Uncategorized
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Of Sports, Halloween, Brunch Spots, and Self-Driving Cars
Brunch with family: Two of Nick’s family members were in town last weekend, so of course we met up with them. We went for brunch at the Naglee Park Garage, which is an amazing spot with a unique, cozy atmosphere about a mile away from our house. Nick and I had been there for dinner a few times, and the food was always fantastic, and sure enough brunch didn’t disappoint. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3bk2Mhc8cE&w=420&h=315] Football: Nick and I and two of our friends went to see a SJSU football game last weekend! It was pretty fun – SJSU came from behind to win against the Wyoming Cowboys, and since it was the homecoming game,…
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Kaboom! Building a Playground in under 6 hours
Kaboom! is a national non-profit whose goal is to provide a safe place to play for every child in America. For the last few years, Adobe has been partnering with Kaboom! to help build playgrounds in the Bay Area. And on Thursday, I was privileged enough to be one of the volunteers helping to build a playground at Cesar Chavez school! Cesar Chavez school creed: I believe in myself and my ability. I will do my best today. For this day will not come again. I will listen. I will think. I will be me and act respectfully. I will read. I will write. I will take another step towards my…
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Giving Thanks
Today is our second Thanksgiving away from Canada. Last year we had only been living here for six weeks and we just had a quiet roasted chicken dinner. This year, we offered to host a dinner for some of our Canadian friends living here in the Bay Area, and it was a blast!! We had 11 people share their evening with us (including four very well-behaved guests under the age of 11) and we ourselves had a great time hosting. I especially had fun cooking up a storm – my first time making a whole roasted turkey! Everything was delicious and I am posting the recipes I used so that…
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30 Before 30 – Still To Do
A couple of weeks ago I posted about my 30 before 30 list and the items I’ve achieved so far. This is part two of that post, where I share the items that I still have to do! There’s pretty much no way I am going to achieve all of these in the next 365 days, but that’s OK – they’ll just be pushed out to my 40 before 40 list! Savvy readers might notice the two posts don’t add up to 30. Before you make fun of me for being bad at math (which would be a fair assessment!), I’m choosing to keep some goals private. 30 Before 30…
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Recent adventures, in brief
One Night In Vegas Our very good friends were going to be in Vegas for a week, and we found a killer deal ($120 per person for flight, hotel, and transportation to & from the airport), so off we went to hang out with them for just one night! We arrived in time for a late dinner at the Wicked Spoon buffet in the Cosmopolitan, closed down the strip, and spent the entire next day lounging by the pool before heading back home around 10pm. It was an amazing trip, spontaneous and fun, and so good to see our friends. Laguna Seca Racetrack during Monterey Car Week For Nick’s birthday,…
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30 Before 30 – What I’ve Done
If you’ve never heard of a 30 before 30 list (or 40 before 40, or bucket list, etc), it’s a list of things that you’d like to try before you turn a certain age. I’ve been working on a 30 before 30 list for the last 5 years or so, and since my 29th birthday is rapidly approaching, I thought I’d do a status update/reality check on what I’ve been able to accomplish! What I’ve Done: 1. Skydive (I did this in Abel Tasman, New Zealand in Jan 2012) 2. Wine tasting in California…initially done October 2012, but many, many times since then as well! 3. Visit New Zealand with…
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Californiaversary
August 25th was our one year anniversary here in California! I meant to do a post last weekend, but better late than never. I thought it might be fun to talk about some of our favourite things about the Golden State, starting with The hills. Almost everywhere we go, those beautiful rolling golden hills are in the background (well, they’re green during the rainy months), contrasting against the (usually) bright blue sky. We also, of course, love the sunshine and fantastic weather – we’ve gotten into the habit of not even checking the weather in the morning (vs Ottawa where we checked the weather every single day before even getting out of…
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Camping in Yosemite
(If you haven’t already, you should read the post before this one about camping in Tahoe!) …and, we were off to Yosemite, driving through California on another incredibly hot day. We saw the car’s external temperature gauge get up to 118F at one point (that’s 48C!). Yes mom, we both slathered on the sunscreen for those times when we were driving with the top down! And I wore a hat – sunburned scalps are no fun. Everyone thinks you have a terrible dandruff problem when it starts to peel. Anyway, here’s our route: [googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Kaspian+Recreation+Area,+Tahoe+City,+CA&daddr=Hodgdon+Meadow+Campground,+Tuolumne+Grove+Road,+Groveland,+CA&hl=en&geocode=FSnVVAId84DW-CEjMXqNrzqv8Cljc1e199WbgDEjMXqNrzqv8A%3BFQ_IQAIdnNva-CHjLl4OR3eaSylZdiJ5b9yWgDHjLl4OR3eaSw&aq=0&oq=hodgd&sll=37.297016,-121.817413&sspn=0.813874,1.678162&t=h&mra=ls&ie=UTF8&ll=38.45789,-120.322266&spn=2.064682,3.515625&z=8&output=embed&w=640&h=480] It was about a 4.5 hour drive by Google’s standards, but we took more like 6…
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Camping in Tahoe
Adobe shuts down all of their North American offices during the first week of July. It’s a fantastic thing, because it’s the only time all year that you can have a week off without having to catch up after you’re back! Nick and I had the idea to knock an item off my “30 before 30” list – specifically, the “travel somewhere last minute” item. The spirit behind that item was to book a trip as late as possible – ideally even the day before leaving! However, the more we looked, the more we realised that first week in July is popular travel week, and about three weeks out, we…
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Film photos
I found a roll of film kicking around recently. I think I had taken the photos possibly even before Christmas! It looks like my camera has a light leak, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with them. A few of my favourites below… San Francisco hills: Fisherman’s wharf (stupid light leak): Our friend, V, with us on a hike: San Francisco mural: