Brew Your Own

"If you do not have patience, you cannot make beer."

-African proverb

I developed a taste for beer after spending my 21st birthday in a beer tent in Bavaria. I was never much of a beer drinker but after cheers-ing fellow Germans dressed in a dirndl with a full polka band playing and a bruise on my hand from holding my stein glass, I have never looked back. There's something rather ritualistic and comforting about beer. Good beer.

I stumbled across this quote and thought it was quite fitting for the last couple of days. A lot of reflecting time, a lot of good friends, and yes, a lot of beer. But all through this delightful weekend the whole concept of patience was flying around in the back of my head. I sometimes forget that everything is happening in due time. When you're focused on it life can sometimes feel like you're in slow motion.

It really was a great weekend. Wasn't exactly as planned, but I like that kind of spontaneity. Lord knows I try to make things soft and effortless, but frankly you can only let planning go so far. The Universe gets the rest. Which is oh-so-exciting.

I did make some yummy homemade treats this week though thanks to a little bit of planning:

Banana Bread.

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins.

And my first ever lasagna. Turkey Sausage and Goat cheese.

MMMMMM Go me.

Everything came out deliciously and we've been noshing all weekend. Jimmy had a record of 5 muffins in one day.

Spencer came in late Thursday night. We got home and enjoyed some lasagna, beer and wine, and episodes of Arrested Development with Jimmy. I cannot even tell you how much I am obsessed with that show. Really. Go watch it. We called it an early night to charge up for the weekend.

Friday morning meant a very special trip to the Griddle for breakfast. Spencer had his doubts due to his loyalty to Pork Store Cafe in San Francisco so Jims and I set out to welcome him to the Darkside. We had lots of yummy french toast and Jims had the pumpkin pancake. After breakfast the three of us jumped in the car and headed to Santa Monica to do a little exploring.

Here's us awkwardly posing on the pier. It was a bit windy and actually started raining!

But awkward photos weren't the highlight of our pier trip... but rather our pretty fantastic celeb sighting:

Yup. Kel Mitchell from Kenan & Kel, Good Burger, and a personal favorite, Mystery Men. He was taking what looked like engagement photos with a rather curvaceous lady friend. The three of us didn't even try to be inconspicuous. We literally stood and stared. Not my typical ice queen status but come on, it was Kel. He probably needed the attention.

After wandering up and down 3rd Street Promenade, we headed to Burbank to see Moneyball (after a good hour in traffic on the 405--shakes fist).

It was a very interesting movie. Not the kind of sports movie Hollywood usually presents, which was refreshing. It was fantastically acted but perhaps a bit drawn out. The boys are from the Bay Area and Spencer is a huge A's fan so they both appreciated all the Bay Area footage and references.

Later that night we all went to their friend Kevin's house. He lives just down the road from me up in the Studio City hills. I thought my third floor view was nice but it is hardly comparable to his view of the city at night. It was beautiful. We drank some beers, listened to Kevin jam on his guitar, and watched some South Park. A lovely night.

Saturday can probably be summed up in one word: disastrous. I realize how dramatic that sounds. Saturday afternoon the Wildcats were playing USC! Very exciting. The boys got up and headed right out the door to meet up with friends and pregame. I thought I'd make a later exit, simply so I could shower and because Jimmy and I had to drive separately anyways. I threw on my Arizona shirt, my most controversial college-girl-looking-cut-off-jean-shorts (that are really only socially acceptable at collegiate football games where other girls look much more lewd by contrast), and headed out the door with a big happy smile on my face.

Well.

I left at 11 am. Got to USC at 11:20. And didn't park my car until 12:25.

It was ridiculous. I cannot relay to you how stressed out I was. There was literally no where for me to go, not to mention no one really knew where the U of A tailgate was. At one point, I gave up and decided to pay $20 for parking, only to pull in and realize I only had $12. I rather theatrically unraveled my dollar bills, and knew what I had to do. I instantly turned on the waterworks hoping they would let me park there anyways. ...It didn't work, but MAN did I give it the old college try. It was very convincing, and the men who worked at the booth were very sympathetic. You should have seen my watery doe eyes. Luckily they weren't wooed by womanly weakness and didn't let me park there, because I was actually on the completely wrong side of the stadium (Jimmy....).

I finally found a parking spot somewhere kind of close to the stadium at a parking meter. Score. I sprinted several blocks, only to find that everyone had already left the tailgate.

I was flustered, for sure. Jimmy encouraged me to get a ticket and go in to watch the game. Bryan was inside and I desperately wanted to see him. So, being the lascivious wrong-doer that I am, I bought a ticket from a scalper. Ohhhhhh I'm a bad girl. He offered it for $45. I pulled out my womanly charm again to try and redeem myself, batting my eyelashes and all. "$20". "Ehh... Okay. Done".

Allllriiigghhhht. I've still got it. Jimmy was sweet enough to lend me the extra $8 and I headed into the stadium.

I even finagled my way into the wrong section. "Wait ma'am, I have to see your ticket." "Oh! Is this not section 3? (sweet, naive smile)". "Oh no, it is. Enjoy the game!" I met up with all the other Wildcats. Man, did it feel good. I've missed singing "Bear Down Arizona" and being a poor sport, etc. Nothing quite like college athletics. I was so excited to see Bryan, too. I seriously adore him.

U of A gave a good fight, really. It was a pretty fun game, minus our kicker being completely worthless. Honestly, it's just getting ridiculous. The Cats held their own though and you've got to respect that. Bryan, his brother Brett, and our sweet friend Paige and I made the trek back to my car, but not without making a stop at Taco Bell to load up on not-free water and mystery meat. I drove the group back to their hotel and headed home.

I was exhausted. I took a solid four hour nap to unwind after the day.

Then I met up with all of my silly Bravo friends for a party at Bobby's house. It was amazing. The moment I walked in they could sense I was tense and I was instantly surrounded by love and good listeners. I don't know where I would be without Bravo, really. I hung out for an hour or so and watched some beer pong before having to head back. Blake and Nikolai drove over an hour or so later, armed with cookie dough ice cream and popcorn. I think I'll keep them. We were all up till 3 am eating crap and watching weird youTube videos. Good thing we're young.

I reluctantly woke Spencer up this morning to take him back to LAX. He has season tickets to the Raiders and therefore had an early flight to make it to the game. He's a good kid.

I miraculously don't have to work today. I've spent the day trying to be as productive as my sleepy brain will let me. I have written out a list of goals for myself, applied for three Disney jobs and two Craigslist ads, re-started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, watched three episodes of Arrested Development, and written this entry.

But really, it's time for me to go do something real. I understand that I am only 22, but why does that have to slow me down? I've got to kick things up a notch. Time to get out of this debt-consolidating, not-too-much-money-in-the-bank-cycle. I've got too much to offer to wait till I am 26 or some other age others deem appropriate to start doing things.

I am thinking about expanding things a bit on my blog. I mean, as much as my life summaries must THRILL you, I want to start to work in some of my opinion pieces and maybe even some short stories. Which I know can be different to read, but hey, what better way for me to get in some practice? So look forward to that. I'm sure you are.

I hope everyone takes some time to just be with yourself. A very wise fictional character by the name of Carrie Bradshaw once said, "The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself". I think if we all took some time to give that quote a little bit of weight in our lives, we would be happier. As much as I admire others taking care of each other, sometimes you've got to take care of yourself first. If you're happy it's much easier to make others happy. Which I realize is all that I really want in life. To be happy. Everything else just falls together when you're happy. So I'm going to keep on doing that and see what the Universe has in store for me. That and drinking beer. And hopefully patience finds me somewhere along the way, too.

xxxoo.