Browse Category: photos

36 hours with Mommy and Daddy

Last week JetBlue was having a sale.  On Tuesday or Wednesday you could get $9 one-way tickets between LA and SF.  So, Brother booked two roundtrip tickets for the parents!  It was perfect since I had the day off to off-set my weekend class and it was so much fun having them around.  So, on Tuesday, I picked up the parents from SFO in the morning, dropped off their stuff at home, and then we went out for a day of exploring and sightseeing.

First stop was the Conservatory of Flowers.  Admission is free on the first Tuesday of every month so it was FREE!!!

We had a great time exploring the different rooms and I got to see lots of really pretty and exotic plants and flowers.  It was a gorgeous day, which made hanging out in Golden Gate Park even better.

Daddy was watching a show on hamburgers on the flight up to SF so he was craving a tasty burger.  So, he got one at Burgermeister along with a few stains on his shirt (of course).

Next we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped for a few photos.  Then it was one more exit down for a little stroll in Sausalito.  Last time Mommy was here watching Koa, she took the ferry to Sausalito and found this really cute shop that features little toys and knick-knacks.

We found it again and I was giddy with excitement over all the cute stuff inside.

We did a little more browsing and shopping and then headed back to the condo where Koa was stinking more than usual.  So, we walked him down to the bathhouse and Daddy helped me wash the dog with full-length aprons and all.  Dog hated it, as usual, but scored a treat for the walk home.

For dinner, we went to Hard Knox Cafe for some really good fried chicken.  Daddy loves his fried chicken and this did not disappoint!

Here are photos from the rest of the day.  It includes photos that Daddy took too.  Enjoy!

Final Four!

Once again, we raised funds for the BORP Roll n Shoot Tourney and played some wheelchair basketball on Saturday.  Last year we got beat up and only scored seven times out of all 4 games.  Of course we came in dead last but had a lot of fun.  This year we didn’t actually get to practice as much as last year so I was bit worried when we arrived at the court.

Luckily we came a little more prepared with our shirts in the colors of the kids on the Children’s logo.  We even got hooked up with tattoos and window clings that we taped to our backs with medical tape.  We were a rag-tag bunch, a little ghetto, but oh so awesome.

We played our first game and we won!  Then in the second game we won again!  In our third game, I scored TWICE!, and we won after an overtime shoot-out. Check out this video clip:

In our fourth game, we won and swept our pool.  That took us to the Final Four and we played the other pool’s second-best team and got beat by only one point!!

Our coach MacKenzie was such a good sport with our ADD tendencies and rowdiness.  We raised money for a wonderful organization and had a fun-filled day playing w/c bball.  Who knows…maybe we’ll get to the finals next year?!

Here are photos from the tournament.

So unloved…

Got an email from a friend who is currently in the midst of transforming from a humble street cart to a full-on SF hipster cult.  I got a taste of their corned beef sammich a couple months ago and snapped a few photos for them.  In her email, she asked if she could send my photos to a person who was interested in writing an article about them in jweekly and I was excited for them and for my photos.  THEN!  I got a second email from her saying that coincidentally there was a blog posting (totally unrelated to the aforementioned article) on SFoodie featuring an event going on tonight featuring MY PHOTO on the header!!!  I guess the writer grabbed it from Pearl’s Kitchen’s Facebook profile and didn’t ask for permission to use the photo from my friend nor did they ask for the photo credit.  Bummer.

Weekend Round-up

Had a pretty relaxing yet productive weekend.  On Saturday, we cleaned up the house and ran some errands.  On our way home we stopped at Best Buy and I used our numerous gift cards to help pay for a new Bamboo Craft by Wacom.  I’ve been wanting to get one for photo editing and it’s pretty neato.  It will, however, take a little getting used to.  It’s pretty sensitive to how much pressure you apply through the tip and I’ve always used a lot of pressure on my pencil when I write.  Here it is taking a break as I had my tuna-egg-pickle sammich lunch.  I’m using my Yelp shot glass as a pen holder. 🙂

On Sunday, we drove to Treasure Island for the first time and I got a couple shots of the bay from both sides of the island.  I’ve always wanted to check out the view and it was pretty cool.  We continued on the Bay Bridge and went to IKEA for the first time in a couple years.  Picked up a houseplant and got some soil at Home Depot.  It’s time to test out my purple thumb yet again with a brave little plant.

Our First Sailing Adventure

Jes was supposed to go racing again yesterday but the guy that owned the boat decided to drop out of the race on Friday.  So, for our Sunday, we rented at 22-footer and sailed around the bay by ourselves for the day.

I stopped at Whole Foods for our lunch, which included sushi rolls and lots of pickled ginger.  I snacked on the ginger all day and didn’t get seasick.  Seriously.  I didn’t take my usual dosage of Dramamine and felt just fine.  It was amazing.

There was light but steady wind today.  The tide wasn’t very strong but when the tide was going out of the bay in the afternoon, it made it a little more challenging to get back to the harbor.  The day went rather smoothly but not without a few  “uh oh” moments.

1) We had gone out as far as we were allowed to and had to turn around.  By the time we finished the U-turn, we saw a container ship out in the distance.  It looked like it was headed in our direction but we weren’t really sure.  Luckily we caught a good wind and made it past the path of the giant ship in time.  That could have been disastrous.

2) There was a strong gust and the main sail got a little loose.  As we were trying to make some adjustments, the boom came flying across the boat and nearly knocked Jes overboard.  Lucky for him, I was close enough to grab onto him.  He could have easily fallen into the water today.  Phew, that was close.

3) We had finally made it back under the Bay Bridge toward the harbor but then got caught in the wind shadow of the bridge itself.  We lost our speed and were quickly drifting back towards one of the bridge towers (the water was flowing against us).  That was when we powered up the motor and got the heck out of there.  We only needed to motor for about a minute before we were able to get some wind back in the sails and turn off the motor.

Here’s a little video clip of us out on the water:

Overall, it was a good first solo sail for the two of us. We learned a few unexpected lessons and I experienced sailing without the help of medicine. We also got some sun and had a great time out on the water.

Here are more photos from our adventure.

Playing Tourist in SF

On Tuesday, I had the day off so I got to play tourist with Brother, Joy, and my mom.  The morning started on the bus to Chinatown for some jook and fried dough.  We then walked around to find Joy’s dad a souvenir.

Next on the agenda was a quick walk down to the Ferry Plaza.  They have Farmer’s Market on Tuesdays so it was cool to taste the fruits and check out some of the street food vendors that aren’t usually there on Saturdays.

We then walked down Embarcadero back to my condo, packed up the car with Brother and Joy’s things, and headed over to Little Skillet for some fried chicken and waffles.

We took the big bag of chicken up to Twin Peaks for a little picnic up on the hill.

Luckily it was a clear sunny day in SF and we could see both bridges and the entire city from one spot.

The last stop was Eleen’s store in Alameda and then dropped Brother and Joy at the airport.  The day was finished by a home-coked dinner prepared by my Mommy.

Here are photos from an awesome day off with family.