life is fun

this time of life is so unique!!! it is really great.

on somewhat of a whim, i packed all my stuff and moved to san francisco and fell in love with a place that keeps telling me it's mine. and now, i'm hanging on by a thread financially but loving it - i am really loving it. i sort papers and catalogs, babysit for a smattering of families all over the bay, complete random tasks and errands for a fascinating documentary filmmaker and sometimes work remotely for my brother's and my sister's companies. i will no doubt be finding other random means to pay my rent and buy ramen.

and in between all this, i get to have all kinds of adventures in this city that is positively bursting with beauty, coolness, diversity and a colorful culture. i've done things that i never thought i would do, seen things i never imagined i'd see. i get to entertain beloved visitors without having to take a day of vacation time. i get to take long runs along the beach and read good books and have sunday dinners with loved ones from salt lake and watch the sunset off the 280 on the drive home from work. i have a roommate who's a baker and brings home scones and sweet breads (and another - male - roommate whose nails are french manicured...), i'm getting lots of practice writing cover letters, and pretty much all my shoes have holes in them.

i'm embracing the free, bazaar place i've found myself in my little life. i'm meeting neat people, learning from them, trying to figure out who the heck i really am and striving to be the girl i've always dreamt of being - and getting there little by little each day.

when will this ever happen again? when in life will i ever be able to be this free? never. it's really great. i might not have any money but i've got my love for life to pay the bills. i'm learning and i feel so mortal and alive. and i'm having fun. as you can see.

brunch at mama's with tilly and jane -

tilly just moved to san francisco and she and her hubbie live downtown!

the food at that kitschy little place is to die for.

halloween night at josephine's house in alameda.

we entertained trick-or-treaters, carved pumpkins and roasted their seeds,

and had a delightful homemade halloween dinner.

the pink looks good on jo, yeah? her sister julia and roommate michelle are fantastic.

ingrid michaelson concert at the fillmore.

awesome venue, beautiful music, cool friends.

ingrid is a phenomenal performer. she was so funny, and the show was so fun!

dia de los muertos (day of the dead) procession in the mission.

this was a super neat cultural event. the streets were full to the brim with people.

everyone was carrying candles and many were making music and dancing.

it was kind of creepily magical.

giants victory parade on market street! holy cow this was awesome.

i got off bart and came up the stairs to behold hundreds of thousands of people crammed in the streets. a sea of orange and black. somehow i got on top of a little parking-ticket-giver-mobile. the cop said we could stand on it, and i had an excellent view. people were doing anything to see the parade - including getting in trees (see top right picture) and on top of a muni bus!

kelsey and i soaked in the pure excitement of the gloriously sunny afternoon.

it was like the entire city took a day off to go crazy and celebrate.

it was so fun to see the players and scream my head off. what a sweet triumph for the giants and for the city of san francisco.

saw this sunset from a look-out point in the presidio while searching for wood for a bonfire.

kels and i were screaming and yelling as the sky quickly evolved and left us stunned.

on november 5th we hosted a guy fawkes bonfire at ocean beach.

bonfire night is a big holiday in england and it was so fun to invite friends to celebrate it here in san fran! we had a huge fire and fireworks and of course an effigy of the traitor guy fawkes.

we hung out by the fire and roasted stuff and then read the history of the gunpowder plot of 1605, recited the traditional poem and threw that evil guy into the flames.

it was so fun!! the weather was beautiful.

and there is nothing like a bonfire on the beach.

especially when i have an excuse to wear my union jack t-shirt.

so, yeah, life is fun.

and this weekend i'm taking off for 10 days of adventure in washington (and thereabouts) with my brother and his family. because i can...

p.s. this post was inspired by this post. keri is rad. it's great to have friends like her - our souls are made of the same sort of stuff.