Greg and I went to the AVP San Francisco this past weekend. It's not suprising that we ran into quite a few of our volleyball friends: Mark, Mee, Emi (Mark & Mee's 9 month old daughter), Henry, Marvin, Susanna, Ang, and Ryan. Mark was actually volunteering for the tournament, which is a great way to get in to the tournament for free and get some cool free schwag!
It was a little strange to be watching beach volleyball with the city skyline and Bay Bridge in the background, especially since there's normally no beach! They must truck a bunch of sand in for the tournament. I wonder what they do with the sand when the tournament is done. Do they dump it into the Bay? It's also a bit odd watching beach volleyball bundled up because it's overcast and windy outside. While it was overcast in the morning, the sun broke through and it turned out to be a pretty nice day...until the wind picked up.
We watched a lot of matches, including all 4 US Olympic teams. Kerry Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, and Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. I hate to say it, but the Walsh and May-Trenor match was a bit disappointing to watch compared to the other matches that day.
I know Phil Dalhausser is tall, but when you see him in person it's ridiculous how tall he is. At 6'9" tall, he's almost a foot and a half taller than me. His height makes him a monster at the net. I managed to get this shot of him blocking a ball. His freakin' arm pits are above the net! When I jump, my finger tips barely get above net...and that's on a women's net! I'm glad that I don't have to play against someone like him in any of my volleyball leagues. =)
If you want to see more photos, click here.
We attended Brandon and Tina's wedding today. Brandon is Greg's cousin. They got married at Grand Island Mansion & Spa in Walnut Grove. We had to board two ferries to cross rivers in the Sacramento delta to get there. That was unexpected and when the GPS said, "board the ferry" we all paused and made Jeff replay it to make sure we heard it correctly. I mean, for all knew it could've been "toward the ferry." But sure enough, the GPS said, "board the ferry." Jeanette was freaking out. But I digress.
Brandon and Tina had an intimate garden ceremony complete with a harpist, a runner decorated with tossed flowers and a rustic, wrought-iron gazebo. Luckily the ceremony was in the morning, so it wasn't too hot for the briday party and their guests. Brandon and Tina's ceremony definitely showcased their personalities. I thought it was really cute when Tina did the "happy dance" after the officiant pronounced them husband and wife and just before she and Brandon kissed.
After group photos, we celebrated the happy occasion with a Sunday brunch reception in a private room inside the mansion. We think Uncle Bruce's speech stole the show. Nice job, Uncle Bruce! If you'd like to view photos, click here.
So I came home today and after the typical putzing around, I was in the kitchen making a grilled cheese sandwich. Cheryl came up behind me and hugged me. While hugging me, she felt my chest and stomach and said, "I think you should start going to the gym again."Now I'm crying.
We checked out the Chihuly at the De Young Museum exhibit over the weekend. Chihuly is an artist works with glass. His work is on display in the lobby ceiling of the Bellagio on Las Vegas. I saw his Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass exhibit at the the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago several years back.
This current exhibit was really cool. It was pretty crowded, and the exhibit was smaller than we expected. It had many similar pieces to the one i saw in Chicago, but they were displayed differently. In Chicago, the pieces were displayed within a natural setting, which provided a unique contrast to the pieces. The one at the de Young wasn't set against a natural setting, which made the pieces more dramatic. There were also some new pieces that I haven't seen before, like the baskets. If you'd like to see our photos of the exhibit, click here.
After the visiting the exhibit, we walked around the park and grabbed a late lunch at Park Chow before heading back home. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.
Yesterday we attended Audrey and Alan's wedding. Audrey played on our Monday co-ed volleyball team, Crazy Monkeys. The ceremony was a traditional church ceremony with singing, a reading and a homily. Audrey looked amazing! Alan didn't look to bad either. =) Quite a few of our volleyball friends were there as well. It's strange seeing our volleyball friends dressed up. I almost didn't recognize a few of them because I'm so used to seeing them in t-shirts and shorts.
Audrey is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. In fact, there was a Mickey Mouse theme to her wedding. She had the Mickey Mouse head silhouette on their invitations, programs, favor boxes and menus. The favors were Mickey Mouse shaped soap. Their toasting glasses had small. frosted Mickey Mouse head silhouettes. Even the cake was decorated with Mickey Mouse!
I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo. In addition to the beads shaped like Mickey Mouse, there are Mickey Mouse sillhouettes embossed on the cake.
Here's a close-up of the top tier of the cake:
I loved all the Mickey Mouse touches because it wasn't overdone and was very much Audrey. I don't think Alan is as much of a Mickey fan, but I'm sure he's okay with Audrey's love for all things Mickey Mouse. If you want to see more photos, click here.
It's our one year anniversary! Neither one of us can believe that it's already been a year. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were busy planning the wedding and our New Zealand honeymoon.
So, what did we do to celebrate this milestone? We played volleyball! =) The league we play in together had playoffs tonight. And since I'm the captain of the team, we couldn't really skip out of playoffs. But we did celebrate on Saturday by going to dinner at Manresa. That was definitely a dining experience. Unless you're filthy rich, I'd say Manresa is a special occasion place.
We ordered the 8 course tasting menu with wine pairings. The food was excellent, unlike anything either of us has tasted. My co-worker, Sid, asked me what type of food they served. And I really couldn't describe it. The chef creates dishes with unique flavors, combining things I would never have thought to put together. The food really can't be categorized into one type of cuisine like Italian, Greek or French. The service was also excellent and completely met our expectations for a restaurant of Manresa's caliber.
Every few months or so, a group of our foodie friends get together for a meal. It used to be dinner, but 2 of them had kids, so they've become lunches. These meals usually have a theme and everyone makes something to bring. When we first started doing these events, my cooking skills were pretty basic. Boil water? Check. Operate microwave? Check. Use an oven? Check. Despite my novice cooking skills, my foodie friends were very welcoming and usually let me bring simple things like wine, beer, soda and dessert (that I'd usually buy from a bakery...heehee).
Our most recent gathering was at Rob and Linda's place in San Francisco, and the theme: Mocktails/Cocktails and Appetizers. Rob and Linda made homemade salsa and guacamole plus a summer salad from The French Laundry. Rob also made greyhounds and a special peach/mint cocktail. Sylvia and Ken made seared ahi tuna and guacamole ahi poke salad. Ken gets special 
props for beautifully plating the seared ahi tuna. Viv and Eric made skirt steak sandwiches with a chimichurri sauce and two flavors of homemade sorbet, grapefruit and apricot/muscat. And we brought...(drum roll)....pigs in a blanket with mustard. Yeah, our contribution wasn't quite on the same level as everyone elses. That's why we're hosting the next gathering. The theme is Trailer Trash, but after my marketing spin it's now Comfort Food.
If you want to see more photos click here.
We watched a lot of matches, including all 4 US Olympic teams. Kerry Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, and Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. I hate to say it, but the Walsh and May-Trenor match was a bit disappointing to watch compared to the other matches that day.
