A Hell of a Girl

New Shoes

My last pair of sneakers were over 2 years old, worn out and much loved. Considering I will probably be doing a lot of walking in my new home city, it was time for new shoes.
I have been much impressed and inspired by my friend Ming's knowledge and love of Pumas (he is something of a sneaker conisseur. Sneakers and hot dogs), however, I have been drawn to Vans skate shoes ever since I saw an arodable girl looking way cool in a air of olive and orange ones in an airport last Christmas. One must file away such inspirations in ones brain for just such occasions.
So I loved the Vans, but would have to order them on-line as even the local skate shops didn't have the ones I want. Soooo, I went out yesterday just to see what I could find. Just by chance I ended up at Kohl's and found (as The Manolo would say) a pair of super fantastic shoes: Behold, the Tony Hawk skate shoes:
The great thing about these is their stability (duh! They are for skateboarders) and comfort. Now they don't really make "women's" shoes, and the mens department had these (I take a men's shoe size 5 which roughly equals a woman's size 7) but even on sale these were like $39. HOWEVER the boys department had them too, and the largest boys size (also sized as 7) fit like a glove. Sale price? A whopping $26.
I wore them all day yesterday and am very pleased with their good construction and comfort, as well as the cool street look of a skate shoes. I think women may not embrace the look, as it is definitely not petite or uber-feminine. But I like that and for walking and running around SF these are exactly what I'm looking for. Love them!

The Coolest Umbrella Ever!

I loved Scarlet Johanson walking around Tokyo in Lost in Translation with her clear umbrella. Since I am moving to a city where you get a good amount of rain, I considered finding a transparent one like hers. THEN I FOUND THIS:

A transparent purple umbrella!
It's so pretty! I would be all like, uh huh, rain isn't bothering me and my isn't this city very purple!
Best part is this little gem is $15 from Franklin Umbrellas.
Time for some humming in the rain (really, I can't sing so humming is a kindness to all involved). Oooh! Bet I can find rain boots to go with it too. Target has a great selection!

The Apartment Search begins...

I have actually been doing my preliminary research and found a few good prospects, in addition to looking up the SF by-neighborhood police blotter and a Google Maps search on the locations of all the area Methadone Rehab Clinics (hey, you gotta know!). I want to live in the City, although other places have lots of appeal too.

I got a good laugh yesterday when Amy and I had this little e-mail exchange over the floorplan of an apartment I am checking out:

Me: Here is a possible apartment.

Amy:  I like this layout......very sensable I think  But what is a *rad*?

Me: radiator

Amy: Hey wow, I'm an idiot.

SkyBus, Heroes, it's all good!

I hope their service lives up to their sales because SkyBus had the wonderful sale of $10 fares today! I immediately called Mollie, who booked a trip out to visit me in San Francisco.  By days end I have 3 people already booked to come visit AND Justin and I have booked flights from San Francisco (technically Oakland airport) back to Columbus for Mid-Ohio-Con in November. $10 per person each way for our trip.

No spoliers, but MAN did I enjoy Heroes last night!! When I move out to SF though, to save money, I'm not going to have cable TV though internet connection is a MUST. Maybe I will find a really cheap bundle, but why get cable if I don't own a television? Anyway, I'll have to watch Heroes on-line, but that's cool.
More I can write but it would be chock full of spoilers, so I will wait a couple days.
Plus, last night before Heroes Justin noticed that, despite the show being off for several weeks, the on-line graphic novel had continued updating! D'oh! So last night I caught up on those, which add a nice extra layer to the context of the story. You don't HAVE to read them, but they sometimes explain a few little details. Like why when Ted, Matt and Hannah (who is usually pretty absent from the show) meet in the graveyard to go to Mr Bennet's house, why isn't Hannah with them at the house? Well, the graphic novel explains that.
Also, Justin pointed out that a certain paper company is now advertising for a management position. Any one want to work at PRIMATECH?

Second verse, same as the first.

We sold SO MUCH STUFF! Day Two of the yard sale was not as lucrative as Day One, but we still sold things and were totally exhausted by the end of the day! Here is a pic of the yard sale and the most important table, which was the one with the water and the cash box. :P

Yardsale, Day One

Yes, our yard sale was so very successful, we decided to extend it to two days. I have some household stuff left, but mostly Justin had some really interested folks come out yesterday when he pulled out the boxes of graphic novels and movie posters. So today will be more of Justin's stuff, which I think will draw a good crowd.
We couldn't have had a move beautiful day for it either! Looks like today will be great too. Here's hoping!
Mollie and Tom came over at the crack of dawn yesterday and helped us haul the heavy tables and recliners out, then hung out and we just generally the best ever by helping with the sale.
Brodie did a great job as "official greeter" and was the tiredest I have ever seen him by 6 PM. This dog, who naps like nobody's business, stayed awake ALL DAY, watching the crowd, smiling and wagging and getting lots of friendly pets from people and dogs that dropped by. By 3 PM, he was nodding off on the porch, but there was still too much going on for him to nap.
After yard sale, Went to DELISH going away dinner with friends (don't know if they all want to be named on blog, so will choose to be discreet THIS TIME) except for Mollie, who had prior bridesmaid duties. Hope you found a cute dress Moll!
We all had a great meal and talked and laughed and I got the sweetest going away gifts! A gift card for a fab SF restaurant, a Newcomers guide to SF (despite absolute exhaustion, I managed to stay up for a half hour reading it in bed) and 2 CDs of travel music and a Starbucks giftcard to keep me fueled!
Got all emotional and sniffy. As Bridget Jones wrote in her Diary "Love the friends. Better than extended family in weird Turkish head scarves any day".
Ok, so I have just a few hours to comb the house for more yard sale material. It's quite addictive. You start looking around asking "What else can I sell?!?" and it feels great!

Coat Envy

It's not every day I have to walk up to  stranger and tell her she looks fabulous and DEMAND to know where she got her coat, but I did today. I have seen this young woman and her too-chic coat on my bus more than once. She's very pretty in a Katie-Holmes-Pre-Tom kind of way and she has the most beautiful, simple but gorgeous Banana Republic coat. I even found a picture of it on-line:

The little faux horn toggles, the small details and add up to a remarkably understated yet classy coat.
I asked the young woman where she got it because it looked so great. She smiled and said Banana Republic and that she had saved and saved and it had really been worth it. I told her it was because it just looked fantastic on her and she smiled even bigger and said thanks.

I have been thinking about coats because with the move to San Francisco, I'm thinking I may need one *more* eventually. I have a great peacoat that will do nicely as well as a number of jackets from my Mom (who passed her Coat Addiction Gene on to me) which I know will hold me over. And my puffer, which has served so well will probably be too warm most days, so i have been keeping my eye out for an in-between weather sort of coat to keep me warm and protect me from the gusty winds.  This coat purchase will probably easily be delayed until fall, when there are more coats of this style available, but I really love this one. Perhaps it will show up on e-bay or I can find it in a second hand shop. Hope springs eternal.
So it will be 71 this Saturday while I hold a yard sale to get rid of most of my "stuff", and I am thinking wistfully of wool coats. Go fig. :)

As my friend Diane said...

Man, now what am I gonna do?!

Brodie's resume

Yes, to get into a nice dog-friendly apartment building, Brodie needs a resume. So here, for your amusment, is the one I created today:

Resume of Brodie C. Smith, Canine

614-XXX-XXXX

*picture of Brodie inserted here*

Physical Description:  Brodie is a 4-year-old Pug/Chihuahua mix. He is not hyper (this dog sleeps like it’s his job) nor a yapper. He weighs 23 pounds and has the stocky body of a Pug with the long lean legs of a Chihuahua, giving him something of the appearance of an olive on toothpicks. He is a good size to be an urban apartment dog, requiring a couple of walks per day, but not a marathon. I have never had a complaint about him from a neighbor (please contact our former landlord, Mr. _______ _______, listed below as reference).  Brodie is a very friendly little dog. He has never bitten anyone. He is housebroken. He has Dog Health Insurance, is neutered, micro-chipped and takes regular heartworm and flea preventatives.

Brief history: I adopted Brodie when he was 6-months-old from the Franklin County Dog Shelter.  He had been found as a stray roaming the mean streets of Columbus. Today Brodie is a rags-to-riches inspiration to dogs everywhere, showing that no matter how humble one’s beginnings, with love, hard work and some education, any dog can have a human who will buy them premium dog food, allow them to sleep with them, get daily walks and yet still maintain their dignity enough to refuse to wear raincoats.

Education: Brodie has completed 3 training courses from Civil Obedience Dog Training, taught by Amy Flanigan (www.civilobediencedogtraining.com).

• Basic Obedience (with special commendation for “Most Expressive Ears”)
• Advanced Obedience
• Fun and Games (so he knows cute tricks)

References (please note all individuals in Eastern Time Zone):

             Names omitted to protect those who will vouch.

Portrait of the Foreseeable Future Pt. 1

When packing, you start with the non-essential items. As I don't have many of those (or will not after yard sale next weekend), I am mostly sorting and organizing. This to charity, this to yard sale, that to keep and those to the trash or recycling center. Leftover law books, orphan socks, you find all sorts of things you have no idea why you still own. Feels good though, cleaning all this out and starting fresh. Think, while I still have Netflix, I will rent The Bourne Identity, another good fresh start movie, only without me having memory loss and awesome hand-to-hand combat skills.