While walking through Golden Gate park this past Sunday we came across a little performance.  We first heard someone singing in another language.  Neither M nor I could pinpoint the language, except that it was some kind of European dialect.  As we got closer to the bandstand area (between the DeYoung Museum and the Academy of Sciences) we saw a sign for Ukrainian day.

We listened as the quartet finished singing.  It was very impressive.  When they finished singing the bandstand started playing some traditional Ukrainian songs.  We didn’t stay through all the songs.  Both us had a lot of work to do and wanted to get home to finish everything.  But, it was still neat to come across something that sounded so good.

One thing that is cool about SF is that the different districts have their own newsletters. Each newsletter showcases the ins and outs of that neighborhood.  We  picked up one during the summer and found a series of free outdoor movies.

At McCoppin Park, during the month of June, movies were shown on a blown-up screen.  Imagine a bouncy house type contraption, but it only has one wall.  That one wall is where the film was projected.

We were able to see The Princess Bride the night we went.  Boy, it was a cold night to see a movie.  There we were at the end of June, outside, bundled in our winter clothes, jackets, mittens, hats and a blanket.  Guess what, we were still cold!!  Sounds odd right?  We sat on the side of hill, which was covered with other viewers.  By the time the film started there were no free spots left.  Some people stood along the walkway and watched.

As we watched the film, the fog flew by and gently kissed our faces so that there was a thin layer of water covering everything.  Randomly it would drizzle, but that did not deter us.  We stayed for a the whole film.  Throughout the film though we kept asking each other if we were warm enough or if the other one wanted to go.  But, every time our response was “no.”  We wanted to experience an outdoor SF film.

It was worth it, but maybe next time we will bring more winter clothes and some popcorn!

M and I have been married for a little over 4 years now.  We both brought some of our college furniture into the marriage, more of his than mine.  Slowly over time we’ve updated certain rooms.  I think the first room we flipped was our living room.

Buying our first couch was a huge step.  It was our first “big” grown up purchase.  One that now we are somewhat regretting.  Living in a city with a big couch is sometimes hard.  With the couch soo big we don’t have the space for any other seating in our living room.  People end up sitting on the floor if there are more than three of us.  We didn’t decide to redo the living room though.  There is nothing wrong with the couch and I have plans to make some floor cushions.

We did decide to finally get “real” bedroom furniture.  In the beginning, M had found a bed on Craigslist.  I still had my childhood dresser, so we split up the drawers.  For nightstands, I used mine from high school and M used a end table that couldn’t fit into our living room.  I used an old school desk and old mirror as a vanity table.  Kind of a smorgasbord of furniture for a bedroom.  None of which matched.

Now, we actually have furniture that matches!  All we did was buy a new bed frame, a matching dresser and a cute little sofa.  I’m still using my nightstand from high school, but that’s ok.  I’m planning on making a cover for it so that it matches a little better with the other pieces.  Now both M and I feel more grown-up!  Isn’t that funny?  Our new dresser is much larger than our old one, so we’ve been able to free up lots of closet space.  This is helping us slowly become more organized with the rest of the apartment.

With this process, we decided to convert the second bedroom into an official guestroom/office.  We moved our old bed and dresser into that room and have moved some of the existing furniture around to make it all fit without feeling overwhelming.  We took an metal shelving unit down to the garage and it helped us get even more organized!  Who would have thought that buying just a little bit of furniture would be so beneficial!

Instead of going on a big vacation this year, M and I decided to take a mini vacation.  So many of our friends and co-workers talk about going to Tahoe and how amazing it is.  Well, neither M nor I had ever been there until this past summer.  First of all we didn’t even know which city to visit, let alone what the big attractions.  We just went on-line found a hotel that seemed pretty cool and was within our price range and decided to jump in blind.

Our hotel was outside South Lake Tahoe up in the mountains.  It was neat being above everything, especially looking down at all the twinkling lights.  Plus, it meant we had a nice strong breeze in the late afternoon to cool everything down.  That made hanging out at the pool a little difficult though.  Who wants to swim or read by the pool when you are about to be blown away?

During one day we went for a hike along the Tahoe Rim Trail.  The Rim trail goes all the way around the lake and has some amazing views of different valleys and the lake itself.  We had to hike a little bit just to get to the trail head, but that was ok.  The part that we explored was all uphill for about 3.5 miles.  A nice workout!  We came across magnificent piles of glistening white granite, aromatic sections of pine, trickling streams and barren ski slalom’s.  I found the ski slalom’s most interesting.  It’s amazing how many rocks and tree stumps reside in the area that people ski.   Seeing the empty ski lifts were pretty funny too!  They were just hanging there looking as if they were waiting for someone to come by and sit on them.

We explored the town a little bit, but stayed away from the casinos.  Neither M nor I gamble so we had no interest in visiting them.  We thought about going up in a gondola to the top of one of the mountains, but we both were appalled at the cost of one ride.  It was almost $40 per person!  We just hadn’t budgeted for something like that, so we decided that we’d leave that for next time.  There were some cute shops and lots of artist galleries, but it somewhat seemed like a mini tourist trap.

This was our view of the lake from one part of the hike.

 

The empty ski lift.

Driving around the lake a little ways we came across the Tallac Historic Site.  We parked in a parking lot off the highway.  Originally our intention was to get to the lake, but we came across the mini museum on our way.  At one point in time it was a resort and now it show’s what life was like 100 years ago.  My favorite part was the kitchen.  When you walk up to look into the kitchen, the movement causes a barking noise.  Apparently they’ve had problems with bears breaking into the kitchen.  The barking noise is supposed to spook off the bears.  The kitchen isn’t really a functioning kitchen though.  It is just a display kitchen.   Which makes me wonder why a bear would be trying to break into the fake kitchen…does Yogi Bear live near by?

In all it was a nice break.  We decided that next time we visit Tahoe, we want to camp instead of stay at a hotel.  It would also be nice to go up there with other people and maybe take in some water sports.  We both enjoy paddle surfing, which would be perfect on the lake!

At the beginning of the summer San Francisco went through a wind spell.  The wind was so fierce that it closed down the Great Highway and then after it was cleared, caused it to be closed down again.  The problem occurred from the wind blowing the sand onto the highway, causing the highway to be unfit for drivers.  I will attest that yes it is hard to drive on sand when you don’t have a four-wheel drive vehicle.  My car tends to fishtail a little when it hits a mound of sand in the road.  Knowing this has helped me avoid many possible accidents!  I just take a different road.

Well, one sunny day when the road was closed M and I got out our bikes.  Sure there were patches of sand, but pavement was pretty plentiful. Plus, we have mountain bikes, so the sand stood no chance against us!  We road back and forth from the intersection of Lincoln and the Great Highway to the Zoo enjoying our afternoon.

This is a pretty flat route, so we were fortunate not to have to worry about the famous SF hills.  I can’t even imagine biking up let alone down some of those hills!  Knowing me I would be over the handlebars in a second!

A couple weekends ago, M’s mom visited and we checked out the Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason.  Basically it was a DIY craft fair with really cool crafts.  Now, don’t think of the craft fairs of our younger years.  Think more of an Etsy type craft fair.  Several booths displayed letter pressed cards and prints.  Others displayed wooden laser cut maps.  Many more displayed geometric inspired jewelry and still more showcased clothing.

By far it was the most interesting craft fair we’ve ever been to.  There were even a couple stations for people to create their own crafts.  I found a great scarf  that is called an “infinity loop chain scarf.”  I bought it in a lovely bright orange, with the idea that I’d wear it with a black shirt to show my local support of the SF Giants.  Don’t worry I will always be a Cardinals fan!  I just thought it would be nice to be able to blend in whenever I’m at a game.

M and I did buy one other item, but it was bought with the intention of being a gift.  So, I can’t write about it yet.  Guess I’ll have to remind myself to write about it in the future, because it is pretty ingenious!

M’s mother bought a medium note pad.  Written atop each page is “Let’s Do This.”  What a great motivator!  She also picked up a small set of post-its for me.  They are soo beautiful and I’ve been very careful about how I use them.

We found out that there will be another fair in December and we already put it on the calendar!

We love living in SF!  Although sometimes, like in the summer our relationship with the city is tested.  I heard that Mark Twain once said “The coldest winter [he] ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”  I understand completely what he meant by that quote.  I’m currently sitting in long pants and a sweatshirt and it’s only the end of July.  When I drive to work in the morning people are wearing their winter coats while I’m wearing my summer clothing.  Just as a reminder, I work in a much sunnier warmer part of California.

Working outside of SF has helped me keep my sanity.  There is something about sunshine that brings a smile to my face.  At the same time I love living in the city.  The city is beautiful in its sunshine and in its fog.  Its so neat to watch the fog roll in, but I can describe my love for the city another time.

Each day when I’m done with work, I’ve been running.  I run near where I work, so I’ve been enjoying the sunshine.  Its been absolutely amazing!  I get a run in, my quick sunshine fix and then head back to the cold fog.  For my birthday my parents bought me this great watch that tracks where I run, my pace, how far I run and so forth.  That has been a huge motivator for running even more.

Plus for the geek in me, I love looking at the stats of my run.  From what I have analyzed I start out fast and quickly dwindle in my mile pace.  But, knowing that I’ve started paying more attention to my pace throughout the run, instead of just looking at the distance.  In doing so, I’ve been able to push myself more than usual.  That watch keeps surprising me and is one of my favorite b-day gifts ever!

Now I just need to find more places to run! (:

A couple weekends ago, M, Ka and I participated in a Color Run.  Basically a 5k where people run through different color areas.  These areas consist of volunteers throwing colored cornstarch at the runners.  So, by the end of the race each runner is covered in color.  Once finished everyone assembled together and basically took part in a dance party with more flying color.

The race was absolutely amazing!  The color aspect made the race seem shorter than it really was; we didn’t even feel like we had ran a 5k.  We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.  It was sunny, yet not too warm, with a slight breeze.  A breeze that lifted the colors and helped to clear the air.

Afterwards we headed to In-N-Out.  It was quite funny to still be covered in colors and be out in public.  Although it wasn’t too bad, because lots of other color runners were eating there too.  It was almost a contest to see who had been colored the most.

While running we used two disposable cameras to take pictures.  So, on our way home we dropped them off to be developed.  The lady behind the counter wasn’t paying attention and took the two cameras without actually looking at me.  When she did look, she had to do a double-take and then got this really big smile on her face.  She even said “you’re covered in color.”  I quickly explained the run.  When I went back to pick them up I was freshly showered and de-colorfied.  It just made the clerk smile more.

That color was soo hard to get off.  It dyed some of my skin!  One foot was half blue and the other one half red, which matches the color of my shoes.  I’ve decided not to purposely clean off my shoes.  It gives them a “loved” look.

Wow, its been over a year since I last wrote!  Well, I am going to try to get better at that.  I realized the other day that M and I have gotten into somewhat of a rut.  We go to the same places, eat at the same restaurants…same same same.  So, by starting to write again I’m hoping to be inspired to explore more of the city and the bay area.  I can’t guarantee how often I’ll write, but hopefully enough to try new things.

To start off, M and I went hiking up in Lucas Valley.  We parked at the intersection of Loma Alta Fire Rd and Lucas Valley Rd.  We took the trail heading north.  The trail winds around a little and has a slow climb.  At one point the trail enters a cow pasture.  Shortly after entering the pasture, we crossed paths with a fox.  The fox’s coat was just slightly redder than the brush on the ground.  Just before it disappeared from view, it turned its head back at us for one last look at us.  We hiked up for an hour and then turned around and headed back, because we just wanted a quick hike.  We made a note to visit this hike again, but next time when the hills are green not brown.

One of the things that I dread about moving is finding a new doctor, dentist, and eye doctor.  I was able to find a doctor pretty quick, but the other two took me some time.  Part of the reason was that we weren’t clear about our insurance.  I’m currently double covered: under both mine and M’s job.  We wanted to find a place that would accept both insurance companies as well as a place that had good reviews.  So, the process consisted of us going through the insurance lists and then weeding through the reviews on-line.

Sometime towards the end of May we finally found a dentist and eye doctor that fit both criteria!  Both have super small offices, super close to our apartment and are super friendly.  We were able to make appointments quickly; I was able to make an eye appointment for a couple of days after I made the call.  I absolutely love how both offices were so friendly and are open in the evening and on the weekend.  They both made us feel comfortable and answered all of our questions.  I always have tons of questions about my eyes.

Finding these final last places has helped us feel like we are becoming true San Franciscans.