Our parties are always a one bottle of wine per person plus one extra type thing. But this last dinner party was a one pizza per person party! Ten different pizzas, a multitude of toppings…. it was really good. What made it even better was the company. It was the first time I spent time with people Eric knows through work outside of work-related activities. Not the hosts. The hosts and I go way back and I love them. They are a ton of fun!

The hosts had just bought an apartment in the city, right on the corner of Haight and Asbury. An apartment that is in the background of a lot of famous pictures, particularly of the Grateful Dead. (A band that one of the hosts really loves…)

Point of the story: Great night. I wish we could do it more often.

You know, I am not a fan of his movies, but I sure do like his state park….

We went camping Mendocino this past weekend. I had worked enough overtime to take Friday off, thank goodness! It was a zillion degrees here in Northern CA and we (Winemonkey, Pebz, along with Siea and Brown Bear) wanted to escape to the coast! Winemonkey, Pebz and I got there on Friday night and found one of the last few spots in Van Damme State Park. It is one of my favorite places to camp because it is always incredibly lush with ferns, berries, and stinging nettle. Well… the stinging nettle doesn’t make it all that wonderful… The other thing that makes Van Damme such a great place is that it is in a gully, so the walk to the ocean is really really easy. No mountain climbing gear necessary.

Anyway, we took a chance going out on Friday as there were no reservations available online. I typically don’t like making reservations, but I knew with the heat everyone was going to run to the coast. Even there it was abnormally hot, in the 80’s (a far cry from the inland hundreds…). Our spot was really nice, good shading, level, pretty little flowers all around and no stinging nettle. It was nestled right next to a babbling creek. The bathrooms were located right across the street from the site, but it didn’t matter much as the light didn’t both us.

We spent the weekend cooking and relaxing, going to the beach, hanging out at a local bar in Mendocino, where they let my “service dog” in. The weather was perfect the entire time. The food was amazing. Winemonkey and I had our first grilled chicken thighs and grilled zucchini of the season. This is always one of my more favorite grilled dinners. We had tri-tip on Saturday night for dinner along with Siea’s perfect fruit salad and grilled sweet potatoes. I won’t even go into the killer ‘zza apps’ that Siea brought.

All in all, this weekend was beautiful. Even Pebz had a good time.

Click the picture to see the rest of the trip!

Seriously. I found a dying cockroach in my apartment. I had a great weekend. I didn’t need to come home to that.

I MUST have Pebs on her leash by 7:10 am on the weekdays. Is this because she is well trained and knows when it is time to go out? Is her schedule that strict? Am I a morning poo Nazi?!?!?

No.

It is because there are three women who get off the bus a stop early so that they can see Pebs. And they give Pebs tons of love for about 2 minutes and then we finish our walk and come home to snuggle for about 10 minutes before I leave for work.

Yes. I plan my day around when my dog will get the most love on the street. How many people will admit to that?!?