It's Been So Long!

Okay...so I'm sorry about the blog slackin'.

Anyways...it's been an interesting day. First we were short staffed at work because everyone's getting sick. Then we had a homeless guy come in asking for some water; we were going to give him some coffee but then he just reached into our tip jar. My co worker grabbed the jar and tried to fight him but he ran away. Then our coffee urns broke for about an hour during our busy time so for an hour we were a coffee shop without coffee. It was interesting. On my walk home though I got in a better mood. I was walking through Chinatown when I found an awesome little card shop; I spent way too much time in there. :) Then walking through Union Square, they have the ice skating ring up starting today. There were all these business men on their lunch breaks skating. A good majority of them could skate pretty good, especially for being in suits! They're also getting the big Christmas tree set up there. Eeps! It's coming!!

So I've been all over the place lately. I finally got a room which I love. I live with my coworker who's very nice & sweet. I'm right near downtown so I don't need to really take buses or trains anymore, I'm walking distance to work, school and all sorts of really neat places.

Since I wrote last I've been doing so much. I saw my first opera, hung out at the beach, went to the Aquarium of the Bay, eaten very good Ethiopian, Vietnamese, curry, crab, Thai, fruits that I don't know how to pronounce or eat, etc. I know they always talk about all the good food here...but it's still way more than you'd ever expect. I've been walking all around the city in different neighborhoods. I love my neighborhood cause it's kinda rough but right next to the theater district, the city hall, opera house, symphony house, downtown, and right by a really ritzy part of the city. I get to walk past beautiful art galleries and designer clothing stores everyday.

There's this cafe by my house called the Moulin Rouge. :) It's so cute...almost a old swiss lodge design with a rounded leather bar inside and all the tables are different mosaics of old porcelain. It's owned by a cute old Asian couple. The wife has a sign by her that states "Please don't stand behind and watch me cook, it makes me nervous." he he :) They also have replicas of the Moulin Rouge paintings on the inside & outside of the building. It's really small, maybe 10 tables for 2-4 people.

Anyways, before this gets too long...I've been doing a lot, I've been doing pretty good. As many of you already know, I've been going through a lot. Looking for a place, working, going to school, drama, a divorce, being sick, moving...etc. But overall I absolutely love it out here & feel that I've found my place. I want to thank everyone that's helped me & put up with me. You've all been very supportive and helpful in all your different ways. For those of you in Wi...I hope to see you this weekend when I come out. Don't forget, Cock n Toast at midnight on Saturday!

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - Marcel Proust

We're Out to Discover!

So I've just been all around the past couple of days.

Heather, Trevor and I went to the beach the other day; it was a beautiful day! It was kinda weird at the beach though. First I got to see my first jelly fish not in a tank...then I got to see about 50 more. They were all washed up on the beach, ranging from the size of dinner plates down to quarters. There were also crab bits all over too from the birds eating them. The real disturbing thing was that there were quite a few dead seagulls, ravens & pelicans on the beach. Then we found a dead sea lion. :( His head was all gone. :( I couldn't tell why he was dead, just knew that he was definitely no longer alive.

Anyways...on a prettier note, the ocean was gorgeous, like she always is. We were walking up to the Cliff House and the Sutro Bath Houses. Now it's time for a history lesson!!

The Cliff House:
Is a restaurant that started in 1858 built out of lumbar salvaged from a ship that crashed on the cliffs below for $1500. Later, a new owner rebuilt it and it was mainly for horse riders because of lack of roads but grew popular after Golden Gate Park was founded. It was also popular because of the great view of Seal Island which is a little cliffy island nearby where the sea lions (the live ones) sun bathe. A few years after 1887 the building was severely damaged by an explosion of a schooner that could be felt for hundreds of miles. Rebuilt. Christmas 1894 the repaired building burned down including a guest register including signatures of 3 presidents and dozens of world-famous visitors. In 1896 Sutro built a new seven story Victorian Chateau that some called the "Gingerbread Palace"; in the same year he began working on his famous Sutro Baths on the cliffs below.



Everything survived the 1906 earthquake but burned to the ground in 1907. It was rebuilt in 1909 and is still up and running. today. So, it seems to be a doomed place but it is really neat.

Okay, then when you get up to the cliff house, there's a big lens you can look through to watch the pelicans and sea lions. Then you can climb down to the remains of the Sutro bath houses.

The Sutro Bath Houses:
They were the world's largest indoor swimming pool built in 1896. The baths included 1 fresh water and six salt water baths ranging in temperatures and a museum display of Sutro's personal artifacts. They also included a concert hall with seats for 8,000 and an ice skating rink. He used the oceans high tides to recycle the water and during low tides used a power turbine pump that could pump 6,000 gallons a minute. It was shut down mostly due to high maintenance costs and while it was being torn down, was burned down.



So now that you know the history...here's my pictures of what it all looks like now. :) (please click to see all of them)



And then...because I never have too many pictures, here's some pictures from the botanical gardens in the Golden Gate Park. I was taking pictures for about 30 minutes and was lost the other 90 min.



Feel free to look around my Flickr account to see many more awesome pictures!

Yay! I gots a job! That's right, after about 80 or so applications I have a job at Peet's Coffee. It doesn't pay exactly enough, so I'm still looking. I have an interview on Tuesday for Urban Outfitters and on Thursday for a receptionist position for a construction company. But until then, I start at Peet's tomorrow, so hopefully I won't be as broke and my apartment search will be more successful.

I went to my school yesterday which was very neat. Got all my paperwork taken care of and all ready to start Sept. 4th. I can't wait to start but at the same time I'm more interested in next semester when I'll get more interesting classes (right now I have introductory to film and the history of film). :P

So, welcome to my blog. I've never really had one of these; I can't find time enough to just think in sentences and now I have to actually record them. Anyways, keep this blog in your favorites please as it will be the easiest way for me to share all my thoughts and pictures with all of you. :)

So it's been pretty uneventful in San Fran so far. Still looking for jobs and apartments. Some of the apartments out here are amazing, including views of the ocean and Golden Gate bridge from your bedroom windows. Then there's some that claim to be 2 bedrooms but only are if you don't have a living room. :P So...the search goes on.

On Saturday Heather, Bert and I went to Muir woods. (Heather is who Richard and I will be living with; she was one of my bridesmaids. Bert is one of her friends that has a car, kind of rare in San Fran. :) He's a real cool, nice guy who's been taking us around to look at apartments and eat yummy Vietnamese food.)

So back to the woods. We got there kind of late, so we didn't get to the really big part, but we kind of plowed through the tourists because Heather wanted us to get to a part of the woods that's off the trail. It's such a beautiful woods. There had been fires a few years back so some of the trees are hollowed out from the fire. You could fit 4 - 6 people in these trees! And they're still leaving even though the insides are all burnt! We went back to one of her favorite spots which was kind of hard to get to. They also had some flooding which moved stuff around so we were climbing over huge boulders and trees and going across creeks. One discovery we made though was someone put a swing back in the woods. Which was all fun until Bert fell into the creek. :)

Click on the picture below to take a look at more! Some of them are blurry cause I forgot my tripods in WI. :(



Enjoy! I miss you all!