Wednesday, February 09, 2005

I think I just saw the bottom of a barrel, or is that a rock I just hit?

This Just In:
Meghan's Life is hitting all time lows
Details at 10.

Ok - so maybe a little on the dramatic side, but I tell you what, if this is cosmic payback for going on vacation then I take it back. The random shit that is going on in my life -- in no particular order:
boy has decided to just "be friends"
being kicked out of house
mom's cancer has spread.

WHEE!!!

**Please note the following descriptions will be full of pity, caustic remarks, self-loathing and general discontent with the world at large**


Ok - shall we start at the top, or just randomly attack the topics at large. hmm. choices.
Random:

Mom's cancer. So the little gremlins have spread. To her back. Specifically to her spine. Just doesn't get any better. So they have decided to keep trying the treatment she is on. Seems odd -- clearly it is not preventing the spread of the cancer, but we are going to stick with it anyway. I dunno. Not a doctor -- and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn last night -- but it would seem to me tht if it is spreading, maybe a new approach might be in order? I just get the feeling that I am not getting the whole story from my parents. Like I need to call the doctor directly and see what is up. But of course, they are not going to discuss that stuff with me. So I am left to the filtered information as provided by the family.

Being kicked out of my house. Well, maybe not really kicked out. Landlord told me last weekend that he wants to do some renovations this spring. Cool, methinks. Nope -- with renovations will be raising the rent by 20% and after renovations does not want pets in the house.
So -- as I am currently stretching it with rent as it is, no roommates in sight and not really wanting to get rid of the munchkins, I am left with one choice: find new home. Which sucks. I have been in this place for almost 4 years. Love it. My home. HOME. not some crappy place I rent. So I have begun the odious task of looking for new places. I need to get a move on -- he is giving me until the end of April, but still. I am going to be picky, so gotta start looking around.
Trying to take the high road here, change is good, can find a cheaper place, blah, blah -- but still bites ass.

And the winner of the day: "Let's just be friends"
So I come back from vacation, send off an email saying hey -- how have you been? And that is what I got back in return. I mean, it was much nicer than that. But still the bottom line was friends. Do I really need ANOTHER male friend in my life, much less one that is 5.5 hours away?? Clearly the answer is not. Sucks totally. So, I did the self pity party "What is wrong with me that a normal man cannot be attracted to me?" and had to kill that quickly. Then you do the "well he doesn't know what he is going to be missing" BS. Just sucks Back to square one all over again.
I am tired of square one. Ugh. UGH
UUUUU
GGGGG
HHHHH

So there you have it. The latest and less than greatest from my corner of the world.

And to add insult to injury, it is cold, snowy and icy here.

I need a remote island to go live on for a bit.







Thursday, February 03, 2005

Go West Young Woman

So I just got back from a week in Northern California.
Why do I live in Iowa?

Allow me to explain a little about the trip, what we did and where we chose to spend out time....

Wednesday, Jan 26, 2005: Nate, Martine & I board a plane heading west. First stop, Denver. Brief layover, fly onto San Jose, CA.
Get the rental car -- the car that would become affectionately known as the "CoRo" -- as in Toyota Corolla. And head north to Napa.
Get to Napa -- check into the B&B.
AMAZING!!!
Seriously, check this place out:
The Daughter's Inn
I stayed in the Lord & Ladies room. I was alone -- long story, will get to that later.
But this room is off the hook.
So we grab some dinner, decide to make it an early night so we can get a fresh start in the morning.

Thursday, Jan 27, 2005: After spending a glorious evening in my personal Jacuzzi hot tub, fireplace in the room and a HUGE down filled king size bed, woke up to a great breakfast and a map of the Napa valley.
Perry (the innkeeper) was armed with a few suggestions and highlighters -- which it turns out, was a lethal combination. So after a hearty breakfast, a few cups of coffee and armed with our freshly highlighted map -- we were off.
For the record, it was overcast, but warm and that part of the country is so scenic... really. So we were off to the vineyard races as it were.
And here they are, in order:
Peju -- pretty grounds, wine um-impressive.
Rombauer -- nice zinfandel if you like a big, jamy zin.
V. Sattui -- nice table red. Madeira was pretty tasty. Got some freebies to other vineyards for tasting
Del Dotto -- AMAZING. Worth every freakin' penny. Soooo educational. Loved it. Can't say enough. oh yeah -- not cheap wine.

We had planned on a big dinner for Martines' birthday, but alas Del Dotto -- which summarily became "El Blotto" -- kicked her butt. So she yakked, we chilled out and got some food from the local taqueria. Yum.

Friday, Jan 28, 2005: Same routine at breakfast. Perry wished us well -- great place, can't say enough good things about it. And we jumped right back into our wine tasting habits... this time with a sunny day on our side.
Mum Cuvee -- Sparkling wine. Don't know enough about sparkling wine. but nate's reserve tasting was MUCH better than mine. Also VERY cool photo exhibit of Ansel Adams work and a local photographer -- Art Woods, i believe his name was. Great, great stuff to see.
Niebaum-Coppola -- Great grounds, wine sucks -- didn't even try it. But have a "Movie Museum" all of Coppola's stuff -- Oscars, movie props, etc. Pretty neat to see.
Costentino -- Great little winery. Good Zin & table red. One of the better cab's we tried.
Folie A Deux -- Another great little winery. Good jammy zin and some nice table reds. Very laid back group -- lots of fun.

Then we drove to San Francisco. But we took the long way -- through Sonoma and came in on the north side of SF to cross the Golden Gate.
Dinner in North Beach and an early night.

Saturday, Jan 29, 2005: ZAP -- not sure i need to say more. Breakfast at the little Irish place with the great soda bread and by 11 AM we were tasting Zin. LOTS AND LOTS OF ZIN.
Good crowd, Dave, Erin, Ingrid, Nate, Martine, myself, Bonnie & Rob. Good, good times.
Dinner, more wine, more drinking at the bar. stumbled home late and pretty intoxicated.

Sunday, Jan 30, 2005: Greasy recovery breakfast in the Castro -- beautiful men there. And they will NEVER find me attractive :). Quick stop at Dave & Erin's house up on Telegraph Hill and we were on our way to Santa Cruz. Where we proceeded to stop by two more vineyards on the way ...
Grabbed some sushi on Sunday night, walked around a bit and headed back to the hotel. Right on the beach. I mean, you could hear the sea lions barking the whole time. pretty impressive view.

Monday, Jan 31, 2005: Two words: BIG BASIN. Holy crap. State park with all the redwoods you could ever imagine. Redwoods, for the record, are unbelievable. We walked and walked and walked and walked and did I mention, walked???
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 miles (5 hours) which at some points were practically straight up the canyon wall. Calves and ass HURT at the end of the day.
Did some shopping that night and went to a local bar.

Tuesday -- flight home.

Wednesday -- back to reality. Too many emails to talk about. Gray, brown, snowy and cold when I woke up on Wednesday morning. WHY? why do i live in Iowa??

Ugh -- so good trip. Very wine filled. All in all goodness.
I will get into the whole solo aspect of the trip later -- too much typing for one day.

So there it is. Meghan's vacation for the year. Pretty happy with it.
Now -- just need to pay the credit card bills :)