twilight on the embarcadero

‘twas a beautiful evening down on the Embarcadero a few weeks ago. Sightseeing cruises sat docked on the glassy water after a day of touring the bay, with the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island in the background. Back on land, the Transamerica building was set aglow, dominating the skyline.

high fashion on a saturday afternoon

The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park often hosts beautiful fashion exhibits. The current one is The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier – a spectacular display of avant garde designs, from catwalk gowns to concert costumes for Madonna. The half-creepy, half-amazing mannequins come alive by singing and speaking. I’ve seen a lot of fashion exhibits, and this is by far the coolest (don’t judge based on my blurry iPhone photos!).

barefoot

One of the best feelings in the world is every year when the weather first begins to get warm, everything is green from spring rain, and you take your shoes off and walk barefoot in the grass. That doesn’t happen very often in San Francisco, so the feeling is even sweeter here. A few weeks ago, we had a picture-perfect day, and parks across the city were filled with sun-worshippers. We headed to Lafayette Park in Pacific Heights. 

misty mendocino

Back in late March, we drove about 3.5 hours north of San Francisco to spend a long weekend in the seaside town of Mendocino. Perched on some very dramatic cliffs, the Mendocino area is a Hollywood favorite; several movies and TV shows have been filmed here, from Dying Young and Overboard to Murder She Wrote (we even saw Angela Lansbury’s ‘house’).

The town couldn’t be a more perfect spot. The Victorian architecture, walkable streets, delicious restaurants and cute inns combine with the often-gray, moody, rainy weather to create a British-like village atmosphere. It’s also super green and lush, and wineries and redwoods are only a short drive away.

We stayed at the fabulous MacCallum House Inn (thank you Travelzoo for the deal), whose cozy, slightly old-fashioned rooms are comfy and inviting. The best part, though, is the inn’s amazing breakfast, which is included with a room.

On the way back to SF, we took the long way, down Highway 1 along the Pacific Coast. As we moved further south, the clouds broke away a bit to offer a glimpse of precious sunshine.



Photos, starting from top: MacCallum House Inn; view of the currently gloomy bay from our attic suite; interior of our attic suite; tiny stove for heat!; cute, Victorian-style details on the nightstand; gorgeous, lush landscaping on the inn’s grounds; Victorian homes (Angela Lansbury’s character’s ‘house’ is on the right); the prettiest post office I’ve ever seen; the town’s dramatic headlands, where the waves come crashing in; a little bit of blue sky, right before it’s time to leave; the drive south along Highway 1; two cows inexplicably hanging out right on the side of the very busy highway; hot chocolate break at Cafe Aquatica in Jenner; the sun finally comes out along the coast 

springtime!

One of my favorite SF neighborhoods, Russian Hill, is in full bloom. The secret spots and tucked-away staircases are once again lined with flowers and rainforest-like greenery.

deep, soft, white

At the risk of overloading this blog with photos of snow, here are a few more from a couple of weeks ago. Snow was such a rare occurrence this year at Lake Tahoe, I felt I had to document every flake. This particular weekend topped them all, when the snow was so deep, my entire ski pole was almost hidden. It was glorious skiing for the first time all year.

The snow was almost all the way up to the top of my ski pole.

soaking at 8,200 feet

While I do miss my beloved Colorado ski resorts, one thing Vail does not have is a pool and hot tub at the top of the mountain. Squaw Valley does, and that’s how we spent last Saturday. The conditions were too icy to ski, but the sun was out and the hot tub was warm. Beautiful!

the boat house

Last weekend was Seb’s annual work ski trip, and similar to last year’s trip, we were lucky enough to stay in a gorgeous Lake Tahoe home. This time, however, instead of a hillside perch with outstanding lake views, we enjoyed a perfect location right on the water. The Boat House, as the 5,000-square-foot home is called, was, in a word, amazing, mainly for its awesome multi-tier deck, luxuriously cozy features and private dock. While I was hoping for bright sun and a clear sky to give the lake a deep blue sparkle (the morning started off with a small break in the clouds), it snowed consistently all weekend, making the air so dense and gray that we couldn’t even see the other side of the lake at times. I wasn’t complaining.


Above: The Boat House in Sunnyside, California. Below, from left to right: a snow-covered deck; a mini fireplace in the kitchen…brilliant; a shiny black Aga that came with a 10-page instruction manual – love it!; a color-coded bookcase in the living room; waking up to a hint of blue sky (it didn’t last long); the snow rolls back in, obscuring the
view of the lake. 

let it snow

We finally got our winter wonderland at Lake Tahoe, just in time for my brother’s visit from Vail. It snowed for about three days straight and dumped about 5 feet of snow. Hurray! The bridge across the Truckee River that leads to our house looked quite magical, and when the sun finally came out, the views of the lake from the top of Squaw Valley were pretty great, too.