It’s time for part two of our week in Alaska! Passing back through Anchorage for brunch, we headed north towards Denali for part two of our Alaska trip. Our first stop was Talkeetna, an absolutely adorable little town filled with shops and restaurants. Loved the town of Talkeetna! Birch bark baskets and handmade knives. Root…
Alaska: the final frontier. A while back, my friend Amy told me she’s been wanting to go to Alaska, and I responded that Alaska has been on my list too (then again, everything is on my list). Soon enough, we were planning a trip for this summer. Since Alaska is a gigantic state, four times…
For Fourth of July weekend, I embarked on a lovely four-day road trip up north through Sacramento, Chico, Redding, McArthur Burney Falls, and eventually Lassen Volcanic National Park, before circling back down to the Bay. The trip starts with a visit to the California State Capitol… because as of last year I started visiting state…
Over the last few years, it has become a tradition for me to throw creative parties for my birthday each January. If you’ve known me for a while, you might remember past celebrations, including the moody dinner party, spoon carving, pottery, my 10-year business anniversary, and last year’s plant party. This year, my idea started…
If you missed part one of Amy and Anna’s Arizona Adventures, you can catch it here. This is part two: Phoenix! We flew in and out of Phoenix and explored the city a bit in the beginning and the end of our short trip. Since I had inadvertently begun a tour of various state capitols…
When my friend Amy and I decided to unite our shared sense of wanderlust in the form of a winter vacation, our main criteria were: scenic and not too wintry. And that’s how we found ourselves in Arizona! Apparently Frank Lloyd Wright’s doctor agreed about the mildness of winter in Arizona, because that’s what he…
I love having paint dates, which basically entail picking a location, bringing our watercolor kits, and painting for a couple hours. It’s a lovely break from the work day and a nice reminder to set aside time for painting just for fun. I began these with my friend Pamela who’s actually a professional watercolor illustrator,…
Wow, June feels like so long ago, and I crammed so many Bay Area Gems into that month! If you missed it, there have already been three posts on my June adventures: Lavender Festival at Araceli Farms, History Adventures in the Bay, and A Boat Tour & A Train Tour. Now for the rest of the fun! First,…
A boat and a train ride! Two more fun adventures from my Bay Area Gems in June. We kick it off with a free harbor tour of the Port of Oakland. They offer these twice a month in the summer, but you have to jump right on the tickets when they go on sale the…
June was filled with so many adventures that I’m splitting it up into a handful of posts. Today, I’m sharing three of the history-related sites I got to visit as part of my 100 Bay Area Gems: Mission San Jose, Bale Grist Mill, and History Park San Jose. Here are the paintings I painted of…
I’ve been hard at work on my 100 day project, 100 Bay Area Gems, which involves both 1) illustrating and sharing my favorite spots in the Bay Area and 2) going around to more places on my bucket list to see if they might qualify as new gems! I’m very happy to share two of…
“Imagine your drunk best friend,” said Casey, ” crossed with a well-researched museum docent.” So described the kind of tone promised by Museum Hack in its alternative, modern museum tours. I was excited to test out one of these “Un-Highlights” tours when they offered me a pair of media tickets. Granted, I kind of love traditional, nerdy museum-going;…