Sant Cruz

Last weekend Alena, Sam and I headed down to Santa Cruz for a whirlwind weekend.They both went to UCSC and lived in Santa Cruz for a while, so they know all the happs and all the cool kids.

First we visited Alena's friends who live on the edge of town and rent this place with like a gobzillion (to be precise) acres of land on which they keep their house, their gardens (above), their chickens (!), and their TWO trampolines! It was pretty rad. Plus they have this great view of the city/ocean.

But then it got dark.

So we moved the party back to town. Also, we put on some coats. Alena is rocking her new duds from the San Jose Savers thrift store. I'm wearing this kid's leather jacket. And looking tuff.

Day 2: the pier
(Or the boardwalk? I'm not totally sure what's what.)

Delicious diner on the water.

Sea Lions!
Ar Ar Ar!

There are also a gobzillion sea lions. They seem to chill a lot.

BABY sea lions!
(See that white one? It's a baby!)

Did you know that pelicans are enormous? They totes are.

Check this out!
He was friends with the tourisits.

Especially Sam.


And then we drove home.
The end.

BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday, Dad!
xoxo

O-BA-MA!

I joined my co-workers (and a bazillion other people) in Sproul Plaza (on campus) for the Inaugural Address yesterday. I mostly couldn't see the screen, but I could hear the speech and I got some really great shots of my neighbors' heads. Enjoy.

There he is! Can you see him?
OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA!
(Oh, wait. I think that's Dianne.)

It was really crowded.
Too bad we didn't show up at, like, 7 am. Then we would have had the prime spots. Instead we got the 8:45 spots.

My coworker (and fellow Mac grad) Andrew and I were pretty psyched.

This is probably the best shot I got of the screen. Eventually I stopped trying.

Yay!
I think this was a cheer for the "non believers" bit, or one maybe a mention of science (which is v. popular here).

Here I am. Fun times.

Two of my fav co-workers (Maya & Andrew) + me.
We are WFF. AE.
(work friends forever. and ever.)

MOh-MA

I've been volunteering at SF MOMA for the past month or so. I usually work at the family studio, which does super fun, hands-on activities for kids and their families. There is always a cool crew of workers and lots of enthusiastic youngsters. I continue to be amazed by the kiddies' ideas and creativity. It is pretty much the bomb.

This week and last, the Family Studio was a modern dance workshop. The first week a fellow volunteer and I ended up workin' it on the dance floor, trying to encourage adult participation in the interpretive dancing activity. At first (as you might imagine) it seemed sort of awkward, etc. but pretty soon we warmed up to it, and by the end of the day we were dancing machines. So, this week, we came all warmed up and in our dance gear (well, our mental dance gear anyway), but luckily there was a huge turnout for the workshop, so we were needed for non-dancing activities. But we did get to watch the kids (and parents!) rock it out on the dance floor. It was pretty great.

After the workshop, I did a quick tour of the museum -- looking for Michael Jackson and Bubbles (Jeff Koons), the sweetest sculpture of all time. Unfortunately, I discovered that it is not on view! Severe disappointment. But I did see some other cool stuff. Here are the highlights:

(Captions forthcoming.)

you only turn 25 ... like 6 times?

(Or maybe it's unlimited.)
All party all the time!

Happy Funny Hat Day Brother!

not to make y'all jealous ...

but,
MN vs. CA.
(No contest.)

go MAC!

The Piper
(I thought I'd taken a video of this guy, but I guess I screwed it up because it turned out to just be of my shoes and the inside of my purse. Whoops. Anyhow, you know how it goes. Scotland the Brave, I mean.)

On Friday night Lizzie and I ventured into the big city for a Macalester Alumni event at the swanky SF City Club, and much fun was had by all. We met up with friends (new and old) and celebrated our alma mater. It was great. I wish we could do it every weekend.

Free food + free drinks = Super Party Time
(You can see our friendly bartender behind us in this one.)

Extra-special bonus: Collin was there (all the way from MN)!

This mural was worth something like 1.3 million dollars. So no drinks were allowed on the staircase.

They also showed some pretty precious videos that made everyone (well, at least me and Lizzie) sad not to be at Macalester anymore. And we heard from current students, some alums and B-Rose (the prez -- apparently this nickname has not yet become widespread within the greater alumni community).

Fun times only.

Go Mac!

More soon, I swear.

I haven't taken many photos lately, but luckily the free press has (above).
I just liked this one.

mn party time

Ok. So, I've been bad about taking pictures, and worse about posting things. But, here's a little sampler of some MN scenes.

Snow! Lots and lots of snow. And frost. (and the neighbors' house)

Snow covered Locust Street

We also had a family jam session. Brother rocked that xylophone.

Grandpa-Grandson recorder duet.

Self portrait with Sada Jane!

Sada!
Hi Hi Hi

Norman dressed up to welcome me home. Go Twins!


I know I should have more pictures, but I really don't. However, I am currently featured prominently on Jenny's blog. So you feel free to check it.

t-minus 3 days, 3 hours and 5 minutes ...

until I land in MN! (but, who's counting?)

chrishmos time is heeah

Lizzie got us this sweet xmas tree!

Parade!

We saw Santa walking down the street earlier in the day.

And then we wen to the Oakland holiday parade! I love parades.
This was not as good as the 4th of July parade. But it did have more bands (above) and giant blow up characters (below) and fewer trucks.

Santa! And his team of tap-dancing ladies.