Monday Monday.

So the hubbs and I both had pretty crappy days. Bleh. Why are Mondays so yucky? Today was one of those days when I really just wanted to quit PT school and be a stay at home mom. Although, we don't have kids, so I guess just a stay at home wife. I hope I can muster up a positive attitude for school tomorrow- it's a long day. 8 am to 5 pm. Ugh. So, to decompress, Dave is taking out his frustration on the overgrown vegetation that is our backyard, and I am watching my favorite couple, Stacy and Clinton make some magic on What Not to Wear.

Trying to make this more fun

Our comments are now called "Hale Yeahs"

Dedicated to E Rock

Beach Chalet: Delicious brews with incredible views!

We recently had an awesome offer from the Armstrong’s to go with them to SF and see the Chihuly exhibit at the De Young museum. When we made definite plans I tried my luck with our newfound friend...aka: The owner of The Beach Chalet. We were hoping to be able to meet him and thank him in person for all of his hospitality, but he wasn't going to be in the country during our visit. However, he did let one of his managers know that we would be arriving Saturday night. That little bit of information transformed into a phone call to me, offering reservations on a Saturday night (Conversation taking place the morning of because I waited too long) and inviting us to take a tour of their brewery. We were very happy, excited, and we were starting to feel like some kind of celebrity with special treatment.
When we got there later that night, we were given, in my opinion, the best seats of the house: right next to the windows facing the ocean, so we could watch the sunset and bonfires on the beach after that. We also had a great view of most of the restaurant including the bar. The bar is significant to me, being that is where we sat the first time we visited the Beach Chalet and it was the first time we had their beer.

We had their food for the first time, which I must say was very enjoyable. Larry and I both had fish-n-chips and Dawn and Jessica split salmon and seafood pasta. Larry had the Riptide Red Ale and Jessica and I split a sampler of all of their beer, topping it off with a glass of my favorite Golden Gate Park Porter. And even though the owner wasn't there, he picked up our beer tab. How awesome is that?! After dinner, their manager, Grant, took us on a tour of the brewery and was patient enough to answer all of our questions even when their restaurant was crazy busy. We couldn't stop there though. We went downstairs to the Park Chalet (Pretty much the Beach Chalet, but more casual) and had more beer with some family that lives in SF (Uncle Scott and Judy Judy Judy). It was a great time.
If anyone has happened to stumble across this on accident or is looking for somewhere fun and great in San Fransisco, I highly recommend the Beach Chalet. Check them out whether you want food, beer, history, or just a nice time. You can't beat the awesome combination of the delicious brews and the incredible views. Best beer in San Fransisco.
Last, but certainly not least, we left with 3 "Growlers" of beer: 2 Golden Gate Park Porters and 1 California Kind Ale. I'm not sure where the word Growler came from, but it does hold a half-gallon of beer. Anyone thirsty?

apparently yellow and grey are trendy together

I'm seeing it everywhere! In the j. crew catalog, all over Banana Republic and Gap, on random people, and shop fronts in San Francisco, however that is not the purpose of this post. I finally (almost) finished our bedroom! The paint is done, new curtains hung, new bed sheets, and it is cleaned. (well, it was.) The reason I say almost, is that I am still waiting for our wedding prints to be finished so that they can be hung, and a few more random accessories are needed (suggestions welcome!!!) before I can be completely satisfied. But for now, all is well, and I really enjoy our new bedroom.

the bed.


view from the door to our bathroom.


and finally, the dresser with some very pretty yellow roses. i love flowers.

"When I'm Away She Puts Her Makeup On the Shelf"

Ok so Dave is in San Diego with his buddy Chris, and while I'm not exactly going to put my makeup on the shelf, I do have things planned to keep myself busy while my boo is away. So far I've already gone to the gym twice, had a slumber party with my bff, and finished painting our bedroom (which I'm SOOOO excited about.) On the agenda for later:
- work
- hanging out with my lil brother
- hanging out with Amy and her family
- spin class
- pedicure with my ma
- FSU vs. Wisconsin game, including some tailgating with the PT folks

That should be all. Busy weekend ahead- just the way I like 'em.

What's in a name?

I don't know why I find different names and odd translations so funny, but this one made me laugh. I wonder which names or words in English translate into weird things in other countries/languages?
-Dave

What the peck?!

Long story short: I check/fix hydrants for the fire department now (I was given a much better opportunity within the department). A fellow hydrant brigade member and I decided it would be interesting to do a set number of pushups at each hydrant we checked. Well after three hours of work, 40 hydrants, and 10 pushups per hydrant, I can honestly say that I have never done so many pushups before and I believe I am going to be VERY sore. 400 pushups...are you kidding? What were we thinking? Ah, what the Hale...we'll probably do it again next week. Wish us luck!

Cabo Wabo

We checked out the new Cabo Wabo in Fresno with Jessica's PT class. The Cantina, owned by Sammy Hagar, turned out to be pretty cool. They had a live band playing covers of classics that make you want to shake it and sing along at the same time. We even got a couple of "non-dancers" to eventually let loose and dance it up and they did great! I was curious to try their top shelf Cabo Wabo tequila and luckily I asked the price first.

At $35 a shot, I turned my shoulder to Cabo Wabo Uno for the time being and directed my attention to the Cabo Wabo Blanco at $8 a shot. I sipped on that for awhile and it was pretty good (Not quite as smooth as the one I tried in SF at Colibri). We made it a short night, but we were both impressed enough to want to go back. We haven't tried the food yet, but since they don't charge a cover (A huge pet peeve of mine) like some annoying places in Clovis/Fresno, I'm sure we'll have other opportunities.

Jack Johnson

It's official! I, David Hale, have a man-crush on Jack Johnson. I know that may sound weird, but look at it in less of a homosexual/stalker way and more of a admirer/huge fan way. We went to his concert in Chula Vista and had a great trip. Jack was absolutely amazing! You know when you have your favorite artists songs memorized and then you hear them in concert and they sound totally different; disappointing? Well, I wouldn't say that Jack sounded completely
different, but it was a little different than his cds...BUT IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE!

Seriously, he blended some of his songs that had similar chords and it sounded great. We were all blown away by his performance. Even his band was awesome. Zach Gill owned the ivory and even busted out some weird harmonica thing and an accordion. He sang a couple of times and has a surprisingly great set of vocals. Jacks bass guitarist even threw down a little old school sounding rap, which seemed a little odd to me at the time, but I guess it's cool that Jack lets everyone sound off at least once. Paula Fuga came out and sang "Country Road" with Jack and she has an amazing voice and a great whistle (Buy the song and listen for yourself). It was such a relaxing concert, while at the same time being extremely exciting because of how good it was; and lets be honest, exciting because Jack was there in person.

Sadly, we don't have any pictures because the tickets said "No cameras allowed" on them. What were we thinking?! There were so many cameras there. Plus, people were smoking pot left and right...or in our case, in front and behind us. I pretty sure that's not allowed either. But besides our lack of pictures and strange smells...amazing! We even played with a beach ball in the parking lot after while we waited for traffic to move (For an hour). Back to Jack...

For those of you that don't know, Jack Johnson is very committed to making this world a better place. If not from his songs, then you can tell from his demeanor and charities/organizations he's involved with. That makes him even more of a great artist to me. So many people use their fame and fortune to make their own life better, while Jack is trying to inspire others to join him in making our world better, community by community or even person by person. You can check out more at his website or more specifically at his community involvement section.



Sorry to be so long winded, but I just feel like credit should be given when it is deserved. Jack Johnson is the type of person that deserves support. Also, he just seems like such a rad guy; the type you would love to hang out with. He seems like the type that wouldn't have a big head and would totally welcome in a stranger as a new friend. I wish him continuing great success in his music, marriage, and impact on bettering our planet.
A huge fan,
-David