It's beginning to look a lot like -

Christmas!

Just about to jump on a plane to the Philippines.  It won't really be Christmas until I see my family, but seeing how a different city gets into the spirit has been so fun!  Mama Goog also spoiled us with carolers in our cafes, hot chocolate and cider in the courtyard and even a day of Christmas crafts (I still had glitter on my desk when I checked out on Friday).  No photos of that but here are a couple of my favourite snaps from around the hoods -

Unbelievable Christmas house on one of the city's steep roads - drove here with a friend especially!

Christmas lights I ran past one night in my neighborhood.  There's a stalker inside of me that loves looking in and seeing people's Christmas trees, especially when they have big bay windows.

Ok, I'm ready to see paper stars on doorways and over-the-top nativity scenes in the tropical heat now.

Happy holiday weekend!

Nesting, Part 1.5

Overcast weather makes for nice soft lighting for this shot, haha.

Accomplishments of note:

1. I have Internet

2. IKEA furniture upright and fully assembled by my own fair hands (shelf, table, chairs - basically if it was white and standing still, I bought it)

3. The cardboard box you see in the bottom right hand corner is the last of the boxes - am trotting off to the recycling bin to get rid of it now, then off to finish my Christmas shopping!

Happy weekend  :)

Today

Beautiful day to be at work!  This is the tree-lined path that the shuttle rolls into every morning.

The sun is being overwhelmingly present and kind to us in this part of the world today, I just had to share.  What a glorious welcome to work!

Nesting, Part 1

This weekend was my official move in to my new San Francisco home - so exciting!  Being the anal retentive project manager that I was, I scheduled three successive deliveries over 24 hours, mastered the public transport system to get a bus to MUJI (priorities) and went to the holiday party.  One thing I will say is that customer service here is really unrivaled - all of the deliveries came within the two-hour time slots I was given, and the movers el Goog organised even folded and put all my clothes away for me!  (They were also much taller than me and I now can't reach the shelves they put my own sweaters are on, but details, details).

A couple of sunny in-progress snaps:

Kitchen pieces arriving from Australia.  Bowls: check, baking tray: check, ceramic doughnut: check.

The coordination challenge that is building IKEA furniture.  I will have you note that there is a bed (a bed!) in the other room now - no more 'futon' (read = pile of folded blankets) for me.

And now to continue my degree in using an allen key.

Animal-style

Don't let anyone tell you that In-N-Out is a bad idea.  In fact, it turns out to be the greatest thing you can do on a Monday after work with a friend.  I resisted the double double but couldn't help going animal-style on the fries.  It was both the very best, and very worst way to start the week.

Yes!

It's just one gigantic mess, effectively.

Mmm.  On a side note, I think I was also just craving red meat.

Ok Tuesday, I am ready for you.