Week in Pictures: A Day in the Life

So I did a little better this week!

Next week: Around the 'hood

Wall of Fame 

Tree-line streets on the morning walk

Running errands and thinking of my pals in Sweden

Strolling down Fillmore Street

Lovely city views from the park

Week in Pictures: Beauty

This is much harder than I thought! I got three in, though...I swear I will complete the week one of these days!

Next week: A Day in the Life

A tulip in its final day...

He is a true  beauty

If you look closely, you ca see the moon in those clouds.
 The purple skyline was unbelievable.

Week in Pictures: Inspire

So this week I failed miserably. A pic a day is hard work!

Theme for next week: Beauty


Week of 8 January 2012

A man with a vision that has been seen through many generations.

January...time to get healthy.

A pop of bright in a dreary winter

Listen Here: Can I Stay

I was minding my own business, going through my day at work...and this song started playing (via Pandora). And...well...the words took hold.

This is some kinda romantic tune right here.

It's Up to You.

My Week: Thanks.

I thought I would try something new for 2012, and document life, one day at a time. Or, I should say, one picture at a time.

My goal is to take a photo a day, all pertaining to a theme. Themes may repeat, and I am open for suggestions. But, a unique photo a day, starting each Sunday. We'll see what happens!

This week...I am starting with: Thanks.

Next Week...Inspire.

Please leave your idea for a theme in the comments section (or let me know if you like/hate this idea).

Week of Sunday, 1 January.

Friends. 

Luca

My quirky little neighborhood

My running shoes!

A good glass of vino

My job

Family

Reading is FUNdamental: Book Roll 2011

Another year gone by, another batch of books read. Similar to my 2010 list, I figured I would break a few things down for 2011.

I didn't read as much as I would have liked...I have no good excuse, really. With addition of Kindle books to Overdrive (the best app ever), hopefully I'll be better in 2012!

January

• Inside a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz
  A really interesting examination into life as a dog -- what they like, don't like, smells, etc. Who knows how much is accurate -- until they can talk, we'll never know -- but did make remember sometimes to just let Luca be a dog.
  
  
• Like Water for Elephants, Sarah Gruen
  This has been on my Amazon recommendation list for a long time, and finally it was available at the library. I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at a circus (and, this just confirms my lack of desire to ever go to a circus, ever). The storyline/ending was a little predictable, and a little bit of a cop-out at the end, but overall a good, captivating read.

April
(not sure what happened to February & March...did I just boycott?)

• April: Mary Ann in Autumn, Armistead Maupin
  In what I am assuming is the last of the Tales of the City series, Mary Ann comes home. Maupin wrapped up a lot of loose ends in this book -- some unnecessarily-- but if you are a fan of TotC, this is a must read. How I wish they would continue the movies...I miss Laura Linney's Mary Ann & Olympia Dukakis's Mrs. Madrigal!
  
  
• Less than Zero, Bret Ellis Easton
  Like so many of Easton's books, Less than Zero is an examination of privilege in the 80s (or lack thereof). I have seen this heartbreaking movie several times, and so perhaps my mind was tainted with those faces & characters that I know so well. I had a rough time getting into the book. A good read, but I kept waiting for things (from the movie) to happen that never did.

May

• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
  A definite classic, and deservingly so. Somehow, despite my English degree, there are many classics which I never read (probably on purpose)...this was one of them. This is not a quick read, and is one that, at times, is hard to follow, but is worth it! If anything, I now understand some random literary references that I never before understood.

June

• My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands, Chelsea Handler
  Ok, I totally did not get through this one. Read about 1/2, and after that, it just seemed like the same thing over and over again. I get it, she was a crazy youth (and probably continues to be a little bit so), but a lot of this book seemed like it was written for shock value.

July

• Look at Me, Jennifer Egan
  I read this one a long time ago, and it's been one of my favorite since. But I couldn't remember why, so thought it was a good time to check it out. A story of lives getting turned upside down, first love, and the complexity of people. Egan puts it all together so beautifully, you feel empathy for even the most horrid of characters.

August

• Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
  Still have not made it through this one. Fingers crossed that it will happen in 2012.
  
  
• The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
  Or, as I like to call it...3 days of my life, gone.

September

• Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel, Gary Shteyngart
  I really tried with this one...but couldn't do it.
  
  
• The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman
  Intertwining tales of the staff at a failing Roman newsletter. I really didn't want this one to end, as there were a few stories where I just needed more closure. I loved reading about Rome so soon after being there, and loved the passage of time I experienced during the book.

October

• One Day, David Nicholls
  This movie looked horrible, but I had read the book was good. And it was...it was a fun read about a complicated relationship, even though I wanted to smack the shit out of the two main characters several times.
  
  
• A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
  By far one of my favorite books of the year. (I should have known, I consistently enjoy reading Egan novels) Here, Goon Squad refers to time, and the book explores the passage of it. It is a series of vignettes that, at first, I wasn't too sure about, but as it went on, and the stories twined together more and more, I didn't want to put it down. Time, it is indeed a Goon.

November

• Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simonson
  Another one that was on my Amazon recommended for a long time...and I am glad I finally read it! It's a story of love in your later years -- can you find it? Is it still appropriate? Does what used to matter to you still matter? And, does new love take away from what you felt from those that are no longer with us? And...do you care? Perhaps because I could identify with a lot of it (from a 3rd party point of view), but I really liked reading this one.
  
  
• Born to Run, Christopher McDougall
  Since reading this book, I have totally changed my thinking about running. I now run with a joy (even when it is painful, or boring) knowing that it is what my body was born to do. This is something I have never been very convinced about...after all, I am short and rather squatty, and I used to only seem to bulk up when I run, rather than slim down like everyone else. However, this book argues that the human body of all shapes and sizes were meant to run, that we were able to survive as a species due to our ability to run longer than our prey. I am not sold on the barefoot running aspect, but do believe we tend to overcorrect problems that perhaps aren't really there. (this is how, I am convinced, I was in serious pain throughout the summer and until very recently...the foot doc put me in orthotics and shoes for overpronators, and that totally messed everything up. Since taking out the orthotics and going back to my old shoes, the pain has disappeared)

December

• Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
  A must-read for any fan of Apple or innovation in general. I remember when so much of this happened, and it was fun to see everything that went behind bringing us personal computers...and also Jobs's belief that people don't know what they want until you show them something they must have. Also, Jobs was kind of a jerk. 

Happy New Year!

So it's been a while, I know! I got back from Colombia, hosted a party, started a new job, went to several holiday parties, hosted another party, went to Christmas Eve festivities, then Christmas day festivities, worked, and suddenly, it was the new year and I hadn't posted a thing since I returned for Colombia! I know, life is hard.

So, here's a look back at 2011. After a super crappy 2010, I have to say...things improved in 2011 and I'm looking forward to an awesome 2012.




Featuring:

• Alisa's Bday lunch (and Nancy Pelosi)
• The Princess Project: PROM 2011
• Santa Cruz 10K & 1/2 Marathon
• SuDrew's shower
• Freccero's take Italy by storm
• Susan's bachelorette
• SuDrew Wedding
• 4th of July & tribute to dad
• Wharf 2 Wharf, take 3
• Wine Tasting Weekend
• Mom's bday at the River
• Mel's bday hop on, hop off bus pub crawl
• Hike to Twin Peaks
• Mendocino...Alexia's wedding & bday weekend
• Healdsburg 1/2 Marathon weekend
• Celebrating dad on his birthday
• SLO-town!
• Carneros wine tasting 
• Congratulations Tony & Sasha
• Colombia...Cartagena & Bogota
• Deck the halls, y'all

Not too bad, huh? Yes, there are some things missing...NCAA Friday, trolley parties, another trip to SLO (they were taken on my iPhone and I haven't been able to save those to my computer yet)...but what a fun year!

Final Day

We started our last day in Bogota with a trip up to montserrate, a church on one of the highest peaks in Colombia. Much to the chagrin of our cab driver, I pronounced it without the "e" on the end (like in Barcelona), and because of that he almost wouldn't drive us.

They may explain how crazy he was driving, though. There were several times I thought we would plunge right off the side of the mountain we were zooming up. As our cab had no seatbelts, I was grabbing onto the handle in the back like it was my job. The church is rather high up there, so even after the huge climb in the car, you still have to go up further,  either by cable car, funicular, or walk. We certainly weren't going to walk, and since the cable car wasn't open, our choice of the funicular was made for us.

The view from the top is pretty spectacular...I imagine even more so if the skies are clear. Being so far up, it is probably kind of foggy up there most days, but yesterday we had the added bonus of rain. It was still very pretty! Since it was a holiday, there were lots of local families hanging around up there, and there was a mass going on (feast of the immaculate conception, I think). While the names are similar, this Montserrate didn't remind me much of the one in Spain; where that one felt like an overhyped tourist trap, in Bogota it felt more true... It didn't feel so commercial, prices weren't completely jacked up. There were lots of vendors selling traditional food...I had a hard time walking through that part as I watched them unfolding intestines. No, really, intestines.

After a while of walking around, the cable car opened (and funicular closed), and we headed back down the hill to catch a cab and head back to our hood.

Again, our life was in this driver's hands, but luckily this time there were seatbelts. This dude was screaming down the hills, weaving in and out of traffic...my heart was in my throat throughout the ride. When we got back to the Parque 93, we had some trouble understanding the cost of the cab, and he then chastised me for my Spanish.  In fairness to him, it wasn't totally correct and I'm totally rusty, In fairness to me, I was trying really hard, and after week of constant translating, I was a bit tired.

At any rate, I wanted to spend my last day walking around, checking out our neighborhood and another nearby. Bill went to get some tea and hang out near the park. I tried to go to the Usequen (sp) neighborhood, thinking it was just 10 blocks or so away...I was wrong, it was more like 20+! Once I realized this, I turned back around to head back to my hotel and reset my day. On my way, I passed a bunch of very young members of the Colombian military, cruising the streets with huge automatic weapons.  Needless to say, this was a bit intimidating!

Back to the Zona Rosa (Zona T on the maps) I went, and decided to grab a beer a the local brewery. Bogota Beer Company is the kind of place my dad would have loved...lots of good home brews on tap, dark wood bar, locals hanging out watching futbol. This area is definitely the place to be, and where I would recommend anyone visiting bogota stay (or Parque 93, just a few blocks away). Tons of bars, restaurants, shopping, and local life. The Candelaria seemed like it would get quite seedy at night, whereas the area we were in felt super safe. On this particular night, it was hopping by about 4, since it was a holiday, the sun had made an appearance,  and the Colombian national championship soccer game was on.

Soon we were done with dinner and on our way to the airport...another hair-raising cab ride, in which I grabbed the oh shit handle so much, my hand was sore! All the flights have been without incident..I lost Bill somewhere between customs and the transfer area in Houston; he sped outta there and our flights were in different terminals.

Overall, I enjoyed Colombia. It's fun going somewhere rather unexplored, and the heat in Cartagena forced me to really relax a bit and lounge; a nice transition between jobs! I loved getting lost in the old part of the town,watching the inner workings when not many tourists were around. The availability of fresh fruit, sliced,whole, or as juice, at every corner, was awesome. And so inexpensive! Then experiencing a version of the paseo, where the people of neighborhoods all seem to gather in the local plaza  in the evening to eat and socialize, seemingly the only time of day they can do this and not be absolutely done in by the heat...it was a great way to get to know the city. And, of course, our roof pool was the bomb.

It was also cool to see a city like Bogota, which has so much history and so wants to start attracting the tourist dollar, but has some ways to go before it does (and, speaking as someone from a heavily touristed city, there are ways to do this-- carefully-- without pushing out those who have lived there a long time...and the infrastructure improvements and money coming in could be beneficial, once they ready). A guy that was staying at the same hotel in cartagena remarked to me that many people compared Buenos Aires and Bogota, and he felt Bogota had more charm. I could see that. Nestled there in the mountains, the landscape is just lovely. I think, someday, they could both be vying for the same tourist monies.

Día de las Velitas, Bogota

Tonight was a big celebration throughout Bogota (and Colombia), and I wanted to make sure to get in on the action! 

We headed down to the Zona Rosa, where the guy from our hotel recommended we go. Sure enough, it was crackin'. The restaurants were spilling over, and there were tons of people enjoying the "snow" on the street.

We ate and walked around a bit...by the time we left the area, people had finally started lighting the candles (las velitas). We came back to our hood and Parque 93 was all aflame with candles,and teeming with people. It was very cool to see...while the candles gave it a solemn feel, the holiday music and cheer made it very celebratory!