Back at Blogging

I have been so un-inspired lately... geeze what is the deal? But today I ran across a favorite blog that came back to the blogging world!! Feather! Who has just launch a iphone app! How fabulous is that!! Check it out here:

Haven't you ever thought to you self.... (Feather's moto):
If you’ve ever checked the forecast and wished the weatherman would just tell you what to wear, Feather Report is your place. Each day, to prepare you for the work week, Feather Report breaks down the forecast into style inspiration that actually makes sense.

Sleep

I had to dedicate a post to my man's sleeping habits... they are quite unique...

Check out some of the images I have been capturing.... He falls asleep everywhere ...

(out to dinner with friends)

(on a very bumpy bus ride in the south of Italy)

You can see why I drive... he falls asleep on the way to and home from work... even when driving...

(coming home from work)

Hilarious ... Right?.....

Car Problems...

Oh boy... was I tested... Yesterday afternoon I dropped my man off at the airport (he has some business in Europe this week)... on the way home a werid light come on in our car... I first thought no way... can it wait for hubby to get home??? I stopped and check our book (car manual) and found out one of our tires had low tire pressure....

I stopped at a gas station filled the tire with air and checked the air pressure with the attached Gauge! Yeah!!.... All with just the help from my mom via the east coast!

Anyhow, in complete denial that anything was really wrong with the tire, i drove home and expected to fill the tire with air all week until hubby got home ! (big Grin)!

Well, to my surprise (not really)... the tire was completely flat this morning. I found out our Ford Roadside Assistance was no more... called the insurance company... had someone come out and put the spare tire on the car.... (oh believe me I tried to change it myself... but the new cars and an SUV has some specialties that my old sedan did not have... i.e I could not just pull out the spare tire from the trunk and attached it to the car... plus, the car is sooo big now! crazy!

(flat tire getting a donut)

Anyhow, I drove it to the dealer and they fix me all up! Accomplishment! CHEER!!!

back to home decorating

Okay, so I really need to finish what I set out to do this year on our house.

Here are a few things I am thinking about:
1. Kitchen (paint cabinets)?
2. Hall Closets (redesign or paint)?
3. Guest Bathroom (paint vanity)?
4. Hardwood the rest of our living/dining space
5. Buy some 'key pieces' of furniture for the living / dining space
6. hmmmm... I am sure there are more

So, why these things... I have to say I HATE our cabinets (wood work) + Black granite counters in the kitchen and bathrooms... We live in a condo in the city and they basically bought a whole lotta cabinetery and just plopped it everywhere. I personally do not like the honey color and I especially do not like the honey color with the black granite.

I love this color for the vanity in our Guest Bathroom:

I have see a few great ideas on Urban Grace Interiors and I love this Kitchen it is such a great makeover. I already have the black granite countertops and the overall color skeem goes with the rest of our place!

Recap ... Mt. Shasta

Okay so we did it! It was crazy tough but so rewarding....

(the crew at the summit)

It was a lot of fun (now that we are down, breathing regularly, rested and fed)! We really thought this was a great climbing group.

(11:30pm Saturday wake up: went to bed at 7:30pm Saturday)

Route Details:
Bunny Flats trail head (6,950') to Horse Camp (7,800') to Hidden Valley overnight camp spot (9,200') up West Face Gully (portions were up to 40o slope) across top portion of the Whitney Glacier to Misery Hill to Summit Platue (snow field) to the summit (14,162)
The saw a Lake at about 13,000 ft called Sisson Lake, just beautiful.

(Shadow of the mountain over the landscape as the sun rose)

We were so tired on the way down everyone had stated they were giving up climbing and camping for awhile. We ate dinner, crashed for the night and by the time morning and our final drive home came around everyone had a new mountain to add to the 'what mountain should we do next' list! Funny!

Weekend

This weekend we are off to try to summit Mt. Shasta! My husband and I have a yearly tradition of going up to Shasta.

The first year we had no idea what we needed to do or what it was going to be like... no planning at all... We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and we went straight to the Trailhead. It was there that a ranger recommended we head back to the town and pick up crampons and an Ice Axe for our climbing attempt. When we walked back to the car we realized it was leaking oil... because it was a Saturday we new we had to get the car fix before starting out on the trail. Luckly, we found a car fixing business (still open) and they went to town... We picked up the car at 4:30pm and drove back to the trailhead. Started a 3 hour hike/ climb. We stop just short of Helen Lake on a flat plato, unpacked, pitched a tent and cooked dinner. The wind was so strong it blew hard on our tent all night... the next morning we woke and played around in the snow and explored the area. We were hooked and decided every year to climb a mountain.

The following year we booked a trip with a tour group up Mt. Rainier in Washington State... Awesome (I'll post about that some time).... Last year we headed up to Shasta and almost made it to the top. We experienced some AMS and headed down early.

What will this year bring??? I am sure to share!

Scandal at the Zoo

This article from 7x7 was just too funny, I had to share... check out the examiner for the full details.

At our local Zoo, there seems to be a scandal brewing in the penguin habitat where a same-sex penguin couple (Its San Francisco), Pepper and Harry, have called it quits. The reason is Linda, a recently widowed penguin of questionable reputation (she been around the block with multiple partners). The zookeeper, David Brown. “To be completely anthropomorphizing, Linda seems conniving," Brown told the Examiner. "She’s got her plan." Harry has joined up with Linda leaving Pepper to be a lonely bachelor... even after successfully raising a chick!

Ana Neuvo

Check out what we were up to this weekend!

Ana Neuvo State parks could easily become one of our favorite local escapes. It is a great drive down south and along Highway One on the way to see the elephant seals. This is the world's largest mainland breeding colony for these massive animals. There is a short hike out to the seals which is gorgeous, too. At this time of year you can view them up close and personal without hordes of people. They are hundreds of pounds of blubber just a few yards away. It's amazing. You'll see males 'play fighting' preparing to return for the mating season...but for now, they are molting (shedding their fur / skin) before heading back out to season until their return in Dec.
This one reminds me of a normal 'human' beach! Ha ha... What makes them unusual is there size and the snot (elephant like!).

Pretty Things

Here are some items I have been eying...
I love this bicycle necklace. I am collecting a few items of bicycle everything... I will post a bicycle dedicated post soon... i swear!

How great is this dress? I love the take off the butterflies...

... the ESCAPE...

Okay, so, more on what has kept me so busy these last 2 weeks!

On June 14th, we did the swim portion of the Escape from Alcatraz, sponsored by my company. The water was rough and we were told of increase sitings of jelly fish. I am a complete freak when it comes to seeing fish in water... especially when I am trying to swim for my life. What was I thinking... this was hard... i give total props to the full triathletes!

Here was our boat, it stopped right next to Alcatraz... 1.5miles from the beach.

Here is a picture of the Kayak helpers coming in after all the swimmers finished...

Here is a picture of us running in... luckly i was hidden behind the girl in the middle... during the swim my husband found me and swam with me all the way in... even though he could have gone faster... i totally freaked and sooo needed him by my side. I felt so lucky to have him there...

Finally, I was on an all girls race team... here I am getting ready for the biker to come in so that I can take the timing chip off her and put it on the runner. It was a great day! I can not wait to do it again next year!

What a break

Wow, what a break... so sorry.

The next few weeks will be quite busy. It all starting with an urgent request to get wedding invitations designed and printed out to my too be cousin in law. I basically have 2 days to get everything together. I am going to design the invitations while I waited for the paper to arrive. Once it arrives I plan to spend one evening printing, assembling and making lots of ribbon bows. It going to be nuts!

POST Update: I think they can out pretty good. What do you think?

Its Friday!!!!

I ran across a new blog today and pick up this Chart! I love it. First of all, I definitely need to hear more "Here, have some wine." more from my husband!! That line never gets old... I think if he follows this we are all set!

Second, if you have time, check out everything LEB, she did this wonderful before and after of a $20.00 chair she bought on Craigslist! I am so impressed... Inspiration!!

before:

Have a great weekend!

Coffee

Check out our local coffee shop stop .. Blue Bottle coffee is just the best 'cracked out' coffee in the whole world! We go to the garage door store in Hayes Valley each morning for a soy latte or personalized drip coffee. This photo is from their downtown location... they have all these crazy japanese contraptions to brew coffee....



I just love it....

Week's Obssessions

There is something about this colored pillar that I just love! We have a long living/dining room layout with tall ceilings. I feel that it would be a great addition in our corner next to the sliding glass doors or between our couch and dining space! I can not wait for the next flea market in Alameda!!

My next obsession this week, is this leather woven floor mirror. I actually purchased this item at Z gallery while attending the Union Street Fair this weekend. The leather is actual leather is not as shiny as the picture here. I now need to figure out 1. how to pick it up (preferably without the husband... he will love it once it is in the house but not so much before) and 2. where exactly I am going to place it in the house!!

Finally, I am loving antlers. I was looking for 2 tall candlesticks to place on our corner fireplace mantel. I think I may get either 2 tall antlers like the ones above or some variation of the above. The picture here is from Roost.

Empanada love

This weekend we traveled to our friends house where they were trying out Empanada recipes. These here are so good, so good i just had to share this with you!

Weekend Post Catch up!

So a few weeks ago, I blogged about wanting to try and make bagels... Well, I did make some bagels and wanted to share the final results!

I am addicted to them now. They make a perfect breakfast for our weekdays. Small, yummy, quick to eat. I would serve them up with some espresso served in our espresso cups we bought on our Honeymoon!!

Check out the recipe here!

Our Weekend

This weekend we went to Mendocino with our friends and the boys went Abalone diving. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend. May ended like a lion ... we have been so stressed lately, so the chance to get away was perfect. My girlfriend found a great state park campground and a perfect camp site. We left at 4pm on Friday, survived the traffic and made it to our site by 8:00pm. The traffic added about 1 hr to our drive time, but we entertained ourselves with car games.

The next morning we woke up and Ahmad had already started breakfast (eggs, coffee, french toast)... the boys prepared for their morning dive. We drove into Mendocino to pick up a few misc. items and the guys were in the water by 9:30am.

The girls walked the boys down to the water and watched them hunt for Abalone for a short while. We then went back to the campsite for a much needed shower.... Once we freshed up we prepared some hot chocolate and drove back to check on the boys. It was perfect timing... just as we parked the boys were coming out of the water... and WERE WE excited to find they did indeed catch some ABALONE!!

We drove back to the campsite warmed up the boys... hiked around the state park trails and then feasted!

It was super fantastic to get off the grid for a while!!

Random Items

Wow has it really been that long since my last post.... so sorry... not sure how many people actually missed my posting... but still...

Anyhow, here are a few items I am really liking right now...

First, a french farmhouse milk bottle. I am thinking our kitchen soap would look so great in it or maybe bath salts for the guest bath room...


Next, SHOES... are these shoes not just perfect for summer... I actually agree with Bliss that this is my new favorite shoe buying site!

1. Love, 2. Love more, and 3. may just have to buy... (oh if they were not just a tad out of my price range...)

I have to creadit Bliss for sending me their way!

Has Spring Finaly Sprung

I was reading some blogs and ran across this great post. Brooke lives in Southern California ... away from her friends who are in NYC. This is similar to us, we are in San Francisco away from our friends and family who live in DC, Phili and NYC. Anyhow, Brooke has pulled together what she calls Spring in a Box!

She fills a box with all things Yellow, Orange and bright to cheer up her friends as the last bit of winter rolls out (with the Rain) and Spring as Sprung!


I love this idea and I think I will pull together something similar to send to my friends and family. I love it... so simple but so sweet and it is definitely something that helps you keep close to friends and family far away!

Check it out her blog inchmark! Pictures taken from her post.

Kids Feeding Kids

I had to write about my friends little nephew. His name is Carson and he is such a wonderful little boy. I have never met him in person, i only get the scope from his Aunt...

(http://kidsfeedingkids.blogspot.com/)

Please check out this website... Carson, had this idea to do a cookbook for kids to feed kids. He asked his mom if she would help him (he is only 5)!

His book made it onto the Oprah's Angel Network! Check out the blog spot and have your children or neices and nephews submit a recipe for a a great cause!

GO Carson!