beginning to look a lot like...

Well, you know the rest. Early December tends to be pretty nice for the 365 project, as I finally allow myself to take pictures of the Christmas decorations that I've been seeing around since, I don't know, Halloween. During my first project in 2009, I stayed with the Christmas theme from December 1st through the 25th so I could participate in the 24 Days of Christmas group on Flickr. I had lots of ornaments at home that I hadn't photographed before, and it made for a more cohesive mosaic at the end of the month. But of course, it was also a little limiting, when there were better non-Christmas pictures I might have used otherwise, e.g. my first macarons.

So on the third day of December, I decided to let the Christmas theme slide this time. We had made a dinner reservation at Local Mission Eatery after seeing some very tempting new dishes that they had posted on Twitter, and the pictures I took there ended up being my only ones from that day. We ended up really liking the place: fun decor, mismatched china, and interesting seasonal food. They even offer half-sized portions of most dishes—perfect for those of us who like to share things and try more. The only thing I didn't like as much? It was rather dark for pictures in there. I guess we'll just have to come back for lunch or after the daylight savings time shift and hope for a seat near the windows.

337/365 local mission eatery

We had to babysit Elsa on Sunday evening, and I left my picture of the day until then. Luckily, I had lots of time to work on it after giving Elsa her bath, feeding her, and putting her to bed. Dan and Carmen had warned us that we might have to listen to a whole lot of crying, since they had just started sleep training with Elsa the night before, but she was asleep before I even put her in her crib. After that, I took pictures of some of my ornaments on the Christmas tree, including this elf that belonged to my grandparents. It's like the ones people use for "Elf on the Shelf," but way better.

338/365 elf on the tree

Noe Valley seemed like a good place to go on Monday. I probably had to go to the bank or maybe Whole Foods that day, so I kept an eye out for photogenic store windows. Urban Nest won this time with its nesting babushka glasses.

339/365 babushka glasses

I think I was starting to run out of steam around this time of the month/year, because I spent Tuesday procrastinating and leaving my picture-taking until after dark again. Steve and I ended up having burgers at SouthEnd for dinner, passing this tree on the way to and from the restaurant.

340/365 lantern & lights

Wednesday was a little better, though not much. I hadn't taken a picture of my little snowman in a few years, so I built a shot around that on the bathroom window sill.

341/365 big snow, little snow

The next afternoon was spent baking with Carmen and Elsa. We made the sweet & salty brownies from Baked Explorations, which had been on my to-do list since last Christmas. It was my first time making caramel myself, and it turned out really well! Definitely a good addition to the brownies, although the brownies ended up being pretty intense. Unfortunately, by the time the brownies were finished and ready, the daylight was gone. I shot a few pictures of the pot of caramel on Carmen's stove, but I thought it was pretty uninteresting. Then, on the way out, I noticed Elsa's mobile and shot that. Good enough!

342/365 mobile command center

Friday was easier. Carmen and I did part one of her Christmas card photo shoot: just Elsa, in my homemade portrait studio. I've posted shots taken this way before, but I don't think I've mentioned how I set them up. I use the box window in my bedroom, open all the curtains, drape a white bed sheet from the side of the bed to the floor, and cover Dan & Carmen's oversized bean bag with another sheet. The bean bag has worked pretty well to hold up the baby, especially since she's still working on the whole sitting-up-on-her-own thing. The challenge by the end of this session was that she can now roll, so she doesn't necessarily stay in one place for very long.

Anyway, we did pictures using just the bean bag under her, covering her Bumbo chair with the sheet, balancing a Santa hat on her head, wearing Enzo's antlers, and with her clutching some of the fake snowballs I got from CB2 last year. We even tried to get Enzo in on it, but that proved to be rather more challenging. Nevertheless we got a few keepers, including this one.

343/365 elf-sa

Part two of the Christmas card shoot came the next day, but that's another post.

switching gears

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was a bit more exciting than that Friday, when I resorted to photographing Christmas ornaments. I joined Dan, Carmen, Elsa, and LJ on Saturday for the Christmas tree procuring expedition. It was getting pretty late in the afternoon by the time we made it to Santa's Tree Farm in Half Moon Bay, but we found a suitably tall and skinny tree before it got dark and the place closed. This year, the role of Steve was played by LJ. (Steve was busy cooking the turkey mole for dinner, and the car was full anyway.) The role of Enzo was played by Elsa, except that she slept most of the time and did nothing to tell us if other dogs had peed on the trees.

When it was all done, we took the tree back home and had our mole sauce with the rest of Tyrone, the Thanksgiving turkey. It was officially time start the Christmas season.

330/365 christmas tree hunters

The next day, I babysat Elsa while Dan and Carmen and LJ put up the holiday window display at Eye Q. Elsa's nap was pretty short, so we played for a while on the floor and then went out for a walk to Noe Valley. She finally fell asleep after probably half an hour, so I kept strolling for another half hour while she slept. When she woke up, we dropped in at Eye Q and chilled with the others until the display was done, taking a quick break for some pictures of Elsa in the topiary, of course.

331/365 daily dose of cute

Our lunch plan from the weekend ended up being rescheduled to be Monday's dinner. It was the pear-filled pasta with taleggio cream sauce and asparagus that we had at Trattoria I Quattro Leoni in Florence. I had found the recipe online, and Steve planned to make it that night. It was going to be dark by the time it was ready, though, so I took a picture of the pear that afternoon to make sure that I'd have an acceptable picture of the day. I did end up shooting the finished pasta dish, but the light was better in the pear shot.

332/365 pear-ed down

On Tuesday, I took a late afternoon walk with Carmen and Elsa down Valencia Street. It was getting darker outside already, but I got a picture of a couple giraffes on a Noah's ark toy in the window of Aldea Niños.

333/365 giraffes!

I felt that I needed to go out again to find a picture on Wednesday afternoon. I went to Pot + Pantry to see if they had the coasters I wanted, but they didn't. So I walked back up Valencia and stopped at the parklet outside of Fabric8 on the way home. In the last year or two, these little parklets have started to spring up around the city. They take up potential parking spots, but they make nice places to sit. My favorite part is that each tends to be a little different, with the design reflecting the location. I especially like the colored pieces of wood on this one.

334/365 a walk in the parklet

For December 1, I got out my tiny Christmas tree, some ornaments, and the last page of my 2011 calendar. This was the day that I actually decorated the place a little, so it was fitting. After taking the picture, I decided to keep the tiny tree unadorned this year and just add my terrarium of wool mushrooms to that corner. I was digging the woodland theme more than flashy, colorful Christmas.

335/365 december

It was time to start my Christmas shopping on Friday—at least for Steve's presents. I took a walk to Omnivore Books, where I scoped out several of the new cookbook options. (So many pretty ones!) I came away with signed copies of Eleven Madison Park and Ruhlman's Twenty. I was still on the fence about whether I was going to stick to a Christmas theme for December, so it was someone's large penguin decoration that became my picture of the day.

336/365 unruly penguin

And with that, I am now only about one month behind in blogging. Here's the November mosaic.

countdown to thanksgiving

Happy 2012! My first resolution of the new year: catch up on the ol' blog.

November ended with a lot of food, as most Novembers do. The Saturday before Thanksgiving was yet another dreary day, with little to tempt me in the way of photos. Then, I saw the bread that Steve had laid out on the table to dry for the Thanksgiving stuffing. Gray days may be darker and more depressing, but they can provide interesting light and shadows.

323/365 countdown to thanksgiving

For Sunday's lunch, Steve made a beet salad that I had found on What Katie Ate. It had beets, butternut squash, goat cheese, and pumpkin seeds—Steve used the seeds from the butternut squash. He also used mixed greens instead of romaine lettuce. It was a pretty salad, but I didn't have very much time to fuss over the plating for my picture. I had to leave for the closing matinee of Bat Boy.

324/365 squash & beet salad

Lacking inspiration again on Monday, I decided to get a mocha from Ritual and finally sit down to read some of Helene Dujardin's food photography book. I got it for my birthday in August, but I was so busy with trip planning, traveling, and then trip photos that I hadn't gotten a chance to look at it much.

325/365 in search of inspiration

On Tuesday, my friend Chrissy came to visit. I picked her up at the Millbrae train station, we came back to the city, and we went to see the Twilight movie. (I'm sure our husbands appreciated being spared another cheesy vampire flick.) Afterward, we had lunch at Mission Cheese, where I took my only pictures that day. We were too busy chatting and chilling for me to do much else. Then we came back to my house, watched a little How I Met Your Mother—trying to get Chrissy hooked—and Steve brought home burritos for dinner.

326/365 mission cheese

Wednesday was another show day, seeing Fela! at the Curran Theater. Steve and I had dinner at Gitane beforehand, and I took a couple pictures of the fancy mannequins in a shop window nearby. Dinner was great; the show was kind of long and one-note for me.

327/365 sophisticated lady

On to Thanksgiving! As is tradition, Carmen cooked the bird. (This year's was named "Tyrone.") Meanwhile, Steve made a bunch of sides: mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, roasted vegetables. I made my usual pumpkin ginger swirl cheesecake, and Carmen made an apple pie. (I also provided some pre-dinner entertainment for Elsa, taking her for a walk when Carmen was trying to clean the house.) Salads and a macaroni & cheese were brought by other guests. There were about 10 of us, plus one kid and Elsa. For the picture of the day, I give you Tyrone.

328/365 thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving behind us, I allowed myself a Christmas-themed picture on Friday. I didn't actually decorate the place until December 1, but I was desperate enough for a picture that day to break out the snowman and owl that I bought after Christmas last year. That was the year I was obsessed with felted wool ornaments.

329/365 christmas decorations

Almost done with November now! Stay tuned for a quick 5-part tour of December (and the last few days of November).