The goddesses atop the Palace of Fine Arts were built to watch over throngs of visitors at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Today, they watch 20-somethings living their lives in the Marina.

Given my recent absence here, I am going to simplify things. Rather than post multiple photos at a time with detailed descriptions, I am going to move in the direction of some of my favorite photo blogs. I will post one photo at a time with the hope that I will post more regularly. Ideally, I would like to post one photo a day, but we’ll see.

Here’s to balancing blogging and working 40+ hours a week!!!

2010 will always be known to me as the year we moved to San Francisco. It will be the year after Shanghai. It will be the year before we were married. It will be the year we searched for and found, searched for and found, and searched for and found jobs. It will be the year I started working at P&T. It will be the year Nik bought his navy blue scooter. It will be the year of our first apartment in America. It will be the year we caved and bought iPhones. It will be the year we flipped on trampolines. It will be the year Mom & Dad, Michael & Leslie, Chris & Maurene, Jon & Moranne, and Daniel & Kelly came to visit. It will be the year we spent a month in Dallas with Nik’s parents. It will be the year we went to Sequoia National Park. It will be the year we started volunteering for the National Park Service. It will be the year we met Maggie, Rebecca, Neal, Karrie, and Wayne. It will be the year we indulged in gourmet ice creams. It will be the year I worked a few Outstanding in the Field dinners. It will be a year that is remembered fondly, and for visual reference, here are a few photos…

In January…

we stayed for a couple nights at the Hotel Santa Fe in Austin,

we frolicked on the beach in Galveston,

and we explored the island of Kauai with Nik's family.

In February…

we took a one-way flight to San Francisco (!!!),

moved into an apartment in Hayes Valley,

and started to explore the streets with gusto.

In March…

we searched for hilltop views,

I started volunteering at the Gardens of Alcatraz,

and we discovered a Blue Bottle Coffee in our neighborhood.

In April…

I continued to explore the city as Nik worked,

we took a little trip to Montara,

and I participated in the "I Live Here SF" project.

In May…

we spent a summery day (one of only two summery days all year) at Baker Beach,

I worked at a few Outstanding in the Field dinners,

and we found OUR apartment!!!!

In June…

we became one with the Richmond neighborhood,

we explored near and far on the scooter,

I took a quick trip to Denver to see my big brother,

and we perfected our people watching skills at Delores Park.

In July…

we spent July 4th weekend with the giant sequoias,

Nik took me to a Giants game for my birthday (We had no idea we were watching the future World Series Champions),

and I started working full time.

In August…

I started taking photos with my phone,

we saw dolphins swimming near Fort Cronkhite,

we ate sliders,

and my parents came to visit.

In September…

we drove the scooter up to Pt. Reyes for the first time,

Nik and Val perfected their feather skills,

and we explored the depths of Golden Gate Park (also known as GG Park).

In October…

we hiked through the Marin Headlands,

and we saw the inside of Fort Point for the first time.

In November,

we took a little road trip and found hundreds of pumpkins,

we biked across the Golden Gate Bridge,

and we explored ancient cave dwellings while visiting Nik's sister in Santa Fe.

In December…

Nik sold his old Portland scooter,

and then we went home to spend the holidays with family.

Happy New Year Everybody!!!

I just scrolled through Nik’s most recent blog post about his trip to Los Angeles last weekend, and I must say that this set is perhaps his best yet. Yes, I am biased, but his talent is rapidly progressing, and I love it. He just told me, “I think these are photos that no one else would have taken.” That is the beauty of it. He takes photos of things that we all see, but never think twice about. They aren’t the “money shots”. Well, some are. But he has a way of capturing places and objects that are often decrepid or crumbling, but somehow, he makes them beautiful. The photos he takes are not trying to make anything look better or worse than it is. They are just honest. With that, here are a couple of the 120 photos he has posted. I encourage you to take a look for yourself.

Nik’s Blog: Three Days in Los Angeles, One Day around Salton Sea

Gulls in a row.

Micro-craftsman

Horse head says hello

Telescope to the left.

Wooden structure near an abandoned garage

Beautiful color scheme

Today, Dave Ramsey would be proud of me. I just paid off my final student loan after making monthly payments for about 5 1/2 years. Honestly, I should have gone ahead and payed it off three years ago, but at the time, it was better for me to invest in my retirement account that was increasing at a rate of 8%. But now, the retirement account is a little flat, and I am sick of making those stinking monthly payments!!!

I also want to tell the story of why I had student loan payments in the first place. You see, my parents and grandparents had a deal with us kids that they would pay for four years of in-state tuition so that we could graduate from college debt free. Even with this golden deal, I still toyed with the idea of going out of state. I was ready to spread my wings and I did not want college to be an extension of high school.

I had my heart set on Auburn University in Alabama. On my tour, I instantly fell in love. Maybe it was the cute sophomore boy that showed us around campus and offered to buy us lemonade, or maybe it was the green lawns and old buildings. I couldn’t say. I know it definitely was not the architecture program because at the time, I wanted to be an engineer. If I had actually looked at schools for architecture, I would have gone to Auburn. I don’t doubt it for a second.

After five or six more campus tours of out-of-state schools, I sent off a handful of scholarship applications, and received nothing. My above average but less than excellent grades and talents apparently did not mean much to scholarship selection committees. I was a middle-of-the road student, and they were looking for top-notch go-getters. They did not care that I was the secretary of four various high school committees, because they knew that I never did anything for those organizations. They saw right through me. They didn’t even care that I was voted “Most Likely to Succeed”. Don’t they want successful people at their schools? I guess not.

As I processed the scholarship rejection, I did some soul searching and decided that going to an out-of-state school was not worth going into significant debt. I was accepted to Auburn and Washington University, but opted for the University of Tennessee instead. Knoxville was still three hours away from my home town, and with over 20,000 students, I figured that I wouldn’t have to see anyone I grew up with if I didn’t want to.

Fast forward three years. As I finished my third year of the five year architecture program, I was faced with another opportunity to go into debt. Study Abroad. The school of architecture encouraged all of its students to study abroad during their forth year, and I did not hesitate. As soon as the time was right, I researched my options and decided that I wanted to go to Copenhagen. I remember making a spreadsheet of my costs for my mom to justify my desire to take out student loans. I mapped out my entire trip and exactly how much money I would need. My calculations showed that it would cost me $10,000 more to spend a semester in Copenhagen instead of Knoxville. I was able to save up about $1000, I think my parents matched my $1000, and that left $8000. Fortunately, I had done well enough in school that I was given a $1000 scholarship without even asking for it! The remaining $7000 was covered by two student loans, and put me into debt for the first time in my life.

It was worth every penny. The six months that I spent in Europe at the age of 21 changed my life in ways that I cannot explain. For the first time, I truly discovered that there was more in the world than America. I loved hearing people speak a different language every day. I loved eating new foods. I loved having foreign professors. Studying abroad was the best decision I made in college, and even though I am no longer paying for it, it will continue to have an impact on my life.

A few murals from the Mission alleyways.

Just another day in Frisco

The evil Rabbit (click image to enlarge)

A peaceful morning in the mountains (click image to enlarge)

Pillow transformers take over the city while Scooby clings to some random guy (click image to enlarge and see amazing details)

She's watching you

Secret Breakfast anyone? (it's an ice cream flavor with bourbon & cornflakes!)

Friends came into town and gave us an excuse to explore.

One of many deer at Pt Reyes (we saw whales too!)

Biking over the Golden Gate Bridge

City Hall at Sunset

Biking through the Dogpatch

Nik and I rode south along Highway 1 after camping in the Presidio.

Father and daughter fish for Dungeness Crab

I wonder if the water that flows through this sink comes from below

A tired white fence

What happens to pumpkins that don't turn into Jack-o-lanterns?

Oh, and the Giants won the World Series!!!

Near Montgomery Street after the team's welcome home parade