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Today was my first day meeting and working out with my personal trainer. Holy Cow!! He wasn’t kidding last week when he said he’d try to keep me from throwing up. It was hard work. Much of the work was indeed trying to keep my breakfast down. My arms were shaking. My legs were shaking. I’m told tomorrow it might hurt to even wash my hair!

What have I been doing all these years? How is it that i am so out of shape? Well, no more! I’m so excited to be doing this. I feel really lucky to be able to have a trainer that is focusing on just me the whole time. Pushing me to my limits. Encouraging me to be strong. Showing me the proper way to do all of the exercises. Taking the guess work out of working out.

I’m looking forward to the point where I am not so sick the whole time. I’m going to try to do some cardio during the couple days off that I don’t see him. Tomorrow I’m going to start with a long steep walk up one of our local San Francisco hills. This is so good for me – in so many ways. 😎

Check out my pretty new maple tree! My uncle gave it to me along with a Ginkgo Biloba.

We went camping this weekend. Charlotte the dog came along for the ride. Camping with a dog is not as easy and natural as it sounds. First of all we had to rent a bigger car to accommodate her and her stuff. When we went to pick up our rental “Standard SUV” they surprised us with a FREE upgrade! How fun! usually… The new upgraded utility vehicle was an H3! A hummer! and it was bumble bee yellow! Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to drive and had leather interior, seat warmers, Satellite radio etc. But in SF driving around in such an impractical car leads to disappointing looks. I couldn’t wait to leave the city and get out to the country. Once out in the country, we stuck out even more in our city slicker yellow hummer. To top it off we also had the biggest tent known to man-kind! it has 3 bedrooms!

So for Charlottes stuff we a bag with toys, her bucket with food, all of her dishes and water and treats, a few leashes, her beds, a crate, a metal play area, and a long rope for tying her off. sheesh! not exactly roughing it! and especially for a dog. but it made our life easier having options. she is quite a handful sometimes. All of the new scents and critters had her going on overdrive.

On Saturday we went for a walk which turned out to be a little more adventurous than originally intended. The destination was “The Gorge” (A river-y area). We eventually made it, but we really pooped out the poor puppy! When we got back to camp she dug herself a nice hole in the dirt, crawled in, and slept for a long time.

I just got a new computer! (iMac)

I’ve been playing with the application Photo Booth. Holy Cow! I don’t think i have laughed this hard before breakfast in ages! everytime i play with it, i laugh till i cry and my side aches. Good times.

Anyway here is a photo of me. Enjoy!

We are back from our honeymoon and the photos are up!
Check ’em out by clicking the “My Photo Gallery” link to the right.

We went to Bora Bora, Tahiti, and a small island off of Taha’a (Le Taha’a Private Island & Resort).

For our wedding we got the new game Guitar Hero! i avoided playing it for weeks. how much fun could a toy plastic guitar really be? Turns out – LOTS! pretty soon i’ll be rocking out for real.

Here is a photo from last nights silliness:

In case you missed Brett’s 3 part series entitled “Drinking Gin Like a Civilized Human Being” you must go check it out now. i mean it. drop whatever it is you are doing, stop reading this blog and go follow this link.

If you ask me, the only flip-flop worth wearing are the brand Locals. They are exclusively sold in Hawaii where they are called “Slippers”. Whenever i go (which is rarely) i pick up a pair. Or if i can catch someone who is going then i try to get them to buy me a pair or two. The most recent Hawaiian trip was made by Dallas a couple years ago. He brought me back 3 pairs. One pair was too small (which i gave away), and the other 2 pairs i have been wearing ever since. A funny thing about these fabulous slippers is that they only cost about $2. What a deal!

Our puppy, Charlotte, has chewed my last 2 pairs this month. I guess she likes the feel of the rubber foamy stuff on her teeth. I’ve been wearing them a lot recently since San Francisco has started to warm up and feel summery so they’ve been out and about right at puppy nose level. She actually chewed through my last pair a week ago, but i decided to keep wearing them anyway. They looked pretty tattered and had bite marks on them, but hey… Anyway today i didn’t realize in time that she had woken up from a nap and she managed to chew the strap off 8-(

So thats it. The end of my Locals.

Or so i thought!
Likitty-split Dallas found some on eBay.
They are being sold by a college girl in Hawaii. How great!
So click click click, and i should have them by next week! (i love happy endings)

Oh! And here are the new ones which will make their debut in Mexico!

Today I went to Chez Panisse Cafe for lunch with my friend Minna. I hadn’t been back since i stopped working there in December. Fantastic meal! and it was really really nice to see all those friendly faces. i should go more often.

what we ate:
4 appetizers-

Washington State oysters on the half shell with mignonette sauce
Champagne to wash them down

Roasted beets, carrot salad with cumin and lime, and herb jam on flatbread
Bourgogne Vezelay, La Chatelaine, Domaine de la Cadette, France

Cardoon and frisée salad with grilled anchoïade toast

Asparagus with lemon cream, chervil, and bottarga di muggine

2 entrees-

Pan Fried Alaskan halibut with pickled vegetables and parsley mayonnaise

Grilled Hoffman Farm chicken al mattone with Belgian endive, potato-celery gratin, and salsa verde
Westrey Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon

2 desserts-

Pineapple sherbet with kumquat confit and gingersnaps

A bowl of Jim Churchill’s Pixie tangerines and Black Sphinx dates