A dreamy house tour

This weekend, Bill and I did a house tour for the paper that was really beautiful. The couple, Shauna and Stephen, own this cute bow tie shop called Forage  as well as a little Etsy shop called Something's Hiding in Here, both super cute little stores. The couple are equally adorable and had lots of great little love stories to tell us for the Valentine's issue of The Great Indoors, which you can check out here. However, City Paper's website won't allow us to put up a ton of pictures, meaning we had to leave out some of the magic. So I thought I'd give a more detailed glimpse into Shauna and Stephen's romantic loft retreat.

(Click on the image for a larger version!)

                                    

Beautiful, huh? And let's give a hand to our amazing photographer, Mr. William McEwan! Can't do it without him :-) 

Bill's Man Gear

A couple weekends ago, Bill went to a friend's bachelor party. The bachelor had wanted it to be a "manly" outing in the woods. While Bill knew it was going to be mostly silliness, he packed up his gear for a weekend of "manly" feats of strength and stamina, paintball, and cold weather.

Before he could completely unpack his gear bag, I grabbed a picture of the detailed contents.

Here's what a manly outdoors man brings for a weekend in the Poconos. 

1. Nalgene bottle of water. Phila Mountain Biking Association sticker just makes it more bad-ass. 

2. Machete. Yes, a machete. He bought this cheapo tree-slayer at a Walmart before heading to Panama or Cost Rica or something. 

3. Hand knife. Also giant, this thing says "Don't mess with me, crazed man in he woods.... or drunk frat boy... or bush...."

4. Sleeping bag. Its super warm. End of story. 

5. Adventure Racing Medical Kit. First aid for kick-ass people. 

6. CLIF bars. Bill said of this trip, "All I really need is a sleeping bag and CLIF bars. The whole world can come crashing in around me and I'll just hunker down in my warm sleeping bag and munch away on CLIF bars." Well said. 

7. Major sling shot. Bill's "manly" feat he had to bring to the table was being awesome at sling shot. Story is, he was awesome. 

8. Minor sling shot. This little guy was picked up in Panama for Bill to shoot at annoying howler monkeys in the rain forest. 

9. Dirty trail running shoes. Because if they aren't muddy, you probably aren't using them right. 

10. West Virginia Coal Miner's hat. Just because. 

11. Flexible, small gear sack to hold all of this manliness in. 

And here's essentially what it was all used for... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awVIOe-III8&feature=player_embedded#!

June Vacation Plans!

This week, Bill and I decided to plan out this year's vacation. We've taken a few weekend vacas over the last year, but without real planning, a real "take me away" kind of vacation just doesn't happen. So I spent the last few days going over options and plans till we both agreed on a 2012 getaway.

We're going to California!

We've both been several times, but not like this. My experiences with CA in the past have been dirty parts of San Diego, the cold fog of San Fran and a brief stint on Catalina island (which we plan on revisiting). While most people visit Cali for its beaches and Hollywood scene, we plan on seeing more. We will fly into San Francisco, take in Napa Valley's winery country, head into Yosemite's grand wilderness, travel past some giant sequoias and then take in Catalina island's Avalon and back country. 

Let's take a peek at what we're working with... 

Day 1

We'll be jumping off a cross-country flight (which I hope we can catch some shut-eye on) and heading straight for Napa. Staying in either Napa or the smaller Yountville, we'll spend our first day traveling past and through some of the Valley's famous wineries. We haven't picked out which ones yet, but we're hoping to get there by bike- a romantic tandem bike preferably. :-) 

And did I mention the food? Besides the adorable Angele restaurant (pictured above), Yountville sports the famous and original Bouchon Bakery as well as ad hoc. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. 

Day 2 + 3

The next two days we will spend traveling to and playing in Yosemite National Park. We still haven't planned exactly what we will be doing there, but likely it will involve a lot of gear - Bill's area of expertise. 

We'll be staying in a cute little base camp called Curry Village. It looks like a Boy Scout camp. Its a series of canvas-covered framed "tents" that have a vintage, 50's camping look to them. I think I like the idea of staying in them more than staying in a 4-star hotel. Simply picture perfect. 

Day 4 

The next day will be all driving. Its a long state, and to get from Yosemite to Long Beach takes the better part of a day. But it won't be the whole day, so we're hoping to visit those tall trees of legend, the giant sequoias, before stopping in at Bakersville for the night. 

While shopping around for hotels in Bakersville, I stumbled across the posh Padre Hotel. It was originally built in the 20's and its recent redesign sticks to its roots. The whole place screams Hollywood glamour. I come to find out, that might not be the only scream coming from the Padre. Apparently, is haunted... VERY haunted. Spooky. 

Day 5+ 6  

The fifth morning we'll be rolling into Long Beach, that is if the ghosts let us catch any sleep. We'll be driving directly to the pier where we will catch the ferry to Catalina island. The island is very little, but we're hoping it keeps us entertained for two days. The rest of the first day will be spent galavanting in Avalon. The little harbor town is completely walkable by foot, but we also may spend some time playing in its waters. 

The next day I hope to spend some time in Catalina's outback. Outside of Avalon and one other teeny tiny town, the island is in its original, wild state. I'm hoping we can take a tour of this outback, with its roaming buffalo, before making it to the other side of the island where there are quiet, sandy beaches. Ahhh.... 

The next day we'll catch a flight home and take in our crazy, California journey. 

I can't wait! 

Bill's Birthday!

Yesterday, Bill turned 31! Woot! The poor birthday boy had to work, as always, so we scheduled in a lunch date and a dinner birthday bash. Our good friend, Sarah, came over with her drugged-up pup, Ches (as in Cheshire Cat), after his vet appointment in the city.

I decided to compose the entire meal around Bill's favorite thing to eat: Sriracha. Yes, that's a sauce, not a food, but here's how he generally feels about it...




This about sums it up. Bill puts Sriracha on everything. I mean everything. So I decided to make his favorite Sriracha conduits. I make this poached chicken soup from time to time that he seems to love. But, again, its mostly cause it gets covered in red hot sauce.

Anyway, the main course was the soup, but I wanted to keep with Asian theme so I made Asian turkey meatballs (another Bill favorite) and tried making beef potstickers. And because it was a dinner made by me, it had to have corresponding decorations. Here's what I ended up with...

Sarah ended up bringing a ton of fun party elements, like balloons, cookies, little dessert shots, and party hats! They totally made the party. 

(How many red heads does it take to light a candle?)

After five courses and several drinks, we were all feeling a little sleepy, like Birthday Boy here, so Sarah and Ches packed up and headed home. 

The rest of the night involved a little light singing... 

(Look at little Bill and big Bill!)

... and present opening

All I got for my birthday was this silly hat with a pink tag! 

Actually, he did OK for his 31st. He got socks (woot! fun, fun!), a winter hat, new mesh shorts, a water-proof map case for adventure racing, cool, grippy gloves with tech touch technology (you can use your iPhone with them on!), and this guy... 

A nice watch case for his stellar watch collection. 

Did I mention he also got a summer day for his birthday? It was 60 degrees yesterday, January 31st. Today is the same. Its incredible. 

All in all, I think he had a pretty decent birthday bash. 

How could you not with such awesome birthday hats?