what a weekend

I really thought Brie would take the time to tell us all of her birthday weekend, I really would like to read her perspective on how she enjoyed everything. Here is my recap.

We left early Saturday afternoon for San Jose. Brie wanted to go to Valley Faire, the upscale mall in Silicon Valley. It was the first time I had been there since 1999 and I must say I hated it. They basically added another mall to the back area that use to be parking. The mall is simply horrendous in it's layout and the number of people in there (several thousand at the least) made me yearn to be back in the wide open spaces of Virginia. We hit a few shops and bought some Lemongrass lotion for Restoration Hardware (great stuff), we were there for over an hour yet still only managed to go to a few stores since the mall is so big and oddly laid out.

We then went and checked into the Los Gatos Lodge. It's really not what you would expect from Los Gatos. It's an old multi-building complex clearly built in the late Fifties or Sixties. Our room had the funk of a room that hadn't been used in a while, slightly musty. But it was clean and very reasonably priced (thanks Amy!). I'd definitely would stay there again. We relaxed a little then got ready for dinner.

I had made reservations at Michi Sushi an old hangout of ours in Campbell without telling Brie. It was one of the first places where we developed our love for Sushi from. The ambiance was not as nice as I had wanted and the prices were sky-high. But what you got for your money was more than worth it. A good example is the Hamachi (yellow-tail), my all-time favorite. The slice of fish was so large that it would have easily made 4 pieces at any other restaraunt. It was easily ¾ of an inch thick and 3"x4" big .. just huge, fresh and extremely tasty. Brie had no sooner taken a bite of food when she said she felt a wave of nausea come over her, but that seemed to subside so we continued with are delicious meal.

After dinner we did the second thing we normally do when we are out sans kids (the first is go to Sushi). Barnes and Noble is one of Brie's favorite stores and she loves to be able to look around without the kids (or my) interruptions and distractions. She found herself several books, but I had to remind her she never has the time to read anymore so no matter the price getting three books was silly. After that Brie suddenly decided new tattoos were in order. A couple of quick calls to Sean and we headed off to "Marks of Art" near the duplex Brie and I lived in for nearly four years including the birth of Sebastian. We searched and searched the "Flash" for something that we both wanted. We finally settled on a custom design based on something they already had. We wanted tattoos that would symbolize our family. When we found one that had three stars (and three moons) we asked the artist if he could use that for inspiration but only feature two moons (Brie and I) and three stars (our kids). What he came back with was perfect. Sean had joined us while we were still searching, but realizing the temptation he would feel to get his own he opted to head over to the LGL and wait for us. I must say the artist was a great guy and we both love the final results.

This is Brie's though mine looks exactly the same.

After that we head back to the LGL and met up with Sean and Amy at "The Wave" the lodge's lounge. With some laidback jazz/soul/blues being played by a live band and with only 5 of us as customers (the three of us and 2 regulars Sean already knew) plus drinks flowing freely, it looked like a great night was only getting better. Soon however we were joined by the remnants of a wedding and though we still had a great time there were a few people that were rude and not happy with the fact that the head bartender had been told they could close up early. In the end though we had a great time then with Sean and Amy with us headed back to our room where I had been chilling a Costco sized bottle of Skyy Vodka, mixed with the cranberry and OJ Amy provided we hung out for several hours until finally it was time to call it a night. An hour or so later though the nausea was back and Brie was ravaged by what we believe to have been a stomach flu she caught from a fellow co-worker. It lasted all through Sunday (Brie's actually birthday) and now on Wednesday she is still not back to 100% yet.

Overall it was a great trip amd the more we go back to San Jose the more Brie and I remember about the 11 years we lived there. Which is nice becasue so many things happened while we were there.

Posted by John at June 08, 2005 11:54 AM