It's nice to have friends...

Saturday was a very full day for us! We got to meet up with friends, buy new furniture, drive a car and watch a bike race - all in one day!

We joined Zipcar, which for those of you not in the know is a car-share service. You pay an annual fee and then they let you drive all sorts of cars for an hourly fee. You can rent anything from a Nissan Versa to a BMW. It should be perfect for running errands, picking visitors, I repeat, visitors (ahem) up from the airport, etc. So, you reserve your time-slot and then they tell you what cars are available and where they are located, you pick a car and drive it away! Very cool. So when Neil saw the list of cars, and noticed that there was a Mini Cooper on the list, it was over. He had to have that car. Neil has been lusting after Mini Coopers for atleast 6 years now and he finally had the chance to drive one. See pictures of him looking very proud.

The morning started off a little rough, as I, being so very smart and saavy, decided to wear my brand new, stiff, high heel shoes to WALK to pick up our car. By the time we had walked at least 15 blocks to get to the car, I had more blisters on my feet than I have ever had. And one EXTREMELY painful one right underneath by big toe. Yikes. So, with my feet throbbing and shoes off, we headed north in the Mini to meet our friends Jason and Tracy and their daughter, Isabella.

We met in Fairfield, CA which, who knew, has quite a few things to see and do, including touring the Jelly Belly factory, the Budweiser factory, wine tastings, olive oil tastings, and farm to visit. The first stop after we had lunch, however, was at Macy's where I bought a new pair of shoes to save my feet. I made a beeline for a pair of flat shoes that looked like regular shoes on the outside, but had a soft, fuzzy inside that felt just like a slipper. PERFECT! I didn't even blink, I just put those shoes on as fast as I could and handed over the credit card. My feet were in shoe heaven. I don't think I could have made it through the day without that purchase. Whoever designed these shoes is a genius...

So, after the shoe nightmare was resolved, we all went wine tasting at a vineyard and bought some yummy wine. Then we did the olive oil tasting and bought some yummy olive oil. Then we ran out of time and didn't have a chance to do the beer and jelly bean tours, but you've got to leave something for next time, right?

Jason and Tracy had to head back to Sacramento for a wedding, but we had a great day getting to spend some time with them and catch up on stuff. They live in Spokane, so we don't really get to see them very much. Their daughter is ridiculously adorable!

We then headed to Oakland and the IKEA, to use our day rental of the car to the fullest, and picked up some new furniture to make the studio more comfortable. We are adding a reading nook to the library, and needed a comfy chair... And I needed somewhere to put the bread-maker in the kitchen, counter-space being pretty scarce, so we got a little kitchen stand. And of course, when you visit IKEA, you end up buying all the other fun stuff that catches your eye as well... So we filled the MINI to the brim, literally. Of course Neil's favorite car also happens to be the smallest. :) Actually, we were pretty surprised by the amount of space that was in there once we folded the back seats down.

By this time, our car reservation was close to ending and it had already been a pretty full day with all the driving and visiting, so we headed for home. We dropped the car off and managed to just miss our bus - it was pulling away as we showed up at the stop. Unfortunately, after 6:00, they only come every fifteen minutes, so we decided to walk. Over the hill... with blisters... Actually, in the new shoes, it felt okay - and when we got to the top of the hill, there was a beautiful view of the bay and the fog moving in -

As we headed down the hill we heard the haunting sound of... cowbells? And loud music and cheering. Was there a concert going on? With cowbells? As we got closer, we saw that it was not concert, but bike race! It was a criterion race, which is a closed-loop city-street race, where the bikers ride around and around the loop. The loop is usually under a mile long and there are lots of corners, which makes it more difficult. And to make it more fun, it was being raced at nighttime, under lights. There's actually a whole professional series of these races all over the country and results are tracked through all of them and the rider who has done the best overall at the end of the season is the overall winner. If you are interested in more info, here is a link to a good page with easy-to-understand info: http://www.usacrits.com/fans.html.

We got to see the very end of the women's race and then most of the men's race as well. It was really fun to watch really talented riders close-up! These guys were amazing! It was a really nice, impromptu end to the day - a real treat to have that going on in our neighborhood and just stumble across it...

What a great day! So full and fun... Today is now a day of recovery from all the fun. Neil is in the studio and I am just being lazy. So I guess I better get to work and get the reading nook all set up with the new chair! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Tomorrow it's back to work for me - YAY!