san fran by blur

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. We had such a great, but all-too-short time in SF. Here's a quick snap of all the sightseeing (and eating) we managed to get in!

xo,

chelsea

three squares

I had a rather busy weekend, and I will say that 1 day of weekend-time is definitely not sufficient. I did at least take full advantage of my one free-day. Sleeping late, snuggling, a biking adventure that ended with a broken chain at the furthest-away point, errands and cleaning were how I spent my Sunday. How was your weekend?


I'm still trying to play catch-up, but I've got a little bunny with a fever, a busy boy and a whole lotta work to do. 


Lucky for me, The Honey was home for the last week, which has meant I've been eating well. It's been so nice to enjoy the simple things like having lunch together or a cup of tea after the kiddos are asleep. Unfortunately, he's back to travelling so my lunch-dates are on pause for now.


Here's how I've been getting my 3 squares a day:

[breakfast of champions: ultrasimple smoothie, green tea, blogging]

[delicious salad with greens and radishes from our little community garden plot. deeelish!]

What are the little luxuries you appreciate most?

xo,

chelsea

fancy friday - almost May

Happy Friday folks!


I can't believe how quickly this week zoomed by. The Honey and I started the week off right with a little anniversary celebration on Sunday at the most amazing restaurant - Seagrass Restaurant. We went all out and got the 7-course tasting menu, which was just insane. 


I had quite a gruelling work-week that has left me in a bit of a daze. I'm looking forward to our Live Jazz cruise on the Double Dolphin this evening, soccer for the kids Saturday, a day of fun moonlighting at Consilience Winery and a day of rest on Sunday. Here's my little list of things I Fancied this week. 

1. I've been madly in love with my Polaroid 600 for many years. I'm loving the Impossible Project's re-release of all kinds of cool instant film. I just ordered the limited edition pack featuring package design by Maurizio Galimberti - who created the awesome collage above. 


2. I'm on the hunt for some Creme de Violette so I can sip on a purple-hued Fizz a la Violette. I love old-fashioned drinks and a pastel potion sounds right up my alley. 


3. A great way to use up old fabric scraps and perk up kids (or my) sneakers for spring - braided laces


4. The new S/S Stella McCartney kids line is so adorable - I'm wishing it came in mama-size.


5. Bodie and Fou owner Karine Candice gave readers a peek inside her London home last Friday and it is to-die-for. Her leather sling chairs, taped up mood board and simple white walls all add up to a beautiful, modern space. I picked up the Feathers poster so I can recreate some of that goodness in my own home. 


It's sort of a wimpy list this week, but there hasn't been much time for blogging with work being crazy, The Honey working from this week, milestones being reached,  and me forcing myself to get to bed before 11 this week. Next week is sure to be one of catching up and carving out some me-time. It is Mother's Day after all, and I plan to milk it for all it's worth! 

What are your weekend plans?

xo,

chelsea

growing up

This big 4 and a 1/2 year old girl of mine learned to tie her shoes yesterday. I was incredibly impressed when she got it down in about five minutes flat. She was so proud this morning she asked Carl to take a picture to send to Amma, Farfar and Aunty Friday in Norway.

She also chose to go head-to-toe Hello Kitty outfit to celebrate.

She was so pleased that I couldn't help but share. I love that girl so much. It's also nice that we live in an age where I can document all these milestones digitally. I'm not much of a scrapbooker so someday I'll just have to say, "see, Mommy blogged it".

xo,

chelsea

Yosemite Turkey Day Trek

In a moment of what I'd now like to refer to as brief insanity, I agreed to spend our Thanksgiving weekend camped out at Yosemite. We spent last Thanksgiving camping in Big Sur and although it was chilly and rained a bit, we have great memories with the kids from that trip. This year, the kids were spending Thanksgiving with their dad. So a romantic weekend in a tent sounded harmless and fun.  A great time to get away, connect with nature and each other, get in a few hikes and come home rested and rejuvenated.

The sign of snow on the side of the road and the required chains warning should have been my first clue. Lets keep in mind that I am a born-and-raised California girl. And although I spent a few seasons living in Lake Tahoe, I certainly didn't spend my days and nights seeking out the cold. A long (almost 10 hour) drive later and we arrived at Camp 4. There was snow. Everywhere. Carl could not have been more thrilled. I, on the other hand, was in total shock that we were actually planning to sleep in this stuff. There was only one site left that was shoveled out (yes, there were actually other people with the same crazy idea!!) so we picked our spot and set up camp. At 1. In. The. Morning. Setting up went fairly quickly and as soon as I regained the feeling in my toes and put on my layers - one pair of silk long john, flannel pj pants, two pairs of wool socks, a thermal shirt, a fleece, a hooded sweatshirt and an earflap cap - we climbed into our ONE sleeping bag and snoozed away.

Waking up was beautiful. The sights of Yosemite are breathtaking. And even though it was still freezing-buns cold and there were trails of yellow snow from our neighboring campsite, I was still excited to get in a great hike. Just as soon as we both climbed back in the tent, in our jackets, for another hour of sleep. Or two.

A belated campsite breakfast and we were ready to trek up Yosemite Falls. 3.5 miles in the snow. It was beautiful and sketchy, but well worth the view.

Lets keep in mind that this picture was taken 30 seconds after Carl stated that it looked like things were flattening out. Riiiiight.

And this is after the trail where other people had hiked ended and Carl decided that we should make our own tracks. In thigh-high snow.

That road came to an abrupt end when we could no longer tell what was rock and what was snow that would give way to nothing underneath.

Unfortunately, our trek back down the falls wasn't nearly as pleasant. Melting snow turned to ice as soon as the sun started its ascent down the sky.

Carl was certain to keep a weapon on hand in the event that we met with any bears or mountain lions.

Promises of a hot shower soon turned to tears when the showers we did find were closed for the winter. We took shelter in the laundry room where we quickly changed into dry clothes under the watchful eye of a bat that kept swooping closer to us. Believe it or not, I could've cared less about the shower and was far more interested in what awaited at the Lodge. Thanksgiving dinner. A well-earned turkey dinner. We waited in line for what seemed like an eternity. I threatened to swipe a cornbread muffin to nosh while we waited in line. I thought it was my imagination and hunger that made it seem as though the line wasn't moving. In fact, it wasn't. There were about 20-30 people actually waiting, WAITING, for stuffing. As soon as the man called out, "anyone who doesn't want stuffing line up here!" I bolted. Carl actually gave me a look as if to say, "but I really want stuffing", but I'm pretty sure I shot daggers at him so that cleared up that pretty quickly. I was literally shaking from exhaustion, cold and hunger by the time we sat down to eat. I almost lost both my milk and my chocolate mousse from shaking and trying to walk with my warped food tray.

Leaving the warmth of the Lodge was a pretty difficult task, but my aching body needed to be in a horizontal position. I fantasized about the great night of sleep ahead (how wrong I would be, more on that later!). We capped off the evening with a warm mug of Tuaca and apple cider, packed our goodies away in the Bear Box and tucked into our one sleeping bag. Yes, one sleeping bag. I was feeling very thankful for that one sleeping bag at the end of my Thanksgiving.

The rest of the trip for tomorrow's post.

How was your holiday?

XO,

Chelsea

break out the spandex

Christmas came a bit early for me this past weekend! I'd been hunting for a road bike and finally found just what I was looking for. We had checked out a few bike shops so I knew what size I needed and of course, Carl knew exactly what else I needed. A week spent trolling craigslist and look what I found:

My own pink lady!! Apparently this bike previously belonged to someone in the ladies cross country cycling club called the pink ladies. She's painted black with pink handlebar wraps. Very cute. But the pink will probably be nixed in favorite of some white tape to keep her sleek looking.

We spent Sunday cleaning her, I learned how to change my bike tubes and even took a test spin (and of course some gratuitous photos). I can't wait to get to know this bike. And yes, I will be purchasing those oh-so-sexy spandex shorts with all the padding in the butt. I feel an awful lot like Debbie Hunt in the movie Singles when she gets all suited up in spandex and winds up kissing pavement.

Getting a bike has been high on the wish list for a while. So I'm quite smitten. With the bike, and the sweet guy who made Christmas happen in September. Thanks honey!

What's on your wish list right now?

XO,

Chelsea

more norway

the light in Norway is simply amazing. we had such perfectly beautiful weather, enjoying the people out walking and picnicking in the park. afternoons on the water, miro at the museum and never getting enough of the goods at United Bakeries.

window-wings

<3 <3 <3

Summer is my favorite time of year, but I'm already excited to see how amazing Norway looks at Christmas. 

XO,

Chelsea

I HEART Thursdays - Etsy Love

It has sure been a while since an I <3 Thursdays post. I have seriously missed doing these and I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of my blogging schedule. I'm also missing the Two Things Tuesdays and looking ahead at showing some DIY and craftiness. Sometimes I feel as though I should get a bit more directional on this blog. I love fashion, I love food, I love my kids, I love where I live, I love travel and I love decorating. That makes it pretty difficult to streamline into a blog...instead it reads more like a stream of consciousness of what's in my head at the moment. Of course it would be nice to be super directional and say this is a fashion blog or decorating blog or whatever. But then I tell myself, this is mine to do with it as I please.


There. That's my rant for the day. Lack of sleep has made me crazy. I can't wait for my honey to come home. I can't seem to get to sleep until well past midnight when he's away working. I have spent the last week spooning my iPad and streaming Arrested Development starting from the pilot. Top that with nightly visits from feverish little people and its all added up to some serious luggage under my eyes. Tonight I am vowing to get to bed early; or at least as soon as I've cleaned the house, met the girls for dinner, played softball and picked up my man from the airport. Whew!! A busy evening, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Life is worth living to the fullest.

That said...its on to the actual posting of my <3 picks for today.

I love Etsy. Who doesn't?

A simple search of "hearts" turned up all sorts of crush worthy goodies

refashioned.etsy.com

 

 

 

 heavymetallaundry.etsy.com

 

 

 theolivebird.etsy.com 

 

 

  nubambu.etsy.com 

 

 

allencompanyinc.etsy.com

 

 lovecalifornia.etsy.com

 

 PrinceDesignUK.etsy.com

Now head on over and get yourself some Etsy Love!!

XO,

Chelsea

Magical Norway

Well, we've officially been back from our Scandinavian adventure for 15 days now. I'm still regarding the going abouts of normal life. Which means I've been a very neglectful blogger. But I'm ready to get back on the bloghorse and bring some much-needed organization to all the thoughts and inspirations running around in this head of mine.

Norway was truly amazing. The lush green landscape, the amazing flowers that I could never grow in California. Wild strawberries, jordbær, growing on the sides of the road. Lakes sprouting up all over the hills behind Oslo. I fell in love with it on day one.

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep on the day we landed, but I'm pretty sure someone sprinkled fairydust all over that country. I was dazzled and awed at the beauty and charm everywhere. 20+ hours of daylight didn't hurt either.

Death by slideshow begins now...

Beautiful Frida skipping stones.

Me and the family Thornér

What's the most magical place you've been to?

XO,

Chelsea

PS - as if this massive lot of photos wasn't enough, there's more to come.

And a giveaway this week. If I can reach 20.