2 dogs is 1 too many. Finn barks at everything that MOVES in the front yard. Revelation - I don't like barking dogs. I have to remember that Finn is still a puppy and I have to remember patience......
And he is pretty cute, just look at that face.

Wow, the circus has come to town. I have Finn (Mom's 9 month old Doodle pup) for a week. It's a constant battle for who is the top dog and Zippy always wins but I have to give it to Finn for trying.

They are the perfect tug of war partners though, they both loooooove sticks and every time they go outside they wind up playing tug of war with the sticks laying around the yard. Yesterday Zippy grabbed a stick and then proceeded to smack Finn with the stick until Finn grabbed his end of the stick for tug of war.

Zippy ignores the TV unless there is an animal noise and then his ears perk up but Finn actually watches TV. I bent over him and watched his little eyes, he follows the action on TV! It's the funniest thing. He especially liked the documentary on Hyenas.

I read that to keep your mind alert and to avoid dementia and Alzheimer's in old age you should get exercise and do brain teaser stuff. I started in on crosswords but have found soduku. Wow, I love that game and now totally understand how people get sucked in. It's numbers logic and I love it. I have been playing every day, I hope that means my short term memory will get some assistance. I swear I have the worst memory on the planet.

If I had all the money in the world, I still would not know what to get my brother. Mom is getting the big present, deliverable on her return from Cali and I have no idea what to get G. Argh. Gosh, I don't even know what I would get for myself. I have been in a very blah mood lately. I wonder if it's post wedding something or pre Holiday something. Rob was rummaging around my clothes the other day looking for sizes so I am curious to see what appears under the tree. For a man who has no sense for fashon, he gets me awesome clothes.

Today, I went to a Safeway that is next to a Old Navy, Target, Staples etc and I am totaly apalled at the way people are driving. Outright nasty old bitches who figure they don't have to stop at stop signs and don't have any clue what yield means.

That's it - I am not doing any more shopping, I am not going anywhere NEAR any kind of shopping area. It's like a whole season of those people who don't wait for you get off the elevator/train/whatever before pushing thier way in. It upsets me way too much so I am now avoiding civilization untill January.

Concert Review - X

Wow, I went through a time warp last night. X was exactly like they were 20 years ago. Billy Zoom spent the entire show with his silver sparkle hollow body smiling at everybody in the crowd. 20 years ago I was the girl in the front row that he was winking and smiling at but I was no longer his taste, he actually smiled a few times at my BROTHER! Bry did stick out in the crowd of 30-somethings with his leather jacket and Billy Idol hair. Billy Zoon did the wide leg rock star stance and I thought his thighs must be in good shape to hold that stretch for such a long time. He stuck around before and after the show to say hi to fans and sign anything you put in front of him. He is a really nice guy and I think that is rare.

He stand there almost still, looking out at the audience and this freight train of raw guitar sound comes out of the speakers, it's pretty amazing. Durring a break, the guitar tech brought out a mike on a stand but the mike was really low on the stand and i was thinking it was for an acoustic guitar. Then went into a song where everybody in the band yells "yeah" at a few points in the song. The low mike was perfectly at his mouth when he did the wide leg stance and after saying "yeah" 3 times the tech came out mid-song and removed the mike. It was too funny. That 's the thing about X, they smile and they are just too funny.

Come to think of it - Exene did not smile too much, but they really looked like they were having a great time. The club was so small we were right in front of the band, no less then 4 feet from the stage and this time I had earplugs on. I knew every song they played from start to finish and they played the first 2 albums almost in their entirety, how rare is that!

I totally forgot that John Doe was from Baltimore but it makes sense. He looks just like all those Baltimore boys that I used to date. They all have that Levi jeans, work shirt, chain wallet, dirty hair look. They smell also but I digress....

I feel very lucky that I got to see them in such a small club and they certainly did not disappoint.

Punk Rock Show

I am going to an actual punk rock show tonight. X is playing in Baltimore and I am going to relive a night I experienced over 20 years ago when I drove into some small dive bar in DC and wormed my way into the front row with an X t-shirt over my shoulder to see the loudest band I have ever experienced. I was parked right in front of Billy Zoom and the tallest wall of speakers ever. My left ear rang for 3 days after the show and I attribute my poor hearing to that show. Billy Zoom smiled and winked at me the entire time and after the show we rushed backstage and I met him. He was a nice enough guy, sadly enough we missed Exene and John Doe who I consider the true talent of the band.

From what I remember, they put on one hell of a show and I am so excited to see them tonight! Of course I am sitting here wondering what to wear. Since punk has become so mass marketed with everybody wearing black, silver chains, bondage pants, ripped up stuff and combat boots. I am going to be true to the rebellious nature of punk rock and dress differently. I think I'm going to wear white pants, pink shoes and maybe a nice dress shirt. That will be punk rock. All these kids running around in their punk outfits they got from Hard Topic make me wonder if they really got the message of being different because they all look the same to me. ..... or am I getting old? Or even worse, have I become "THE MAN"?!

Honeymoon Part 1

I loved Napa Valley, the leaves were still on the vines and they had turned magnificent shades of red, orange and yellow. The rolling hills of Napa looked like they were covered in a carpet of fall colors with trees littered across it. Napa has those great medium sized trees that turn the color of a red crayola crayon that has been melted in the sun. I think that even in the peak of the summer, with the grapes on the vines it's nowhere near as beautiful fall in Napa Valley.

The weather was jeans and t-shirts in the day and long sleeves at night. What a beautiful place.

We decided to splurge on a dinner and went to http://www.latoque.com, at the www.ranchocaymus.com. I desperately wanted to stay at the inn but the prices were our of our range but after comparing their hotel to the River Terrace Inn, I wished we had spent the extra dough. They had tubs with stained glass windows behind them and a fireplace in the bedroom.

The restaurant was a prix fixe menu and they offered a pairing menu for the wine so we decided on both, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Artichokes were in season so everything had some kind of artichoke in them. I had the artichoke/mushroom soup, the scallops on artichoke mousse, bone marrow beef burgundy, venison and baklava/pear dessert. There was a pork something with truffles on the menu that we passed in lieu of the beef burgundy and the chef would come out the truffle clenched in his white gloved hand. He would shave a few slivers on the pork for an extra $35. Give me a break.

The sommelier came over to give us his spiel and I immediately tried to interrupt him to keep him from regurgitating the same comments I heard him give all the tables around us but it didn't work. The guy was like a robot BUT he did recommend a decent white. I told him to give me a very small glass of the white since I was not a huge fan, but after tasting the wine I would up drinking the entire thing before the food even came so I had to wave him over and ask for more. The dinner was awesome and as soon as I got home I bought mini artichokes and planned on making something exotic but I caught a cold and never cooked them. I wound up throwing them away and eating Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup for a week.

Wineries that we loved:
http://www.avvwine.com/
www.niebaum-coppola.com
http://www.chandon.com/default.html
http://www.vsattui.com/
http://www.stsupery.com/