Road Trip

One of the best things about living in San Francisco is the ability to jump in the car (boyfriend's 1987 Vanagon in my case) and within a few hours be in one of the most beautiful spots in the world (yes, world). My favorite thing about these road trips is the time on the road itself. We have a policy during our road trips to be as without a schedule as possible. This gives us the opportunity to stop anywhere along the road that we want to. This is how you can come across the most unique and often overlooked destinations whether it be a restaurant, a viewpoint, or in some cases, a road that leads to nothing.
This past September we drove up to Mendocino for one last camping trip before the season ended. Although this particular trip only lasted 2 days and 1 night, we had some great adventures. Some of our stops included: The Anderson Valley Brewing Company, a solar powered brewery in Boonville, for one of my favorite beers;

The Hendy Woods State Park where we walked along the mostly dried up Navarro River and saw/heard evidence of the infamous California Mountain Lion (Adam very keenly kept it to himself until we got back to the van that he saw the animal's tracks and dragging marks...);
The "World Famous Hamburger Ranch and Pasta Farm" a rare gem located in Cloverdale, CA which boasts favoring notes from the regulars, apparently including Sean Penn and Joey from "Friends" (it's gotta be good, right?);



The Navarro River Redwoods State Park, in which Highway 128 takes you through an 11 mile redwood tunnel that opens up to the ocean. While in Mendocino, we spent a foggy afternoon on the beach playing cards and taking photos.

That evening we found an awesome market to buy fresh produce for a salad. And a can of baked beans (it's not camping without baked beans). We camped in the Van Damme State Park, a beautiful campground located 3 miles south of the town of Mendocino. The entrance of the park is located on the Shoreline Highway across from the ocean. This was definitely one of my favorite campgrounds visited so far. The road through the park takes you up a hill and you have your pick of campsites located atop the hill with beautiful views of the forest or a site next to the "The Little River." We chose to camp next to the river.
If you aren't a camper, I would recommend staying the the Little River Inn. It is an adorable inn that sits on a hill across from the sea. Apparently they have an amazing restaurant, too.
So, there's a little about one of my recent trips :) I'll post some pictures of the places I mentioned. I'll be taking a few trips to Tahoe this winter so I'll be sure to post some pictures and stories from those trips.

Mantlescape & Bookshelf redos by Tara

I went with a simple mantlescape for katie's mirrored fireplace. I took a large crystal vase and filled it with greens, whites and 2 pink flowers for more color. On the other side of the mantle I put 3 crystal candleholders with ivory candlesticks. The idea was to create a simple mantlescape, because we got a lot that is going to be going on in the room, and the mirror is already a focal point, so there is not much to put up there.

Now lets talk bookcases....I had to get those bookcases transformed. One was filled with waterford crystal...I have never seen so much crystal in my life. The other was a random mix of objects, mostly silver and some other nice things. I took everything out of the two wooden bookcases, and everything out of them and looked for inspiration online. My inspiration was the set of the new movie with Meryl Streep, Its Complicated. In the living room of the set, the bookcases look amazing...and every design blog was talking abut this set and this room. So using these, I did Katie's 3 bookcases...and I think they turned out fabulous and change the room to make it look more put together. By the way, this took me like 3 days! I also had to get a lot of hardcover books to add in and mixed in flowers and other colorful objects. Pictures to follow!

Photos of Chairs!

Finally I got the photos from the before & after of the chairs from Katie's redo. Check them out and post your comments! Yesterday the next fabric for the other rando chair arrived, and we are very excited. Now I am inspired for the changes I have to make when I get back to Santiago in my apartment. Check out these chairs....don't they look wonderful???!!!

I almost forgot...The recipes!!!

Carrot-Potato Pancakes

1 carrot, grated coarsely
1 large potato, peeled and grated coarsely
1 Tbls white flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground pepper
Nonstick cooking spray

In a large bowl combine the carrot, potatoes, flour, egg, thyme, salt and pepper. Lightly spray a nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Drop ¼ cup amounts of athe potato mixture onto the skillet, flattening the pancakes with a spoon if necessary. Fry until lightly browned on one side, about 3 minutes; then fry 3 minutes on the other side. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm. Try topping with sour cream, salsa, and/or melted cheese.

Strawberry Pie

Use favorite pie crust recipe
1 1/2 quarts of strawberries
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tbls corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water

Clean and hull strawberries. Mash and reserve one cup of fruit. Combine the next four ingredients with the reserved fruit and cook until thickened over low heat 10-15 minutes. Place whole berries in the baked pie shell, evenly distributed. Pour the sauce over the fruit and coat thoroughly. chill in the refrigerator for at least four hours. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream!!!

A Day in the Life of a Vermonter (wannabe)

Hello, yes I'm writing from the snowy mountains of Vermont (where you have to have lived here for at least a generation before you can call yourself a Vermonter). What goes on here in this little tiny state on this little farm near Brattleboro?

Well, today I went snowshoeing in the falling snow with my nearly one year old baby on my back. He loved the ride so much that he fell asleep for 3 hours! Which gave me the chance to make a strawberry pie, with berries that I picked last summer and pulled out of the freezer yesterday. We had the pie with some cream that I whipped up for dessert tonight. Our housemates loved it - a taste of summer.

While making the pie, my housemate Abi and I worked on planning for the farmers' market that we are going to be organizing this summer. We are organizing a farmers' market that is affordable and accessible to people of low income. It is also an opportunity for new farmers to have a consistent market. Tomorrow we'll meet with three of the new farmers who are going to be involved in the project. I'm also doing a cooking class tomorrow with young single moms. We are going to make potato-carrot pancakes. So, today I had to practice. Yummy. The pancakes were a big hit with Birch and everyone else too.

I spent part of my afternoon listening to both NPR and Democracy Now talk about what is happening in Haiti - post earthquake. I found myself feeling very angry at how the US military and the UN "peacekeeping force" has occupied the country, against the wishes of Haiti's leaders. Yet another example of criminalizing the poor. But I feel encouraged that Partners in Health and so many individuals from the US and around the world are extending a hand to help their "brothers and sisters" in Haiti. And I'm encouraged by Democracy Now's coverage of those efforts.

ahh yes, and I washed Birch's cloth diapers today - gotta go get them out of the dryer now.

all in all it was a good day.
the 5th sister

The Transformation

The Transformation of katie's den and living room is going well. VERY WELL! We hyperventilated today as they dropped off the two bergere chairs....lets just say that the chairs look FANTASTICO!!! The before and after shots are so amazing. The upolsterer did a great job lining up the fabric to the chair, because it was a very large pattern. Saturday we also freaked out at the LA flower & fabric district. Katie got tons of flowers...lots of orchids and I did a nice bouquet for her mantle in the living room. She got a single white orchid for the den and another large live orchid for her dining room and a large white one for her room. I got a nice looking shiny black wood tray for my coffee table. And many ideas too! Then I went back to the Wertz bros antiques mart and got a lovely bird print, in blue tones with an antique gold frame. Its going in my guest bedroom which I have in whites and blues. Anyways...the big news of the day is the bergere chairs...we need to go drink tea in them right now. Better - a glass of wine. Oh wait, its only 1:30pm! Ciao!

C'est La Vie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKythlXAIY

I love this video by OK, Go! What a great way to start another day. As I like to say, another day in paradise. Despite the fact that the three active kids (4 with Sebastian here) keep me running all day long, we are so lucky! So blessed.

Tara and I will be continuing to work on the redecorating, using our antique store finds and some awesome fabrics - here is a preview of the living room chair fabrics:

Two Bergere arm chairs in this fabric:
http://www.lsfabrics.com/fabric_catalog.php?pid=10006

And another cool chair in this fabric:
ttp://www.lsfabrics.com/fabric_catalog.php?cPath=1_235&pid=9989

We will be ready to post pics of our two painting projects we have completed this week. Let's just say that the results are out of control awesome and the pics will be amazing.

Heading off to Socceropolis for Liam and then to the fabric store and reupholsterer. Stay tuned! And Happy Friday!

New Year 2010!!

Happy New Year 2010!~ We just spent our new years in the big island, Hawaii and it was a blast. Now its time to blog about what we are doing this year and what is going on in our exciting lives! I am at Katie's house in Santa Monica until the end of the month. My first important decorating project just happens to be her house! We are starting with her living room. Tomorrow we are taking down the hideous curtains and moving the carpet out and changing out a desk. Its obviously a work in progress...but we are going to be posting before and after photos. One amazing find was the Wertz Brothers antiques mart in Santa Monica. We went there last week with sister Eileen and it was a treasure chest of cool objects and furniture. Katie can definitely find some cool objects and furniture for her redecor there. We are going back in a few days because I have not figured out what I am going to get for my apartment in Santiago yet. I am thinking about some botanical prints..or a clock or anything cool that I can carry on the plane...with a kid, a carseat, a stroller and a huge carry on!