Tarnished Lady

Our first anniversary

I have been resistant to making posts on here because of the slow photo uploads on Typepad but I need to get over that!
I realise its been some time so I will begin with backtracking to May.

We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on May 23rd & decided to avoid the holiday crowds in the campgrounds by driving up to San Francisco to visit my brother Mike and SIL Elena.
We love San Francisco & also love being around Mike & Elena so it was a win-win.

They introduced us to Sing Star (sort of like Guitar Hero but with singing...almost like karaoke but scores on technicalities. You must hit the pitch and sustain the notes in order to score) which was good silly fun.
We made a great steak dinner, had yummy wine on the night of our anniversary which was so much more cozy and how we were feeling than going out.

They took us to Golden Gate Park where we got a nice walk in, went to the Japanese Tea Garden there which is straight out of a dream.

Jasper loved it all. He adores being in nature and traveling it seems.

We spent some time in North Beach, had a long & lazy romantic Italian lunch while Jasper napped in his Uppababy stroller.
Did you know there is a Jasper Street in SF? We didn't either but we drove right past it in North Beach.

We picked up a super tasty Italian dessert at Stella Cafe to bring up to Eugenia's for a bbq cookout in Marin County.
If you are ever in SF and like a great tiramisu-esque creamy dessert (sacripantina), check this place out.

My pal Eugenia and her family (Michael and their two groovy kidlets- Mikailah & Dylan) used to live in LA years ago.
Eugenia and I worked on various theatre/live shows together. She directed me in a show at the Actor's Gang in Hollywood and we were 2/3 of the International Kittens- as in Chris Wells & the Highballs featuring the International Kittens. Teehee.
I was Mina the Italian spy and she was Plenty the British one...fun gig.

Anyway, it was so great to reconnect after 7 years!! and to see the idyllic hamlet they are so lucky to live in.
Just 45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge and SF, they live in Fairfax in a great old clapboard house with a Southern style front porch and a garden filled with strawberries, blueberries and herbs- ah yes a gazebo too- in the backyard.
We did a short hike in the adjacent redwood grove before we began grilling. Ah...such a nice time.

We stayed through the long weekend and then left very early to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway on the way back.

Jasper said his goodbyes to Uncle Mike & Aunt Elena...

We had breakfast in Santa Cruz with a fellow due date club pal of mine Emily and her family which included little Adelh born the same week as Jasper.
So cute watching the two of them connect.

Then we got to Monterey and went to the amazing Monterey Aquarium, had a great seafood lunch in Cannery Row of Steinbeck's fame.
Jasper LOVED the aquarium and was wide awake the whole time there (about 3 hours) which surprised me.
He especially liked the jellies, the seahorses and was mesmerized by the fish in general.

We drove down further to dreamy Big Sur where we did a nice nature hike. Matt wore Jasper in our Girasol "Big Sur" wrap which is named in homage of the region.

We stopped off at the Henry Miller Memorial Library which is right in the woods where the road winds through the cliffs.

We hopped back in the car and drove the scenic PCH all the way home only stopping for snacks at Ragged Point and to see some elephant seals who were napping on the beach.

A wonderful trip and have to say this year has been the best yet.

The full set of photos and videos are up on my Flickr page...lots more to see!

Yoga partners

Teacher's pet

Jasper got to sit on teacher Marne's lap a bit in yoga class.

We are having a blast going together a few times a week...

This little girl really took to Jasper and sat next to him for most of the class. She would look at him and kept repeating "Baby!".

Here is Marne who is a fabulous teacher...

She had both Jasper and Jude up on the stage with her.

He did his tummytime yoga on Auntie Darcy's handmade flannel quilt she made for him with his name embroidered on it. Speaking of Darcy, she is now 38 weeks along with her little Duckling who is breech. This morning she had an appointment for an external version at the hospital with the same OB who delivered Jasper. I am hoping it went well and am anxiously awaiting news.
We are sending many good thoughts to Darcy and Duckling.
Here are some snaps from her baby shower on Sunday at Kelly's beautiful home...she looks amazing

Gorgeous Caroline who is due in just a few weeks herself unbelievably...

Ritual-istic

Ritual \Rit"u*al\, a.[L. ritualis, fr. ritus a rite: cf. F. rituel.]

Of or pertaining to rites or ritual; as, ritual service or sacrifices; the ritual law.
A prescribed form of performing divine service in a particular church or communion; as, the Jewish ritual.Hence, the code of ceremonies observed by an organization; as, the ritual of the freemasons. A book containing the rites to be observed.

For the New Year, I am being led by my pal Melanie (who has the wonderful blog Meli-Melo) to pick one word that will serve as my inspiration for living in 2009.
I chose my word b/c ritual right now is a way of life for me with a new baby. I am enjoying the pattern of days as we do certain things together everyday and it is creating a special bond.
Holding true to ritual is a beautiful thing.
When we get up in the morning, we play together then we eat together. In the evening, I draw Jasper a bath and he plays in the tub. After that, it is book time.
All of it plays out in a comforting pattern of stability. This feels right for me this year.
If you want to pick a word and go with it for the duration of the year, read the word list and how to choose your word on Christine Kane's blog.

Let me know in the comment field what word you picked and why!

**the above photo I got from Collin Key's photo stream on Flicker. It is entitled "Ritual Bath (1978)".
He says this about the photo:
India, Rajasthan (1978):
At the time of Kartik Purnima (full moon) thousands of people stream into the little town of Pushkar to visit the Brahma temple and take a ritual bath in the holy water of the town's lake.

Ladies Man

We went to a winter solstice dinner at a friend's on December 21st- the longest night of the year- and were encouraged to bring the baby as they have a baby girl Lilith who is 6 weeks older than Jasper is and she would be there. Also, there was another baby girl named Eve (same age as Lilith) and a wee one only 2 1/2 weeks old named Novie.
We ate lots of delicious deep fried turkey and cornbread stuffing along with a Mexican Christmas specialty, tamales.

We simply had to get all the babies together for a photo op which was hilarious.

The two girls on the sides of Jasper began leaning in towards him and touched him.

He quite liked the attention we thought as he didn't cry and got very animated.
The rest of the cute set and a little video is on my Flicker page HERE.