Monday, April 19, 2010

Dogfest!






On Saturday, the weather was beautiful, the first real pretty weekend day since I've been here, so Paul and I took advantage of it my going to the Duboce Park DogFest, a fundraiser for a local elementary school, and a friend's BBQ in the Mission District. I've posted a few pics: 1) Paul and I with Biker Babe (name was on her shirt), who was worn out after a long day at the park, 2) a self portrait where Paul was too busy looking at a passing bus (transit geek), 3) a dog up for adoption who could perform the best tricks, 4) and all of the bikes lined up at the BBQ house, such a different lifestyle here (picking up my bike from the store on May 8th!), and 5) me walking up one of the many hills here :)

Two quick things- I have not worn heels in 4 weeks, nor have I carried a regular purse. Flats and over-the-shoulder satchels are the way to go here, so when we get back from our honeymoon (yay!!), I plan to do a bit of shopping :)

Smart Car!





So, we have all laughed at the little Smart Cars on the road, the little "toy cars". Well, I decided to rent on on Thursday to see what driving one was like. Diana, a friend of ours from France that went to Berkeley with Paul and is in town visiting and to come to our wedding, came with me on my adventure. We had the best time, and you know what, when you are behind the wheel and on the interstate, you don't really realize you are in such a small car relative to your peers on the road. We drove north of the Bay up to Point Reyes National Seashore, and the weather was amazing! On the way back, we drove up Divisadero Street from the Marina, and the Smart Car was put to the test. This section of street is some of the steepest in San Francisco, so that combined with how the car shifts gears made for quite a jerky experience, particularly since there was a stop sign at each crest and cross street. I wanted so much to share the experience with someone but Diana was asleep! She acted like she took a flight across the Atlantic the day before or something :)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

My Go Car Adventure!







Last week, I saw these cute little go-cart like cars going down Market Street and knew that is something I wanted to do. So yesterday I rented one! The company is called Go Car and has locations in San Diego, Miami, Barcelona, and Lisbon. I had a fantastic time and the weather was beautiful! When I first got to the rental place near Union Square, I got really nervous. The guy placed me in front of a safety video and then disappeared for a while. I was so worried I was going to forget something since I was going by myself. Before I knew it, I had a helmet on, he tested my car for me, and I was on my way! I really wanted to avoid Market Street altogether, but in order for the GPS-guided tour to work, I had to go on Market Street a short stretch to get to Embarcadero. Imagine this- me in this little car surrounded by taxis and big buses! I was super careful and cautious, and it was a huge relief to get to the Embarcadero. I ended up driving all the way up Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf, to Fort Mason, Ocean Beach, Fort Point and Golden Gate Bridge, the expensive and beautiful Sea Cliff's neighborhood, and along Golden Gate Park. Along the way, I had several people point and smile at me and others offer to take pictures for me. It was so much fun! I was supposed to be gone only two hours, but I somehow managed to miss my turn and continued along the tour for awhile before I realized it. Luckily, I was in somewhat familiar territory and knew how to cut back to downtown in time to return my car. I would highly recommend this adventure for any tourist and plan on doing it with my parents when they visit in September. The only other problem I had with the car, besides the fact that it didn't go faster than 30 mph (had to let people pass a few times) was that it wasn't made to reverse. I forgot about this at one stop and had to get out and push it backwards several feet. The instructions also warn that on some hills, if you go off the route, you may have to push the car if you have two people in the car :)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Paul and his projects


When Paul isn't working on wedding stuff for me, he is constantly searching for projects to do around the apartment, and I literally mean he walks around the apartment scheming his next move and hardware store purchase. This past weekend he weather stripped the windows and put up shelves to the left of the heater among other things. We also recently hung a curtain in the turret to keep out the cold air (the rafters are exposed, causing a vacuum effect), so the turret is officially Paul's "man's room" and I have no authority there :) This picture is of Paul sipping his favorite beverage while admiring his work. Glad he likes to do projects around the house, everything except laundry and organizing his papers, which I don't mind doing most of the time, so it evens out :)

Weekend Happenings




Well, the weather wasn't the best this past weekend, so we got a lot of errand running done and things around the apartment, including an evening of wedding work (Paul was rewarded by an hour-long run/walk to Golden Gate Park, which was a bit tough for me but thrilling for him :). On Saturday night, we went to this hole-in-the-wall place just south of Market Street to hear one of his old co-workers sing with her band. We had the best time! The drinks were pretty cheap and the atmosphere was very casual, so it made for a great night. Rain was determined to fall all day on Sunday, but we still got up and went to volunteer at Sunday Streets, a program that shuts down different streets each time for pedestrians, cyclists, etc. This time the beachfront road and others near Golden Gate Park were shut down, and Paul and I helped with setup, which meant we walked a couple of miles in the rain placing police barricades and signs. Our reward was lunch coupons for a taco truck near the ocean :) The picture above is me with two jackets on underneath my orange Sunday Streets shirt, and the lump that makes my rear end look huge is my GT bookbag, so definitely not my best look :) The event is a great idea, one we will have to try again when the weather is better!!

Scavengers!

People are scavengers here, who knew?? It is amazing. For example, I posted 8 of my moving boxes on Craigslist on a weekday during the middle of the day, and in a matter of 15 minutes, I had two requests to pick them up. Another example is that I put an old duffel bag with a broken handle and Paul's old twin comforter just outside our place by the trash bin, gone in 30 minutes! Perhaps it's because people move around a lot out here? Who knows. Paul has scavenged too, pretty sure his dresser and the Schweppes shelves (which are going to be out on the curb this week!) were free and found on the street, and the 2 bookshelves in our dining room space were only $20 :)

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Public Parks in Private Spaces




By some law or ordinance (Paul knows all the details), there is a requirement for certain buildings to provide public space, so I set out on a tour of some of the more popular sites, including a 15th floor terrace on Sansome Street and a beautiful park with redwood trees right beside the Transamerica Pyramid. I spent over an hour on the terrace, reading and drinking a coffee treat in the sun and then about half an hour in the park by the Pyramid. What a great requirement!