California love: San Diego edition

Finally! I harassed Beau enough to convince him that we NEEDED to make a pilgrimage back to my homeland, Southern California.

Somehow, my BFF in the whole wide world had never meet my son or my husband. (And by "somehow" I of course mean that we have billions of miles separating us. OK, not billions. I do have a basic grasp of geography. But it sure does feel like billions most days.) It was definitely time to get out there to visit. Fortunately, Beau had a class in San Diego, so Little Man and I simply tagged along.

We spent a few days there in sunny, perfect San Diego and then ventured into Orange County and even made it up into Hollywood long enough for a meal and a drink with one of Beau's childhood friends. And some classic L.A. traffic on the way back. Perhaps I don't miss everything about California.

Because I could (and probably will) wax poetic about California for far, far too long, I will probably break our vacation into a few posts. Because everyone needs to see all of my photos.

Oh, crikey, this is the modern-day equivalent to the family photo slide show. Geesh. I'm sorry. (But really I'm not.)

Beau had been to San Diego before, but he hadn't been to my San Diego. I wanted desperately for him to see it through my very rose colored glasses. Obviously, there are about a gazillion things to do there, but when I'm the tour guide, there are a few places that are a little off the normal list of tourist spots. If we had more time we might have gone to the zoo or Hotel Del Coronado, but time was short and I had to revisit some very special places.

See, I lived in San Diego for the four years I was in college. It was an amazing time and because I enjoyed my college years so much, San Diego will forever be a favorite place in the world to me. One of our very first stops was to my Alma Mater, the University of San Diego. It is, in my humble opinion, one of the most stunning college campuses in existence.

Nearby is the equally stunning Balboa Park.

We wandered around there, had a nice iced mocha at the pond and then stumbled upon this exhibit.

Beau was very intrigued. Until he realized it didn't involve samples. So, we skipped it, went along to  the rose garden and then grabbed a bite.

I'm supposed to be completely honest with you guys. I should fully disclose that I might have had In-n-Out for two meals that first day, but I am too embarassed. I don't think I'm capable of adding numbers as high as that calorie count would be!

We stayed at the Sheraton San Diego Harbor and Marina and while Beau was attending his second day of classes, Little Man and I took walks, played in the pool and made plans for our adventures that night. Exercise never looked so good, huh?

Long, long ago, I did my student teaching in La Jolla at Muirlands Middle School. While I didn't take Beau to the school to show him my ocean view classroom, I did think it important to show him the seals at La Jolla Cove. (On a semi-related note, who gives a student teacher a classroom with an ocean view? That just seems mean since my first two years of teaching were spent in classrooms that didn't even have windows that I could see out of. Lets just say after my short stint in La Jolla my expections were a little bit high.)

Little Man loved the ocean breeze and didn't really understand that the brown lumps down on the beach were really cool living animals. Whadda expect? He's one!

Since it was prime traffic time when we left La Jolla, we decided to drive down the coast. One of my favorite things to do when in crazy expensive neighborhoods like that is to have my Zillow ap open and check out the houses that are for sale. (Don't worry, I wasn't driving...) Holy moly are there some crazy expensive and beautiful houses on the California coast. While playing starnge voyeur/co-pilot, I planned a route that would take us past the Wahoo's Fish Tacos in Mission Bay. (I blogged about Wahoo's once before here.)

Beau and Little Man were pretty happy with the fish tacos and I was in memory-lane-heaven. So, so, so good.

The next day Beau had his class in Long Beach, another place I called home for a happy period of time. I met him up there and my OC portion of the trip began. (Beau had one more day of class in SD.)

Orange County adventures are coming soon, but what are your must-sees in the San Diego vicinity? Have you been? If not, seriously, get there.   

Stopping by woods on a snowy evening

Our last trip to West Virginia was largely to meet with the contractor, aka our new best friend, to discuss house projects. While we were there, though, we got to have a few adventures. I had a pretty nasty cold, so the first full day we were there Beau took Little Man out for a while so mom could get some rest. I couldn't rest, of course, but it was really nice to have a little time to myself. I made a cup of tea and looked out the window at the freshly fallen snow.

Then I scrubbed the floors and the bathrooms.

Because I'm not very good at not doing anything.

And that's pretty annoying. But the floors and bathroom don't skeeve me out anymore, so actually it isn't that annoying.

While my guys were out 'splorin', Beau came across a fire road in the Monongahela National Forest that he took me to the next day. He was pretty excited about the find because of all of the marked trails we can hike this spring and summer. I think he also liked putting the truck in four wheel drive and driving over snow-covered dirt roads that hadn't been touched since before the last snow.

Let me tell you something.

It was absolutely stunning.

I'm sure I'll share more photos of this particular place during each of the four seasons. I wonder if any can top these winter shots.

After our drive I thought Little Man needed to have his first real adventure in the snow. Prior to this he'd only been out in the snow in the process of getting somewhere. At first, he took it like a champ. He was curious and calm like he usually is.



We took some stinking cute pictures.

I call that one "West Virginia Gothic" because Beau looks so serious and upright. Little Man, though, looks like a noodle.

It was all fun and games until big, mean daddy lobbed a little snowball at Little Man and scared him.

And that was the end of our snow time.

I'm pretty sure that soon daddy will be on the receiving end of some snowballs from Carter. He'll get his, I bet.

The day was absolutely stunning and since our "lets-go-play-in-the-snow-like-a-carefree-made-for-TV-movie-family" time was short-lived, we decided to go on an evening walk later.

Three seasons a year our road cuts across the mountain. During ski season, though, two of the more difficult runs turn the road into two dead end streets. I took the photo above standing in what should be the middle of the street. We intended to just walk to the slope and check it out, but since it was so lovely out and the lifts had just closed (so no fear of being run down by crazy dare devils), we walked over the runs to the other side of our street and kept going. It actually turned into a really, really long walk.



It had been a long time since I took a "selfie", so I thought I should do that while standing in the middle of a black diamond run. (Because Lord knows I won't be there on my snowboard any time soon...)

On second thought, ignore that last comment. That's totally me taking a moment to photograph me boarding the double diamond. I'm clearly fearless and always composed. And an excellent snowboarder. Obviously.

While I was screwing around doing that, Beau was keeping Little Man amused.

What's more embarrassing: mom taking self portraits or dad giving smooches? I'm sure he'll let us know when he's a teenager. We're practicing our embarrassing behaviors now so we can really excel at them when they count.

We walked past one of my favorite houses. And by "favorite" I mean the house I'd not step foot in for a million dollars because it is suspended in midair and looks like a breeze will tip it over.

Who decides to build a house this way?

And while we were out the sun started to set. It was very pretty, as sunsets often are.

Little Man enjoyed every second of our walk. Especially the end when he was totally zonked out. It's hard work being carried for miles and miles.

Later, Beau, Little Man, and I went to dinner at the pizza shop at the top of the mountain. Little Man amused himself with a straw.

It was an absolutely spectacular day. Just ask my earnest Little Man.

I just want to eat him up.

What's the best thing you've done in the past week or so? A prize* goes to whomever can identify my stolen post title.

*And by "prize" I mean the satisfaction of knowing not-so-obscure American poetry references. Lucky you.

Travels with Carter

Thank you, John Steinbeck for giving me a cool title to play with for this post...

Anyway, enough shout-outs to dead authors, lets get to the goods! Over the past two weeks our Little Man has been a traveling fool. He was in three (three!!) different states (not counting home, so I guess technically that's four), flew on an airplane, saw two different sets of grandparents and two aunts, laughed like a fool at his sweet cousin, went to an aquarium, visited an Ivy League school, Dad's alma mater, and hung out at the beach. Whew.

Little Man has had quite a few cool life experiences packed into his almost five short months. (How is he almost five months old?!?)

More in depth posts of our adventures are coming, but here are a few highlights:

While on Cape Cod (Massachusetts= state one), Carter got to spend some time with Beau's family. One crisp morning, Beau, Grammy, Little Man and I walked to the beach. Grammy and I look windblown and happy, and if you can see the little nugget nestled in his sling, you can see he's out for the count. That's a sure sign that he's enjoying himself.

That or his newly found ability to giggle. Adorable.

 

While in the second state of the fortnight (North Carolina), Little Man stayed at the bottom of the Currituck lighthouse with Grandma, but mom, dad, and Pop Pop climbed up this beast. Can you believe what a spectacular day it was? There is zero photoshopping done to the above photo! And it was taken on an iPhone, not a DSLR! The day was just plain perfect!

 

 

Also in North Carolina, Little Man gets his snuggle on with his Pop Pop. They were watching football together. I think getting into the football zone is embedded in the male genetic code. He just stared at the game in awe. It was super cute. (Even if TV before the age of two rots a baby's brain. I figured a few minutes of man time with Pop would be well worth any potential rot.)

 

Oh, and this blurry fog was also taken on my iPhone, lest Beau think I don't need a new camera because of the lovely lighthouse photo. Ahem. Christmas.

 

What? 

Did you hear something?

Odd.

Anyway, back to our travels.

While Little Man's arms were too short to reach into the petting pool, he watched these rays and horseshoe crabs intently at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island. I think I overheard him mumble something about marine biology or scuba when we were looking at the shark tank.

While on Roanoke Island, we also visited the Lost Colony.

It is still lost, BTW.

How did we visit it, then?

Trickery on the part of the National Parks System.

There's a park where the Lost Colony might have been. Minor detail. It was an interesting place, and worth the visit even if the settlement really did just seem to vanish.

State three was New Hampshire where we visited a museum, college, state park and ogled the lovely fall foliage. Here, my two guys are at the top of a windy hill looking for raptors.

We didn't see any. I was glad. I had visions of a huge bird swooping down with giant wingspan spread, talons out, snatching my sweet baby.

That look on Beau's face? He's probably realizing he married a complete dork who thinks hawks snatch human babies on a regular basis. Poor guy.

So tell me, what kind of person are you? Beachy or mountainy? Which of our destinations would have floated your boat?

Falling for Fall

Happy first day of fall, friends.

We live very close to a university and they had a home football game today. My windows were open and I got to hear the roar of the crowd. It was awesome. I wish I could have been there, but since it was loud enough to hear at my house, I imagine it would have been too loud for Little Man.

(Photo from Merchant Circle)

Maybe next fall he'll get to experience a college football game.

While I love summer, I'm kind of glad fall is here. There is something so refreshing about that slight chill in the air that reminds us that summer has come to a close. Even though it was probably 80 degrees here during the day, the evening air turned crisp. Soon the trees will be turning and leaves will be crunching underfoot.

Hopefully our little family will venture back up to West Virginia to check out the Blue Ridge foliage. If you haven't noticed, the West Virginia mountains are our new favorite hang out. I guess with baby we've mellowed a little. There's something about seeing a vast wilderness before you that makes you slow down and look at life a little differently.

(Photo from Romantic Asheville. Click here to see more of that gorgeousness.)

That photo is of Asheville, NC. It isn't quite West Virginia, but the same mountain range, so close enough. I liked that there are other photos on the page for you to browse.

As the trees change and the weather turns chilly, sweaters will become my go-to. I like this stripe cowl from here. It might be time to go shopping... (If you're reading this, Beau, I'm totally kidding. I hate to shop. You know that.) No, but really, guys, isn't fall shopping such fun? The boots, the scarves, the layers.

There's a certain flavor to autumn, too. While I'm not a fan of pumpkin flavored anything, and cinnamon isn't my bag, I am looking forward to steamy cups of hot chocolate and home-made soups. Mmmmm. Yep, I'm ready for summer to be done.

What do you like best about autumn?

Instagram art

I love what Instagram does to my photos, but hate how they just kind of sit on my phone and Facebook after I have fun with filters. I have some pretty nifty shots that don't really get to see the light of day. So, a few weeks ago blog sensations Young House Love posted a giveaway for Canvaspop, a company that specializes in turning Instagram art into canvas prints. Their post opened new doors for me. While I didn't win, I did take advantage of the 30% off discount (checkout code YHL30 good through 12/31/12!!).

All of a sudden I knew that my Instagram treasures would become legitimate art! Like for our walls! Whoo hooo!

Just the other day these guys appeared on my doorstep:

Each canvas is 12"x12" and is perfect!  My only regret is that I didn't use the same Instagram filter on each photo. (You can see how one border is dark and the other is light. Totally my bad, but since the photos weren't taken or Instagrammed the same day, or had any higher purpose at the time, how was I to know?)

Here' a closer look. 

This summer we took Little Man to the beach once (pre-baby, I thought it would be so easy and we'd be there all the time...HAH!). While we were on that one trip to the beach, I took this shot of him contemplating the sand and it has become my favorite picture of him. I love the floppy sun hat pushed jauntily back (because it was too big, but whateves), his super chunky cheeks, and the sweet bow of his lip. I could just eat him up. I also love that I captured his mellow personality perfectly in the shot. He's very contemplative. Not only did I get it with my iPhone, but now it is on canvas and will, someday, be hanging on my wall!

 

The other image is our first kiss as husband and wife. More on our super sweet, super private elopement coming soon. But here's the shot, up close and personal.

 

 

Yes, I know there is an element of irony in the photos in this post being terrible when the post is about a company that converts awesome photos to canvas. Stop judging. You're missing the point: these things are awesome and if Beau doesn't stop me, all of our walls will be covered in canvas! There are worse things, right?

 

Perhaps soon I'll do a little update and show you where they hang. I'm still contemplating that. (Remember this post about my ineptitude when it comes to decorating?)

 

 

So, tell me, what photo would you have printed on canvas and beautifully displayed?

 

Oh, BTW, if you use either of the links to Canvaspop I provided, you'll save $30 on your order of $100. Like magic. Hopefully you'll have a better idea of where to hang your Instagram art than I do!

 

Just a Little Window Dressing

OK, so since I've been home so much I've 1) been looking at the decor of my house with a VERY critical eye, and 2) spent way too much time online. Not a good combination.

I've decided our living room needs some love. I hope to be able to revamp the area over the course of the next few months. I really need to think the whole thing through, but these curtains from Urban Outfitters have totally caught my eye.

(Curtains found here.)

Could this be the color palate for my new room? Could be? I'll have to convince Beau that this NEEDS to happen. Mucho eye batting will need to happen.

I love the greens, the gray, the patterns. I love that our otherwise boring room could, perhaps, get a little  personality.

I'm just not sure they would work with the art in the room... Geesh. Wrench in the works. Do I chuck the art? Move it? Start fresh? Rethink the curtains?

I just wish I had an eye for this type of stuff. You know how there are people who see things, buy them and all of a sudden they have a room that is magnificent and magazine worthy? Yeah, I'm not that kind of person. I so wish I could be. Instead I'm that person's polar opposite.

I'm really going to have to work this room redesign though (and keep cognizant of the fact that we have a baby now...no white couches for me!). I hope you'll hang out with me through the process. And seriously, if I'm loving things that just don't work together, let me know. Please! I'm OK with comments that read: "WTF, Amy? No, no, no. Pink walls will NOT go with those curtains. And the Rhino head mounted on the wall needs to go even if his "gray tones match the curtains." You really weren't kidding when you mentioned you are clueless. Consider hiring someone."

(Floating heads from here.)

I'll only cry a little. (I love that Rhino*...)

*I do not actually love the stuffed head. Stop judging. If you want one, click on the link from whence the photo came. You might rethink it. One man's living decor is another man's poached and stolen wild animal, I guess.

What room needs love chez vows? Are severed heads a design option for you?

Cape Cod Christmas

Hello friends.

Can you believe Christmas is almost upon us? Beau and I will be traveling to his hometown on the Cape to spend the holidays with his whole family. I asked two of his sisters to put in for some mild weather since we all know this gal doesn't do cold very well. Someone listened. For being as far north as we will be, the forecast looks downright warm!

(Image here)

It looks like we won't be seeing any snow, but I did find a few images that suggest that it would be absolutely breathtaking.

(Images here)

(Image here)

Beau and I are looking forward to a season of love, warmth, family, friends and togetherness. Here's wishing you the very same.

Merry Christmas.

How will you be spending Christmas? Is it your favorite time of year too?

Are You a Kate or a Pippa?

I get all kinds of very intelligent publications. (I have been accused of being a magazine whore. Which, to be frank, is not an insult to me.) Those uber intelligent publications often send me emails. OK, "often" is a mild understatement. I. get. them. every. frickin'. day. Times a thousand. Usually I just click on the little box to get a green check mark and then hit delete to remove them en masse.

Today, though, I got an email with the intriguing subject " Are You a Kate or a Pippa?" It took me to this site from InStyle. Yeah, I know, you didn't believe me when I said I subscribe to intelligent publications. Now you feel silly for doubting. It's OK. Just please don't underestimate me in the future. Note my profile photo to the right. That was candidly snapped when I was doing some encyclopedic reading at the public library in NYC. That's how I roll.

Anywhoo. Back to the question at hand. Am I a Kate or a Pippa?

Really?

I'm a frumpy English teacher who dreams of having 1/100th of the wardrobe either of them has. Maybe 1/1000th.

I don't wear hats. I would love to, but I've never had occasion to do such. At least not hats like these. I do own approximately two ball caps. I never wear them. I also have a floppy sun hat. I don't wear it either, though I like to think it is as charming as Kates.

(From here)

And my formal gowns are a little less, well, formal.

(From here.)

I do actually own a very nice wrap dress. But it looks NOTHING like this on me. (Though Kate is too skinny here; a problem I never have. I don't think that is as positive as I make it sound.)

(From here.)

It is pretty clear that I am neither of these lovely ladies. I'm flattered, InStyle, that you think I can be compared to them, but let's be real. I don't have designers lining up to make me anything. They do send me coupons every once in a while. That should count for something, right?

Would you rather be a Kate, a Pippa or a someone else?