Ooohhh California. My knee is still healing.

Officially, I was in California for Maker Faire to help man the CraftStylish booth for work. Little did I know, the weekend was also a time to catch up with friends in the Bay Area. (You can see my wrap-up of the event at the CraftStylish website here. And you can check out some more of my pics of the event here).
As we were setting up our booth and trying to get everything in order, I noticed one of the only other people who seemed to be setting up ahead of time across the hall. To my surprise, it was my friend Erika of My Imaginary Boyfriend (Erika and I were in NYC Craft Mafia together until she moved to Bakersfield, CA). She had chopped all of her hair off so I barely recognized her as I walked by (sorry Erika! The haircut is awesome).

Make didn’t provide a list of vendors, so I had no way of knowing who would be at the event and who wouldn’t. I seemed to run into people that I knew by sheer luck (like Erika) or because I was stationed near them. I was finally able to meet several people in person that I have worked with in the past via email and phone, which was great (including Cathy Cano-Murillo and Nicole of QueenPuffPuff). It’s so weird to work in publishing and know all sorts of bloggers and crafters from afar and then finally get to meet them in the flesh. Twice (both at CHA) I have actually heard a voice I recognized from the phone to look up and see the person standing in front of me for the first time. So strange.

I was also able to meet Pleo, which is a small robot that looks like a baby dinosaur I have been wanting since I read about him in a Make article a little over a year ago. Unfortunately, I totally missed ALL of the robot wars, which was something I was REALLY looking forward to since I was manning the booth. But, you can bet your sheet metal that I will definitely be in the front row in Austin, though (on my BIRTHDAY!!)

The night before I left Cali, I also roamed around San Francisco with my friend Aaron and found a slide recommended by our friend Bob. Now, given my natural ability to harm myself in a padded room and Aaron’s natural instinct to always cause a ruckus, we were totally in for it.

These slides were solid cement and SUPER slick. And as it turned out… they were also covered in macaroni & cheese. Yes… mac & cheese. I suspect someone did that to deter people like Aaron and me from making noise at night, but it didn’t work. After a LOT of scooping, one of the slides was ready for ridin’, and then after much ridicule from Aaron, I rode the slide. And I’m pretty sure I hurt my knee in the process because it’s been sore for DAYS.

So thanks Cali for the lovely time and the cheese-covered kicks.

After a bit of Googling, I found that the slides are called the Seward Slides. Here’s some pics and battle stories from past riders.

Whoa. Also found a video here, but it looks like she rides the “slower side.”