Farm Fresh to You

/

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for a CSA finally, something I've wanted to do for a number of years now. I joined Farm Fresh to You on the recommendation of a friend. I signed up for every other week and today we received our second box. It is a thrill to open it, read the note from the farmer and see what wonderful fruits and veggies were picked this week on the farm.


This week, there was a purple pepper! I'm in awe. I've never seen one before. There was also kiwi, persimmons, apples galore, leafy greens and more. I do not miss examining every single sign in the produce section of my markets trying to determine which items are local. Nope, not one little bit. I can enjoy everything in my box guilt-free! 

There was an amazing sunrise over the farm, my farmer wrote it about it the newsletter included in my box -- wonderful reds and oranges filled the sky. It's chilly in the mornings now, he has to wear a light jacket when he goes out to check on the crops. I love hearing about life on the farm where my food is grown.

Lego Creationary

/

We had a wonderful rainy day yesterday. We read and played games like Monopoly. Monopoly is so competitive though and it's a bit brutal when you go bankrupt. So when I ran a couple of errands, I decided to pick up Lego Creationary. It is like Pictionary with Legos instead of drawing.

a "robot" that I built during the game

There are four playing modes, three are competitive and one is cooperative (a team races against the clock to get the most guesses). We ended up not keeping track of our score at all, it was just really fun to build and guess each other's creations. It is really challenging. I think it's a great family game! (This is not an ad, just a happy mama who had a nice time with her family).

A Birth Announcement

/

Name: Bunny Wunny
Born: October 17, 2010 at 12:46 a.m. 
Location: Pajaro Dunes, CA

Bunny Wunny is busy in second grade this week helping the Noodle with a special project so I can't report on her height and weight. Will update when she returns home from school. 

She took just about five hours of labor and she is truly and simply a bundle of joy. :)




Pajaro Dunes

/

I have been away for the past few days with the family at our annual beach weekend. It was lovely. It was cold and rainy. It was unplugged. To be honest, I am not really ready to face the world tomorrow.

Do you remember Bun Bun? She finally gave birth to her baby (remotely) this weekend. I'll do a full reveal when I free up enough space to download my DSLR photos. For now, there's a sneak peek of her sweet baby in this little iPhone collage.


Bunny Wunny didn't want to leave the coast either. The ocean air and sounds are so soothing, especially for newborns. ;) I can't get back to House 60 fast enough.

Autumn Colours Week Highlights

/

The thing that came up? It's called a part-time job. It happened fast my friends. As in apply on last Thursday, interview on Friday and start on Monday! I'm in overwhelm mode, but eventually? I think it will be all good.

Let's get to the pretty!



It was hard, so hard, to choose a few to highlight! See the rest of my favorite autumn images here.

Photo credits, top to bottom, left to right:


3. cob, 4. yellow



5. Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad., 6. red,

7. Lady in Red, 8. Pinecones on Red,

9. [autumn light], 10. family of five

Sunflower

/
I'm co-teaching my first cooking class to 1st/2nd graders in the morning and Saturday afternoon is the annual family reunion hosted by Jeff's mom. I'm looking forward to making a triple batch of chili and catching up with my sister-in-law after all the guests are gone and the kids are sound asleep on Saturday night. Truth be told, it's my favorite part of the annual gathering besides my mother-in-law's stuffed celery and drinking Chardonnay with my other mother-in-law. :)


I snapped this on my iPhone last week. I am going to work on a mammoth Sweet Links post for next week because I've been flying by some amazing content lately but need to make space to breathe and absorb it all.

Here's a mini version for the weekend: I made these for dinner last night, I bought this Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for the family reunion and I got this used book at this rad bookstore in Santa Cruz last weekend. And, this is a photo I fell head over heels in love with a couple of weeks ago and have had on my desktop ever since!

Lovely Clusters Fall Catalog

/

Good morning! I wanted to share my excitement at being on the cover of the Lovely Clusters Fall Catalog!


I am also on the purple page in the top row. The entire catalog is beautiful and I don't know about you, but I'm going to pour my morning cup of coffee and get lost on the grey page. Grey is going to be my number one color for fall. 

PARK(ing) Day

/

I woke up this morning and saw this tweet and it started my day off just right. Today is PARK(ing) Day all around the world. PARK(ing) Day started in 2005 when a single metered parking space in San Francisco was "leased" to explore the range of activities for urban public space, besides the movement and storage of vehicles.

© 2009, Green City Munich via PARK(ing) Day 

I found this video on the PARK(ing) Day blog and the part where the guy tells the story about the little boy made me tear up.



PARK(ing) Day: User-Generated Urbanism from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

I just love this kind of stuff! Look at all the Flickr Groups on this! Next year, I'm in on this for sure. Have you seen this in action anywhere?

Goodbye 30s

/

Today is my very last day in my 30s. I had a very nice day and relaxed a lot. Which is good seeing how my left arm has been immobile since the middle of the night on Wednesday. I'm pretty tired from the resulting lack of sleep and waking up at 5 a.m. every day for four days.

But it doesn't matter. I am actually pretty happy and content. My in-laws pampered me all day and sent my 30s out in style with a slow stroll through a local shopping plaza, a pumpkin spice latte, pretty sparkly new lipstick, leftover lasagna and a last-minute Swedish Visiting Cake.


I've been told that the 40s have a certain elegance and grace to them. I'm looking forward to experiencing that. I'm also looking forward to really knowing that i am enough. I have an intuition that in this decade, I will really get the concept. 

My 30s were wild people. Wild! I was bald from chemo and married to another man when I said goodbye to my 20s! When I take even 10 minutes to reflect back, I realize that it has been QUITE a decade people. All told I have beaten cancer four times, gotten divorced, remarried, became a mother, a blogger, a photographer, had premature menopause and now maybe real menopause. I have moved eight times in 10 years. That's a lot of cardboard baby. Maybe in my 40s I will only move three times? I can dream!

I have cried a lot, stressed a lot, worried a lot, learned a lot and yes, laughed quite a lot too. See?


I have been a bit fearful of forty since I turned 39. I will totally admit it. I really only started embracing the idea on Friday night, 48 hours ago truth be told. But you know what? I looked in the mirror to take this photo and I smiled at myself. I am proud of each birthday I get. I really am. 

Whatever 40 is or isn't going to be, I am truly grateful to be here to see it for myself!

Picnik Tutorial

/

Good morning friends! I have my Picnik tutorial ready for you today, it is not perfect but hopefully I got the message across and with some charming music too.




Here is the link to my Picnik Tutorial if you want to see it directly on Vimeo instead. I did make an assumption that you are familiar with Picnik so I didn't zoom in on exactly where I was clicking. If you have any questions, please ask and definitely, pretty please let me know what you think!

Goodbye Summer

/

It's official in my mind, Labor Day Weekend means the end of summer. Although the weather in California will betray this belief of mine, it matters not. And even though summer is not my #1 season, I will be sending it out in style with a last-minute camping trip.


Do you think of Labor Day Weekend as the last hurrah of summer? Are you going to squeeze the life out of it like that adorable little girl?

Baci,
Jess

P.S. If you are going camping too, check out this site I found full of easy, hopefully delicious recipes. I'm going for the breakfast in a bag. Wish me luck. :)