Weekend Getaway: Santa Cruz

I had a wonderful time in Santa Cruz with some friends this past weekend. Though the weather was not as balmy as expected, a bunch of the crew enjoyed surfing (bottom images; those aren't seals!!) and I got some great cafe/reading time in, as well as a nice walk on the beach. I also got a chance to try some new iPhone apps; in the image above I used Photo Frame Maker to create the collage and Phonto to add the text. Pretty fun! The finale to the weekend was a concert by the Shins, one of my all time fave bands. It was great to finally see them live!

The Golden Hour

Over labor day weekend I was in Minnesota for TWO weddings.  It was a whirlwind weekend of festivities, and after all the organized fun was over, I met up with a few of the friends (including one of the newly married couples) for some quieter time on the gorgeous Mirror Lake, behind the house of the groom.

This was one of my most favorite chunks of time ever. What more do you need than some good friends, a few little boats, and the glow of the late afternoon sun?

29 years

I was so fortunate to grow up with three great friends, from the very beginning of my life. We were all born within a month of one another...I spent a lonely first month of life before they followed, and since our parents knew each other we were friends from the start! After high school we have scattered around the country, but try to catch up when we can. A few weeks ago we spent a long weekend together in Steamboat Springs, CO, enjoying good food, local art, tubing down the Yampa river, and even the grand tasting at the Steamboat wine festival!

H & H celebrated their birthday yesterday, and A will tomorrow, so I thought a happy birthday post right in the middle would be appropriate.  Thanks, you three, for 29 years of friendship!

Tahoe Time

This past weekend I got to meet up with some of my lovely lady friends from Minnesota who were in Tahoe on a summer getaway. We had an amazing beach day at Sand Harbor Beach, and I'm so in love with these instagram photos Miss Mandi took.  Aren't they great?  Tahoe in summer is just as great as Tahoe in winter...and good friends are great in all seasons. :)

New Place

So, in case you haven't noticed from my emotional posts lately, I'm moving! Its time to look forward to new experiences rather than long for what once was.  In that mindset today, I looked the new place up on the ever-impressive Google Maps. So, this is where I'll be from July 1 and onward! Pretty nice place. Come visit me and we can sit on the porch with mint juleps, or some other summery drink. ;)

You Gotta Start Somewhere!

Last week I took my first ever web design class; HTML Fundamentals. I already knew a bit of html, but not some of the foundational stuff about starting a website and actually putting it online.  After the 2 day class, here is my site!  Now, keep in mind that this was a fundamentals class, and that without CSS or anything else you can't really do anything too pretty (i.e., I'm not in love with how this looks, of course, but happy I built it all with code!).

And here is it in code form!

Class Work Exhibit!

Some fun news: one of my class projects was chosen to be in an exhibit at the UC Berkeley Art and Design Center in San Francisco! This poster and box design will be hanging in the halls of the building until July 11. The box is "Boarder's Best lip balm"-- I wanted to make a small box and this was the smallest snow-related box that came to mind. :)

As you may remember from my "Weekend Away" post about a trip to Tahoe this spring, the inspiration for both of these projects came from ski trips.  In fact, I did a good bit of the design work on my laptop in the car...which goes to show that a a little play can help your work!

A Panoramic Day

This weekend we got snowed out of a camping trip we had planned, so instead went on an awesome hike on Mt. Tamalpais; we hiked a few miles down first, ending at Stinson beach, then climbed back up the mountain. It was great! I got to try out the cool panoramic feature on my camera; we had such sweeping views throughout the hike.We also worked up a huge appetite, which was promptly satisfied at Pearl's Phat Burgers, which I highly recommend! Don't you just love a long weekend?

 

Click on the photos for a larger view.

The Signs of Austin

I recently spent a fabulous weekend with my siblings in Austin. Austin is an artsy town, and we were loving all the cool signage, especially around the South Congress area.  I snapped a lot of photos, so when I am stuck on an idea for my next design project, I will have plenty of visual inspiration!

Life moves so...

Doesn't it??? Until you are forced to slow down, that is-- I'm sitting at the airport waiting for a delayed flight, and noticing that I finally feel I can take a breath and just SIT for a minute. I'm so excited to be slowing down for the next few days, in fact; I'm taking a long weekend with my siblings in Austin! Look for a trip-photo post soon!

Fresh Air is Good For the Soul

  

The weather was amazing this past weekend, and I discovered a great bunch of trails in the hills, beginning just a few blocks from my house! It was so wonderful to hike alone and appreciate the scenery and the sun on my back. As you can see in this self-timer photo, the trees are in full bloom. I know the focus isn't right, but I kind of like it this way, with the blades of grass in sharp focus and the blue and yellows softened in the back. This is my mid-week reminder to get outside for a few minutes if you can!

Sip, Sip: Barrel Tasting

This weekend some friends and I drove north to the Wine Road Barrel Tasting event. You pay one fee and then can tour all around the area visiting wineries, sampling wine, tasting delicious food pairings, listening to live music, & enjoying the scenery. 

 

Everything seems artful in wine country, even spills.  

 

A few of us enjoying some Zinfandel.

They serve the new wines straight from the barrel, and warn you that the bottled version will taste slightly different because it will age a bit more.You can buy "futures"--once the wine is bottled it will be sent to you.

I'm loving the color of wine-stained barrels. Degin inspiration everywhere!

I'm thankful for good friends and good times. :)

Weekend Away

This year for our long President's Day weekend, a group of friends and I rented a cabin in Tahoe! We played games, enjoyed the feet and feet of snow (seriously, it was over our heads in the backyard!), skied, tubed, ate, laughed, and slept. I also had an assignment to accomplish: a poster using patterns I create to advertise a store of my choice.  Can you guess where the inspiration came from?? :)

Nutcracker X 4

Have I told you yet that I'm an usher for the San Francisco Ballet and Opera?  Its a pretty good gig: you get to see any show you work! One (down)side of ushering, though, comes with the required 4 performances one must work during Nutcracker.With some 32 performances, I understand that they'd run out of help pretty fast! This weekend was my Nutcracker marathon...

I was pretty grumbly about spending 9+ hours each day as an usher, but it actually turned out to be a pretty fun experience.  Here's why:
1. Amazing Dancing & Awesome Sets: expected, and confirmed.
2. Variety: In addition to seeing different dancers perform the key roles, I was in a different spot for each performance.  Balcony (tip of the top, need binoculars), dress circle (below balcony), standing room on Orchestra level, and 2nd row on the side. It was great to see things from different places.
3. Perks: when I worked in the box seats, we got free cider, champagne, and cookies after a private VIP event.
4. Magic: I had the chance to figure out how most of Drosselmeyer's magic works.  Except the moment with the Nutracker pops out from a box...that one is still getting me (seriously, it sounds obvious but if you saw the show you'll know what I mean).
5. Nostalgia: I loved the Nutcracker when growing up. It was so fun to see all the little girls in their holiday dresses with huge bows on their heads, prancing around the halls before and after the show!

Van Scoy Kids Retreat

For the last few years my siblings and I have made a point to get together for some quality time, usually near where one of us lives. This year we met up on the Oregon coast!  We stayed in a lovely house near the beach, played cards, explored, and caught up on life.  So much fun. Now I'm in the airport getting geared up for homework...so sad the weekend of fun is over!  

Self-timer on the beach!

What views!!
I didn't take too many more photos, because much of the rest of the time was spent cooking in our wonderful house, playing phase ten, calling Grandma, and other fun things.  We DID visit the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory, but we'll have to wait for sister to share her photos before I can show you that wonder!

Rejoice! Free Music & The Weekend is Here (almost)

You know I love discovering new music, especially when it's free music!  So when my friend Lisa forwarded me this free download of the Outside Lands Sampler I was overjoyed!  I've never coughed up the money to go to this festival, but they always have such an amazing line-up, and an amazing poster too. While I'm sad I'm not going this year, I'm very excited to enjoy a getaway in Oregon with my siblings!  No matter what you're plans are this weekend, check out these tunes so you can jam out while you're doing it!

Friends, Birthdays, Adventures

Its been two weeks since my birthday but I haven't gotten around to posting because I wanted to finish up Guatemala posts.  However, I had a great birthday week and want to thank everyone who helped make it so special!  On the actual day I was very busy with work and class, but two of my housemates surprised me at work with flowers and whisked me away to a lovely lunch at Intermezzo (Also mystery named Cafe Mattina sometimes...Pretty much the best salads in the world). Then on the weekend we met up at Le Bateau Ivre for a drink, and then had a bunch of friends over for mojitos and guacamole in the backyard. It was blissful!

So lovely in the afternoon sun.

Yummy ice cream cake! I share a birthday with Anders (housemate), so we got two cakes!

To top it all off, some of us went kayaking in Half Moon Bay.  

Guatemala: Man-Made Beauty

For my last Guatemala post, I had to complement all the natural photos of my last post with some of the other wonders I saw on my trip. 

The ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal-- phenomenal!

Here we are in the ruins of a cathedral back in Antigua.  

In the small village of San Marco (right on Lake Atitlan), there was this wonderful wall made of soda bottles, filled with trash.  This was part of an effort the town made to reduce litter.  I love the concept!  I also saw a sauna made of wine bottles cemented together in a beautiful pattern.  The idea of reusing things to make even our houses is very interesting to me. 

This one isn't so beautiful.  And it represents both natural and man-made I guess!  Its one of many roads that were wrecked by the torrential rains that came along with Hurricane Agatha.  This little disaster made a 2 hour drive to the lake 4 hours: here we were just ten minutes from San Marcos, but since we couldn't pass we had to turn around and go ALL THE WAY around the lake to get there, adding another 2 hours to the trip!  

But, it was worth it!  San Marco was beautiful.  This is the view from the honeymoon suite of a place where we ate brunch. 

The whole hotel was decorated with ornate mosaics that a French artists had done.  This is the bathroom in that same suite.  One thing you should know about me is that I love love love mosaic.  This was my dream spot.

Guatemala: Natural Beauty

One thing I loved about Guatemala was all of the natural beauty.

The foliage was a little like Berkeley, but even more lush and tropical!

You might have noticed from my brussel sprouts post that I love seeing plants as they grow, especially those I've never seen before.  These pineapples were awesome.

Huge bunches of bananas, and look at that bud!

Hanging out with our host and some of her friends by the famous Lake Atitlan.  Though the view was a little foggy that day, a lake surrounded by volcanoes can't be beat. 

Well, this one might not be beautiful in the traditional sense, but it was AMAZING.  We went to a cave at dusk and saw thousands and thousands of bats exiting for the night. Pretty incredible.

Have you ever seen a transparent butterfly?

This is Semuc Champey, a limestone "bridge" of gorgeous green pools that is actually over a huge river. We climbed up for the view, then went down to lounge in the water.  So great.