antiques by the tundra

Shannon and I headed out to Antiques by the Bay in Alameda at 6am this morning. We were all bundled up in layers, and felt well-prepared. We got there around 6:45am, and got parking right up front, which is pretty unusual for the antique fair. That should have been our first clue that this wouldn't go well.

The second clue was that there wasn't anyone selling tickets; we just walked right in. This place is usually chock full of vendors as far as the eye can see, and today there were only 3 rows of vendors. And most of them were still unloading or had barely started.

It was very windy, and the cold was a bit finger-numbing. We went through all the tables pretty quickly, not seeing anything that really spoke to us. We made our way back to the front, and as we were taking a second look at some things and commenting about how cold and windy it was, Shannon said the unspeakable: "It could be worse. It could be raining."

Literally on cue, it started sprinkling lightly, and then the sprinkle started getting heavier and the wind picked up even more. The vendors were scrambling to cover their wares or put it back in their trucks. I pulled out our umbrella, which felt pretty useless, and we decided to call it a day. The killer part is that we got back to the city and it was just after 8am. 8am, people!!! What the hell were we thinking?!?

I'm trying to resist going back to bed, but I think the urge to sleep (in my warm, warm bed) is going to win.

backlighting

backlit red leaf, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

I took this while waiting at the shuttle stop in Mountain View last week. I just wanted to remind myself of how nice it probably is in SF, considering that I'm in Chicago right now, it's already cold, and tomorrow it's supposed to be snowing with a high of 41. Degrees! Fahrenheit!!!

I'll be taking lots of photos when I get a chance this week, so prepare yourself to see some snow. Brrrrr!