Into the wild

Yeah, I know I've been absent. It's that time of year. I've been so darn busy I hardly have time to ....well, you know.

Anyway, more on this later. I just looked at a blog that a lovely lively young 20-something lady named Jeanna is putting up called 50 Food Truck Dates. Jeanna got tired of the truly tiresome old dating scene - how is it this hasn't really changed in the 40-some years since I was that age????? - of waiting for some hopefully-cool guy to chat you up in a bar, or waiting for answers to your match.com emails (well, that's changed, but it's still basically the same thing). So unbelievably boring. She decided to take matters in her own hands and have a little fun and adventure while looking for love. Take a little read, and keep on reading past the first part until you get to the "philosophical" part where she talks about what she's up to with her project and life. What a smart smart young lady!

And what does this have to do with me or you? I say it doesn't matter what your situation is - whether you're still or again lookin' for love, or whether you've found your soul-mate and that's where you're staying - life is meant to be lived to the fullest. Ask my friend Beppy, who went for a walk in her neighborhood last week and got run over by a car coming out of a driveway. And died, age 59. Live, people!!! Have fun!! Act as if there will be no tomorrow, because there just might not be.

So here it is http://the50dates.com/food-truck-date-25-wild/.  You go, Jeanna! Remind us how to do it.

When life gets busy. . .

LIFE has really been fun the past couple of weeks. And busy.

First my son Arthur and his family came to visit from Portland, Oregon. They were interviewing schools in Petaluma to see whether they might want to move back to northern California. YAY! I'm in favor of that! They'd be so much closer!

One day Jack, who is 10, stayed with us rather than traipsing around to schools with his mom and dad. We went to the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, just a few minutes from here. Totally cool - you pay $15 for adults and $7.50 for kids and get to play as much as you want on 85-or-so antique and modern pinball machines for free!

We had a great time while they were here and, too soon, they were gone back home.

Then I got scheduled to work quite a bit slingin' drinks at the Claremont Resort. I love to work, of course :-), but it's a little unusual for February. Usually, once the holidays are over it's pretty slow for awhile. Yes(!) to money though.

This last week it was Wayne's birthday plus Valentine's Day. Wayne's daughter, The Beautiful Marja, came up from L.A. for a week to help celebrate, and her mom Mary came over from Santa Cruz for a few days too. Marja and Mary are my thrifting buddies, so we went back to the White Elephant Sale (see previous post), this time to donate and shop. This time it was so much better because, while we certainly weren't alone, there were lots fewer people there and even more WE's (White Elephants) than before. We found many bargains. Best of all, I got to clean out a whole bunch of "great stuff" from my home. I didn't want it or need it, but someone else might love it! My house feels good!

Then, Marja and I decided to paint my bathroom. Oh God, once you start it's endless. We scraped the ceiling (yuk), and the cabinets (Mary helped with this), and bought gorgeous new knobs for the drawers, and painted and painted and painted some more. Now it's beautiful and pink and new looking, but what a lot of work. So worth it, though.

As of today, everyone's gone and it's very quiet. Wayne and I are amusing ourselves by putting up towel racks and pretty shelves (see the fancy wooden supports on my Thrifting post), and soon I'll be hanging artwork back up on the walls. The bathroom will be finished. I love it.

Tomorrow we'll join our friend Rina and our friends George and Maureen at their daughter Julia's benefit party for the launch of her new company Blackbird Underpinnings. It's vintage-inspired intimate apparel and loungewear...how fun is that? And the party's at Bar 355 in Oakland, a new place to experience!

LIFE keeps on being fun! And busy.