Stranger Things

January 13, 2025 Rafe and I are binge watchers, and although we have pretty different tastes in shows, we have found several we have enjoyed together: Ted Lasso, The Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone (and its off-shoots), Inside Man, Nobody Wants This, and Succession, to name some. Currently we are watching Stranger Things. When it first came out I watched the first couple of seasons but fell off, probably because life got busy. We went back and started watching from the beginning, and man, is it intense! We are in the fourth season, and this is by far the darkest and most difficut season. It's really good though! I like a show that can weave several story lines throughout and then connect them all together. I am invested to see where the rest of the show goes...

It's The Little Things

January 5, 2025

Being a homeowner means there is always something to be done, and I don't always have the skill set to complete all the chores quickly or easily. I am so thankful that Rafe is not only a good handyman, but that he is absolutely willing to jump in and take care of things that need to be done. He is a true partner in that way, and I feel pretty lucky!

Albert's Birthday

January 3, 2025

A couple of weeks ago, Lisa, Bree, and Danielle and I went to a friend's house to make tamales. I'm not sure how we came into the tradition of having tamales every Christmas, except that opportunities for purchasing homemade Mexican tamales are plentiful at Christmas time, particularly in the Central Valley. Because of my fondness for them and easy access, my kids always grew up knowing that we'd have tamales at Christmastime--it's one of our traditions. When I happened to mention it at Thanksgiving to a friend, she offered to have us all over for a tamale-making day. I've always heard that it was a long day, tamale-making, and it was! However, with many hands and a few steamers, we were able to make about 18 dozen chicken, pork, and vegetarian tamales among all of us. (We talked, of course, and had the requisite singable songs going, which made the process much more fun.) I can confidently say that they turned out pretty well! Rafe suggested that we take some to his dad when we celebrated his birthday, which is today. Although I admit to a little trepidation about taking my homemade tamales to someone who grew up in a traditional Mexican household and whose mom used to make him tamales, we decided we'd go to Tulare for dinner and treat him. Rafe made beans and Albert made rice, and I must say we sat down to a very tasty meal together! Both of his parents thanked us and gave us the stamp of approval for the tamales, which made me feel good. I love visiting Albert and Cyndi because they are always so welcoming to me, so it really was a great birthday visit. :)

A Visit to Sacramento

January 8, 2024

Since Mia was in town on Sunday/Monday, we decided to make an overnight trip up to Sacramento to visit Rafe's brother Josh and his family. We were able to go to a local brewery and listen to some live local bands, and spend time playing, laughing, and talking with Beka, Josh, and the kids. It was a quick turn-around, but totally fun!

More of this Please

January 6, 2024

We spent New Year's Eve day sitting around a fire, talking and just enjoying the feeling of having no place to be and nothing pressing on our to-do lists. While we can't have that all the time- of course there will be papers to grade and laundry to be done sometimes- I'm striving to carve out more of these days in 2024 for us.

Play Ball!

March 27, 2022 

Last week I was out of town for Rafe's first baseball game of the season, but this week I was able to go watch. I don't love watching baseball on T.V., but live and in person, I can definitely get behind. (It doesn't hurt that he looks cute in his uniform!) We were out at the Roosevelt field, which unfortunately has no bathrooms and no shade. I'm going to have to keep that in mind for the next time we go out to that field. It is a lot of fun to watch him play, as well as to listen to their banter during the game. It will be even more fun as I start to get to know who all the players are. One of his teammates has a wife who comes to the games, so we hang out and chat during the game, which is great. The only down side to Sunday's game was that although there was a bit of a lovely breeze, the sun was shining brightly which means that by the end of the three hour game, I had developed quite a sunburn on my shoulders. I'm going to have to remember to bring sunscreen to future games; it's not going to get any cooler out there as we move into summer.

Oscar Contender: Movie Night

March 25, 2022 In my quest to see as many Oscar nominated films as possible before the Academy Awards (at which I will fail miserably this year), I wanted to have a movie night tonight. I have only seen West Side Story so far, and we were limited to what was available for streaming. That left us with Don't Look Up as our option tonight. I invited Rafe over to join Danielle and me for dinner, and then we watched the show. Honestly, JenniferLawrence, Leondardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, and Jonah Hill were all very good in this film, as one would expect them to be. It was a pretty strong social satire, albeit quirky and odd. I enjoyed it, as did Danielle and Rafe, but I also suspect it was too non-traditional to take away Oscar gold on Sunday night.

Baseball Sunday

March 13, 2022

To cap off a fun weekend, I went out to watch Rafe play his first baseball scrimmage of the season. He's been playing ball with his friends in a league for several years, so they all have a great time playing together--lots of trash talk and joking around. I can tell it's a fun-loving group. I enjoy baseball, and the weather was absolutely beautiful, so it was a great way to spend the morning. It was kind of cool to be one of the girlfriends in the bleachers, to be honest. The only thing I didn't like was it was Daylight Saving Time, so we lost an hour of sleep between Saturday and Sunday night--that never makes me happy. Nevertheless, going out to the game and then having dinner later in the evening was a wonderful way to finish the weekend. I definitely wish there was more weekend in our weeks.

Meeting Someone New, Part Two

March 12, 2022

Last night I got to meet Rafe's parents, and tonight he got to meet my best friend and her husband. Turn about's fair play! Rafe and I actually spent the afternoon looking at Oscar Nominated Short Films to watch on Youtube--unfortunately there aren't many there yet, but we did catch a few. (Obviously, I am looking forward to the upcoming Oscars. I missed the traditions of the Academy Awards during the Covid years!) Afterward, we met up with Mo and Scott and a group of friends at Sequoia Brewing to listen to Night Heat play. It was great to have Rafe and Mo meet, and match faces with names. Nicholas has also already met him, so I am looking forward to my girls and Lisa getting the chance to meet him as well.

Meeting Someone New

March 11, 2022 Meeting someone new is exciting and interesting, getting to learn all the intricasies, idiosyncrasies, and nuances of someone new and important in your life. What works? What doesn't? What's important to them, and what drives them. How do they prioritize their time? What are the things and people they value? It's all an adventure, and usually a pretty wonderful one. Part of that exploration involves meeting people who are important in their life and introducing them to the people who matter to you. That part can be pretty daunting, actually, because what if they don't like you? What if you don't fit into their friend group, or their family finds you not good enough? Tonight I got to meet the parents. They invited us to join them for dinner, and although I was excited to meet them, I was also a little nervous, of course. His parents were super sweet and welcoming, and I think the conversation flowed smoothly and easily. Hopefully they thought so too! I was actually a really nice evening--a bit of a milestone, I guess. One of my girlfriends asked me when was the last time I had met the parents of a man I was interested in. Oh my goodness--Bill's parents were the last parents I met, which was about a year before we got married when I was still only 19. (For those keeping track, I am now 54. Meeting the parents for the first time was a LONG time ago!)

Top Chef Is Back

March 10, 2022 I have been a Top Chef loyalist from the beginning, so of course I was excited to see that the new season had started up. Watching that show inspired me to try some dishes that I had never had before, such as ceviche (an oft-made dish on the show) and gnocchi, among others. It also gives me new ideas about ways in which I can combine ingredients in my own cooking. It's fun to root for the chefs and get to know their personalities as well. I love that they have former contestants come back as guest judges or hosts as well. Rafe was a good sport and watched the first episode with me after I cooked us dinner, and I'm hoping I can rope him into making it a regular date night. :)

Things are Going Well

March 6, 2022 I said goodbye to the ocean for now after taking my camera out to the beach on my way out of town. Even though I am always sad to leave the coast, I was excited to get back home to spend some time with Rafe. I cooked us some dinner and we enjoyed a quite evening together. Things are going very well, and I am feeling more and more excited to spend time with him every time we get together.

Weekends are for Fun

February 26, 2022

Today I got to go to lunch with Rafe and meet his two youngest boys.  We took them to Coney Island Pizza (where, of course, there were video games to play when they got bored talking to the adults).  I really enjoyed getting to put names to faces--they were great!  After we dropped the boys off at their mom's house, we went back to Rafe's place and watched a couple of movies.  We watched the very nostalgic Neverending Story and then a fluffy time-travel rom-com.  It was nice to just relax and cuddle on the couch for the afternoon.  Finally, we went out to Sequoia Brewing to listen to Wild Hare play.  It was great to see Eddie doin' his thing, and when I texted Lisa and told her I was there, she came out to hang out with us!  It was a very full and wonderful day.

Chef Throwdown at Chukchansi Park

February 25, 2022

On Friday night, Rafe and I went to a local chef's throwdown at Chukchansi Park.  It was an event to raise funds for CASA.  Rafe had heard something about it on the radio, and thought it sounded like something fun and different to do for a date night.  It was a beautiful night at the ballpark.  There were six chefs from local restaurants who each provided a taste of a signature dish.  There were bison sliders, curried shrimp, and crispy pork belly dishes, just to name a few.  Local breweries also served at the event, and there was live music.  Best of all was the company.  We had a wonderful evening!  (Oh--and he brought me flowers-I love flowers!)

Anastasia

February 22, 2022

Tonight I got to head out to the theater once again to see a production of Anastasia.  This used to be one of Brianna's very favorite movies when she was young.  Weirdly, although she watched it a hundred times with me, I didn't remember much about the plotline.  I remembered, of course, that it was about the Romanovs and the daughter who survived the attack on her family, but beyond that I hadn't held onto the details of the story.  I think Bree and I watched it so often that I got bored by it and blocked it out.  The show has some pretty dark moments, but lots of comedy, too.  I thought the actors were all very strong, especially their singing voices.  Unlike when I went to see Waitress last month, I didn't have any trouble understanding the lyrics during the musical numbers.  What was really incredible, though, was the digital sets.  I don't think I've ever seen a show that relied so heavily on projected scenes, but the detail and quality were so beautiful and intricate that it definitely enhanced the production in a very different way than a traditional set might have.  I would imagine that a traditional stage set for a production like this would be incredibly expensive and difficult to transport, but the projected screens allowed for a lot more flexibility.  Done poorly, it would have detracted from the experience, but the quality here was stunning.  Couple that with a charming date, and it all made for a very lovely evening indeed!