Heavy Boots

{image via}

I started a book club, and our first book, chosen by yours truly, was a doozy.  I knew from reading the blurb that the subject matter--a nine-year-old boy's quest to find out exactly how his father died in the September 11th attacks--would be intense.  And it was.  It was also very difficult to follow in parts.  And I never had that feeling of wanting to just really devour this book, which was a letdown.

I have mixed feelings about this book.  I kind of think that the author, Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote Everything Is Illuminated (which I did not read, but saw in movie form), relies too much on gimmicks to get by with this story.  He switches from narrator to narrator, throws in photos, creates sections with just a word on each page, etc. 

But then there are things I really like about his writing.  One is "heavy boots," the expression that Oskar uses when he feels sad.  It's so descriptive.  I want to incorporate it into my personal lexicon.

I'm excited to hear what everyone else thought about this book when we meet tonight.

"We've been aware there's some very serious vampire activity in this town for some time."

--Edgar Frog, from The Lost Boys

The Santa Cruz Boardwalk

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We're going down to Santa Cruz for the night on Friday, so of course I had to pull out my favorite quote from The Lost Boys, which was filmed there (although it's called "Santa Carla" in the movie).  We're staying at a hotel that I've been lusting after for quite awhile now, the Dream Inn.  It's the only Santa Cruz hotel that's actually right on the beach, and it looks to have an awesome modern design aesthetic. 

I found a treasure trove of  historic photos of the hotel and had to share a few. 

{The beach before the Dream Inn in 1960; image via}

{Newly finished Dream Inn}

{Miss California contestants frolicking in front of the hotel in 1963; image via}

I'll be back with photos of the hotel in present day next week.  What I'm hoping to see is most of the 1960s design elements preserved, with the right kind of midcentury modern updates to furniture, lighting, and decor.

Before we check in on Friday, we're heading down to Monterey Bay Aquarium for the day!  This is another thing we've been wanting to do since we moved here (we're slowly checking things off our mental lists, one by one...).  Not only am I super excited for the Aquarium itself, Monterey Bay is a known gathering spot for all kinds of sharks at this time of year. 

So yeah...I won't be getting into the ocean :)

My 'Hood

I wrote a Neighborhood Guide for Apartment Therapy--check it out here!

Let's Hang*

Alas, even with our larger apartment, I'm running out of surface space for plants.  So not long ago we picked up this glass terrarium from Flora Grubb (my home away from home) that hangs from the ceiling.

Planting and arranging the succulents was challenging, but I eventually got them in there.  They're doing really well and only require a few sprays of water every couple of weeks.

*Not just the title of this post, but also the name of a line of impossibly cute key chains from kidrobot on Haight Street.

Room for Color!

This morning I woke up to an email from the Apartment Therapy editors notifying me that our kitchen was selected for the annual Room for Color contest.  Honestly, I'm honored just to have been selected and also humbled after seeing some of the amazing entries.  The winner gets a trip to NYC and the 4 finalists get 15 one-gallon cans of Behr paint! 

If you're so inclined, you can vote for our kitchen here.  Check out the other entries too!

My New Favorite Theater

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Cole's dad was in town on Friday night and we took him to the historic Castro Theater, a place we'd been wanting to see a movie since we moved here!  It did not disappoint.  While waiting in front of the theater for the doors to open, we had time to admire all of the fabulous original tilework on the walls and ceiling.  Entering the theater itself (which was built in 1922) was awesome--there's an old school concession stand right as you walk in, and the auditorium is much larger than you'd expect, with decorative touches everywhere.  We were there to see my absolute favorite Hitchcock movie of all time, Rear Window, which made the experience even more perfect in my eyes. 

At this theater, instead of being forced to sit through the moronic ads that modern theaters play before the movie starts, moviegoers are treated to the musical stylings of a very talented organist.  The Wurlitzer organ rises up out of the stage in a way that was probably quite dramatic when it debuted.  The organist played some of the songs from Rear Window, which was very cool.  And then the lights dimmed, the red velvet curtains drew back, and the movie started.  No shameless promotion, no nothing.  It was lovely.

It was AWESOME to see this movie on the big screen and with a large audience.  They were showing it as part of a Grace Kelly film festival, and I wish we could have seen more.  It seems like the Castro shows a good mix of old and new films, so I plan to go back next time I need an old movie fix.

Coastal Clean Up

Last Saturday morning we did our civic duty and took part in the coastal clean up that was happening all over San Francisco.  Last year Cole worked at one of the beaches, so this time we chose a bay-side area called Warm Water Cove, over on the edge of Potrero Hill in a semi-industrial zone.  We thought it'd be more interesting than an idyllic, sandy beach, and it was!  We worked around defunct industrial buildings and warehouses, a sad little forgotten park, and dilapidated piers and pilings...all of which is right up my alley.  Despite these industrial aspects, we were still working right at the water for part of the morning, and it was peaceful.

The group we helped out with gave us gloves and pickers, and we set off to fill our bags with debris, keeping track of what we found on a scorecard of sorts.  Here's a short of list of the more interesting items we found:

• A woman's Steve Madden heel in black
• A knob to a stove
• A small, metal letter E
• A strange, unidentifiable piece of organic matter that loosely resembled part of a brain
• Tires
• Bike tubes
• A wide selection of mustard packets
• A Presidio Pines golf ball
• A large tangle of rusted chain
• Tons of glass shards, styrofoam pieces, and cigarette butts :(

You might be glad to know that I faced up to my persisting fear of spiders once again in order to pluck many of these items from the rip-rap (little term I picked up during my days researching Army Corps of Engineers wetlands practices).  There were some crazy webs spun in between the rocks and concrete pieces that we were working around.

All in all, it was a great thing to be part of.  And afterward, since we were close by, we stopped at Flora Grubb, my beloved garden center, and picked out a glass terrarium to hang in the living room.  'Cause you can't have too many plants.