Day 30: Napa

Silver Oak was another vineyard we stopped at.....

Day 29: Napa

After our picnic lunch we headed to the vineyards on our bikes.  It was a gorgeous day, with a brilliant blue sky.  Our first stop was Opus One.  Their red is heaven, so smooth.......

 

Day 28: Napa

On Sunday we rented bikes & set out on a 10 mile loop.  The map from the bike shop had several much longer routes, but we chose the shortest & easiest figuring there were more than enough vineyards along the way to chose from.  Our first stop was at the Oakville Grocery for a picnic lunch.  They had an assortment of homemade salads, sandwiches and cookies to choose from.  Along the outside of the store is the Oakville Grocery Farmstand that offers lots of fresh fruit, veggies & home made lemonade.  Tomorrow I'll post photos of some of the vineyards we biked to.

Day 27: Fishermans Wharf

As promised, here are some more photos from our trip to San Fran.  We walked around Pier 39 & Fishermans Wharf on Saturday morning.  There was a large group of sea lions at Pier 39.  Most of them were sleeping, but there were a few that would climb onto the docks and walk over the rest of the group as they slept.  The aroma coming from the Boudin Bakery was fabulous, they make the best sourdough bread....yuummmm!  You can see into the bakery from the street & there was a woman creating creatures out of bread dough.  They had an assortment of turtle, bear, snake & crab shaped breads.  We took a cable car back to our hotel & had a great view as we were standing on the very back of the car.  After lunch in the city (at a fab place called Bread & Cocoa) we headed out to Napa.  Tomorrow I'll post photos of Napa.

Boudin Bakery

View from the back of cable car.

Day 26: Self Portrait in SF

This self portrait was taken Saturday morning at Pier 39.  The handsome guy with me is my husband Varun.  If you look closely you can see a bit of Alcatraz behind us.  I just stretched my arm out for this one, no self timer or tripod.  I'll post more photos tomorrow & Sunday of our trip to SF & Napa.

Dianne & V in San Francisco

Day 25: Chinatown

After lunch we headed to Chinatown. Supposedly Chinatown in SF is one of the most famous.  It was amazing to see all of the vibrant colors.

Day 24: San Francisco

Last Friday was our 5 year anniversary so to celebrate my husband planned a surprise trip.  All I knew was that we were flying to San Francisco and that I needed to pack 'something athletic'.  We had a fantastic 4 days!  The trip started in San Fran and we then headed to Napa for some wine tasting.  Over the next few days I'm going to post a bunch of photos that I took.  

flying into San Francisco

The flight from Los Angeles to San Fran was only 52 minutes long.  On such a short flight there was only one announcement from the pilot:  "we have reached our cruising altitude of 32,000 feet and will now begin our descent".  It was pretty funny!  I took a few photos out of the window during the descent.

Cafe de la Presse

After we checked into the hotel we set out to explore the city on foot.  On our way to Union Square we stopped at Cafe de la Presse for lunch.  What a fantastic Parisian style cafe!  We ordered a chicken sandwich, Croque Monsieur and an order Pomme Frites.  Top it off with a glass of white wine & chocolate macarons and all I can say is yummmm...........

Pomme Frites with mayo

Day 23: The beach this week

Aaahhhhhh...... Nothing beats a nice sunset after a long day at work.

Day 22: In the neighborhood, final day

Here is the last of the neighborhood flowers, at least for a while. I enjoyed posting on the same subject for a week. Can you tell that I love pink & purple flowers?

Day 21: Pink Flower

Day 20: Pink Flowers

Day 19: White Flowers

Day 18: A little green in the neighborhood

This week I have been posting photos of flowers around our neighborhood. While today's photo is not a flower, I just had to take a photo of it. As I walked by this plant I really liked the shape of the leaves & the pattern they form, so here's a bit of green for the week.

Day 17: Yellow Flowers

Day 16: Flower

Another flower from the neighborhood, this is definitely one of my favorites.

Day 15: In the neighborhood

There are lots of beautiful flowers in our neighborhood so I'm going to post a few photos over the next several days. As soon as I saw these purple flowers I thought of my sister, so J this one's for you!

Day 14: The beach this week

Tonight I went for a walk on the beach. It was a bit overcast and grey, and there were not a lot of people around. When I saw this colorful umbrella standing by itself I couldn't resist snapping a photo.

Day 13: Farmers Market

It's Saturday so that means Farmers Market!

Day 12: Cactus

I have had this cactus for many years, it used to be my grandmothers.  It has made the move (by car each time) from Vermont, to Boston, to Texas and now to California.  There were very few blossoms the first few years I had it, and a year that it didn't blossom at all.  It started to make a comeback while we lived in Texas, and now is flourishing in CA.  I think it enjoys all of the sunlight.

Day 11: Sawdust

Tonight I went to the Sawdust Art & Craft Festival in Laguna Beach with my friend Jen.  There was an interesting variety of artwork.  The grounds, artists booths & live music provide a very cool setting, I've never been to anything like it.  Several photographers had amazing photos, and they looked absolutely stunning printed on metal.  I might have to go back & purchase a couple of pieces.  There were a few different workshops offered & we took part in a mixed media session to made bookmarks.  I decided to go purple & found some really fun items to use as stamps & stencils.

Day 10: Mixed Media Project

Previously I mentioned my interest in experimenting with beeswax in my mixed media projects.  Not long after I had the opportunity at work to photograph several detailed projects involving wax.  That experience inspired me and the result can be seen in the following photographs.  This piece on canvas incorporates ink, wax, oil pastels & a photograph I shot of lavender in the garden.  I'm looking forward to trying a couple different techniques so stay tuned!