The Weekend! And Then We Went On a Boat

I think I crammed more things into this 4th of July long weekend then I generally cram into an entire month. I'm thinking this speaks to how busy I was and not to how inactive I usually am. On Friday I went out to drinks with Margaret and then to a late dinner at the only worthy deep dish place in San Francisco, Little Star, with Kamel in tow. I love going out on Fridays because 1) It's a great way to start the weekend and 2) when you get home it feels like Friday = TWO DAYS. The work day, and the play day. So when Saturday rolls around and feels like sunday, you can remind yourself it's not and it becomes a bonus day! Just like that. Instant faux-three-day-weekend.

On saturday I was off to the ranch to sweat it out with the lucas folk from 11-4. But the fun didn't stop there. After we left, Kamel and I went furniture shopping! The most exhausting activity in the entire world! (second only to car shopping...oh the drudgery!!) Especially when you go to pick out a couch and end up shopping for pillows and a rug at IKEA afterward. IKEA! I don't think I even need to expound on that. We finally got home grumpy and dirty and not at all hungry (two hotdogs you say? I don't mind if I do!). I immediately jumped into a bath and scrubbed the dirt that had accumulated around my ankles from all that IKEA! shopping, dirty IKEA. (No it was from the ranch and all of that kicking of dust I did, but Ikea couldn't have helped.)

The next day I shot out of bed at 640 because I am a crazy person and needed to go back to the furniture store where we picked out a couch to actually purchase it. Convinced, was I, that stores on the 4th of July (even though it was a sunday) opened at 9:00am and we needed to HURRY! PUT YOUR SHOES ON! LET'S GET THIS DAY GOING! Kamel fed me waffles and then looked up the store hours which were actually 11:00. I lose. (I wonder who I could have inherited this need to be at stores BEFORE THEY OPEN...... MOM) So I stewed in my own anticipation for a few hours until we could finally leave! and go spend hundereds of dollars! After that - instead of going to IKEA again where we had picked out a lovely cream rug and some pillows, we decided to check out Target. Because Kamel and I needed more choices, more chances to ram our heads against a wall and bicker over the exact measurments of things. Yay!! We ended up settling on an awesome rug for less than what we were going to spend at IKEA and some pretty comfy pillows to match. This is my domestic life.

But that was just the beginning of my day. Because we had a date with destiny! This sunday Kamel and I got to cross something off of our "to do before the end of 2010" list!

1.) Charter a boat
2.) Take Kamel somewhere he has never been (he's always doing this for me, it's time for me to show off a little)
3.) Go to Mexico
4.) Go to at least 1 concert
5.) Host a party in our new place

Ah yes. You too can charter the Bay Lady from Spinnaker Sailing via their website at http://www.spinnaker-sailing.com/. I started off making reservations for the 4th and feeling like a fucking rockstar. I was checking something off the list - and more than that, I was going to be on a boat this 4th of July. Hell yes.

Kamel and I got to the Embarcadero a little early, so we decided to sit and watch the marina people come and go from their fancy boats. As we were sitting there, enjoying the evening sun, I began to notice the wind pick up. A gust here, a gust there, and soon I was beginning to feel the tickling of sheer panic. Suddenly I did not want to get on that boat. The wind was starting, big exhales of it, and with every ruffle of my hair, my fingers gripped the inside of my sweatshirt tighter and tighter. It wasn't like we were headed out on a yacht, this was a sail boat, the kind that needs wind to fuel it, the kind of boat that is, in my mind, manhandled by the wind! Kamel was incredibly excited, and I was incredibly afraid.

I spent most of my time being very unsure, never letting go of the hand rail when I wasn't locked down in my seat, and trying my best to stay warm. Let me tell you internet - staying warm on a sail boat in San Francisco during the month of July is impossible. By the end (and because kamel is super human) I was wearing: tshirt, sweatshirt, puffy vest, jeans, shoes and socks, kamel's coat, and my circle scarf. Sailboating at night in San Francisco is not for the skimpily clad.

Once we were out on the water for a while, I lived through some large wakes that sent my fingers of steal into kamel's arm, had a beer, witnessed the 1st mate rockstar of a woman raise the sails, had her try to convince me we weren't all going to die, then cried a little (shh! no one saw!), I began to slowly relax. And the water really was beautiful, the views of the city breathtaking, and the fireworks show went off as if performed especially for us. Plus they had snacks.

Kamel while surveying the other yachts and party boats zooming past us: "Our boat is totally the best boat!! It's the BEST boat out here!"
Me in response: "Our boat is like camping."

Would I do this again? No. Was it an amazing, romantic, (thankfully) once in a lifetime adventure? For me, Yes.

Emphasis on ONCE in a lifetime.