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Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
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2:08 pm - listening to Ella
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| Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
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10:44 pm - The house smells divine
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My dear Pup is here baking for our holiday meal. He just finished baking date, walnut and chocolate chip cakes. Now he's making rice pudding with orange blossom and pistachios.
Tomorrow I make the stuffings and cranberry sauces.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
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1:47 pm - last night
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| Friday, October 30th, 2009
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2:40 am - For Historical Record!
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I bought a scale. I've lost 40 pounds since April. About 90 all together over the past couple years or so. Insane.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 25th, 2009
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1:15 am - East Brother Light Station
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Once across the Bay Bridge and off the freeway, we took a scenic drive down a winding, bumpy, unpaved road to the harbor docking area for East Brother Light Station. The area was littered with magnificent old pieces of machinery, rusty old cranes, a historic Army jeep, and various other sundries. We took advantage of having about a half-hour before the speedboat was scheduled to pick us up and ventured around, snapping photos, and getting acquainted with the denizens’ dogs and with the other guests waiting for the boat that would take us to the island.
Our stay at the Light Station was lovely, thanks in part the marvelous proprietors, as well as the charming atmosphere and the beguiling couples we met during our stay. The company at dinner that evening ranged from rocket scientist to author, to musician, restaurateur, photographer and sculptor – coupled with copious amounts of wine, champagne and delicious food, the conversations at the table were rousing, stimulating and varied.
After dinner, there was more exploring and photo taking. The view from the lighthouse was stunning at twilight and I spent much of my time either at the top of the lighthouse taking in the view or sitting in my favorite chair with a gorgeous view of the night sky, speckled with stars and beams of light from the lighthouse. In the room I found a copy of The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. I’ve somehow never managed to read his beautiful work, some of the passages brought me to tears, they was so powerful. Between the images Khalil Gibran’s words conjured in my mind and the sound of the fog signal, I slept soundly and woke to some of the best coffee I have ever had, breakfast and an exciting tour of the Fog Signal Building where we saw the machinery that works the signal, controls the fog bell, as well as the old fresnel lense, no longer in use in the lighthouse. We exited the building and were told to plug our ears when Ed (one of the light keepers) sounded the massive fog signal. It was astounding, feeling the sound reverberate though my chest, unplugging our ears and then hearing the sound echo around the landscape. After, I spent a little too much money in the gift shop, but I was happy to do so because all the money goes to the upkeep of the light station, as with most light stations, lighthouses and lightships, they are not-for-profit organizations, relying heavily on donations from their visitors.
After the tour, we and our luggage found ourselves back on the speedboat, with hugs goodbye and promises to stay in touch with the other visitors (one of which has several vintage typewriters, and has generously offered to gift me one of them) we were soon back on the dock and once again marveling at the collection of vintage apparatuses scattered about before we got into the car and ventured out to Point Bonita.
We took the San Rafael Bridge to Marin, drove through Sausalito up the Marin Headlands, stopping to explore batteries along the headlands and then reached Point Bonita. The lighthouse wasn’t open, but we decided to hike up and view it from a distance, stopping again to explore other batteries before reaching a magnificent view of Point Bonita. We then drove to a nearby beach and stopped near a little ranch to feed two enormous crows some figs. An off duty park ranger drove up to inform me that it was unlawful to feed the “ravens” – not thinking, I said “they’re crows, not ravens.” And she replied, “Well, whatever they are, it’s against the law to feed them!” I smiled and she then said, “Beautiful tattoo, by the way.” And then she drove off, frightening my crows away. We then ventured off through a one-way alternating direction tunnel to Fort Baker, spent some time there taking in the scenery and then made our way across the Golden Gate Bride and back to San Francisco where I made a hearty Italian meal, looked at the photos we took, and then soon fell to sleep from the excitement of the day.
I plan to take another trip to see the Point Bonita lighthouse during operating hours. I have a dorky little United States Lighthouse Society Passport now that I purchased at East Brother, and I am eager to get it stamped by all the lighthouse keepers at the various lighthouses I intend to visit in the near future.
If you’d like, you can take a peek at the some of the photos I posted from our trip here: http://www.facebook.com/serena.valentino
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
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8:11 pm - For Historical Record!
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I feel like I'm getting sick, so I got tons of vitamin C, pure cranberry juice, tea, and made homemade soup with: chicken, lentils, heirloom tomatoes, spinach, white and green onion, garlic, mushrooms, celery, zucchini, sea salt, pepper and cayenne (all organic) - and it's really fucking good. I will thwart this cold! It shall not interfere with my lighthouse holiday plans! For Historical Record!
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
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2:16 pm - found this photo...
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Me & Jesse, 1997, City Hall, our mother's wedding. Miss her.
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(comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 4th, 2009
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6:14 pm - At The Horrors show last night...
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Quote of the night: "It looks like someone cut you in half. Are you the good side or bad side of Serena?"
Me: "I'm not telling!"
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, September 25th, 2009
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1:57 pm - hi!
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| Sunday, September 6th, 2009
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3:46 pm - Easy Living
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| Saturday, September 5th, 2009
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6:22 pm - love this song
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| Friday, September 4th, 2009
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4:48 pm - things concerning me
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So I've decided to quit smoking on Monday with the help of nicotine gum. Seems like a good time now that I am on the tail end of this weight loss thing with about 20 or so more pounds to go. (no comments about how I couldn't possibly lose another 20, believe me, I can). And for the record: I have lost about 80 pounds so far, 30+ of it most recently.
Now back to writing. I hope you have a good weekend!
-sv
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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3:07 pm - Summertime
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| Sunday, August 30th, 2009
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3:11 pm - ooo!
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2:16 pm - Musings
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Chrys, Shawn, Chris and Joshua sent these beautiful flowers to Borderlands for my signing. Thank you, sweeties. I love you.
You can not see him in this photo, but there is a lovely succulent in there, my favorite sort. I used to have a beautiful succulent named Edgar, and this one looks remarkably like him.
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(comment on this)
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1:51 pm - Sunday
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| Saturday, August 29th, 2009
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12:16 am - A warm summer evening
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Once upon a time there was a girl who was writing about zombies...
And despite her Lucile Ball headband and lack of make-up she decided to go into the world for a coffee break...
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
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1:59 pm - The Weeping Song
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| Friday, August 21st, 2009
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3:35 pm - The Siren and the Author
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My favorite mermaid, Kira Lynn Cain will be having a show just a few short blocks away the same night as my signing at Borderlands. Perhaps you can share your time between the two? I wish I could.
And for my event:
Saturday, August 29th, 7:00 pm. Release, signing and reading at Borderlands Books in San Francisco for my new novel: Fairest of All.
Borderlands Books - 866 Valencia St · San Francisco, CA
Put me down on your dance cards, ladies and gentlemen, because I would like to you come out and help me celebrate the release of my novel.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
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3:40 pm
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serenavalentino's journal
