^^^ Happiness is a sandy snout – Juno spent a good portion of her time yesterday trying to dig gigantic holes in the sand! 
It feels like a lifetime but we’ve only had Juno, our black lab, for 2 months. It’s been so fun getting to explore San Francisco with our newest fur-baby. Yesterday we ventured out to Baker Beach. The weather was so strange but when we got to the beach the sun was actually out. The cloudcover made for some pretty amazing photos, especially with that little bridge in the back drop. Baker Beach is an awesome mile long beach tucked beneath the Presidio Cliffs with phenomenal views of the Golden Gate Bridge & Marin Headlands. It’s hard to believe that a beach this beautiful can be empty enough to let my puppy run around! Yesterdays beach trip was the perfect start to the weekend! We’re off to the foot hills this weekend to let Juno explore the 4 acres my parents live on. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!
Tag: dslr
Wintery Weekends
Chorizo & Potato Hash with sauteed mushrooms, topped with micro greens, cherry tomatoes & an over easy egg! So.Nomz.
Our Cheat Day Cheese Board
Slate Board & Cheese Knives : Williams Sonoma Here & Here
The first two weekends of 2016 have been pretty low key I’ve had to work all or part of the weekends so we’ve been just enjoying San Francisco Winter! Juno has been enjoying kissing / biting all the Christmas Trees good bye around our neighborhood, it’s kind of hilarious.
In terms of New Year resolutions? I’m sure ours are a lot like some of yours. I have a few for 2016 that I listed below. The last two years I’ve tried to step up my reading game. I fell short of my resolution last year to read 15 books, I managed to read 13 so I’m still counting that as a victory! My reading resolution makes the list again this year.
2016 Resolutions
- Read – I dropped my goal back down to 10 books for the year. Stay tuned for some of my favorites & what books that will be making this years reading list! [pro tip: if you want to try this I highly recommend choosing lighter reads toward the end, I was trying to finish a pretty dense & lonnnng book & ended up struggling the last two months.]
- Consciousness Eating – This year I’m going to try to stick to allowing myself one cheat day per week as well as minimizing my snacking at work. The nursing station is littered with temptations: chips, donuts, candy, you name it, it’s there.
- 10k Steps – I started the new year with a new Fitbit & I couldn’t be more excited for this resolution. When I graduated college I had one of the original Fitbits & I was really into all the tracking. Over time & two trips in the washer (oops!), it eventually died. I’ve been talking about replacing it for ages & courtesy of my husband I’m back tracking steps, flights, mileage & I love it.
- 52 Week Money Saving Challenge – this is part resolution part challenge. If I just resolved to “save money” I’ll fail. I need specific, goal directed, assessable, realistic goals / resolutions. So using a simple week by week saving chart keeps me on track & motivated; The same way my Fitbit keeps me motivated to get active. Here’s the challenge I’m doing, thanks to the Stingy Saver!
This past Sunday was my cheat day & earlier in the week I had decided I was going to try and make a Chorizo Hash for breakfast! Well it turned out even better than expected, it was so good I forgot to put cheese on it… that never happens! But don’t worry cheese came later in the day when Chris & I broke out our fancy Cheese / Charcuterie set & enjoyed pre – dinner appetizers & cocktails & started Making a Murderer (so good!).
Hope everyone is having an amazing start to the year! Do you have any awesomely attainable New Years Resolutions? If so I’d love to read about them in the comments section below!
String art tutorial
Four years ago I made this Texas string art for Chris’ birthday; It was a surprisingly easy project that turned out great & now I’ve inally gotten around to make the California counterpart. Whether you’re gifting this for the holidays or hanging it in your own home it’s sure to get plenty of compliments.
Materials
- Wood board – I used this one here from Michaels
- 1″ nails (2 packs recommended)
- Paint
- Foam brush
- Hammer
- String
- Outline of map or design you plan to use
Directions
- Paint wood board – allow to dry completely – I used two coats of paint. Once the paint has dried completely tape the outline of the state in the desired place.
2. Begin hammering nails following your outline – I found it easier to start with a nail at each corner and then adding nails spaced apart, rather than trying to hammer them all close together in the beginning. Also I recommend hammering the heart in first otherwise it’ll be much more difficult & awkward if the state is already outlined to try and squeeze the heart in. 
3. Take the string and start at a corner, make a small knot to secure the string to an outer nail, and begin looping the string around the nails of the heart. I found out the Texas state outline was somewhat easier than california just based on the shape of the state. It may take a few tries to figure out the best number of times to wrap the string around the inner nails. *Note – not all the nails will have string wrapped around – in the picture below you can see how some of the nails on the curve inward on the southern end have been skipped.
4. Once you have completed the final loop make another small knot to secure the string, and you’re done & ready to display!
This project will run you about $20 -$25 and makes a perfect gift! Have you made your own string art? if so I’d love to hear about it!
Carmel-By-The-Sea – To Celebrate 30.
This past weekend we celebrated Chirs’ 30th birthday with a short trip a little ways south on the California coast, to Carmel By The Sea. We left Friday morning & took our town driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping along the way in Pescadero to check out Pigeon Point Lighthouse, which in case you can’t tell by the photos, was awesome! Next we stopped & had lunch at The Bench at Pebble Beach. This famous spot overlooks the 18th hole at Pebble & is open to the public! After refueling, we continued on & enjoyed the rest of the 17 mile drive & stopped to watch the sunset, it was so beautiful. I’ve lived in California all my life, but I’m constantly taken aback by just how breathtaking the coastline can be.
We stayed at the amazing Carmel Valley Ranch. The ranch is on 400 acres overlooking the Carmel Valley. Not only do they have phenomenal suites with their own privates baths on the balcony (swoooon) but the ranch offers activities for anyone and everyone (golf, archery, yoga, swimming, bee keeping, etc). With our limited time we took advantage of the complimentary smores & hiking trails. Saturday morning after a quick mimosa filled breakfast we hiked to the top of the ridge that overlooks the valley! It was gorgeous! Then we headed out to Carmel proper to spend a day wine tasting and get lost in the seaside town. The cobble stone streets are filled with galleries, boutiques & wine shops. We even found a store dedicated to everything Alice In Wonderland related! The downtown is also lined with Italian restaurants, we stopped in and had homemade pasta at Casanova, which is listed as the romantic restaurant in Carmel, verified by our friendly uber driver, haha.
Sunday morning we packed up early & headed back. I dropped Chris straight at the airport as he’s traveling for work this week, but Carmel felt like a world away & such a wonderful escape from our busy hectic lives!
Do you have a favorite California Seaside town? If so I’d love to hear all about it! 🙂
Tuesdays with Ocean Beach
My favorite time to visit Ocean Beach is mid week when you share the 3 miles of beach with just a handful of people. I swear there were more people in the water than on the actual beach itself on Tuesday. After living here for 7 years Ocean Beach just never loses it’s appeal, even when it’s foggy and cold I still think it’s one of the best / most beautiful places in the city. Tuesday was a perfect day to head to the beach in sweatshirt with a good book in tow. Above are some of the photos that were captured on this spur of moment beach trip. Hope you enjoy.
Weekend Recap
This weekend was our 3rd Annual Family Golf Open; each year we pick a bay area golf course, my dad & brother travel from the Sacramento area and Chris & I triple bogey our way through 18 holes… It’s always a great time. This year we played Lincoln Park Golf Course in San Francisco, which is located along side the Land’s End Trail. The course is filled with glimpses of the Golden Gate, fairways that open out to the city skyline. The 17th hole has a picture perfect view of the Golden Gate right at the tee off. I’ll also add the the course has incredible customer service. I managed to drop my phone along the way & it was returned to the club house & then delivered to me via golf cart 3 holes later!! Amazing! We enjoyed a delicious dinner in Laurel Heights before my family headed home. That night Chris & I decided to break out the fancy bar set we received as a wedding present & make fancy cocktails. We served them in beautiful TIffany&Co tumbler glasses, another wedding present. As for Sunday scones, football & italian panini were on the agenda. The recipe for these sandwiches is here!
A Drive To Jenner CA – Nuptials Await
How cool are these spider webs?! They hold on to the drops of morning dew – I couldn’t get enough!
Talk about a view!
Excuse our incredibly squinty eyes…
Our last wedding of the year had us driving from San Francisco up the Pacific Coast Highway 1 to Jenner / Timber Cove for a spectacular wedding along the coast side. We woke up Saturday morning to a thick blanket of California fog that completely engulfed the coastline. We spent the morning before the ceremony hiking along the fog filled trails and getting some awesome photos. The two or so hours before the start of the ceremony the fog started burning off and made for an incredible backdrop to witness two incredible people becoming husband and wife! Sunday morning we drove back the same way taking our time, enjoying the California coast, stopping for BBQ oysters & fish n chips along the way. The last photo pictured is a view of Stinson Beach. If you ever get the opportunity to drive along the Pacific Coast Highway, take it! There’s nothing quite like it.
36 Hours in Charlottesville
A recap of the fun but whirlwind trip to Charlottesville Virginia this past August. We drove from Washington DC to Charlottesville late Friday evening & spent the night attending a rehearsal dinner & BBQ at a gorgeous country estate. The next day we got up early and did a walking tour of UVA. Below are some of the photos from that morning… The UVA campus was breathtaking, and not to mention fairly empty, there were a handful of students moving into “the lawn” and some groups holding new student orientation activities, but aside from that the campus was pretty quiet.
The gorgeous outdoor ampitheater, & Chris taking advantage of all the stairs, I take pictures & he tries to work out…
It’s columns & archways for as far as the eye can see.
We toured the on campus chapel, it was the only air conditioned spot we found on campus!
A lone leaf lines the brick pathway, a sign fall is coming ?
We stumbled across multiple little “secret garden” areas.
I have a good sport for a husband, he indulges me when I say “give me your best model behavior”…
After our 3 mile self guided walking tour around UVA we got ready for the wedding that brought us to Virginia in the first place.
A pretty phenomenal backdrop to say “I do”.
For the wedding, given how hot & humid it was, I wanted to have a hairstyle that was out of my face and would stay all night. Lately I’ve been really into braids & have use Bare Foot Blonde tutorials for new hairstyles, this was probably my best BFB success yet! I used this tutorial for the pull through braid pictured here & I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out. It stayed literally all night, even through 4 hours of dancing & 90% humidity. I will mention I did practice twice before the wedding because it’s a definitely one of the trickier hair styles.
We had a great time in Charlottesville & were welcomed home with a spectacular west coast sunset…
Calistoga Escape
Calistoga you are a dream come true, located 75 miles north-east of San Francisco, experience the same warm weather, fantastic wines but a fraction of the Napa crowds.
Lincoln avenue is lined with tasting rooms, restaurants & boutiques.
Most tasting rooms we found had excellent prices & generous pours of delicious local wines.
^^These pours were found at Huge Bear Tasting Room, which was once the location of the Calistoga Bank.
At Romeo Winery tasting room you can be surrounded by tall redwoods in their outdoor tasting garden.
A can’t miss Calistoga experience is the gondola at Sterling Winery.
A 4 minute gondola ride leads to outrageous views of the valley.
Off in the distance you’re able to see a castle…
Three miles away Castello di Amorosa winery awaits you. $25 buys you general admission & the basic wine tasting which includes 5 wines.
Visitors are able to wander the castle grounds or enjoy the sunshine in the courtyard.
My pretty friends 🙂
After a day of gondolas & castles & many wine pours later we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Sam’s Social Club, located in downtown Calistoga.
^^ Those deviled eggs were no joke; a must if you’re there.
We stayed at The Roman Spa, not only is this resort just one block from Lincoln Avenue, but the resort has 3 mineral pools that stay open until 10:30. The pools range in temperature from 90 degrees to 104.
Aside from the pools, Roman Spa has luscious gardens that I could spend all day capturing.
Hope you can see why & how we fell in love with Calistoga.
Capturing Nostalgia
This past weekend I was lucky enough to capture the details of my parents first home. When talking to my mom about selling the place her & my dad started their family in, she mentioned she was sad she didn’t get around to taking photos of some of the details of the now 100-year-old home. So I borrowed a set of keys & got to photograph this gorgeous empty house during the golden hour. It was an honor to be able to take these photos for my parents, to give them a way to remember their first home. Although I never lived in the home, I spent plenty of time there & watched the house change hands multiple times, the majority of the time I spent there the house was vacated in-between tenants. But this weekend walking around the empty house filled with the setting sun felt different. Selling this house is so bittersweet for my parents, realistically they were never going to live in it again, but it still means letting go of the place they brought their first baby home to, where their family really began. Taking these photos was so special to me, as Chris and I talk about starting our family and deciding where we’ll live I think of how excited we are now & I think of all of those excited, happy moments that this house held for my parents. So getting to capture the beauty of this house for my parents is as much as a gift to me as it is to them.
I’m in love with the way the light floods the back bedroom. 
Gorgeously detailed light fixtures scatter the house, layers of paint chipped off, but memories remain
Elaborate Built-ins occupy the dining & living rooms. 
These rusted nails were hammered into the windows by grandfather for extra security, because the locks weren’t up to his standard at the time, over 40 years later the nails are still in place.
Sacramento – The city of trees.
An old football hangs by a nail in the garage, patiently waiting its next debut.
Crystal doorknobs connect one room to the next.
East Bay Mama 