there’s a lot of “life” that happens when we’re not working on the house. i’ve been meaning to post these photos for months…
back in may i helped mark (our friend and downstairs tenant) redesign his cafe website. this involved a photo shoot where we got to eat and/or take home everything that was shot. definitely one of my better projects!
(left) some of the beautiful, delicious food. (right) it was a late night and mathew was probably a little bored.
to see the finished photos and website. click -> epicenter cafe.
fun fact: i also helped choose the color palette for the cafe when it opened in 2008.
an animated collection of mathew’s “selfies.” these were taken when misha was visiting in may. i could have made the image larger but i didn’t want to scare you.
i’m no food photographer but sometimes i take photos of stuff i make. (left) poached eggs on english muffins. (right) vegan ginger cookies!
ice cream is a regular, if not daily occurrence in mathew’s life. look how happy he is making an ice cream sandwich with luna and larry’s coconut bliss and my vegan chocolate chip cookies.
in june i went to seattle to visit my “other family.” i also visited the new chihuly garden glass exhibit.
a dramatic show. beneath the space needle.
while in seattle i caught up with my old friend erik. we had a very touristy day which included the pike place market, china town, souvenir shopping, ice cream cones and a ride on the new ferris wheel at the pier.
here i am with two of my “little sisters” elissa and wylie up at crystal mountain, where they spend every winter skiing.
the same day i flew back from seattle, leonora and dan arrived from boston. (left) dan, leo and their friend andy, starving, waiting for burritos. (right) lovely handmade gifts from leo and dan.
while leo and dan were still visiting, mathew, the cats and i took off for tahoe with my parents. the 4th of july is CRAZY on our street so it’s always good to get the cats away from loud, booming, unpredictable explosions. but they HATE the drive.
i bought them “thundershirts” to help calm them down. supposedly the constant pressure is soothing to animals (and humans), sort of like a mini straight jacket. it helped but they still hated the drive. (above right) bella crying, arwen cowering on the floor. 🙁
ah, the rock cabin. like a giant cat tree. here they are relaxing on the spiral staircase.
mathew and arwen outside.
leaving day, the thundershirts are back on. and for anyone who thinks my cats are fat. the thundershirts prove it’s all FUR! 🙂
home after the long drive. snacks for humans and cats.
in july we met up with our friends midori and andy and their son adrian. all three of them celebrate july birthdays. we had an ethiopian feast in oakland.
what are those?? ninja cookies! (and some brownies.)
in august mathew and his sensei khim celebrated passing their belt tests. khim is now a 5th degree black belt and mathew is 3rd degree. they had a party. i made ninja cookies. 🙂
morning glories in the back yard. and the most amazing fuji apples from our little tree. mark called them “rock star apples.”
an evening at terrapin crossroads in san rafael with mathew, mark and mike, visiting from austria. good food, live music and grateful dead memorabilia on the walls.
and what is THIS?
in august we went ziplining in the sonoma redwoods with our friends bob and irene. that’s mathew above.
that’s me! the location was beautiful and the ziplining was really fun.
in october misha and aja visited. here we are having an impromptu picnic in the backyard.
misha and aja were visiting because aja had a work event in san francisco and mathew and i got to go too! here are the brothers in a photo booth at the autodesk gallery, where the event took place. i love this photo. 🙂
a feature of the photo booth was being able to add filters and characters.
here we all are. but aja and i got distorted a bit being so close to the camera. that’s not how we really look!
and it wouldn’t be a “life” blog post without extra cat cuteness! they look like they’re taking a nap but in reality bella (on the right) was sleeping and arwen decided to join her. i’m not sure if arwen just wants to be with her sister or wants to steal the cat bed. a few minutes after this photo was taken, bella had left the bed to arwen who seemed quite happy to curl up in it alone.
bella enjoying my new knitting bag that i got at aja’s sustainability book launch party.
i just realized i still have lots more “life” photos to share but this post has gotten way too long. look for “life” part 2 coming soon! xoxo