see.blooms

it is yucky here. the weather that is! think mist, cold, fog. Ever heard of that old quote by Mark Twain? "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Well, I googled it and Mark Twain didn't actually say this but it certainly is so true! So to brighten my day I just stepped outside into my backyard to admire my landlord's hobby... Dahlias! I have always been a fan of roses, that was until I realized the versatility and beauty of Dahlias. Some of them are little balls of bright color, some (when in bloom) are like fireworks frozen in mid air after the "BOOM", and some are inspired by Winnie the Pooh! Here are just a few of my favorites...

Purple Ball

Here is the Pooh Flower! So cute!


Just love these flowers~


BOOM!

My Backyard, usually the dogs have full reign of the yard until Miles pees on the Dahlias. Then he gets in big trouble... meaning he has to be supervised by yours truly. It isn't easy trying to explain the importance and beauty of plants to a schnauzer! He just doesn't understand!

see.happy.happels

So Mike is on his way to Nicaragua (for 1 week) but before he left we knew it would be so much fun to drive up to see his sister Amanda and her kids Ms. Lola and Henry. We had a great time! When we drove up to their house we heard a certain someone screaming "Uncle Mike, Uncle MIKE!!!" so cute!

Playing blocks- future architect?

serious concentration!

Uncle Mike and Baby Henry!


Sweet Baby face!
We had a great time and always have fun with nieces and nephews! I am even more anxious to see Jeremy, Val, Charlotte and New Baby in October!!

see.birthday

Saturday: After waking up late, arriving at my eye appointment late, getting contacts for the first time, and getting lost, we FINALLY made it up to our friend Kris' Birthday Party at Redwood Park in Oakland. It is named Redwood Park for a reason... Beautiful Redwoods everywhere, and as we were getting lost we managed to find some amazing views of the Bay. One of the sweeter things about getting lost around here :0)
Anyway... here are some pics from the Party- And because none of us have children (yet...) we are all dog lovers so Miles had a great day with some of his friends both old and new!


Happy Birthday!!!!

Notice Kris is flipping our lonely veggie burgers- ha!

Olive- Melanie and Kris' sweet doggie! This picture is pre-fox tail... Poor Olive was having so much fun when she snorted a fox tail (dried fish hook type plant seed) up her nose and after the party she had to go to the emergency vet to get it removed! Poor baby! Thankfully the removal was a success and she is back to normal.

Ahhh... PBR- you 2 are such hipsters!

Nothing like cake and beer! Kris got a chocolate cake with "OLD"
spelled out in broken candles...

Melanie leading the pack in playing bocce ball... She kicked all of our
butts!

see.summer.nights

A San Francisco Summer Night consists of misty fog, temps in the 50's (low 50's) and very windy. So what do you do? Well we hang out... outside. I live about 9 blocks from the beach so Mike got some firewood (location of where we obtained the firewood can not be disclosed... hee he), I made up some dinner and we went down to the beach. I really love cooking dinner around a fire- the food just tastes better. So for the side, I cut up some red potatoes doused them with olive oil and some salt, and wrapped them up in foil. For the main course, I got a few fillets of thinly cut tilapia and wrapped them up with some farmer's market veggies- a little EVOO and we were off!
Here are some pics of prep, campfire, and unfortunately i don't have pictures of dinner because... well it is in our tummy's. Even Miles had a little campfire fish. Yum!


Yummy oyster mushrooms! My favorite with fish!

A thank you from Miles!

see.activism

Well it is finally here- the AIDS Walk. Sunday Mike, Miles, and I got out our spirited walking shoes... and walked 6 miles in the AIDS Walk. The morning started early, 9 AM- yea i know! Bagels- check, shoes- check, dog- check... set!
I registered about 2 months ago to raise funds in honor of my Uncle Steven who passed away in 2007. Uncle Steven suffered from AIDS for over 20 years. I have to say he would have been really truly proud to know that we walked in this event- and as my dad said "Steven would have taken a cab" this is probably true :)

I read online a day after and it said that over 25,000 people walked in this event! With over 3.5 million dollars raised!



These were huge memorial quilts for those who have lost their lives in the fight against AIDS.


A little road side entertainment... thank you san francisco!

This was mile 4 but we really did walk 6 miles... we (except Miles) were pretty pooped after all this walking! What a fun meaningful day!

see.market

On Saturday we packed up and headed to Oakland. OK we really didnt pack up but we traveled over the big bay bridge to our neighbor city Oakland, to one of my favorite places in Oakland- Lake Merritt. Every Saturday they have a farmers market full of organic fresh food, plus all kinds of homemade treasures. I think Mike fell in love with this place too- its hard not to.

Edible flowers... the lady selling them said they are like a smile in a bag- haa haa who can argue with that?


Some of the foods are organic some are not but they are all really fresh... one of the best things about California is that so many foods grow almost year around here. Truly magical!

We sat down to eat some lunch and enjoy the sun when this little bee came over to say hello!

see.science

Tonight we went to the California Academy of Sciences. Every Thursday night they have an event called 'Nightlife' where it is age 21 and up (you can buy beer and mixed drinks) and only $10 per person. Very cool! A few of the many awesome things they have there include... the building itself (LEED Platinum), the 5 story rain forest (when you get to the top of the rain forest the elevator takes you all the way down to the ground floor which is in the aquarium), the aquarium, and finally the Planetarium. We got to see most everything and had a great time... here are a few pics from the night.

Yea for Science!!

see.wilderness

Sometimes you just need a break from the city. This 4th of July, Mike and I along with our pals Jayse and Sarah ventured out to the wilderness for a fun filled weekend of camping. After some very budget conscious purchases from craigslist: (1) tent $20 , (1) camp stove $20 (1) camping coffee maker $5; getting last minute camping supplies on craigslist= priceless. The camping coffee maker was Mike's personal purchase of which he is still using to make coffee with even when we got back from camping! We mapped out our trip (Wednesday night) and headed out. We left for Fairfield Thursday night to stay with Mike's Sister, this was to get a head start on Friday morning.

This is a map from my house to the campsite- We stayed along the Yuba River up in the Tahoe National Forest A.K.A. 'Gold mining country'. There are some serious "country" people up in this area but it also has a ton of Gold mining history from the beginning of the California Gold Rush.

A = our campsite and the snaking lines next to the road is the river.

The camp rangers had a dog- a miniature schnauzer to be exact... can you tell who is who?


The most amazing thing about the Yuba River is that you can stop and swim pretty much anywhere. So we stopped at this beautiful spot for the day. This part of the river was ours for the day. I think we maybe saw 3 people. Not including the gold miners down the river. The water was cold but after roasting in the sun we had to get in and it was so so refreshing!! We also found this nice shaded spot to eat lunch where Miles and I curled up for a nap.




After a great day of swimming we got in the car and drove about 5 mins. down the river to a little more popular swimming area. They had a rope swing and huge rock to jump off of into the deep water. *I should note that I forgot my camera so these are all from Sarah's camera.


Ready! 1... 2.... 3....!!!!!!!!!

Sarah's turn!


Now Jayse!

Back in the car!
Jayse driving us back to camp for some dinner and good times by the campfire.

Dinner over the campfire- We had fajitas and s'mores the first night followed by shrimp kabobs
and campfire roasted apples the second :)

What an amazing weekend!