I joined a meetup group for women in their 20-30s who want to meet other nice, fun, outgoing women in the Bay area.  We had a meetup at this really cute wine bar, District, which is practically right across the street from the AT&T Stadium. We tried a bottle of white (Vevi, Verdejo, Rueda, Spain 2010) that was SO good. If you like whites that are crisp and fruity, and just this side of sweet, it's the wine for you.  The menu describes it as peachy. I enjoy a good glass of wine, and I'm working on developing my palate.. but if you ask me to identify the notes, I'm likely to answer, "Uhh.. grapes?"  But this rueda was bursting with peach notes. Amazing. I would recommend their fries, too--the dipping sauce (garlicky creamy something, maybe mayo?) was delicious with the truffle oil on the fries. Check it: http://districtsf.com/

It was great to get out and just have girl talk. I've been hanging out with B-Man and his friends all the time.  Despite having a few very close, long lasting friendships with girls (I love you, ladies) I've always gotten along better with guys. I can't shake the feeling that it's very strange for B-man.  Maybe it's his European-ness?  Maybe he's insecure? No idea.   The feeling of his unsaid discomfort drove me to the one place where you can find anything: the internet. I was hoping to find that elusive species: human females who are smart, fun, NICE, accomplished, and who actually like getting out and doing shit.  I only went to one meetup but I have to say--I think I've already found a winning bunch!

We talked for 3 hours about everything, and there was never a dull moment in the conversation. The girls were from all corners of SF, but one is living in a small city to the south--just 1 mile away from B-Man, in fact. I offered her a ride home at the beginning of the evening and as we talked, I was more than happy I had offered--she was definitely the nicest of the bunch.  It was a great time and I realized how much I miss talking candidly about anything and everything.  No topic was too crazy, nothing was off limits--everything from how we're dealing with shifts in our social circles as more and more of our friends are getting married and having children to the struggle women in SF face as they deal with SF guys and the weird dating scene out here.  I had such a great time that I was still in a good mood the next morning, even when the alarm went off at: 4:30 am.

The whole meetup thing makes me think--it can be kind of weird to agree to meet up with a group of total strangers, none of whom have ever met each other before.  The internet has really changed the world. Who would have thought that something like this would be possible?  With a few clicks of a mouse (I am dating myself here--I should pretend that I have a tablet. This is 2012 in Silicon Valley), I found a new social site that makes connecting with people SO much easier. I never would have been able to get such a great group of girls together on my own if I didn't already know them.  It beats the hell out of trying to meet people in bars.

I'm curious--who else has used social (Web 2.0) to accomplish something that would be pretty much impossible otherwise? Have you stepped outside of your comfort zone, like I did?  And what was the result?

Beautiful SF cityscape video

Check out this timelapse video of San Francisco.  It's really one of the most beautiful cities in the US.

http://sanfranliving.tumblr.com/post/24483833776/the-city-great-time-lapse-video-of-s-f

As you're watching, try to figure out which landmarks are at the following times:

0:19
0:31(bonus)
0:53(bonus)
1:36
2:08
2:18
3:15
4:14

Bay 2 Breakers & the Eclipse

So obviously it's been a while since I last wrote.. Most of you know the main things that have happened in my life since my last posts so instead of this being a summary post of everything that's happened in the last year I'm going to jump in and give an update on what happened last weekend in the city.

Any excuse for craziness and day drinking is insanely popular in the city. Proof: Bay to Breakers, a 12k (just over 7mi) race that goes from one end of the city to the other.  It was started in the early 1900s as a way to get people in a good mood after their city was pretty much leveled during the 1906 earthquake.  Wiki article Since then it's been an integral part of the city's charm and has evolved from a race to a crazy party in the streets with some serious racers and thousands of people in costumes (or nothing at all) dancing and partying their way through the city.

I went this year with Bdawg and some friends.  Great fun.. We started about halfway through the course and walked until Ocean Beach in time to enjoy some freaking cold wind and a ton of sand blowing around, and then watched the solar eclipse.  Enjoy the pictures!

Rooftop party:

 

Black Swans

 

Me last year with a nudie.  Our outfits match!

 

Limbo in the streets

Married? Don't know if it was for real or not but they exchanged rings..

Facebook & Twitter:

Hanging out on the beach:

SF love story:

Street fighter!!

Herd of cows:

Nudie!! Note how no one around him is acting like this is anything out of the ordinary:

Centaur/cow man.  I say cow because you could "milk" him to get vodka. No joke--you can't make this stuff up if you tried.

 

Bdawg & I waiting for the Eclipse. You can see it's already started--the moon is moving from the right side to the left side of the sun and the sun is an oval instead of round.

Iron Man!

B2B is popular with people of all ages.

So you can see just how massive this thing is...

You can see the solar eclipse in the light passing through my friend's sombrero!

Warning: Not life size.

Another picture to show you just how massive this event is:

He loves me so much.

????  My best guess: Crazy tiger shaman...with sunglasses?

Picture my friend took of the eclipse through one of those sunglasses especially for the eclipse.  At its fullest point, it was 84% covered by the moon or something like that.

Party bus! It didn't drive anywhere but people were partying on it and the driver was DJing.

Example of a group costume:

Angry robot yelling at Siri:

So there you have it. Quite a few pictures of B2B craziness that still don't do it justice. There is nothing like seeing a group of people dressed as giant Legos passed out on the grass, using their Lego costumes (painted cardboard boxes) to shield themselves from the sun.

Next time I'll introduce everyone to the How Weird festival that took place 2 weeks ago :)  Now it's time to get ready for dinner--Fondue time with Bdawg and friends in the city!