Hittin' the road

The time has come, we are saying good bye to the Bay Area and hittin' the road! Brian flew in last night so we can make the trip together. When he moved two months ago we did not have the gift of time, so we made the trip in two days. Thankfully we now have a whole week so we decided to make a scenic road trip out of it!

Today we'll drive down Highway 1 from the Bay Area to Morro Bay, just outside of San Luis Obisbo, and will camp on the coast. Monday we continue down the coast to Orange County to see my family. Tuesday we will leave the coast and head east to the desert to see the Hart family. Wednesday we're heading to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I've never seen the Grand Canyon so I'm really excited for that! Wednesday night we're staying in Flagstaff with Brian's brothers friend. Thursday we'll head northeast to Durango, with a few park stops along the way. Thursday night we'll stay with the Kruegers. Friday we'll drive the rest of the way to Denver aka our new home!

It has not hit me that in 2 hours I will be on the road leaving California. I have lots to write about my time here but ran out of time to write it all before getting on the road. So stay tuned, but as everyone who reads this already knows...I am so excited to move back to Colorado but will definitely miss my home away from home, California.

Yosemite Ave Mini Book

Two weeks ago we moved out of our beloved apartment on Yosemite Ave. Sure it had its quirks but it had so much charm and character too (and I'm not talking about us two). Most memorable is that it was our first apartment together after spending nearly three years living 90 miles apart. When I saw the posting on Craiglist for a cute apartment, within our price range on Yosemite, a place near and dear to our hearts, I was sold. Thankfully the landlord agreed and so we lived there from June 2010 until the beginning of this month.

Last year I took an online workshop to learn the art of making mini books (aka as the BIG mini workshop by Elise). The workshop was fun and inspiring! I learned these books are a great snapshot of memories, like a scrapbook, but mini. To me they feel easier, less pressure to fill an entire book of 12x12 page. Rather bundle up as many memories as you wish and bind them together. Sadly until now I have not put my learning to use. As the end of our time on Yosemite Ave grew closer, I started a collection of little things I wanted to remember within a mini book.

I knew creating an entire book (all the paper) was a little more than I could pull together while moving and job searching. So I looked at Elise's shop and realized she had a custom album option - perfect! After a few emails, a paypal transaction and one short week, this album arrived in my mailbox! It measures 4x6 inches with thick card stock front and back, filled with a variety of patterns, colors, sizes and textures of paper all held together with two binder rings. Icing on the cake cover is our house number.

Over the weekend I went through all my pictures and printed several at the local CVS. After several hours of this...

I finished this sweet not-so mini book jam packed with memories of our time on Yosemite Ave! I love it. As you can see I added more to the cover. I think the row of houses on this paper was made for this book.

I wasn't joking about packed, check out the side view! I had to buy larger binder rings to hold it all together. A majority of the thickness is from all our house warming cards I included in here!

To start the book, I decided to make categories so there was a flow. I sorted all of the pictures into piles. Apparently I'm stuck on tabs, because I decided this book needed them too!

 

And here's a look inside the first page! On the left, a photo of the actual numbers on the door. On the right, welcome home - the start of the book!

Throughout the book I included several little details. For example - here is our spare key, which I glued to the other side of the "welcome home" page seen above!

The first section is Home Sweet Home: a photo tour of the apartment from the front door through the house and into the backyard. Although not shown here, I added some creativity into the "tour" by cropping pictures in different sizes and shapes to capture the most important aspects. Below on the left is a photo from our engagement session standing on the front porch, on the right is a nice daily workout - the stairs into the apartment.

Next section is Neighborhood which included photos of the places we frequented the most. We were so fortunate to live off Piedmont Ave! I will miss that street so much (already do!). To the left is a totally Oakland shirt outside of my favorite shop - Nathan and Co. To the right is a collage of most of favorite spots (minus Catos Ale House, which has a full photo on the next page!).

 Party time! And the next section, Parties! I wanted to remember the parties we threw, starting with our housewarming. On the left is a velum envelope where I tucked photos from the housewarming party. On the right are the cards we received from friends and family when we moved in! Beyond the cards are more pictures from parties we hosted.

Visitors We were fortunate to have so many people come visit and stay with us! 

As a thank you to many visitors, I made Bay Area "welcome bags" as seen on the left. On the right is a photo from our visitors this time last year! Beyond that are single photos from all the other visitors.

Holidays Of course I included photos from holidays, aka my craft projects, all of which I've shared here on the blog.

We had some great photos and other random things from around Oakland that I wanted to include, so I made Oak-town, (San Fran is often referred to as "the city" and Oakland as "the town", hence Oak-town).

This might be my favorite little part. Memories: a mini envelope, with loop closer, which I made to include the memories not captured by photos. I already started a mental list, but plan to fill out this part when I'm with B next. I know I will cherish this whole book, but especially reading back the funny, everyday memories.

The last page is a photo of the moving truck and all our stuff! It was a sentimental day watching our lives be packed up and taken out. I am so excited for our next adventure, in Colorado, but will always remember our time in California and especially on Yosemite Ave!

I LOVED this project! I haven't made a scrapbook in years and this process reminded how much I love to compile memories in a creative form. I'm not sure what the theme will be, but I plan to make more in the future. Next time I think I'll try to start from scratch on my own. However, I wouldn't hesitate to order another book from Elise, because I loved the quality and randomness chosen by someone else!

This post is part of my September Creative Challenge. Follow along as Inspired Honey Bee and I do something creative Monday - Friday all this month!

Adventures in Joshua Tree

We're back from a long weekend in Joshua Tree National Park. We had a fabulous weekend and have close to 500 pictures to prove it. I've gone through them and picked my favorite to share with you! 

First things first, I'm so relieved to share that backpacking wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. This is due in part to the fact we took a lot of smaller hikes with only a day pack. Although heavy to carry, backpacking really forces you to bring less stuff. It's amazing how little you really need to have a comfortable and enjoyable experience camping. 


Here is a photo of us with our big packs. Clearly the smiles indicate we're having a good time but also that we haven't actually started walking yet (you can see the reflection of the car in B's glasses). 

Happy Campers

True to the name, the highlight of the park is the Joshua Trees! Although they all have the same basic characteristics, they are shaped a little different. Their uniqueness was hard not to talk about and photograph. Don't you think Dr Seuss must have gotten inspiration from them? 


Although the contrast of the trees to the sand and rocks was pretty, my favorites are the sunset and dusk photos with the silhouette of the trees. The first photo of this post is my favorite from the entire trip, and I'm proud to say I took it! Second favorite photo is the one just above (happy campers). Here are a few others of the trees:

Not only did we luck out with great weather - lots of sunshine and high 70's - we also were there just in time to witness all the spring flowers! At one point, as seen in the first photo, we were walking through an area covered in little white and yellow flowers. As you can imagine, I was loving it!

One of our camping traditions is to play cards. When the sun goes down, and in this case you can't have a campfire, it's the perfect easy to pack & fun to play activity. We forgot our own cards, so we bought a souvenir pack at the gift shop. Game of choice was Gin-Rummy. B won by a landslide on Friday and I came back to beat him on Saturday. The Lackore family are skilled card players, so I always feel extra proud when I win...even if my victory was not by a landslide. 

Much to my delight, the moon was bright and beautiful both nights. While it meant we didn't see quite as many stars, I was happy to be in the company of such a full moon! Pictured below is not only the moon, but the two places we camped. 


The first night we stayed just off the Geology Trail. Our hike from the car was 2-3 miles, which was far enough to be in the middle of no where. While there we only saw one other group way off in the distance. We did see a jack rabbit, lizards, crows and a swarm of bees. Once the sun went down, I'll admit, I was scared and wanted to play cards in the tent. 

The second night we camped a little closer, off the Boy Scout Trail, to civilization and some big rocks, which helped with the wind (which kept us up the first night). I definitely liked our second spot best! I enjoy being outside and camping, but being alone in the middle of the desert, although beautiful, was a little creepy. 

On one of our day hikes, at Skull Rock, we wandered into an area where people had made rock art. Lots of names spelled out in rocks and in this case - a heart!

All in all, great experience backpacking and enjoyable trip to Joshua Tree! If you haven't already been, I recommend adding it to your places to visit. 

Gone backpackin'

{via}

We are headed to the desert this weekend to do a little backpacking in Joshua Tree National Park. This is our first time to JT, my first time backpacking and B's last National Park to see in the great state of California (that last part sounds best when said like Arnold).

I am stoked to see the Yucca brevifolias, sleep under the stars and see an almost full moon! I am nervous about the actual carrying all possessions on your back part. Doing my best to be hardcore for the weekend; please wish me luck.

his + hers: new computers

I've needed a new laptop for about a year now. Last year around this time my back-light broke and motherboard was in danger. I paid to repair the back-light and have been living life on the edge of motherboard danger ever since. After I did my taxes I mentally ear-marked my return for a new laptop.

B got a new computer his last semester of college (2004). He's computer savvy, so that desktop has be through upgrade after upgrade over the years - more ram, new monitor, ergo keyboard; however when he turns it on it sounds like an airplane getting ready for take off. For months he's talked and researched getting a new tower. That's right, just the tower, as an upgrade to what he already has (insert eye roll from me). He also ear-marked his return for a new tower.

I'd been leaning towards a Mac. I looked online dozens of times, went into the store and talked with people who own Macs. What I decided is that Macs are cool, user friendly and freaking expensive. I also could not stop thinking about this article Ashlee shared with me. B suggested I do more research on computers other than Mac. I did a little research and found comparable PCs.

On Saturday we headed out to run some errands. B suggested we look at computers while we were out and about. Computer shopping was not on my to-do, but I agreed. While at Best Buy I talked to an extremely helpful salesman who sold me on an HP. Not only did it have all the features I needed, the price was more reasonable.

We headed to another store to do a little price comparison. Another extremely helpful salesman (commission anyone?) talked to us for at least 45 minutes. He and B were using words that made my eyes glaze over. He mentioned the laptop I was interested in was on sale at their competitors store, so they'd match the price. What's the price you ask? $550 - that's right steal-of-a-deal. I was sold!

Meanwhile B had been eyeing the towers, asking lots of questions, while I mentioned how nice and clear the fancy new monitors (that can come with a tower) looked! When I mentioned I was sold, he decided to also bite the bullet and purchase - brace yourselves - not just the tower, but a bundle (monitor, tower, keyboard, mouse) that was also price matched steal-of-a-deal and a splurge for B. I'm so proud of him for getting the bundle!

Two hours later we left the store with two brand new computers for roughly the price of one Mac ($1239 to be exact). Not at all what i was expecting to do with two hours on my Saturday, but I am happy to have a new computer and for such a deal! 

So with that loooooong winded explanation, I give you his + hers: new computers 

HP Pavilion Desktop 

Best features (in my opinion): 23' flat screen monitor 

faster and more memory than the old clunker 

HP Pavilion dm4

Best features: Webcam (so excited to video chat! yes, I know I sound like a teenager)

DVR capabilities (when connected to your cable, how cool is that?)

Small (14.5 inch) and light weight (4.5 lbs)

Yep, that's probably way more than you ever wanted to know about our new computers and our buying experience! Moral of the story - it truly pays to do research and ask if stores will do a price match. Maybe in 5 years I'll be ready to bite the bullet and go Mac. Until then I'll be rocking the HP! 

his + hers: rain jackets

Last year when we visited Portland, Jess took us to the Columbia employee store. We oohhhed and aaahhhed over several items. The discount was stellar and we do love our outdoor performance gear! The biggest purchase we both were  his + hers Mountain Hardware rain jackets; mine in purple*, B's in green. 

Grapes!

Until moving to the Bay Area I never own a real rain jacket (as in water proof); plenty of ski and pea coats, but no rain jackets. I've never been disappointed about making an outdoor performance gear purchase, and this was no exception. In the last year, and specifically the last few extremely rainy weeks, these jacket have been a staple of our wardrobes. 

We love our jackets, but we also joke that we look like a grapes! 
Cute grapes if I do say so myself :) 
 

 
* Funny side story: I could not for the life of me decide between a small and medium. I wasn't sure if you get a rain jacket that fits just right or a little big in-case you are wearing layers? I tried both on at least 10 times (not exaggerating). So happy I went with a small! Just because its rainy and you are suited up in waterproof gear, doesn't mean you can't attempt to still be cute.

One month later

Today marks one month since we got engaged!  
 

Sactown 3.12.2011

  The past month was filled with congratulatory messages, celebratory drinks and dinners, cards and fun treats. We are loved.

While we've gone back to our everyday routes, life feels a bit more exciting. Perhaps it's the sparkly ring I get to put on every morning or maybe its the thought that we're that much more committed. Whatever it is, I'm a fan.

 

As a daily reminder of our engagement, we used pebbles and rocks we collected at Tennessee Cove to update a vase/candle in our bathroom.

Before: Ikea vase, candle and sea glass we collected at Glass Beach last year. In order to adequately fill the vase, I bought some additional sea glass at Michael's (which B says, and i agree, is cheating) .

After: First I rinsed and dried the pebbles and rocks. I emptied the vase and weeded out the impostor sea glass. Then I put it back together by layering the pebbles, authentic sea glass and rocks surrounding the candle. I love how it turned out!

And now that I've waited a month the real fun begins....wedding planning! It hasn't completely hit me that it's our turn to plan a big day. As you can imagine, I'm pretty excited! I've already been marking pages in the new Martha Steward Weddings and consulting with friends. I promise to share details along the way of our stress free wedding planning process.

Please note B's addition to the Real Simple Weddings book

fianced

Now that we're 72 hours into our engagement (not that any ones counting...), it's starting to sink in and feel more real. This wasn't just a dream. We're still living our same lives, only now we're engaged (yay!). The first few days were spent (and still might be) smiling, gazing at my ring, re-telling the proposal details and soaking in the sweet congratulatory love we've received. 

One word that's entered our vocabulary, so far in a joking manner, is fiance. I've always thought it is such a weird word. As we were calling to share the news, we heard it a lot. One friend even joked that by the time you get used to saying "my fiance" you then transition to "my husband/wife" So, I guess it's time to work it into the vocab. 

On Valentine's Day my friend Layna, who's getting married this summer, shared: I wrote a card for Dave saying how lucky I am for him to be my fiance, but instead misspelled it and said finance...whoops! In addition to it being a weird word to begin with, it is commonly misspelled. While I couldn't help but laugh at Layna's mishaps, I'm sure I've done it a million times in reference to my engaged friends - awkward!

Last night I asked B what he wanted to do this weekend and his response was "I don't know, be fianced." While I knew that's not a real word, just enjoying the fact we're engaged and now fiances does sound like a nice weekend plan. 


In an effort to avoid future blunders, I decided to look up the spelling of fiance. Turns out I've probably been spelling it incorrectly and calling men, women and vise versa - doubly awkward! Here are the correct spelling and definitions for full clarification:

fiance: a man engaged to be married

fiancee: a woman engaged to be married


I also looked up engaged for the heck of it
engaged
 1. involved in an activity
2. pledged to be married
3. greatly interested
4. involved in an especially hostile encounter
5. being in gear 

So here's to being a fiancee to my fiance, or fianced...if you will. I hope our engagement is a good mix of 1, 2, 3 and 5 and none of 4!




{definitions via merriam-webster}

Engaged

Yesterday afternoon on a cliff overlooking Tennessee Cove, Brian asked me to marry him! Here's the story and a few photos. I still can't believe WE'RE ENGAGED! So excited and just trying to let it all soak in. 

A few weeks back Brian suggested we go for a hike the weekend before Valentine's day. Sounded like a great idea to me and I didn't think too much about it. As the weekend got closer he was talking about these hiking plans frequently. For those that don't know, Brian is not a huge planner so I was suspicious, but tried my very best to keep my expectations in check. As we left for our "hike" yesterday morning I was pretty sure it was just a thoughtful Valentine's hike and I'd made up the fact we might get engaged.

We arrived to Tennessee Cove just after noon and made the trek from the parking lot to the ocean. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of other people hiking and picnicing on the beach. The sun was shining when we left the parking lot and as we got to the cove it was pretty foggy. Brian suggested we hike up one of the hills to get a better view of the ocean and cove area.

When I say hike up one of the hills, I really mean walk straight up the side of the hill. I felt like a mountain goat. We were almost to the top when we passed a woman who said we were almost there and that the view was one of the best she's ever seen. She mentioned a small cliff area where you can look down and you're over the ocean. Once we got to the top this was the view... and it really was a great, fog and all.

We found the cliff area she was referring to and Brian asked me to take his picture.

 Then he took the camera and said "now let me take your picture." I not a huge fan of cliffs with no railings, but I stood for my picture. Then Brian says "come back here, the picture is missing something." He pulls out a ring box and the first words out of my mouth are "no way!" as in i could not really believe it was happening! Then he asked me if I'd marry him. Of course, I said YES! followed by quite a few oh-my-gosh, oh-my-gosh.

As we are standing there letting the engagement soak in, Brian pulls out a bottle of wine. He made sure to get a bottle from a winery we'd been to together. So sweet! Here is a pic of the ring, the wine, the fog and the ocean. OH and speaking of the ring, I abosultely love it!

As we were enjoying a glass of wine, Brian told me that while we were hiking up the side of the hill he was thinking this is why I'm marrying her...she will climb up the side of a hill without complaining (most of the time). He also told me how he'd asked both of my parents and how sneaky he was at buying the ring. I told him about how I thought maybe this hike was "the hike" and then didn't think that because he was so calm. I also told him how perfect this day was. I couldn't imagine us celebrating such a big moment any other way.

As we were chatting, the fog burned off and it was now a spectacular day! Here's a pic of the cove minus the fog. We got so lucky with the weather, because as I write this the rain is back in the bay area.

We're engaged!!

Even the moon came out to congratulate us!

We spent over two hours on the hillside, chatting, taking pictures and enjoying the view. I'd left my cellphone in the car and was so happy not to have it (for probably the first time ever). It was so wonderful to have the news and excitement just between us. 

When we got back to the beach, we collected some rocks and sand and had a stranger take our picture. She was asking which way we wanted to face, and we made she got the proposal spot in the picture. After she took the picture I said "we just got engaged up there!" It just flew out of my mouth and I realized the first person we told was a total stranger.

When we got back to the car we both called family and friends. That's when it really started to sink in....we're engaged! On our way home we stopped at In and Out burger for an ultra classy and romantic engagement dinner.

As I joked with Brian yesterday....and now the planning begins! It might be a surprise to those that know me (the planner) best, but I'm actually kidding. I want to wait to start planning for a liiiiiittttllleeee bit so we can enjoy this time. 

We have already been showered with so many sweet comments, calls and messages. Thank you so much. I truly feel like the luckeist girl in the world!

I am thankful for Brian.

i am thankful for Brian. his sense of humor, love of the outdoors, sense of adventure, work ethic, knowledge of football, insurance and electronics (especially thankful for the last two) and doesn't take himself too seriously... just a few of the things i love most.

i am thankful for all the great new music he brings to my life. i always thought i had good taste in music. what i didn't realize was that it was all pretty similar (lots of one man bands). i'm thankful for the variety now in heavy rotation on my ipod.

i am thankful for his frugality financial knowledge and understanding. we balance each other out. i'm learning to save more, he's learning to spend just a little more. 

i am thankful for homemade lattes courtesy of barista Brian, especially in a Denver mug!

Today we're hittin' the road in route to Southern California for Thanksgiving. We'll be spending turkey day with my mom's family in the OC!

you make my heart go BOOM

In our house, the word BOOM is used fairly often. It originates from the game John Madden Football for Super Nintendo, circa 1990. "BOOM, heck of a play" is the actual quote. B and his brother P shortened it to just BOOM. Most days it makes me laugh, other days I ask to take a break from using the word BOOM, but for the most part I've embraced it.

The other day I stumbled upon Vol.25 a blog/Etsy shop with adorable art posters. According to the artist "they're made to give at least one person the warm fuzzies." Imagine my delight when I saw this one:

{via}

Too perfect not to get for the guy in my life that not only makes my heart go BOOM, but uses the word on a regular basis. Plus the turtles remind me of one of my favorite commercials, the Slowskys.  

It immediately went into my cart and I continued to browse. I could have easily purchased tons of other prints, however only went with the BOOM poster...for now. It arrived just in time to put on B's desk for when he returned home last night. In the envelope were some free postcards too, including a mini version of this, lucky me!

Creative Challenge: Day Five

Today I am pulling from my "portfolio" since we are enjoying the great outdoors!

When we moved in together one of the first projects we tackled was art for the walls. It truly was a creative collaboration from start to finish. Brian took the photos, narrowed down his favorites. I picked my favorites of the favorites, printed, choose frames, and framed. Together we placed them on the walls! 

Panoramic photo of Lake Tahoe (from Heavenly Ski Area), surrounded by trail maps from Lake Tahoe ski resorts

A collage of beach/coastal photos, hung in our bathroom 

Panoramic of the Golden Gate Bridge, hung in our living room

I love that we have our own images on the walls to enjoy on a daily basis. 

Couch Jumping

Watch out Tom, there's a new couch jumper in town!

Yep, that's Brian leaping onto the floor model of our new couch. 

We finally made our couch purchase last night (one month and 10+ stores later)! 

It will look just like the one above. Color is coffee. Delivery is Saturday. Can't wait!