Tarnished Lady

Our first anniversary

I have been resistant to making posts on here because of the slow photo uploads on Typepad but I need to get over that!
I realise its been some time so I will begin with backtracking to May.

We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on May 23rd & decided to avoid the holiday crowds in the campgrounds by driving up to San Francisco to visit my brother Mike and SIL Elena.
We love San Francisco & also love being around Mike & Elena so it was a win-win.

They introduced us to Sing Star (sort of like Guitar Hero but with singing...almost like karaoke but scores on technicalities. You must hit the pitch and sustain the notes in order to score) which was good silly fun.
We made a great steak dinner, had yummy wine on the night of our anniversary which was so much more cozy and how we were feeling than going out.

They took us to Golden Gate Park where we got a nice walk in, went to the Japanese Tea Garden there which is straight out of a dream.

Jasper loved it all. He adores being in nature and traveling it seems.

We spent some time in North Beach, had a long & lazy romantic Italian lunch while Jasper napped in his Uppababy stroller.
Did you know there is a Jasper Street in SF? We didn't either but we drove right past it in North Beach.

We picked up a super tasty Italian dessert at Stella Cafe to bring up to Eugenia's for a bbq cookout in Marin County.
If you are ever in SF and like a great tiramisu-esque creamy dessert (sacripantina), check this place out.

My pal Eugenia and her family (Michael and their two groovy kidlets- Mikailah & Dylan) used to live in LA years ago.
Eugenia and I worked on various theatre/live shows together. She directed me in a show at the Actor's Gang in Hollywood and we were 2/3 of the International Kittens- as in Chris Wells & the Highballs featuring the International Kittens. Teehee.
I was Mina the Italian spy and she was Plenty the British one...fun gig.

Anyway, it was so great to reconnect after 7 years!! and to see the idyllic hamlet they are so lucky to live in.
Just 45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge and SF, they live in Fairfax in a great old clapboard house with a Southern style front porch and a garden filled with strawberries, blueberries and herbs- ah yes a gazebo too- in the backyard.
We did a short hike in the adjacent redwood grove before we began grilling. Ah...such a nice time.

We stayed through the long weekend and then left very early to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway on the way back.

Jasper said his goodbyes to Uncle Mike & Aunt Elena...

We had breakfast in Santa Cruz with a fellow due date club pal of mine Emily and her family which included little Adelh born the same week as Jasper.
So cute watching the two of them connect.

Then we got to Monterey and went to the amazing Monterey Aquarium, had a great seafood lunch in Cannery Row of Steinbeck's fame.
Jasper LOVED the aquarium and was wide awake the whole time there (about 3 hours) which surprised me.
He especially liked the jellies, the seahorses and was mesmerized by the fish in general.

We drove down further to dreamy Big Sur where we did a nice nature hike. Matt wore Jasper in our Girasol "Big Sur" wrap which is named in homage of the region.

We stopped off at the Henry Miller Memorial Library which is right in the woods where the road winds through the cliffs.

We hopped back in the car and drove the scenic PCH all the way home only stopping for snacks at Ragged Point and to see some elephant seals who were napping on the beach.

A wonderful trip and have to say this year has been the best yet.

The full set of photos and videos are up on my Flickr page...lots more to see!

1st trip

We went up to Yosemite for a long weekend the end of April. Matt was a speaker at the California Trails Conference and it was our first getaway with Jasper.

We stayed at Tenaya Lodge for a few nights and then at Wowona tent camping alongside the rushing river. Jasper was a real champ as the temps dropped to near freezing and we cuddled together to keep warm.

We had the best time, discovered that Jasper loves the outdoors as much as we do, saw a bobcat and some gorgeous does too. He had a perma grin the whole time as we hiked up to a waterfall.

 
I got to nurse him under an amazing tree and also next to a waterfall. That was pretty dreamy.

We were able to keep it green with the diapering even in the wild- we always use cotton prefolds and wool covers normally with the occasional bamboo Goodmama fitted diaper- and so this was a first for us to depart from that routine.

We did G Diapers which worked fine for the most part. They have a cotton outer, a nylon liner and then an insert which is like a thicker maxi pad. I would not ever use these on a regular basis but for travel, they are a good choice for us.

Unlike disposables, they biodegrade and can be flushed, composted or thrown in the trash. They did leak (our first ever nighttime leak) the first night at the lodge requiring the sheets to be changed. Made us miss our cloth diapers and we did cloth the rest of the trip for overnight and just toted the wet dipes home (he still did all his poops on the toilet even on the trip! Yay!) but yes, he did look cute in the G's and no rash from wearing them...

We made good use of our brand new limited edition cashmere Didymos Indio wrap. Oh boy, is this wrap ever nice and he loves it too...

Oh yes, we even had a nice snow storm we went through the same day we went swimming.

 That is the beauty of Yosemite...such dramatic weather changes from moment to moment.
The air is amazing up there and it truly is a magical part of the world.
We just love it and that is an understatement.

Jasper asleep in the tent...

We spent our first summer up in the Sierras right by Yosemite when we fell in love, then returned last winter and was there skiing when we found out we were having a baby, got married up there last May and did a Yosemite hike the day before the wedding with our close pals and family, had a babymoon in September just before Jasper was born so for us to have his very first getaway be up here was very special for our family.

I feel blessed.

 

All three of us have the distinction of having our Venus in Scorpio which means we all enjoy the same things and like to be together doing things and having fun. So far, this is proving to be true. Pretty cool.

I mean look at this smile...he did not stop grinning...

The rest of the set is on my FLICKR page along with other videos too.

Babyface

Just some snaps I took the other day of Jasper...

Jasper swims to mama underwater

Happy Easter Y'all!

I know I haven't been the best about blogging regularly.
I do have heaps and heaps to upload when I get a chance.
For now, here is our family a la Easter collage...

We did a fabulous yet relaxed family photo shoot at home and in our local park we take walks in with Amber Katrina.
If you live in LA, she is amazing to work with and we can't recommend her enough. We loved her and the moments she captured.
Jasper was then 4 1/2 months old. He will be 6 months old next week!

The rest of the set is here

She also made us coffee table books with silk pages to give to Jasper's grandparents. We got them yesterday and they are gorgeous.
I will take pictures of them to share when I get a chance.

Have a great Easter Sunday everyone! Be sure to eat lots of Peeps.