winter time river exploring

we headed up to the cabin this weekend to enjoy three days of chilly bliss. when we arrived on friday morning it was a frigid 35 degrees *inside* the cabin! al got the fire going while i unpacked food, then he took off for his last dive of the season. i alternated between homework and adding logs to the fire, and finally got it nice a toasty inside. that evening we finally tried to the underwood bar and bistro, and our cocktails and burgers at the bar were heaven.


during our saturday walk at steelhead beach, we found a hachiya persimmon tree and filled our pockets. i'll make persimmon pudding in a week or so when they are ripe. it felt really jungly with the bamboo and overgrowth. next we headed out to hop kiln to load up on their horseradish mustard, but when the skies became dark and another set of rained rolled in we found ourselves sipping wine.


sunday we packed some lunch and went off to find the where dry creek and the russian river meet. this was harder than we thought even with our fishing hole map, so we paid a visit to lambert bridge winery for a little warm up. they gave us a tip on how to get to dry creek, and we bought a bottle of their 2008 zin. we soon found the river and creek meeting place, saw a beautiful sky and a this very sad sight.


now we're back home to work and school. tomorrow is my last day working for the next year. i've decided to increase my school load so i can get this program done! i'm really working at making myself feel at peace with this choice, it feels like such a strange time to give up a job! but alas, the decision has been made and all will be fine.

it's been a long time

dear little blog i apologize for being a bad blogger. once i came home from my visit with leigh i was just not in the mood to blog. i've had a lot on my mind. a few weeks after returning home, al proposed! i immediately became overwhelmed when school started, work got busy and i began thinking about the wedding. so i'm sorry, i have been spending so much time on my laptop that the thought of blogging just didn't sound fun. so we have a date, and a venue. that's it. so much more work to do. i'm pretty sure i'll make myself a birdcage veil, or i might pop into lovejoy's attic to look over their veiled vintage hats, i saw some really cute ones in the window recently. i need to project manage this wedding and i'm just not in the mood. i wish i either didn't have school or work, but alas i have both. and i have insomnia.

goodbye paris, i'll miss you!

our three day weekend in paris has come to and end. sunday is a sleepy day to spend in the city as most things are closed. we ended up with some rather cool and wet weather so our plans of sitting outside in the gardens were dashed. giovanni, whom we rented the apartment from, met us early to get the key and called us a taxi. we dropped our luggage off at a locker at the train station and headed back out to walk around ille saint louis. it was too cold and early for glaces at berthillon, which was sad, but next time.


after walking around a bit with only stohrer pastry in our bellies we ducked into a restaurant for some eggs, bacon, croissant and coffee. because most stores were closed, we snapped a few photos then walked over to notre dame for a peek.


it was very windy as we headed over to the louvre. we hadn't planned on going in, but instead wanted to walk around the outside and down the jardin des tuileries. the skies were gray and cloudy and we got some great shots of the louvre looking very ominous.



next we wove our way through the streets up to the arc de triomphe, trying to stay off the touristy champs-élysées as much as possible.


the rest of the day was spent walking through the streets trying to find something yummy for lunch. we ended up at a cute little cafe near the L'église de la Madeleine where we downed some onion soup with a peitit Mâche salad and delicious potatoes. We were so warm and cozy we decided we needed one more cafe creme and a gateau au chocolat before heading back out for the train station. i didn't take many photos yesterday, i think i was so tired and...well... cold.

east side

leigh and i had a great day today on the east side. andrew was feeling generous (when is he not) and offered to stay with lois all day which made our day nice and long. we started at the columbia road flower market which was jam packed with people so i didn't take a single photo. after that we went into some of leigh's favorite stores and i had to force myself not to buy something in each one.


we started at jessie & buddug, so many cute embroidered things. after that it was tea at vintage heaven, where we had cream tea in the back tea room. there were so many things in this store that i wanted, but just got the two of these blue and pink cups.




next we were off to labour and wait, which i was so excited to see. i bought a few items to take home as gifts: this pale green lasagne dish, two of these little tumblers, a few bone egg spoons, a nail brush, and this folding pocket knife. i'd been wanting to go to this store since reading about it in gourmet or dwell so i didn't hold back.


we popped into caravan and i really wanted one of these lamps, but too large to carry home since i need to bring a lamp post home for cristal. aesop is a new addition to the neighborhood and i was sucked in my the simple packaging and beautiful ingredients. our last stop was the spitalfields covered market in shortage where we had a really nice, light lunch of wine and cheese. we've had that a lot because we are eating so much.

we got on the bus to come home and it was a very long ride, over an hour (i picked the bus...). i didn't mind though. we were upstairs in the very front seats and i just spent the hour enjoying chatting with leigh, sitting, and seeing london.

long days

i've been in london since early wednesday morning and seem to have avoided jet lag pretty well. leigh was sleepy the day i arrived from being up sick the entire night before, so after we strolled around her neighborhood a bit (and i bought a dress from emily and fin just hours after landing), we came back home to take a short nap. it's light here from around 5 am until close to 10 pm, so the days are really long.

thursday leigh took me out for a long day of shopping after she dropped lois at school for her first full day. we found a seat upstairs on a double decker bus and enjoyed the drive across town. our first stop was liberty and i managed to only purchase some post cards and an umbrella, which i really did need. then we hopped on the tube to lamb's conduit for lunch at cigala, then stopped in a few stores and persephone books.


after a stop at the espresso room, we popped into the top shop so i could get another pair of jeans (it's colder and rainier here than i expected) and then into office for some shoe shopping where i got some lace ups and these little flat converse.


last night we made a nice dinner and then had a few too many drinks. lois was in bed early after her long day at school, so this morning she was up bright and early at 5:30 am! we've all just finished a nap and we're getting ready to head out for a coffee and sweet. leigh is reading a list of things to do in paris from the the people who we're renting our apartment from. next week this time we'll be there!

pre travel travel

i'm in north carolina visiting my family before i head over to london. i always spend the days running around to see everyone because my entire family is here and it gets exhausting, but i wouldn't have it any other way.



this week me, mom and sis scooped up my 93 year old grandmother, genevieve, and drove from raleigh to asheboro to visit her sister, aunt mary, 89 years old. our goal was to capture some family history for story corps, and for ourselves. too bad i bungled the first part of the recording, we need to get that written down. but we did get some great details on great granddaddy and grandmommy kirkman (my namesake - middle name). aunt mary has an amazing yard and we have some great memories from playing there. it was really nice to go back because my grandmother has long since moved from the house she lived in when we were young. i wish i had more photographs of it and the lake nearby. i photographed some really old photographs on my aunt mary had, they are a bit hard to see.

great grandparents in front of their farm house holding danielle, their granddaughter (4 months) and a kitten who walked into the frame.

lloyd, aunt mary and grandmommy's brother who died as a young boy.

great granddaddy kirkman in his wheat field.

great granddaddy again with his collie, ted. the back of the photo says that after "grandpa died and grandma wasn't home all the time - he grieved himself to death." and aunt mary told us this story as well, which made me so sad!

tonight we're heading over to my sister's to cook a huge birthday dinner. her birthday was yesterday and mine is in two weeks. i'll be spending the weekend in paris with leigh for my birthday, but i'm just as excited about celebrating tonight.

gettin out of town

in about a month i'll be leaving for a month. i'm going to visit leigh in london after stopping in nc for a week to see my family. we've got two side trips planned, one is a few days in paris over my birthday weekend, and another few days in bath. work is crazy right now and i'm writing on my blog because i'm so tired that i don't want to write my paper or study for my first of three finals (which is tomorrow at 10am). i just want to dream about london, paris, leaving it all behind for a month - no work, no school, no nothing. i haven't even had time to think about where i want to go when i get there, but leigh has got a good list going for us and i can read and plan stuff on the plane right?

or maybe just sleep.

back home to the best

i'm back from a few weeks in nc, it was rushed as usual with lots of coordinating to be sure i saw everyone, and i still didn't see everyone. i try to keep christmas really low key and don't exchange or get many gifts, but was thrilled to come home to al and a really lovely gift from him. he found some swedish (whisky?) glasses at an estate sale while i was gone. they are housed in a burgundy leather box, and each glass can rest upon it's own coaster of a different golden crown—we're rich! happy new year, we're probably in for just chilling at home with some of that fine wine we got up at the rr and trying out these new glasses.

freedom

now that school is done for the semester i sort of don't know what to do with myself. it's weird. i've been waiting for this for 15 long computer-driven weeks, and now i'm stumped. i need a project but i don't want a project. i keep trying to talk myself into making a design to gocco cards for this year, but then i don't want to write and send the cards. then i think i should just sit around and read all day, after all it's cold and rainy. but i am enjoying my current book so much that i don't want to finish it too quickly, and i talked al into reading it with me so he's trying to catch up. i decided i needed another book to read as well, so i got the the portable mlis from the library to see if i want to buy it, but that just feels like reading school stuff and i can't get into it. maybe it's time to start baking again, something from breakfast, lunch, tea looks good. i went to sandbox bakery this week with sarah, it's really good but we wanted to sit so had to walk back to her house. hopefully tricia and i will venture out to eat something yummy today. i should go check out the prelinger library. also probably time to go back to outerlands, and i want to go to farm:table. crap now i have all this stuff to do before i leave for nc next week for two weeks.

labourious

i'm living vicariously through leigh right now as she visits every single cafe, market, and amzazing shoppe in london. last week she went to liberty and i asked her to get me something. we nixed that idea when the only thing i wanted was this A.P.C. dress that cost £140.00. the first week she was gone i read about a few of london's not to be missed in the september issue of gourmet. one store i could live in is labour and wait. when leigh told me it was already on her list to visit i wanted to teleport myself over. she said she would pick something up for me there and asked i might like. i gave her a long list, i couldn't decide. i can't wait to see what she thinks i would have chosen. really, a pencil would make me happy at this point. i'm stuck at my desk.

left to right, clockwise: pink enamel milk pot, blue enamel lidded mug, white enamel ladel set, white enamel measuring jug.

left to right, clockwise: natural horn egg spoons, enamel soap dish, small enamel container with plastic lid, porcelain measuring spoons.

sweet reality

monday and back to work. technically it is tuesday, but yesterday my in box was blowing up after the three day weekend and i was just too pooped to call it what it was, monday. we had a great weekend and got a lot of work done. our biggest accomplishment besides running out every 2 hours to the hardware store, was building a raised bed for veggies. we also made cookies for our neighbors, met our neighbors, took a long walk, had rita and her camping gang over for a bit, played horse shoes, played scrabble, and drank a lot of wine. the sweetest thing about having to come home was the bounty of albacore tuna matt gave al. we had todd and larisa over for shashimi and they arrived with an apple & blueberry pie and mitchell's white pistachio ice cream. i'm still full.

return

portland was really fun, but it started off rough. we made our way over to oakland via bart, and soon found our 9:55pm flight delayed until 11:40pm. then 12:50am. at that point the oh so very wise al said we should head home. our plane was stuck in denver under snow -- an unpredictable situation. we got ourselves on the 7:50am flight for saturday and headed back to the bart shuttle. good thing too, as the flight ended up leaving oakland at 2:16am, arriving in portland at 3:41am! we were asleep at home.... zzzzzzzzzz.

we ended up with a pretty full day saturday by getting in around 9:30am, so it was fine, we just lost one pre-paid night at the jupiter hotel. it was actually quite loud there so maybe that's ok. the doug fir is in the hotel parking lot and the music and drunkard's voices came right into our room. at any rate, we didn't see a show there but there were lots of bands playing or that have played we would have enjoyed. the parking garage is wallpapered with band posters. sunday nite we stayed at the kennedy school, which was a lovely and quiet relief.

we spent a lot of time checking out various neighborhoods, falling in love with the houses, and visiting friends. sunday we drove up to the gorge and stopped at the vitsa house, visited multnomah falls, and stopped by the dalles lock damn. this was by far my favorite day. portland is cool, but i didn't really care about shopping since we have so many great places here in sf. we did eat some great food, but we're pretty spoiled here.

we're not sure about moving there, but have not decided against it. we need some more trips up there. thanks to mary and scott for brunch, keith for a nice selection of bars, and seth for a thai luncheon.

portland

we're taking off tonight for a weekend in portland. i've been tracking the weather to see what to expect if we eventually move there, and it's been looking pretty miserable. right now it's raining and feels like 45. we must be really lucky, though, because that rain is moving out and we're looking at close to 80 until monday! i need to rethink what i was going to pack. i found this guide to portland on superfuture, but didn't want to spend the money on it. now that i've been working i decided to download it. if we're thinking of moving there we need to know the best places to scope out and i've only got 1,000 or so on my list for the next three days. that doesn't seem nearly enough.

the visit

floridian front yard portrait, 1987

my parents (and maybe aurin, too) are coming to visit, and words cannot express how excited i am! it's been years since they've been out to the west coast and my list of places to take them is exhaustive. eating & drinking establishments alone could take up weeks: zuni cafe, bocadillos, hotel biron, anchor oyster bar, fish, kiji, the church key, broken record, hangar one distillery, tosca. as far as sights, i've got mine set on: the marine mammal center (a behind the scenes tour with tony), the academy of sciences, the de young, heath ceramics, the conservatory, free concerts (student recitals) at the san francisco conservatory of music, the alemany farmers market... let's see, so that's the plan for friday. i wonder what the weather will be like, better start checking obsessively on that.

bounty

saturday night tricia returned from a month long trip china and brought back some great stuff. she got a soy milk maker (it makes nut milks too! i'm comin' over), tea pots, tons of tea, acupuncture supplies, and gifts for me. she brought me this super cute insulated glass tea mug and more milk tea. milk tea has been steamed with milk, then oxidized in the sun and tastes really creamy. we first tasted milk tea at aroma tea shop on clement street and i have been saving the last bits of mine. i highly recommend a trip to aroma. you'll sit at a traditional tea tasting table and learn how to really make tea, including washing the leaves first. this removes any dust/dirt from the leaves, and awakens the aroma so your guests know what's coming. you dump that hot water out, your tea cup or pot has been warmed, and you pour fresh water for brewing. go check out the aroma tea shop. the proprietor won't disappoint you. now for some milk tea.

wedgie

seems i'm into comparison shopping lately. i found these wedge canvas oxfords on urbanoutfitters.com last week and showed them to leigh. she found a similar shoe in lisazain's etsy shop and i received them yesterday. her shoes are in such great shape. i'm not sure where she finds them but this pair of grasshoppers have never been worn. buying shoes online is hard, and i rarely fit shoes i try on in a store, but i ordered these with the help of lisa's extra measurements, and they fit! perfect for strolling in portland i think. time to check on the weather there...

back home

we're back from sea ranch and it feels like we were gone for about 15 minutes. the house was perfect (except for the galley kitchen), the decks were huge, and the weather was amazing. "breakers end" was filled with great art, tons of old books, no cells phones, and comfy beds. we ate so much food, enjoyed maybe a few too many bottles of wine, and spent a lot of time on the two decks. al and i were sad to leave the watanabe's last night, they get one and a half more days. i can't believe it's going to rain tomorrow! time to check on the weather....

weather

i'm sort of obsessed with checking the weather forecast and my desperate "need to know" is usually fixed by looking at weather.com or using the weather tool on my iphone several times a day. if it's raining i look to see if it's going to rain more. if it's windy (like every moment is here right now in sf) i look to see how windy.

lately al and i have been talking about moving up to portland where we can actually afford a house. i'm worried about him and the weather there, so i decided to check on it every day for a year. that was 2 weeks ago and i'm checking it for the first time now. right now it's in 49 and sunny sf, and 41 (feels like 36) and cloudy in portland. we're taking a long weekend up there soon, and i'm hoping for spring-like days. i'll soon be obsessively looking at the 10-day forecast to see what to expect.

the sea ranch

this weekend we are heading up to the sea ranch with sarah, mas, bella (9) and ethan (21 months). it's sarah's birthday so we're packing up the champagne and hoping for good weather. if not we've got games, food, puzzles, the beach in the rain, a wood stove, a hot tub, and a pineapple upside down cake. hopefully al will find a bounty of abalone and some nice fish for dinner on his saturday dive.