My Flat!

I have been in my current apartment for 3 years now and I absolutely LOVE it! It's teeny tiny - under 300 square feet - and is in NOPA, the best neighborhood in the city {well, according to me}!

Living in such a small space can make it really difficult to have things like furniture and guests. :) But after this weekend's apartment cleansing and reorganizing, I think I've finally obtained a great little grown-up apartment!

A couple years ago Dannon built me a 6 foot tall, Queen-sized loft bed {thank God for 14' ceilings!}. My bed has improved the quality of small-apartment life dramatically. Underneath the bed is my wall full of storage and my brand new eating table, which expands to fit four! {You never realize how important something like a table is, until you live without one for so many years.}

The opposite side of my apartment has a little corner living room {next to my kitchen with a cute little fridge}. I just got the big cat tree for my kitties - they finally have sleeping options!

And the other corner has more storage {all my craft stuff and earthquake kit} and my office/entertainment center. I don't have a TV or stereo, so my computer serves as both, and always seems to be playing indy music or This American Life.

Weekend Adventures!

It had been a long time since Dannon and I got to hang out for an entire weekend together. So we made the most of it and had many fun {and productive} adventures!

Friday night was spent at Bread & Jam, our once-a-month musical get together. Larry played guitar, Dannon banged on the djembe with his good hand and I sang. There was much rejoicing.

Saturday Dannon and I left San Francisco and headed up in the hills above Berkeley & Oakland to go hiking. I found a lovely field of green grass and little daisies!


And what should one do if they happen upon a green field of daisies? Why twirl and leap of course!



Dannon braved the cooties and snuck into Girls Camp.


I found some lovely blue wildflowers {oh how I love wildflowers!}


And towards the end of our hike we came across a dragon! He was a friendly dragon, so I gave him a little kiss on the nose.


Then on Sunday Dannon ran me all over town in an effort to make my apartment more grown-up. We took tons of old stuff to goodwill, bought some fun new furniture at ikea, and got creative with storage solutions. I'm still reorganizing and rearranging, but I will have pictures of my newly decorated grown-up apartment soon.

Nightlife

I've been working hard this week during my Spring Break, so I decided last night that it was time for some fun. I met up with Dannon and some of my school friends at the CA Academy of Sciences "NightLife" event. All the museums in town have some sort of special event one night a week where children are not allowed, alcohol is, and all the exhibits are open for viewing for a discounted price. NightLife is the Academy of Sciences version of this.

We had a blast! We ran into lots of people we knew {it's apparently the place to see and be seen :) } and finally got to see Claude the Albino Alligator!

Last time we came Claude was out on medical leave. Apparently albino alligators have very bad vision, and since Claude is an elderly alligator, his vision is even worse. So rumor is Claude got into a fight with a rock and the green alligator that lives there with him {we're not sure what he was thinking, but he may not have realized that he is in the loving home of a museum, and was trying to protect himself from the danger he could not quite see}.

Funnies!

Being on Spring Break means that I have a wee bit more time to spend on things like blog reading and Jimmy Fallon watching. Here are a few funnies I've found:

New Math by Craig Damrauer
{there are tons more here}

{discovered here}

And Slow Jam the News (re: AIG) with Jimmy Fallon


Don't you just love Jimmy Fallon? He's so awkward and funny and adorable. Plus his house band is the Roots!!! How awesome is that?!

Zoo Babies!

Now that my taxes are over and I've learned how much I'll get back from the government, I'm trying to decide what kinds of fun things can I do with the money. It's not enough to take a long trip to see my family, but it is enough to take a little in-state trip. I'm thinking maybe the San Diego Zoo? There are all kinds of little zoo babies right now!

Baby Tigers

A Baby Koala

A Baby Cheetah


And my favorite, A Baby Elephant!!!
BAH!

Although, I do have my own little wild beasts here at home...
...okay, maybe not.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Now that I'm on break and don't have to read quite so many psychology books this week, I was able to finally finish my book, "The Elegance of the Hedgehog."


I really loved this book. It includes many references to European culture {literature, art, music and philosophy}, some of which I knew, some of which I had to look up. Because of this, I believe the book made me a bit smarter. About half-way through I did get tired of the pessimism of the characters {enough whining already!}, but if you can stick to it through those hard times you won't be disappointed. The last third of the book is much brighter, focusing on what's important in life - the beauty in the world around us.

Tell Me Why... I hate Mondays...

Today, I am listening to Mates of State and doing my taxes. Perhaps that is the biggest contributing factor to hating this particular Monday. Taxes, that is, not Mates of State {who are keeping me sane this morning}.

I am also thinking about what to do with my hair next. The best part about hair is that you can change it over and over, and with that change comes a change in persona. It's very fun!

Here are a few major hair changes I've experienced over the past couple years:

The incredibly ridiculously short cut:

Blondey McBlonde:

And currently, longish and curly:

I am now thinking about adding some adult bangs, like the Lovely Zooey Deschanel!

Spring Break!

Well, it's true, I am on Spring Break. However, Spring Break in grad school means something completely different than back in my college days. I will be spending my school-free week 1.) doing homework, 2.) applying for my practicum in the fall, 3.) catching up on house stuff, 4.) attending multiple meetings, and 5.) hopefully getting some art done for my various projects.

Dannon, on the other hand, who finished school forever a year ago, is taking a trip for his brother's Spring Break. He flew to Utah last night and will be spending the next few days snowboarding. How unfair!

So for Sunday Funday I will be planning my week of busyness and work. On the plus side, I just got my new camera so I can finally {and properly} chronicle our adventures with real pictures {instead of my phone-camera pics}!

Finally, a little something just for fun:

{found here}

EEEK! A Spider!!!

Speaking of horrible, yet effective things to get one out of bed in the morning... I happened to wake up today to a GIANT hairy spider right above my head {I sleep in a very tall loft bed}. This of course set into motion a panic-y {and I'm sure comical} first 10 minutes of my day, wherein I desperately wanted to let my fierce cat attack {oh how she wanted to!}, but not let said cat knock the GIANT hairy spider into my bed getting lost forever in the sheets. {Because if that happened, I would definitely have to move.} All the while the radio alarm clock was playing Rush's "Tom Sawyer." Which actually seemed to be a rather fitting song for a young independent woman and her hunter cat taking care of a spider first thing in the morning.

As it happened, I was able to wait for the spider to move away from my bed, then I knocked it down with a water gun and vacuumed it up. However, it is not confirmed that I actually got the spider with the vacuum. It may be lost somewhere in my shoe collection, which means I will probably be barefoot until I can get to the shoe store.

And now, I am more awake than I have ever been in my whole life.

Completely Horrible/Awesome Alarm Clocks!

Okay, so I am one of those people who take about 40 minutes to actually wake up even though I use 3 different alarm clocks with 3 different sounds. I'm what you would call a "heavy sleeper" and "not a morning person." So a friend of mine from grad school told me about these amazing alarm clocks from ThinkGeek.

This first one is on wheels and when the alarm goes off, it starts wheeling around the house. You have to run after it and find it {wherever it is} in order to shut off the alarm. {But isn't it so cute?!}

This second one has a helicopter thingy that flies off into the air when the alarm goes off. You must find the flying thingy and put it back onto the base to make the alarm stop buzzing.

Oh, and did I mention that the actual alarms sound horrendous? Think: World War II bombing sirens.

Okay, so, yes - these little guys would be absolutely infuriating in the mornings. Yet, I think they are exactly what I need to get me up out of bed.

Reason #347 it will be Awesome to live in Portland someday.

I'll get to see these gorgeous handmade bikes all over the city! Aren't they beautiful?!

There's more over at MAP Bicycles of Portland.

{Discovered here}

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Unfortunately I'm in class from 3:30 - 10:00 pm tonight. It seems like all the good holidays are on Tuesdays this semester! However, I happen to live in a small building with multiple Irishmen who like having big Irish parties on our front porch. So I'm guessing my St. Patrick's Day won't be a total ruin.

Mansions & Mozart

This past weekend was pretty chill. And by that I mean chilly! Yup, cold and windy, so it wasn't the best time to go play in the park or on the beach. But Dannon and I had just gorged ourselves on amazing Thai food from Banana House {my favorite restaurant in the city} and needed to move our bodies. So we took a stroll through Upper Pac Heights and looked at all the mansions. Our favorite mansion had a variety of metal sculptures, like this giant anatomically correct robot that swivelled.

Then Saturday night Dannon, Larry and I went to the Livermore Community Opera to see The Marriage of Figaro, which their roomy Bethany helped direct. Dannon and I had seen this opera before by the San Francisco Opera, so it was a little unfair of us to compare. Some of the actor's had horrible accents and the subtitles were atrocious, but we had fun Mystery Science Theater 3000'ing it.

Sunday Funday!

This past week Dannon's adorable and hilarious grandma came to visit him and his cousin Kristin, so Sunday we had a little adventure.

The day started with brunch at our favorite brunch spot - Boogaloo's! They have the most AMAZING herb biscuits & gravy. Mmmm....

Then we headed over to the Academy of Sciences. Dannon and I have been wanting to go there for years! Unfortunately, the Planetarium was sold out, the Rainforest was closed for cleaning, and Claude, the albino alligator, was out on medical leave. However, we still had a blast and spent several hours looking at all the crazy creatures in the aquarium, and watched the overly dramatic {but cute} bug movie.

{Dannon in the tube of sharks}

{Dannon and Grandma Roy with their way-cool 3D glasses in the Bug Movie.}

Our next stop was the Japanese Tea Garden. It was a gorgeous sunny day - perfect for roaming around!

And, of course, sipping tea.

We ended our day with a trip up to the top of Twin Peaks for a great view of the city, then a delicious dinner in North Beach. It was a great day!

Birthday Band!

This past Saturday night was Dannah's big Birthday Bash! Greg, Dannon, Larry and I are usually known as the Second Wind band. We mostly play for our spiritual discussion group once a month, but for Dannah's birthday, we had to pull out some fun party songs.

Our first song was Van Morrison's, Brown Eyed Girl.

Then we got a little silly and performed ABBA's Dancing Queen. I "crowned" Dannah as the actual dancing queen, of course.

Since the song is already pretty ridiculous, we decided to make it even more ridiculous, including my pink wig, singing into a wooden spoon, and Larry singing falseto with me - we sounded like the BeeGees!

It was great to hang out with friends from Second Wind and ring in Dannah's new year with her.

Tee-Hee!

Today has been much MUCH better. I would even describe my day as being downright silly! It's amazing how much your feelings can change from one day to the next. I just got done singing into a wooden spoon and am now listening to Monster Mash. Sometimes you just really need to let your inner child come out and play.

And for your enjoyment, a few silly pictures from the past:

Being very dramatic at Point Reyes.

Pretty bird...

I'm totally demolishing Dannon's smiley face!

I've blocked the horribleness from my memory, but you can be sure it was HORRIBLE!!!

*@!%#*!

Today I feel like this.

Just had to get that out.

{Art borrowed from here.}

Mo The Traveling Sock Monkey {Part 2}

After all the sight-seeing, Mo spent some time in San Francisco just chilling out, experiencing more of a local's life.

Mo tried his hand at the open seas.

But ran into a little . . . um, trouble.

Back on land Mo hooked up with a cute girl. {Like I said, he's so good with the ladies!}

But as it turned out, she was already seeing this guy, who challenged Mo to an old fashioned arm wrestling match. Mo lost, but there are plenty of other monkeys in the jungle.

Then we took Mo to a concert, and he got to hang out backstage with the band! Lucky Mo!

Back at home, Mo made friends with my kitties Mya,

and Chloe.

Wait! Chloe. . . what are you doing?! No Chloe! Stop!

AH!!! Mo! Oh the Horror!