We were in NYC for the weekend, because Ben's mom, Winnie, got some cheap last-minute tickets to come out and see her parents, as well as other miscellaneous family in the area. It was really fun!

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My mom and Kevin are here for the weekend. My mom is attending a designer's conference in Livermore this week, so they took a couple days to see me, and what this basically translates to is a large amount of good eating. :)

We went to La Note for breakfast Friday morning, which remains one of my favorite restaurants here. It's a lovely place. They took me out to dinner at Venezia, and it felt a little odd not having my mom wave away the third glass that the waiter brought for the wine. I had the most amazing entree there, this duck with porcini pasta, pearl onions, prunes, and pears. It was so tasty.

On Saturday we went up to Sonoma, and going to Sonoma with my mom and Kevin is like going to the Asian Art Museum with Jeanine: it's taking along a very knowledgeable guide. We visited the Cline and Chateau St. Jean wineries, which are two of their favorites, and it was pretty cool because they're actually club members of both, so the sommeliers treated us very nicely and gave us extra wines to taste. In the end, I picked some wines that I'd really liked, which not surprisingly coincided pretty well with the favorites that my mom and Kevin had, and they got me 12 bottles. It was a very nice 21st birthday present.

And then last night, I saw the Kirov Ballet and Orchestra perform Sleeping Beauty. Daria got us these great tickets, at the front of the balcony at Zellerbach, so we could see the choreography very well and hear the music clearly, but only pay $24 for the tickets. The prima ballerina was absolutely amazing, as well as many of the other dancers, and I just love Tchaikovsky. It was a really enjoyable evening.

Btw... 1000th entry. Wow.

a big thanks to everyone who wrote me, or called, or sent e-cards, or sent real cards, or sang to me, or came to Jupiter to help me celebrate, or paid some of my tab at Jupiter, or convinced the waitress I needed free beer, or was nice to me, or even just thought about me on my birthday. :)

it was cool that while this birthday incorporated several things not previously seen on my birthday--having a cold, having a midterm, giving a talk to my boss, and legalized drinking, to name a few--it was still a really good day that primarily consisted of people being nice to me. the midterm went well, and I felt so much calmer about it than any of my 137A exams this summer. and the talk went well too... I'm excited about that.

love to you guys. :)

really sweet thing that Jeanine sent that you don't have to read:

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here's to great friends. you guys rock. :)