The August Break Day 31: Smile

Here I am, 31 days later! August 1st feels like a lifetime ago...

Stay tuned for what I learned from this project.

Thank you everyone for keeping up with me this past month! I'll see you next year :)

The August Break Day 30: Sign

At Shotwell's, where Dave and I met almost three years ago:

The August Break Day 29: Your (My) Fave Thing

My fave thing? There are a couple of practices I keep every day that keep my feet on the ground. The first are morning pages, which you can read about here; the second is a movement practice, which typically means rolling out my mat and practicing yoga (although, more recently, I've incorporated dance to the mix).

Settling in at Laughing Lotus

These are my favorite things--the moments in the day when I get to be with myself. After so many years spent spinning my energy outward, this daily reconnecting to my guts is my biggest priority. As a person who tends toward extremes, I have to cultivate moderation like my life depended on it--which, in some ways, it absolutely does.

Here's an extra photo from yesterday:

August Break Day 28: Smell

Mas comida Cubana:

Arroz con pollo, ensalada, tostones

The August Break Day 27: Number

I danced ballet from age 3 or 4 until I was 15. At about 12 or so, I started dancing on pointe and for years after I stopped my toes were crumpled together. Ten plus years of yoga, and they are all nice and spread out again:

10 little yogi toes. 

The August Break Day 26: Yes

I looked forward to today's prompt for a few days, and then when the time came I felt stumped. "Yes?" How does one capture yes? I kept looking around for what physical things in my life or environment symbolized this. I thought of posting a photo of Dave, and how I say "yes" to our commitment every day, but I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea (that I was saying yes to a certain type of question). So I am posting my business cards, to symbolize the greater and ongoing YES of my current life, that being, the YES of entrepreneurship, of being my own boss, of stepping fully into my place as business owner. It's exciting, exhilarating, and a great challenge all at the same time; I am practicing gratitude at every moment, even the overwhelming ones.

The August Break Day 25: Sunday Morning

Sunday morning view out of my friend Rebecca's third floor apartment on Dolores street. This is such a quintessentially Mission scene: beautiful Victorian homes, the fog barely poking out over Twin Peaks, and, if you squint, the J Muni line cruising south.

The August Break Day 24: Hear

Dave and I met up with some friends at the 20th Street Block Party. I managed not to have a panic attack while being surrounded by so many people (I'm only slightly exagerrating) and we found a nice spot stage right to watch Two Gallants, who I'd never heard of but ended up liking a lot. Here they are covering Nirvana's "Aneurism." 

The August Break Day 23: Sacred

Here you see an image of my home altar. I've kept one for the past 5 or 6 years. I guess I need an entire arsenal of goddesses to watch over me: You see Kali, Durga, Frida Kahlo, The Virgin of Guadalupe, and a photo of my mom when she was 19. There's Royal Violets perfume, used by all the women on my mom's side of the family; various shells (and one vial of sand) from various oceans and seas all around the world; found hawk feathers; tarot cards; stones; messages from loved ones; a wallet sized photo of myself as a baby...little reminders from all of my lives, past, present, and future.

The August Break Day 22: Midday

I set an alarm for noon today. This is the photo I took:

Out the window of Fix Studios

The August Break Day 21: Something Old

There are so many amazing, pimped out rides in the Mission--I caught this one showing off on 24th Street:

My favorite street

The August Break Day 20: Sight

So the prompt read "taste," however; I think it was an accidental redundancy because we already did that on the ninth. So, I chose "Sight" instead.

And how could I not! The moon was HUGE. I usually think it's silly to take photos of the moon because they always come out fuzzy, never doing her justice--but I think I found a way to capture her tonight:

Can you guess which one is the moon??? 

This is the field on Golden Gate where we play softball every week. We got our asses handed to us--but it was super fun anyway!

The August Break Day 19: White

Scenes from 18th Street:

The August Break Day 18: Looking Down

No words needed for this one:

LOOK AT DAT FACE!!!!!! i die

The August Break Day 17: Touch

My photo of the day, plus a couple extras:

Me and Zoie 

Melvin and Dave--Pony pals

Melvin

The August Break Day 16: Floral

 

I get caught up in city life sometimes. Often, it's not positive. I start to get small, and bitch about little things, like waiting in line, or crowds, or how much I hate doing laundry. And then on a bike ride to AT&T park to watch a Giants game with my boo, we stop to grab lunch from a taco truck and as I lean up on the metal fence I glance up only to see I am surrounded by this:

Swoon City USA, aka passiflora, aka passionflower

The August Break Day 15: Books

I read Cheryl Strayed's Wild in three days. There were dozens of passages that felt expressly written for me. This book felt like a dear friend, and ever since I finished, I feel like a piece of me is missing.

The August Break Day 14: Stillness

A view from the Huntington Beach pier:

Little sun pokin out the top

The August Break Day 13: Home

A photo from my first meal home:

Cuban black beans and rice

The August Break Day 12: Far Away

My mother is first generation Cuban. I grew up in Southern California surrounded by my large extended family, among my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and the occasional transplant who had glommed on to our family for so long that they too had become part of our blood. I am grateful every day for the family experience I had growing up--such warmth and love and good food and arriving at parties only to spend the first 20 minutes making sure you said hello and gave a hug and a kiss to everyone there, even if you had only seen them the day before.

I remember every holiday, the men would gather in the backyard and shoot the shit for a couple of hours while smoking Cuban cigars. Whoever supplied the cigars (usually my dad) was a Big Deal-you could tell by the way they would marvel and fawn over the quality, the smell, the sight of the after dinner treat. The smell of cigar smoke, and my favorite, the inside of cigar boxes, is as familiar to me as the aroma of the sofrito simmering away on the stove top. Omnipresent, familiar, comforting, and evoking such nostalgia in me now that sometimes it's all I can do not to cry with longing. The older generation, the ones who came here in the late 50's, creating a new home, never to return to their own, are getting older; normal functions are breaking down, and I already find myself bracing for the impending loss.

Dave and I rolled up to my parents' house at about 6 on Monday night. My dad was still at work, and my mom, in her excitement to see us, had an announcement:

"I have two Cohiba's I've been saving; let's smoke one!"

So we did, out on the patio, drinking beer and playing gin (I won again).

The oldies no longer smoke cigars, the laundry list of ailments no longer conducive to the ritual. Passing the cigar back and forth with my mother felt almost like a rite of passage-moving from the world of child to one of taking my place at the grown-ups table, bridging the gap between two worlds.

The August Break Day 11: Play

Dave and I spent most of today on the road. We arrived in Ventura at about 5, got cleaned up at the hotel, and headed into town to cruise around and have dinner. It felt so good to walk around in the warm summer night air...completely refreshing after spending the last month boxed in by the Norcal fog.

Then, I kicked his ass at Gin Rummy.

The August Break Day 10: Red

First day on the road:

The view across from my apartment

The August Break Day 9: Taste

As you all know by now, summer 2013 is going down in San Francisco history as THE SUMMER THE SUN NEVER CAME OUT. So I decided to eat the sun instead:

Tomorrow we hit the road for a 9 day trip up and down the coast. See you on Highway 1!

The August Break Day 8: A Selfie

I'll admit, I took like 9,000 photos of myself before I chose this one. I'm sure I'm not the only one :)

Aqui estoy:

The August Break Day 7: Skyline

Today's word was Skyline. I'll be honest, I was completely uninspired, as we haven't seen the sun in San Francisco since June. No lie.

Here's what I got for you (yes, this was taken in June. I'm using my free pass for this one).

Bernal Hill, San Francisco CA

Happy Wednesday! xo