Tag Archives: oakland

lately in july

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The concerts in the park have begun and we are so excited. Listening to the Oakland municipal band is such a special activity for our family.

Also the nearby green monster climber has been repaired.

We went out to breakfast and visited stores in Emeryville last week. maiki was happy to find Jolt cola at BevMo. He was so jazzed.

Judy got a hammock for her backyard and we tried it out. First picture is Judy reading a Beatrix Potter book to Emma. It was so sweet to hear them discussing “The Two Bad Mice.” There is a lot of older language and Judy gave great explanations to Emma’s many questions. Next I laid in the hammock and I finally get what all the fuss is about. It was so relaxing!

Emma Clover’s room has a great sunny spot for us to lizard in. She likes to place her sequin purse in this spot and make her room sparkle all over. It is quite beautiful!

meal planning in a heat wave

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We just had a crazy heat wave where Oakland and Berkeley were 95 degrees. It was terrible really but we ended up eating dinner for two nights outside in Lakeside park which felt much cooler than our apartment. I felt relaxed spending the evening after work outdoors sprawled out on a blanket under the trees despite the warm temps.

Sunday pizza night was almost cancelled but I persevered. I will certainly have to come up with some hot weather dinner options. This is something I have to research because my first thought is eat out in an air conditioned restaurant but that may not be sustainable if we have a summer. Monday we ate tuna sandwiches and Tuesday we got Whole Foods salad bar. Maybe pre-made food is the way to go. Pre-cooked and ready to take to Lakeside park.

playing with art supplies and drinking champagne

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playing with art supplies and drinking champagne

We visited the Flax art store to attend their pen fair. It was really an enjoyable time. maiki and Judy both purchased pens and ink. They use fountain pens that have converters so that one can refill their pens ink. This is a big advantage because one does not have to keep tossing out plastic ink cartridges.

The pens all wrote beautifully and are much smoother than my beginner nib that I bought for calligraphy years ago. I may also want to level up to a fancy fountain pen one day as well. They made my handwriting look beautiful. 🙂

In addition to neat pens Flax has gorgeous art supplies. We all had so much fun writing and drawing and experimenting. I love that Clover brought her own small journal in her pocket to write and draw in.