fourth of july weekend

It has passed midnight, so it is now officially the Fourth of July! Not that I am terribly enthusiastic about holidays, but I do enjoy a day off of work! (Oh dear, I've become a grown-up for saying that, haven't I?) 

Speaking of, work has been going wonderfully.  I've worked out the majority of the growing aches and pains - and although it is certainly still difficult to enrapture an apathetic group of middle-schoolers, I have settled into a type of routine.  I don't mind waking up early and working all day either, to be honest, especially when I get that check at the end of the week!  The kids keep me laughing, and always challenged, but it is better than sitting at home - that's for sure.  

This weekend I went to San Francisco with Laura to visit Lauren (curse me for my two best friends having such similar names!).  Lauren is living in San Francisco for the summer working as an RA for a ballet school, so I wanted to go visit her and keep her company.  We went to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to see the Picasso exhibit that's been going on.  I've been to all of this season's exhibits from Paris, so I didn't want to miss it!

Lauren and I outside of the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

We bought the audio tour (of course!) and I was so happy we did - I wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of any of the art without it.  The audio tour focused a lot on his personal life, and how his various lovers influenced his art, which was incredibly fascinating.  Turns out that Picasso was a royal asshole womanizer.  Who would've guessed!  Of course, it always makes you wonder why artistic genius allows for such utter disregard for other humans.  He was one of the few artists who became famous throughout his lifetime, though, which may have influenced his ego.  All in all, it was an amazing exhibit.

I bought a print of this painting, which was based on a woman he met in Paris.  Notice the angular structures and acid yellows and greens.  She was a snarky one.

We also discovered that we went to the De Young on the final weekend of their other exhibit, Balenciaga and Spain, which was an exhibit entirely of clothing and fashion.  I just wanted to put all of the clothes on!  Unfortunately, there were a lot of people in the exhibit, so it was a little claustrophobic and I didn't get to see everything as much as I wanted - but, that's okay.  I had an art-filled day!

Just one example of some of Balenciaga's more modern pieces.  It's fascinating to see the comparison between the visual art histories and fashion history.

After the museum, we wandered around the gardens behind the De Young for a bit and explored. We laid in the grass and enjoyed the sun!  There were tourists everywhere, but it was fun to act like city-dwellers for a little while.  Lauren had never been to Haight Street before, so we drove over to the Haight-Ashbury and walked around.  We found the most delicious crepe place ever and proceeded to gorge ourselves on them! 

Before

After! 

Lauren had to be back at her job by 8 so she could check in all of the dancers, but we got lost on the way home and had just enough time to go up to Twin Peaks to look out over the entire city.  

Looking out over San Francisco.

It was blustery, so we only stayed for a few minutes, but the view was definitely worth the cold.  Lauren and my's old adage from Europe still holds true: the higher you climb, the greater the view.  Luckily, we had our car for this trek!  We hung out in Lauren's dorm room for a while afterwards - I must say, I have a strange affinity for the smell of dorm room.  

Laura and I looking ridiculous.

Needless to say, a fun weekend.  I'm heading back tomorrow to have a picnic in the park by Fort Mason looking out over the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge for Fourth of July.  It should be exciting!

See you on the flip side!