It’s hard to believe that just 6 months ago, we packed our lives and moved to Silicon Valley…because this weekend we moved again.

When my husband accepted a position at Apple, he had 3 days notice. Literally. They called him on a Thursday and he had to be to work that next Monday. Which meant he had a week to find a place for us to live. While we both were secretly hoping he would find a place in San Francisco, it just wasn’t realistic (or feasible) so we settled for a short term lease in the south bay.

Fast forward to this weekend, and we found ourselves once again packing and moving to a cute but tiny (slightly over 600 sq. ft.) high-rise studio in the middle of San Francisco.

One of the most exciting parts of the moving process is that we were able sell our car, something we’ve been wanting to do for a while. We’ve been slowly moving towards a more minimal, eco-friendly lifestyle, and that was a huge step in the process.

Here’s a few quick initial pictures of our new apartment.

I’ve been collecting quotes on commuting that I find online, and they will slowly be finding their way into my designs for the next month or so.

This evening’s commute design comes to you from the 22nd Street Caltrain station and some guy named Gary Roberts. In our area, gas is nearly over $4.00 per gallon and even though we don’t need to fill our tank very often (thank you Nissan!), I still cringe a bit when we drive past a gas station.

I spent my first official weekend as a California resident enjoying the great outdoors. While most of the midwest was buried in snow, we were experiencing nothing short of ah-mazing weather. I promise. I’m not trying to rub it in.

While the major goal for the weekend was to purchase a bike so I could leave the bloody battle commute on the 101 behind, we spent most of our weekend in the Midpeninsula Open Space District. The Open Space area is 60,000 acres of land protected for public enjoyment, and enjoy it we did.

Saturday consisted of a 3 mile hike in Monte Bello, and Sunday was a 5 mile hike in the Los Trancos and Coal Creek reserves. We’re planning to hit Russian Ridge next weekend.

Enjoying the view after a fun picnic lunch at Coal Ridge

In other news, I did end up getting the bike of my dreams, a Dahon Mariner, and I love her! (If you’re doubting, it’s a her, don’t try to argue this point. You will lose.)

This morning was the first of my 5 months of eco-friendly commutes. I ride my bike 3 miles to the the station, sit back and enjoy 45 miles of train ride, then ride another 2 miles to Creative B’stro. We’re hoping to move to the city / San Francisco in May once our initial lease is finished, and then my husband will have the joy of riding the Apple bus, which includes wi-fi. Rough.

Every Monday (well, most Mondays) I post a Must Have Monday feature to my Twitter account. The theme so far has been fashion or home furnishings / accessories, and recently, I found a great way to track them! Svpply.

Follow me now!

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Palmer and Sons Leather Suitcase

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Reindeer Chair by Studio Baita Design

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Paper Forms Ripple Wallpaper by MIO Culture

I seemed to get a positive response last month with downloadable patterns so I’ve decided to take on wallpaper (for computers and iPhones) as July’s challenge.

With the oil spill in the Gulf, I’ve been thinking about the types of fish and seafood people eat. While I don’t really eat meat, I think it’s important to be responsible about my food choices. There’s a really neat website called Seafood Watch that recommends which seafood to buy or avoid and helps advocate ocean-friendly seafood.

This first wallpaper is about whales. While modern commercial whaling for food doesn’t really exist anymore (it was banned in 1986), there are still certain species within the Baleen whale group that are hunted for various reasons.

Download the wallpaper:
320 x 480 | 640 x 960
1280 x 800 | 1280 x 1024 | 1920 x 1200

We’ve decided to buy folding bikes.

During the past couple of weeks I’ve found myself digging through folding bike forums, searching for the best bike that falls within the amount I want to spend. The folding bike is absolutely perfect for the amount of space we have (insert plug for WeeHouse – my future dream home), plus they are super cool. However, sometimes I can’t help but think what it would be like to have a tandem bike.

When I was young, my grandma used to sing me the song about a bicycle built for two and I was totally intrigued by the concept of two people riding on one bicycle. Then, when I was in college and working at the Department of Grain Science, my boss and her husband would go on bike trips around the world with their tandem. Way cool.

So hooray for bikes and songs about bikes.

Ffffound.com has become my resource for finding great things – especially gorgeous, modern architecture. Design 73 focuses on this lovely U-House by Natalie Dionne. This structure was designed to fit her family living and office space. You can find more pictures of the space here.

On a slightly different note, I was thinking of all the great experiences I’ve had today. I traveled to Europe with my dad at the age of 12; I took a half-semester off of college to travel Europe with a room mate; I’ve ran a relay-marathon, while ridiculously sick in Fargo, North Dakota on a business trip with my dad, the director of the Northern Crops Institute took care of me – he later became my boss while at Kansas State University; my husband and I have traveled to London together; I’ve had the opportunity to teach a college course; I get to visit immediate family who are spread out all over the country…

In short, I’ve realized that I’m a very lucky person to have parents that encourage me and my siblings to pursue opportunities and not turn away from challenges that seem bigger than us. So here’s to my mom (and dad) for being the best parents ever.

So excited about an impulse purchase I made last week that arrived just today. It’s a limited edition book called RRR 001 – A Collection of Recycled Art By and International Group of Talented Friends. The designer is Scott Massey and co-designer is Jonathan Sandridge. The inside cover says:

We make waste for a living. So now we’re gonna to make waste live. With a very short deadline a number of international artists and photographers were asked to act and respond. Look around your environment, see what you can save, pick it up, turn it over, and look at it in a different way.

I love this book already – I can tell it’s going to be something I reference often.

I found this quote by Carl Jung and immediately loved it. I’ve been really thinking about all of the hype (positive and negative) about climate change lately. Everyone has an opinion, but it seems like the opinions are politically focused rather than focused on what is really important – our planet.

Regardless, isn’t it our responsibility to do our part and take care of the earth? In the end, if “climate change” is just a hoax, you’ve helped make the planet a better place to live.

Nearly 8 months ago we moved downtown. One of the most best aspects of living downtown is that I get to walk to work because it’s an easy way to get a little exercise, save gas money, and be eco-friendly at the same time. Lately we’ve been using a great application called Daily Burn to track our nutrition and exercise in an effort to become all-around healthier people.

Today, one of the blogs I follow featured a really neat study from Stockholm to see if more people would take the stairs if it was fun. Incredibly, they found that 66% more people will. Found out how.