Bay Area | July, 2021

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I would say that July was the month we quickly rushed out into the world, before quietly being ushered back into our homes. We had been fully vaccinated for over a month already, and started expanding our social circles and reclaiming old things like indoor dining, photographing full weddings, and going maskless. But then with the news of the Delta variant and breakthrough infections, we dialed back the enthusiasm. As has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic, every month brings new challenges. And so the journey continues.

I made a daily workout commitment at the end of June with Cassie. I even made a cute color-coded spreadsheet to track 20 minutes of exercise per day– walking or stretching both count! I am happy to report I have not missed a day since the end of June. As part of this, I also started a program on my Peloton app called “You Can Run,” twice a week for six weeks. I really did learn new things about running, like how there’s an ideal cadence, no matter what speed you’re running. Go figure. Of course I’ve been doing it all wrong. I’m still incredibly slow, but learning!

A weekend trip up to wine country to attend Hillary and Paul’s rehearsal dinner. Of course we made a whole day of it, visiting our wine club at Reeve in Healdsburg, where they give you the tastiest pizza fresh out of the wood-burning oven as part of the wine tasting.

And we even got to feed the goats too!

Second stop, at Silver Oak.

We also walked around downtown Healdsburg, and then explored The Barlow in Sebastopol. This audrey fig we bought has sadly already whittled down to only 2 remaining leaves in the months since we got it. Somehow audreys really do not like us, because this is the second one to drop all its leaves since coming home with us!

Hillary & Paul’s rehearsal dinner!

We went over to Cassie and Michael’s house for Fourth of July celebrations, the day after the actual holiday, and this was the aftermath of fireworks on their street corner.

Elote! fermented pineapple concoction! All the tasty eats.

And Josh joined us too! He was temporarily back from Korea but went right back soon after.

July was also when our baseball habit really took off. This was just a visit to the free section, which you can access from the port walk and just go view the action from ground level for any game! But we would soon be joining as season ticket holders…

The Office of Accountability, with our second in-person meeting, at Cassie’s house.

Cassie also came over for weekly gym sessions, and we would cook veggies from my CSA or this time, make candles from a kit she received as a gift.

Checking in with Do-Hee in Korea.

Our second Giants game! As promised, these become more frequent. The garlic fries were not as good this time. 

Saturday ride to the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market.

Taking selfies with Candace and Derek at their wedding… and with Addie and Jenton who referred them!

Riding to the Ferry Building for the second day in a row, this time with our brand new Giants jerseys. Becoming more and more official as fans all the time.

Beautiful red shiso from our Radical Family Farms CSA, which I turned into a delicious shiso soda.

A day trip to Oakland! First, we visited Sarah Kersten’s ceramics studio. I was in search of big ramen bowls and also a surprise birthday gift for Cassie- this beautiful dark green fermentation jar. I also got two mini bowls as a bonus treat! I highly recommend visiting Sarah’s studio over shopping online, because she has an entire room full of ‘seconds’ with tiny flaws, and you never know what kinds of gems you might find there. Our ramen bowls apparently were a fluke when the green-colored glaze ended up more white as intended. But we love it the way it is.

Afterwards, a very long wait at Horn BBQ. But still very worth it.

Beef rib! But brisket is still the star. And then we visited Ayesha Curry’s shop in Uptown, Sweet July.

Asha Tea. And finally, the culmination of the day’s adventures – ramen with Horn BBQ brisket leftovers, served in our brand new Sarah Kersten ramen bowls.

Sunday in San Francisco- a walk over to Harmonic Brewing’s new spot atop Chase Center.

And then it was time for Courtney and Jackson’s baby shower! They borrowed my gender reveal idea, which was a puppy cake for Roux. It also happened to be Roux’s first birthday! But Roux was very shy about eating, so they had to call in the reinforcements with Cooper doing the heavy lifting.

So much love for Baby Lo.

I finally got a haircut for the first time in 16 months!

And we got to have friends over for hot pot!

Weekly zoom check-ins remain open to our accountability group.

And I got to do my monthly #annatifftimecall with Tiffany in Sydney too.

Our official new seats as season ticket holders! Thanks to the unconventional year, the Giants decided to sell season tickets starting halfway through the season, so Alex jumped aboard. I’m a fan of our seats on the Alaska Club level! Very easy to access, with fewer people to compete with for the restrooms and the concessions inside. And of course the whole ballpark at Oracle is very nice. Plus we have a checklist now of ballpark amenities to bring, like our seat cushions and a blanket (San Francisco – always colder than you think).

We biked over to Fort Mason for the West Coast Craft fair, all outdoors in the parking lot. I bought this cute Taiwanese Food as Ceramics print from Jane Li, and I got a full set of loose leaf teas from Teappo.

My tiny pineapple from the pineapple plant I found at Ikea, which sadly ripened very quickly on the plant and then there’s nothing to do but to chop it off, and the rest of the plant just stays there with no more pineapple. It apparently doesn’t grow another one either.

Also, yoga at Chase Center. We did it for the free yoga mat with carrying case. :)

Group check-in!

Flour & Water with Cassie and Michael, celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary! They had their wedding dinner here too.

Check-in with Whitney in New York.

Lobster!

Dinner over at Dan and Jeri’s! With special guest Paul, who was back in town after having moved to Texas.

And last but not least, we wallpapered Alex’s office! More than a month after the wallpaper had actually arrived, haha. I first drew my wallpaper designs in April and ordered the wallpaper in May, but then needed to make some corrections after they sent the samples (shown in this first photo), and so I actually ordered and received the final version in June. Then the rolls just sat around until we gathered enough courage to tackle the project. In mid-July we put up the first strip. Then on the last day of the month, we finally completed the wall.

Very exciting! Alex’s design is all of the great outdoors that we got to enjoy in California during the pandemic. That’s his Jeep and our matching Linus bikes and Thousand helmets. Plus the bunny that lives under the deck and a bear, of which we saw many last year. Plus, I matched the whole thing to Alex’s notebook, phone, and airpods colors. Very custom.

I didn’t get to my own office until August, so stay tuned for the full post on that.

What a month.

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.