Sips Bistro

This is the wine shop/Bistro we like to go to on Fridays or Saturday afternoon. they have an actual Chef that make the most delish foods. the company is also a lot of fun. it sorta reminds me of the easy place to come in and enjoy a drink Cheers.

My weekend

Friday morning my team of fatbusters went to use our free 1 month certificate at the local gym. I had to take my rider/friend home and fix her sewing machine so it would sew then go home change my clothes and head to the gym. we were supposed to meet there at 9, but i told them i may be late. guess what, i was the first one there and had to wait for my team mates. After a tour from way too excited Matt, we started on the first day of working out. I did a little stretch, then we got on elliptical. and then on to other machines. OK, let me tell you right now, I hate gyms. I couldn't wait to get out of there. It makes me feel like all those skinny people are looking at and saying go get skinny first, then come back here. I know they aren't, but that is just the way I feel going in there. I could wait to get out those doors. One of my teammates feel similar, so he is gonna burn me a disk he has, and I will walk more. I don't want to go there again.

So after i got home, i ended up taking a nap and slept till John woke me up at 430. we went to dinner at that place we like to go to. I brought my camera and took some pics, so i will post them up. Its called sips bistro, and we really like it there. I had a Caesar salad and for desert, we had a chocolate fondue. Now that was fab. and I figured I could duplicate it at home. Since it was my birthday weekend, John let me pick what ever wine I wanted for dinner, so I chose a local Sangiovesi. it was just as yummy as the last time I tasted it.

Now, here is the where the money gets gone out of our checking account. Our big screen projection tv finally refused to stay turned on. we would turn it on, and then after a few minutes, it would turn itself off. I had told john that when i get my yearly bonus check next week, we could go buy a new tv. that got pushed up a week. We went to costco and bought a 47 inch LG lcd HD tv. it was 200.00 off the regular price. we also had to buy a stand. Yes, folks, we spent a large part of the bank today. and on Monday morning, direct tv will be here to turn my tv to a hd set up. cha ching! there goes more of my bank. but, we will have a good picture to match our new tv. until then, we have to work with a remote that wont work so well with this tv. its only a day, we can suffer through it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

last night for dinner, we finally had some fresh crab that John found at our local store. last weekend, we drove for five hours to share a crappy frozen crab. next time we are gonna do a little more investigating before we leave. So after dinner, I recreated the chocolate fondue with what we have here in the house. I made the chocolate with some port and baileys mixed in to thin it out and give it some extra zip. for dipping, I cut up a banana, put three strawberries, and some bread like cookies. it was really good.

whats in store for me today? John is gonna make me breakfast, then my friend is coming over and I will show her how to finish her quilt. I am so proud of her. maybe if we get it done and she lets me, I will put a pic of her and her finally finished quilt on here. So have a great week. I'm gonna do my best to have one.

Job-Urine Test

I got this in my email thius morning from my sister. I think I may send it to my states governent office. I am tired of paying for those not willing to help themselves. So at the end of the post it asksd to send it on to everyone if you beleive it. I am sending it here, in the hopes that maybe more will read it, and send it to their own representatives.

 

This is so simple I don't know why they
 don't implement it.
JOB - URINE TEST
(Whoever wrote this one deserves a HUGE pat on
 the back!)
Joe, the average worker says;
Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is
 the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their lazy butts, doing drugs, while I work. . . . Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check? Pass this along if you agree or simply delete if you don't. Hope you all will pass it along, though . . . Something has to change in
 this country -- and soon!!!!!
guess we could title that program, 'Urineor You're Out'.

Some Pics I took in FT Bragg

Our mini trip

As we left town early Sunday Morning, it was cold and happily, it started to rain. We need rain so bad here, Im happy even if it interupts our mini trip. So, we drove on up, in the rain, looking forward to spending time in our room and eating really good food this trip. As usual, we stopped in sonoma and got a sandwich at out favorite place. We just cant drive that close and not stop. so, after we got our sandwich, and I got a hot coffee, we were on our way again.

I spend a lot of my riding time looking at stuff as we drive by. Its the same stuff every time, but I still look at it. It seems to make the long drive a little easier. then, before ya know it, we are pulling into out hotel. That day, we were early so we did an early check in then went to find some crab. we look forward to fresh crab every chance we get. I know some of you dont care for it, but to us, its better than candy. real good candy. And guess what, due to the bad weather we have had, there was no crab in town. We went to every store and place where we may have found some, and all we could find was two frozen crabs at Safeway, which we ended up buying one the next day.

We also went out to the point to see if we could see any boats going out. John is sorta obsessed with me taking pictures of boats when we are up there. I have taken pictures of everthing I see, and I havent found any new subjects that interest me so boats it was. Every time he would see a moving boat, it was Lisa, grab your camera. I take these pics to put on his puter as a desktop shot. it makes him happy, and it doesnt cost anythng or take much energy. and sometimes, i do get some really cool pics. I suppose i should find the really good ones and put some of them up.

The restraunts up there are pretty pricey. If you look at the menu, sometimes I want to just walk out and go to a fast food place. John is willing to pay the price sometimes though. We decided to have late lunches at a smaller price though and save a little cash. Then later we have a samll snack and a glass of wine. We did this both days. and i liked it. I really would rather eat at home, so the early non busy less expensive lunch is good for me.

I wanted to be able to go for a walk down by the beach, but it rained the whole time so we didnt get to do that. John remembered a wine tasting place though, so we did that. we tasted five or six wines then I decided on the last one we tasted. it turned out it was the most expensive wine i have ever tasted. I will never buy a bottle of wine for that much ever again, but it was really good.

actually, the weeknd was pretty uneventful. it rained. I took pictures of boats and we came home. we spent really good time together and relaxed and had a good time. we drank wine and sat in the jacuzzi and enjoyed each others company. I loved it. I couldnt ask for anything more.

Amgen, Phase Three

I dont know if you heard, but there was a pretty big race in California this week. It was called the Amgen race and the last leg of the race ended in Modesto, and part of it was a block away from my house.I guess this happens every year, but this is the first year it came near where I lived.  I am not a fan of bike races, but it was pretty important I guess. Lance Armstrong was in the race, and a few other important racers whose names escape me right now. It stopped raining  just as they came into Modesto. It was raining sideways just before. I went out there to watch this event go by since it stopped raining. Its a historic event, and i wanted to be a part of it. I took a bunch of pictures. I have more than what I posted, but they are just of the cars that belong to the racers. all of them had extra bikes on top of the cars. I was hoping to get home in time to see this, and i did. so Now I am sharing it with you. This is gonna be one of those rare two blogs in one day things. next I will tell you about our mini trip.

California Amgen Race

These are some of the pics i took as I stood waiitn for the racers to fly by. I have never seen a bike race before, but hot damn, they are fast. no sooner did we see them, than they were past and gone. I just wanted to sahre the experience with you. can you find any famous riders? if you can, please point them out. tomorrow they will start in Merced and ride133 miles.

A short video of our view

this is a short video I took on the balcony of our room. it doesnt show how cold it was, or how dreary it was as far as the weather was. we had a great time, despite the weather.

Happy Valentines Day

We arent leaving for our long weekend adventure till early Sunday morning, so I though I would try to empty my current list of thoughts on here while I have a quiet moment. By going sunday and Monday we saved on rates, but we still get to take advantage of the long weekend. I only had to use one vacation day, I get paid for the holiday and I had a birthday holiday to use. So i get a five day while using only one vacation day. Woo Hoo for me.

Yesterday I took my sister to get surgery on her knee.she had a torn cartilage and it was pretty painfull. It wasnt emergency, it was planned. After tey took her into her room, or where ever it was that they took her after they went behind the secureity locked door, I took off to have breakfast at perkos and then went on over ot big Lots. Do they have those stores outside of California? Everything is a discounted price and you can get some really great deal there. I was out of tealight candles so I bought another bag of 144. yes, I will use every one. I bought a new throw rug to replace one of the christmas rugs that I need to replace. I also found a book called 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal. Its about his life, and family and the 700 sundays he had with his dad before he passed away. it was a short read, and I laughed my ass off reading it. if you happen to see it, its worth the few hours it takes to read it.

One of the guys at work was selling chocolate covered straberrys that his wife makes for valentines day. they were 15.00 for 12 so i bought a dozen. we had agreed not to get each other stuff for valentines day cus this weekend was gonna cost so much. I figured this was for both of us, so I could get past that promise. I didnt tell John I bought them. So, this morning when i brough him coffee, I also brought him two strawberries on a plate, Just for him. He was so surprised, and happy. Its really hard to surprise him. So then, I get up and call my sister to see how she is feeling and he comes out and says Close your eyes! What? I finished up the call to sis, and she said she is feeling great, no pain at all and is walking on her leg. So then I close my eyes, and put out my hand and viola, a heart shaped box of Lindor truffles and a card appear there. It was one of those musical cards. John Likes those. I was so surprised! We both broke our promise, but not too extreme. now we have plenty of yummy chocolate to take with us.

i have a question and a problem maybe one of you could help me with. latley, when i log on to multiply, they make me log on. I have never had to do this before. I would just click the link on my favorites list and it would take me here. is this happening to everyone or did I change some setting and not realise it.

Now for the problem. the battery in my laptop wont come out. I took it to the shop, and they dont want ot touch it. I dont know what i could have done the last time i took it out and put it back. has this happened to any of you and if it did, how did you fix it. I always run on electricty with my lappy, cus the battery wont last more than ten or fifteen minutes. I would take it out and buy a new one, but i cant get the old one out.

well, i could go on with a few other things, but i dont like to go on so long here. I know i should go catch up on a few of your pages too. I may not be back till after we get back, unless I take my lappy with me. I probably will. Well, see ya all later. Hope your Valentines day and long weekend is fun.

A cold, the banks and a barking dog

i wasnt gonna write here today cus Im not feeling so great, but i may as well, cus im awake. I woke up yesterday with my ears hurting and my throuat burning. crap, that is the fist sign of a cold wanting to land in me. I was having a bad dream at the time i woke up, so the whole experience was bad for me. I could'nt get out of the bedroom fast enough to get away from the dream, but when i did, i went streight for the thera flu and sucked down a hot cuppa to let my body start to feel a little better. John was gone too, at a meeting for the vfw, which made the whole situation just a little bit strange, he is always home. I ate dinner, and then I think i went back to sleep on the couch. i dont even remember really. I wanted to stay home, but that would mean that I would have to work this weekend. I went in, but got to go home at 1:30. I went streight to bed. I took off my pants, and just crawled into bed with my workshirt still on, and slept the rest of the night. I still want to go back to bed, and i will. I havent been sick for  a long  long time, so this is traumatic for me. Oh well, i will get over this too.

One of my neighbors has a dog that stays outside. this dog barks all day. non stop. sometimes he is barking into the evening. if i could figure out which house this dog was at, i would go there and let him out. no one else is looking at him, i wonder if they would even notice. I really wouldnt let him out, but i would knock on the door and inform the owners that i was getting tired of having to listen to their dog.

since i got back up from bed, i have been watching fox business news on tv. they have been showing the heads of the banks that took the tarp money from the governement. these people seem to beleive they have done nothing wrong. if they had been smart bankers in the first place, they wouldnt have handed out money to people that couldnt pay it back in the terms they were forced to take. I know the banks have to be assisted, or worse things could happen, but it really irritates me. if I went out and spent my money unwisely, no bank is going to come along and bail me out. or you  for that matter. or anyone. it really bothers me. this is our money that is being used to bail them out. but if someone wants to refinance their home so they can still live there, and pay for it, oh noooo, cant do that.

two more nights and my long weekend is here. 5 days off. that dog is really driving me nuts. constant barking. well, i think im done here for today. see ya all later

Saturday Stuff

I remembered what it was I was gonna write last time I was here. I have allergies, I think. I have a cough that is persistent, but not so irritating that i remember it when asked about it. My friend Lorrie that rides to work with me and lives around the corner, told me to take allergy meds, it would help. I never did though. then, when i mentioned my constant  sneezing when i woke up on Ems blog, she again told me it sounded like allergies. but I don't have allergies, I thought. Then, i was telling my sister how I was feeling, my head being clogged, but dry at the same time. she told me to at least try the allergy pills, it couldn't hurt. So I did and guess what? My head doesn't feel like that any more, I haven't had a bloody nose since i took them. I was having a bloody nose almost daily, it was getting really old. So, I will add one little tiny allergy pill to my routine. its better than how I was feeling.

Next. one of my team mates that is on the biggest looser team, told me to buy a suit that makes you sweat when you work out. he told me to get it at walmart. it will make you sweat tons and help get rid of some of the excess weight. So I did. it was only 8.00. He told me I could wear a garbage bag when I work out. I don't think so. I also bought a starter box of slimfast to help me on my way. I really do want to win this contest. I'm not gonna start either one until after the weigh in on monday morning. I will let you kow how it works.

The other day I got a coupon from Kohl's in the mail. it had one of those peel off  things that gave an additional 15%. So off to Kohl's I went this morning. I need to get a few bras again. I found three that fit good. Balis is now making a support bra without an under-wire. so I picked up three in different colors. then i went over and found two lipsticks I liked, the long wearing kind. I really liked the colors, so into the black cart they went. then, up at the counter, I am told i cant use the coupon till the 11th. I asked if there was any discount if I used my card, no, no other discount. So, I said never mind, I will get them later. I just walked away from the counter and out the door. I didn't see a date on the coupon, and she pointed it out in tiny print. the funny thing, I didn't feel bad walking away. I usually would feel bad, but not today. Ill go back next weekend and get those bras and lipsticks, with an additional 15% discount. it makes a difference.

And finally. Is anyone else lost on the lost time warp. who is in what time zone. I love Lost, but the time thing is confusing. On the island, there is a flash and the time changes. but in the end, Jin is found by the french group of people and one of them is the pregnant lady that was on the island when they crashed. I sure hope this clears up pretty soon, cus its confusing. I was talking to a lady at work about this, and she was confused also. maybe that is the thing with lost this season. and on 24, I love Jack bauer. but it makes me wonder, who are the good guys in the white house. Its may be a good tv season for a few shows.

Ok, that's it for now. see ya all later.

Thursday Somethings

I have a minute before I go to the land of nod, so I will spend some of it here with you. I have to tell you what happened last week when i went to Target. I found the thing to download to my computer, 2G's for only 15.00. WOOHOO! I still have to figure out how to use it. But that isn't what made me so happy. Every time i go into that store, no matter what I am in there for, i go to the area that has the bath stuff. not soap and shampoo, but the other fun stuff you use in the bath. about four years ago, I started using these bath scrubbing towels. they are about two feet long and ten inches wide. They are made by the bathery. But guess what, they are never there. never. so, needless to say, the one I, and only I use, is getting old. But guess what, last time I was in there, there they were. hanging on that little rod, waiting for me to see them. so I grabbed two of them. they keep your skin so soft. Exfoliating bath towels! that's what they are called. from the bathery. when i got home, i threw out the old one and threw in the new one. you can toss them in the washing machine as much as you want. I was a happy girl.

My birthday always fall one week after valentines day. I love my birthday. so this year, John asked me what i wanted to do, and I told him i wanted to go back to that hotel we stayed at last ime with the hot tub in it. so the reservations are made and we are taking off next weekend. I know, it wont be my birthday weekend, but it is the holiday weekend and we get a free day off without having to use vacation time. we are staying sunday and monday night to avoid the higher weekend prices. i am all excited now, waiting to take off for the weekend.

once again, it seems i am forgetting to say something here. I don't know what it is so I will say this. Jan is graduating from beauty school today, with honors I think. It would be so nice to stop by her page and give her some congrats. Im not sure how to do the link thing, but her link is on the front of my page. If you don't know her, she is really nice, and takes really cool pictures.

well, i have to go make Johns lunch and head off to bed. talk atcha later.

a lot of stuff happening, or maybe not

Hi there. Im not gonna go into why i dont get on here more often, its just so nothing. so instead, im gonna tell you what i have been up to.

This past friday night, my neice graduated from the San Francisco Police Acadomy and I got to go watch the whole thing. It was really pretty amazing. it started late cus the police cheif was late. Did you know the cheif is an asian female? she is the first female police cheife in SF history. I just think that is so cool. I love to hear of females breaking into the all male domains. there was only 6 females and the in the class of 42. a lot of the graduates had their badges pinned on them by a family member already in the field or retired. the whole thing was really cool. the place we went to was 19th ave. I took a couple shots of the traffic to show you. it is always packed like that on that street.

 

 

 

After the ceremony, we went back to her house in Richmond. I would put her pic in here, but i didnt ask her permission, so I better not. Oh, both shots are of 19th ave. up one side and down the other at the intersection. so back at her place, she has 3 saint bernards and a mastif dog. it was dog dog dog all over the place. they were very friendly though. she takes them for a run twice a day to the beach, which is three blocks away. we had three bottles of champaigne gone and then we all passed out.

the next morning, we went to breakfast and my sister and i headed home. I didnt get much sleep friday night so saturday was spent slummin as much as I could until i passed out.

speaking of passing out. I found a really good wine. John even thinks it rates pretty high. its called St. Amant, old vine Zin and by the way, its from around here. a couple weeks ago, we went to the place around the corner and were doing a little relaxing. they only had one glass left of this wine, so i tried it. they didnt even have a bottle to sell. so a few weeks later, they had a bottle and I bought one. we drank it saturday night. i had a half a glass left and then i passed out. i woke up, looked for my glass and john had it, and it was empty. I was passed out tired, but i still wanted my glass of wine. John told me he would take it if I fell asleep, and i did so he did. Im gonna get me another bottle of this wine. it is yummy.  I sat here and wrote this out while sipping on a glass of MontoVino Barbera, 2003 i think. it is also very good.

since i lost so much stuff on my other puter, i went back on yahell and snagged a couple of the stories I lost. I was only able to find two of them. Im still missing a couple though. anyway, as I was looking through the old files and writings, i was also doing spot reading  on some of the blogs. I sure did have a lot of nothing to say back then. i would write these really long blogs, put a picture in almost every one and even add a poll now and then. I even saw the one where I got chewed out by a sock puppet. i just thought that was funny. i had forgotten about that for a minute. it made me remember old friends i havent heard from in a long time, like katie and fuzzy. I hope they are both doing good.

well, that has been my days for the last few. a lot of nothing and also a lot of other stuff. I really do want to start getting better sleep and feeling better. OH, I just remembered something. On february 11, we are going to do the biggest looser at work and I am a part of it. I will keep you posted on the progress of me and my team. I want ot win, so i may have to actually do something this time around. Ok, that is really it for now, see ya all later.