i rode the vespa

all by myself, unaccompanied by a trailing vw with a worried cc inside, for the first time last night.

my (very pregnant, very cute) friend manjari lives about a mile away, which feels silly to cab, too long to walk at night, and the parking in that 'hood is kimpossible. the journey over there truly was ordained by god for scooters. some people might say "what about a bicycle?" to which i say: have you seen the hills in this city?

believe it or not, the scariest part of the whole adventure came at the beginning and end: the unkickstanding, the maneuvering out of the garage (me = officially learning disabled in anything spatial), the parking, etc. the riding is the easy, lovely part. i felt so bad ass, cruising along at 18 mph, my head snug inside the polyeurthane and foam biosphere. and how convenient-o! pulling right up to her door and running inside without a care to tim gunn and friends, no 45 minute hunt for a probably-illegal parking spot on a definitely-sketchy street.

of course, i got a little overconfident on the ride home, and cruised into our garage a little too fast. something went wonky and the whole thing tipped over. my herculean strength saved it from slamming down, but i wasn't strong enough to pull it back up without resting it on the sidewalk first. sorry, little scratches. sorry, lower back muscles.

but all in all, bja fully approves this message for red vespa'ing around this little city by the bay.

warm weather

has finally hit san francisco. because here in our lovely city by the bay, the sun doesn't hit till september and october. just in time for me to not wear all those scrumptious corduroys and boots and tights in every store/catalog/show. but i'll shhhh because why in hell would i complain when my dreams finally came true?

today, we celebrated the weather by taking a long trip on the vespa, side-by-side mike and rachel, who also rock a scooter (i tell you, people really clear out when they hear our rough gang cruising by). we drove through pacific heights, the castro, noe valley (must! move! there!), and ended up in the mission.

our end spot was a lunch spot - the st. francis fountain - that mike discovered recently. check out the picture below - a real, old-fashioned diner with a lunch counter and a fountain that makes malts and a glass display case selling gargage pail kids! my heart swoons for places like these - gems nestled in hidden neighborhoods, not too overrun with hipsters, and full of old timey stuffs. we sat outside, people watched and chit-chatted, treated ourselves to cheesy goodnesses, and sipped our caffeine in sunny splendor. sometimes it seems plain crazy that we ever consider moving from here.