lifestyle blog – Page 2

New Year, Old Traditions

Growing up I spent a handful of New Year’s in Rio de Janiero on Copacabana beach, where my mom is originally from. Brazilian tradition involves wearing all white on New Year’s Eve to symbolize peace and renewal. It also includes putting flowers into the ocean as a gift to the goddess of the sea & to bring good luck into the new year. These traditions date back to the 1500’s. Ever since I’ve lived in San Francisco I’ve made it a point to take advantage of my close proximity to the ocean & walk out into the water on new years. There’s something so peaceful about going to the beach & thinking about the whole year to come.

I’ve spent the past five new years working in the ER. I always choose to work NYE for a few reasons: 1. it’s endlessly entertaining in the ER 2. I love my coworkers & we bring a ton of food & decorations & have lots of fun 3. I want to have Christmas off so I always volunteer to work on NYE.

Turning the page on 2017 & going into 2018 is so exciting. 2017 was filled with so many wonderful memories. We spent an incredible two weeks exploring Spain & Portugal, we enjoyed SF Giants spring training in Scottsdale for my birthday, we saw friends get married, camped in Timber Cove, found out in late summer we’d be having a baby & so much more! I’m excited & anxious for the year to come, I know it will be our biggest one yet! With everything on the horizon, it feels good to lean on old traditions. Even though this past weekend I’ve been combating a terrible head cold while working 11 hour nights I’m so glad we made a point to get to the beach & throw our flowers in the water. I can’t wait to do it next year with our baby in tow.

Happy New Year! I’d love to hear what some of your New Year traditions are, leave them in the comments below.

Christmas Time & 22 Weeks

I can’t believe Christmas is upon us! We are leaving today to spend Christmas in Austin with Chris’ family. Even though we won’t be spending Christmas day at home we decided to get a tree anyway. I love how festive it makes the house look. I feel like I blinked & autumn disappeared. This Christmas feels extra special since it’s our last one before baby arrives. This week I hit the 22 week mark & I feel like each morning I wake up & my bump is bigger than the night before. I told Chris I definitely wanted to get some bump pictures in front of our gorgeous tree & I’m so glad we did. I feel like I’ll always look back on these & remember this in-between time of life, waiting for our new family member. We started feeling baby from the outside now & it’s so crazy! I’m excited for a getaway to Austin. It’ll be nice to just have some downtime with family. I’ve already compiled my list of places I want to eat while we’re there. Once we’re back in San Francisco I know it’ll be go go go. I’ll be working a bunch in January & we have a few trips planned & some serious nursery work to do!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Xoxo

Ocean Beach Adventures

^^ no one can throw driftwood for the dog like Chris can 🙂

This weekend we changed up our normal beach routine, instead of heading over to Baker Beach, we decided to venture a little further & hit up Ocean Beach. Baker is super close to our apartment & has sweeping views of the Golden Gate so it’s our usual go-to. The weather this weekend was SO beautiful that we knew Baker Beach would be saturated with tourists and locals alike so we decided to try & find a spot with a little more room for Juno to run around. We went to the south end of beach & it ended up being perfect! I think spring may have finally sprung in San Francisco & hopefully we’re past all the non stop rain. All this warm weather & sunshine makes me so happy & excited for summer! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Carmel By The Sea

^French 75’s by fire light!

This past weekend we celebrated Chris’ 31st birthday in Carmel, if this sounds familiar it is, last year for Chris’ 30th we splurged and stayed at Carmel Valley Ranch, which was wonderful but this year we decided we wanted to spend more time in Carmel proper. This seaside town is so quaint, filled with little cobblestone alley ways, italian eateries & wine pours as far as the eye can see. There are no street numbers in Carmel, so all the places just say what street they’re on and which streets they’re in between. We stayed at The Hideaway which is located right in the heart of Carmel. Everything, including the beach was walking distance. One of the best parts about Carmel is how dog friendly it is! We brought Juno along on this trip & it was a blast. She has so much fun roaming around new places & on Saturday she swam in the ocean for almost two hours. So many restaurants let you bring your dog and have them lay on the ground next to you & you can find dog friendly shops, and even wine tasting rooms. We got to Carmel on Friday afternoon & just enjoyed walking around and exploring. Our hotel offered a complimentary happy hour with wine & light snacks. So we sat in the courtyard and just enjoyed the fire pit & some free wine (score!). Saturday morning we got up early and headed to the beach. Carmel Beach is one of the few truly dog friendly beaches that allows you to have your dog off leash. So needless to say Juno was in HEAVEN, as I’m sure you can tell by the photos. After the beach we made it our mission to end up back in the same serene courtyard we found the first time we visited. Sure enough we were able to locate it & we sat outside enjoying the awesome weather. Next up we took a quick nap & then headed back to the complimentary happy hour. Finally we ended our evening with a super romantic dinner at Casanova. We ate at this place last year, but unfortunately I was ill at dinner & really couldn’t enjoy my food, however I am pleased to report that it completely lived up to the hype and might be my favorite restaurant in carmel!! Anyways hope everyone had an awesome weekend, I know I’m already dreaming of being back at this little seaside escape.

Hog Island Oysters

^^ 8 miles & 100 Flights of stairs with my adventure girl.

^^ Gorgeous hiking through the redwoods.

Yesterday a group of us ventured to Marin & hiked Bass Lake & then stopped for lunch at Hog Island Oyster co. For years I’ve heard all about this iconic stop along highway 1. We purposefully went on a Monday to avoid the weekend crowds. We chose to shuck our own oysters, which is no easy feat! Hog Island provides the tools, & different garnishes for the oysters & you’re free to bring bbq gear, and outside food and drink. I hands down must recommend the BBQ oysters that they cook up and serve, SO delicious. Also, Hog Island is dog friendly, so that is just an added bonus. Reservations must be made ahead of time but it definitely lived up to all the hype.

Dahlia Dells

Golden Gate Park is amazing, I know I’ve talked about it before, but sometimes I seriously can’t get over it. Juno & I walk through the park almost every single day we’re home, and I swear each week I discover some new area of perfection. Last week’s new found obsession – this Dahlia Dell. Mid-week Juno & I discovered the dahlias & we had to take Chris there over the weekend. Usually on the weekends we take the pup out for a walk / game of fetch in the park & I love showing Chris the new places we’ve discovered over the week. These dahlia were too pretty not to share!

ER Nurses Take Tahoe

A few weeks ago my coworkers & I went on our annual trip to Lake Tahoe, it was such a fun getaway. I love everyone I work with & it’s so special when we’re all able to be in the same place at once, not working!! We stayed right near Fallen Leaf Lake & were about a 10 minute drive from Kiva Beach on Lake Tahoe. Kiva beach, is a fairly large, dog friendly beach. At the beach you have gorgeous panoramic views of the whole lake & behind the beach is a beautiful meadow with the sierra’s lining the background. It was mid July & the mountains still had snow caps on them!

Like I mentioned before, it’s so special when we can actually coordinate all of our busy schedules & find a time when we can all be together. Many of us work more than one job, so finding a 4 day stretch where we can be together is a miracle! My nursing family is amazing, I’ve learned so much from each one of them & am constantly inspired. It’s so rare to find such an amazing group of people you work with. Granted, many have moved on to other jobs but we’ve all remained close. Nursing is a tremendously hard job & if you can’t find balance in your life then you’re going to have a hard time coping. Weekend getaways like this one remind me what incredibly compassionate, generous, hilarious women I’m surrounded by, & push me to expect more of myself. I just had my 4 year anniversary as a nurse & a lot of the girls in these photos were there from the very beginning. We encouraged each other & helped one another become the amazing nurses we are today. One of my favorite quotes that embodies nursing is this: “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others”. As true as this is, I think I’ve also found myself working side by side with these gals. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of others I work side by side with that I consider to be my Nurse role models / mentors, but these girls are gold.

Stay tuned for more photos with them because this weekend we’re headed to our first ever black tie event together… just keep in mind these are girls who wear glorified pajamas to work each day (scrubs).

Easter Bunny Fun

This year I couldn’t resist putting together a little Easter package for my two year old niece. Everything photographed, except the California bear sweater came from the dollar aisle in target! I hadn’t planned on getting any Easter gear but after strolling through the aisle I couldn’t help picking a few things up, Target’s Easter stuff was just too cute! The sweater dress pictured is from baby gap & I absolutely love how it’s the California bear. I love getting seasonal items and sending little packages to family and friends. Now that my niece is starting to get old enough to appreciate all the holidays I’m sure the Targetaisle will be getting frequented a lot more often. 🙂 I wanted to post this & show you can easily put together a seasonal basket for less than $20 & it’s sure to bring some happiness to who ever received it.

Baker Beach Day

^^^ Happiness is a sandy snout – Juno spent a good portion of her time yesterday trying to dig gigantic holes in the sand! It feels like a lifetime but we’ve only had Juno, our black lab, for 2 months. It’s been so fun getting to explore San Francisco with our newest fur-baby. Yesterday we ventured out to Baker Beach. The weather was so strange but when we got to the beach the sun was actually out. The cloudcover made for some pretty amazing photos, especially with that little bridge in the back drop. Baker Beach is an awesome mile long beach tucked beneath the Presidio Cliffs with phenomenal views of the Golden Gate Bridge & Marin Headlands. It’s hard to believe that a beach this beautiful can be empty enough to let my puppy run around! Yesterdays beach trip was the perfect start to the weekend! We’re off to the foot hills this weekend to let Juno explore the 4 acres my parents live on. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Carmel-By-The-Sea – To Celebrate 30.

This past weekend we celebrated Chirs’ 30th birthday with a short trip a little ways south on the California coast, to Carmel By The Sea. We left Friday morning & took our town driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping along the way in Pescadero to check out Pigeon Point Lighthouse, which in case you can’t tell by the photos, was awesome! Next we stopped & had lunch at The Bench at Pebble Beach. This famous spot overlooks the 18th hole at Pebble & is open to the public! After refueling, we continued on & enjoyed the rest of the 17 mile drive & stopped to watch the sunset, it was so beautiful. I’ve lived in California all my life, but I’m constantly taken aback by just how breathtaking the coastline can be.

We stayed at the amazing Carmel Valley Ranch. The ranch is on 400 acres overlooking the Carmel Valley. Not only do they have phenomenal suites with their own privates baths on the balcony (swoooon) but the ranch offers activities for anyone and everyone (golf, archery, yoga, swimming, bee keeping, etc). With our limited time we took advantage of the complimentary smores & hiking trails. Saturday morning after a quick mimosa filled breakfast we hiked to the top of the ridge that overlooks the valley! It was gorgeous! Then we headed out to Carmel proper to spend a day wine tasting and get lost in the seaside town. The cobble stone streets are filled with galleries, boutiques & wine shops. We even found a store dedicated to everything Alice In Wonderland related! The downtown is also lined with Italian restaurants, we stopped in and had homemade pasta at Casanova, which is listed as the romantic restaurant in Carmel, verified by our friendly uber driver, haha.

Sunday morning we packed up early & headed back. I dropped Chris straight at the airport as he’s traveling for work this week, but Carmel felt like a world away & such a wonderful escape from our busy hectic lives!

Do you have a favorite California Seaside town? If so I’d love to hear all about it! 🙂

	February Round up… on Legos in the Laundry
	February Round up… on Tahoe 25′
	January Round up… on 25 in 2025 List
	25 in 2025 List… on 20 in 2020
	25 in 2025 List… on 21 in 2021