Author: janeen

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

arwen and bella have been busy in 2013, making new friends, having fun and getting into trouble…

here they are with their new friend ‘flat stanley.’ flat stanley came to visit from southern california. he stayed for a few days and i showed him around our neighborhood, then he went home with a photo-essay to teach 1st graders about the mission district in san francisco.

“WHAT IS THIS?!?!”

ice. 🙂

bella climbed her first TREE!! before she attempted anything, she stood beneath the tree for about 30 minutes studying and strategizing. it all went well, but could have been better if it weren’t a lemon tree. the cats aren’t crazy about lemons…

a lazy afternoon with bella and mathew.

(above left) bella also climbed onto the roof for the first time. she jumped onto the kitchen, climbed to the very top of our roof, looked around, skidded down and decided she’d had enough.

(above right) at the very center of that photo (it’s hard to see) mathew is attaching chicken wire to keep arwen from climbing into the neighbors’ yard. she’s been very active in defending her territory and chasing other cats out of our yard. she’s lucky she’s never gotten a scratch on that pretty face of hers, because she has no idea what she is doing, but her size and total lack of fear has been effective. it’s just annoying to have to go through the neighbors’ house and into their yard to retrieve her!

but now she’s trying to start something with ‘foxy lady’ who lives with the other neighbors and never comes into our yard. i think arwen is just bored and looking for drama.

bella LOVES her fort/cave!

(above left) arwen snuggling with me in the morning. (she tends to be a bit camera-shy.)

(above right) bella sitting among the orchids (they have NEW blossoms!!) watching the morning bird show.

in search of new thrills, arwen decided to climb onto our roof, and then the neighbors’ roof, and then the roof of the next house! she was gone for quite some time and mathew was worried we’d lose her forever. see that lump in the middle of the photo? that’s arwen finally reappearing and coming home.

bella and arwen also made some new human friends from sweden! mathew’s aunt, uncle and cousin, bridget, mats and marja-sara. we took them on a guided architectural tour of san francisco and showed them the ferry building and the embarcadero.

and a few days later mathew’s aunt and uncle, stella and chris flew in from england. we went for a nice walk, showed chris where we got married (he wasn’t able to attend) and had lunch at greens, the site of our wedding reception.

we went to santa cruz to meet up with everyone including bridget’s daughter irya who flew in later.

(above right) international siblings: daniel, stella and bridget.

we celebrated irya’s birthday twice because when you’re from sweden and visiting the states, with the time difference it’s hard to know exactly when to celebrate… or maybe we just wanted 2 cakes! (above left) this is cake #2 which appeared after breakfast.

and somehow, when we weren’t entertaining or hosting we had time for thomas and sarah’s FANCY art deco themed wedding! (above left) photo booth photo. (above right) mathew and his buddy bob dancing during dinner. technically, the first dance, but who’s counting. the band was AWESOME and upon request, they played mathew’s fave, ‘bourbon street parade.’

a spectacular view of the city with stella and chris.

and a quick visit to the beach.

and jumping! or flying? 🙂

a windmill, daffodils, poppies and tulips at the queen wilhelmina tulip garden in golden gate park.

and then, ANOTHER wedding!? with my parents at darren and jenny’s super hip and modern wedding.

my younger brother justin was a groomsman for his childhood buddy darren.

the bridesmaids at the end of the table, admiring the wedding cake. i honestly never looked at the cake because all the cookies, mini cupcakes and cake pops were much too distracting!! (and delicious!)

and we had fun with yet another wedding photo booth. with and without props!

i hope everyone is having as much fun this spring as we are.

maybe next month we’ll finally catch up on sleep and do some work on the house…

last month mathew and i went to new orleans! mathew was competing in a national karate tournament and i tagged along because i’d never been there before and i’d heard there was good music and good food. 🙂

(left) here we are a little nervous before the tournament. (right) i was “volunteered” to help with the competition even though i knew nothing about score keeping! it turned out fine, i learned a lot, i think i even had fun!

mathew competing in kata.

we bought a new camera before our trip. i decided to get a canon since everyone seems to love them but i was extremely disappointed as almost every single photo was blurry! at first i thought it was “user error” but the camera turns out to have been defective. it’s at the manufacturer getting repaired or replaced. honestly, after all that, i’d rather get a completely different camera model and/or brand. oh well, maybe we’ll resell it.

this photo, of mathew competing in kumite, was taken by someone else’s big fancy canon.

that night there was a “banquet.” here is mathew with some of his friends/teammates: hans, john and christina. they look pretty tough, don’t they? christina has consistently been one of the top competitors in the nation for several years.

a blurry group photo of mathew’s team. notice every single person is wearing at least one medal? they are an impressive bunch.

(right) how did we celebrate? over 20 of us went for a walk in the french quarter that night. more than half of the group were kids and we didn’t lose anyone! (right) of course we ended up at cafe du monde for beignets. here mathew is standing on a table (ack) giving a karate demo. just kidding.

after the tournament most people flew home. mathew and i moved to a hotel in the french quarter to spend a few days exploring the area. here is our fancy jr. suite. i think it looks much fancier in the photos, but it was a nice, quiet room in a convenient location.

cafe du monde? again!? this time without 20 other people.

and just as the weather dropped to unusually cold temps, we went on a swamp tour.

…we only saw a few alligators. (they hibernate when it gets cold.)

…but it was a beautiful and scenic tour. here’s a stereotypical swamp photo, complete with spanish moss.

a very cool new orleans boy band: the drunkin’ catfish ramblers.

the band was playing across the street from the most photographed building in the french quarter.

the next day we walked to the garden district, had an amazing brunch at Surrey’s and looked at some beautiful, big, old houses.

that night we waited in a really long line at Preservation Hall.

this tiny concert was one of the highlights of our trip. the first song they played was “bourbon street parade,” one of mathew’s favorites.

it’s always nice to come home to our furry children. here’s bella playing in her paper cave.

i hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving. i can’t believe it’s almost december!

september and october have been busy months!

last month we had a family “stay-cation” and got to play tourists in san francisco. here are my brothers at Alcatraz, justin on the left, jason on the right. that photo is blurry because my camera was dying. (no worries, i’ve since gotten a new one.)

it was a beautiful, clear day but a bit windy and cold. mole left, turtle right.

(left) my mom hiding from the wind! (right) at pier 39 after visiting the Aquarium of the Bay.

(left) look what we found! turtle and mole! (right) and a street vendor selling all kinds of evil deliciousness: pretzels, churros, corndogs and soda. there was also cotton candy.

on day two we visited the California Academy of Sciences. i think everyone’s favorite part was the rainforest. i didn’t get an good photos of them, but the butterflies in the rainforest made me very happy!

(above) my brothers and parents touching starfish and sea urchins. i even got to touch a sea cucumber!

downstairs at the academy of sciences, the aquarium is so huge, that we didn’t even see all of it because we were starving and had to stop for lunch!

(left) there were baby ostriches outside! (right) and stuffed? giraffes inside. i love giraffes. 🙂

a cool photo of my family climbing stairs to see the rooftop.

day three we had a little detour. with all my “amazing” planning, i planned for us to visit MOMA on a day it was closed! so we went to the apple store, then got onto a cable car headed for fisherman’s wharf.

we spent quite a lot of time in the Musée Mécanique, an antique penny arcade. (left) me and jason and a fun-house mirror. (right) mathew finally got to see a “whac-a-mole” game i’d told him about from my childhood.

my brothers playing games.

(left) mathew and i listened to some ragtime from a player piano. (right) i posed for a publicity shot in front of a submarine. 😉

justin found “grow a girlfriend”! 🙂

we rode the cable car back after dinner in fisherman’s wharf. and because it was so crowded justin and i volunteered to stand, hanging on to the outside of the cable car. that was FUN.

(left) jason’s cats also came for the stay-cation. here is my dad holding smokey. (right) jason and my dad walking through the palace of fine arts.

day four: we had a lot of brainy fun at the exploratorium! because my camera was acting up again, i only took photos with the chairs…

and we all agreed to extend our stay-cation by one more day so we could visit MOMA. (left) me and justin in front of a mark rothko. (right) my dad given a surprise blue bottle cappucino in front of the giant metal spider in the rooftop cafe/garden at MOMA.

thank you to my parents for a fun and low-key family stay-cation. i hope everyone had a good time!

and we saved $$$ by purchasing CityPass tickets to all the attractions. i highly recommend this option if you have out of town guests or just want to explore city attractions. it also includes a week of free muni and cable car rides.

on october 2nd arwen and bella turned TWO. they didn’t get a birthday party, but i made them a playhouse to celebrate.

they like going inside, chewing on the roof and knocking the whole thing over. they did fight over it in the beginning but they’re sharing it now. i’ve since added an escape route at the top so no one gets trapped inside.

october 20th was our wedding anniversary. we had brunch at Greens and reminisced about our wedding reception there TEN years ago.

and of course we had to walk up to the fort mason park and visit the spot where we said our vows.

it was a beautiful sunny day to be out.

and today, october 24th, is my mom’s birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! i love you. xoxo

this post has absolutely nothing to do with the house. it is a shameless plug to try to win a design contest i was invited to enter. the contest is being held by psprint.com, a printer i often use for work. voting started yesterday so i’m a bit behind in my campaign for votes…

i’ve entered my “patchwork christmas tree” (below) in the card design category and my “christmas is over” (even further below) in the humor card category. visitors to the site are allowed one vote per day, per category until september 19th. i don’t expect you to log in and vote every single day till then, but if you really wanted to, i’m sure that would increase my chances of winning! 🙂

to vote, just click on the photo above or click here for “patchwork christmas tree.”

and to place a second vote, click the photo above or click here for “christmas is over.”

prizes include amazon gift cards ($100-1000) and free printing of the winning cards. mathew thinks i have a good chance of winning, but he’s always been a little biased. but if i do win, there’s a good chance you’ll receive a card this christmas! 😉 so go crazy and vote for them every day till september 19th! THANKS!

and just to add some “substance” to this blog post, here are some photos of arwen and bella, helping mathew with some framing. (no, we don’t usually allow them to sit on the table!)

they really do like to “help” with projects around the house. they especially like making the bed, plumbing and changing the toilet paper…

bella and arwen wish you a warm and fuzzy happy birthday and ask, “when is uncle misha coming to see us?”

bella would like to sit on your lap some more.

we hope your day is full of loved ones…

…and smiles.

…and not too much work.

we miss you and hope turning 40 is FUN!

lots of love from mathew, janeen, arwen and bella xoxo