A new day

I must have caught up on some sleep. I woke up when my alarm went off and didn't have to drag myself out of bed. I allowed myself a nice big morning stretch and now I'm at my kitchen table, watching the cats eat, checking email, catching up on blogs, and feeling good. Awake. Happy.

I am excited about the weekend. Yes, I do know it is only Thursday, but Friday looms large, in the best possible way. A dear friend gets married on Friday. Not only am I very happy for her and her husband-to-be and the fact that I will see another good friend from Boston who I haven't seen in a year, I am also shimmering with anticipation about the party itself. My soon-to-be-married friend is a designer of flowers and spaces and weddings with impeccable taste and an eye for detail. And she's planned a very San Francisco wedding.

Ceremony at San Francisco City Hall

(where I got married earlier this year - yay!)

Followed by cocktails and dancing at the Green Room of the San Francisco

War Memorial Veterans Building.

How grand, how cosmopolitan, how.....San Francisco.

And the celebration doesn't stop there. We'll be back in the city on Saturday for dinner and drinks in North Beach, the city's Italian Section. I lived in North Beach upon my arrival in California in the mid-90s; it was my introduction to the city and it always feels special to me for that reason.

Drinks at Tosca Cafe

A San Francisco institution since 1917 with a classy, old-school atmosphere that promises to transport us back to the days of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack

I've lived here for 15 years and never been. An Evening at Tosca Cafe has been at the top of my To Do Before I Move To Vienna List since we decided to move, so I am very excited. And grateful to my friend. What a wonderful way to celebrate her, her future, and enjoy this incredible city where we met and became friends.

By the way - if I had decided to plan a full-on wedding, reception, weekend, this is very likely EXACTLY what I would have wanted. Now, I just have to find the perfect outfit.

Photo credit: Anemone Jones

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What's my point exactly?

Hello Dear Readers, are you still there?

I understand if you have gotten bored or moved on thanks to my anemic posting lately, but I do hope this is not so. Please bear with me as I figure out my schedule (so I can actually sit down and write when I'm awake and alert and motivated) and my point. Yes, my point.

You see, since the Vienna move isn't right around the corner any longer (it could be 6 months, it could be a year, could be anywhere in between or even longer), it feels odd to try to write about IT all the time and it's a challenge to come up with some tie to IT for every post because, well, IT isn't on my mind every day any longer, at least not in the same way or with the same sense of urgency.

I do write at times about things non-Vienna, things that are more...well, things that are just about me. But I struggle with whether that is enough. That wasn't my point when I started blogging, but I may be moving in that direction. Blogs should have a point, a point of view, a purpose. Or so I've read. I want to have a point of view and I think I do, I can, I will. I've just lost sight of it for the moment.

Will you forgive my ramblings and detours, and stick with me as I rediscover my point? If you'll hang in there, I promise to get over myself and my inflated concern and actually write, not worry about whether I'm writing about the right thing.

Perhaps it'll be more interesting.....who knows?!?!?

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I Miss Florida

Huh?

It's true. I miss Florida. Not that I miss the chain restaurants, strip malls, too-short shorts, dark tans, and fake breasts that dominate the landscape, but I do very much miss the no alarm clock, no schedule, lounging, eating, beach, sun, pool, and time with friends that we enjoyed last week. Perhaps instead of saying that I miss Florida, I should just say that I miss vacation.

It was only four short days. You wouldn't think I'd have acclimated to a new schedule, or lack thereof, so quickly. I didn't think that was even possible. Me without a schedule is like.....well, pick something that seems impossible to you, and that's it. But I've been home for four days now and, quite frankly, I have not been keen on picking up where I left off. Getting up in the morning is hard, work is a chore, going to the gym after work has been incredibly difficult to force upon myself. And writing, well, as you can see, there hasn't been much of that going on.

Alas, I made it to the weekend. I made it through the three oh-so-difficult days of work (I jest. The work itself hasn't been that difficult, just having to be there was the hard part). Today, I didn't have to wake up to an alarm clock, I don't have to go to work, I don't actually HAVE TO do anything. And, yet, precisely because I don't feel obligated, today is the day I woke up early. I have already gone to a yoga class, am doing laundry, cleaning, and will get to the gym in a few hours to do my cardio intervals. On top of all that, here I am, writing.

It's not the work, the doing, the having things to do. I'd be lost without a goal, a purpose, a list of tasks to complete. But I am pretty tired of having a set schedule, as in a Monday-Friday, 8:00-5:00 schedule, and a job I am only so-so about. I want to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. Ideal? Unrealistic? Vacation stuck on the brain? Not really. My husband does it. Many of the people I met in Florida do so - consulting, contracting, working from home or setting their own schedule with clients. I have the security of a regular paycheck every two weeks and knowing exactly how much money is going to be in that paycheck. They have freedom. I'm grateful for the paycheck, jealous of the freedom.

If I am to be completely honest, though, this is how I would like my life to be in Vienna. I don't want to move there and find myself in a job, Monday through Friday, 8:00 - 5:00. I want to have a flexible schedule, the freedom to move about as I wish, when I wish and really experience the city, the country, other countries. And, no, I am not independently wealthy (darn). So, how to make it a reality?

These are the things that are running through my post-Florida, post-vacation, pre-Vienna mind.

Fun & Sun, Jacksonville Beach, Florida, July 2010

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Places I'm Going

Tonight, I board a jet plane and head to....Jacksonville, Florida.

That's right. Jacksonville. Florida. In mid-July. I know you're jealous. Friends are getting married on Saturday (trust me, nothing less than the wedding of good friends would get us to ~~hot~~ ~~sticky~~ schwül* Florida at this time of year), so off we go.

*Schwül is the German word for humid, which we learned on our trip to Vienna, because, well, it was a little schwül while we were there. We were cautioned, however, by several people to be very careful about our pronunciation. That one little umlaut can change the whole meaning of one's sentence because schwül = humid, but schwul = gay/homosexual.

I've never been to Jacksonville, so I looked it up.

Jacksonville, Florida is home to the largest urban park system in the U.S., the 2nd largest annual Jazz Festival (I'm assuming New Orleans is the largest), the world's largest private collection of original manuscripts and documents (at the Karpeles Manuscript Library), the Jaguars (for football fans) and the New Jax City Rollers (if you're into roller derby). I doubt I'll see any of these things, but I think it's nice to know.

I've got my tank tops, shorts, sundresses, bathing suit and flip flops packed and, of course, my workout clothes because "training doesn't take a vacation," according to my lovely coach/husband. At least it'll be easier to negotiate a day pass at the gym here (in English) than it was in Vienna (in German). Although, I must admit, I did pretty well at the gyms in Vienna and felt quite rewarded when I was understood! Wie viel kostet ein Tagespass?

It's just a few days but it feels like a nice vacation and I have all the pre-vacation anticipation and lack of focus. Just have to make it through work today.

No computer until mid-next-week, so I wish you now a lovely few days. Be Back Soon!

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Places I've Been

2% - seems so sad!

One of the many reasons my husband and I want to move to Europe, and to Vienna, specifically, is that we see it as a launching pad of sorts. A home that provides close proximity and easy travel to so many other countries. A way for us to not only experience life in a new place, but life in many new places.

Vienna seems quite central, offering exploration opportunities East, West, North, and South by car, by train, by plane, at reasonable travel rates. All evidence I've seen in reading people's blogs and stories we've heard from people we've actually met indicate that people do actually take advantage of their location. I hear and read about travels to France and Spain, Kosovo and Sweden, Germany, Italy, Turkey!

This stirs in me such a sense of possibility and curiosity, which is, I admit, not an expected response from me. But it is there, nonetheless, surprising no one more than me. I am more of a homebody, not an adventurer. I like the familiar, the expected, the planned. So, is it wishful thinking that I'll experience the world from Vienna or does this curiosity indicate that I find the world as a whole, or even just Europe, more interesting than I find the United States?

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Riots & Spies

IN TODAY'S NEWS:

Oakland, California (where I currently live), RIOTS over a verdict given to a white former transit police officer for the shooting death of an African-American man.

After dark, mobs form, smash windows, loot

Vienna, Austria (where I plan to live someday), Russian and American SPIES traded on the tarmac at Vienna International Airport.

Prisoner Swap in Vienna Ends U.S.-Russia Espionage Case

~ Both sound like they could be newspaper headlines from decades ago.

~ There may also be a novel, a thriller, a story in here somewhere.

~ Times change, and yet they don't seem to change so much after all.

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A little something more about me

On Monday, I may dress like this...

And Tuesday, like this...

And on both days, I'll feel completely, utterly, 100 % like myself.

This month's Vogue (July 2010) blew me away ~ with the Magnificent Obsession (featuring Ewan McGregor and Natalia Vodianova, photographed by Peter Lindbergh) and an absolutely jaw-dropping, breathtaking, couldn't-stop-staring photo spread of Marion Cotillard (photographed by Mario Testino). I think she may be the most beautiful woman in film today.

All images from Vogue, July 2010

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The Long Weekend

I took an unexpected, unplanned break from the old computer this long, holiday weekend. We didn't travel, didn't spend all our days at the beach or at BBQs, but I did unplug just a bit. I'll admit to logging on for a few minutes every now and again, but for the most part, I stayed offline. I didn't do this intentionally, didn't plan an offline weekend, didn't have to force myself and fight against an urge to connect. It was natural, it was something that just happened, and that makes it all the better!

So, what did I do for the past 3 days?

* Went to bed early and slept late
* Lounged on the couch
* Got through my stack of unread magazines (mostly just looked at the pictures, but still)
* Read Pride & Prejudice (didn't get too far because of my tendency to...)
* Nap
* Bought an actual Sunday newspaper and enjoyed with a cup of coffee

I also...

* Went to a fabulous museum exhibit, Birth of Impressionism at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, and saw paintings by Degas, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Cezanne. I learned about a Belgian painter from that period, Alfred Stevens, and was quite taken with his painting, The Bath. I went with a friend I hadn't seen in a few months, who has a new baby boy, and we caught up and talked about life and art, had a leisurely lunch at the museum cafe, and I got to visit her new house and meet her darling baby boy.

Here are my favorites from the show...

Degas, Dance Class

Manet, The Fifer Renoir, The Swing

Stevens, The Bath

* Went to a 4th of July BBQ/Baby Shower with my husband for his hairstylist. It was a little odd that we were invited and we didn't know anyone but her, but it turned out to be just fine. We can both be such non-social people, I'm surprised we didn't actually get all the way there, do a drive-by and decide not to get out of the car! But we actually went in - heck, I wore my special red, white & blue shirt for the occasion, which I only pull out once a year, so it had to be done - and enjoyed ourselves for an hour or so on Sunday. We met a lovely couple, the husband was another hair client of her's, and had good conversation and some good food.

* Watched lots of movies. All About Steve (better than I expected), How to Marry a Millionaire (not as good as I expected, actually I was rather annoyed by it and didn't finish), The Last Airbender (not good at all, but it did start me on the animated series, which is...and I realized I kind of have a thing for Dev Patel) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (also better than I expected).

* Did all my scheduled workouts and officially registered for the 2010 NPC Figure Competition in San Francisco on October 2. I have 3 months to get in tip-top, kick-ass shape! I had to measure my height and weight for the registration and realized that although I've been saying for years that I'm 5'7" and thinking it was just a slight exaggeration, I'm actually closer to 5'6" than 5'7". Much closer. And this is distressing to me for some reason. I fancy myself tall. Now, I don't feel so tall! Silly what 3/4" can do.

Alrighty then, now that we're all caught up....I hope you all had a lovely weekend yourself. It's back to the routine now after a few lovely, leisurely days. Off to work I go.

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Austen, it's (finally) your time

I have a confession to make. I have never read a Jane Austen novel. I've seen the movies, know the stories, but, with my head hung in shame, I must finally come clean and admit that I've never actually read any Austen.

I feel like a traitor to my sex and my profession!

I haven't been able to get into any of the books I've brought home in the last few days, so I've decided to rectify the situation.

With which Austen novel do I start? Pride & Prejudice? Sense & Sensibility? Emma? Northanger Abbey? I'm leaning toward Emma. What do you think?

An American Girl

A new day

What's my point exactly?

I Miss Florida

Places I'm Going

Places I've Been

Riots & Spies

Prisoner Swap in Vienna Ends U.S.-Russia Espionage Case

A little something more about me

The Long Weekend

Austen, it's (finally) your time

Blogs I Like

Places I've Been