A bountiful harvest from the farm.

Yesterday, Martin and I bicycled to Alamany Farm, an urban, working, organic farm that is run and maintained by volunteers here in San Francisco. We planted parsley, weeded, wheel-barrowed compost, weeded, played darwin with beets, picked blackberries, pulled beans, weeded, hoed for potatoes and watered freshly planted brocoli plants. Did I mention that we weeded? Actually, I found weeding quite enjoyable as I have long believed that I am much better at killing plants than growing them. In my life, I have managed to over water cacti and under-water just about every other type of house plant.

After almost 5 hours of work, we gathered with the rest of the volunteers and coordinators to share in the harvest for the day. With dirt under our nails, we ate blackberries and chatted about the food and farm as people loaded up bags of fresh veggies and fruit. We took home a lot of lettuce, some spicy greens for salad, a few potatoes, a cucumber, beans, strawberries, a huge squash and some plum-like fruits. Such a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Such a nice way for Martin and me to spend the 4th anniversary of the day we met.

Sunday Sunday Someday!

the SF skyline from Buena Vista park after some serious playing around in iphoto.

Some things that had me smiling on Sunday:

• Making pancakes from a box and grilled soysage for breakfast
• Getting a call from my dad thanking me for his father's day gift
• An afternoon walk to a coffee shop turning into a ferris wheel ride at the county fair (sadly sans camera)
• Finding out about volunteering at the Alamany Farm from someone who happens to take class at the ODC Dance Commons, which is where I work
• Going to my first Sci-Fi book club meeting and not making a fool of myself as we discussed Bruce Sterling's The Caryatids
• Having the person ahead of me in the check-out line at Rainbow compliment me on my wine selection, which to be honest was completely random
• Breaking out the much neglected board games of Carcassonne and Pandemic after dinner

June: An eclectic month

• Tanya (6/5/09) - Tanya came from Atlanta to visit her brother and have her semi-annual fete with her friend Maylee. I was able to steal a few hours with her to have some dinner and show off my place of work while providing some much needed de-stressing time for her. Luckily, I get to hang out with her more soon!

• Martin's 26th birthday (6/6/09) - Vegan brunch, 3 parks (Interior Park Belt, Buena Vista, Alamo Square), coffee, Up!, Vegetarian Chinese food and chocolate-cherry cupcakes! Overall an awesome day.

• Trigun (6/8/09 to 6/21/09) - This is an anime series that Martin got for us to watch. He had seen it before and thought I would like it prompted by the number of anime movies I had been getting from Netflix. It was the perfect blend of silliness, seriousness and science fiction for me.

• Appcelerator Release Party (6/9/09) - Martin's company had a big release party downtown. I went and finally met most of his current co-workers. I don't see them a lot since their office is down in Mountain View.

• Ben and Blues dancing (6/15/09) - Ben Nathan, a friend from high school, lives out here in SF. We rarely see each other because we're usually both busy working, but he gets a summer vacation. We got to hang out, grab dinner, see his students perform (he works at a performing arts high school in Oakland) and go to a Blues dance house party.

• Plants Vs Zombies (6/21/09) - Martin should know better than to show me silly games on the computer. He knows how addicted I can get. Can't wait to show my mom when I come home to visit!

• Movie night (6/25/09) - We found out a local coffee shop a block from our house does a free movie night on Thursdays. They were showing "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," which is such a great film/musical. Click here to see a clip of one of my favorite songs.

• Katie Faulkner (6/27/09) - Another local, SF choreographer. She played with text and movement in one piece, light and projections in another and finished with a duet that was both nostalgic and light-hearted at the same time.
  

• Grand View Park (6/28/09) - A new park! Well, we had climbed up to the park back in May, but it was totally encased in fog. We literally couldn't see beyond the hill top. This time it was hazy, but clear. Unfortunately, no camera again. :(
  

May: Work, Play and Friends!

• Stern Grove & Anna Halprin (5/3/09) - A site specific dance performance that was part of the San Francisco National Dance week festivities. It was cold and foggy, but worth it. The audience sat facing the amphitheatre as the dancers ran, flew, and fell through out the space. A little boy, who was the son of one of the dancers, was in the audience and kept getting up to dance with them. There was also a dog who had an engaging duet with one of the dancers at one point as well.

• My 27th birthday! (5/4/09) - Truffles, comfy chairs for the apartment, yoga class and dinner waiting for me when I got home. Add a homemade carrot cake and you've got a pretty amazing birthday.
• Day at the Races (5/17/09) - This was the end of the year youth program performance at my job and the bain of my existance for most of April and May. I ended up being the Box Office Manager, Production Manager, Stage Manager and House Manager for the event. Those of you who have worked in the performing arts industry can imagine how stressed and overwhelmed I was. In the end, it ended up being a great show with only a few incidents that were totally out of my control.

• Move a Teen to Dance campaign (5/12/09 to 6/12/09) - And as if I didn't have enough on my plate at work, we started a fundraising campaign during the month of May for the Teen Program. In the end, it was a great success and we raised over $11,000 and $8,000 of that was matched by a foundation grant that we have!

• Alex (5/26/09 to 5/31/09) - And after everything calmed down, Martin's good friend and former roomie Alex came to visit us! The two of them went to a Google conference during the week and then to Alex's cousin's Bar Miztvah.

• Scott Wells (5/28/09) - Another local, SF choreographer. Probably one of the funniest, most atheletic and well-choreographed performances I've been to since I've moved here. There was even a juggling piece!
  

Jerome, AZ

On our way to Sedona on Monday, we stopped for lunch in a former mining town, now tourist town and artist haven - Jerome. It was a really fun town sitting on the edge of a hill/mountain. We had a lovely lunch at the Flat Iron Cafe, and I picked up a whole bunch of cards from the artist co-op. I took a lot of "artsy" shots here because the crumbling, abandoned nature of some of the buildings.

Been feeling a bit reclusive

Maybe it was moving from a Monday through Friday work schedule to a Tuesday through Saturday work schedule. Maybe it was the sudden shift in weather from sunny and warm to cold and rainy. Maybe it was the increased amount of work Martin's been doing because his company will be releasing an update on their product soon.

Then again, maybe it wasn't anything in particular. In any case, I'm back for a while. I've set some posts to go off over the next few days with some videos, thoughts, and pictures that I've collected over the past few weeks.

For starters, here are some pictures of the delicious dinner of red curry with eggplant and tofu that I made for us tonight and of the egg-less chocolate cookies I made yesterday afternoon. I guess I've also been feeling domestic :). Please note our fabulous dishes that my friends made me two years ago for my birthday. I still love them and use them everyday!

Laurynzilla vs. Sumo Martin

On Sunday, we met up with Tyrus, Martin's co-worker & friend, at Raymond Kimbell Playground. We walked up to Japantown, wandered around the shops, and had lunch. I bought some Japanese cards. Tyrus bought a rubber stamp that was a picture of his face. It turned out really well and was named the best purchase of the day. Tyrus also took the award winning photo above.On the way home, we walked through the Fillmore District, which has a strong jazz culture and music. We passed by the Church of St. John Coltrane, and couldn't resist taking a picture of the sign. They invited us to come by on Sunday for their 3 hour service based on the music of John Coltrane, but they assured us that we wouldn't be obligated to stay for the whole time.
Then, we stopped by Alamo Square to give Martin another chance to do a panorama. I took Tyrus up to the tiny, shoe garden that surrounds the tool shed in the park. It looks like they take shoes that have been left on the street or in the park and convert them into tiny planters. Every time I go, I feel like little elves should be walking around tending the shoes.

More presents!!!

I just got one of my Christmas presents this evening. Every year my mom's family does a Secret Santa gift exchange, and mine just arrived from Atlanta. And it's awesome! Look at my sweet new Fair Trade hat handmade in Nepal.
Martin said he could tell I liked it since I put it on right away and then didn't take it off for the whole night. Here it is as seen from above.I also got a cookbook - The Joy of Cooking: All About Vegetarian Cooking. Martin had also gotten a veggie cookbook for x-mas - The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook. I love looking at the pictures in these books. They look so amazing even though I know photographers do really weird things to get the pictures to turn out that way. Looks like we're going to have to start incorporating some new recipes into our meals!