Help a Sister out

I am an engineer. My sister is a photographer.  We are about as opposite as you could get.  Although we use the opposite sides of our brain we have some things in common, we are passionate and care a lot about what we do, and always produce quality work.  I can't prove to you that I do good work (hopefully the proof will be when the plant I'm designing finally gets up and running) but I can prove to you that my sister's work is great.  She just opened an etsy shop!  I thinking about getting this picture, love the colors and I think it would look great on a white wall!

Here is the link to her etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheInbetweens

Or

Browse her photos first and pick one out that you might like:
http://theinbetweensimagery.tumblr.com/

And

She's giving a discount to her blog readers:
http://caseyfyfe.blogspot.com/

Beach Blanket Babylon

Love love love love LOVE this show.  This was my third (or maybe fourth) time seeing it and I think it was the best so far.  We decided last minute to attend and bought tickets about an hour and a half before the show started and then waited in line.  Since it is all open seating within the section you purchase, it's a good idea to get in line early so we ended up with pretty good seats in our section. 

The actors were amazing, as always, but the content was quite different from the last time I saw it.  Of course all the political stuff was still there and Meg Whitman (played by a man) was probably one of my favorites.  They did a big thing about the Giants and their World Series Championship, which got a great reaction from the crowd.  All the current pop starts got their due, Katie Perry, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, even the cast of gLee!  Towards the end they did a spin off on Les Miserables to represent the current state of our country.  I found this very amusing, but I guess the average person doesn't know the music/story from Les Miserables as well as I do :)  Luckily, the bf liked the show and thought it lived up to all my hype (this is rare, since I always tend to hype things up too much).

Grand Tavern

We ate at the Grand Tavern a few weeks ago, and I'm just getting around to reviewing it, oops!  I had read about this place in a recent Oakland Tribune article and it sounded like a fun place to try.  The restaurant itself is a little strange because it really seems like you are in someone's house (that happens to have a bar in one corner).  You walk in and it's a long hallway with no hostess stand or anything to let you know that you are in the right place.  But once you are inside it is very cozy, some of the tables have big comfy chairs by the fire, some are side benches or window seats, and some are regular looking dinning room tables.  Since we had a group of 6 we sat at one of these bigger tables.  The service we had wasn't great, but I think our waiter might have just been having an off night and it seemed like everyone else's waiters were more attentive. 

On to the important stuff, the food and drinks!  The drink list was expansive and every drink we ordered was great.  I had a gin drink with sparkling wine and a bunch of other stuff that was very refreshing, and everyone else at our table really enjoyed their drinks.  The food was also great, but since this is more of a bar or gastropub a lot of it was small plates so there was lots of sharing.  The bf somehow found the only thing on the menu that wasn't a small plate, a burger with everything and anything on it.

Apparently it was good, and all of our other small plates were delicious.  I shared some of the ravioli and the crab and artichoke brushetta, bother very tasty and the ravioli was actually a good size serving.  Even though this place it probably more about getting together in a fun setting for some drinks and a snack, it was also a fine choice for dinner.  As we were leaving I noticed a patio out front which would be an awesome hangout place when the weather is warmer, I guess I'll have to go back!