We started our trip in Ko Lanta, which is in the Krabi province. It’s extremely mellow, which is just what we needed. Afterward we stayed in the northwestern area of Phuket, which is much more secluded and serene than the city areas.

It’s all set-Nick and I have found an apartment in San Francisco and we’re moving in early January. As happy as we are, Oakley is overjoyed. San Francisco is a much more dog-friendly city than Los Angeles, and on her first visit there it was clear she preferred the city by the bay with its plethora of parks, dog-friendly bars and an open beach to run like the wind.

Jeff Canham is a San Francisco-based graphic designer/artist with a playful style that pulls from California beach culture. I randomly found his site online and was surprised to have located the artist of the Mollusk Surf Shop that I pass on the road every day. I had always wondered who the designer was as it’s one of my favorite local signs. Check out more of his work here.

After a fun and melodic Friday night at the Grizzly Bear show at the Wiltern Theatre, Nick and I decided to have a mellow weekend on the Westside with Oakley. Saturday we finally got the wedding invitations out, having spent a long while sorting out postage with the post office since we had added wax seals to the envelopes. Then we went ring shopping and surprisingly, happily, left with perfect rings at unbelievable prices in just one day. (Now is a great time to buy jewelry!)

I can’t tell you how nice it is to get things done from our massive list!

In between ring shopping (that is, finding the rings and mulling them over), we went to see The Hangover. Call it a sophmoric sense of humor, but I love a well made feast of absurdity and this was an amazingly funny movie. The fact that Nick and I are getting married and that I’m going to Las Vegas for my bachelorette (and he may have a second one with his bosses there too) only added to the humor. My sister, who lives in Las Vegas and who is planning mine said something about 80s prom dresses and a scavenger hunt followed by a drag queen dinner. I can only imagine how out of control that could get.

Anyhow, after the movie and purchase of wedding rings, we went home and barbequed steak and vegetables and had a wonderful dinner in.

Sunday the sun was finally out in full force (right at summer solstice) so we decided to take a long walk to Santa Monica, where we got lunch from Shoops and had a picnic in the grass with Oakley . I really enjoy long walks for the interesting wonders you find that you would otherwise miss on a bike or in a car, like the blue door with the buddha statue on it and the Charlie Chaplin meets Skeletor graffiti art.

I’ve had periods of insomnia since I was a little kid. My mind gets too excited, too anxious, too analytical and sleep becomes a far off goal. I exercise, eat healthy, don’t drink too much caffeine and take vitamins to help me sleep, but every once in awhile it gets so bad that I can’t help but stay awake for hours past my due date. I think this time around it’s happy anxiety about the wedding. I feel like a kid before Christmas, counting down the days and unable to sleep on Christmas Eve, only I’ve started three months early and every night is like Christmas Eve.

In addition, I realized today it’s been six months since I’ve had more than three days off and I desperately need a vacation and some sunshine. Despite my home city of San Francisco being known as the foggy city, living by the ocean in Los Angeles is no better in June. The fog creeps in daily, coating the sky in what we like to call “June gloom”. It reminds me of when Nick and I, frozen from an east coast winter, decided to go to Barbados. It’s a country known for having nearly 365 days per year of sunshine, yet when we went it rained nearly the entire time. I’m eager for some Vitamin D.