hiatus

Regretfully, Living the Swell Life must take a brief hiatus. Truthfully, my head has been swimming with blog ideas, launching a crafting career, etc., and I've been completely distracted from the real world: It's time for me to get serious about studying up for the NCLEX (RN boards)!! I am running out of time and quite bluntly, I am afraid that blogging=failing. I will be back in August, refreshed, with more photos and finds to share! Until then, God's Blessings! ~*Jessica

tagged

I am officially sucked into the realm of bloggie--I have been tagged by deerseason87 at Printer & Piemaker to share 8 random things about myself and then tag 8 other bloggers to do the same. I was never a chain letter or an email forwarding kind of girl, but hey, this can't hurt!?

1. I tried posting this exciting news last week, but was quickly chastized by my mom because she didn't want it to be 'all over the internet'...I think it's safe now to say that I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNTIE!!! Congratulations Christopher & Katie, we are so incredibly happy for you and your new little fam! :) I have set an all-time high goal for myself to learn to knit a darling baby cardi and I have less than 7 months. Wish me luck! Katie just sent us this little pic of the miraculous, healthy little peanut:2. Our new PB quilt arrived yesterday!! I think it's even lovlier in real life than in the pic. The pattern is like India-meets-Scandinavia-meets-Jessica's style. Very excited. Now we just need a nice headboard...

3. The UPS man who delivered the quilt told me that I had "really nice teeth." That is by far the oddest compliment I've ever received and from a complete stranger, none the less.

4. Right now, I am surrounded by another classic craftastrophe, with no one to blame but myself, in our living room. I am organizing all of the crafts for VBS at church next week. Let's just say that foam letter stickers seemed like a good idea at the store, but ugh, the sorting!

5. I am sunburnned. I burn easily. But that's no excuse for abandoning my two Cali goals: a. Learn to surf. b. Go sailing.

6. It is foggy and 60 degrees here in S.F., as usual. What a way to spend the summer! I never cared for 100 degree weather with 99% humidity back home in Minnesota. Spoiled.

7. I am homesick.

8. I have a crush on Laura Normandin's apartment in Brooklyn and sfgirlbybay's apartment here in S.F.

9. That is all! Reading back over my list, hope I wasn't too much of a Negative-Nancy!

summer at its finest

Yum. I made this berry cobbler for dessert last weekend for our first dinner party in our new apartment. We had our upstairs neighbors down! They are such a cute, young couple with an adorable 2-month old daughter with vertical dark brown hair. Wishing I would've taken more pics!! Anyway, I knew this recipe was a winner when our neighbor Olivier (a Frenchman with lofty French cuisine standards) expressed genuine contentment. :) I cannot take the credit, it was 99% delicious, fresh ingredients. So before summer ends, I highly recommend you grab your favorite berries and experience this delish dish for yourself! Oh, and my recipe's inspiration is from Easy Suppers, one of my staple cookbooks.

Berry Cobbler : Summer at its finest!

Prep 4 c. your favorite summer berries (I used raspberries, blackberries, & strawberries) mixed with a handful of sugar

Preheat oven to 350, melt 1/3c. butter in 8x8 baking dish as oven heats.

Batter Stir together:
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1 c. half and half cream (unhealthy but delicious!!!)

Assemble Remove warm baking dish with melted butter from oven. Pour in batter; do not stir. Spoon berries on top and sprinkle with 1 T. sugar.

Bake until bubbly and golden, apx. 50 minutes.

Enjoy!

what a wonder

Today was the perfect day for a picnic on China Beach! Our awesome friends (& new pastor at our church), the Radichels, spent the afternoon with us. What an adorable family! I think that I could take sweet beachy pictures of families forever, which perhaps explains the mass quantity of pictures today. Life doesn't get much sweeter than seeing a little boy experience the ocean for the first time! We are so blessed to have a few fellow Midwestern transplants around to share the California 'culture shock' with. However today I think we could all agree that it's completely worth a little culture shock, a little homesickness, and a little horizon-expanding to have a gorgeous beach as a backyard playground!

And I saved my favorite little pic for last: Lol! Priorities...

yay for fray!

We had a blast last night at The Fray concert! Definitely got waay more than our money's worth. It was an awesome show at an awesome venue: at Shoreline Amphitheater you can enjoy rocking out at a concert with fresh air for a change!

Let me just say that concerts make me very happy. I love that concerts connect help listeners connect the music with the artist in a personal way. Suddenly The Fray is not just another tune on our iPod. (Notice the singular iPod. We're lucky that we get along well enough and like the same music enough to share a 'Pod. For this reason, we have more appropriately deemed this essential electronic our wePod.)

Highlights:

1. Concert tickets = $0

2. Parking = $0 (Let me tell you, we live to find "free" parking and then delight when we return to an un-towed car!)

3. The Fray serenading us to Shakira...Ultimate crowd pleaser!

4. Lead singer Isaac Slade's cutie pie daughter sitting with him on the piano bench during the encore. He must be the coolest dad ever and I love that.

5. Perfect date night!

it's official

No more California dreamin'...We're officially Californians and we now have plates to prove it!

{surprise} amy!

Check out this a*dorable birdie pincushion I found on etsy for my darling friend's b-day!! Every girl needs one of these! Plus a pincusion will be handy when make our Martha farmers' market bags in August when Amy visits S.F. :)

impulse

True confession: Untrue to my penny-pinching nature, I completely splurged yesterday on an impulse buy from Pottery Barn. Admittedly, I had been eyeing this beautiful Danika quilt and shams in ivory for quite some time...This was the bedding I picked out for our wedding registry, which obviously never materialized. Yesterday, while shopping for a friend's wedding gift, I sneakily peeked to see if perchance they still carried my beloved quilt. Lo and behold it was on SALE with limited quantities remaining. EeEek! I knew if I put it off any longer, I'd be forever regretful. So on complete intuition-impulse-whatever you want to call it-I ordered the whole ensemble, including shipping, for less than $200! Happy day and happy early anniversary to us!

you're not going to believe this...

This chair that I found on AT:SF just scored me tickets to see The Fray live at Shoreline Amphitheater on Saturday night!Here's how: Sfgirlbybay one of my absolute favorite (& local!) design blogs offered a contest yesterday on one of her posts...Whoever left her *favorite* design link from the day won 2 free tickets for Saturday. I thought, we're broke, we're free on Saturday night, and are always looking for something to do for free in the city, so why not give this a shot? Can't believe she'd pick my link of choice, but I am *so excited!* All I have to say is: SERENDIPITY!

sf tour

This is husband (Jeff) checking in with a guest post. Jessica's already given you a quick tour of our new apartment, so I thought I'd share some of my photos in a quick tour of this beautiful city we've found ourselves in. And I'll leave these up to your imagination a bit, but if you think you can provide geographic captions for any of these famous SF landmarks (admittedly, a few of these might be a bit tough, but I promise they're all well known locations) drop a comment, and we'll all be impressed...


Thanks for looking!
-Jeff

pretty parties

Just ran across some pretty party ideas that have left me itching to entertain! I absolutely adore the use of lilacs in Carolyne Roehm's summer setting above. Below is one of my stashed-away inspiration pics from Martha weddings last summer. She ties fresh spring green with ever-so-dainty eyelette trims around candles, napkins, and platters. Love the simple beauty!I thought I'd grow out of my post-wedding funk months ago...When I should've been living in complete newly-wedded bliss last August, I must admit a part of me was mourning my lost and forgotten wedding planning days! I don't miss the stress and bridezilla moments, but I definitely do pine for the many Sunday afternoons and evenings I spent cutting paper and enduring hot glue spider webs to make cones for these dear little tussie mussies that happily greeted me when I walked down the aisle. Does the fact that I still love theknot and crave every new season of Martha Weddings make me a sentimental loser? Perhaps. But more likely, I'm just dreaming of becoming a wedding planner when I grow up. :)

valentine's day in july

Our painting is finished, save for a few little touch-ups and we are finally done with the post-move in move-around...At least done for apx. 1 month until I get bored and decide to re-arrange. Ha! We are mounting more pics tonight and I just re-discovered my little paper heart samplers. I made them for the sake of having Valentine's Day decorations, grew attached, and never took them down when Easter rolled around. Now that I know they're year-round keepers, I am faced with the quandary of where to hang them. Bathroom? Scrap nook?

a happy day indeed

As much as I wish this was another apt. tour pic, I must confess that it is not. Rather, it's a little visual from S.F. field trip #5 and here's how the story all began: As previously mentioned, my nursing job does not begin until October. In the mean time...I'm Starbucks searching. Although my first Starbucks prospect fizzled, I am *so excited* because the store that did hire me is in one of my absolute favorite areas in S.F. It's tucked amid the delightful shops and boutiques of Fillmore Street. I intentionally left plenty early for my interview yesterday, simply so that I could do a little window shopping. That's when I discovered this dazzling little boutique, Nest, where Paris-chic meets Indian-boho. This store is so beautiful that I'd be perfectly content to live here...if only I could afford its delights!
If nothing else, I am completely satisfied by the sweet and sensational eye candy of spending just 15 minutes within its doors. Dreamy.
Also on Fillmore St., I discovered the Clay theater--apparently one of S.F.'s oldest and a 1-screen. The charm! I'd heard such great things about La Vie en Rose (Life in Pink), that I knew this Frenchie film was a must-see for my aspiring-filmmaker-husband and me. It is based on a true story of Edith Piaf; a wonderful rags-to-riches account of her life as a singer. The actress' performance is perhaps the best part. She is so real and amazing. The whole film is shot in muted colors and has beautiful music...I'd recommend adding it to your list!

just another painting day!

Another busy little day here in our (almost) swank S.F. pad! Today we tackled the oh-so-ugly dark sage green in the bedroom. Tough job! But, 3 coats of paint later we are satisfied by the ever-soothing Candlelight Ivory replacement. (Sweet-sentimental-sidenote: the color of my wedding dress was candlelight ivory too!) That makes me very happy. In fact, all shades of white make me happy. To some, it's a boring color, but to me--it's energetic yet calming, pure, clean, and sophisticated! Yum! To offset our ivory walls, we painted the trim ultra-bright-white. I'm loving the new scheme.How can one be so fortunate...to have a handsome and multi-tasking husband!?

So, 3 weeks, 3 coats in 3 painted rooms, and 3 batches of cookies later, we are beginning to feel at home here! Things are starting to make sense, the eternal job hunt may very well wind-down next week, and I have a little routine in my life once again. As much as routines can be a bore and a drag, today I am thankful to have that blessed routine back again!

inspiration break

The sun is shining in S.F., I have a fresh stack of pics to scrapbook, and I'm taking a quick inspiration break...Sharing a few more flickr faves! I heard such sweet things about my last mosaic, that I thought I'd turn this into a weekly collection. ;) Happy Thursday!

P.S. When Jeff gets home from work we're hanging pics in our hallway. More apartment photo tour to come!

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."
— Kahlil Gibran

1. it twirls, 2. Antique Store Sunday: Pillowcases, 3. Antique Store Sunday: Tablecloth, 4. red fruits cupcake 1

take a peek take 2...

And here's a little taste of our living room! I must admit, my photography skills (or lack thereof) destroyed any and all attempts to capture the full room. (Any advice on tackling the lighting in a room with huge, bright windows? Send it my way.) So I hope some of these little close-ups will help do the trick. The rest is up to your imagination! Enjoy!

take a peek

Welcome, welcome, welcome to our new S.F. apartment! Since it might be awhile before many of you can come and check out our new digs, we'll have to settle for the next best thing...The photo tour! Above is our humble guest beddy...I must admit, I like this one best! ;) It's in a lovely, warm, sunny spot tucked against the windows in our multi-purpose computer/craft/guest room! I say it's the perfect place to sprawl out read mags and/or sort pics...Jeff says it's the perfect place for a quick cuddle break. You decide. The room also comes equipped with a triple closet. *Love* this feature! Open up the doors and...TA DA!


MY VERY OWN SCRAPBOOK NOOK! It's not quite broken in yet, but it's a start! To our complete amazement, this desk/bookshelf tucked itself perfectly into the closet. Let me tell you, it is a delightful day when you have more closet space than junk to store in it! It's so fun to have a practical use for a closet and a sensible place for my craftastrophes. Plus (and my mom would appreciate this), I can simply close the doors on the chaos that ensues when I get on a roll with my crafting. No more clearing off the dining room table 3x per day--Yes!

what a difference a day makes

...24 little hours and we have answered prayers! When I woke up this morning, I was dilly-dallying in my jams as usual, waiting for noon to roll around so that I could head to my 'big' interview here. After hearing nothing for 1 month, it seemed like the right choice! Then, out of the freaking blue, I get a phone call and all I remember was "I am wondering if you've taken another position?...Well, this is a formal offer...Wonderful! We're looking forward to you joining our team on the PEDIATRIC CARDIAC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT at UCSF!" I was speechless. I freaked out. I jumped up and down a lot...I am so excited! I have definitely learned a lesson in patience. (Thank you & praise you, God!!) Whew, I was expecting that call 1 month ago, and had considered that a closed-door-no-go 3 weeks ago. But what a difference a day makes! So here's the scoop: My wonderful, official nurse job doesn't start until mid-October. In the mean time, I am studying like a freak for NCLEX (boards), catching up on scrapbooking, finishing the settling-in at our apt. (pics coming--promise!), and potentially working at Starbucks!? We'll see, but I have renewed hope about everything. Life in San Fran was totally meant to be!

While I'm busy bragging, I must highlight a few other recent accomplishments: 1) Saturday, I conquered my irrational fear of public transportation and rode Muni all by myself on my way back from Fisherman's Wharf to visit my dear friend, Kari from nursing school...and we have the pic to prove it! Kari moved to Ft. Collins, CO after college (we're the proud adventurers), and happened to be in S.F. on vaca with her aunt, uncle, & cousin. It was so wonderful to have a familiar face to chat with in this wild city! 2) I am an official S.F. DRIVER! Like I said, this city is wild...Wild hills, wild "Cali-honk"ing drivers, wildly narrow streets without left turn lanes...And after a few weeks, I've finally forced myself to get behind the wheel. Yay!

Alright, that's enough bragging! Just had to share my happy news! Thanks so much for reading & sharing my joy! Oh, and one more thing...I changed the settings on this blog so that anyone can drop comments. That means yoU! No worries if you don't have an official google account.

something 'fresh' to blog about...

Another delicious day of discovery in our new city! I knew the Ferry Building Farmers' Market was something that we'd need to check out sooner, rather than later. So glad we did! (P.S. If you've read this far, you can thank Jeff for dreaming up that clever pun of a title...Fresh=farmers' market produce.) Not sure what it is about farmers' markets...Maybe it has something to do with buying amazingly fresh ingredients directly from the growers, maybe its wandering from tent to tent with a surprise at each stop, maybe its the succulent samples, or maybe its just being outside next to the S.F. Bay? Whatever the draw is, it was a very happy Saturday indeed. Much of the food sold is completely organic and from family farms. Rock on! Randomly, we were able to score another adventure with free downtown parking! I'm beginning to think that one of these serendipitous free parking finds is also going to score the dear car a tow truck ride...At any rate, we enjoyed our adventure and were forever grateful to see our car still in the free parking spot where we left it. Our only mistake was that we went grocery shopping the night before! The next time we hit the Ferry Building, we will remember to go with an empty fridge and empty tummies!


Did you know that hydrangeas are the most gorgeous flowers of all time? They make me very happy!

No jokes, this girl totally rocked the market! Not even polka...I've never heard an accordion jam quite like it. Sorry, no sound clips.

And visiting the farmers market reminded me how much I need to start sewing my next bag...I would love to have a tote bag for such occasions and I've been eyeing this clever idea from Martha's gang (above). What do you think? Now to find a vintage pillow case...As with all great finds, it's all about the hunt. :)