obe.thethed.

st. peter and paul church - north beach - sf, ca

my sister is the end-all-be-all of sisters.  today at orientation we had to divulge facts about ourselves.  here's what i said:

1. i was born and raised in napa.

2. i went to ucsb and studied writing and still hope to be a writer someday.

3. i have a younger sister, and i'm absolutely obsessed with her.  she is amazing.

4. i'm a firm believer in eating organic and promoting local, sustainable farms.

and there you have it. 

so many books, mr. frog. and only two arms to carry them home.

freduardo - before he hopped away - isla vista, ca

tomorrow marks my induction into the workforce.  whooo!  this weekend was pretty life-changing if i do say so myself.  went out friday night only to see so many people who i've been meeting to meet up with.  north star bar really is a prime place to connect and reconnect and plan future connections.  saturday i hopped up to nahmyo's new nob hill apartment--so her.  and we then braved it up a treacherous ladder to reach a rooftop with a million views--the perfect place for a chat-chat-chat-catch-up sesh.  

today was the last day of the big book sale at fort mason center.  AMAZING. imagine a warehouse full of books--completely overwhelming, but it a totally positive way (all for under a dollar, mind you).  long story short, nahmyo found split pea soup and sea serpents, without a doubt the worst children's book ever written--but brilliant in its awkward absurdity.  and i found a couple poetry books that are going to escort me to work every morning.  all in all, the day was grand.  

gallery in my bedroom. get in the mix.

dusk (not b/w film) - aptos, ca

so happy to be back in the city, officially.  now that i'm back, i have quite a few things to accomplish.  first course of action: reestablish my city relationships.  second: people watch like it's my job. third: watch the debates tomorrow night. fourth: find vintage picture frames (for cheap). fifth: find a way to encourage all my artist friends to contribute to my bedroom's art wall.  thanks to cleveland motley and my mom, it's coming along quite nicely.

ready your engines.

jack and his favorite car - danville, ca

so the first obama/mccain debate is this friday--i'm trying to find a bar in the city that'll be showing it.  what fun: friends, politics, and drinks.  plus, there've gotta be a handful of gorgeous democrats in sf.  come out, come out wherever you are.

and if you're wondering, the little man above is jack (whitney's son).  and he encourages everyone to vote for obama.  he would know.  his mom is a political advisor.

sunbathe today because tomorrow will be brisk.

fall colors - two years ago - oakville, ca

fall is upon us!  i went to google this morning and smiled at their homage to the season change.  and how beautiful the days have been and will continue to be until all the chameleon leaves are on the ground. 

touch your toes.

rusty joints - isla vista, ca

now that i've completed my contracted duties for the hall harvest party--which was a definite success--i can triumphantly return to the daily dosage.  my goal this week: improve flexibility. plan: stretch it out.  keep it healthy, people.

.......vertical

along the way - john muir trail, somewhere, ca

i just finished watching god grew tired of us, a film about the 'lost boys' of the sudan.  please watch it.  please educate yourself.  please realize that the atrocities that have happened and continue to happen there are beyond comprehension.  i can't stop crying.

ca[llie]lalal[educ]alalalalala.

bow and arrow - le beach house - aptos, ca

today friends, i celebrate one of my dearest.  miss allison abson leduc turns twenty-three--or as she prefers it, eighteen for the fifth time.  and though she is miles from here, i'm sending so much love in her direction.  love and a couple wishes in a bottle that will get to her eventually.  calalalalalalalala.

scarves are from mars.

le runway - bryant park promenade - new york city - ny

i caught up on all of my nylon tv fashion week episodes, and each and every one makes me super excited about spring 09.  but for now, i'm getting my coats, scarves, and boots ready.  fall/winter are the best seasons for getting dressed.  there's just so much more to work with.  on that note, i want everything in the jcrew catalog.  but what else is new?

the in-between.

kite ship - rio del mar beach - aptos, ca

a wondrous world, why that it is.  tides do turn, as do the winds.  even daylight shares earth with its dark friend eve.  and inhales become exhales in order to breathe. there's always that moment.  that in-between.  where silence and stillness neighbor pale blue serene. so at dusk i hope you open those eyes. because magic is upon you right there in the sky.

sparkles and spans over sparkling water.

my jcrew flats - the pool - napa, ca

every time i cross the bay bridge i trip out.  i don't even know how to describe the feeling.  it has nothing to do with emotion at all, more so the fact that i look over at the mass of little cubes and realize that my house is one of them.  because when i'm sitting in this amazing north beach home, i feel like this neighborhood is so quaint.  but it definitely aint.  

the steamboat went to hello operator.

winking sunflower - my front yard - napa, ca

my sister currently "kid-sits" for a family.  when i call her in the afternoon to ask what she's doing, she replies "hanging out with my friend marshall."  at first i thought that the repeatedly mentioned marshall was a new love interest.  low and behold, it's the boy she babysits.   she refers to him as such at the request of his wacky mother.  to her--the mother who is likely named linda or kathryn--i have the following message: kids need to toughen up.  your child can handle when my sister says the word babysitter.  might as well break 'em in because before long, he's going to be on the third grade playground.  and that means the introduction of swear words (the first place i ever read the word 'fuck' was on the slide--it was written in the dome portion adjacent to the takeoff point).  and anymore, i wouldn't be surprised if boys as early as nine were discussing who they were hooking up with the weekend prior.  just saying.

seven years later.

9-11 memorial tiles - west village - new york city, ny

new york, those lost, those who survived, and those who bravely served through the collapse and following: today we remember it all.  

little dots of light under a purple fog.

my view - dmb concert - the greek theatre - berkeley, ca

dave matthews, his band, and i were finally reunited after a two-year drought.  while waiting in line i met a woman named kris who gives forty a killer name.  not only did she offer margaritas and crackers, but she showed me the best booze-sneaking trick to date.  rather than shove water bottles down her shirt, kris filled plastic freezer bags with the margaritas and placed them in cracker boxes.  cracker boxes!!  genius!  once we finally got in the greek, it was a rush to the pit.  we situated ourselves twenty feet from the stage.  amazing.  and the situation was bettered even further by fabulous company around me.  my favorite neighbor being jeff--a college student from wisconsin backpacking the country.  he had the most incredible positive energy.  within ten minutes we were chatting and nodding and otherwise stoked on the night.  loved him.  

the concert itself was incredible.  i will say that seeing dave without my sister can never be the best, but it was pretty fantastic.  at one point, i looked up to the dusky sky and shook my head, absolutely humbled by how damn lucky i am.

no peace in a mccain/palin presidency.

meadow - ellwood butterfly preserve - goleta, ca

so much information is buzzing in my little head.  i caught up on hours and hours of npr podcasts while stuffing and stamping envelopes for the friendship bridge fundraiser my mom is organizing.  strangely, i so enjoy seemingly monotonous tasks where i can compete with myself to see how efficient i can possibly be.  let's just say that i've become a master at the art of assemblage.  and just as i love the soft sound of a breeze passing through blades of grass, i oddly enjoy the ch.ch.ch. sound created when cardstock meets its envelope home.  weird. sure.  but i believe it imperative to recall what i'm thankful for in instances where i feel frustrated. the whole political climate has me stressed.  we cannot let mccain--and palin especially--into the white house.  have you seen the upcoming cover of newsweek?  apparently she who totes a rifle, promotes offshore drilling, and mocks ambition to better our planet--among other denouncable things--is appealing to a whole bunch of people.  to be completely honest, every word that comes out of her mouth fills me with an insatiable urge to scream.  i cannot wait until the debates.  i hope she gets knocked on her ass.

if you're happy and you know it.

pick a hand - artefact - sonoma, ca

raise your hand if you're ready for some exciting news.  check later today.  there'll be something worth seeing/reading.

y[i dislike]mca.

perfect pink chair - on the street - utrecht, the netherlands

i've been in tahoe for the past couple days attending to things related to my cousin's wedding. we're staying in an awesome cabin with a view of donner lake, and the weather has been unbelievable. pictures to come later when i'm back with my computer. long story short, the wedding is over, isaac has a wife, and i've decided that ymca will not be allowed at my reception. nope. sorry.

sprinkle[er]s.

vintage vision-check - artefact - sonoma, ca

i love small poppyseed-like sprinkles even though they hurt my teeth.  and i can decisively say that i enjoy them most when paired with chocolate frosting--preferably atop an old-fashioned doughnut.  the last time i had one, i was sauced on steiner in sf at midnight.  never tasted better.  

now that i think of it, sprinklers, and running through them, is also quite satisfying.  perhaps pairing the two--sprinkles and sprinklers--would be sensational!  to do.

blue balls against blue sky on a sad tree.

wire chandelier - artefact - sonoma, ca

about a decade ago my dad did the landscaping for cornerstone gardens,the first gallery-style garden exhibit in the us, located in sonoma, ca.  in its time, the cornerstone place, which houses the gardens, has become quite the tourist attraction--most recognized feature being claude cormier's blue tree.  i've always intended to drop by but never made the time.  finally today i stopped to take a gander.

the heat deterred me from the outdoor exhibits--i'm saving those for a day in the future.  but i did wander inside artefact design and salvage.  the owner/buyer does an incredible job.  some of the salvaged pieces were genius--who gets rid of all that amazing stuff?  i need to get myself to the junk yard immediately.  more photos in future posts.

put it all together as you see it in your head.

braided tule - headband factory - napa, ca

i hope you all read the sartorialist.  people with insane personal style blow my mind.  

it takes tule to tango.

fun with finishings - my sewing table - napa, ca

blaire waldorf might be a fictional character, but her fashion sense is all kinds of real.  she has reignited my love for the mighty headband.  so i've been cutting, gluing, and stitching up a storm.  the response to my finished products have been fantastic, and i've considered turning my hobby into a cash-flow endeavor .  i'll post pictures of final pieces eventually, but for now, only those most worthy will receive an l.c.e. original.

lacquered lips and sailing ships.

my miniature mavens - double dutch - the mission - san francisco, ca

it isn't very often that my mom brings up the fact that i'm without a boyfriend.  in fact, she tends to completely avoid the subject of men entirely, as i consistently respond with an eye roll. simple and plain, i've always prioritized my friendships far above potential relationships.  so when my mom mentioned that once i'm settled back in sf i can start meeting "tons of handsome, tall men," all i could think about was how excited i was to be reunited with all of my incredible friends.  granted, i love me some man candy, but for now, i'm pretty content with being obsessed with those i know.

oh, the ambiance - le colonial - sf, ca

which brings me to the point of this post.  saturday night i hauled it back to the city and scrambled my way over to le colonial to surprise the queen herself, miss victoria dinh.  she's moving to nyc--brooklyn technically--to put her serious skills into motion on the east coast.  so  we wined and dined and toasted and reminisced about first-meetings.  pause. that's what i love so much about dinner parties--that rare opportunity to observe adoration.  okay, that sounds really cheesy, but it's so true.  how great is it to see people love each other and actually express that affection?  i mean, my drinking habits lend me many-a-stage to profess my feelings for people, but i still think that it should be done more often.  sidetrack over.  

we--the women and i--then spent a brief moment upstairs at le colonial.  a kamikaze later, hiking up a cement mountain, i was incredibly thankful to be wearing my fabulous, sparkly flats.  i really can't imagine how hard it must be to actually exist in heels.  on the rare occasion that i'm caught in a heeled shoe, i'm mostly standing and mingling.  never ever walking long distances.  nevertheless worried that everyone's eye-level involves a  view of my breasts.  awkward.  yet another tangent over. 

if brooklyn doesn't work out - strip club - sf, ca

i've decided to keep the rest of the tale brief.  so here's a bulleted version:

*walked uphill for a while

*stopped at a corner store to purchase a redbull for rachel and a screw-top bottle of mondavi sauvignon blanc (to obviously be killed on the way to the bar)

*made it to rachel's car--which definitely donned the club.  i didn't think people actually used them.  but vicki reminded me that she once lived in a sketchy part of the city.  so i guess it's only practical

the club - rachel's beem - sf, ca

*drank wine in the car--yazzy thankfully assisted me

*drove to double-dutch

*met up with kevin

six years running - double dutch - sf, ca

*drank

*drank

*chatted

*left for skylark

*drank

*hugged

*took pictures

*drank

*took a cab home and realized that it's really boring to be hammered alone.  so i went to bed.

all in all, such a fantastic night.  vicki is going to give brooklyn a run for its brass knuckles.  i can't wait to see what becomes of all of us.