Update - Alzheimer's Walk

Just a shout out to EVERYONE who supported me and donated money to the Alzheimer's Walk. My family and I had a great time walking with a few hundred (or thousand maybe?) people in support of Alzheimer's Research. We raised over $2,500 overall, and I think we were in the top 20 because we had our own "Team Fulton" table. Grandpa Homer was even there for the walk which was pretty awesome.

Enjoy the pics!

Frida Kahlo

Last Sunday I was able to see the spectacular Frida Kahlo exhibit at the SF MOMA. If you don't already know, I LOVE Frida. It was a pretty intense exhibit, but I loved it nonetheless. Here's what I wrote in my journal while perusing the exhibit:

I am inspired, impressed, a little sad, (a little annoyed at all of the crowds), but ultimately inspired by her amazing portraits and also the photos of her. After reading much about her and loving her work, it is a bit surreal to be here. I wish that there weren't so many crowds, so I could stay for hours and stare at her portraits, the brush strokes, the color. Almost as if I were in my own home. In some weird way I feel connected to Frida - it must have been her spirit, enthusiasm, love for social justice, her personal tragedy. To be a person that is able to convey their feelings with any type of art is remarkable - for it to be so real - so purely real is the only way I can describe it. I think seeing the actual photos of her was almost more striking than seeing the portraits themselves. It's like the portraits say something about how she was feeling, but the photos show her - her face, her expressions, her dress. The way she looks at Diego is interesting - with their tangled history, I wonder what she's thinking in those pictures. And the ones of her suffering with the bandages on her head after multiple surgeries...they are equally as intense as they are disturbing....

Work work work!

I've just returned from my fabulous staff retreat in Half Moon Bay, CA. What a time we had! To be honest, I was thinking it was going to be really boring, involve a lot of reading, and nooooo fun time. But it wasn't! There was plenty of time to chat with my fellow NWPers, but also enough alone time for myself. In that respect, it truly felt like a "retreat". The theme was "Writing in a Democracy" - a pretty applicable topic, no? There were readings associated with the theme, which allowed for some pretty interesting conversation by all. It was great to be able to talk with people in my organization thatI don't usually talk to - especially about current events and the work that we do. All in all it was a pretty fantastic retreat. Now I back to weekend meetings.....blah!!!

Who writes this stuff?

I'm not sure, but I LOVE IT!

Labor Day Camping

emigrant gap 001
Originally uploaded by whereisshannon

Here are some pictures from our super fun Labor Day Camping Trip. 25 adults + 5 kids + 2 dogs + lots of beer = an unforgettable trip. Sure, the toilets were stinky, and the water was cold...but the company was great, and the food was delicious! I can't wait until next year!

Help me raise $$ for Alzheimers Research!

Many of you may know that I'm walking with my family to raise money for Alzheimer's research on September 20th in San Jose. My grandfather has the beginning stages of Alzheimer's, and my great-grandmother had it as well, so it's definitely an issue that has affected my family. Check out my webpage and donate if you can (any amount is surely appreciated!)


Click here to visit my page!

p.s. Labor day pics/details to be posted soon!

Flickr pics

emily and zach 003
Originally uploaded by whereisshannon

Check out the rest of the pics on my flickr account....

Zach and Emily

Here are some pics from the wedding I helped coordinate over the weekend in Aptos. I was soooo happy to help out Zach and Emily on their special day, and everything was perfect! Really, I couldn't have imagined it turning out any better. I was pretty proud of myself at the end of the day....making bouquets, boutinerres, decorating...all very fun, but very exhausting! The fam gave me huge props, so maybe I should think about making this a career??

One of the bridesmaids bouquets

Homemade I Do brew!

The happy couple

Jenny's photo table creation

Cherry Lake

I had the chance to kayak with my mom and Reggie at Cherry Lake this weekend. The weather was beautiful, the water warm, and the company, amazing! Thank goodness for 3 day weekends - they really feed my soul!

Finally....Montana pics!

It's been almost a week since I returned from Montana and I'm finally settling back into my normal routine....I have to admit, I did not want to leave Montana! This trip was a very emotional one for me (the retreat was very intense and required ALOT of work to support), and, adventuring in Yellowstone and the surrounding wilderness was absolutely beautiful, and spiritual as well (I know, I'm not a mushy person...but it was!) I could have stayed for 3 more weeks at least.

Though I was only there for a week, I was able to explore a lot of the area. First off, Rock Creek Resort was beautiful, the staff was nice, and the location was amazing! As I mentioned, the retreat was a lot of work, but I did get to have a little bit of fun (mostly at the pig races)...check out the video I took here...it pretty much explains it all!



Once the retreat was done, Barbara and I headed to Yellowstone. I had never been before and was really looking forward to it. After stopping at many full campsites along the way, we finally set up camp on night 1 outside of Gardiner, MT. From there we were able to somewhat plan our next 2 days and enjoy the fresh mountain air. We almost went on a rafting trip, but decided against it because we wouldn't have enough time (however, we're planning on doing it next year!)

The following 2 days were spent at this small little campground in Yellowstone called "Slough Creek". It's apparently renowned in the angling world as a great place to fly fish. It's also in the heart of grizzly country, so Barbara and I were always a little on edge about that at night (well, it was nothing a couple beers couldn't get rid of!) We hung out at camp a lot, and also headed down to the waterfalls of Yellowstone and also the Lake. There was a huge fire that we watched from the porch of the Lake Lodge (while eating ice cream...it was heavenly!) We were also in the background of a film that was being produced by the park service - it was about places to go in the park. Look for it in the fall! (all you will see are our feet and our backs, and maybe the ice cream cone!) It was cool though, to be a part of that.

I've put all of the pictures on my flicker account, because there were too many to put on my blog. Please, check the out by clicking here!

Workin' in Montana

Yes folks, I said WORKING! The event I'm working is a "retreat", but it's not a retreat for me by any means! I arrived on Tuesday afternoon in Red Lodge, MT and have been working hard ever since. Some of you may have heard on the news about the fire that's about 8 miles outside of Red Lodge. Luckily it's not close to the resort we're staying at, but we can still smell the smoke and have seen firefighters in town.

We're already into Day 2, and folks are really enjoying themselves. I've been able to try some good Montana-brewed beer, eat some yummy local beef, and have heard about all of the fun local spots to check out from the hotel staff (including a saloon outside of town that has PIG RACES! We're going to check them out tonight, and I can't wait!) Of course, I'll blog about those tomorrow.

I have to admit that I'm really looking forward to the next part of the trip, which is when Barbara (friend/co-worker) and I will be venturing into the Yellowstone wilderness. We've already been warned about the bears (and I was even given "bear spray" in case they attack). I'm hoping that we will avoid an attacking bear, but I wouldn't mind seeing one or a few moose. More stories and pics to come, but enjoy the few I've already taken.

Rock Creek Resort

My room (it has a full kitchen, whoohoo!)
The view from my room

Rock Creek is right outside of my room

Resort again

Montana here I come!

So many of you might know that I will be leaving tomorrow on a trip to Montana. Yeah! This is a part work/part vacation trip that I've been planning since about January. The first 6 days I'll be working an event at the Rock Creek Resort outside of Red Lodge. Then, a co-worker and I will head down to Yellowstone National Park for a little bit 'o camping and adventure. I definitely plan on seeing lots of buffalo, hopefully no bears, and lots of beautiful scenary. I've actually never been to Yellowstone, so I'm really looking forward to seeing this amazing country. Oh yeah, and I also plan on karaoke-ing at a few of the Red Lodge bars. Watch out Montana, here I come!

Wordle

I've found another thing that will keep me busy for HOURS on end...it's a link from one of my favorite blogs, How About Orange, on how to create your own Wordle graphic. Here's what Wordle created with the words I've used in this blog:


(Click on the image to enlarge it)

Another quick project

I'm almost done revamping my craft studio, and should have pics posted by this weekend.

In the meantime, I've made another little owl that is a "quick" craft project. I have made these cuties previously for both Cadence and Malcolm, but I hadn't made one for myself! This one didn't take too long, and I realized (after Paul told me) that he's quite a festive Christmas-y owl. Luckily I have some of the fabric left, and I think it would be great for some handcrafted Christmas ornaments!

Jammin'

Berkeley Bowl was having a sale on strawberries, so I bought a few containers and decided to make jam. I found some cute, small little jars at my favorite Alameda hardware store, Paganos, and used them for the jam. I found a recipe that didn't include pectin (because, well, I didn't have any on hand!), and tried to limit how much sugar went into the recipe. Though the jam did turned out a little runny, it's still delicious! (and easily spreadable on toast or as an ice cream topping). Paul definitely approves.

Drawstring bags

I'm always looking for a fun project that is simple, requires few materials, and can be finished before my crafting ADD kicks in. Lately I've been using my favorite Hello Kitty drawstring pouch to keep my purse essentials in (this makes the transferring of the purses a lot easier)...so I decided to make a few more using some scrap fabric I had lying around.

The first 2 are nothing fancy - just fun fabric I had leftover. The last I tried embellish a little bit, and I embroidered a cute little bird on. I think they turned out pretty great, and I'm looking forward to making lots more of these for my buddies. In fact, these 3 will be given away tonight at our Ladies that Dine dinner!

Crafty ideas

So Paul and I have been in our apartment for about a year now, and I'm itching to get out. Not because it isn't a fabulous apartment, just that I'm really wanting a balcony to put all my plants on, and a 2nd bedroom for guests and my crafts :) Selfish, I know! Well, we won't be moving any time soon, as it's a great location and price...so until then, I'm making do with what I've got and I'm rearranging and decorating like nobody's business.

Last night I began the process of setting up my craft station in our bedroom. There's a little nook next to our closet that I've been eyeing since we moved in. I'm not quite done yet (but will post pics soon!) I'm getting some inspiration from Alicia Paulson's studio:




Now granted, she's a full time crafter, so I could never replicate her cute studio - however, I'm gonna try to make my little corner as cute as possible! Luckily I have a weekend all to myself (the first in months!), and I plan on sprucing up the apartment as much as possible :)

San Simeon

This past weekend Marie, Cadence and I, along with her childhood friend Hunter and his partner Lee, took a little trip down to San Simeon for some camping, beach, and castle time. I had never been to Hearst Castle before, and had imagined it to be this huge castle on the ocean, but I was very surprised to see that it was way on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful pacific. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself here....

Friday we headed down the 101 and across the 46 to the small town of Cambria, then up hwy 1 to San Simeon State Park. We had reservations in the "primitive camp" (i.e. no showers and clean pit toilets), which was just fine. Our site was on a bluff overlooking the ocean and the hills, and was just gorgeous. Surprisingly, we were allowed to have campfires (even though all of CA is burning), and, not one to pass on campfires, we bought some wood from the camp host and burned one down.

The following morning we went to Hearst Castle. Holy tourist trap! Well, not really a tourist trap, but there were a lot of tourists there. We all loaded on a bus and made the trek up the hill. Did you know the W.R. Hearst had a zoo there too? And that the relatives of his zebras are still roaming around there? Anyway, needless to say the castle lived up to it's extreme, lavish expectations. I LOVED it. The gardens were beautiful, the pool was something out of a movie, the indoor swimming pool took 3 years to tile, and the "small" guest house was, like, 5,000 square feet. I was taking pics non-stop. Our tour lady was very informative, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is nearby.



After the tour, we headed out to the beach for some serious lounge/beer drinking time. I watched Cadence while the boys took a walk, and Marie (almost) took a swim. The weather was just perfect - not too hot, but warm enough to wear shorts and a tank top. We were expecting it to be freezing (come on, it's the Central Coast!) but we were very surprised to have such great weather.



All in all, it was a lovely weekend! I can't wait to go back and bring Paul on the tour. The campground we stayed at was also great, and would recommend to anyone that has kids (if I were a kid, I would LOVE it there!)

4th of July fun

Cadence in her 4th of July finest
Who doesn't love giant goldfish?
Marie and Cadence at the beach

I know it's been almost 2 weeks since the 4th, but I haven't had time to post these pics yet! Anyway I had SUCH a great 4th of July weekend. In case you didn't know, my stepbrother Dylan (who's in the Army) has returned home safely from Iraq - and he doesn't have to go back. Hooray! So it was a special 4th of July celebration. The weekend included fun (white trashy) activities like playing horse shoes, drinking beers, and swimming. We watched the PML fireworks from my dad's deck and they were good, but not as spectacular as I remembered (I was 10, what do you expect?)

Everyone at the Iron Door bought Dylan a welcome home beer
Emily, Aaron, and Dana
Dad and Tish

Summer eats

I'm not sure if I've told ya'll about the other blog I keep:

Ladies that Dine

Some of you may know that I have a weekly dinner with 3 of my bestest friends in the Bay Area (Erin, Jenny, and Marcelle). We decided to keep a blog where we could post our dinner dates, pictures, and recipes. I'm the editor of it, so between this blog and that one, I'm a bloggin' maniac.

Anyway, check it out! We've made a lot of tasty things throughout the past year, and the list keeps growing. And if you're ever in the Bay, come on over!