Just Call Me Tour Guide

My good friend Jennifer flew out from the east coast on Wednesday to pay me a visit and to see the sights of the Bay Area since she has never visited Northern California before.

We drove into San Francisco on Thursday afternoon and headed straight to the Haight/Ashbury district. We did lots of shopping (I can't believe I bought a purple purse but I just HAD to have it!) and ate at Cha Cha Cha. Plantains, new potatoes and sangrias galore! I love that place.

Next up: the Fairmont Hotel! I can't believe the deal I found through Travelocity. When we arrived the lovely gentleman checking us in gave us a free upgrade up to the 17th floor with a corner room with full views of the City. This was our view:







Needless to say that when the bellman left after dropping off our bags Jennifer and I jumped up and down like kids in a candy store.

We walked down to Union Square and shopped some more and took the cable car back up to the hotel. The next morning we took did the obligatory tour of Alcatraz Island since Jennifer is a big history buff. I hadn't been in over 10 years so it was like seeing it for the first time all over again.
Here's the view of the City from the boat trip over to Alcatraz:







Next up was Pier 39. I couldn't pull Jennifer away from the sea lions for the life of me. She wanted to take one home. I have to admit that they were pretty entertaining to watch while they fight over their territory and push the smaller sea lions back into the water.





Our last stop was Ghiradelli Square for more sightseeing. There was the cutest little tea shop there and we actually managed not to eat at the ice cream shop. We did indulge in a free sample of chocolate however!

On Jennifer's last day we drove to Stinson Beach so she could see the views from the Pacific Coast Highway. Here are some shots from the Stinson Lookout:











We let Darren blow off some steam from the long drive and hung out at the beach for a bit. Is this a happy kid or what?



Again, we were blessed with a beautiful clear day. Our last stop was Muir Woods.







Did I mention how I love the smell of redwood trees and fresh air? It's such a happy place for me. The highlight of our walk had to have been seeing a mother deer and her 2 fawn resting in the woods not 7 feet from where we were standing.



I was sad to see my friend leave yesterday but man, am I beat! I haven't walked so much since spending 3 days in Disneyland!

Until we see each other again, my friend!



Side note #1 - Darren's last day of first grade was on Thursday. Here's a photo of him and his teacher:



Side note #2 - Sorry I haven't posted my fabric album with Donna Downey. It's not finished yet and that's a WHOLE other story! ;)

Off to scrap with Donna Downey tomorrow!

Tomorrow Ginger and I are headed down to Scrapbook Island in San Jose to take an eight hour class (I know!) with the one and only Donna Downey. It's called "Fabric Scrapbooking" and we get her entire Prima line of fabric embellishments and the
8x8 fabric book. We'll be completing all 20 pages using paint, watercolors and gesso. I can't wait to get my hands dirty in this class! I'll be sure to post pictures on Sunday. Check out Donna Downey's blog and website. Both are inspiring!

Have a great weekend!

Coastal Camping = Brrrrr!

Camping trip #3 for 2009 took place over the Memorial Day weekend. Fitting enough, we camped at Memorial Park just off of Pescadero Beach.

I admit, I have a soft spot for this campground. I've camped here since I was a child. And being surrounded by redwood trees, fresh coastal air and the smell of a campfire makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. It was just me, Ginger and our boys. We piled everything into Bruce's truck, left the camping kitchen behind and headed west on Friday afternoon.

Let's just say that the average temperature over the weekend was about 51 degrees. Um, yeah. It was COLD. Aside from the box of wood we brought with us, we spent a total of $32 on wood to keep our fire burning through most of the late afternoon and at night. It was worth every dollar!

We went on hikes, climbed trees, played in what I call the "treehouse" and ate lots of not-so-healthy things like 4 loaves of garlic artichoke bread fresh from the oven from our favorite store in Pescadero (I mean, people line up for this stuff and it's gone as soon as it hits the shelf) hot links, camping spaghetti, beer and s'mores. But come on, isn't that half of the fun of camping?

I'd have to say the funniest thing that happened on our trip was when Ginger had taken a trip to the bathroom only to come running out of it with her pants still around her ankles because a woman in the stall next to her yelled out that there was a snake on the toilet rim. Now if you know Ginger, she is about as afraid of snakes as I am of spiders. Ah, what a good laugh that was! (Sorry Ginger!)


the campsite




the treehouse


the ongoing campfire


my parents drove out on Saturday for the day. look what they
brought for dessert:


fresh strawberries and whipped cream. yum!


playing on the logs next to our campsite


the "constant snacker"


why do our boys love to suck on limes? at least it kept them
quiet for a while!


the boys roasting their hot dogs


busted! now we know why we had limes!

Happy Places

I created this mosaic to get my creative juices flowing on a "Happy Place" layout I've been wanting to do. What/where are your happy places?

Can Mother's Day be Everyday???

I have to say that I had a fabulous Mother's Day. The hubby cooked me breakfast in the morning which conveniently threw my morning run out the window. I had the cutest card from my little guy where he wrote down all of the things that I do that make him happy. :) The hubby bought me the orchid I had my eye on at the Farmer's Market on Saturday and it is now beautifying our otherwise mundane master bathroom.

My parents picked Darren and I up at 9:30am (poor hubby had to work, as usual!) and we headed over to the family favorite Memorial Park in Pescadero. We met up with the rest of the family at our picnic site.

Despite the horrific traffic due to a motorcycle accident (ouch!) we all had the BEST time. We couldn't have ordered better weather. The kids played on a huge downed redwood that was hollow in the inside and we even got in a bit of baseball. We had mom's infamous deviled eggs, a fresh fruit salad, wine and cheese and my dad and brother barbequed steaks for the adults and hot dogs for the kids.

We went on a 2-mile hike through the campgrounds which got me all excited about my impending camping trip there over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. (I can't wait!) Something about the smell of the redwoods, the fresh ocean air and the peace and tranquility of nature just makes me a happy camper. No pun intended. ;)



Darren and cousin Jason - 2 peas in a pod



with kissy cousin Gabrielle...



love this picture. the kids with auntie jan.



3 monkeys: hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.



my beautiful niece!



the girls!



me and my favorite boy in the world.

Hope your Mother's Day was just as wonderful.

Bad, bad blogger!

So chalk me up as another blogger these days to have not posted in a while. It's not that I don't have anything to blog about but the weeks have just gotten away from me.

My little guy had his end of year first grade performance last week. His class sang 3 songs and it was so stinkin' cute! We finally invested in a new camcorder so I was happy to finally get Darren on video since it's been at least 3 years since our last camcorder was operable!



Although I have to admit I didn't even scrap on National Scrapbook Day last Saturday, I did manage to go with Ginger to the ZNE Convenzione in Pleasanton that day. The convention is a sort of craft faire of mixed media artists and sellers that include vintage items and lots of ephemera and fun paperie. Check out this adorable crepe paper star we made at Ann-Denise Anderson's make-and-take table. She is an artist (otherwise known as the Queen of Crepe!) involved with Whim & Fancy Designs. Her work is fun, inspirational and downright amazing! I just so happened to check out her blog and saw our picture there! Here it is (hope she doesn't mind me swiping it!)



Last but not least, I managed to finish a mini-book (finally!) on my first-ever 5K run that Ginger and I did in Golden Gate park last Thanksgiving. (I know! Doing this book has been on my to-do list!) Looking back at that experience has reinvigorated my desire to run a 10K this spring or summer. Guess I'd better start running again on a regular basis!