San Francisco, take 2

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to San Francisco for a conference. It was a grand time.

I flew in the day before the conference started and did a little sight seeing. And since I was just there in May, I got lost a lot less (which was very nice, because at least in May when I got lost I had Meadow to get me unlost and this time I was by myself).

But here is the south-west view from my hotel room. I was on the 23 floor, which was cool, except looking down made me a little sick and my hotel key got demagnetized a lot, so I spent lots of time in the elevator going to the front desk and back. And every time I would have to explain that no I did not keep my key by my phone. Though the last day I did realize that it was by my camera case that has a magnet closure, but whatever..
Here is my view looking down. It was a dealership.
This was a dude that had a dog, a cat and a rat in a tower. I probably should have paid him a $1 for the picture, but I took it from the moving cable car, so I didn't really have the option.
This is the planter boxes on the wharf. I am going to try and model the boxes I build after these.
Obligatory picture of the sea lions, they had the welcome back party the weekend before, hence there are not as many as the end or middle of the sea lion season.
This was a pretty cathedral that was next to the cable car line that was adjacent to my hotel. I believe it is the Grace Cathedral Episcopal Church (or at least that is what google leads me to believe)
Picture of Coit Tower from the cable car.
Golden Gate Bridge - taken from the rec yard at Alcatraz. This was my second time to Alcatraz, but I still took the audio tour and looked at everything, though I think the best part of it was on the boat ride home, when one seagull pooped on 3 people, it got the first guy and the came back for the other two, so funny! Especially since it happened to people on the other side of the boat from me.
ME! at the rec yard at Alcatraz
Me in front of the rubble pile and lighthouse on Alcatraz.
Last time I went to Alcatraz the Agave Trail was closed, but this time it was OPEN! It was a very nice trail (okay stairway). So now I have seen everything that is open to tourists and never need to go back!
View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Agave Trail.
View of the Golden Gate bridge from the top of Coit Tower. I decided that I had enough time on Sunday morning before I needed to catch the BART to the airport, so I took my luggage and myself to Coit tower, it required me catching two buses, but I got there. And I must say it was worth the hassle.
This is the top of the tower. For those of you who do not know about Coit Tower, it is a monument to the firefighters in the 1906 fires, that were caused by the earthquake. And it has murals from the New Deal program for artists, which are amazing!
Here is a view from Coit Tower, I thought the roof top playground was cool (it is atop the blue building)
Here are the stairs I lugged my suitcase up. Luckily, it was only 1 flight, because otherwise I would have died carrying it up 21 flights.
My trip was great except for the traveling. My flight out was delayed for 2.5+ hours and my flight home was delayed 2+ hours. And when I got home it was snowing badly and just as I got on the freeway my passenger wiper flipped off, which left me with no snow clear ability on that side and when I did have to use my wipers to clear the driver's side it would dig into the glass. Quite frustrating.

But I will say this, after my last trip to San Francisco I left thinking I could never live in that city, but after this trip, I could TOTALLY live there. It is truly an amazing city.

Oh and my conference was great, I learned a lot and met a lot of cool people. Can't wait for next year in San Diego!

Oh and HUGE THANKS! to Tamaran for watching KPP and picking up Nova from Doggy Boarding!!!

PEACE!

With every new president there is always hope of change. But with the swearing in of Obama this morning, I can already tell peace is in the air.

AND I HAVE PROOF!!

Here is KPP and Nova yesterday. Notice the fear and hatred?

Well, here they are now. Peace and calm!

It is like they know with the change in our administration the world already hates us less and soon it will be a more peaceful and tolerant world (hopefully).

RUINED!

So I thought this doggy daycare was a good thing, but NO apparently it made Nova believe she can get away with anything!

I am sitting on the floor watching tv and what does she do? CLIMB ON THE COUCH AND LAY DOWN!
The nerve!

Luckily, the flash from the camera put her back in her place and she got down on her own and is now napping in the living room.

Rotten dog! Lucky for her, she is cute!*

*possibly the reason she gets away with things.

Adventures at Doggy Day Care

I am going to San Francisco next week, therefore I had to find a dog kennel for Nova. So I looked online, compared prices, hours and locations and found one I thought would be good.

Today was her interview day. We showed up at 7:00a and while I watched on the webcams in the lobby, Nova was "interviewed". After 20 minutes, I was told she passed the initial interview and was welcome to stay all day, so she did.

The best part of this doggy "camp" is the webcams (besides the AWESOME staff, of course). I was a little too obsessive about checking them. And they had a handy dandy 'snapshot' feature, so I captures some pics.

As you can see, she walked around a lot and took some naps. She seemed to have a good time and apparently made friends with a pair dog, one of which is a foster dog and doesn't socialize with other dogs. I am so proud of my little dog for making friends!

And the staff was all very nice and said that Nova was very well behaved and sweet and they looked forward to having her back next week.

Now, I kind of feel like one of those people that are overly obsessive about/impulsive to their pets (which I am), but she won't be going to doggy daycare every day, though I did buy a package of 5 days (not sleepover days) and a bath, so on super cold days she can go there instead of tearing apart my house. (YAHOO!)

Where's Pie?

I had my bathroom cupboard open and this is what happened.

Here is my kitty's leg in my drawer.

Here she is inspecting what is in the drawer.

And here she is investigating the construction. I think she is so-so happy with it, she thinks it needs to be replaced with something better.This is the reason that I always keep all closets, drawers and cupboards closed, that cat will get into anything!!

Cactus?

Is it a Cactus? NO! It is my hat!! I FINISHED A PROJECT!! YAHOO!!!! I have now completed half of Plan #3. I think it is one of the best hats I have ever made, I only have two spots that have issues. And I got sick of trying to combine stitches, so I do have a hole at the top, but I rather like it like that, it makes it so easy to take off.

Note: the flower is not knit. I had purchased the flower brooch at an antique store during Holiday Gallery Stroll, and I thought it would look cute on my hat, and sure enough it does.

Now for some pictures of my darling cat.

I came home from work one day and there was PotPie lounging on my dirty towels basking in the sun from the laundry window. I thought it was cute. She actually stayed in the basket until the sun went down. That kitty loves the sun!
I love when I get pictures of her tongue.
So cute!! Dang, I love my stupid cat!
Now here are some pictures from Hazel's 3rd birthday party. It was a princess party. Here is Gloria being a smiling princess. She is so cute and funny.

Here is the birthday girl with her mother, the pirate queen.
And yesterday we went bowling for Meadow's and Ross's birthdays (both today, Happy Birthday!). It was a fun time. Hazel and Tayvia were so cute to watch. Here is a picture of Hazel carrying the bowling ball with "her tummy".