Day 14: Out and about in Marin County

Being my last workweek day off, I wanted to surprise Honey Bunny at his work with cupcakes for him and all his coworkers, and do so by the time they take their lunch at 12:30. That meant I had to get my buns out of bed, into the shower, to Andronico's to pick up the cupcakes, over the Golden Gate Bridge and to his work - all by 12:15ish. Eeek! I did it, though, and they were all very appreciative. It was fun to see HB at his "new" workplace and meet some of his coworkers finally. One constant remains: he gets and stays sweaty all day long no matter where he works.

Since I knew I'd be in Marin County, I made some other plans as well. For starters, I wanted to couch shop at Crate & Barrel in Corte Madera. Our friend works there and secretly I was hoping to run into her and finagle her into having lunch with me, but no such luck... Fridays are her day off. Dang!

I do love Crate & Barrel something fierce. Honey Bunny and I have been thinking about a new couch for a while, but wanted to wait until the kitties were old enough not to shred the shit out of it (or start peeing on it because it's a change to their environment, ahem). Now is the time and so I went to C&B to do a little preliminary recon to bring back to Honey Bunny. I won't bore you with details on anything other than the one we want.

Hello loverrrrrrrr.
Otherwise known as the Sidecar Sectional. The Sidecar meets all the criteria on the wish list. It's got arm(s) low enough to rest your head on if you're laying down, it's a sectional so both of us can lay down on it at the same time, it's firm but still cushiony and comfortable, you can vacuum underneath it without any fuss, AND it can sleep not one but two overnight guests if needed. The downside is that it's a very large couch and we're going to have to think about how to reconfigure the room for a sectional. Our living room is big and lovely but a total pain in the ass to work with given that it's a long rectangle (rather than square), there are two entrances (each on a different wall), one wall is mostly comprised of windows (and they start low), there's a fireplace situated diagonally in one corner, and the cable feed and outlets are the worst possible location in the room for pretty much any configuration. Hmm. Not to mention, Honey Bunny still needs to sit and lay on the Sidecar to see if he likes the feel. If he doesn't, I guess we go to Plan B.

The best outcome from my C&B trip is that I found a potential design solution to what has dogged Honey Bunny and I since we moved in together. I prefer mostly Mid-Century Modern while he prefers Arts and Crafts (which I also love), Mission and Adirondack styles. (Huh, Carrie Bradshaw's sitting area comes to mind. Come to think of it, Honey Bunny has gasped every time a piece of Aidan Shaw's "oppressive wood" furniture was shown!) I mean, how in the hell do you blend those design types together?

Well, here's one way. One part Sidecar in Herb plus one part Landon anything.

Oh, wait. We also both love our Giant Robot prints and accent pieces, which bear no relation to any of the design types I mentioned above. How do J-pop (Japanese pop-culture inspired design) and Blobjects figure into all this? Shit, and we love Lowbrow art, too. Oy! Annnd this is where every single discussion that Honey Bunny and I have had about how to blend all our styles together ends.

Ok, well, after my Crate & Barrel trip I visited one of my favorite beach/park spots, China Camp State Park. I don't think many people know about China Camp and thus it's still inhabited by elderly men in Speedos who take short swims and then come back to lay out and tan to the color of a hot dog; older women who bring their easels and oil paint the shit out of the bay scenery; families with kids who have no idea that the beach they just got to is lame and so they leave after five minutes; and, solo peeps like me looking for a little solitude to read a book or take some photos.







It was a lovely afternoon. Too bad the dock wasn't open to walk on, though. To me, that is one of the highlights of the Park. Walking out on that rickety dock, with all of its historical affects, is like stepping back in time. I love old fashioned things.

Afterwards I rocketed back to SF in Honey Bunny's "new" Volvo in preparation for personal training, which was then cancelled. Too bad, so sad. Heh!

At some point during the day, my BFF called me. We had our tense convo on Sunday, followed by my leaving her a message on Tuesday to settle plans for the coming weekend, and in return I got a taste of my own radio silence medicine. I actually think that's why I was so angst-ridden on Tuesday and Wednesday this week... I actually started to wonder if this was The End. Thankfully it was not.

I consider my BFF's kids my nephews since I was one of the labor coaches for both births and thus saw the miracle of birth twice. Believe me, I don't do sentimentality easily and so even writing "miracle of birth" makes me throw up in my mouth a little. But it's true -- seeing those little guys being born was a miracle and it changed me. Part of the fight between me and my bestie was about how I don't spend any time with them anymore, how they know me in pictures and come hug me when I visit but otherwise we're not too connected.

The whole reason I was making plans to see them all on the weekend was because the older of my boys was cast in The Music Man and I wanted to see it with the fam'. Happily, a plan was struck when my bestie called back AND we had a light, fun conversation.

I'm not sure if it was spending time in the sun or the relief of talking to my BFF, but I was really quite sleepy and ended up crashing out early. HB was leaving for a motorcycle trip the next day and I was supposed to help him pack but literally could not keep my eyes open. Honestly, it was probably the best night of sleep I've gotten in the last few years.

Overall, a great success of a day.