Maddie.

Madeline and Alicia came up for lunch a few weeks ago and I was craving a gourmet Red Robin burger so that's where we went. Good times . . .
Alicia does this a lot- stares at her. I think it's absolutely fabulous.

Charles and Tessa visit CA. and get Engaged.

Ok, I'm gonna try to catch up on some stuff here. I haven't proven myself a very consistent blogger since the inception of Yesterday A Moment Later, but I'm giving myself some more chances.
So, back in mid-march, Charles came out with girlfriend Tessa
to visit for about a week. Right after we picked them up from the airport (where, by the way, there was a guy doing ballet in the pick up/drop off area- I accidentally tried to put his luggage in our car. I was corrected and then he went on dancing) we all accompanied Charles to a business meeting. He'd only met his new employer online before so since he was in town, they decided to meet in person. I'm not sure if bringing 3 friends with you to meet your boss is a little bit like your mom going with you to your first day of college, but what do I care- we scored a free meal at Oliveto- sweet.
While they were here we did all sorts of great things like,
watched the roller skaters in the park,
ate at tons of great restaurants,
(Charles super excited to be at Pancho Villa)
walked around
played DDR
went to the De Young
ate at more great restaurants,
watched "300"
. . . ok, some things were greater than others. I suspected this might be the case and skipped out on this particular activity.
And while lunch at Cafe Gratitude one day was most likely the highlight for me, I'm guessing their highlight was GETTING ENGAGED! They went to Napa for a few days and came back with marital plans! But the most awesome part is that Tessa did the asking. What a woman!

Jason came up a few different times so that the boys could be together-
I like those ones. They're truly great.

And Tatanka was pretty happy to see his old buddy too.
You can read about his thoughts on the visit on his blog. He was so excited he even got dressed up for the occasion.
So when I said we went to the De Young, I kinda lied. Really, Charles and Tessa went and we tried to meet up with them later to go get food :) but they were in there a really long time so Shawn and I hung out in the front and played with the little camera.
There was a free art show going on out front. Silly Tessa and Charles paying to see fancy "De Young" art when you can totally see the same stuff- practically, for free.
I was trying to make it look like I was kicking people on the inside but Shawn kept messing it up. He made up for it though by taking this really cute picture of our reflection.
Don't you like how this is a post about Charles and Tessa but I only have ONE picture of the two of them, and then a whole bunch of me and Shawn.
And also having nothing to do with Charles and Tessa is the fact that we went to a Patty Griffin concert while they were here, sans them. And I think I love her.

Shawn's 29th Birthday

March 6th 2007 Shawn's Birthday
Lots of cheap Sushi
Fabulous gifts
including a chopstick-and-plate dance by Becca
and racing.
Yea.

Dinner at Mark's

A while back (Feb 28th) Mark called late in the afternoon and in the most excited voice invited us over for a very last minute dinner. This is strange only because Mark is one of the busiest people I know and he is never just wandering around the city at 3 in the afternoon thinking about what to do for dinner. I learned very quickly that this was a special case indeed, for Mark just met Chen (see handsome Israeli boy below) , and he wanted us to be able to meet him before his trip to the states was over.
Mark, who by the way, among other things, specializes in the subtle differences of black shoes, was so kind to share Chen with us for one of his few days here. Not only is Chen an incredibly nice person I was glad I got to meet, but he made us all an entire Israeli meal.
What a spread! My favorite was this tomato and egg dish.
I'm starting to think that the majority of country's have a tomato and egg dish of some sort. One of my favorite Chinese Chinese foods is a dish that's really similar with fried tomatoes and eggs and in Turkey we had hard boiled eggs and fresh tomatoes for breakfast a lot of places. They make for some fine staples, that's for sure.
Anyway, it was a lovely evening, topped off with some of Mark's exotic teas
and Chen doing the dishes for all of us.
Now that's quite a house guest- first making a meal for 8, then cleaning up the dishes when the party was actually kinda in honor of him. :)