scenic view

just a little walk
around the neighborhood.

gibberish

creating this was more difficult
than you might assume.

cabin

i love this cabin.
and i love this view of the mountains.
there are few things
i would rather see when i wake up.

estes park

annie and i took another little trip
up to her family's cabin in estes.
we spent the afternoon sitting in this coffee shop
beside the river
reading harry potter,
drawing,
etc.

alice

it was so much fun to have alice

and her mama

at my house for a visit.

isn't she just the cutest?

fan

dear little fan that could,

on a 95-degree day,

you're my favorite.

craft night

sarah and i decided to be creative again.

this time, instead of melting crayons,

we made collages while listening to lauryn hill.

yeah, i know. weird.

they're not quite finished.

here's part of mine.

eat, pray, love

okay, so who wants to pay me

to travel the world for a year

so i can eat a lot in italy,

pray in india,

and fall in love in bali?

letters

it's easy to make my day;

just send me a letter.

salt

this building used to be the morgue.

then it was probably something else.

eventually, it was tom's tavern.

tom died, so now it's salt,

which is an overpriced, yet delicious,

farm-to-table restaurant.

they have a great bar in their basement.

it has a secretive, prohibition-esque feel to it.

tonight we created our own cocktails.

mine contained bourbon and lavender.

yum.

waterloo

gregory and friends

played a show at the waterloo.

we enjoyed the music

and so did the 50-year-old drunk couple

in front of us.

so much entertainment.

willow

outdoor movie night at the lois house!

yup, that's willow

under the almost-full moon.

ha ha hut

when i was a little girl,

i loved to pretend to be

a teacher,

a mother,

a hairstylist (that one got me into a lot of trouble),

etc.

tonight, at age 29, i did the same thing,

but this time,

i pretended to be at a comedy club.

my friend greg was the host,

johann was the house band,

several of us were the openers,

and ilan was the featured comedian.

greg's living room was transformed into the "ha ha hut."

amazing, really.

fortunately, the comedy was real, and we all laughed a lot.

my opening joke:

when is the best time to visit the dentist?

2:30.

get it?

tooth hurty.

thanks, laffy taffy.

art and a speakeasy

(the brothers isakov)

(sarah and our wax art)

sarah and i decided we should have a craft night.

basically, we melted crayons over tea lights

and smeared the wax on canvases.

it's surprisingly therapeutic.

everyone should try it sometime.

once we finished creating these masterpieces,

we went to the speakeasy

and watched the brothers isakov (pictured here)

and some of our other uber-talented friends

play some beautiful songs.

such a good night!

i pretty much adore my friends.

ready!

finally, the tomatoes are ready to be harvested

and eaten!

so delicious!

spaghetti

sometimes a plate of spaghetti is the only thing

that can bring me comfort at the end of a long day.

mead

annie introduced me to mead

while we were at the folks fest.

it's amazing and perfect for summer.

too bad i just discovered it in august . . .

folks fest day 2

i love folks fest.

i really, really love it.

amazing, talented artists play music on the main stage,

children run around and tube down the st. vrain river,

and local breweries and restaurants serve food to the festivarians,

who all seem to be the most laid-back, fun people you'll ever meet.

i'm already looking forward to next year.

folks fest

by this point, you've probably realized

that some of my photos are a bit lame.

sometimes i forget to take photos until midnight.

sometimes nothing happens in a day

that is worthy of being eternally captured.

on this particular day, i forgot to get out my camera

until it was way too dark--

but the subject was certainly a good one.

so here you have an "interpretive/artistic"

photo of ani difranco playing at the folks fest.

sorry, ani.

you deserve better than this.

perseids

i try to go to sleep earlier than 1:35 a.m.

on thursday nights,

but on this particular august evening,

i stayed up to see

the perseids meteor shower

i know what you're thinking:

nerd.

but that's okay.

this year, i left my house around 11:00

and drove out into the middle of nowhere.

surprisingly, once i arrived at my "deserted" location,

i found that 10-15 strangers also had the same idea.

we all watched in silence as meteors zoomed across the dark sky

in all different directions.

i fought the urge to cheer every time i saw one.

instead, i tried to focus on the beauty in the chaos--

or at least what appeared to be chaos to my

meager human eye.

edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros

first of all, this guy's name is not edward sharpe;

it's alex ebert.

edward sharpe (created by alex)

is a fictional messianic character

who came to earth to save mankind

but continuously veered from his chosen path

because he kept falling in love with various women

or something like that.

whatever.

the show was fun,

even if i did feel a bit like

i was being entertained by a cult leader.

kidding.

kind of.

they have some great songs.

you've probably heard one of them--

perhaps here.

and if you haven't,

listen to "home" immediately.

p.s. happy 7th birthday to my nephew, corbin!

sleep

and when i returned,

all i wanted to do was

be right here.

japanese tea garden

on monday morning, we got crepes at squat & gobble

in the haight.

so delicious!

we then walked across golden gate park

and ended up at

the japanese tea garden.

buddha

good advice

i'm not sure how they acquired these trees

that the dwarves collected.

beautiful

some fake japanese geese

a hop-scotch!

after wandering the gardens,

we drank some delicious tea.

and on to san francisco . . .

the fog in san francisco truly is unbelievable.

these photos were taken around 2:00 p.m.

i always have a sneaking suspicion

that they pump it in

just for the tourists.

stef was tired of driving,

as she had just held our precious lives

in her hands,

as she hugged tight corners

around gigantic cliffs

that dropped off into the ocean,

so she offered the wheel to the rest of us.

annie bravely volunteered--

on lombard st.

if you've been to san fran,

you know just how heroic this was of her.

as you wait to go up the street,

you must keep both feet on both pedals,

or you will inevitably roll into

approximately 50 cars behind you.

terrifying.

and then we went down,

which is way more fun than going up.

here you see the bay--

the golden gate bridge,

alcatraz, etc.

take note of the curves.

i'm always a little startled to find that

alcatraz sits so close to the city.

there it is, lurking in the bay,

just at the end of this street.

weird.

after dropping off our car

and checking into the hotel,

we went to the haight/ashbury district,

which is known as the hippie part of town.

it's where we boulderites feel most at home.

however, i felt very uncomfortable in this store,

loved to death.

i can't even begin to describe what we found in there.

so disturbing.

(shauna in front of the red victorian)

after walking around for a bit,

we found a nice little coffee shop

and played speed scrabble for a bit.

the locals were very curious about this "new game"

we had created.

also, annie read some poetry.

we then went back to the hotel

where annie & shauna had a little dance party.

on our way to dinner, we stopped by the pier to see the seals.

at first, they seemed cute,

then we smelled them,

and then we watched them a little more closely,

and eventually came to the conclusion

that they are disgusting.

our dinner was lovely.

niles suggested a fantastic italian restaurant

in the marina district.

we all (particularly annie)

were slightly annoyed that we were unable

to take one sip of water

without the water boy filling it right back up again.

annie voiced her frustration

by drawing this cute little girl,

who begged them to end the refills.

napa to the coast

(due to my indecisiveness regarding which photos to post,

this day gets two separate entries.)

we woke up early, checked out of hotel,

grabbed some coffee and groceries for a picnic on the beach,

and headed westward.

somehow, in northern california,

it can be both clear and foggy,

all at once.

this is the second time i've traveled these roads,

and i have to say,

i don't think i'll ever grow weary of

the perfect little farmhouses,

the tuscan-esque landscape,

the enchanting scent of the redwoods,

and eventually, the rejuvenating ocean air.

after a long, winding drive,

we arrived at stinson beach,

turned off the sad-bastard songs,

put on our jackets,

and headed out to stick our feet

in the cold ocean water.

we were freezing, but we were happy.

the wind, the mist, and the fog

made the ocean seem a little more daunting,

and our hair a lot less pretty.

(self-portrait fail)

shauna left her mark on the beach.

we laughed, drank sand-infused wine, ate bread

(a communion of sorts),

and tried to pretend it was 20 degrees warmer,

as we enjoyed a picnic on the beach.

annie went for a little jog.

i love colorado,

but there are times i wish we weren't so landlocked.

until next year, ocean,

i'll be missing you.