Rain or Shine!

February 9-12
Erika’s visit

It rained…a lot.


But it was a decent temperature and the sun came out for most of the photo ops. The umbrella was never far though.
We had fun anyway and it felt like Erika had just come up the street to hang out for a bit. The highlights: Chez Panisse--a CA original and world famous, the origin of California-cuisine, small portions, seasonal and locally grown. Thank god Erika got me there, it’s one of those things, I could have lived here forever and never gone and regretted it later.

Second was a wet trip to Calistoga and some “Fear Factor” experience that we have no photo record of again, thank god for Erika, getting me there so I would know that I never need to do that again!
Third, a trip into the Muir Woods and up Mt Tam and the sun shone and we got this awesome picture of us with the giant redwoods behind us. We hiked about 3 hours and went down to the real ocean, not the bay! It was glorious but a little chilly, no bikinis that day.




And finally the Grotto which was really old school fish restaurant and the trip there also somehow also afforded us a tour of the Sake museum and factory, who knew!? It was great to see the sights and hang out, rain and shine!

No Matter Where...

Erika and I had a happy weekend trudging about, tune in later for more of our BIG adventure!

Happy Birthday!

Was it my birthday again? I celebrated in SF by rejecting the offer my co-workers at Orange made me to continue working in their fair studio. That's right, job searching again. I am sure it is the right thing but it's weird to be in transition again, no need to sit down I guess. So I flew back to Minneapolis to make some additional money. How wild is that..I can go to Minneapolis and make money! Some great gigs too, pregnancy, chocolate and babies! And I went out to see any friends that could get their own babysitters to say hello and make me feel at home in MN once again. I look forward to the time when my trips are more social than work oriented but I did get out to see as many people as I could. I'll post pictures soon.

2007-Change Welcome!

OK 2007 has arrived and it's still safe to wish all a new year of good fortune, happyness, health, and everything else too. I spent my New Years in LA because....he's baaaack. Yep, if you loved him before you can love him again, here's a picture to remember.


We went to Pasadena on Dec 31, I am still messed up that I barely need a jacket! Anyway, this is where the annual Rose Bowl Parade is so I took some pictures there as everyone was prepping for the parade. They board up the store windows, people camp out and parking anywhere in the area is $30 and up. I love America!



My favorite is the picture with the Roses and the uniforned band members in the back ground, who needs a float?





Cheers all! To a wonderful year and lots of additions, change welcome!

Happy Holidays!

December 15-22
The week (or so) before Christmas and all through the house all the creatures were cleaning up for the guests. On Donner, on Blitzen, on Mom, Dad, Tinah, Nate and on Jeff. The nights were not silent night, nor were they bright. The skies brought in rains but the Midwesterners braved most, to visit the sights and enjoy a new town. OK enough for my holiday medley.

The family arrived to celebrate the holiday season. Tinah and Nate had spent a couple nights in Yosemite and here are a few photos to prove it. They enjoyed the time there through the rain, sleet and snow…sound familiar? The snow followed by ElCapitan followed by the 5th largest falls in the WORLD!






Then at the end of the week my parents came out and Jeff came up from LA.
Friday we celebrated Hannukah at Saul’s for lunch then off to see The Pursuit of Happyness, the perfect! Holiday family movie!





Saturday we took in the Berkeley farmers market and the Berkeley Bowl all in the interest of creating a dinner feast! And feast we did on mostly local food, much to the excitement of all of us because there was lots of choices of fresh just picked food, it’s really inspiring to cook this way.



Sunday I surprised the family by taking us all to the city to see The Blind Boys of Alabama at the SF Symphony Hall. We took in a few little SF shops and the community garden where we had a light bite of food, outdoor dining on December 17, can’t beat it! Contrary to popular belief the locals get out as often as the travelers.
Monday we ate left-overs and all went on their way. It was really a great weekend and having everyone in SF was memorable. Thanks to Mom and Dad for getting everyone out here and taking good care of us the whole weekend!
And Happy Holidays!

Second Visitors!

Well if you can make it before the next travelers you’ll be visitor 3, thus in the top 3. The race is on, I hope so anyway.
So my sister and brother in law made it out to the West coast this weekend. We have perused Berkeley this weekend, taking in the hip and trendy and the Berkeley staples. Although it rained most all of Saturday when they arrived we still braved the elements and walked to dinner and touring. They were enjoying seeing everything that was growing and things in bloom. My brother in law loves to cook and marveled at the herb possibilities year round here as he saw the rosemary growing like a shrub, it’s actually grown like a shrub here to block the neighbors view of your yard or whatever, pretty amazing considering…We made a lovely meal tonight (no rosemary) with my house mate Francesca then watched her film on the Pygmies in Uganda. They are off to bed because they are driving to Yosemite for a couple nights camping in the mountains before coming back to also enjoy the big city. It’s great to host family and friends in a town I hardly know, we are all touristis! I’m off to my J…O…B on Monday just like everybody else!

J...O...B

So I have one of these now and it’s in full swing, I mean I know I’ll be here the week after next and on and on. I do actually like my J…O…B
It’s the structure of these things that is difficult for me. Let me explain, coming from a freelance lifestyle, I think in general I worked, I mean actually worked 8-10 hour days 6 days a week and sometimes 7. But the way I worked was up and at ‘em if I wanted, time off in the middle of the day for errands or making lunch at home or whatever and back in to do work and off again and then back in, so this goes on and on and suddenly early to rise and I am leaving for the night at 11 or 12 at night. But I got in some yoga, some lunch, some errands, maybe a trip to the bank or photo lab AND work. Oh and inner city travel is minimally time consuming, in other words I could get around. So long days but work got done and I didn’t burn a hole in my desk chair.
Enter J…O…B
Rise at 7 a.m. quick breakfast, pack lunch, make bed, shower, clothes on, bag packed, off to catch BART arrive at work if I am lucky by 10 a.m --What?! I am up at 7 and I can barely get to work by 10, this doesn’t compute in my Midwest freelance lifestyle calculator! So an 8 hour work day with an hour to grab lunch and maybe leave the hole that’s burning in my desk chair 2X for a little walk in the sunny day without a coat and home by 8p.m. 12 hours = 8 hours paid, the hourly wage needs to rise! Not to mention my butt off the chair as I was saying. I should actually say the holes burning in my retina’s for staring at the computer screen all day, did I order this? I did and so it brings me to the neglected blog, who wants to spend another 35-45 minutes on the computer after work? Not me! When’s yoga class?