Monday, May 25, 2009

long weekend letdown

my cousin julie and i would often talk on the phone on sunday nights when we were kids -- mine a beige push button, hers, a light blue rotary. we would describe how miserable we were to be going back to school the next day -- in varying shades of blue.

"jules, i'm soooo indigo tonight!"

"i know, lis, me too. actually, i'm totally cobalt."

we referred to it as "sunday night depression."

long weekends make SND even more poignant, though technically it would be MND. after this long weekend with its interminable fog, brutal arctic winds, and a computer glitch that deleted my post on chateau tivoli when i was just about to hit "publish," i should be seriously navy.

but, i WON the freakin' contest!!

last week i submitted this blog post entry to win a spa getaway for me and three of my most deserving BFFs. and i found out a couple of days ago that the judges from uptake and silverado resort selected mine! sweeeeet!

we're going to napa to lounge around the pool, drink lots, get free spa treatments, read cheesy magazine, and just hang....

it's even sweeter because we've been trying to make this girls' weekend happen for so long, now we just need to show up to our fireplace suite here.

and we do all so righteously deserve it.

***

i totally want to do something to preserve parker as she is right now. i tell her all the time i don't want her to grow up, that i'm calling the hall of records to backdate her so she won't get any older.

she is, without a doubt, the biggest fan i will ever have. she simply adores me. that's not to say she's never a brat or a pain-in-the ass, but she constantly tells me how much she loves me, that i'm pretty, that i'm "too sweet," the best mommy ever, she loves my outfit, my hair, and on and on.

she wants me to snuggle with her every night and is competitive with my friends.

you always hang out with (fill in the blank, but usually heather). i want to go on a powerwalk/run/hike/to the movies/to a "yes"taurant/to a spa vacation — with you!!! not when i'm older, that will be too long!!

when it gets to be too much, like tonight at 10:00, and she hovering around me like an obsequious, pesky, little satellite and WILL NOT go to bed, i remind myself of how nice it is to have a sweet adorable companion who idolizes me.

i'm well aware that 13 will happen...


Friday, May 15, 2009

mid-life crises

ok, why i really need a spa retreat -- it 's less than three hours before deadline, i finally got both kids to bed after visiting my girlfriend who delivered a beautiful baby boy (lars mccall) just hours ago, writing and researching a blog post on sleep pods at san francisco international airport, delivering and collecting the baby to and from daycare, attending my four-year-old daughter's first ballet recital (cuteness freaking overdose), and getting through a post-performance dinner with my inlaws.

now, before i finish cleaning the house, i'm sitting down to write this.

but, this isn't about me. not totally.

uptake, the travel site i post to twice weekly, is running a contest with the silverado resort in napa. the prize is a spa girl package for four awarded to the blog post that best describes four women who deserve it.

let's face it, we all deserve a break. but i know of a few women in my crew who truly need one.

first, there's kelly, uber-driven career gal, director of marketing at a multinational software company. she maintains a travel schedule that would make a sane person's head spin. this year alone she's been to trade shows all over the united states as well as conferences in europe, china, singapore -- even north korea. she's barbie doll pretty (meant in the best possible way), and when she speaks, people don't just listen, they take notes.

last summer, kelly realized her marriage of more than a decade was over. she found herself filing for "dissoution of marriage" and forking over a large sum of cash to her ex, who split to another state to play house with his high school girlfriend.

pull up the lounge chair and get this lovely lady a cocktail!


angela is a mother of three (ages six to 11) and tireless education advocate -- she's been known to march on sacramento, raise boatloads of money for the public schools, and isn't afraid to tell arnold schwartzenegger how she really feels.

she shuttles her precious cargo to and from piano lessons, theater club, kumon, football, baseball and soccer. in her spare time she oversees home construction projects -- knocking out walls in her kitchen or digging out the foundation to add extra rooms. all of these projects are based on her original designs.

ang rarely has a moment to herself and can't remember the last time she left the house without thinking, packing, and screaming for three. a hawaiian lomi lomi massage? better than drugs.

tessa moved from her beloved bay area, leaving behind a great job and friends, to join her boyfriend/partner of 12 years in LA, where he was pursuing a career in "the industry."

three years later, he found himself in the midst of a mid-life crisis. so he dumped her. in a note.

remember when dudes just went out and bought themselves a spendy, foreign-built sports car? damn.

the months since have been teary, angry, and angst-ridden as she attempts to re-build her life at 4o.

this situation call for several bottles of veuve, a combo deep tissue and hot stone massage, a decent meal, and oh, throw in the damn tote bag.

as for me, i take care of my two children, ages four and one and work in the daily panic room also known as the the san francisco chronicle, where i am pleased to say i just survived my fourth round of layoff/buyouts. good times in the newspaper industry. woo-hoo.

my husband is a photographer who travels regularly, leaving me to do the daycare/preschool/work/shopping/cooking dance solo. i've only been away from my kids once, for a high school reunion, and man, am i ready!

bring it!

can't you just picture us ladies, cocktailing by the pool with our cheesy magazines and ipods, griping about our men (past and present), laughing hysterically, and enjoying precious moments of friendship that we've been promising ourselves and each other we will make happen year after crazy year.

ladies, it's time.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

family free day at sfmoma

"i have always liked hot music. there's something wrong with any american who doesn't. but i never realized that it was influencing my work until one day i put on a favorite record and listened to it while i was looking at a painting i had just finished. then i got a funny feeling. if i looked, or if i listened, there was not shifting of attention. it seemed to amount to the same thing -- like twins, a kinship. after that, for a long time, i played records while i painted."
-- stuart davis, american modernist painter influenced by jazz music

sunday was dreary and grim in the city and had rained the day before. we needed to get the bits (and ourselves) out of the house. i was surfing around and found a listing for free family day at the san francisco museum of modern art.

we packed them up and off we went.

the theme was "jazz it up." we went up to a children's studio that i never knew existed on the third floor. we signed up for a tour of the permanent collection tailored for children, then followed the sound of jazz into a brightly lit studio.

two young dudes were playing jazz standards on an upright bass and an electric piano. long tables were set up in a semi-circle around the musicians and colored paper and pastels sat on top waiting for kids to pull up chairs and start creating. docents, including our friend and former tenant annelise, roamed around providing more paper and inspiration.

the idea was to close your eyes, listen to the music and draw what/how the music makes you feel.

parker took on the task with relish, producing several masterpieces. roman made a few scribbles, climbed on furniture, and stuffed himself full of raisins.

later, we went into the screening area for a reading of "the jazzy alphabet," written by sherry shahan and illustrated by mary thelen. a groovy family fave around the dion home...

D's on the drums,
down and dirty
"Dig it! Dig it!"
E eases into evening,
tweedlin' on a sweet reed...

Monday, May 4, 2009

friday night club

it started with a dreadful music together class.

my friend lorna told me that she was taking her son william to a music class in the basement of an episcopal church in cole valley at 4 p.m. on fridays. parker was around two and i was desperate for friends in the neighborhood with kids. i had none, except lorna.

i needed community. but not just anyone. cool, interesting people. who aren't freaks about sugar and can who will throw back a few cocktails, and whose existence isn't completely defined by their precious cargo. people with jobs, and lives, and interests. people i would have hung out with before i had kids. people, i guess, like me.

so i joined the class. it was expensive. and awful.

ok, the kids liked it. but i was stifling yawns and clock watching. forty-five minutes had never felt so bloody long.

who has time to learn these damn obscure folk songs? pas moi!

and just as the kids would get start grooving into a jam session with the percussion instruments, the teacher would pull the plug on it and make everyone get up and dance with scarves (sans recorded music or even a strumming guitar).

it wasn't working for me.

fortunately, there were a few moms (and a dad or two) who felt the same way. and someone decided -- in retrospect it had to be allison -- to take our little party of malcontents back to the house for an impromptu dinner.

thus the tradition commenced.

a small community of like-minded parents of the upper haight/panhandle converged.

we come together on friday nights whenever someone decides to host a pot luck. the rules are simple: show up around five, bring wine, salad, fruit, or dessert, leave by eight, host cleans up.

the kids eat, exhaust themselves and each other, watch movies, often get naked. the parents drink wine, chat, gossip, laugh, eat, seek or dispense advice, drink wine.

these casual dinners of pasta, chili, lasagna, burgers, whatever, have helped keep me sane for two years. we've watched our kids grow up, dealt with getting into preschool (we're all at different ones), had more babies (or not), strategized about kindergarten, and have ultimately been there for each other along the way.

i found my neighborhood peeps, and they rock. praise Jah.