My First Few Days

So... I have moved. I still have a few last items to clear out of the old apartment storage, but for all intents and purposes, I am relocated to South of Market!

Moving Day was a little intense. The night before, my very last night in the Castro, ended up having a very bittersweet feeling about it. I couldn't help but feel that after living in the Castro for the majority of my adult life, something important was changing. Not in a bad way. Just in a significant way. Honestly, I couldn't help but feel a little unanchored, but sometimes the best changes in life come from not being tied to the past.

On moving day, I woke up with an entirely different attitude. I felt like something new and exciting was starting and that there were all kinds of possibilities ahead of me. The movers came, and started taking all my belongings away. Moving everything that I owned... out. My new place has very little storage space, so I've really had to consider what I'm taking with me, and pare down. This has meant saying goodbye to a lot of things that I'd held onto for a long time, but in the end I think this is good for me. So... everything that was too precious to part with got loaded up and moved to my new loft. That afternoon, several friends stopped by to check out the new digs. It was heartwarming to have folks drop in a preview my new home.

On Saturday, after a day of moving chores, I decided to take a run around the neighborhood. No doubt, my first of many. I left and ran past the ballpark, down the waterfront to the Ferry Building and then up Market through downtown to 4th and back home. It was a great to be outside and really made me feel immersed in my new neighborhood. I've always loved downtown and running through it and seeing all the people enjoying it felt great.

On Sunday, I got up early and walked to the Safeway, which is a block away, to pick up some breakfast for Boom and me. It was early on a Sunday, but there were a lot of people out walking their dogs. It seems like this neighborhood is quite popular with dog people. Because it's mostly condos and lofts, and they pretty much all allow pets, many, many people are dog owners. How long will it take for me to get one, I wonder...?

We spent the day looking for furniture and by the time we had a late lunch I was fairly discouraged. I was exhausted from the move and hadn't found anything that I really liked. Little did I know I was about to run into an interior designer who had worked for a firm that had closed down, so she had taken a job at Crate And Barrel. Before I knew it I had found several items that I was looking for, and they were all going to work well together. They get delivered this Friday, so watch for pictures!

More of my adventures in my new pad later. For now, I'm going to hit the sheets. I'll add that unlike my last apartment which was endlessly noisy the new place is dead silent. I can't help but love it!

A new home?

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So... Today I have finally found a place to move. (I hope.) I have been looking for about a year now, sometimes intensely, sometimes half-heartedly. It's been easy to stay where I was because it gave me a sense of stability and convenience, but now I'm moving. If this new place doesn't pan out, then I'll find something else, but I will be moved by the time the year is over.

The place that I applied for today is a modern loft building. Not especially fancy, but the space that I looked at is the top corner unit, so it's got lots of light and is large for a loft space. The high ceilings give it a sense of openness and it's a block from work! They'll let me have a dog if I decide that I want one, and there was something about it that just felt comfortable.

The bad news is that it's near CalTrain, which means that although there are stores and restaurants nearby I will be fairly far removed from friends and the places that I usually socialize, which means it'll be more of an effort to get out and to have people over, so I'll just have to leverage Eric's place in the Mission for dining and socializing options.

This place isn't a forever home, but it's definitely great for now and honestly it'll be good to be in a new space... I find out on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed!

Fun weekend - Theatre & King Tut

Recently, as I've taken on a fairly intense project at work, it seems that I need more time relaxing during off hours. I was afraid that this weekend was going to be go, go, go, and as much fun as that sounded, I was afraid that I was going to miss just laying low. Fortunately, everything worked out.

On Friday after work, I raced home to get a work out in before Eric and I headed to the theatre. It was American Conservatory Theater's opening show of the season, Brief Encounter. I've been a subscriber to ACT for a while now, and they usually try to start the season with a bang, so I was really looking forward to it. Also with accolades like this from the Chronicle, my expectations were pretty high:

"Every so often a theater piece comes to town that is so brilliantly conceived and executed, so entertaining on every level, that you want everyone you love or even like just a bit to see it. Brief Encounter . . . is that kind of experience."



This particular show was based on the movie from the 40's, which was based on a play from the 30's by Noel Coward. The show was imported from London and was silly fun. Lots of romance and singing and special effects. Almost every scene had a movie running in the background and occasionally the actors would jump through the screen and end up on it as if they'd gone from real life to film. It was the kind of show where you just have to put your reservations aside and just go with the craziness.

Saturday Eric's cold went from bad to worse, so we ended up spending most of the day around the house, which was unfortunate because he didn't feel well, but I was as happy as could be to just hang out at home.


Today was brunch with Savita at Dosa and then off to see King Tut! I had seen the King Tut exhibit when it had come around before as a very young kid. I remembered being amazed at the coffin and funeral mask, and I still have some mementos that I picked up from back then. This was a fun exhibit, but it wasn't quite up to the standards of what had come before. I guess they won't let those old pieces out of Egypt any more. Honestly, I don't blame them. Still, I had hoped for more.

Here comes the fresh week with lots more work, plus we'll be seeing Wallace Shawn speak and dinner with friends. Should be a full week!

Musical Tuesday

This is just fun. Unless you don't like the Black Eyed Peas. :)



(Hattip to Bartolicious.)

Sleepy in Seattle

The not-quite-a-surprise weekend to Seattle was a hit! It didn't go at all as I had planned, but it worked out perfectly.

About 13 years ago, I moved to Seattle from San Francisco, and I lived there for 2 years. Exactly 2 years. To the day. I have always said that I felt like Seattle was a great town to visit, but too small a city for me to really enjoy living in. The good news is that since we were just going for a visit, it was easy for me to know lots of interesting spots to hang out and great restaurants to eat at, the bad news was that it was supposed to rain the whole time, I was going to have a tough time showing off much of it. Then again, that is part of the whole Seattle experience.

Last Friday, I had Eric meet me at the airport, we checked our bag and flew away, which was the usual pleasure on Virgin America. We landed amidst dark clouds, but quickly got into our rental car, and although it was rainy it was quite warm, so not uncomfortable. We checked into our hotel room on the 36th floor with a nice view of downtown Seattle.



The room was nice enough that even if we stayed in all weekend, it would still be enjoyable. After getting our bearings we went to Capitol hill to walk around and had some tasty Mexican food for dinner.

On Saturday morning, we got up and out fairly early (9:30ish) and without Eric having any idea as to where we were headed, we hopped on the monorail and sped to the Space Needle, where after the mandatory picture taking, we shot up to the top for a tasty brunch, while spinning around looking down on the city.





It was a great spot to give him a sense of the city, and it spins about once every 45 minutes, so we ate an extremely tasty brunch while looking down on the city, which our charming waitress popping in every once in a while to give us some fun Seattle trivia. We spent the rest of the day touring around. We went to the Chittenden Locks and Fish Ladder, Fremont (where I had lived), the Troll Under the Bridge, Gasworks Park, The U district for my favorite grilled feta sandwiches at the Continental, then off to Volunteer Park for a walk around. After all of that home for a nap and then out for a nice dinner at a restaurant called "Crow". It wasn't great food, but it was great company.

The next morning we spent a little time at the hotel gym, where unfortunately, Eric broke his iPhone. It was especially sad because he was having such a good time taking pictures with it, and turning them into polaroids.







So, first we went to brunch at the Coastal Kitchen, which is still phenomenal. Then off to the Apple Store to see if they could get the phone fixed up.



They couldn't really see us until the evening, so we took a diversion to Pike's Market, which was a fun couple of hours spent wandering and people watching. (If you look carefully, you can see the fish in mid-flight!)



From there, we went back to the Apple Store, and they repaired the phone on the spot, within minutes. Then we were off to some sushi in Fremont, and after some delectable chocolates, we saw the view from Kerry Park and then back to the room, where we called it an evening due to the heavy rain. I'd wanted to go to Bumbershoot, but it was just not meant to be. In any case, we had a really fun evening.



Finally on Monday, it was time to come home. We went to the Science Fiction museum, which honestly was a bit of disappointment. I liked it more the first time I saw it. I'm not sure why. Then after realizing that we were going to be too late for the Underground Tour, we went back to Pike's for more fun wandering (including some "mariachi" mac & cheese which was clearly delivered straight from heaven), and eventually to the airport and home. The final surprise of the trip was that to get the flight I wanted, I had to fly us home first class, so we had a really great ride home.

The Secret Is Out

This morning, Eric and I were racing to get ready. We both had to get to work, but our paths were completely different.

From the minute I'd woken up my thoughts were racing with the list of things that I still needed to take care of for our secret weekend away. Eric knew we were going somewhere, but he didn't know where. I was silently obsessing over making dinner reservations for Friday night, a few last minute items that I needed to ensure that I packed, and what were we going to do if it did indeed rain the whole trip, as was the most recent forecast. I hadn't had coffee and I still needed to rush to get ready and get home before I headed to the office.

Eric on the other hand was trying to pack his bags for the weekend before he raced off to BART to get to work. He couldn't take his car due to the bay bridge closure tonight, so both of us were not following our usual routines.

While I was lost in my own thoughts, Eric asks me, "Are you going to take your backpack?". Suddenly I was lost. Was I going to take my backpack to work? I didn't have my backpack with me. Was I going to take my backpack on the trip? Why would he care about that? So then I blurted out "To Seattle?". I immediately realized what I'd done. We stared at each other for a few seconds in silence. Eric looking at me with an expression that said, "Is there some way I can politely ignore what you just said?" and mine saying, "Is there some way that I can say what I just said in reverse to make it go back in my mouth?". Then suddenly I just burst out laughing uncontrollably and he ran over to hug me and join me in the laugh. I'm just horrible keeping secrets from him. Oh well. At least now he can spend the next 36 hours looking forward to seeing the Emerald City. There are still a lot of surprises ahead of him. I can't wait!

Hand in Marriage

I like this one...