Fall + Photography Fun

Welcome to November. Not sure how that happened so quickly, but here we are. It's feeling very fall-ish in our neck of the woods. Wearing sweaters in the house, putting the fleece "jammies" on our skinny dog and turning on the heater. Bob even made a fire the other night, using some of the wood from the tree we helped cut down.

The fun news around here is that a few days ago I found out that I won a month of one-on-one photo coaching from the talented Catherine Just. It happens that Catherine was our wedding photographer eight years ago. I would check in periodically on her web page  to see what creative projects she had going on. When I saw this contest roll around, I thought, hey, I'll enter it. When I found out that I had won, I was very excited. Woo hoo. I do not have a fancy camera or anything, but my goal is to do the best I can with what I do have.

Oh, and a little tangent here, Catherine actually had a photo published on the cover of National Geographic. So, as a geographer, that is like "the coolest thing ever". I know my geography geek friends will back me up 100% on that feeling. Anyway, she is the real deal when it comes to photography. On top of that she is incredibly intuitive and has a great energy about her. Needless to say, it really is an honor to be getting this opportunity.

So, this whole thing really is perfect timing, as I find myself sitting at the desk too much these days and not getting outside nearly enough. Dare I say, that, after living here for over a year, I am starting to take all this natural beauty granted.  For those of you who have made the trek up (or down) to visit us, you know first hand how spectacular the environment is here.

My project with Catherine is to really work on telling the story of the place around me, to not only to focus on the large landscapes, but all the small details that make it special. This means getting out on a walk everyday with the camera and really slowing down and observing things. We are only a few days into it, but I can tell it's going to be a great month.

Last Minute Camping Fun

Saturday afternoon my high school friend Paul came up to visit. We met in Mrs. Robertson's 12th grade English class and have kept in touch ever since. One of the highlights of being back in northern California is getting to catch up with old friends. Total bonus of being closer to my home town.

Shortly after Paul arrived, he mentioned something about how he has never camped, but really wanted to. Bob and I are always up for camping, and have been itching to take the VW Westy out for a little trip. So, after about 10 minutes discussion it was decided that a one-night camping trip was in order to check camping off of Paul's list.

Gualala Point Regional Park is located about five miles north of us. The park straddles both sides of Highway 1 along the Gualala River. The camping area is small, with just 19 sites. We arrived before sunset and found a great site with views to the Gualala River and at the base of some large redwoods. Just picture perfect!

Shortly after arrival, Bob checks out the map and plots the five-mile walk back home.

Having the VW Westy makes impromptu camping trips pretty easy. We just grab some clothes, our pre-packed camp boxes, pillows/blankets, some food, a water jug and the dog. We can be on the road in less than a 1/2 hour, ready for an adventure.

Lentil soup, bread and red wine for dinner, a toasty fire, and a Nutella, marhsmallow smore dessert and everyone was content. By 9:00 I was snug in the camper van drifting off to sleep.

Paul celebrates after putting up the tent.

Paul was a great camper and said he would camp again. This was even after he emerged from his tent in the middle of the night  to the sight of a big, big raccoon making fast work on our cheap Styrofoam cooler. All in all, a fun impromptu camping trip and a great time catching up with an old friend.

Post-breakfast photo from Paul's camera.

Rosemary in the Air

I love bread; I don't think I have met a bread I didn't like. However, the thought of making bread kind scares me. I have visions of going to bed with a bowl of yeast stuff safely covered to do what it needs to do overnight, only to wake up and find a giant dough ball has engulfed the kitchen and is slowly creeping towards the dining room.  The cats may or may not be trapped inside. Yes, Bob tells me I have a flair the imaginative and dramatic.

Last night Bob decided it was time to tackle the bread making. He found a basic recipe for Delicious Rosemary Bread on Allrecipes.com. It made two small loaves and really was delicious. We had some with honey for breakfast and it went great with some havarti dill for lunch.

Ready for the oven.

Baking beauties.

Out of the oven. Too bad the internet doesn't have scratch-n-sniff.

Bob working on some new bread ... a rosemary herb slab.

Do you make bread? Do you have any favorite recipes?

Also remember there is still time to enter by blog giveaway for a free Nikki McClure 2011 calendar. Click here for more information and to enter.

Making Things Happen!

Our adventure is just about underway!

The focus of this blog is to document our one-year adventure living in a small coastal community in Sonoma County. Yep, we are temporarily leaving "America's Finest City" to test drive a more rural life". We are heading to The Sea Ranch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Ranch,_California Why, you might ask? I'll go into those details in a later blog, but for now ... on with the planning.

Our current target date is August 1, 2010! As we sat down to figure out how to make this all happen, here were some of the key issues

• Work
• What to do with our house in San Diego
• Finding a place to live.

I'll address the work issue in this post and follow up on the other issues in subsequent posts.

Work. Bob and I both enjoy the kind of work that we do and wondered how that would translate to moving out of San Diego. Could we work out a deal with our employers? Or would we have to leave our jobs behind and try the self-employmen route or a career switch?
After a decade as a talented game programmer with Sony, Bob decided to make the leap to a small start up in San Francisco that supported his goal of working remote. Bob is now reaching the six-month point at his new job and is up to speed on all the pluses and minuses of working from home. He flies up to San Francisco once a month, which is where the office is located, and finds it a nice distraction. He's now a pro at packing light, Southwest schedules, BART and MUNI.

I was a little more concerned about my job. It work for a large engineering firm doing environmental analysis work and project management. My work is specific to California, and I was not sure where my company would stand on a remote arrangement. Well, after much nervousness and anxiousness, I approached my boss and my boss' boss and told them my plans. I am happy to report they were very open to it and said they would work with me so that I would stay an employee of the company. I will stay affiliated with our San Diego office, but work remote/from home. We do have a few offices in the Bay Area, should I need to make an occasional trip into an office (still a 2+ hour drive though). Guess all those long hours and being a good employee paid off. Seriously though, I am thrilled to work with people who are being flexible with my work arrangement so Bob and I can try this out. Needless to say, getting our work situations settled was a huge relief.