Adjusting to Life in SF

We've been in The City for a week now, and everyone is more or less adjusting to life under my parents' roof. Here's another list because I can't be bothered with paragraph transitions right now:

1) Walnut did just fine on the trip up, much to everyone's surprise. He's taken to the larger territory of a two-story house with ease, and has cowed his uncles with his size and the sheer vehemence of his meowing. So far, the hierarchy negotiations have not come to blows. Let's hope it stays that way.

Looking out the same window as his uncles, but with his watermelon friend instead.

2) Cooking for six is a lot more difficult than cooking for two. Especially since my dad has an aversion to oh, anything too salty, too spicy, too buttery, too cheesy, or too meat-y. Actually, let's just say that he has an aversion to anything with flavor.

3) I've done very little sewing since arriving; mostly I've been running errands for my parents. I've been on too many Target, Costco, and grocery store runs in too few days. I've had fun, though, too -- I got to catch the Cult of Beauty exhibit at the Legion of Honor before it closed. Even better, my sister had free tickets! I enjoyed seeing the paintings and furniture, but getting to see the gowns was definitely the highlight. I can't wait to go to the V&A in August; this was just an amuse-bouche.

This is one of the gowns that was on display. The V&A website has a cute little set of letters that the dude wrote to his lady about it. He was a sculptor, and it totally shows in the way the dress looks. Even crazier, this dress is supposed be in striped silk, but the stripes have almost entirely faded! You can only see them from super up close, i.e. nose almost smooshed into the glass. 

4) I also got to go see Jonathan Coulton at the Great American Music Hall (which, incidentally, is an absolutely amazing venue)! He is probably my favorite songwriter ever; I mean, it doesn't get any better than catchy songs about IKEA, zombies, evil scientists, and bacteria. Also, I had a tiny two-minute crush on Scarface. Anyway, if you're a geek and love clever lyrics and haven't heard of him, go check out his stuff!

Requisite terrible iPhone picture. Scarface (in the middle) was singing Skullcrusher Mountain, JoCo is on the right.
You can also get a taste of the fantastic balconies in the concert hall.

5) I have been working just a little bit on my next sewing project...unfortunately, my mom's old Kenmore is not nearly as easy to use as my Brother. Okay, maybe part of this is my fault for not noticing, but apparently part of its crankiness was due to the fact that the feed dogs were lowered. I sewed new curtains for the basement, all the bodice darts, and the pockets without realizing this. I was wondering why I was so incapable of sewing in a straight line, and it turns out that I was pretty much free-motion quilting the whole time. That said, I think I did a pretty dang awesome job sewing darts in light of that.

6) Because of the Kenmore's disturbing habit of rattling like it's going to fall to pieces, I don't know if I'm going to get around to sewing jeans this summer. I just don't trust it for something like topstitching through multiple layers of denim. There's also no needle position adjustment, which boggles the mind. Lastly, the bobbin setup is not the drop-in kind, so putting in new bobbin thread takes about 15 seconds longer. I don't know why this bothers me so much. Anyway, my secret hope is that I will score an awesome vintage Singer at one of the antique fairs this summer, and then I can kill two birds with one stone (the must-have-a-vintage-machine bird, and the have-a-machine-that-doesn't-sound-like-it's-going-to-explode bird. Both of these are excellent candidate birds for killing).

7) After I arrived and unpacked my sewing things, I realized I forgot my embroidery snips, basic bodice blocks (!!!), and any buttons whatsoever. Grrrrr. Also, I already miss Cecily, my cutting mat, and full-length mirrors next to the sewing machine. While I'm mentioning sewing gripes, I might as well say that having two extra assistant cats isn't really helpful either. However, Walnut has done significantly less assisting now that there are so many new things to sniff and places to explore.

Totoro tells Walnut a secret (actually, Walnut just really likes chewing on the totoro's whiskers).

New Chinese newspaper > old sewing patterns for grooming purposes.

Okay now, less whining about the sewing situation, more actual sewing.