Weekend Brief: The Bay, the City, and the River.

N and I went on a bit of an adventure this weekend. 

The plan was to go camping Saturday night. We decided to take a gamble on getting a spot in Bodega Bay, and we did find a spot. However, it was incredibly windy, which is really no fun in a tent. Instead, we were just going to eat lunch on the beach, hang out for a little bit, then head back to Sacramento.

The bay had other plans for us.

We found a beach, climbed down the hill, and were immediately blasted with sand. It was not only windy, but every time we took a step, we stirred up the sand, which then was blasted straight back into us. Within minutes our blanket was COVERED.

Sand, sea, and a skeptic face.

So we took some pictures down by the water, packed back up, and ate lunch in the car. Lunch was actually quite lovely through the windshield. We could see the beach, the clouds burned off, and we were able to just sit, watch the waves and talk.

Our view for lunch.

I had seen the taffy place on the way in, and N was nice enough to indulge me and stop.

The shop and the haul.

Instead of just going home, we decided to make a side trip down to San Francisco. We just frolicked. Down by the piers. Then up to Union Square. Back down toward the Wharf. We walked all over the place. We grabbed dinner at the Rogue Brewery. And then I got bread, which is a necessity for me. 

On Sunday, we went paddleboarding. As usual. This is seriously becoming one of my favorite things to do. We floated. We jumped off rocks. We paddled up to the prison line. 

We spent about three hours on the river, and thus went farther then we normally go. We got away from the screaming kids and a large majority of the people. There was one point that we got away from everyone. All you could hear was the wind in the trees and the birds chirping. It was awesome.

*All pictures provided courtesy of N. 

Trees suck, but people don't.

So this happened last Tuesday.

I had an interview scheduled an hour and a half from when I found that a tree branch had fallen on my car, and shattered my windshield. I had a moment of complete panic, and I did what any girl who is trying to hold herself out to be a competent and independent woman does. 

I called my dad. (When I talked to him later, I remarked that what you do is kind of a test of how much of an adult you really are. He assured me that it wasn't.) After figuring out that there was no quick fix, I went back into my office, and magic began to happen. 

I was trying to figure out how to get to the interview and what to do with my car all at once. Two of my fellow interns volunteered to take me downtown for my interview. One of the secretaries gave me her cell phone number so I could park my car at her house when I was able to deal with it, and then came and found us when we had to move it so we could take the back roads and avoid any trouble. N, being his normal princely self, picked me up, drove us the 45 minutes back to my car, then drive my car with the impossible to see out of windshield to it's waiting spot.

Today, I got my windshield replaced and figured I was all good to go. But what happened had spread around the office, and everyone has pooled money together to pay for the windshield. 

I have been so taken aback by all of the kindness that had been shown to me. It's one of those moments that tells me I'm exactly where I need to be, and that I've found truly amazing people in this world.

So, the great lesson from this whole situation: trees are actually very angry objects, but people really are fantastic. 

Annnnnnd we're back!

So, this semester kicked my butt.

I was going to try to recap the semester, but there was a lot of school and boring-ness and I couldn't figure out how to sort my pictures, so I'm just going to pick back up with what's going on now.

IT'S SUMMER.

I'm out of school, working at the public defender's office full time. It's still fabulous. I'm appearing in court and love it.

I've also have re-found my appreciation for weekends. When I don't have homework, it's actually time off. So I've just been hanging out, and not feeling guilty for just hanging out.

We've been spending a bunch of time at the river. N has paddle boards, and they're pretty sweet. Now that it's actually getting warmer outside and the water's not too cold to be in, it's really nice to just float.

This. Everything about this is something I can get used to.