Tuesday 30 June 2009

happy Tuesday + another one


this one was taken in Phoenix, on top of South Mountain (Dobbin's Lookout). Magical spot for a Phoenician sunset.

I sort of like the idea of having a little wall gallery of sunset photographs hung up in our new nest.

Monday 29 June 2009

happy Monday


this is the most enchanting sunset I've ever captured with our camera. It was in Italy--beautiful things tend to happen there.

Saturday 27 June 2009

six years ago today

a handsome man dragged an all-too-willing me to the southernmost point of the continental United States and asked me to marry him. I said yes and then we walked headfirst into something so great I still can't come up with a name for it.

best decision I made, ever.
Us in Italy (Cinque Terre, October 2006)

Thursday 25 June 2009

it's all going to be a whirlwind.


So in a recent turn of events and a few things looking like they're going our way, we're moving back home earlier than expected. yay! It thrills me but at the same time is saddening--we sorta have gotten to really know this place.

Take yesterday, for instance, and the day before. for the last two days we've been heading over to the Mission for a wacky breakfast (SF 2 days in a row ='s we are lucky birds): it's an attempt to finally try the maple bacon latte at Pirate Radio Cafe on 21st & Florida. (today we lucked out and it was indeed smoky deliciousness. i would happily settle for their cayenne mocha though.) Then we walk a few blocks over to Dynamo Donuts in the vain hope to find their bacon donut available...it never is so
we turn the corner for the walk back to our car somewheres. we say hi to Lulu, the beagle mascot of the house painters up on the ladder, we admire the 'blue' mural, Steve inevitably says "I smell culture" at the urine stench on certain dark corners of the sidewalk, and I mockingly roll my eyes right back at him.

That was random.

I guess what I'm trying to say is there's so many things I still want to do here, and it feels like we're just getting started. The Friday Night Skate in the city. Go to Lassen Volcanic NP and hike the Bumpass Hell trail (by far the coolest sounding trail I've ever heard). Eat at Cyrus. Wine tasting at Quintessa. Camping at Armstrong Grove. Sandboarding on Pismo Beach. Finally get to Tartine in time to have one of their freshly-baked loaves. Take artsy photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. Shoot, take some decent pictures of the cable cars, preferably with my new camera that intimidates the living daylights out of me. We won't get to see the ice caves at Lava Beds National Monument since they're only open in winter and we never did make it off their wait list.
Anyhow. Bring on summer.

okay. NOW it's summer.


Summer solstice 2009. It started off as a thank-God-husband-has-his-best-friend-here-to-go-to-the-Nascar-race-'cause-I-desperately-don't-want-to-go and ended with an evening picnic--not on our balcony, no. This time we were no more than four feet from our front door. Letting it all out there for the neighbors to see and hear. Good, good times.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

our friends rock.


Mark came to visit us these last few days and we all had a ball. I love people who are warm and enthusiastic about things--it's inevitably contagious. Mark kept telling everyone from the coffeeshop guy to the dad walking on the beach that it was his first time out to California and how much he loved it here.

Plus we all bonded over a little guy named Bastian. What more can you ask for than friends that really really get you?

Monday 22 June 2009

still playing hooky.


We're spending today in that fantastic city by the bay, showing a dear friend all our favorite sights. It's been a wonderful last few days, having him here.















-not us in this picture-- i've named these two strangers molly & hunter.

Sunday 21 June 2009

Happy Father's Day Papi


You still look very cute in shorts.

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Tuesday 16 June 2009

bald eagles are magnificent.








I don't care how many times we saw them when we were in Alaska, seeing them
never gets old. Look at their freaking talons in the second pic! We were kayaking off Tofino and came across these two (they get the white feathers atop their heads when mature) on a sandbar.

This weird patriotic feeling bubbles up inside me when I see bald eagles. I can't explain it.

Monday 15 June 2009

Oh Nonna

An email from my Nonna sent earlier this month:
Ciao Tania, sono nonna, e con nonno desideriamo farti gli auguri per  il
tuo trentesimo compleanno.
Auguriamo: un mondo di bene e felicità, e tanti desideri da realizzare,
soprattutto l'attesa del bebé ( Sarebbe ora!).
Prima che diventiamo anziani vogliamo avere l'onore di conoscere il
nipotino!!!!!!Che mi ricorda quando tu eri bebé ed eri bellissima.
Ancora i nostri migliori auguri e nell'attesa di riabbracciarvi in
Sardegna tanti baci e un forte abbraccio. Nonna e nonna.














Which basically can be translated as, "Happy birthday, please hurry up
and have a baby. Love Nonna and Nonno" =)

Happy birthday Nonna! (Hers was yesterday.) The time spent looking for a picture of her makes
me think I need to photograph Nonna more!


Friday 12 June 2009

"our" cabin, in poladroids











Nothing like a cute lil' cabin with two cute nerds to usher in a weekend. So happy weekend!

Thursday 11 June 2009

on my 30th

Yet another list...but I don't feel like mustering up a narrative. Please forgive. Anyhow. On my birthday--

saw a humpback whale breaching

soaked in natural hot springs that required a 1-hour boat ride and 30-minute walk to get to

talked to marmousch on the phone

ate duck confit...pizza

ate the perfect 'compromise' lunch of nigiri with chardonnay while Steve ate potstickers and chicken wings

cried upon reading Steve's card for me

toasted marshmallows for s'mores in our woodstove

fell asleep to the sound of fierce winds

spent four hours in my bikini without a shred of self-consciousness--I'm going to leave all that crap to my 20's

knitted on the deck of our cabin at sunset, hearing kids rowdily sing Do-Re-Mi from
The Sound of Music

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Tofino, British Columbia







Get my drift? Windswept beaches, rocky shorelines, and remote. It was a wonderful place to spend the last few days of my 20's and the first couple into my 30's.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

on our trip, to remember fo-evah



Our trip was everything a vacation should be. I know these sound silly & random but I want to keep'em.

the hidden chalk kitty we could see from our window in Vancouver (I stumped Steve on I Spy with my Little Eye)

Mavis, the dog at the Fairmont in Vancouver, who was originally a guide dog but ended up getting "fired" because she was too friendly. I love that.

the recording of chirping birds to indicate you can cross the city streets of Vancouver if you're on foot

the exuberant staff at Guu, an izakaya bar, who are constantly shouting welcome! and thank you! and she'll have an order of squid legs!...in japanese to the line cooks up front. and it's not for a tourist-y show, either;

the hoodles-like 8-person tugboat that takes people to Granville Island

our izakaya crawl

our souvenirs: a ceramic milk jug with a chalk label, the most beautiful mulberry silk yarn I've ever laid eyes on, chopsticks that say Guu is guuuud!, a new favorite piece of pottery

seeing bears for the first time since 2006, and remembering what it was like to spot them on the side of the road.

the dancing bonito flakes atop the fried octopus balls at Gyoza King (like rice krispies, or, if we're being honest, like worms)

those first two cups of coffee that we enjoyed at Wicked Cafe in Vancouver

on our last night in Vancouver, running around the city 'till midnight in search of the elusive perfect bowl of ramen like we had our first night there

the entire experience of the winemaker's dinner at the opening night of the Tofino Food & Wine Festival, made even better by the couple that fate put us next to.

making s'mores in our cabin's woodstove

waiting in line to pay homage to the japadog cart in Vancouver

racing each other to the scenic spots for sunsets. the best one was just a 5 minute walk from our cabin.

tidepooling

bald eagles

humpback whales. nothing brings a group of nine strangers on a boat together faster like whales.

hot springs. and lest we forget the annoying guy at the hot springs.

being enthralled in our front-row seats watching the sushi chefs doing their magic at Blue Water's raw bar in Vancouver

sleeping in "our" loft

reading bench plaques dotted along the Wild Pacific trail. I don't know who Jim is but I don't love him!

watching the boat captain check out the cute Danish girl's ass over and over again.

the whale rib, I mean giant walrus tusk, found on Vargas Island--Steve is still lamenting that he didn't find it. Otherwise he surely would have tried to find a way to bring it home.

acting like little kids exploring the ferry to & from the island. I can't imagine us on an actual cruise if we get so excited over a ferry!








Monday 8 June 2009

vacation's end

but how can I be sad when this mcCatty is there to greet us at the door?