Culinary exploration

Mmm

Grilled polenta and sirloin Thai lettuce wraps. Oh yeah, some Hendry
Bordeaux blend. I've come to realize more and more that one of my
love languages is my labor in the kitchen for those I love.

Dinner with Adam

Pesto shrimp pasta with spinach, walnuts, bleu cheese and tomatoes
washed down with Mariposa cab. Nothing like the sound of the rain,
good food, the company of dear friends, and pushing forward into new
seasons of life. Cheers!

More Napa

@ Hendry winery

My Mama at Blue Bottle

Mom & Dad came to visit about a week ago...we had a fabulous time
enjoying some of the best San Francisco & Napa have to offer. Here's
mama relishing the unparalleled espresso of Blue Bottle.

Happy Birthday Biruk!!

Last night, we had the chance to drive out to Chico California and meet up with Tim and Meggan because As I Lay Dying was playing a show at a pretty cool little theatre called The Senator:


AILD rocking

Last night also happened to be the first birthday for a precious little boy named Biruk, Tim and Meggan's son, who awaits his family in an orphanage in Ethiopia. Bethany and I felt honored to share a toast to Biruk, for a speedy and safe journey home. We toasted with some primitivo from Hendry in Napa, a fine wine indeed, and worthy of the circumstances:

our artifact from Biruk's 1st. we can't wait to meet you!

The rest of the night was filled with ponderings, processing and dreams of what good things the future might hold, ways we can collaborate to make the world a better place. Exciting things, I tell you.

morning

after sleeping a hearty 19 out of 24 hours, i am up with the sunshine, allowing the beauty and warmth of a crisp, sunny winter morning to enter me as i drink exquisite ritual coffee, thanks to Adam's christmas present. i love the degree of clarity i feel when i am well rested. i don't want this to be the exception to the rule anymore. it will be a good day today.

wow.

this book has me enraptured. it is simply amazing. naomi klein blows wide open the secret history of "unfettered free market capitalism" the economic clarion call of the last 50 or so years. great writing, sobering content on such things as economics, politics, foreign policy, torture, repression and widening wealth gaps in our world. if any of that interests you at all, i highly recommend this book!

been doing some thinking

this has been such an interesting season....this last year. yesterday, i was at a friend's house at 8:00 p.m. and he said "dude, you look messed up". after conjuring up a witty and no doubt hilarious retort, it struck me: i feel messed up. i feel tired...perhaps i have reached my capacity in so many different ways.

this chapter of our life has been so meaningful, productive and forward-moving in multiple ways. on the other hand, it has been draining; more and more days lately i feel the toll which has been taken on my body, my soul and my mind.

i have ventured into new territory internally, reaching new limits, conversing more fully and honestly with myself, and trying to gain new language and framework with which to see and interact with the people and the world around me.

this holiday season was amazing. i worked all night on my birthday, went to the airport directly after, and flew to southern CA to spend a wonderful day celebrating Christmas and my birthday. i think i totaled 34 hours up without sleep. ouch. a couple of restful days later, we headed up to napa with ryan, holly and adam for wine tasting and mineral pools. It was great to see a bit of Craig and Lora as well, in town from Paris. we did some seriously helpful life processing with these folks. we'll again join them in southern Spain in a few months! came back from napa to throw holly a birthday/new year's eve party...it was grand. the best holiday season i can remember. i'll post a few pics.

fragmented post with too many ideas? yes. i just don't know how to distill what has been swirling around in this head.