Dunt, nah, nah, nah

(Why I don't go to Citrus Club for the noodles.)

For those who don't understand my sad little attempt to write out a beat, or who don't recognize the glowing orb of pink deliciousness above as a Cosmopolitan, I am writing to have an uber-girly, equally dorky moment of excitement over Sex & The City II coming out next month! I admit that I was not excited about the sequel at first. Have you ever seen the sequel to Bridget Jones' Diary? Craptastic. Alas, Jill and I were bobbing along on Friday night to the beatlicious sounds of "Empire State of Mind," and SATC II immediately came up. Prompted by Jill's insistence that the preview and naturally the outfits contained within were sensational, I had to take a peek ...

OMG! Phew, that's out of the way, now. While I liked the outfits just fine, I had a serious OMG! girl squeal moment when I saw that "Aidan" makes a significant reappearance. Officially excited.

Also, I wanted to give an update on my April goals; so far, so good!

• Composting - I got a super awesome, tricked out new trashcan yesterday. Just need to get the Biobags to go in it and we'll be in the "Gooooood for yoouuuuuu" zone immediately. (South Park? Anybody?)
• Knitting Class - I am all signed up for the ImagiKnit class that starts May 3rd. I'll be a knitting fool in no time! If you'd like to know why I chose ImagiKnit, please take a look at a picture of their head knitting instructor.
• Posting More - I got off to a good start last week then dropped off ... My goal is to try to post on my lunch hour since it's challenging to carve out the time once at home. If you've ever tried to type with a 12lb. cat on your keyboard, you know what I mean. Also, I think I may have just set a record for my most vacuous post ever. Score!

Who Are You Calling Chicken?

Adorable photo courtesy of the We Like It Wild post on Design*Sponge.

Sometimes The Universe tells me things. This week, it is telling me to keep chickens. Lest you believe I have meandered into a mental state similar to that of many Haight-Ashbury "residents," I will explain.

First, it was last week’s charming post by the ‘We Like It Wild/Studio Choo’ girls on Design*Sponge with a creative Easter decoration idea that I unabashedly cribbed for my table settings. They were inspired to create these tiny little arrangements after a visit with a woman who keeps chickens in nearby Marin County. Thus, it begins.

Photo from the Design*Sponge post

Second, it was strolling through the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market with Wilbat looking for brown eggs to replicate the goodness above and being bowled over by the price of a half dozen organic eggs. They were $4 for 6 little old eggs and I thought Will was going to flip out (and this was when he thought I was buying them for consumption – imagine when I told him my real plans!).

Third, it was checking out the Blogger feed this morning and seeing that Ashley English of ‘Small Measures’ has a book coming out on keeping chickens. Do I need it? No. Not only do I not have an outdoor space in which to keep a hen, I’m pretty sure it would be a serious violation of numerous zoning laws. Do I want it? Hell, yes. I would not mind getting her guide to home canning, either.

Photo from Ashley's post on her new books - check it out here!

Clearly, The Universe’s message to me is quite obvious. Though, I know what you’re thinking: "Oh, Nicole. Dear silly Nicole with your odd plans … You believe you want a chicken to lay you fresh eggs every morning and name Bess or Ruth or something classically 1950’s sounding, but be reasonable. You’d most certainly find yourself in over your head with the care and maintenance of a clucky hen." And perhaps you’d be correct. But perhaps you would be surprised to know that I have some chicken-raising experience, or at least more than your average bear. What might not surprise you would be to hear that when I owned the aforementioned chickens, I owned ten. Really, though, when a little girl visits the Fisco in Chico and stands before a giant aluminum basin loaded with adorable yellow chicks peeping away and scrambling around and over each other for the prime heat lamp spot, can she be expected to take less than ten? As can be expected, ten chicks were darling, ten teenage chickens were a bit precocious, and ten grown chickens (particularly those that turned out to be roosters) were a bit much. Luckily, my Dad found them new homes on a local chicken farm.

The moral of this little peep (pun intended) into my childhood is to reveal that I both have chicken-related experience and have learned my lesson about reasonable quantities. Regardless of that important lesson, I believe I will find myself Rhode Island Red-less, Hippy-Chicken-less, and otherwise hen-less for quite some time. Thus, I will leave you with some lyrics from my apparent anthem, Feist’s "Mushaboom."

Unpacking the bags and setting up
And planting lilacs and buttercups oh
But in the meantime we've got it hard
Second floor living without a yard
It may be years until the day
My dreams will match up with my pay…

Why, hello. I didn't see you there.

The date of my last post? February 19th. Shameful and without excuse!

So, here is an update of the past 1.5 months ….

What I’ve Done:

• I found gainful employment (and a paycheck). I work for a non-profit. Shocking! In fundraising. Unheard of! For a cancer organization. Get out of town! Yes, I have indeed landed in a lovely position at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and, YES, I work in San Francisco. Finally, after almost 5 years in Oakland! I now coordinate the Light The Night Walk in San Francisco. I work with absolutely lovely, fun people towards a great cause within the confines of my home city. What more is there to say? (Except, "Nicole, quit asking me for money for your blasted fundraisers …")


• I mastered another recipe courtesy of Ms. Martha that Will loves: Roast Pork Loin with potatoes, shallots, and mustard gravy. Post and photographic evidence to follow.
• I have become acutely aware that Spring has sprung in San Francisco. I have always been an Autumn-lover, but something about this Spring has really struck my fancy and made me feel awake and rejuvenated.


• Today is Will and I’s 2.5 year anniversary. Past this point, I will no longer be counting half years because it’s just silly. The apartment is loaded to the gills with flowers from Easter, so you’re off the hook, buddy.


• Learned about wonderful baby news from a friend who inspired me to blog in the first place. Congratulations, Brooke!!!!


• Explored the finest craft supply places in SF with an unscathed Jill following her safe return from South America.
• Saw Alice in Wonderland in 3-D with my mom. Quiet, haters, I loved it!


• Raided the Farmer’s Market for an Easter feast.


• Successfully re-habbed a piece of furniture from Craigslist. Future career? You be the judge. (Post and pictures to follow!)
  

What I’ve Not Done:

• Ride that bike.


• Decorate my new office (ok, cubicle).


• Used the ridiculously cute knitting patterns from the ridiculously cute book I bought when Jill and I visited ImagiKnit (because I do not know how to knit).
  

Goals for April:

• Ride that bike (helmets be damned).


• Do the "House Tour" posts I have always meant to do.
• Start composting.


• Drink 64 ounces of water every day.


• Back-Post like gangbusters:
  *The remainder of my Golden Gate Park pictures from my brief yet blissful time of unemployment.
  *Valentine’s Day crafty mccrafty-ness.
  *An intriguing (to me) examination of neighborhood displays.
  *Other stuff upon a more careful perusal of my iPhone snaps.


• I would not mind using that canner I bought in, umm...., September? Apple butter? Strawberry jam? Who knows. I just want to use it.


• Not posting about a bike-related injury would be grand. No seriously, last time I was on a bike I broke my elbow and it made for a pretty lame post-high school graduation summer.


• Maybe just a little tinge of slightly-less-white from a fabulous Vegas getaway with my best girls!


• Take a knitting class from ImagiKnit (chance this could fall into May).


• Keep smelling all these beautiful Spring flowers that send me into a dreamy daze of happiness.

Incidentally, the picture above is of Peter looking longingly at Hugh Grant. No obvious connection to the post that I can see, but let's face it, we all stare at Hugh.

Haute Wheels

Through fortuitous means, I may now call myself the proud owner of a sweet bicyle -- and some would say a true San Franciscan. Will's boss happened to be looking to pass along his wife's beautimous and barely used bike and I just happened to be in the passive market for one (passive due to the hefty price tags at huffy SF bike shops). The price? Gratis because, well, they are just about the nicest people ever.

I love the retro seat, the handle bars, the BASKET (!!!), but most of all, I just might love the glorious story of its homecoming. As it turns out, you cannot actually take a bicycle on the usual train Will takes and the bus wasn't coming for awhile .... so he rode it home. This bike. This exceptionally girly bike. In his work clothes (no helmet - eep!), all the way up crazy Market Street from the Financial District to the Haight. Boyfriend of the week award goes to the Wilbat!

(Jill, is this perhaps Will's attempt to break even with Dave's miraculous, self-initiated toile pillow purchase?) :)

Cherry Blossom Monday

Every year that I have witnessed Winter slowly transition into Spring in San Francisco, I have admired the plethora of beautiful blooming cherry trees dotted all around the city. You may not have noticed before, but there are loads of them absolutely everywhere you turn. Empirically, cherry blossoms are dandy to look at, but put them against the backdrop of some pretty Victorians I could never afford to own and you have yourself quite a pretty picture. I have always wanted to take a shot of them before - just as quickly as they appear - they disappear in a torrential downpour and/or a windstorm that *almost* makes you miss living in San Diego. So, four years later, I finally took a picture.

Ta-da...

Per the scattering of petals, here is Elwood demonstrating the absolute necessity of timely cherry blossom capturing.

Is There an App for That?

You would think that the sheer virtue of being unemployed would yield a greater output of posts, but obviously that has not been the case for me. My first week of unemployment was absolutely packed with a phone interview, two in-person interviews, more job applications, a birthday facial and massage, a long overdue haircut, Super Bowl party planning and shopping, and house-cleaning ad infinitum.

Rest assured, I'm not complaining about the interviewing (except for having an in person interview on my very first day of unemployment - what's with the no sleeping in??), and I am certainly not complaining about the birthday pampering; however, I was starting to wonder when this fabled Being and Nothingness would kick in.

At long last, this past Monday I found that my laundry list was absent of anything (even laundry) and I was free to do one of those "something I've always wanted to do but never had time for" things. Enter the tales of Adventure Dog and Nature Girl. Elwood, my aging digicam, and I struck out for Golden Gate Park in search of fresh air and a few good shots. I have to jet off for a second round in-person interview shortly, after which I will post more pictures from GGP.

For now, here are a couple mystery pictures. And by mystery, I mean I don't know what the hell kind of plant or bird that is. When I'm in the store and I hear a song I don't know, I can whip out the dilapidated iPhone, fire up the "Shazaam" app, and have an answer to my query in seconds. Duran Duran, a-ha! Not so much with the unidentifiable flowering shrub or the cute birdie in the Shakespeare Garden. For now, I will call that plant Butterfly Brush and the bird a thrush - mostly because I like the words. If anyone can better inform me, by all means, DO!

Bon Anniversaire

Today, I am officially in my late twenties. I have been a bit of a moper about that fact for the past few weeks, but I am over it. Instead continuing my woe-is-me routine about not feeling like I have a direction or clear plan in life right now (which is never too much bother to anyone usually until these silly birthdays come along), I am going to embrace the moment, toss on my stillettos, have some cake, and a few too many cocktails.

In a few hours, off to Zuni Cafe for a nice dinner with my Wilbat.

In a few days, out of this deplorable office on and to better things!

Thomas - completely unrelated, but he's cute, and unlike the rest of us, has learned to embrace the aging process and his love handles.