Picture My World

Please join me...

SATC is finally here

Like most San Francisco women, I ventured out on Friday (opening night) to see "Sex and the City" with my girlfriends. It was great! The series ended so well I was a little worried that the movie wouldn't live up to my expectations. But it was great and I was happy to see it with my best girls!

Being powerful

I was reminded of this quote at my Junior League meeting tonight. It was the last meeting of the year so we said goodbye to the old Board and welcomed in the new one. I thought this quote was timely so I thought I'd share it:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? ...Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do... It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson

Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday!

There is a skip in my step. I am excited, my heart is pumping. I might shed a tear because I'm getting so emotional--in a happy-I'm helping change history sort of way. What can make a girl feel this way? VOTING. Letting my voice be heard. Casting a ballot. Taking 10 minutes out of my evening to affect where this country is headed. Pretty powerful. I know, many people think their vote doesn't count so why waste your time. I agree that some times democracy can get in the way of democracy (have you seen the last few state ballots--I hear ya!). But it is a right that we have to help determine our county's future. Keep in mind that this is a right that 50% (well maybe a bit less) of our population didn't have 100 years ago. I won't get on my soapbox for too long because those that know me already know how passionate I am about voting. My friends know if they don't vote they shouldn't tell me. I feel like when you live in a city like San Francisco, everyone always assumes how the city will vote and they don't feel like their vote counts. While I disagree in general, you have no excuse this election. How exciting that we have candidates to choose between. I think it will be somewhat close and your vote DOES count. So please vote!

And on my way home from work today, up and down Van Ness were people holding signs and banners promoting their favorite candidate. While I hate the unending phone calls and mail, I love to see people get involved at the grassroots level to get people educated and excited. I can't remember a recent election where I saw this (well except maybe the Davis recall election). I just love seeing people passionate about this county's future. Just look at the countries in this world that don't have elections or don't have civil, non-violent elections. We are truly lucky here.

And on another note, if you are a fan of a good progressive grass-roots campaign (I am), check out the documentary "Can Mr Smith Get to Washington Anymore?" A great documentary about a regular guy with big ideas who ran for Dick Gephardt's St Louis congressional seat when he retired. I'm hoping I have one friend who has political aspirations and I look forward to getting involved in his campaign :-)

So I'll end this diatribe with the words of the person I voted for: YES WE CAN. HOPE. VOTE.

Happy Groundhog Day!

FEBRUARY 2nd: This Day In History:
1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated
1876 - The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
1913 - Grand Central Station was opened in New York City.
1940 - Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
1943 - World War II: The last German forces surrender to the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad.
1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
1971 - After a coup in Uganda, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
1972 - The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest over Bloody Sunday.
1990 - Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
2002 - The wedding of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to the Argentinean born Máxima Zorreguieta takes place.

Very Important People Born on February 2nd : GRACE (I'll leave this blank), RON (1971), ME (1971--probably the last time I admit the year) and MANDY (1979).

Less important people born on February 2nd: James Joyce, Irish Writer (1882), Howard Johnson, hotelier (1897), Ayn Rand, Author (1905), Tom Smothers, entertainer (1937), Graham Nash, musician (1942), Farrah Fawcett, actress (1947), Christie Brinkley, model (1954), Eva Cassidy, singer (1963), Jennifer Westfeldt, actress (1970), Shakira, singer (1977).

And in honor of Charlie the Groundhog who used to live in my backyard in New Jersey...

From History.com:

First Groundhog Day

On this day in 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas Day, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal--the hedgehog--as a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America, German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone State.

Groundhogs, also called woodchucks and whose scientific name is Marmota monax, typically weigh 12 to 15 pounds and live six to eight years. They eat vegetables and fruits, whistle when they're frightened or looking for a mate and can climb trees and swim. They go into hibernation in the late fall; during this time, their body temperatures drop significantly, their heartbeats slow from 80 to five beats per minute and they can lose 30 percent of their body fat. In February, male groundhogs emerge from their burrows to look for a mate (not to predict the weather) before going underground again. They come out of hibernation for good in March.

In 1887, a newspaper editor belonging to a group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared that Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog, was America's only true weather-forecasting groundhog. The line of groundhogs that have since been known as Phil might be America's most famous groundhogs, but other towns across North America now have their own weather-predicting rodents, from Birmingham Bill to Staten Island Chuck to Shubenacadie Sam in Canada.

2008 already?

Happy New Year! Hard to believe that another year has come and gone. I remember the days when I was a kid and each Christmas (the day that seemed to define my year) seemed to take forever to come back around again. Now, I blink and 6 months have already passed.

I celebrated the New Year by co-hosting a dinner party with Diane for Scott and Marcel. I would say it was a huge success! The food was good as was the company. I made a French Onion Soup that I learned at a cooking class last week which I thought was excellent. And even better, I was able to use my new Le Creuset dutch oven that Scott gave me for Christmas. I also made up my own (can you believe it) appetizer based on a mini quiche recipe by Martha Stewart and I also made my Mom's famous (at least in my family) chocolate cake from scratch at my brother's request. Diane made crab stuffed mushrooms, Beef Burgundy and some fabulous champagne cocktails.

I'm not a huge fan of all the hullabaloo over New Year's so this was a perfect way to ring in the new year. I don't get into the huge parties and then the mass exodus and the horribly difficult time trying to find a cab (usually in the rain) with every other reveler in San Francisco. So small and sweet was perfect for me. Although I did miss celebrating with the rest of my friends who had other plans and couldn't join us.

But I hope you all had as good a New Year's Eve as I did and I hope 2008 is happy and healthy for you!

A good omen

I subscribe to the Real Simple Magazine's "Daily Thought." Sort of a quote of the day email. Thursday's was:

November 08, 2007
There is one consolation in being sick...the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before. 

— Henry David Thoreau

When I read it that morning, I thought it was perfect to share with my family given last few weeks and I made a note to post it to my blog. Well, Thursday afternoon I got a call from my Mom that my Dad had hit a roadblock and that I needed to come back up to be with my Dad and help out. Very interesting timing given I got this quote that very morning. Reflecting on it now, I'm confident that this Real Simple quote of the day was sent that morning so it was in the back of my mind on Thursday and all weekend. Let's hope Henry David Thoreau knew what he was talking about! 

Bocce Ball Birthday Bash

It has been a long time since I posted! Busy, busy, busy! But this weekend was pretty fun. On Friday, Lisa, Diane and I went to AT&T Park to see a simulcast of San Francisco Opera's "Samson and Delilah." It was very fun. It was cool having free reign on the ballpark seating. It was probably the first and only time we'll get to sit in the very front row the ballpark, right next to the visitor's dugout. I thought there was a pretty good turnout. The Chronicle says that there were 15,000 people there. The picture and sound were great considering we didn't have the incredible acoustics of the Memorial Opera House. The opera itself was great and we are all hoping the Opera does it again. And of course, in true San Francisco fashion, it was so cold we had to wear a scarf, hat and gloves! And how great is it that we could enjoy Guinness and garlic fries at the same time we enjoyed the Opera...only in San Francisco! The picture below is of the screen (it was during the first intermission so hence why the scene is just the stage at the Memorial Opera House) with the almost full moon right overhead. Very cool. Oh, and did I mention it was free?

Then on Saturday we celebrated all the September birthdays (and there are a lot of them: Rachel, Sara, Kevin and Bill. Bill is still in Iraq, but we wanted him to know that we were thinking of him, so we actually called him! As a result of the time difference, it was 6:30am when we called him on Sunday morning. Unfortunately he had a meeting at the same time so we only got to talk to him for a few minutes. I can't believe I've actually found someone else who has meetings at 6:30am! But hopefully Bill appreciated the sentiment. He's coming home again at Christmas so hopefully we'll get to see him then.

For the birthdays we went out to dinner in Los Gatos and then played some Bocce Ball. We pitted the birthday boys and girls (plus Lisa who is next up for a birthday) against the rest of us. In our group, competition is always at the highest level so don't think we'd let the birthday folks win "just because." As it turns out Dawn is a ringer and she helped bring home the gold for the non-birthday people. Go Green! Although if you look at the pictures, you'd think it was an event for Alex considering how many pictures of him I took. But I guess this is to be expected when you are the cutest one in the group :-)

Happy Birthday Bror!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROR!

Happy bithday to my little brother. I hope you have a great day and I wish I could be there to celebrate in person!

Gelukkige verjaardag broertje! Ik hoop dat je een fantastische dag beleefd en ik wou dat ik daar kon zijn om mee te vieren! Ik hoop dat al je wensen dit jaar uitkomen!

Dikke zoenen, Jen *

* Thanks to Kat from Belgium for helping me translate!

Girls Night Out

At the Junior League Fashion Show back in March, I won an auction for a Master Class for me and my girlfriends at the Shu Uemura Boutique on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. I thought it would be so fun to get my girlfriends together for a unique girls night out!

The women at Shu Uemura threw one heck of an event for us! They closed the Boutique early so we could have the place all to ourselves. They had plenty of champagne flowing and lots of fabulous sushi. So we relaxed, and everyone who didn't know each other had the chance to meet. Then we each sat down with our individual artist and experienced their Master Class. The artist asked us about what our concerns were and what we were looking for. They then went through their skincare line and makeup talking about why it would be good for us and how to use it. At the end, we all looked fabulous! I know I enjoyed it and I think everyone else did as well.

Before the event, I wasn't that familiar with Shu Uemura. I had seen their Boutique and I knew their eyelash curlers were famous (do you remember the plug in "Devil Wears Prada?"). But I'm glad I bid on the event because it was so fun! I would definitely recommend a Master Class event like this for a bachelorette party or bridal shower. I want to thank Alexia and everyone at Shu Uemura not just for a great evening, but for donating the event to the Junior League in the first place. How great that in one night a group of girls can have a great night out while at the same time raising money for such a great cause.