three years.

Today marks three years of marriage to the man I love. When I've taken a still moment this week to reflect on these first few years of being married I've been filled with warmth, gratitude, and a safe sense of belonging. I feel proud of the person he is and how faithfully he's lived out his vows. I feel smiley at the hundreds of occasions that exist where he has made me laugh really freaking hard. I feel excitement for the chapters, homes, adventures, growth, and children (Lord willing) that await us in the years ahead.

I can never quite figure out how to do justice in writing to the swollen sense of happiness I have in our marriage. Simply said, I really love doing life with Finn. I'm deeply thankful for the friendship, trust, grace, and home we've built with each other in these first years. It just keeps getting better and better.

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for pedro.

Our dear friend Mckay* has been working on this project for the past year. 

They have raised nearly a third of the funding needed in just 24 hours; I have no doubt they'll exceed their financial goal. If you'd like to be a part of the giving, go here. Just $1.15 buys a chicken! I feel so excited for this man's life and how greatly it will be changed by the goodness and generosity of others. Get on board if you can!

*fun fact: Mckay played the guitar as I walked down the aisle! We love him dearly.

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summertime hello.

A few fun things from around the web!

1. What it costs to eat at every 3-star Michelin restaurant in the world.

2. Genius Picnic Bag on my wish list. 

3. Consider this yet another reason I dream of being gal pals with Kristen Wiig. 

4. Can't wait to visit the giants in Mariposa Grove with my parents this weekend!

5. Grown men reenact conversations with a toddler. 

6. Rent in SF is actually the worst. 

7. Lowland Hum plays at the Garage. Their album Native Air will be available two weeks from today. I already have it and man is it good.

8. I will be playing on this beach in Costa Rica with my handsome husband love in just 2 weeks! 

Hope everyone is having a full and happy summer : )

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and the answer is....

. . . . . .

Dubai!

How exciting is that?! We are thrilled and can't wait to fly Saturday morning. Finn's co-founder and sales exec will be joining us Sunday and we'll all spend a week there. I can't believe it. Also, tomorrow is my birthday so this surprise adventure came at quite the opportune time. It's funny that the same thing kind of happened last year too. Thanks for the comments and sweet text messages - I'll be sure to share photos!

. . .

back with a surprise...

Hello wonderful people,

Mr. Finneran and I have some very exciting news (it's not a baby or a puppy so you can all exhale). Finn just found out he'll be traveling next week for work and (even more exciting) I'll be joining him. This coming Saturday, we will be leaving for a week long trip to one of the destinations below:

     1. Cape Town
     2. Dubai
     3. London
     4. Rio de Janeiro
     5. Oslo
     6. Hong Kong

Please place your votes for where you think we're headed. Then tomorrow, I'll reveal which one is real (because let's face it, building suspense is way more fun than just telling you). 

Whoever guesses correctly gets a postcard from the secret location while we're there! 

. . .

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?)

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i like adoption.

A joyful and moving 6 minutes...

If the embedded version is acting up, you can watch it here.

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lowland hum.

Remember Daniel and Lauren from this post back in June? 

Well, they are up to something new and wonderful:

Please consider gifting them a donation of any size to help with the costs of recording their first joint album. They are two of my dearest friends and I am truly very excited for their new music. I've heard sneak peeks and I'm telling you, it's wonderful. They are magnificent together in marriage and music. 

Visit their KickStarter Page to learn more or donate. 

(And have a look at the awesome/creative/hilarious rewards for their backers on the right side of the page.) 

. . .

snow wall.

Lake Tahoe snow is no joke.

This is my middling attempt at a blog post for the week. Fifty words and a photo of me pointing at (an undeniably impressive) wall of snow. It can only get better from here folks. Thanks for hanging in there.

love, beth

. . .

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.

. . .

a tree, a tree!

Pertinent background information: we don't really have a tree this year. We have a small apartment, no car, and all of our christmas ornaments and decorations are back in NC. So we decided to forego a normal tree for this year and I created a makeshift 2D one, which is basically a paper tree on the wall with some decorations taped on. It's actually pretty pitiful. I'll share pictures of that one later. 

So last night, when Al and Carly came for dinner and brought us a real little tree, I was very excited. I literally hugged it. We decorated it with a single strand of lights and exactly 4 ornaments, all hung with paper clips. They brought us a pretty mistletoe arrangement too, which that sweet Carly put together herself. Their Christmas additions to our apartment have made it feel so much more cheery. I'm really thankful for those two.

I love my little tree so much that I've been moving it from room to room based on wherever I'm hanging out. The perks of having a teeny tree!

. . .

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.

. . .

farewell movember!

Today is the last day of Movember. Finn has been growing out a scraggly moustache all month so I feel that today calls for some celebration, at least for my sake. The whole affair would be less repugnant if the moustache could be joined by a beard but the rules don't allow that. Just a lone, squalid moustache. And tomorrow it all comes off. Away with you unsightly (though comedic) facial hair! See you next year!

The moustached members of the SF TwitSpark office. 

The cartoony one is Tandy, who is female.

. . .

a sword & some bear spray: how to catch a thief.

San Francisco resident Sonya Yoo took matters into her own hands earlier this week after several packages were stolen from her front porch in Noe Valley. Setting a "bait" package this past Thursday, she waited for the perpetrator to show. When he did just 30 minutes later, Yoo doused him with bear spray, then chased him down with a bokken (Japanese wooden sword). Although the package thief got away, police easily identified him shortly thereafter, as bear spray leaves a bright orange residue on its victim. 

Best of all, Yoo live tweeted the entire fiasco:

Read more tweets and the full article here. 

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Pocket Clothing: 10 Questions & a Special Discount!

Readers of finnfolk, I am pleased to introduce Pocket Clothing.

This Tennessee based clothing company takes cozy staples and customizes them with awesome pockets made from upcycled fabrics. They sew each pocket with love themselves and have everything from tanks and totes to hoodies and onesies for little ones. You choose your clothing, pick your pocket, and it's as easy as that! I have one of their henleys and love it (see below). Their top-notch clothes are starting to make their way into boutiques (and people's hearts, obviously). Best of all, they are really great people!

The stately gentlemen pictured above are founders and pocketeers, 

Luke Rutherford and Evan Story. Get to know them below!

________________________________

1. Describe your company in a sentence.
Luke: Limited quantities of fabric meets unlimited opportunity for joy.
Evan: Life's better with a pocket.

2. Where are you based / Where do you make your products?
Luke: We are in Knoxville, TN, and everything is handmade there. Locally owned, locally sewn baby!

Evan: Our base of operations in a wonderful place called the Pocket Lab located in a secret locaiton in Knoxville. We spent many hours in the lab experimenting on new creations and planning out next adventures.

3. Where do you find your awesome fabrics?
Luke: We get our fabrics everywhere! Currently, we've gathered pockets from Tennesssee, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Colarado and we're constantly searching. Our fabrics come from thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, your grandmothers attic (those are the  hardest to get) - anything goes. Going on fabric hunts is something I enjoy the most about working on Pocket Clothing.

We use the conecpt of upcylcing these fabrics by giving them value once again as pockets on our shirts. Some fabrics can make 50 pockets, and some could only make 2, giving it the limited edition aspect to get one while it's still in stock. I would say that's the biggest appeal to our product - you could be one of only a few, if not the only one with the exact shirt and pocket combination in the UNIVERSE!

4. How was the concept for Pocket Clothing born?

Evan: The concept was born out of many late night talks from mega bed - a fusion of three queen sized beds into one large mega bed. We both wanted to create things other people would want.
Luke: One day after class, I showed up to the house with a 80s neon wallet from a thrift store - pretty normal. That lead to a conversation about the idea of creating apparel that people would enjoy as much as we would. Most likely we were watching an episode of Boy Meets World, which would have only benefited to our creativity. Once we started making shirts, we got some great feedback and knew others would want in on the pocket mayhem.

5. The company is now over a year old. Any big takeaways or important lessons learned from your first year of business?
Evan: The biggest part of doing big things is executing. Finishing. We have so many ideas all the time, but actually doing something with them is the challenge. Finishing the small things leads to finishing big things. Also. Starting our own company was the coolest thing we've ever done! I recommend this to everyone.

6. What's your favorite part about being an entrepreneur?
Luke: I love that we are able to create something that people seem to enjoy and want to be a part of. We said from the beginning that if we just saw a couple of people wearing our shirts on campus then it would be a success. It never gets old for us to see someone wearing a shirt, or to see a picture on Instagram of someone who just recieved their order and are pumped about their Pocket. It's the most encouraging aspect. That's probably what I love the most, seeing people wear our shirts because they like them. Insert smiley emoticon. 

7. If there was one celebrity you could pick to wear your clothes, who would it be? (Cartoons and fictional characters obviously fair game).
Evan: Dallas Clayton is first choice. He is a children's book author turned super hero.
Luke: I'm currently watching a show about BigFoot, so I would have to say, BigFoot. I would make him wear a cardigan.

8. Who is the one celebrity you would never want to wear your clothes? (Same rules apply).
Evan: I would never let Nickleback wear it.
Luke: The guy who created Myspace.

9. What's the next frontier for Pocket Clothing? Please say footie pajamas.
Luke: I can't say exactly what's next, but all I'll say is that no (real) animals will be harmed in the process.

10. Anything you want to say to finnfolk readers?
Evan: Sew hard or go home!
Luke: Don't let cursive handwriting die!

____________________________________________

This is my henley, which I wear all the time. It's their Unisex Baby Thermal Long Sleeve Henley in Asphalt with a Partly Cloudy pocket. It also matches my favorite pillow. 

____________________________

The Pocket Clothing team is generously offering 3 finnfolk readers 25% off their entire order!! This is literally their best deal to date. Be one of the first 3 to place an order and use the code finnfolk at checkout for the discount. 

PLEASE NOTE: the space to enter the code will appear after you enter
 payment information. After 3 people use the code, it will be gone.

UPDATE: all 3 coupons have been used! 


I hope this deal gets some of you amped. I kind of want to cheat and use it myself. 
Thank you Pocket Clothing!


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( You can connect with Pocket Clothing by signing up for their Newsletter on the lower right side of their website. Also check them out Facebook, Twitter, and even Pinterest. They are lots of fun, you won't regret it! )

milestone.

Today is my last day with Lululemon, the yoga clothing company I've been working for over the past few months. I'm transitioning to a new and very exciting job with ZeroCater, an awesome startup in the city that focuses on people and good food (literally two of my favorite things). I'll be working in a people-centric role, which is exactly what I've been looking for and they have an office dog, which is a pretty gigantic bonus in my opinion. Everyone I've met there is intelligent and warm and their office space rules. I start next week!

Kelp, the office dog!

I am thankful for my time with Lululemon. The relationships I made while there have made the city feel so much more like home, which has been invaluable. And this new position actually came as a result of a happenstance conversation and connection with someone at Lululemon. It's crazy how often treasures lay in unexpected places. My timeline of finding a full time position like this did not look at all how I expected (remember this?), but isn't that always how the good things come to us? Not like we imagined at all.

I'm getting my weekends back you guys! Hooray!

. . .

4 things.

1. We were yesterday's Sunday Edition on Snippet and Ink! 

2. Our friends at The Pocket Clothing are offering 20% off today with the code ROBOTISMYMIDDLENAME. You should check them out, I love their stuff. As a little hint, you'll all be getting to know them more later this week. Wink.

3. Thanksgiving was a great success. We had 10 people in our one bedroom apartment with a proper feast. Photos to come soon.

4. These baby foxes!

. . .