Laundry & letterwriting

I always try to think of clever ways to fill the time that I have to sit at the laundromat. Today, I wrote letters! A few lucky people will see the fruits of my labors....

birthday fun

my mom came to san francisco for her birthday, and before a long cross-country adventure!

on her birthday, we went to muir woods for a little hike. we got to drive over the golden gate bridge, which i had not done since we moved here! it was quite foggy in the city, but as we crossed into marin the sun shown brightly - perfect for a birthday on the solstice! we drove for about 20 minutes before turning onto a very winding road. immediately we both thought of being in an alfred hitchcock movie - a couple of gals, driving in an old car on a twisting road to who knows what....

we traveled on and came to the park. after almost not staying due to lack of parking, we lucked out on a spot and got to do our walk! it was very beautiful...

excited birthday faces

it was lovely! then we headed back to the city, just as the clouds began to cover up the forest. 

we met jim downtown and walked to north beach for some delicious italian dinner and wine. 

then to city lights for a little browsing...and some talented buskers playing rocky raccoon 

much fun. i love you mama! thanks for being born!

etsy update

over the past month or so, the fledgling etsy store has progressed by leaps and bounds! i have learned a lot more about photography and editing for etsy specifically which has made the shop look so much better! there's still more changes to come (big ones, i hope, but that's under wraps for now at least) but i am content with how it's running at the moment.

here's a sneak peak at some upcoming items and some of my favorites that are already in the shop:

owl watching & wine drinking

sometimes magical things happen, like taking a stroll through golden gate park and discovering a place where you can watch owls at dusk. we were just trying to watch the sunset a couple weeks ago while Brian was in town, and climbed to the top of strawberry hill but couldn't get a very good view of the sunset. as we walked around back down the hill, a flight caught my eye - as they often do. immediately i know that this bird was different. i saw where it landed, and realized it was an owl! 

that night was clear and a little windy, and we saw about 8 owls. and three skunks, but that's beside the point. 

brian captured this cool picture of the owl's eyes

so naturally, i want to share this experience! when my mom was in town for her birthday last week, i invited her, rose, and echo to join jim and i on this little walk. we stepped out into the cool and damp night air - it was a foggy one - with a water bottle full of wine and anticipation. 

my mom sitting atop a giant stump 

 rose & echo looking mystic in the fog

just as we got to the top of strawberry hill, an owl flew right over us. that was the closest interaction we had this time, which i believe is due to the weather. we did see a few more owls, and they were being quite talkative, but no where near as exciting as the first time. 

 

it's hard to tell what's happening in these pictures, but the top one there is a little bump on the right side of the V of the tree - that's an owl! 

and only a moment later, he took off! that's him in the V again, you can kind of make out the wings...

 crazy dark photo of lauri, rose, echo & jim

all in all it was a fun night, and i plan on making owl watching and wine drinking a monthly tradition this summer.