San Francisco and Other Urban Legends

San Francisco was an education in reality versus perception.


Perception: oodles upon oodles upon oodles of young, hot, fashionable gay male eye candy walking hand in hand with their boyfriend flashing million watt smiles.


Reality: I didn't see a lot of men walking hand in hand. In fact, what stood out to me was the number of straight couples, straight families, lesbians, and apparently a new phenomenon - very effeminate STRAIGHT men.


The very first thing that I noticed about San Franciso? - super duper chilly!!!


Oh my GAH!


I took heed from my hosts and research and erred on too many layers versus too few. That was hands down the smartest thing I did for my San Francisco trip!


Otherwise, I would have been miserable. It's not just chilly. By late afternoon it's flat out cold.


The guys were normal. I guess I was expecting these extremely crafted by da Vinci types as the norm. Like physical perfection en masse.


No.


The guys were normal - fashionable . . . But no supermodel norm.


I guess I figured it's California and they're all about beautiful bods, speedos, convertibles and oozing hotness 24-7.


Nope. They were all shapes and sizes. Though skinny gay younguns seemed to be everywhere.


Lots of Hispanics, Latinos and Asians. I liked that. Very melting pot vibe.


Lots of art. Lots of coffee shops. Lots of restaurants.


Oh my gah!


The restaurants.


Seriously. It's impossible to have a bad meal. And the food all tastes like it was fresh from the garden or farm a few hours ago.


It was like really tasting food for the first time. It's an other world experience. It's like your tastes buds have been sleepwalking all this time and then KAPOW!!!


Fireworks.


If for nothing else, visit for the restaurants.


Then there's the coffee.


Coffee snobs that diss Starbucks have always made me roll my eyes. Whatever. Starbucks always tastes better than or the same as the coffee houses I've been
to.


My host refused to drink Starbucks. He practically hissed when I asked. I rolled my eyes.


. . . Only to have them stop in mid roll after one gulp of the coffee from a coffee house on the same block as my hosts'. Oh my. I stand utterly corrected.


There's a robustness, a boldness, a kick, an organicness, an authenticness and a richness unlike any Starbucks brew I've ever had. I had three or four different coffees from three or four different coffeehouses. They all made Starbucks seem so . . . plastic.


Even the sweet potato fries at one diner were like a lesson in "how it's supposed to taste - 101".   Light but crispy - (they should have forbade ketchup!)


Speaking of food . . . I finally got my wings and salad delivered and devoured here in Chicago. So I'm off to bed.


Stay tuned. More about my San Francisco visit to come . . .






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Chicago

My Best Ideas Happen . . .

  . . . in the morning between my first and second cup of coffee.  


Did I mention my cup holds two cups of coffee?  So by the time I can see the bottom of my favorite coffee cup while sipping, if I have an idea, it's already scratched out in rough draft.


A recent conversation in my head went something like this:


What if I used the same 'Audrey's Martini' concept in different poses, with different props??


No!


Scratch that.


Same props but different pose.


 . . . and a dog!


No.


A cat!  


Wait.


A poodle?


Ugh.  


Just get a rough draft down for now.  I'm gonna be late for work!  


I grabbed my pad and came up with this rough draft:

Audrey rough draft 1 by Steven Hall/Doodle Divas

Audrey's Martini

Now the idea is at least down and I can play around with some ideas.  Rarely does the idea match the actual rough draft.  Rarely does the rough draft match the final illustration.


So between now and the next 24-72 hours, I'm gonna toss around some ideas and have a completed illustration.


My ideas:

• legs crossed at the knee versus the ankle
• poodle in her lap
• cat in her lap
• red sofa
• red background
• curled up in chair versus sitting

What do you think?  Like any of the above?  Have other suggestions altogether?  


Every participant gets entered in a drawing.  So one person can end up with the finished illustration, (matted, signed, plastic sleeve, etc), just for passing along an idea.  


Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted on the progress.  


nighty-night!  :-)

The Best Part of Waking Up Is COFFEE in My Cup!!!

It doesn't matter how much I dread the day.  It doesn't matter what colossal event I will be engaged in awaits me.  It doesn't matter if it's rainy, sunny, snowy,  dark outside or light outside. . . 


 . . . starting off with coffee first thing in the morning is consistent.  It's a bright spot in my day no matter what.


Here's how it has to go down for perfection:


-three heaping tablespoons of medium/strong name brand coffee, (sorry store brand, I can absolutely taste the difference)


- two cups of water (minimum two cups of coffee required)


-brewed till all brewing has stopped, (no heavy drips and no sitting around on a hot plate)


-my favorite coffee cup, (it's heavy and chipped and speckled and super old . . . LOVE!)


-powdered creamer poured, (NEVER measured)


-three tablespoons of REAL sugar, (the order is important - creamer first followed by sugar)


-40 second nuke in the microwave to get to my preferred temp (my old coffee maker doesn't get it hot like it used to)


Voila!  My perfect coffee is made.  My day has a chance of equaling the same perfection.


What's your perfect coffee??  


(This lovely caffeinated princess is available at my CafePress!)