Honorable Mention

Well, my lunchtime walks in Chinatown have paid off.

I just have to tell you this little story because I thought it was pretty darn cool...

My sweet friend Gypsy Girl (you remember her) sent me a link to a photography group called Shutter Sisters.

As soon as I saw what the Shutter Sisters were all about, I knew I had to be a part of them. And Gypsy Girl also mentioned a photo walk of San Francisco they were going to have after the photography session at BlogHer, a conference that was going on downtown this weekend (where lots of lady bloggers from the four corners of the earth descended onto the St. Francis Hotel to eat, sleep and breathe all things bloggy. No, I did not go.).

Gypsy Girl and I decided we'd like to join up for the photo walk, and we all met in the lobby at the appointed time. (Within about five minutes, I'd already made a new friend, too, the lovely Abbey.) But let me back up a sec...I'm leaving someone out. One of the reasons I wanted to go on this walk was to meet Karen, because she's one of the Shutter Sisters' team and I think her photography is exceptionally beautiful. (And yes, she is that gorgeous in person.)

So as the large group split up into smaller groups, and I made sure I was in Karen's group after introducing myself, Karen asked if anyone knew enough about downtown to help her lead her group (she's from Houston) and of course, I piped up. I mean, downtown is where I spend most of my life and I try to walk and take photos at lunchtime and before and after work as much as I can there.

I gave Karen two options since we only had 45 minutes for our excursion: the Art Deco buildings or Chinatown. The group resoundingly chose Chinatown, and I was glad because I've gone there so many times just to wander and take photos, so I already knew a lot of great photo ops. I've also done my homework and done a lot of reading about the history of Chinatown, because I like to know things about where I am, and Chinatown fascinates me to no end.

Anyway, long story short, I ended up leading the tour (I'm guessing we had about 30-40 people?), and I had a great time doing it. I got to pull out all of my Chinatown historical trivia: stories about some of the buildings, about the former brothels, the gambling going on in Spofford Alley, my favorite sign (The American Institute of Nose Disease) and to the myriad other sights that make you want to pull out your camera and click away.

I think everyone had a fun time. All the participants are going to send in photos of the walk to a communal group to share, and it will be exciting to see what people took photos of. (I'll let you know when that happens so you can see what we did.)

At the end of the walk, Karen took something off from around her neck and put it around mine: the Shutter Sisters Flashbulb necklace. In recognition of my tourguiding skills, I was made an Honorary Shutter Sister for a day.

Woo hoo!

And do you want to know what the secret best part of that story is? When I first went to the Shutter Sisters website that same day, I fell in love with that little flashbulb necklace and decided I would get one in the future.

And here it was, maybe just six hours later, and I had my own necklace, but the bonus was that it was already infused with the lovely energy of Karen, who'd worn it first.

Okay, I've got to run for now. I've got that tea party I told you about. And I have to figure out what to wear with my new necklace.

Catch you later, guys. ;-)

***

ps. Can anyone tell what that little ticket is in the top photo? Bonus points to you sharp-eyed people if you can!