progress?

Here is a pic of my craft room a few weeks ago, before I really started getting down to business.I’m not sure it really shows the layers of minutiae that need to be dealt with, but it was not looking good.

I decluttered quite a bit. Moved things around. Then I started working on the pictures. Now this is a project!

I realized that I have years of photos sitting in books and  boxes that we just don’t have the space for. I mean, I would let them have space if I had actually looked at any of these since we went digital. That brings us to a company called Scan My Photos. Brother Joe has used them in the past and had good things to say about them so I’ve decided to just do it. Once the photos have been scanned they are all being trashed. It feels so wrong to throw all that stuff away, but seriously? What good does it do me for them to be hanging out in the back of a closet for another ten years?

This would be a pretty simple assignment if it wasn’t for all the duplicates. I apparently felt the need to own two of everything. This could take awhile…

it’s gotta go

So I came across this really great blog a while back. I found it pretty interesting, but really wasn’t keeping up with until the past week. Most likely cause I was in the midst of our craziness and knew things needed to go already. Now I’m at the point where things are settling down and I need a little extra impetus to keep up the momentum.

In our new abode I have a room to call my very own. I’ve been calling it a craft room, but well, I want it to be my own personal space amongst the shared. Right now it’s a complete disaster. Not complete, but close. There is no calm zen in there, its chaos. Chaos that needs to go. That means I’ve made a decision. There needs to be a quick and brutal purge and soon. Like starting tonight. Here’s the start to my plan*:

• The first thing to go is the workout stuff. The videos, the stepper, the weights. I did use these things at one time (OK maybe not a lot), but I have not the motivation to move furniture and then workout when I have a gym membership.
• Next is the huge collection of pens we have accumulated over the years. Yes, I realize that these are in almost every room of the house, but they’ve gots to go. I bought 8 shiny new pens today that I will leave in strategic locations and will probably last us for the next ten years. No more crappy logo pens that barely work!
• Culling of the cross-stitch patterns and yarn that I’ll never ever use. If they don’t sell on Ebay then they go to Goodwill. The end.
• Oh and don’t forget the eleventy billion magazines that I hold onto “just in case” I ever want to make some recipe or craft project or read some book they talk about. I need to be ruthless.
• Then there’s the books. I have a soft spot for books. Your reading selection says something about who you are and what you’re interests are, but really, one only needs so many books on house rabbits. Really, it’s got to be some kind of sickness…

So what’s the reward? Well, this past week while Joe’s parents were visiting we actually walked through a lot of the cool stores here in the new ‘hood. One spot in particular, Nancy Boy, had some really cool vintage furniture and amongst them this awesome 60’s-70’s desk with chair. Love it! Need to have it! But I can’t with a crappy cluttered room that has no personality.

The goal is to have that room in shape in the next two weekends. That’s really pushing my ‘let it go’ boundaries, but that may be exactly what I need.

 

*Note that Joe may be skeptical about the plan, but I really want my reward that I’m not even sure I’m getting cause I haven’t actually mentioned it yet.

the cold cold beach

Sunday we drove up to Stinson Beach to see what it was all about. The plan was also to stop in Muir Woods, but by the time we left the beach we were both pretty much ready to head home.

The actual town of Stinson Beach is pretty small. It’s a nice place to spend a leisurely afternoon for lunch and taking a walk on the beach. It was pretty chilly out, or so we thought, but that didn’t seem to stop people from spending time in the water. Water that Joe and I thought was too cold to even walk through. Brr!

Let’s start with some pictures of our drive to Stinson Beach.

A lot of fog in this area. Well, their seems to be a lot of fog in general here.

Wasn’t there a Steven King book about fog?

The water may have been cold, but it was really beautiful.

This was one of my favorites.

And Em, this one is for you. The cutest pugs evah!

Last, but not least. A couple videos of us driving around. I think I see a cool little video camera in my future.

 

knitting fun & pizza

Yesterday I took my first foray into the East Bay via the Bart. Joe needed the car so I headed out to Knit One One in Berkeley to attend the Brave New Knits book signing and trunk show.

I was a little nervous about showing up on my own, but soon realized that this was a really great and friendly bunch! Julie Turjoman was so sweet and really everyone their was super nice. I will definitely be attending other events at Knit One One.

We had a great time trying on the different pieces. It’s great to be able to try on something you’re thinking about knitting. There are several sweaters I would love to try and now I know what changes I need to make so they will be perfect fit for me.

I would post pictures, but it seems that I was too distracted to even think about it. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I was completely derelict in those duties. Oh well, I guess there’s always next time.

Joe picked me up from the event and we headed over to Telegraph Avenue to find some dinner. We ended up at Lanesplitter and had some really great pizza. I think it may have been the best we’ve had so far. Service was so so (we didn’t get a refill on our drinks and Joe ran out), but I felt like it was one of those places where that’s just the way it is and you deal with it. Don’t get me wrong, the staff was very friendly just maybe not as attentive as I would have liked. Though, I don’t think that will deter us from going again if we’re in the area.

That’s about it for now. Joe and I are heading up to Stinson Beach today to see what we can see. Cross your fingers that I remember to take some pics!

and their was a blog post

Some of you may be wondering what is going on in Casa de City* or you may have wandered off into some other corner of the internets. Possibly a corner that gets updated more than once a month.

Our new abode is almost ready for visitors. We realized once we got here that most of the furniture that we actually did bring with us was really not suited for apartment life. And so, the shopping began. Joe and I approach this type of thing very differently. He is the make a decision get it done shopper. I’m the let’s pick a few pieces, see what they look like, find a few more, rinse, repeat, 8 months later it’s done shopper. You can see that we both had to make some concessions there… Thursday our new couch will be here (joy!) and then Joe is going to pick up a new rug that afternoon. Done and done! At least the part that visitors will see.

I think I’m going to miss the fancy cardboard speaker stands…

So, other than 2372 trips to West Elm, Crate & Barrel, and other various stores we’ve been sorta busy. We have in fact missed two events due to our distraction with the apartment and not putting a note in our calendars, but we have managed to make it to some fun things.

A few weeks back we went on a fun trip to Napa Valley with a tour company called Gears & Grapes. They picked us up in the city and drove a group of us to Quixote winery where we sipped some wine, ate some yummy cheese, and were allowed to see where they made their wine. From there we hopped on bikes and for the rest of the tour we rode from one winery to the next, four in total, until we arrived at my very favorite, Tres Sabores winery. That is definitely one I will want to visit again.

The Quixote Winery

 

A view from the winery

The owner of Tres Sabores had a beautiful garden

And don’t forget the little bababa’s

Our hosts from Gears & Grapes were really great!

I have also recently discovered the joys of Netflix (someone remind me, why do we have cable?). I already thought it was super awesome and then brother Joe called a week or so ago and mentioned he was watching shows on his computer/iPad/iPhone… what? I’m now hooked. In a week I watched an entire season of Dexter, which by the way is a MUST SEE. I had to step away before watching the second season or you might have never heard from me again. Did I mention how cool it is to watch TV from you iPhone on the bus? It is. You should try it.

I did at least do some knitting whilst whiling away the hours watching streaming video. This sock has been in a state of not finished for over a year now. I’ve actually ripped it out and restarted it about 3 maybe 4 times. It must be completed. It must be completed so that I can start on its mate. Don’t even get me started on the fact that there needs to be two of them.

* I’m told the locals never call it SF or San Fran, but it can be called the city.