Community Tables

Karie told me she wants to do a long, community table at her wedding reception, and I love this idea!  I found some awesome pictures of different ways to do this.

I personally prefer the simpler ones and the outdoor motifs, but I think it always looks pretty cool.  So excited about the wedding!

Valentine's Day Gift

This year we set a $10 limit for Valentine's Day gifts...which requires a person to be very resourceful.

Look at the beautiful headband that Cole made for me using a vintage necklace and a piece of ribbon (from one of our wedding gifts, I'm pretty sure)!  I wore it proudly on Saturday afternoon when we checked out the Inner Sunset and Irving Street, which might be our next neighborhood. 

Yep, I love it.

Nerd Barbie Looks Nothing Like One.

Did you know Mattel  has released 125 Career Barbies?  To bring it up to 126, the newest one is Computer Engineering Barbie, supposedly "geek chic."

I guess it's the glasses that automatically make her nerdy?  Or is it the "binary code" tee that she's sporting?  Either way, I seriously doubt that many girls going for electrical engineering majors are decked out like this.  In fact, I don't know one person--computer nerd or otherwise--who would be caught dead in that white vest with teal lapels and hot pink piping! 

I had to check out a list of all of the Career Barbies that have been made over the years, and the list is kind of disappointing.  Sure, you've got a zoologist and a paleontologist on there; you've got your healthcare professionals and teachers; you've got a slew of military Barbies.  But while you've got more than one version of a secretary, there are no lawyers or judges, which is a bit sad.   It wouldn't be that hard to design an Honorable Barbie doll wearing a black robe with a stylish outfit underneath.  She could come with a gavel and a bench.

This all made me a little nostalgic for the one Career Barbie that we did have growing up:  Day-to-Night Barbie.  I can't remember if she was mine or Karie's, but we LOVED that doll.  The scarf and the snazzy white hat must have been lost early on, because I don't have much of a memory of them.  And I know that her hair quickly lost its polished look after too much brushing with that small, rough plastic Barbie brush.  But the briefcase, velveteen jacket, earrings...they were part of our Barbie empire for a long time.

By the way, the "day-to-night" aspect of the doll basically just meant that after a long, hard day at work, Barbie could take off the jacket to go meet her friends or beau for a few drinks, wearing the satiny camisole and the velveteen skirt.  The box never told us what career she was supposed to have.  Maybe it's better that way because little girls can use their imaginations.

If you're interested, this is a pretty little list of every career Barbie has had through the years.

This Weekend

I will be embarking on a somewhat serious DIY project:  reupholstering our six dining chairs.

Screwdriver:  check.
Staple gun:  check.
Staples:  check.
Bright fabric that I LOVE:  check.

Provided everything goes as planned, I'll post pics of the transformation.  Goodbye, boring dark brown faux leather seats; hello, bright happy patterned seats!

Saturday

Who:  Kelly & Cole
What:  Morning walk to the Bagdad Cafe for breakfast
When:  2/13/10 at 8:45 am
Where:  Western Addition to the Castro
Why:  Why the heck not?

One of my favorite things in life is going to breakfast on the weekend.  Ever since my second or third trip to San Francisco, I'd been wanting to go to the Bagdad Cafe on Market.  So last Saturday, on a stormy, foggy morning that eventually turned sunny, Cole and I walked over there for delicious omelettes.  We sat right in the corner window, reading the newspaper and watching a parade of early-morning Castro residents go by.  Plus two friendly guys setting up the green flower cart on the corner, pulling bucket after bucket of fresh flowers out of their van.  Plus a homeless man creating a suspicious sandwich out of old bread and Cup O' Noodles, but I won't go into the details of that.

On our walk back home, we had to get some pictures of these garish periwinkle lions that adorn an old Victorian.  This is Reason # 1,467,891 that I love this city!

Lunchtime Stroll

I still find it hard to believe that I can walk to the ocean during my lunch break.  Last week when we had a break in the rain, I did just that.  I'm working right on the edge of North Beach right now, so the views are wonderful.  Look in one direction and you see the Coit Tower; look towards the bay and you see the bridge; look the other way and you see the tall buildings of the Financial District (or the FiDi, as the denizens say). 

Now, if I could only set foot inside the Ferry Building at lunchtime without being tempted to buy a decadent cupcake from Miette.

Sweet Talk

These are the valentines I made this year.  I wanted to do a batch on the Gocco, but it's taken a bit of wrangling to get it up and running...now if I could just find a good chunk of time to crank out some prints.

My original Gocco design was going to have a bit to do with conversation hearts, which I think are really cute but taste really bad.  Apparently, the conversation hearts maker, Necco, has been introducing new sayings over the last decade.  So in addition to the old, original messages (BE MINE, TRUE LOVE, KISS ME, SWEET TALK, etc.), you can expect to see a mix of the following ( my faves are in bold):

MELT MY ♥

IN A FOG
CLOUD NINE
HEAT WAVE
SUN SHINE
GET MY DRIFT
DO GOOD
#1 FAN

FIT FOR LOVE
LOVE LIFE
CHEER ME ON
BE MY HERO
HEART OF GOLD
3 WISHES

EVER AFTER
MAGIC
NEW LOVE
DREAM
CHARM ME
START NOW
WRITE ME
CLASS ACT
WHIZ KID
WISE UP
LOVE LETTER
SCHOOL MATE
LET'S READ
LOOK GOOD

IN STYLE
URA QT
THAT SMILE
TWO HEARTS
MOON BEAM
STAR DUST
RISING STAR
YOU & ME
TOO SWEET.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Petal Shirt

I've always really liked bright colors, but I've been craving them even more than usual lately as a remedy for all of the rain and clouds we've been having.

So I cooked up this t-shirt with some fabric scraps, fabric adhesive, and embroidery.  Most of the fabric has significance--a lot of the scraps are from a really awesome seventies patchwork dress that Pat gave me, and the rest are from the pins I made for our wedding.

 It makes me happy.  And it only cost about $6 or $7 to make!

Early Valentine's Day Treat

From Lauren Alane.

Baker Beach

We've been scouting out potential neighborhoods for our next apartment.  Last Saturday, we took a marathon trip around the city looking at various areas, and ultimately ended up at Baker Beach on the northwest edge of the city.  It's actually part of the Presidio and I am very tempted to try to live there.  Up on a hill overlooking the beach is a group of 1960s apartments.  The Presidio Trust would be our landlord.  If we moved into the Baker Beach apartments, wouldn't I just have to march up to the Trust, tell them that I now live in the Presidio, and sweetly demand that they go ahead and hire me?

We took a walk on Baker Beach and it was stunning.  I had never seen the Golden Gate Bridge from this angle before and the waves were really pounding the sand. 

Yes, that's Cole playing with a piece of debris (I think it's a partially-burned Christmas tree) on the beach.  Other interesting sights on the beach that day included two naked men (one was lounging in a chair, reading a book), lots of dogs, a cruise ship passing under the bridge, a dad and his son playing baseball, three hipsters crashed out on a nappy blanket, and some people making rock sculptures.

This picture of the Baker Beach steps is my favorite.  People run up and down these for a good workout.  I'm pretty sure you'd have glutes of steel if you did that on a regular basis.

I want to go back to Baker Beach for a nighttime bonfire!

Vancouver 2010

You know what makes everyday life a little more awesome? The Olympics. And they're back! On February 12, the Winter Olympics start in Vancouver. Yay, something to watch on network tv. I know I'll make elaborate plans to watch the opening ceremonies in all their glory and then tune into at least the ice skating, ice dancing, and the LUGE. How can you not watch the LUGE?

Here's something curious about recent Games: they now have mascots.

I don't remember mascots before the last summer games. I know it's just a big marketing ploy for the host city, but these guys are adorable. And culturally significant:

Miga — A mythical sea bear, part orca and part kermode bear.
Quatchi — A sasquatch.
Sumi — An animal guardian spirit who wears the hat of the orca whale, flies with the wings of the mighty Thunderbird and runs on the strong furry legs of the black bear.

So, 10 points to Vancouver for Miga, Quatchi, and Sumi. If I were lucky enough to be attending these Games, I'd buy schwag with your faces on it.

But -100,000,000 points for the ACTUAL Vancouver 2010 logo. I think it's crude and scary. And that's after doing some research and finding out that it's named Ilanaaq--the Inuktitut word for friend. This guy is not my friend. He looks like a child's drawing of a hungry Frankenstein.

I'll still be watching on February 12 though :)

Early Introduction to Modern Design

When I have a kid, I'm totally going to make a modern dollhouse like this one for him/her to play with.  I probably wouldn't furnish it as sparsely as this one is (half the fun of a dollhouse is having plenty of furniture to move around), but you have to love its clean lines, open floor plan, and most of all, the thick, white shag rug upstairs and the homemade lounger on the patio.

You can see more pictures of this cool toy here.

Admission

On Sunday night, I did my taxes myself for the first time and I enjoyed it.  Immensely.  The extremely nerdy/organized/OCD side of me that relishes inputting numbers, referring to neatly stacked piles of supporting documentation, and dotting every i and crossing every t had a field day.  I can't believe I've been paying an accountant since 1996 to do this when I could have been treating myself to such unbridled fun.

I am getting a healthy refund from both the feds and the great state of California this year, which I'm sure has a lot to do with my ever-increasing level of glee last night.  And after consulting with Cole  via a flurry of emails, I have decided to put part of my refund towards a beautiful, midcentury modern sofa in a soft pear color.

Red couch, you've been awfully good to me over the past 5 years.  Let's try to find you a new home, shall we?

A Picnic and A Little Hula Hooping

On Sunday afternoon--since it was finally sunny and beautiful--we took a picnic up to Alamo Square.  It was sooooo nice.  After we'd eaten our fill of fancy cheese, herb bread, and stoneground mustard, Cole showed me her sweet moves from her hooping class.  She's so good!  She can do all sorts of tricks, send the hoop in different directions, bring it up to her hand and down to her ankles, and turn around with it still moving.

Shockingly, after a little tutorial from her, I was able to do some hooping myself.  It's probably the most fun abs workout you could ever do--especially when you're up at Alamo Square on a sunny day, looking out at the city.

B4D

I love breakfast for dinner.  And I'm not sure why we don't do it more often because it's really easy. 

Last week I was craving waffles after reading about delicious homemade pancakes in ReadyMade.

So on Wednesday here's what we had.

As you can see, Cole has no problem pairing beer with breakfast food.

WANT.

I do like to sleep.  And, on occasion, to raise some hell.