Opening night for my 9 year old niece's first main stage production in James and the Giant Peach. #sogood #proudauntie

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Happening now!

Hamilton with my sister-in-law!
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11.5 "Left of Center"

I've been craving live music for a while. I love going to concerts. A few months ago Billy Joel was at AT&T Park, which is only 3 blocks away from our new apartment. We didn't have tickets, but we went out to a small park across the street and listened for about 45 minutes. We could even catch a few glimpses of the screen inside the stadium. That was really cool, but that made me want to go to a concert even more.

We finally went to a small venue in Berkeley to see Suzanne Vega on Thursday night. With less than 250 seats at the Freight and Salvage, there are no bad seats. We went for the 1st time last year to see Paula Cole and had front row seats. This year we chose to sit in the very back row, just left of center (which is a Suzanne Vega song) and still had a wonderful view.

Metallica is coming to AT&T Park in February and we were talking about going to see them, too. That'd be a different venue from Suzanne Vega, wouldn't it?!?

Break a Leg!

My girlfriend's son is the lead in his middle school play. We're going to see it tonight.

Break a leg, C!

Marching On

Saying goodbye to the 3rd month of 2014...how quickly it flew by! Here are a few snapshots of my March...
Gandhi Statue at the Ferry Building.

Taxi and bike turning onto Market Street.

My brother-in-law works here.

Sunset on March 15th. Too cold for me to dip my toes in. Jimmy's braver than me.

Same day as above, only about an hour before. The fog lifted just in time for sunset.

A different day, the setting sun glowing on Alcatraz.

That apartment building fire was the opposite side of the ballpark from us but we could see the black smoke from our living room window. We drove by the devastation one Saturday afternoon.

Today, the last day of the month. Cold, windy, stormy. Raining sideways, umbrellas barely made a difference.

Paula Cole was in Berkeley on the 27th and we saw her at an awesome venue called Freight and Salvage. We had front row seats. No photos allowed during the performance, but I got one of her afterwards signing cd's.

Practicing barre chords. They are hard but I love them for some reason. I think because they are challenging. Although every part of learning the guitar is challenging. And rewarding. And that half gold dinosaur makes me laugh. Who would buy that??

Yes guitar is taking up most of my creative energy right now. But I still managed to do a decent bit of paper crafting too.



Our drive to the hideaway was gorgeous last weekend. A beautiful sunny spring day where our normally golden brown hills were fresh green.



California poppies.

A new friend...shy at first...

but as curious about us as we were about her.

Then just a day and a half later, we had just a little bit of snow on the ground.


"The March wind roars
Like a lion in the sky,
And makes us shiver
As he passes by.
When winds are soft,
And the days are warm and clear,
Just like a gentle lamb,
Then spring is here."
- Author Unknown

11.16 A Piano Recital

Princess Niece and Ninja Nephew have been practicing hard and it paid off. I was so happy to be in the audience watching them perform.

I love being an auntie.

Emergence

The Exploratorium reopened at it's new location on Pier 15 yesterday.

The Exploratorium is a twenty-first-century learning laboratory, an eye-opening, always-changing, playful place to explore and tinker. For more than forty years, we’ve built creative, thought-provoking exhibits, tools, programs, and experiences that ignite curiosity, encourage exploration, and lead to profound learning. Dive in and discover what we’re all about.

For the 1st 2 nights, they had a free light show in front of the building called "Emergence". Jimmy and I walked out to watch it tonight. So glad we caught it since tonight is that last night. They really should try to do this more. It was so awesome!

This is just a minute of video, shot across the street. The entire light show was about 15 minutes (maybe more. maybe less.) and looped.

Covering a lot of ground

I've been all over the Bay Area today. It was wonderfully a busy day.

Doris and I spent the 1st part of the day in Pleasanton at the Scrapbook Expo. Imagine a huge building at the fairgrounds filled with scrapbooking supplies. A crafters heaven but a budget nightmare. Actually I didn't overdo it, surprise surprise. We met up with our friend Marah Johnson. She's an amazingly vivacious and edgy artist with the most positive and outgoing spirit.

After dropping Doris off, I came home for less than an hour to change and freshen up before heading to Berkeley.
My SIL and I went to a modern dance performance by the Trisha Brown Company. It was one of the oddest yet most amazing dance performances I've seen. My SIL is trained in dance so she was certainly more impressed with their abilities. I was awestruck and wished I could understand technically the magnitude of the skills they had. It was at Zellerbach Hall on Cal Berkeley's campus.

Downtown Berkeley is just a short BART ride from San Francisco but this was the 1st time I've been there since we moved to SF. I've probably been downtown less than a dozen times in the 20 years we've lived here, which really is a shame. It's an oddball of a city, but so very full of character and life. Now that I know how easy it is to get there from BART, I might have to go more often.

4.20 Bring Out Your Dead

Jimmy's sister and I went to the Orpheum Theatre tonight to see Spamalot. Jimmy's a huge Monty Python fan but a huge theatre hater, so he stayed home. It was awesomely funny and I was surprised at how many skits I recognized from the movie. I didn't realize I paid any attention to the movie when Jimmy watched it.

11.6.11 Grace Cathedral

Jimmy and I went to an organ recital at the Grace Cathedral today. Took a cable car up there and walked back home afterwards.

A lot of screaming 15 year olds

Last night my ears bled a little. The performance was good even though it wasn't really my style. But with 13,500 teeny boppers screaming and singing at the top of their lungs, actually hearing Taylor Swift herself sing was nearly impossible.

Nutcracker recap

Nutcracker {December Daily 11}

A great way to bring on the Christmas spirit is going to see the Nutcracker at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. I went with my SIL and my friend Doris. Absolutely amazing! I've seen the Nutcracker 3 or 4 times but this performance was by far my favorite. I have to admit that in the past, during the 2nd Act, I'd usually get a bit drowsy, but this time it was enchanting the whole time.
It was even snowing outside before the performance!

11/30 Gratitude: Nutcracker Tickets

Scored tickets to the Nutcracker at the War Memorial Opera House. Going in a couple of weeks with my sister-in-law and our niece. Both were ballerinas/dancers in a previous lifetime. :D

And this ends my November Daily Gratitude...however I'm gonna start my December Daily, inspired by Ali Edwards. Hopefully my December Daily's will be more crafty.

random shirt in store window that I saw today, unrelated to topic. lol.

11/23 Gratitude: "The World Is Bigger Now"

You may remember last year when Laura Ling and Euna Lee were captured in North Korea and held as prisoners for 4 1/2 months. They worked at Current TV and they were in China filming about North Koreans defecting into China and South Korea. I followed their story closely and was relieved and even brought to tears when they were released in August 2009. Laura and Euna both wrote books about their captivity and what it was like living in fear in a North Korean prison. Laura's book was published in April and Euna's in September. I read Laura's book and I'm currently reading Euna's. Euna was in town tonight speaking at the Academy of Art University. She's an alumni from the University and they offered free admission to anyone who wanted to hear her story. So of course, I went. I'm grateful that I was able to hear her story and grateful that she and Laura were released and also very thankful that our country came together and found a way to bring them back.

On my way to hear her speak, I had to walk though Union Square. They are getting ready for Christmas. I caught them decorating the tree. The official tree lighting ceremony is this Friday at 6pm. Everyone's invited!

Macy's is across the street from Union Square and I think their store is always the most festive. In the past, we didn't come into the city very often during the holidays so I've really only see the city at Christmas time a handful of times. This year, I'm really grateful to be able to experience Christmas in the city, enjoy all the beautiful window displays and watch all the people hustle around with their packages.

"The World is Bigger Now" is the title of Euna's book.

Summer Daily 5: Now, think of the happiest things. It's the same as having wings.

I felt the magic
flying over London's sky...
Neverland exists.

Today I went to San Francisco with my SIL and MIL to watch an amazing theatrical performance of Peter Pan. It was a performance I've never experienced before, an amazing treat to all your senses. Here's a good quote from their website:
"What we have aimed for is a fusing of some very different theatre styles. This is still a theatre production. We have live actors to tell the story and we also have puppetry of a charming and surreal style, acrobatics, singing and sword fighting. What we also have is this other very special element. We take the audience up in the air and give them the feeling that they're soaring through the sky with these very familiar characters. It's a lovely feeling."



Sure I can say I felt like a kid again, but I couldn't help but imagine how amazing this performance would have been to a kid. There were a lot of them in the audience and I couldn't help but notice their eyes sparkle with the belief of the magic and even the fear of the pirates and especially the scary crocodile.

To say the least, lots of inspiration from this show...let's see where I'll take it.
_

Defying Gravity

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!

My nieces and their mom were here for the weekend to see the amazing WICKED at the Orpheum Theatre in the city. Another SIL, my MIL and I joined them, of course! Wicked is one of my favorite shows, this was the 2nd time I've seen it and I could watch it a dozen more times easily. See it if you can. It'll change your mind about the Wicked Witch of the West.

PS: In case anyone is wondering, I have 6 SILs, 5 BILs and 11+ nieces and nephews.
_

to the races

Some find it hard to believe that I could possibly be interested in motorcycle racing. But I think when you're born and raised in the desert, some part of you innately has a draw to it. It just seems to be the thing to do there. But more importantly, when your husband used to ride and still would if he didn't have bum knees, has a passion for it, you tend to pick up the interest also. At least somewhat.

So when Jimmy got tickets to watch Supercross racing in San Francisco for Christmas, I happily tagged along. Despite my attempts to sabotage his plans. Twice. Sigh, i really need to write things down. Because my pea-brain can't remember anything on its own anymore. Anyhoo...

Here are some pics from the event:

The race was at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants and big enough to hold over 40,000 fans.

It was a sunny day in San Francisco and we got there early enough to watch practice, walk around the stadium and check out the pit.

James Stewart, 2008 AMA Motorcross National Champion, rides right in front of me on his way to his pit after practice.

The stadium fills up with 40,000 Supercross fans (whodda knew there'd be so many in the Bay Area?).

and the races begin.
It starts with a Heat, where the riders race to place in the Main race.

We had great seats.


this is Chad Reed, last year's Supercross champion.

I learned there's a difference between Motorcross and Supercross. Supercross is in a stadium. Motorcross is on natural terrain.

This is the start of the next Heat. Up front is #7, James Stewart and #800 Mike Alessi. Mike Alessi and his brother Jeff are from the desert where Jimmy and I grew up.

Jeff Alessi #801 rides in the Lites Class. Mike is a Premier Class rider.

I couldn't help but cheer them on even though I was ultimately rooting for James.

The first lap, Mike lead the race, keeping James just a bit behind.

But after that lap, James Stewart sped past Mike and it was over. James won the Heat.

Now, the big guns were out and the Main race began.
The leading 3 in front are Chad Reed #1, Mike Alessi #800 and James Stewart #7.

But James Stewart won the hole shot and lead the race for all 20 laps.

And crosses the finish line victoriously.
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