Tag: travel

Hello Spring 

img_1974

No Matter How Long The Winter, Spring Is Sure to Follow

It seems like the rain in California has just been relentless; albeit great for the drought I find myself rejoicing when the sun’s out & it’s a beautiful spring day. These photos were taken two days ago in Golden Gate Park, but even now as I write this, there’s rain drizzling down my window. I don’t religiously check the weather here in San Francisco because on the whole it’s so mild that usually a look out the window & a few light layers will be enough. However with all this rain it’s been really nice when I wake up & there isn’t a cloud in the sky! The unpredictability of the weather the last couple months have just brought me more gratitude for when it’s a beautiful day outside. I feel like it’s too nice to sit inside & let it go to waste. So rather just walking my dog around our neighborhood we’ll stroll through the park & take advantage of some sunshine because we could wake up to rain tomorrow. This “seize the day” mentality can be so motivating. It’s easy to be focused in on the day to day tasks & think, ugh I have to get the dog out for a big walk otherwise she’ll be a madwoman.  But this season change has allowed me to zoom out & actually see the beautiful day & enjoy just being outside soaking up some much needed vitamin D! As a nurse I feel like already have a pretty good appreciation for how precious & unpredictable life can be but it always feels good to find new appreciation even in the day to day things.

Speaking of appreciating small things – this is our last weekend at home before we head to Europe & we’re SO excited! We’re just wrapping things up before we leave, having dinner with some of our favorite people & dogsitting one of Juno’s BFF’s plus it’s supposed to be sunny!

City Rambling

San Francisco in the springtime is so beautiful. I love wandering around the city & taking in all the views. Even though I’ve lived here for nine years San Francisco ceases to amaze me, I feel like I’m still finding new sweet spots in the city. Some of these pictures are from earlier this week when a few friends & I did a little urban hiking around nob hill / pac heights. The rest of the pictures are from this past Saturday when Chris & I took Juno out to Crissy Beach to meet up with some friends for a little dog date! Don’t let the sunshine fool you, it was freezing by the water, barely breaking 50 degrees! Despite the cool weather it was a great weekend hanging out at home & just enjoying this wonderful city. Saturday night we snuck away for dinner at favorite spot of ours in the mission. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We’re just a couple weeks away from trip to Spain & Portugal! Can’t wait!

Scottsdale Spring Training

^^ The face of your husband when he’s hungry but you wanna take a picture of the food

This past weekend we got away & spent some time in Scottsdale Arizona. Chris travels there occasionally for work & this time I tagged along! It worked out that the SF Giants have their spring training stadium in Scottsdale, so we got to enjoy watching them beat the Chicago Cubs in a training game on Saturday. Neither of us had been to spring training before, but it was so fun getting to see our favorite players in a tiny stadium, laid back and practicing. Not to mention with all the non stop rain we’ve been getting in California it was nice to escape and pretend it was summertime. Nothing says summer like baseball right??  We stayed at the amazing Scottsdale McCormick Ranch, it was the perfect place to lounge while Chris was at work during the week. Not only is there a fabulous pool to spend the day by, but they have all of these little courtyards with string lights & at night it’s the cutest scene ever. Saturday night we came back to the hotel after the Giants game & there was a single person in the beautifully lit courtyard so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a few photos. It was a relaxing weekend & the perfect start to my birthday. Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Xoxo 

Flying February 

February always seems to go by in the blink of an eye & this February was no exception. We layed low much of this month, in part due to my hectic work schedule. We enjoyed staying in the bay area, took a quick trip to Napa & introduced Juno, our black lab, to wine country. Needless to say she loved it. For Valentine’s day I made these festive chocolate dipped strawberries & we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Cliff House! The cliff house is a San Francisco must, the food did not disappoint whatsoever. These chocolate dipped strawberries are super easy to make. 1/2 a regular pack of chocolate chips will cover a regular size pack strawberries. I melted the chocolate chips in a glass bowl with a 1/4 tbsp of coconut oil. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted. You can dip the strawberries or drizzle the chocolate. I added Valentine sprinkles for additional  cuteness. Then I refrigerated them until consumption! I’ve been making these strawberries as a sweet Monday night bachelor themed dessert! Let me know if you recreate these. We’re off to Scottsdale for Giants spring training today! 
Xoxo

January Beach Days 


^The best winter beach foot wear – rainboots!
^Running for dear life haha 
^ these two make my heart explode ❤

Lately the weather in San Francisco has been sooo rainy! Which doesn’t seem like it would make for good beach weather, but when you have an 80 pound puppy you gotta find some way to tire them out. For us it’s so much easier to wipe sand off of her than it is to try and get mud off, so the beach it is! I actually love going when the weather is questionable, because it’s almost always just dog people there; aside from a handful of tourists who get out of their cars walk to the beach, touch the water, take a few photos of the Golden Gate, and call it a day. We’ve spent most of January taking Juno to Baker Beach which as you can see from the photos has incredible views of the Golden Gate Bridge. She’s finally trustworthy enough to let her roam off leash & she seriously has the best time. No amount of time is long enough in her opinion. We have some fun trips planned this year so stay tuned for more blog posts! Hope everyone had a great weekend & stayed dry!

Half Moon Bay Monday!

img_9033-1
img_8986^^Pumpkin Patches overlooking the Pacific Ocean?? Pinch me!
img_8988-1img_8991^ A little obsessed with this candle display! 
img_9038-1
^Entrance to the Ritz Carlton – Half Moon Bay! ^^ Had to end our day with a little Rosé

On Monday my girls & I drove down the coast to Half Moon Bay to go pumpkin picking & get in the fall spirit! Half Moon Bay is known for their annual Pumpkin Festival, this year was the 46th year!! So needless to say the whole little town is decked out in fall decor. Our first stop was Pastorino Farms Pumpkin Patch. Along with all the pumpkins they also have the cutest nursery you can walk around in. Right next door is a florist that sells bouquets for SO cheap, I got a bouquet of dahlias for literally $3!!! After we left Pastorino we walked around the downtown of HMB just going into little shops, that’s where we saw the adorable little baby chicks. Our next stop was Bob’s Pumpkin Patch. This one was by far my favorite! You pick the pumpkins exactly where they grow! The patch itself overlooks the Pacific Ocean, it’s unreal. The pumpkins are also wayyyy cheaper than some of the other patches. After wandering around & picking out our pumpkins we determined a happy hour drink was in order. We decided to stop by the Ritz Carlton – Half Moon Bay.  You can sit outside on their lawn overlooking the golf course & the pacific. Even if you aren’t interested in the cocktail portion, I’d recommended going just for the view, it’s phenomenal. I must say I haven’t had a Monday this wonderful or this fancy in a while. Gotta love nursing / shift work where you’re off random days of the week & can enjoy little day trips like this one. This weekend Chris & I are headed back down the coast to Carmel By The Sea to celebrate his Birthday & I can’t wait!

Nurses Gone Ranching 


img_8881

^ Just a casual helipad

img_8725img_8880img_8841img_8739img_8890

What happens when you take five ER nurses out of the city & out on 500 acres? A lot of laughs. This weekend I got away with some of my dearest friends to a ranch outside of San Luis Obispo.  We spent the weekend riding ATV’s around the property, shooting guns, lounging by the pool & just enjoying being outside of the city. I feel like I talk about this whenever we go away but there’s just something so refreshing about being pulled out of the SF tech bubble. I think it’s so healthy to go “off the grid” every once in a while. These days I think it’s so easy to get wrapped up with technology & our phones that I find it oddly calming to be somewhere where I’m not getting any notifications & can just be present. Weekends like this one remind us that life is so much bigger than our 7×7 city & all that really matters is who you surround yourself with & quite frankly I feel pretty damn lucky to be surrounded by these women.

 

 

East Texas Nuptials 

^^ Early morning flights = sunrises from window seat!img_8609^^ Jumping for Joy we made it to Blum, Texas…img_8646-1

img_8556-1

img_8644img_8671
img_8670^^Rooftop bars with live music & all these fine friends ❤img_8603-1img_8631^^ Weddings with this man will always be my favorite.

^What do you do when you’re locked out of your hotel room at 1am waiting for maintenance to drill the door open? Take random photos in the hallway, duh.img_8584

This past weekend we went to a wedding in Blum Texas, which is outside of Cleburne Tx. Never heard of it? Yeah, neither had I! Chris is from Austin originally & so over the past four years we traveled quite a bit to Texas, visiting family & friends. I’ve also spent small amounts of time in both Houston & Dallas. But this was my first time really going deep into Texas. Albeit a stark comparison to our day to day life in San Francisco, there’s something so nice about being out on country roads, windows down, country music playing. I grew up in a small town in northern California so I can appreciate large parcels of land in towns that maybe have one stop light. And I can certainly appreciate big sky country, especially for the beautiful photos it helps produce. Chris has a large group of friends from college & it was so nice to see everyone all in one place again & just spend the weekend together! Not to mention that going to weddings now having already been married for over a year makes us nostalgic about our day. Weddings are just the best & this one was no exception! The first night there we went to the beautiful rehearsal dinner held at Lost Oak Winery. After the rehearsal we headed to downtown Burleson to continue the night & meet up with all our friends. We went Old Texas Brewing Co which had an awesome rooftop bar with live music. The next morning I was lucky enough to randomly wake up around 7am & catch this absolutely breathtaking sunrise from our hotel room. None of the sunrise photos have been edited whatsoever. It was so beautiful!! The wedding itself took place on this gorgeous estate surrounded with trees. Chris always talks about how special Texas is & how there’s no where quite like it. I don’t know if this born & raised Cali girl will ever truly understand what he means but I can attest that there’s definitely something spectacular about it & it’s home to some of the best people we know & miss! We got back late Sunday night & woke up to San Francisco rain, so I guess it’s time to wash the jean shorts, pull out the rainboots & get ready for fall in the Bay Area!

PS. One of the best perks of having a husband is convincing him to take cheesy jump on the bed photos so we can test out the new remote for the camera! yay!

Living for the weekend.

img_8085img_8087img_8090img_8022img_7983

This past weekend my best friend was in town, which means only good things will follow! Saturday Chris competed in a Jui Jitsu tournament & got second place! So I spent Saturday afternoon cheering him on & then Sunday we ventured out to the East Bay for some much needed R&R. We lounged by the pool & enjoyed a wonderful Sunday Dinner with my besties family. Throughout college I spent some many evening dining with my second family & it’s so nice whenever we’re able to go back. Plus we always bring Juno & she seriously LOVES suburbia! After a full day of running and swimming I’m amazed she had enough energy to take on Hog Island Oysters the very next day! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Swim Suit | Target | Here

Hog Island Oysters

img_8236img_8201

^^ 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.