1912 Vicente

A few images from a recent shoot.

While it would have been easier to photograph, certainly, had it been a little more overcast outside, I love the sun-washed character of these images. Here in San Francisco it's rare to watch the light from the window travel around the room, it's so soft and diffuse. A house with real sun coming in the windows: priceless!

I especially loved this little breakfast nook. Who wants to have a cup of coffee and read the paper in the morning with me here? Sounds fantastic.

Quiet on the inside, unassuming on the outside, but cozy. I think that's the right word for it.

Church Window - Wordless Weekend

February Habits, Goals, Resolutions, and Thoughts

You can always count on me to have a leaf photo waiting to be blogged. :-)

Welcome to February! Man, January seemed both incredibly short and then also at the same time quite long. There were certainly quite a few times where I found myself thinking, "I can't believe January's almost over!" and also, "I can't believe it's still January!" I think it's some kind of side effect of making resolutions and having so many hopes and bright dreams for the new year. I'm not sure January really lived up to my expectations, but then again, I'm not sure exactly what my expectations were. And maybe then, that's the problem.

I made resolutions, as I do every year (and which I always enjoy doing, regardless of my success rate), but most of them weren't January specific. Two were, getting a standing desk (which I did!) and finishing overhauling my website (which I didn't). The rest are kind of nebulous, year-long affairs. Which is fine, but doesn't give an immediate sense of accomplishment.

So for February, I'm considering tracking some habits instead. I've been inspired by a few other bloggers who have been doing this as well, with pretty good success. The habits I want to track are nothing earth-shattering; they focus on exercise, eating well, going to sleep at a good time, cleaning/decluttering, being grateful, and connecting with other people. These are all things I am focusing on already, none of them are terrible problem areas. I'm not trying to completely change my life, but I am trying to make it generally easier, healthier, and smoother. I'd love to have the house in a constantly clean state rather than periodically having to spend half a day whipping it into shape (usually before people come over, I won't lie!).

So I borrowed a resolutions chart from one of my favorite bloggers, Crazy Aunt Purl, and I'm just going to see how I do. Other inspiration came from the ShuBox, Pancakes and French Fries, Zen Habits (also loved this recent post), and of course Gretchen Rubin at the Happiness Project. Please click the links here! All of them go to posts I found really helpful, with the exception of the Happiness Project where there wasn't any particular inspirational post this month.

One of the major reasons I'm choosing to focus on these things this month is that I really want them to become habits. That is, things I do without thinking about them, without tracking them, without stressing or feeling worried or guilty. I want them to be the background of my life, so that I can focus on other things: my business, my life, travel, fun, without worrying that everything else will slide by the wayside. I'll be honest, I was already kind of hoping that this would have happened in January, but it didn't. So for February we'll see if tracking makes any kind of difference, and that will determine what happens in March!

Ok, long post, I know, but I'd still love to hear your thoughts if you managed to make it all the way to the bottom. Have you tried tracking habits? How'd you do?

Which do you prefer?

I couldn't decide whether this one worked better in color or in black and white. What do you think?

Winter White

Every winter eager magazine writers give us this sage advice: winter is an excellent time to wear white. Usually, a whole outfit of unrelieved white. They accompany this with photos of impossibly beautiful girls jumping and running around in outfits of white in various indoor locations.

Now, I'm all for fun photo shoots and I don't think that photography needs to 100% represent reality - really! - but I think there might be reason why they don't do those photo shoots outside.

White clothes are really hard to keep clean!

Which is why I prefer my winter white in snow form. And over our Christmas holidays (yeah, I know I'm a little late blogging it!) we had all the winter white we ever wanted and more. Here are some photos of our Christmas break in Truckee, which was made even nicer by all the copious, fluffy white snow.

I love snow! And winter. And spring and summer. And oh, definitely fall  too . . . .

Recently . . .

I got chastised yesterday by Evan for not putting up a post in 10 days. That's kind of amusing in and of itself, because Evan probably only reads my blog about once every ten days, and so it was the first time he had noticed.

A friendly, fuzzy, healthy picture from a recent shoot. Just to make this post a bit less depressing. 

Well, internet, the thing is, I got a cold. And not really one of those warm fuzzy, oh-I've-just-got-a-cough-and-now-I-carry-some-extra-tissues colds. No, this one meant business. I had a fever on and off for probably five days (mostly on, unless I was taking fever reducing medicine) which just made me feel like sleeping all the time. And I did. Usually I can be semi-productive while sick, but this time it just didn't work. And then when the fever split I got laryngitis, where I could barely squeak for a couple of days. Now I'm better and I just sound like I've been a very heavy smoker for a few decades, plus I carry some extra tissues. Not much of a problem, really.

Except for the coughing. Once I started being able to speak, I stopped having the ability to be horizontal and not cough at the same time. Vertical? No problem. All day I barely cough. Lie down for a second? I'm going to need a throat replacement soon. And yet sleeping is still very important for cold recovery, and necessary for life in general, so I've been trying to figure out some kind of solution.

One thing that has helped is sleeping on the couch. This is not a reflection on Evan or our lovely bed (which really, is a great bed), it's just one of those unexplainable things. I cough less on the couch. Also, Mouse loves to sleep directly in front of my face, and she doesn't do that on the couch. So not inhaling cat hair helps. But still, 4 am is the witching hour for cold sufferers, and last night, when I couldn't stop coughing at 4 am (unless I sat up, at which point I couldn't sleep) I was desperate. And I remembered some vague reference to rum hot toddies and coughing.

So I got up and made myself a not-really-all-that delicious mixture of brandy, water, honey, and lemon juice and heated it all up in the microwave, and then downed it.

Somehow, it worked, and I slept like a baby afterwards. Drinking when I'm sick is not really my thing, let alone on the couch at four am by my lonesome, but anyway.

So, that's where I am now. How are y'all? Any cough remedies that grandma passed down to you? Because frankly, I think dextromethorphan doesn't do a thing. Except sound complicated, and taste pretty nasty. (Now that I do some research, maybe I should have just eaten some chocolate.)

(I promise, that's the last personal health post for a while. So you can come back tomorrow and I won't be bellyaching about my cough anymore. Cross my heart.)