I'm Rubber You're Glue

I don't know why I should ever be surprised at peoples rudeness and ability to be inconsiderate.

To sum up the latest example, one of the managers came to me yesterday and asked if I would have a few of the workers change their voicemail. The person's position I took over was his girlfriend, and she passed away about a year ago from cancer. She was the one that recorded the voicemail messages for the work phones, and so now when he calls the guys and they don't answer, it's his dead ex-girlfriend's voice he has to listen to if he wants to leave a message.

One guy refused.

I get that the guy that asked is a bit of a dick, so you may want to be a dick back. But really- isn't there a line?

Good thing it's a work phone and he ultimately doesn't have a choice.

Hump Day

The Hubby is away, and after a delicious long bath I'm now sitting in front of the TV eating hot & spicy beef jerkey. To add to the evening I found a little gem of a show on the gospel channel called Clash of the Choirs. WTF?
I can't decide if I'm in heaven or hell.

Sent from my iPhone

Second Annual Big Sur Camping

This last weekend was the second annual camping trip to Big Sur. Due to the huge fire last year we had to pick a new campground that wasn't burnt down and settled on the lovely Plaskett Creek. (I say this like I had anything to do with it, when in fact I had nothing to do with the planning.)

The group is about 20 people with the most thing in common being that we all like to eat good food and drink lots of booze. With every couple having a weekend assignment everybody ends up well fed and super hydrated.



We purchased a new tent this year, since I was sick of having to sleep on top of my bags as well as The Husband. Behold, the new castle:

We arrive in the early afternoon and begin to set up camp, while the first crew prepares dinner. What's great about this group is that cooking for 20 people always turns out great, in part because of every ones planning, but also because our neighbors take grilling very seriously and we always show up to the campsite with a full tow-behind pit. Yeah, professional. This is only one side of it:
Every time we go camping we end up with people walking by telling us they want to come with our group the next time. The Grill is impressive and shows people that we mean business, we've now got a good showing of very large tents, and always a plethora of games. The glow in the dark bocce ball didn't make it out this year, but we did have Cornhole and some ball throwing game that I was horrible at.
My favorite part of the weekend had to be our Booze Guy. After setting camp up we start drinking, and when The Booze Guy gets there he slams a large container of margaritas down. The next 24 hours was a bit of a fast-paced blur, but I did manage to take pictures and label them for every ones convenience:

Somehow a few of us started talking about gin, and when I mentioned the Bombay Sapphire was the best, The Booze Guy stood up from his camping chair, spiked his open beer into the fire and stormed away, only to return with a fabulous Costco bottle of liquid deliciousness.

We didn't tap into it the first night, but instead drank the rest of the margaritas, beer, and Crown. I woke up still under the influence at 6AM to start preparing for breakfast, and The Booze Man showed up at 7 and began making his magic Gin Fizzes. We finished the bottle well before noon, and after breakfast a nap was in order.

In the afternoon we walked to the beach- one of the nicest on the central coast in my opinion.

This was our sunset:

*Sigh* Gotta love California.

I have no good excuse for a blogging absence. I think about it in fleeting moments during the day, but for some reason playing a game of spider solitaire takes precedence.

Harvest is slowly approaching and I'm sure three months from now if I have a lapse in blogs I will actually have a reason for it. I love the look of the vineyards this time of the year- it seems they go from their dormant state to buds in a week’s span- gotta love chemicals.

This past weekend was Fab's birthday. We had planned to go camping, however FabRic decided to come to Monterey for the night instead.

Naturally, The Hubby and I wanted to meet them and make the most of the beautiful coast, and-of course- when presented with the options for the day they chose wine tasting (somehow it never gets old). The plan was to cruise by Cannery Row since Fab has never been there before, followed by a drive to Carmel Valley to continue wine tastings. Yeah...Lets just say we didn't make it out of Monterey.

Cannery Row wasn't as busy as I thought it'd be, and our first stop was Baywood Cellars. I've never heard of them but they had a nice tasting room and a great guy and his dog working there. One of the best things about working in the wine industry is that at most places I don't pay for tastings (if they charge) and I often get about 30% off. Why would I not buy something if it's delicious?!
The guy had a heavy hand. Not to mention that we hadn't eaten lunch yet. I had to get the 2007 Termpranillo because its hints of smokiness demanded that I serve it with something that had bacon in it. Don't ask.

Our next stop was Scheid. I can't even count how many times I've been there since it is the closest tasting room to our house- and we are surrounded by their vineyards. They just opened up a tasting room on Cannery Row- and if you're in the area you have to stop by at least to check out their bathroom. They guys sure didn't care about it, but Fab and I were impressed. Of course we get to talking, the tasting room guy gets to pouring, we get to drinking. We leave happy.

I think we realized that we weren't moving on to Carmel Valley- so we improvised and we to A Taste of Monterey. This is the view from the tasting counter:

More wine was of course purchased- I'm not sure what they tasted like, but apparently we thought they were good. I was disappointed because they weren't pouring any Pianetta winewhich is one of my favorites (plug for Caitlin and her fam.), but none the less we were content.

We were not too intoxicated to come to the conclusion that we had some of the best calamari. Ever.
Unfortunately, that coincided with this:

On one hand I was smart enough to forgo the temptation of a delicious dirt sapphire martini, on the other I will concede that the pink sugary booze thingy I got in lieu of a martini was not a smart idea either. I cannot be sure, but I think we had a bottle of wine during dinner also. Why don't I learn?
The next event I was about to mention, bay in fact not have been the next event. In writing this it has occurred to me that I can't recall if the bar came before or after dinner. Either way it was another bad idea. I don't know WHY THE HELL this would happen:

Even worse, The Hubby claims that I am the one that got Fab the birthday shot- which I ended up drinking part of. What I am also failing to understand is why these next to pictures occurs, but here they are for your enjoyment:

I didn't even have to crop them. Somehow, Jaeger=boobs. Things get fuzzier from there, as we headed to the hotel where FabRic were staying so we could hit up there classy bar. (Why are people still serving us?!) I am told martinis were in order (WHY?).

Next thing I know, I'm on a dance floor. The Hubby is pissed off.

From what I gather I had gone to the bathroom at the hotel, which happens to be in front of the entrance to the ballroom...Where an event is going on. Yeah, I crashed it. I was dancing like I belonged, and still have no idea what group the party was for. I may have been the youngest of the group, the only one in casual clothes with tattoos showing, but I'm sure I had fun, if not at least provided some of the guests with something to talk about amongst themselves. The Hubby said we went back to the bar and FabRic were nowhere to be found.

We hit up the Jack in the Box drive-thru, and then rented a hotel room down the street from where we used to live. I was up and at'em at 7AM with a raging headache- but quite happy we had a hotel room and weren't stupid enough to drive.

Well, Happy Birthday Fab! At least we got some cute pics before things got sloppy.

Attitude

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a home...a relationship. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that other people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the strength we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent of what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it."

"Have no fear of perfection. You'll never reach it." ~ Salvador Dali