For Aunt Connie

I was never much of a poetry fan- that is until I discovered Hafiz. I wanted to share one of my favorite poems from his collection "The Gift".

The Gift

Our

Union is like this:

You feel cold

So I reach for a blanket to cover

Our shivering feet.

A hunger comes into your body

So I run to my garden

And start digging potatoes.

You ask for a few words of comfort and guidance,

I quickly kneel at your side offering you

This whole book-

As a gift.

You ache with loneliness one night

So much you weep

And I say,

Here's a rope,

Tie it around me,

Hafiz

Will be your companion

For life.

Hope you enjoyed it. Perhaps imagining a nice beat and some music while reading it will make it enjoyable. :-)

Happy Birthday, Frank

When I first met Frank, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was still very sad and upset about my parents divorce, but had made the decision that I would meet him with an open heart.

The first time we met, Frank and my mom came up to San Francisco and took me out to lunch. We went to Kuletto's on Powell Street. I don't remember what I ate, but I remember showing them my new star tattoo. I remember how kind he was and how excited my mom was.

It's been about 8 years or so since that first meeting and I have grown to love and appreciate Frank for many reasons. Some of the many reasons are:

1. Frank is a very gentle and kind man.

2. His relationship with my mom has helped her to find herself again. She has blossomed and become a much happier, and relaxed person.

3. I was not sure what to expect out of my relationship with him. After all, I was an adult when we first met so the idea of "step dad" seemed pretty foreign. Frank has accepted me and my sister as his daughters and has provided for us as such. Without Frank's generosity I would not have had the financial means to return to SFAI and complete my BFA. That generosity is something that was not expected, and I don't know that it can be returned.

4. On my 30th birthday, he and my mom took Rebecca and I to Belize. Originally Aziz was going to come on the trip, but at the last minute was not able to. Aziz's ticket was not transferable or refundable, so they purchased a separate ticket for Bec. This was yet another incredibly generous act that really touched me.

5. Frank can talk for a solid 45 minutes about the various (fill in gadget here) with great interest and zeal. I am not sure why I find this so charming and funny, but I do.

6. Frank has worked as hard as I have to establish a great relationship between us. He values me as though I were his own daughter. This is not something he had to do- he chose to. I am very blessed to have him in my life.

Thank you, Frank. Thank you for all you've done for me, Rebecca and my mom. Thank you for taking care of my grandparents. Thank you for all your love and generosity. Thank you for being you and being a part of our lives.

Happy Birthday, Admiral.

New Project

I've decided it's high time I stop moping and begin a new project.
I've been taking snap shots with my little point and shoot everyday to record the environment I move through. I am going to take the pictures, after a month or so, and put the chronologically in a grid to reflect the passage of time. Hopefully the final execution will be a bit more elegant than that description!!
I think the monotony of seeing the same things and being in the same places every single day causes me (and others, I'm sure) to really tune out and loose a sense of presence in the moment. These are just a few of the images I've gathered so far.





Looking out the window at the BART platform



Gyro place on Mission St



Lobby at work



Fog lifting off Bay Bridge



Looking down my street in the morning




Looking out the window on BART



The BART goes above ground between two stations. This is the view I see pretty much every Monday through Friday

Greyhound station

Looking out the window at work after sunset.

Looking out the living room window Saturday morning

Women's restroom at Macy's



Window dresser at Macy's

My neighborhood, walking home after sunset

Aziz on Saturday morning



Aziz getting ready for work Saturday morning

Union Square, pick up Aziz on Saturday night

Happy 2009

2008 was one hell of a year, and frankly, I am glad to see it pass. Hopefully 2009 will bring luck, joy, love and happiness for us all.
The end of the year is always a really busy time. There is Christmas, several birthdays (including my own) New Years, and finally my wedding anniversary.

Everything was pretty low key this year. I had a nice b-day lunch with my buddy Matt and Petra drove up and took me out to Burma Superstar for dinner. Burmeese food has got to be heavan on a plate.. or in a bowl, in a cup, etc... It's like the best of Thai, Chineese, Vietnamees meets the best of India and Afghanastan. There is really nothing like it.
We had the Chicken Samusas, Samusa Soup, Lamb Curry, Rainbow Salad and Coconut Rice. For desert we had the Jack Fruit roll with Coconut Rice. It was, as always, super delicious. I feel like I should get a little more descriptive, but words fail me at the moment.
Aziz got me a very nice black tote bag. I've had what I call "the bird bag" for several years now- but it was definatly time to upgrade. "The bird bag" is a tote bag with a sequins and beaded phoenix on it. I first saw the bag Loehmans and thought, "Oh dear. Why would any one make such an ugly bag? And why is it over $200!?!?" I saw the bag hanging in the same spot a few weeks later and thought it was ugly, and yet I felt drawn to it. I saw it again several weeks later on the clearance rack and felt the need to really check it out. I'm not too sure what happened, perhaps I felt sorry for it, perhaps it was my love of birds meeting the love of anything at %75 off, but I felt like I had to have that damn bag. So I bought it. And I carried it everyday, everywhere I went. When I originally purchased it, the bottom of the bird wings had feathers sewn on. One day, while waiting at the BART station, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flurry of feathers. Convinced it was a piegon attackin me, I reached down and stared swatting at it. I quickly realized it was not a piegon, but the feather on bag. People were looking at me like I was crazy. I promply cut all the feathers off the bag.
The tote Aziz got for me is very nice, and will never be mistaken as an actual bird attacking me.

For NYE, Aziz and I went out to a nice dinner and came home just in time to ring in the new year. We decided to go to a French restaurant this year. I really wanted to go to a restaurant call La Foile. It has one Michelin Star which speaks for itself, but at $210 per person for the NYE prefix menu, I had to pass. We will definatly check it out another time. We ended up going to a smaller neighborhood place called Cassis. It was very good, but I wasn't blown away. We were started off with a smoked slmon queiche amuse bouche. For the appetizer I had the chestnut soup with white truffel oil and Aziz had the fois grais. For the entree I had the lobster with vanilla sauce and Aziz had the lamb. The entree was followed by a raspberry sorbet in a berry infused vodka. Finally we had a desert plate that included a chocolate mousse and several mini pasteries.
Out of all the food, the fois grais was the best. The rest was very good, although I don't know that I would make the effort to go back to Cassis before trying one of the many other French restaurants in town.

Still no plans for our 6yr anniversary tomorrow. Aziz has to work and I have a huge campaign launching, so we'll probably have a nice dinner at home and do something on Sunday. Sometimes I can't believe we've been married for six years, and other times I feel like I've known him my entire life.

I suppose it's time to start considering resolutions. Not sure that I have any. Will do some more cosidering and keep you all posted.

Happy New Year

Election Day

I am overwhelmed with happiness and relief. I believe this country is finally ready for progress... a revolution if you will.

Bloggin'

It's been so long since I last posted a blog I don't even know where to begin.
The new job is keeping me very busy to say the least. I am currently the only project manager in the whole SF office so quite literally all work comes through me. I like my team for the most part and we are working some exciting initiatives. I will send out links when the various microsites and display media when they go live.

I am working with two friends on start our fair trade business. I am really exited and think we've found our niche, however I have been swamped with a new job, Marie, our designer, is super busy with her freelance gigs and Petra just had her baby. We're a pretty driven group, so I think we'll have an online presence before too long and a branding site launched within the year.
We are developing a mission statement, but in general we want to focus on buying from women in developing nations with the thought and intention that when women have a means of supporting themselves and their families, they have a say in their future and their children's future. Fair trade, and providing the buyer with a look into where the item came from, also opens a dialogue about other areas of the world and what these different cultures are about. Ultimately this dialogue creates an understanding of the "other" which ultimately opens the door to peace. We also feel that supporting traditional crafts and tradition is very important in this mass production, Ikea loving world.

For business names we've played with and their meanings:
Salaam Salon- a place where peace and beauty are
Bilal Trading- Bilal was a freed slave. The Prophet Mohammed honored him by making him the first person in Islam to issue the call the to prayer
Al Musawwir- the shaper of beauty
Al Wali- the protecting friend

We'll see. Let me know if there are any thoughts out there.

Sarah Palin's Debate Flow Chart

This would be funny if it were not so true...