BACK IN THE UK!

We were recently in England for 10 days, in our old stomping grounds of Cambridge.  Raf had work there, and many of my students were on winter break, so I tagged along!  I forgot how beautiful it is -- the architecture, the lush green everywhere, the river...just all very lovely.  We spent many of our days hanging out with friends and it was so nice!  There was a bit of rain and some gloomy clouds, but we got pretty lucky as the sun seemed to show its face a lot.  It was definitely warm compared to NYC!  We celebrated the sun one of the days by taking a walk through the old city and along the river before reading in a park for a bit and then heading to a friend's for brunch:

A pathway along the river Cam.

Opposite the path and river.

They had some crazy rain and wind a few days before.  This was the aftermath in a nearby rubbish bin.

The swans!

Love this spot.

After the rain.

We spent a cold and mostly rainy day in a (tiny) nearby town called Ely.  It was very quaint and had an impressive cathedral.  

A park near the river in Ely.

This garden!  (Ely).

Inside the cathedral.

This buddy came over to say hello and let me give him a pet.

Raf warming up in the sun.

Tiny me next to the huge cathedral!

More cathedral.

Back in Cambridge...I spent most of my days (when not planning lessons for teaching - mostly during rainy spells) just walking and walking and walking around this beautiful city.  When we lived here, I got around by bike.  This time I really think I got a chance to actually stop and see more on foot.

Inside the gate of Trinity College.

A vegetarian restaurant (the Rainbow Cafe) we discovered just down the street from our hotel.  It was delicious.  Amazingly, we never went there when we were living in Cambridge.

King's College.  We got to eat a fancy fellows dinner here in the fancy dining hall as a guest of one of our (fancy) new friends (who happens to be a fellow there).  Lots of tradition and the fellows actually wear their robes at dinner :).

People enjoying the sunny day outside of King's College.

Beautiful street.

A light festival, King's College.

We stayed at a lovely hotel called the Hotel Du Vin.  It had a library where you could relax and have tea, and a cool bar in the cellar that looked like a wine cave.  We ate breakfast in the hotel bistro every morning.  One of the waiters got to know us pretty well as we ordered basically the exact same thing every morning.  By day 4, he would just kind of nod at me, and then go place the order!

Vegetarian English breakfast.  Raf would make a face out of it every day, which made our waiter smile a little smile. :)

French toast with yogurt, berries, and honey.  Yum.

My breakfast sweetie.

Sad/worried breakfast face.  

Switching it up one day!

View from our hotel.

This was my favorite street to bike down.

The view around the bend!

Gigantic door, with tiny door you actually walk through.

On the other side of the door.

Punting boat launch, near Trinity College.  This is where Raf and I went punting with our friend Amos.  You can read about that here.

Punters.

View from the bridge.

Cambridge is such a special place and I'm so glad I got to spend some more time there!

VINTAGE PHOTO SHOOT!

When I was living in the San Francisco Bay area, I was really, really lucky to have a group of creative lady-pals.  Friends who are fashion designers, stylists, photographers, boutique owners, hair stylists,  musicians, artists, makeup artists, and published authors.  And most of them dabbled in a variety of artistic endeavors.  All of them are awesome and driven and insanely talented.  I miss those ladies!  

A group of us got together last spring with an idea for a photo shoot.  As a team, we came up with a fun concept and a story to tell.  The photographer, Angela DeCenzo (who happens to be the sweetest person and most bad-ass-talented photographer I know), had an idea for a vintage shoot with old bikes and my dear friend Racheal (the stylist), scouted the perfect location.  You can read about Port Costa in this blog post.  After a couple of meetings and idea/prop/wardrobe sharing (Celeste--my partner in crime for the shoot-- shared her impressive vintage wardrobe), we finally got together with our skilled and clever hair stylist, Silkie, and the charming and crazy-talented makeup artist Nikol Elaine and prepared for a day of photos in a dreamy location.  The weather was perfect, we had many, many laughs, and I think that the end results turned out pretty magical...I love creative collaborations!