The Real Cancun 2011

What a great vacation! We found the perfect mix of relaxation and fun activities in Cancun.

Here is our resort:





The ocean outside our resort was beautiful and so shallow we called it "the bathtub". We spent a lot of time hanging out like this.



We saw this party boat leaving the dock almost every night.


Turns out hurricane season is the time to go to Cancun! The weather was awesome and the resorts weren't crowded at all, but we did have one stormy day. The morning started out gorgeous so we headed to another beach and were relaxing there when some ominous clouds rolled in and filled the sky.





So we booked it to the swim-up bar and had drinks while the rain poured down.



And that is just the beginning of our adventures!

Shakespeare and Charlie Brown

A mix of photos from here and there, then and now.

Last week I became hooked on Pinterest, which is a site that allows you to build boards of inspiration for all kinds of things you find around the internet. Right now I'm using it as a place to collect photos I admire, decorating and style ideas, and recipes I want to remember. My boards are here if you feel like checking them out and if any of you are on Pinterest I would love to check out your inspiration!

Happy Halloween! Also, Boston

Happy Halloween! There are so many festive displays around my neighborhood. I saw swarms of kids trick-or-treating around the shops on Market Street earlier. My favorite costume was a lawn gnome. My Halloween plans for tonight include scaring myself with The Haunting and eating pumpkin muffins warm from the oven.








Anna and I got a late start on our day trip to Boston so we didn't get to do everything we wanted to, but we still had a blast in this awesome city. We followed the freedom trail which included Paul Revere's house and grave, the USS Constitution, and the site of the first public school in the US. We got insanely delicious pastries at Modern Pastry (but everyone seemed to be carrying around Mike's Pastry boxes...does anyone know what's up with that place?) and stopped in for a pint at the oldest continually operating tavern in the US, Bell in Hand. My favorite thing about Boston was the cemeteries. They were so creepy and cool and situated right in the middle of things, with skinny, practically falling over gravestones, with skulls and crossbones carved into them and dates from the 1600's. I feel like I barely got a glimpse of this fascinating city and I can't wait to go back sometime in the future!

Wine on the beach in Newport

One of Anna's friends took us wine tasting in Newport. We bought a bottle and took it to the beach where we laid out some blankets and watched the sun set over the ocean. We took off our shoes and rolled up our jeans so we could put our feet into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time ever. She drove us around to see the mansions and we hung out with some of her friends and listened to her awesome reggae mix CD on repeat. Such a wonderful day!

Providence

I had such a blast in Providence! It was so great to hang out with my friend and explore the city with her. We visited some awesome places like Geoff's Superlative Sandwiches (where we quickly stopped when we were racing to catch the train to Boston and we let our sandwiches sit and get soggy which was unfortunate but we think this place is definitely worth another visit), various cemeteries (including Swan Point and one we stopped in at night and scared ourselves silly), Caserta's (for the best pizza ever), Thayer street (for Indian food, crepes, pumpkin soup, and disappointing pumpkin chai) the RISD art museum (where Anna wanted to touch everything and we heard some interesting performance art). And there was so much walking around and marveling at the beautiful fall colors and the gorgeous and huge old homes in Providence. Anna is crazy about this city and now I see why.

We also visited Newport and Boston, more on that later.

SF beach

Some more photos from the beach near the Sutro Baths. That giant camera building housed a camera obscura, which was unfortunately closed when I was there. I think camera obscuras are awesome.