the rack, napa

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG I LOVE NORDSTROM RACK SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

how badly do these photos make you want to go to ubuntu?!

 

and someone comparing david foster wallace to borges, my favorite author. pretty much every time i've picked up the book i've thought about how infinite jest is very borgesian. lots of fictional narrative written as non-fiction. lots of winding stories. sadness wrapped in intelligence wrapped in mystery.

 

as beautiful a couple as these two are, i'm still a bit sad that my favorite jewish crush is now off the market.

 

a bit late but daily show on palin: "this whole conversation makes me realize how right her decision was, how even righter her latest decision is...as all the media attention continues to swirl around her and her family, she's made the decision that she can best help them by stepping down as their mother."

 

california this weekend was a dream.

 

emily got in two hours late. why she couldn't text us to let us know she was taking off two hours late is a mystery to me. and then we went to katie's and drank and caught up and before we knew it, it was 4:30am. we were meant to leave by 9 to have time for hwy 1. emily and i woke up, jetlagged i suppose, at 7:30. we were showered by 8. thing is, katie hadn't packed and isn't so good at being on time for things. we left just past 9 but then emily needed coffee so we stopped at a coffee bean. by the time we hit the road, we were running late enough that the PCH was out. we took 101 and stopped at a perfect winery for lunch. it was a suggestion that wags made ages ago: cass winery. we sat in a gorgeous garden out front, soaked in some sun, they brought all the tastings out to us, and the food was good. also, there was a super cute dog running around. all wineries get extra points for doggies.

 

we stopped in palo alto where emily's warhol dealer friend was staying at a four seasons, showered, headed into the city and dropped our things off before heading to dinner. ryan, the art dealer, and our friend D joined. we ate at frascati which was super good. we bar hopped a bit. the art dealer was ALL over katie and trying to get her to go back to palo alto with him, she declined, he pouted and then left. D and ryan live in the same building so we headed back to theirs and drank till everyone was hazy as hell. ryan started hitting on katie (she's totally stunning) and she's looking at me with the "is he serious?! asshole!" face. he also talked nonstop about all the women he's been "banging" which was such a turnoff. when the girls decided it was time for bed ryan kind of grabs me and is like, "okay, lets go back to mine!" "um, no thanks! i'm good here. i'll see you tomorrow!" "no, you're coming to mine." "no. no i'm not." "okay, stop kidding." "i'm not kidding." "come on." "listen ryan, either you're not listening to me or you can't even begin to fathom that some girl wouldn't want to sleep with you. either way, this isn't my problem. go home." and he wouldn't leave. i literally had to push him out the door. ass.

 

i'd stopped drinking before everyone else so was up bright and early and walked to the market at the ferry building, which is one of my favorite places in the world. took a leisurely stroll, bought some peaches and plums and almonds and sat and read by the water. katie, D and emily eventually woke up and we went and got brunch. post brunch, the ladies were still feeling crappy so we drove to our hotel (where we were given an upgrade, score!) and hung by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. had a great dinner at bottega where we were sat at a booth right near the open kitchen and it was nice to see the chef actually working there at his own restaurant. a rarity for this new yorker.

 

the next day i went to sonoma where alex's half marathon was finishing at the city hall. she was awesome, set her personal best time and didn't seem remotely tired by the time she finished.

 

the rest of the day was spent wine tasting. highlights: ridiculously nice service, insanely gorgeous palatial site, and good champagne with a cheese plate at domaine carneros. an extended wine tasting at cuvaison. the wine was great. the guy working at the bar, a redheaded phillip seymour hoffman-looking dude was chatty and so so nice, kept bringing us tastes of things we hadn't ordered and then pointed us to oakville grocery for lunch where we had some amazing sandwiches. the space was gorgeous and minimalist and felt organic/green and chic. the room was airy and quiet and i could have stayed all day.

 

tastings post lunch were subpar and kind of rambling as we kept running across places that weren't taking walk-ins or were closed.

 

we finished off the evening with a fantastic dinner with alex and her boyfriend mike in healdsberg at a place called barndiva. this spot is amazing. cavernous, sunny room, excellent service, gorgeous huge zen garden under the trees which is where we ate goat cheese croquettes, awesome mac and cheese, fantastic cobb salads and bass over roas corn with tomatoes and avocado. just perfect.

 

and then we headed home. i am basically, right now, wanting to move to napa and never come back. it's sunny there, and peaceful and gorgeous and the people are SO NICE. WEIRDLY NICE. i didn't know how to respond to such FREAKING KINDNESS. it was everywhere and it was slightly scary. but enjoyable, all the same.