One More Trip Over the Bridge

Yesterday started out like any other Saturday: slowly.  All I'd really accomplished was a run, some yoga, and a shower when around noon I received an invite to go stay with Justine over on Sausalito for the day.  Realizing this would most likely be my last trip over there, I threw some things in my trusty backpack and used my now fully-fledged public transportation skills to navigate my way across the bridge.

Justine's family just got two new King Charles puppies, and we spent the majority of the afternoon and evening cuddling, playing, and baby-talking with them.  For only being 12 weeks or so, they are very friendly and well-behaved little loves!

We did, of course, go out for dinner.  Another friend suggested checking out Sol Food, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Mill Valley.  I personally have never had Puerto Rican food before, but one look at the menu and I was sold.  I ended up getting a Cubano sandwich with fries and I can only describe it as spectacular.  It was juicy and flavorful, greasy enough to satisfy, but not unnecessarily so.  I would definitely go back any time I happen to be in Marin!

We ended the evening with some wine and Pellegrino and lime (I don't drink and just happen to have very thoughtful friends that know my alcohol-alternative drink of choice!) and chatted about life now, during school, and the upcoming year.  It's really hard to believe we've graduated and are all moving in different directions.  Justine is currently deciding between getting her Masters in Psychology at the University of Edinburgh and attending a ballet fellowship in Moscow.  Christine just signed a lease on her first solo apartment in the city and is currently working one of her dream jobs in a corporate hospitality office.  And in just three short weeks, I will be moving out of San Francisco for good, taking one last trip down to Southern California where I will begin law school in the middle of August.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that time moves incredibly quickly and that I encourage everyone to really make the most of what time you have.  Hang out with friends, explore the places around you, take pictures, laugh lots, and always eat what sounds good.  Because even though I know I will be back in the Bay Area for a visit before I know it, I still can't believe I'm leaving it and these lovely ladies behind.

And I'm really going to miss it.

Weekend Skies

Iook a quick trip to the de Young Museum this weekend to see The Girl With the Pearl Earring show. It was absolutely amazing, and if you live in San Francisco I highly recommend checking it out before it leaves!

Of course, the art wasn't the only beautiful thing that day.

Happy Monday, everyone.

A Tiny Documentary

It's been an incredibly wet weekend here in the city, and thus I've had no excuse to keep me from actually getting some work done.  That being said, surprising productivity during the day has given me plenty of time for a little relaxing at night.  Last night, I watched this very interesting documentary on tiny houses in the U.S. and around the world.  As a petite person myself (and veteran of two years of dorm living), I am fascinated by living in small spaces and cannot believe the ingenious things that some of the featured homeowners came up with to maximize coziness and efficiency!

Enjoy, and stay dry and warm everyone!

Back to Haight

When wondering what I was going to do with my afternoon, I realized that I hadn't been to Haight Street in a while.  So I took a walk in the sun, enjoying the always eclectic crowd as I headed to Mendel's Craft Store. I was completely surprised to find it jam packed with other college students, all buying some finishing touches for their Halloween costumes.

Now I know for sure that I'm not embarrassed to buy knitting supplies in front of other people my age!

 I managed to limit myself to only these two skeins of Lion's Pride Wool Ease Yarn, and I have big plans for them!  I bought this highly suggested Vogue Stichionary a couple of weeks ago, and I plan on going through it and knitting little squares of each and every stitch in the book.  I'm hoping that after I've finished going through the book, I can crochet the squares together in a sort of variation of the granny-square blanket.

I finished up my jont among the hippies and excited college students with a Chicken Pesto Panini at the little shop called Panini.  My friends and I discovered this place our freshman year and it was great to finally satisfy a serious craving.

My plans for this Halloween weekend?  Keeping happy and keeping busy - more specifically on a lit essay for next week.  Anyone doing anything more exciting?

Dew Tour San Francisco

After a cold and rainy Friday, today was an absolutely beautiful San Francisco Saturday.  But before I get into that, I want to talk about something that I don't particularly like to: feelings.

I've been feeling a little, well, off lately.  I'm having a hard time articulating what I'm feeling, but all I know is something's not quite the same with me.  Maybe I'm feeling a bit lame for not going abroad like all my friends this year, maybe I'm actually lonely without knowing it, maybe I'm just feeling a little pathetic that I never get around to doing as much as I would like to.  Whatever the reason, this morning was a hard one, even after talking with one of my best friends from Paris.  Luckily, my ever-patient mother was able to talk some sense into me after a long phone call.

She reminded me that while sitting around and moping is bad, getting out there and doing something is good.  It's always worked for me before, whether it was just going to the store for a quick errand or spending the day out and about.

So in this spirit, I headed to Civic Center Plaza to check out the 2012 Dew Tour.  For those of you who don't know what this is, well, the best way I can explain it is that it's a low-key extreme sports competition.  There's skateboarding, BMX, concerts, and lots of products and companies to check out.  I'd always managed to catch it on TV before, but decided to take the opportunity of actually being in the same city to go see it in person.  Unfortunately, I missed the skateboarding for the day (darn), but I got to catch the end of the BMX competition.

The free viewing definitely could have been set up better, but it was still pretty cool to get so close to the action.  And best of all, it cured my blues for the day.

For those of you living in or visiting San Fran, I would highly suggest checking the Dew Tour out.  Tomorrow's the last day!

Day of Rest

Weekend Train Ride

Hello, friends.  I cannot believe that it has been so long since I last wrote.  It's actually kind of funny, because when I originally decided to do that 30 Day Drawing Challenge, I thought it would be a good way to revitalize this blog and get me back in the swing of posting regularly.

What I didn't expect was that I would completely use up all of my creative juices for nearly a month.

But now I am back with a fun story of my weekend.  On Saturday, Justine and I braved the rain and wind and took a trip south to Stanford.  I needed to visit the Cantor Arts Center to write a report about their Rodin collection.  I knew that I was going to see some amazing art...

But what I didn't expect was that the journey would be the best part!  This was my first trip on CalTrain, and I was amazed at how easy it was.  Justine and I decided to sit on the upper level, and I can only describe the entire trip as filled with lively music in my headphones and beautiful scenery outside.  Palo Alto itself is a beautiful city, and as Justine had lived there recently, she showed me around.  It was an amazing adventure of a day, filled with sculpture, palm trees, gelato, playgrounds, and wind!

Can't you feel the wind?  In other news, I have finally managed to break my countless-month-long writer's block, and am currently in the process of crafting a young adult novel, partly inspired by the amazing Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  That woman is a genius.  Look for a combined book and movie review soon.

Thanks for sticking with me everyone!

Home for the Holidays

Well, I made it through the first semester of my sophomore year!  I flew home on Friday, and have been enjoying (slightly) warmer and sunnier weather.  Christmas preparations are well under way: tree and house decorating, menu planning, last minute shopping, and choir practices.  And, before it gets too late, I thought I would share some pictures from my last couple weeks in San Francisco, exploring the docks of Sausalito.

Wishing you wonderful holiday preparations.

Little Ladies in the Kitchen

This past Friday, I took another trip to Sausalito with Justine, to surprise her dad with dinner.  We battled the wind and rain to get there, and when we did, immediately took over the kitchen.

The cupcakes were amazing, especially after we added homemade cream cheese frosting!  And aside from a slight mishap with the chicken, our dinner plans went well, too.  I now know not only to double check the date on meat before you buy it, but also to bring a cooler-bag if you plan on taking said meat on an hour long jaunt from city to city.  That's what college is about, right?  Learning from experience?

Wishing you a good week, friends.  Look for more food pictures as Thanksgiving approaches!

Hello Again, San Fran

Hello, friends. Yes, it's true, I'm back in the city by the bay.

My dad, brother and I drove up yesterday with the dogs, and my mom is flying into town to meet us tomorrow.  Classes start Tuesday and I move in this weekend, but until then we're crashing at my grandparent's house.

This morning, we decided to take a little walk into the Presidio, which can be conveniently accessed through the park a block away from my grandparent's house. Once walking, however, it turned into a four mile hike (yes, with my very little dogs) to a lookout point over Crissy Fields. It was perfect weather for a hike, and overall very beautiful. Although I'm a little reluctant to let go of summer and my SoCal living situation, I have to admit I'm glad to be back.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Positivity

Happy weekend, everyone! The past couple of days or so have been a blur of fun, sun, and relaxing. San Francisco experienced a slightly heat wave (or maybe it was just a rise in temperatures) last week, and as such my friends and I spent every possible second outside. We even donned our bathing suits and trekked to Golden Gate Park (which is much closer than the beach) for a little bit of tanning. While there,  Justine and I decided to romp around in the vegetation, and it left me feeling invigorated and alive! Nature tends to do that for me. 

Last night, the campus hosted a small concert of mostly "indie bands" in one of our gyms. I decided to actually do something on a Friday night and go with a small group of my friends. It turns out that the concert had started at four o'clock that afternoon, and we had missed the majority of it. Luckily, we made it just in time for the headlining group Augustana to perform. After experiencing their attractiveness and great music for myself, I would definitely recommend checking out their new album. I know I plan to download it!

So, I'm sure some of you are wondering about the title of this post. Being out in the sun has not only made me tanner, but it has altered my mentality on life slightly. I couldn't believe how much happier I was getting off campus and being in the park for just a few hours. Combining this with my thoughts about Lent (the liturgical season that the Catholic Church is currently in), I decided that I needed to make some positive changes in my living habits. This means wasting as little time as possible and actually being productive when I do work. I also plan on getting up a bit earlier to go on a walk at least a couple times a week. I did it today, and I've been much more energetic and happy. See, positive change!

Is there anything you can do/change to make your life more positive?

Breakfast in Heaven

I must live among the nerdiest people on campus, because we spent practically the entire long weekend studying! Our one brief respite was to go to breakfast on Sunday. We walked down Cole to visit La Boulange, a little French bakery chain that we've become quite fond of. They have amazing food, and it's just a cute place to sit and talk for a while. Just talking about it makes me want to go again!

On a completely separate note, my friend has been working on some songs, and I can't stop listening to them. Check him out!

Amazing Food Find!

What a weekend!

Not only was it sunny this weekend, but it was also warm enough to take a blanket and sit out on the grass. It definitely made my seemingly endless amount of reading easier to stand.

In other news, I have a confession to make: I am a panini addict! My friends and I have found this amazing panini shop on Haight Street, and that's basically what we ate all weekend! Check it out if you're in the neighborhood. Trust me, you'll love it!

Have a great week, everybody!

Welcome, 2011!

Whoever thought up paper grocery bags without handles was an idiot. I know this sounds random, but bear with me for a second. Why would a bag that is supposed to be carrying milk, eggs, produce, and the like not have handles? Keep in mind that these are all things that generally people do not want to drop and have spill all over the floor, which is typically what happens when one is carrying (or trying to carry) three handle-less bags.

My family generally tries to bring our own reusable bags to the grocery store, but on occasion we forget. Today just happened to be one of those days, and add rain to the situation and the dumb paper bags didn't stand a chance. Luckily, they didn't rip until we were already inside the house.

Anyways, I hope you all had a great New Years. It was rather sunny yesterday, so my family and I (being the non-traditionalists that we are) spent the day at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was a nice drive up, with few cars on the road, classic rock, and enough sunshine to satisfy everyone. We beat the crowds to the Aquarium, and were leaving by the time the rest of the world decided to show up.

The sea horses have always been my favorite part of the Aquarium, but my little cousin (who we had with us) was more fond of the sharks and sting rays, as he could actually touch them. This car, while obviously not on display at the Aquarium, was one of the many gorgeous old cars we saw while driving along the coast.

It's 2011, folks! Let's make it worth something!

The Final Haul

Well, I've certainly gotten terrible at updating, haven't I? I didn't even get to do a Thanksgiving post! And here we are, in the last few days of my first semester here in San Francisco. I'm lucky enough to only have one final, so I have been able to do a bit of exploring with my friends. On Friday, for example, we took a trip to Union Square to see the Christmas decorations.

They had up a Christmas tree and a little ice rink. We got hot drinks and watched people skate before going over to Macy's to ogle at the live kittens and puppies that they were displaying in the window. There were so many people rushing from store to store, so many lights, and so many billboards displaying present options.

Justine was successful in finding a present for her aunt: this naval nutcracker!

And our friend Cassie, who is a serious cook, was delighted when we found this gigantic gingerbread house. All in all, it was a successful trip.

Although classes ended last Wednesday, I have been very busy trying to find time to go out and explore the city while also completing all of my required essays. People have been slowly trickling out of the dorm, and the floor is beginning to feel more and more deserted every day. I am now so used to having people around me constantly that it is difficult for me to comprehend that I will not be seeing them for six whole weeks! I have a physics final on Wednesday, and less than an hour later I will be on my way to the airport. With any luck, I will write the next update from the comfort of my own living room, while enjoying a steady internet connection.

But first thing's first: have to conquer my final!