A Sampling: Things I Do on the Weekends (particularly this weekend).

I'm just going to kill two birds with one stone and blog about the last couple weekends in one post. A couple (one? two? I've lost track and am too engaged in writing this (read: lazy) to go check my calendar) weekends ago we had a bridal shower for one Rachel McMurdie, a super cool, awesome girl who always has cute skirts. It won out as one of the best bridal showers I've attended for one single reason: jumping pictures. It was informally decided that the best way to commemorate Rachel's upcoming nuptial glory was by having each attendee (cooler word than attendant? even a word?) take a jumping pic with the future bride. Here are some of the highlights (and pay particular attention to the one where it looks like our heads are hitting the ceiling, and several where Rachel is sporting her recently acquired pink lingerie, not to be confused with her hot pink bridal sash):

Very cool, no? Rachel also introduced us to the wonderful world of ShakeFace. It looks like this:

So I think that was last weekend. And THEN this weekend, I went on a walk with the lovely Alisa and Amy (that sounds vaguely reminiscent of the model girls on The Price is Right - I was trying to remember the other day if Bob Barker's dead yet...ok, wikipedia says no, and also that he was born in Washington. Yeah.) up at Tilden Park and decided that I love nature and would like it to be a part of my daily life in a more direct way. Then on Saturday I did my laundry, and went produce shopping at Monterey Market. Favorite part: walking back to my car on a beautiful tree/flower-lined Berkeley side street carrying my tomatoes, artichokes, bananas, etc. to my car on a crisp morning full of sunshine. I love morning time. And THEN Ashley, Amy and I went on Uphill Bike Ride 2008 to get to a bridal shower that was centrally located in the Berkeley Hills. It seemed like a really good idea, and then Amy checked it out and realized that most of it would be directly uphill, but we stuffed my backpack with our little gift for Miss Sara and decided that it was still a really good idea, and heck, if it didn't work....well, it doesn't matter because we totally worked it. Uphill. I wish I had taken a view from the top, but here's a shot from a few streets into the hills.
I know you're thinking, woah, that hill is intense, but I was referring more to the hills right before and immediately after this more level area where we stopped to look at the map. The ride started with some cruising down Berkeley side streets, included maneuvring through traffic around blind corners, chugging up 10% grade hills (is that a lot? I think that's a lot.), getting lost and carrying our bikes up three flights of stairs to get to the street we needed to be on, and culminated in three panting, visibly sweaty (think back stains) girls arriving an hour late to the bridal shower with the gift wrapping still in mint condition. Then we hoarded the food table for an hour. It was awesome. We're superstars. Then that evening we went and hung out with a more geriatric crowd at a documentary aptly titled Young at Heart. It's about a group of elderly rockers doing cover songs. It was tender, hilarious, and tear-jerking, with some rad music videos of songs that have a whole new meaning when sung by people between the ages of 70 and 92 - Stayin' Alive, I Wanna Be Sedated, and Fix You. It was great. If you have the means of seeing it, I highly recommend checking it out.

This particular weekend ended with me making sopa de creme de tomate (tomato soup with a twist português) and tabbouleh, a quick game night, and now me blogging 15 minutes past my bed time. I'm very protective of my bed time, so this will be the end of the post.

That was my weekend.