Recently we joined Vida & Dallas on a family strawberry picking adventure. We met at Swanton Berry Farm near Pescadero, along the California coast. We spent about an hour picking (and taking nibble bites!!) and then went back to the farm stand to pay for our goodies. It's a really sweet farm: organic strawberries and union labor! Pints of strawberries are $2.50 each. Here are a few photos from our foggy afternoon.
My son & husband both LOVE LEGOS. When I saw this project on Pinterest, I knew we could create something similar and fun in about 20 minutes. I had the boy round up some legos while I got the paper and watercolors. Easy setup and there was a big pool that made clean up fun! Everything got tossed into the pool, including the paint. Then there was a "digging for gold" (digging for Legos) party later. Everything was pretty awesome. It was so neat to see what shape each of the Lego pieces made on the paper. The double horseshoe/U is from the Lego people feet. And the bottom of palm tree created a nice circle.
And just in case handmade lego stamp artwork wasn't enough, we gave Chris an Oaklandish shirt- the one with the cranes that inspired the AT-AT Walkers from Star Wars. We love you, Daddy!
What did y'all do for Father's Day?
I've been a staff photographer for Strawberry Music Festival since I was 16 and it's basically the raddest job ever. I wander around for 4 days listening to great music, eating cool food, and meeting wonderful people! It's a rare chance to unplug from the phone, internet, and the outside world and just enjoy the space I'm in. It's easy to unwind when you're this close to Yosemite and camped out among the stars and nighttime jams. This Spring Fest was no exception. Thursday it was warm enough for swimming and on Friday it snowed. Saturday was cold and dreary and by Sunday, the warm sunshine was back and there were smiles all around. Musical highlights were the Wheeler Brothers, Robert Earl Keen, Alison Krauss and Union Station and Sarah and The Tall Boys. My son enjoyed the Wheeler Brother and Alison Krauss the most; his favorite cd is the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and so we kept him up late to see Alison Krauss perform.
It's been nice to experience Strawberry over the ages. I've been coming to Strawberry since I was 12 and have made wonderful friends over the years. I went from making kid crafts to teen dances, drinking too much, and kissing boys. From sleeping just a little to sleeping a lot. Now I'm bringing my husband and 3 year old son and am thoroughly enjoying watching them experience Strawberry. It's so nice to know that my son will also grow up as a Strawberry kid, respecting the earth, good music, and kind people.
The festival was dedicated to our dear friend Denise Kerner, whom we lost unexpectedly in April.
Here are my top photo picks from the Memorial Day Snowberry. Have you been? What is your favorite part about it?? If you haven't been, there's another festival in September, over Labor Day weekend.
Right now, my sweet husband is presumably reading stories to our 3 year boy while I sit in a coffee shop to hammer out some work. He's basically and absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me. He's kind and honest, devastatingly handsome, and does the dishes & laundry (he's actually way tidier than I am- what a find!!).
We recently celebrated our 3 year anniversary (I'll save you the math… we got married after our son was born) and he surprised me with the coolest anniversary present: yellow leather shoes from Camper. 3rd anniversaries are celebrated with leather gifts. Full list of traditional & modern anniversary gift can be found here. Note: the modern ones seem full-on ridiculous to me (diamonds are suggested on the 10th anniversary on the modern list, compared to 60th anniversary on the traditional list).
Aren't these shoes rad?! He picked them out himself, because he's smart & stylish, too. I love them to pieces and our son calls them my "fancy shoes." Here are a few photos of them.
Chris, I hope the boy goes to bed without giving you any gruff. Thanks for letting me have a little evening escape. You rule. I'll be home shortly.
