The Yellow Kite

Tocco won a bet against me (what the heck!) and got a kitesurfing photo shoot as a result. Good for you T-dog, you deserve it.  The photos aren't behaving and won't stay where I put them, so they're out of order, but no biggie. You can see T in all of his glory in any order. When you do look at these, know that you are seeing this man doing his favorite things pretty much EVER in the world: kitesurfing, hanging out with his girl, watching the sunset, vodka-lemonading, talking to all kinds of other surfers, being at the beach. Behold:

Salty

Friday we went to our favorite local beach after work. I met T with two vodka lemonades, a camera, and all of his kiting equipment. It was a kind of farewell surf session for him and his friend since his buddy was moving away the next day. It's pretty sweet to be the only ones on the beach as it gets dark. It feels so summery, like you have endless time, and the colors are so soft and pretty. But then it gets very cold, and everyone's cup needs a refill and it's time to go. 

T's friend came over to hang out for the rest of the evening. This guy knows his sails - he has two engineering degrees and was hired to figure out how to make sails even more streamlined, and faster, for America's Cup sailboats. Not a small gig. But what cracked me up was Tocco! This guy totally knows his sport. Every step of the conversation Tocco was like, oh yeah, this and that, sails, sails, sails, past, present, and future. Not only that, he knew endless sail variations, has tried them all out, and also knows the English and the German words for all the parts. I tried not to be too amused. But I was loving it. This is why I call this water boy Salty

Seals!

We spent the weekend at four different beaches which was pretty amazing and kind of insane that that's even possible. My favorite spot was definitely Half Moon Bay (duh, I'm in love with HMB). We left early and beat all the traffic the whole way, bonus bonus. We caught the light along the way so beautifully I've made it my mission next weekend for Tocco to drop me off at the start of my favorite street in town so I can take all the photos I want, uninterrupted, and not from a vehicle going 50. He'll get a coffee, and then meet back up at the end of the road, perfect. This will make me obscenely happy. Anyway, we got to town super early, had a nice laid back breakfast with the locals at our favorite spot outside and then found a beach we've never visited. Front row parking. We set up and went paddle boarding and it was so, so, so! nice. The sand was golden, the water was perfectly glassy and we nearly had the place to ourselves. There were about a dozen boats anchored in the water to paddle over to and check out the sails, ropes, portholes and general shippiness of. But the best part were the two big fatty harbor seals, white with black spots, like snow leopards, with big black eyes, who were swimming all around us. They kept coming around to check out our bright yellow board, snorting water out of their noses, and spinning up, down, and around us in the water. At one point there was one seal directly in front of me and other at my back sooo close and I did get a little terrified. I'm not used to being out on the water with actual sealife that's not seaweed or minnows. They're so big and at home in the water and it's a little nutty when you're standing on top of the water on a wobbly board. But it was the kind of scary that's fun and thrilling so I spent the rest of my time in the water trying to anticipate where they'd pop up again so I could surf over for a closer look. Next weekend we're going to do it all over again. :)

T

Bein' T

MOM

I had such a nice time with my Mom! Tocco keeps saying that the house feels like a home now that she's been here, and I think that's true. Come back soon, Mama!

We went to the beach...

Stuck our toes in the sand... 

Watched Tocco kitesurf...

Checked out nature... 

Went to jail...

Worked in the yard... 

Painted the fence... 

Chose a color to paint the house...

Had Tocco's famous giant burgers...

And tons of other things! I love you Mom!

Crown Beach Restoration

Saturday's amazing sunset was too good not to share. That's San Francisco on the right. Sometimes it's even prettier to see it from a distance, all at once, than to be inside of it. 

Alameda just completed a major sand restoration project on this beach. Erosion had wiped away the majority of the sand over the years so the beach was really just a sandy cliff with a little strip to walk on. It's also a popular spot for kitesurfing, paddleboarding and kayaking so sometimes it felt a little crowded just hanging out there. Since we've lived in the area we've seen ships in the distance pulling up sand from the Bay floor. Now they've put that sand back onto the beach, and recreated it. The improvement is stunning! The water is so shallow for the first 100 yards or so that reflections from the clouds just pop against the water. My new favorite spot. 

dream print

Up in the Air

i keep staring at the space behind the tv in the living room, and imagining how nice it would look with an antoine rose "up in the air" print. so many nice details and colors... it's fun to imagine reading a good book on one of those blankets. :)

update- found this one too... damn these prices! toggle between sizes for a reality shock. 

praia piquinia

a successful end

the rest of the holiday weekend was a huge improvement over saturday - tocco redid the stairs, i started a couple container gardens (with tomatoes, arugula, mint, cilantro, rosemary, and sage), we went to half moon bay, saw our first kitesurfers for the season (!), had a nice lunch out, checked out some greenhouses, found temporary outdoor seating in our crawl space (yes!) and made a homemade berry tart, curried carrot soup, and banana bread...