New house, new car, and new adventures!

The biggest two updates from October are that we moved into our new house, complete with lemon tree, hot tub, and beautiful master bathroom:

 

There’s also a tomato plant, which is still producing lovely little tomatoes, and a strawberry plant, and tons of other plants and herbs that the owners kindly left for us (we’re renting this place). And two small palm trees!

I must say, I will never ever get tired of palm trees…they make me so happy:

 

They just remind me that this place is sunny and warm practically year-round. It’s getting into November now, and we’re still getting tons of use out of our convertible, putting the top down at almost every opportunity, and I’ve been riding my bike to work in the mornings (which is a BIT chilly, but it’s a short 15 minute ride so I barely have time to get cold).

And speaking of the new car, here she is:

 

 

If you can’t tell, Nick hasn’t been able to wipe the smile off his face for WEEKS.

Ain’t she a beaut?? I have a tradition of naming cars, and I think her name might be Sally (of course). We’ve been taking her on lots of drives. We drove up to San Francisco, where I spent the day at the office and Nick went on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour, and we drove to Sonoma and went on a cycling tour of a few wineries with some friends. I don’t have any pictures of the Sonoma tour, which is probably for the best as the tastings were plentiful, but it was one of those wonderful experiences that we’ll treasure for our whole lives. We had a blast biking around with our friends, and the weather was perfect, and the wineries were beautiful, and and and…

We also drove down to Monterey, about 90 minutes southeast of San Jose, and spent the afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

 

My favourite is always the Jellies 🙂 

And finally, it was Halloween this week! Nick and I carved pumpkins, handed out candy, and last night went to a Halloween party. Nick dressed up as a Mountie, and me as a prisoner. We had a BLAST and met all kinds of new people who we’re hoping to see again soon.

 

On the agenda for the coming month: get back into long bike rides on the weekends, check out more neighbourhood restaurants, and finish setting up our place. We’re all unpacked, but we still have pictures to frame, and a guest bedroom to furnish for all of the visitors we’re hoping to have!!

We miss everyone back home, but we certainly do not miss the weather…