San Francisco, CA

On Saturday, I drove down to SF to see Tim. He's teaching at a summer program called the Civic Education Project (CEP). It's an intensive service learning/social justice program for high school kids. He's living at SF State for the next few weeks.

After really tasty veggie hot dogs at the Underdog in the Sunset, we met up with my good friend (aka my separated-at-birth-sister) Suzy, her new bf, and the bf's dog and went to Fort Funston.

Fort Funston is pretty much doggie heaven. It's a huge off-leash dog area right on the ocean.

After, we went to get ice cream at the most amazing place: Bi-Rite Creamery. Delicious. On the way there, I saw this interesting window. I decided it belonged to either a hippie, hipster, or old lady. She (or he) really likes owls. Is it just me, or is it crazy that it could potentially be the work of any three of those categories of people?

Then, Tim and I got burritos at my favorite burrito place: Gordo's! We ate them at Stern Grove (which included accidentally disturbing a couple of teenagers that were either makin' out or smokin' out behind a fire pit).

We also practiced our shakeface. If you've not tried this, you should. Just shake your face and have someone take a picture.



SF is pretty great as a city. However, the people, I decided, are generally not that friendly. Ironic, no? Still, if it wasn't so damn expensive, or someone gave me a house, or a job that paid me a lot, I'd live there:)

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables! Yay California!

Hey Y'all,

This is my garden. Actually, it's more Tim's garden as he is the one that waters it every day. However, I eat the delicious goodness that comes from it.


We have:
many tomatoes (that something keeps eating, that bastard)
green beans (three colors!)
basil (oh-so-good with the tomatoes)
squash (that we never planted but is slowly taking over the entire garden)
cucumber (that have really been taken over by the green beans)
artichoke (that died, but is coming back and that the bugs are enjoying regularly these days)
strawberries (that are pretty much non-existent because of the crabgrass)
a few carrots
some leftover lettucey stuff (that didn't ever really grow into normal lettucey stuff, but instead grew these crazy spurts of leafy stocks)

We also have oh-so-amazing grapes!

And, since are somewhat demanding neighbor decided she wanted to cut some trees down, we started an herb garden in their place.


It doesn't compare to our tiny banister potter on the back porch of the condo in Chicago, but it will have to do.

Come and enjoy the fruits of our (i.e. Tim's) labor.

I'm here for a while. And this is my life.

Welp, it's the middle of July. No travel in site for some time. So, here's a peek into little pieces of my life.

For example, this is my office. All cinder block walls are not the greatest for decorating, but, you do what you can.

Send me black and white postcards and you , too, can reserve your spot on my wall.

Mr. Toast keeps me company.


Yep, that's right folks, it's a mini fridge. I also had a microwave. However, I tried to clean it with some cleaning stuff and every time I used it after it smelled like it was going to explode. And, for those of you that know me well, you know how paranoid I am about fire (with good reason, I might add). So, alas I have to use the microwave down the hall.

Yes, I drink Starbucks and sometimes lots of it.

Look forward to the next exciting picts.

Smith River National Rec. Area

We left Saturday for the Oregon-California border with a couple of our friends (originally Tim's friends now turned my friends, too).




















To see the views, we took a little bit of a longer way up the 5 to the 299 to the 101 and ended up going through an area that is currently on fire. At one point, we drove past a burning hillside that started to crumble a little. The smoke in the area was so thick, I actually felt a little sick and very claustrophobic. I just kept saying, "I feel slightly uncomfortable with this situation," which may have been the understatement of the year.

We got there around 7pm to meet up with friends of friends, set up camp, had a campfire (surprisingly allowed still) and ate. The next day we found a swimmin' hole. Unfortunately, I didn't really think there might be swimming involved in the trip, and didn't bring my suit. This was especially disappointing given that there were rapids that made this awesome whirlpool that you could get sucked into and then have it spit you out back into the whirlpool. It looked super fun.

Although Turkey is generally somewhat uncomfortable in nature (it took forever to get him to lay down on the rocky beach), he did enjoy the river and the company of his new girlfriend, Sadie (sorry Scarlet).















After, we went on a short, but difficult hike. I'm blaming the heat - not the fact that I'm out of shape - for how out of breath I was. We kept going up and up and up and despite our fatigue we didn't stop. We were certain that just around the next bend the end would appear and there would be a spectacular clearing with a sight unlike any other. When we got to the end of the trail, we were all gravely disappointed with the fact that there was no sight to be seen.














We went into town to look for a place that sold local fish which apparently does not exist because it all gets shipped out. We stopped by the ocean while in town.


We all thought we would sleep well that night because of our busy day. And, we would have, if it weren't for the abusive, alcoholic couple in the campsite next to us fighting all night. But alas, that's another story...

Tim and I decided to take the fasted way home the next day. We stopped in Ashland on the way. I'd been there once before and was reminded of how great it was - lots of dirty hippies, good food, cute shops and very dog-friendly.