sailing heart ships through broken waters

we were originally going to hike somewhere at tilden this weekend. we were so pumped on last week's garland hike, that we actually packed a lunch and got out of the house at a reasonable hour for a day hike. then we got into a crappy traffic jam going into the caldecott tunnel. this gave jeremy time to look at one our frequently used websites, bay area hiker and we decided to go to sibley instead.

sibley is a very cool volcanic park that is also an off leash dog area. our favorite kind of dog area! we hiked around for a few hours, taking the volcano and quarry trails and also heading down to the pond. once we walked all the way down the hill we found out it is a dog free area so we just pretty much walked back up. whoops. totally my fault ('let's go down that steep hill to check out a pond!') but jeremy and miri are good sports. i found out that grapes are a good way to coax miri up a hill when she's already been hiking for a couple of hours.

the last push up the hill was too much for miri so she got a nice ride for a little while. she looks really red there but she really didn't get too sunburned. the temperatures have been heading up in the bay area recently and after forgetting it one day last week, i have the baby sunblock everywhere we go now.

all last week miri was not in daycare so we spent all our time together. now that she's back i miss her so much! she is such a good kid and i am so happy she is in my life.

you can get whatever you want at alice's restaurant

hello internet. it's friday! so far i've spent this morning listening to arlo guthrie and working on my egg poaching skills. i think i've got it. no tricks, gadgets, vinegar, whatever. salted boiling water, drop an egg into it. let chill. slotted spoon. cover with tapatio. jeremy is sitting at our table being productive/reading the news. it's nice to spend a morning at home, especially when we've been out and about lately; craft fairs, parks parks parks, seeing lots of friends, etc. we've been staying closer to home the past couple of weeks and it's been nice. of course that means we're just going to be out of town a lot coming up soon. anyway, here we go with the week in review or the WIR as my buddy nevin says:

last friday we actually went out for a rare breakfast that isn't grabbing a pastry and coffee at our awesome bakery.

we walked on over to mama's, our cherished neighborhood breakfast joint. jeremy got my favorite, the eggs brady, while i ate a giant, giant omelet. i lovvvvveee breakfast and while i do enjoy cooking it myself, it's nice to be able to order off a menu and have someone constantly refilling your coffee for an hour.

after eating a giant breakfast, i walked over to bart to go get my hair cut by my friend jamey at edo. here is my before shot and a peak at how much hair got cut off.

i am totally happy with my haircut! jamey is the best! i only wish i had remembered to save a lock of my hair for jeremy. but frankly, i was kindof drunk from a couple strong pints at toronado before hand.

this week we also met our friends dusty and tristan at the mosswood playground near our house. miri and tristan are less than a week apart in age! tristan also has the most beautiful hair i may have seen on a child after miri.

i really like the contrast between jeremy and miri's faces on that one. she lovveessss her daddy. also, that hoodie that jeremy is wearing is like a magnet for people asking him/trying to sell him weed. as he was sitting on the swings, some kid came up to us and offered him some grapes. heh. he politely declined. later in the week we got offered again as we were walking down telegraph. not surprised that we have the stoner 'look'.

saturday i helped out my good friend maia of dandy lion press at the renegade craft fair at fort mason. her etsy is here. go buy a card or a t shirt! my favorite is the jackalope with bullhorns. cutest! i am going to hopefully be helping maia out more in the future which is cool. i like her, her business and her family so much. support them!

i had a great day at the fair. i got a print i've looked at on etsy a few times already, a stuffed dinosaur for miri and the brown jackalope shirt for jeremy. everyone liked their presents. i kindof wish i had gotten another print that i saw and waffled on but what can you do. by sunday though, i was ready to stretch my legs at pt. isabel, the biggest dog park in the country. ethel and miri had a ball.

i LOVE pt. isabel. i totally used to go there before i even had a dog because i love it so much. there are great views of sf and the north bay. we hiked around for about two hours.

(if you look closely you can see a dog standing on the picnic table!)

here is ethel tuckered out afterwords:

best dog! <3 <3 <3

birthdays were the worst days now we sip champagne when we're thirstay

this post today is being written while i listen to the new san francisco water cooler album. finally out on vinyl! it's so funny to me when albums are released in late july of 2010 but they've been in the works so long that they have 2009 on the artwork. anyway it's great and it's my friend david's band. this past weekend we spent a bunch of time with him when we were down in santa cruz.

but anyway, let me start from the beginning of the weekend. it was miri's birthday on friday! she is now three! we drove down to the monterey peninsula on friday night and spent a long weekend hanging out at my parents house.

for her birthday, my mom got her a bunch of books and jeremy and i got her a balance bike and a helmet. a pretty nice haul.

it was also my dad's birthday! presents for everyone!

meanwhile, ethel and my dad's dog homer played tug of war all weekend. they have another dog named baxter but he's kind of a grump and doesn't like to play so much. ethel and homer don't mind. when they get around each other they are in their own little world. btw homer weighs around 130 lbs and ethel weighs about 14.

while in monterey we also found a petting zoo for miri and took her bowling. growing up in that town, the bowling alley was called 'lincoln lanes' but now it's 'monterey lanes' and it's also kind of a rip off. charging for shoes for every game, not just the first one? sucks. whatever though because miri looked great in bowling shoes.

so after a few days in monterey we drove 45 min north to housesit for my uncle in the santa cruz mountains. his house is my favorite place in the world, with seriously no hyperbole at all. he grows pipen apples in the orchard in front of his house and it's super private and beautiful and just the most relaxing place ever. this is the view off of the main deck:

i took way more pictures with my actual camera and after they get developed i'll probably post some. when i was a kid, my mom and i lived in santa cruz and my uncle was a great father figure for me after my biological dad left. we are very close and have probably the most similar aesthetics out of everyone in our family. he was so, so nice to let us housesit for him and take care of his cat/plants/bird feeders. i <3 my uncle to pieces.

after coming down the mountain we hung out with david in the beach flats, ate a snack at falafel hut and napped/chilled out for a while. miri thoroughly enjoyed her apple from martinelli's. santa cruz!

we also hung out in watsonville and ate fish tacos with a bunch of friends but were too lame to take pictures. which is a total bummer because we got to hang with the cutest baby ever. oh well. next time.

dogs + toddlers + gays make my brain explode

man this week has been very busy with friends in from out of town and hanging out with friends that live here and just going to a lot of parks. parks parks parks.

we live right by mosswood park, and luckily, it has a dog park.



we love this dog park. we know all the regulars, and everyone is generally pretty okay with having a toddler chasing around the dogs too.







going to the dog park is great because ethel runs around like crazy (she will chase anything, and harass any dog into playing with her) and it's all fenced in so miri is stuck inside too. we go to the dog park much more than we go to the kids playground at mosswood. there is stuff for miri to climb on, and some wooded areas for her to run around in that she loves. on tuesdays and thursdays starting at 5:15 there is a small dog meetup. the dog in the black harness is one of ethel's favorite buddies, peanut.



he and ethel are almost exactly the same size/color/build. they are both from local shelters but not the same one. maybe they are related? who knows!

we DO take miri to playground-like parks too. here is a picture from totland in berkeley on friday and the civic center playground during pride today. my friend stephen said it was like the calm in the storm because it was only for kids and their caretakers in a sea of sf pride craziness





miri had a great time though! she got handed free stickers by tons of people, saw lots of people dancing and getting naked. it was really crowded at times and corporate. bank of america booth? gross. but all in all it was fun.









miri also had her first its it today! i lovvveee its its and always ate them as a kid so i was stoked to get her one. she and jeremy shared a vanilla one and i, uh, ate most of a mint one all to myself. i love its its! it was so hot out today, we hid in the corner of a bus shelter for shade and devoured them. so good!

one thing about pride is that it is definitely crowded. the bart ride over to sf was filled with drunk frat bros yelling about boners and homos.



here is jeremy not amused:



here is miri squished in on the train.



but somehow we survived everything and had a good time and saw good friends and made it home. now everyone is taking a nap but me (all people/animals included). it was a good and exhausting day.