oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart

I'm back in Denver and brutally tired, but I had an excellent long weekend in the city of sin. Friday was particularly delightful - I spent an hour drinking coffee and journaling at Philz, and then I packed up all my stuff, checked out of my first hotel, and left my tings there while I took an uber out to Beach Chalet for lunch with Anne and Veronica. Barbara is out of town and Grace couldn't make it, so we were a smaller group than usual, but I was v. happy to see Anne and Veronica. I am reminded, as always, how much I miss my writer group in SF, even if we usually met at an uninspiring Starbucks in the peninsula instead of having a fancy lunch overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

After we parted ways, I went back to my hotel, grabbed my stuff, and took an uber to the Fairmont, where I checked in for wedding shenanigans. I had just enough time to get ready and put on my outfit before it was time to head out - I shared an uber with Lauren (aka Subz) and Nathan to the Friday evening party, where I met Adit (some people call him the cat), who was my date for the night. I wore the v. fancy lehenga that I bought in Denver last month, and I loved it - it was v. princessy, which is not usually a look I go for when I'm a wedding guest, but it was great.

The first night was dry, which was less than ideal, especially since I had to give a toast. However, Terry's dad snuck in approx 100 airplane-sized bottles of vodka, so I was able to have a vodka and diet coke to get me ready to go. Also, the food was really excellent and the venue was nice, so all in all it was good. My toast was also great, if I do say so myself, so it felt like a rousing evening.

After the Friday event was over, Adit and I went back to the Fairmont and rendezvoused with Chandlord. We were going to go to the Tonga Room, but it was stupidly closed early, so I changed clothes and we ventured into the Tenderloin. Our first drink was not great due to a potential bartending mishap, but then we went to Zombie Village and had a couple of punchbowls while holed up in a booth and talking about Ritu's nephew (our favorite topic of conversation). And when we were done, I took an uber approx five blocks because I didn't feel like walking up Nob Hill at 2am.

The next day, I had room service breakfast (my favorite) and then went downtown to quickly buy a new pair of shoes, since my Friday shoes had created blisters and I didn't have any other options. That errand was easily accomplished, but getting back was a pain - the St Patricks Day parade was happening all along Market, which completely screwed up traffic, and so I ended up walking up Nob Hill with my shoes. This was not what my blistered feet wanted, but I made it back, took a shower, and took a nap. Then, Subz came to my room so we could get ready together - she had arranged some people to do our hair + her makeup, which was super fun. Unfortunately, the wedding was so windy that my updo didn't look as awesome as it did in the first thirty minutes of its life, but it was still great to get some girl time with Lauren.

Then we went to the wedding, which was at Cavallo Point in Sausalito. The vow renewal was outdoors, and since it's San Francisco, that meant it was totally freezing - I was glad I had decided to prioritize comfort over fashion and brough my down puffer, because I needed it. However, the Golden Gate Bridge made for a gorgeous backdrop, and Terry and Haseeb's vows (a vow renewal, since they got married at City Hall as NYC was shutting down two years ago) were beautiful.

The rest of the night was super fun - lovely cocktail hour followed by dinner, then lots more toasts, and then dancing. Eventually we all headed back to SF, and I ended up going out with most of Terry's siblings + Lisa (an old Stanford friend) until whatever bar we went to shut down. And then the time changed as I got back to my hotel, so suddenly it was three a.m. and I was ready to collapse.

Today was smooth, even though I didn't get nearly enough sleep - I got up, ate breakfast, packed, showered, etc. and made it to the airport with just the right amount of time. Getting to Denver was easy (albeit turbulent), and my house is still here, and I had takeout sushi to celebrate being home. And now, I desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

no one’s gonna save you from the beast about to strike

I had a glorious day in the city of sin - but it's always glorious when I can just walk everywhere and not drive, as opposed to my horrendous commutes from days of yore. I woke up in time to keep my facetime date with Barbara, which I think shocked her - she assumed when I made the plan to call her at 9am my time on a Sunday that it wouldn't happen, and in many cases she would be correct, but I hadn't talked to her in forever and she's taking a trip to India in the next few days, so I wanted to catch up with her before she left. This was a delightful way to start the morning, and set my mood up perfectly for the rest of the day.

After that, I showered, then went to Olea for brunch with Tom, Julie, and Deano (aka the drunk freshmen, although Deano's real name is Brian and he wasn't one of my freshmen, and also they all have quite successful / high profile jobs now, but I can't stop myself). It was super fun to see them, so I'm glad we were able to get together. Then I came back to my hotel and talked to my parents, and then I did a bit of journaling until it was time to pursue my next slew of engagements.

I got a manicure this afternoon at my old nail salon - they were super surprised to see me, since I used to go in religiously and then suddenly disappeared for a year and a half. But it was nice to see that most of the usual suspects were there, and they do such a better job on my nails than any other place I've ever gone. I was feeling nostalgic, so I got the same color that I had when I went to Bora Bora (pacific sunset) - and yes, it's ridiculous that I remember that, but I remember the names of colors that I like.

sssanyway. After that, I wrote for a bit at Peet's, and then had dinner and a drink with Claudia and Sam. We went to Wayo Sushi, which usually is quite slow, but we were the first people in and so were the first people to get sushi, well before the sole proprietor started backing up on speed. Then we had a drink at Lush, where I was hit on by a fifty-year-old former heavyweight boxing champ who told me to look him up online, which immediately led me to the discovery that his boxing career was cut short when he served thirteen years for illegal drug possession....so in other words, I still got it.

sssanyway again. I'm now safely ensconced in my hotel, and it's time for bed so that I can go back to the grind tomorrow - goodnight!

scheming on a thing that's a mirage, i'm trying to tell you now, it's sabotage

I'm back in Boulder after a truly epic four days in Portland and its strangely-named surrounding cities. I should probably do a full writeup of Claudia's wedding, but I'm still too tired to do it justice - it was a mad dash to get everything taken care of, and I celebrated that mad dash by staying mostly sober at the reception (I was the emcee and had to give a toast, so I needed to stay somewhat sane)...but then went back to our airbnb around 10:30 and drank most of a bottle of white wine while hanging out in the hot tub and gossipping about the wedding. Adit, Vidya, Ayla and I were staying together, but we convinced John and Jess to come back with us and camp on the floor of the living room rather than camping in the llama fields, so it made for a super fun night (despite another guest thoroughly enraging me, but hey, I often rage over things, so it felt like I was in the zone).

The wedding, though, was totally gorgeous - everything came together well, and Claudia looked beautiful, and I cried during her vows, as I am wont to do. The reception was also fun, even with a bunch of mangy kids roaming around. And I'm glad I got to spend so much time with Santy Claude over the course of the weekend - it was a good bonding adventure, and I really enjoyed all of my time with her even if the amount of work we had to do in the last few days was bordering on insane.

So, today was all about recovering and getting the fuck out of Portland. Chandlord and Ayla left super early, but John, Jess, Adit, and I (and the fifth houseguest, who was the one who enraged me last night after deciding she wouldn't come with us when we left, then calling in tears wanting us to come back and get her, which was super annoying since it's a 30min round trip from the airbnb to the farm and I don't know her well enough to gracefully handle such ineptitude) drove a bunch of stuff over to the farm. We said our last goodbyes to Claude, and then we drove into Portland, where we had brunch at Proud Mary. It was well worth the wait - it was one of the best meals I've had in awhile, which is surprising since I had a lot of good food this weekend. I had a hash with ham and a poached egg and kale and a delish garlicky sauce, but I also tried the hotcake, which was covered in edible flowers and was one of the best breakfast sweet dishes I've tried in awhile.

Eventually, though, the fun started to die...Adit had to go to the airport, so I bid him farewell. John, Jess and I walked around Portland for another hour or so, admiring all the shops and wishing we could eat all the food, and then I said my goodbyes to them and went to the airport. I had just enough time to grab some iced coffee for the plane before we began to board, but all that iced coffee wasn't enough to keep me from sleeping through the first half of the flight.

And now I'm successfully in my own bed, and I am desperate to sleep and get a head start on what's bound to be a ridiculous week at work. Goodnight!

i have the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

Santy Claude is getting married tomorrow! And in the meantime, we're in the frantic last minute preparations for the ceremony, which has taken our whole day. I woke up this morning in time to drink some coffee that Ayla brought back, and then I did a tiny bit of work before prepping to get out of our airbnb. I also grabbed a breakfast sandwich at Bare Bones that was super yummy and made me believe in breakfast sandwiches again.

But then the madness started. We kicked Vidya out to wait at a coffee shop for Vidya and Ayla, and then Adit and I picked up a bunch of speakers. This is the second time Adit and I have picked up sound equipment for someone's wedding and we're getting pretty good at it. Then we drove out to Washougal, with a long stop at Target, where I threw money at every problem.

When we got to Washougal, we unloaded the speaker equipment, and then we went to our new airbnb and unloaded. Then Claude and I went to Safeway, where we bought all sorts of additional things to try to make life easier. And then it was a flurry of running around and doing stuff, including all sorts of errands and tasks, culminating in the rehearsal dinner (which Claude's family made, and it was delish). And yes, my micromanagering side came to the fore, but #noregrets.

But now, even though I want to keep blogging, I need to go to sleep so I can look appropriately rested for the wedding tomorrow (despite the port that I'm drinking). Goodnight!

i'll be the bright, and black, that's making you run

I did successfully get up and write this morning - only for thirty minutes, but that's better than nothing. I then went to work, which was mildly stressful, but since I was only there for sixish hours, I guess it could have been worse.

But I skipped out at 3:45 to go to the dentist - I hadn't been in an embarrassingly long period of time, since I was traveling last year and then didn't bother to find a dentist when I moved here (partially because I was avoiding radiation this summer and didn't want to get x-rays). However, I didn't learn the error of my ways - I had no cavities and no gum or enamel or bone issues, so other than the fact that I live on coffee and red wine and so have stained my teeth, everything looked good. The dentist was very friendly and spent more time with me than my previous dentist used to - I'm accustomed to the dentist letting the hygienist do everything, then coming in and poking a couple of teeth and trying to sell me on invisalign braces that I don't need.

They don't do a cleaning on the same day as your new patient exam, which kind of annoyed me when I booked - but it turns out they had a cancelation tomorrow and can squeeze me in after work, which is perfect. So, I left feeling pretty happy about all of that. I should have come home and worked...

...but instead I took an impromptu drive down to Denver, where I hung out with Katie and the girls. This was partially an excuse to drive and show off my new car, but mostly an excuse to hang out with Katie before some of my upcoming travel madness. I picked up some beer for her and some cider for me - I only had one cider, but it was super tasty and reminded me that the world isn't only made of wine. She ordered pho, and we spent a couple of delightful hours interjecting grownup conversation around the delightful shrieks of her child army.

Then I came home and talked to Adit about wedding stuff (we may need to go into the wedding planning business together, although no promises until I see if I can pull a mariachi band out of thin air in the next five days). And then I did a bit of work and a bit of personal stuff, and now I should really sleep - goodnight!

you want a maserati

Yes, I had a lot of meetings today, thanks for asking. So many meetings that I didn't eat lunch until 1:15, which I scarfed down while having an impromptu conversation with Tomas (fewer impromptu conversations happen than they did when we shared a cube, but many more than when we were in different cities/countries/job stages).

But I left the office at five and got my hair cut - it's the first step in the beautification rituals necessary in the lead-up to Santy Claude's wedding. I took a risk and tried a new (to me) salon - I'd gone to Denver a couple of times to get my hair cut, but it's just too far to be useful. So I tried an Aveda salon on the Pearl Street mall, and I think I've found my new stylist after like eighteen months in the wilderness. I was sad to leave my SF stylist when I went on my traveling adventures, and I never found someone I liked for hair here - but the woman I went to today was great, and I'm happy with the cut, and it was also $35 cheaper than my SF haircut, so that's what I call #winning.

Then I wanted to just come home and curl up with a book (and by that I mean play Civilization until my eyes fell out) - but I rallied and went to a late happy hour with some people from work. We went to Avery, which is a big brewery I hadn't gone to yet - since I don't drink beer, the Boulder brewery scene is lost on me. But their chicken wings were good, and I did the requisite networking, and also made a tentative friend, so that was all a worthy endeavor.

Then I came home, worked for an hour, played some Civ, drank some rosé to make up for the forced abstaining at the brewery, and talked to Santy Claude about wedding stuff. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

it's hard to say it, time to say it

Wow, last night's entry went totally off the rails. I was falling asleep as I was typing, and somehow I thought that I had cleaned it up and written something passably coherent, but apparently I was incorrect. I wasn't even that intoxicated - just ready to fall asleep, and my brain started playing tricks on my fingers.

sssanyway. Last night did not end at Maven - we had dinner at Maven at 6:30, then headed toward the Mint, where we were planning to do karaoke. On the way, Adit and I walked by the apartment where we lived together, and while the smell of urine at the Safeway down the street and the crazy homeless guy weaving around on the sidewalk barefoot while holding his shoes reminded me why I left San Francisco, I was struck by some intense waves of nostalgia. Or maybe that was just the urea causing hallucinations.

sssanyway again. We discovered that the old bar down the street from us, which used to be the Residence and was our third or fourth choice of bars when we couldn't get into Churchill or Blackbird, has (as of this week) become a tiki bar called Last Rites. I normally don't go to tiki bars two nights in a row, but we went into this one and it was quite delightful. It was too crowded for us to sit down, but we had a quick drink there, and the rum went a long way toward helping me catch up to my friends after driving them around wine country all day (although since they went for a rum drink as well, I was destined to never catch up).

Then we went to karaoke at the Mint, which was super fun - Claude, Vidya and I all managed to get songs in, which felt like a real accomplishment. Then we adjourned to Grubstake, where we finished the night eating plate of cheese (and bought more bottles of hot sauce for the road).

Today, of course, I had to get myself out of bed and to the airport, since my sojourn in the city of sin is over for this round. I had a direct flight to Des Moines (yay) on Frontier (boo) - I'd never flown them before, and while it wasn't the worst, it certainly wasn't the best. It didn't help that Frontier flies out of Terminal 1, which is a dismal hellhole compared to the renovated areas of T 2/3; it also didn't help that the air outside was also a dismal hellhole due to wildfire smoke, and so my flight was delayed by an hour. And also, some kid threw up in the check-in line and I heard the ticket agent tell his grandmother that they might have to stop him from flying; apparently he faked his way into seeming better, because when our plane was finally ready to take off, we had to wait while they kicked the grandmother/kid off the flight and cleaned up more vomit. #ihatepeople

But the flight itself was uneventful. When I landed in Iowa, my parents picked me up; we went straight to Johnny's for dinner, which was fairly unexciting/disappointing (the food, not my parents). And now that I'm home and have taken a look at my hopeless work to-do list, I need to go to bed - I'm working from home tomorrow and Tuesday, and I need to get a lot done, so wish me luck. Goodnight!

she says i am the one

I lasted for approximately 45mins of the final morning of training today. Yes, I'm also surprised that I went back, but I thought that perhaps I should give it one more chance. However, after doing a full body scan of every part of my physical self, I realized that my fists still wanted to punch the facilitator in the face.

So, I walked straight out during the first break and didn't go back. However, I honored my commitment to myself (or, alternatively, completely avoided my inbox) by sitting out in the sun and journaling for an hour before getting back to work. Of course, all the fools who had stayed in the training (which was not many - I think they had a 50% attrition rate from day one to day three) were sent outside at some point to do a 'walking meditation' (aka walk around like zombies), so it was v. v. obvious that I was skipping, but #noregrets.

I then worked the rest of the day, grabbed dinner at Chipotle, stopped by the Apple store to drool over devices, then came home. I mostly procrastinated and looked at bridesmaids dresses for Santy Claude's wedding (spoiler: Santy Claude has found her Mr. Claude, who will reside with her in the North Pole and help her get her reindeer ready every year). But I also did a tiny bit of work...not enough to make a dent in my inbox, but c'est la vie.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

you look as good as the day i met you

I have to go to sleep immediately - I'm going on a day trip tomorrow to look at some medieval shit and daydream about gargoyles when I should be finishing this stupid book. But today was good - I put in some serious work on the stupid book, which made me v. satisfied. So satisfied, in fact, that I felt giddy and had to take a break, so I met up with a visiting friend for dinner and a lot of wine in Soho.

The friend was one of the Roshni Patels from Ritu's wedding - in fact, I wasn't *entirely* sure which Roshni I was meeting, since one Roshni on Facebook has a highly stylized photo that could be anyone, and the other has a photo of a dog. However, I was pretty sure it was Iowa Roshni, and this proved to be true. She's in town for a long girls' weekend, and she and one of the other girls met me for dinner at Balans Soho Society. We had two bottles of wine and a lot of food and a lot of laughter, and it was all highly entertaining.

But now I must sleep, since I need to wake up in 6.5 hours to catch my train to an undisclosed location (the location is Lincoln, England, which is basically the same as undisclosed since no one's heard of it, but it has some medieval stuff that I'm excited to see). Goodnight!

all i need is to be struck by your electric love

As I was driving home today via the scenic route, with the wind whipping through my still-curled bridesmaid hair and the scent of dozens of roses from stolen wedding bouquets swirling around me, I felt like I'd somehow performed a hard reset on my body/soul/spirit this weekend - I felt more drained than I've felt in recent memory, and yet somehow relaxed and weightless (although weightless is not true in the literal sense - my steady diet of cake and bourbon over the past month has gotten out of hand, and I need to fix that immediately). And my exhaustion should have been obvious this afternoon - I got home and made two trips up from my car with stuff, but then abruptly tumbled onto the couch and fell asleep for thirty minutes (which I wish had been thirty hours).

But the wedding was wonderful, and my posts the last couple of days probably didn't do justice to how much fun I had and how great the event was (and also how disgustingly in love Ritu and Bill are). There were a lot of really hilarious moments, a lot of really ridiculous moments (any wedding planner who doesn't think to wear a watch is probably in the wrong business), a lot of Adit moments, and a few emotional moments (for the record: I cried briefly during their vows, but mostly held it together). I knew more people than usual at this wedding, since many of my college friends were there + I'd met a bunch of the med school women at the bachelorette + I knew some of Bill's friends/family from other activities over the last few years - so it was fun to catch up with people whom I haven't seen in ages, and also to deepen my acquaintance with people who seem fun and interesting.

However, as I said last night, I blew past all my limits Friday, and then I had to put my game face back on for Saturday and summon my extrovert reserves to get through emceeing the reception. I was successful at this, although I did gnaw meat off a lambchop bone while standing up and waiting to announce something like I was a fucking barbarian. Luckily, only a couple of guys at my table saw me do that, but it was probably made better by the Burger King-style crown I'd acquired by that point in the evening. So, that performance tapped out the rest of my energy, which is why I escaped earlier than planned last night to curl up in bed instead.

But I rallied this morning for a few hours - I packed up my stuff and then went to the farewell brunch (eggs and potatoes and a lot of coffee were exactly what I needed), and I said farewell to people. But I didn't end up leaving until 1pm, even though I checked out at 11; thanks to my proximity to the venue + my inability to say no, I came home with two bouquets (plus Ritu's bouquet, which I'm going to try to do something with), two dozen white roses, a bunch of alcohol (including more Jack Daniels than I have any desire to drink), popcorn, chips, sparkling water, four pillows, etc., etc.

Eventually, though, I was all loaded up, and so I said my final farewells to Ritu and Bill and their families. But Ritu's sister and mom told me to invite them to my wedding so they can work, so I should probably look for a spouse so I can get some payback, right?

Then I drove home, taking a slight detour through the redwoods rather than going down 101 (which was probably about the same speed but way prettier). I also stopped at In'n'Out to help with my recovery. Then I got home, unloaded some stuff, fell asleep, woke up, and called my parents. And then I spent the evening trying and failing to put things away and watching swimming coverage from Thursday and Friday (I miraculously didn't get spoiled on anything except one of those swimming races, so it was all exciting to me - I'm going to catch up on the rest tomorrow, hopefully).

Now, though, I'm desperate to sleep - I should have gone to bed three hours ago, but the Olympics beckoned. Goodnight!

baby you're like lightning in a bottle

Ritu and Bill are married! Yay! Can I be excused now?

j/k, of course. I mean, j/k to my request to be excused, not to their marriage. Although since I have the marriage license in my possession and have been asked to mail it, it's possible that their marriage won't legally happen either (insert evil laugh, even though we all know I like checking things off lists too much to let that one slide).

However, I'm fucking exhausted...so much so that I slipped out of the party without saying goodbye at 12:30, and am ignoring the music still pumping nearby so that I can get some sleep. I blew past all my limits last night, which made this morning rough - I theoretically didn't have to get up until ten, but I woke up at seven (after four hours of sleep) and never fully fell back asleep again. I should have brought my earplugs - remind me to just always keep them on hand. So, four hours of sleep, on top of the five I got Thursday night (plus all the stress of driving), and the five I got the night Bill stayed with me, and the other short nights due to Olympics watching have combined to totally wreck me.

It was all worth it, though. I spent the morning getting ready, failing to caffeinate (another major problem), taking care of tings, getting my hair done (a ridiculous experience), and eventually getting Chandlord to help me wrap my sari. The wedding pictures were at one, and then the baarat was at two - that involved Bill sitting on a horse while we all danced around him and led him to the wedding site. Eventually, we all walked down the aisle and took our seats for an incredibly long ceremony (so long that I got up and got lemonade at some point) - but I liked the priest, who had a ridiculous sense of humor and storytelling.

Then we did more bridal photos, and then I changed out of my sari and into a cute dress that wasn't nearly warm enough for nighttime even though it would have been perfect this morning. The reception was fun - the signature cocktails were named 'master of disaster' (for Ritu, bourbon-based) and the 'transatlantic romantics' for Bill, replete with gin. I went master of disaster all the way, even though buorbon wasn't what I really wanted after last night's extravaganza.

I enjoyed my table (Claude/boyfriend, Adit/Priyana, Robert and his husband (I haven't seen Robert in a decade, perhaps)), and we played some madlibs and generally had a good time. I had to keep breaking to go on stage and announce things (along with Vidya and Chad), but it seemed like everything went smoothly. And I rocked a Burger King hat, so there's that.

But now, after a long, entertaining conversation in the bitter cold (where I probably offended Priyanka by telling her she looked like an Indian auntie giving advice), and having a catch-up convo with Shen, and a brief conversation with Keith......

But I'm falling asleep as I write this, so I'm going to cut it short. Suffice it to say that the wedding itself was gorgeous, as were the bride and groom (face it, mostly the bride), and I had a great time. I shall tell you more someday, perhaps - but tonight I'm desperate for sleep and so this is all you get. Goodnight!

we both know we ain't kids no more

I have had too much bourbon and not nearly enough sleep, so I will attempt to keep this brief. I am in Guerneville, which is part of the Russian River area in Northern California, in a room that is entirely too cold (which is better than a room which is entirely too hot), nursing feet that were bruised/cut after an ill-advised barefoot adventure in a meadow (doable) that turned into gravel stairs (omg so fucking painful).

This morning didn't go according to plan - I went over to the airbnb where Ritu was staying to pick up some stuff, which turned into a 90-min adventure instead of a 30-min task. Then I came home and rapidly packed, showered, and stuffed some salmon into my face to stave off hunger. And then I drove to Adit's - at this point, I was already 45-min later than I had intended to be for the day. The lateness was compounded by a variety of additional 45-min delays (speakers took longer to pick up than anticipated; I had to take Adit home; traffic was awful thanks to an accident), so I only made it to the venue 15mins before rehearsal, and was super stressed as a result.

But rehearsal went smoothly, and I had a glass of champagne before descending back into sound madness (but Adit had it all under control in the end, despite some mishaps and calls to tech support). I also had time to make one of Ritu's other friends (Geetha) help me put on one of my saris - I've never worn that one before, but I really loved it, and I was comfortable in it all night.

The sangeet and dinner were all great, and I took a few moments to reconnect with the staff of Dawn Ranch (who jokingly warned the bartenders to cut me off before I'd even had a drink - they know me too well). The food tonight was incredible - they did a really good job with everything, and I now wish I'd eaten more even though I was full then. I also talked about Scotland with Shelly's husband Keith (they were the bride and groom in #summerofmygermanwedding), and reconnected with several people whom I haven't seen in a decade, so it was all lovely. And I got henna in the form of the Olympic rings on my wrist, so yay me.

After dinner, we adjourned to the bar, where DJ Purple (the karaoke DJ extraordinaire) kept the party going. I sang "Bad Touch" with Chris to relive our youth, and I had a stirring rap rendition of Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass", and between that and my awful, totally ineloquent on-the-fly toast to Ritu and Bill, I think I've established myself as the bridesmaid with nothing to lose.

Or at least I thought I had nothing to lose, until I had multiple bourbon drinks (on top of the wine from dinner- and I was getting great pours, since I bonded with the reception barmen over romance novels and turkey slaughtering, and bonded with the regular bartender over an open bottle of wine), and also a lot of singing, followed by a trip to the meadow with Bill and a couple of his groomsmen to attempt to see the meteor shower (verdict: too cloudy, but with a lot of chance of ridiculousness). And now I must must must sleep so I can look okay tomorrow - goodnight!

come on come on turn the radio on

No time to blog tonight - I had an awesome, hectic, chaotic, beautiful, exhausting day, and there are more of those to come, so I need to get the six hours of sleep that I might possibly be able to get if I go to bed right now (like, right right now). But I spent the morning taking care of tings (personal business and to-dos, a rapid-fire trip to Sephora to get new foundation since I've gotten too much sun this summer and my usual foundation looks grim, etc., etc.). And then I quite selfishly spent two glorious hours watching the livestream of the women's gymnastics all-around final, which was #worthit. And yes, I cried at the end.

But then I had to stop being selfish and start being social, so I threw on a dress and my new foundation (and rocked the beachy waves I'd created with an abundance of mousse and sea salt spray) and dashed out the door to go to a mani/pedi place in Potrero Hill. You might note that I just got a manicure yesterday, which is true; today was a pedicure with Ritu's bridesmaids. It was really fun and lovely - I took champagne, and Connie took the most delicious hummus I've ever had, and we all hung out and enjoyed each others' company.

Then things got hectic, including a trip to the grocery store at the wrong time, finding an uber for Bill's mom, getting Ritu and all the groceries back to the airbnb (and getting yelled at by the neighbor for parking illegally - lol), making a thirty-second dash into Lauren and Nathan's house to return the sunglasses he left at my place on Saturday and also to kiss Finley on the head while he stared angrily at me for interrupting his dinner, and then dropping my car off at home so that I could drink tonight (although as it turned out, I didn't drink enough to warrant this).

Then I lyfted back to the airbnb, and we had a lovely evening (after an hour of total chaos getting everything ready) - I hung out with people, and ate some pizza, and got mehndi on my hands (it looks great!), and generally had a delightful time.

But now I've written way more than I intended to, and I need to get some sleep if I have any hope of functioning tomorrow. Goodnight!

breathing in the snowflakes

I fell asleep on the couch while I was starting to write this, so you're going to get the blandest, most boring post out of me. But suffice it to say that I got enough sleep last night to make me happy that I'd stayed in Houston overnight - not enough to keep me from sleeping all the way here, but enough to make a good start on my recovery.

When I finally got back to the city, I spent quite awhile on the phone with my parents - I'd talked to them briefly yesterday, but today was better for it. I talked to my mom for a long time about Whole30 and dietary issues, etc. - I might do it, but we'll see.

Then, I ignored the issue of health and went to Delfina for dinner with some of the family. Omar is in town, and tomorrow is his last day, so I met up with him for dinner. This also included Vidya, whose idea it was; Adit, because of course; and two of their friends whom I don't know.

There were tons of ridiculous things discussed, including animals, but I'm falling asleep again and need to go to bed before I screw up my chance of sleeping well tonight. Goodnight!

and we're just under the upper hand, and go mad for a couple grams

I am not in San Francisco. I am also not in New Orleans. Instead, I'm in yet another hotel in yet another city - Houston, to be precise, where I was stranded due to some issues on United's part (our first officer was missing because his wife had gone into labor, so they delayed us for three hours while they waited for a new crew member, which meant I missed my SF connection). However, because it was their fault, United comped my room and my taxi and some food vouchers for tomorrow. And because I'm so tired, I purposefully asked for a 1pm flight rather than a 5am flight as usually happens in these situations - I'd rather get a full night of sleep and be productive on the plane, although I may regret this if my flight has issues tomorrow.

But despite it all, the weekend was worth it. I'm sorry for the paucity of posts - I haven't had my laptop open since Thursday, which is v. unusual for me, and it's hard to write blog posts on my phone. I think it's safe to say that Ritu is properly prepared for her wedding (or, if she isn't, it wasn't for lack of trying).

I'm going to do some rapid fire memories/logging for posterity, and then I'm gonna go to bed:

Thursday

- I had a couple of two-sweet hurricanes to get the party going with Ritu and Kristen (a nurse whom I hadn't met before). When everyone who was going to arrive had arrived, we had dinner at GW Fins - I went there a couple of years ago with Grace and Tina, who are a v. v. different crowd from Ritu and her ilk. The seafood was tasty and the wine was delish, and this was definitely the most low-key meal of the weekend in terms of volume of noise, at least (although Ritu's baby niece, who was there with Shelly and Keith (the couple who got married at the German wedding five years ago), enjoyed making noise when she ran out of banana and remembered that she was jetlagged). Then I think we grabbed another couple of drinks after some other people arrived, but really, it's all a blur now (blog indicates we went to Bourbon Street...which reminds me that we went to a dive-y kind of place, where I had an ill-advised pinot grigio in an effort to stay relatively sober).

Friday

- Friday started with a late brunch in the Garden District at Atchafalaya, which was a lovely creole-type place in the converted house. Ritu's niece was again the star of the show, although the group had expanded by then to include Steph (whose wedding I went to in February) and Shen (who is quite possibly the tallest/most imposing woman I've ever met in my life, and watching her stand next to Ritu is sometimes laughable - she got in the night before but hadn't joined us until after dinner) and some other people.

- Did I mention there were seventeen women at this bachelorette, not including Keith and the baby (who mostly skipped the rest of Friday and Saturday)? And there are two Stephs, and two women who are both named Roshni Patel, so it got a little confusing.

- sssanyway. After brunch we wandered down Magazine Street with the plan of cutting over to St. Charles and looking at the mansions, but a sudden downpour split our group asunder. Half of us spent twenty minutes browsing at West Elm (the nearest store) and then called an uber back to the hotel; the other half were trapped under an awning, but we were eventually reunited.

- the rest of that afternoon turned into pool time. Chandlord, Steph and I were quite clever and bought booze and chips from the liquor store across the street, so we sat in the broiling sun and drank mimosas, and it was all quite lowkey. But the pool scene changed dramatically - at first it was only us, but then some bros from a bachelor party showed up, and then some families entered the mix, and a bunch of our friends came down, so it became a party. Also, it was only really bearable if you were in the pool (preferably with a mimosa), since it was too hot to handle sitting in the sun without being surrounded by water.

- then, at five we did a ghost tour. This turned into a debacle since we didn't adhere to the 'arrive twenty minutes early' rule, and also it poured on us again, but it was super fun and interesting - I learned a lot! And now I want to write a book about ghosts and demons (real and imagined) in New Orleans, but that's gonna have to wait.....

- that night, we were told to dress 'slutty' - and then dinner was at Willa Jean, a v. well-lit bistro-type place where sluttiness was certainly not the order of the day. But I think the food was great, and I enjoyed my cocktail (the loup-garou, ordered solely because that's werewolf in French).

- then we kept going out - first to Carousel, which was a lovely, v. southern bar with live music and tasty cocktails (and where we magically got a bunch of couches and chairs together, which shouldn't have been possible), and then to Bourbon O Bar, which was on last call when we strolled in...but the magic of New Orleans means that they made cocktails for us in plastic cups so we could take them with us when they kicked us out. That cocktail was the fanciest cocktail I've ever been served in a plastic cup (rosemary is usually not the accountrement of choice for the solo cup crowd).

- after that, many people kept going, but several of us split off and got an uber back. I wasn't feeling well all weekend - my stomach has been hurting really badly, which I blame Ritu's sister for since it feels about as bad as it did at her wedding. So I went back, but we waited for the uber in front of a church where a British kid was playing guitar and panhandling, and I think one of the Roshnis would have given him more than just a tip if she wasn't married. I, of course, thought it was a trap and that one of his Rasputin-looking accomplices was going to rob us, but nothing bad happened, so c'est la vie.

Saturday

- Saturday I was feeling hungry and surly and stomachachey, so I skipped the outing to Cafe du Monde (where I couldn't have eaten the beignets and just would have gotten more angry) and had a crab omelette by myself at the Palace Cafe, which is just what I needed.

- Then, we had a late brunch at Country Club. The uber ride over was totally awesome, especially when the driver drove five blocks the wrong way down a one-way street to save us time (I adored her and gave her five stars because she was badass). Country Club has a brunch show with drag queens, so we ate our food (pretty tasty, especially for a place with live entertainment - I went basic, but a lot of the meals looked amazing), and we drank our bottomless mimosas, and we threw dollars bills at drag queens, as one does.

- Then, it was all more of the same...drinks, pool time, prep time, dinner time, drink time. Dinner was at a private room at Cafe Amelie, which was utterly delightful - it's another restaurant in an old house, and the set menu was delightful, and we all gave Ritu lingerie and she had to guess who it was from, which was entertaining. And I heard an awesome story from Connie about what her name could have been, and I bonded some more with Roopa (who I had already bonded with in the pool in a move that someone caught on video and made look way more scandalous than it was), and I continue to pay rent to Chandlord, and it was all fantastic.

- Dinner ended really late, so we ended up going back to the hotel and drinking in the lobby bar (after they were closed - we drank our own wine) and playing cards against humanity and asking Ritu inappropriate questions, and eventually ordering pizza.

Sunday

- I was *not* in it to win it today - my stomach still hurt, and I was vaguely hungover (although not as bad as Friday morning, when I almost vomited in the cab because the guy went way out of the way and some bitch decided to wear incense as perfume and my stomach couldn't handle it - okay, she's not a bitch, but I was not feeling particularly charitably at that moment). But Steph and I got a late-ish checkout, so I laid in bed until ten and ignored the messages saying to meet for breakfast, and then I showered and packed and met them anyway, since a second group of us ate after the first group was mostly done. We went to Lüke (ridic name), and I had a burger and fries that saved my life.

- Then, we walked toward Jackson Square, and as we reached it we thought we were about to get hit by a deluge, so we ducked into Muriel's (on my suggestion) for cocktails and dessert. This took way longer than anticipated because southern service can be slooooow, but my drink was awesome (spiked coffee), and Muriel's is haunted, so people enjoyed that. And then, after a quick walk to a voodoo shop to check things out (I didn't buy anything, since my list of enemies is too long for voodoo to be effective), the two Stephs and I parted ways from everyone else and took a cab to the airport, where my travel adventures really began.

And now those are all the bare details - it was a really fun weekend, and I had a great time with (most of) the other bridesmaids and friends, and made some new friends and reconnected with some old ones (especially Roopa, whom I never see; and Steph 2, who was Ritu's friend when they were out here the summer I lived with Adit; and Priyanka (not Adit's wife), whom I met in Germany and who actually graduated from Centerville the same year that I graduated from high school, which is bizarre). And, of course, I always adore hanging out with Ritu, and I had a great time with her even if I had to share her with a whole bunch of other bitches.

And now I really, really need to sleep - I want to get enough sleep that I'm able to be productive on the plane and also get things done when I get home, so sleep is the best possible thing I could do right now. Goodnight!

i got that summertime sadness

It's summer in San Francisco, which means mist and bitter winds, and wearing my down-filled jacket on my nighttime adventures, and considering turning on the heat but huddling under the comforter instead. Today was a classic reintroduction to my life in the city of sin. I woke up to fog and gloom, and I messed around for a bit before taking four loads of laundry downstairs and then going to the grocery store to stock up on the bare essentials for the next few days (I leave again on Tuesday, so I don't need much).

The morning continued in this vein - some housekeeping, some desultory internet procrastination, some drinking of coffee, etc. But I had to get my act together and pick up Chandlord at 1:15ish - we had a date to organize someone else's wedding, and that required going up to Guerneville and tasting someone else's food. This, of course, is a reference to Ritu; there were a few dishes from our tasting in February that the kitchen needed to retest, and Vidya and I were tapped to be the testers. Since it was all Indian food (chaat, samosas, paneer, biryani), Vidya was more important for this task than I was, but I was quite happy to eat all of it. And I was happy to see the people at the ranch again - I think it's going to be a really fun wedding, and if I don't misbehave myself too badly, I think they would let me rent a cabin there during the off season for some hermity writing time this winter....

But winter is not just coming - it's already arrived. We grabbed some coffee and left Guerneville around 4:30, so we were home around 6:15, and the fog descended upon us as we crossed the Golden Gate. I dropped Vidya off at home, then came to my own home and intended to do all sorts of things, but basically did none of them since I decided instead to take a nap, mess around, and read all the horrific early tweets from the Dallas shooting (reading post-shooting tweets is, tragically, something it seems I could do every day).

I took a break from mourning, though, to have some much-needed family time. I'd asked Adit if he wanted to grab dinner, which was a no, but he was free for a drink after 10:30. Vidya was also out and about, so I met her slightly earlier at the Vestry (after taking a lyft where my driver started going off about the Illuminati, which was somewhat surprising), where I had a glass of wine and she had a cocktail and we started to talk about life even before Adit joined us. Our conversation continued through our drinks there, and then on to Monk's Kettle, where we split a bottle of gamay noir, and where Chandlord had a veggie burger and Adit and I split some risotto, and where we had cheese for dessert like we were a bunch of Regency dukes. We had a long-ranging, rambling conversation about life and friendship and balance and local politics and homelessness and anger and global minima, and it was all very soothing and very familial even as it wasn't all entirely uplifting.

But by 1:30 the monks were ready to be rid of us, so we stepped out into the mist, said our goodbyes to Adit, and then Vidya and I shared a lyft to our neighborhood. And then I should have blogged, but I was so tired that I fell asleep on my couch. And now I'm going to go to bed in earnest, and hopefully get some glorious sleep before tomorrow's adventures (lunch with a near-stranger, housekeeping, perhaps various other exciting things). Goodnight!

you watch me bleed until i can't breathe

Writing is progressing rapidly now, and I even took a break this afternoon for fun stuff...but all breaks must cease for the next couple of days, since I still have far too much stuff to get done before I turn it in to my editor on Wednesday (and then leave for Boston on Thursday). I woke up this morning and was mostly productive most of the day (at least until 1pm-ish). I'm still adding new scenes and taking out others, which means the words come in fits and starts sometimes, but at least they were happening.

But I can't articulate my process at this point, other than to say that writing is a bizarre and sometimes uncomfortable way to make a living. So I'll move on to other, easier things to explain - like drinking rosé on the back patio at Arlequin, which I'm pretty good at and is also something an amateur/novice could easily pick up without much skill or practice.

Of course, I talked to my parents this afternoon before pursuing my fun activity (and they were delightful, and also told me a nice story about a man named Bubba, so that was enjoyable). Then I walked down to Arlequin, which was hopping - luckily, Katrina and I were able to score a table and a bottle of rosé and three glasses, and we settled in to chat. Eventually, Justin joined us; he's better friends with Chandlord and Katrina than with me, but I always enjoy hanging out with him.

So the three of us sat around and discussed a variety of ridiculous and perhaps inappropriate topics, particularly in relation to weddings (Katrina has now been to like forty-two, which seems like approximately twenty too many) [actually, then I got curious and counted how many weddings I've been to, and it's fifteen friend weddings, ~8 family/family friend weddings, and seven weddings that I had to miss for a variety of reasons - but I was in four of the friend weddings and a couple of the family weddings and am about to be in Ritu's wedding, and I feel like those should count as extra].

Anyway, after Arlequin we went to Biergarten, where I very much enjoyed a bratwurst and some curried potatoes while drinking another glass of wine and talking about more ridiculous stuff. Eventually, we parted ways, and Justin and I walked back in this direction together (although he continued on past my place). I procrastinated when I got home, and then I took a long nap - sleeping from 9:30 to 10:30pm is dangerous and could have just turned into sleeping all night, but I rallied and worked for three hours, and that stuff was all good.

And now I need to sleep and hope my brain resets in time to write more words tomorrow - goodnight!

and i didn't mind, it's not my kind, it's not my time to wonder why

Today was a perfect mess of work and old friends and new friends and relaxation and sunshine and red red wine (stay close to me). I woke up in time, theoretically, to have breakfast with Ritu and Bill, but I promptly texted them to say I hated them and wanted to keep sleeping, so I curled back up and slept for another hour. And then I took a quick shower and had breakfast on my own while doing some work - parts of breakfast were mildly disgusting, but it's free, so whatever. And they had coffee and wifi, which is all I really needed.

After breakfast, I sat in the courtyard and worked in the sun for three hours or so - I didn't get much writing done, but I had some business stuff to take care of (which I'm glad I did - some of it was totally material to some promotional activities I have coming up next week, and if I hadn't done it today, it would have been too late). And it felt good to be productive while traveling - I need to prove to myself that I can do that while traveling if I'm going to allow myself to go on as many trips as I want to go on in the next couple of years.

But eventually I met up with Ritu and Bill and we walked downtown and had a delightfully leisurely, extremely delicious late lunch at Luna Red, which serves a combo of tapas + global dishes (which seems like a weird combo, but we loved it). We had ceviche and bacon wrapped dates, and Ritu and I split the seafood paella and the beef green curry, and Bill had some lamb rolls, and we all had a lot of wine, and we talked about life and work and weddings and romantic disasters (in other words, everything we've missed in each others' lives in the last few months). And I could have sat on that patio forever...

But all good things must end, often to make way for better things. We wandered back to the hotel (with a stop to buy olive oil products - Bill is in the food oil industry and actually tastes oil plain, which I find a trifle bizarre), and then we bought a bottle of wine to drink in the lobby because we couldn't wait another thirty minutes for the free happy hour to start. Jared, my new favorite person and favorite wedding guest, walked in as Ritu and I were attempting to open our bottle, and I think it sealed our relationship because we looked so ridiculous. Also, clearly we're going to be friends because he has a son named Samson and he hasn't yet punched me in the face for calling the kid Samsung all night, so I think we're cool.

sssanyway. Ritu, Bill and I took a uber to the wedding venue, where we partook of a lot of tasty food for the 'rehearsal dinner' - they had a food truck with a pizza oven, so there were a lot of delish-looking pizzas. Luckily there were also a lot of delicious meatballs, so I ate like eight of those plus a lot of a tasty salad, and I drank a lot more wine (provided by Spencer, who is dating one of Steph's sisters and works at a winery), and I generally had an amazing time. Basically, I can have fun at any wedding if I put my heart into it, and I'm putting my heart into this one, which means I've befriended a ton of people and Steph's parents have started calling me the daughter they never had, so I think that's a good thing?

Eventually, though, I needed to get some sleep, so I called an Uber - and somehow someone showed up who had space for six, so we brought back Ritu, Bill, Kirsten (she's awesome), Jared (again, always awesome - he apparently did some comedy stuff for Second City at some point, if that says anything), and Kirsten's cousin (who is also cousins with the groom). Jared went to rejoin his wife/son almost immediately, after asking me to smell his hand (you had to be there), but Ritu, Bill, Kirsten and I bought another bottle of wine from the hotel and sat out by the firepit for an hour to drink most of it And I comprehensively insulted Kirsten's Hungarian boy-toy, but I think she's okay with it.

But now, it's one a.m. and I need to sleep if I have any hope of being functional tomorrow - more fun awaits, and I am determined to be as charming as possible to seal the deal with Jared and Kirsten and some other people in terms of being friends in the future, so wish me luck with that. Goodnight!

hey macarena

Too tired to blog, but I will tell you that Shedletsky didn't back down, and so he's well and truly married. This is tres exciting, of course. I spent the entire day dealing with wedding stuff. - I got up earlier than I wanted to and went over to a house to pick up Tammy (which really means we watched most of the Belgium/Argentina game before going to get our hair done for the wedding. Then we ate at a grocery store deli counter across the street, and then we went to the ceremony

It was totally gorgeous and perfect for them - pretty informal, short, and arrived at on a steam locomotive, which we cool (albeit slow...but given that some of us drove to the wedding site the day before and someone we'll and truly fucked up their undercarriage, taking the train there was way better. and then we had reception and dinner, which was all fun - and I danced until my toe suddenly started really hurting and I realized I probably shouldn't have done any dancing. Oops.

But now I desperately need to sleep, so this is all you get. Goodnight

don't pay no mind to the demons, they'll fill you with fear

Today was exactly the day I wanted to have - v. productive, with a v. lovely end, and only a little bit of broken glass and spilled wine along the way. I woke up a little after eight, messed around on the interwebs, did the first of three loads of laundry, showered, blowdried my hair, and proceeded to my favorite cafe down the street for some restorative huevos rancheros (not that there was much in need of restoration, since I wasn't hung over, but I had no food in the house and so had to go out). When I got home, I spent almost an hour on the phone with my agent - no news to report, but we were discussing possible launch strategies for Ellie and Nick, whether to redo my covers, marketing schemes, etc., etc. I'm feeling good about all of that; Ellie and Nick will almost certainly come out later than I had hoped, but it will be a better book because of it (or at least I can tell myself that).

sssanyway, after talking to my agent (I'm going to keep saying 'my agent' in as pretentious a way as possible), I went to the post office to pick up the mail they couldn't deliver, then went to the grocery store and stocked up for my impending week of solitude (that's a gross distortion, of course). Then I came home, put away the clothes that were done and started another load, took care of some little but necessary tasks, changed clothes (because I live like a Regency lady and must wear multiple outfits a day), and then took a bus up to Pac Heights, where I wrote for a couple of hours. And I'm happy with what I wrote; I had to scrap an early scene and rewrite it, and I got about six new pages this afternoon, which I will take.

Eventually, though, it was time to meet up with Lauren (aka Subz) for dinner and a long-overdue debrief from her wedding and honeymoon and everything we've each been up to since then. I hadn't seen her since the day after the wedding, since she left immediately thereafter for her honeymoon and I was in Iowa by the time she got back. So, we had much to discuss, although it got off to a poor start when our server dropped Lauren's wine as she was serving it, shattering the glass on the table and getting wine all over the place. They moved us to a different table, but brought us a free and unwanted dessert rather than comping our drinks, which I thought was a little annoying. However, the food was delicious (a papaya salad, a crab with cellophane noodles, and a chicken claypot that I thought was thebomb.com). And Lauren and I talked for over two hours, which was very lovely; luckily, my arrangement of an afterparty at her wedding was taken as a fun thing to have done rather than a sign of how trashy I am, so we're still friends and hope to remain that way. Or at least I hope to remain that way - I try not to scare her off, although I did mention that I hoped there was a good photo of us from her wedding so that I could put it in a heart-shaped frame on my desk. She took it well.

And now that I've walked home and probably destroyed me feet again (the hill down from Pac Heights is so steep that there are ~3 blocks that have stairs cut into the sidewalk), I should really sleep - I want to finish that scene tomorrow and power through some more edits, and I should theoretically go to this Sound of Music singalong thingy, so sleep is crucial. Goodnight!