i like to say that she's 35 because that's how old i am. anyway, her birhtday was this past saturday but i completely forgot about it. karen said that there was no party, no cake, not even an extra treat. tough love.
i did get something pretty darn special in the mail though.
waffle mail
from my buddy julia in chicago
that was sent to me ages ago but i didn't get it until this past weekend. i was upset with jg for withholding my mail, but it turned out to be perfect timing, really.
julia is a creative genius. i knew that she does a lot of animal paintings but i had no idea she was painting waffs. karen was so taken with the artwork that i gave it to her, envelope and all. said she will have it framed.
i took all these yesterday. i gotta keep julia plied with images to work with.
for comparison with the first picture
i took that one last week during one of the random moments when waffles is mad at me. that's when she sits as far away from me as she possibly can.
that's holly and her husband shawn biking to visit me at 838 this past monday. they were in san francisco to run the beta breakers. holly and i have been blog buddies since october 2004. this is the first time i met her in person.
cheering on the activists
i wanted to take team slc to the deyoung museum but it was closed. being a bank of america cardholder, i was bummed. so we stowed the bikes at 838 and began walking briskly toward hayes valley.
stopping for the views at alamo square
i was hoping we'd meet jg for lunch in hayes valley but, by the time we got to his office, he had already gone to lunch. i was also hoping to get some blue bottle coffee but we decided against it. the only thing we could do was take a tour of jg's office.
"this black binder matches my outfit so to perpetuate the mystique..."
jg recommended a bavarian restaurant for lunch but we couldn't find it. we had belgian fries instead.
happy hoegaardens in the courtyard at frjtz
holly on hayes
after lunch we walked over to the yarn store below jg's office but it was also closed. it didn't matter. we simply continued our meandering walk, ending up at saint mary's cathedral.
standing in the center of the cathedral looking up
holly+shawn whispering
mood lighting courtesy west stained glass window
i love this building inside and out. i suspect i could very well find god there.
we closed down the cathedral around five and crossed geary boulevard to japan town. i took the marathon runners to ichiban kan, the dollar store.
reluctant shoppers
taking a brief break before going to...
kinokuniya
we stopped at several other shops inside the mall. shawn bought us coffee. other than that, we made no purchase. not even a craft book!
from japan town we raced back to 838. it was getting late and i had locked jg out of the apartment.
discussing the wiggle in the map
we sat around on the floor in the setting sunlight. i sliced up apples+pears and served them along with fine pockies while jg popped open his most favorite beer made by trappist monks.
well after sunset we walked down to geary for indian food. the restaurant played indian techno music and at one point during dinnner, everyone danced in their seats except jg. i don't know why i didn't take a picture.
the whole day went by in a flash. that picture was taken at 10:59 pm, right after jg strapped holly+shawn's bianchis on top of the deer slayer. we gave our lovely guests a safe ride back to their lodging.
after they signed papers stating that we are allowed to visit them in salt lake city.
