life lately in the form of links.

A peek of Alison and Jacob's beautiful wedding

We were backstage at this amazing show!

Celebrated our company launching in NYC with a cruise on bay

Went to Tulipmania - SF people, you should check it out

We took a day trip to this wonderful place last weekend

Made valentines with my work family ps i love my job

and I want this lamp (imagined and created in SF!)

Lastly, I'd like to congratulate Lee and Hannah who adopted a puppy today. 

Ollie, your auntie beth loves you already.

hang out with me on instagram if you'd like!

. . .

going to the chapel.

We are boarding a plane first thing tomorrow morning to head east for Jacob & Alison's wedding. I've been looking forward to this January weekend for months and am so excited it's finally here! Three days filled with celebration, dear friends, thankfulness, toasts, wild dancing, and seeing one of my favorite friends enter into a most beautiful blessing with her Jacob. It's going to be a wonderful weekend. Here we go!

photo by Sarah Der Photography

(PS - remember when Alison asked me to be her bridesmaid?)

. . .

jan 1.

After a 12 day whirlwind of travel, we are back home in our apartment for the first time tonight. We spent a happiest Christmas in North Carolina and New Year's on incredible Lake Tahoe. As 2013 begins, I'm acutely aware of how rich I am. I feel so much thankfulness for the extravagant goodness in my life.

. . .

this thanksgiving.

I loved Thanksgiving this year. We fit 10 people in our little apartment and had quite the feast together. No one at our gathering was from San Francisco, so we were all away from our families and normal traditions. Spending the day in each other's company was wonderful and fun, plus I thoroughly enjoy throwing a little party. Everyone pitched in and brought awesome food. During dinner, people were spread about our apartment - some at the table, some on the sofa, and a few troopers even ate in camping chairs. The meal was superb and after we ate, everyone sat around the living room and talked for hours. Thankfully, the wonderful Carly Mask took some beautiful photos of the evening. Have a look if you'd like!

Cool Things About Our Thanksgiving:

1. My cousin Nick, who I've spent pretty much every Thanksgiving with for my whole life, actually moved to SF this year too. He joined our festivities and while our families ate together back in NC, we spent the day together 3,000 miles away. Life is funny.
2. These friends can cook. Oh my goodness the food was insanely good.
3. A few of our guests were Belgian and this marked their first Thanksgiving ever! Describing the historical conception of Thanksgiving and how it relates to our modern traditions is kind of hard. They had a good time nonetheless. Of all the new foods, they liked the green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole best. 

4. I am so thankful that we have friends to spend a Thanksgiving with. Hallelujah.

. . .

my favorite christmas time video.

I love this rendition of the Christmas Story, narrated by little children. Have you seen it?

( Watch the HD version here )

. . .

for lauren.

Lauren has been my friend for 5 years. When we became instant pals week one of college, she was a spunky, messy-headed, creative, and ambitious individual. And though she absolutely is still all those lovable things (she recently wore a tiger costume to med school, for instance), she has grown by leaps and bounds in these years I've known her. She's less agitated by stress. More comfortable with confrontation. She has grown in wisdom and in the (legitimately difficult) art of letting things go. It really is remarkable to think of all the ways she's become more herself since I've known her. Seeing her life filled with more grace, humor, and honesty makes me happy. That girl is alive. Even from 3,000 miles away, she is a thoughtful and faithful friend and I'm happy to count her among my closest comrades. 

Happy Birthday Lauren. 2013 is gonna be your year.

. . .

my second brother's birthday.

Happy Birthday Matthew.

Today is Matthew's birthday. He is my sister's husband and was the first spouse / extra sibling to be added to our family when they were married 3 years ago. He has become such a part of our family that now when I envision holidays in my head, he is always in the room. He's the type of impressive individual who knows something about everything but can also listen as well as he can teach. He can build just about anything, knows how to make bullets, is kind to children, gentle with animals, and loves my sister very well. He's a man of his word and a gentleman through and through. I wish I lived near him, I know he would take me canoeing or teach me why I don't need to be afraid of snakes. We love you Matthew, Happy Birthday!

. . .

lake tahoe: 3/3

Aside from our drive around the lake, an evening at the movies (seeing Wreck-It Ralph), and a fancy dinner date, not much was planned or scheduled for our time away. We tried to see the sunset every night and other than that, our days were wide open for time on the porch and hanging out by the fire. We spent time talking about all that's come to be since our last anniversary (quite a lot we realized) and wondering what might change by next year. Life with Finn is an unknowable adventure. I love it. I look forward to our anniversary trips down the line and all the changes and refinement that will happen in the years between them.

Sidenotes:

1. Sadly we did not see a bear, though I certainly tried.

2. Is that pinecone impressive or what?

3. The house we stayed in was amazing. A friend of TwitSpark lent us his vacation home for the weekend and it was ballin, for lack of better words. Leather sofas, a huge bathtub, a TV (!!!), and a king sized bed! Their living room and kitchen were easily bigger than our whole apartment. If this house hadn't been lent to us, our trip to Tahoe probably wouldn't have happened so we are very thankful. I hereby declare that if we ever have a vacation home, we will lend it to young couples to pay it forward. 

. . .

lake tahoe: 2/3

We spent one of our days driving the entire way around Lake Tahoe, which takes about 3 hours. My most favorite of all our various stops was the beautiful Emerald Bay. It's known for its vibrant colors and it has the only island in all of Lake Tahoe, in case you were wondering.

We had lunch high above the bay on some sunny boulders and although we just had bread, jam, and BBQ chips, I felt like a king! What a view. After lunch, we hiked down a windy trail to the edge of the water so we could see its "emerald" color up close. I think we stayed down there for an hour and a half, just looking around. It's of the most naturally beautiful places I've ever been. 

Several people warned us about the steep hike back up the trail but it turns out that San Francisco hills have basically made American Gladiators out of our lungs and we strolled up casually and actually had a conversation the whole way up. We felt very proud of ourselves at the top - the grueling SF landscape has apparently paid off.

. . .

lake tahoe: 1/3

Our anniversary trip in Lake Tahoe was the best. We spent 3 nights away in an area called Incline Village on the northeast side of the lake. It was our first California excursion since living here and spending a few days out the city was refreshing and fun. I love nature and miss its presence in our city life. Getting away for weekend trips is more of a challenge since we don't have a car and our generous friend Jeff was kind enough to lend us his for the whole weekend. Thank you Jeff! Our time away was filled with relaxing by the fire, watching sunsets, playing frisbee, napping (that one was mainly me), and generally enjoying the incredible natural beauty by being outside. The whole weekend felt like one giant exhale and I'm so thankful we were able to visit, especially at such a beautiful time of year.

There was a also a very nice frisbee golf course (what providence!) half a mile from our house so we played a few times over the weekend. I wish I could say I totally smoked my competition, but that would be a bold lie.

It turns out my frisbee skills have diminished over the past few years. This kept happening....dang bushes.

On one hole, I temporarily got my act together and we tied. Our reactions are pretty telling.

More photos coming soon!

. . .

the anniversary trip.

We're going away to Lake Tahoe this weekend to celebrate our second anniversary. I can't wait! When we got married, we decided that we'd try to take a trip every year for our anniversary, even if it's little.

For last year's anniversary, we biked the Virginia Creeper Trail in Damascus, Virginia. It's one of our favorite trips we've ever taken. We stayed in an old bed and breakfast on the river and had the best time biking down the trail. It's 34 miles long and slightly downhill the whole way. We stopped at different pastures and bridges to explore and ate hotdogs for lunch at a stand along the way. Although the changing leaves make October the most popular month to go, the trail didn't feel too overcrowded. It was all cinematically beautiful. We had such a nice time.

And as real life often goes, there are some funny mishaps to share too:

1) We went to see a play on our non-biking day and it was terrible. 

2) On day 2 I went down the creaky stairs to the kitchen in the middle of the night and there was a man in there. In the dark. That's like a female-imagination-worst-nightmare come true. Turns out it was the owner's hooligan grandson who stops in to take food. Still, it scared me so bad.

3) When we took the shuttle to the top of the mountain to bike, I decided we should sit in the back of the van because "it would be more swervy and fun". I then got super carsick and almost threw up. When we finally got out of the van, I had to lay in the grass for half an hour before we could start biking. Finn loves this story.

I'm really looking forward to this year's trip. Neither of us have been to Lake Tahoe and don't know what to expect. It will all be a surprise! I'm mainly excited to spend a whole weekend with Finn, ride in a car, eat s'mores, and see lots of trees. Everything else will be extra goodness.

. . .

P.S. - This was during my Katniss stage, which explains the second picture down.

when the giants won.

Last night the SF Giants won the World Series! They managed to totally sweep the Detroit Tigers, winning 4 games in a row. Go Giants! Finn and I were sitting on the steps of a cathedral at the top of Nob Hill when the game ended and could hear the whole city celebrating. Cabbies honking their horns, people fist pumping and cheering on the street, and within a few minutes fireworks were going off.

This is where we were sitting:

And this was our view:

As you can tell, the fog was super dense so we couldn't actually see any fireworks. We still had fun listening to all the ruckus. Even when we went to bed a few hours later, people were still celebrating outside. One of my favorite parts of this whole Giants craze is that the entire city is decked out in black and orange. I am just pretending everyone is super excited for Halloween.

. . .

happy anniversary robin & matthew!

Today marks 3 years of marriage for my sister and her husband. And yes, that means I got married on their 1 year anniversary weekend (typical little sister move). Their wedding was incredibly beautiful and took place in a clearing of the woods in the late afternoon. Everyone sat on church pews and hay bales under the giant turning oaks and the sunlight filtered through the leaves perfectly. Since it was tucked away in the woods, the whole ceremony had an exciting feeling, like it was a little secret. It was such a fun day.

I love them for each other. In addition to having the ability to easily propel each other into a hilarious state of silliness, they are each two of the most caring, thoughtful, and serving individuals I know. I look up to them both for their intentionality in life and marriage. They are wise souls and I often fantasize about the day we live within driving distance and can take a walk in the woods or stay up late talking in the kitchen. Those will be rich times. Happy anniversary lovebirds, enjoy your day!

. . .

i am thankful for this marriage.

It was two years ago today that I married my dear husband. We stood in my parents' back yard on a most gorgeous fall day and at 4:30, with a small gathering of our closest family and friends looking on, we promised to stand by each other for the rest of our years. I feel such thankfulness to have been gifted such a wonderful man as my companion and these first two years have been deeply good. Seriously, I love it.  

Finn is in NYC this week for work and although we won't get to spend today together, we have fun plans to celebrate with a weekend away when he returns home. I can't wait! Let it be known that I love my life and I really love that man. Here's to years and years more of sharing life and belonging to each other. It's the best.

. . .