Last night we did something many parents of toddlers would think unthinkable. Most of us hunker-down in our houses after the witching hour. We all know when that time is – usually after dinner and right before bed. Your child transforms into a crazed whirligig bouncing off the walls, declaring she wants anything and everything, and demands that the same book is read over and over and over again….

Those minutes before the tot’s bedtime stretch into what seems like hours and hours as you just try to stay sane.

Our friend, Brett Kaufman, had an art opening at 5 Claude Lane Gallery and we wanted to go.

It was slated to start right in the middle of the tot’s usual temper-tantrum time.

But, we wanted to go and show our support and share the wonders of art with our daughter. Brett’s work is really something special and makes you get a little closer for a better look. His work is comprised of itty-bitty perfectly placed photographs positioned together in a dizzyingly amazing mosaic, which creates a full finished image. Really, you get sucked into an artwork and find there are so many layers to unfold.

We got all gussied up and headed out for the city. It was a bit of a rainy night, but it was still exciting and fun to be doing something different from our “normal” routine.

(I used a curling iron and everything.)

As we made our way up the steps to the gallery, it was awesome to see a packed house and all of our friend’s artwork shining in the lights. We had a few moments to chat with him, but he kept getting swept back into the crowd. And, it turned into a Dada night, which meant all the tot wanted was for her daddy to hold her while walking around the colorful artworks.

I actually had a few brief minutes to chat with other adults before the tot started her meltdown. We made it about 45 minutes into the opening, but it was enough to see our friend have great success at his opening, catch up with others, and enjoy some fun in the city.

Congratulations, Brett!

(here’s the blow-by-blow)

So this week I had jury duty. Sure, loads of you cringe when you get that mailer, but my toes curl with excitement. Jury duty is all about potentially countless hours with a book spattered with momentary interruptions of people watching, small chit-chat, and announcements from the jury duty people. I’ve been called about three times since I’ve lived here and each time I spend about four hours in the holding room and then am released to go about my day.

With a tot at home and a full-time-working-hubs, serving on a jury is pretty much not going to happen. But I sure wasn’t a bit enticed with the idea of serving on a one-day trial just to experience the wonders of our judicial system.

I packed my bag with a book, the laptop, some notes for work stuff, and tried to suppress my excitement.

Not only was I heading off to jury duty but to the Marin Center – a building designed by one of my mostest-favoritest architects ever.

Frank Lloyd Wright.

Yup.

That’s right.

The Marin Center as one of Wright’s last commissioned buildings and controversial from the start. The site was supposed to be a hospital, people weren’t excited about the space being used as a music venue/civic center, and Wright had some baggage – and was really at the end of his career. But, with all that said, this building is one of the biggest landmarks in Marin.

And it’s awesome.

During the hours I was planning on cozying up with a good book (in a filled room while sitting on a crap-tastic folding chair), as soon as the sun streamed through the morning fog, I was off with my camera.

This weekend was all about doing stuff with the tot, which made the hubs and I both really feel like parents. Yeah, we do things all the time with our daughter, but it’s mostly going here and there while shuffling her with us. She enjoys it, or at least tolerates it. So, for the last couple of days, we celebrated our daughter and put aside our regular errands to bask in the wonders of a toddler exploring new things for the first time.

There’s this place called Train Town not too far from our house. We’ve been there before, but our daughter was pretty young and we were with some wonderful friends, so everything was a bit of a blur. We headed back for another go around, and let me just say, the smile on her face was precious.

As we stuffed her kicking and screaming back into the car, we knew a fantastic time was had by all.

(Thankfully, she fell asleep quite promptly after we started the drive home.)

Yesterday we hit the farmers market with my visiting parents and loaded up on goodies. I didn’t go last week because I wasn’t really feeling up to being social, but this week, I repeated my $10 challenge and scrounged and searched for the best items that I could bring home and use for creating dinner. We already had a chicken ready for roasting, so I figured sides for under $10 for four was a proper test.

Right at the first booth I was already in love. Itty-bitty eggplants were lounging just begging to be brought home. After hunting out the best tomatoes, I selected a big, happy one, and then had my heart set on some sharp, dry goat cheese. I almost went over budget picking up some salad greens, but made it just under my $10 grand total. We also ended up at the market towards the end of the day, which meant vendors were ready to wheel-and-deal. YAY!

I roasted those baby eggplants with a bit of salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and red onion, sliced up the tomato, chopped up the greens, topped with some fresh white beans and big slices of that goat cheese – and we all enjoyed the best salad ever.

YUM.

This week was not a great week. I was glad to see it end so a new week could come over and take its place. Let’s just say I haven’t been the extra-specialist person to be around for the last couple of days, and had been pretty busy at my own pity-party, eating and drowning my sorrows in alcohol. So, this afternoon when the hubs suggested a walk into town for some gelato, I couldn’t say no. And it just so happened some super-happy people were hanging out in the park listening to a local band.

I couldn’t help but smile.

So, bring it new week. I’m ready for you.

The cat we adopted from the Milo Foundation, Coco, has totally fit herself into our family and is comfortable enough to share some of her more unique characteristics. She is totally afraid of the camera, and runs frantically if you are holding one. Oddly, Coco likes water and will hang out in the bathroom while I give the tot a bath. While blowing bubbles the other day, we discovered Coco will track, plan the perfect attack, and maul all stragglers that aren’t popped by our daughter.

And, she brings us leaves.

(I prefer this to the snakes our other cat enjoys sharing with us.)

Here are a few she left for us today…

How was your week?

Well, our dishwasher is not happy. It came with the house, in fact, it was the only appliance in the place. We bought a foreclosure in Northern California, so we’re lucky there weren’t holes in the walls and such. When searching out rock-bottom-prices in the Bay Area, you see some pretty craptastic houses. When the one came along, we learned to adjust our first-time-home-buyer-dreams for reality.

After living in the house for about two years we are finally figuring a few things out. The dishwasher has never really been right. It makes lots and lots of noise, was installed incorrectly, leaked the first couple of times we used it – and the bottom spinny thing doesn’t spin properly.

And, the other day, during all its noise and lack-of-proper spinning, the spinny thing got stuck. Let me set the scene: the baby is serenely napping, I’m happily doing my work and enjoying a nice quiet afternoon (well, not really because the child was actually NOT napping and in her crib singing the theme song from Caillou really loud and the dishwasher was making this horrid CLUNK CLUNK BUZZZZZZZZZZ kinda noise) when an interesting smell wafted towards my delicate nose.

ICK.

I ran around the house in a panic searching out the smell. Was our house going to burn down? Should I call someone? Was there a wire burning somewhere inside the walls?

And then I knew. I knew it HAD to be that dishwasher.

I opened the door mid-cycle, all the water gushed out, and there was the smelly culprit.

The spinny thing.

It was caught on the heating coil and melting.

Awesomeness.

So, this lovely Saturday morning, we are heading off to do one of my most dreaded things. Shopping with sales persons that make their livings off commissions.

Wish me luck.

Today the temps hit the upper 90′s – so we headed out for a walk early this morning to enjoy the neighborhood…

Just about as wonderful as glitter and rainbows….