march madness! or a compilation of things i've been up to

Here are some things I've been up to.

Charleen came to visit the weekend of the 14th, well, she had to travel up to the Bay area for work related things, but I got to reap the benefits when they changed her flight from Friday to Sunday! Yay! So we went out for some Thai food with Perry and Heather in North Beach before heading over to see Beach Blanket Babylon. I was turned onto this by my co-worker and it is apparently the longest running musical revue. The show is basically a musical spoof of pop culture, complete with extravagant outfits, wigs and hats.

Yes that's Prince Charles AND a ridiculous hat! (disclaimer - Prince Charles was NOT at the show we went to see, this was taken off their website)

The hats are so big they actually put the performers on a motorized cart to move them around stage due to the weight.

Then Saturday night we ended up heading out with my roommate Mari and her friend Karin that was in town from Sweden. First we started at Mike's birthday party, complete with Irish Car Bomb Races.
I barely beat Mari...

YUM!

But Charleen totally kicked Mike's ass!

Then we headed out to the Elbo Room for their Saturday Night Soul Party, where we danced...or at least tried to.

That picture makes it all look very awkward.
Sunday was pretty low key, Charleen helped me shop around IKEA for a bed frame (which I didn't find) and under the bed storage boxes (which I did find one) before I dropped her off at the airport.

Then this past weekend lots of fun things happened. The first was hanging out with Ferris, Ashley and her roommate Josh on Friday night. We hit up the 500 Club which, by the way, is NOT open at 6am. (Tricky signage!)

Saturday I bought a bed frame from craigslist! The search is over, finally. It looks great, thank you Jeremy for helping me set it up!



Leeni, better known as Celene Ramadan from Manchester Central High, and her sister Jeannine came to town! I met up with them for a fancy smancy and delicious dinner at the Hotel Rex Restaurant. Then we headed over to 1505 Oregon St. in Berkeley for a House Party!

Turned out to be pretty chill, with a bunch of younger folk present, but that sort of also made it fun and awkward and all things amusing. Plus, they had a wood paneled shower, which I have never seen before.


Unfortunately I do not have video of the first performer, Sludgehammer, of the night. Luckily Jeannine did, and I'm pretty sure she caught the time he picked up a girl from the crowd then pinned me against the wall while he screamed in my face.

I liked this album review he posted on his site:
"well, i kinda felt nauseous and i wanted to knock things over and maybe knee someone in the groin and then makeout with them. i can't say that's what i feel every time i tune in to sludge, but it worked this time. it was a weird day"- Jennifer Sullivan

In short, it was worth every second and left you feeling uncomfortable and wanting more.

Next up was Padraic Finbar Hagerty-Hammond who was really great to see perform.


Then, for those of you kids who either grew up in Hooksett, or went to Manchester Central High, Matt Carano

performed as Palefighter.

It was strange seeing him and officially meeting him for the first time. I always knew of him because his sister Emily was in my grade growing up, but I guess it wasn't until now that we actually met. Funny how that can happen.

Then Leeni went on and rocked the house out! It was great seeing her perform her new stuff, since the last, and only time, I've seen her play it was completely different and she just played her guitar. Now she has all these 8-bit, gameboy inspired beats and sounds to accompany her beautiful voice.

Oh, and I highly enjoyed her little 8-bit clip of 'I'm so excited'


Then after staying up too late like a schoolgirl at her first slumber party, I got up and went on a wonderful hike with Amanda out in Mount Tamalpais State Park, where we hiked from the East Peak Parking lot to the West Point Inn.
(Oh, but while I was drinking my coffee, I got to see the Easter bunny

walk by my apartment with his friend, on their way to the Hunky Jesus contest.

We saw some condors!

Here's my attempt at a panoramic from the West Point Inn

Tada!

I kept this flower in my hair the whole time. It reminded me of Erikka.


I even squeezed in some egg dyeing (thanks to my parents Easter care package!) and bunny bowling with Jeremy in the hallway

before heading out to Bring Your Own Big Wheel (BYOBW).
It is what it sounds like, people ride big wheels and other various plastic toys with wheels down a steep and curvy street. Trust me, the videos get better as you go down. Every time they went down we found a new prime location to view.



I like this one the best


People had some great outfits.
An hour or so after the shin-dig Jeremy and I came across this graveyard of Big Wheels, neatly piled up in the back of this truck

Rest in peace glorious chariots, rest in peace.

the tahoe experience

So, I have to admit, there is no replacement for Mt. Tremblant, but going to Tahoe was pretty darn close. I think the only thing lacking was a snowstorm and my cousin's home cooking! I tried to make up for it by cooking 2 lasagnas - one vegan, one ground turkey to accommodate the variety of dietary restrictions.
So, we stayed at the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort. It was pretty decent, the 'room' slept 6, but since it was broken out into an 'a' and 'b' side, we actually managed to get 9 people on beds, and two on a blow up mattress. Not to shabby! One room had two full sized beds, a small kitchenette and a bathroom, plus this great backlit light:

The other had a full kitchen, bathroom, king sized bed, and queen pull out couch.


Everyone arrived Saturday evening/night and then we got up Sunday to head to Heavenly Ski Resort, which was about a mile away. This place was huge! Plus the day we went was pretty windy. It has some beautiful views of Lake Tahoe.
Jeremy boarding:


Gearing up at the top of the mountain:

Cool airplane/tree shot by Blake:


Afterwards we hit up the jacuzzi at the resort and drank some lovely Mai Tai's and beers. This basically became the norm for the remainder of the trip.

Monday we packed up into our rental cars and headed to Northstar, up by North Lake Tahoe.
Who would have thought a car ride could evoke so much emotion?


I thought this mountain was so awesome!! I could spend a couple days there alone. There were a good number of intermediate trails, plus some more technical options and parks for the adventurous.
Here's Sandy, ready to roll

Since I don't have everyone's pictures, I don't have any more from Northstar to share. But I have something better, a little video going down 'Drifter' at the end of the day.

You can see Susannah Tele-Mark skiing in front of me and Rachel waiting down below.
I also have these great shots from Blake of the drive home! Crazy cloud:


beautiful sunset, even in a parking lot!



So, on Tuesday, it was a free-for-all. Some people took off for Northstar again, some drove around the Lake while Patrick, Susanna, Jeremy and I decided to go snowshoeing. This was Jeremy and I's first time snowshoeing, so we were pretty fricken' excited! Jamee let me borrow her boots and shoes and everyone else rented some from a local ski shop that directed us to Carson Pass for some good trails.


This is funny because of how awkward we all look, but also because we apparently didn't need to bend down so far.

Of course, like any good snowshoe hike, there has to be some man to man bonding. Susannah and I just let nature take its course, what else could we really do?

The best part was what happened after:

Patrick fell over! Lovestruck, I can only imagine.

Oh, and consider this your warning if you ever find yourself out in the back country of America...you just might come across something like this:


We stopped for some lunch on a couple rocks and watched some people snowboarding off on some untouched terrain on the mountains surrounding us.

Peek-A-Boo!

After lunch we decided to head up this hill known as Elephant's Back. It was cool, we took off our snowshoes and hiked up this rocky terrain to the top.

(that's me in red up there!)
Unfortunately my pictures are a little washed out because the sun was shining and there was snow all around, didn't figure out the right setting until the end of our hike. However, the view was really cool up there.

Funky angle shot of Patrick

Cutest prom pose picture taken on a hike ever:


That night we all went out for dinner at some local Mexican restaurant. I can't even remember the name. But it sure was fun! I definitely remember eating too much and I think they laced the tortilla chips with crack.


Then came Wednesday, sadly. I had to say goodbye to Sandy, give her back up to the East coast along with Vincent, Faye, Jamee, Rachel, Patrick and Susannah. Blake wasn't ready to head to Minneapolis just yet, but it was coming.

But...before we could leave there was one order of business left.
Chinese Sushi Coffee!

Sassy!


Till next year!

ps...If anyone has more photos to share, please send them my way, I'd be happy to send you what I have in return.