Sabbatical Life: Adventures in GTL (Gym, Tourist-ing, and Looking)

Let's discuss something rather troubling for a moment.

Every day when I walk to the gym, I pass an abandoned shopping cart that is full of barrels and other random crates. And every day, the cart is in a different spot along the path. One detail that remains consistent is the fact that the cart smells like death every single time I pass by. Pray tell, Death Cart, where did you come from? Who do you belong to? 


With mysteries like these, who needs a job?


I take that back. I clearly do if one of the most exciting moments of my first few days has involved recounting the location of a stinky shopping cart.


Sidenote: did you know you can put someone's FACE on an M&M? What will they think of next??

I made another friend today. A lovely, 70-something named Mary who happened to be taking the same spin class as me at the gym. She opened our conversation by asking if I was a triathlete so, ya know, she instantly became one of my favorite people. She proceeded to give me all sorts of tips and tricks for the classes at the gym and told me all about her recent elbow injury that makes it impossible for her to lift any weights.

Is it just me or does the geriatric population of San Francisco tend to slightly over share? If that's the case then I've found my people! I love a good TMI session.

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and sunny so I took advantage and went on a long walk around my new neighborhood. In a continuing effort to appear appropriately jaded by my surroundings, I only snapped a few photos, but here they are in all their glory!

 The bridge, the bridge!! This is my view on my walk to the gym. 

(whose entrance is on the left where that little white sign is)

The Palace of Fine Arts - it's about a 5 minute walk away from the apartment and is SO picturesque

Another shot!

THE BRIDGE!!! 

I guess I can't deny my love affair with GGB.

The apartment is also about a 5 minute walk away from Chestnut Street which is essentially a street full of cute little boutiques and restaurants. I've been going on walks down Chestnut every day and yesterday, I think I saw my soul mate.

He might have been homeless - an assumption I'm drawing from his grungy appearance and the fact that he was pushing a shopping cart along (although, maybe shopping carts are the new "murse"? he could just be on the cutting edge of style) - but all of that is not what's important. What is important is that his cart contained jars of protein powder. And not just any protein, but the same kind I use! If that's not fate bringing us together, I don't know what is.

Also, I just noticed a trend with shopping carts in this post...

And with that said, I've got a date with Jersey Shore.

Until next time...

New Year, New City

Hi Friends,

I've only been here two days, but I can already tell I'm going to be doing a lot of smiling and nodding.

"Do you mind commuting to the Peninsula?" - Uhhh....
"There's a job in the dogpatch!" - Puppies?? Oh...it's a neighborhood nickname? Huh.
"I live by Octavia and Van Ness." - Neat...

In other news, I rode the bus (aka the Muni) for the first time today and didn't get lost! Gotta thank my smart phone for that one. What a life saver. It also allowed me to listen to some sweet Bieber tunes during my commute downtown.

I've already noticed that people in SF are definitely more friendly than in Seattle. Whenever I rode the bus in the 206, people just sat quietly without making eye contact and generally minded their own business. Not quite the case down here - seems like people are more inclined to chat with their seat mates.

For instance, I eavesdropped on a lovely conversation between Frankie and Joan today. Frankie was an adorable 79-year-old lady sporting silver chucks and some trendy cats-eyed sunglasses. She leaned over the aisle to Joan and began questioning how old she was (77) and why she looked so great. Joan seems to be quite the philanthropist - volunteers 3 days a week and walks a mile in the morning and a mile at night every day. You see, she used to be in a wheelchair, but got sick of sitting all the time and resolved to change her life around - one step at a time. 100 pounds down, she's quite the spunky lady. Frankie was quite jealous and couldn't stop gushing over how phenomenal Joan is.

...it's clear I need to make some friends. Until then...I'll just keep being creepy on the bus.

What else...

I joined a gym less than 24 hours into living in SF. A girl's gotta have priorities, right? It's only a 5 minute jog away from the apartment and I can see the Golden Gate Bridge on my way. But of course, I appropriately divert my eyes whenever it comes into scene since ya know, I'm not a TOURIST...(aka I get giddy and have to refrain from snapping a picture every time)

"New kid" moment of the day:
I was riding on the bus enjoying the sunshine (btw - definitely have to get used to actually having my sunglasses with me at all times) when the bus stopped and literally everyone got off. It wasn't my stop and wasn't the end of the line, but I got all nervous so I jumped off at the last minute only to realize I was a good 15 minute walk from the apartment still. I played it off by telling myself I got off early on purpose to explore the 'hood. Good thing I was wearing flats...

Stay tuned for more highly sophisticated adventures and Bay area observations. It's gonna be a fun ride, kids.