In addition to my BIG dream of just simply GOING to California, my other dream (as silly as this may sound) was to ride a bike in California. =) I really didn’t have any specifications about where to ride it, but I had to sing In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry and just take in my surroundings. We rented bikes at the Bike and Roll and took an adventure! Our “little” adventure was going to be about a 10 mile bike for us but I was really excited – helmet and all.

As we started off near Fisherman’s Wharf, we got to go through all the different parts of San Francisco….up the hills, overlooking the bay, through the marina, down on Chrissy beach, and finally to the Golden Gate Bridge. It felt like ALL week we’d just seen it – from Coit Tower, Alcatraz, the Cable Cars, walking around the piers, and the bay cruise – so, we were most definitely excited that we were going to be ON IT!

A good friend of mine, Kari, is actively involved in a project called Art for Haiti. Henry's Coffee Shop in Indiana is serving as an art gallery for this awesome project, where art work (including photography) will be showcased and sold. All proceeds go to Doctor's Without Borders and Red Cross!

I have the privilege of being involved in the project by showcasing some of my recent photography. Only problem is, I'm not sure which 2-3 to pick! I was hoping you could help me decide which photography to donate to this awesome cause! Here are the runner ups:

The sole purpose of my trip to San Francisco was the geeky (and awesome) DrupalCon! Drupal is an open source platform that allows you to build, manage, and organize content on a website. I started using Drupal a little over a year ago when my boss told me to “build a website.” As my baby blues widened and out spilled “WHAT?” then “I don’t know how,” he quickly came back with “Google it.” After I had a mini heart attack, I took on the challenge, as I would with most things, and I started to learn about Drupal.

Considering my major in college was Marketing, most of my development work has been trial and error. Over the past year, I have kind of just put on my Drupal wings and soaked up as much knowledge as I possibly can, singing the Drupal song in happy moments and cursing it in dark moments.

Wow. What a fantastic week in San Francisco! I’m honestly not even really sure where to start! I had been planning this trip since last summer…right after I knew about DrupalCon Paris. Knowing there was no way possible I was going to be able to swing Paris, I set out to attend the next one in San Francisco.

I’ve wanted to go to California my entire life and DrupalCon seemed like a great bridge to make that dream come true. When I was in high school, I wanted to move there to go to school but as a youngin’ =) I was convinced by many it wasn’t a good choice, so I passed up the opportunity. And as you can imagine, as the trip came closer and closer, my anticipation grew so big I could barely sit still the week prior to leaving.

Wow. What a fantastic vacation I had last week in San Francisco! I'm most definitely wishing I could have stayed longer. There just wasn't enough time to do everything! Weird being back already - vacations always go by too quickly.

Anyway, while I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, I have some music for you that a friend recommended to me.

Introducing the Foals! This band comes from England and has been on the music scene since about 2008. They are a bit of indie, alternative, and pop all rolled into one. And to be honest, I haven't listened to them a whole lot, but I'm loving them so far. The Foals has some similar sounds as This Town Needs Guns, of which I love too.

Well, it is finally that time. I’m leaving for San Francisco this weekend to attend DrupalConSF and can I just say that I AM SO EXCITED! This is the FIRST official “cross-off” on my vision board for 2010 and I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking to my goals and MAKING IT HAPPEN. Not only will I be with my fellow designing and development geeks for a few days, but I’ll be taking some extended time there to enjoy and explore the city with my friends.

Strangely enough, I thoroughly enjoy music where the lyrics don't really make any sense at all. There’s something about the uniqueness, quirkiness, and randomness that I just LOVE. Usually those funky lyrics come with pretty awesome beats and results in me dancing like a crazy person. This week’s pick is most definitely unique, quirky, and funky. I’ve been hearing SO much about Vampire Weekend over the past week, I just felt like it was a sign to share them with the world.

This indie rock bank comes from the one and only, New York. Their most recent album, Contra, debuted this past January.

It should be no surprise to anyone that I am an over analyzer. I have to say it is by far the #1 attribute I dislike the most about myself.

I play situations over and over in my head, exploring every possible outcome, until my brain is begging and pleading with me to just stop.

I have to say, I had a musically FANTASTIC weekend. Friday night, I had the pleasure of seeing two of my favorites, Ingrid Michaelson and Mat Kearney, then Saturday I ventured to see the one and only G.Love! Both concerts were INCREDIBLE. And the best part about it is I found two new artists as well!

Well, as I mentioned on Monday, the flu graced me with its ugly presence last week. I’ve never had the flu before, and I’m pretty confident when I say, I hope I never have it again – hah. Even though there were lots of bad things from the flu, there were definitely some good things that happened…

• I renewed my vows with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It is basically the greatest sandwich out there (only if you use strawberry jam though).