Labor-free Labor Day

In appropriate fashion, we had a very restful Labor Day weekend, full of much sleeping-in, many naps, lots of eating, and lounging around outside in the sunshine. After my woe-is-me tale of no autumn in San Francisco, the City must have heard my cry because what it delivered this weekend was three days that were really close to feeling like early-autumn. I even saw a tree with leaves changing. The air was crisp and clear with a hint of warmth from the sun and the only thing missing was the smell of smoke. So, I guess this means I should just whine more often. I'm sure that's what you would all love to hear - more of me whining about the weather. :)

But we had a really nice weekend. Saturday we lounged around all morning, luxuriously sipping coffee and doing absolutely nothing productive. Then we headed off to Zeitgeist, which has a really great outdoor beer garden full of picnic tables, to celebrate some friends' birthday's. We had some good beer and some good conversation and headed home when the fog finally rolled in and it got a little chilly. And then we went to bed. Talk about R&R!

Sunday I went to my garden and to the Farmer's Market, then we put together a picnic, gathered up the doggies and headed over to free Shakespeare in the Park in the Presidio. Unfortunately, the free Shakespeare was terrible - really overdramatic and screechy - but the picnic was delicious. We left as soon as we finished and headed down to our old stomping grounds - Crissy Field in the Marina - and walked for awhile to enjoy the sunshine. When we made it home, the exertion of eating a picnic overcame us, and we took a two hour nap. Then Neil headed to his studio and I made bread and dinner and finally got the curtains on one window hemmed and hung. Finally, some productivity. Unfortunately, the other window is still naked. This has been a very slow move - we've been there almost a month now and there are still many boxes to be unpacked. Ah well...

Monday we went and had a delicious, huge breakfast at the Pork Store on Haight with our friend, Brynda. These breakfasts are ridiculously large, but you just can't bear to leave the food on the plate it's so darn good. I had French Toast, eggs and bacon and Neil had what is called, "Eggs in a Tasty Nest". That's eggs nestled in a nest of hashbrowns, green bell peppers, onions and cheese. And it's pretty darn good. By the time we made it home, we were both in food comas and so another two and a half hour nap was on the schedule. It was just a glorious nap, with both doggies snuggled in with us. Then we headed to Doloros Park with the doggies to join another picnic with some of Neil's friends from school. The doggies spent the entire time trying to reach the food. Then they discovered the people picnicking behind us with some Challah Bread, and the people were more than happy to share their bread with the doggies. Neil finally had to ask them to stop feeding them bread - they're on a diet for goodness sakes!

And that was pretty much all that went on this weekend - nothing strenuous, that's for sure. But I've been feeling pretty stressed out at work lately. Our audit began today at work, and since that's basically the job description of my position - "prepare for audit" - it's kind of a make-it or break-it event for me here. You don't really want to screw the pooch on the main reason you're being paid. So I really needed all those naps and lazy mornings.

On the doggie front, we'd been doing really really well lately with walks and not crazy-barking. We'd been meeting other dogs and ignoring runners and bicyclists. And then last night, for some reason, it's like they instantly lost all their long-term memory and reverted to crazy-barking again. We're back at square one. Neil had a really bad time with them last night when he went to take them out for their nighttime potty - they barked at people, dogs, bushes, the moon - whatever. And our morning walk was pretty ugly today, too. This poor runner was doing circles around the park and must have passed us three or four times and each time he got an earful from the doggies. Bah. It's so frustrating. But I guess all we can do is keep trying.

And on the weight side of things, we were doing pretty well until they found the bread-sharing picnickers yesterday. That probably set them back quite a bit. But I feel like I'm starting to see tiny waists on both of them. Baby steps.