Month: March 2007

Last week on this day my mom and I woke up at 5:45am to ride camels at sunrise in the Sahara Desert. The terra cotta colored sand was so pure and soft and the sky was a vibrant red/orange. Today I woke up to a blanket of white in Colorado. White white and more white. What extreme differences!

Just got back from the Moroccan adventure and I am pleased to report that it was AMAZING! My dubious expectations were totally blown out of the water. My mom and I have been up for the past 24 hours (at least that is what we think…we are both a little confused right now) so I am spent, but am trying to stay up a little longer so I can get on a regular sleeping pattern. I will post the pictures in a couple days once I clean my pants of camel.

Not going to lie…I am a wee bit nervous about going to Morocco.  Part of the nervousness is extreme excitement, part of the nervousness is simply out of worry.  There was a suicide bomber who blew himself up and injured three at an internet cafe in Casablanca on Monday.  The trip is still on and the travel agent has talked to our guide everyday since then and they say all is going to be just fine.  But since Monday I have been a good bundle of nerves.  My only hope is that once we get to Morocco and begin the trip I will relax.  In the past whenever I get nervous about something that something always turns out better than I expect.  I hope this is the case in Morocco!! Perhaps I need some good drugged mint tea to calm me down.

We are off at 5:45 am tomorrow to Atlanta, Georgia then after a four hour layover, to Paris.  We get in to Paris at 5:00am and we plan to head straight to the hotel to try and get caught up on sleep.  Hopefully the Parisians will be kind to us gals for a couple of days.  Then our adventure begins. I hope to see my mom belly dance with her henna tattooed hands. We’ll return on the 28th.  Expect some photos!

kid card table home

I hope this past weekend isn’t a sign of what is to come over the next 29892875 months while I look for a new job.  As of 1:00am on Saturday morning, I have not yet left the apartment (current time is 11:13pm on Sunday evening).  The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful (as seen from the window)…too bad I didn’t go outside to play.  I suppose the rationale for why I stayed indoors all weekend is partially valid: Saturday I had to recover from the all you can drink wine from Fondue Fred’s, not to mention broomball which took a major toll on my little body…and today I had to work on an art project which I have to complete before I go home on Tuesday.  I only had today and have part of tomorrow to put the finishing touches on the card table playhouse and I worked all the livelong day to try and get it done.  Now I feel like a hunchback woman with major back pain from crouching over my project for 12 hours.

I am not so sure I am prepared to leave for Morocco this week…I have too much to do!

Cupcake cars, How Berkeley can you be parade, 2005

Sometimes I wish I could just jump in my cupcake car and roll down the street to pick up a pickle or something.  The tough question is…would you get into the chocolate or vanilla car?

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This morning I woke up at 7:30am to a beautiful sunny day…I rubbed my eyes awake… looked out the window…and saw the moon!  I know the moon is almost always around during the day, but I have never woken up to it.  This was a bigger treat than I ever would have imagined. Actually, I never imagined seeing the moon first thing in the morning. Maybe instead of a Goonight Moon book, I’ll write a Good Morning Moon book.

hanging avocado bathing in the sun

I love that avocados are semi-also known as butter pears or butter fruits. Anything that is synonyomous with butter is grade A meat in my book.  According to Wikipedia, an avocado is botanically a berry.  I had no idea.

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I have shin splints today.  Yesterday I walked to work way too fast and today I am paying the consequences.  Or maybe today I aggravated my shins when I secretly raced a guy next to me without him knowing.  He was really good at 1.)speed walking through the streets just like I do 2.) holding a conversation with himself and 3.) scratching the back of his head in a very rapid manner every few minutes.  He did a great job at setting a fast pace and I followed until I caught up with him and took off.  I imagine that I look ridiculous speed walking through the streets…especially when I wear my unintentional bumble bee outfit like I did today (black pants, yellow t-shirt, black jacket if needed, black and yellow backpack).  My fingers are crossed that I don’t become known as that “bumble bee girl.”

I do love that in the bay area there are various characters known throughout the land.  There is “Pink Man” (the guy wearing a pink unitard and cape and rides a unicycle) or the 80 year old twins (who are always amazingly dressed and way too identical), and of course the “Bushman” (who succeeded in getting me to scream bloody murder when I was visiting SF in middle school).  Oh, San Francisco. What would our world be without you?

really old sewing machine that comes in a really old box. I love how “old skool looking” both things are.

I have been working diligently (with several week long breaks) on a sewing project that is three quarters complete.  The above sewing machine has helped me get through the project. Although it is old and kind of smells musty, I love this treasure.  Cooper and I bought two sewing machines out of a guy’s garage for $20 (hoping that one of the two would work).  It is such a simple and reliable little thing…I really can’t imagine trying to use a newer more complicated device…especially one that smells new.  Who would want that?

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Speaking of smells…

I smelled like ketchup today.  While walking around the neighborhood this morning, Cooper unintentionally managed to step perfectly on a packet of ketchup so all of the contents would land precisely on my pants and shoe.  I looked bloody but tasted sweet and salty. It was by far the grandest moment of the day.

I miss the way my grandma used to pronounce “cat sup.” Oh, cat sup.

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It appears as though my fish shaved his mustache.  He is no longer swimming around with the above stache. Amazing what fish can do without arms, hands, or fingers.

rainbow sprikle cake, in honor of Marcy Swiatek

I had a moment of back and forth going on in my head last night while I was slaving away over a mound of dishes and soaking up the hot steam (a scene very similar to a sauna but without the relaxing environment and I wasn’t in my birthday suit).  Cooper and I looked at the wedding website for a friend of his which we’ll be photographing this fall.  They have a dog, have amazing jobs at Google, and own a little home in San Francisco.  My head then said, “Assie, when the heck are you ever going to be able to have a dog or own a home or buy a new car or be able to save money if you quit your job?” But then I realized my life is really good right now. And simple. My life is so good and simple that I can do my own taxes (for me this is a big deal). I realized that although our living space is tiny, I love not having a massive apartment to fill with things.   Although I would love an art corner so I don’t have to start a project on our coffee table only to have to move it so we can eat our meals I don’t really need it. Although I would love to have a dog, what would we do with him on weekends when we shoot weddings, especially now that Cooper is trying to become a destination wedding photo-guy?  Why would I reallllllly need a new car? My little sidekick is working just fine and we never go anywhere anyway.

My good friend Mr. Flanagan said it perfectly…it is easy to stay in dead end jobs when you increasingly get paid more and more all while buying more and more things which then force you to have to keep up the expensive and complex lifestyle. I LOVE keeping it simple.  So right now, life is goooooooood.

side note: for those you who have dogs, nice cars, and homes…I am still envious and think it is great that you are at a point when you can own such things.  I just have to come to terms with myself and how my life is right now (minus a few dream items).

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p.s. I am sorry for the Easter themed pictures.  Mass amounts of pastels make me nauseous, but I liked the simplicity of the images.