Dancing with the DJ

I'm loving the "acoustic campfire" version of Dancing with the DJ by The Knocks. Aren't they awesome?!

Map art

I love when people decorate with maps (well done Lydia in the recent Pottery Barn catalog!) And I love it when people get creative with other ways to use maps, like Jason LaFerra who created the images below. Each of his pieces are made completely out of historical maps from one area. 

My favorite is the Japanese crane, which Jason just made out of maps of Japan. All of the proceeds from the purchase of the Japanese crane print go to support relief efforts in Japan through the Red Cross. You can check out Jason's shop here.

Glimpses from our Weekend

This weekend flew by, and I didn't take many pictures. These pictures don't tell the full story of our action-packed weekend, but here are a few glimpses:

{1} Natalie was in town for one night after a vet conference in Davis, and she insisted that we get a stranger to take our picture while I was driving her down Lombard Street. Pretty sure we could be anywhere in this photo, though. {2} I wanted to go to Birite Creamery all weekend, but when we finally went on Sunday afternoon there was way too long a line. Jonny and I ended up getting a Sunday Sundae from Birite soft-serve instead, which was a-w-e-s-o-m-e salted caramel and chocolate with pistachios and hot fudge. {3} I made a seriously great olive oil orange cake off of Smitten Kitchen. No surprise - everything I've made from there has been amazing. I also made the lemon, sausage, and chard lasagna that Joanna recommended, and it was a hit too. {4} Zack and Laura sang "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About" at Zack's birthday at the Mint. It was Laura's first ever time to sing karaoke, and they put on a great show.

Hope you had a lovely weekend. Countdown to Jonny being done with Toronto: 5 days!

Dwell Home Tours

Dwell Magazine is sponsoring ten amazing home tours in Marin County next month. I mean, just look at these places. These are just three snapshots of the ten homes that will be showcased. Can you imagine what it would be like to live there?

I volunteer with Architecture for Humanity, and I'm leading the Dwell Home Tours project, so if you're interested in volunteering for a day and touring one of these incredible homes, meeting the architect, and getting a free subscription to Dwell, let me know.

Half Moon Bay

One of my favorite things about living in San Francisco is how easy it is to hop in the car (now that we have a car!) and take a fun day or afternoon trip outside of the city. On Sunday afternoon, Jonny and I dropped our friend Elizabeth off at the airport and headed down to Half Moon Bay. Blue skies, sunshine, and long stretches of beach... it was beautiful. We walked on the beach, explored the woods nearby, and shopped around the town a little bit. Such a perfect way to spend an afternoon!

Weekend Snapshot

This weekend was really nice. Sometimes I feel like weekends are packed out or that we're pressed for time or that we need to fill the days with everything that we weren't able to do or talk about while Jonny was gone during the week, but this weekend was just great. We got a lot done, had tons of time with friends, and ate really well. Here's a little snapshot, going clockwise from the top left:

{1} An impromptu dinner for ten on Friday night at Thirsty Bear.

{2} Alec showed up late for Sunday brunch at Tartine, and we had all already waited in line and ordered so we just shared everything with him. Here he is surrounded by the multitude of plates he finished off.

{3} Lydia and Elizabeth, who was in town from Dallas for the weekend.

{4} Elizabeth loving life at the corner of Dolores Park overlooking the rest of San Francisco.

{5} There was a BIRD in Tartine! I think it had waddled in by accident, but it was flying around and swooping past heads and croissants for a little while trying to figure out how to get out.

{6} The boys hanging out in Dolores Park.

Jonny left this morning for Toronto. Only TWO more weeks of this travel! Woohoo!

Outstanding in the Field

My friend Loin just sent me a link to these Outstanding in the Field dinners, and they look so cool. These dinners are prepared by well-known chefs and are hosted in neat outdoor spots all over the country. I love the long tables and the beautiful settings! There are tons of these scheduled in California this year, and I think we should bite the $200 bullet and get a group together to go to one. Anyone?!

California, I love you

Yes, I do. 

Serious Catchup

So I've been MIA for a little while. I seriously don't understand how all this cute people on the interwebs can live fun and busy lives and also find time to document said lives with amazing photographs and post them on blogs. I struggle. That said, here's a little catchup from the past two weeks:

{1&2} We had a fast food dinner at a nice restaurant in the Mission, Farina. Probably a restaurant where you should have a leisurely two hour dinner and a bottle of wine. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes!

{3} Flowers on my bedside table.

{4, 5, & 6} Little Mermaid Sing Along at the Castro theater. Lydia and I almost decided not to go to this, which would have been a huge mistake. It was so perfectly San Francisco and so hilarious. And the ceiling in the Castro theater was amazing!

{7} Pretty flowers in the shop by our apartment.

{8} This is our street! And one of my very favorite streets in San Francisco. Love.

{9} I rediscovered this app that I have that allows you to stache your friends. Here's Cait's stache at dinner at CPK. Yes, we went to a chain, and it was glorious. I realized that there are times when I find the familiarity of chain restaurants really comforting. Good thing this blog isn't widely read, or the SF foodies would be hating on me!

In other news, Jonny has three more weeks left on his project in Toronto. I've been refusing to count down the days up to this point, but I think I'm about ready to start. Can't wait for him to be at home all week every week.

Old Photo Maker

My friend Caitlyn just found this totally random Japanese website that makes your photos look old. She took one of her pictures from our wedding and put it through there, and look how it turned out! How cool is that? Way to go Cait for being a pioneer in finding obscure and amazing internet tools.

Kayaking on Lake Tahoe

Despite our recent ridiculous drive to Tahoe, we are planning on going up several more times this season to make use of our season passes to Squaw. I was in awe of these pictures from a travel article I came across in the New York Times of people kayaking on Lake Tahoe in the middle of winter. 

Doesn't this look a-w-e-s-o-m-e? We've gotta do it!

Our wedding: Ceremony

I'm so thrilled to FINALLY be sharing our wedding photos. Over the next few days, I'll go through and share all of my favorites. We got married on October 23 (or 23 October if you're one of our English relatives reading this!) in Nashville, Tennessee. 

My dress was originally worn by my grandmother for her wedding, and then my mom wore it when my parents got married in 1981. We worked with an incredible seamstress in Nashville who helped us carefully replace the lace on the bodice and then made a veil to match. 

I had seven bridesmaids who wore Laundry by Shelli Segal dresses, and then seven house party girls who wore grey dresses of their own. I love how the grey and yellow looked together, and I love these pictures because it's all of my dearest friends together too! 

Jonny and his groomsmen wore English morning suits. 

I had been under control all weekend leading up to our wedding, but I started to tear up standing with my daddy outside of the sanctuary waiting to walk down the aisle. 

We had a French impressionist, Jill Steenhuis, paint at our wedding. She painted the picture below of the ceremony and two other pictures that night, which was a pretty amazing feat! (We have one of them in our home that we need to have framed.)

I wish we had more pictures from the ceremony, but the church we got married in had strict rules about when photos could be taken in the sanctuary. My dear friend Anna Flautt (who also did my hair!) sang "We Bow Down" during the ceremony, and she did such an incredible job. It gave me chills. 

Everything went beautifully, and it was so wonderful to have so many people we love in one place. 

Stay tuned for more wedding pictures coming later this week! xo.

(All photos by the lovely Rachel Williamson)