Fantastic 4th Weekend!

OMG, did we had a blast celebrating the 4th!

As soon as Tamara got off work, we headed over to Karen's moving away party for a lil bit. Tamara was digging the Sangria Susan P. had made; we left before she had the to chance to enjoy it too much! We had just enough time to snap a pic or 2 with Roberta and Mark.


We headed to Fenton's for a Friday night dinner date with Jackie, Bernie, and Kat. My wifey was craving a crab sandwich, & we were all craving their yummy ice cream! Here's a few pics that perfectly sum up the experience. Kat will be talking about her sundae for days!



Tamara and I ended the evening watching several more episodes of True Blood (awesome series!), and then slept in until 11. Jack, Bern, & Kat rolled in with gobs of great food for an afternoon of swimming and BBQing. Jackie even hooked us up with a poolside fruit bar; the pickled mango she and Kat whipped up was magnificent! There were long period's of contented silence as we devoured the food hot off the grill. By the way, Jack can COOK and Kat can GRUB!







We had no sooner cleared off the table then we scooted over to our hubbies' house in Newark for fireworks. First, we had to give Mark & Charles the salt-n-pepper shakers we got them at Pride--it's fun to stay at the YMCA!--LOL. After tons of booms and ahhh's, we closed down the holiday back at the house with Kat, Jack, & T grubbin down one more bowl of ice cream!

Wicked, Wonderful 1st Wedding Anniversary!

June 30 marked both our 1st wedding anniversary and the 4th anniversary of our relationship. As Tamara had the day off (thanks to July 4 falling on Saturday!), we lounged about in our lovely Sleep Number bed til noon! She totally LOVED the Fossil butterfly watch I got her, and we got each other the sweetest cards. We seriously lounged on the couch watching movies and napping until it was time to head to the city for Wicked.

We absolutely had the loveliest evening in the city. We found a parking spot a block from the theater, had awesome seats, and enjoyed Wicked from start to finish. Afterwards, we headed to the Castro for some "Escape from New York" pizza. (parking space right outside!) J., the cashier, gave us our dinner on the house in celebration of our 1st anniversary; totally sweet guy! We toasted our slices to "500 more years of wedded bliss."



Now for a lil bonus Wicked coverage (mostly for you, Julie) courtesy of the Pride Parade.

Pickle Monday!

So sadly, my sweet wifey had to drag her butt into work on Monday. While she was gone, I gave our bedroom and bathroom a good cleaning to surprise her. She was very tickled :) Berdine and I grabbed lunch at BJ's Brewhouse and then headed back to the house so she could nap on the couch while I did some more cleaning and Jeremy (her cousin) lounged about in the pool. When Tamara came home, she jumped in the pool with Jeremy. They're both pickle fiends so Berdine silenced their demands by serving them a bowl o' pickles poolside. It was a gorgeous evening for a swim followed by dinner at El Burro! mmm, huevos rancheros!

Pride Sunday: Parade, IHOP, & Swimming

Sunday was Pride! We got up early, hopped into the car with the kids, and headed for BART, all doing our best to show our Pride spirit.


We staked out our spot in front of Starbucks and waited for the craziness to begin. Tamara tells me that I missed seeing Cloris Leachman in Starbucks with me (guess I was too preoccupied figuring out what we all needed to order to notice); she was excited that Cloris stopped to speak to her upon exiting. The peeps at Starbucks were the bomb--so nice and friendly despite the frantic jumble of humanity. As the parade got rolling, the WILD 94.9 roving photog captured us hooting and hollering.



One highlight from the parade happened thanks to some protestors who pulled off a "die-in" in front of Gavin Newsom's car near where we were standing. Evidently aware that something was planned, Gavin had exited his ride and was glad-handing his way down the barricades. Tamara and I both shook his hand; without his actions to provide marriage equality in SF in 04, Tamara and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get married last summer. It's nice to shake the hand of someone who played such a pivotal part in our lives.

The sun showed its face; Jackie was in heaven as T cooled her down with a Starbucks ice cube:) We all got plenty of swag from beads to lube to oodles of Whole Foods re-usable grocery sacks; we expecially loved the t's that Chipotle was tossing into the crowd.

As soon as the parade ended, we jumped back on BART and headed for IHOP to make the kids' "Ihopes" come true. We were all starving so we distracted ourselves by snapping goofy self-portraits.


We rounded out the day with a relaxing dip in the pool, followed by steak on the grill, and a partial viewing of Pink Panther 2 before driving the kids home. We had a gr8 time with them!