San Francisco Trifecta

Three of my favorite things collided when I saw this post on the super fun blog, Hooked on Houses the other day.  What are three of my favorite things, you might ask?  In no particular order, they are...

Words with Friends.  San Francisco.  One King's Lane.

They all came together when I found this gorgeous listing of The City's  uber-power couple Mark and Alison Pincus' Presidio Heights home.  It went on the market last month right before Mark's online gaming company, Zynga, went public.  If you are not familiar with Zynga (Words with Friends, Farmville, etc.) than maybe you are familiar with One King's Lane, the incredibly successful online home decor site that was founded by Alison in 2009.  If you're not familiar with either one of these, well, I can't help you out.  Google them.

This 4,000 square foot home (on a 4,199 sq. ft. lot no less- can you say, "San Francisco??") is absolutely stunning, gorgeous, happy, and oh so bright and spectacular.  I can just see myself curled up on the sofa off the sunny yellow kitchen playing Words with Friends.  Can't you?  

It's in my favorite neighborhood of The City, Presidio Heights, and sits on a tiny, tree lined block that backs up to The Presidio.  Within walking distance to great shops, world class restaurants, beautiful parks, and schools (private, of course), this little dream could be yours for a cool $8.95 million.  

Doesn't that equate to about $447 per square foot?  

Kind of a deal if you consider that it's never even been lived in.  The family (they have twin daughters) apparently never took up residence due to a little stalker issue that forced them into their much smaller home across town in Cole Valley, which is also on the market.  I wonder where last month's Zynga IPO (no matter how luke warm it turned out to be) has the family moving next?  It hasn't been revealed publicly but I know I can't wait to get a glimpse once Alison gets her hands on it!  

Check out her impeccable taste in the Presidio Heights home below...

Gorgeous inside and out...this is the view from the back courtyard

I think this is my favorite room in the house.  I LOVE the shocking green lacquer paint- what an entrance!

I could find a lot of inspiration in this sunny kitchen and can see my three boys sitting on those cool counter stools

That's my Words with Friends couch...

I love all the color.  And the view ain't so bed either...

When you need a break from all the color, here's your room

The light is incredible

Once again, a lacquer love affair

The entrance- two balconies and a double garage.  Two San Francisco rarities.

What do you think?

Transitions

Here we go again.  


The leaves have fallen, they're all raked up (almost), the gutters are cleaned and the garage is emptied out to accommodate two cars and a snow blower which I am insisting we purchase this season after four years of Mr. C shoveling in the cold, dark early morning hours.  The forecast has been predicted- we might see some flakes on Wednesday or Thursday.  So now we sit and wait...


But I'm still never ready.  It's always a scramble to dig out the snow pants and boots on that first snow day, only to discover that they don't fit or we can't find one favorite glove and then that nasty note comes home from school saying, "please make sure your are dressed appropriately for Minnesota weather..."  Well, no shit Edina Public Schools.  I want to send my kid to school in shorts and tennis shoes with barely a sweatshirt to cover his arms when it's 22 degrees and snow begins to fall.  Transitions can be difficult for some...


That first snowfall of the season is fun, exciting, even beautiful, but I'm never thrilled to have that winter curtain drop announcing the inevitable shut-in.  I am not one of those to bundle up and go for a run around the lake (torture!) or snowshoe through the snowy drifts of some desolate park (peaceful, yes, but I gotta say, "boring!").  No thank you.  I prefer to sit by the fire with a nice glass of wine and wait for it all to melt...for like five months.   


I like the transition from one season to another, in fact when I moved to Northern California 16 years ago (wow that sounds like a long time ago) it was one of the nuances of the Midwest that I missed the most; not having that dramatic change of seasons to mark different places in time on the calendar, and I was happy to return to it when we moved back to Minnesota.  It's just what happens after that transition that I don't particularly care for- that insulating blanket of stark cold and endless snow.  But here we are again, preparing for the inevitable and just trying to enjoy the transition before it's passed.

The Dreaming Tree

I can't tell you how much I love, love, love this! 

You must check out Dave Matthew's new project Dreaming Tree Wines.  The amazing website will tell you more than I can, but the videos, the artwork (done by Dave himself!), and the outline of the journey that took Dave to Sonoma County to collaborate with winemaker Steve Reeder is honestly one of the best examples of sharing the experience of Wine Country.  If you have never been to Northern Sonoma County (Healdsburg, Alexander Valley, Geyserville and the Russian River Valley) you will feel as if you have just been taken on a magic carpet ride through the county with local experts.

The partnership between Dave and Steve seems to be a match made in heaven- these two clearly share the same creative vision and unbridled passion for wine and music and have truly brought the "wine country" experience to life on this website.  

The entire vibe of this project just sings and I am sure the wines will as well.  

Are You Tired Yet? Celebration #2

And the celebrating continues...it's getting exhausting, I know, but it was worth it.  My sister and brother-in-law graciously opened up their home so Mr. C and his longtime pals could whoop it up old style as only this oxford shirt clad group could do.  His family was there, my family was there, friends from grade school, friends from college, friends all the way from Minnesota, hell, even his old girlfriend was there (she's lovely, I adore her) with her husband.  It was a special night and one I believe Mr. C will never forget.

Happy 4-0!

The Gang's all here!

Taco truck from Fork Catering in Sonoma County- delicious, creative, sustainable, a serious winner.

There were kids...

and Dad's and sisters.

There were lots of toasts..

And then came the roasts...

There were glamorous girls...

and 40 year old dancing fools.

And then it got late...

and the dancing got worse...

and the white guys started to overbite.

There were a few spills 

but the gang's still here.

Forever.

(all photos courtesy of the very talented Eric Ullman- thank you!)

We're Back!!

Don't we look just like The Griswold's?

We did it. We survived the Great American Family Roadtrip. We did not kill each other, our children, or any innocent bystanders along the way. And do I dare say, we actually had fun??

We saw rolling plains, majestic mountains, shooting (sort of) geysers, glacial lakes, and national parks.  We experienced marginal motels and luxurious resorts, listened to countless hours of The Grateful Dead station on SIRIUS Radio (the driver's choice), and an unbelievable log of good times. Really. 

There is something about the good 'ole American road trip that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.  I'm not sure exactly what that is, if for nothing more than bragging rights, but traveling the country by car is quite an experience, especially with three boys under the age of ten. I won't give you all the details, only the highlights and maybe a couple of the now hysterical low lights (nearly running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Twice, but whose counting), but all in all it was a super amazing time that none of us will ever forget.

Old Faithful

After our Wienerwagon sighting in South Dakota along with countless Harley's on their way to Sturgis we pushed into Wyoming for a visit to Yellowstone and Teton National Parks.  Now folks, I gotta go out on a limb here. I believe that Yellowstone is the number one visited park in the United States, but I really don't get why. For those of you that have not been there, avert your eyes to the lower part of this page, because I just don't get it. You drive, and you drive, and you drive some more through windy little roads that on most days are jam packed all to stand around a stinky hole in the ground to watch a bunch of water gurgle (and when I say gurgle, I mean gurgle-the fountains at The Bellagio are far more entertaining) out of the ground.  It's weird.  And it smells.  It's also super crowded and the parking sucks. Unless you are going to be camping (no thank you) inside the park and plan to do some serious hiking I'm not exactly sure what else there is to do. Spot a buffalo or two? We didn't see any. If I am missing something here, please let me know.  This was my second visit to the park and I agreed with Mr. C that it is "something every kid should see" so we paid our $25 and entered the gates.  I certainly didn't want to be the family cynic just because my first visit to Old Faithful was with a college boyfriend who was a major douche bag- douche bag he was, probably still is, and Yellowstone is still boring. 
Mr. C agreed. Moving on to...


Teton National Park. Go south of Yellowstone and try this one on for size. Absolutely stunning, gorgeous, snow capped mountains that fall into Jackson Lake and Jenny Lake and God only knows what else that we didn't have time to get out of the wagon and nod our heads ala Chevy Chase and crew in Vacation. Those Tetons, they were amazing- a definite "Must See."  Take the park all the way into the town of Jackson, Wyoming which is a super cool town that has a touch of that cowboy/chic vibe thing going on. You know, like uber tan women (and a few men) that wear a lot of turquoise and suede year round and look like they just stepped out of the Sundance catalog. Those types. We loved it and were lucky enough to snag one of the last remaining hotel rooms in town at the ultra luxurious, very swanky Painted Buffalo Motel.  It was right off the square next to the Gold Nugget Motel, The 49er Motel, and the Stage Coach Inn. Get the picture?

Boys at the antler arch in the square in Jackson, Wyoming

By this time my brood had traveled extremely well.  I mean, blowing our minds, like "who the hell are these children?, and "we should do this for every trip!!" type of traveling well, but we still had to make it all the way through Nevada. In one day. We dorked around long enough in the parks (damn Yellowstone!) that we needed to make up some serious time if we wanted to make it to The Lake by cocktail hour the following day, which meant a killer 12 hours (to the minute according to the indispensable iPhone) through the Nevada desert.  I was nervous the boys would crack their heads together simply for something fun to do through this endless stretch of dust that lies between the towns of Elko, Winnemuca, and Sparks. Nothing to see except tumbleweeds and faded billboards for brothels and slot machines.  All things the average American kid should experience on a family roadtrip, right?  Wrong, but whatever, it had to be done.

Goodbye Tetons...

Hello Nevada.  This is the pretty part

We treated this nasty, endless stretch of Highway 80 as the Yellow Brick Road to the cabin, so we bit our lips, hunkered down for the long day and soldiered onward. The kids must have been anticipating Grama, the new baby cousin they had yet to meet, and the sunset over Fallen Leaf Lake because yet again, they rocked and at the end of the third day The Tahoe Basin appeared like Oz at the end of that fabled road.

And this was waiting on the door of the cabin...

Gotta love the Googling Grama!

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the ride home, and it wasn't quite as smooth as the trip out...

Fallen Leaf Lake

Out on the road I was reading an article in Travel and Leisure magazine by Dominique Browning when she described one of her favorite seaside towns as, "a delicious, old-fashioned ice cream sandwich of a place. On either end are the rich, luxurious bits. The fun stuff is in the middle, and you have to catch it fast before it disappears."

 To me, this sums up life at Fallen Leaf Lake perfectly.



Vacation

I think I might be married to Clark W. Griswold. 

Tonight we head out on a vacation like none we have ever taken- an almost cross country road trip to California. 

No, we're not going to Wally World, but a little slice of heaven known as Fallen Leaf Lake.  Mr. C. has been there nearly every summer since he was born, and I have been every summer with the exception of one, since we met in 1995.  It is a special, magnetic place on the planet where the air seems different and the sound of the wind blowing the tops of the Sugar Pine trees is all you hear when you close your eyes for a swing in the hammock. 

"The Cabin", as it is affectionately known, is rustic and original with red check curtains, kitsch galore, and memories to last several lifetimes.  The bears are frequent guests and the same families have been coming each summer for decades.  Your feet are always dirty, the lake water always freezing (she was formed by two colliding glaciers, after all) and laughter is constantly rolling when Mr. C's family congregates around the fire each evening.  They are a special group and Fallen Leaf is a spectacular, special place.

Note to readers-

We have a Fort Knox alarm system set up at the house and two enormous bodyguards taking up residence while we are away.  And don't forget the watchful, snoopy neighbors; daily workmen coming in and out who are still working on our damn ice dam project; and the two fierce Tonkinese cats who will scratch your eyes out should you even attempt to come near my front door. 

Stay tuned for tales from the road.