Creep 'O Rama 2011

Another year, another Creep 'O Rama! We had a great time initiating the new house into our tradition. Turns out, this is the 10th Halloween Party that Dick and I have thrown together. How about that?

We had many Creep 'O Rama regulars, some friends who haven't been able to make it for several years, and many first-timers as well. I think we had around 40 people in total.

It was really fun decorating the new house, and thinking of new things to do with our stuff. We have a decent sized lawn in our backyard, so we were able to make a haunted cemetery for the very first time! :)


Halloween Backyard by day


Halloween Backyard by night

We turned our dining room into a haunted dungeon...


Haunted Dungeon - where the food is ;)

...and had a couple of new effects around the house.



Dick and I dressed as "Chow Fun" and "Chow Mein".
(The correct pronunciation is "Chow Men", versus "Chow Main")



These costumes turned out to be great. I confess that I didn't make them, though that was my original plan when I thought of the idea last year. Then, I found out that I could buy them pre-made (and much better quality than I could ever do) right off of amazon.com! :)

It was a gorgeous, warm night - probably in the mid-60s, so we were able to open the party up onto the deck, and out to the backyard. So wonderful! We also took a stroll around Castro street around Midnight, and caught the tail end of the party down there.

It was a very fun evening, as always. Thanks to all who came!!!

Noe doesn't fear the Reaper

Warming Hut Hotties Reunion

The Warming Hut Hottie Reunion and Re-commitment party was held at the Sports Basement in the Presidio yesterday afternoon. It was a wonderful time - so great to have a chance to reconnect with many teammates since last month's event.

Linda decided to have the reunion at the Sports Basement in the Presidio. She arranged it so that 10% of all sales by any of our teammates or friends went to The Warming Hut Hotties/In Our Lifetime.

We are the Hotties, so of course there was plenty of yummy food and drinks for all.
Marsha also treated us all to brand-spankin'-new Deeleeboppers! (Thank you, Marsha!)

Linda has been working hard putting together a "Walkcumentary" to show at the reunion - a slideshow of hundreds of photos taken during the event. It was beautiful, and brought back so many wonderful memories. Thank you, Linda, for giving us yet another gift.


the check-in table, along with a huge box full of new deeleeboppers, courtesy of Marsha


This was the total team fundraising amount as of the week before our event in September. The team total for the San Francisco/Bay Area 3Day Walk for the Cure is now up to $189,426.98!!


The team sits down to watch the Walkcumentary


Our lovely Linda speaks briefly before starting the Walkcumentary


The impressive AV setup!

Create your own Muppet!!

Oh, my - just discovered this new product at F.A.O. Schwartz: Create your own Muppet!!

That's right, you can create your very own Muppet - or a "Whatnot", which is a Muppet extra. :)

I LOVE Muppets, and I love this idea.

What do we think Dick would think if "Dick Muppet" and "Trina Muppet" moved in? ;)

Here's my first pass:


Dick & Trina Muppet

My neighbor, Clay, just suggested that we should all get get Muppet look-alikes.

If we could do that, we could all go around the neighborhood singing, "Who are the people in your neighborhood..." :)

My Glass Creation

Remember the Glass Blowing Class I took at the Glassybaby studio in Seattle Saturday evening? The cup I made was just delivered. (it had to cool properly in the studio before it could leave.)

I'm really pleased! I think it turned out pretty well. :)

XXX Root Beer

Today, Paula and Reeves brought me to XXX Root Beer in Issaquah, WA.

Oh my goodness.

The only words I could describe the whole experience with are that it was "a hoot and a holler"!

The food, which was all really yummy was all enormous. Reeves ordered the XXX Burger, which was, by far, the largest burger we've ever seen.

I had a chicken & cheese philly sandwich, which was also delish, but enormous.

The catch to all of this?

The rules of XXX: no forks or knives.
You must eat everything with your hands.

We went through a LOT of napkins. ;)

A lovely walk in Bellevue

I went on a beautiful 4.5 mile walk this morning with Paula, Reeves, and their greyhound, Finney!

It was a gorgeous walk, and obviously so different from anything I ever see in San Francisco.

Paula and Reeves live right near a hiking trail that went through a beautiful wooded area with streams, and beautiful trees, which are just starting to change colors. We also walked through the botanical gardens, and later by Kelsey Creek Farm.

At one point, a tiny slug found its way onto Mr. Finney's ear. He didn't stay long.

Glassy Baby Glassblowing Event

Yesterday, I flew to Seattle so that I could attend a special Glassybaby event with Paula in the evening. The event benefited the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

The benefit Included one-on-one demonstration with a Glassybaby artist, teaching you how to create your choice of a paperweight, dish, ornament or a cup.

It also included a demonstration by three Glassybaby artists showing how a single Glassybaby is made. This Glassybaby was raffles off at the end of the evening - we didn't win. :)

We also had wine, and tasty treats!

Oh, and our cost of admission also included a Glassybaby. (because I need another!) ;)

Paula and I had a great time. What a fun evening. We were so glad that we had this opportunity to go, learn and participate in the process of how our favorite hand blown glass objects are made.

PS- by looking at the photos, it looks like my Glassybaby demonstrator did all the work! I obviously couldn't take any photos of myself working with molten glass, but I promise that he did have me do a decent amount, and I really enjoyed it!!

Oh, I chose to make a cup. I wasn't able to take a photo of it before it went into the machine to cool for a few days before they ship it to me. Photos later. :)

Voicemail converted to text ha-ha.

We use Comcast/Xfinity for our home phone. One feature that I've been using for a few years is that if someone leaves a voice-mail message, I automatically receive an email notification with the phone number, and length of the message. It's very handy, as I access email from my cell phone, and know when I've missed a call.

Earlier this week, I got this message:

Did you know that you can now have your voicemails converted to text and included in this notification? You can also include an audio file of your voicemail. With 'readable voicemail' never miss a voicemail again.

Very cool! Now I can read my voicemail messages, and listen to them easily (without having to call in, and punch in codes, or go to another website) directly from my cell phone or computer.

So, I've turned on both features - the voicemail converted to text, and the audio file.

For the most part, it has worked well, but I got a message yesterday that cracked me up.

Here's the converted message that I received over email:

"Hey sunshine it's Sharon. I'm waiting for a phone call mind a little number-the-when(?) you called so I have skype-on-you-happen-to-the(?) office..."

LOL!

I read the text, and thought, "What?! I have a couple of friends named Sharon, and neither of them ever calls me 'Sunshine'."

So then, I listened to the audio file.

Here's what the actual message was:

"Hey, phone tag. Your turn. Um, I’m waiting for a phone call on my mobile number – the one that you called, so I have Skype on if you happen to call...."

Good thing I can access that audio file easily! :)

Recycling old shoes

I brought a pair of my old and very worn shoes to Nike Town in Union Square today. My sister had given me a tip that they have bins there where you can donate old, used athletic shoes. They recycle the shoes into materials used in sports and playground surfaces. Very cool!

Thanks for the tip, Sis! :)

Quick Tip
Shoe recycling bins: Level 5
Clean public bathrooms: Level 7

;)

Wild Parrots!!

So, apparently, our neighborhood has a different set of wild parrots than the more famous ones who live in Telegraph Hill. I often hear them, but don't see them all the time.

Today, I was out in our backyard, mowing the lawn. I heard a flock of parrots fly above, and spotted them. Some of them landed in a tree right behind our yard, and I was able to zoom on and snap a quick shot with my camera.

Can you see him up there? :)

Fleet Week!

It's Fleet Week here in San Francisco!

One more perk of our new house that I hadn't even thought of before is that we have a nice view to see the Fleet Week Air Show!

The Blue Angles practiced Thursday and Friday, and the full show was on Saturday and Sunday from 1:00-5:00. (although, Sunday's Blue Angel show was apparently cut short due to the fog.)

I enjoyed watching the Blue Angels rehearse on Thursday and Friday, but Dick and I had an especially nice time watching the full show with David and Miguel on Saturday from our balcony.

Considering I only lived a block down the street for the past 13 years (but with no view of downtown) I think it's amazing that I never knew that the planes actually fly near or around our neighborhood quite a bit.

I took a few photos - both of downtown, and a couple of the planes as they were nearer to our house.









And let's not forget that Fleet Week weekend means it's also the anniversary of "F.I.L.T.S."! Who better to share it with than David and Miguel (and Christopher, but he was at the gym.)?!

Quack

(I've been a little delayed in writing some blog posts lately. I'm going to date them accordingly)

Today was Family Field Trip Day! I joined my Mom, Dad and Sis on a Duck Tour around San Francisco and into the Bay. My parents and my sister have all done various Duck Tours in other cities around the country. This was my first. I really enjoyed it!

What is a Duck Tour? It's a city tour, in an amphibious vehicle which operates both on land as well at sea. Here's more info.

My parents found an online coupon for 1/2 off the Duck Tour in San Francisco, so we all thought it would be a fun experience to do together!


The Chows go on the Duck Tour of San Francisco!

I know the photo is really cheesy. They take a photo of your group before you all board the vehicle, and offer it for sale afterwards. We weren't planning on buying it at all, but it turned out pretty well, and we thought it might make for a fun photo for my parents' Christmas Card. :)

It occurred to me that I've never been on a San Francisco Tour of any kind - not that I can recall, anyhow. I was a little skeptical, as I've lived here for 16 years, and we've lived in the Bay Area for over 30.


Mom, Dad and Sis ready for our Duck Tour!

Turns out, the tour was a ton of fun, and we even learned a little San Francisco history that we didn't know. (Did you know that the San Francisco Ferry Building rotated 8 degrees after the 1906 earthquake? When you look at it from Market Street, you can see that it is not actually straight!)

As much as I enjoyed riding around the town in our cheesy tour boat, quacking on the kazoo-like duck quackers that they give out, I was really most impressed with the water tour! The vehicle goes right down a dock and into the Bay! We spent about 20 minutes in the bay, out in McCovey Cove, behind AT&T Park. It was really fun, and a neat way to see that part of the city from an unusual vantage point.

To top it off, it was Fleet Week here in SF, so there were some really interesting military vessels out on the bay that we drove by.



Once we were in the water, we were all offered the chance to take the steering wheel to drive. Of course, my Dad and I gave it a shot!


Captain Henry


The back side of AT&T Park from McCovey Cove


this picture shows another Duck Tour vehicle in the water. it gives a neat perspective of what the amphibious vehicle looks like when in water.

It was a really fun day with the family! Thanks, Mom, Dad and Sis!!

Sneak Peak of the Warming Hut Hotties 2011 Walkumentary by Linda

Our amazing and wonderful training walk leader, Linda, has just posted a sneak peak of the Walkumentary Video that she is creating for our Reunion Party. She did an amazing job. I've gotta say - If I had never walked with this team before, this video would sure make me want to sign up! :)