The Pie Queen

Lois The Pie Queen.  Great name; great food.  That's where we ate lunch last weekend.  And, mmm, mmm, it was get-down-good.  Fried chicken n' grits.  That's what I had.  I only wish they had t-shirts with the logo so I could get one for Lois. Oh well, no t-shirts, but that's okay.  Just wanted to show you how fun the sign was.  I've been too busy to post much, but I have some big news to tell you soon.  Maybe early next week I'll spill the beans (or grits!).

Big Sur

The last few weekends we've been re-visiting some of our favorite places in California that we went to when we first moved here, and one of those great places is Big Sur. We went to Big Sur yesterday and it was just as beautiful as we remembered. Big Sur is on the coast along HWY 1 between San Francisco and LA. It's one of those places that looks fake in person--the water and the sky are so blue; the hills and cliffs are so grand. California is beautiful! Here are a some pictures with our Canon 7D and then some with my iPhone (using Shake It).

And some of my favorites!  Dew drops on a spider web, using a macro lens.

Shake It iPhone pictures:

For some pictures, I experimented with using both cameras for the same shot, which was a lot of fun.  Like these below:

And, last but not least, the loves of my life.

PS. There are so many cool iPhone photo apps.  Just check out this blog with a ton of information!  Also, you can read about some apps here and here.  

Peaceful Thinking

The countdown is on!  I still have sooo much to do before Christmas. I'm not the type of person who shops throughout the year to be finished by Halloween, or has all her shopping done before Thanksgiving, with gifts wrapped and waiting in the closet.  Not me.  I wait till 2 weeks before to shop!  Well, this year we did.  I've also been making a lot of sweater pillows for all the little people in our family, and I'm a bit under the wool here.  My determination to finish these, and lack of much time to do so (just spent 15 minutes cleaning squished banana out of a sisal rug), has made me feel behind in other things, like shopping for presents!  The pillows are presents, but just little ones for the kids so everyone else needs presents.  Our families are small, so gift buying really isn't that overwhelming or crazy expensive, so I'm not complaining here about gifts, etc.  I like Christmas and gift-giving.  But sometimes I need a reminder to chill.  We went for a walk around the neighborhood the other night, and I saw this little entryway that I loved. An otherwise inconspicuous entry, calling for attention with its festive, bright lights and red ornaments.  It's so pretty and simple and peaceful. I'll keep it in mind today as I wrap the first of our gifts.

San Francisco This Morning

We made it back to San Francisco last night after a long day.  The flight was fine, and Lois was good on the plane, but we were already really tired when yesterday started.  Lois has another cold, and she didn't sleep much the night before, which means we didn't sleep much the night before.  So yesterday felt very  l o n g.

Last night after we got home, we ordered takeout and went straight to bed.  Well, me and Lois went to bed while Andrew went to his company holiday party.  I'm not sure how he had the energy to go, but he did.  As you can imagine with the time change and going to bed so early, me and Lois were up before the sun, 5AM to be exact.

Our place is a mess.  It always looks like we've been robbed when we get home because our cat, Sophie, is a little crazy and tears the place up when we're gone (our pet sitter doesn't clean up Sophie's wreckage, and we don't really expect her to). She's still adjusting to us being home, which means she's meowing incessantly and following me around with every step I take.  And our overflowing suitcases are all over the place along with all the stuff that's bursting out of them. So this morning, surrounded by the mess and our poor psycho cat, I felt like my head was going to explode, so I decided I needed to get out of here.  I took Lois for a walk.

As soon as we got outside I felt much better.  Some of the clouds still had that cotton candy pink color, which I love.  Here are a few pictures from the neighborhood this morning on our walk. 

I love seeing the moon out in the morning, and it even looks good through the telephone lines. 

Sutro Tower in the sun with a blue-ish glow.

And with a pinkish-orange glow.  I'm not sure how this turned out so different from the other Sutro picture above.  I used Shake It for both pictures. Maybe the white balance changed a little because of what I was pointing towards.

When I saw these birds, I thought ooh, maybe I can get a picture of them taking off.  So I waited patiently (so did Lois).

I thought this late-comer might stir them, but they kept resting, that is until just a few seconds later . . .

when they took to the air!

We had a good morning, and I felt much better when we got home.  Now it's time to clean up this mess!

All Shook Up

Woah, I'm pooped.  Tomorrow we leave for Atlanta for Thanksgiving, so today's been filled with all those pre-trip errands and to-dos.  We're all packed up and ready to head south (can't wait!), but in the meantime I wanted to tell you about my fun Friday with Shake It.  Shake It is another cool Polaroid iPhone app.  The images to me are a lot like the lolo setting in Camera Bag, but Shake It is a little more fun because the image "develops" like a Polaroid and you can even shake it to help it along.  Of course shaking the phone while the image develops doesn't actually do anything--it's just fun to watch it wiggle.  You can see what I mean here.  If you have an iPhone, for just .99 cents, I think it's worth the fun.  Here are some pictures with Shake It of a few things I saw on Friday in our neighborhood and in the colorful neighborhood next door, the Mission, and one downtown. I got yummy Dynamo donuts and an equally yummy burrito in the Mission at La Palma. I couldn't decide if I wanted breakfast or lunch, so I got both!  I also saw an old cable car and some very pretty fall leaves.  And then last night, I went downtown to buy a few things for me and Lois. It was great to go downtown at night.  All the snazzy people, cabs whizzing by, the lights, the tall buildings. . .  I forget sometimes that people are actually out after dark.  It was a great day.