PRITCHARD LIFE

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Twenty Twenty Two: The Year in Review

December 27, 2022 by matt Leave a Comment

As the shadows stretch ever-farther north and we warm our souls around the amber glow of holiday cheer, it’s time to look back on the year that has passed in this Pritchard Life.

We welcomed the new year amid the crisp and quiet calm of Death Valley, an annual tradition that helps us turn down the volume of our daily life and find a moment of peace. The epic winter we hoped for never materialized. The snow cover was thin, but we nonetheless took advantage of our new basecamp in Tahoe for regular sorties to Kirkwood and Heavenly. Carson challenged himself on Thunder Saddle, and Autumn challenged herself to wake up in time for our departure each morning.

We made a quick trip south in June to celebrate the start of summer at Disneyland, doing laps on our favorite rides, crushing Dole Whip, and rising with The Resistance. Autumn ran point on summer vacation planning to New York City and Washington DC. We landed in the middle of a heat wave and spent ten sweaty days sightseeing, eating delicious food, and moving from one air-conditioned space to the next. NYC highlights included: The Highline, The Met, Hadestown on Broadway, dinner at Blue Ribbon, dessert at Milk Bar, and exploring Central Park. DC highlights included: The Library of Congress, National Air & Space Museum (Udvar-Hazy), the National Cathedral, and an epic rainstorm that hit while we were visiting the Lincoln Memorial.

An October trip to Yosemite brought us back to the Sierra during our favorite time of year, and a couple of low-key Tahoe weekends offered a chance to relax before the crescendo into the holiday season.

Carson

Carson graduated Magna Cum Getmeouttahere from Lafayette Elementary School in June and matriculated in Presidio Middle School in the fall – Go Panthers! He’s begrudgingly playing the viola in the beginning orchestra and looking forward to selecting a new elective soon (very soon). His favorite game is Kerbal Space Program where he gets to calculate the delta-v needed for orbital insertion burns to various celestial bodies in the KSP universe. He does a weekly parkour class at AcroSports and keeps the fingers nimble with a speed cube (AKA: Rubik’s Cube) that he can solve in less than a minute. He has a limitless appetite for burgers and pasta, and is a trusted friend of our dog, Cali.

Favorite Movie: Top Gun: Maverick

Career Aspiration: Flight Engineer at JPL

Autumn

Autumn made the quantum leap to Lincoln High School this year – Go Mustangs! With campus a few miles away in the Sunset District, she takes MUNI every day which is a character building experience without equal. She’s taking Japanese as her foreign language, and joined the theater tech club to explore set design and the unsupervised use of power tools. The diaspora of friends across various high schools is a manageable social speed bump, and it seems like a Sunday picnic in Golden Gate Park with the extended crew is about as good as life gets right now. She also continues with weekly parkour classes and her creative streak hasn’t slowed down with time spent baking, crocheting, sewing, painting and drawing.

Favorite Book: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Career Aspiration: Fashion Designer and/or Model

Jody

About this time last year, we broke ground on a full remodel of our backyard, a little urban oasis in our foggy corner of SF. Jody stretched her design skill from lighting to boardwalks, fences, retaining walls, and plants. She managed the project with a talented build team, and insisted on planting everything herself. We wrapped the project in the early summer and effectively doubled the living space of our home, with a comfortable, flexible, and beautiful outdoor space for everyone to enjoy.

The team at PritchardPeck is slowly making their way back to their SOMA office with a flexible work culture and distributed team. Jody is leaning into more residential and landscape lighting design, which brings a different type of challenge than their larger commercial projects. She’s made an impressive commitment to her mental health and fitness this year, finding peace in her morning run to Ocean Beach and a little pain with every set of RDLs.

Favorite Book of 2022: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Favorite Album of 2022: Born for This by Chase Matthew

Matt

I also started to split my work week between home and the office, joining my team at Gap twice a week at our perch above the Embarcadero. It’s been a challenging year for our business, but I’m encouraged by the talent of my team, the values of our company, and the energy of our brands.

The backyard project was driven by Jody’s vision, but I had room to play in the design as well, contributing some fun details, including a 700 lb cypress bench, a scaled model of the sun and earth, and an outdoor dining table, which we christened when hosting Thanksgiving this year. Serving a meal I made, to people I love, at a table that I built was a very memorable moment for me.

Music was a focal point of my year. After a COVID-driven hiatus, I went on a bender, seeing nearly 20 concerts this year, from hip-hop to black metal to chamber orchestra. Highlights included: Pearl Jam, Zeal & Ardor, Roger Waters, and front-row seats for Kid Cudi. I might need to tone it down in the new year, but we’ll have to see who’s touring first.

Most Used Tool of 2022: Lie Nielsen No. 7 Jointer Plane

Favorite Book of 2022: Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson

Cali

Our aggressively affectionate bernadoodle Cali shows no signs of calming down as she approaches her second birthday. She’s like a love bank where you make deposits and withdrawals with an incredible interest rate. When the floof is in full effect, she nearly doubles in volume. On weekdays, she gets outside with one of her very favorite humans, Angela. She loves the snow, which works out well during our many Tahoe trips through the winter.

Favorite Park: Golden Gate

Fur Insulation Rating: R30

Time keeps a steady drumbeat, and the years seem to pass with increasing pace. The march is inevitable, but maybe we should find moments to pause, reflect, try some new dance moves, and find different patterns as we move ever forward. In this new year, we hope that our paths cross with yours more often than not. Peace be with you and yours, this season and always.

Matt, Jody, Autumn, Carson (& Cali)

San Francisco, CA


CODA (family playlists from 2022)

Winter 2022 Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify

Summer 2022 Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify

Filed Under: year in review

Twenty Twenty One: The Year in Review

December 26, 2021 by matt Leave a Comment

Pritchard Family, November 2021

And…we’re back!

Wait…what about 2020? Honestly, staring down a blank screen this time last year, I didn’t have it in me to recap a year that defied explanation. We went on lock down, bought our first house, made travel plans, canceled travel plans, mourned the loss of Grant, started a new job, spent waaay too much time on Zoom, and weathered a year together that kept us off balance but grateful to have each other. MC Rob Base said best…

Joy (pump, pump, pump it up) and pain

(come on, come on, here we go)

Like sunshine (what else? what else?) and rain

(ah yeah, here we go)

“Ah yeah, here we go” is a pretty apt description of how we rolled into the new year. With the epic shitshow of MCMXX in the rearview mirror, we entered this year a little ragged and weary, but with a soupçon of hope that the universe would steer us back to a more balanced field of play.

We started the year by testing the outer limits of social distancing at our favorite hideout in Death Valley, camping for four nights and ringing in the new year under a milky blaze of stars that provided a bit of perspective on the year that had passed.

Our homeboy Ullr was a little stingy with the snow last season, but we still managed a dozen+ days of masked skiing at Kirkwood, Heavenly and a first-time trip to Park City, UT with our favorite snow-conspirators, the Schultz family. It wasn’t the most epic ski season, but it was certainly one we will remember.

With the pandemic beginning to wane, we planned a proper vacation with an eye toward relaxation and none of the logistical gymnastics that accompany our typical vacations. Our plan was to join the Pritchards del Norte for ten days of low key living in Cabo, where the big decisions each day would focus on food and pool choice. Two weeks out, we realized the kids’ passports were expired (oops). With a crippled U.S. passport system and no options to expedite, we rolled the dice on a more creative plan to cross the border by foot (AKA: the Tijuana Two Step). It worked, we chilled, and everyone ended up back in the U.S. in time to start school in late August.

With plenty of homebound weekends, we starting chipping away at a long list of projects in our new home. Owning a 100 year-old house is a bit of an adventure. Visions of a remodeled kitchen were put on hold as we decided to be grown-ups and eat our vegetables first. We put on a new roof, rewired the house top to bottom, and replaced a sixty(!) year-old furnace with a modern version that will almost certainly not last as long. Just before Christmas, we broke ground on a “down to the dirt” rebuild of the backyard that will be ready for warmer weather in the spring.

Carson

Carson weathered the fourth grade ensconced in his fortress of solitude with a Chromebook and headset providing a portal to the outside world. Our carefully crafted screentime rules went flying out the window, and Carson doubled down on Minecraft and War Thunder where he was able to connect with friends and escape to an alternate universe for a few hours a day. In-person learning resumed in the fall with Carson entering his final year at Lafayette Elementary School. We watched his smile grow as he spent more time IRL with friends old and new.

Carson

Carson heads to Planet Granite once a week to climb the walls in a dance between gravity and grip strength. In October, Carson and Dad took a trip down to Austin, TX to eat barbecue and watch F1 racing at the U.S. Grand Prix. Verstappen won the race and Carson won by skipping three days of school. Over the course of the year, he burned through the Percy Jackson canon with pace and continues to geek out on anything with wings and a motor.

Career Aspiration: Robotics Engineer

Favorite Movie: Iron Man 3

Autumn

Autumn managed a year of remote learning with patience and grace that belies their age. Art remained front and center as they mastered the layers and brushes of Procreate to produce some fun and truly stunning work. In the summer, Autumn joined a character design class at the Walt Disney Museum to learn more about the heroine’s journey. Now that school is in session, parkour classes at Acrosport and art classes at CreativeIQ round out the weekly calendar.

Autumn started their final year at Presidio Middle School and is now preparing for the big jump to high school next year. Not to be outdone by Carson, they burned through over 18 books and will probably knock off a few more as we head southbound on 395 in a few days. Autumn turned 13 this fall and celebrated with a trip to New York City with Jody. They watched Hamilton on Broadway, ate cookies and cake at Milk Bar, and visited the museum at FIT. It was a trip to remember.

Career Aspiration: Librarian or Costume Designer

Favorite Singer/Songwriter: girl in red

Jody

After 20 years working on other people’s homes, Jody found an outlet behind our own front door. Sanding, patching, painting, decorating, and lighting her way to a comfortably classy space for our family to enjoy. She’s a vision of patience when managing Matt’s unqualified, but nonetheless strong, opinions about design. Our backyard (a lifeless pile of sandirt) provided a blank canvas for Jody to design an outdoor space for our family. With work now underway, there will be ample opportunity for Jody to dig in the dirt and bring our little sliver of San Francisco to life.

The PritchardPeck team has been remote since the beginning of the pandemic but continues to thrive as they do amazing commercial and residential work. They celebrated a lowkey 10-year anniversary this past summer. The raison d’etre for the company has always been to have a creative outlet for their partnership and provide for their families. In that spirit, a second venture (adventure?) emerged this fall as Jody and Kristin bought a second home in South Lake Tahoe for our families to share. After staying in every fleabag motel, casino hotel, and Airbnb in the greater Lake Tahoe area, we finally have our own home base.

Favorite Performance: Hamilton on Broadway

Career Aspiration: Ice Cream Truck Driver

Matt

After nearly twelve years at Williams-Sonoma, I started a new job at Gap in August of 2020. I spent most of this past year leading a talented team of product managers, building tech that improves the customer experience, and wondering when I would finally meet everyone in person (it was over a year). It was a big transition, and I was grateful to feel welcomed amid the weird circumstances of the pandemic. While the grind of remote work has been challenging, the chance to step outside a couple times each day for a quick walk in Golden Gate Park makes it worthwhile.

After so many years of dreaming, the new house provided enough space for me to build out a workshop in the garage. There’s room for woodworking, a bench for robot and RC car repair, and enough space for the myriad odd jobs that come up in a old house. My goal in the new year will be to finish more projects than are started.

After nearly two years without live music, SF started to open up this fall and I was able to hit a few concerts, including OutsideLands in October and a triple header (Metallica–Thievery Corporation–Metallica) on a three-night stretch in December.

Mantra: “You’ll Think of Something”

Favorite Concert: Metallica 40th Anniversary at Chase Center

Cali

Failing in our bid to adopt an Ewok, we turned to the best alternative and welcomed Cali into our home in March. She’s a high-energy Bernedoodle named for our home state (and an LL Cool J song), whose advertised “mini” stature was quickly dispatched within a few months. Puppies are hard and she is a spaz beyond reproach, but she’s is a lovable little monster and ridiculously cute. Check her out on the Instas.

Her arrival was timed to land after ski season, and we’ve managed to get her somewhat under control as the snow has started to fall again. The floof is in full effect with this one and we hope it keeps her warm as she has no choice but to become a powderhound.

Level of Floof: Epic

Favorite Human: Jody

In 2020, we broke the glass and sounded the alarm on our daily interactions with the outside world. It felt both severe and necessary, totally frustrating and oddly comforting. In the past year, we peered outside to see that the coast was mostly clear and some semblance of life could resume. We’re not past this thing, but hopeful that we’re progressing toward something nearly normal.

We hope the new year brings more time with friends and family, travel to places near and far, shared meals, big smiles, love, laughter, and a little mischief. We love you and hope to see you soon. Peace be with you and yours, this season and always.

Matt, Jody, Autumn, Carson (& Cali)

San Francisco, CA


CODA (family playlists from 2021)

Winter 2021 Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify

Summer 2021 Playlist (EP) on Apple Music and Spotify

Filed Under: year in review

Grant Sellers Pritchard

June 30, 2020 by matt

December 11, 1948 – June 21, 2020

On Sunday, June 21, 2020, Grant Sellers Pritchard, loving husband, father, grandfather, and a giant among men, died at the age of 71. 

Grant was born on December 11, 1948 in Long Beach, CA to Elizabeth and Edgar Pritchard. At the age of nine, his family relocated to San Francisco, where he later attended Lowell High School, graduating in January of 1967. He went on to enroll at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, earning a degree in Agriculture and leading the school’s dairy judging team to national accolades in 1969.

In the spring of 1969, Grant was introduced to Mary Garden who would become the love of his life. They married in August of 1970 at St. John’s Church in San Francisco. They went on to have three children: Scott, Matthew, and Lindsay, all of whom remain close to the family. Grant and Mary’s marriage spanned nearly fifty years, and despite the requisite challenges, was always filled with abundant love and unwavering respect. Over time, it provided a model for their children who each found loving and supportive partners in Jena, Jody, and Wayne, respectively. Grant’s love and interest extended to his children-in-law, who found in him a paternal presence and unmitigated enthusiasm for all their pursuits.

Grant was actively involved in his kids’ activities, coaching multiple sports, leading Cub Scouts, and volunteering his time for various school and extracurricular activities. Most notably, Grant was present as a father. Despite the pressures of his career and other commitments, he showed up everyday to support his children, show a deep and genuine interest in their lives, and provide gentle guidance when needed. That same commitment held true for his six grandchildren who were always able to find his broad, proud smile on the sidelines of their games and in the audience of their performances.

Throughout his life, the church and Christian faith provided a north star and an outlet for his desire to serve others. He was active in church youth groups and camps as a young man. And as an adult, he served as a Deacon and Elder at the First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, a community he held near to his heart.

Grant’s career played out in three phases. With a newly minted degree in agriculture and an insatiable appetite for ice cream, he spent the first decade of his career managing dairy plants for Carnation, Berkeley Farms, and Arden in the Bay Area; Portland, OR; and Seattle, WA. Flush with management experience and with an eye for growth, he made a lateral move into law firm administration, serving as Executive Director and managing the business operations of several large San Francisco law firms over the course of 20 years. Grant earned an MBA from Dominican University in 2004 and spent the last decade of his career serving in two capacities: as an independent management consultant, and as an adjunct professor of business at Dominican University, University of San Francisco, and UC Berkeley Extension.

Grant showed an early interest in technical hobbies that carried on throughout his life. While in Junior High, he took part in an advanced electronics program at Lux Labs in San Francisco. While attending Cal Poly, he earned his fixed wing private pilot’s license, which he renewed later in life and took flight above Northern California. But his most notable pastime was working with radios. Grant was an avid Ham Radio operator, earning a number of advanced FCC certifications. With the call sign KK6JJ, he enjoyed DXing with radio operators across the globe and at least two in low earth orbit. He is a former president of the Marin Amateur Radio Society (W6SG) and served in civilian leadership positions for the Radio Amateur Civilian Emergency Services (RACES) and Marin County Office of Emergency Services. 

Throughout his life, Grant had a great love for music. From the soaring notes of the church organ to the vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys, a good tune was sure to bring a smile to his face. In recent days, he returned to the piano, committing himself to daily practice with a positive attitude and desire to grow.

Grant was preceded in death by his father, Edgar, his mother, Elizabeth, and his sister, Rosemary. He is survived by his loving wife, Mary; his three children and their spouses, Scott and Jena, Matthew and Jody, Lindsay and Wayne; his six grandchildren, Mason, Rowan, Marley, Autumn, Carson, and Ashtyn; and his faithful canine companion, Koala.

Grant was a kind and gentle man. He leaves a lasting legacy of love, curiosity, and service. He will be missed greatly by all who knew him, and his spirit lives on in the smiles, laughter, and lasting embraces of his family and friends.

In consideration of everyone’s health and safety in the current environment, the family is holding a private celebration of Grant’s life.

Filed Under: grant

Twenty Nineteen: The Year in Review

December 28, 2019 by matt Leave a Comment

Thank you, once again, for indulging this internet-friendly and highly-edited view into the past year of this Pritchard Life.

Carson

As the kids get older, the toys get a little more sophisticated and a little more dangerous (same goes for the kids, I guess). We started the year building a 3D printer and have been melting plastic into interesting shapes ever since. Carson entered his first two robot combat competitions and discovered just how much kinetic energy a 1 pound robot can generate when he went head to head with the former RoboGames champ, Rhino (answer: a lot). Together we built a small autonomous car, and have more robot projects in the pipeline.

It was Carson’s turn this year to plan our summer vacation, anywhere in California. After much deliberation (not really), we hit the road for a week and a half in SoCal with a well balanced itinerary. After testing the limits of our intestinal fortitude at Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor, we settled in for a few exceptionally chill days at Terranea Resort, where the biggest decisions revolved around which pool to swim in and when to break for lunch. From there, we hit Disneyland for a few days and capped things off with an incredibly cool tour of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, where we got to see the assembly of the Mars 2020 Rover.

Carson entered the third grade at Lafayette Elementary School, which is an active construction site for the next 12 months. He’s stoked for ski season, and plans to do more laps on Chair 6, where he laid down his first turns early in the year.

Career Aspiration: Robotics Engineer

Favorite Movie: The Martian

Autumn

After six years, Autumn bid farewell to the monkey bars and math tests at Lafayette Elementary School and served as emcee at her fifth-grade promotion ceremony in June. Two months later she started the sixth grade at Presidio Middle School (go Panthers!). The new freedom (and responsibilities) came on quickly: walking herself to school, taking the bus to after-school activities, and negotiating a six-period schedule. Day by day, she’s finding her way.

Autumn remains an artist at heart, whether painting or sewing, drawing or crafting, she’s a prolific maker and creative soul. Leading up to the holidays, she put in many hours making a stockpile of Japanese Knot Bags that she sold during Small Business Saturday on Clement Street – netting a tidy profit along the way. While the soccer season (SF Vikings) consumes much of the spring and fall, we take a break in the winter to spend as many weekends skiing as we can manage. When Autumn was young, we joked about skiing Chair 10 (The Wall) at Kirkwood when she was 10 years old. Late in the season, on a beautiful spring day, she did just that. Learning the value of a solid edge and well-timed hip check, she made her way top to bottom and earned her stripes as a Kirkwood grom.

Career Aspiration: Interior Designer

Favorite Song: Calm Down (Taylor Swift)

Jody

In May, Jody teamed up with sister-in-law Jena for an epic trip to Peru. With guides to lead the way, Jody enjoyed the rare treat of having someone else worry about all of the little travel details that she is typically on point to manage. They toured Incan ruins, ate all of the things, and hiked some incredible trails on their way to Machu Picchu, topping out at a personal best 15,034 ft. along the way.

The team at PritchardPeck has grown to 13 strong, with several new designers coming on board throughout the year. One of their projects (El Pípila) earned a James Beard award for Restaurant Design [Ed. Note: due in no small part to the lighting design]. Jody and Kristin also earned some notable new jobs, including the Mission Rock development in SF and projects with Studio Gang, SOM, and BIG, the latter of which materialized after a 24-hour whirlwind trip to NYC to meet face-to-face while they were “in the neighborhood”. Dreams are free, but the hustle is always full-price.

In August, we said goodbye to Jody’s grandfather, Russ Clover. His passing brought sadness, but his spirit remains an inspiration to Jody and the rest of us who aim to follow our curiosities and never stop learning. We celebrated his life with a service surrounded by friends and family from near and far.

Favorite Book: The Coddling of the American Mind (Greg Lukianoff)

Favorite Animal: Alpaca

Matt

I’ve lived near the ocean my entire life. And while big blue is a short walk from our house, I don’t actually spend that much time in or on the water. Earlier this year, I decided to change that and started stand up paddle boarding (SUP) on the weekends. Actually, stand-up paddle boarding is a bit of a misnomer, given that I spend more time kneeling, falling, and swimming than I do standing. When I am vertical, I strike a silhouette less like Poseidon and more like Quasimodo after a 12-pack, but I’m having a lot of fun out there. Later in the year, I managed a couple of paddles in the open bay from Crissy Field to Aquatic Park, which brought it all together.

I enjoyed some great concerts this year, often with Jody, sometimes with friends, and occasionally by myself. There were small shows: Bob Moses at Mezzanine, Phosphorescent at The New Parish. There were interesting shows: Brittany Howard at The Fillmore, Explosions in the Sky at The Fox. And there were shows that were 20 years in the making: Massive Attack at Bill Graham Civic and Metallica with the SF Symphony to open the new Chase Center. In April, I traveled to Seattle to take a four-day leather working class from a master craftsman at Pratt Arts Center – because clearly I need another hobby.

Favorite Book: Reamde (Neal Stephenson)

Nostalgia Overload: Seeing the actual Delorean/time machine from Back to the Future

I’m finishing this post from the hotel lobby in Bishop, CA. It’s well after midnight and the fire is making its final stand. Tomorrow we head into Death Valley NP for our annual pilgrimage to the solitude of the desert for four nights of camping. It’s not an easy form of relaxation. The drive is long, the weather cold, and the landscape stark. But in the cold and inky black of the desert night, we enjoy a silence that stands in contrast to the buzz of daily life. And in that silenceand darkness, we find little moments of joy that shine so bright, like the first rays of sun hitting your face each morning.

We wish you moments of joy as well. We love you and hope to see you soon. Peace be with you and yours, this season and always.

Matt, Jody, Autumn and Carson

San Francisco, CA

Filed Under: year in review

Twenty Eighteen: The Year in Review

December 27, 2018 by matt 2 Comments

Our year opened beneath a starlit sky, deep in the backcountry of Death Valley National Park. We opted for two nights in the weird and wonderful Saline Valley and two more at our home away from home in the shadow of Lake Hill in the Panamint Valley. We skied through the winter at Kirkwood where both kids pushed themselves to new heights. Autumn skied Sentinel Bowl for the first time and Carson found his groove in Snow Snake Gully. Matt and Jody had some memorably steep and deep runs and plenty of groomers to catch our breath.

As summer came around, our travel plans took a sharp left turn. Rather than the Mexico trip we had envisioned, we decided to venture farther north (much farther) and spent two weeks in Norway and Denmark. From Bergen to Flåm to Oslo to Billund to Aarhus and finally Copenhagen, we chased the midnight sun by plane, ferry, cruise ship, train, funicular, car, bus, bike, and dinghy. In Norway we drifted through fjords, drove over high alpine passes, toured stave churches, and saw viking ships more than 1,200 year old. Our time in Denmark centered around design and architecture. We visited museums, design centers, urban beaches, brewpubs, bakeries and spent very memorable days at the Lego House and Tivoli Gardens, the latter of which found both kids on their first upside-down roller coaster (The Daemon).

Carson

Our man Carson entered the second grade in the fall. He loves to build with Lego, cardboard, masking tape, hot glue, and whatever else he can get his hands on. In the summer we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for their annual open house, and had a chance to build underwater ROVs. The hook was set, and we decided to build our own ROV for underwater adventures 20,000 leagues beneath the swimming pool at Grandma and Granddad’s house. For Halloween, Carson designed a wicked Death Eater costume, and Mom came through on the fabrication to deliver one of the scariest costumes this side of Hogwarts.

Carson also had his first official season of soccer with the Lafayette Dolphins (with real games), and swam his way through the Gold Plus level at La Petite Baleen swim school. He is becoming steady and strong on longer bike rides, touring the NW corner of the city at bike camp and with Dad – from Crissy Field to Ocean Beach and points throughout Golden Gate Park. His first ride across the GG Bridge isn’t far away.

Career Aspiration: ROV Engineer
Favorite Song: Believer (Imagine Dragons)

Autumn

The mass of volatile energy who we call Autumn continues to make us proud, make us laugh, and drive us all a little crazy sometimes. She started her final (5th grade) year at Lafayette Elementary this fall. Meanwhile, she stepped up to play club soccer with the SF Vikings this season, providing a reliable foot at defense. The team was on a winning streak before smoke from the NorCal wildfires brought the season to anti-climactic finish.

Autumn has laid waste to a towering stack of books over the course of the year. There’s an acute obsession with the world of Harry Potter, and she definitely identifies with Hermione. But her first love is art. She spent a good portion of her summer attending art camp at the de Young Museum and attends a weekly painting class at a nearby art studio. In the fall, Autumn received an Award of Excellence for her entry in the Reflections art contest. She is becoming a more capable baker, and loves to watch The Great British Baking Show with Dad.

Career Aspiration: Landscape Architect or Fashion Designer
Favorite Song: Dark Side (Alan Walker)

Jody

Jody drew inspiration during our travels, from installations by Olafur Eliasson and James Turrell, to the urban architecture of Bjarke Ingels, every turn was illuminated by something different and new. In the fall, she found time to build a stunning costume so she could embody Cersei Lannister, her favorite villain, at the office Halloween party.

The team at PritchardPeck Lighting is taking on evermore interesting projects, from office towers to theaters to taquerias. They completed their highest project yet – on the 55th floor of the Salesforce Tower. At the beginning of the year, they moved their office three blocks and a world away from their prior location on Market Street to a building of their own in SOMA. They’re keeping it real, they’re keeping it weird, and sometimes it’s just real weird.

Transcendent Moment: the midnight sun at 60° N in Flåm Norway
Favorite Concert: Florence and the Machine (Outside Lands)

Matt

Matt thoroughly enjoyed this year’s travels. Whether it’s Death Valley or Monterey, New York or Copenhagen, the chance to see (and usually eat) something new and different never gets old. But some of his favorite weekends are those spent at home: eating a picnic breakfast at Lands End, haunting the stacks at Green Apple Books, catching the sunset at Ocean Beach, the connection with this city grows deeper every year.

Work never slows down, and plenty of challenges remain. Matt’s team at Williams-Sonoma grew substantially in the past year, and he often feels like a full-time recruiter. But that Peppermint Bark isn’t going to sell itself, so the march continues.

Transcendent Moment: whale watching at the Farallon Islands
Favorite Book: Ordinary Grace (William Kent Krueger)


Life, like the universe itself, tolerates no stasis…

So we find ourselves moving through life — too often stumbling from one bout of over-scheduled delirium to the next, but sometimes with clarity of thought, and the capacity to appreciate all that we have, and the presence of mind to tell the people we love how much they mean to us. Those people are you. We love you, and we’re thinking of you, and we look forward to spending time with you, hopefully sooner than later. Peace be with you and yours, in this season and always.

Matt, Jody, Autumn and Carson
San Francisco, CA

Filed Under: year in review

Twenty Sixteen: The Year in Review

December 27, 2016 by matt 3 Comments

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With 2017 fast approaching, I think it’s time to check the rear-view mirror for one final glimpse of the year that has passed. As is our tradition, we rang in the New Year under a starry sky in the depths of Death Valley National Park. We took day trips to explore the salt pan at Badwater and the lush labyrinth of Darwin Canyon. Some day, these kids are going to figure out that other families don’t drive to the middle of nowhere to celebrate the New Year in the cold and inky black of the desert night. But we wouldn’t have it any other way. Later in the year, we logged two more camping trips to The Presidio (3 minutes from home) and Pinecrest Lake (3 hours from home). And with respectable Sierra snowpack, there were two ski trips to Kirkwood and Alpine Meadows. With both kids in ski school, Jody and I were finally able to ski together for the first time in too many years.

The highlights of the travel calendar came in the spring and summer. In April, we surprised the kids with a trip to LA where we got to watch our favorite show (BattleBots) being taped and doubled the surprise with a day-trip to Disneyland. In June, we made good on a promise to return to Italy and took a two week trip with the whole family to Tuscany, Rome and Sorrento. The kids are becoming more capable travelers, aided no doubt by the promise of gelato and ample pool time.

Carson

Our little man Carson bid a fond farewell to his pre-school homies from the Builders’ Workshop at 150 Parker School. He spent his summer days building forts at Camp Doodle and working through the wobbles with his sister at bike camp. After three years of drop-off duty, it was finally Carson’s turn to line-up for morning pledges and become a Lafayette Dolphin. Having both kids at the same school has been a game-changer for our family, and Carson loves his kindergarten class. He joined his friends on the pitch at Marina Green for his first season of soccer and has made it to the final stage of his swimming class.

Carson at the Colosseum

In March, Carson and Dad packed the car for an epic seaside adventure. We started our weekend touring the historic ships at the Hyde Street Pier. Heading south, we hiked along Devil’s Slide and tiptoed through the tidepools at Moss Beach. We spent two nights “camping” at Costanoa, checked out the otters and jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and stopped by Pigeon Point Lighthouse to round out the weekend.

Carson at Kirkwood

Carson still loves building with Lego and we keep him well-stocked on cardboard and masking tape. He’s quick with a smile (and sometimes tears) and enjoys knocking-out a hasty set of push-ups to impress the ladies.

Career Aspiration: Home Builder
Favorite Gelato: Arancia (orange)

Autumn

The little lady of the house is growing every day and in every way. She spent a lot of time with her nose buried in books this year, flipping through the adventures of Ivy & Bean, Clementine and the Babysitters Club. Like her brother, she has an affinity for building blanket forts and sand castles. She’s become a pretty good helper in the kitchen and always seems to be working some angle for more dessert.

cake!

Autumn continues to play soccer in the spring and fall with SF Sol soccer club, and has become a capable (if somewhat distracted) defender. She is gaining confidence on the ski hill and graduated from La Petite Baleen swimming school in the fall. She spent most of her summer at the de Young Museum summer camp, making time with her first love: art. Autumn moved upstairs with the rest of the big kids at Lafayette Elementary this fall. And while the third grade brings new challenges (multiplication!), she enjoys their regular field trips and lessons from Art in Action, which are taught by her mama.

Sutro Baths

Career Aspiration: Artist or Architect
Favorite Gelato: Limone (lemon)

Jody

Earlier this year, Jody’s grandmother, Natalie Salsig, passed away at the age of 95. Jody was close with her Grandma, having lived with her for a period during her childhood and again as fresh college grad. While her passing was tough for the family, they took time to celebrate a life well-lived and a legacy that will carry on for generations to come.

Autumn and Jody Chairlift

Jody clocked many hours on the ice working toward her pre-bronze skating test, which she passed in May. And while she enjoys her time on the ice, she decided to give it a rest for the time being. Seeking some new way to challenge herself physically, she discovered the pleasure and pain of barre class and makes time to get to the studio a couple times each week. She continues to take on evermore challenging sewing projects, completing several dresses for herself and concept-to-completion halloween costumes for both kids.

Jody and Kristin celebrated five years of PritchardPeck Lighting with a well-lit client party at their new digs on Market Street. In October they flew south of the border to deliver a presentation at the IALD Enlighten conference and took a few extra days to refine their plans for complete domination of the lighting world.

Hard at Work

Transcendent Moment: floating in the ocean beneath a full moon in Mexico
Favorite Gelato: Cocco (coconut), Cioccolato (chocolate)

Matt

This summer I celebrated my 40th birthday surrounded by family and friends at a party in Golden Gate Park. Jody and I stole away a few weeks later to Napa for a relaxing weekend and once-in-a-lifetime dinner at The Restaurant at Meadowood. I’m staring down my fifth decade on this planet and feeling pretty good about where I’m at. I can’t say that every day is a highlight reel of epic accomplishments, but I post enough wins at work and at home to keep the arc of my smile bending in the right direction.

Go Giants!

I continue to love cooking for the family and friends. Whether it’s school day lunches for the kids, sous vide steaks for dinner, or dutch oven biscuits in the backcountry, it continues to challenge me in the best way possible. I continue to log plenty of miles on the bike (1,500 this year), and started focusing more intently on my health as a remedy for too many hours behind a desk and too many “anything-in-a-breadbowl” lunches around my office. I look forward to more time in the shop and behind the lens focusing on creative projects in the new year.

Naples

Favorite Concert: Metallica at AT&T Park with Scott
Favorite Gelato: Cioccolato Fondente (dark chocolate), Stracciatella (chocolate chip)

I’m writing this post on December 27th, the day before we leave for our annual pilgrimage to Death Valley. I push myself to write this post every year, usually while Jody is frantically packing for our trip. Maybe it’s a silly tradition, but it helps me bring closure to the year that has passed and open a new page for the year in front of us. With that, we invite all of you to be part of our lives and our memories in the year to come. No matter how often (or seldom) we see you, we miss your faces and voices and hope this new year brings us closer together. Peace be with you and your loved ones, this season and always.

Matt, Jody, Autumn & Carson
San Francisco, CA

Filed Under: year in review

La Dolce Vita

July 1, 2016 by matt 1 Comment

 

La Dolce Vita

You come back in two years with the bambini…

Italians are an optimistic (and family-oriented) people. Maybe it’s the wine. Maybe it’s Catholic doctrine. Either way, their admonition for us to get started with the bambini-making (allegro, per fevore) was easy to laugh away. But the idea of a return trip to Italy was taken to heart. When we traveled as a group to Eric and Jen’s Tuscan wedding in 2006, we made a wine-soaked promise to come back with the kids some day…assuming there were kids to bring. Ten years passed, children were born, careers changed, friends moved away, and we all earned a few well-worn creases at the corners of our smiles.

But the realities of work and school and other commitments made it tough for most people to sign-on for another tour. By the time we boarded our planes in early June, our envoy was reduced to a small but enthusiastic crew of Pritchards and Schultzes. Our plan was to rendezvous at a top secret location in the Tuscan countryside. We took a two-hopper to Rome (via Paris) – the better to accommodate our return. Any concerns we had about the kids managing the long flight were dismissed as they slumbered their way across the Atlantic.

After landing in Rome and picking up the rental car, we drove north through Umbria and landed for a night in Orvieto. This hilltop town with requisite duomo, gelaterias and charming back streets was the perfect introduction to Italy for the kids. A quick ride on the funicular and a slippery walk down the double-helix of St. Patrick’s Well certainly made an impression, but the dizzying array of gelato flavors set the tone for the rest of our trip.

Orvieto Gelato

Later that day, we wound our way north through the rolling hills of Umbria and Tuscany. What Google Maps lacks in charm and serendipity, it makes up for in brutal efficiency. While we were nostalgic for our hapless nighttime drive through Tuscany a decade prior, we certainly didn’t mind having a capable navigator on board, especially with two tired kids in the back seat.

Tuscan Hills

We eventually landed at the end of a dusty road, tucked beneath the hill town of Castaglione d’Orcia. Our landing pad for the week was a beautiful villa (or farmhouse, depending on your POV) on a working farm, complete with horses, chickens, two cats and a Lamborghini tractor. The Schultzes arrived a couple hours later, and we opened the first of many bottles of wine to toast our trip.

Vino

For the next week we settled into a nice rhythm of wine drinking, eating, swimming and day tripping around Tuscany. We had outings to Pienza, San Gimignano and Sienna, each marked by a lazy pace, good food and plenty of gelato. In San Gimignano, we revisited the the Town Hall where Eric & Jen were married 10 years prior. And in Sienna, we toured the incredible duomo with it striped columns and stunning frescoes. We alternated our day trips with a couple of lazy days spent poolside with dinner prepared by a local cook who spoke zero English, but made delicious, authentic Tuscan meals of us. It was all terribly charming and privileged, and we’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Pienza

At the end of the week, we bid the Schultzes “arrivederci” as they headed north and we made our way south. We dropped off the rental car and embraced train travel for the rest of our trip. We arrived in Rome mid-day. After settling into our apartment in center of town, we showed the kids one of the best parts of any foreign trip: walking across the street and checking out all of the weird and awesome stuff in a local grocery store. I love the variety we have stateside, but we’re totally getting screwed on the price of pecorino and prosciutto.

Colosseum

We spent the next three days touring Rome: the Coloseum and Roman Forum, Vactican City, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Capiltolene Museum. We ate good food and took a twilight stroll through Trastevere and stared in awe at the Sistine Chapel and dodged speeding Vespas with each street crossing and had the rain chase us into the best damn burger shop this side of the Tiber.

Knick Knack Yoda del Papa

From Rome our journey continued to roll south, landing in Sorrento at the end of the line. Perched above the Bay of Naples and surrounded by lemon and orange groves, Sorrento was a great basecamp for the next four days of our trip and provided a view of Italy we hadn’t seen on previous trips. We spent a day at Pompeii, touring the dusty Roman ruins in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. Before we left for the trip, we read David Macaulay’s classic City, which provided helpful background on the construction of Roman cities and made sense of many of the details we saw.

Pompeii Baths

The following day was a different kind of adventure in Naples. Our goal was very simple: eat as much pizza as possible. We queued up for the legendary pies at Da Michele (which absolutely lived up to the hype) and promptly walked directly across the street to try a different style at Trianon. Two hours, five pizzas, zero regret. We wandered through the back alleys in a pizza induced stupor and escaped the heat with an underground tour of the city, which provided claustrophobia-inducing access to ancient greek quarries, roman aquifers and WWII bomb shelters.

Da Michele

On our final day, we ignored the conventional wisdom (take a bus or a boat or a box of dramamine) and instead rented a convertible to tour the Amalfi coast. We white-knuckled our way south along the serpentine coastline with stops in Positano and Amalfi, soaking up the dolce vita before our long journey home.

Positano

One of our goals with this trip—our first international destination with the kids—was to get them excited about travel. Months later, after the sweet taste of gelato had faded, we got a glimpse of encouragement. In parent-teacher conferences for both kids, given their choice of topics, both had completed class assignments about Italy: Autumn wrote about Pompeii, and Carson wrote about the centuries-old paper factory we visited in Amalfi. Our list of vacation dreams (the Pritchard Wanderlist) is full of curious and exotic destinations, but Italy will remain in heavy rotation. The food, the people, the history, and the art all provide such a rich and inviting experience, we see ourselves coming back for decades to come.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

BattleBots and a Big Surprise

April 30, 2016 by matt 2 Comments

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Season 1 of BattleBots was a summertime hit in our household last year. We try to limit the kids’ TV-time, but this celebration of creativity/industry/mayhem was perfect for a pair of geeks-in-training. The kids eagerly anticipated new episodes each week, debating the merits of each robot and constructing their own models in both Lego and cereal box formats. When Season 2 was announced, we started scheming how to get tickets to watch the filming in person. When we found out this season was being filmed in L.A. and not the Bay Area (like Season 1), we hesitated…for about 1 minute. We jumped on the site as soon as tickets were available and scored four tickets for two of the final rounds. We surprised the kids and told them at dinner the night before we left. We made the responsible choice and pulled the kids out of school on a Friday, hitting the road at 3:00 a.m. for the grind down I-5. We watched two days of epic live battles (no spoilers) at a studio near downtown L.A. along with 300 other robot combat fans. Watching the process of the show being filmed was almost as interesting as the battles themselves.

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After connecting with some old friends on Saturday night, we tucked the kids in late and packed our bags for the drive home. The kids didn’t notice when we got on I-5 southbound Sunday morning. Absorbed in their backseat activities, they didn’t notice as we pulled off the interstate 30 minutes later at Disneyland Drive and made our way through traffic past dozens of Mickey Mouse signs and billboards promoting the latest Main Street parade. It wasn’t until we were navigating through the parking garage and Jody handed them each their mouse ears that they realized what we were up to: surprise trip to Disneyland! The kids found their energy reserves and we clocked 20,000+ steps on the day. The full list of rides is below. We hit some favorites from our prior trip and discovered some new ones as well. We wrapped the day with an unexpected dinner at the Blue Bayou and a final journey down Splash Mountain. After changing into jammies in the parking garage, we were on the road by 8:00 p.m. and landed back in SF at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning, making it a tidy 72 hour adventure. Three hours of sleep and then  “Hello, Monday!” Epic weekend.

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Disneyland April 24, 2016

  • Finding Nemo Submarine
  • Astro Orbiter
  • Star Tours
  • It’s a Small World
  • Gadget’s Go Coaster (Toon Town)
  • Mickey’s House
  • Show: Mickey and the Magic Map
  • Show and Ice Cream Sundaes: The Golden Horseshoe
  • Thunder Mountain
  • Winnie the Pooh
  • Enchanted Tiki Room
  • Dinner at Blue Bayou
  • Splash Mountain

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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