taking it in

Patrick taking in the smell of the mountains. He got to run through meadows, roll around in the tall grass, trample through streams, see lots of fish, and explore everything. I've never seen him so happy.

We're back from our camping trip. Intentional or not, you have a lot of time to relax and unwind when you're out in the wilderness with not much to do. As far as reflecting goes, I wasn't very intentional when prepping for this trip. I normally bring a journal or a thought provoking book and anticipate the time I'll have for silence and meditation. This time, I packed a half read book (one that was not thought provoking whatsoever) and totally forgot to pack my journal. I didn't realize until I got home that I actually did a lot of reflecting anyway. When I'm in my normal setting/ routine, my mind is always racing with to do lists and unfinished projects. The night that we got home, I had a clear mind, was extremely motivated, and felt well rested. I had our suitcases unpacked within 10 minutes of walking in the door, started the laundry, and still enjoyed a good night's sleep. I'm grateful for the time we got to spend up in the mountains and am looking forward to this pattern of getting things done in a less chaotic sort of way. Sometimes we just need to spend more time outdoors and away from the everyday mayhem that is life.

camping.

source

This evening, we are driving up to the Sierras to do a little camping. Philip has gone just about every year with his dad for a fishing trip. As soon as we were married, I was invited to join and it was lots of fun! We don't get to go for as long as we would have hoped, but it's better than nothing. I'm excited to get away. I don't do a lot of fishing, but I still enjoy tagging a long to read, relax, and take photos. I also really enjoy the challenge of making good food while we are out in the woods. (I guess when I'm not there, they eat a lot of canned foods and hot dogs.) Enjoy your weekend!

greetings from palm springs

We are really enjoying our weekend getaway! Poolside food and drinks, live DJs, an amazing room, but most importantly, being together and away from work. This trip has been such a blessing! What did you do this Memorial Day weekend? BBQs? Enjoy the beach or a bike ride?

I'm truly grateful for what Memorial Day really means: celebrating men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Someone in our life specifically is our brother-in-law, Danny. Danny, we love you and are so proud of everything you do; not only for Kaleigh and Mary Jane, but for us and our country. You are in amazing man and we are proud to have you apart of our family.


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....As a last note, here are some randoms from around the web:

Jesse and Becky took some photos of the lovely Jessica Packard (and her cute little Bella). They also interviewed her. See it all here.

You definitely want to keep up with what Doug and Beca are doing. There's always something awesome happening in their home/ studio.

Rachel made a super cute outdoor mobile (I'm all about outdoor furniture and decor right now).

Speaking of outdoor furniture, how great is this handcrafted rocking chair?

interior inspiration

I took this photo after breakfast at the King's Highway at the Ace Hotel. This was our 2nd meal here and both were amazing!

Philip and I are planning on moving when our lease is up in March. We have been looking at lofts and talking about how we want ours to be arranged/ decorated. I would love a seat like this in our future home.

weekend recap.

dance party.

This is how we Hansen's do a dance party. This was the last night of our stay in Albuquerque- just after we lit the sparklers. We obviously had lots of fun dancing around and being silly. It was very warm- even at night. It made me very excited for hanging out on the patio during summer nights.

stars on sticks.

I cut the moon in half

And stuck a piece to my hair

It made the back of my head glow

Golden yellow and then I took

Ten stars on sticks and placed them in my small metal

Bucket and I gave the other half of the moon to you

Ooh, so you wouldn't forget me while I'm gone...

-Eisley//Plenty of Paper

At first glance, you probably would think that this was the night of the fourth. Nope. Fireworks are legal in Albuquerque and they were being sold under tents in almost every parking lot. We opted for just sparklers (although that wasn't the boys' first choice). It made for a funny and chaotic 10 minutes on the back patio. There were different sizes and types, people were passing them around, I was barefoot (stupid), the short ones burned your hand (this was the reason for Cailen's expressions in the bottom pictures). It was pretty fun and I love how all of the pictures turned out.

(We had a killer dance party after this...more pictures to come.)

San Francisco Adventures [part 2]

So remember when Philip took me to San Francisco for my birthday? Yeah, I know it was in February. Well, I was having so many problems uploading these photos. I was so frustrated and couldn't figure it out, so I finally gave up and forgot about it. Now that I have a better understanding of photo sizing and html in my blog layout, it was a piece of cake.

I wanted french macarons the entire trip. We stopped in every bakery and cafe looking for them. We asked every local that we met. For some reason, no one knew where to get one. You'd think with smart phones it would be easy to find something like that. Well, when you are searching yelp for "macaroons" and not "french macarons", you're not going to find them. When I finally figured out that silly mistake, we were off to Paulette's. Paulette's is in Haye's Valley (an awesome neighborhood new to our San Francisco favorites).

The macarons at Paulette's were fantastic! I had chocolate, cappuccino, red velvet, and rose... Oh the rose. I truly enjoyed every single second that I was consuming that little piece of heaven. We had to go back and get two more.

Bistro 69 is one of my favorite places to eat in San Francisco. I think the biggest reason is the location. It's on a little walking street where it's pretty quiet. The sound of the city was murmured in the distance. The only noise we could here was this guy belting out opera across from us. He was very good. It was perfect for our little lunch.

It was such a great birthday surprise. LOTS of walking and exploring. I hope we can go back one day soon ♥

San Francisco Adventures [part 1]

Our trip to San Francisco was so much fun! We've both been there before so we didn't go to all of the typical sight seeing spots. We enjoyed sleeping in, having cable for a few days, getting coffee, eating too much, pubs in the afternoon, public transportation (yep, enjoyed it), and taking tons of pictures. Basically, lots of adventuring.

breakfast: day 1

waiting for the cable car.

it's so much easier to be spontaneous when you hold the internet in your hands at all times.

the corner of the block where our hotel was.

h&m window display.

down by the wharf.

these girls were so cute trying to ride a tandem bike, but couldn't go more than a few feet before almost tipping.

looking for the sunglasses.

alcatraz from one of the many hills [we were always running UP these hills to go back to the hotel]

uncle PHilbert.

i took this while running across this street. [i was very proud of my accidental photography skills.]

just a couple of shadows hanging out at sunset.

ninja kick the tree!

this hill is way steeper than that sign will have you believe.

after watching 'exit through the gift shop' we notice these more than ever.