I made lunch right before I headed down into the office.  I tried out the vegan macaroni and cheese I’d gotten at Rainbow grocery a couple of days ago.  Here’s what it looks like when prepared:

It isn’t bad but it doesn’t have much of a flavor at all.  It’s quite creamy which is nice and was much better when I added in some garlic, salt and pepper.  Next time I have this I’ll probably toss in some salsa or some sun dried tomato. 

Elaine stopped by to collect Mr. Poe for lunch.  Mimi hates her but the boys love her:

Mimi sat by herself:

I headed down to the office for a couple of hours and then headed over to the wedding rehearsal.  It’s in the old Federal Reserve building which is a lovely space.  Here’s Ben with Amar and John:

Ben and his brother:

Ben and Courtney:

We headed off to dinner after the rehearsal at a Mexican restaurant in the Mission where much to everybody’s delight Mr. Poe joined us.  Then we headed home and went to bed.  It was a long day.

I decided last night that it was gonna be way too cold to go riding this morning and I was right.  Mr. Poe had to get up early and go to work so I thought I’d take Rufus for a walk in the morning.  Somehow, Rufus figured this out because he was pestering me from the moment I got out of bed.  How he knew I don’t know but he did.  The other dogs we very pissed when Rufus and I left them and slipped out the door just as the sun was rising.  This was the view from my front steps:

We headed over to the Mission and got on 21st at Valencia.  I got some pics of the houses on the way up the hill:

This ginormous mansion is at 21st and Guererro:

Unbelievable detail:

I believe that it is impossible to have too many exterior Christmas decorations.  This house is really testing that hypothesis.  I wonder what the neighbors think:

The view looking down 21st from Sanchez:

Looking down Sanchez from 21st towards Corona Heights:

Then we headed over to Twin Peaks.  Rufus loves to go!

The view from Twin Peaks:

Me:

Looking towards the sea from Twin Peaks:

We’ve had so much rain and everything that isn’t dormant in winter is very green and lush right now.  Saturn Steps Park looked glorious this morning:

Looking up Ord Street towards Corona Heights:

We headed home for me to cleaned up and Rufus to have a nap.  I’m working from home til after lunch and then I’m heading down into the office and then to Ben and Courtney’s wedding rehearsal.  I’m a bizzy gal!

It rained all night.  We got a ton of wind and rain and when the rain moved on it got very, very cold.  It was drying out by morning and I came down Market into work.  I went home for lunch and then went on a nice ride after work.  I headed off down Sutter and took pics at every intersection where I stopped for a light until there wasn’t enough light left to take pics. 

Sutter and Kearny:

Sutter and Stockton:

Sutter and Mason:

Sutter and Van Ness:

I continued on Sutter to Fillmore and stopped at  California for last one pic of the dwindling light:

I continued on Fillmore to Clay to Spruce to Washington to Arguello to Lake to 23rd to Cabrillo to 47th to Fulton to the Great Highway and down the coast to Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  After, we walked the dogs and I did some work and went to bed.

Bike Mileage:

Today 25.5 Week to date 66.0 Month to date 545.5 Year to date 7,335.7 To Goal 2,664.3 Over (Under) plan (2,609.5) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (556.4) Rolling Year 7,355.0 Since Inception 10/1/07 28,505.5

Taking my bike home at lunch turned out to be a very good decision because it pretty much rained for the rest of the day.  I stopped by Rainbow Grocery on my way back to work so I could pick up some vegan stuff you can’t get at Safeway.   Needless to say Mr. Poe was horrified by the lot.

I had a coupon for a free tub of a product called “We can’t say it’s cheese” and ** spoiler alert **  it tastes nothing even remotely like cheese.   I’ve had some vegan products that to somebody like me who hasn’t had real cheese in many years tastes kind of like what I remember cheese tasting like but this is not one of them.  It isn’t bad and it’s pretty creamy and I ate quite a bit of it and I’m sure I’ll finish it but I can’t imagine me getting a hankering for another one.  I got some tempeh and some vegan macaroni and cheese and I’ll let you know how I liked them.

After dinner Mr. Poe finally opened his Christmas presents.  I refused to open any of mine until he’d opened all of his.  I”ll remember this tactic for next year.  Here’s our tree with the presents under them:

Mimi and I.  She’s adorable!

Jeffery getting the DVD’s he wanted.  Don’t ask:

Rufus and my feet.  If you’re wondering what’s on my toes, it’s a glamorous new Chanel polish called Pearl Drop that’s new for Spring and it’s this frosty, iridescent white color.  White polish can be either too Palm Beach or two ghetto but this is neither.  So fabulous:

Mr. Poe opening a present:

“What the fuck is this?”  he asked.  I got him Apple TV for two of the TV’s in the house and he will love it when he figures out how to use it.

He also got some pants that were a little more self explanatory:

Ashley Jr. making sure nobody eats his dinner:

It’s still pouring down rain and I’m going to bed.

Bike Mileage:

Today 21.4 Week to date 40.5 Month to date 520.0 Year to date 7,310.2 To Goal 2,689.8 Over (Under) plan (2,607.6) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (562.6) Rolling Year 7,348.5 Since Inception 10/1/07 28,480.0

I managed to get up nice and early this morning which is fortunate because there’s yet another storm coming in this afternoon and there will be no riding for me after work.  I headed off Corbett to Portola to Woodside to Dewey to Taravel and down to the coast.  I came down the Great Highway and stopped at the foot of Sloat for pics of the ocean at sunrise.  Perfect:

I continued on the Great Highway to Skyline and stopped for a pic of Lake Merced:

I continued on Skyline to Lake Merced and stopped for pics of the gorgeous sunrise:

I continued on Lake Merced to Font to Holloway to Harold to Ocean to Phelan where I stopped for pics of the new City College building where I took my final on the 14th.  I took interior pics then and you can see them here.  I didn’t get any good pics of the exterior at the time because it was dark and I finally got around to going during the day.  I don’t love this building but I like it a lot:

I continued on Phelan to Judson to Foerster to Hearst to Edna to Monterey to San Jose to Duncan to Valencia to 17th where I saw this new restaurant at South Van Ness.  I like:

I continued on 17th to Kansas to Townsend.  This is the view at Townsend and 3rd.  I like all of it together:

I continued on Townsend to 2nd to Market to Sansome and into work.

I was pretty beat Monday morning from riding Sunday so I slept in a little and just came down Market into work.  Ass kicked after only 84 miles!  What is the world coming to???  Mr. Poe came down to Union Square for lunch so we could find a new lamp for the study.  Which we got at Crate And Barrel and is actually quite nice.  We needed to replace the existing lamp because the shade was broken and it kept hitting the bulb which made a ‘ZZZZT’  sound when it made contact which is not a sound I associate with electrical safety.  I also managed to get a lunch at Chipotle which was delicious and enormous. 

After work I managed to get a ride in.  I got this nice pic looking up Market at sunset:

I took 2nd to Howard to 11th to Harrison to 25th to Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Wilder to Diamond to Monterey to Ridewood to Flood to Hazelwood to Greenwood to Plymouth to Wildwood.  A lot of houses in Westwood Park have beautiful Christmas decorations.  I tried to take some pics of them.  This is the only one that didn’t look terrible and it didn’t do it justice:

I continued on Wildwood to Faxon to De Montefort to Ashton to Holloway to Lunado to Winston to 20th to Ocean to Clearfield into 34th to Yorba to Crestlake to Wawona to 30th to Vicente to 17th to Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner. 

We had leftover gumbo from Christmas dinner which just keeps getting better and then we took Rufus for a long walk to look at all the Christmas decorations before the storms start up again tomorrow.  When we got back we walked all three of the dogs and then we went home and went to bed.  Long day.

Bike Mileage:

Today 19.1 Week to date 19.1 Month to date 498.6 Year to date 7,288.8 To Goal 2,711.2 Over (Under) plan (2,601.6) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (565.0) Rolling Year 7,327.1 Since Inception 10/1/07 28,458.6

Sunday I left Mr. Poe with the remaining household mess and went for a bike ride all day.  Which I kid you not he did not complain about, a fact I attribute to how much he liked the savory bread pudding from the night before.  I posted a Different Spokes ride out to Novato and the weather forecast looked OK as opposed to great but it was sunny at 8AM and I was looking forward to the Chipotle burrito that I get on the days when I do the Novato ride so I decided to go.  First stop was Peet’s in the Castro to see if anybody was gonna show.  Nobody did.  This was the view looking up Market towards Twin Peaks:

I headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped in Fairfax for snack.  Sadly, Perry’s was closed so I had to settle for the 7-11.  Then up over White’s hill and then I turned to go to Nicasio.  This was the view from the top of that hill looking over San Geronimo valley:

Me:

From there I headed over to Nicasio which was quiet.  The threat of rain had scared most of the cyclists away and I didn’t see many riders all day:

I can report that Nicasio Reservoir was full:

I headed over to the Cheese Factory and stopped again:

Then I turned to Novato Blvd and started heading for Novato.  This is pretty Stafford Lake:

I got a little rain on my way into Novato, although not more than a heavy sprinkle.  Then I made my way down to San Rafael and stopped for lunch at Chipotle.  The Chipotle in San Rafael takes forever to get food.  At first I thought that they were slow but then I realized that they are working as fast as they do in the San Francisco stores that in fact it’s the customers.  Everybody in line seemed to be buying food for their entire families and that was what was taking so long.  It got me thinking about the search for the missing mass in the universe.  What if it turns out that it’s in the car waiting with the kids??

After lunch, which was delicious but very, very filling, I waddled out and headed into San Rafael.  I stopped at the Mission for a pic:

This is the pretty Boyd Gate House which dates form 1876 and and is super cute.  You can read more about it here:

Really nice detail and it’s in really good shape:

Then I headed back to San Francsico.  I stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge for a pic:

And I stopped at one of the piers for a few more shots:

I saw this house on Castro and I was heading home.  It’s like Christmas exploded all over it:

I headed home and got cleaned up.  A few of Mr. Poe’s friends came over for dinner.  Thankfully, they didn’t stay very late so I could go to bed early.  Ashley Jr seems just about back to normal thank God because we were starting to panic.

Bike Mileage:

Today 84.1 Week to date 191.5 Month to date 479.5 Year to date 7,269.7 To Goal 2,730.3 Over (Under) plan (2,593.3) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (584.1) Rolling Year 7,308.0 Since Inception 10/1/07 28,439.5

We managed to sleep in until 8:30 on Christmas morning and it still didn’t seem like enough sleep.  I got up and made Mr. Poe and I breakfast and then started cooking.  The guests showed up at 3.  We had 10 people over which was really crazy but lots of fun.  Mr friend Nathan took all these pics:

Mimi and Rufus looking for noms:

Daniel and I. 

Dinner is served.   The two pans to the left have a savory bread pudding in them that has sausage and mushrooms and sage in it.  Mr. Poe liked that alot.  The thing next to them are zucchini fritters that are not hard to make and look spectacular:

Mr. Poe serving dessert:

I shamefully passed out at 7PM leaving Mr. Poe with a filthy house.  I’d been working all day and I was so very tired.  He stayed up til 10 cleaning.  What a champ.  Ashley is definitely feeling better and he’s eating again but he’s still sleeping a lot.

We were busy all day Friday.  We got no sleep because of Ashley and his Poodie flu but I managed to drag myself out of bed and start cooking for Christmas Eve and Christmas day dinners.  Since the groups didn’t overlap I made the same dessert for both.  It was a berry tiramisu that looked spectacular and I’m told tasted fantastic and was so very easy to make:

I had to go to the Castro to finish my Christmas shopping and then we had a very large lunch and I got some more food ready for dinner and then I got a shower and we headed off to the Gay Men’s Chorus at the Castro Theater which we’ve been going to forever and which definitely is improved by a couple of glasses of wine.  Here’s Mr. Poe in line.  Hello gorgeous!:

The crowd waiting for the show:

After the show we headed back home with a couple of Mr. Poe’s friends.  We saw these pretty lights on the way:

Then we headed home for dinner which was very fun but went on forever.  Ashley slept all day but seems more or less on the mend.  He wasn’t throwing up anymore so that’s a good thing.  We finally went to bed around midnight.  Which made it a very, very long day.

It was cold but dry when I headed home for lunch which was nice.  And I managed to get a nice ride in after work and I even left a few minutes early so I got a couple of daylight pics.  I headed off Sutter to Steiner where I stopped for pics of pretty St. Dominic’s:

Lovely details:

I continued on Steiner to Clay to Spruce to Washington where I stopped for a few pics in the dwindling sun:

I continued on Washington to Arguello to Lake to 23rd to Cabrillo to 47th to Fulton to the Great Highway and down the coast to Kirkham to 7th into Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner. 

I stayed up late making cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which take forever (lousy yeast) so I made a bunch of cookies while I was waiting for them to rise.  I finally made it to bed around 11 but, alas, sleep was not to be mine because sweet little Ashley Jr. has the stomach upset and threw up all night.

Bike Mileage:

Today 33.6 Week to date 107.4 Month to date 395.4 Year to date 7,185.6 To Goal 2,814.4 Over (Under) plan (2,595.2) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (668.2) Rolling Year 7,223.9 Since Inception 10/1/07 28,355.4