It was one of those idyllic days: incredible sunshine, rich blue skies, the roaring Pacific, great company, tunes and farms. Chris and I drove Highway One from Santa Cruz to San Francisco on Tuesday. Every bit of it was jaw dropping.


 
Swanton Berry Farm is beyond perfection. Inside you can taste jam, purchase truffles and organic coffee using the honor system & laugh the day away playing their classic games.

    
(P.S. I've gotten a lot of feedback about my images loading slowly so these files are tiny. Do you think it compromises the quality too much?)

Chris needed a quick facebook shot but I couldn't resist doing a couple that were a little less straightforward. :-) Look at this handsome man!
 

There are so many bonuses to living in the Bay Area: ocean, mountains, diversity, environmentalism, progress...and it's a foodie's dream! Two incredible cupcake bakeries: Sprinkles & Kara's justed opened up in Palo Alto and I'm in heavvven!! It's like a dream come true-- I'm not kidding you. I gladly waited in line at Sprinkles for one full hour to taste the intensity...and then dashed to Kara's for the ultimate, side-by-side taste test. The household conclusion: Kara's: 1, Sprinkles: 1. I'm thinking the Lemon Cupcake will break the tie, which according to Sprinkle's handy Cupcake Chart, is available Mon/Thu/Sun. (Yumm...that's tomorrow...)

This phrase means so many different things to me right now.  First off, it's been one week since I attended Jesh de Rox's moving workshop where he asked us to take a photo entitled: hello, beautiful.  When I presented my photo to the group, I was so overcome with emotion.  I broke down.  Hard.  It was kind of like what Oprah calls her "ugly cry" (but it really should be "gorgeous cry", shouldn't it?).  So that is the first meaning for me these days.  The second meaning is how I feel when I look at my new blog by Into the Darkroom.  Kitty and Brad worked into the night to get the puppy rolling for me.  Thanks guys.  I'm excited to deck it out with goodness.

Hello, beautiful:

My sister was hoping to wield a hammer and drip sweat for Habitat. That dream ended when I got to the top of the ladder in our roofing project and had to return to earth. (Sorry, Ann.) Organizing and painting is very important!

It was great being back in New Orleans and hearing the buzz that is returning to the streets. This City and it's beautiful people are still in great need of any support we can offer.

The closest water source to this home is a mile away yet they were still flooded with ten feet of water. The water line was to the end of the sheetrock.

Lower 9th Ward.

Common opinion of FEMA.

Musicians Village is a Habitat project conceived by Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis. These are going to be beautiful homes.

Check out the difference between the two sides of the street. Before and After Habitat.

Each home has a posted bio of the family who will own the home.