Seamaiden said:

The ones I mourn for most deeply are the ones who didn't get a chance to live a life. My grandmother is hanging on, and she is now completely out of her mind. She doesn't even know her name anymore. It is TIME for her to shuffle off this mortal coil. We were reminded of that yesterday while visiting Mission Dolores in San Francisco, no one aged over 62yrs was seen in the cemetery, and many, many young people were noted, including many infants. THAT is what gets to me, being perfectly honest.

And so I'm going to change the tack of this thread for a moment, if you folks will allow me. I turned 50 this last week, and have had a hankerin' to go and live some life while I'm here to do that living. To that end, Sea says, "Let's go have us some FUN!" (I am all about fun. :D ) I love my husband, but spending yet another birthday sitting at a quiet table looking at each other and talking about the stuff we talk about at home wasn't doing it for me, I don't want to just go eat out with my husband, I want to have fun and I want to have fun with HIM. And so, we did.

Yesterday's itinerary began in the Mission District of SF. I've never been there, and now I have. Lovely place, fucking crazy parking. We had lunch first at a joint called Morning Due, I had what they called the Dutch, which was eggs Benedict served with smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon, and the hollandaise was somethin' *special*. Noms.

From there we walked over to the Mission, and right then a young lady who was celebrating her quincinera was exiting the basilica. I was quite surprised to see that the original chapel still stands, and the painting and other artisan work done by the Indians was restored beautifully. The basilica itself rivals some of the most beautiful churches I've seen in Puerto Rico, just stunning. But wait! We've got more to see and do.

Off we go to the Academy of Sciences. Got lost for a minute, but Dave has a GPS in his head so we got found pretty quickly. Unfortunately, we got there an hour before closing, but we chatted a bit with one of the ticket-takers, and next thing I know he tells us to tell one of the ticket sales girls that he said it's ok for us to get the student discount. A whirlwind tour of the new facilities, fish, check, rainforest, check, snakes, check, shark, check. I enjoyed it, but I was surprised that it seems so much smaller than what I remember of Steinhart. Ok, FUN AND DONE.

Time to make dinner reservations at a place called El Mansour, one of two restaurants I found in the City that have... BELLY DANCING! Got our reservation, but we've got over an hour to kill. Let's go to... the beach! So we drove down along Golden Gate Park (another place I've never been to/through) and then we hit a surprisingly crowded beach down on Hwy 1. A bit cold and windy, but good enough for smokin' a joint, yeah? Yup.

Then, what was truly the highlight of my day, my year I think in fact--El Mansour. It's a traditional Moroccan restaurant, with real Moroccan service staff! I've never had Moroccan, so another first for me, and it was DELICIOUS. And the thing was that because of how the food is served, you don't end up absolutely stuffed by the end of the night, you're pleasantly un-hungry and wishing for more belly dancing. About an hour into the meal was when the 'show' started and oh my goodness, was she a beauty! She danced for at least an hour, I danced a bit with her (but Dave didn't realize I had the camera on the video setting so he turned it off while I was trying to get more video, we got a moment but that was it), clapped and yelled while she got other guests to step up and dance a bit with her, which sometimes was pretty hilarious.

Because of how you're seated, everyone must become friends, irrespective of our personal feelings on the matter because in a place like that there is no room for the personal bubble. That alone gave me great pleasure and enjoyment, especially watching some women squirm with the idea of "how are we going to seat 6 people at that table?" Which, btw, everything was just my size.

I loved it so much that I wanted to stay for the second show, and then they kicked us out.

I could talk about the food, but this post is getting long enough as it is. But I want it to serve as a reminder to fucking go out and live some LIFE. That way, when, not if, you kick, people can at least be happy that you enjoyed yourself. ;)

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Cort said:

Sounds like a good business model. There is something about fit women dancing that make me want to eat more. Cant quite put my finger on it though.

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Mogrow said:

Happy Birthday Girl //// 50 is the new 40 you know.....
i was in san francisco monday, first time ever, whoa , what a town.

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Seamaiden said:

Yeah right? I've done some searching, there are restaurants in Sact'o area that do the same thing, although I must admit, Yasmine is now special to my heart. :cat:

Ain't it, though? I didn't get to spend enough time in the Castro district, though. I love nicely decorated homes.:smug:

And now this week is Texas countdown. We're going to Ft Bliss to see some friends, gonna hit some sites around the area like Carlsbad Caverns (back when I lived in New Mexico I wasn't able to make it down that far south. Should we hit Mexico...? :poto:

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LegalGrow said:

If you hit mexico, let us know and we can place our orders for product?? LOL.

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Seamaiden said:

Uh, not goin' through an Army base you can't. :/

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Seamaiden said:

Yeah right? I've done some searching, there are restaurants in Sact'o area that do the same thing, although I must admit, Yasmine is now special to my heart. :cat:
I wonder if bellydancers use fake names like strippers?lol.

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inthegorge said:

We have had winter and for us are still having winter...I for one am tired of it and when I can manage it my winters won't be spent here any more:) Calling for a chance of freezing rain and I have to take my mom to the doctor:-/

Have soooo much to get done though, today and each day until our final inspection so no rest for this girl! Today I have to take 700 clones, order my 84 1000W lights, order our 20 security cameras, order a couple of bar code scanners and a labeling machine, get someone to help me replace door frames on 2 doors and that is just the start. My head is buzzing but in a wonderful way:)

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inthegorge said:

eighty four 1000W lights:) We have applied for our license as a legal grower in WA state. Just about to have our final site inspection and then we can turn those lights on!!!

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inthegorge said:

It is scary but awesome at the same time:) I will take many photos and post them to my thread in grow room design (calling all experts) as we get it all set up and moving. This is the dream of my lifetime and I sure hope we are able to pull it all off! If sheer force of will has anything to do with it I am good but of course reality is that planning, follow thru and the ability to deal with change is the key most likely.

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