mipmup.

almost perfect.

an almost perfect day was had this halloween. first, we had the kind of weather that makes me deliriously happy. sunny, warm, dry and gorgeous. we went to the farmers' market in marin (about 40 minutes and $8 in bridge tolls) for no other reason except that we needed cilantro and lemons. and this, after just visiting the ferry plaza farmers' market the day before. i love that. vegan crack.

after standing up for myself to the tamale lady by walking away and not buying anything from her because she was so rude (this is a big deal for me), we packed up the car and went a'drivin'. we stopped at a frou-frou mall to tinkle and observe the rich white folks of marin county (i think that needs to be in title case). we then went to another mall in search of a non-chain restaurant. no luck. so we drove up, up, up a twisty turvy road toward the beach where the sharks like to bite people.

we didn't quite get that far, but we managed to check out muir beach. on our way, we passed a zen center/little farm combo, some horses, a few diehard bike riders cycling up the hill and managing not to get killed by passing motorists on the too-tiny-for-two-vehicles road.

we stopped at the pelican inn, a really sweet little englishy cottage with a bar and restaurant, but there was no seating at the bar and we weren't in the mood for a full brunch. i was disappointed since i was hankerin' for a cider. alas, we moved on.

we passed a pair of horses that were fighting. one was really bugging the other one and it was pretty funny to watch. i could have stayed there for a while. there was a row of mailboxes along the side of the road since i'm guessing that in this rural area, the twisty road makes personal delivery ultraslow.

like real tourists, we stopped at the designated "overlook" to ooo and ahhh with the rest of 'em. unfortunately, unlike real tourists, we had no film. if we did, our pictures would look something like these.

after regretting not purchasing acme olive bread and sciabica olive oil, we headed back up and down, around and around all the way back to the freeway.

unfortunately, i was green and needed food like nobody's business so we caved and did what any true tourist would do. we ate fast food in the city where slow food is a way of life!

who said playing tourist wasn't almost perfect?

gratitude.

it is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
— ethel percy andrus

it feels good to give. i sent a gift basket to the case manager at the hospital in kansas to attempt to say "thank you" for everything she did for us while we were there. she went above and beyond and we've said many times we wouldn't know what we would have done without her. i just heard from her and she was appreciative and seemed so happy to have been recognized — it just made my day. i feel as if i'm floating on air.

i have to thank jen for helping me put together the gift basket and the ones i sent to the other folks at the hospital. it was her generous christmas gift a couple of years ago that inspired the idea. she put together a bunch of her favorites from the bay area and we still use many of her "favorites" today. here's some of the items we included, (mostly) all made in or around the bay area, dad's hometown. wish i had a photo of the baskets, but i am probably the only blogger without a digital camera and i had no film in my "regular" camera.

• marshall's farm natural honey. we tasted several varieties of honey to finally settle on buzzerkeley wildflower and napa valley wildflower. their honey is available online or farmers' markets in the bay area.

• blue bottle coffee. jen explains the greatness of the coffee and its availability (and "deliverability!") here.

• strawberry jam. purchased from swanton berry organic farm. find out how to purchase them here.

• dried fruits and vegetables. i included dried apricots and sundried tomatoes from full belly farm (and this farm has to win the cutest name and branding — though, sadly, their logo is not on their site). they are also a california certified organic farmer.

• dried lavender. we got this from gabriel farm. jen says that are "known for apples and asian pears." another organic farm (hooray!).

• cookies from frog hollow farm. purchased from their store at the ferry building in san francisco.

• molinari sopressata salami. you know i'm a vegan, but if i wasn't, i'd definitely eat this stuff. from what my better half tells me, it's spicy and it's something he must have on every visit to the city. luckily, you can order it from their site!

• granola. this cafe fanny granola was a bit of a splurge at $7 per box, but jen says it's worth it: it's handmade! it's pretty easy to find around the bay area in specialty supermarkets, like whole foods or berkeley bowl.

• snacks from trader joe's. nuts, crackers, tapenade, more cookies!

• dish towel. everything was packed into a gift basket lined with a towel sorta like this one.

• to top it off, jen provided photographs of/in and around the bay area so i made custom thank-you cards. check out her photography if you get the chance.

easy access.

for those of you in california or ohio, may i recommend doing some pre-voting research here? my favorite feature is "find my ballot" that does just that. users are able to easily access candidate and initiative information and related links. i'm all nerded out because i just voted early by touch screen (the registrar/recorder didn't send me my absentee ballot). it was simple and i appreciated that i was able to vote early since i'll most likely be out of town on election day. a bonus? i got my library card while i was at it! bring it on, dewey decimal!

art credit: smartvoter.org.

the four-hour one-hour flight.

returning home for a week (normally a one-hour flight), i figured i'd fly into my mom's hometown which is about 45 minutes from mine and spend a leisurely late afternoon with her, catching up, having dinner and fawning over my dog, who was staying at her house.

alas, it wasn't meant to be. at least as i had planned.

first, i couldn't print my boarding pass.

then, on my way to the airport, it was pouring rain and the fast lane was flooded. traffic.

then i forgot my cell phone in the car at the parking lot and had to do a loop with the driver so i could retrieve it.

a bossy couple that was on the shuttle tried to cut me off at the southwest skycap line but then saw the check-in kiosks and went inside. jerks.

i told the skycap the wrong destination because i normally fly to another airport. she looked at me sideways.

then i got "selected" for additional security which was a first for me (did it have to do with the fact that i didn't know where i was going?). a huge guy manhandling my unmentionables! so gross. of course, i had to ask myself the chances of the huge guy changing gloves between inspections. i'm thinking slim to none. the entire suitcase is going into the washer. yes, the rollerbag, too.

i approach the regular security line and am told that i need to go to the special security line, where i had to take of my shoes and my sweatshirt (thank god i was wearing the right bra underneath my superthin shirt). then i was wanded, my underwire gently touched (ugh) and released into the wild, i mean, gate.

my flight was delayed and delayed and delayed. for two and then some hours.

we finally board and the plane returns to the gate because of a maintenance issue, which was cleared. apparently we were on one of the more modern planes that needed a "reboot," as the pilot stated. hmmm.

luckily, after that, all was well. the two women next to me, strangers, were comparing their lives and chatting away. they both had children the same age and woman a. even had a grandchild. woman b. said that she looked far too young for a grandchild, but they were around the same age. i could tell that woman b. was being judgmental because woman a.'s daughter was just 21 when she had her son. woman b. was also a little on the negative side. their differences were palatable. woman a. was all smiles, laughs and giggled frequently. woman b. was serious. a salesperson for a mainframe company.

but as they were talking, woman a. said that even though life never turns out the way you plan, it is still an amazing journey. she said that she could have never anticipated any of what has happened to her, but life is still a joy. i could see how right she was. though i arrived late, i got to enjoy that dinner with mom and fawn over my dog. it just took me four hours instead of one.

---

update: i was selected again on the flight back. in the words of ducky, "do i offend?"

art credit: watson wyatt.

meow.

it's never good to eat cats.

bad hair day.

observations from an outing at nordstrom rack*:

• don't buy hairbrushes there. ever. the lady in front of me unwrapped one, tried it out and (thankfully) bought it. only i think she bought it because my better half came up and said, "that's one way to buy a brush."
• waiting in line for 15 minutes is overrated. the purchase wasn't that thrilling.
• people don't know an empty spot on the rack from a trash can. in fact, they can't see aforementioned trash can right in front of their nose. they choose to put it on the rack or hey! in the empty box on the table right next to the line.
• since when did nordie's sell neutrogena, biolage and biotherm? i scream false pop enticements!
• after we got through the 15-minute line, finished with the slooooooow cashier and were ready to go we noticed that the heaviest downpour of the day had just begun. thankfully, it wasn't that bad. maybe it was all those $9.97 tops.

*that's the outlet store of a fancy store.

seeking comfy, yet cool, kicks.

i need to walk around town a lot now and i'm looking for some comfy, but cool-looking, shoes. i like these (in orange) from land* end, but i'm thinking of something a bit more "edgy" or even "earthy." my pumas killed me today. (i know. i know. those boots aren't made for walkin'.) requirements: they must be closed-toe and be super comfy for city-only walking. i'd like to speand about 50USD. any thoughts?

does she get benefits, too?

apparently we're not the only ones that love our dog. since i've been away, she's been going with "daddy" to the office. right underneath his nameplate is this one. funny. none of the other office dogs get a nameplate. then again, none of the other dogs are invited to conference calls, brainstorming sessions, birthday celebrations or to other companies that sublet space. other dogs aren’t taken for walks by the creatives or production team. other dogs’ names aren’t considered as response codes for direct mail pieces (per the client, no less). most days, he can't even find her because she’s off visiting. she certainly is the social butterfly i never was.

friday favorites.

here are my friday favorites for this week:

• grey sea salt. i bought a little bit at rainbow when i was there this week and it's a "must-get" for any cook. the texture is crunchy, the salt flavorful and sharp. the link references an article which made me think of trying some. it was so delicious sprinkled on cherry tomatoes from the farmers' market and on my salad. i can't wait to try some of the others mentioned, too.

• pr*vention magazine. am i an old person now because i'm reading this and enjoying it? or maybe i've just been in the hospital too much where reading like this seems groundbreaking. most recently, i liked the article "best of the web: alternative medicine," which mentioned these sites:
  

  - national center for complementary and alternative medicine
  - alternative medicine by the university of pittsburgh's falk library of health sciences
  - alternative medicine foundation

• jade garden notecards. i bought these from this great little shop in north beach. the shop is a bad, bad place for me being a stationery addict and all, but i managed to get out of there with just these cards. next time, i'm not so confident about my escape.

• avalon organic botanicals soaps. i like this soap because the scent is natural and fresh and the soap doesn't dry out my skin. i have the liquid soap in my two favorite scents in the whole world: lavender and lemon verbena; and i use the lavender bar soap every day in the bath. i get mine at trader joe's.

• dress up your desktop by pixelyn. i've been using danielle's illustrations as my desktop wallpaper for quite a while. her illustrations are colorful, energizing and fun. look under "illustrations" or on the far right. her fonts are supersweet, too.

photo credits: chefshop.com; avalon organics; vickerey/mudlark; pr*vention magazine.

soul vitamins.

had a fun coupla days recently, which have been soothing to my soul after some rough ones.

dad's friend has been a true gift; she's relaxed, centered and giving of herself. she seems to be real, know who and what she is and makes no apologies. i feel like she's a timely role model for me. we went up to dad's office yesterday and i met his colleagues, visited his office and gave some thank-you gifts from eatwell and jose*h schmidt to the folks there. they have been supportive, loving and helpful during the time dad's been in the hospital. (though of of eatwell's lavender products are not on their site, they make the most wonderful handmade lavender/calendula salve, hydrosol spray and sugar scrub. you can find it when they're at market.) while it was nice to be there, it felt odd to see dad's calendar still turned to august, with the note "to tulsa" on the 11th. i had the fleeting thoughts of "what if this hadn't happened?" but just as i was feeling melancholy and picked up the calendar, i found his optometrist's business card for which i had been searching. good things are happening.

yesterday, my friend, jen picked up the lavender gifts from eatwell for me and met me at rainbow, the bestest, most glorious grocery store ever. holy smokes! no meat! tofu everywhere! herbs! twenty types of tom's of ma*ne toothpaste! all of my favorite products, including the ever-elusive lavender scented detergent by seventh generation. i even found a plain bottle for my homemade salad dressing. i've been looking for something like that for ages. and it was just $1.05!

i am also happy to report that my better half will be coming for a visit this weekend. it's been a while since we've seen each other, so i can't wait.

i am feeling positive, energized and happy. good soul stuff.