happy halloween!

{red robin . napa pet parade 2009}

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

:) nm

polaroid love . fall

i kind of have this addiction to the polaroid image maker. if you don't have it, get it. or at least check out the photos other people have created using it on flickr.

here are some of mine from this fall. i love, love, love harvest time in the valley.

{miss anna + baby i }

{fall rose}

{pina . howell mountain}

{new old fence}

{i need to de-clutter this mess}

{estate sale find}

lessons.

do you ever have one those moments you wish you could do over? or change just one word that was said? i had one of those moments yesterday. and i did not sleep a wink.

hello. my name is nicole and i called someone a jackass yesterday. which if you think about it really made me the jackass. and i do not like being a jackass. i actually hate that word...and the more i think about it, the more i am baffled about where it came from...i didn't even know it was part of my cuss word vocab.

there were 5 reasons why i said it. all valid. but saying it went against every fiber of who i want to be. no matter how much i believe someone is acting out of line or rude or mean or ridiculous or unreasonable or overreactive or condescending or all of those things and more together exploding at once, i want to be the kind of person who is not affected. who graciously allows the other person to live in their own world of being mean.

sunday with my family {on the napa river}.

{my dad's first time fishing in the napa river}

i had such a lovely evening with my family last night. seeing them reminds me how much i have missed them. sometimes i can't believe i am the same girl who moved clear across the united states to go to college. the girl who is now back in napa and wishing they would stop being retired and stick around more.

this past year has been filled with so much sadness and loss, seeing my parents this happy and at peace was heartwarming to say the least. the napa river is magical. it is raw and serene and healing and calming...and i know the right place for my father now.

{boo. i wonder if all pugs are as funny as him?}

good morning dog with a sock fetish.

{darling pablo.}

i love waking up to this little guy. oh the sweetness.

as you can see from the picture, he has a profound love of socks. apparently all socks belong to him.

now, if i could only teach him how to pair them up and put them in the drawer. i hate doing that!

{elliot would rather work on the computer than play with socks.}

i heart: horse by kelly klein.

i am obsessed with this book. horse by kelly klein. it was a last years christmas present from pablo and elliot. published in 2008 by rizzoli, it features over 250 amazing photographs. no matter how i re-arrange my living room, it is always somewhere within reach...one of those books i can look at over and over again.

{melts my heart.}

{can you imagine waking up to this?}

{amazing.}

{reminds me of the black stallion. and endurance riding...life goal.}

{i would never leave}

{remember that movie...wild hearts can't be broken? i need to watch it again.}

{speechless.}

horse

written by kelly klein

publisher • rizzoli

published • october 2008

hardcover

happy 61.

{snackshop number 1 . east pacific coast highway . corona del mar, california}

{jr and audrey mcintosh . brilliant + amazing + very missed}

this is the first year the anniversary of opening my grandparents first restaurant {one of many adventures} passes without them. my dad and some of the old crew/friends ate at ruby's {the restaurant currently at this location} today in honor of the start of something great.

xxoo.

i heart: my hunter wellies.

{pablo + i + my oh so dry hunters • rainy day on a beach in point reyes}

{perfect for fishing in bodega}

{more fishing • actually more like waiting + bored...so taking pictures}

{darling thatcher in his yellow hunter wellies • smelling the tiniest of flowers}

{photo via zappos}

i found my hunters at footcandy shoes in st. helena...

footcandy

1239 main street

st. helena, california 94574

rain makes me nervous.

{my couch . by pablo}

yes. that is a picture of my couch. no. i did not kill my dog after i walked in the door. however, i stood there speechless for a good 10 minutes, yelled at pablo, cried {more or less because i was exhausted and did NOT know what to do with all of those feathers} and and then called my mom. moms rock. they know how to handle everything. at least i am pretty certain my mom does.

this took place in february of this year {2009}. pablo was about 6 months old. to say he is an active dog is an understatement. but in his defense he had gone from daily exercise and puppy play dates to a 10 day road trip {not vacation, lots of leash laws!}, then came home to be neutered, followed by another 10 or so days of "rest". once the "rest" period was over it started to pour...and pour and pour. and my little dog from a beach town in mexico apparently didn't like the rain or didn't like me for not liking the rain enough to take him to the park.

{how can you be mad at this face?}

soooooooo, yesterday as the rain was pouring down outside i started to get nervous. day ONE {1} of rain and he is pacing the house like a mad man. i even took him up to my friends ranch in angwin {long drive in the rain}...40 plus acres of free land to run and play and chase animals and all he wanted to do was run hot laps around my poor friend. mission: tire pablo out. FAILED! looks like i either need to buy a good water proof running outfit or ship pablo to todos santos for the winter!

oh. and yes. i am still finding feathers in the most random places.

happy day!

i think i have mentioned more than once that sfgirlbybay is one of my favorite websites. so you can imagine how i felt this morning when i went on to her site and saw that one of my pictures was included in one of her posts!! yes, MY PICTURE! {still can't believe it}

i was pretty much speechless all morning. this is a woman who i have admired for quite sometime...a lady who i am constantly finding inspiration from. but truthfully what touched my heart the most is the subject that my picture was included with. pink for national breast cancer awareness month.

my grandmother . audrey mcintosh

when i had originally shot and posted this picture online i had done so with the purpose of sending it to the people i love. it was a picture that i wished i could have shared with my grandmother. i shared everything with her and i knew she would have loved the message. she was the most amazing and special person i have ever met. another lady with style and grace...who inspired me daily. a strong and beautiful woman who battled and survived breast cancer a few years ago. she truly would and did give everything of herself to make people feel good. she passed away this march and i miss her more than words can describe. the one thing i do find comfort in is that fact that barely a day went by without me telling her i loved her. and she the same to me.

please remember to tell those you love that you do. you'll never regret it.

also, please remember to check your breasts and check out national breast cancer awareness month's website here!

read: lonny magazine

victoria smith over at sfgirlbybay just made my day. please check out her SUPER exciting article here for more details on the new lonny magazine.

enjoy.

eat: pearl restaurant {napa}

tacos @ pearl.

today i woke up craving the taco's from pearl restaurant here in napa. they are delicious. so delicious i actually took a picture of them the last time i was there. thankfully my dear friend leti was more forgiving than my boyfriend with regards to taking pictures of our food. i think he gets embarrassed. once he gets over it, i'll have more food pictures to share. or maybe i should breakup with him...

PEARL RESTAURANT
1339 pearl street
napa, ca 94559
tel: 707.224.9161

ps. the owners rock. super friendly {and i did not get free food for saying so}.

read: blogs i heart

it's safe to say i am a morning person. i love mornings. no matter how late i stay up, i can never sleep in {occasionally that fact sucks}. there is something about the start of a new day that makes me happy. and yes, gone with the wind has been my favorite movie since i was 7.

anyways, i especially love fall mornings {on the weekend} in the valley! and today happened to be one of those rare perfect mornings where i didn't have anywhere to be. no commitments. no set plans. no waking up in a panic thinking about the tasks on my ever growing list of things to do {SUPER RARE!}. there was an estate sale i wanted to go by, but for once it wasn't at my foremost thought. and since i was up earlier than usual {so early the dogs didn't get up}, i figured i would made a cup of tea and crawl back into bed with my laptop for a bit. well, a bit turned into missing the estate sale, but only because i stumbled across some new fun blogs/websites. perfect morning!

hope you like them too.

• helen jane * lovely bog written by another napa valley lady...who also runs a cheese club called cheesewhizzes * love it!

• molly watson and her blog the dinner files * i discovered her though one of my all time favorite blogs sfgirlbybay. they both rock.

• 5 second rule * she made me hungry.

• super natural recipes * natural food recipe search engine.

LOVING the napa county library.

i am having mini obsession with the napa city/county library. thank you to my dear friend olivia {who until just recently i thought was a bit odd for knowing her library card number by heart}. i am especially loving their website. loving it so much i made it my default homepage AND bought a friend's of the library bag {just like olivia's. it was only ten dollars. and goes to a good cause. i had to get it}.

you know that feeling you get when a package comes in the mail? i seriously feel that way whenever i browse, reserve and ultimately pick up my books...oh and the best part - it's all free! FREE! i love free. its so free, i sometimes feel guilty. i wonder if this is the same kind of satisfaction a personal shopper feels...if so, i want to be a personal shopper.

anyways, yesterday i returned a car load of various dvd's {which they allow you to check out for 3 weeks...free and no late fees. see? amazing}, photography, photoshop and recipe books. and picked up some other books i ordered online...i just loved see them all bundled up waiting for me on the shelf! more photography, sewing, graphic design and books on law {don't ask}. a normal person would have checked those out and left...or at the very least they would have left their reserved books on the shelf...but no, i was afraid they were so awesome someone would take them. their awesomeness quickly got old because one, carrying books hurts your arms and two, you can't look at other awesome books while your hards are full. since leaving without looking at more books was not an option, i set them on a chair at the end of the aisle. as luck would have it not one minute went by before someone came to put them back! i think it was around the time i was half walking/half running down the aisle, first whispering, then yelling that those books were mine {didn't he see the reserve tags!?!?} that i realized i had a problem. or maybe it was when the man {who volunteers at the library...must be more obsessed than me, right?} made a comment about how many books i had. if not then, most definitely it was when after i embarrassingly gathered back all my books and started to lug them to the checkout stand and stopped at a full shelf of beautiful books on learning how to upholster...i seriously started pulling these new ones off the shelf like i do shoes on a sales rack and at the same time looking around for a cart! that was when it sunk in...and for next two or so minutes i just sat there silently debating with myself... like a mom {b} would with a child {a}.

a: these books are perfect and i neeeeeeeeeeeeded them!

b: you do NOT need another project

a: but what if these interesting and informative books are not here the next time?

b: if you need two trips to the checkout stand/car, you will not have enough time to read and study them before they are due.

b: seriously nicole? a cart? at the library?

b: YOU DO NOT NEED ANOTHER PROJECT.

a: but i REALLY want to upholster those two chairs i found at the estate sale three weeks ago.

b: you first need to finish painting those night stands you got at an estate sale 6 months ago. AND remember that landscaping project you are in the middle of? the one with all that gravel still in your driveway.

a. but i like have a lot of different books because i never know what i am in the mood for...

b: when you utter "i don't have a tv" to the lady at the counter because you are embarrassed with how many books you have...adding more doesn't help.

i ended up leaving those books on the shelf. i am pretty sure i only did it because i was embarrassed. will probably go back in a couple days. it could be worse.

click here to visit the napa city/county website for hours and more information.

napa county library locations:

napa city/county library

580 coombs street

napa, california 94558

st. helena public library

1492 library lane

st. helena, california 94574

calistoga library

1108 myrtle street

calistoga, california 94515

yountville library

6548 yount street

yountville, california 94599

american canyon library

3421 broadway

american canyon, california 94503

enjoy!