California Update: Short Sales and Decorating a la Anthropologie!

I am just super excited about the two places Brentan and I put offers on. I just found out that we are the highest of two bids on the little house in Redwood City that I previously posted about. Since it is a short sale, and there are two lenders on the house, it has to be approved by both of them. The price was originally pre-approved, but I also found out that that has expired, so it is going to take a little bit longer. I get to excercise my patience. I hope I'm just not getting my hopes up too much. I think I might be a little because I'm scheming of all the pretty things I'm going to put in that house...
I walked into anthropologie today and got some inspiration. Like these chairs and table for a outdoor patio:

Or some cute linens:

And some lanterns:
Hanging under a lush umbrella for shade:

Ok, so I could put this stuff anywhere. But so cute.

House Hunting: Peninsula Style

Just got back early yesterday morning from a weekend of house hunting in the Bay Area! Brentan and I put an offer on two very different places. We're hoping to get the best bang for our buck. We saw about 15 properties, condos and single family homes, in various states of disrepair, all short sales (which is the step before foreclosure, the bank sells the home for less than what the owner owes). So here are the two we bid on:
"Dollhouse" on Northumberland Ave.




Condo in Shelter Creek


You can probably tell which one I am leaning towards.

Hello Mr. Olympus E-510

I want you all to say hello to my new digital SLR Olympus E-510, who will now be the main photographer for this blog.
He is very happy to be a part of this project, and I am very happy to have him as my early anniversary/birthday gift from Brentan. Though he is not brand new, he has some experience from a craigslister who has upgraded. It is safe to say, he is in good hands now...

Whiptails Weekend + Bro-In-Law

Last weekend was a Whiptails filled weekend. It was Millyfest + Alum Game, and I'm pretty sure the alum, ahem *vintage*, whiptail team dominated. I didn't take any pictures, because I was too busy having fun. And it was great seeing people who I hadn't seen in a year or so. Although I missed the far away people (JessKwan, Tori, Rachel, I'm calling you out)! It was great playing frisbee again, which I also haven't done in a year. I used muscles I forgot that I have.

Also, my brother in law, Bryce, came into town from CO on Saturday, and I'm playing tourist with him, especially when Brentan is at work. Sunday we went to see Spring Awakening, which, although the music and singing was outstanding, was a little disappointing. There was very little plot, and the acting was sub-par. I felt like there was so much emotion and very little expression of it on the actors' part. I wanted to cry, to laugh, but it wasn't there.
Also, Bryce and I went to the Museum of Science yesterday and hung out with the schoolchildren. I'm also always underwhelmed by that museum. But then we went to see the Pawtucket Sox game last night after Brentan was done with work, and that was fun. And cheap! Including the food and beer!

So now, Bryce is still sleeping and I should come up with something to do this afternoon....

Camping on Cape Cod

I already posted my photos to Facebook, but I thought I would add some description to my Cape Cod adventure from this weekend.

Brentan and Sarah B. and I decided around midnight on Friday that we would go camping at the Cape Cod National Seashore for the weekend. Brentan and I had been thinking of it for some time, and now that Sarah doesn't have a job (sad) we had a little room for spontaneity!

It rained until 2pm on Saturday, which was ok, because we left late on Sat. morning (per usual, I'm turning into a not so prompt person). But then we were on the Cape, and I had never really spend any time there, and it was so beachy, more than I would expect. We went for a little walk on the beach by our campsite in Nickerson State Park. We saw lots of sea creatures, including a crab metropolis. I couldn't count how many tiny crabs lived in the sand!
Then we went and looked at some lighthouses. There was a bride and groom there taking pictures. A Cape wedding would be so beautiful. And later we set up camp and made some delicous dinner of brats and corn.Sunday morning we got up really early to see the sun rise over the Atlantic. It was the first time I had seen the sun rise over the ocean, and probably the last in a long time. However, I am more looking forward to some sunsets! After snapping some quick pictures, we went back to camp and slept for 3 more hours.
The rest of Sunday was spent hiking and exploring Provincetown. We took a 4 mile hike out onto this peninsula which used to be an island. It used to be a hot whaling location. We did see a dead blackfish, which is a type of whale, on the beach. We had lunch in P-Town at a restaurant with a nice patio overlooking the marina.
Then it was a drive back to Boston! Great weekend!

Taza Chocolate and Albertine Press

Yesterday was a quite lovely afternoon. I went with my friend Lydia and Brentan to the open house at the Taza chocolate factory in Somerville and went on a tour of their factory. It was very cool, and although I've been to a brewery, a winery, and a tea factory, making organic chocolate is a bit different. And it was a smaller place, where they still do a lot of the work by hand--including wrapping all of the chocolate. The chocolate is all made in a traditional way, stone ground, and it is all dark chocolate, they don't use any milk! And quite delicious. Our tour guide explained that they don't conch the cocoa beans which makes their chocolate have a nice, authentic texture. Oh yum, I'm just remembering it so well, I want to eat some of the chocolate I bought! They sell their chocolate all over the Boston area, and I would recommend trying it if you never have. It's all made locally at thier cool factory!

After the tour, and tasting more chocolate, we went upstairs to visit Albertine Press, a cute little letterpress printing shop, which is in the same building. They had about 7-8 letterpress machines, and did a little demo on how they work. Very cool. I love the aestheic of letterpress, and it was so cool seeing it in action. It makes me want to become a printer. So how much do you think a letterpress machine costs? I bought a cute card that I can use soon!