Mini Cooper - Car Commercial

If you've ever driven with the Penland's in their MINI through San Francisco then you'll identify with this video. :)

Christmas in San Francisco

Mike and Stephanie had a nice relaxing Christmas with friends, family, and plenty of presents. Stephanie got the "White Christmas" that she often dreams of as the morning fog rolled through the Financial District. After opening presents we went to Livermore to visit family, having a lovely time with Mario and Jeanne.

If you're interested in Christmas day pictures please click here for the full view or click here for a slide show. Thanks and happy holidays.

Christmas Eve with the Penlands

Mike was a sheep - yes really. His services were needed for the quick children's play and he was down for the fun. "Baaaaa!"

Stephanie was eager for her ahi tuna dinner and missed her sister and family. Here's a picture of a digital hug for dear Carina!

Speaking of hugs, the Penland's got free hugs down in Union Square thanks to the FREE HUG crew and we helped spread the joy of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Just one present...

Okay, we're adults but we're definitely still kids at heart. So as Mike knew exactly what one of his gifts was, the time bomb of insanity has been ticking. Stephanie took pity on him after making him beg for about a week, finally allowing him to open the present only because our local hawk was out hunting parrots again.

Seizing the opportunity Mike shredded the wrapping and unveiled a Celestron 80mm 60x zoom spotting scope which he quickly trained upon the hawk and everything within site. Below is a picture of the Ferry Building clock face at 40x. With an good SLR camera we should be able to get some nice hawk pictures too. (Thanks Mom!)

Stephanie also got to open up one early gift too; a beautiful sweater from Anthropologie which is kind of like art in woolen-hoodie form. Fortunately it wasn't too itchy as she's very sensitive to any non-merino wools.

We can barely wait to see what else Santa brings - pray we can resist the urge to open anything until Christmas day!

Our New Couch is Finally Complete!!!

Yes, that’s right, the Penland’s finally have all three pieces of their new couch - which is big enough to land a jumbo jet on. We're really excited because it’s our first real couch and also because it has taken over two months and three deliveries to get the order correct. You’re welcome to come on over and check it out. Special thanks to Pottery Barn for the sweet 40% discount, and to Stephanie for keeping her job at Williams-Sonoma just for the discount. :-)

Celebration Time :-D

The Penland’s celebrated last night at the Boulevard restaurant. Stephanie is finishing her semester strong finishing her final projects a day ahead and Mike got a sweet promotion with his yearly review. The food was amazing. Hamachi sashimi, sea bass, and a roasted pork chop all served to perfection. I only wished we had room for desert!

Stephanie’s New Epson Stylus Pro 3800 Printer

Okay, you may be thinking “it’s just a printer, who cares?”. Trust us, this printer is huge. Literally HUGE! These pictures make the Penland’s MINI look like tiny bug. Honestly, there was no Photoshop involved here. How Mike managed to drive up on to the printer is another story, come by our apartment and we’ll show you. Rest assured that we’ll put this sweet machine to use in our pursuit of graphic perfection. You might want to sell your Kinkos stock though as Stephanie’s design expenses have been keeping them in the black for two quarters now. For more on the printer click here.

Father Penland Visits San Francisco

Mike's dad Mark stopped over in SF last night on his annual migration trek from Montana. We had a nice time visiting with him and wish him a safe journey to those warmer climates. Of course we think SF is just ducky and can't figure out why he wanted to go further south :-D

Rudyard Kipling put it best when he said, "San Francisco has only one drawback. 'Tis hard to leave."
For more about the old-time SF please check out the Sparkletack podcast.

Glad Tidings Christmas Musical

On Sunday, several hundred people were blessed at Glad Tidings annual Christmas musical. Our choir and band did an amazing job, Pastor Tim delivered an uplifting message, and super cute kids sang and acted out parts of the Christmas story. Mike and Ryan, this being their fifth or sixth musical, managed the spotlighting with newcomer Brian. It was a great time for all.

A few extra photos may be viewed here: http://flickr.com/photos/penland/tags/musical/
Special thanks to Michael Morrison for the photos :)

Our Decorations are Complete!

The Penland's first Christmas tree is now completely decorated. If you're in San Francisco please come on by and check it out. You can sit on our lovely 1/3 of couch - ha!

Merry Christmas!!!

Razzing of The Shrine

Okay, Mike finally snapped and starting ripping down all of the Michael Jackson images. It's hard to say what was worse, the constant jeers from co-workers, or all of the beady little MJ eyes. Kyle and Vincent really went over the top on this one.

Glad Tidings Christmas Banquet

We attended the annual Christmas Banquet this evening. Stephanie found a lovely dress and despite Mike's slight sickness we had a lovely time. We had some good food, heard some incredible music, and were blessed with a nice sermon.

GMAT Exam Round 1

Mike took a practice GMAT exam this morning at the Pearson Vue testing center. Special thanks to Kaplan for arranging this great practice session. So how did he do? Well, let's just say that he's lucky it was just a practice session. Perhaps the fingerprinting an head cold were to blame...

On other topics, we still have half a couch - but it's a comfy half! Also, Stephanie is busy completing her MFA projects, caring for a sniffling Mike, and looking for a new dress for the Glad Tidings Church dinner banquet tomorrow night.

Only half a couch :(

Sad but true; only half of our couch would fit in the elevator. The stairs didn't work either, not that anyone wanted to carry it up 26 flights of stairs anyways. A pulley crane up the side of the building was another option but our building managers wouldn't go for it. Booo :(

This means we have to order a more expensive three-piece sectional instead of the two piece we had intended. If we're lucky maybe we can get them in by Christmas.

Drat.

At least the half of a couch that we have is super comfy!

Our first Christmas Tree!

Contrary to popular belief, Christmas trees do fit in MINI Coopers. We'll be decorating our new tree over the next few weeks and then admire the view from our new couch. Merry Christmas!!!

Mortified in the MJ Shrine

It's been very difficult to do much work with so many Michael-eyes staring at time. My oh my; I'm not sure how long I can take this madenss.

Office Prank - Michael Jackson Shrine

My co-workers decided to play a little prank on me while I was away in Seattle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PhVxsZykg

Thanksgiving in Seattle

Seattle was a blast with lots of great family time, board games, zoos, museums, acquariums, coffee, and uh - tons of rain. What else can you expect for Seattle?

I had the most amazing cup of coffee in my life at Zoka Coffee (zokacoffee.com) in Seattle. It was Thatcher's Reserve from the Elida Estate, growing region of Alto Quiel, Boquete - Panama brewed in a revolutionary $11K machine called the Clover. It was so good I savored every black drop with no cream or sugar.

This is a test. booooo...