Hej!
On Monday David and I went to San Francisco for a few days. David's brother Joakim was there for a gaming convention to show his new game, and since he was in the same country AND state as us we of course wanted to go and see him. We were eager to spend some time in San Francisco too, since we haven't been there more than a few hours before.
We had an amazing stay- San Francisco is a beautiful city- and on Wednesday, before we drove back to LA, I documented the hours we had left in SF with my Nikon.
Let's see what we were up to, okay?

The hotel breakfast was kind of a bummer so the last day in the city I had looked up a café that supposedly served great bagels and coffee - so we drove there.
The difference between LA and SF became very clear here. THIS is a city. LA is weird and spread out, but SF has to squeeze everything into a small area. That makes for some real hustle and bustle totally unlike LA. I like both, but it was quite refreshing to spend an early morning in this vibrant city.

I'll never stop thinking Nob Hill is funny. Never. Giggle every time I see this photo.

And here we were! Beanstalk Cafe, squeezed between buildings in the middle of building renovations. I love it!

David looked cute, and a little worried. I asked him a camera related question and this was his face before answering.

This, my dear friends and readers, is a Cragel. Croissant and Bagel coming together in a beautiful way.
When I saw people raving about it on yelp I knew I had to try. This is their morning cragel. Scrambled eggs, cheese and bacon. Yup! It was AMAZING!

OMnomnomNOM!

David also chose a cragel. Of course.

The cafe was tiny. We were so lucky to catch the only table in there. Lots of regulars came in to get there coffee and bagel fix. All of them were perfectly individual characters. The "mayor" (that's what he looked like at least) talking in his best booming speech voice as to make sure no one misses his presence. The old man sitting quietly on the bar stool sipping coffee and reading his paper like he most certainly does every day.
It was lovely to watch it all while having our breakfast. It was the perfect start of the day.

Okay. No more pictures.

Look at that cool cold brew machine! It dripped- slowly, oh so slowly- filling the decanter in the bottom.

And then we had to get going. We wanted to see one more thing before we left San Francisco.
But first one more look at the city!

We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge.

And went to Muir Woods! Even though we were early both the parking areas were filled to the brim and we had to park along the road. Faaaaar down the road.
So we had to take a walk to get to the walk, haha!

SO worth it.
Muir Woods is a beautiful redwood forest with thousand year old trees looming high above our heads.

(Can you see the two tiny old ladies in the middle?)

Tourists of all ages. Isn't this the cutest?

This one is quite cute too. Trying to get an entire tree into one photo- It's impossible!

All you could do in Muir Woods was look up, following the tree trunks all the way up, up, up.

It makes you feel really small.

Aah. So lovely up there.

One of my all time favorite things: sunshine coming through the branches in spots, creating the loveliest combination of light and dark.

Here's another one.

And here. (If you look closely you can see a spider web in between the branches)

And this! See what I mean?

Spider webs everywhere!

The sunshine was especially tricky here. The contrast are beautiful, but can make it super hard to get the photo you want.

Hi!
The girl in the entrance kiosk told me I looked smashing in my outfit. That made me happy, because I felt kinda tired and very far from smashing.

I have a lot of photos like this. Dark trees and bright green foliage. Can't get enough of it!

Always a big fan of creepy roots.

Looks like some kind of pre historic monster.

It's fun to take photos of other tourists being touristy.

Muir Woods was such a wonderful place. I actually cried a little because I was so overwhelmed by it all. Nature is fucking awesome!

And when we got out of the woods we stopped to take in this fairly astounding view.

It felt like a good way to end our San Francisco trip.

We drove back to LA with new energy and when we drove into Hollywood and saw all the movie posters it actually felt like coming home. Isn't that strange?
And walking through the door to our apartment, it smelled like home.
Not like New Apartment.
Home.

Hej!
On Friday David and I packed our bags and went to Morongo Valley for a weekend of writing. Sometimes a change of location is just what you need to get your brain working.
The only things we had planned for (except writing writing writing) was to stop and take photos if the desert looked beautiful and interesting.
So this is mostly a post with photos from those little breaks.
But first: Look at me in my new smashing vintage dress!

From the late 60s if I should guess. And EXTREMELY colorful. I have not enhanced the colors at all in this photo. It is vibrant as all hell.

Very much ready for a day of writing in the desert.

After lunch in Palm Springs we found a dirt road that looked interesting.
Commence the photo bonanza!

I'm quite fond of this one.
I had it clear in my mind, but when you're working with fickle things as wind it's difficult to get things the way you want them. I'm very happy mother nature cooperated with me.

Even the road and traffic looks cool in the desert!

Today on our way back to LA we again wanted to stop somewhere fun for photos. The fog lay thick on the mountain on the other side of the highway and we thought we'd never find a tunnel or bridge to get over there. The rain picked up, the clouds rolled in and the wind was everywhere around us. But there! A bridge!
We crossed railway tracks and then we were in the middle of a storm. And it was amazing!

Come on, Wind!

Give me the best you've got!

On my list of things I wanted to see and photograph: Strange desert flora.

Scarf or cape? Who cares when it looks this dramatic!?

Cactus in the foreground, mountain and fog in the back. Also on my list of things I've been wanting to photograph.

When the wind does your hair artfully.

On the list of favorite things to do: Adventures with this guy.

David on his way to capture the view. I think it might have been this photo he was about to take.

Then all of a sudden the storm just went away. It stayed a little while longer over the mountains but...

...if you turned around it looked like this.
And we were ready to get back on the road to LA.

A weekend is far too little time for everything I want to see in the desert! So, we might have to come back soon.

Talk to you soon!

/Lotta

Hey!
It's been a good week. Let's take a look.

David was on a hunt for the perfect piece of dead branch for an idea he's got. We walked up to the reservoir during golden hour to search. I pointed at branches I thought looked good, David said "no", I pointed at another nice looking stick, David said "hmmmm... maybe... but no." Repeat forever and ever.

Aha!?!

No.

I took selfies with a view while David muttered about stupid sticks.

And found lovely grass that photographed well in the setting sun.

I had a good outfit week.The weather was sunny and warm, but I could still wear hats without dying from heat stroke. So in other words: Perfect Weather.

This one is a personal favorite. Red and black always look smashing together. I had red lips too, of course.

Here's a parade of car selfies.
Two with hats, all three of them with the same pair of black sunglasses.

We found the perfect mid century secretary desk for my work space. It's so beautiful! And Swedish, which is a little funny considering everything.

We've also bought a rug, two bedside lamps and two nightstands. All on their way to us right now in different speed (days, weeks, hopefully not months).

As usual David put together a Behind the scenes video for our latest short Closet Space. So much work goes into these little films and it's nice to be able to show you a little of that.

On Wednesday I met up with my friend Caroline and we walked around the entire reservoir. I hadn't done that before so that was fun. Even though I stepped on a rattlesnake. Luckily it didn't get angry, and I jumped away in half a second, screaming my lungs off.
A little adventure on a weekday.

I tried this season's trendy hair style: pigtails.
I can always get behind trends when they're as spooky as this.

And yesterday we found out that Closet Space got a Vimeo Staff Pick! So awesome!
This is the third of our videos that's been rewarded Vimeo Staff Pick, previous ones being Lights Out and Not So Fast. Yesterday the number of views started to climb fast and now we've passed 30 000 on Vimeo, and 26 000 on youtube.

Since walking around the reservoir I've wanted to show David the beautiful route, so yesterday afternoon when we felt like going for a long walk we went there.
It's almost 10 km (6 miles) from our door, up to the lake, around it and then back home so it takes a while. But it's so worth it!

Hollywood sign looking pretty over there.

No, Hollywood. You don't have to think this way. You are your mind too. Body and mind. A functional body, or not. But I'm thinking you mean it in an aesthetic way and that is just bullshit.

Pretty as all hell.

Abandoned houses in valleys always make my trespassing loving heart sing.

Spooky trees doing spooky things.

And the most magical view. Like a painting.

David got a call. The cell phone reception isn't great up in the hills so he had to stand perfectly still to be able to hear the other person. I was annoying and took photos while waiting. Obviously.
And that was my week.

/Lotta

Hej!
On sunday David and I went on a little adventure. We had been writing all weekend and needed a little energy boost so we drove to the old Paramount ranch that I had read about here .

They used to film a lot of things here, the largest production being Dr Quinn Medicine Woman, but now it's just an abandoned western town in the middle of nowhere. So cool.
We arrived in the afternoon just when the sun was turning golden. There was quite a lot of people there. Some were having a picnic, a few were newly engaged couples taking their engagement photos, and some were just like us; walking around and looking at everything for the first time.

I brought my Nikon with me for the first time in ages. I've been feeling a bit rusty with my real camera lately, so I thought it would be nice to get back in the habit of bringing it with me more.
Most of these photos are taken with my Nikon but the self portraits are my iPhone as usual.

I really liked that the buildings looked old and weathered. Since they were made for being in movies they've probably always looked like this. Maybe a little less dusty and broken. It must be so fun building a place like this, making it exactly how you want it. A little town that looks like it's been standing forever.

Some parts were obviously fairly newly added. Like the barn door to the right. It looked very nice and polished compared to the rest.

Ooops! We're in jail!

Loved the light in here. That's how you notice these building were made with movie making in mind. A tiny room with windows at the best spots for as much light as possible.

When we had seen all the houses we went on a hike up in the hills surrounding the little town. It was such a beautiful afternoon.

We took our own cutesy love photos. Because spooky trees are the most romantic things I know.

And David climbed a little.

We walked further up the hills. David is always ahead of me because I have to stop to take pictures all the time.

I caught up with David when he had stopped to photograph his long shadow legs.

The view was fairly spectacular.

"Can I have my sunglasses on? I look cooler with my sunglasses"
Okay, Mr Hollywood Director.

So Many Spooky Trees! *insert approximately a thousand heart eyes emojis*

And I found a new favorite.

It was love at first sight.

The sun was getting low in the sky so we headed back to car.

Stopped by the river first though. Such a moody spot. Spooky trees and moody rivers (what a great book title!) are on my "all time favorite things" list. Oh, and uprooted trees too!

Our spooky love.

Almost all the people were gone by now. The place looked just like a ghost town.

I made plans in my head to return soon. With a picnic basket. And maybe bring my sister and her kids. I think that would be wonderful!

Really loved the colors here!

And let's end this post with a jumping photo, because YAY for abandoned Western towns!

Hope you enjoyed tagging along on our little afternoon adventure.

See you soon!

/Lotta