10 Things We Did This Weekend

1. Wrapped presents

2. Went to Soccer "practice."

3. Rode our trike.

4. Poke to Hubs' folks in the UK.

5. Ate burritos.

6. Went to sleep early because The Boy and I have colds.

7. Ran out of cat food.

8. Bought cat food and saw some kittens, snakes and guinea pigs at a pet store.

9. Had coffee with Grandpa.

10. Did (hopefully) the last of our Christmas shopping.

A Different Life... RIP Vaclav Havel

The first line in my college entrance essay stated, "I was sixteen years old when the Berlin Wall came down." Such was the importance of the end of the Cold War and the democratization of Central/Eastern Europe in the late '80's and early '90's. Just as my whole childhood was spent fearing Soviet nukes, nothing informed my young adulthood like my fascination with the buffer states in Eastern Europe and their move to their rightful, and geographically correct, position in Central Europe.

Lech Walesa, the Prague Spring, the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 etc... all part of what formed the religion for my bored suburban soul, and at the top of my geeky Pantheon was Vaclav Havel. Hard-drinking, chain-smoking, playwriting freedom fighter and architect of the Velvet Revolution - so named as an homage to one of his favorite bands, The Velvet Underground.

I sat through one of his plays and I actually saw him once when I was working on Charles Bridge pimping a tourist bar. He walked by with, and was dwarfed by, Jacques Chirac. That was in 1994, 5 years after the Velvet Revolution and 1 year after Czechoslovakia split into Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Since then I have married a Western European and settled down in the same kind of quiet Californian suburb I was fleeing when I ran off to Prague, but between my youth and Havel's death there were several more adventures around Czech Republic, a master's thesis written about expatriate culture in Prague during the early 90's(and yes, this was at a very reputable university), daydreams about taking The Boy to Prague and him looking at the wallpaper on my laptop saying "Pog!"

Words can't express how much this man I've never met, only saw once and who governed a country of which I was not a citizen effected my life, but it was profound. And I am sad.

Odpočívej v pokoji , Václave , a díky.

Road Trip - Part 3

Day 3 of our trip began with breakfast at The Buena Vista. It's cheesy and touristy, right across from the Cable Car turn-around and between Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf, but it has a lot of history for me and my family. When I was very small my parents used to go there for Ramos Fizz's, my dad would lay his coat on the floor and I'd curl up and go to sleep on it, under the table, while my parents chatted with their friends and pretended they weren't hippies.

So off we went. In typical Boy fashion, The Boy loved the cable cars. He kept dragging Hubs out to look at them, and wanted a seat near the window so he could keep an eye on them while we were eating.

And then, much to the chagrin of my twenty-something self, we visited Ghirardelli Square. Here's The Boy on a bench made for him

And walking beside Ghirardelli Square with the Bay behind him

And with my beautiful mom in front of the Christmas tree.

I then decided that we had to pass through Fisherman's Wharf, something I haven't done since I was practically The Boy's age, so we could look at crabs. But first we saw an awesome, to everyone but Hubs, Christmas cable car

Then some crabs, although they were a bit more chilled out, or sad, than I remember.

We carried on to Pier 39 so we could look at sea lions

A walk around the Pier gave The Boy a chance to see Alcatraz - though we'll save an actual visit till he's older

While at Pier 39 my boys went on the merry-go-round, The Boy's first time

After we'd had our fill of the most touristy of tourist sights, we headed to North Beach - slightly less touristy but, like the Buena Vista, a place loaded with personal history. My dad became a fan of North Beach when he was in the Navy, which was shortly after North Beach's Kerouac/Ginsberg/Ferlinghetti heyday. He introduced me to Caffe Trieste when I was about The Boy's age, and I've been a devoted fan ever since,so we couldn't miss it when we were up there.

Sadly, they didn't have the fixin's for an egg cream, so we settled on cappuccino's for Hubs, me and Mom and a croissant for The Boy

I had to take a requisite pic of my boys in on Columbus, in front of City Lights Bookstore with the Transamerica building in the background.

Here's one of my boys in the alley behind City Lights, named after either Kerouac or Ginsberg - I can't remember

Here's The Boy working on his straw skills at a diner on Mason Hubs and I used to frequent when we lived on Post.

After dinner we went up to check out the ice skating on Union Square. It was really cold but The Boy seemed to enjoy watching. We watched for a bit more then returned to the warmth of the hotel, hoping to get a good nights sleep before the drive home in the morning.

The next morning we packed up and headed across the Bay Bridge for breakfast in Berkeley. It was lovely, and before we left my favorite part of the US during my favorite time of year I took one last(bad) picture of Christmas baubles on bare trees.

And then we hit the road. What an awesome trip! We're so lucky to have a good little traveller in The Boy, and to be able to get out and go on trips with him.

Road Trip - Part 2

The first night of the 3 of us sleeping in a king sized bed didn't go super well. We bed-shared until The Boy was 6 or 7 months old, but since then we've only all been in bed together for bedtime stories or morning cuddles. You'd think that with the vast expanses of real estate provided by a king sized bed that we'd have plenty of room, but the writhing, rotating and kicking of The Boy made it feel like we might as well have been in a twin.

Still, we woke up slightly bleary-eyed on Monday yet excited to start the day. The reason for our trip was so my mom and I could participate in a MS genetics study so we met Mom and my step-dad at the Ferry Building for breakfast before heading up to UCSF

We didn't have time to check out the shops in the Ferry Building(which resembled an aircraft hangar when I used to pass through there on my commute to Oakland 10 years ago), but The Boy did get the chance to run around in front for a few minutes.

After handing in our questionnaires and several viles of blood, we went to Union Square to look at the Christmas decorations and grab some lunch.

See the gate to Chinatown in the background?

We sent Mom and Step-dad back to their hotel while we wandered through the Financial District with me boring my boys by pointing out every building I worked in back in the day - there were many.

Then we stopped by Gumps to get The Boy a special Christmas ornament to commemorate his first trip to San Francisco before heading back to the hotel for nap time.

Then we had dinner in the Marina and contemplated what it would be like to be living in San Francisco - or at least the Bay Area - again.

mmmm... bread

Holiday Shopping Misses

I've done most of my holiday shopping, but while in San Francisco I was almost tempted to get this for The Boy

I didn't, but was just reading a summary in the LA Times about good books to buy for Christmas... and it was on the list. Now I'm kicking myself.

Of course this was on the list as well

so maybe the list isn't such a winner after all. I mean, I adore my cat, but collecting her fuzz for crafts? Really?

Road Trip - Part 1

Full tank of gas: check.
Assorted CDs: check
Snacks: check.
Enough time allotted for the drive so that if The Boy flips out and needs to run around and blow off some steam we can pull off at a rest-stop: (hopefully) check.

The longest The Boy has ever spent in the car was the 4 hour journey between Hubs' parents house and his grandmother's when we visited England in May. There was also the 2 hour drive to San Diego when we went down to visit the zoo for The Boy's first birthday. Both drives went well, for the most part, but when they went badly they went reeaaaalllly badly. So it was with a certain amount of nervousness that we set about making the 6-7 hour drive up to the San Francisco Bay Area.

A bright and sunny Sunday morning, before we knew it we were on the Grapevine.

A lunch break halfway up the 5 gave The Boy the chance to try Denny's for the first time

Of course the reality of traveling with a toddler means that we had to run several laps around Denny's before getting back in the car.

And then, after a nice long nap, The Boy woke up in Berkeley - my alma mater, in case you missed the bajillion times I've mentioned it.

On campus, The Boy saw his first protest in the form of Occupy Berkeley, which seemed to have degenerated from a big student protest to 4 homeless guys and their dogs.

The Boy was curious nonetheless

We had to take a requisite shot under Sather Gate

And after a look at the Campanile

We drove over to Marin for dinner at my aunt and uncle's house.

We left my uncle's and headed to our hotel in the City. The Boy was asleep as we went over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a verrryyy long day, but we were ready for a full day the next morning.

It's Christmas Time!

Hubs and I have differing views on how Christmas should be celebrated or, as Hubs would be more apt to say, endured. He enjoys the food and drink involved in the holiday season - who doesn't? - but detests carols, Christmas trees, decorations, crowds and shopping.

I, however, love all of it. Or most of it, anyway. When I was little I used to clandestinely listen to my mom's collection of Christmas albums in the Summer, and I would drag which ever parent I happened to be with to our local tree farm the day after Thanksgiving. My dad always got a smallish tree but my mom, flush with her lifelong accumulation of ornaments, always got a respectably sized 6 or 7 footer. We'd listen to Frank Sinatra and decorate the tree, complete with lights that were the size and shape of chicken eggs. As presents appeared under the tree I found myself constantly rearranging them and, as I had them pulled out from under the tree for my inspection, I'd wriggle under the tree and look up through the branches and admire the pattern the lights made through the pine needles.

Luckily for Hubs I'm not still as enthusiastic about Christmas and trees and decorating, but I do still really, really like my inner adolescent getting a nod at Christmas time. That said, we live in a small townhouse. It's bigger than anywhere Hubs and I have previously lived, but it's still pretty cramped. So cramped that getting a tree reminiscent of the ones from my childhood isn't entirely practical. There was one Christmas early in mine and Hubs' relationship when we lived across the street from a tree lot in San Francisco and I saw it as a sign that we needed a tree but even with a small tree we blocked off half our futon and couldn't see the TV.

For the last several years we had this little tree that I bough in Vancouver.

It was probably meant to sit on an entry table or the back of a toilet, but we quite liked it. It didn't do well with the move back to Cali, but we still brought it out the last 2 Christmases. Alas, its sparkly black balls have nearly all fallen off and its branches have been bent one too many times, so I acquiesced to Hubs demands that it go live in the garage.

And with that, I'd like to introduce our petite, environmentally friendly, cat barf-inducing, Hubs acceptable, Christmas tree.

Now it's on to baking, wrapping and consoling myself that it's only a matter of years before The Boy demands a bigger tree.

One Week Later...

Thanksgiving: 2011 Edition

My parents divorced when I was a tween and put me alternating holiday schedule. 25 years later, and with another set of parents thrown into the mix(thank God Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving!) and I'm still on the same approximate schedule.

This year Hubs, The Boy and I joined my mom and step-dad for a lovely dinner in a fancy restaurant, but not before spending the morning drinking coffee(Hubs and I), running around(Hubs and The Boy) and eating baked goods(all of us) with my dad and step-mom.

Our dinner was at an Italian restaurant so we had yummy pumpkin ravioli for an appetizer, perfectly cooked turkey, celery root mash and veg for the main, then an amazing desert trio composed of pumpkin creme brulee, apple sorbet and a chocolate cake. It was way more than enough food and the time between courses allowed Hubs and The Boy to check out the recently hung Christmas lights at the fancy hotel across the road.

Here is The Boy with "Gamma"

Here are The Boy, Mom and myself(please forgive the splotches on my shirt. The Boy is a messy eater)

And then, because we never seem to have pictures taken of the 3 of us when we're out, here is a pic Hubs took when we were home, fat and happy.

Just out of view, on Hubs' lap was Cat, so it was almost a pic of the whole team.

Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!

Strange Sleeping Positions - Wordless Wednesday

Thankful

1. I am thankful for my family - Hubs, The Boy and the fuzzy-bellied cat provide way more love than I ever thought I would have deserved.

2. Trader Joe's - Candy Cane Jo Joes, Cranberry Orange Relish, various seasonal frozen dishes. Trader Joe's is surely the greatest grocery store eva!

3. Health. Besides having a degenerative disease I am actually quite healthy, as is the rest of my family... even my meat loving, vegetable hating, exercise avoiding, chain smoking, 71 year old dad.

4. Friends. I might not have many anymore, but the ones I have are golden.

5. Solvency(touch wood) - Though far from wealthy, I thank my lucky stars everyday that we're comfortable, that we are debt-free, that Hubs has a job. So many people are struggling financially that I recognize just how lucky we are.

6. Casserole season - Sweet potato, green bean, dressing, my Aunt Pet's creamed corn - 'tis the season for unhealthy fair baked until bubbly.

7. Footed PJ's - One of the cutest things about having small child.

8. Online shopping - Seriously, as I haul ass through my holiday shopping I have to give Amazon, diapers.com and gap.com a shout-out. I'm 99% done with my shopping and 5% done with my wrapping because I can easily peruse stuff on my trusted lappie while The Boy naps as opposed to dragging him around a mall or losing my mind on Black Friday.

9. Cardigans and fuzzy socks - tis the season to bundle up.

10. Organization - For the first time ever I splurged on a $20 plastic gift supplies box and it makes wrapping so much easier... and cheaper. Once I had all my wrapping supplies in one location I realized I won't have to buy new paper, tape, ribbon, tags or Christmas cards until The Boy starts high school. Awesome!

I think I'm in love

With this recipe from Big Red Kitchen

The easiest recipe ever, tasty and moist and pumpkin-tastic. God bless Pinterest for bringing it into my life. I don't bake nearly as much as I used to, but my Kitchenaid + the ease of this recipe means that my friends and family have a whole lot of pumpkin cupcakes coming their way in the coming weeks. Then it will be time for my other cheesy, easy, social networking inspired obsession... Oreo Truffles.

First Trip to the Dentist

This morning we all went to the dentist. Me for the first time in a year, Hubs for the first time in 4 years and The Boy for the first time ever. Yeah, we're bad.

We began with charming the front office with The Boy's big, blue eyes. Then there were tears when the hygienist approached in her face mask and smock, all ready to clean my teeth. After some Hubs love they settled into the next stall for The Boy's check-up... and it went well. I cringed and held tight to the arm-rests in anticipation for a meltdown, but it never came. He chatted to the dentist then came over to me and said "Mommy's upside down" before commencing a running commentary. He actually seemed to enjoy it, and I think I managed to fake being super cool with my gums being gauged out - have to trick him into thinking the dentist is awesome, after all.

They played Yo Gabba Gabba for him during Hubs's cleaning then sent us on our way with toothbrushes and a Spiderman sticker.

Not bad for an outing that nearly gave me an ulcer last night.

The Best Years - A Monday Listicle

#1 - 2009 - It was the best of times and the worst of times. I lost my fluffy companion of 13 years to kidney failure and thought that alone would kill me. Then there were the relatively minor, but still far from awesome, inconveniences of swollen legs and ankles in the final months of my pregnancy and sleepless nights for pretty much the whole of The Boy's first year.

With all that, I still gotta give the edge of all my best years to '09 because it is the year I married my Hubs, adopted Cat and had my boy.

#2 - 1996 - So many reasons for me to love this year. I was 22, at my thinnest and prettiest, pulling a 4.0 in school and had the best time ever backpacking around Europe, and I've done a lot of backpacking around Europe.

#3 - 1998 - The year I transferred to my beloved Cal and met my beloved Hubs. It was also the year I discovered my love of Radiohead and acquired my own email address.

#4 - 1986 - The year I turned 13, had my first kiss and realized I was destined to marry an Englishman. Thank you Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode.

#5 - 2003 - Like '09 this year was a bit of a double edged sword. It was the year I was diagnosed with MS, but also my first full year living in London and the year I started grad school.

from bloomsburypeople.blogspot.com

#6 - 1994 - The year I lived in Prague with my best friend.

#7 - 2000 - Settled into living with Hubs then we took some time off to go live in Germany so I could learn German.

#8 - 1993 - Another big travel year. I spent the Summer in Central Europe. One month in Prague to(unsuccessfully) learn Czech and some time spent in Budapest, Austria and Poland. It was a great way to be 19.

#9 - 1999 - The year I graduated from college, fell in love with Hubs and moved into his place in San Francisco.

#10 - 2004 - I lived in London with Hubs, completed my thesis for my Master's, took my first trip to the Baltics and 500th trip to Prague and Paris, as well as getting back to Budapest, Vienna and Italy. I always say that was the year I was a world traveller.

from guideinbologna.it

Now The Boy has a framed, laminated map to mark down everywhere he's been. Exciting.