ok, I'm back

Despite knowing better, it's 11:37 PM and I'm taking advantage of my current teacher-in-the-middle-of-summer-status by watching CSI (the original, woot woot!) and folding laundry and updating my phone with one of those automatic computer update thingies. I decided to get started on catching up from last week and I just KNOW that I'll regret this all tomorrow when I'm tired but staying up late just feels oh-so-good sometimes.

I'm starting with last weekend and our garage sale extraveganza. We woke early and put up signs. It soon occurred to us that we needed more so I whipped some up and M went around putting them up while I got started with the early birds, of which the numbers were not entirely modest!

We had our "refreshments" available for sale, I made the cookies that morning and my cousin made her own batch. The sweets along with the cold water, juice and soda solds suprisignly well!

A shot of some of our earnings and our little "salesman", though he mostly just barked at people. My young cousin B and his pal (both in grade school), however, were both out all morning pitching their wares (old toys) which was super cute and they made some cash too!

After the tiring afternoon we cashed in our earnings for our very first grill =) It's a two burner little gas job and the Home Depot gave it to us for a good deal. I was pretty pooped when we were at the store so thankfully I was able to swing a nap before getting in our run (7) and heading over to the Japantown (San Jose has one, don't ya know?! It's actually one of the oldest areas of the city and holds quite a bit of rich history...click here for some info, yo) for the annual Obon festival. You can read about the festival here and the J-town Buddhist Church here, but I will share with you that we ate some DELICIOUS food.We got there pretty late so we were able to see some dancers on our way to gorge ourselves but not much else. Here are some shots of our mode of transportation ( =) ), the lights and the dancers.

Unfortunately I was too hungry to take shots of the food but we enjoyed some pot stickers, beef teriyaki, Sapporo beer, yummy-yummy udon and the famous strawberry shortcake. Fun was had and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Sunday morning we roused ourselves too early and headed to the cool bay coast along the Embarcadero in San Francisco to get in our long run (14 miles whoa!). The run felt good, the weather was cool and all of the good people and place watching made the time go quickly.

We planned to run early so that we could meet up with a friend who recently moved to SF (as in the week before) for work and watch the World Cup Final with him. We visited his very empty but cute apartment and then headed over to a bar in the Russian Hill area of the city. Every place was PACKED, for good reason, so we stood for the ENTIRE game; running 14 miles and then standing for two hours isn't the best idea ever, but it was worth it. At half time we migrated across the street and enjoyed some yummies at Nick's Crispy Tacos (where we also went today after our long run). The place seemed a bit popular and almost full of itself, personality-wise, but the tacos were delish. They are made with traditional smallish corn tortillas and there are two of them, but the inner one is fried/made crispy/fattified and there is guacamole and other goodness piled on top = heaven in my mouth!!! I had a carne asada and a fried fish taco as well as a beer. The boys enjoyed burritos and we headed home after the game. We lounged the rest of the afternoon and then headed to my dad's house to have a birthday dinner for him...happy birthday dad!!! You're an awesome dad and I'm SO lucky to have you for mine!

The weekend was great and tiring in a good way, just the way I like them. The week was to be full of running and errands and cleaning for me...more to come!