October Wrap Up: Music Month

October was about simple pleasures - live music, gatherings with friends, and spending a personal milestone in Big Sur.

A California Castle

Wikipedia

At the beginning of our Big Sur roadtrip, we stopped at Hearst Castle, the publisher's former estate off Highway 1 just south of Big Sur. The property is now a state park and a gorgeous museum. It took decades to build, and was designed by Hearst and Julia Morgan, a prolific Bay Area architect who was also the first licensed female one in California. (She also designed a community center right in my neighborhood, no big deal.)

Big Sur, Big Birthday

Edge of the world (Garrapata State Park)

My Fellow Carpool Passengers

source; google images

I take Lyft Line as much as I can, since it reduces my costs (I mean, I know I'm still splurging by avoiding/being lazy about Muni), and since San Francisco is really not that big that a carpool would seriously delay me. I come across lots of different people riding Lyft Line. Presented, some of them, without (much) comment:

• the two people who I joined when we all got off Caltrain, and someone remarked, Lyft is like the school bus for adults
• the girl who joined carrying an Hermes shopping bag
• the guy coming back from a fancy restaurant who told me i HAD to go to the wine shop in our neighborhood if i really wanted to be a local
• the guy coming from a business dinner who remained silent and I think may have used the carpool feature by accident
• the guy and his visiting mom, on their way to church - mom is asking him about his bank account and about buying a new mattress
• the girl leaving happy hour to go home and walk her dog
• the couple eating Escape from NY pizza in the back seat (perhaps my favorite so far)
• the girl whose one-night-stand ordered a SHARED cab for her
• the guy who just moved from NY to SF and works with a friend of mine
• the guy who just moved from NY to SF to move in with a boyfriend, and then got dumped and now needs to find a new place to live

Role Models: Why Not Me?

goodreads

A couple weeks ago I read Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not surprising since I'm a fan of her first book as well. The "All the Opinions You Will Ever Need" section was my favorite (it featured the great essay on confidence). Her reflections on said confidence, body image, 4 a.m. anxieties, and hard work are hilarious and completely spot on.