Sunny San Diego

San Diego! Emily has been house-sitting/dog-sitting for a family she knows in a little beach town just outside of San Diego here and there, and for this time she invited me to join along with her. We haven't seen each other in a year and a half, which is crazy - how did that happen? (we live across the country from each other, i guess). Anyhow, it's been such a great time to spend with her - time on the beach, shopping, biking around Coronado Island, and chilling out at the house with the two lovable golden retrievers - Kobe and Owen. The weather has been great - low 70's the first few days, and mid-60's the last two days.

Here is the beautiful hotel Del Coronado - I've been here before, and love visiting this place every time. (all these pictures are Emily's, from her awesome Canon camera)

Biking was a great way to spend the afternoon here.

This chandelier was in the lobby of the hotel - love it!

This is Owen - so rambunctious and lovable!

And this here is Kobe - much more relaxed than Owen, and a super sweet dog. I've decided I'd love to get one of these dogs, as soon as I have a yard, a mud-room, and a kid old enough to take it for walks. Might be a few years!

Kobe

Owen

Surprises

I think it would be fair to say that this last month or so has been somewhat difficult for a variety of reasons, and I've been anxiously awaiting spring to move into a new phase of life. Well, it's currently 40 degrees outside and dumping sheets of rain, but there have been some sweet surprises in the last week to tied me over until I can wear shorts and flip-flops.

After two crazy weeks of mid-terms, French compositions, and cranking out job applications, I decided I needed a night to myself to completely relax and unwind. And what do you know, but I come home to a beautiful bouquet of tulips, the next Harry Potter movie I've been wanting to watch, movie snacks, and a sweet note from my adorable, precious (and yet 0h-so-manly) husband James. Thanks love!

And then, a few days later, we received an incredible package in the mail from the Rienstra family - our St. Patrick's Day package. James looks forward to a St. Patrick's Day package for months before St. Patrick's Day, and it was no less true this year. Check out all these green goods!

James was thrilled with his loot, and he even shared some of his black licorice with me. I was also thrilled with this package - thanks family!

NYC with Stevie...

Several weeks ago now, James and I went up for a day in the city with Steve. Despite frigid temps, we still managed to cover a lot of ground. Steve took us to his favorite cafe in the lower West Side for brunch, Cornelia Street Cafe. After a nice, leisurely breakfast we took off for the Modern of Museum Art (MOMA). Neither James nor I had ever been there before (it's hard to pull yourself away from the MET), so it was fun to see what the MOMA had to offer. We have to admit - not as big of fans of modern art. Some of the pieces are quite incredible. And then you see exhibits full of things like yogurt containers and a deflated soccer ball. And there is supposed to be beauty in the "everydayness" of these things. Maybe it wasn't as thrilling to me because I eat yogurt every day. But c'est la vie!

Not really sure what this was, but there was a huge line of people waiting to get into this thing. We passed over it....

View from the Museum window:

One of VanGogh's lesser known paintings, but I really love the colors and the whimsy of this painting. (you could probably say that about every VanGogh painting, right?)

Princeton Snow Shoot

Well, folks, the snow continues to fall on the Eastern Snow Board. Although at this point in the year, I'm no longer stoked for blizzards and snowmen. I'm just plain ready for spring, and flowers, and warmth. But mother nature always gets her way, and so I decided to join forces with her rather than fight her last Friday. We had a snow day, classes cancelled, but the roads actually turned out to be quite clear by the early afternoon. So I took off for Princeton's campus to get a few shots of the beautiful buildings blanketed in winter white. This is probably one of my favorite things about classes - the walks to and from each class. Given my life-long love of architecture, this place makes a girl's heart really swoon!

So here are some of my snow day shots; there is a lot of them because I don't have time or energy to edit right now. Guess we're going for quantity over quality right now...Enjoy!

Princeton University Chapel. This is where James and I will have our graduation ceremony this May.

E.ast Pyne - This is the building in which I narrowly make it through French each day.

Another shot of E. Pyne.

The Clock Tower.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Despite the frigid temps (yes, it's currently 25 degrees) and massive blizzards, we've been staying warm and cozy and I've managed to find enough time for some fun Valentine's Day projects. For several years now I have loved making home-made Valentine's cards; there is something so perfectly Victorian about them. Perhaps it stems from the Meet Samantha book in which Samantha makes all those lovely cards with the lace doilies. In any case, it is one of my favorite things to do. (And for those of you who can spot your card in this photo, yes, they are coming to you a little late. Just trying to prolong the love for you!) I made this banner above by cutting out various pieces of red fabrics, and hot glueing them to a cream satin ribbon.

These fun pinwheels are a project I did before Christmas, but with all the snow and red being the official color of Valentine's Day, I've just left them up. I found the directions for these pinwheels on the Paper Source website, and they are super fun and easy to make for any party.

Last weekend, James and I hosted a big Superbowl party at our house, and since it was only a week before Valentine's Day I decided to throw in some V-day treats. (No, James didn't sanction the fusing of V-day and football; I just figured the person who plans most of the food around here has the right to do whatever they want with snacks!) These drinks below are called "Magic Juice" and consist of fruit infused gin poured over ice and lemonade. The recipe is found here on Design Sponge.

And these were my Valentine's attempt at Cake Pops. If you look at Bakerella's website, you'll find tons of fun and creative ideas for Cake Pops. I particularly loved watching all the boys holding their cake pops on a stick while yelling at the football game - something delightfully childish about it!

And here are some shots of our friends hanging out at the party - James and I are so blessed to have such wonderful friends filling our lives!

Eastern Snow Board

It's been pretty cold out here on the Eastern Snow Board the last few weeks. In fact, most mornings that I've checked our handy weather station (thanks Curtie!) it's been in the mid to high teens. For a mild Washingtonian that is mighty cold! It doesn't really thrill me to walk outside and have my cheeks immediately feel prickled by 'ol Jack Frost, so if it's going to be this cold my philosophy is: bring on the snow, baby! Given that I'm still a grad student, there is still that thrill of checking your school websites to see if classes have been canceled for the day. And sure enough, both the Seminary and University classes were closed for this Eastern-style blizzard. Yipppeee!!! That meant James and I had a lovely brunch with some friends this morning, hung out with our computers in bed, and went for a lively snow walk on the canal path behind our apartments. I say the walk was "lively" because the snow was actually pelting us in our faces from the icy wind, and little branches were breaking off from the weight of the snow in the trees. There was even some thunder in the mix. Has anyone ever heard of a thunderstorm in the middle of a blizzard? Weird. Anyhow, I tried to take some pics to capture the beauty and wonder of the snow around our house, but the rapidly falling snow made that pretty hard. Here are a few of the best ones:

This image makes me think of a "snow ballet." What is a snow ballet? not really sure, except that trees become so graceful and elegant in the snow it becomes a magical dance.

James tried to dig our car out so we could go to work, less than 1 mile away. But our car wouldn't budge.

I'm not sure if you can picture the sheer size of this snowman from this picture. but believe me, it was massive! you can see that the snowman's head reaches almost to the second floor level of the apartment building.

This is the view from our living room window - quite lovely.