Sending Cerra to the “farm”

The last half of the month has been all about Cerra. We’re still in denial over the reality of her cross-country move happening over the holidays. I have every intention of seeing her in the office when I come back, and it’s going to be really sad when I IM her about lunch and she mentions she can’t get a flight that fast.

We kicked off a series of farewells Dec. 12 at Club Waziema for the official going away party. It was a fun night where people pledged to end their lives in her absence and confessed things as if she were their best friend. She later told me that her cranberry-vodkas were really just cranberry juice and it was a special moment for us. The tables had turned. I headed home a little after 1, but it seems a 5 am dance party closed down the night. Really sorry I missed that.

Sunday morning my sister sent me a bunch of photos of her & her boyfriend’s dogs with the subject line “Please help!”. Several hours later she called to follow up that she wanted me to make them a Christmas card. “Could you just photoshop them so it looks like they are both sitting in front of the Christmas tree?” Me: “You realize all of these are blurry, taken from different angles and none of them show their feet?” I came up with these 2 postcard size variations:

I spent the first 3 nights of next week baking. I ended up with 27 dozen cookies, 55 m&m balls, and a pan of brownies. It yielded 18 cheer plates and 3 large Tupperware containers of cookies. Thursday morning I toted my cardboard box of plates and bag of Tupperware on the bus. I felt like Santa. The morning didn’t start off too well. I handed my bus driver a plate, and he said, “All of these are for me???” I nodded.  At the end of the bus route, he called me over and said, “You should give these to someone else,” while explaining his lack of teeth. The security guard and building janitor (having teeth) were much more excited. It was a great day. It was a definite bonding experience with the evening security lady. She’s even nicer when she says goodnight. It felt good to give a little something back, but it was exhausting.

That evening I took the train down to Haight for dinner with Cerra. We went to what has become our regular spot, Magnolia’s. She was sickly but managed to find an appetite. It was delicious as always and I was happy she convinced me to try the goat cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon. Yum! I’ll miss our dinner dates in Haight.

The next day was her official last day in the office and also the day of the company holiday party. Naturally, it wasn’t very productive. It was a beautiful day so we walked down to the Ferry building for an outdoor lunch at Taylor’s. Ryan & I walked back solo and stopped in to visit his sister at the YMCA on the way back. It was a delightful day, even if it were celebrating something that made us pretty sad.

After dropping Cerra home, I headed home to get ready for the party. I’d had my hair in a pin curl set all day. Most people realized it was prep for another hairdo. Some, however, tactfully asked, “So what was your inspiration for this look, Mindy?” Hah! Yes, my curly hair turned out the best it ever has and I didn’t take time for a photo before I left. It was an adventurous trip to the party. I was going to spend money on a cab, but I felt too guilty taking one just for myself. On the bus I went. I got off in Chinatown for a connection, only to realize that bus was running way late. 30 minutes late. So I got back on the original bus. Took it to the office basically. Got on it again for the route to continue and then walked 3 blocks uphill (running across a freeway ramp in heels) and finally arrived at Terra. The venue was awesome. I didn’t take a single photo! I’m getting really bad about that. I was complimented on being fashionably late and Cerra proceeded to try to set me up with everyone there. She has quite a speech. I finally got to hang out with Gopi & his wife and shared lots of laughs with Sallie & her friend. It was a fun night! Tim & Emily are always good company. A new guy asked if I hated him. Apparently, I was already subconsciously nodding in agreement when I looked to Tim with a pleading look about whether I should tell the truth. He later said, “All I was thinking was whatever motion you’re making with your head…make it stop, make it stop!” And my position as new hire soul crusher is safe for another year. Oh yeah, and the party bartender asked me if I were pregnant. That’s apparently the only valid reason for not drinking at an open bar hehe.

The party finally wrapped up at the St. Regis hotel bar, where Cerra & I pulled off an epic payback. It was our last great act as SF besties. (Photo is from Thanksgiving. Can’t believe I didn’t take photos at the party!) One of the guys she tried to set me up with the moment I arrived at the party apparently took the bait. I have a pretty hilarious play-by-play I really wish I could share on here, but I have some class, unlike him who asked me to go home at 4 am when he finally realized I was serious when I said I don’t hook up with guys I just met. (burn!) Boys, I know C# eventually does what you need if you try hard enough and put the time in, but C# can’t discriminate who it cooperates with. I can. I emailed Cerra & Ryan with the details at 6:30 am. Ryan called me at 7. He said he woke up and said, “hmm, email from Mindy before 7 am, this must be good.” And it was.

Following a night with no sleep which had pushed me one step closer to a nunnery, I managed to avoid leaving my apartment by maintaining a diet of cookies. I spent the day setting up my sister’s Christmas present. I finally figured out how to get Quicktime Pro to export MJPEG. Well, as I was converting videos, I came across the 5 minutes of raw footage that I’d taken of Snippy & Briece last Christmas. I decided to edit the footage in to a tale of broken hearts. I called it “Snippy & Poodle: Boulevard of Broken Hearts” but I later realized a better title would have been “A Tale of Two Tails” :) My sister got it but I had to explain it to my parents. You can judge for yourself. Pardon the crap audio cut.

Sunday night, we had a barbeque at Steve’s where Cerra was crashing since the movers had taken all of her stuff that week. It was a really fun group of people (Julia/Greg, Tim/Emily, Pat, Garth, & Jess) with delicious food. We learned all about mincemeat, and my no drinking span was broken by a little glass of Sherry. I wanted to be authentic and apparently that’s how you’re supposed to follow up mincemeat pies. I’ll probably have to start going to meetings again now. Thanks, Steve. It was, however, a perfect way to send-off Cerra.
I got a call from her later the next day though with a great story. It was her last day in San Francisco, so when a little old woman came up to her when she was trying to hail a cab and insisted, “I take you home. I take you home. It’s Christmas,” she accepted. First, this lady may have been the worst driver ever. After coming to a complete stop at every single intersection, regardless of light color, she eventually brought the car to a complete halt in the middle of the street. She’d asked Cerra if she knew about Jesus and went to church. Cerra said, “Yes” and “No”, respectively. The lady took it upon herself to pray for Cerra. “You don’t want to go to the Hell. You want to be in heaven with your friends and family.” Therefore, the lady asked Cerra to close her eyes & pray. Cerra cooperated, leaving one eye cracked open and latched on to her purse in case the lady tried anything funny. The woman lifted her arms to the sky and started praying in Spanish. From what Cerra could translate she said something like “Please let this girl in to heaven. She doesn’t go to church and she doesn’t know what she’s doing.” Even though Cerra was flying out that night she decided it best to have the woman drop her off 2 blocks from her place. What should have been a 10-minute ride home had turned in to a 25-minute epic adventure. I was nearly crying in the mailroom as she recounted this story. “Mindy, there really is no such thing as a free ride.” Co-workers must have thought I was losing my mind. What a uniquely San Franciscan way to wrap up a 5-year stay in the city. Looking forward to visiting her new home soon! She’s already missed.

Getting back home again

I left my apartment at 10:30 am PST. We pulled in to my parent’s driveway around 1:30 am EST. It was only 12 hours but it felt like several days. I wasn’t stranded in Chicago as I feared, though it would have been fun to hang out with Phil if I had been. I’m not ruling out that possibility on the way back to SF. Christmas was Christmas. Nothing much to talk about except that it’s reinforced my feelings about having kids. I think all my gifts went over well. I got my sister that digital photo frame, loaded up with 100 photos and about 15 videos; my brother Modern Warfare and a book with 125 Most Scenic Road Trips; my mom an Ameribag for her Europe trip; my dad a legit Route 66 replica sign and American Farmer DVD; and my parents a BBC Yellowstone Bluray. I got Wii Fit Plus & Wii Sports Resort. Looking forward to trying those out when I’m home. My mom also had her engagement and 5-year anniversary rings made in to necklaces for my sister & I. Apparently, I gave her the idea years ago. I did not recall doing so but finally remembered that I had just been telling her a customer story when we did some work for a jeweler in Indianapolis. I hadn’t said it trying to drop a hint. I just thought it was a nice story. Naturally, I got crap for not being excited enough about getting something expensive that I have to be responsible for and will never feel safe wearing.

And I’m bored talking about that so here are some photos I took of the dogs yesterday. Snippy looks heavenly if I do say so myself. (Update 1/3 - Added photos from Milo & Briece shoot)

Last night, I made Jenna & my mom go to Crackers Broad Ripple with me. My friends Matt & Jeff had a show. They were fantastic. The third guy was less so. It was really nice to see them and always good to laugh! I was pleasantly surprised it was non-smoking. Made it extra good! Stopped by Hot Box for a soda for the way home. None of us had room for breadstix, so I definitely need to stop in for some in Carmel. Can’t forget this time.

I’m working on an end of the year post…stay tuned for it soon.