Lunch with Laina

Admittedly I was a hater at first. The lines for The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen went clear down the block, and the prices seemed ridiculously high, $8 for a grilled cheese?!

But I've been converted. With two registers now the lines are moving faster, and it seems after a month they've gotten things down pretty well. And everyone that works there is just so nice.

Maybe my appreciation really came this past weekend when I tried to recreate my favorite sandwich, The Moscone. I didn't even come close to capturing the delicious combination of fresh mozzarella, fontina, roasted tomatoes, basil-lavender pesto, and kalamata olive tapenade. Granted, I was missing some key ingredients, but still.

Comfort food in the park. Even if it's a cold summer here in San Francisco, you kind of can't beat that.

love.

via Wooster Collective.

...

I love the weekly quotes posted on Design Crush, and this isn't the first time I'm re-posting one here. But I couldn't resist sharing this one.



And here's another holga shot from our trip up North last weekend.

trip in black & white

Some Holga shots from our trip up north last weekend...

Suitcase Stickers

Is it wrong that I think these stickers are funny?




via The Cheeky.

Message to the House of Shields

Terrarium making at Workshop

Last night Lauren and I headed over to Workshop and got our hands dirty making some terrariums. I think I feel a new addiction coming on.

If you're in San Francisco and you haven't checked out Workshop yet I don't know what you're waiting for. They have an amazing list of classes from heavy metal aerobics to making pies in a jar.




I can't wait to go back for more!

magical woods.

I don't really know how to describe being in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Maybe I've been in California too long, maybe the further north you drive along the coast the more stereo-typical California you become.

But there was a calm and peacefulness among these trees that I haven't felt in many places. Maybe it's the sheer size of them, the way the light spills through in different spots, the cool breeze that feels like it's cleaning out your brain.

After 13 years of living in California I'm so glad I finally made it through the Avenue of the Giants. We walked on fallen trunks, posed next to the massive trees, took lots and lots of photos, and just looked around in awe.

I'm waiting on my film from the trip, so expect to see more of these lovely trees here soon.

lovely lacey tree

I would love to stumble upon this tree.

via karmakazi.

Monday!

This weekend was our mini-vacation. We drove up north and saw lots of redwoods and spent a night in the crunchiest california town I've ever visited. Then we headed back down along the coast and spent a night on the ocean. It was pretty dreamy. I'll have lots of photos to show soon. Happy Monday!

Martin Wilson

I'm loving the work of Martin Wilson. He shoots with film and makes each shot play a part in his final piece so that his entire contact sheet is one great work of art composed of many different images.

What a good idea. I wish I had the patience and skill for something like this.

paper mural

I spotted this paper mural on my walk home last week but there was some sort of screaming match happening in front of it so I didn't stop to take a photo.

This week all was calm so I was able to get nice and close. I had thought it was painted on the brick wall and was surprised to find it's actually a great big paper cut out.

I like the details of it and the way it's slowly washing off the wall.

I failed to check which street I was on when I took this but it's right off of 24th in the Mission.

etsy love

I love all of the prints in Dear Colleen's Etsy Shop. This one especially gets me. I think it was at this moment in Where The Wild Things Are that I started crying. That scene just tugs at my heart I tell you.

Holga Summer

I'm so happy with how this roll of film turned out. When you use a plastic camera it's easy to snap shots off and feel like your camera is a toy. I tried to be more thoughtful with this roll. Instead of shooting 12 shots off in a day or two I stretched it out and really considered each shot.

This may be my favorite roll to date. This is also the first time I had the photo lab scan my negatives instead of just getting prints and the difference in quality (usually I scan the prints myself) is remarkable.

We don't really get summer here, but I feel like I was able to capture some of summer in these photos.

The rest of the roll can be seen here.

Artist Crush: Lauren DiCioccio

Check out more of Lauren DiCioccio's amazing work here.




Thanks to My Love For You for first posting about Lauren!

some scenes from the weekend

is true

sfgirlbybay held a quote contest and I'm loving all of them. Check out the others here.

Artist crush: Roa

See more on Roa's site.

things to make & eat

Button cookies from Forty Sixth at Grace.

Trifle from Make Grow Gather

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles from Framed.