snapshots of wanderings on the other coast

hello friends! tomorrow i leave for japan - i couldn't be more excited!
here are a few random snapshots from my last week or so here on the left coast:

this is the view from the house where i've spent most of the past two weeks:


you can't see it in this shot, because of the clouds, but the far mountains were covered in snow. i know that in relative terms, this may not seem like the greatest LA view, but to an east coaster, it's pretty spectacular.

i took a tour of this house:


it's the gamble house, and i'm sure that on their website, they have far greater photos than this one i took, so you should click the link. this is a house that was designed by greene and greene and i'd always meant to tour it while i was living in LA, but never got to it. and now i have.
one little fun-fact that they don't tell you on the tour is that the garage, which is now the bookstore, was the setting for doc's garage in back to the future:


i spent a night up in big bear with friends at their wonderful mountain cabin.


this is one thing you do at a mountain cabin:


playing shoots and ladders is another thing you do.
this special c-s-c monogram towel circa 2008 was there. i love the way it's aged. (and i'm so pleased to see how tight all of the stitches still are!)


a storm rolled in earlier than we were expecting. though it just looked like this as we were leaving the house,


we almost didn't make it down the mountain. those storms move in quickly and those roads are skeeetchy.


(believe me, it was way worse that it looks here --- we thought we were going to have to spend the night in one of the small mountain towns half-way down!)

the next morning, i flew up to san jose to visit with some other very good friends.
on an adventure, we crossed over this bridge:


and arrived at our destination, muir woods.

honestly, the reason we went is because i'm a little crazy about the movie vertigo. especially this scene:



(hey, look, i just embedded a video -- that's a chez-sucre-chez first!)
the woods were just as amazing as i wanted them to be. but first - here i am geeking out in front of the vertigo tree-slice:


bummer that there was no cell/smartphone reception up there in the woods, so i didn't have the film clip at my fingertips to reference -- my angle is a little off.


beyond the tree slice, the woods are positively breath-taking.


the air has a most marvelous scent to it, which becomes noticeable miles before the park, even with all of the car windows rolled up!

ferms grow on trees above:


and the ground is covered in oxalis!



the scale of the trees is massive - even more so against my friend hana, who is even tinier than me:


it was a lovely day in the woods, and then we went into town and checked out the curiosity shoppe. it's just as sweet as i imagined! (they'll be getting a new shipment of c-s-c kits as soon as i return from my travels.)
wrapping up my trip to nor-cal was some time spent in SF japantown, most wonderfully the kabuki springs & spa. (thank you, charles!!!)
walking out, this is the scene i saw:


little pigeon looking spiritual.
so now i need to dash off to sleep before a long day of air travel. have a great week, friends! once i get back, i'll have one week until the first clover market. i think this little break will be good for me - i've already got so many ideas for once i get back. and i'm bringing a brand new design/stitching project with me on the plane -- i may just finish it! and, though i've never been much influenced by asian art/imagery, i'm so looking forward to being immersed in new inspiration. ciao!