Trying to help out

Just spreading the word and trying to help out! Donate what you can!


Last week Christian and Stephanie Nielson were in a very serious plane crash. They are a young couple with four children under the age of six. They are in critical condition. Stephanie has third degree burns covering 80% of her body and Christian has third degree burns over 30% of his body. The recovery will be very long and very expensive.



If you are able, please consider contributing to this fund that will go directly to the family: Nie Recovery.

Today, several websites are auctioning off items for their benefit. Go here to see the comprehensive list: Design Mom.

Updates about Stephanie and Christian here on her sister's blog.

Or you can buy a bracelet from Evlove to help out.

Hanging with my nephews

I love my nephews. They came out to California for a full month and we got lots of play time!

Here's Johnny smiling (a rare occasion) for the camera.

It's not hard to get Hudson to smile or yell "CHEESE" He's a wild boy, his face is proof of that, an incident on the rocks down by Lake Tahoe.

Hudson loves "Jawred" Whenever I'd go visit them in the East Bay at my parents house when we returned from Tahoe, the first thing he'd ask was, "where's Jawred." (He was working.)

One day we took them to see the animals at Sulphur Creek where they take in sick or injured animals.

Johnny didn't like how loud the birds were.

A rare occasion to get them in the same shot.

The boys doing their tricks and exercises.

Playing with planes in their pajamas.

I love these boys!

Taking Fabian Shopping

Fabian (our friend from Zürich doing research in UCBerkeley for a bit) needed to go shopping. So of course I asked the professional (Amanda) to come along...also she's super fun!

What did I do while we waited for him to try things on? Practice posing of course:)

What's this sly boy up to?

Amanda and I rocked out in the Apple store for a bit.

ya, I got in the groove.

Some more yellow and blue

I need to learn how to sew. Of course I would wear this sweater and skirt together, some goodness from Anthropologie!

You can never have enough shoes.
Top it off with these "Ferry Boat" heels!

I'm not really the biggest fan of gold, however I do like brushed gold.

Colorful houses

I love the color of the house we're staying in the right now.

And the color of the house next door. Perfect together!

Sunday lunch at Mom's

Dinner and Mom's is always fun and delicious! Here she is working away!

Menu:
Green salad with fresh sweet tomatoes from the garden
Enchiladas
Spanish rice with delicious gourmet sausage
Japanese sweet potato and goat cheese quesadillas on roasted red pepper tortillas

Hudson laughing as usual

Johnny needing snuggles.

Hudson loves green.

The clan: Emma, Sam, Alice, Fabian, Annika, Johnny, Hudson, Jared, Shelley, Eric, Emily and Mom...plus the ghost sitting in the extra seat that my mom accidentally set.

Hudson, "What about me Jawred? Take a picture of me."

Dessert:
Mixed fruit and

The special New York Times cookies. Oh baby, I couldn't even finish one they were so rich and delicious. I will never make them because there's a science to it. Maybe my friend Tanya will take the challenge. My mom made them and the boys measured and weighed.

My friend Shelley who I grew up with was briefly in town with her husband Eric. It was fun to see her since it's been years. She's very important in the interior design/architecture world. She gets flown first class to Dubai to work on those giant skyscrapers they've been building. Very talented indeed!

Goodbye Google!

After a little over 4 years Jared had his last official day at Google on Tues. Aug 5th. He finished up work in Zürich and then went in to the Mtn. View office on Tuesday to do some last minute things and an exit interview. He was a bit nostalgic but his new job is great. He now works for a start-up and is the 7th employee. There are almost 20,000 employees at Google now. On to smaller and better things.

Goodbye code reviews, goodbye gym, and free lunches and dinners. Goodbye friends and family complaining to you whenever anything doesn't work at Google -- even when it has nothing to do with the area you work on. :)