The Canning Room

Chicken Tikka Masala from Su Casa Taqueria

Who woulda guessed the best Indian food I've had in ages would be from the local Mexican joint I passed on my way home tonight?! haha- I'm celebrating because Calvin and I were both gone for work all day and the dog didn't freak out and scratch anything in the house to pieces. Whew! We've been working on a little case of separation anxiety with him. It's getting better, though... Luckily, Calvin works in a dog-friendly office and is usually able to bring Akimbo along, but couldn't today. (They also sit on yoga balls at their desks, have a pool-table in the break-room and have free monthly bicycle maintenance for all the employees...!)

I did some work today with the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley. Great people. Last week, I flew back to Tucson to do a training with the U of A College of Agriculture - their stories brought me back to my days at summer camp and somehow in the middle of the training, I found myself climbing up a telephone pole and shooting across a zip line for someone's story about a new ropes course that they have. It was the scariest thing I've done since...well, I guess since the week before that, when we rode our bikes down the steep, curvy Lombard Street with hundreds of other cyclists during a critical mass ride...but that's another story altogether! Let's just say both Calvin and I feel like we're both working in fields that we love...and often under very unusual circumstances.

Since we're both just trying to keep afloat with new jobs, a new home in a new city, we're going to give ourselves some time before making any decisions about the wedding. At least until after the holidays. For the time being, we have a notebook on the coffee table. Whenever either of us has an idea about what, when, where or how to go about things in a meaningful way, we're writing it down there so we don't forget it, but we're holding off on discussing it for now. We're both fearing the slippery slope of the wedding-planning world - that could land us chin-deep in bridal magazines and lengthy conversations about frosting. For now, we're trying to focus on things like how to get to the grocery store and when they clean the streets in our neighborhood. (I've already been ticketed for parking on street-sweeping day - ugh). One step at a time...we'll keep you all posted.

The Engagement Story

11-11-07. That was the day that a whole lot of things changed for Calvin and I...all for the best. Having been back from China for 3 months, I had transitioned out of my work at the PCAE Civics program and into my own business as a digital storytelling trainer, media artist and co-director of Creative Narrations. Calvin had gone through first and second interviews with several jobs in the Bay area. Within 2 days of him getting an offer from his first choice, Rumsey Engineers, I flew out to San Francisco, we checked out a bunch of places and put down a deposit on a great guesthouse in Oakland an hour before we had to be back at the airport. The landlord even drove us to the airport and we had a week to pack everything up. It really was miraculous, considering all of the horror stories we'd been hearing about the housing situation there, the insane prices and the fact that we had a dog (Akimbo- a yellow lab/pit bull/bassett/ridgeback mix). The place we found is adorable, has an enclosed yard, antique stove, wood floors, high ceilings, is blocks away from the BART and in the same neighborhood as some friends that we have there.

So moving day arrives and Calvin says we should go out to watch the sunrise in the desert, since it would be our last day in Tucson. Even though I am NOT a morning person, I went out with him and we walked out toward the Tucson mountains, me still in my jammies and pre-coffee groggy. As the sun was coming up over the saguaros, he got down on one knee, held out a ring and asked me if I'd marry him. In half disbelief, my reaction was to get down to where he was and say yes. Talk about timing. Moments later, we went home, he left to pick up the moving truck and my girl, Michelle showed up with bagels and a great big latte, ready to help us pack and clean.