Adriene Crimson

This is the first time in my almost 8 years living in the Bay Area that I celebrated Pride weekend ALL WEEKEND!

SATURDAY

My friends Jim and Kiki live in a great apartment that overlooks the Dyke March‘s route so they open their doors to us almost every year so we can watch/participate.

The Dyke March is always on “pink saturday” and I had to arrive after working all day. I left work a bit early as this is a super important fun event that happens once a year. It’s like a bday party – totally worth clocking out an hour early.
I stopped at home to feed the cat and change and ran up the street to Jim’s place with my rainbow body paint kit with 15 minutes to get painted before the Dykes on Bikes went roaring down the street.

That was a great start to the weekend.
[click any photo to see it larger]

During the parade I was busy “participating” and only caught one image.

A little girl walked by with her moms and a poster that said “I <3 my 2 mommies." I was slow on the shutter and thought I missed them.
As you can see, one of her mommies asked her to turn around for me. That just breaks my heart open with joy – I wish this photo could show you how freakin’ cute this little girl’s face is.

Violet Blue and I met at this very same party five years ago. We call it our anniversary. Here she is in all her hot gangsta glory (wearing Ben’s hat).

My 89 (??) year old Grand-Aunt Polly is a Old Lesbian Organized for Change (OLOC) and she and her ladies were posted up in the sweet viewing spot of the corner of 16th/Dolores where they got a fab, ground eye view of the parade. I was too busy introducing her to Kiki and Violet and being introduced to all of Polly’s friends that I forgot to get a pic, but one of her friends got a great one with what looked like a really good camera.
I’m really glad I’ve started spending time with her – she’s totally together and fun and has a lot to say and contribute. Her friends were super cute when they found out I am her grand-niece.
Y’all should support all the Old Lesbians in your area – they freakin’ rock!

After the parade ended, Violet took Ben and me to “a sekrit party in the armory.” The armory is owned by Kink.com (NSFW).
It was my first visit to the giant building that I ride past every morning on my way to work, so I was excited to see the rooms and how they’ve got everything set up.
There were a few scenes being filmed that night but the crowd, which was pretty non-usual for that space according to Violet, was really lame and took the fun out of watching.

We wandered around with our free drinks and took pics in the different themed rooms, which was super fun.

Violet took this selfie of us and I totally <3 it.
Just about every room had a row of pegs as well as O rings strategically placed in all kinds of places.

Violet got her first Digital SLR photography lesson while I explored a small closet.

Ben and I both got psyched about the light right here and Violet was happy to oblige us with her keen modeling skills.

We decided we’d have more fun eating than sticking around (again, lame “industry” crowd – boo) so we went to Monk’s Kettle [Their kitchen is open until 1am, btw…] and all ordered burgers and ginger beer. This was my third or fourth visit and I felt confident highly recommending it to these two who’d wanted to check it but hadn’t yet – they were pleased.
2am, time to sleep.

SUNDAY
I woke up around 10 and called the boys to figure out the plan for the day. It was decided that we’d start by meeting at Jim’s to watch a bit of US vs Brazil soccer (wow – the first half was awesome. didn’t see the second.) and have some champagne and glitter.
Fur removed……glitter and sunscreen applied, we headed over to Zuni‘s street party to say hi to our bday friend Janice who was pouring drinks for the first time. She made us some mean margaritas, got some glitter (and sunscreen!) applied and we headed down to Civic Center for the after parade party.

We walked into the festivities via the dance music area while they were in the middle of a Michael Jackson tribute set, which made me really happy.

Yay for gay pride & kissing outside!

This beautiful man and his two little girls looked so sweet to me, I had to ask for a photo. He obliged me with such a sweet smile – I was very happy.

This mirror ball man of awesomeness was sitting on the curb, looking a little sad, when we started dancing in front of him. A few minutes later, he perked up and started dancing as well and people started taking photos almost immediately. I could tell he really enjoyed having his photo taken in that fabulous outfit. That made me super happy.

I saw this tattoo from across the dance-street and had to record it, with permission of course. I think it’s wonderful and really says a lot, even if I don’t believe in God and his/her judgement, per se.

We walked home before the sun went down and I had a long relaxing evening with my man after his return from a weekend riding trip.

Best pride ever thanks to good friends, excellent imbibles and perfect weather in my favorite city.

<3