When Strangers Meet / Happy 5th Anniversary!

Two things occurred to me this week (in between having a BABY :) ...  

1) Tocco and I met 5 years ago this week, and 2) I never shared the blog post Airbnb wrote about us and how we met. So here it is. Photos by the wonderfully talented Lauren Fleishman - also check out her beautiful book, The Lovers. So glad to have had this opportunity to share our story... I can hardly believe where a chance encounter on the other side of the world has led us. Happy year 5 Tocco! Love you! I can only imagine where the next 5 takes us. <3 Here's the link in case you wanted to see the post... When Strangers Meet: A Berlin Love Story

A gift from Tocco of places we had visited together, and memories we'd made, before I returned home to the States:

The note I found on my apartment door the day that we met: 

  

Nursery!

We are just eleven days away from our due date (!) so before life upends I wanted to share a few nursery photos, as it is today. I'm sure it'll shift and change a bit more in the coming weeks, but here we are. Remember what this room looked like when we bought the house? Click here - yikes! Also the hallway - yikes again! I'm slightly conflicted by a few things in the room (the mobile, the constant glare on the ABC picture, some of the clutter) but I'll work it out. :-) I'm curious to see how things change once it's all put to good use by our lil bunny. The room gets great light and feels really good to be in. A few things to point out: the knit blankets on the chair were all handmade - the top two by her great-great-grandmother (for me as a baby) and the others by friends of mine. That book, Sohntage (Sunday in German) is from Tocco's sister and is the cutest. It's a picture book of a dad and his kid as they go about their day together and the illustrations slay me. I might love it even more than Tocco. Our friend Joanna gave the baby a Grumpy Cat, which I think is so funny. She won't always be happy with us so she can carry that cat around and then we'll know. We got these cute bunnies and awesome clothes from my mom and sister and I cannot wait to get this baby born to dress her up in them all. The little hummingbird hanging on the tree represents my dad and T's mom, always with her. So many of the other items are gifts from friends, so it's all pretty amazing and we are so blown away by everyone's love and we are so excited. See you soon, baby!

Bathroom before

Just came across a draft of the bathroom renovation. Here's one stage of the process that I never shared. After is here! 

Weekend

Wallpaper house

We are always searching for a new house to renovate, this time in Alameda, CA. This one has a strong hold on us... But the timing couldn't be more tricky- we have a baby coming in 2 weeks! But it's such a fun one to imagine fixing it up. Can you imagine how beautiful it'll be? Because it will. So. much. wallpaper. It was built in 1870 and hasn't been touched in 60 years, as you can see. But the BONES! hahaa