sailing heart ships through broken waters

we were originally going to hike somewhere at tilden this weekend. we were so pumped on last week's garland hike, that we actually packed a lunch and got out of the house at a reasonable hour for a day hike. then we got into a crappy traffic jam going into the caldecott tunnel. this gave jeremy time to look at one our frequently used websites, bay area hiker and we decided to go to sibley instead.

sibley is a very cool volcanic park that is also an off leash dog area. our favorite kind of dog area! we hiked around for a few hours, taking the volcano and quarry trails and also heading down to the pond. once we walked all the way down the hill we found out it is a dog free area so we just pretty much walked back up. whoops. totally my fault ('let's go down that steep hill to check out a pond!') but jeremy and miri are good sports. i found out that grapes are a good way to coax miri up a hill when she's already been hiking for a couple of hours.

the last push up the hill was too much for miri so she got a nice ride for a little while. she looks really red there but she really didn't get too sunburned. the temperatures have been heading up in the bay area recently and after forgetting it one day last week, i have the baby sunblock everywhere we go now.

all last week miri was not in daycare so we spent all our time together. now that she's back i miss her so much! she is such a good kid and i am so happy she is in my life.

she was an american girl

i feel like my posts are getting less frequent but the length of them. oh they go on. i'm predicting a lot of pictures here.

my favorite salad ever from intermezzo in berkeley

i feel like most of the time when i post on this it's hey here is this thing i did! i did another thing too, let me show you. which i guess is useful and serves a purpose. i just want everyone to know though, we do a lot of being straight homebodies too. like this.

i guess what i mean by that is i cook a lot and miri hangs out in her diapers a lot and jeremy is the best dad ever. and that my camera is super yellow indoors and i don't have photoshop. huzzah.

the only thing we do more than hang out at home is hang out in parks and playgrounds. in the past week, miri and i have been to playgrounds all around the bay area, from dennis the menace playground in monterey to totland in berkeley. dennis the menace was one of my absolute favorite playgrounds as a kid. it is located right in between the manmade lake el estero and cemetary el encinal. dennis the menace was pretty renowned for it's dangerous play structures when i was a kid and it's sortof sad that they've been taken out. i don't think i would let miri play on the old helicopter ride that used to be near the locomotive. i have good childhood memories of probably nearly breaking my neck as well teenage ones of sneaking in on new years to drink vodka out of plastic water bottles in the tunnels.

we were down in monterey hanging out with my dad and his dogs for a few days this weekend. the highlight of the trip was probably hiking at garland park in carmel valley. it's one of my favorite places to hike of all time. i've been going there since i was probably seven or so. we went on a long and meandering hike up through the waterfall, cliff, vasquez and mesa trails. it was perfect weather; warm and sunny with a nice breeze, which was welcome after a chilly week or two in the bay area lately. get ready for probably way too many pictures but i really loved this hike that much. this was the longest and steepest hike we've ever taken miri on and she did great. i'm excited to take her hiking more often.

my parents dogs: homer


and baxter

too many photos? you tell me. anyway it was just a perfect hike. perfect length, elevation, weather, kid to dog ratio, everything. next time i want to take them out on a trail at the ranger station in big sur. maybe someday miri will be old enough/ready to hike out to sykes hot springs in big sur, out farther on that trail. these day hikes are good practice for a bigger one like that. maybe by next summer.

other than that, we've been hanging out at playgrounds with our friends freya, hunter, lydia and tristan. i guess some adults too. i finally got to meet lydia! i held her for like over an hour. it was the best.

and because i started this post out with food with a face, here is an eggplant with a nose.

you can get whatever you want at alice's restaurant

hello internet. it's friday! so far i've spent this morning listening to arlo guthrie and working on my egg poaching skills. i think i've got it. no tricks, gadgets, vinegar, whatever. salted boiling water, drop an egg into it. let chill. slotted spoon. cover with tapatio. jeremy is sitting at our table being productive/reading the news. it's nice to spend a morning at home, especially when we've been out and about lately; craft fairs, parks parks parks, seeing lots of friends, etc. we've been staying closer to home the past couple of weeks and it's been nice. of course that means we're just going to be out of town a lot coming up soon. anyway, here we go with the week in review or the WIR as my buddy nevin says:

last friday we actually went out for a rare breakfast that isn't grabbing a pastry and coffee at our awesome bakery.

we walked on over to mama's, our cherished neighborhood breakfast joint. jeremy got my favorite, the eggs brady, while i ate a giant, giant omelet. i lovvvvveee breakfast and while i do enjoy cooking it myself, it's nice to be able to order off a menu and have someone constantly refilling your coffee for an hour.

after eating a giant breakfast, i walked over to bart to go get my hair cut by my friend jamey at edo. here is my before shot and a peak at how much hair got cut off.

i am totally happy with my haircut! jamey is the best! i only wish i had remembered to save a lock of my hair for jeremy. but frankly, i was kindof drunk from a couple strong pints at toronado before hand.

this week we also met our friends dusty and tristan at the mosswood playground near our house. miri and tristan are less than a week apart in age! tristan also has the most beautiful hair i may have seen on a child after miri.

i really like the contrast between jeremy and miri's faces on that one. she lovveessss her daddy. also, that hoodie that jeremy is wearing is like a magnet for people asking him/trying to sell him weed. as he was sitting on the swings, some kid came up to us and offered him some grapes. heh. he politely declined. later in the week we got offered again as we were walking down telegraph. not surprised that we have the stoner 'look'.

saturday i helped out my good friend maia of dandy lion press at the renegade craft fair at fort mason. her etsy is here. go buy a card or a t shirt! my favorite is the jackalope with bullhorns. cutest! i am going to hopefully be helping maia out more in the future which is cool. i like her, her business and her family so much. support them!

i had a great day at the fair. i got a print i've looked at on etsy a few times already, a stuffed dinosaur for miri and the brown jackalope shirt for jeremy. everyone liked their presents. i kindof wish i had gotten another print that i saw and waffled on but what can you do. by sunday though, i was ready to stretch my legs at pt. isabel, the biggest dog park in the country. ethel and miri had a ball.

i LOVE pt. isabel. i totally used to go there before i even had a dog because i love it so much. there are great views of sf and the north bay. we hiked around for about two hours.

(if you look closely you can see a dog standing on the picnic table!)

here is ethel tuckered out afterwords:

best dog! <3 <3 <3