The Places I'll Go

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I've got Seuss on my brain this week.



I can steer myself any direction I choose, so I choose San Francisco. Heady stuff happening just to the north of me, there is!

Craft Gym is studio space where instead of a physical workout, you get a creative one. Craft Gym currently offers workshops and open studio time in sewing, knitting, ceramics, metals, paper, wood and textiles.

Stitch Lounge offers a wide array of goods and services, one of which is sewing classes, but we also offer drop-in sewing lounge time. A sewing lounge is essentially an inspirational, well-equipped, readily available space for sewers of all levels to create. Our lounge includes various types of sewing machines, sergers, cutting tables and all sorts of sewing accoutrements.

Rhythm & Motion offers a broad array of dance and movement classes for adults, youth and kids. We believe the art and ritual of dance belong to all of us. Naby Bangoura's West African Guinean dance class is an incredible class and everyone needs to try it at least once. You will be back for a second class, we're sure!



Me Sew Pretty One Day

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Oh boy a new blog has been discovered today, the Paper Pony and boy oh boy oh boy! With Cherries On Top! Her banner alone is enough to make me drool for a week and then I see she got a sewing machine for Christmas just like me! But she USES hers already! To make very pretty pretties!



San Carlos Library? Please have this book for me.
I want to make pretty pretties too.

I'd Wanna Be The Film

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When a movie opens with song lyrics like these, you should know you are in for some movie magic.



Sample of the lyrics from just one of the many cool songs in this movie:

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

Thank you for a lovely afternoon Juno. If you were a movie, I'd wanna be the film.

Oh wait! You are a movie!

Found!

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Lost and Found!



old label still on three sides of this box



new label on only one side of the box


Why, do you ask, did I overlook this box a zillion times since 9/8/07? It is the one box in our garage that I would absolutely not bother to actually open to verify the label because it has clothes I loved that my Dad bought me. I mean, why bother opening a box of heartache? (Why bother keeping it is a question better left for my therapist!)

Also it has my t-shirts and jersey from Ride for the Roses (gosh I see that site now totally foreshadowing my love affair with blogging) and I have nothing but a sentimental need to continue to store those items, therefore no need to look at them either. That's why they are in the same box.

There were (are) towers of these brown boxes out in the garage and they are almost entirely filled with books which means they are heavy. So seeing that old label on more than one side, I trusted it.

Still I can only blame myself because I packed this box and clearly did not do myself any favors with my labeling efforts. A detailed list of contents is all well & good IF YOU CAN SEE IT!

Oh well, live & learn -- that's my motto on things like this. We just in the past month replaced the crockpot and one of the ladles.

P.S. It occurred to me as I was writing this post, where are the clothes my dad gave me and my RFTR stuff? Oh boy.

On Sweatshirts

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Again, I'm in the car and party to another interesting thought process from Jaden. This one happened yesterday which means, here at least, I'm catching up with my life.

Scene: It's been cold and rainy for days. I was cruising at a comfortable temperature which means my boy(s) are usually roasting (or whoever is riding in the car with me).

Cue Jaden in his Naartje red zipper sweatshirt which was recently found after being MIA for several weeks.

"I'm hot! I wonder why they call them sweatshirts Mama. I know why. I think it's because they make you sweat."

Mother Earth

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Last Friday we drove Jeff to work due to the Big Storm. On our way to pick him up at the end of the day, yet another fascinating conversation with Jaden took place.

Mama, back in the olden days, did they have raincoats?

What do you mean by "olden days"? Do you mean when Mama was a little girl?

Yes.

Well then yes we had raincoats.

But not umbrellas, right?

Yes, we had umbrellas too.

But not engines, they definitely didn't have those yet.

Baby, what do you mean by olden days? Do you mean before Mama was on this planet?

Yes totally! When you lived on that other planet!

Duarte's

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We ended our day with Duarte's famous cream of artichoke soup. That's pronounced d00-arts, not dwar-teys, fyi. (And I like my pic of their sign better than theirs.)


At least Betty and I had soup. And straight-from-the-oven sourdough bread, oh my goodness. Jeff went for the crab since he felt robbed on Christmas Eve. (We went to Moraga and both of his parents had crab that night).


Jaden went for the ollalaberry jam & pb sandwich followed by a shared slice of ollalaberry pie with Betty. Ollalaberries all around!


Since it takes over an hour to eat crab (why bother?), I kept busy with the camera.




When I took this last photo, a man eating at the counter said, "You must be from the government." I replied without thinking about the meaning of his comment, "No I just like that row of cups and the distressed wood." He proceeded to give me one of the greatest compliments of my life: "You are an artist and photographer with an appreciation for the abstract."

I was practically glowing after that. A perfect stranger calling me an artist because I went behind the counter without asking to take a picture of a row of cups. And here I thought I was a regular Virgo girl who likes orderly rows of things.

Boys Will Be Boys

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Being in nature any time of year is soothing to my soul, but something for me about braving the elements in winter makes it more so. I guess because I have to sacrifice a lot of body heat which takes enormous energy to obtain in the first place, it makes the air smell that much sweeter to me.

While our visit to the area between Half Moon Bay and Pescadero yesterday was healing (for me) and emotional (we lost Opa on January 6, 2007), it was also a perfect place for my boys to be themselves.


"Look! It says absolutely NO GUNS!!!" -- Jaden



Blowing raspberries is so much more fun in the rain at the beach.



Peeing is definitely more fun in the rain at the beach.

"Look at me, I know how to run in nature!" -- Jackson



"Free at last, thank God almighty, I am free at last!" -- Jackson honoring MLK Jr.

Tahoe on My Mind

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I've had Tahoe on my mind for a few weeks now, courtesy of Jeff's desire to introduce Jaden to snowboarding this year. So I got him a lift ticket to Northstar, not realizing exactly how far away it is and therefore, kind of contrary to Jeff's idea of a day trip. No matter -- Tahoe, here we come. Someday soon.

In the meantime, I took a trip down memory lane as we have managed to get to Tahoe once with the boy. Four years ago, on January 19th to be exact, we rented a lovely little townhouse in Incline Village with Nic & Steven for a long weekend.

This was so long ago now that Jaden still fit
in the KITCHEN SINK for his nightly bath.



Ah, my heartstrings doth pulleth.
Or something like that.



I love you, my amazing Nordic Superbaby.

Surfing Around the Bay

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Speaking of the storm, check out this photo.
I had zero idea that you could surf there, is that normally a surf spot?

Let's never tell Jaden, who is already so into the GGB that we checked out two books about it yesterday at the library and it's his desktop picture for his account on my computer!

A surfer rides a wave churned by a winter storm underneath the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge Friday, Jan. 4, 2008, in San Francisco Bay. A fierce arctic storm pounded California on Friday, threatening to soak mudslide-prone canyons already charred by wildfires and to paralyze the mountains with deep snow.

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)