MrAndrewBradley

After lunch at Nubbin's and an amazing salmon dinner, complete with a chocolate pudding meringue dessert on Friday evening, my parents and I made our way up to the Bradley Lodge for a quick inspection of it after it had been rented and to take up a few things in preparation for our large family gathering on President's Day Weekend. On the drive up I finished the Steve Jobs biography, although long and slow at first, it was really good. On the way back I started Team of Rivals , 16 pages of the 944 page book make up the movie Lincoln (I'm really glad I have a Kindle , so that I don't have to lift a 944 page book). We drove through Murphys and ended up having lunch at a diner in Angels Camp . I had a chicken sandwich, while my parents went with hamburgers (my dad's had chili on it, my mom's was on sourdough bread). I then continued my driving up to Roseville to go to church at Bayside , pre-purchased my dinner for next week, a hamburger made by a Baysi...

As I was heading up to the Bradley Lodge for Christmas I made a quick stop at the optometrist to look at new sunglasses. I have had an athletic pair for the last five years and just got the lenses replaced, but I thought I needed something a little more professional for the events I attend. With a balance left in my Flexible Spending Account , I figured it was time to shop. I really liked a few pairs at my optometrist, but the price was prohibitive for what I needed and had ($250-$300+). I kept up the search by going to Costco and Sam's Club . I finally narrowed it down to three options at Sam's Club and put it up for a vote. The vote was overwhelming and I purchased the winner last week. I picked them up this afternoon and although I've only put them on once, I already know it was a good decision. Hope everyone that sees me wearing them thinks the same.

One of my clients is Mission Foods (luckily for my eating habits, AugustineIdeas has lots of food clients). Over the last week I was able to officially announce that AugustineIdeas and Mission Foods were working together, we are now their lead shopper marketing agency, but more importantly I made sure to support my client by purchasing Super Soft Tortillas and Mission Tortilla Chips (the strip variety is my preference, but if you like rounds or triangles that's fine too). I started out by having a taco night at a friend's house (I brought the chips and tortillas, they provided the rest of the ingredients). The tacos were fabulous, they were even nice enough to left me take home some of the leftovers, so I had tacos for another day or two. For the NFC Championship game on Sunday, I invited my parents and some of their friends to Fort Bradley where we celebrated victory in style. Nachos for the appetizer, steak and salad for our post game victory feast, and plenty of ...

My job allows me to do some pretty cool things. Everything from hangout in Napa to launching a brand new professional soccer team . Today was no exception, for the second time in about a month I was in charge of media relations for a press conference involving Sacramento's mayor, Kevin Johnson . At the beginning of December it was to announce that a USLPRO soccer team would be coming to Sacramento in 2014. Today it was for the official ground breaking of Cannery Place at Township Nine , a new affordable housing community that will be built near the American River , Downtown Sacramento and the Railyards . It was great the see the community, more than 100 community members came to be part of the celebration, and Sacramento's media come out in force to show their support. When the construction is done in late 2014 it will bring new life to a section of the city that I think many had once forgotten.

On New Year's Eve I decided to do something a little different, cook a Papa Murphy's Pizza instead of have my standard, Costco Rotisserie Chicken . All was going well, until I realized the oven was not heating. I ended up barbequing the pizza, which turned out pretty good, except for a little bit of burnt crust. After celebrating New Year's at two house parties I finally decided to take apart the oven and diagnose the problem on New Year's Day, just how I was hoping to ring in 2013. After a few minutes I had removed the oven door and a few other parts, quickly figuring out what was wrong. I ordered the part and a week later it arrived, I installed the new part and it was fixed! I can now make cookies, brownies and nachos again.

There's never a shortage of food pictures on this blog, but this time it's a little different. I donated blood as part of the KCRA Blood Drive for Life event. To prepare I had a happy hour meal at Sammy's Rockin' Island Bar and Grill on Thursday night with some friends and ate lunch with another friend at Jack's Urban Eats this afternoon (advanced meals are not needed to give blood, but they can't hurt, right?). On my way home from work I decided to stop by the blood drive (the Roseville location was on my way home) and give blood for the first time. It was a relatively quick and painless process. I was welcomed in, filled out some paperwork and had a nurse ask me a few questions (especially about my Europe cruise ) to make sure my blood was safe. Next I went to the blood donation chair, met a nice nurse who got me all set and about 5-7 minutes later I had a little less blood in me, but got to go hangout at the snack table. I gorged on Nutter Butters , Chi...