Busy Bee

I've had an eventful couple of weekends lately. Last Sunday I played with the USS Hornet Big Band aboard the USS Hornet. That is a huge ship, but I'm told that today's carriers are much larger. I had the benefit of having friends come to watch, and they spent a lot of the time taking pictures, which they shared and for which I'm very grateful. After the show I took a tour of the flight deck and island. Never having been on a ship before, I did not wear the most sensible of shoes, but me and my patent purple 3-inch pumps with silver buckles did just fine on the ladder-stairs, thank-you-very-much. We also really threw the docent off, which was funny.

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This past Saturday night Stef and I headed up to Walnut Creek to find some trouble. :)

We started at Pyramid Alehouse for dinner and beer tasting...

Smiley beer; Stef has a waiter in her drink; five beers tasted; salut!

Then we meandered over to Va de Vi for wine and dessert.


I had the Sparkling Wine flight, and Stef had the Master Blender. My flight included a Domaine Carneros Brut, which we tried up in Napa, and which made me a very happy girl. Stef's 2007 Odisea "Veritable Quandry" was very, very good too. We also had the dessert tasting for two, and the whole experience was decadent and fun. Stef and I do this type of thing well. :)

Seated on the patio; sparkling wine flight; along with Stef and the Master
Blender; me smiling because of all the wine in front of me; cheers!; the Domaine

Then we went to the theater to sober up and saw Paranormal Activity, which I had heard was terrifying. It was mildly frightening, but even better was the audience's reactions to the movie. Put a bunch of scared people together and they tend to be vocal as a means of assuaging that fear, which turned this movie into a very entertaining communal experience. People were commenting quite loudly throughout, and it was really funny. Although going back to our car in the empty parking structure was a bit frightening - as soon as we got in and turned it on, the lights in the structure went out. Where are those door locks?

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Today was another music day for me: I played with the What's Up Big Band in Hayward. This and the previous time I played with them, they have me play a solo of "Misty", and they seem to get a kick out of announcing that the person playing "Misty" is actually Misty. :) They're a fun band to play with, and I'll have more opportunities in the future. Unfortunately, their rehearsals are the same night as my concert band rehearsals, so I won't be a full-time fixture with them. No pictures this time! :)

I have more recipes to post, for dessert this time! Check back later this week...