Dollarshort

Breaking the Law, Trott-style

Up until last Sunday morning, I had only been pulled over by a cop once in my life: I was sixteen years-old and had forgotten to turn on my lights on my way home from my pizza-parlor job. My reaction to being pulled over (pure panic) prompted the officer to ask me if I had been drinking. Of course I was incredibly naive at the time and said: "I'm sixteen -- it's not even legal for me to drink!" And I meant it, too.

On Sunday, *I* didn't get pulled over -- Ben did. We were in traffic going into Golden Gate Park and didn't have the foggiest clue what Ben could have done wrong.  It turns out that we didn't have an updated registration sticker on our car -- it had expired in July. I've been driving around with expired plates for more than 3 months and had never noticed or been stopped. 

Since our registration was current -- we were just stickerless -- Ben got a infraction ticket without any fine or marks on his record.

But the story doesn't end there. Twenty minutes after being pulled over, we were pulled over again! By a different cop! 

Officer: It looks like your registration isn't current...

Me: We know. We already got a ticket about it.

Officer: Ok, when did you get this ticket?

Me: Umm. Like twenty minutes ago.

Officer: Really? 

He then looks at the ticket and tells us to have a nice day.

Later, we saw a woman pulled over for the same thing. We were on foot so we could hear their conversation. So either Sunday was a SFPD expired registration tag scavenger hunt or there was some quota in serious effect.

That said, both officers were very nice to us. I think having a cute baby in the backseat helps a lot.

Mobsters Ball

Having a one-year-old, it's very difficult to be spontaneous. That is, unless my idea of spontaneity involves a last minute trip to the park. To be fair, before Penelope, we weren't the really spontaneous types of people. Usually I had a spur-of-the-moment idea for an adventure but we'd talk ourselves out of doing most things before the fun actually began.

 

Yesterday, at the Farmers Market, my friend Krissy told me about an event she happened to stumble upon the night before. She was walking around in Portrero Hill when she saw a bunch of folks in 1930s period clothing hanging around a club. When she asked what the event was, the people there told her about the Collegiate Ball. They let her peek into the event and she thought it was magical. 

After telling me about the experience, I told Krissy that we needed to do a costumed event like that at the next opportunity possible. Little did we know that only a couple hours later we'd be dressed up and at one such an event. [1] 

The Mobsters Ball Timeline:

12:00 noon: Krissy tells me about The Mobsters Ball.

1:48: Krissy emails me their website.

2:01: I text, call and email Krissy and tell her we need to go.

2:45: She worries that we can't find costumes in time. I  tell her we can do it.

3:00: I pick her up and we head to Haight Street, in particular, Decades of Fashion.

3:20-5:00: We shop for clothing and are helped by the most wonderful sales clerk. He helps us accessorize our dresses perfectly.

5:20-6:35: We get ready and then get picked up by the taxi.

6:48: We're sitting down and eating dinner.

11:00: Back home and exhausted.

 

I love costumes and period clothing but had never gone to any event like this. It was quite the treat to be in that world for a couple hours. It was made even greater by the fact that it was completely spur-of-the-moment. That way, we didn't obsess about our outfits or question whether we really should go. 

 

You can see all my photos in this set on Flickr. Excuse the quality -- I only had my iPhone. [2]

It was quite the magical event.

[1] It wouldn't have been possible without Ben's wonderful dad abilities. From 2:00 - 11:00, he took complete care of Penelope and didn't try to talk me out of my silly costume fantasies.

[2] I would have brought my SLR but I was afraid that it would have been an anachronism in the room. I hadn't planned on taking any pictures with the iPhone, but when I saw others and their cameras I decided that no one minded.

---

This dollarshort.org post was brought to you by Erikka Arone who supported the kids by donating to my DonorsChoose.org Nested & Dollarshort Challenge, [read more about it here] Donate to one of my challenge projects and see your name appear here!

Giant Beets

From the Ferry Plaza Farmers market, these giant beets! Ever since I had the baby, I've craved beets without end. It's amazing since I detested them previously. Even so, I couldn't convince myself that we could eat all the beet dishes one of these would yield.