So. Many. Corgis!

There were hundreds of corgis at Ocean Beach today. Squeeee! 💛 #corgicon
via Instagram http://ift.tt/2eFmqSY

11.20 Sneaky Friends

Monica sent me a surprise package today...
Last week we were chatting about these beautiful scarves. We talk constantly about coveting miscellaneous odds and ends so I never in a million years expected a package from her. I literally cried when I opened the box and saw 2 gorgeous scarves from her. Super generous and thoughtful! She picked great colors didn't she?? Even though I totally look awful. I was just so excited when I got them that I had to do a fast no-makeup selfie to send to her.

Baby, You're a Firework

Igniting the light and letting it shine.

Marching On

Saying goodbye to the 3rd month of 2014...how quickly it flew by! Here are a few snapshots of my March...
Gandhi Statue at the Ferry Building.

Taxi and bike turning onto Market Street.

My brother-in-law works here.

Sunset on March 15th. Too cold for me to dip my toes in. Jimmy's braver than me.

Same day as above, only about an hour before. The fog lifted just in time for sunset.

A different day, the setting sun glowing on Alcatraz.

That apartment building fire was the opposite side of the ballpark from us but we could see the black smoke from our living room window. We drove by the devastation one Saturday afternoon.

Today, the last day of the month. Cold, windy, stormy. Raining sideways, umbrellas barely made a difference.

Paula Cole was in Berkeley on the 27th and we saw her at an awesome venue called Freight and Salvage. We had front row seats. No photos allowed during the performance, but I got one of her afterwards signing cd's.

Practicing barre chords. They are hard but I love them for some reason. I think because they are challenging. Although every part of learning the guitar is challenging. And rewarding. And that half gold dinosaur makes me laugh. Who would buy that??

Yes guitar is taking up most of my creative energy right now. But I still managed to do a decent bit of paper crafting too.



Our drive to the hideaway was gorgeous last weekend. A beautiful sunny spring day where our normally golden brown hills were fresh green.



California poppies.

A new friend...shy at first...

but as curious about us as we were about her.

Then just a day and a half later, we had just a little bit of snow on the ground.


"The March wind roars
Like a lion in the sky,
And makes us shiver
As he passes by.
When winds are soft,
And the days are warm and clear,
Just like a gentle lamb,
Then spring is here."
- Author Unknown

Spring

So obviously I didn't keep up with posting more frequently in March. You may or may not know this (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before though) I tend to get very focused on something and everything else falls to the wayside. This time it's the guitar that's been occupying my every waking thought. Which is great, I love doing anything creative. But It's so hard. I think I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself though. I'm wondering why everything still sounds so cruddy, it's frustrating sometimes...but then I have to remember I've only taken 8 lessons. Oh, and watched hours and hours of youtube video lessons.

But I've definitely had time for other miscellaneous fun things. In fact today I went to my favorite art exhibit of the year...Bouquets to Art. I went with one of my crafting friends who hadn't gone before. I'm not sure what she expected, but I think she really enjoyed it. How could anyone not? It is super crowded though, which is always a challenge, but thankfully I carry quite a decent bit of patience in my back pocket. It's challenging waiting till no one is in your image.

Safety First. Danger Next.

Camp Retz is over and everyone is back in their respective homes. Tired but happy.

Every year, our days on the lake consist of boating, tubing and rock jumping. As the boys get older, bolder, stronger and braver, they're doing more heart palpating adventures.

But, as the saying goes, Safety First!
...Then danger.
Life vests for everyone! Then you can go as fast as you can.

Fishing is pretty safe. For the humans at least. Maybe not so much for the fish.

Tubing is fun, fast and safe because if when you crash, you just crash into water.

Next on the list is rock jumping. A little more dangerous than the previous activities, but dad's always there to make sure they clear any hidden rocks.

Ending the day and the week with the most dangerous jump. My stomach jumped to my throat. But I had confidence that the dads had scoped the spot and made sure it was deep enough. But these boys fearlessly jumped at least 25 feet into the lake off that rock. That's almost as tall as a 3 story building!

So our running joke this week was Safety First. Danger Last.
I think we accomplished that.
Thankfully with nothing but a few bruises and scrapes that we'd all acquired though the course of the week.
(say a little prayer for us for next year)

Color burst

Emergence

The Exploratorium reopened at it's new location on Pier 15 yesterday.

The Exploratorium is a twenty-first-century learning laboratory, an eye-opening, always-changing, playful place to explore and tinker. For more than forty years, we’ve built creative, thought-provoking exhibits, tools, programs, and experiences that ignite curiosity, encourage exploration, and lead to profound learning. Dive in and discover what we’re all about.

For the 1st 2 nights, they had a free light show in front of the building called "Emergence". Jimmy and I walked out to watch it tonight. So glad we caught it since tonight is that last night. They really should try to do this more. It was so awesome!

This is just a minute of video, shot across the street. The entire light show was about 15 minutes (maybe more. maybe less.) and looped.

On the Table Monday

After spending some time at that Scrapbook Expo on Thursday, I've been on a bit of a creative streak. Here are a couple of things I've made in the past day or so.
I drew my inspiration from this card that I had pinned onto Pinterest 40 weeks ago. I still like their card better, I think the solid colors work better for a chevron pattern, but I'm satisfied with my version. I'll just have to make another card with solid colored paper.

I'm going to try to include a photo with the tools I used to create the card, kinda like how I try to include a photo of the ingredients (à la pioneer woman) whenever I share a recipe.
Aside from the paper, I used 3 different sized scallop punches to make the flower. The diamond punch for the cheverons - I punched 40 of them and glued them on individually. The swirls and birds embossing folder, embossed in my Cuttlebug (see below), a black ink pad and stamps from CTMH.

This whimsical little bunny card is inspired by Karen Burniston's pop'n cut dies from Sizzix.

When the card is opened up, it has a pop-up image in the center. I just added a little sentiment, but any image could be glued onto it.

I needed my Cuttlebug to use the pop'n cut die (it's below the ink pad) and the base tray to use the die. I also used 2 oval dies (1 regular, 1 scalloped) for the front image, and the bracket square die for a layered piece on the pop up. Most of the stamps were from Penny Black colored with alcohol ink markers. The sentiment is from CTMH.

Covering a lot of ground

I've been all over the Bay Area today. It was wonderfully a busy day.

Doris and I spent the 1st part of the day in Pleasanton at the Scrapbook Expo. Imagine a huge building at the fairgrounds filled with scrapbooking supplies. A crafters heaven but a budget nightmare. Actually I didn't overdo it, surprise surprise. We met up with our friend Marah Johnson. She's an amazingly vivacious and edgy artist with the most positive and outgoing spirit.

After dropping Doris off, I came home for less than an hour to change and freshen up before heading to Berkeley.
My SIL and I went to a modern dance performance by the Trisha Brown Company. It was one of the oddest yet most amazing dance performances I've seen. My SIL is trained in dance so she was certainly more impressed with their abilities. I was awestruck and wished I could understand technically the magnitude of the skills they had. It was at Zellerbach Hall on Cal Berkeley's campus.

Downtown Berkeley is just a short BART ride from San Francisco but this was the 1st time I've been there since we moved to SF. I've probably been downtown less than a dozen times in the 20 years we've lived here, which really is a shame. It's an oddball of a city, but so very full of character and life. Now that I know how easy it is to get there from BART, I might have to go more often.

3.14 - no pie for me

Today is π day which has given everyone free reign to eat pie. Not that anyone needs an excuse to eat pie. Jimmy and I both prefer pie, but I doubt I'd ever turn down a slice of cake either. But today, neither of us ate pie. {sadface}. Do you prefer pie or cake?

misc. photos from my day.

The Rings, The Kiss, The Brother

The Rings.

The Kiss.

I was lucky to have 2nd row seats to watch the beautiful ceremony. But aside from the major moments, like The Rings and The Kiss, I tried to keep my camera by my side and enjoy watching without clicking.

Ashley's brother watches his big sister walk down the isle. You may recall that he got married last June. It'll be nice for them to celebrate their anniversaries so close together.

3.9.13 - A Union

She was stunningly beautiful.
He was fantastically handsome.
Together they were the happiest couple on the planet.

3.8 Mission Bay and Old Town

We had 1 full day to relax before the wedding. We kept it pretty low key and stayed close to the motorhome we're renting for the weekend.

After picking up my SIL from the airport, we had a late lunch at Old Town San Diego. Everything is styled like the California Missions and Mexican restaurants are the dining establishments of choice so of course that's where we went and we weren't disappointed.

When the sun finally peeked out of the ominous clouds, we knew all was well with the world. We're camping at Mission Bay and took a quick stroll to enjoy the fresh air and gorgeous views.

We've always said that San Diego is the only city in Southern California that we'd move back to. We're not planning on ever moving but San Diego still holds a spot in our hearts.

collage of the day

This happened tonight:

But it was cold and raining so I stayed home and watched it online. It'll be here for 2 years and we've been seeing previews for a month, so we've got plenty of time to enjoy it when the weather is better. It's super cool.