Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Rule of Thirds

I love photography...always have. I am slowly trying to learn to take better pictures. What seems to take other people five minutes to learn has taken me substantially longer. I seem to have trouble setting aside the time to just delve in. However, I am enjoying the process and isn't that the most important thing? I was over at an amazing gal's blog named Becky at farmgirl paints and she and her friend Suzanne at privet and holly are taking a photography class and giving some great tips for taking better pictures. Becky is even having a little photo contest called the thrive project. Every Tuesday head over to her blog for the latest. I am thinking it is just the thing I need to get me to pick up my camera and have some fun. So thank you Becky for getting all of us amateur photographers out there involved. I have really enjoyed all the great tips! Now I have never used Mr. linky and all this other stuff so I am hoping I am going to do this right. Cross your fingers and here we go... Here is my picture for the rule of thirds and it happens to be my honey and my Ella in San Francisco.



Thank you again Becky and happy picture taking!


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

MLK Day....Having fun with no plan except to eat the best tacos in town

My honey loves to restaurant shop. He loves the thrill of finding something extra special. They usually all come highly recommended in some way. Best pizza, best Thai, best burgers...you get the idea. He searches newspapers, internet and word of mouth, you name it but they have to have the reputation of being completely delish. Other times we will simply get a bee in our bonnet and try and find the bay area's best something ourselves. For example, best oatmeal cookie (Draeger's) or best yogurt (tutti frutti) or best ice cream Bi Rite). We will literally drive all around in search of our personal favorite. In the bay area this can be quite a process but we are up for the challenge. Sometimes we hit the jackpot and find a place for life and other times well we don't.

My honey while searching for the bay areas best burger found a spot in Hayward called Val's Diner. He has wanted to try this place for awhile but alas burgers are not my area of expertise. So with his brothers they gave Val's a try. By the way the verdict was good but not great. I had to wonder if it was because a 1 lb. burger is just too disgustingly large to be great. So anyhoo while at supposedly the best burger joint, my Tom met a Mexican man that said that he knew where the best taco's in town were. Now we use town loosely here and by town we mean the bay area. These best taco's happened to be in the town of Oakland in a taco truck. Taco's take on a whole new meaning of best. Anything Mexican will be on our quest until we die. That is because Mexican is the ultimate. The ultimate food group. We have decided that if we had to choose one type of food to eat for the rest of our life it would be Mexican. We take Mexican very, very seriously. We will travel to the ends of the earth for good tacos. This includes a very dicey area of Oakland and yes we will even order them from a truck. Now there was a safety issue to think about and after some research we concluded it would be safe for us and our children to head to Oakland and have ourselves some lunch. No agenda for the day except our tacos and then we would just let the kidlets dictate what was next. Oh the possibilities.

Our taco truck
was wildly entertaining and it was the cheapest trip to Mexico you could ever hope for. As for the tacos they were a hit! The boys loved the carnitas and Tom loved the al pastor. As for myself the meat seriously frightened me so I opted for the shrimp ceviche tostada. As for it being the best taco shop in town... that will take a life time of research.
You must check out the man/women dead center in this shot. Women body, hair and clothes yet painfully long beard. Good lesson for the kiddos not to stare. We all failed miserably.

While at the taco shop the conversation went like this:
Nicholas: I've never been to downtown Oakland.
Tom: Then we need to drive there right now.
That is how we ended up at Lake Merritt next. It's that simple.
How we ended up here was almost as simple.
Nicholas: I like San Francisco better than Oakland
Tom: Me too, let's go there.

How we ended up at this chocolate shop in San Fran is a little more embarrassing. We were driving in a great little neighborhood called Hayes Valley. Tom saw an open parking spot and we squeezed right in. As we were all wandering down a darling street with lots of stunning boutiques my boys disappeared. They caught up to us with cheeks full of chocolate. They apparently took a few too many samples from the high end chocolate shop called " Christopher Elbow." We decided that the only polite thing to do, since they had both eaten about $10.00 worth of samples, was buy from the shop. It was a great decision because the chocolate there was fantastic. Maybe I should start looking for the best chocolate shop. Hum-mm that sounds like a brilliant plan.



All little girls need pink cowboy boots and that just happens to be a fact. It is as much a fact as 2+2=4. So in a perfect little San Francisco shop I picked Ella's up. They were just sitting there waiting for me and happened to be on sale. Now I will scratch that off my list of to-dos.


We ended up at our very favorite ice cream spot on the planet because that is what we do. We know this because we have researched and tried 100 other ice cream shops. We just got in our car and we drove there. We all knew that if we were in the city without any particular plan that we would end up at Bi Rite and that is just what happened.

The only glitch was the line. It's always there but this time it was even longer. It gave Nicholas a great idea and a new system was born. Walk up to the counter and buy 1 quart of salted caramel to share. That wasn't quite enough, even though it should of been, and so we added 1 more quart of salted caramel. That's right 2 quarts of salted caramel. We all were seriously sick at that point but laughing hysterically at how great of an idea this is.

These next few pictures is what aimlessly wandering around San Francisco looks like.



This day is hard to beat. No where to go, nothing to do and just letting the kids dictate our next move. Sometimes just flying by the seat of your pants you find exactly what you wanted to do all along.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I don't like January

There i said it... I really don't like January. Everything about it is a little sad, gloomy and boring. I know it's not the months fault...I mean who would want to follow December. December is everything that January isn't. The whole month is dedicated to making everything a little more fantastic then normal. Even in our errands we seem to be in unison with the world as we celebrate Christ's birth and peace on earth goodwill toward men. I know it's not all perfect. There is more traffic and crowds but certainly above it all, most people as a whole, think of Christ more then they normally do. That alone makes it the most wonderful time of the year.

Because I am in my house 95% of the time, I am going to tell why December is so much better than January in my particular home. OK it all starts with Christmas songs blaring while the kids are making ginger bread houses and baking cookies. I don't bake that much, even though I like to, because we eat the batch of cookies the second they come out. That's bad for the hearts that live in my house and the waistlines so baking has certainly gone by the wayside over the years. But come December I could care less. Now while cookies are baking and the music is blaring, there is dancing and singing. Oh the dancing and singing. I can't hold a tune for beans but that doesn't stop me and the kids from singing at the top of our lungs, "For unto us, a child is born
Unto us, a Son is given." Everyone knows that you can't sing Handel without a great voice but I sort of forget that every December. When would I ever do that in January? Holy cow I haven't even touched on how fabulously stunning my house is. Tom transforms it into a winter, light, wonderland. There are lights, wreaths, bows and trees everywhere and my house literally glows. We find ourselves in my magical house cuddled up by the fire, reading a Christmas book and drinking hot chocolate. You give yourself permission to do exactly that and enjoy every moment of it. Why is that? Why can't I give myself permission to do that same thing even in my boring January house without Handel? Well I think starting right now at this very moment I am going to try. It won't be easy at first. The pull of the dirty laundry is going to be strong but in the end the fire, some willing children with a good book, and hot chocolate are going to win the internal battle.

Let the Christmas fun begin...


It's Christmastime in the city. San Francisco to be exact with the Doxey's. Now as fun as this day was, it is actually more fun looking back on it. Maybe it was the 1 1/2 hours it took me to find the parking space. Or maybe it was hitting the roof of the parking garage with my suburban and having the Santa running after me yelling. Or could it be that ice skating was sold out? No it has to be the three hours it took to leave the city and the 1 near fatal collision that had all of us screaming solid for 2 minutes. No but really Doxey's...good times.

Three cheers for Tom's 45th birthday. Not his favorite day of the year but absolutely hands down my favorite day of the year. Where would I be without the love of my life?




A complete 2010 highlight for me. Ann invited all of us to go to 'The Nutcracker" in San Francisco. I have wanted to go with Ella for years. I grew up going every year to Ballet West in Utah. Those memories of going to the ballet with my sisters and Mother continue to be some of my favorite Christmas memories of years gone by. Oh how I love that music. I still feel the butterflies of pure anticipation when I hear it. I close my eyes and remember what it was like to quietly anticipate the ballerinas next move. I would try and guess if it was the Russian dance yet or if the dance of the sugarplum fairy was next. Oh to be ten again...I have wanted my little Ella to have those same memories but alas tickets are a fortune. Thank you to sweet Ann for making that dream come true.

Sorry Julie I have a better picture of you. I must have hit the wrong one and in the blogging world once that is in... it is in.


Christmas Eve at John and Ann' house. The Doxey family, us and the John and Ann Call families all celebrating together. This picture seriously kills me. Charlie tried on John's glasses and I happened to catch that look. I love photography!

Acting out the manger scene

Ella and John
Madeline and John

Me and my Ella

Christmas morning 2010






Sweet Matt and Maria gave us this wonderful blanket to commemorate the Giants huge win! Best present of the year!
Here is a picture that I took right before we all sat down for our wonderful Christmas breakfast. See what I mean...its glowing.
So even though January is the worst month of the year, I need to go now because I am going to go sit by the fire, brew up some delicious hot chocolate for me and some awfully cute kiddos....Maybe January won't be so gloomy after all.

How did I skip Halloween?

I have no idea how Halloween got overlooked when I did my favorite fall list...a serious oops. First of all Charlie wore his costume for the entire month which in of itself was hilarious. Keep in mind that this particular costume is sized for my kids when they are two. It is tiny but Charlie insisted and so I relented but not without a month of laughter. I can't believe I don't have a picture. I am such a ding dong! The costume ended just above his knee caps making the bugs bunny costume into knickers/shorts. Do you have the picture? Super funny!


Halloween get together at my house with Doxey's, Miller's, Truman's and John and Ann. All the usual fun with trick or treating, chili, witches brew and the forever sorting. Don't forget to take a gander at Charlie..that picture definitely shows the length I am talking about.

We have one of these pictures every year but Ann somehow didn't dress up like her usual witch. I am a little hurt.

I am so glad that this picture was added onto my fall favorite list because fall 2010 would not have been so funny with out that four year old. Maybe he will want to be bugs bunny next year...keep your fingers crossed. But somehow I don't think you get that lucky two years in a row.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Fall in a nutshell (Some of my favorite fall memories)

I feel like I have to just briefly recap fall because so many wonderful things happen in the fall. If you know me at all then you know that fall is my favorite time of the year. It is that time of year when my children add another year in their ongoing book of adventures. That alone makes me nostalgic thinking of them growing, changing and starting a fresh year at school. It is more of a beginning to me then January 1st. So scroll down and you will have a vague idea of why when September comes around I find myself grateful to be apart of another magical autumn with my little family. These are my top favorite fall memories.

High up on the best list is Newport Beach. This beach trip is a dream come true for my family. I mean the schedule goes something like this. Wake up, get yourself and your family onto the beach, stand up and get your family off the beach and then you go to bed. In between there is solid laughing and screaming from our happy, sun-kissed children. The adults might go swimming. If you are Ang you will go swimming. But the majority of the time is spent laughing and talking completely oblivious of the ticking clock. Such a contrast to our busy lives at home when father time continually dictates our full days. So I happily add this to my list of fall favorite memories.

Thank you again Dad without you these magical moments would not exist.



This was Ella as she would try and adjust to beach life with a broken arm.




I don't know what to say about Emerson's face except to say it got a little too sun kissed.


The whole group minus a couple that had to fly home early.

Hooray for birthday season! Now these are definitely my best forever fall memories.

Ella kicks it off turning "9". She is sweet and wonderful and I thank my lucky stars that I got her. This is what I tell her everyday "We girls stick together." I would be the lone girl in the sea of boys without her. She is my little friend and an amazing helper. Thank you Ella for being sweet and wonderful. Remember always how special you are in every way just exactly the way you are.
,
Next comes my sweetheart Benjamin. "Nothing but joy," is what I said everyday after his birth for three years. I guess I am still saying it. He is my gentle giant, my love, my one guy that says so freely, "I love you and thank you." He gives constant hugs and affection. I am not sure what I did in a previous life to get to be his mother but I will be eternally grateful. Happy birthday to my newest teenager. Please don't change....please, pretty please.

Here is to the one that made me a mother in the first place. A tender little spot in my heart reserved for him for that special purpose. He is the one that I first ached to hear him say those magical words...Mom. Nicholas is my comedian. The one that can gets me to laugh when I really don't feel like it. The one that gets the family belly rolling over some goofy accent or some hilarious observation. He takes his role as oldest seriously and knows that the other children are watching him. For this I am eternally grateful. How can you be "17" Nicholas? Please stop growing and if you won't stop, please remember how much I love you?


We spent a lot of time watching Nicholas play his first year of varsity football. All I can say is what a beast. This definitely is on the list

Benjamin had a fantastic year playing flag football and ended up taking 1rst place in the Walnut Creek football league. How can that not be on the favorite fall list?


This makes my memory list because when else are there going to be 3 million people on Market street in San Fran all in black and gold chanting, "Let's go Giants" at the top of their lungs. Or how about 3 million people on BART trying to get into the city. OK so that is not one of my favorite memories. In fact that one makes me want to cry. The air conditioning was out on the train and we couldn't move/breathe. It was quite horrific... but coming out of the train and up into that atmosphere of total elation for everyone is a highlight. We picked up Benjamin so he could come with us and experience the party. And what a party it was....


Thanksgiving is Tom's favorite holiday so I will add this for him. I will admit there is no where in the whole wide world that I would rather spend this day. Best food on the planet...no offense Mom but we really have perfected this meal.


I think this is why Thanksgiving is Tom's favorite holiday but I will have you know that this is not what I was doing and therefore perhaps why I don't have the same sediment.

OK I just love this day. It takes two things I love and quite simply combines them. Running and the Golden Gate Bridge. For all the people that follow my life so closely (ha ha) know that the day after Thanksgiving we run the Golden Gate Bridge and eat at Max's. It was postponed a day because our dear friends the Miller's were moving to Utah the day after so the day after that our tradition continued.

I am beyond happy in this shot and BTW I had my ipod on shuffle and the first song that just happened to blast in my ears was you guessed it... a little Journey, "When the lights go down on the city." Oh it made me smile and the day was so clear to boot.

Those goofy running buddies.

I know there are a lot of pictures of Ella. I just can't help myself.


What a picture to end on. This sums it up for me..I love where I live, I love fall and above all I love my family. Without them fall would be just another season instead of another magical autumn.

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