millions of tracks

mother's day was celebrated at my house this year, with my mother, father, sister, her fiance, and my uncle in attendance. my dad and i cooked gumbo from scratch, nearly an all-day affair. apparently it's best when it's cooked a day in advance, and this i discovered to be true when i had Jewels and Cy over for leftovers the following day. my uncle, knowing we were having gumbo, decided to put a san francisco spin on it and bring us sourdough bread bowls. delicious!

gumbo prep



the final product (posted again, for posterity's sake)


this week was a scorcher. (aside: the word "scorcher" in that context always reminds me of that sears commercial for air conditioning from the 90s. "what's the paper say for tomorrow?" "another scorcher." "cool!") the heat renewed my desire for air conditioning in my home, although it's not likely that i will be getting it anytime soon. we currently have a special assessment out for the entire complex for a little over $13,000 per unit. (yes, that's thirteen thousand.) this totals over two million dollars for us to repair failing decks and balconies that are a safety risk. that i typed that without once wincing shows how well i've drank the kool-aid and am now ready to serve on the board for which i am running.

back to the heat. i went with Jewels to see, i'm embarrassed to say, that ashton kutcher movie to escape the heat on wednesday afternoon, when it was 96 degrees in the shade. i could have spent all day in there, no matter what was on screen. thursday wasn't much better, and by friday we all needed an escape, so it was a good thing we'd planned to head to the city. Sarah, Jewels and i went to the legion of honor to see the annie leibovitz exhibit. because of traffic, Jewels and i didn't arrive until about an hour before the place closed, so we raced through the exhibit and didn't see any of the permanent collection. the annie leibovitz exhibit was amazing, and i'm glad i got to see it before it left. it also served as a reminder that i need to do stuff like that more often.



the chihuly exhibit will open next month, and i hope to be able to see it


the views were amazing, and the breeze while standing on the cliff was worth the drive



we walked around some of union street then headed to perry's for dinner, as it was the only one with available outdoor seating. so many cute pups (and their owners) walked by!

saturday morning i was up early to head to (supposedly) an amazing rummage sale, and when i arrived before the thing even started at 7:15a, there was nothing but garbage. i'm surprised they sold anything at all, but one man's trash and all that. target was just up the road a bit so i headed over there and actually had to wait for them to open at 8. it would have been worse had i been the only one waiting, but there was a gaggle of us early shoppers. i spent the rest of the day running errands (nordstrom rack, getting my legs waxed, etc.) before having sushi for lunch.

i was invited to a BBQ saturday night by a friend from college and her husband, who moved back up north after he finished his residency. i hope to hang out with them more often, and hope i didn't overstay my welcome, because i had a great time hanging with them. and they're both great cooks, to boot!

i was up too daggone early again today, but at least it's cooler. headed to an advance screening of a crappy movie this morning, then headed to meet my friend Greta for an afternoon refrshment at starbucks followed by shopping at REI. she's doing a bike race next month and needed some new gear and i needed some new water bottles and reef sandals, so it was only natural that we'd head there together. it's a bummer she's moving down south in the summer, but i'm glad she found a job that will suit her now that she, too, has a "Dr." in front of her name. me hav smrt frends.

this evening was dinner with the folks before they head to maui for almost three weeks. upside? i'm absconding with my mother's convertible while she's out of town. we walked to an italian restaurant about a mile away for dinner and it was refreshing to not have to drive to get something to eat.

now? it's been an exhausting weekend and it's nearly time for bed.