Ray's Grandma's Cabin

My friend, Ray, has a cabin that has been in his family for 60 years. His grandmother, who has since passed away, bought this cabin for the family and has it written into her trust that it can never be sold or given away. I don’t blame her; this magical little place could not be in a better location, right on Caples Lake.



Despite the lack of electricity and running water, it’s the coziest little place.


Surrounded by gorgeous hiking, canoeing and swimming, it’s an ideal weekend getaway. I’m stoked I know Ray so I get to go up there!



P.S.
This time I did NOT capsize the canoe!

18 to life

I’ve lived in the Bay Area most of my life, and yet up until last week, I had not been to see our biggest tourist attraction: Alcatraz.

So last week, I joined my roommate and his two out-of-town guests to go check out “the rock.” It was actually a pretty interesting walk through history. Including getting to see what the prisoners ate the day Alcatraz closed its doors (a heartier meal than I eat for breakfast most days).



And admiring the remarkable view of the city.



My conclusion was that Alzatraz was actually a pretty cool place to live. That’s why I’ve decided to live a life of crime in hopes of ending up somewhere equally cool. It’s not like I have a job anyhow, why not turn to petty theft and perhaps dabble in drug sales. Would anyone like to buy some crack?

Just desserts

I've been on such a junk food frenzy ever since the cleanse, that I've started referring to my evening sweets as "Dinner Dessert." This is, of course, to differentiate it from the cookies I eat after lunch (lunch dessert) and my morning pastry (breakfast dessert).

As I like to say, "Life is uncertain, eat dessert ALL THE TIME."

Good thing I work out.

Bay to Broken

Yesterday was San Francisco's biggest holiday: Bay to Breakers.





Bay to Breakers brings out the best/worst of the city. The city's most creative people, and its drunkest. Or in our case, both.

My friends and I had a New Year's Eve party, with a ball that drops and everything, all throughout the streets of the city.



In addition to the wildness, it's one of few days out of the year when new years revelers get to hang out with bananas in the middle of the day.

Bike where?

Today is Bike to Work Day. It was a day I loved, when I have a job.

Now I think the very notion is insensitive to the growing minority of the population that has no job to bike to.

I am going to create a new holiday. A holiday for people like me: Bike to the Bar for some Midafternoon Beers day.

Tippy Canoe

I have a big, ugly sore on my nose. It’s not a good place to have a mark, but at least it’s got a good story behind it… I got in a canoeing accident this weekend. Not so much an accident as a capsizing. Not sure if it was our fault, or the fault of the low-hanging branches, but once that little canoe starts filling with water, all you can do is hang on to all your stuff and hope it doesn’t float away down river.

It turns out that a canoe full of water is extremely heavy and almost impossible to control, even in the water. So, navigating the water-logged canoe to the size of the river while holding on to all your possessions is near impossible. After being dragged along the rocks on the bottom of the river for what seemed like hours (but was probably more like 8 minutes). We were finally able to trap the canoe in some reeds and dump out the water so we could get back in. The only negative results of the experience were a broken camera (not mine, thank goodness) and a lost flip-flop (also not mine). Also a number of bruises and scrapes, including the one on my nose.

Still, it was a fun time and totally worth it.

Here we are before capsizing.


Here we are after. As you can see, we made it out just fine.

More fun times at the CAS

It's great to be back in the City and to return to my favorite Thursday night scene - the California Academy of Sciences.

Here are some hot club-goers I met last night:

A cute little birdy.


This butterfly wouldn't stop staring at us with its "eye."


And the underside of a frog. Checkout its cute little pink toes.

Good thing I love Middle Eastern food.

As I was waiting for my falafel to go today at the local Mediterranean restaurant, I noticed that the guy behind the counter had his realtor business cards on display.

Audrey: You’re a realtor too?

Guy: Yes, I have my realtor’s license. I do the finances at this restaurant and I am also head chef.

Audrey: Wow, three jobs, huh?

Guy: Must have many jobs to survive in this economy.

Audrey: I don’t have any job.

Guy: And yet you are smiling.

Audrey: The government pays me to be myself.

Guy: (after pausing to look me up and down) You could make living working as model.

I see free falafels in my future.

Reality TV - 1, Audrey – 0

I’ve been in Southern California since Thursday. The land where people make TV. But they don’t just make TV, they live, talk, breathe and eat TV. I spent the weekend in a house with 10 girls that loved to talk about television. Watching television, producing television, gossiping about the people on television. And, I’m not gonna lie, I was bored to tears. Mostly because I can’t keep up. The only TV I watch at home is the Daily Show. And Jon Stewart didn’t come up in conversation once. The shows that were discussed were other such compelling programs such as American Idol, Gossip Girl, the Hills, and other shows that I’ve never seen. And, to be honest, I thought were pretty much a waste of time.

Everything from “Daisy of Love” on VH1 to “Conjoined Twins” on TLC. And I’ll tell you, it was awesome. As long I’m with other people and can make fun of the people on the screen, watching TV can actually be really fun.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to make it a habit at home. I still have way more productive ways to pass the time, like g-chatting, Twittering, and updating my status on Facebook.