i love discovering a groovy new cafe. new to me, that is. this place has been around for more than 30 years. it was described to me as having a similar vibe as java beach, but in the richmond rather than the outer sunset. really good, strong coffee, wi-fi, tables out front, beer & wine, couches in the back, and is filled with locals. i've seen some really long, nappy-looking dreads.
right next to me is the resident blowhard who has been weighing in on everything from obama and mccain to colonial tobacco plantations in virginia, geneology (his own), the evolution of this neighborhood and medeival london to anyone who will listen. one poor asian guy actually got up an moved away, so he went on to his next victim. i feel kinda sorry for him and actually learned some interesting tidbits about the bubonic plague.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
slow food saturday
i got up early with nino and managed to get in a powerwalk up through buena vista park. the morning was still heavy with mist and it was pretty ethereal there, with no one around almost the entire time i meandered through the woods.
i stopped at the panhandle playground to visit with lorna since she returns to london tomorrow. all the 'bean there' mamas crews were there with their broods, it was great to see them all. i'll miss lorna so much and hope we can get together one last time tomorrow.
after, i rallied at home, zannah came over and we took the kids to the slow food marketplace/garden at civic center. nice, but tough with a three-year-old and the little guy in a stroller. parker got interviewed by some woman taping for slow food nation. she was in kind of a snit and didn't show too well on camera.
after well over a year of planning for it, we finally started pre-school this week. i say "we" because we're at laurel hill nursery, a co-op where much parental participation is expected. we had our sites set on getting parker into belvedere motnessori, but that didn't pan out, despite our letter writing and photography efforts. LHNS seems pretty groovy thus far. there are a couple of writers there, including aidin from the chronicle and the big girl with the pink hair who did the blog about her daughter violet for babycenter. parker's first day was wednesday and i worked my shift. it was actually quite fun and i look forward to the work days. the meetings, not so much.
also, this week, i had my corneas lasered and reshaped by the amazing Dr. Ella Faktorovich and now have better than 20/20 vision. it's like a miracle. for the first time in memory, i can open my eyes and see across the room...
i stopped at the panhandle playground to visit with lorna since she returns to london tomorrow. all the 'bean there' mamas crews were there with their broods, it was great to see them all. i'll miss lorna so much and hope we can get together one last time tomorrow.
after, i rallied at home, zannah came over and we took the kids to the slow food marketplace/garden at civic center. nice, but tough with a three-year-old and the little guy in a stroller. parker got interviewed by some woman taping for slow food nation. she was in kind of a snit and didn't show too well on camera.
after well over a year of planning for it, we finally started pre-school this week. i say "we" because we're at laurel hill nursery, a co-op where much parental participation is expected. we had our sites set on getting parker into belvedere motnessori, but that didn't pan out, despite our letter writing and photography efforts. LHNS seems pretty groovy thus far. there are a couple of writers there, including aidin from the chronicle and the big girl with the pink hair who did the blog about her daughter violet for babycenter. parker's first day was wednesday and i worked my shift. it was actually quite fun and i look forward to the work days. the meetings, not so much.
also, this week, i had my corneas lasered and reshaped by the amazing Dr. Ella Faktorovich and now have better than 20/20 vision. it's like a miracle. for the first time in memory, i can open my eyes and see across the room...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
kung-fu beyatch
so this is the bitch who served me papers last night. actually, it was a dodgy-looking, slob of a process server who showed up at the door, greeted by 3-year-old parker in lavender footie pajamas, and tricked us into thinking he had a package for me. sweet. she's suing me after running a red light sans insurance and totaling my subaru.
she actually looks pretty bad ass. guess it's a good thing she didn't get out of the car and take me down with some nunchucks or a high kick to the temple. she's definitely got some moves. she's ugly though, mean looking, tough. just like i remember her from my dazed post-airbag-deployed state of shock (on her cell phone). even the paramedics told me she was a twunt. aren't they not supposed to tell accident victims stuff like that? oh, well...
relationships all around me are crumbling. last weekend eric dumped alex by handing her a note upon returning from comic_con after 12 years and a relationship that survived two cities and a year's worth of commuting. she's a mess. my heart breaks for her.
she actually looks pretty bad ass. guess it's a good thing she didn't get out of the car and take me down with some nunchucks or a high kick to the temple. she's definitely got some moves. she's ugly though, mean looking, tough. just like i remember her from my dazed post-airbag-deployed state of shock (on her cell phone). even the paramedics told me she was a twunt. aren't they not supposed to tell accident victims stuff like that? oh, well...
relationships all around me are crumbling. last weekend eric dumped alex by handing her a note upon returning from comic_con after 12 years and a relationship that survived two cities and a year's worth of commuting. she's a mess. my heart breaks for her.
Monday, July 21, 2008
moody
i'm alone in my office at the san francisco chronicle. my officemate/colleague/daytime husband on vacation.
life's little irritations piling up today. scheduling conflicts with dan, listening to everyone gripe about the state of this newspaper, the continuous unresolved saga of preschool, not allowing myself to indulge in a specialties wheat bran oat chocolate chip cookie that used to get me through the afternoon.
mellow weekend despite the fact i embarked on CIO (crying it out) for anyone that doesn't speak infant. roman screamed for half an hour, which was an eternity, while i cowered with a glass of wine, waiting. he stopped though, and slept all night. and for the first time in 10 months, i had the california king-sized bed all to myself.
i did miss that sweet boy, though.
life's little irritations piling up today. scheduling conflicts with dan, listening to everyone gripe about the state of this newspaper, the continuous unresolved saga of preschool, not allowing myself to indulge in a specialties wheat bran oat chocolate chip cookie that used to get me through the afternoon.
mellow weekend despite the fact i embarked on CIO (crying it out) for anyone that doesn't speak infant. roman screamed for half an hour, which was an eternity, while i cowered with a glass of wine, waiting. he stopped though, and slept all night. and for the first time in 10 months, i had the california king-sized bed all to myself.
i did miss that sweet boy, though.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
blessed naptime
san francisco
wow, you blink and a year goes by! here it is july again — grey, cool, beautiful — but now there is an extra person in our lives.
nino (ne: roman james) arrived quickly on a sunday night last september and is a massive gorgeous chunk of a boy, with electric blue eyes and a sweet dispostion. the birth was fast and furious, just like you see in the movies — with my water breaking, then rapid-fire contractions, then rushing straight to the ER without being able to drop parker at my brother derek's first. she was with us in the delivery room till derek and heather arrived.
typically, i was still packing at the time even though he was five days past his due date. despite the rush to entry, he's laid back — not to interested in moving around much, content to sit and play with his plastic electric guitar.
dan is away working the 'just for laughs' festival in montreal and i'm holding down the fort with the shorties. parker just rose from her nap to find that the tea party fairy arrived while she slumbered. she loves when that happens...
wow, you blink and a year goes by! here it is july again — grey, cool, beautiful — but now there is an extra person in our lives.
nino (ne: roman james) arrived quickly on a sunday night last september and is a massive gorgeous chunk of a boy, with electric blue eyes and a sweet dispostion. the birth was fast and furious, just like you see in the movies — with my water breaking, then rapid-fire contractions, then rushing straight to the ER without being able to drop parker at my brother derek's first. she was with us in the delivery room till derek and heather arrived.
typically, i was still packing at the time even though he was five days past his due date. despite the rush to entry, he's laid back — not to interested in moving around much, content to sit and play with his plastic electric guitar.
dan is away working the 'just for laughs' festival in montreal and i'm holding down the fort with the shorties. parker just rose from her nap to find that the tea party fairy arrived while she slumbered. she loves when that happens...
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
a taste of the good life
10 july, 2007
ledson hotel
sonoma, square
parker and i emerged from the marble jacuzzi, jets on full blast, bubbles everywhere. i wrapped myself in a plush robe while she put on her pjs and joined me on the balcony overlooking the square to take in some night air. dan is out exploring the bars his dad drank in when dan was a kid and he waited for pops in the back of the truck. i guess he had to know what was going on in those fine establishment.
we're researching a lifestyles piece for one of my chronicle publications which led us to a free room in this magnificent hotel next door to the sebastiani theatre. it's plush and magnificent, with parquet floors inlaid with exotic woods, vastly high ceilings, frette italian linens and touches of goth in the dramatic wraught iron sconces and chandelier. downstairs the bar is swathed in marble and, well, gleams. i could be very happy here. i am very happy here.
dan went over to jock mcdonald's, photographer extraordinaire who lives in an amazing farmhouse here with his lovely wife and daughters, to do an interview and photo session for the piece, while parker and i checked out the tuesday night farmers' market. compared to san francisco's veritable food orgy every saturday at the ferry plaza, it was pretty dinky but it had a homey, community feel. lots of scubbed teenagers carousing and parents listening to live jazz among heaps of heirloom tomatoes and white peaches. despite the mounds of pedigreed produce around, the corn dog stand was by far the most popular. i bought some fresh strawberries, a nectarine and a homemade corn muffin from the gumbo guy.
ledson hotel
sonoma, square
parker and i emerged from the marble jacuzzi, jets on full blast, bubbles everywhere. i wrapped myself in a plush robe while she put on her pjs and joined me on the balcony overlooking the square to take in some night air. dan is out exploring the bars his dad drank in when dan was a kid and he waited for pops in the back of the truck. i guess he had to know what was going on in those fine establishment.
we're researching a lifestyles piece for one of my chronicle publications which led us to a free room in this magnificent hotel next door to the sebastiani theatre. it's plush and magnificent, with parquet floors inlaid with exotic woods, vastly high ceilings, frette italian linens and touches of goth in the dramatic wraught iron sconces and chandelier. downstairs the bar is swathed in marble and, well, gleams. i could be very happy here. i am very happy here.
dan went over to jock mcdonald's, photographer extraordinaire who lives in an amazing farmhouse here with his lovely wife and daughters, to do an interview and photo session for the piece, while parker and i checked out the tuesday night farmers' market. compared to san francisco's veritable food orgy every saturday at the ferry plaza, it was pretty dinky but it had a homey, community feel. lots of scubbed teenagers carousing and parents listening to live jazz among heaps of heirloom tomatoes and white peaches. despite the mounds of pedigreed produce around, the corn dog stand was by far the most popular. i bought some fresh strawberries, a nectarine and a homemade corn muffin from the gumbo guy.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
a little intro
i'm not really a misanthrope, but i inherited a healthy dose of yankee cynicism from my mother. i grew up in the burbs near boston but have lived in san francisco for -gulp!- 17 years, most of them as a freewheeling, self-indulgent, bartender/writer prone to affairs with bad boys and other non-healthful pursuits.
in the mid-90's, i righted the ship, found myself a nice boy, got a real job. and here i am in 2007 with a 2-year-old daughter, tenants and a mortgage and knocked up for the second time. life is just full of surprises.
yesterday i found out my nanny, who i credit with keeping my sanity and marraige together for the first year of parker's life, is giving notice. today, i found out two of our tenants are moving by the end of the month. i mysteriously injured by foot so i'm limping around and i'm enduring the trifecta of tri-3 pregnancy woes — back pain/heartburn/general discomfort. and i'm on deadline with a travel book assignment.
still, it's a gorgeous 4th of july day and since i'm neither nationalistic nor athletic, i skipped the annual billy carter memorial softball game and spent a few delicious hours alone in my lovely sun-drenched home just drinking in the solace. i even got a little work done on the book.
god bless 'merica.
in the mid-90's, i righted the ship, found myself a nice boy, got a real job. and here i am in 2007 with a 2-year-old daughter, tenants and a mortgage and knocked up for the second time. life is just full of surprises.
yesterday i found out my nanny, who i credit with keeping my sanity and marraige together for the first year of parker's life, is giving notice. today, i found out two of our tenants are moving by the end of the month. i mysteriously injured by foot so i'm limping around and i'm enduring the trifecta of tri-3 pregnancy woes — back pain/heartburn/general discomfort. and i'm on deadline with a travel book assignment.
still, it's a gorgeous 4th of july day and since i'm neither nationalistic nor athletic, i skipped the annual billy carter memorial softball game and spent a few delicious hours alone in my lovely sun-drenched home just drinking in the solace. i even got a little work done on the book.
god bless 'merica.
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