all that is yum, amid the yuck

While the logistics of yesterday drove me to curse and pound my futile little fists on the steering wheel of my shamefully gas-guzzling SUV, the other joys of the day were extraordinary.

Could not get Internet connection at my Napa Fed-Ex Kinko's (on a day when I was telecommuting) and it took me about 1/2 hour to get someone to tell me why and realize that I had to drive at least an hour away to get to a working T-Mobile HotSpot. Headed to Petaluma, since I was having lunch there with a friend there later and hoping that the Fed-Ex Kinko's there would let me connect. After a 1/2 hour futzing about discovering that there was no hot-spot and that their "lap-net" service was hosed, finally logged on using one of their desktops at a steep 25 cents per minute. Oy vey.

Trekked over to the new PRBO offices to meet with my old friend Claire Peaslee. The new facility is just stunning - a nice clean library, an amazing wet lab, computer classroom, lofty ceilings, a beautiful view of Shollenberger Park. Just wow.

We had lunch at a place called "Della Fattoria" and it was a very happy surprise. Warm colors, comfortable small dining room, incredible organic, high-quality food. I had, for example, a stew with sweet potato, onion, big white beans, duck and pork. It was scumptious. And it was soul-filling to talk with Claire and get caught up. She's doing some very intriguing things with a thing called Action Theater, which I'll have to learn more about.

We found parking right in front of the restaurant, first stroke of luck. Then, when I ordered my stew, the gal at the counter relayed to her fellow server, "Ok, that's it for the duck. No more orders for duck." So second stroke of luck was getting that last morsel of duckiness in my stew. Third stroke was that the place was just emptying out when we got there but then a huge line formed behind us.

Petaluma has changed so much over just the past year! I like the architecture of the new riverfront condos and such. I think it is respectful of the rural area, echoing farm buildings, while being exciting and contemporary.

So after going back to my computer at Petaluma's FedEx-Kinko's and racking up another big connectivity charge, I finally was done with work for the day and could take my dog to Petaluma's fine dog park (also out near Shollenberger.) It was freezing cold and blowy, very unusual for the bay area. So a bit more yuck occurred here as my dog decided that she had no intention of returning to captivity in the vehicle. I chased her for about 15 minutes, teeth chattering and muttered curses flying, before I got a leash on her again. She didn't look the slightest bit abashed. Plus, when I put her back in the car (I have to lift her due to her leg injuries), I got that dead thing she rolled in all over my hands and had to smell that all the way back to Napa.

Claire is going to be doing a naturalist talk on this Saturday's "West Coast Live", which they'll be broadcasting live from the SF Ferry Building. I think I'll be listening as I drive around Oakland neighborhoods looking at apartments for rent. It would be fun to go to the show, but I think I can't spare the time.

Tomorrow my escrow is supposed to close. Finally. Please please let it be so. It was originally to close on December 21 and it has been pushed out twice due to the buyers' inability to get their financing processed. Very frustrating.

when it rains, it pours

The latest guy FINALLY signed our counteroffer so my realtor Joe is sending me stuff some to sign today to put me into escrow. Wee hoo!!!!
There will be some repair work they want done before I move (and I have to be out by Dec 21, can you believe it?) but Joe will probably help me coordinate those repairs. He has been the best realtor I can imagine having. I wish I was rich and well-connected in Napa so I could send him tons of business.
Sadly, the Cove apartments I viewed got snagged and they currently don't have anything open (that I can afford.) Happily, things at my job are going really well, so I am tempted to get a place over in the east bay and just yesterday checked out the Grand Lake area of Oakland which is lovely, cosmopolitan, safer than other parts of the east bay, and quite affordable. So who knows?
Anyone want some furniture? Books? I am also offering a very glamorous and hip new exercise program (free of charge!) at my home, involving squats with boxes, lunges with mops, arm stretching with packing tape. Too much fun!

house for sale

I've decided to lose the internal war I've been waging with the who-says-so notion that this blog needs to be all about art and only about art. I'd rather have everything in one place and sometimes it will inform the art, sometimes the art will inform it, sometimes it will be random and who knows?

So - about selling my house

the kitchen then

The kitchen now:















When I first viewed this house about 3 years ago, it smelled of cigarettes and also faintly of cat urine.

In 2004, photo on left shows the second bedroom, which had (just out of view) fake wood paneling tacked to the drywall. On the right is the same bedroom now:

It was all decorated with pink lacey frilly things with not even a nod toward the modern architecture.

The master bedroom was set up in such a way that you couldn't really even see that there are these great sliding glass doors onto an atrium!

I pulled out all the smoke-infested carpet and tossed various tints of concrete stain on the floor. I ripped out the sliding metal doors on all the closets and pantry and painted the brown faux-wood kitchen cabinets a rich blue. Lucking out big time, a friend who just happened to have a crane on his truck also just happened to want the old wood stove, so away that went too. My wonderful sister helped enormously by paying a painter to give a significant lift to the living room.

Now, as it comes time to sell it, we’ve added carpeting and the stagers have done their magic with arrangement of furniture. I also spent a few days pulling down a large wall collage in my bedroom, scrubbing the rubber cement off, patching the drywall, priming and painting the whole room a color called “wheat.” Turns out I love the warm tone, very cozy.

Want to buy it, by the way? Check it out.