Week in the Life: Hiccup Saturday

Now that I'm working again, weekends have more value.  And being a week before the show, I wanted just a little time to enjoy waking up without an alarm clock.  The mornings are when I get some quality time with my fuzzy kid.  Today I enjoyed some lazy time in bed snuggling with my Kodi Bears.

But eventually I got up and cooked breakfast.  Cooking when you're single isn't as fun but sometimes I like to treat myself.  And, now that I'm not cooking for my ex the only feedback I get is my own.  And I think I'm pretty damn good at whipping up a meal.

There are a few ladies that I've met this year that totally and completely understand me.  I was having a hard time digesting some negative energy from earlier this week and received this message.  And even though the things that I do are motivated by the things that I want to accomplish for me, I take some satisfaction in knowing that all those terrible, negative people in my past are being proven wrong.  The reality of it is that they didn't keep me down and tell me I was bad because they thought I was, it's because they needed to feel better about themselves.  If we could all just learn to pick each other up instead of tearing each other down we would have such a cohesive society.  But in the mean time I've learned to surround people with the same beliefs as me.

So after all that morning goodness I headed to SF to meet with the Flickr Howdy Stranger photowalk group.  That was a mouthful.  One of my favorite views is when you emerge from the Treasure Island tunnel and see the Bay Bridge in front of you.

And then you know you need the camera-from-where-I-stand photo.  Anyway I can't resist taking pictures of my Nikon Df.

And any time I'm shooting with Brian, I end up in a bar with a drink.

And then in a restaurant with another drink and maybe some food.  Brian had set up his camera in the restaurant and later was confronted by the manager who thought it was a video camera.  Brian was asked to take the camera down as the restaurant said they didn't allow photos in the restaurant.  We were curious if he was going to collect everyone's phone so they could stop taking pictures of their food.  Of course he didn't.  But ya know....

I feel bad when I'm working full time as Marli has to spend the day home alone.  Luckily my commute is way short and her time alone is minimal.  However when I go out on the weekends I also feel like a neglectful mom so I've decided we are going to start taking neighborhood walks on a regular basis.  It's been a good way to meet neighbors and to get some low key exercise.  I really love where I live and I want to be more engrained in it.  Plus Marli loves walkies.

However once we got home I was like "oh good, we walked, she'll be good".  But no.  I got the "I want something but can't talk to tell you what it is" glare from the back door.  It makes me so frustrated because she's being SO clear that she wants something, but I know she's got everything so I have no idea what that something is.  My spoiled Moos.  Anyway, this is a typical view at any point of time in the house.  Scrap stuff in the living room. Rawhides and bones.  New Ali Edwards kit on the couch and Marli wanting me to come play with her at the back door.

So later that evening I had stuff I had to do.  Collect my art from the Pancakes & Booze show.  But before that I started hearing pops and bangs so naturally I stepped outside.  And saw this....never a dull moment in East Oakland.

So then I prepped my stuff and Marli to go get my art from the show and as soon as I closed the door I knew I had done it....locked the keys in the house.  And of course, I don't have a spare hidden because, I live in East Oakland, lol.  I ended up having to take Uber to Walnut Creek where my spare key was and Uber back to open my door.  All with enough time then to get in my car with Moos and head to Pancakes and Booze at 111 Minna.

But we made it.  And while I tried to get a selfie with Marli on our way, as soon as I pulled out the camera phone she ducked behind the drivers seat.  This right here is a real smile, me laughing at her being so uncooperative.  LOL.

So there were a few hiccups in the day but all in all it was a great day full of friends, photo geeks like me, art, drives, fireworks, awkward confrontations, supportive words, down time...oh wait, like life happened.