Moving Day!

I've decided to move over to tumblr. See you there! http://jessicapatrice.tumblr.com/

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Of course I am talking about the internet. Yesterday new Broken Social Scene - today LCD Soundsystem? Oh internet, I love you.

Day Bow Bow

I had to.

Man's Best Friend

Don't we just love our dogs? I love dogs. I want a puppy. Stat. Here are a couple of my faves. This first little one is my mom's - don't be fooled by the cuteness, she's the boss:

And this is Lola! She's our friend's dog, and she's awfully cute too.

Ah, Monday in the books. Yay.

Thursday Music

Local Natives - Airplane

In the homestretch for the weekend.

Week 11: Battle Farmer's Market

I have an obsession with Food Network. Particularly, Iron Chef. For those that don't watch Iron Chef, basically the premise is that two world class chefs have one hour to make a 5 course meal & all of the courses have to contain the secret ingredient. The secret ingredient is usually something kind of weird and generally inedible like grouper fish or smelly cheese or coxcombs and the idea is that these chefs are so amazing that they'll actually make 5 tasty dishes out of it. A month or so ago, I was watching Iron Chef America and the battle was farmer's market. SNOOZE. I wish I could find The Soup clip where Joel McHale summarizes my feelings about this, but alas, internet, you have failed me. The chairman of Iron Chef is the best part of the show, he's serious about his food and can pull off a mean backflip - check out the clip below at around 3:55 - or don't, either way.

This week we headed down to the Palo Alto Farmer's Market on California Ave. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love Palo Alto. It reminds me a lot of Boulder, there's a mix between college kids, academics, high tech nerds, and hippies. Throw in a farmer's market and you've got a good Sunday. Like every farmer's market there was fresh produce and meats - but unlike farmer's markets I've been to, this one also had a band with an accordion and a man riding a bike from 1891 (he even has a website! www.bikeroute.com).

More on Flickr.

Week 10: Point Lobos

Can I start by saying: Any place who's official name ends with "-by-the-Sea" I automatically love. I mean, really, Carmel-by-the-Sea, how cute is that?

My other family, the Moreci's, invited us to join them on a day trip to Carmel (by-the-Sea) and to Point Lobos and we were happy to oblige. I kind of love the fact that California has no seasons... it rains here and there over the 'winter' months and then it becomes summer again. This means 70 degree beach days in March. WIN.

Anyway, the town of Carmel is adorable. There are all kinds of cute little restaurants and shops lining Ocean Ave - Cottage of Sweets? Doggie boutique? Don't mind if I do! Definitely going back.

We spent the majority of the afternoon at Point Lobos - I seriously cannot believe I'd never been there before - it's gorgeous. And, bonus, you don't have to hike too much to get around the park (for the non-hikers like myself). Aside from the incredible views and rock formations around the park, there is a TON of wild life. It was very National Geographic.

Pretty happy with the way that the photos came out - even thought my battery died toward the end of the trip (note to self: buy a second battery). I had some fun giving the ones below a retro-like feel.

And of course, there are more and more and more pictures on Flickr.

Miles and Miles of Stairs

Gosh, I just love this song.

Stairs to the Attic - The Antlers

Week 9: Tall Trees, California

I've lived in the Bay Area almost my entire life and I absolutely love it. Not having to battle cold or snow makes me feel very spoiled. I moved to Palo Alto - Spanish for "Tall Trees" - about a year ago (ALREADY?) so I thought it was appropriate to stay local this week.

I had the idea to take photos around the University area of Palo Alto at night and then again 12 hours later in the morning. I wanted to put the same photos side by side to show the different views of the city but I was feeling inspired to learn more about photoshop so I took it another direction. I'm really happy with what came out of this project - each group of photos is from a different place downtown.

Stanford Theatre:

Bryant St & Hawthorne Ave:

CalTrain Station - University Ave:

University Cafe:

Week 8: Bike Transformation

(Ok, I know it's not ACTUALLY week 8. I'm going to choose to humor myself though and say it is.)

Let's start with a little bit of "Fixie 101," shall we? Wikipedia defines a "fixie" (aka a "fixed-gear bicycle") as:

A fixed-gear bicycle (or fixed wheel bicycle) is a bicycle that has no freewheel, meaning it cannot coast — the pedals are always in motion when the bicycle is moving. The sprocket is screwed directly onto the hub. When the rear wheel turns, the pedals turn in the same direction. This allows a cyclist to stop without using a brake, by resisting the rotation of the cranks, and also to ride in reverse.

Easy enough right? Right! So it should also be noted that fixies are culturally associated with hipsters. Hipsters amuse me. Will, is by no means a hipster - I can't even get him to tolerate 5 seconds of Animal Collective - but he does have an unexplained fascination with fixies.

Will started transforming his road bike a few months back, and since then I've learned more about bikes than I ever thought there was to know. For example! A lock ring, is the piece of the bike that locks the cog to the rear hub. Impressive right?

So he got this new exciting frame and I decided it would be pretty neat to document the entire process end-to-end. These photos took place over a couple of days, and a lot of them were taken in our apartment - which is cramped and has miserable lighting and in no way can accomodate bike maintenance.

The entire process can be seen on my flickr - but here are the highlights.

Updating my blog!

Oh hey, blog!

To my four very precious readers, I have not forgotten about you. I have some very exciting things in store. TWO blogs coming this weekend - get ready, you fixie-riding hipsters.

Where have I been? Well - I was here:

Then I was here:

Next week, I'm going here:

But for now, I'm here. So that means only one thing - it's time to update my blog.

And I got a camera bag. It's no Marc Jacobs but it'll do. Big things.

Superbowl Sunday

Ahh Sunday night already?! Whyyy?! Oh weekend, I thought we were just getting started.

I haven't been able to take any photos yet this weekend... I need some inspiration. I was dragging my feet because I really just was not sure where I wanted to go and what I wanted to photograph. I've decided now but the weekend has already slipped away. Hopefully I'll be able to get out sometime in the next couple days.

In other news, the Google Superbowl ad was absolutely amazing.

Week 7: Napa Valley

How awesome is California? Snow one weekend and amazing spring weather the next. I had a hard time choosing where to go this weekend... but we had some friends in town and they wanted to go up to Napa to go wine tasting. Twist my arm.

Napa is much different than Livermore. It's super touristy (read: expen$ive) but beautiful. All of the wineries are really extravagant and are like mini-resorts.

Our first stop of the day was Reynolds Family Winery. The coolest part about this winery is this pond outside covered in red algae - making it look like clay. Oh! And they poured us some fancy wine for saying nice things about them on Twitter. Gotta love that.

Next we headed over to Peju Province Winery which has stunning grounds: fountains, stained glass, absolutely amazing. The wine isn't bad either. We stayed there for some time even got to check out the art gallery they have upstairs.

Finally, we headed over to Mumm. We've been to Mumm before, they make sparkling wine (not to be confused with champagne) - and they have a great little tour and a knowledgeable staff. Thanks to the weather cooperating, we got to sit outside and enjoy a view of the vineyards.

Really really happy with the way the photos came out this week. Choosing only a few to post was difficult but there are more on flickr.

Does Marc Jacobs Make Camera Bags?

Seriously, do cute camera bags exist or must I be forced to nerd out? Now that I have my sleek fancy (compact) camera, do I haaaaaave to get the giant canvas bag? Marc Jacobs, Louis, are you listening? I think there is a significant opportunity for you to bring together two of my favorite things here. You'll thank me later.

Okaaay, back to work. Sometimes being a grown up is hard.

Week 6: Winter Wonderland

Let me start by telling you that after skiing for two days, every muscle in my body is sore. All of them. Even typing is a challenge. Plus the Saints/Vikings game is in OT now so multitasking has become exponentially difficult.

Anyway, for those not in CA , you should know that over the past week Northstar got 79 inches of new snow. Absolutely unheard of. We'd planned this weekend long ago but we totally hit the jackpot with the conditions. They were amazing.

I brought my camera for the weekend but was too terrified to take it on the slopes (I'm still learning how to ski and spent a significant amount of time on the ground this trip so probably a good idea to leave it in the condo). I managed to get a few photos here and there - I would've loved to have taken more but we were on the mountain basically sun up to sun down so I didn't get much of a chance. Here are a couple that I particularly like though and if you're not satisfied, there are 21 more photos on flickr.

Mobile Blogging is the Future, Obviously

Bonus weekend day! Enjoying this rainy day inside and watching the snowfall totals in the Sierras get higher. Movie day? I think so.

Also, I just installed Blog Press on my iPhone so now I can blog from my couch without getting up to get my laptop. Technology is neat.

- Posted from my iPhone, yay technology!!

Location:Bryant St,Palo Alto,United States

Week 5: If you're going to Saaan Frannnciscooo

When I started thinking about this project and listing down all the places I wanted to go, I had about 4 weeks reserved for San Francisco. After today, I think I might need to up that to 8 or 9. There is just way too much to see.

I went up with my friend, Lauren, who is an AMAZING photographer (I've been trying to convince her to get a blog to showcase her photos and I know she'll give in soon so stay tuned). We talked about of lot of places we wanted to go on the way up but decided to start at the Alamo Square.

Alamo Square is home to the famous "painted ladies" - the Victorian houses from Full House and Mrs. Doubtfire. The view is amazing, behind the houses you can see the SF skyline, no wonder this place is so famous. And there are some awesome blue trees there, reminiscent of the Summer of Love (false).

Next, Lauren and I went to the Marina area and on the way drove down what was literally the scariest hill I have ever driven down (Divisadero St.) - terrified / glad I wasn't walking. Anyway, the second we got there it started POURING. I found shelter in a phone booth (does anyone use those anymore?). Soaked, we decided to go somewhere else...

We decided on the Palace of Fine Arts since it was pretty close by. They have these really cool structures there we'd be able to take cover under in case of another downpour. There is also a lake which is home to some fearless birds.

Afterward, the sun came out again and I wanted to go back to the Marina. We went and I'm pretty glad we did. I got a couple shots of the Golden Gate and a nice lady let us onto the docks. Definitely my favorite shots of the entire outing.

... Lots more on Flickr

Week 4: Livermore Wineries

Note to self: Wine + Photography = brilliant combination.

Everytime someone visits us we use their visit as an excuse to go to the Livermore wineries. Livermore is a small town next to where I grew up and has (in my opinion) some of the best wine around. And since moving back to California, I've become a self-proclaimed "wine snob."

We visited all my favorite wineries - Fenestra, John Christopher Cellars, & Retzlaff. It's amazing how there is such a rural area only 40 minutes away. It's a nice escape from reality.

I played around in photoshop a bit this time, I'm trying to pick up little things here and there. Most notably, I figured out how to make all but 1 color black and white (see last pic) - patting myself on the back now.

As always, more pics in the Flickr set