Decisions, Decisions

I've been in a flurry of decision making in the past few days. I accepted a full-time job (yah!) and we decided on our wedding date and location (double yah!). Hubby-To-Be and I are going to get married on May 30, 2009 at the Pelican Inn. I'm actually pretty excited about it. It's probably not what I pictured at all a year or so ago when I got engaged but it's pretty and casual with a little bit of class and fun so it should be really good.

Hooray!

Lately I've been thinking about music for the wedding. I'm wondering if Hubby-To-Be will let me walk down the aisle to something funky. I like the idea of grooving down the aisle in a pretty white dress. Front runners right now are Say Hey (I Love You) by Michael Franti or I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. What do you think?

Seriously?! High Fructose Corn Syrup is Good for Us??

You've got to be kidding me. The Corn Refiners Association is putting out ads to make us believe that high fructose corn syrup is good for us. You've got to see this:



And for those of us with half a brain here's a nice rebuttal with a few of the real facts.



I read they paid $30 million for this campaign. Is this really the best use of dollars in this crazy economy? How about spending $30 million to reduce obesity instead. Or eat real corn even.

This gets my goat...

Over my Angst

I am over my angst of the other day today. I still feel sick and yucky but life has returned to the norm which I am suprisingly grateful for.

It's supposed to be 76 today - i LOVE San Francisco in September.

I have also made a decision on a job - something I've been agonizing over for the past few weeks. Now I just need to tell the folks involved and get on with it. I think it's going to be really nice having a consistent paycheck (and time to myself so I can teach yoga and health counsel.) The money is going to be tight but I'm sure I can figure it out. I just need to keep to a budget as well as make an effort on my other endeavors. It's always a trade-off right?

Little Horse has not been so happy with life lately but I'm hoping he will adopt my new found calm and enjoy the day. I'll have to take him up Bernal Hill tonight and throw the ball around. Last time I did that he chased a squirrel up a tree and lost the ball - Hopefully he will keep his head together more this time.

Alrighty - must go to work...

I have a Cold

I'm back from Ireland (got back on Tuesday actually) and I have a cold. I have a bit of a fever today and am feeling very sorry for myself. I can't really go anywhere because I have no car. Hubby-To-Be is watching football with his strange friend and in an apartment the size of a postage stamp that's pretty annoying. I've been looking at how to trade in our stupid stick-shift car and get an automatic so that I can leave the house.

I'm sure Hubby-To-Be is going to make me walk the dog again too even though I have a fever and feel like crap.

Grrrrrr...

Ireland Blogging

I'm going to try my very hardest to blog from Ireland but I'm not sure if I'm going to have internet in the tiny town we're in. (Are there places without internet these days?)

If not, I'll just write a few things and post it all when I'm back next Tuesday.

Here's to an interesting Irish trip...

Man I am Tired

That's all. Just beat.

It's been a really long day.

Passport Sagas part Deux: If there's a will...

The passport sagas took a turn for the worse last night. I had sent in my paperwork part two (along with a silly letter explaining why I had cut up my passport in the first place) and was crossing my fingers and legs that I would get this passport in time for our trip. Did I mention we were going to Ireland for Hubby-To-Be's Granny's 90th Birthday party?

Well Hubby-To-Be got an email from his parents yesterday that unfortunately Granny is not doing so well. They are not sure she is going to make it through the day and most definitely not the week. (I think she's a fighter though so I'm not sure.)

Either way his parents think its best that we fly out right away instead of waiting for two weeks when we were originally going to go. That would be totally fine - neither of us are entrenched in our new jobs right now - except I have no passport. Stupid me.

So today I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with four people of varying help, an hour at the SF Passport Agency of quite a bit of help, and then another hour at the Passport Agency because they lost my application. (Not so much help.) The good news is that I am the proud owner of a twice re-issued passport that has my name and picture on it and is ready for travel.

Go Passport Agency SF!

And for that I only had to pay ten dollars for new passport pictures. Not sure how that happened. (Changing the flights cost us $500 each though. Ugh.)

Tomorrow I head out to Ireland. Wish me luck!

The Wedding: Location Shopping

This weekend Hubby-To-Be and I did some more location hunting for our wedding.

Last time I fell in love with the Brazilian Room in Tilden Park. I called about dates and found out they are booked through November of 2009! Um, are you kidding? That's like ONE YEAR and THREE MONTHS from now! Holy smokes. I wasn't prepared for this.

We trekked back to the Hacienda de las Flores since that was Shay's favorite. They have some dates available in the spring - go figure - but now I'm thinking "What's wrong with it? Why is it not booked for the next three years? Do we really want to get married there if it's so ridiculously easy?" Yeah - I know - kind of silly. I was more enamoured of the place when I saw it again though. Traditional but could work. Shay said we could have croquet on the lawn. Maybe some bocce?

On Sunday we headed out to check more places. We started with the Lark Creek Inn cause it seemed cute and small and relatively cheap to rent. We were in for some serious sticker shock when we got there. To rent was cheap but it came with a $25,000 minimum for food and drink. That's right - 25K. I'm hoping my whole wedding costs much less than 25K, let alone the food and drink. Oh well - at least we had a very lovely brunch there. (The Baked Eggs was one of the best brunch things I've had. Ever.)

From there we went to the Landmarks Art & Garden Center in Tiburon. It was near the Old St. Hilary Church that we thought was kind of cute (even though churches really aren't my thing after far too long being forced to go to one). The space was kind of odd though and the lady there wasn't really selling it with her cries of fog, yucky weather, and nowhere to hide out if it rains. Check that one off the list.

From there we went to the Pelican Inn near Muir Beach and once again I was hooked. Coming off of our last Inn experience we were wondering what the price tag would be. Luckily (sort of) no-one was there wedding-related to squash our hopes and dreams so we enjoyed a very pleasant pint in the pub and thought about what a lovely laid-back wedding we could have there. We'll have to see what the price tag has in store for us.

And then we went home. And collapsed on the couch. And slept for eleven hours that night.

But not before Hubby-To-Be suggested maybe we should elope after all. Hmmm - no argument here.

Goat Walking

I was walking Little Horse on Bernal Hill this morning and someone was walking their goat. No joke. He had a harness and everything (and was off-leash of course).

His name was Oreo.

Ah - San Francisco...

Pan-Seared Salmon with Avocado and Carrots

Also made a super yummy meal tonight inspired by this recipe. I made the Salmon just like the recipe said.

For the avocado "thing" I just took one avocado and combined with juice of half a lemon, some salt & pepper, olive oil, and mustard. I put that all in the Vita-Mix (should have gone food processor instead) and blended it up. I then spread this on the plate and placed the salmon on top.

We then julienned some carrots (three to be exact cut in diagonal slices), steamed them for about ten minutes, and combined with juice of other half of the lemon, salt & pepper.

Divine.

Banana Bread

Best banana bread EVER at Simply Recipes:

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001465banana_bread.php

Made it tonight.

Heaven.

Tropic Thunder

Kat says: Laugh-out-loud funny. 5 stars.


A complete 360 from Once, I also saw Tropic Thunder this weekend. Funnily enough I loved this one too. Let me just say that Robert Downey Jr. is the man. He made this movie. He was so ridiculously funny.

If you're looking for something fun this is the movie. I kind of want to see it again.

Ok, my mum just told me about the controversy about this film and thought I would weigh in. Yes - it is irreverant at times and probably offensive to some but if you take it all with a grain of salt I still think it's damn funny.

Once

Kat says: Beautiful music. Beautiful story. 5 stars.



I know I'm a bit behind the times but I saw Once this weekend - the movie that won best song at the Oscars this year. Hubby-To-Be and I thought we would see at as a tribute to our upcoming trip to Ireland in September and man was I happy we did.

Such a beautiful movie. Such a wonderful score. If you haven't seen it. Go see it. Even if you don't like music. Or movies.

Just go see it.

Or at least listen to the songs on the website. They are by Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech singer Marketa Irglova.

East-West US: Part 1

In early June Hubby-To-Be and I packed up our things in North Carolina and headed out west to California. I wrote about my travels along the way (yes - hand-wrote!) and have been meaning to post them but you know how that goes sometimes. I decided I'd post the journey over the next few weeks in installments. Enjoy!

After six hours of shipping boxes, bringing things to Goodwill, cleaning, eating, and cleaning some more we finally closed up our Carrboro, North Carolina house and headed out.

The road trip has begun!

Hubby-To-Be took the honors of driving first (I'm still afraid of the stick shift) and headed out of town. Almost immediately we got stuck behind a giant, very slow moving tractor on Highway 54 (a farm road that heads out of Carrboro and towards Greensboro.) 50 mile speed limit. Driving 30 mph. Good start.


We puttered along and eventually got to I-40: the long, long highway that would be our friend to California.

We passed Burlington, Greensboro, Hickory and were on our way to Asheville, North Carolina: our destination of the day. I LOVE Asheville. Couldn't wait to get there. We hit some storms along the way. Nothing major. Little Horse threw up three times. The first time was twenty minutes into the trip. It could be a long road for Little Horse.


When we got to Asheville we checked into Motel 6 - gotta love their dog-friendly chain of motels. We spent an hour watching our favorite - Law & Order - and letting Little Horse adjust. Poor guy was fairly traumatized by the day and the trip. He was starting to relax and we were hungry so we left him in the room. (Shh - don't tell Motel 6 - you aren't supposed to leave pets unattended.) We headed the 6 miles into downtown Asheville.

I had it in my head that we would eat at the Laughing Seed Cafe - a vegetarian restaurant that had been recommended time and time again. We found it fairly easily but I was bummed: Closed on Tuesdays. What were the odds?

We went to plan B: Tupelo Honey Cafe. I wasn't as excited about this cause it's southern cooking and me and southern cooking don't always get along. I'd heard great things from people though so we gave it a go. After waiting for much less time than we though we would we got a nice table right up front. We started with some beer - we decided to go regional to get the last of our NC beers so I got a Duck Rabbit Milk Stout and Shay got a local pilsner. So yum. And then when we got our food we were doubly happy that we came.

After dinner we were tired so we decided to call in a night and check on the Lil Horse. Luckily when we got back to the room he had NOT eaten the furniture so all was good in the world.

Rusty Yoga in the Park

The gods must have been listening to my I Heart Yoga declaration. No sooner did I write the last post than I got an email for free yoga in Dolores Park from Rusty Wells, yoga teacher extraordinaire.


Today I skipped on over to class and got the pleasure of a Rusty yoga day. He added in some "fun" (read "really jolly hard") moves that I want to remember:

Table pushups: Hands and knees > bring forehead to floor bending elbows into sides > push back up > repeat
Dolphin planks in between locust pose on belly
Down dog > knee to side > straighten leg out so it is over the hip of your neighbor
Abs: Hands behind you on the floor (like for reverse table) > legs straight out at 45 degree angle > bend knees in > straighten out > repeat; variation 2: bicycle legs
Abs 2: Lower right leg half way > left leg to meet it > right leg back up > left leg back up

I Heart Yoga

Me and yoga, we've been through alot over the past ten years. We met in 2001 right after a difficult breakup. We saw each other once a week for several months and were both really happy with the arrangement. And then my eye started to wander. I saw the gleam of triathlon.

About four months after we met I left yoga for triathlon. I missed yoga but triathlon came with lots of new, fun stuff and took up all my free time, six days a week. I found I needed the seventh day just to sleep to recover from the activity.

After four months after we met, triathlon and I went away for a long weekend and I completed my ultimate goal: the Wildflower Olympic Distance Triathlon. I was thrilled to have come this far in triathlon and have rarely had such a rush as finishing that race but I also felt broken. I had been through the wars with triathlon and found myself tired, beat up, overweight (go figure!), and lacking a social life that had been completely sucked up by triathlon. I knew it was time to go our separate ways.

At this point I thought it best to go it on my own for a while. See my friends, take some gentle walks in the park, get back in touch with things I loved to do. And this I did for several months.

Once I was good and rested I found myself thinking about yoga and wondering what it would feel like to have yoga in my life again. I thought I would check it out and just see how it felt.

So I went back to yoga and, man, did it feel good. I was immediately, head over heels, back in love. I knew that yoga was there to stay. Since that wonderful reunion in late 2002 I've never looked back. Sure we've had our stumbles, yoga and I, but I always always know that yoga will be in my life.

And right now I really really really love yoga.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas

I made the yummiest dinner tonight. I don't often make dinner (in spite of the fact that I'm a health counselor and talk to people about cooking ALL THE TIME - I know, I know) so I was very proud of myself. Here is my creation so that it will live on eternal and maybe I can make it again some time.

(Note that while I was making this spectacular creation I tried to make a balsamic glaze to spread inside. Instead I got a house full of balsamic fumes and then balsamic smoke as I fried the heck out of the vinegar. Hmm - I'll have to try that one again...)

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
2 large tortillas
1 large sweet potato, peeled & cubed
1 can black beans, rinsed thoroughly
1 bunch red chard, cut roughly into bite-size pieces
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup shredded cheese
guacamole (2 avocados, mashed & combined with lemon juice & salt)
olive oil
salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Steam sweet potatoes for 10-15 minutes until soft to the touch.
2. While potatoes are steaming, heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Add garlic and cook one minute. Add in chard and cook 3-4 minutes until bright green in color. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Remove sweet potatoes from steamer and mash until soft. Combine with lemon juice and salt to taste.
4. Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat and place one tortilla in. Cover half the tortilla with half of sweet potato mixture. Sprinkle with some cheese. Add some black beans. Cover with some chard. Fold tortilla over and cook on low-medium heat. When ready CAREFULLY flip to other side. (My first one flipped was more like a sweet potato - black bean mush.)
5. Repeat for second tortilla and other half of mixture.
6. Serve each quesadilla on a plate with a scoop of guacamole.

Yum!

Rubber Suit

Today I proved that I'm not even safe in my own home.

I took a shower, plugged in the hairdryer, stood up and whacked my head on the towel bar. I now have a large bump and probably have lost a few brain cells.

Seriously I need to wear a rubber suit.

Hill-Diving

Ok - so as soon as I posted that my only reliable mode of transportation was my own two feet I managed to prove myself wrong and took a giant dive into the asphalt of Bernal Hill.

I was walking home from yoga at Bernal Yoga and I was all proud of myself cause I took the short-cut home (up and over Wool Street, over the hill path and down the other side) even though most of it is a dirt-trail on a (somewhat) steep hill and I tend to hurt myself going down somewhat steep hills. I felt like the intrepid urban explorer. I was marvelling on the fact that I had just walked by three giant aloe plants and wasn't that funny that I moved to San Francisco to hike to yoga. Then I was watching the three closest dog walkers and counting that each of them had eight dogs a piece, all off leash, and how maybe one day Little Horse will be one of those dogs and he'll be all happy to be a part of the pack. And then I was eating asphalt.

I'd like to say that I tripped over a large boulder or, as one of the dog walkers worried, a giant dog in the packs had taken me out at the knees, but, no, I was just walking along happy as a clam when my right ankle gave out and sent me flying face first down the hill, directly onto the pavement. I managed to cut up my hands, skin my knees, and get one large and puffy ankle for my troubles.

So as I'm catapaulting towards the earth I see one person just walk straight past me as if this happens every day. (He's probably the same guy who yelled at a nice old man the other day for feeding his dog a teeny-tiny treat because the dog was apparently on a diet.) Luckily the dog walkers were all friendly folks and they all came over to make sure I was ok.

Turns out the dogs were friendly folks too and before I knew it I was lying on the ground surrounded by three dog walkers and twenty-four dogs, all of whom thought it was just the best thing to have a person actually on the ground to play with. It was a nice destraction from the throbbing until one of them decided my face was a human popsicle and I staggered up to my feet to avoid the mob.

Reassuring the friendly dog walkers I hobbled away, limped back home, and immeditately retired to the couch with a large bag of ice and an uncharacteristic bottle of Advil.

Me thinks I need a rubber body suit to go out and deal with the world.

Life Without Car

When I moved to San Francisco I got rid of my car. I'd like to think I got rid of it because of some great green ethical conviction but really we had two cars, were driving across country and didn't want to tag team drive. Nothing of course was quite that simple though.

Hubby-To-Be's car was better than mine so it made sense to keep his. Hubby-To-Be's car however is a stick shift. I've never learned to drive stick shift. Ever since he got the car I've been meaning to learn but it just never came up.Three weeks before we were about to head out on our cross country extravaganza I thought it would probably be a good idea to test this whole stick shift thing out. Two weeks before we left Hubby-To-Be got around to teaching me. All went fairly well. Hubby-To-Be is incredibly patient and took my stopping and starting (and stalling) in stride.

Five days after I started to learn stick Hubby-To-Be had to go to a bachelor party for the weekend and I was left alone with the car. This proved terrifying but I managed to make it through. My town had one small street with a speed limit of 35 so even though I stalled over and over all was ok. No harm done.

A few more driving lessons later and we were ready to head out on our trip. Long story short - it's probably not the best idea to go on a ROAD trip which involves a fair amount of DRIVING when you don't actually know how to DRIVE. Needless to say there were some tense moments, some tears, some periods of stony silences, and finally, around the central coast of California, someone may have declared never to drive stick ever again.

In this, I must say, I have stuck to my word. Go me.

So now due to a little bit of stubbornness, a little bit of ineptitude, and a little bit of fear, we have one car for two of us which should be plenty but I can't drive a bit. That leaves the score:
Hubby-To-Be: 1 car. Me: None car.

I've been trying to suck it up. How hard can it be to get around a big city with public transportation? I have friends who do it all the time. Besides, all of the walking is sure to make me thinner and who doesn't want that? Problem is that we live in Bernal Heights which is not the most accessible place in the city and the MUNI buses in San Francisco truly leave something to be desired. The first bus I went on I sat next to a women who was coughing up a lung and literally still had a hospital bracelet on. (I made sure to wash my hands (and disinfect my body) when I got home from that one.) Plus the buses tend to be about 3 hours later than you expect every time you wait for one which makes you feel like you could have walked there faster in the first place and saved yourself the $1.50.

The BART is not so bad. That's a fifteen minute walk away and is great if you want to go downtown or to the East Bay or the airport. Otherwise it just doesn't go there at all.

I can walk of course. That's always nice but most things are a good hour walk away (one way) and even though I'm lightly employed I really don't think it's an excellent use of my time to spend two hours walking places every time I want, well, anything.

What about the bicycle, you ask? Why, yes, San Francisco is a very bicycle-friendly town and the Mission district especially has bicyclists galore. And yes, I did buy a used bicycle the other week just for that purpose. But again, nothing is that simple. Due to Unfortunate Biking Incidents of 2001, 2003 & 2005 I am still fairly afraid to get on a bicycle, let alone ride it anywhere. (I fill you in on those at a later date, maybe when the wounds have healed a bit more.)

A scooter would be lovely too but after the bike incidents I'm afraid a scooter might really finish me off.

So here I am. Little old me with two little feet, trying to conquer the city on my own. (Did I mention the hills?) One day, when I have a real job, maybe I can get a car. But for now I tend to sit around the house and think about how long it will take me to get places and then just give up and turn on the Olympics.

Passport Sagas

"Unfortunately, you are not eligible to use the 'Passport-by-Mail' application because the passport submitted was extensively damaged or mutilated and is no longer acceptable as proof of citizenship and identification."

Damn. This was my greeting from the United States Department of State today. Not good.

I'm going on a trip to Ireland in a month to visit Hubby-To-Be's relatives. Should be fun. I've never been there. I had a valid passport. Until I didn't. And now I'm a bit up a creek.

The Explanation

It was all very simple really. We were moving and we were clearing out stuff. Lots of stuff. I had gotten a passport the year before for our trip to China. They sent me back the new one along with the old one punched with holes. I threw them both in a drawer and forgot about them.

And then we were moving. Like any good citizen I thought I would keep the new one and dispose of the old one. Besides, the guy on Oprah said that our clutter makes us fat and I certainly didn't want to be any fatter moving to skinny little California.

We didn't have a paper shredder so I took my 'old' passport out of the drawer and cut it up into some nice pretty little shapes like a snowflake and promptly threw the shapes in the trash. I continued onto the bedroom to do some more good clutter-clearing work. And then I got to thinking... I didn't actually look at the passport before I cut it up. How did I know I cut up the right passport? Surely I couldn't be that stupid as to not look first? No harm done. I'll just go and check that I did the right thing. I couldn't have cut up Hubby-To-Be's passport instead could I? Uh-oh. I might be in a lot of trouble.

I trugged back to the kitchen. Dug the evidence out of the trash. With a sigh of relief my picture was staring back at me - not Hubby-To-Be's - but then with a shriek of alarm I realized that the picture was a bit too recent and not at all out of date. Crap. I just made a pretty snowflake out of my current passport. Not good. I kept all the pieces and moved across country.

So... trip is coming up and I applied for a new passport by mail. I included my old passport - pretty snowflake pieces and all. I even taped it back together so they would get the idea. I thought I did a very nice job thank you very much.

Apparently the government is not amused by these things, hence the snippy little (long) letter above.

Now I have to go to the government agency not only with more money and a new passport application but also proof of identification, proof of US citizenship, and "a written statement explaining the damaged condition of your passport."

So now I'm thinking - What should I say in my letter? I like snowflakes? My dog got hold of the scissors? I'm kinda dumb??

I wonder what counts as sufficient government explanation.

Little Horse in the Big City

Little Horse is adjusting to life with me and Hubby-To-Be working all day. Little Horse has been through alot lately. First we sold all of our stuff so that we had a furniture-less house. He thought that was kind of alarming but then kind of fun. It gave him more room to play and run after all.

Then we put Little Horse in the car and drove him across country from the east coast to the west for two weeks, staying in Motel 6 and tents along the way. Little Horse didn't appreciate this so much. You see, Little Horse gets motion sick. Just getting him in the car is a bit of a challenge. We have to rub his butt and talk nice to him just to get him to consider hopping into the back seat. And since Little Horse is well over 50 lbs picking him up and chucking him in isn't our entry of choice. But Little Horse was a trooper and got used to the idea of curling up in the back seat as we drove through the spectacular U. S. of A. Besides, when we arrived in California we had a (friends) house with a fenced in yard waiting for him and, yes, another dog. For two weeks Little Horse was in heaven. And then life plummeted directly off a cliff. We rented an apartment.

In San Francisco what counts as an apartment is somewhat different than the rest of the world. To live in this lovely city we get the priviledge of paying each month what most don't even spend on their mortgage. For that we receive a tiny, postage-stamp size apartment that has exactly 4 rooms (including the bathroom and kitchen) and three doors (two of them leading outside, one very strangely located directly off of the living room into a tiny alley.)

Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't have it any other way. I chose to move from my east coast, three-bedroom splendor to this itsy-bitsy place because this city is so worth it. Who wants to spend all their time at home anyway? Little Horse, however, doesn't have it so good. We made sure to get a place near a very great park and take him for frequent walks but Little Horse does have to spend a fair amount of time in our itsy-bity house. This has led to a mischevious Little Horse.

This week marked the first week where Hubby-To-Be and I were both out of the house all day so Little Horse was left to his own devices. On Monday this meant that Little Horse got into the trash - twice: kitchen and bathroom. Little Horse made a mess.

On Tuesday Little Horse regurgitated the trash. All over our bed. Gross I know. Grosser to come home to and have to clean up. Poor Little Horse looked so sorry and sad about it though that all I could do was reassure him that all in life was ok, along with chucking the sheets in the wash.

Wednesday I was nervous to come home but Little Horse had apparently decided to take a hiatus from mischief and was bubbly and happy greeting me at the door. I wonder what he'll get up to in week two?

Know any dog walkers anyone?

The Wedding: And so it Begins

Last December I got engaged to Hubby-To-Be. It was a great moment surrounded by cows in the middle of a farm. It was just perfect for us. I was happy, so very happy, to be connecting myself to this amazingly patient, funny man. I spent the day in contented bliss staring at the sparklyness of my ring finger. I loved the attention I got from friends and felt like I glowed each time I related our amusing little engagement anecdote.

And then people started asking about the wedding and all I could think was "yuck."

I've never been one of those girls who planned their wedding from their first Barbie and Ken. I didn't even have a Barbie, let alone a Ken. My parents had a wedding of ten people three weeks after they got engaged. They sent telegrams to their parents that they were betrothed. I grew up thinking weddings were silly and maybe marriage too.

Eventually I came around to the idea that marriage wasn't such a bad thing. You get to spend your life with someone totally cool who thinks you're totally cute and funny. I kinda liked that idea. So I found me a man and we decided to marry.

Problem was I never wanted a wedding. I thought I was the perfect bride. My groom wouldn't have to deal with the whole bridezilla-wants-a-ginormous-wedding fiasco. We could just elope off into the wilderness and come back happily married. Sounded good to me.

But of course Hubby-To-Be had different ideas. (Why did I pick someone who had to have OPINIONS?) Hubby-To-Be wants a "real" wedding. Hubby-To-Be wants something fancy, maybe even tuxes. Hubby-To-Be wants a country club location with dinner and dancing and decorations. Huh. Who woulda thunk it from Hubby-To-Be.

So here I am now. Planning a wedding. Hubby-To-Be is playing an integral part in the planning since, well, it's really all his idea after all.

And so this weekend we went to look at LOCATIONS. The first stage in the extravaganza of wedding planning. After a good eight months of completely ignoring the wedding we seem to have come to a decision to get married here in the Bay Area somewhere natural, hopefully outside, that's not too too fancy. Luckily there's a few places that fit the bill.

A few weeks ago we checkout the Marin Arts & Garden Center which seemed pretty nice. Not too extravagent, a good place to take pictures, a small venue for our small-ish wedding. It was nice but it was our first one so we thought we needed more options. (Ok, Hubby-To-Be thought we needed more options. I was happy to go with the first one and be done with it but I am trying to be a good sport about it all.)

We went to a friends wedding that weekend in Santa Rosa at the Annadel 1880 Winery & Gardens and that was gorgeous. It was a nice secluded venue which was totally beautiful and had a great amount of space. It actually made me glad we didn't decide to go with the first place we saw - not because it was bad but just because there may be other options that fit us better.

Then yesterday we trekked out again to check out some places in the East Bay. First on the list was the Brazilian Room in Tilden Park in Berkeley. Here is where I fell in love. It is a beautiful building in the middle of a beautiful park. You could get married on the lawn and then have the reception on the patio or inside. It was perfect - a little bit fancy, a little bit rustic, a little bit hippy. I was done. There were more on our list though so we trekked on.

Next we went to see the Hacienda de las Flores in Moraga. Hubby-To-Be was in charge of making sure the locations were available to see. We get to this one and the gate is locked. You can't even see in to get an idea. I am cranky. We drive around to the other side and luckily I see a gate for the "Hacienda Trail" going through the property so basically, we sneak in. Again, this place is gorgeous. Sunnier than Tilden Park and more flowers. The hacienda is really pretty. Hubby-To-Be of course loves it. It's a little bit secluded, a little bit country club. I'm thinking "How fancy is my dress going to have to be for this?" It's gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but I'm worried it's a little fancy.

We then go to location number three which, frankly, doesn't even worth a mention. It's definitely not the one.

And then we go home and are stalemated on what each of us likes. And it begins...

Oh Little Plants, Why Won't You Grow?

We have these beautiful fushias outside our windows. Or should I say used to have? They're still there but after six weeks of living here they are starting to look a little sad. A little droopy. A little malcontent. And I'm just not sure why.

I've watered them. I've soaked some in water buckets when days were hot. I've trimmed them. I've talked to them. A little.

But instead of flourishing and blooming they just look a little weary. They were oh-so pretty when we moved in.

Little fushias, what have I done wrong?

San Francisco YUM

This has been a weekend of eating well. Friday night I was craving pizza. As a quinoa eating, green juice drinking, whole foods junkie I don't often feel the craving for some thick white bread slathered with sauce and finished off with a healthy amount of cheese but sometimes everyone has their moments. (And to be honest I have alot more of them than I care to admit.)

I convinced Hubby-To-Be to come with me to Patxi's in Hayes Valley - a deep dish pizza place extraordinaire. I'd only been there once before when it first opened several years ago but I remember it being totally delish. I have to say we were not disappointed. The atmosphere was perfect for a Friday night - a little bit of swank, a little bit of casual - and the pizza was well worth the pre-prescribed 30-40 minute wait. We ended up getting a decadent mushroom, green pepper, onion and bacon (oh my!) deep dish pizza. It was pure heaven on a plate.

We had enough pizza left over for lunch on Saturday so after I purified myself by teaching a yoga class I then piled on the pizza once again. Needless to say I was exhausted Saturday afternoon after the dairy-dough double punch.

But... never to be deterred, Saturday night we were out again - Indian this time. We headed over to Indian Oven in Lower Haight - one of my favorite Indian places in the city. We had some really yummy stuff (this time I got some spinach cause I needed something green) and then topped off the evening with some beer at Toronado. We got a healthy dose of attitude with our beer but we decide that was probably part of the hipster scene and we were just getting a little too old and crochety for it.

That led us to wonder "What is a 30-something to do in San Francisco at night?" It seems like our single days are over seeing as we're about to plan a wedding so rousing and carousing to pick up a hot young thing seems off the list. (Did I ever really do that anyway?) All of our other friends are off having babies in the multiples. That doesn't sound so fun either. We know there's tons of stuff to do in this city we love but I think we're going to have to get creative to have some fun before our (my) bedtimes turn us (me) into pumpkins!

Off-leashing

Thank god for my therapy dog. I like to call him Little Horse cause he's tall and skinny and loves to run and run and run and lucky for me he provides hours of endless entertainment and unadulturated love. He's not really a therapy dog in any traditional sense but his sweet little spazzy nature always seems to make me laugh.

The biggest thing in Lil Horse's life these days is that he is still adjusting to our cross-country move from North Carolina. We've been trying really hard to get Lil Horse to be off leash like all the other San Francisco doggies. Back in Carolina where Lil Horse was born no dogs were off leash unless we were in the middle of the woods. Here, where cars and bicycles are abundant, all of the dogs are just prancing around without leashes like regular people. The first day I went to the tiny park near us with Lil Horse (not fenced in or anything) hordes of dogs were just running around, prefectly contained without a single constraint. There I was with Lil Horse, on leash, and he was doing his usual jumping up and down and running around me in circles.

I got some strange looks, let me tell you. I felt like that person with the seriously mis-behaving child where everyone is thinking "what kind of parent is SHE?"

Now I COULD let Lil Horse off leash. We've done it before in our Carolina 'hood and in the woods. Problem is that Lil Horse really likes to be off leash. So much so that he will run away, lord knows where, for oh, say, twenty minutes, and then re-appear happy as a clam, ignoring the fact that I've been calling him for twenty minutes and am now seriously irritated and discombobulated. I COULD do that... but he'd probably get hit by a car in two seconds flat, plus I'd probably get more of those looks that I like so much from all the other doggie owners.

So instead of that fantastic fate we've trying to teach the pup to be off leash. This just means that Lil Horse gets treats galore every time he goes for a walk. It's a pretty good deal if you ask me. Needless to say Lil Horse is now gaining weight. Lucky for him he started out real skinny so he can stand to gain a bit of poundage.

He's getting a bit better with paying attention but man, we have a long way to go.

One day I hop to take him for a walk and have no-one say, "Oh, is he a puppy?" and have to say in return, "Um, well, no, he's actually two..."

Jobs Jobs Jobs (Jobs)

Right now I have four jobs. I'm a web designer, health counselor, yoga teacher and job seeker. Even in my jobs I'm a little bit of everything.

Now you'd think with three jobs I wouldn't be looking for a job like its a job. Well, I'm looking to consolidate. While the freedom of working for myself is something most people dream about I've found it drives me a little bit nuts. I can plan my own schedule. Sounds fantastic, right? It would be fantastic if planning my own schedule didn't mean writing up a lovely little daily schedule then looking at it in the morning and thinking "I'll just wait a few hours to do the first thing. There's a really great episode of Project Runway that I haven't seen yet." or "Maybe today is the day I'll start my 108th blog. This one is really going to stick." And then noon rolls around and all I've really done is sit on the couch contemplating if watching Project Runway is actually the way I want to go. Maybe I should watch the Olympics instead. I mean, they only happen once every four years. (Two if you count winter but then, who does?)

And then it's lunchtime so I make myself a sandwich. And then the dog is whining so I take him for a walk. And then its time for Oprah. And dinner. And more TV. And before I know it no jobs have happened and no money has come in and I haven't paid my rent in three months.

Yeah - some days are like that. Some days it feels like I have four going on zero jobs.

So I want to go back to one job. One full-time, all-day, schedule-set-for-you kind of job where you have evenings and weekends off to watch the Olympics in unadulturated bliss.

So right now my biggest job is finding that one job. Wish me luck!

Everything

This is probably my 108th blog attempt. I'm really great at thinking of blog topics and blog names and writing the first post, maybe even few posts, and then getting bored with myself and moving on. I've always felt like my blog had to be specific - like cooking for eskimos who live in Nantucket or gardening the Buddhist way. Every popular blog seems to be so FOCUSED. I mean - who just writes about everything? Who's going to want to read that?

Finally I decided I just don't care. This blog is for me, about me, by me so I can do whatever I want. So I chose to write about everything I want to. The only reason I added "San Francisco" to the mix was that "A Little Bit of Everything" was taken. I don't plan on holding myself to that constraint.

So I hope you enjoy. I hope this one lasts. Surely I've got something to write often about everything. Here goes...