USA | loveliness. | Page 8

Category: USA
- moving day
  
  Posted at 8:24 am by jasminedesirees, on December 22, 2014
  
  As I already mentioned in this post, we are moving to Arizona! Today actually, errrr.
  
  D will be finishing his degree at ASU, and is starting in January, so he flew out last week and found us a place to live near the university. Also, it has a pool, which is amazing. I was so spoiled to be able to go swimming almost every day when we were in Indonesia and I loved it, plus I’m starting to train for the Honolulu Triathlon again, so it’ll be super handy.
  
  I’m applying for jobs in Phoenix, and I’m also applying to ASU for the fall to finish my Master’s degree. I started in Hawaii a few years ago, and was accepted to SFSU to continue when we got to California, but apparently San Francisco is a pretty crowded city and it can take a really long time to get to the other side, even if Google maps says it’s only 5 miles. Who knew? (Anyone who has ever spent 10 minute here, probably).
  
  So I’m pretty excited for that, but mostly I’m excited to move to a new city and have a whole new place to explore. Arizona is so beautiful and sunny, and there are so many outdoor activities and hikes within driving distance, so that’s what I’m most looking forward to, especially the Grand Canyon, the Kartchner Caverns and the Supersition Mountains.
  
  I’m also excited to be away from the crazy traffic of the Bay. I love San Francisco, and will definitely be coming back to visit often, but working in the city and living in the East Bay means spending a lot of hours commuting, and I can absolutely think of better ways to spend my time.
  
  So now I just need to find some friends in Phoenix (if you know anyone who is looking). So far my plan has been to creep around for the first few weeks wearing only my Canada shirt/ other GWN paraphernalia, I always meet other expats that way, without fail, whether I’m in a grocery store in the tiniest town in California or riding a mid-island bus to Wahiawa.
  
  Posted in Arizona, USA | 1 Comment | Tagged Arizona, ASU, Canada, grand canyon, moving, Phoenix
- castello di amarosa
  
  Posted at 10:29 am by jasminedesirees, on December 10, 2014
  
  We spent Saturday being chauffeured around Napa in a limo, drinking lots of wine and enjoying the gorgeous December sunshine. We visited the Castello di Amarosa, a vineyard and winery, and also the most amazing castle I’ve ever seen.
  
  I’ve really only seen the Iolani Palace, and Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but still.
  
  We did the guided tour, so in addition to the public areas of the castle that anyone can visit if they come to the vineyard which includes a ballroom and a chapel, we also got to see the underground portion, including jails and a torture chamber, and many feet of tunnels stacked with barrels of wine.
  
  It took fifteen years to build the castle, and all of the materials are authentic, sourced from ruins of castle in Europe. All of the iron work in the castle was recovered from ruins, and if they couldn’t find it there, they had it made in the authentic style as it would have been in 12th-16th century Europe.
  
  We learned a lot about the wine they produce during the tour, and also about the castle itself, and it was really interesting.
  
  All of the stonework was done by a master stone mason, and different sections of the castle were done in the styles from different centuries, so they point that out to you on the tour, and explain what the differences were, and why.
  
  For the last stop on our tour we stopped in a private underground tasting room that felt a lot like a dungeon, but at least there were bread sticks, and tried a bunch of the different wines that are made by the vineyard. I really liked a lot of them, I used to hate red wine, but in the last few years I’ve really grown to like it more and more, especially Zinfandel.
  
  My favourites were Dolcino, it was a sweet white wine; Simpatica, which is a blend of Muscato and Riesling, and one called Fantasia, which tastes like melted frozen fruit punch juice mix. Our guide said he often uses it as a mix with vodka, which sounds like a terrible/amazing idea.
  
  They have activities at the castle all year round, and every year for New Year’s Eve they have a black tie masquerade ball. It’s expensive, but it sounds like so much fun, so we’re going to try to do that for NYE 2016.
  
  If you are looking for me at any point over the next 12 months, I’ll probably be gluing feathers and glitter onto my mask.
  
  Posted in California, exploring, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged architecture, California, castello di amarosa, castle, napa, Sleeping Beauty's castle, wine, wine tasting
- bay
  
  Posted at 5:59 pm by jasminedesirees, on August 29, 2014
  
  As much as I’m loving life in Australia, this video is making me a teeeensy bit homesick for the bay. I’ve been lucky enough to live in some pretty cool places.
  
  Posted in California, San Francisco, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged bay area, California, San Francisco, travel, video
- see you soon then
  
  Posted at 11:25 am by jasminedesirees, on June 9, 2014
  
  I still can’t really grasp the concept that we’re actually not going to be going home for the rest of the year, I’m sure it’ll take some time for that to sink in.
  
  Luckily I had an amazing week in Montana with my family before we left, I couldn’t have really asked for a better send off. I’m obsessed with that place.
  
  Posted in family, Montana, travel, USA | 1 Comment | Tagged cabin, family, lake, Montana, travel
- iron horse
  
  Posted at 9:58 am by jasminedesirees, on June 4, 2014
  
  My aunt was in Sonoma a few weeks ago for a class, so we met up with her for the afternoon. We went for lunch in Sebastapol, then headed out for some wine tasting.
  
  We just randomly picked a vineyard, and drove out through wine country, down a deserted, twisty gravel road. I figured it was either going to be completely gorgeous, or we’d be murdered by brigands.
  
  Luckily there wasn’t a brigand in sight, and I am still alive to post this.
  
  They specialized in sparkling wines, which are my favourite, but they also had a chardonnay flight and a red wine flight, so we got all three so we could try all of them. Our taste pourer was lots of fun and she kept “losing count” so we actually got tons of samples and were quite drunk by the end.
  
  She also mentioned that she gets to bring home any unfinished bottles at the end of the day. We went wine tasting in Livermore last summer, and the pourer there was a retired man who loved wine so much that he volunteered his time, and was paid in cases of wine. I think he was really on to something, and that is definitely a life goal for my later years.
  
  After our tasting we headed into Santa Rosa to check out the Russian River Brewing Company, a very popular spot that brews its own beer, to do some beer tasting (the boy is a good sport, but wine isn’t really his thing) but unfortunately the line was stretched around the block to get a table.
  
  We were just about to head home, when we spotted an adorable little mexican restaurant just down the street, so we stopped in for some tequila tasting and tapas instead.
  
  It was a lovely day, I’m always so excited when anyone from home comes to visit, because it doesn’t happen very often, and there are so many neat places in the Bay to see, but it’s way more fun when you’re showing someone around for the first time.
  
  Posted in California, exploring, San Francisco, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged California, iron horse, sonoma, travel, wine country, wine tasting
- agenda
  
  Posted at 11:19 am by jasminedesirees, on June 3, 2014
  
  Our daily agenda in Montana is some variation on the following:
  
  9am: Creep leisurely out of bed for coffee, mimosas and fruit on the deck
  
  10:30am: Six mile run with my mom. We’ve been doing the same route for 5 years. Six miles in California would almost kill me, but here it’s no big deal. Perhaps it’s the omnipresent threat of bears.
  
  1:00pm: Lunch, either BBQ’d burgers or scavenged leftovers
  
  2:00pm: Twisted tea and margaritas on the dock, then out in the boat for tubing, surfing and wakeboarding.
  
  6:30pm: Sundrunk naps
  
  7:30pm: Wine and pre-dinner appetizers on the deck
  
  8:30pm: Supper time, either cooking at home or in to town to a restaurant
  
  10:00pm: Drinking games (we just got this one) or relaxing by the campfire
  
  I love it here, I’m never leaving, you can’t make me.
  
  Noticeably absent from the agenda? Pedicures. There is no grooming at the lake.
  
  Posted in family, Montana, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged cabin, drunkapalooza, family, lake, Montana, travel
- content
  
  Posted at 2:13 pm by jasminedesirees, on May 30, 2014
  
  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.
  
  Posted in family, Montana, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged family, lake, Montana, travel
- capitola
  
  Posted at 11:39 am by jasminedesirees, on May 29, 2014
  
  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.
  
  Posted in California, exploring, travel, USA | 3 Comments | Tagged beaches, California, capitola, travel
- camelback
  
  Posted at 8:43 pm by jasminedesirees, on May 21, 2014
  
  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.
  
  Posted in Arizona, exploring, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged Arizona, camelback, hiking, Phoenix, travel
- beachie keen
  
  Posted at 8:10 pm by jasminedesirees, on May 12, 2014
  
  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.
  
  Posted in beach, California, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged beach, bliss, California, capitola, Sunday fun day
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