a weekend away

well, i don't have any pictures to post at the moment, but just wanted to say hello from the pacific northwest. brandon and i are in portland this weekend, helping paint his parents house. well, i should say brandon is helping paint the house. i've been put in charge of the front door/entryway which has actually been more of an ordeal that we thought, but it's getting done. it's been so nice just to get away and not have to think...

tomorrow morning i'm having breakfast with a friend from high school, which should be fun, and then back to door painting! pictures to come soon...

pagoda stu

before i get to pagoda stu, i'd first like to say two things...

1. congratulations, natalie, on the birth of beautiful baby pia!
2. congratulations, natalie, on your amazing performances!

and now for the pagoda stu thing. so, finally purchased a dining table--we decided a simple breakfast nook table was most practical for now, so we're going to add a desk in the dining room as well. we picked up the table but got the wrong table top, and then decided on some fun/quirky stools for the table. the cats immediately took to them, especially stuart, who we have deemed pagoda stu because of this.

wow

i am so, so proud.

way to go nat!

home again

well, i'm back home after another lovely weekend at tahoe...the weather was gorgeous aside from the occasional wind gusts. i'm bummed we didn't make it to sunnyside, but maybe next time.

i definitely don't want to be back in reality...in the meantime, the weekend in pictures...

celebrations

this weekend was extremely busy but very fun! saturday was kicked off with a trek out to benicia for my friend katrina's wedding. i've been hearing about drew for YEARS so it was fun to finally see them commit to each other. their relationship has really been an inspiration to me--i don't know drew well, but i get plenty of stories from katrina. they find so many quirky ways to keep the relationship interesting and on track, so it has been fun to follow their story time, and i hope to learn from them and grow with them as well.

we arrived at the church at 12:30 to help set up for the 2:00pm wedding--i was a "hostess" of the church reception, helping keep the cake and punch stocked up. after the ceremony and church reception/clean-up, we got about a half hour of down time before heading out to walnut creek for the second reception (the first was open to the entire church). it was at a restaurant in downtown walnut creek in an absolutely beautiful garden patio setting. it was intimate and just very well coordinated. there was so much love and happiness in the air--the families get along very well and it was fun to see them so involved in everything. dinner, dancing, live band...it was all perfect.

cake waiting to be eaten

flowers

the getaway vehicle

reception lantern

the reception

bride and groom first dance

father and daughter walking off the dance floor

we headed back to san francisco around 9:30pm since we had to get up early--my brother-in-law and his friend nik ran the san francisco marathon today, and we were there at mile 21 to cheer them on. brandon also joined up with them and ran with them for the final 5 miles to provide some fresh legs for encouragement and help keep them moving in that final stretch. i'm so proud of josh and nik--quite an accomplishment! for the record, josh does not recommend hill-filled san francisco for your first marathon. it was so inspiring to see all the people running it--i was so extremely impressed! congrats to everyone who ran today!

waiting for bart to get to mile 21

14th & guerrero

josh, smiling at mile 21

winter? faaaaaaalse

coming home from work today all i could think about was getting bundled up in my fleece pants and a sweatshirt and curling up on the couch. on july 30. and no, i don't live in the southern hemisphere where july means winter. yes, i do realize i live in san francisco, and i do know the famous quote supposedly from mark twain (i say supposedly because of this). it doesn't stop me, however, from complaining. i thrive in heat, and this is a constant battle with brandon and i...brandon, who looks outside at this weather and says "it's a glorious day!" which i promptly return with either a snarky look or a comment like "yeah, if it were january." anyway, i just feel like i'm robbed of heat and sun and vitamin d, but i know it's not forever.

on a happier note, stuart was playing in the faucet again and...he prompts me to constantly call him a ding-dong and ask why he's such a goober all the time...i think you'll see what i mean in these pictures...he just cracks me up always looking so serious!

lazy sunday

well, this pretty much sums up my sunday...

this morning i was really sore and could barely get out of bed after yesterday's extravaganza. i got up and headed downtown to pick up a few things i needed/wanted, and then this afternoon i came home and...well....sat. and sat. then i vaccuumed a little and sat some more. i feel SO lazy.

85% reveal

well, here is the big "reveal" of the nursery. it's not completely done, but the majority of the work is finished. phew! my sister has finally seen it so now i can post the full pictures.

brandon assembling the crib for his future niece


the crib in place


the mural, to be finished after the window is replaced


"it is just as it is with the flower. if you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. all the stars are a-bloom with flowers."

sneak peak

so today was a very long and exhausting, yet fun-filled day. it was finally the day to begin getting the baby room together. jen and josh were in tahoe so we decided to take the opportunity to kind of put it together while they were out. they knew we were doing it, but it's still a bit of a surprise since they don't know exactly what it will look like. we assembled the crib, painted [most of] the mural (josh had painted the room already), put up a shelf, and started to organize the room. the mural was frustrating because it was REALLY hot today in concord, so the paint was thickening really quickly. it didn't end up quite as i had hoped, but it still looks good i think--i just need to do some touch-ups.

still to be done: finish & install the mobile, get the window replaced, touch up paint as a result of window replacement, touch up mural in general, hang curtain/valence, bring in rocking chair and adjust final furniture plan once rocker is in place. i'm only giving a sneak peak of the nursery because my sister hasn't seen it yet, and i don't want to reveal it to the masses before it's revealed to her. more pictures soon to follow...

waiting...

:::fingers crossed:::

for multiple things...