Lately, it seems I’m getting a multitude of careers (on top of marketing / design / photography / consulting) – House sitter, dog sitter, baby sitter, and sexy poolboy that can mix margaritas…. I’m actually on my way now to do that last one- serve 9 women for the weekend. Here’s what led up to that

San Francisco is cool, but I get a little uncomfortable in any city that I can’t find regular parking in.  I arrived here  Sunday night, and had dinner with Mark Joyner (best selling author, incredible marketer, and just a general go-getter). Then I went to Elizabeth’s house.  Her daughter, Gracie, was already a sleep.

I was given a key, and a parking garage card for the next day.  Woke up early the next day, and went to move my car before the meters begin. Gracie was already up, and greeted me with a large pile of arts and crafts that Gracie made for me.  Drawings, greeting cards, puppets, cut outs… all made with love and markers.

The kid is very loving, no doubt.  In fact, our first day hanging out, and she already said “I love you!”

I haven’t babysat in ages… so we started with the obvious, watching her DVD collection-  Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus, followed by some Strawberry Shortcake movie about Christmas (I sort of tuned out that one, not being a fan of Christmas), and then Kung Fu Panda… which I frigging love!

Kung Fu Panda not only is a work of art  in the way that they animated it, did the cameras, lighting, mood, and good ol’ fashioned story telling, but it has so many great messages.  The main message that I took from it: You are special just the way you are, so don’t try to be someone else. I try to preach the same message.

The odd thing about waking up at 6am, is that after 3 movies, it’s still early in the day.  Since I’m here to give Elizabeth more time to herself, I needed to figure out something else.  A field trip, yes!  After going through City Walks with Kids San Francisco deck of cards, I chose numerous exciting adventures for the week, but picked out the Tiburon Island Ferry tour for this day.

Gracie was excited that Mommy gets to work, and we get to have fun…..

10 minutes later, she was in tears “I miss my mommy!”

She then said that she doesn’t want to go on the cruise without mommy, then instantly stopped crying, and said “but I wouldn’t mind going to the aquarium!”  - translation “I miss my mommy” = you’re not doing what I want.

She’s already been to the aquarium three times, and has never been on a ferry, so that seemed like it would be a greater adventure, but I don’t feel like arguing with a five year old, and it’s not that great having a kid crying.  Also, I couldn’t argue with her brilliant argument:  Uhhh Ori, I just want to remind you… if we go on the cruise, I’ll cry… a lot!  Just want to remind you!

I took her to the aquarium, we watched all these giant fish and sharks get fed, got to pet sting rays and some sharks, and then got to go to the souvenir shop.  We then walked around Pier 39.  I ate some clam chowder out of a bread bowl, and we watched a juggler juggling swords while his hands were set on fire, and he balanced on a board that was on a barrel.  I had Gracie on my shoulders so she could get the best view.

So long as she got her way, she wouldn’t cry.  We headed back to the house, and along the way she said she misses her mommy — no tears this time.

Elizabeth had her first day of personal time in a long time, and was happy.  She decided that since Gracie kept missing her so much, she’d get her regular babysitter starting Thursday.  That too didn’t happen, since her ex got back in town, and picked up Gracie for the weekend.

I went and met up with my older brother.  I hadn’t seen him in many months.

The next day Gracie didn’t want to leave her Elizabeth’s side, so Elizabeth took her with when it was time to go to her trainer’s.  I took the BART (San Fran’s public transportation train) to Walnut Creek (which I never heard of until that morning) to get an amazing massage from Chris Arcucci, whom had gotten free consulting by being the right dialer on my online radio show, and wanted to thank me for the great advice.

The massage was incredible.  I generally don’t go and get massages.  They generally don’t do much for me, but Chris has been doing this for ages, and had no problem going pretty deep.  I finally started to relax (I’m generally bad at relaxing). After that we had lunch, and I gave her some new advice, and then it was back to the city.

Because I had posted to Facebook that I was on the BART, Dori Friend (a truly badass SEO master) asked if I was in the bay area.  Last year, when we met in person, we had joked around that I would be her poolboy/ranchhand at her ranch when I made it out this way.  Since my babysitting career was over, I replied that I AM in fact in the bay area, and am looking for new plans… does she need a ranch hand?

Turns out that she has 8 of her lady friends from when she was in high school coming to visit her this weekend, so if I want to be pool boy, this would be a perfect time.  DONE!  I’m game!  So… we spoke a little bit, and I’m heading there today to do that.  Yes, I will probably be wearing an apron and a cowboy hat!  So far the only qualification I was given was that I need to be able to make margaritas.  Check!

Last night I had dinner with Catherine Grison, a French woman I met on twitter in November.  I had helped her for free when her father had died, and she was trying to make a tribute DVD for him, and get her shopping cart configured, and her blog to do certain things.

I’ve never seen a home with so much charm and personality.  She says it’s very Parisian, and I believe it.  The thing in Paris is that homes are not as huge as they are here, so people have to be able to accommodate all their belongings in that smaller space.  The word that came to my mind was “What amazing Feng Shui!” — the energy of this place was so welcoming!

When I mentioned this, she smiled and said “that’s because that’s what I do!”  She is a Feng Shui expert.  She studied it for three years under three different mentors.  When she came to the USA from France, she got into furniture sales because she knew that she would learn the culture that way.  You see, if someone is going to choose a perfect piece of furniture, they’ll tell you all their stories.  A good piece of furniture, unlike a garment, will last you ages…. so you want to make sure it fits with your lifestyle, and who you are.

Dinner was awesome- french sausage, french wine, fruit, french bread, olives…. A traditional french meal.  It was wonderful, as was the conversation.  She even read Tarot cards for me.  The most fascinating thing was to spend time with someone who is clearly not American.  There was just something about her!  She is sexy, and charming, and opinionated in the way that I’ve only heard mentioned about the French, but never really got to experience.  It was quite awesome.

Her website is http://www.yourfrenchaccent.com/ If you live in the Bay Area (especially Potrero Hill area), you have to look her up.

This morning I did a photo shoot with Elizabeth, because in January, when she couchsurfed with me in Austin, she did not own a single T-shirt!  Now she has a collection that everyone envies!  Yup, that was my doing.  Here’s the original post, where I gave her a look makeover

http://www.couchsurfingori.com/blog/is-this-the-same-person-photography-and-fun-can-make-a-difference/

So…  now I’m packing up to go to Dori’s ranch. You can see her at this video from Yanik Silver’s Underground, where my head got gashed open.  She’s the only girl in the video:

What’s next?  We’ll see how the weekend goes, but I may be back to San Francisco on Monday to take my brother’s step-kids out… you know, get to play Uncle Ori… .and they’re not five, so it just might be Indoor Skydiving!