(ware)house home

shop panorama, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Here we are one month into our project. I took this photo yesterday morning, but the space looked completely different again by evening. What a little drywall can do!

You can click on the photo to see more details.

birthday

beard guy, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Happy Birthday, you handsome devil! Tonight we will celebrate by smashing champagne bottles over the bow of the warehouse. Fine effervescent sparkling wine, like your favorite prosecco from Trader Joe. You've worked so hard on our new space these past few weeks, I think you deserve some carrot cake cupcakes and a piñata full of candy.

snowy day on queen anne

thanksgiving at the cabin

thanksgiving at the cabin, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

We celebrated our first west coast Thanksgiving together in the new cabin with Nick's mom and dad and Jupiter, who is sulking under the windows in the photo above. There are more photos of the feast, the ingredients, and the beautiful setting on belle's flickr page.

Seattle!

nails, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

. . . And straight to work! We couldn't wait to jump into our new project: the renovation and construction of our new shop space and apartment! Right now we are knee deep in demolition phase 1, which is not very photogenic. I managed to take some photos of the nails that were the object of my attention for the past two days. Them and all their little friends: Rusty, Curly, and Really Really Nailed in There. Here is what Nick looks like when he's trying to load bags of sheetrock rubble into the truck while I take photographs and ask when lunch is:

days twelve and thirteen: san francisco

at the deYoung Museum, Golden Gate Park


In Santa Cruz we stopped for a decadent Italian lunch at the home of our friends Jody and Terry. We sampled delicious olives, bread, and soup, surrounded by Terry's beautiful collection of blue willow china in their cozy dining room. We ate figs and apples from their garden. Afterward, we visited Terry's studio where she is working on drawings of apple boughs. It was great to see some of her most recent landscape paintings and drawings in real life. We felt so at home, and it was hard to leave! What a warm welcome to California.



San Francisco is a beautiful, moody city where each neighborhood not only has distinct shops and street life, but its own weather. We couldn't wait to meet up with Nick's oldest brother, Cody, at his Potrero Hill restaurant, Lingba. Since our last visit he renovated the bar and restaurant, and it looks fabulous! He continues to experiment and update the Thai menu, with luscious results. Our favorite thing to do in SF is hang out at the bar and sample something spicy.

These photos are from our visit to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. The photo above looks across the plaza at the not-yet-completed earth science museum. On Saturday, we spent the whole rainy afternoon in the cavernous galleries and twisting observation tower of the city's newest architectural adornment. The space is perfectly suited to their current exhibition, the sculptures of Louise Nevelson.


Famished from looking at art, we went to a Japanese mall for noodles, soup, and hot tea. And to watch crazy hordes of teenagers dressed up like cartoon characters. There were several Totorros. Totorri? Cody treated us to a sumptuous feast at Oola, the restaurant he is a partner in, later that night. By Sunday morning he practically had to roll us back to the rental truck -- we were stuffed!

day ten and eleven: pacific ocean

click on the photo for a closer view!

After we left the Grand Canyon, we drove and drove and drove across the Mojave Desert and spent the night in blah blah blah blah . . . and on the eleventh day of our road trip we saw the ocean! We wove our way through the mountains that divide the desert from the orange groves and there it was: the Mighty Missipific. California's coastal highway made for great views and intense sport driving as we slowly made our way toward Big Sur.

Q: Have you ever heard of Big Sur?
A: Is it a new fast food chain?
Q: No.
A: Is it the new west coast rap impresario?
Q: No.
A: Is it Paul Bunyan's lumberjack boss?
Q: No. It is a forest teetering on the undulating coast of California. Also it is a national park and hippy haven about 3 hours south of San Francisco.

We planned to spend the night at a famous old lodge inside the park. After about 2 hours driving along the magnificent coast, we witnessed a stunning sunset (see photo above) and continued making our way north in the twilight. A strange red light appeared in the distance, and as we grew nearer it grew more intense. A half hour's drive further and we halted in front of a raging fire that seemed to cascade down the mountainside to the tumultuous waves below.


A dozen or more cars were parked ahead of us, including several emergency vehicles with lights flashing. Firefighters told the gathering crowd that the fire was under control, but traffic would not be permitted for a few hours. Most people, like us, returned to their cars and settled down for a nap, although one guy had a dvd player in his dashboard, and he and his friend were watching Clerks when we walked by. We woke up 45 minutes later to see that the fire had doubled in size, consuming all of the trees that formed the dark barrier in this photograph. Many of the other cars had already turned back, and we had no choice but to carefully turn the truck around and drive, painstakingly slowly, back the three hours down to our starting point. The only other traffic we encountered were seven more firetrucks headed toward the blaze.

We learned that the fire was only three miles from our destination; when we called the lodge they said they could clearly see it and that they were overrun with travellers stranded on the other side. When we finally reached a two-stoplight town, we begged the clerk at the Motel 6 to give us a room, even though he already had his coat on and keys in hand, ready to lock up. It wasn't until the next day that we heard the cause of the fire: a car gone over the cliff.