Maybe you can help me...

What the heck does this mean...

and this...

and this...

and this...

Oh, yeah... THIS is what it means!

It is officially 100 degrees here right now. Thank god it's a dry heat. Although I may still have to abandon my packing/ cleaning plans and head for some A/C pretty soon. Our apartment is west-facing and really heats up in the afternoon.

So... San Francisco is attempting to make me look like a big liar. One of my biggest complaints about SF (and there aren't many) was that there really is no Summer in the city. I mean, you'll have a few days of 70-80 degree weather and, even more rarely, maybe a day or  two of 90 weather, but it's never really enough to count as a Summer. Until this year, apparently. Since I have been back in SF, for the most part the weather has been beautiful (70s-80s, right now it's supposedly 91, but it doesn't feel quite that hot to me). Nice try, SF, but it's too late. I have bought a house elsewhere. I love you, but I'm leaving. No need to make this any harder on me.

ETA... I take back what I said about it not feeling that hot. I'm meeeeeeeeeellllltttiinngg!

If you want to understand more about what it is like to experience infertility (without actually having to experience it), the NY Times has done a nice feature which presents several different women's experiences with it. An interesting point was brought up on one of the message boards I read-- there were no men interviewed for this feature and not having a man talk about dealing with infertility perpetuates the stereotype that infertility is only a woman's problem.

Many of the comments about the story are awful. I can't even bring myself to read them. My skin is too thin and I have enough insensitive (intentional or not) comments to deal with in real life, that I don't think I need to expose myself to more. But, if you don't have a good idea of the BS that gets shoveled at people dealing with infertility, then you should read through some of the comments and see for yourself.

When I have some pictures I will put them up, but I haven't been in the blogosphere much because DH and I have been in Seattle looking at houses and made an offer on one and today went and signed all of the papers. All we are waiting for now is for the monies to be officially transfered and the paperwork to be filed with and accepted by the county and then, the house is ours-- YAY!

I fly back to California tomorrow to pack, pack, pack. And sort through stuff. And pack some more.

We also went to visit my mom's side of the family for a wedding, I will have to write about that trip sometime.

Wow.

I Came to See Starfish

we walked
feet sinking

always a step behind
I looked at the sky
the waves
the long strands of brown seaweed pulled across the sand
doubtful

you pressed on
compass and map
quick and sure
up this hill
around this corner

you were just glad to be walking
the sun stifled behind the clouds
but I came to see starfish

in dark, liquid moments
you whisper
"I just want to make you happy"

you
on the cusp
goat-fish and water-bearer

me
swimming inside myself
I don't want you to have to bear me

when we finally got there
shoes filled with sand
all you could find were anemones
and a little crab poking out between the rocks

the tide rose
we step-slid back to the car
and shook the ocean from our clothes

the sun laid it's head low
and the sky-stars opened their eyes in the night
I tucked my head into the crook of your neck
your skin stubble-rough and warm

starfish are tough on the outside
and regenerate what falls away

what I remember
what anchors me in the sea
is not that you didn't find me a starfish
but that you bothered to look

NSFW, or little children, or carbon-based lifeforms, really. But star-studded and damn funny.

The Dropping of the Gauntlet

Well Played, Sir

*Bonus points for whoever knows what totally unrelated movie the title of this post refers to.

We had a relatively low-key Valentine's Day. DH has been working longer
than usual hours trying to launch his current project, so I made DH
dinner and dessert (see below) and he promised to take me out to a
movie of my choice this weekend.

The Appetizer: Sliced fresh Pluots with Goat Cheese, Spearmint, and Honey

I
got the idea from an appetizer I had at a restaurant several months
ago, except they served the sliced pluots with goat cheese and sweet
mint oil. Well... Whole Foods didn't have any mint oil, so I had to
improvise. I bought fresh Spearmint (they didn't have fresh Mint), cut the leaves to tiny little pieces (think almost like pesto) with kitchen shears
and mixed it with honey. Yummy!

The Entree: Bear Lover's Pizza

You
all do know that I call my DH "Bear," right? I bought 3 red bell
peppers (but only ended up using 2), cut them up such that I had the
largest "flat" areas possible, then cut out the heart and letters
(don't worry, the left over bell pepper scraps were not just tossed
away, they will be used in tomorrow's dinner). The pizza also had
cipollini onion, kalmata olives, and mushrooms on it.

After dinner, it had devolved into "Ear Pizza:"

Dessert: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The
cupcakes were from a mix (which included the round nipple-like things
you see on the tops of the cupcakes) and the frosting was made
according to the recipe that came with the mix. Note to self: buy
electric mixer before attempting to make cream cheese frosting again,
or replace right arm with robotic arm.

Interesting