Monday, October 27, 2008

Leaving today

We're all excited, packed and ready to go. Golf is more excited about eating over there than anything else! LOL! So this is my last bit of time on the internet before I'm over and out for awhile. Gonna check my other blogs. I'll be back November 21st and may upload some pics between now and then, we shall see. Bye for now!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Getting ready to go

Earlier this week I called to confirm or reservation on our flight to Bangkok. It was six days in advance and it's a good thing I called that day; our flight had been canceled (as flights often are these days) and we were rescheduled a day EARLIER than we had booked.

So we're leaving day after tomorrow, not on Tuesday. Which is fine -- Golf finished up all his jobs and the new itinerary did not conflict with his work.

This weekend is busy, of course. This afternoon I have a hair appointment and I'm going to clean, clean, clean this apartment. I love returning back to a clean home. And we're bringing out the luggage to start the packing.

We've already successfully booked our hotel in Bangkok the first night. We arrive at the airport at 2 AM and so won't get to the hotel until close to 3 or 3:30 AM! It's because of this late hour that we booked a hotel, otherwise we'd go straight to my sister in law's house.

We're also trying an experiment with Aidan and the whole huge time change. Starting this morning, I let him sleep as late as he wants to, which was only an extra 35 minutes than normal. We're not going to attempt to put him down for a nap and we'll let him stay up as late as he can at night. I expect he will sleep later tomorrow and even later Monday morning, the day of our departure. I know it's not much, but anything to make the transition easier for him is our objective.

It's exciting around our home today!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

One Week From TODAY!

It's been sinking in the last few days - in exactly one week we'll be off to Thailand!!!

The week before your big trip, the reality of it finally sets in and it's time to get ready to go. I've been purchasing a few little bits that we need to take with us (most stuff we plan to get while there) and nailing down the logistics - paying bills online or arranging for their future payments so we don't have to worry while we're gone.

Today I'm off to the Eddie Bauer outlet store. I hope they still have some of their lightweight capri pants in stock - hopefully on clearance by now. I have one pair that fit me well and I don't like wearing shorts these days. So one pair isn't enough and jeans are too hot in Bangkok. A new swim suit would be nice to find as well as we'd like to take a side trip to the beach.

Woo hoo! The time is drawing near!

Monday, October 20, 2008

What a Great Sunday!

I had the best time with Melanie yesterday seeing the Open Studios in San Francisco. Golf and I have only had Carolyn or my mother watch Aidan for a couple of hours while we go to a movie, but yesterday it was for six hours! So a great big huge THANK YOU to Carolyn for enduring for that long AND for changing a poopy diaper on a kid that is old enough to use a toilet.

Golf came with Mel and me and we dropped him off to do his own thing. He's not into seeing art the way Mel and I am but he needed to take advantage of his freedom so he just wanted to be out and about in the city, browsing stores and relaxing in a coffee shop, just enjoying himself. He had a great time.

One of the best things I like about Open Studios is that I get to meet and talk to the artists themselves. All the artists I met yesterday were so very friendly, and of course we could relate with one another (with the artists whose work I really enjoyed, that is - I'd likely relate less with one whose works were not to my taste). Best of all, I got to meet and speak with each of the artists I profiled in my previous posts. They were each inspiring and happy to talk about the techniques they used in their paintings, their opinions and philosophies about their work, how long they've been painting and how their paintings have changed over the years.

It was a great, great day! One of the galleries was a space that Mel and I used to go to for rave parties back in the mid 90s called "Sweet". Still looks the same and seeing that space brought back fun memories from well over 10 years ago - wow, 10 years!

Anyway, it was the best time I've had in a long while, filled with no worries about the kidlet and just indulging in my own adult time and interests. It was wonderful! :)

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Open Studios

I'm very excited about tomorrow. I'm going to go to San Francisco with my best friend Melanie to see some art with Open Studios! For over 30 years, San Francisco Open Studios has provided the public with an opportunity to see artists in their workspaces. As the largest and first open studios program in the country, San Francisco Open Studios showcases artists without judgment and invites art lovers to make friends and start or build their art collections.

A few weeks ago I picked up the catalog and artist directory for this year's Open Studios, and many of the artists whose sample works in that catalog looked appealing to happened to have their showings this weekend. I'm especially excited to see the works by these artists:



and



This weekend's Open Studios is in an area of San Francisco that I'm rather familiar with, since I used to live there. Mel and I plan to find a parking spot and just walk walk walk, and the plan is to get lunch at Goat Hill Pizza on Potrero Hill - I haven't been there in years, but there's a gorgeous view of the city from that vantage.

I'm looking forward to an adult day out! A big thank you to Carolyn for watching Aidan!!!!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Super Aidan!

Since we're not going to be in the US for Halloween this year, Golf went ahead and got Aidan a Superman costume. Aidan's been on a Superman kick lately, using towels as a cape and listening to the movie soundtrack. He's one happy boy in his costume!


Saturday, October 11, 2008

Bummed About My Toastmasters Club

We now have only eight active members in our Toastmasters Club, and of those eight, we're lucky if half of them show up on any given Thursday. I'm very disappointed in this, but apparently it's common in clubs everywhere, and not just Toastmasters.

People are too busy in their evenings, I guess. It's a by-product of my previous post of people cramming too much into their schedules and having too much work to do, too long of a commute to make and frankly, if there is any time left over for family in the evenings, that's where it should be spent, not at a Toastmasters Club, really. In the end, people just don't have the spare time for any fun extracurricular activities for self improvement and socialization with others in the community.

The decision about our club is that come January 2009, if there is not an increase in members, this club will shut down. Fortunately there is another club in Alameda and the remaining members and I will transfer to the other club. It's just kind of sad as this club I'm in has survived since 1972...

Friday, October 10, 2008

Simple Living Simple Thinking

I happened to see Oprah the other day and it was about cutting back your expenses and living more frugally. She's been having shows recently that reflect the concern with this deep recession we're going through and what all of us can do to ride it through.

I felt great because most of the advice was what Golf and I follow all the time and is a way of life for us, like cooking at home, bringing your lunch if you're going out to work, running your errands at one trip to save gas, renting videos instead of going to the movies, going to the library instead of buying books. We don't have to make any sort of adjustments to this failing economy at the moment because we're already doing the right things.

Golf and I just have not been bitten by the ultra-consumption bug that seems to have gripped most people in America. We're not living like po' folks, and the number one thing I cherish is the TIME that I have for my family that I wouldn't have if I worked outside the home.

I just finished a library book called Get Satisfied, and it's about twenty different people who had found satisfaction with enough - and each had a different definition of what constituted as enough. It's very nice to see a movement of people who are committed to slowing down and living well in this hyper fast, ultra consuming, time sucking life that most tend to live. Not for me.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Painting from photos

I found a really cool blog called Different Strokes from Different Folks.

The blog author posts a photo weekly and artists submit their rendition of the photo in their own art, which is then posted on her blog. It's very interesting!

Nothing much happening of late. It's finally starting to act like fall weather around here. ;)