In a Western Place

It's July, already?

Hard to believe, especially in this part of the world. But I'll get into that on another post.

I started June in a bit of a funk. I'm happy to say that it didn't last long. Of the "goals" that I posted, I managed to complete most of them. Or modifications of some. And even added a few new things.

More notably:

You can get a spa mani/pedi in my neighborhood for only $26! (Every other shop is a bloody nail salon.) My hand and toenails look fabulous... and that makes me feel fabulous... which should make you feel fabulous.

I've joined a gym and I'm running, again, for reals. My body has certainly reaped the benefit of living on a really tall steep hill and I'm proud to say that the transition back into moving fast has been seamless. I'll say it, I'm in great shape! I'm meeting with a personal trainer next week to iron out a weight training routine. Here's hoping that I'll be in a 5K or 10K super soon. Perhaps that can be a July goal? Oh, and they have yoga.

I redesigned the Vitamin Party site, now I just have to build it. Thanks to some late Saturday night inebriation, I also signed on to redesign the website of a friend's bands up in Portland. Uff da. Like I don't do enough work on that dang Interweb as it is.

I've failed at arriving to work on time. Morning people can suck it.

We still eat out a lot, but we've been mixing it up by trying new places in other neighborhoods. I've started to bring my lunch into work -- which would be more cost effective if I didn't eat all natural, gluten-free. Alas, it's not. My grocery bill was close to $100 last week and most of the food is already gone. Egads.

As for the hikes, I'm disappointed to say that we didn't get around to it. But, we did go to the beach, and that's something I haven't done in a long time. My shins are still peeling from the sunburn. Gross.

Did I forget anything?

I have a 4-day weekend, starting tomorrow and we're leaving town on a mini roadtrip. I'm sure I'll have plenty of photos to share, in addition to the 4 months worth that I have yet to post to my Flickr. As always, stay tuned. Have a happy, and safe, 4th of July!

Matty's folks are in town visiting from good ol' WNY, so over the holiday weekend we gave them a large dose of the Kirsten and Matty Central California/San Francisco Experience. From early Thursday morning until Sunday evening, we entertained them, non-stop, with some of our favorite day trips and scenic attractions... such as:

-- hiking and sea creature hunting (but not touching!) at the tidepools in Pacifica
-- lots of coastal driving through small coastal towns
-- dining along Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey
-- visiting a home made entirely out of garbage
-- visiting another home, er castle, made entirely out of priceless items
-- laughing at the Elephant Seals and their "rude" mannerisms
-- eating at a Taco Bell in Steinbeck country
-- stopping at a winery for a tasting (I needed to use their bathroom)
-- strolling through Golden Gate park
-- touring an exotic flower display, with butterflies!
-- consuming delicious Mission Mexican fare
-- commuting via street car (the F line)
-- saying "hello" to the sea lions
-- hiking up Telegraph hill where the parrots could only be heard, not seen
-- viewing San Francisco from atop of Coit Tower
-- eating at our favorite, off the beaten path Italian restaurant in North Beach
-- Target (OK, that was more for me)

Because of the relentless wildfires, I had to bypass a large portion of scenic highway 1 via highway 101, so no Big Sur (large frowny face). Despite the detour, the sky was completely filled with smoke and I spotted a mountain top engulfed in flames. Scary! Oh, and the weather was sunny, foggy, cold, cool, hot, sunny, foggy, cold, cool, hot -- you know, depending on where you walk.

Pictures to follow... throughout the week.

A hilltop mansion built by William Randolph Hearst, located in San Simeon (about 250 miles South of San Francisco). I've been to the castle once before, back in the Summer of 2005. I returned for a second visit this past Friday (the 4th) and it took my breath away, again. It's definitely a California must-see. Go!

A view of North Beach from Coit Tower. I walk through this neighborhood everyday on my foot commute to and from work. It's about one and a half miles each way -- downhill to the office and uphill to the home. I never walk the same route twice in one week.

New Village Café, Polk Street

Conservatory of Flowers, Golden Gate Park

Vitamin Party -- Retox Lounge, 07/11/2008

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." -- Mark Twain

It's the middle of July and I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, jeans, thick socks with sneakers, and a jacket... inside. The weather's been foggy, damp, windy with brrrrrrr chilly mornings and nights. We were lucky last week when it warmed up to a whopping 70 degrees! Dear hot and humid NY summers, I think I miss you.

Conservatory of Flowers, Golden Gate Park

The last one cracks me up. Like Ceasar Chavez, Che Guevara and Pancho Villa were best buds.

I'm counting down the hours until I pick up my rental car, then proceed northeast to our state capital where the temperature looks a little something like this:





Warm! I'm going wear flip flops, I'm going wear sun dresses, and I'm going to drink cool beverages because it's Summer up there! And bonus, I just got extra special permission to leave work early because my job has become my life I've been working super hard to meet all my deadlines, early. Why am I still here? To the sun, I say!

I’m currently developing a graduate class on Welding. Bear in mind that I develop classes for our students to take online. Welding, online? I guess the school didn’t expect anyone to actually enroll in online Welding, but surprise! we've got a few students registered for fall. I've already spent too much time today determining whether #FFFF66 will be an effective, but subtle shade of yellow for all of the warning messages I need to post everywhere. Blowtorches and laptops – this should be scary interesting.

Needless to say, work has been keeping me very busy this summer. In addition to the course on Welding, I’m developing an grad/undergrad After Effects course, a graduate introductory Illustration class AND a graduate/undergrad Photoshop course – all launching this coming Fall semester. There's certainly more on my plate than my first semester here, a sign that I’m doing a good job or I’m just a sucker that can’t say no. Regardless, I’m enjoying my work and I cannot believe that I’ve already passed the 6 month mark.

Our weekend trip to up to sunny, smoggy, warm Sacramento to visit our friends Will and Rachel was very lovely. We spent most of Saturday at their home in suburbia, relaxing on their back porch. It felt so good to sit outside and feel the warmth of the sun! And bonus, even though the weather was hot, dry heat = no bugs! A few other pals joined us later in the night for drinks and a rowdy game of h.o.r.s.e. After seeing the amount of beer that Matty and Will consumed, I have no idea how they managed not to impale themselves on the either the neighbor’s fence, or worse, on the birdhouse placed next to the basketball hoop. Oh my nerves.

On Sunday, Matty and I explored the city for a bit, mostly concentrating on Old Sacramento until it got too hot. Then we went back to Will and Rachel’s to chill in the AC and I finished my submission for CYOB (more on that in a second). Matty and I left for San Francisco later in the evening – but only after stopping for a few hours in suburban plaza heaven (they have an Old Navy and Target right-next-to-each-other, crazy!)

Anyway, remember CYOB? I'm participating again this Friday -- but you'll need to start here first otherwise my post won't make any sense. If you don’t hear from me until then it’s because I’m spending all of my time trying to communicate how not to set a dorm room on fire.

While perusing some of my photos from our (very) small 4th of July vacation, I stumbled upon this prize of a photo...

Remember that SNL skit with the double seated toilet? Why shouldn’t you share your most private movement moment with the one that you love?

Speaking of (very) small vacations, I took a few days off this coming August so Matty and I could travel back to good ol’ Western NY (wasn’t I just there?) The first half will be in the middle of nowhere, NY for another wedding. The other half will be spent in the Rochester area. So yeah, we'll be there and it's gonna be unreal. That's all I have to say about that.