i swear I'm alive. go figure my last quarter of college ever would be the most time consuming (so much homework, and my classes aren't even challenging...yet). In the minimal amounts of free time that I've scraped up in the 5 weeks since it started, I've attempted to write posts but I'm so braindead it all turns out incoherent and ridiculous. And now I have just emerged from listening to 6 hours of research presentations over the past 3 days in my engineering writing class, bored to tears. I admit it allowed for much daydreaming because forgetful little me managed to forget to bring things to do each day. I can't help but think of when my next adventure will begin.
For now my inspiration is still stuck on NOLA. Treme is so brilliant and heartbreaking. I need some good food, mesmerizing music and some down and dirty housebuilding in my life.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Cannery Row
Fiance and I decided to finish off spring break with our own little mini vacation.
Partially to celebrate our engagement in style, and to celebrate his decent sized tax return we decided to hit one of our favorite places, Monterey. It's roughly halfway between Sacramento and LA along the central coast. We stopped there last year over spring break for lunch but this time we decided to stay the night and check out the aquarium. We found a darling little Bed and Breakfast, called Centrella Inn.
It was about a mile and a half south of the aquarium and had great prices including an aquarium package. We arrived early and planned to pick up the tickets and check in later but the hostess was so helpful. She showed us the room (standard small hotel type room) and then offered to upgrade us (for $50) to one of their little cottages. She showed us the cottage and Fiance was sold (possibly on the TV? hehe). It was so cute, around the back through a lovely garden:
It was very spacious, with a living room, sitting area, wetbar, bedroom and bathroom with clawfoot tub and the place was filled with antiques.
It had a private entrance from the street, where the ocean was only a couple blocks away!
There is a walking/biking path that goes right along the coastline into Cannery Row. If you walk straight down the street above you hit the beginning of the path. At the end of this street was a little Cafe/Grill above a small beach. We stopped here for lunch and watched many albatross, scuba divers and swimmers come through. After hot dogs and BLTs we headed up the 1.5 mile path, and it was beautiful:
It was surprisingly warm for Monterey, in the 70s with not a cloud in the sky and it never got foggy. We hit the aquarium next:
Those otters were so fun! the two of them were fighting like crazy over that red ball thing. Fiance loved the penguins best. It was insanely crowded though, since we were there on Saturday. Too many strollers!
We walked around cannery row a bit and then headed back to Centrella for afternoon complimentary wine and hors d'oeurves! They offered local red or white with cheeses and crackers, olives, fruit, veggies and dip. Yum! Then we went back to the room to hang out for little, before getting dressed up to go to dinner. We are creatures of habit and had to go to our favorite, Bubba Gump's. It's designed after Bubba Gump Shrimp from Forrest Gump. They have tons of fresh seafood, tropical beverages and plenty of forrest gump trivia. So fun. Fiance got his standard All-American Burger and I got the Pear & Berry Salad with chicken, pecans and feta. I've been to the Monterey, Santa Monica and Maui ones, it's that good! We walked around a bit after, though it started to get cold so we went back and relaxed on the couch watching TV and shows on our laptop with the free wireless.
Complimentary Breakfast in the morning, and not just continental. They had cereals, pastries and fruit on a buffet and then you could choose from a menu one hot item each. I went for the Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and Fiance got the scrambled eggs and country potatoes. So delicious! They also had tea, coffee, OJ and AMAZING infused ice water. They put cucumber slices, lemon and mint leaves in the water dispenser. So wonderfully refreshing, I can't wait to try that this summer.
It was a very relaxing, quaint and delicious mini vacation! Monterey is definitely one of my favorite little escapes.
It had a private entrance from the street, where the ocean was only a couple blocks away!
We walked around cannery row a bit and then headed back to Centrella for afternoon complimentary wine and hors d'oeurves! They offered local red or white with cheeses and crackers, olives, fruit, veggies and dip. Yum! Then we went back to the room to hang out for little, before getting dressed up to go to dinner. We are creatures of habit and had to go to our favorite, Bubba Gump's. It's designed after Bubba Gump Shrimp from Forrest Gump. They have tons of fresh seafood, tropical beverages and plenty of forrest gump trivia. So fun. Fiance got his standard All-American Burger and I got the Pear & Berry Salad with chicken, pecans and feta. I've been to the Monterey, Santa Monica and Maui ones, it's that good! We walked around a bit after, though it started to get cold so we went back and relaxed on the couch watching TV and shows on our laptop with the free wireless.
Complimentary Breakfast in the morning, and not just continental. They had cereals, pastries and fruit on a buffet and then you could choose from a menu one hot item each. I went for the Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and Fiance got the scrambled eggs and country potatoes. So delicious! They also had tea, coffee, OJ and AMAZING infused ice water. They put cucumber slices, lemon and mint leaves in the water dispenser. So wonderfully refreshing, I can't wait to try that this summer.
It was a very relaxing, quaint and delicious mini vacation! Monterey is definitely one of my favorite little escapes.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
future travels
So just a brief update, Fiance and I have officially decided where we're going for our honeymoon. Due to some amazing family members our scope of travel is beyond what ever thought would be possible. I'll provide more details later but let's just say the location is beautiful, pristine, relaxing and requires passports, airplanes and ferries, but not even half a day's worth of travel. So excited!!!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
explosions
Last night we celebrated my friend's birthday. And we did so with a fabulous, free, well-kept orange county secret. We tailgated in the Sheraton parking lot in Anaheim with a perfect view of the Disneyland fireworks. It was so fun! The fireworks start at 9:25 pm, you want to be on the side of the parking lot that faces Ball Road. It lasts for about 20 minutes. We had lots of snacks and chatted with new friends. The gate for the parking lot was open too so we didn't have to pay. Yay for creativity and good friends.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
foodie
I might declare a New Orleans week, because the ideas just keep on coming.
You may know from past posts that I love food. I follow quite a few food blogs, one of which is Iowa Girl Eats. She's super sweet, and focuses on eating healthy and exercising but definitely isn't afraid to indulge as well.
She and her husband just ate their way through New Orleans and her four part post has me drooling.
Part 1 - Cafe Du Monde and Bourbon Street
Part 2 - The Garden District
Part 3 - Plantation Tour
Part 4 - Emeril's NOLA restaurant
You may know from past posts that I love food. I follow quite a few food blogs, one of which is Iowa Girl Eats. She's super sweet, and focuses on eating healthy and exercising but definitely isn't afraid to indulge as well.
She and her husband just ate their way through New Orleans and her four part post has me drooling.
Part 1 - Cafe Du Monde and Bourbon Street
Part 2 - The Garden District
Part 3 - Plantation Tour
Part 4 - Emeril's NOLA restaurant
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
NOLA
Have you seen HBO's "The Wire"? It's a show about Baltimore cops, written by Baltimore cops. Fiance watched it, because his dad watched it (his dad is a sheriff) and now is making me watch it. And it is quite good. very real.
Anyways, the creators have made a new show. It's called "Treme" and it's about musicians in New Orleans. The show begins three months after Hurricane Katrina hit. It has a few of the same actors from the wire, plus other likes steve zahn and john goodman. I'm so excited to watch it.
a) I love Jazz Music
b) I worked with St. Bernard Project this past summer, helping send volunteer groups to NOLA to rebuild homes
c) NOLA has been creeping up my must-see travel list. It's roughly top five. (one of these days I will actually create a list, for now it is in my busy, forgetful, stressed out brain)
d) I also love john goodman
The show will definitely break my heart a bit. I feel, deeply, about stuff like this. But it's a topic that definitely needs some light, because it's been almost 5 years since the hurricane and from what I heard from people who went out there, progress is minimal. A few people have been going back every year since the hurricane and they say that there are still entire blocks with abandoned homes marked up by rescue workers (searching for dead bodies). There are still big areas with no functioning street lights. abandoned businesses. And a lot of people are still living in miserable FEMA trailers. They feel like the rest of the country/world has forgotten about them and moved onto other issues.
The show starts Sunday, April 11. 10 pm. Since I live in the stone age and don't have HBO I'll have to stream it later. But this is one TV show that will not be a waste of your life.
Anyways, the creators have made a new show. It's called "Treme" and it's about musicians in New Orleans. The show begins three months after Hurricane Katrina hit. It has a few of the same actors from the wire, plus other likes steve zahn and john goodman. I'm so excited to watch it.
a) I love Jazz Music
b) I worked with St. Bernard Project this past summer, helping send volunteer groups to NOLA to rebuild homes
c) NOLA has been creeping up my must-see travel list. It's roughly top five. (one of these days I will actually create a list, for now it is in my busy, forgetful, stressed out brain)
d) I also love john goodman
The show will definitely break my heart a bit. I feel, deeply, about stuff like this. But it's a topic that definitely needs some light, because it's been almost 5 years since the hurricane and from what I heard from people who went out there, progress is minimal. A few people have been going back every year since the hurricane and they say that there are still entire blocks with abandoned homes marked up by rescue workers (searching for dead bodies). There are still big areas with no functioning street lights. abandoned businesses. And a lot of people are still living in miserable FEMA trailers. They feel like the rest of the country/world has forgotten about them and moved onto other issues.
The show starts Sunday, April 11. 10 pm. Since I live in the stone age and don't have HBO I'll have to stream it later. But this is one TV show that will not be a waste of your life.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Literary journeys
another great travel option for the broke:
Google Lit Trips!
I like to read books for escapism. This takes it to the next level by mapping out key locations and/or journeys that take place in works of literature. Then each location has a note about what happened there in the book.
They have books like Cormac McCarthy's "The Road", Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" and Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner". You just click on the .kmz file, choose to open the file with google earth and off you go! Such a great way to get into the author's head and visualize these places.
Google Lit Trips!
I like to read books for escapism. This takes it to the next level by mapping out key locations and/or journeys that take place in works of literature. Then each location has a note about what happened there in the book.
They have books like Cormac McCarthy's "The Road", Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" and Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner". You just click on the .kmz file, choose to open the file with google earth and off you go! Such a great way to get into the author's head and visualize these places.
Monday, April 5, 2010
el dorado county
this is my last quarter of college (yay!) but it's not going to be an easy one, so I may be taking an extended hiatus.
But I wanted to share a little adventure I went on with my dad while I was home for spring break.
I grew up in very close proximity to some really great little towns. I may not have appreciated it very much in high school, but I definitely do now.
First we drove through Coloma. Which if you went to 4th grade in California, you'll know that it is where gold was first discovered in the state and started the whole gold rush madness. A lot of the area has been preserved to it's original aesthetics. It's a state park and during the summer is teeming with tourists. It's right on the American river, so you get lots of white water rafters and kayakers coming through. There's campgrounds. There's an old general store, museum and even historical reenactors that dress and do things like work in the blacksmith shop. You can still go gold panning, you might find some small gold flakes, don't get too excited, it's worth next to nothing, but still fun. There's also a lot of native american heritage in the area like an old grinding stone. I spent quite a few summers volunteering as a camp counselor at their nature conservancy center.
Then we were off to Main Street, Placerville. Another gold rush town, also known as "hangtown" because they used to, well hang people there. The main street is always busy and full of little antique shops, coffee shops, ice cream, used books, flowers and more. We stopped in to Winterhill, which features specialty olive oils! After taste testing, we ended up purchasing a Persian Lime Olive Oil, it's not just infused, the limes are actually pressed with the olives so you get a really full flavor. Excellent on sea food! Also a wine-lavender jelly. It is to die for, the flavor is very refreshing, not floral at all.
Then Z Pie for lunch. Gourmet pot pies. So delicious. I was too busy eating to even take a picture. I got Turkey, which was like a baked Thanksgiving dinner. It had turkey, mashed potatoes, onions, gravy, garlic, sage, parsley, thyme and cranberries! mmmm. Dad got the chicken and mushroom: chicken, potatoes, onion, bell pepper, sherry wine, white and portobello mushrooms, peas, parsley, garlic and thyme. My favorite remains the steak and cabernet though: beef, potatoes, onion, cabernet wine, peas, flour, beef broth, olive oil, lemon juice, thyme and bay leaf. We even bought half a dozen frozen ones to go, they're super easy to heat up at home. If you're ever in the area, Z Pie is a must! I'm craving it already.
From there it is just a hop, skip and jump over to Apple Hill. An area full of orchards and farms famous for their apples of course. The freeway backs up in the fall due to people trying to get some of the harvest. You don't know apple juice until you've had freshly squeezed, straight from the orchard apple juice. The closest I've found is the "Simply" brand. Apple pies, apple fritters, every kind of apple you can possibly imagine, caramel apples, and my personal favorite, apple doughnuts.
In the springtime though, things are pretty low key, all the apple trees are blossoming. Super pretty, and totally killed me allergy-wise. But we were there to visit one of a few wineries for my first wine tasting! My dad picked Lava Cap Winery. They have won hundreds of awards for their wines. The tasting was complimentary! We tried:
Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - tangerine and citrus flavors with sweet vanilla (so good! we ended up buying 2 bottles)
Chardonnay Reserve 2008 - notes of green apple, pear, lime and cantalope
Merlot Reserve 2006 - notes of raspberry and chocolate
Zinfandel Reserve 2006 - Extraordinarily intense berry and spice flavors
Muscat Canelli 2008 - smooth honeysuckle, apple, pear, lime and pineapple (semi-sweet wine)
All descriptions taken from the tasting sheet, my palette is definitely not this refined yet! But the flavors were definitely all distinct and I liked them all.
Our sommelier also had us try their "Rocky Draw Zinfandel 2006" which the owners play around with each year. This particular vintage has noted of raspberry, mint, anise and spice. Very good. Bought some fudge made with it! I can't wait to do more wine tasting!
But I wanted to share a little adventure I went on with my dad while I was home for spring break.
I grew up in very close proximity to some really great little towns. I may not have appreciated it very much in high school, but I definitely do now.
First we drove through Coloma. Which if you went to 4th grade in California, you'll know that it is where gold was first discovered in the state and started the whole gold rush madness. A lot of the area has been preserved to it's original aesthetics. It's a state park and during the summer is teeming with tourists. It's right on the American river, so you get lots of white water rafters and kayakers coming through. There's campgrounds. There's an old general store, museum and even historical reenactors that dress and do things like work in the blacksmith shop. You can still go gold panning, you might find some small gold flakes, don't get too excited, it's worth next to nothing, but still fun. There's also a lot of native american heritage in the area like an old grinding stone. I spent quite a few summers volunteering as a camp counselor at their nature conservancy center.
Then we were off to Main Street, Placerville. Another gold rush town, also known as "hangtown" because they used to, well hang people there. The main street is always busy and full of little antique shops, coffee shops, ice cream, used books, flowers and more. We stopped in to Winterhill, which features specialty olive oils! After taste testing, we ended up purchasing a Persian Lime Olive Oil, it's not just infused, the limes are actually pressed with the olives so you get a really full flavor. Excellent on sea food! Also a wine-lavender jelly. It is to die for, the flavor is very refreshing, not floral at all.
Then Z Pie for lunch. Gourmet pot pies. So delicious. I was too busy eating to even take a picture. I got Turkey, which was like a baked Thanksgiving dinner. It had turkey, mashed potatoes, onions, gravy, garlic, sage, parsley, thyme and cranberries! mmmm. Dad got the chicken and mushroom: chicken, potatoes, onion, bell pepper, sherry wine, white and portobello mushrooms, peas, parsley, garlic and thyme. My favorite remains the steak and cabernet though: beef, potatoes, onion, cabernet wine, peas, flour, beef broth, olive oil, lemon juice, thyme and bay leaf. We even bought half a dozen frozen ones to go, they're super easy to heat up at home. If you're ever in the area, Z Pie is a must! I'm craving it already.
From there it is just a hop, skip and jump over to Apple Hill. An area full of orchards and farms famous for their apples of course. The freeway backs up in the fall due to people trying to get some of the harvest. You don't know apple juice until you've had freshly squeezed, straight from the orchard apple juice. The closest I've found is the "Simply" brand. Apple pies, apple fritters, every kind of apple you can possibly imagine, caramel apples, and my personal favorite, apple doughnuts.
In the springtime though, things are pretty low key, all the apple trees are blossoming. Super pretty, and totally killed me allergy-wise. But we were there to visit one of a few wineries for my first wine tasting! My dad picked Lava Cap Winery. They have won hundreds of awards for their wines. The tasting was complimentary! We tried:
Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - tangerine and citrus flavors with sweet vanilla (so good! we ended up buying 2 bottles)
Chardonnay Reserve 2008 - notes of green apple, pear, lime and cantalope
Merlot Reserve 2006 - notes of raspberry and chocolate
Zinfandel Reserve 2006 - Extraordinarily intense berry and spice flavors
Muscat Canelli 2008 - smooth honeysuckle, apple, pear, lime and pineapple (semi-sweet wine)
All descriptions taken from the tasting sheet, my palette is definitely not this refined yet! But the flavors were definitely all distinct and I liked them all.
Our sommelier also had us try their "Rocky Draw Zinfandel 2006" which the owners play around with each year. This particular vintage has noted of raspberry, mint, anise and spice. Very good. Bought some fudge made with it! I can't wait to do more wine tasting!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
dreams
i'm still alive. just trudging through school. about to start my second to last finals week. desperately searching for non-existent jobs.
until my glorious road trip home for spring break:
1) seeking destination for use of my free round trip flight with southwest. it expires in july. unfortunately all my friends are too poor to purchase a ticket to accompany me and I can't really afford a hotel anyway. hmmm.
2) brilliant words about experiencing life help me get through the days i spend holed up in my room studying.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness"
- Mark Twain
“she said she usually cried at least once each day
not because she was sad,
but because the world was so beautiful
and life was so short.”
- Brian Andreas
"All Paris was spread out at his feet, with her thousand turrets, her undulating horizon, her river winding under the bridges, her stream of people flowing to and fro in the streets; with the cloud of smoke rising from her many chimneys; wither her chain of crested roofs pressing in ever tightening coils round Notre Dame."
-Victor Hugo
"Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, the loss of a job... And onward full tilt we go, pitched and wrecked and absurdly resolute, driven in spite of everything to make good on a new shore. To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another - that is surely the basic instinct... Crying out: High tide! Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is."
-Barbara Kingsolver, High Tide in Tucson
"And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in."
-American Beauty
"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."
-Leonardo da Vinci
“if you are lucky enough to have lived in paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for paris is a moveable feast.”
–ernest hemingway
"Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers through speech, life, love, faith, and purity."
-1 Timothy 4:12
"Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!" - dom perignon, at the moment he discovered champagne
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."
-Edward Everett Hale
"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
until my glorious road trip home for spring break:
1) seeking destination for use of my free round trip flight with southwest. it expires in july. unfortunately all my friends are too poor to purchase a ticket to accompany me and I can't really afford a hotel anyway. hmmm.
2) brilliant words about experiencing life help me get through the days i spend holed up in my room studying.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness"
- Mark Twain
“she said she usually cried at least once each day
not because she was sad,
but because the world was so beautiful
and life was so short.”
- Brian Andreas
"All Paris was spread out at his feet, with her thousand turrets, her undulating horizon, her river winding under the bridges, her stream of people flowing to and fro in the streets; with the cloud of smoke rising from her many chimneys; wither her chain of crested roofs pressing in ever tightening coils round Notre Dame."
-Victor Hugo
"Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, the loss of a job... And onward full tilt we go, pitched and wrecked and absurdly resolute, driven in spite of everything to make good on a new shore. To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another - that is surely the basic instinct... Crying out: High tide! Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is."
-Barbara Kingsolver, High Tide in Tucson
"And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in."
-American Beauty
"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."
-Leonardo da Vinci
“if you are lucky enough to have lived in paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for paris is a moveable feast.”
–ernest hemingway
"Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers through speech, life, love, faith, and purity."
-1 Timothy 4:12
"Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!" - dom perignon, at the moment he discovered champagne
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."
-Edward Everett Hale
"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
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