Sep 21, 2012

Jerry Fest

On the last day of our trip we went to Jerry Fest and then to Kirs mom n bro's for a bbq; Twas a great day. I was exhausted and ready to curl up in my own casa by then, but this day was a great way to wind down the trip nonetheless.



Bubbles, Dead music, and peace n luv floated in the air in celebration of Jerry Garcia





and prime people watching was under way : )


The fun part about hippy fests is the freedom of dance.
Theres no right way to dance like a hippy.
Groovin comes in all forms.
so if you dance like you swim,

or  bop up and down like two muppets, its all good. :) (arrows pointing to muppets)




The other part that goes hand in hand with hippy fests that I love is the PEACE n LOVE







even if that means you love your iPad

Interestingly enough though, Eko couldn't stop talking about the Jerry Fest in the next few days to come.
Im glad they got to experience it and I think they were too,




Welp, that was that. It was time to move on to the bbq so our last guests could get on the road.


Bye bye Jerry Fest





(....on our way out this pretty sight lined the road way.)

n then way took a shortcut back to the car that brought us to this lovely view.
 Its like the calm on the side of the storm





P.S.....if you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. ;)










Sep 16, 2012

Sittin by the Dock of the Bay


 So, the next day we were able to spend frolicking around being tourists with friends and family which was nice. Well, ok, it was a lot of shuffling, but a successful day nonetheless.

We went down to the warf, got breakfast n then strolled down pier 39 as a usual tourist would.
  

After talking five of us in to squeeze into a photo booth my friend Jeanetta disappeared into one of these shops. After going in to see what we were waiting on, before I knew it, most of us were taking part.   
(my dad, kir, jeanetta)
 She decided to gift us this moment for a wedding pres and I had always wanted to do this anyhow, so the arm pulling was nice and now I can check that off the list of things to experience ;) 





....and of course you have to go see the fat, floppy sea loins barking 






...and  go take pictures @ the end of the pier ;) 



Then we parted ways with my family and headed to lombard street...



after we took back kirs tux and got pulled over for turning down a stupid one way street that is
(no ticket thankfully though)




...along the way Jeanetta was happy to play with my camera n take pictures of architecture :)







...and the random S.F. sight you may see.







The view above Lombard street here properly depicts the shitty weather while we were there.
It was sunny when we got there, and the day we left, but this is what it looked like while there :S




..this is looking down the famous s street
n this is looking up

Though we had seen it several times, the hustle n bustle of it still makes it fun.





Then it was time to head back down town to drop off those friends and pick up different ones before heading out to dinner

with the added getting lost in between because it all kinda looks the same (o.O)



aside from dinner on the north peninsula
thats a wrap for the day after



  

Sep 13, 2012

Our Wedding day


         After waiting 10 years, our "big day" finally came and went.  We kept waiting and waiting for the perfect time in life,.. for life to mellow out, to get that next thing taken care of, and to be able to enjoy the time and process of it. After 10 years, we realized, ...life is never "perfect," its not going to be mellow for years to come, and we're not getting any younger- so lets just do this shiz.
         The later part (the reception) turned out lovely- there were lots of laughs and people just seizing the moment it felt, so I do have a lot to be thankful or, but way more went wrong than I'de ever imagined so unfortunately, to me, it wasn't my quite my dream day. I feel terrible saying that even, and many of my guests seemed to enjoy themselves so I should just keep it to myself. Plus when I do speak my truth, people say,.."well it was a wedding, and that just how they go." Or, the annoyingly say, "well then you should have done it this way," or "thats why you should have done this or that." Yeah yeah, f*&% off, I did it the way I did it cuz thats how I wanted it, and its for me to turn around and wish I coulda, woulda, shoulda- so don't teeelll me.Furthermore, if that how weddings go how come I only heard.."that was my best day ever" stories prior too. (o.O) OK, that was a side rant. :o
       
So I made this Thank You video of the day for my friends and family afterword instead of mailing snail mail thanks you that makes it appear all effortlessly smooth and fun.  :)


(^clickable link if you wish to see)




For me, it kinda went a lil more like this ....


... After waiting ten years for the perfect timing we ended up picking one tough year.

... I had finals three days before we left. Can we say stress overload?! N had always planned on enjoying that time. As if!
         (I had already set myself back in school by changing majors so I didn't want to add even more  
         on to that by taking a semester off n then later that one semester hold us back from moving on.)

... I had always dreamed of making my own dress, but one of my classes ended up to be uber time consuming and I tried my hardest to not fail it, thus my dress wasn't priority at the time.
           (I did end up getting a B in the class though :) )

... I eventually, literally last min- as in we got a two hour late start on our trip just so I could try and finish the dress still, finally gave in n let go of that dream, and planned on a back up dress.
           : (

.. then, hundreds of miles from home and just two nights before, I realized in my midst of my crazy packing for all four of us and all the wedding stuff, ...I had forgotten to pack that back up dress.
           :*(  

... I then spent the day before shopping like a mad women with my trooper of a m.i.l. in an out of a gazillions stores hitting up everything from Bloomingdales to Goodwill looking for a dress,...thE dAy      bEfOre my wedding!
           : (

...Finally, near the end of the day, I found one.
             ( I ended up getting a vintage dress on Haight street, which was pretty "me" so eventually it   
             worked out.)
           
afterword we went out to eat with friends and family
n there I sit thinking, "did that seriously just happen to me?!!"
..wishing I could pretend not!



... then stayed up to 5 in the morning reconstructing the dress to my liking.

... Still running several last minute errands in the morning, and after having a random conversation with an old couple in the elevator about it all, I got back to the hotel room to realize I still had pimple cream on my face. :o
             
... I was now running late, totally not ready, and had to pay my kids to wear their tuxes.
             (o.O)

...instead of setting up before guests arrived and having free time for pictures as planned,  I was setting up while they came. Actually, most of them were helping me set up. I dont think most of them minded, but it wasn't quit how I'd image the cookie to crumble and therefor disaster numero whatever by now.
                :S





Finally, here was this moment I had always dreamed of

...n there I go, in a rushed state feeling bad I held up my guests up, ...wearing a sweater because it was freezing cold, ...feeling ugly n tired n having a bad hair day on top of it, ...looking down because I suddenly didn't know where else to look,... all while aerating the pretty park in my heels as I went.  
Not quite the pretty entrance I had always imagined.
 : (



 ...n there I stand, with mud on my heels, all of us freezing cold in the middle of summer,
and already secretly wishing for a do-over.
Again, not quite the splendid moment I had always imaged.



I wasn't the only one with a crazy beginning to this day though, ridiculousness seemed to be ubiquitous.
(Jessica telling me her story about how they almost didn't make it)





...Part one over, thanks friggen god- now off to the reception,
             ...finally my list of mishaps ended
             .:YAY, clap, clap, cheers:.



now on to some good eats (sum a the best rated thai food in the bay)....



.....drinks...



n lots of good times.....





...n then the night was over; that was that.





I know Im suppose to say marrying my husband was the best part of the day, but it was this..


 having the excuse to see



be silly with


 laugh with


 love for a minute


and stand by (taken the next day)

..some of the greatest friends life has brought me.




And seeing random people from my life unite was an added bonus :)




          Though it wasn't quite the day I planned, I tried my best to just laugh it all off and have as good of a time as I could in the moment as to not completely ruin everything. Truth is, after everyone was gone, I went home like a dog with its tail between its legs.  Looking back at my ceremony now feels like that embarrassing awkward moment when you fall in front of people and just want to get up and run home crying, but instead you laugh to make it look a little not so bad. (o.O) lol

         I wish there wasn't so much emphasis on that day to be "the day" as if the world is going to suddenly going to fall apart and get really lame afterword. I had dislike most of the traditions of weddings going in to it, but still had always wanted one anyhow. I didn't want to turn around later in life and wish I would have if I hadn't. So we did, and I'm glad we finally we're able to do so and even more so to be on this side of that. Im super thankful for everyone that was there, as to no matter what was going on in their life, how much it cost, or whatever excuse that could have had, they put it aside and made it possible to be there. I find that extremely humbling and am forever thankful.


It may not have turn day to be the day of my dreams, but more importantly, I know we still go together like peanut butter and jelly, and are still in a faithful, committed relationship, and that's what its all about and what we were there celebrating.


Sep 8, 2012

Our trip to the Bay

So its been some time since I posted, but wanted to share our summer trip. We actually were on a trip to finally have our wedding, but made the trip up and back into a vacation and stopped by various places we were interested in seeing along the way so we didn't have one lOng straight booOOring drive up to the bay from Vegas.


We wanted to take the kiddos to see the Hollywood sign since its in a lot of their shows and movies. This here is right near the sign up in the hollywood hills. I had no idea such a serene pretty view was so close to crazy L.A.



after a quick stop by the sign, we headed up the coast, and whaaAT a cliche Cali view we had. :)




In the morning our first stop was Solvang,
 a cute little Dutch town I had been wanting to see. 
Of course we had to get some Danish pastries. :)

a super cute place I tell yuh; I totally recommend if you havent been to n happen to be that'a way.




...then a random pit stop at the beach

of course there is never sunny blue sky's when we finally get to leave the desert n go to the beach (o.O) Still neato though so I'll take it.





 the beach was called Shell beach, but a more appropriate name would have been Hermit Crab beach-they were everywhere.

and it was quite colorful 





...our next stop was Bubble Gum Alley in SoLo







..we made one more stop to see an old friend of mines I hadn't seen since I was 13, (but I dint get any pictures,) n then we headed to Oakland to our fav pizza place and that concluded our journey up. :)