Pass the Vino!

In lieu of a traditional holiday party this year, we decided to get together with a few friends for a wine tasting party at our apartment. All of us head to Napa/Sonoma with every chance we get, so we have all accumulated several bottles of delicious wine that we always seem to be saving for a "special occasion". What better occasion than making one up for ourselves???


The Wine Selection...


A few bites to nibble on...


Some of the Crew


Dave, The Ladies' Man


The Full Crew

We are so grateful for our SF friends. They have made our first two years in San Francisco completely and totally amazing. Our lives are enriched ten-fold because each and every one of them are in it - thank you guys! xoxo

Giving Thanks....

You'd think I'd rock a Christmas post right now, but I can't pull the trigger on that until a proper Thanksgiving post is "live". We had such a great time and I don't want to miss a chance to capture it! We headed down to San Diego to see Mom, Lindsay and Jon and had gorgeous weather for the week! I enjoyed running through our old 'hood in La Jolla.

Dinner this year was - GASP - cooked almost entirely by Lindsay and me. The guys did the turkey and my Mom did the gravy and biscuits, but Lindsay and I managed to cook everything else! It was enjoyable and relaxing...even for a novice like myself. We weren't stressed out at all, though I was grateful it was just the 5 of us as our timing was slightly off...the turkey was done on time but Lindsay and I weren't done cooking for another 2 hours. Ha ha!


Lindsay and I as Chefs


Mom's look is priceless...Lindsay and I forgot to bake the sweet potatoes! Oops!


What? Isn't this one of the perks??


Seriously Delicious Vino


Dave Officially Carving the Turkey


Mama..Wine Pourer Extraordinaire

After dinner, we headed to the beach (about 3 blocks from Mom's place) and let Lindsay & Jon's dog, Jack, run along the sand/ocean. It was a gorgeous day!


Jon and Jack...two peas in a pod

Ahhh, Thanksgiving! Why, oh why, don't we have turkey more than once a year???

Very Sweet Video

My friend Natali sent this link to me of this amazing author named Kelly Corrigan who wrote a book about her experiences with her girlfriends and the support they provide her. Warning, you will definitely, definitely cry....but it is so wonderful and made me so grateful for the ladies in my life.



Cheers to girlfriends!

Babies'R'Not'Us...

We spent Thanksgiving down in Sunny San Diego this year with Mom, Lindsay and Jon (and Baby Ryno, in Lindsay's belly!).

Lindsay, Mom and I hit up Babies'R'Us for L to register and get a starting idea of what she'll need as a mom-to-be. Not surprisingly, the word overwhelming doesn't even begin to describe the feeling all three of us had as we embarked on the journey.


Lindsay apprehensively scanning

I mean, is it really necessary to have 5,000,000 choices of a bottle that the baby will use for 6 mos-1 year?? Seriously? And who knew that jogging strollers have MP3 holders and PEDOMETERS on them?!?! So cool! Though, then we learned that if you get a jogging stroller, you STILL need a "regular" stroller, I guess due to the monstrous size. Hmph.

Mom picked out her favorite bib...

"I love my Nana" bib

...and had to put her glasses on to read up on the 20-types of Baby Bjorn-type things (front only? back only? front and back? Kelte?).


We had a great time strolling the aisles and picking out fun goodies. Lindsay's bump is showing a little bit and we are all super-excited for May 2009!

Home Improvement 2008

Dave and I went on a home improvement spree last weekend! What started it was receiving a dresser Mom had down in La Jolla (from the Raleigh house) that she generously offered up to us. We have converted it into a bar, which forced us to actually assess our bar (and especially wine) situation with new eyes.

WOW.

So here is the "before" picture.


Yes, that is wine on the floor

I feel like it was one of those situations where we didn't even realize how out-of-control it was until we realized how much better it could be!

We hit up Ikea for a wine storage solution that could fit in our hall closet and are THRILLED with the outcome!


New wine storage solution in the closet - yaay!

The new bar is just perfect for us! We love the piece, as well as the lamp she gave us and the new plant we bought this weekend too.


Ahhhhh....much better


We can finally serve a drink from the bar!

And let's play "eye-spy"...we have some of our favorite spirits on top of the bar in the picture above. Maker's (my dad's fave), Tanq (regular and 10...for Dave), and....what's that in the back? Only the BEST alcohol ever invented (I know...big statement). It's Sweet Tea Vodka, made by Firefly out of Wadmalaw, SC. The drink tastes exactly like sweet tea! We add a little Simply Lemon lemonade to make an Arnold Palmer and voila - delicious. It isn't widely distributed yet, so Dad and the NC Girls have been kind enough to keep my supply flowing by bringing bottles with them every time they visit! I feel like they are drug dealers, but I get all worried if our supply gets low! Yes, it's that amazing.

We have more improvements, such as a new nightstand for me from a neighborhood furniture store where Dave has been dubbed (by me) as their #1 Window Shopper (we look and look, but have never purchased anything). We also bought a new lamp and a new beautiful handmade rug from India. We have to wait a few weeks for that one, but we are thrilled with the new purchases! One final improvement is that Dave, poor guy, never had a dresser in this apartment. He's been living out of a half of our hall closet with this weird cabinet that was included with the apartment (we think it used to be a kitchen cabinet). We never realized we could REMOVE this piece - we thought it was a permanent part of the closet. We took it out this weekend, got Dave a real dresser to put in the closet and he is a NEW MAN! For those of you who are apartment-dwellers, you can appreciate how creative you have to be to "fit" into the space you are renting. No knocking down walls, no removing fixtures...heaven-forbid you paint anything...so these minor improvements are major to our life! The only things left on the honey-do list are a new dresser for me and a new console for the TV...eventually!

We love this apartment and hope to be here for a long time ("long time" is a relative word when you are a renter...anything over a year is considered retirement-quality!). We are 1 1/2 years into this one...I came across this mock-up that Dave put together when we first moved in:


700ish square feet of bliss

"Thank You. Your Reservation has been Confirmed."

Miracles do happen, people.

Okay, so I'm not sure the word "Miracle" is quite accurate, but it certainly did feel like a "gift" was bestowed upon us this morning at 10:00am when Dave finally got THROUGH on OpenTable.com for our (soon-to-be) beloved French Laundry reservation and the words, "Thank You. Your Reservation has been Confirmed" appeared before us!


Ahhhhhhhhhh

As you may recall, French Laundry has been playing hard-to-get with us ever since we started attempting to get a reservation back in May. My first attempt involved hitting "redial" 162 times and not getting anywhere (May 19, 2008) and my next major push was in July with over 300 calls (July 28, 2008). Last week, in desperation, Dave even put his programming skills to work in order to develop an application that would alert all 4 of us (Dave, Chris, Valerie and me) when OpenTable opened up with a reservation (the system would check online, on that particular page of OpenTable, every 30 seconds and alert us via email and text). No, I am not even kidding.

So imagine our SURPRISE - as if we won the LOTTERY - when Dave scored a reservation on his own this morning via OpenTable! The date is of course exactly 2 months out to the date - January 24, 2009. It's a Saturday (at 5:30pm no less!) and we'll look forward to 9 courses of divine cuisine. Valerie has already vowed to start fasting now so that she is adequately prepared to devour the Thomas Keller dishes come January.

Thank you, Chrissy & Jon and Mom & Dad Bryand, for giving us this opportunity with our fantastic birthday gifts!

Economic Turmoil Explained by TAL

No, TAL is not a friend of mine. Well, they are MY friend, but they don't exactly know I exist. You see, "TAL" is actually an NPR show called "This American Life". I couldn't very well put the initials NPR into my headline as I know some of us were tortured as children, forced to listen to NPR on Sunday mornings while our parents read the paper and we scoured cartoons and coupons. Okay, maybe obsessively clipping coupons and reading the want ads for my dream job at McDonald's was just MY typical Sunday as a six-year-old, but I digress. Prior to this show, I considered NPR to be a curse word worse than the F-Bomb. Yep, it has changed my podcast life.

So, what is "This American Life"? As they describe it on their website, "There's a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It's mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always." I realize this isn't the best description, so you're just going to have to try it out for yourself.



For the two episodes that I am "pitching" today, you'll have to either listen from your computer (free) or pay the big bucks ($.99) and download them to iTunes so you can listen from your iPhone/iPod/iEverything later on. I love to run and listen...for example, today I got through 6 miles by listening to one episode (1 hour in length). In essence: perfection.

The show is not always about money...it covers a variety of topics from being switched at birth to winning the lottery to having a job so ridiculous that you go to a room in Chicago's school district to just WAIT all day...and get paid for it. For the purposes of this pitch (I swear I don't know anyone who works there - I am just a passionate listener), I suggest starting with Episode 355, "Giant Pool of Money", which describes in easy-to-understand, yet factually fascinating, terms of how we find ourselves in this financial crisis, specifically focusing on the Mortgage Industry and their contribution to getting us here.

Episode 355: Giant Pool of Money

I also HIGHLY recommend downloading/listening to this other episode which enlightens us on the Billion Dollar Bailout and the forces around it/what it means to us as individuals.

Episode 365: Another Frightening Show About the Economy

That's it - I am off my pulpit. BUT, I would love to hear your comments with what you think of TAL. I seriously love it (obviously) and look forward to automatically downloading (FREE) to my iPhone every single week. I hope you will too.

Subscribe to the free podcast here.

Skype: Best. Invention. Ever.

Although Dave uses Skype daily for phone calls and occasional video conferences, this was my first foray into attempting to video chat with my girls in Raleigh and all of their hubbies and BABIES!!!

It was fantastic. I felt like I was there! I loved seeing the expressions of each kiddie - so much different than me stalking their individual blogs and receiving still photos!

Dave captured a few moments of our fun, specifically when Natalie was showing off her daughter Caroline's undies....WOLFPACK! So cute.


Video Chat with Raleigh!

By the time Baby Ryno (Lindsay & Jon's baby) arrives in May, I am going to be installing a camera at that kid's crib so I can video chat whenever I want! Ha ha, just kidding, L&J!

I (Heart) Technology!

Gary Danko....I could live this life!

The NC Girls came to San Francisco back in August (you may recall "Welcome to Cougarville") and we had a FANTASTIC time. As if them being here wasn't a tremendous gift enough, they were kind enough to send us a gift certificate to the #1 restaurant in all of San Francisco - Gary Danko!

We made the reservation the requisite two months in advance...to the day...and still got a 9:00pm reservation for Saturday night! Not to worry, I napped that afternoon and didn't face any narcolepsy - even in finishing dinner at 12:15AM!!!

We brought a fantastic bottle of wine with us that we had been saving and saving ($35 corkage) and we were SO grateful to have had it! Not only was it worth the wait - absolutely delicious - but the GD wine list is not for the faint at heart. Starting "cheapo" price was $90 and went upwards of $1500 (Harlan Estate).


Ahhh, Wine and Gary Danko = Bliss

We started the evening with a little bubbly at home, then a fantastic (and generous!) Ketel One martini (up with one olive, one onion for me, thank you). Before we knew it, we had been at the table for 45 minutes and hadn't even glanced at the menu yet. The waitstaff was superb and didn't pressure us in the least to rush us into ordering. Alas, after an amuse bouche of some type of delicious soup, we decided to take the plunge.


Ketel One Pre-Appetizer

The menu is set up without a la carte pricing...they offer 3-course ($66), 4-course ($83) or 5-course ($98) options, where the guest can pick any combinations to make up those courses (i.e. you want 5 appetizer items in larger portions? no problem. you want 1 entree and 4 desserts? anything.). We opted to each order 4-courses and split them entirely, so we each got to try 8 items altogether which was amazing!

I can't do the exquisite cuisine justice, but here is a recap of the amazingly superb food we enjoyed:

1st Course:
-- Foie Gras (delicious)
-- Roast Maine Lobster with Potato Puree (amazing)

2nd Course:
-- Pancetta wrapped Frog Legs (our first time!)
-- Lobster Risotto

3rd Course:
-- Roasted Leg of Lamb
-- Stuffed Quail

4th Course:
-- Chocolate Souffle (need I say more?)
-- Roasted Pears with Gingerbread and Nutmeg Ice Cream


Are you KIDDING me??

Every dish was completely divine and I felt like a movie star every moment we were there (including our own version of paparazzi....even if it was us snapping the pics).


Cheesin' for the Camera


Pure Bliss

Want to know the ultimate kicker? When we (finally) left just after midnight, they magically had my personal coat (there is no coat check ticket - they just know), but also our mini cookie leftovers AND a pumpkin bread goodiebag that they send home with people "for breakfast the next day". What an amazing a final touch?!?!

Meg, Tanya, Nic, Eliz and Mary, THANK YOU so much for making this Cougar feel like a princess. A short video for you to share in the experience!!!


Thank You, Girls!


A Night to Remember!

IT'S A BOY!!!!

No, not MY Baby Boy, but Lindsay & Jon's!!!!

Yes, you read that right - they are PREGNANT!!! I am going to be an Auntie and couldn't be more excited!!!! The due date is currently May 6th, which makes her 14 weeks and 6 days pregnant as of today.

Lindsay shared the news with us the day before SHE RAN A MARATHON (!!!!) but we've been sworn to silence until the first ultrasound took place, which was yesterday!


Baby Rynearson, the size of a LEMON

I have, of course, been stalking WebMD and any other baby website I can find to figure out what is going on with the baby every week (can you tell we're just a wee bit excited??) and thought this one was the most interesting.

Jon says the baby can start to HEAR now and they are going to put Miles Davis at the top of their list. I am fully supportive of that, but don't you worry - Auntie Brooke will definitely be sneaking in some hip-hop when she comes to visit in a few weeks! Gotta make sure my nephew has RHYTHM!!!

Congratulations, Lindsay and Jon!!!

Marathon Results!!

After committing to this one particular race some seven months ago, the marathon FINALLY took place on Sunday, October 19th!!!

We had an entourage of 27 people in our crew....11 of which were the brave (or just plain crazy?) runners that were planning to run 26.2 miles with the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco.

The festivities kicked off on Wednesday with Dad & Carolyn arriving, continued Thursday with Lindsay and Jon getting in, then the floodgates opened and the city of San Francisco was taken over by fellow North Carolinians (current or ex-residents). It was fantastic!


Some of my fellow Flamingos at the Nike Expo

A recap....
FRIDAY:
We had the group over to our apartment on Friday night prior to going on a night tour of Alcatraz that was really cool! I decorated the chalkboard for their arrival.


"Run Like A Girl" was the Nike Women's Marathon theme


Lindsay and Dad lining up for the tour

The Alcatraz Tour is really one that is not to miss on a trip to SF. It is a self-guided tour with headsets and has narrators who either worked on Alcatraz when it was a prison or ex-prisoners of Alcatraz telling their stories, along with sound effects that really make you feel like you were there. You take a ferry over to the island, so it's an extra bonus that you get a boat ride along with the tour...with gorgeous views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge the entire way.


Lindsay and Tracie Heeding the Warning...


Lindsay and me showin' some love to Dad


Dad & Carolyn enjoying the weekend

SATURDAY:
On Saturday, we were heading to the Farmer's Market, but Dad & Carolyn had a special treat for us first. We went to Prague back in 2003 and, while we were there, we went to a restaurant called KOLKOVNA. To us, it seemed crazy-close to KOLCONAY and it has since represented our last name from "the motherland". My Dad made marathon t-shirts for all of us with our KOLKOVNA "logo" on it!


Team Kolkovna

Saturday night, we had a team dinner at Figaro's Italian Restaurant in North Beach. The food was great and the nerves started to kick in for the race the next day. Our beloved coaches, Malena and Geri, prepared these table settings for all 27 of us!


Flamingos, Flamingos Everywhere!

As a team, we decided to create a gift for Malena and Geri that would commemorate their experience in San Francisco and be a small token of our appreciation for ALL of their support over the last six months. We decided a photograph was the most appropriate gift, so Dave and I did a night photo shoot of the Golden Gate Bridge and framed a print for each of them. The team then wrote individual notes to each of them which we adhered to the back of the print.





SUNDAY:
At long last, it was RACE DAY!!! Dave and Jon drove us to Union Square to meet up with the team.


Lindsay and me, all geared up for the race

We took a quick team photo and then headed to the massive, massive 20,000-person-starting-line!


Fast and Furious Flamingos


Starting Line - It's Still DARK Outside!

The 11 of us quickly separated (with 20,000 runners, it was hard enough just to cross the START line together...much less the FINISH line!). I randomly was running next to Tracie (who I have known since Lindsay's college days at Greensboro) and we got extremely lucky as we were the exact same pace and ended up running side-by-side for the next 20 miles!! It was absolutely amazing. I just assumed I would be running alone as none of us trained together and would undoubtedly be all different paces/comfort levels. Tracie and I were a perfect match...she's a left-side runner and I'm a right-side runner....we stopped to stretch every 4-6 miles, grabbed liquids at every station and before we knew it, we were at the halfway point - 13.1 miles.


Tracie and I at mile 4 feeling strong!

We didn't see many other team mates throughout the race, but our fantastic cheerleaders took pics for us!


Lindsay Feelin' Good at Mile 4

Tracie and I didn't see our cheerleaders again until Mile 16, at which time we were VERY ready to see them (and to get the energy gels they were holding for us!!). Dad, Jon, Dave and Carolyn were contending with following Lindsay and me through the city, parking the car, then doing it all over and over again! It was a stressful day for them, but they were ALL SMILES for us!


Dad & Jon with Team Kolkovna Shirts

Dave met up with me again at Mile 19 and ran with me through Mile 23 (around Lake Merced in SF). It was perfect timing as I really needed the moral support for the fabled "wall" that I hit around Mile 20. It was so nice to see a familiar face (Tracie and I had missed almost every cheering station of our friends & family) and running with Dave was FUN! Another team member, Anne, caught up about that time which was a perfect time for Anne and Tracie to run ahead while I trotted behind.

By the time Dave left me at Mile 23, I wasn't sure how I could possible go another 3.2 Miles by myself. I stopped to stretch every mile from 20-26 for 30 seconds at a time. Dave appeared at Mile 25 and I was in a slightly demonic phase where I was using every ounce of energy and concentration putting one foot in front of the other.


Mile 25...I am begging God to run me over with a car and put me out of my misery

At Mile 26, I could finally see something that looked familiar....was it a mirage??? Did I have one too many energy gels??? No, it was the FINISH LINE!!! As I approached, I couldn't help it...I was bawling like a child. The overhead race announcer even mentioned it on the loudspeaker, "Those are tears of joy, ladies and gentlemen...here comes Brooke!" (I had my name on my shirt...he didn't know my name because I rocked out 1st place or anything!). Dave met me the moment I crossed the finish line (well, first I practically tackled the tuxedo-wearing fireman that was holding the Tiffany necklace) and I cried and cried and cried. It's hard to explain the feelings I went through without getting completely cheesy, but in finishing the marathon, it was as if all of the doubts I put on myself disappeared...all of the times in my life I told myself that I couldn't do something....that I wasn't a "real" runner...couldn't possibly run 10 miles much less 26.2....couldn't even dream of finishing....all vanished. All of the months and months of weekday 5:45am wake-up calls and Saturday morning 8am long runs were over...and were the very things that made me achieve this dream. All of that and then my next thought was - where the hell is the CHAMPAGNE????


Celebrating...after I stopped with "Cryfest 2008"

Dave and I were at the finish line to cheer in all of my fellow Flamingos (except Anne and Tracie who were speed-demons and finished earlier!) and it was so completely rewarding to be able to celebrate with each of them as they crossed that line!


Lindsay was as emotional as I was


The firemen I tackled...sorry about that!


Tiffany Necklace

Looking back, the marathon was an awesome, awesome experience. The moment I finished I said I would never, ever do one again. Then, about 24 hours later, I thought - well...maybe. Now, I'm about 75% committed to the San Diego Rock'N'Roll Marathon May 31, 2009!!!

My time goal was under 5 hours, but I wasn't sure if that was even humanly possible. Turns out that by running alongside Tracie and just not even thinking about time, I was able to finish in 4:43!!!

Finally, Matt, a "Flamaniac" (what the Flamingo cheerleaders were called), created this awesome video to commemorate the experience. Thank you, Matt!



Truly, thank you to our coaches - Malena and Geri - for being crazy enough to talk the other 9 of us into this adventure so many months ago. Thank you to my Dad & Carolyn for flying in from Charleston to cheer us on and see us at the Finish Line. Thank you to my amazing brother-in-law, Jon, who kept me calm, made me laugh, saved me from a mental breakdown the day before the race (I was crying my eyes out walking back from the Apple store...why? because I forgot my wallet at home. Normal? I think not). Thank you to my sister for being completely amazing...without you, I would not have even dared to dream. Thank you to the Flamaniacs for making the sacrifices to cheer us on, from the race course or from home. And thank you to the best husband in the world for being so completely supportive...from listening to me diagnose every blister to continually bolstering my confidence that I CAN DO THIS. I love you all!

Okay, now that I officially sound like I just walked on the moon or am running for President of the United States, I am ready to get back to normalcy! More pics from the weekend of festivities can be found by clicking here.

A final word of congratulations to our friend Katie, a new runner who completed her first 5K the same weekend!!! I remember being so incredibly nervous in my first 5K (with Lindsay) a few years ago and I could barely make it through. I'M SO PROUD OF YOU, KATE!!!

xoxo,
Brooke...a marathoner.