to the lion city...

Twenty four hours after leaving our house we arrived in Singapore! With two days to myself while Case attended a conference I explored the city and found that every single building has a mall inside and an endless eating area with stalls of every possible food. It was exciting and overwhelming. The people are kind and helpful, as everyone had told me it is the safest city you will visit, and yes, it was. I drank milo dinosaurs and fresh watermelon juice and took in the mixture of skyscrapers and jungle wilderness. Found Bread Society and proceeded to visit many more times.

 I wanted to take this little guy and his adorable kneecaps and ears home with me, so cute!!

We visited the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. They were both magnificent! We walked in an exhibit with free flying fruit bats and marveled at them munching away on fruit right in front of us. Otters squealed at us in a singsongy way. Monkeys played freely above us and I fell in love with slow loris and the popcorn scented binturong. Case and I patiently waited for the giant flying squirrels to fly but alas they just wouldn't when we were watching!



Two days on Bintan Island...a little resort getaway in Indonesia. We were spoiled with homemade pastries, sunny skies, sand dollars and shells along the shore, watermelon rice, sleeping in, pool lounging and plenty of time to rest up for a couple more days in Singapore before heading home.

Back in Singapore we explored Little India, Chinatown, saw more sites, walked, MRTed and found places like Tip Top Puff and the Riverwalk.

 Treasures from Bintan Island. I was very careful to make sure it was okay to take these lovely souvenirs.

Since coming home I have slept, slept some more, done laundry, gone to the movies, ate pancakes and in n out, taken two long afternoon naps, walked Hermie, watched the Oscars with my family, enjoyed Mom's tuna + noodles and started to sort through the many pictures and video we gathered along the way.

So nice to be home. Hermie, Tuna, Ladybug and Tiny Dancer were happy, too, as were my parents who took care of all the kitties and Hermie! Thank you Mom and Dad. ♡♡♡

2.15 to 2.26
...

venice of the north

pannekoekens, kitties sleeping in cafés , bicycles, cobblestones, appeltaarts with cinnamon ice cream

Schiphol Airport, Delft, Amsterdam, The Hague, Keukenhof, Scheveningen Beach, and Vondelpark



Anne Frank, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Steen, Rijksmuseum, Vermeer....The Girl with the Pearl Earring


art - everywhere, chocolate croissants, canals, bridges, gables, history, salty fries, sandwiches in the park

trains, tulips, daffodils, boathouses, red lights, trams, flower market, warm waffles and steep staircases



Case and I just got back from a week in Holland. I'm still thinking about the pancake with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar, how amazingly Rembrandt depicted light, the sweet postcards and magazine cutouts pasted onto Anne Frank's bedroom wall, Moeder's, Steen's sense of humor, a rainbow of tulips, riding bikes through Vondelpark, and finding shells left on the beach by the North Sea ...



Just last week I was walking along the Singel canal and now I'm home with confections to remind me and share, a sleeping Hermie, purring kitties and hundreds of photographs to sort!!!

a few thank yous when a thank you in a blog post is not nearly enough...
thank you Case for making it happen
thank you Mom & Dad for taking care of the kitties and Hermie Monster
xoxo

{4.11 to 4.19}
...

roots

I have roots that twist and turn and grow from one coast to the other. My roots, my childhood, my family's history fill my heart with warmth, a love that doesn't know time has passed, a love that can be seen just looking into each other's eyes and felt in a hug.

 {the chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes I ate on Monday and Tuesday}

My parents met in a charming small town, eloped at a young age, Dad joined the navy and Mom ventured from the only place she had ever called home.

They left behind sisters, brothers, my aunts and uncles, a baby nephew, my oldest cousin, mothers and fathers, my dear grandparents...

California became their new home and soon that home was filled with my sister and me.

 {my sweet second cousins}

Missing our family in Pennsylvania, we packed up and moved back. We made memories with all of our cousins...now there were many. We sat in Grampa's lap and rode the big lawnmower, became a family of five with the surprise of my baby sister, watched the birds with Gramma, ran barefoot in the greenest grass, played Barbies into the night, got snow in our sleeves and lived happily on Leslie Road.

Three years later we moved back to California, better weather for Dad's masonry business and opportunities my parents wanted us to have as we grew older. 

Last Wednesday Mom and I visited our family in Pennsylvania. It was wonderful. We helped cousin Missy with her Trees of Christmas boutique, stayed up late talking to Aunt Chris, walked through the Market House, saw three doe run right by the kitchen slider, watched the squirrels and ate chocolatey chocolate cupcakes with Aunt Crissy and Uncle David and remembered the years that have passed.

We sat at a long table filled with cousins, second cousins, aunts and uncles for Friday night dinner. We toured the Trees of Christmas at the Baldwin Reynolds house, a place I hadn't been inside since a first grade field trip. A birthday on Saturday was celebrated with Pizza Villa pizza (the very best) and an ice cream cake. Cousin Karen's home was filled with laughter and stories late into the evening.

Much too soon our trip was coming to an end, too many goodbyes and much too sad.

I am grateful for my roots, that I have a place where people know me, a place where Mom shows me the store Gramma and Grampa owned, or the sidewalk she walked home on, or the place where she had her first job, Jack's. Every moment spent with family is truly precious, may you find your way to your family this holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving!

{11.17 to 11.24}

plastic cameras + eel gardens      2.26 to 3.3

3.3.09    Left a piece of my heart in San Francisco, missing Kadee the moment I left...plane, book, ipod and home to an Extraordinary Desserts lunch.                                                                                          3.2.09    Rain and a walk through Chinatown, so happy Golden Gate Bakery was still open!            The California Academy of Sciences coral reefs, live rooftop, animal dioramas, sour octopus candies, burmese vine snakes, planetarium show, jellyfish, indoor swamp...                                      

3.1.09    Dance workout, fries at Frjtz, sand dollar walk, and short, sweet, and moving movies.                                                                                                                                                                                 2.28.09    The morning started off with gratitude and all things organic, gluten-free and delicious.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Dinner at Yamo (you must must must go if you haven't been) and an evening at the Plastic Camera Show, absolutely inspiring, the scent of wet labs in progress made me miss working with my old Pentax.                                                                                                                                                                             2.27.09    Arrival and Muni trip, I heart San Francisco.                                                                           

2.26.09    spt...playing around with pattern, shape and layout when I should be packing.