+ Audiobooks for the drive north
+ Beautiful hill-covered vineyards
+ Lunch with a dear friend
+ A walk around town
+ California sunshine
+ Captured on camera

++ Check this out: Women In Art, 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art, on YouTube.

We choose to learn how to build a house.

This summer David and I are forgoing the typical luxury vacation to take a course in alternative building techniques. A six-day intensive, we pay them to get ourselves covered in mud, stuck with straw, and up to our knees in alternative foundations. And even though the workshop is just 45 minutes away, we intend to camp on site for the whole week.

Trust me, this is so us.

Anytime we get annoyed with the California housing market, we talk about buying a little bit of land and erecting a yurt until we can afford to build a little cob house.

Our shared dream is to build a green-friendly home out of sustainable materials, off the grid, and with no septic system (opting instead for greywater reuse and composting toilets). I want to eat from our garden and orchards. I am so ready.

So, to David and I, this workshop as an important step in achieving our life goals.
We can’t wait. It’s going to be so fun!

(Above are Siobhan, Amanda, and David inside the cob cottage at the Kenyon College Environmental Center taken on our trip to Ohio earlier this month.)

I love listening to music. At home, in the car, on our iPod when walking around town… I frequently find myself humming. I often have songs stuck in my head and, as long as they are good songs, that makes me happy. I like surrounding myself with music.

Here are some female musicians that I am currently digging (with links to their sites and music samples).

Bebel Gilberto, Missy Higgins, Vienna Teng:

Imogen Heap, Colbie Caillat, Hope:

Tori Amos, Leela James, Regina Spektor:

I am a strawberry fiend. I love them just about every way: in fruit salad, with ice cream, yogurt, short cake, pancakes, lemonade, and baked with rhubarb. I like them fresh, frozen, stewed, freeze-dried, and baked. We serve them at special occasions. Strawberry short cake is always my birthday treat. At our wedding we served strawberries in spinach salad and also dipped in chocolate. As far as I’m concerned, there is no such thing as too many strawberries.

David’s grandmother is also a strawberry enthusiast and this is a huge bonding point for us. She has strawberry prints, strawberry light switch covers, strawberry pillows, and other strawberry items all over her house. I like to add to her collection — we’ve gotten her strawberry decorated drinking glasses and, of course, chocolate covered strawberries. Whenever I get a new catalog in the mail or discover a great online shop, I always check for strawberry items. This is exactly my kind of quirky.

You can imagine my delight that strawberries are now in season. We buy them in bulk every Wednesday and Saturday at our local Farmers’ Market. Organic, sweet, juicy, and so delicious.

Ah, I love springtime in California.

Every couple of weeks I change my desktop image. Sometimes I download photos from National Geographic, post photos from my portfolio, make a collage of favorite images, or photos that friends have taken (from our wedding, for example). I try to pick images that elicit an emotional response: photos of the ocean when I feel hot and want to go swimming, photos of the mountains when I miss Boulder, photos of friends after we’ve talked on the phone. Above is my latest desktop image of artists/photos that inspire me (drop me an email if you’d like a copy for your desktop).

What sort of images do you post on your desktop?

When we moved here over a year ago, two ducks and their offspring were living in the water feature outside our apartment. This year, they are back. After weeks of waddling around, the mama duck has given birth. Look how cute her little ducklings are! I love that they follow her everywhere.

This was as close as I could get (the pictures are super zoomed in). Every time I would approach them the mother would turn everyone around and they would swim off in the opposite direction away from me (see picture on right).

I love having them here; I just hope the cats stay away. Last year, only a few ducklings survived.

Hang in there, guys!

Nature can be so heartbreaking.

My younger sister Laura graduated from college!

We had a fantastic long-weekend at Kenyon visiting with family and friends and celebrating my awesome sister! Congratulations, Laura! We are so proud of you.