Eat, Sleep, Shop, and Movies
That about sums up my long weekend. Lots of eating at the Tuason Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and also at the Abar Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. Played games - including Apples to Apples and Pictionary, and slept a lot in between at our families' houses.

Black Friday - tried to get up early but ended up leaving the house at 7:30am, which apparently isn't early enough. We got a good parking space at Best Buy, but went inside to find a really long line and all the stuff we wanted was sold out anyway. We ran into Alan's high school friends who were in line, but left soon afterwards. Then we headed over to Target in Colma - where, of course, the poker tabletops for $25 were all sold out. Same thing at Target at Serramonte, but I ended up shopping at NY & Co using my free $15 coupon that I got in the mail.

Then picked up Heidi and my parents and went to see Pride & Prejudice at Century 20. Great movie! I loved the scenes with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy! Keira Knightly is stunning of course. I ordered the original miniseries (with Colin Firth!) on DVD on amazon.com just now since I saw it's on sale.

Saturday I picked up Heidi and my mom to go see the new Harry Potter movie! Another thumbs-up movie from me... especially since it is based on my favorite of the series books. Those kids are growing up way too fast though... I still love Ron. He's my favorite character.

Leftovers
Lots of leftovers that we'll be eating for the next few days. At least I won't have to cook :)

Looking for a book
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Anyone have it so I can borrow?

My H&M Adventure
So I went to H&M yesterday after my training. I ended up spending 2 hours there! I started downstairs but didn't find anything, went upstairs and started picking stuff up. Went back down to browse more thoroughly, and then went back up and decided to go through the whole floor, row by row, looking at everything! Then went back downstairs to pay, since the line upstairs was really long. Good thing I did, because the line downstairs was much shorter. I didn't try anything on, since the lines for the fitting rooms were even longer, but here's what I ended up with:
1 brown sweater
1 maroon sweater
1 pink tank top
1 white tank top
1 white tee
1 brown sleeveless shirt
1 red/pink sleeveless shirt
1 shimmery black sweater/wrap thingy (to go over a dress)
After two hours, my shoulder was hurting since I had a shoulder bag that day, but well worth it. At least I can say that I went to the H&M in San Francisco within a week of opening. The first H&M on the West Coast!

"I wish I was a gold digger"
At the Powell Street BART station on my way home, I sat on one of those round benches waiting for the SFO/Millbrae train. There was this guy who was walking around, looked completely normal, but kept saying "I wish I was a gold digger" outloud, every 2-3 minutes. At first I thought he had a walkman on and was singing along to a song, but he wasn't! He passed me twice then moved on. I started reading my book and ended up hearing it again, right next to me! He sat down and started talking (to me?) about how to get to SSF station. I was like... great! we're going to the same stop. I ignored him, thought about getting up and moving, but didn't. Tense and pretending to read my book, I just sat there, until he said his famous line again, got up and walked away. Weirdo!

Turkey Day
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Have a great long weekend! And for all your shopaholics, don't forget to get up bright and early on Friday morning! 5am! :)

I love the City!
I'm in SF right now on a lunch break from my Excel Macros training, near the Embarcadero. I love being in the city! Walked around during lunch looking for someplace to eat, and ended up at Boudin's at the Embarcadero Center. Yummy half-sandwich and cup of clam chowder :) Ate outside in the sunshine (what a beautiful day!) and then walked around for a while. Too bad none of the big biotechs are located in downtown SF, or are there some?

H&M Here I come!
Going to stop by H&M on my way back to my parents' house after the training ~4pm. Can't wait to see the new store. I wonder how long I'll spend there and if I'll buy anything.

SBC Park Party
Went to Marjorie's company holiday party at SBC Park on Friday night ... as the official photographers! Well, I was the photographer's assistant. It was cool being on the club level and even cooler to go on the tour of the park, including the press box, visitor's dugout, and the clubhouse!

Thanksgiving Week Movies
Can't wait to see Harry Potter, Pride & Prejudice, and Rent! Probably the first two this weekend with my family and maybe even the third. And also can't wait for Memoirs of a Geisha to come out next month!

Is it only Tuesday??
It seems like it should be later in the week. Here's the reason: I went to a conference for work at Moscone the past 3 days, including Sunday night. It was actually a fun experience since it was my first conference. Lots of seminars, short talks, poster sessions, and symposiums at night. I took BART on Monday, which was fun since I got to read :) Plus I ran into Bev, and the circumstances were pretty funny. You'll just have to ask me in person about the details - I'm too embarrassed to blog about it. (Hint: Let's just say that the thing that Alan said to me this morning right before I left the house was "Check your shoes!") I loved being in the city though, having lunch at the Metreon, and just being somewhere different - somewhere other than my desk at work. I've always wanted to work in the city....

Shaking won't stop?
The train runs near our neighborhood and sometimes it seems as though it's an earthquake but then I hear the train and I realize it isn't. Just now though the shaking lasted longer than normal... so I just checked the earthquake maps online and no activity. How will I know if it's real or not? I hope it's not like the boy who cried "wolf".

Early Thanksgiving
Had an early Thanksgiving dinner with the SCU crew at the Lee's house in SF. Great dinner, friends, and ambiance. It felt like we were at a restaurant, what with the dimmed lighting, dinner music, and great table settings!

Long days, less sleep
I've gotten up at 5:30am two days in a row and it's catching up with me. I'm sleepy....

November G.R.A.B. Night
I hosted this month's book club last night. It was fun getting all the girls together to talk about the book, although more than 80% didn't finish it. I made Chinese Chicken Salad, lumpia, chicken adobo, and pancit! with a little of Alan's help ;) I knew that there was going to be 18 people coming, but I guess I cooked too much because we still have lots left over. It was fun having people over though. I like hosting parties! :) Can anyone guess what 'GRAB' stands for? No, you don't get to guess Shirley ;)

January's book is A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Anyone have it so I can borrow? There are so many holds at all the libraries!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...
I can't believe 96.5 KOIT is already playing Christmas music all day, every day now! I turned it on when I was driving home from work. It's so exciting to be in the holiday season again! That means that Alan and I have almost been married a year! Time flies.

The weekend
Going to the annual SCU Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow night, then my cousin's baby shower in Pleasanton on Sunday, as well as a conference at Moscone for work Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday. Have a good weekend!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
I borrowed this DVD from the library and watched it last night, and it's a great movie! It made me laugh, cry, and think about my girlfriends. If you haven't seen it, you should! It was based on the book by Ann Brashares, so I think I'm just going to have to read it too, plus the 2nd and 3rd books by her too.

Speaking of girlfriends...
Saturday night we had a "Girls Night Out" - me, Johanna, and Rowena. We watched Elizabethtown with the dreamy Orlando Bloom then went into the city and hung out in North Beach. We had dinner at Iluna Basque - which was pretty good - tapas and sangria! And then we headed over to Dragon Bar. We noticed that most everyone walking around and at the bar was in costume except for us. Oh well, we had fun anyway.

Party with the kids
Sunday we went to a Halloween/1st Birthday party in San Francisco. Our friends decorated their house with lots of Halloween decor, and even had a pumpkin patch in their backyard. There was cookie decorating, face painting (very well done by super6rlee), food, and lots and lots of cute kids in costume.

Last game of the season
We lost our last game on Tuesday! But it was really really close! We lost by one and we almost caught up in the bottom of the last inning. It was a good game though, and we had pizza and beer at La Val's afterwards to celebrate the season.

Fall Decor on Sale - 90% off!
I went to Beverly's Fabric Store on Monday and all their Fall decor was on sale - 90% off! I bought a few decorations and decided to go back the next day and buy even more - garlands for 50 cents, a wreath for our front door for $3, fall flower basket decorations, turkey decorations, and lots more. When the lady rang up the total to only $27, the old lady behind me said "You did good!" :) Yay for home decorating. It's going to be a festive season this year...