Sunday

Long drives, huge skies, and new iPhone apps:

Turn my iPhone into a video camera for 99 cents? Hell, yes. Obviously, this is not professional video quality we're talking about, but it'll work.

And in the completely useless (and completely free) category:

You can make any photo look like it's built of legos! Although, my household probably appreciates this more than the average...

all about steve

They were playing All About Steve on the plane to San Francisco, and I watched it twice. It was so funny, I couldn't stop laughing out loud, even though I was trying to be quiet. It was just as funny the second time, and to be honest if the ride was longer I would've watched it one more time.

I wasn't looking forward to this movie, because the trailer just looked obnoxious, and I dislike Bradley Cooper (although he's growing on my after his roles in The Hangover and now this). I probably wouldn't have watched it at all, even though I love Sandra Bullock. The trailer definitely does not do the movie justice, her character in this movie is just so good and likeable, it may be her best movie ever, but I'll have to watch it a few more times before I decide that...

Motherhood was playing on the ride back to Texas, and it was cute (predictable) but definitely don't watch if you are planning to have kids! Love this look for Uma though.

resolutions+reading

One of my resolutions for the new year is to get through my stack of unread books. I decided to read more, and to only buy a new book after I finish one I already have, and to only buy books off my to-read list instead of picking up whatever I see in the bookstore.

I finished Under the Greenwood Tree, and then left it for someone else to find. After I finished it, I bought The Tipping Point at the airport, and it was fascinating. One of those books that you keep annoyingly reading passages of out loud to your husband because it is just so interesting. I also cleaned out a lot of books during the move, and am only trying to keep ones that I really love and can imagine wanting to reread. The Tipping Point is a keeper.

I made an account on GoodReads.com, which is great to keep track of your books, with shelves for read, to-read, etc. and a nice rating system. For some reason I love these organizational type websites, maybe too much.

handlery hotel

For our trip to San Francisco, we stayed at the Handlery Hotel on Geary Street in Union Square. The hotel was decently inexpensive for the area, and had a great location. Our tiny (the petite) room felt more like a guest bedroom in an old house (maybe in part to the light blue walls, which to me is a bedroom color) than a neutral hotel room.

My favorite part of the hotel was this:

A outdoor courtyard in the middle the hotel completely sequestered from the busy Union Square (read: panhandlers). Complete with pool and even a row of trees. I loved looking up and seeing the sky and other buildings, but couldn't really get good pictures on the iPhone.

My least favorite part of the hotel was this:

The absolute worst shower I've ever been in in my life (much worse than even the corner shower on a cruise ship). It was too small to move much and the shower head was more like a faucet streaming down. If the new apartment didn't have a bathtub so that I get my fill at home, I would've been seriously disappointed.

The street it was on was lined with really great art galleries such as the San Francisco Art Exchange, which would have been the perfect place to build my Varvatos-inspired rock and roll photography collection, if we had a million dollars. Another really neat one was the Art of Dr. Seuss, with some crazy busts - "unorthodox taxidermy":

I love San Francisco. The weather is always great, even raining and foggy, and it's so much fun just to wander around, even with bums and panhandlers accosting you if you stop moving for even a few seconds. But it's nice to be home...

union square

San Fransisco! We are staying in Union Square so that means (mostly window) shopping! Here I am outside of the Chanel store...



But my favorite store, even though it is only men's clothes, was John Varvatos. The rock and roll photography collection lining the walls was incredible. I was surprised to know a bunch of the musicians - I guess I am getting old. I want to take photos like that, or, at least, I want a photography collection like that! Or, maybe we could just live there, it looks like it would make a great apartment.


(photo from here.)