick diagrams! Anyway I said a quick prayer and stood in line once more. Crossing my fingers I passed I watched the people go before me. A Chinese woman failed, the 80 year old woman passed with flying colors (She only had to do the front page?!?) and then it was me...
I watched her as she graded my test. Her arm kept moving as she skimmed my answers. Then she looked up at me and said "YOU FAILED"... crap. I then said "well that is awesome, so when can i take the test again." she replied "Stand in line and I will give you another one" which in my head i was thinking "stand in line of course why didn't I think of that, it is the DMV's answer to everything!"
So as i was standing in line I noticed a Korean man and an older black guy sharing answers. I thought this was hilarious! The woman at the counter caught them and then yelled at all of us. I noticed the little Chinese woman standing in line in back of me too.. she was looking at my test. hers was in Chinese, how did she even know what it said? that cheater!
I got my next test and thank God some of the questions were repeated. I know I got those right. For another half hour I pondered whether it was legal to smoke in a car with someone who was under 18, and whether or not you could drive in a bicycle lane when making a right hand turn, and if so how many feet was I allowed before I could enter. I kept drawing pictures and finally just said screw it and circled one. I missed one more one the last test than I could of, so at least I had to do one question better.
I stood in line just praying, please God just let me pass. I mean I went to college, I have been driving since I was 16, I have only got one ticket and I paid for it, on time, I don't litter, I am a pretty good kid, I don't smoke, I drink but come one every 24 year old does.. but I dont drink and drive.... I mean I was throwing it all out there... PLEASE THROW ME A BONE HERE!
I got to the counter and I tried making her laugh this time. "Man these test are a lot different in Missouri.. I mean we worry about cattle and roadkill.. you guys worry about bikers and pedestrians.. haha" She looked up and glared at me and said "roadkill and people are hardly the same miss.." I counted that joke as a failure and put my head down and waited for my score...
Thank the Lord baby Jesus... I passed!
I think I took the paper so quick out of her hand just in case she miscounted wrong that she looked up at me in awe. I was out of there!! I was FREE.
My drivers license and new Missouri title is coming in the mail and I have successfully put on my new plates!
Moral of the story: $400.00 and many premature gray hairs & blisters from standing in line...Califonia DMV..you deserve your 2 star rating on Yelp.
So on Tuesday last week the dreaded day came that I had to go back to the DMV. Yes i said back being that this was my second trip b/c the first time after my parents had sent me my title.. the DMV decided that it wasn't good enough. (long story). Anyway, yes here I was back at the DMV and determined not to take another day off work and determined to get both my car and my California license in hand, and I was not leaving till i did so.
My appointment was at 9:30. After standing in line for my ahemmm "Appointment" I finally got to the lady and she said "what are you here for" where I replied "to renew my car and get my car registered in California"... easy right?? WRONG! I then proceeded to hand her every piece of paper I had on me.. passport, social security card, old drivers license, smog test, car insurance... the list goes on and on. On top of the 3 different papers I needed to fill out to even apply! I was armed and dangerous and full of uppercuts!! I then got a number awesome. service right away!!
Again WRONG! I waited in line for about another 30 min to get to someone that would actually start the process. My number was called and I was like please give me the nicest person possible and i can get out of California purgatory! I had an eye exam... where I cheated because I couldn't even see the first line (I think that is a sign i need glasses). Passed that great! Then I started to give her all my paperwork as she looked at me like I was crazy. She said lets get your car registered first.
So we started with that and she was like ummm excuse me for what you want to do I dont have a signature here so you will have to come back on a different day when this is signed by your dad. I almost cried. I insisted that the last time i was here i made the guy highlight in red what my dad needed to sign on the title.. guess what He in now way made my dad sign what he needed to. I am guessing this is why the DMV has like a 2 star rating on Yelp, because they suck! I was so mad, so what i had to end up doing after her calling my mom and talking to her because I was in no way taking off another day at work to get this fixed was that I had to get a California title, instead of trying to keep my Missouri one. Awesome.. California take more of my money in taxes... Anyway that was out of the way and then I had to go stand in another line (who knew.. another line.... awesome...)
So here I was standing in another line waiting to get my plates. The woman next to me couldn't speak a lick of English and I think she was having an easier time than me! About 2 hours in at this point.. and roughing it out. I kept telling myself.. you can do this you can do this. I just kept looking at the line increase outside in the parking lot going inside, so it made myself feeling somehow better that "hey at least I am not in that line"
So finally I got my plates. I was hoping to get some cool numbers or letters that spelled out something.. but no luck there. So then I went to the Drivers license line. I was thinking great this line is so small. Then when i realized I was actually standing in the line to the bathroom, the line next to the drivers license line, it didnt seem so great. Back into the correct line I went.
I stood in line to get my photo taken, thinking that hey at least out of all of this i get to get rid of the horrid chipmunk face I was making in my Missouri license! I ot my photo taken and then had to chose whether I was going to take the Chinese written test or the English one. Hmm hard choice there..
Now the tests that i took online were all pretty much common sense, What is this sign, and how many feet do you have to signal before you make a right hand turn. Online I could pretty much narrow down the choices. After taking 6 online quizzes I felt I was going to ace this test. As I went to my little cubicle I turned over the test and I looked down 45 QUESTIONS!!!! WTF!! What the hell is this I whispered to myself! I went up to the desk "Mam I think you gave me the wong test.." as she looked at me like I was a retard "Um no that is your test and you can only miss 3, if you have more questions stand in line" -I was not going to stand in line so back to my cubicle I went..
45 questions later and a piece of paper full of drawings with x's that equaled my car and arrows pointing to where i was turning, I finished. These damn questions were NOTHING like the online test. I mean what happened to 12 questions.. what happened to narrowing it down! These questions were so confusing I drew stick diagrams! Anyway I said a quick prayer and stood in line once more. Crossing my fingers I passed I watched the people go before me. A Chinese woman failed, the 80 year old woman passed with flying colors (She only had to do the front page?!?) and then it was me...
I watched her as she graded my test. Her arm kept moving as she skimmed my answers. Then she looked up at me and said "YOU FAILED"... crap. I then said "well that is awesome, so when can i take the test again." she replied "Stand in line and I will give you another one" which in my head i was thinking "stand in line of course why didn't I think of that, it is the DMV's answer to everything!"
So as i was standing in line I noticed a Korean man and an older black guy sharing answers. I thought this was hilarious! The woman at the counter caught them and then yelled at all of us. I noticed the little Chinese woman standing in line in back of me too.. she was looking at my test. hers was in Chinese, how did she even know what it said? that cheater!
I got my next test and thank God some of the questions were repeated. I know I got those right. For another half hour I pondered whether it was legal to smoke in a car with someone who was under 18, and whether or not you could drive in a bicycle lane when making a right hand turn, and if so how many feet was I allowed before I could enter. I kept drawing pictures and finally just said screw it and circled one. I missed one more one the last test than I could of, so at least I had to do one question better.
I stood in line just praying, please God just let me pass. I mean I went to college, I have been driving since I was 16, I have only got one ticket and I paid for it, on time, I don't litter, I am a pretty good kid, I don't smoke, I drink but come one every 24 year old does.. but I dont drink and drive.... I mean I was throwing it all out there... PLEASE THROW ME A BONE HERE!
I got to the counter and I tried making her laugh this time. "Man these test are a lot different in Missouri.. I mean we worry about cattle and roadkill.. you guys worry about bikers and pedestrians.. haha" She looked up and glared at me and said "roadkill and people are hardly the same miss.." I counted that joke as a failure and put my head down and waited for my score...
Thank the Lord baby Jesus... I passed!
I think I took the paper so quick out of her hand just in case she miscounted wrong that she looked up at me in awe. I was out of there!! I was FREE.
My drivers license and new Missouri title is coming in the mail and I have successfully put on my new plates!
Moral of the story: $400.00 and many premature gray hairs & blisters from standing in line...Califonia DMV..you deserve your 2 star rating on Yelp.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Hey All..
To answer a few of my moms questions that she had here ya all go:
1) How close are you to the beach?
I am pretty close it is a 1.4 mile walk to the beach. So Laura and I have been walking down to the beach when it is a nice day out. It is a dark sand beach and when I went walking the other week there were about a billion sand dollars!
2) Commute to work:
I take the express bus to work and it takes about 20 min to get into the city. Sometimes it is awesome and sometimes it feels like I am in a can of sardines.
3)How is Josh doing?
He is in New Z now and is working 12 hours days! He says it beautiful there and he said his life is going to be hell for the next couple of months because his days are going to be so long. I haven't gotten to talk to him too much b/c he doesn't have internet yet..(sound familiar?) The winery he works at is huuugge and they are very "go green" instead of having workers work on the grapes picking the leaves.. they use baby goats. I am job prospecting for him with all the wineries I call daily haha!
More to come soon!
1) How close are you to the beach?
I am pretty close it is a 1.4 mile walk to the beach. So Laura and I have been walking down to the beach when it is a nice day out. It is a dark sand beach and when I went walking the other week there were about a billion sand dollars!
2) Commute to work:
I take the express bus to work and it takes about 20 min to get into the city. Sometimes it is awesome and sometimes it feels like I am in a can of sardines.
3)How is Josh doing?
He is in New Z now and is working 12 hours days! He says it beautiful there and he said his life is going to be hell for the next couple of months because his days are going to be so long. I haven't gotten to talk to him too much b/c he doesn't have internet yet..(sound familiar?) The winery he works at is huuugge and they are very "go green" instead of having workers work on the grapes picking the leaves.. they use baby goats. I am job prospecting for him with all the wineries I call daily haha!
More to come soon!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
My first Post
Calllie in Cali.. I made it!
Here is something to catch ya’all up on life in California. In the words of Uncle John.. Yes all the nuts did roll to California! (90 percent of them living in San Fran) Needless to say… I feel right at home.
The 37 Hour Drive-
Coming out to California was quite the trip. It took a whole 4 days to get out here many starbucks coffee (which now I cannot afford) and about a dozen tanks of gas, Josh and I had a blast driving out here and even managed to find the world largest dream catcher to take a photo opp. The first night we stayed in New Mexico and it wasn’t too exciting.. so I’ll just skip to the night in Vegas. We drove around the strip for about an hour until we could figure out how to get to our hotel and by the time we did we were pooped and didn’t see a damn thing! Sooo our solution: Stay in vegas another night! So that we did.
We went sight seeing the next day. Wasn’t as drunk or successful at gambling as we would have liked but we had fun. Turns out in Vegas you have to actually know how to gamble in order to win anything. (who knew?) So I just played the game where I put chips down and she spun the wheel and I prayed it landed on my number.. easy enough. Lost 20 dollars and was over that. Then a day later we drove into San Fran and viola gas prices were high and I knew this was my new home! Sorry to be vague here… but it was 2 months ago.
Yelp Training:
So on my first day of training the first girl I met was named Suzanne and she was only the coolest girl in the world.. not only did she have the cutest shoes ever.. she was a Delta Gamma. So I knew I liked her. I met the rest of the “rookie” class and we all instantly bonded. Terrified of the first day, and eager to learn more about this thing called Yelp. Most of the first month they had classes set up for us to learn the product in and out. If I told you all of this… well then I would have to kill you.. No I am kidding… but it was a ton of information. Pretty much we all felt like our brains were melting and I had no idea how I was going to remember this all. I got really lucky and had a great group of people I was training with. All unique in their own way.
Here are some of my favorites: Jenna- Loud and Blunt, pretty much tells you what she thinks of you right off the bat. McKenzie-from Petaluma California, she is super nice and makes fun of Dennis constantly. Dennis- a guy from Vegas who I absolutely love and adore and has the best laugh you have ever heard, it is infectious. He worked at Yelp as a Lead Gen (sets appointments for the Senior Execs) and now is training in Sales. Courtney- A ex sales rep for go-daddy.com who lived in New York, Alex- A beauty queen/tom boy from Sacramento who I bonded with instantly and has invited me to her house for Easter. (there are more but those are my favs)
Anyway where was I.. oh yes training. So pretty much they fill your head with tuns of information the first month and then second months they put you to work on the phones. This is your reality check and you realize the fake conversations you have been practicing with your buddy are not necessarily the way things really go when you are talking to an owner.
Needless to say I have formed some thick skin and am now a human lie detector. If you are a worker who is screening your calls for the owner standing right behind you.. I know. If you are the owner that is pretending to not be the owner… I know. If you are trying to act like you cannot speak English…I know. And last but not least, If you are a person pretending to be a worker, who is actually the owner and you act like you can’t speak English…. Yes I know.
I made my first deal to a Korean Gym owner that had no idea what Yelp was, had no traffic on his page.. or any reviews. Pretty much the hardest thing you can sell when someone has no idea who you are, so I felt pretty good about that. I only sold him for a 6 month deal, but he said if he saw results then he would upgrade and add on his other location. So I have been watching his page ever since hoping he loves Yelp.. he will I know it.
At end of this month we are being put onto a real sales team! So instead of having a 5 k quota now I will have a 10 k quota. So seeing as I only sold 2.925 of my 5K quota, this shall be interesting. It wasn’t about the number this month, but I have a feeling next month it will be. I can do it, not going to be a problem. (more to come of this when I write the next one)
1420 Taraval
Now onto the living situation. I love the house I live in! It is beautiful and to have a backyard in San Fran is unheard of. I love my room it decorated it in Light turquoise and brown. I do sleep on an air mattress but I am not going to lie it is pretty damn comfortable. I made sure to buy a nice down comforter so I would trick myself into having a nicer bed. I have nice closet space and actually have two closets. One for shoes of course! I have the smallest room in the house, but it is perfect just for me. As for the rest of the house having 1 bathroom hasn’t been a problem b/c everyone else showers at night! This rocks my socks off b/c I am the only one in there in the morning.
Christie loves Zebra and animal print and her room is awesome. HUUGE walk in closets. Laura works with me and she loves to read and goes out a lot on the weekends. She reminds me a lot of the girls I hung out in college. Her room is simple a lot of decorations of when she went to Japan and taught English there. Diona is our new roommate and she is a student. She isn’t here much b/c she is at school and at work as a waitress, but she is outgoing and artistic and plays her keyboard up stairs. She is in the same circle of friends as Christie so it ended working out great.
As far as the rest of the house we have had some issues with the door. Our house is old built in 1906 or something crazy like that so a lot of things about the house are unique. One of the things I am not so crazy about it how the doors lock automatically when you shut them. I have gotten locked out about 2 times now. I have learned what businesses around our house have ladders to climb on the roof and gain access through the bathroom window, and to not ask the SF cops for help because they just laugh at you are only good for giving you parking tickets. I haven’t decided yet if our house is haunted, but seeing as it was built that long ago chances are pretty good.
We found all of our furniture on Craigslist and got some pretty amazing stuff. Our couches match even though they are not from the same person. One is suede and I am pretty sure it was brand new. We bought a kitchen table from lesbian couple and they hauled it for us. So that was a win for us. Haha. We decorated most of the house with zebra and black and white in the living room. We hustled a TV from Christie’s friend and her mom sent us all our kitchen appliances. So as far as the house goes we pretty much have everything we need. Thanks to craigslist our house now looks like a home.
Experiences in SF (so far)
Well SF is deff different from good ole STL. It is dirtier in some parts, there are more homeless people lurking about, and the chances of you getting high by just walking around are probable… and somehow I love it. (Not for those reasons)
I love SF there is so mush life here and you never know what you are going to run into. I love walking to the subway everyday because there is always some new street performer. It could be someone you may see on the next American Idol. The shopping is FANTASTIC, not that I would know because I can’t afford it, but they have the best window shopping around. The 1st time I went into the 3 story forever 21, I thought I died and went to heaven. The mall here is insane and 9 stories tall and has everything from Dolce & Gabbana to Prada. One day… I will be able to afford them!
What else is good here…
OMG how could I forget to mention the FOOD! I swear if wasn’t living off soup and rice then I would gain like 100 lbs. The smell of the food on the streets is crazy. So many delicious places to eat! I had the most amazing clam chowder down at the marina one time. It was the BOMB! Also so many great mom and pop restaurants… ohh and the sushi.. sushi sushi everywhere! It is great!
Luckily Yelp has a full kitchen and they have breakfast and lunch for us so I really save money on food. But every once and a while I like to treat myself and get something new!
As for tonight.. it is now my bedtime. Full day tomorrow..
More to Come...
Here is something to catch ya’all up on life in California. In the words of Uncle John.. Yes all the nuts did roll to California! (90 percent of them living in San Fran) Needless to say… I feel right at home.
The 37 Hour Drive-
Coming out to California was quite the trip. It took a whole 4 days to get out here many starbucks coffee (which now I cannot afford) and about a dozen tanks of gas, Josh and I had a blast driving out here and even managed to find the world largest dream catcher to take a photo opp. The first night we stayed in New Mexico and it wasn’t too exciting.. so I’ll just skip to the night in Vegas. We drove around the strip for about an hour until we could figure out how to get to our hotel and by the time we did we were pooped and didn’t see a damn thing! Sooo our solution: Stay in vegas another night! So that we did.
We went sight seeing the next day. Wasn’t as drunk or successful at gambling as we would have liked but we had fun. Turns out in Vegas you have to actually know how to gamble in order to win anything. (who knew?) So I just played the game where I put chips down and she spun the wheel and I prayed it landed on my number.. easy enough. Lost 20 dollars and was over that. Then a day later we drove into San Fran and viola gas prices were high and I knew this was my new home! Sorry to be vague here… but it was 2 months ago.
Yelp Training:
So on my first day of training the first girl I met was named Suzanne and she was only the coolest girl in the world.. not only did she have the cutest shoes ever.. she was a Delta Gamma. So I knew I liked her. I met the rest of the “rookie” class and we all instantly bonded. Terrified of the first day, and eager to learn more about this thing called Yelp. Most of the first month they had classes set up for us to learn the product in and out. If I told you all of this… well then I would have to kill you.. No I am kidding… but it was a ton of information. Pretty much we all felt like our brains were melting and I had no idea how I was going to remember this all. I got really lucky and had a great group of people I was training with. All unique in their own way.
Here are some of my favorites: Jenna- Loud and Blunt, pretty much tells you what she thinks of you right off the bat. McKenzie-from Petaluma California, she is super nice and makes fun of Dennis constantly. Dennis- a guy from Vegas who I absolutely love and adore and has the best laugh you have ever heard, it is infectious. He worked at Yelp as a Lead Gen (sets appointments for the Senior Execs) and now is training in Sales. Courtney- A ex sales rep for go-daddy.com who lived in New York, Alex- A beauty queen/tom boy from Sacramento who I bonded with instantly and has invited me to her house for Easter. (there are more but those are my favs)
Anyway where was I.. oh yes training. So pretty much they fill your head with tuns of information the first month and then second months they put you to work on the phones. This is your reality check and you realize the fake conversations you have been practicing with your buddy are not necessarily the way things really go when you are talking to an owner.
Needless to say I have formed some thick skin and am now a human lie detector. If you are a worker who is screening your calls for the owner standing right behind you.. I know. If you are the owner that is pretending to not be the owner… I know. If you are trying to act like you cannot speak English…I know. And last but not least, If you are a person pretending to be a worker, who is actually the owner and you act like you can’t speak English…. Yes I know.
I made my first deal to a Korean Gym owner that had no idea what Yelp was, had no traffic on his page.. or any reviews. Pretty much the hardest thing you can sell when someone has no idea who you are, so I felt pretty good about that. I only sold him for a 6 month deal, but he said if he saw results then he would upgrade and add on his other location. So I have been watching his page ever since hoping he loves Yelp.. he will I know it.
At end of this month we are being put onto a real sales team! So instead of having a 5 k quota now I will have a 10 k quota. So seeing as I only sold 2.925 of my 5K quota, this shall be interesting. It wasn’t about the number this month, but I have a feeling next month it will be. I can do it, not going to be a problem. (more to come of this when I write the next one)
1420 Taraval
Now onto the living situation. I love the house I live in! It is beautiful and to have a backyard in San Fran is unheard of. I love my room it decorated it in Light turquoise and brown. I do sleep on an air mattress but I am not going to lie it is pretty damn comfortable. I made sure to buy a nice down comforter so I would trick myself into having a nicer bed. I have nice closet space and actually have two closets. One for shoes of course! I have the smallest room in the house, but it is perfect just for me. As for the rest of the house having 1 bathroom hasn’t been a problem b/c everyone else showers at night! This rocks my socks off b/c I am the only one in there in the morning.
Christie loves Zebra and animal print and her room is awesome. HUUGE walk in closets. Laura works with me and she loves to read and goes out a lot on the weekends. She reminds me a lot of the girls I hung out in college. Her room is simple a lot of decorations of when she went to Japan and taught English there. Diona is our new roommate and she is a student. She isn’t here much b/c she is at school and at work as a waitress, but she is outgoing and artistic and plays her keyboard up stairs. She is in the same circle of friends as Christie so it ended working out great.
As far as the rest of the house we have had some issues with the door. Our house is old built in 1906 or something crazy like that so a lot of things about the house are unique. One of the things I am not so crazy about it how the doors lock automatically when you shut them. I have gotten locked out about 2 times now. I have learned what businesses around our house have ladders to climb on the roof and gain access through the bathroom window, and to not ask the SF cops for help because they just laugh at you are only good for giving you parking tickets. I haven’t decided yet if our house is haunted, but seeing as it was built that long ago chances are pretty good.
We found all of our furniture on Craigslist and got some pretty amazing stuff. Our couches match even though they are not from the same person. One is suede and I am pretty sure it was brand new. We bought a kitchen table from lesbian couple and they hauled it for us. So that was a win for us. Haha. We decorated most of the house with zebra and black and white in the living room. We hustled a TV from Christie’s friend and her mom sent us all our kitchen appliances. So as far as the house goes we pretty much have everything we need. Thanks to craigslist our house now looks like a home.
Experiences in SF (so far)
Well SF is deff different from good ole STL. It is dirtier in some parts, there are more homeless people lurking about, and the chances of you getting high by just walking around are probable… and somehow I love it. (Not for those reasons)
I love SF there is so mush life here and you never know what you are going to run into. I love walking to the subway everyday because there is always some new street performer. It could be someone you may see on the next American Idol. The shopping is FANTASTIC, not that I would know because I can’t afford it, but they have the best window shopping around. The 1st time I went into the 3 story forever 21, I thought I died and went to heaven. The mall here is insane and 9 stories tall and has everything from Dolce & Gabbana to Prada. One day… I will be able to afford them!
What else is good here…
OMG how could I forget to mention the FOOD! I swear if wasn’t living off soup and rice then I would gain like 100 lbs. The smell of the food on the streets is crazy. So many delicious places to eat! I had the most amazing clam chowder down at the marina one time. It was the BOMB! Also so many great mom and pop restaurants… ohh and the sushi.. sushi sushi everywhere! It is great!
Luckily Yelp has a full kitchen and they have breakfast and lunch for us so I really save money on food. But every once and a while I like to treat myself and get something new!
As for tonight.. it is now my bedtime. Full day tomorrow..
More to Come...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)