it's so rewarding to be back in the bay area! x0x0x

February 12, 2026

it's almost VALENTINE'S DAY! x0x0xx

February 10, 2026 in family, holiday

(me in my oft worn heart sweatshirt with my dad circa 1983)

valentine’s day is my absolute FAVORITE holiday! i LOVE chocolate (especially see’s scotchmallows … the BEST!), pink and red hearts (ALL colored hearts really), and painting and gluing and making valentines. growing up, it was considered a family holiday so i have never been flapped about whether i had a boyfriend or a husband when february rolls around. wishing you all a day full of love and sweetness and LOTS of candy! x0x0xx

february's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x

February 03, 2026 in art, quilts

(river run 2024 by ann rhode, 69W x 69L”)

river run is made with one block, a half-square triangle made two ways. some are made with only one fabric and some are made with a strip on one edge.

the colors are a contrast of warm neutrals with soft rusts in the strips contrasting with the cool blues to make the river against the sandy shore.

annette chavez fountain beautifully quilted river run using ripples in the water and pebbles in the sandy parts.

i'm just delighted to be home in california! x0x0x

January 29, 2026

my sweet boy is TWENTY! x0x0xx

January 27, 2026 in family, holiday

(me and my first baby at the berkeley marina)

it’s hard for me to imagine how TWENTY years could have passed since this guy arrived. i marvel that he can do things like fly across the country alone or make fried eggs or understand plato or show me special places in the town that i grew up in that i never knew about. he can drive, he shaves, he clears the table and he delights me with his quippy humor. he recently told lucy not to be upset that i invited so many people to her dance performance because “parents don’t have much to do.” when i look at him he’s every age… a tiny peanut in a car seat, a toddler whose hand i held with an iron grip because he was a runner, an elementary schooler with a fascination for james bond who wore a suit to school on picture day, a middle schooler whose ski jumps made my heart stop in fear and a college student who sleeps and sleeps and sleeps when he’s home on break… he did NOT sleep like that as a baby! wishing you everything wonderful in the next twenty years my darling theo… i can only imagine all of the adventures to come. i LOVE you so! x0x0x

HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY to my mama! x0x0xx

January 27, 2026 in family, holiday

wishing my wonderful mother (and her darling sidekick) the loveliest 2026. i hope the upcoming year is filled with laughter and travel and yummy dinners and super fun adventures. i am so HAPPY to be back in california so we can celebrate all year long! HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY sweet mama! x0x0xx

so HAPPY to be home! x0x0x

January 22, 2026

(berkeley bougainvillea! x0x0x)

my pine street cottage project was featured in a HOUZZ article! x0x0x

January 20, 2026 in residential interior

i am so delighted that one of my favorite boulder projects was included in a houzz article. link to the full piece is here. many thanks to laura gaskill of houzz for the story and to heather burns of HBK photography for the lovely photo! x00xx

so HAPPY to be based in california now! x0xx0x

January 15, 2026

the tears (and FEARS!) of a clown! x00x

January 13, 2026 in art

for as long as i can remember, i have been pretty scared of clowns. i don’t like full face make-up for costumes or life as it makes it hard for me to understand someone’s face (probably why i have trouble when my fifteen year old daughter’s application veers into tammy faye - i just love her CLEAN face!) but the white paint on a clown and the exaggerated, big red smile makes my spine go cold. i can’t bear those 60s clown paintings (i won't show you a reference because googling them might give me an anxiety attack) but i see them accidentally sometimes when i am in a vintage shop. i might be admiring a mid century credenza or lamp and i turn around and BAM there’s some creepy clown leering at me. and sometimes i’ve even run into a full figure, life size statue… i can’t imagine how anyone could sleep with one of those in the house. (my position on art for your home is that is should make you feel JOYOUS and lift you up. i recognize that there are important works like picasso’s guernica or munch’s scream that are important to view and contemplate, but when i walk into my kitchen for my morning coffee i want to be greeted by a piece that makes me HAPPY and peaceful, which is why i am such a big fan of sarah kinn… her paintings make my heart feel bigger.)

welcome to the NEW YEAR! x00xx0x

January 08, 2026

(hank wearing his new years crown!)

january's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x

January 06, 2026 in art, quilts

(challenge 2024 by ann rhode, 31W x 32L”)

twice a year ann attends “quilt camp” where she meets up with quilting friends for a week of quilt work, creative collaboration and socializing. they often “challenge” each other to design a piece with a certain fabric or pattern. this quilt is the product of one of these challenges. the blue and green background fabric was chosen as the challenge fabric. ann made a series of pillars in different fabrics and heights. she grounded them with contrasting horizontal stripes. for ann, it was a fun exercise and a way to play with value, proportion and pattern.

HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEARS 2025! x00xx

January 01, 2026 in family, holiday

(time with my dad was the very BEST part of 2025)

there are a lot of really wonderful things that happened to me in 2025… the most important, of course, is that it is the last year that i got to spend time with my father. i cannot begin to express how GRATEFUL i am that we moved back to berkeley and i was able to visit with him so easily. (we moved across town - i am southside now, but it is still only a ten minute drive.) as he grew more tired, sometimes we took naps (he in his big, leather chair, me on the blue sofa), sometimes we just made faces and sometimes i read to him. all of those visits fill my heart and give me peace.

MERRIEST CHRISTMAS! x0x0x

December 25, 2025 in family, holiday

(me and my father circa 1987 x0x0x)

wishing you all a very merry christmas… i am so grateful to be spending time with my family and remembering my wonderful father and wondering WHY at seventeen i was still receiving dolls for christmas! JOLLIEST wishes! x00xx

REPOST: christmas sticky buns

December 23, 2025 in family, holiday, recipe

* i am reposting this story about my mom’s christmas morning sticky buns in case you are up for a DELICIOUS challenge! MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS! x00xx

the BEST breakfast of the year is always christmas morning because of my mother’s sticky buns. they are coils of cinnamon deliciousness with a sticky, brown sugar topping baked on. she makes two pans each year - one with pecans and one without (my nephew has nut allergies.) i prefer the ones with pecans, but i would NEVER turn down a plain one. we think about and anticipate the sticky buns all year long… rehashing how many each of us ate the year before and whether someone selfishly snuck a third before everyone else had seconds. when the pans are cooling we circle round them like sharks, peeking under the tin foil covers and trying to count how many there are (it always varies depending on the girth of the buns) - my mother protectively swatting us away and shooing us out of the kitchen.

LEGOS! a last minute holiday gift! x0x0x

December 18, 2025 in holiday

neither of my kids were into legos when they were little. many of my friends had huge tuppers of legos that they tried to organize and store efficiently, but mostly i heard about how PAINFUL it was it step on an errant one, especially in bare feet. so i was not unhappy about my children’s disinterest in these small, sharp blocks.

happy, happy hanukkah! x0x0x

December 16, 2025 in family, holiday

(theo lighting the menorah on the seventh night)

REPOST: gingerbread houses

December 11, 2025 in holiday, family

i can’t remember when i started making gingerbread houses… it’s probably an extension of my love of my childhood dollhouse. i do know that making them with my children is one of my favorite christmas traditions. they are messy and sticky and my kitchen gets a thorough dusting of powdered sugar every year, but the extra mopping and wiping is worth it. we eat way too much candy, lick loads of frosting off our fingers (i always tell our recipients not to eat them, just use them as decoration!) and we usually feel a bit sick afterward. some years are more structurally successful than others - more than one house has had to make due with a cardboard wall as a result of a “kitchen earthquake.” the candy roof design has evolved as well. in the early days they were a kaleidoscope of random candies and today there is careful thought put into the layout of licorice squares, lifesavers, gumdrops and mike and ikes. the recipe is the same as the modern one we did last year… just a more traditional pattern.

REPOST: a christmas miracle (around the HOLIDAY CARD!)

December 09, 2025 in hank, holiday, photography, family

every year, we send out a holiday card featuring the kids smiling and laughing together. they DO laugh and smile together pretty frequently, but hardly ever when we are shooting these photos.

“FEO, FEO” lucy (when she had no teeth) yelled downstairs in alarm a few years ago, “the christmas clothes are out… i fink we have to do the card today!” then a series of loud groans as they commiserated together.

eating it up in california! x0x

December 04, 2025

(not many things better than a late night run to IN-N-OUT!)