Back to Haight

When wondering what I was going to do with my afternoon, I realized that I hadn't been to Haight Street in a while.  So I took a walk in the sun, enjoying the always eclectic crowd as I headed to Mendel's Craft Store. I was completely surprised to find it jam packed with other college students, all buying some finishing touches for their Halloween costumes.

Now I know for sure that I'm not embarrassed to buy knitting supplies in front of other people my age!

 I managed to limit myself to only these two skeins of Lion's Pride Wool Ease Yarn, and I have big plans for them!  I bought this highly suggested Vogue Stichionary a couple of weeks ago, and I plan on going through it and knitting little squares of each and every stitch in the book.  I'm hoping that after I've finished going through the book, I can crochet the squares together in a sort of variation of the granny-square blanket.

I finished up my jont among the hippies and excited college students with a Chicken Pesto Panini at the little shop called Panini.  My friends and I discovered this place our freshman year and it was great to finally satisfy a serious craving.

My plans for this Halloween weekend?  Keeping happy and keeping busy - more specifically on a lit essay for next week.  Anyone doing anything more exciting?

Adventures on Haight

After weeks and weeks of hard work, my friend Christine and I decided we needed to get off of campus for a while and reconnect with the amazing city around us. So we took a little gander down Haight Street, equipped with jackets, umbrellas, and our cameras. We saw stopped in a few little stores, including an art shop where I purchased a cheap sketchbook and various markers. And after seeing so much amazing graffiti and street art on Haight, I cannot wait to get down my own ideas.

Because we were feeling adventurous, and because the rain had finally stopped, we decided to keep going down Haight until we got bored.

We ended coming upon Buena Vista Park, which is essentially a large hill covered in trees. Being curious about how good the view of the city would be from the top of the hill, we decided to go on a little hike.

We climbed up and up... but in the end, it wasn't the multiple staircases or trails that made our ascent to the top rather slow. The park was so beautiful, we just couldn't stop taking pictures!

And at the top, as we were getting blown side to side by the wind and the sky was threatening rain, we decided that it was well worth the walk. San Francisco truly is a beautiful city.

We got back to campus just before the rain hit. We then sat together in Christine's room, cozy under a couple of blankets, comparing photos and watching lightening light up the sky. By the time I finally went to bed, the wind was howling through the buildings on campus, the rain was going vertically at my window, and the trees were swaying violently in the wind. It would have been scary if I hadn't been feeling so thankful for being alive and where I am at.

At the end of the week, it will be Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for?

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone is having a good Friday. Partying still seems to be the popular thing to do and, quite frankly, I don't think it will go out of style any time soon (hello, this is college). I actually witnessed my first in dorm drinking today, and I have to admit, I wasn't that impressed. I have been, however, branching out to try and find out what there is to do besides partying.

Today after classes, some friends and I met at Golden Gate Park in the AIDS Memorial Garden. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and there were two guys with guitars who played for a while. I admit it; we studied on a Friday afternoon! But it was so quiet and peaceful that we relaxed and read for a little while before packing up and going off to explore Haight Street. Of course, not before I got to take some pictures of the absolutely gorgeous park!

On the way out of the park, we came across some chalk art on the side walk, and I couldn't resist! This was only the beginning of what Haight had to offer.

This man's pants were the first thing to catch our attention. Well, that and the fact that he was suspending himself upside down over this fire hydrant. He was very nice when we asked him if we could take a picture with him, and introduced himself as the hip Dali Lama.

This cute little dog was sitting just inside the doorway of a salon we passed by. He was also very friendly and relaxed, and was just as eager as the man in the neon pants to pose for some pictures.

We stopped for pizza and took a look in the discount army store. On the way back to campus, we saw this band playing on someone's front steps and stopped for half of a song. If you like bluesy-folk music, they weren't half bad and had attracted a decent sized crowd.

Once we got back to campus, we threw in a few loads of laundry and played video games with some of the guys on our floor. Most everyone has left for parties by now, but my friends Scott, Justine, and I are planning on watching a movie in a little bit. So, I would call this a major victory over stay-in-friday-syndrome, which typically manifests itself in melancholy feelings and random bursts of loneliness. I had a great time today, no alcohol needed!