loveliness

This week is so busy, I can't believe how fast it's going by. I also started reading Divergent last night and I'm kind of hooked so I just want this day to be over so I can get back to my book. Here are a few things I'm loving today:

gluten free

There was a bake sale at my work last week to raise money for the AIDS walk. I am pretty much always open to any excuse to bake, and it was for a good cause, so I signed up to make cookies.

I thought about making peanut butter temptations or fiddle diddles, but I felt like making something new, and I was feeling very lazy so I knew it had to be easy. I found this recipe and decided to try it out, even though I'm not gluten free.

These were super good. They were pretty simple, peanut butter, sugar, chocolate chips, what's not to like? And they were really delicious. The cooking time was off for me, I had to leave them in almost twice as long as it said to, but I just watched them pretty carefully and they came out great.

One of my co-workers is gluten free and she loved them, and everyone else that tried them thought they were delicious, and didn't even know they were gluten free. I will definitely be making these again.

 

tiburon

The same day that I had my first adventure at the SF Ferry building farmer's market I also took the ferry across the Bay to Tiburon, which is something I've wanted to do since the first time I came to visit San Francisco.

We went to the wrong pier at first and almost missed the ferry and had to take a high speed pedi-cab ride to make it in time. Amanda was feeding the seagulls right off the back of the ferry and it was pretty neat until one almost took off her hand.

We wandered around Tiburon, poked around some cute little shops and ate some sinfully delicious chocolate truffles, and laid out on the grass where we had a front row seat to a happy couple taking photos on their wedding day.

We went to Sam's for supper on the water, and just relaxed, it was a really great day.

our trusty stead

wind blown

Alcatraz (not Azkaban, which is what I accidentally call it most of the time)

Such a funny face

Gorgeous day on the Bay

Eat ALL the things

Soaking up sunshine

Would love to live in one of those little brown houses

Bubble man

Homeward bound

one.

Our first wedding anniversary is on Sunday. I can't believe it's been a year already, it was such a fun weekend, and since I'm from Canada, and Derek is from California, and I met most of my best friends in Hawaii, it is probably the only time I'll ever have all of my favourite people in one place, so it was really special to me.

I've always heard that your wedding day is really stressful, and that everything is going to go all wrong no matter how much work you put into it (thanks mom!), so when the caterer was an hour and a half late, and I spilled a bottle of red wine down my dress 10 minutes after the ceremony, I honestly didn't even care. It was the best day.

I really don't think anything has changed between Derek and I since we got married, things are basically the same, and we have a lot of fun together, so I guess I'll keep him around for another year, if he is lucky.

trash/treasure

This video will at the same time warm your heart, and also make you feel like you're wasting your life. These kids are from a very poor village in Paraguay that is built on a landfill, but instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they are learning to play beautiful classical music on instruments made out of recycled trash.

The cello at :54 seconds in gave me chills. It's pretty amazing.

ferry

Ever since I moved to the Bay area I've been hearing about the farmer's market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco on Saturdays.

I finally got the chance to go last weekend, and it was pretty awesome. We ate ourselves sick on cheese and fruit samples, I finally got to try Cowgirl Creamery cheese (get the Redhawk, just do it) and then we bought a bottle of wine and some snacks and just people watched and enjoyed the video.

Sadly, we had plans afterward so I couldn't really buy anything to take home, but it was probably best as I'm not sure that anybody really needs a $24 dollar jar of artisanal nectarine chutney (whenever I hear chutney in my head it's always in the voice of Schmidt from New Girl).

ommmm nom nom

It was such a beautiful day, I had an actual physical craving to buy sunflowers

lavendar soda, I was intrigued, but mostly I just wanted the bottle

not gonna lie, we ate all of this.

favourites

Here are a few things that are making me happy right now:

Surfing videos are one of my favourite things ever. I love watching the waves, and seeing someone gliding gracefully along one just relaxes me, instantly. Some of the best nights of sleep I've ever had are where I'm in a really air conditioned, dark room, with tons of covers, watching muted surf videos as I fall asleep. Try it, I promise you'll sleep like a baby.


Fiji Vignette 3/3 from Taj Burrow on Vimeo.

These nail polish strips from Essie. I saw them and wanted them immediately and then I left them sitting in my bathroom cabinet for two months because they seemed very tricksy to apply. A few weeks ago I had some extra free time (thanks BART strike) and tried them out.

They were actually not hard to apply at all, and they lasted a week before they starting chipping, I added a top coat as well. It's like having tiny little love letters on your nails.

And some calla lillies I picked up at the farmer's market. Treat yo self.

I'm re-reading the Virgin Suicides. Love this:

"The rest of her face-the pulpy lips, the blonde sideburn fuzz, the nose with its candy-pink translucent nostrils- registered dimly as the two blue eyes lifted him on a sea wave and held him suspended. 'She was the still point of the turning world' he told us, quoting Eliot, whose Collected Poems he had found on the shelf of the detoxification center.

For the eternity that Lux Lisbon looked at him, Trip Fontaine looked back, and the love he felt at that moment, truer than all the subsequent loves because it never had to survive real life, still plagued him even now in the desert, with his looks and health wasted."

I read somewhere that the best love affairs are the ones we never have, because the other person will always be perfect to us, never diminished or found to be flawed. This excerpt from the Virgin Suicides really reiterates that to me.

i'm a seven.

One of my favourite bloggers, Cara at Maskcara, posted about Enneagram personality tests today, and it was kind of interesting so I decided to take the test too.

I am a seven (so is she). The characteristics of a seven are:

The Adventurer (the Seven)

Adventurers are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

• Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.
• Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.
• Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.
• Don't try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.
• Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.
• Don't tell me what to do.

What I Like About Being a Seven

• being optimistic and not letting life's troubles get me down
• being spontaneous and free-spirited
• being outspoken and outrageous. It's part of the fun.
• being generous and trying to make the world a better place
• having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures
• having such varied interests and abilities

What's Hard About Being a Seven

• not having enough time to do all the things I want
• not completing things I start
• not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career
• having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies
• feeling confined when I'm in a one-to-one relationship 

I thought a lot of this stuff was pretty accurate for me especially how to get along with me, and what's hard about being a seven. I'd like to see what some other people got and compare though. I always wonder about tests like this, or horoscopes, are there really only so many types of people? Does when you are born really have that big of an influence on your personality, and thus, your whole life? 

I always think there is no way it matters, but then sometimes I read descriptions of characteristics of a Pisces, or a middle child, and it's so accurate that it's creepy. Maybe if you put together the results of someone's Enneagram test, their horoscope sign and their birth order, you'd have everything you'd have everything you'd need to know about someone without even talking to them.

run like a girl.

This video is a great reminder of how far we've come. Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to enter the Boston Marathon. During the race, she was physically attacked by one of the race organizers for having the audacity to participate in a "male" sport.

She went on to become an advocate for women's athletics, and she opened the door for millions of women, including myself, my mom and my younger sister, to be able to participate in marathons, and other running events.

more montana memories

More pictures from our July 4th Montana trip. So excited to go back in August, and next time my big sister is coming and bring her two kids, aka my favourite people in the world.

Mom's Hawaiian martinis. The drink is delicious, the pineapple tastes like paint thinner

the beast

love these two

so beautiful here

basically taught her everything she knows

fireworks over the lake

me and billy jean

skills, NBD.