Once again, I find myself coming to the surface for air only to find that another month has gone by without blog posts and very little communication with the outside world. Despite these facts, I have actually been really busy doing interesting and exciting stuff. Here is a glimpse into my August…

1. I have spent four days a week for the past six weeks working in a bakery without touching baked goods (except when there were leftovers!). Although my stint there has come to an end, I will always carry a soft spot for custom cakes. Also, during that time, I rode my bicycle to work 98% of the time and finally worked off my “welcome to America” pounds. I suppose the effects of working in a bakery were actually the opposite of what you would expect!

The Sunset

2. I have started a second job that I am beyond excited about. You might remember a list I made in April of 2009 in a blog post titled “Next” where my #3 goal was this…

I will work in an architecture office whose work and mission I admire. It will be a firm that I want to grow with and be an integral part of.

Well, this goal is currently being realized! My role is not exactly what I would have imagined back in April ’09, but in many ways, it is even better. I will be exposed to an aspect of architecture that I have not been exposed to before and I will have opportunities to work with nearly everyone in the office on a regular basis. Also, the work is only part time for now, so I should, in theory, have time to work on getting my architecture license. We’ll see how that goes!

The valley

3. We have made the most of our weekends. We met a great new-to-San Francisco couple that moved into the old Inn 1890 (my favorite B&B ever that has now closed). We went to the Outside Lands Music Festival. We took a drive all the way around the Bay from the GG Bridge to the Bay Bridge. We rode up into the Marin Headlands to the beach at Fort Cronkhite where we saw dolphins!!! We ate street food at the San Francisco Street Food Festival. We finally saw Inception, and both LOVED it.

The San Francisco Street Food Festival

Perhaps my favorite

Handmade English Muffin, Grass-fed Beef, Local Brie and Mustard Seeds

A cook...or I guess it is San Francisco...so I should say "A Chef"

The Dining Room

The unfortunate side effect of the so much street food

4. My parents came to visit!!! This was the first time Nik and I have ever had visitors in an apartment that we share, so I bought way too much food and probably cleaned more than I had to. But it was worth it because once they were here, all we had to do was hang out and have fun. We took them to several of our favorite SF spots, and even watched “Rear Window” in Union Square!!

OFF LIMITS

One of many old bunkers in the hills

Fort Cronkhite

5. I invested $85 in a couple Pakistani Kilims that are now keeping our feet warm on these chilly, foggy, summer nights.

A fence

6. I found my wedding dress. It is simple, vintage and not really a wedding dress, but hopefully Nik will like me wearing it when he sees it next year. That’s all that matters!!

So yeah, things have been busy in the best way possible. I haven’t been compelled to take photos because I just haven’t. I don’t have any excuses other than I didn’t feel like it, and I am okay with that. That is the beauty of keeping this blog for myself…I get to do whatever I want!

Walking on ruins of the Sutro Baths

Today we took a walk into the fog and mist to Ocean Beach. It was cold and wet, but worth every second because we were together and didn’t have to think about anything else.

Caspian Terns

It was the first time I had seen Caspian Terns. At first, I thought they were sea gulls, but they would all take off, circle for a second and then land again as an entire flock. I have never seen gulls do that! But these guys did, and they wanted everyone to know because they were calling out the entire time.

The Terns take flight

Over the past three weeks, my life has been a little bit crazy. I have started a couple new things, and day dreamed about a couple others. I turned 29, and we finally set a date for our wedding (just before I turn 30). I haven’t slept enough, but haven’t explored enough either. Nik has worked a lot more hours than normal, and I have missed him a lot more than normal. We have eaten a few fantastic meals, and haven’t gone to the grocery store nearly enough. It kind of feels like we have been living one day at a time, and have been on a tight time schedule.

This weekend, we finally had the chance to check back into life and slow down a little bit. We started the weekend on Friday evening by going to the Apple store on Chestnut Street to purchase two brand new matching devices that have the potential to alter a few little aspects of life. I promised myself that I wouldn’t purchase one of these devices until they were good enough to be a computer, camera, phone, notebook and map all at the same time. I believe I held out just long enough. Now, the price was low enough to somewhat justify the purchase and enough people have them that the apps are plentiful and useful. My shiny new toy is still a little box of mysteries, but I plan to use it to its fullest potential. I will be more connected with the outside world, and I hope that is a good thing!

Saturday began with a few mundane but necessary household chores, then flowered into an afternoon of ocean gazing, handmade browsing, bus stop feather kicking and marina watching. The evening closed with dinner at home and dual app hunting.

A gull by the bay (taken with my phone)

Fog rolling in (taken with my phone)

Sunday puttered a little bit in the morning as Nik did some work, but after a lunch of Vietnamese sandwiches, it was nothing but fun and games. Literally. Because we went to the Giants game! It didn’t start until 5pm, so first we took a scooter ride down to Flora Grubb Gardens and to Building Resources, then through the industrial area. We stopped for a while to watch an oil tanker leave the dry docks, then went into town to find snacks for the game and a good quick getaway parking spot. The game was against the LA Dodgers, and was great!!! The stadium was packed with 42,000 fans for our people watching eyes, the weather was perfect, the plays were impressive enough to keep us interested in the game, and the hot dog & garlic fries dinner was top notch!

Nik at Flora Grubb (taken with my phone)

Snails

Good View

Riding

Recycled RUUD Heater

Toilets

Large Red Doors to the old PG&E power plant

Tanker going out to sea

A few fans watching the game

AT&T PARK - SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

This weekend provided a much needed reconnection with the city that I am starting to take for granted. San Francisco, I promise to do my best to appreciate you.