Double the Fun

A wedding and then some...

   

   

   

We rarely get to enjoy a wedding in the Bay Area and when we do go to one it's mostly, always fancy (my fave). Jared and I got celebrate the marriage of his friend Hank and Gina. Jared met Hank climbing at Indian Rock about three years ago and they've climbed almost every week since. The wedding was at the Cordevalle resort in San Martin - it was beautiful with green covered hills and millions of humming birds. The ceremony was sweet and the bride and groom looked amazing. They served  brunch for the meal and pie to follow - that's only like the greatest combination of all time. It was great and we're so happy for them!

After the wedding we drove down to Capitola and spent some time on the beach. (We mostly slept because we stayed up the night before watching the Hobbit - sooo boring.) It was wonderful taking in that sea air and watching people make cabins out of beach wood. We dined at Pleasure Pizza, a local surf eatery, and later watched the surfers trying to catch any wave possible. It was such a nice day and so much fun.

p.s. Yes, why is there a picture of a sink? This may sound so whisky tango, but Cordevalle is extremely fancy and the bathrooms come with individual towels to dry your hands - no paper towels here. I thought it was so ritzy and had to take a pic. I'm seriously a mountain girl.

Oh how lovely...

Our Sunday walk turned into a Sunday hike,
but despite the rigorous incline, it was well worth the huffing and puffing.

   

   

   

The hike to Infinity Hill is laced with redwoods and blossoming buds. It's quiet and calm deep in the grove of trees and makes for a relaxing adventure in the Berkeley hills. Radiant beams and sunshine melted our winter hearts and the smell of the Golden Cassia swept us out of our dust-bunny daze. The view was marvelous, as always, and the best part is that there is only a low hum of sound from the cars way, way below. Simply glorious.

p.s. this itty-bitty caterpillar made it's way across the path and he was so irresistibly fuzzy - it's been forever since I've seen one of these!

It's Personal

Preface: Somehow this original post got deleted, but, like I wrote before, this post is basically about me taking a personal day - which I've never done before. It was amazing and I got to do whatever my heart desired, like...

   

   

   

   

I actually smelled the calla lilies on the way to breakfast, which I ate at 9;30am! On a Wednesday! I BARTed to the City and mosied in shops around Union Square for some jewelry finds. As lunch crept near, I  "got to" take the bus around the City and see my friend Britt. It was wonderful visiting with her and sharing stories and current events. I must give a shout out and say that she is graduating from law school this May and I couldn't be more proud. I lived with her for about a month when she was starting her first semester at USF and it made me so happy that we came full circle. After our lunch and pie/cake break (see Green Chile Kitchen/Chile Pies), I went back downtown and shopped some more. My last stop was Miette, at the Ferry Building, to pick up some macarons for my co-workers - I couldn't be completely self-indulgent and everyone loves a Miette macaron!

Though clouds appeared and rain dispersed, it was a great day to walk around the City and get all the stress from work out of my system. I'm lucky that I got to do/eat/see so many wonderful things in one day. It's so great to get a jolt to the system and have some fun amidst the drudgery of everyday working life. Here's to personal days everywhere - may they be spontaneous and full of joy!

p.s. two discoveries I made Wednesday, A) escalators give me motion sickness when I look at them going up or down (ugh), and B) SF buses have more crazies and smellies than Berkeley, which I never thought possible.

Crack'd Up

March in Yosemite:

  

    

We drove into the Upper Pines campsite around 11pm and was surrounded by the scent of smoke and  sleeping fires. I fell asleep in my zero degree bag and woke up to the crisp air of the Yosemite Valley. We started our climbing at Church Bowl and Jared led our first route, Uncle Fanny. It was a chimney turned crack - it was an excellent warm up climb. The next climb was a sustained lie back which was really fun and I actually breezed up to the top. We headed over to the Generator area and Jared tried out a 5.10d crack which he tamed after a second attempt. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for the off-width climb (upper-right), but promised we would be back to try our hand at the 5.10c crack.

Here's to another great weekend in Yosemite.

p.s. I sound all legit with the climbing jargon, but I'm not hardcore at all, okay. But, I do love the beauty of the Valley.

Times and Seasons

Ever since October I've had this wreath up as a pseudo shrine devoted to the fall season. Since the spring equinox is just a day or so away, I thought it might be time to lay to rest my creation.

It's hard to believe that time has flown.

  

Old Habits

It used to be that I was required to read certain books. Certain books like; Modern Political Thought, America's Mid-Life Crisis, or Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Like iffy set-up dates, I would never know if the books would be boring or a pleasure to get to know. This literature was all fine and well, but it made me realize that I forgot the books I liked to read for pure enjoyment. Since graduating college, I would get lost in the masses of books at my local library. So, I started using the NPR reading list as a guide. While that list is not too shabby, and led me to The Happiness Project, I still find myself searching for a good book. I browsed crickety, old book stores and fancy, leather couch book stores and picked a few with vivid covers and catchy titles, but those were simply mediocre. 

Then, I listened to the Bird and his lyrics of Fatal Shore spoke of the tragic reality of the unspoken, barely written, Australian history. It peaked my interest. Before I knew it the 603 page book, Fatal Shore, by Robert Hughes, was sitting on my couch waiting for my gaze and anticipation.  This will be a long bonding experience, but hopefully we will enjoy each others company.

So far, so good.

Hark!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbk3skrVOto&w=560&h=315]

'Cause if I went crazy, I sure hope it's the Bird's voice in my head that I hear.

Sea of Blue

Welcome to the weekend.

Have I ever mentioned that Point Reyes is my most favorite place on Earth? Honestly, if I could day-trip anywhere I would pick Point Reyes. There are the obvious reasons; amazing (sea) food, fresh produce and grilled cheese, small-town shops and local mom's and pop's,...and the deep blue sea.

The trail to Arch Rock is a mild one and, as I saw Saturday, many even don their Sperry's and khakis to make the four mile journey to the ocean. It's always amazing when you walk out of the forest and the view opens and you can see miles of blue. How miraculous it must have felt to discover the West and finally the Pacific. 

  

We stopped in Point Reyes Station for dinner and treated ourselves to the local catch and some hot chocolate. The town was peaceful and misty and smelled of wet and eucalyptus  - yet another reason to visit often.