Race for the Galaxy: Home Decor

My friends know me. They know what I'm enthusiastic about and even though I haven't been posting about it lately, I'm still crazy about Race for the Galaxy (192 plays since Christmas and hoping to greatly add to that this weekend!). My friend Seth sent a gift via Mike for my birthday and when I saw Mike pulling out a rolled up poster, I started screaming with joy and jumping up and down in circles because I knew it had to be a Race for the Galaxy poster! And it was!! So, a very public "THANK YOU SETH!" for my favorite poster in the world (at least for now...)!

So, I took it and got a cool black anodized custom frame made and hung it in my dining room so I can look at it whenever I want while playing games. Here's what it looks like...



And a step back...


Isn't that awesome?!?!
*happy dance*
OK, that's it for now...

Visit to Tucson

I had a great time last weekend in Tucson visiting Seth and company. I met a bunch of his friends and his parents. Everyone was great! He had a friend visiting from Dallas so we had dinner with a bunch of people on Friday night and then we went back to his friend's parents' house for more socializing. Their house was incredible! I am NOT a decorator, so I feel like I could never have a house look so good. It looked like a home you'd see in a magazine (and I said as much to the owners).

The kitchen (my favorite room of course) was gorgeous and it had a HUGE wine refrigerator. I had to take a picture of it. I'd never seen one so big in home before! I'll post the picture eventually... Trust me, it's big!

On Saturday, Seth had a BBQ so we did some shopping in the morning and I found baking raisins! They used to carry them at my grocery store, but for the last couple years I've had trouble finding them. When I did buy them before, I think they were almost $2.00 a bag. Well, they had them at the Safeway in Tucson on sale for $0.75. So I bought two bags to bring home for future baking! The Betty Crocker cake mixes were on sale for $0.78 too. When they go on sale here, they're usually $1 a box. My conclusion: Some groceries are cheaper outside of California!

People started showing up around noon and streamed in and out until about midnight. I had brought Space Dealer to play and Seth's mom wanted to try it. It wasn't really her cup of tea, but I give her BIG points for trying it. It was chaos, but fun. The most fun though was later in the evening when we played three games of Time's Up!, my FAVORITE party game! I won't go into great detail, but there were lots of clues given using a certain body part.

On Sunday, we went to Bookman's (a used book/video/game store) and Barnes & Noble to check on the game stock. I bought several games to bring home. Then we headed up to Phoenix to eat dinner with Shane's parents and sister at Lo Lo's Chicken and Waffles (full review to follow). Then we went back to Shane's parents' house and hung out for a while. We learned about spinning yarn with dog hair! You'd never know it was dog hair!

Overall, a pretty fun trip. It wasn't too warm (it's only February after all), but man! I can't imagine going there in the middle of summer. It's gotta be scorchingly hot!!!

Busy February

I have a very busy February coming up! I'm leaving tomorrow to go to Tucson to visit Seth for the weekend for gaming and socializing (and hopefully some fried chicken since I'm flying in and out of Phoenix!). Actually, I am definitely having some chicken. I made a date with Shane's parents to meet them for dinner on Sunday at Lo Lo's Chicken and Waffles. There will definitely be a report on that dining experience.

Next Friday (the 16th), I'm off to Genghis Con in Denver to meet up with Giles (BGG.con Werewolf moderator) and other BGG.con attendees. This con will be different because I'm taking my sister and nephew with me for their first con experience! I hope they like it. I'm hiking and hanging out with Giles and co. for a couple days and then...

On Wednesday (the 21st) morning, I'm off to Gulf Games in beautiful Panama City Beach, FL. The hotel is RIGHT on the ocean! I hope it's warm enough to at least take a quick dip. I'm packing my bikini, just in case. There are so many things I'm looking forward to about this gathering... First of all, it's pirate-themed, so I have a costume ready to go for the welcome party the first night (pictures will be posted when I get back!), plus there's all kinds of trading going on, and a competition for friendliest gamer (which I intend to win!!) and Take it Easy and Liar's Dice tournaments. I can NOT wait. The people I know that will be are awesome and I'm sure everyone else will be too. :-) I don't know what the internet situation will be, but I'll try to report from there.

It really IS a small world!

The Sherman brothers had it right, "It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world!"

I was marveling just a few weeks ago at the weird coincidence of meeting someone who used to live in my very apartment two tenants before me. Well, this past weekend, my friend Seth and I were discussing some stuff and I mentioned Andrew "Rif" Hutchings who was on the opposing team for my second Lingo appearance. Turns out Seth knows him, is friends with him, just played games over the Christmas holidays with him.

I think Chris was right when he commented on that apartment post:
"Statistically, you should have a one-in-a-million occurance happen every couple of months or so. Plus, living in a big city like LA just seems to make that sort of thing more likely."

Well, it hasn't even been a couple months and it's happened again. Rif goes to grad school in NY & came out the LA to film a game show (that's where I met him). Meanwhile, I met Seth (who lives in Tucson) in Dallas last November at a gaming convention and later found out that they not only know each other, but they're friends. They went to high school together.

I guess I should officially stop being surprised now. But I don't think I can! If it happens one more time in the next month, then I guess I'll be forced to accept it.

Vegas Recap

You know the cliche... what happens in Vegas... blah blah blah.

Here's the important stuff:

• I left Vegas up $50, but left Nevada down $70 (mental note: don't make those last minute stops on your way out of the state!)
• I had a friend show up to surprise me (and I was quite happy to see him), so we had one more hanging with us all weekend, which was a lot of fun! Spontaneity is great!!
  
• I watched part of an Ultimate (Frisbee) tournament and it looks like FUN, so I've already emailed the woman in charge of the women's LA league to see when they're having clinics for beginners.
  

After returning from the trip, Ron sent me a link to this website that lists most of the Vegas casinos and what their minimum bets and max. odds are for craps. I'm plotting which casinos I'll hit while I'm there next time, but for sure, we'll be hitting Casino Royale. I always seem to do well when I'm there... and they have awesome odds. I bought some dice so I can practice rolling before I go! :-)

After looking at the craps website, I can't wait to go to Vegas again! I'm definitely more Vegas-compatible with some friends, so I'm only going to invite the people that will bring the good karma/gambling mojo! Next time I go, I'll be coming home with millions!!