Oakland

So --- my weekend was full of Oakland. Friday night, we tried to go to the Parkway Speakeasy in Oakland to catch one of their last showings before the full shut down on Sunday. Unfortunately, many others had the same plan in mind - we were unable to watch "Let The Right One In". Instead, we meandered the streets of Oakland specifically the Grand Lake Area looking for random bars. We stopped by 'the Alley' a dive piano bar filled with business cards, dark lighting and a mixed crowd. You could say 'the Alley' is fun for its piano in the back with a couple of mics sprouting out on the side. People would go up and sing classics like "Wouldn't It Be Lovely" and countless other jams I sure didn't know.

Anyways, on Friday night, our dear friend L told us about a development of new David Baker designed lofts (Pacific Canary Lofts) that were built in West Oakland -- starting prices around the $250K. On Saturday, exciting the highway and taking the back way into the development wasn't so bad. What awaited us were handsome lofts - some of which sold for $300-350K with grand views of the Oakland Port, light flooding in, and a floor plan that was so beautifully opened up and exposed. What had been promised to us on the tour was the continuing development of other new residential buildings which potentially had retail spaces to follow...Haha, Phil and I had knowing glances...little did we know what awaited us outside of the proper entrance was West Oakland. Enough said, I don't think we will be considering.

Later that night, while watching the local news - we discovered the gun down of the 4 police officers occurance on the other side of town in East Oakland.

Considerations and Camilia

Dude. I'm thinking of taking the CPA exam again. Arg. I kind of feel like I should be making better use of my time in the evenings. I don't know just how the CPA exam will benefit me - the only thing that it may help me with is opening doors to the corporate world. I secretly despise the cubicle existence. I'm gonna talk to people and get their two cents. If I do end up getting it, I should certainly try to add up the hours and money used to arrive there. Is it at all worth it? Wish I could figure out what I was good at and take the leap of faith and plunge. Hmm ... another thing to chew on - I'm still young - do I really need a house? Should I get out of my physical comfort zone and pursue something geographically new? I'm still young yet I envy those that are just beginning their college experiences and even come to envy babies that have a completely new life ahead of them. Someone help!

Meanwhile, I'm genuinely fortunate to have superficial things to distract me such as the Camilla flower bush I discovered in our front yard! Single flowers in small glass Trader Joe Corn Salsa jars rock! Wish I could up and leave but where else am I going to find Camilla bushes?

Forced Into Slavery

I distinctly took a trip from Fil's house to Mint - the little corridor of a florist shop located on Park Street in Alameda this past Saturday. The florist at the register was working hard on a birthday bouquet which consisted of white with blue hydrangea mop heads with little ranunculus sprinkled about. I asked her how she learned the skill of floral arranging. She responded letting me know that since her youth her mother had a floral shop and as a result she and her siblings were forced to learn the tricks of the trade. Jealous.

She was kind enough to allow me to take a few pics of flowers/plants in the shop:

long stemmed magnolias

kale (yes, it is edible)

I still like my bike.

Yo. So, I've been admiring Fil's bike for the past two weeks as we have been fortunate to ride an average of 2X a week.  His bike is admirable for two main reasons: 1) it's sleek and slender and 2) is half of my bike's weight.  I must admit I began having second thoughts about my own -the words "big clunky green thing" entered my mind, as well as dreams of when would it be feasible to get a bike like Fil's...

I reminded myself that my "big clunky green thing" fits in a different category.  It's a vintage with fenders -  and I'm well satisfied with this idea... it will never go out of style.

Congrats to Nathaniel and Wendy!

My brother proposed last Thursday and she said 'yes'!  Best wishes for a lifetime to come!  This picture is from last Sunday's dinner and I think it definitely exudes the feeling of happiness.

Featuring the Red Anemone Coronaria

I just got my fix of the sun for the upcoming week - think I've been sitting in the sun for the past 3 hrs. I attempted reading 'A Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich ' a thin mint little book I bought at a second hand shop a number of years due to the encouragement of G. I swear I have read the first 20 pages multiple times and have never moved beyond that point.   Today was no exception.  Sadly, I was distracted by current day articles such as a piece about Lily Allen in this week's New Yorker.

I built my bouquet - (sigh, tadaa) all for something around $10. This is a mix of 3 kinds of flowers: two varieties of flowers bought yesterday and one from the backyard.

The featured red flowers are Red Anemones purchased at the Oakland market.  These flowers have some fun characteristics such as has wild flower appearance necklaced by a ring of small leaves below the head of the flower, and have an indigo-navy center.  The most interesting quality I have observed is - in the evening the flowers close up and then open up in the day.  I should have payed more attention to Science class in elementary school.  Tonight, I'm almost expecting them to either sing or hiss at me.

The 2 subtle clusters of purple flowers are Trachelium bought at 'The Meadow' in N. Oakland . My reasoning for buying these were 1) the guy who helped me out was nice enough to entertain my general flower questions for a good 10 min and 2) I was thinking the purple would bring out the indigo center of the red anemone.  I only bought 2 because it was $2 a stem. Final word about the Trachelium, note the stem is kind of a cool dark pewter color.

Fil kind of told me the 2 flowers were lackluster so - today I filled it out with a plant from the backyard that has a rough rosemary texture with little pink flowers.  We've got 4 bushes of these in our backyard.

I've got mixed feelings about this arrangement.  Those who truly know me - know me as one who embraces minimalism.  The bouquet is so not minimal!  It's got red, pink, purple! It's kind of a nightmare.

Mmmm...M.Ward and plans for the weekend

Digging M. Ward. This weekend I will be creating a floral vinette. With the help of Yelp, I have come across a few florists in Oakland area. I'm shooting for 3 places: the Oakland Flower Market, The Meadows and Bloomies the Flower Shop. Ambitious am I not? I don't have any specific combinations in mind. We will just have to see!

My teeth be shiftin'

...time to break out my 8th grade retainers and enforce the 8 0'clock curfew as in my teeth had better be sleeping tight and sound in my retainers by the 16th hour!  Don't ever take straight teeth for granted - especially when you have already paid the price as a pre-teen having to wear head gears, zig zag patterned rubber banded braces, not to mention shed many a tear as the Dr. Y hammered brackets onto the molars while country music rolled in the background.  What a harrowing experience.  It doesn't help as I recall my mother telling me that I should be grateful as of all her children I was the only one had to go through costly Phase II.  Getting those retainers in is the first step - last Sunday evening I couldn't even get them on my lower set - I may talk funny now but I'd like to prevent myself from looking like a hill billy for a while...

Dahlias

This weekend was so very chill - as the small highlights were - watching the stop motion animation  film "Coraline" with 3D glasses, biking in Alameda on a Friday evening while having deep conversations, picking up some relatively inexpensive merch at the Gap and Anthropologie, witnessing our Peru plans coming together, falling asleep to Fellini's "La Dolce Vita", and spending too much time making deep friend okra.

Also, over the weekend, I decided to make my own floral arrangements maybe monthly (provided it doesn't cost a fortune).  On that note - I wanted to make a brief comment about the Dahlia which I have always admired even as Tomboy.  One word can describe it easily - graphic.  What I mean is, I can totally imagine it within the borders of a cool retro Sapporo Beer poster.