Party like it's 1999

This last weekend was packed with wild and crazy times--so I'm going to try to rip through it for ya'.
First of all, my friend Kelly, whose wedding I'm going back to Madison for in a few weeks, was in town for a visit. So Friday night we grabbed food in North Beach (we ran out of time trying to wait to get into a crowded italian restaurant and wound up grabbing burgers) and went to a comedy club. Christy, of course, decides that it would be a fantastic idea for us to sit in the FRONT ROW. This is a bad idea. Usually I worry about Joe, who tends to get picked on at things like this. But no, Kelly was the one who got all the flak. Every. Single. Comic made a comment about how bored she looked--she would smile but didn't laugh. Plus, we were so close, it was hard to keep looking up at them. We were looking right up their noses, so they made fun of her for looking away. Which made it all the more hilarious for us!
The next morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed early...to catch a limo to Napa Valley! That's right, a limo. One of my coworkers had decided to gather a group of people to all pitch in on a limo together. We first went to a winery that specialized in sparkling wines. I'm not usually a huge fan, but they had a few tasty ones. Next we went to V. Sattui, which also has a deli inside. I LOVE their wines. Joe, Christy and I shared 2 different tastings, so that we each got a sip of almost every wine they have. The guy serving us was really nice, and we even convinced him to let us try the Vin Santo that they stock. Which we rewarded him by buying a bottle each of, and then a few other kinds as well. We got sandwiches and sat outside on a picnic table and ate lunch with everyone else. It was so packed there, I was a little annoyed at first, but it was really fun to sit outside with everyone.
Then we went to one more, one of the "big name" wineries. The kind you can find in a liquor store in Wisconsin.
Bleh. There was not a single one of their wines that I liked--and the tasting was outrageously expensive. The grounds of the vineyard, though, are stunning. It you can see the mountains all around. I hear that their tours are actually quite good, but you have to make a reservation ahead of time. I kind of wished we would have planned a little better, but other people didn't want to "lock" us in to a schedule. Oh well. Next time.
On the way home, while cracking open bottle after bottle in the limo (hey, one bottle split among 12 people does not go far. You get about a third of a glass each), everyone talked the 3 of us into going to a party (that another one of my coworkers was throwing) in the hills of Oakland. I had already told her no, we wouldn't be attending, because we will have no way to get home from there.
Yet somehow (the copious amounts of wine perhaps?) we were convinced to go.
And I'm very glad we did. I had SO much fun. Totally worth the chaos that came later. There were a lot of people there I knew, I hung out with coworkers that I don't get to talk to much, Christy and Joe had fun, there was a turkey burger cook-off, a trivia contest and a dalmation who kept licking the cheese and crackers in my hand. People played music in the garage for a while. The view from their backyard is STUNNING. You can see all of Oakland. When I say they are in the hills, I mean they're halfway up a mountain.
We tried calling a cab. A lot of us did, because a lot of us needed to get home. We called over and over, but this is Oakland, and apparently the rules are not the same. ONE cab came. For 10 people. We sent off the first four and waited for more. No more came. Eventually we sent 3 more people off with one of my friends, since they were only going to the other side of Oakland.
We waited. I lost Christy for a while and freaked out. I drank more sangria.
Joe and I were prepared to crash on the couch there, but Kelly (who was not with us) was going to be getting back to Christy's house soon, so Christy was (understandably) determined to get back to her. In retrospect, we should have crammed Christy into the first cab that arrived, then Joe and I would have just stayed. And actually, Joe had decided that he was not going to sleep on a couch but rather, out on their lawn so he could watch the sun rise over Oakland. I would have liked to see how long he lasted.
Finally, one of my work friends (who had not been drinking) volunteered to drive us all the way back to SF. He's a sweetie.
I must have drank more than I thought (Their sangria was delicious!!) because the next morning I was moving
verrrrrrrrry.
verrrrrrrry.
sloooooooooooooooowly.
I was still better than Joe who didn't move at ALL until, oh, noonish.
By the time we got going, we just managed to make it to Golden Gate Park to meet everyone at the Japanese Tea Garden, which was a relaxing way to spend the day. Then we went back to Christy's for a BBQ. Her roommates went all out. We had chicken, beef, guacamole, burgers, homemade chicken nuggets...and sangria. Which I'm sure was delicious, though I couldn't make myself have any.
We dragged ourselves home--we were the first ones to leave. Usually really packed weekends annoy me. I just want to relax. But I had so much fun this weekend, that I was actually excited to go into work on Monday. I should party with my coworkers more often!