rennes

Probably my favorite place we visited was the Sutro Baths!  Really nice views, nice old foundations, and a good visitor center that explained the history.  I picked up a good book there that talks about all the lost architecture of San Francisco.



The Palace of Fine Arts, we walked through here twice because once is clearly not enough!  I can't believe it's the only thing left from the P-CE, but can't complain, at least there's something!



Don't think I've ever seen a pineapple grow so this was exciting to me, maybe just to me though.
Jennifer, Arnaud, and her new baby Cléas met us one day and give us a walking tour around their neighborhood in the castro. (I'm so sad I didn't take any pictures!) Jennifer gave me copy of her Round Robin Books (you may remember this video from a little bit ago!) You can get a copy of the books here.

Muir Woods - it smelled so good here!  We got there early in the morning, so it was nice to be able to feel the temperature change from being really cool in the forest to warmer late morning.



We stayed at a tiny cottage tucked behind another house.  I really love the color, aqua is one of my favorite colors to have on furniture or a building.






I met Shara the day before we left! We had a snack at a cafe and walked around the mission. I visited her studio and got one of her Marina shirts, twins!








So, clearly it's easy to want to move here after returning to Boston.  Luckily the crocuses started to bloom over the weekend, so hopefully spring isn't too far away!

And, we're back! Gone for almost two weeks and it felt amazing. The weather difference hit me hard as we landed: we were welcomed by snow and sleet. Personally I preferred the 60s, so time will only tell if I'm really a New Englander at heart. The warm weather got me excited for spring - so excited that that while in CA, it seemed appropriate to purchase a coral/pimento colored hoodie and white jeans - and a few uniqlo linen shirts that were on sale for good measure. I keep hoping I'll reach a point where I have the perfect 5 shirts, 4 pants, and 3 shoes and 1 bag - but then the next season comes around and you see something else you love and well we all know how that goes.  Speaking of which,  Myth and Symbol has some really great new pieces in - some good Steven Alan tops and dresses and a few Building Block Bags. I love the green on that first shirt.

I haven't started to go through the pictures we took during the trip - hopefully I'll get to that over the weekend. In the meantime I'm going to be catching up on all the orders that were placed while I was away. Funny how things always get busy while you're gone!

We're leaving to go to San Francisco next week - looks like it's going to be in the 60s and I'm gleefully happy about that. While I'm not in any position to purchase anything at the moment, but if I was, the following things are enticing:

- a fuzzy sweater
- um, a classic mini would be amazing (this above everything would be the most desired, as a side note)
- carven sunglasses
- clearly I'm modest but what can I say, this is my favorite wallet
- light colored denim shorts
- I'm coming to terms with the fact that I have a soft spot for the LV Sofia Coppola PM & GM bags.  I never though the day would come where I admitted this, but it's very true.
- some burgundy flats

Last week we read in the paper about a greenhouse in Walthman, MA - about a fifteen-twenty minute drive from Boston. It's part of a larger property called the Lyman Estate, which we had never heard of. It's free to walk around (both the outside and the greenhouse - though you can make a small donation if you'd like). It was the perfect escape from the drab grey winter. There were lots of flowers and interesting plants, and of course an added plus was that it was warm!
Back in Philly, one of the books I picked up was about conservatories. This one wasn't included, but it showed lots of them all over the US. I think it would be a fun goal, over time, to make a trip to each one of them. Conservatory road trip! Anyone?
One of my favorite details was the little bits of moss and grass growing in between the sides of the stairs. I can imagine little Kodama sitting on it. Plus, it's so fuzzy looking! They seem to have a few plant sales through out the year, so if you live near by I'd check it out. Jesse left with two little air plants, which he claims he won't kill because he only has to mist them.

 My friend has been riding horses at a stable in New Hampshire for the past seven years and she always asks me to go riding with her. Of course when I finally decided to do it, I seemed to pick a day where it would be ten degrees out: whoops. Despite freezing my behind off, I did manage to get on one of the horses, the brown one above. When I got off of him at the end I slipped on the ice and fell underneath him, but he didn't seem to mind and just stood there calmly like this was a normal and he was used to it.

 Riding was followed by clam chowder and biscuits, the only way I know how to combat the weather. Speaking of cold, I don't know how much more I can take of this. Vacation anyone? I can't seem to stop dreaming about some villa on Santorini or something like that.  Preferably with a veranda looking out on the sea.

My desire to read books is based on the place I found them - I suppose that's kind of odd. Some book stores are better than others and often I feel a bit lost and overwhelmed in most of them, and as a result I find it hard to pick the "right book" (unlike Jesse who seems to be in a blissful state in any one). Last weekend we stumbled across a great book store in Philadelphia - I think it was called The Next Page, part of the friends of the Philadelphia Free Library. Almost every book I picked up off the shelf looked interesting! I love it when that happens. I had to restrain from only purchasing the above ones, though I wanted about ten more. Perhaps I might have been more tempted, save for the wintry mix pummeling down outside.

 When we got back on Monday I picked up A Year in Provence. I hadn't heard of it, but the description told me that it was about an English couple who drops everything and buys a stone farmhouse in Provence. So it sold me pretty quickly given that's kind of my dream right now. I didn't know what to expect but it's hilarious (think Douglas Adams meets Provence).  So funny that I decided we needed to read it out loud to each other; making me way too excited to come home to read every night.

2013! Hope you all had a great year and look forward to the new one. While we were visiting with some friends, something we said was misheard: that our new years resolution was to "party and travel more." Ha! Though perhaps not what we said, I think it works perfectly. Happy new year!

I didn't think it was possible to experience culture shock in your own country; I feel stupid for being so narrow minded. Despite the fact that I have traveled a lot within the US, clearly I haven't been everywhere. Last Thursday we made a rather impulsive decision to join Jesse's old Philly friends camping, caving, and hiking in West Virginia. We stayed at a campground in Seneca Rocks - it was a 13 hour drive from Boston. Even for a holiday weekend, I'm not sure what we were thinking. But I'm really glad we went.





I was in WV once before, so it was neat to go back. There was no phone reception: a great change of pace to make you realize what's important. We hiked up the mountain across from our campground - and it was hard!! I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my life. My lungs still hurt the following day. But it felt like I was finally doing something. I chickened out on climbing all the way up to the cliff edge on top (well, the park sign did say to stop, and reminded us that 15 people have died there since the 70s!) - but maybe next time.

After the hike we swam in a swimming hole beneath the mountain. There was a tiny general store and a small restaurant we ate at that night. The last night there were a few people on the camp ground tripping on who knows what - one tried to open our tent - flashlight in one hand and light-saber in the other, I'm not joking, it was creepy as hell. We were in the middle of nowhere in the best way possible. We planned on joining everyone the following day to go caving, but I had to turn back because one hour of windy dirt roads made me car sick. Next time I hope to rise above that and be more steadfast. The thing about being around outdoorsy types is it makes you inspired. It was weird to drive back into the city today - the whole trip made my life feel so much tinier and made me realize there's so much out there to do.

I first heard about the Camino de Santiago last winter when (surprise surprise) we were watching a Rick Steves video on Spain. The Camino is a pilgrimage trail that goes across Spain and ends in Santiago de Compostela. There are many different routes for the trail - the most well known starts in the French Pyrenees in the town of St. Jean Pied de Port (but, from what I understand, many people start further away as well). The trail takes about one month to complete and is a little short of 800 km in length. For some reason, the idea of doing something like this has become very appealing to me over the past few months. While the trail originally started as a religious route, these days people walk it for many different reasons. I think something like this would be amazing, challenging, and quite unlike anything I've ever done!

We had a fun time in Montreal. The weather was perfect. Our favorite part was renting bixi bikes around town and riding throughout different parts of the city. My legs were so stiff after all the hills, I think we went for miles! But it felt really good. The B & B we stayed at had the cutest little back porch area. I wish I had bought some of the hanging flowers that seem to be everywhere in the markets, but knew that customs might not be happy with me bringing back five or six huge hanging plants, so I thought I'd just wait until we got back. I did however bring back some cheese, jam, and mustard, so I'm quite happy. I hope you had a nice holiday weekend too!