happy birthday baby seester

I can't believe you are 21. I swear it was just yesterday that we were building pirate ship forts on the back lawn, playing school at grandma's house, and making forts under the kitchen table so we could spend stormy afternoons cuddled in front of the fire reading to each other. How did we grow up so fast?

When we were little I used to freak out that mom and dad had left us and I would have to raise you by myself (apparently I had abandonment issues ..). This was a constant worry for me, not because it would have been a burden to take care of you, but because I didn't think I was capable of raising you the way you deserved to be raised. Luckily, we never had to be in that situation, and you have grown up to be such an amazingly caring and beautiful lady on your own. Remember when you did karate? And synchronized swimming? And wore clogs for the first ten years of your life? You never cared what your friends did or what was cool- you always did what YOU wanted and your friends were forced to follow. You still emanate this sense of independence that others are drawn to and I admire you so much for growing up into your own, confident person.

A lot has changed since we were little, but I'm so happy that we still have a strong relationship. You are my baby seester and always will be, no matter how old you turn, but I'm also so happy that you are also one of my very best friends. I cant wait to experience this time in our lives with you and to see where it takes you!

I love you to the tippy top of the moon and back one million times.

times they are a-changin'

It was one of those special moments you share with a parent that I will never forget. My dad and I, sitting on the back porch attempting to harmonize with our awfully out of tune voices to "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan. After begging and pleading I convinced him to re-string his old acoustic guitar so he could teach me how to play. My mom and sister were in the house, minding their own business, so it was just me and him back there without a care in the world. It may have been the way the late november sun was streaming through the redwood trees, or the fact that we were all back together, but there was something about that moment and those lyrics that really got me. I felt so special to be singing with our awfully out of tune voices and felt like a little girl again looking at my papa with admiration as he whipped out another one of his amazing talents. It was one of those moments that I'll look back on 30 years from now and remember it as a moment of being complete and utterly happy.

indian summer

This weekend it was a whopping 85 degrees in San Francisco... Summer's finally here! And what did I do during this gorgeous weekend? I went shopping for fall attire of course! And boy am I happy with my loot: sweaters and vests galore, jeans and corduroys for every occasion, and even a pretty little dress. Mama is a happy girl.

We did enjoy some of the pretty weather outside with a little rainbow sunset time on top of Mount Tam. We drove to the top of East Peak to a little lookout hut that had stunning 360 views of the Bay Area- from Mount Diablo with the moon rising over the East Bay, to San Francisco with the fog rolling in, to a fogged in GORGEOUS sunset to the west. And little did we know it was also the harvest moon, so it was a double treat. It. was. breathtaking.

Throwback {when it all began}

Today we are time traveling back to high school to relive the glory days of when Jack and I fell in love. Don't we look so little? We were just babies when we met (15 and 16) but even way back when we knew it was the real thing. During our beach nights (kids gotta hang out alone somewhere, why not the beach?) we would map out our lives with plans to live in Colorado and become ski bums or live in bustling New York for a few years before settling down on a farm with a big red barn. But lets rewind to the beginning. I'd like to tell you a little story of nice little girl and a wonderful little boy: 

Once upon a time there was a girl and a boy who both wanted to do something better than lazing around Marin County over their summer break, so they decided to dedicate their summers to helping others through an exchange program called Amigos. Little did they know this decision would not only better the communities they lived in, but would change their lives forever. On one of the first days of training the girl saw a cute boy across the room. She was excited when they were placed in the same group together. She thought the boy was excited too because he smiled a lot. The girl noticed the boy had a very nice smile. Over the next couple of months the girl and boy flirted and smiled at each other. A lot. When they went on their separate trips, the boy wrote the girl a letter, but she never got it. If only the girl could read that letter now...

When they got back from their trips, the girl and boy texted a lot and eventually the boy asked the girl out to a Giants game. The girl was super nervous because she liked the boy a lot, and it ended up being one of the greatest nights of her life. The boy taught her all the names of the baseball players and bought her a hot dog, and she still has the ticket from the game saved in a special box. Needless to say the girl and boy fell madly in love. They grew to become best friends  and spent their teenage years living a fairytale love- completely smitten and infatuated with each other. Over the following years they had so many good times and, sadly, some bad, but despite where they were in their lives they still loved each other very very much. Then, the girl and boy's lives fell back in rythmn and they were able to be together again, and man, did the girl miss the boy a lot. And the girl thought the boy missed her too, because the boy couldn't stop smiling. A lot. They spent the next couple of years falling even more in love (if that was even possible), and grew to realize they had changed each others lives forever. Now, the girl and boy live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and spend each day exploring their new home and celebrating their lives together. 

But that is not the end of the story. We still have our whole lives ahead of us and plan on doing many awesome amazing things, a few including:

Jack and Anna's Awesome Life Goals:

Go on a hot air balloon ride

Drive cross country and see all the landmarks

Go to concerts where we don't know the bands

Go to more art shows and pretend we know what we are talking about

Run around SF during Santa Con

Explore Europe

Explore South America

Relax on a Tropical Vacation (possibly the Maldives if we become bazillionaires)

Re-fall in love in Paris

Explore the ocean by going Scuba dive

Bury a box (more on this later)

Go to movies at Sundance

Make a home together

Get hitched :)

photographs & memories {the arrival of the gremlin aka my little sister}

Why hello there. I thought I'd start a new little feature on Thursdays to spice up the end of the week and help you guys fit together the puzzle that is my life. It's going to be called "Throwback" and it will feature a photograph from my past (either one I've taken or of me or one that I just love) and will include a little memory associated with it. Get it guys? It's a photograph.. with a memory.. I'm so clever. So, to start it off, I thought it would only be fitting to start from the beginning, with one of my first memories from when I was a weee child.

These two cuties are me and my sister just after she was born. Aren't we just precious?? (That helmet of a hair cut just really suited me). Now, I love my sister so much and would do anything for her, but apparently back in the day I wasn't her biggest fan (if you couldn't tell by my completed skeptical facial expression).

I have one memory in particular from the day she was born where I'm sitting in the hospital room on my aunt's lap and everyone is crowding around my mom and this pile of blankets in her arms and I don't like it. Not one bit. I was used to being the center of attention and did not like that my parents weren't paying attention to me. Yeah okay, it was cool that they gave me an awesome new thermos with rainbows on it and a sweet new shirt that said "big sister", but I needed hugs and attention too! So, I crawled up on the bed, looked down at the little gremlin in my mom's arms, and said " Mom, can we bring her back to where she came from? I want to go home." Of course all the adults giggled and patted my head, but I didn't get it. I actually wanted to return this thing and go home with my mommy and my daddy.

When we finally did go home, one of my mom's friends had decorated the front of our house with baby decorations and there was the cooooolest little ornament handing from a string that was a little baby bear in a baby carriage. I wanted it. Badly. My dad came over and pulled it off the tree for me and told me I could have it, but only if I took good care of it. He then explained that I had a new little sister, and just like the baby carriage and the little bear, I had to take care of her as well. I don't think it hit me until a while later that this new baby was actually going to be staying with us and we couldn't return her, but I do remember later playing with her and rolling the carriage over her blankets realizing that maybe she wasn't that bad to have around.