My niece's joke

"Why couldn't the 10 year old go to see the Pirate movie?"

because...

It was rated "Argh!"

Old Man Winter

Has arrived in the Bay Area. It's C.O.L.D.
Quite a difference from S. California. Although it was pretty moderate while we were there, in the high 60s. But I just heard that the cold is heading their way, too.

Sunday, Phin and I went to the Celebration of Craftswomen - "San Francisco’s largest holiday fine crafts retail fair, and the largest event celebrating the craft of women in the nation." I was able to find a few Christmas gifts. I usually have trouble finding things there because I'm never sure if the recipient will appreciate the craftwomanship that went into it.

When we left, it was quite cold and raining steadily.
There was a dedicated athelete swimming without a wetsuit in this Oh So Very Very Cold Water. Props to him! I suppose the rain didn't bother him since he was already in the water.
We walked up to Ghirardelli Square for lunch and of course...sundaes.
Sundaes in that weather?? Um. Well, yea. How can you turn that down? Although, as Phin and I were saying, post consumption, we really need to share one instead of indulging in our own.

Tomorrow's temperatures are suppose to be record lows for the area.

I'm not gonna complain because my cousin is dealing with snow right now. Before the snow, she had 4 weeks straight of rain.

The heater's on, the blankets are out and I just bought a brand new winter coat. I think I'm prepared.
Although I think I hear an evil snicker coming from Old Man Winter...

Thankful for Family and Disneyland

Friday we went to Disneyland and hung out with the nephews and nieces and our brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, one niece wasn't feeling well so she went home with her dad along with her uncle and her littlest cousin. But 8 of us, 5 adults and 3 kids age 9, 5 and 3 had a lot of fun at the Happiest Place On Earth.Family in the teacup with the flower. Never did like this ride much, but this time had a blast. Probably because I was concentrating on taking photos rather than my stomach being turned upside down.

Me and 5yo nephew on the Dumbo ride.

Jimmy and 3yo nephew on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

The kids on Dumbo.

Happy Thanksgiving

We're off to Southern California in the morning for our Thanksgiving festivities with family.

Wishing you all a wonderful turkey day.

Candle surrounded by empty plates from last year's turkey fest in Laguna Beach.

Sunset in San Francisco

Not from this past weekend. The sun is in this photo. This weekend, there was no sun.
But I was playing around with some brushes in photoshop again.

San Francisco Sites

A few photos from my adventures in the city this weekend.

Electric Car

One of my dearest friends, Monica, and her family were in San Francisco this weekend and I met up with them on Sunday.
They decided to rent these cute little electric cars to tour the city and despite a few snafu's, it was a total blast! It has a voice only gps, which turned out to be pretty unreliable. It wouldn't work most of the time so you had to rely on a regular paper map, which they give you because I'm sure they know the gps is completely unreliable. If a tourist was completely unfamiliar with the streets of San Francisco, they'd have a hard time navigating the paper map and the car at the same time. Plus, there was never any indication when the gps would stop working, so we'd cruise along a road for a mile or so then realize we were off course. That added to the fun of it, though.
We drove by Fort Mason, Crissy Field, Fort Point, Palace of Fine Arts, the Marina District, down Lombard Street, through North Beach, up to Coit Tower, through the Financial District, and Chinatown, down The Embarcadero then back to Fisherman's Wharf where we started.
We drove in regular traffic. The fastest it would go was about 25-30 mph, which was fine in the congested city. However, towards the end of the drive, our little buggy lost its umph. They told us to start heading back when our power gage got down to 60, but at 66, it was struggling! And we still had to get back 'home'. And 'home' meant
a.lot.of.those.infamous.SanFrancisco.hills.
Monica and I were in the back seat sticking our legs out pretending to push the little car, like how you'd do a skateboard, or how Fred Flinstone would. But at one point, Jaimie, her husband, our fantastic driver, actually had to get out and push it up the hill! EEK!! But we were laughing so freaking hard, it was totally hilarious. Monica's cousin and her godson were in the other car watching and keeping an eye on us because we didn't even have enough battery power to turn on the lights and it was already dark.
It was quite an adventure! But oh so much fun especially since we were able to take the bad situations and make fun of them. We saw a lot, nearly froze to death, but laughed all the way.

Purple Caterpillar

Does anybody know if he's normally purple or did he turn purple because he's eating purple flowers?

There's a tree growing out of my head

I guess that happened after reading all the ballot measures. I did vote Green on a few things afterall.

Success!

This is the 2nd pie I've ever made and I'm very happy to report that I couldn't have asked for it to turn out better! The crust was flaky but not dry (like my first attempt about a month ago).

Had a good and quiet weekend. Truly nothing fantastical to blog about, just enjoying the peace, calm and hominess of fall, including baking a pecan pie. :-)

The Long and Winding Road

Waimea Canyon Road, Kauai.

Memories of Autumns Past

Autumn is a Mosaic

We haven't been up to the cabin since the beginning of September so I suspect we missed all the fall color.
This is a digi-sb page I did a couple of years ago.

Totally missing my dogwood tree.

More photos from the Halloween parade

Halloween 2006

Click on the photo above and it'll bring you to my web album to see more pics from my neighborhood Halloween parade.

Ginnie asked what I dressed up as. Well...I dressed up as a photographer who just jumped out of the shower and had wet hair. :-) Maybe next year I'll put more thought to my costume.

Pineapple Express

That's what the meteorologists call the storm that's currently in the Bay Area, not my niece in Hawaii after I told her to pose like this. :-)

We're finally getting a little bit of moisture. It's nice. And even nicer that it's accompanied by warmer weather. It was 72 degrees today. If I had an ocean view and a pina colada in my hand, I would have thought I was back in Hawaii.

Street Parade

I gushed about this last year, but I can't help but blog about it again because I just love how my neighborhood gets together every Halloween for a friendly street parade. The parade starts 2 doors down from my house and the parade is lead by a local high school band. Following them are families and friends, enjoying the halloween spirit and seeing all the kids dressed up.