tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317324642024-10-24T20:08:11.001-07:00Everyday discoveries and tid-bits from northern California.Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-56286272400071691162009-04-26T12:41:00.001-07:002009-04-26T12:59:24.300-07:00

Yes, I know. Earth day was on Wednesday 4/22 but with all running around (mostly on Bart, if you're wondering) I haven't had a chance to write about it. I tried writing a post via my new cell phone while on the train only to lose it by hitting the wrong key.So Earth day. I got a ride to the station (which happens everyday I go into the city), but this time after walking through the ticket gate

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-69105733641640662292009-04-19T13:54:00.000-07:002009-04-20T22:18:55.678-07:00

So last week when walking down Market Street to get a tea latte at Coffee Bean (thanks to my brother for introducing me to them) in downtown San Francisco, my friend and I walked by a young girl sitting on the sidewalk with a cardboard sign that read something like, "Ran out money while traveling. Please help."I noticed the sign briefly but what grabbed my attention was the way she looked. A pair

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-3730134190781876552009-03-27T09:52:00.001-07:002009-03-27T09:56:20.482-07:00

I saw this sign last week while walking through Berkeley. I'm just wondering how closing a location is deemed as serving customers better. Anyone care to explain?

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-59654979682542970102009-03-27T09:32:00.000-07:002009-03-27T09:49:03.904-07:00

How come trying to organize items the way they once were (before you packed them away in cardboard boxes and moved them to two other locations before returning to the original starting point) never fit the same way?It's not as if the item has magically expanded (like just ad water) and now takes up more room in the closet or that the cups had babies when you weren't paying attention. I know we

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-77017973290080186752009-03-10T22:08:00.000-07:002009-03-27T09:32:16.071-07:00

The joys of painting... pick a color while trying to remember the tone of the couch cushions and the counter top plus the blue wall that was painted two years ago and you haven't looked at it in a year. Yes, picking paint colors can be fun.We are in the processing of moving, yes again, across the street. I know it seems silly but we're actually moving into our old place (from which we once

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-39577679249403216182009-02-20T16:05:00.000-08:002009-03-10T22:08:29.966-07:00

Have you ever looked around your home, or someone elses' and started taking pictures of anything laying about? Well, yesterday I had the pleasure to hang out with a new photo friend, Tiffany Fong. She has a lovely home in the east bay. And after a morning filled with exciting photography talk, I felt compelled to finally take out my camera and snap a few pictures. Then in post production I

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-24152034116367213262009-02-20T15:40:00.001-08:002009-02-20T16:05:24.366-08:00

Have you ever been the track? Where the horses race? In the rain?Well, I've been to the track, where horses run but never in the down pour we experience over the weekend. While our friend had never been to the races and had asked if we'd go with her. So despite the rain we headed out.During the race season at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, every Sunday is dollar day. Meaning parking is a dollar,

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-15466887511361522292009-02-15T15:34:00.000-08:002009-02-20T15:39:57.381-08:00

We did Valentine day like we usually do...there's cards,Flowers purchased while together at Costcoand then the prepared for the big night of dining and a movie.We cook up a four course meal and stuff ourselves silly while watchinga romantic comedy.Ahhh, can't you just feel the love.

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-66381822232633294222009-01-20T13:42:00.000-08:002009-01-20T13:56:13.580-08:00

So where were you this morning? I bet most of America was staring at a television set in their home, in school, at a cafe, or at a screen at work, in a movie theater, in a outdoor plaza watching the shift in power. A change. A change the nation was screaming for. At one point I have one channel on in the bedroom and another on in the living room. I wanted to see the different view points of the

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-61716294320571259872009-01-13T22:01:00.000-08:002009-01-19T16:38:40.184-08:00

Ah, the joys of a birthday. It's not my birthday, but J's. And for his special day he took me to the dentist in the morning, so I could have clean shining white teeth to smile at him all day. Then we headed out to Pt Reyes National Seashore. It was a beautiful day, in the 70s, blue sky and low wind. The water surrounding the lighthouse (which is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays) was glass-like

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-42389663415525583602009-01-04T22:23:00.000-08:002009-01-04T22:31:45.298-08:00

This is the way to start the year off right... with a couch. Our couch would not fit through the entry in Vancouver, so we gave it to a friend and when our friend received two chairs he kindly lent them to us. However, when we moved backed we returned the two chairs and took up the joy of sitting on the floor. We actually became pretty good at it. There was blankets and pillows laid out and

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-20417570774162017402008-12-31T23:00:00.000-08:002009-01-04T22:23:12.075-08:00

Today, I went and saw my photo that was chosen in a contest to be part of a display at an eatery in Mountain View. The theme was "Everyday." You could interpret it any way you wanted. Some of the other photos were of children, the stairs to the L in Chicago, feet on an escalator and a toothbrush holder.It was exciting to walk in and see my picture, matted and framed hanging on the wall of an

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-64784890261887379422008-12-25T10:03:00.000-08:002008-12-25T10:21:20.801-08:00

The colors of the season can be seen everywhere. Look around you. Twinkling lights shimmer not only from the decorated houses but the changing traffic lights, red and green. The white of snow and scarves but don't overlook the companion to cookies... ahh, milk. I recommend taking a deep, long breath and taking in your environment. It's not often that we actually stand still long enough to notice

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-85824509821974798612008-12-22T22:06:00.000-08:002008-12-22T22:20:56.976-08:00

If there's ever a time to eat all candy and cookies for breakfast (lunch and dinner), it's now. Holiday time seems to be filled with sugar, sweets and pie. To add to the plentiful trays around the office J decided to call his grandmother and get her fudge recipe. After talking about said recipes for years, he finally whipped up a batch of decadent smooth chocolate fudge, followed shortly after

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-44196173085038392822008-12-21T20:56:00.000-08:002008-12-21T21:08:33.852-08:00

Ahhh, the festival of light has come upon us. Dust off the chanukia, break out the colorful skinny candles and let your dreidel spin, spin, spin. We found our glass menorah hiding on top of the fridge and after digging through several boxes (yes, we're still living out of boxes) I found the proper candles.I pulled out the Chanukah prayers (three of the first night) and as J lit the candles I said

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-57296098698623052022008-12-14T22:16:00.000-08:002008-12-14T22:23:16.009-08:00

During the month of November I signed up for the Write a Novel in a month. Yes, you have 30 days to write 50,000 words. I realize that I was gone for the first 2 weeks of the month and then dove back into the working world for four days a week, leaving me only a few days to try to crank out a mass amount of words (and there's no point just repeating the same word over and over again to help

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-83862599836087094032008-11-27T21:42:00.000-08:002008-11-30T21:38:44.423-08:00

Yum! So Thanksgiving, was filled with food, food and more food (especially with a 19+ pound turkey). But in planning for the eating extravaganza, J look through recipes to find just the one's we'd set out to cook. We attempted two new items, one being Pumpkin bread that we converted into Pumpkin Muffins. They were delicious. Moist, sweet, and just a touch of cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top. We

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-77763626465782273062008-10-25T21:11:00.000-07:002008-11-16T21:25:36.461-08:00

Do you remember being four?I don't think they had bounce houses made for backyards when I was four. I remember going to Bullwinkle's (kinda like Chucky Cheese but with Bullwinkle, Rocky and dancing water - not nearly as cool or as big as the dancing water at the Bellagio), eating pizza, getting a sheriff badge and playing lots of games. Or when I was three we had a backyard party with a chocolate

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-35254854381463309282008-10-20T20:19:00.000-07:002008-11-16T21:10:04.901-08:00

I find that no matter how often I walk the bay trail there's something that catches my attention. Sometimes it's an egret stalking it's prey or the mallard ducks sleeping in the shade of the eucalpsis trees or maybe a few poppies that have managed to widthstand the heat and the lack of rain.But today I noticed the this blue fence failing to contain these vibrant pink flowers. I found the sign on

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-33820765295653014732008-10-17T19:32:00.000-07:002008-11-16T20:19:19.338-08:00

My little cousin was reading Flat Stanley in her class and as a project she needed to create her own Flat Stanley and send him on an adventure. She packed him in an envelope with a letter and off he went through the mail to my door.We ventured into San Francisco one morning and walked around the Embarcadero, snapped a photo with the TransAmerica building and headed to the Chinatown entrance. He

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-14312934695273077292008-10-16T17:14:00.000-07:002008-10-22T17:31:42.029-07:00

Evidence that the fall season is upon us, even with 80 degree temperatures allowing for flip-flop wearing just a little longer.

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-86632584586430504082008-10-12T22:44:00.000-07:002008-10-21T16:07:24.085-07:00

Fleet Week came roaring into San Francisco, first with the parade of ships followed by the aerial stunts of the Blue Angels, the Patriotic team and the Oracle fliers. The ships dock at four different piers along the waterfront and grant access to the public for three days. Although we didn't climb aboard we did stroll along the Embarcadero to Pier 39, where we feasted at Boudin's (one of our

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-85777059661474573812008-10-06T21:42:00.000-07:002008-10-06T21:59:02.831-07:00

Well, we're not in Vancouver anymore. After a year in the land of Canucks, Whitecaps, and Loins we have traveled back to the Golden State; to the Sharks, Warriors, Giants, Athletics,and Earthquakes.Our time in the Pacific Northwest was quite an adventure. We met amazing people, built incredible friendships, visited beautiful places and enjoyed learning about our Canadian neighbor (health care,

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-21600971450815869692008-09-21T19:53:00.000-07:002008-09-28T20:31:34.742-07:00

You really don't notice certain things such as selection of foods or options in cell phone plans until you move somewhere (and then move back).In Canada (well at least Vancouver):- most juices comes in rectangular containers (which fit into the door of the fridge really well)- you can't find Campbell's vegetable soup (there's always some kind of meat in it)- fruits and veggies are cheaper at the

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31732464.post-62984379435097876372008-08-23T21:52:00.000-07:002008-09-05T20:43:18.803-07:00

Vancouver is a walking person's dream. You can walk everywhere. J and I walked from our home to Stanley park and then some. We met up with a photo friend of mine to enjoy the late summer sun and snap a few shots of the beautiful park. Enjoy!

Shellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00523763805302489591noreply@blogger.com0