Looking towards the Marin Headlands

The still water of the bath vs. the constantly moving ocean

At 4 o’clock this afternoon I looked out our living room window and saw scattered cotton ball shaped clouds in the sky. I immediately sent Nik the following message, “Sunset is going to be awesome. I’ll be at the beach!” I picked up my bag, threw a camera in, walked downstairs, hopped on my bike, and was at the ocean 10 minutes later. The actual sunset wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, but I had been wanting to try a long exposure photo of the ocean for a while, so I found a spot and played around for a good 20 minutes while the light slowly disappeared.

This is why I love living in this city, and in this neighborhood!

In 2012, I               for the first time ever.

01. celebrated a wedding anniversary

02. witnessed Nik make an entire tent full of people laugh as he gave a Best Man Toast

03. drove the Vespa

04. have a California driver’s license

05. voted in California

06. attempted (and partially failed) to complete a daily photo project – 366 Objects

07. listened to a classical radio station for hours and hours most days

08. tried (and failed) to sell clothes at a consignment shop

09. wore skinny jeans

10. went suit shopping with Nik

11. sang duets with Nik while he played the guitar (in the comfort of our own home)

12. finished reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy

13. installed a legitimate version of the Adobe Creative Suite onto my computer (Thanks, Wayne!!)

14. dyed fabric with beet juice

15. hand-quilted a blanket

16. gave a quilt I made as a wedding gift

17.taught myself embroidery techniques

18. altered a man’s sweater to fit me

19. bought an entire bolt of fabric

20. designed and tested a quilt pattern

21. performed a semi-significant kitchen upgrade project

22. hosted a dinner party for 8

23. grew strawberries in our living room

24. grew mushrooms on our kitchen table

25. made polenta

26. made home-made biscotti

27. made home-made granola

28. bought and used taper candles

29. used a salad spinner

30. used a feather duster

31. attended a professional conference, and did not like it very much

32. helped launch an online shop, Urban Burp

33. was hired as the only employee in an architecture firm

34. attended the opening of my first built project in San Francisco (the Andrea Schwartz Gallery)

35. designed a friend’s apartment

36. felt like the moon was smiling at me (on the day I passed the final test to become a licensed architect)

37. had multiple conference calls with my siblings

38. had my hair cut by Nik’s sister

39. visited my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew in their new Atlanta, GA home

40. was told by my nephew, “Auntie Jamie, I love you” at least 10 times in one day

41. threw a huge party for my parents with my siblings

42. rented a vacation house with the Sinz family (in Guntersville, AL)

43. jumped off a boat dock with my nieces

44. surfed across the water on a wake board

45. saw thousands of lightning bugs in the trees at night from a canoe

46. witnessed my cousin marry her true love

47. went out to drinks with both of my siblings and their spouses (it was awesome)

48. was the first to sleep in “Grammi & Papa’s room” in my sister’s new home in Paducah, KY

49. sewed with my nieces

50. witnessed my niece take her first no-training-wheels bike ride

51. walked my other niece to school

52. did not spend either of the two major holidays with the Sinz side of the family

53. spent Christmas in Santa Fe with the Daum side of the family

54. walked along Canyon Road in the snow on Christmas Eve to see the Farolitos in Santa Fe

55. slept in a light house on an island (East Brother Light Station, Richmond, CA)

56. crowd-sourced travel recommendations (for New York & Japan)

57. rode a bike in New York City

58. ate noodles at Momofuku in New York

59. rode a bike in Brooklyn

60. stayed with my best friend from college in her precious Atlanta, GA home

61. met up with a friend after posting photos of her Atlanta neighborhood on Instagram

62. vacationed in Mexico City while Nik “worked” there

63. rode the Mexico City Subway

64. slept in a St. Regis Hotel

65. drank beer on a boat in Xochimilco

66. ate worms and bugs, and did not like them (in Mexico City)

67. went to a pretty big work dinner with Nik (10 handsome American dudes and me)

68. vacationed in Japan

69. rode a Japanese bullet train

70. rode a bike in Kyoto

71. rode the Tokyo & Kyoto Subways

72. ordered ramen from an automated machine in Tokyo & Kyoto

73. ate rice triangles from 7-Eleven and Family Mart in Japan for breakfast, lunch and dinner

74. ate cow tongue, and liked it (in Japan)

75. held a clear plastic umbrella over my head in the rain

76. slept in a capsule hotel (9hours, Kyoto, Japan)

77. walked under hundreds of orange gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine

78. had dinner on the 14th floor of a department store

79. rented a movie on iTunes to watch on a plane

80. went to the Antique Archaeology store in Nashville

81. rented an apartment through AirBnB

82. went to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

83. rode the ferry to Larkspur

84. ate oysters at the Marshall Store outdoor bar

85. spent a day in San Francisco with my 2nd year college roommate that I haven’t seen since college

86. spent a day in San Francisco with my Uncle Don, Aunt Kim and cousins

87. had a crowd-based panic attack while attempting to watch Flugtag

88. listened to the choir sing at the Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Cathedral

89. volunteered at an AIA Home Tour

90. rode in a scooter rally

91. sat in a booth at the renovated Louis’ Restaurant for breakfast

92. went to an event at the Internet Archive

93. watched skeet shooting (at Lake Merced)

94. walked through the Bay Model in Sausalito

95. dressed up fancy just for the fun of it to go on a double date to Frances on Halloween

96. had drinks at the Tonga Room

97. drove 1-1/2 hours each way to the Boat Shack in Marshall, CA for a dinner date with Nik

98. attended an Outstanding in the Field dinner as a guest

99. hiked in Yosemite National Park

100. camped in Big Sur with a view of the ocean from our tent

Tsukiji Fish Market

Hello from Japan!!! We just finished a week in Tokyo, and are now in Kyoto for four days. Our first stop was the Tsukiji Fish Market, and it is every bit as amazing as it is supposed to be.

The 6 1 5

I have been fortunate to be able to go on little trips almost every two months this year. In September, I took a solo trip to the 6-1-5 (aka Nashville) to see my family and attend my cousin’s wedding. We had a mini Sinz reunion with almost all of the immediate family and grandkids. Nik was the only one missing, but having 11 of 12 there for a whole weekend was pretty fantastic. My sister, brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and I even got to go out after the wedding for drinks without kids!!! It might have been the first time that we have ever done that, and we all decided that it should happen more often.

The old Marathon Automobiles building, and the new home to Antique Archaeology

Also, I requested a trip to Antique Archaeology…you know…the place where Mike and Frank of American Pickers fame sell their wares? So my entire family (parents, brother’s family, Aunts, and Uncles) loaded in cars and met there as soon as they opened on Saturday morning. Well, the location was awesome and it was really cool to see some of the stuff from the show, but the shop is more gift store/museum than pickers paradise. And the place was PACKED. We luckily got there right when they opened on Saturday morning, but if we had waited half an hour, we would have had to wait in line. To get into a gift store. Seriously?? But I bought my American Pickers sticker and my dad and brother geeked out on all the old motorcycle engines on display, so it was worth the early wake up call!!

My dad explaining the intricacies of the Indian motorcycle engine sitting at his feet

Niece and Nephew being adorable

After the weekend in Nashville, I went to Kentucky to help warm my sister’s new home. This is the home they see themselves living in for the rest of their lives, so I wanted to be there in the beginning. My nieces are sure to have incredibly fond childhood memories of the house, and I was able to participate in a few of their very first ones. We spent a couple afternoons doing cart wheels and dance moves in the backyard. One evening we raked huge piles of leaves that they jumped in without realizing that the leaves were peppered with dog poop. (The joy of being an aunt is that I didn’t have to clean them up afterwards!!) Then one evening my niece rode her bike for the first time without training wheels!!!!!

R taking her first ride with her Mom and Dad following closely

A Spinning

(A. specifically requested a spinning photo of herself after seeing the one Nik made of me here.)

I was also treated to a couple days of sister-sister bonding time. We went to the American Quilt Museum in downtown Paducah and saw one of the coolest collections of vintage quilts. We had lunch at a cute little bakery after listening to part of the city-wide cell phone walking tour. Then we went to a fabric store where Keisha and I picked fabrics for a quilt that I will be making for their family. Now that my week with my sister is over, I miss her more than ever.

The generator room for an old bunker at the Presidio

A condemned military prison

In other new and exciting bits from San Francisco, I have spent some quality time in the Presidio lately, I have been sewing a ton, and I am about to take my final test to become a licensed architect next week. My days are busy and varied, just the way I like them.

The sewing process

A quilt I made for my parents 40th Anniversary and 60th Birthdays

Star Quilt (the back)- I am making this one out of scrap fabric for Nik and I

BEFORE / AFTER – Today I rescued an old wool sweater from Nik’s donation pile, and made myself one super cozy, slim fitting sweater.

The next time you hear from me, I will have gone on our BIG TRIP OF THE YEAR!!!!!! We are going to Japan for two weeks over Thanksgiving…that’s less than two weeks away!!! We cannot wait.

For some reason, visiting Mexico City was the first time in quite a while where I felt like an architect traveling. I was constantly dragging Nik into this building and that building just to see the buildings. I went to several art museums and wandered down several small streets just because I could see an interior or the corner of a building that I thought might be interesting. I could easily imagine leading a group of students around this city to sketch. So many details are worth studying!! Also, several of the buildings are open to the public. Some are art galleries, but many of the largest and most ornate structures are publicly owned, like the central post office.

Bicycles parked in front of the Ángel de la Independencia on Reforma Avenue

Post Office

The courtyards of the Secretary of Public Education are lined with Diego Rivera murals on all three levels. It is the most pleasant public building I have ever been to.

The iconic eagle eating a snake that marked a critical moment in Mexico City’s settlement.