Writing this from the deck of my parents cabin in Montana.
My whole family is here, I’ve got a Caesar in my hand, and baked brie in the oven.
There is literally nothing else I could want at this moment.
Writing this from the deck of my parents cabin in Montana.
My whole family is here, I’ve got a Caesar in my hand, and baked brie in the oven.
There is literally nothing else I could want at this moment.
Capitola is one of my favourite spots in California. I could just go sit on the deck at Zelda’s and drink margaritas and enjoy the beach for hours. And also maybe pop over to Pizza My Heart for a slice, because, yum.
I was really glad we were able to visit one last time before we leave, because it might be awhile before we’re able to get back there again. Plus we found a store there that sells Twisted Tea, in cans. It was a pretty spectacular day.
And I’m a total sucker for those bright, colourful houses on the beach, one day I will rent one, even if I have to go stay there by myself.
On our way to Australia, we’ll be spending some time in Thailand, Cambodia, Bali and Singapore.
Yesterday I spent 3 hours at the DMV, and then had to go to the doctor to get 5 shots. I hate shots. My dad once hired an off-duty nurse to come over to our house early in the morning to give us all flu shots, and I hid in my closet. And I was 18.
And the only reason I came out at all was because my 8 year old little brother said “don’t worry jazzy, it’s not so bad, I’ll show you” and went first.
But I know it’s all going to be worth it to see these amazing places in person.
Today was running all sorts of errands to try to get a few more things knocked off my list.
It was also the first day that I would have been working if I was still working, but I’m not, so I wasn’t.
So I guess this is really happening then. Twelve days. Yikes.
Just a few shots of the time we climbed Camelback in a rainstorm.
Since we weren’t planning on spending a lot of time in Phoenix, I really didn’t have anything planned, and had no idea what we were going to do with our three full days in Arizona.
I asked friends for suggestions, and one of them told me to hike Camelback, so we decided to try it out, bright and early on Saturday morning. It was kind of cold out, and a little grey, but I figured that was just because it was so early, and we set off.
The hike itself was fun, a bit steep in parts, but the view was beautiful.
Unfortunately, the higher we climbed, the worse the weather got. It was super windy at the top, and as we were shinnying across a very narrow bit of rock with sharp drops on either side I was pretty sure we weren’t going to make it. Right when we got to the top it started pouring and made the rocks slippery and even more treacherous.
Also, nobody was going down the way we came up, and we knew there was more than one way to climb the mountain so we decided to follow another group down.
We didn’t realize until we were half way down that it was taking us to the opposite side, and we didn’t feel like climbing back up and over again, so we ended up continuing down that way, and then walking three more miles around the base to get back to our car.
We did get to see some diamond back rattle snakes on our slog back to the car though, so it wasn’t all bad.
Today while I was at work the movers came and packed up our whole lives in to way too many boxes.
This is what I came home to.
I actually think we need to keep moving every few years, just to make sure we keep weeding things out and don’t get overrun by possessions.
I’m trying to go as minimal as possible on our trip, I’m only bringing a backpack so it’ll just be the bare essentials.
And my hair straightener, obviously.
Things have been a little crazy around here lately, because we’ve been quietly planning a big change.
But everything is basically official so it’s time to let the cat out of the bag.
We’re moving! To Australia! I am so excited, most of the time I’m too excited to sit still, because we’re doing some traveling on the way, and this trip has been my dream for as long as I can remember.
But it’s also been a lot of work, and a part of me is sad to be going now, when I finally am starting to feel at home in California.
So as excited as I am, and as much as I can’t wait to get going, for tonight I’m going to have a little cry in the corner and wish that choosing something didn’t always have to mean not choosing something else.
Yesterday, Sunday funday at Capitola.
My favourite thing in the world is the feeling when you’re all warm and sandy and sun-kissed from a day spent laying on the beach, and you come home to a quiet house and crawl between clean, cool sheets.
I don’t even mind the sand in my bed. To me, this is bliss.
When we woke up the morning after the wedding in Phoenix, we were definitely in the mood to keep it low key and have a relaxing day, but we also didn’t want to waste our last day in Arizona by laying around inside.
Brunch is always a happy medium between liveliness and sloth, so I laid in bed creeping around on my phone for awhile to find a good place to go.
I kept seeing great recommendations for a place called “The Farm at South Mountain”, and it looked like it had a pretty decent outdoor area, so we rallied ourselves and set off.
We arrived to find the exact kind of place you’d want to spend a hot, sunny Sunday. It was a huge farm, with flower and vegetable gardens, a beautiful green picnic area where people snacked, lounged on blankets and played frisbee, and three cute eclectic restaurants serving delicious food, all ingredients for which had been grown on site.
They even had a baby goat.
They were setting up for a wedding there later in the day, and I was pretty tempted to crash it, just so I could hang out there in the evening.
We had lunch there, my strawberry and feta salad that was totally scrumptious, and just enjoyed the sunshine. It was the perfect activity because we felt like we got to see a really cool piece of Phoenix, when really all we did was eat yummy things and sit in the sun.
It is cold and grey in the bay today, but this video made my heart happy. You never get sick of looking at those sunsets, and the Friday fireworks are amazing.
loveliness. 