This week continues the detailing of my love affair with San Francisco. Every time I visit the Bay, I discover something new that I love, and always leave with the want to explore even more. In this blog I’ll tell you about the Palace of Fine Arts, the Golden Gate Bridge 75th Birthday celebration, and (for all you book geeks) the semi-secret Dashiell Hammett Walking Tour. Since my husband watched The Rock for the first time, he’d always wanted to visit Alcatraz and the Palace of the Fine Arts. We’d covered thee Rock on our first trip to San Fran, and were never able to make it  to the Palace on subsequent trips. This time, the Golden Gate Bridge festivities were so close to it, we made certain to check it out. San Fran is an architectural gem. It has a mix of every architectural fad in the last 150 years. And then there’s the Palace of Fine Arts. It was designed in the “Beaux-Arts” fashion by Bernard Maybeck and William Gladstone Merchant. It was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition, preserved by the Hearst family, and then mostly demolished and rebuilt to be more structurally sound in the 1960’s. Today it’s a beautiful park, with even more beautiful architectural structures that can be enjoyed by all. If I lived in San Fran, I can definitely see myself going to the Palace to read scripts, design costumes, or have a romantic picnic. Basically, it would be one of my “zen” places. It had the perfect amount of people in it (not too many, not too little, but just right) and it had wildlife. Ducks, birds, swans, turtles, etc; there was enough wildlife to keep you happily entertained by their antics. As for the indoor...

Yesterday was my 10th wedding anniversary, so I figured I would share one of the secrets to long-term marital bliss. You don’t make it through 21 years in a relationship without learning how to use the “C” word. My not so secret, secret? Communication. When I was super-young and single and really bad at relationships, I met Seen. We had some heated fights in the first few years. I’d screech and cry and he’d sleep on the couch. I would shut down rather than discuss problems or find a solution. My move was to steam in silence, waiting for him to figure out what he had done wrong. I wanted him to intuitively know what my mood was, why I was so damn grumpy and the cure for it all. TV shows and chick flicks showed me what perfect was. Women were rescued by a prince. You know, the guy who “got” her even though her current beau didn’t. That was true love and how to know your soul mate immediately. In my humble experience, I can tell you that TV, chick flicks, love songs and most fairy tales are full of shit. Being involved with somebody isn’t effortless, but it isn’t ‘hard work’ either. It’s about talking to each other. Not being an ass-hat helps, but mainly it’s the talking. For me, one of the hardest parts of this communicating thing, was actually knowing what I am trying to say. Sometimes I have to stop, think about what’s happening here and figure myself out before I start talking. Here’s a simple little example we just lived through: When making weekend plans, more often than not, Seen will say “We can do whatever you want to do.” which always made my hackles rise. I...

This year I will have been married 10 years. It’s still a few months away, so save the congrats until we actually make it. Since we kinda eloped (I bought a dress, he rented a tux, we grabbed a preacher off the internet and got married on the beach about eight days later), I had the brilliant idea to throw a fun party for our 10th Anniversary. So it goes to reason that after a big shindig, we should take a second honeymoon, right? Let’s go to Paris! Other than a day trip to Tijuana for me, and some childhood visits to Southern Canada from WI for my hubby, neither my husband, Seen, or I have traveled outside of the United States. We haven’t been static by choice, just by circumstance, lack of finances and lack of time. We both come from money-poor, love-rich families so we didn’t travel much as youngsters either. For our original honeymoon, we took 10 days off work, drove to Colorado for a wedding reception with my family and then tooled back to California by way of various National Parks that dot the Southwest. It was a fun trip, but I’m aching to put my feet on foreign soil. I’ve polled my co-workers and friends who travel. For a first trip abroad, everyone recommends Paris. The romantic City of Lights, filled with visions of figures from history, literature, fashion and chocolát. There is a possibility I’ll hit up fellow F&N blogger, Gudrun, to show me where the best macarons are. As a cemetary-phile I’m very excited to visit the Père Lachaise Cemetary where Jim Morrison, among others, rest in peace. I want to see Mona Lisa in person, stroll along the Sienne and cower in the elevator on the...

This is my last post until after the baby is born.  I can’t believe that in a few weeks (or maybe even days!) that I’ll have a little girl to look after for the rest of my life.  I honestly thought I was done being newly nested and that it was time to think of a new title for my blog. In the past every time I thought I was done being newly nested I was wrong.  First, I got married, but when we hit our one year anniversary I thought the idea of being new at it was over. Then we bought a house, which was a whole new nesting phase. Soon I found out that unless you are rich, nesting never stops in a house because there is always a new project to do. Now, settled in my home for almost two years I thought, what else is there to be newly nesting about? I didn’t even consider having a baby as a whole new form of nesting, but it is. I always just thought a baby would fit into my life, not that I would fit into a baby’s life. While to some degree we plan on holding onto who we are, fitting a baby into your own life just seems silly when you start realizing how much everything is about to change. There are too many choices and things that you are supposed to consider to care for the baby.  If you are like me, and you are excited to have a child in your life, than there is even more philosophical issues with having a child that will start driving you crazy.  In the last few months I have not only been obsessed with nesting (preparing my home for the...