Key West, FL

Key West is a great place to spend your new year. there are three major and distinct countdowns

Mono Lake, CA

Came here with a friend and saw the tuffa towers, and also lots of bird life.

Bodie, CA

I went to the preserved Ghost town of Bodie, CA. It wasn't quite as cool as I thought it would be. Somehow I thought it would be more ghost-y. But maybe since there are a ton of tourists going through the place, it doesn't really have the impact you'd expect it to have,

Restaurant Weekend

Two new Restaurnats:

Korean BBq in Concord, and Italian in Palo Alto. Both awesome.

Gardening

I didn't literally go anywhere new this weekend(well, other than a new Wal-mart in San Leandro), but I did discover a new thing, I found a drip watering system in a kit, that make watering while I'm away super-easy!

Karaoke Weekend

Annie's Social Club - Punk Rock Karaoke
Do Remi studios - Japan Town, SF - regular karaoke

Nursery tour

It's spring and time to think about planting your garden...I'm especially excited this year since we no longer live in an apartment and have a little land to plant in.

One of the projects that I'd like to do this year is a butterfly garden made with California native plants. It is a little more difficult to do than a regular butterfly/hummingbird garden, but well worth it in my opinion.

First, I gathered information on California natives and which of them are good butterfly/bird attracting types. The single most useful resources for this was the growing natives handouts I got from the Alameda Bay friendly gardening program, but I also found many useful resources online.

I'm avoiding large trees and shrubs since we are renting the house we live in, and don't want to plant something that cannot be undone easily.

I went to Nauvlets Walnut creek location, but didn't find any natives there... I asked about milkweed, and they said try back next week. So then I went to Orchard Nursury in Lafayette, they has a couple sections of natives, and I ended up buying 3 plants.

Then I went to Mt. Diablo Nursery and garden, I didn't see any there either.

Then I went to Annies Annuals in Richmond. They had a large section, but many of their plants were still very small (it's hard to justify paying 5.25 for a pot with a little tiny spring in it). but they had a good selection, I bought 8 CA native and 3 non-natives, and I hope to go back again soon.

Encinal Nursery/Issue re-try

in Alameda, CA

I was really looking for ploughshares nursery. but this one was a nice suprise.

Also I stopped by Issues again. This time I was able to find parking, and got in the store...it's a nice little shop and the people running it seem cool, but it's a little cramped and hard to find things, and they didn't seem to carry a whole lot of stuff not easily found at larger chain stores.

Stitches West

Bright and early this morning I boarded the Capitol Corridor "Stitch & Ride" train headed for the Stitches West knitting convention in Santa Clara. I was accompanied by several members of my local Knitting Meet-up group, the Chicks with Sticks. I've only been knitting for about a year so this was my first foray into the arena of hobbies popular enough to pack a convention center.

This was not your grandmother's knitting convention (if there ever was such a thing). It was not full of grey-haired grannies in doily-covered ponchos. (ok, well maybe a couple). There were knitters of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and fiber preferences (& even some men!). There were hundreds of different vendors hawking their wares. Everything from basic wool & cotton yarns to exotic (& pricey) blends of quivet (musk-oxen), camel & alpaca. They also had numerous classes on everything from basic knitting technique, to making your own argyle socks. I took a basic cables class and learned a lot in a short time - at least enough to get me over my fear of patterns with cables.

I had a great time knitting on the train with my pals and shopping for the perfect super-soft palette-pleasing yarn, however, I would recommend this trip only to the true fiber fiends among us. So much color and texture all in one place could lead to yarn-overload. My friend Greta likened it to an acid trip (though she claimed it was not based on personal experience). Disorienting indeed.

Issues

I tried to go to this magazine store on Friday after work, but the neighborhood it's in is quite trendy and packed on a friday evening, so I had to abandon my mission after circling around for a parking space for 15 minutes. From the peek in the window I got from driving by, it looked like it might be good.

Ancil Hoffman Park, Carmichael, CA

I came here with a couple of friends for a lecture on reading topographical maps. The guy giving the lecture was a little unprepared and a lot apologetic, but it was worth going to.

The hiking at this park is best described by my 60 hikes in 60 miles book - "Cakewalk." The flat short trails go out to the river, and provide much wildlife viewing (we saw a ton of deer, lots of birds, and a coyote). This is an excellent place to bring kids. There is awildlife education center on the grounds as well with live examples of snakes, owls, and birds.

Cafe Leila

In Berkeley, I met a friend here for lunch. It has an awesome patio, and the atmosphere is good. Food was good, but a little swanky, their idea of a cheesesteak sandwich is not my idea of a cheesesteak sandwich.

Oakland Color

Went to this paint supply location to get stuff for my class.

Alameda College

I've signed up for a class here. The first one was tonight.

Marie Callendars

In Walnut Creek, CA I went here with a huge group from the Cadillac Club. It was ok, but I probably won't be back.

Orchard Nursery

In Lafayette, CA

I went here looking for a place that had a large selection of California native plants, especially seeds, and someone on Yelp said this place had a ton of seeds (they didn't specify CA. Natives), So I went to check it out. They had a smaller selection of seeds than Home Depot (which isn't saying much in the middle of Jan). and the place was pretty desolate. But jim pointed out an awesome planter when we were walking around, if I had an extra $600 buck laying around, I'd totally buy it.

Belvedere Island

This is probably a gorgeous little nook in the North Bay, but the day I went was one of the biggest storm days this year, so I didn't really get to enjoy the beauty.