Monterey CA

After having worked an average of 55 hour weeks for almost three months, it was time to take a vacation. Even if just a short one. The great thing about the Bay Area is the cool places there are to visit within such a short distance. So we decided to take an overnight trip to Monterey, CA, which is about 1.5 hours away. We were very disappointed from our Utah trip that the pool wasn't working at the hotel. Most places in Monterey had seasonal outdoor pools that were closed, but we were able to find one that was around the same price as the others and had an indoor pool! So we got to take Jackson swimming for the first time!

Usually he splashes all over the place in the bathtub. But I think he was a little bit overwhelmed by all the noise (lots of kids in an indoor pool) because he was really chill. He had fun though, and so did we.

That evening we went to Pier 49 to try and find a good place to eat and check it out. It was very windy and thus, pretty chilly.

I use Yelp a lot and found a place that had really good ratings. It was called Old Fisherman's Grotto. Unfortunately, when we got there it said no strollers allowed and we had brought Jackson's stroller. So we walked around a bit more. All the restaurants offer a taste of clam chowder to try and get you to come in. The person at Old Fisherman's Grotto said they only don't allow strollers because waiters were tripping over some, but he'd keep an eye on it if we left it outside. So we decided to eat there. Yelp said this place was $$ (out of a total of $$$$). So usually I would expect meals to be between $13-20ish each. Well, we were definitely surprised to see the menu. Much more than we had expected. I went with one of the cheapest items, a clam chowder bread bowl, and it was super tasty. Christina was going to do the same, but I told her to get whatever she wanted. So she got a macadamia encrusted halibut with sweet potatoes. They were both really good! Jackson was pretty good the whole time in his car seat.

Here's Jackson and me at the hotel the next day.

We went for on the scenic 17-mile drive. There were a lot of places to get out. At Spanish Bay we got out to walk around. Jackson got to use his sunglasses.

 We also borrowed a baby carrier from friends.

The last place we visited was Cannery Row in downtown Monterey. No pictures from there, but it was fun to walk around. Overall, a fun and relaxing get-a-way.

Redwood Forest

One of the benefits of working at EY is getting four-day weekends on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. So on Friday Christina and I traveled up north of San Francisco to Muir Woods--a Redwood Forest. Yes, this idea did come to me after watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I never realized they were so close! They do have another forest further north in California, but we weren't about to drive 5 hours instead of 1.5 hours.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time! We decided to stop and look at the view. We had gone near the bridge before when I was interning, but never crossed it, since it does cost $6 to get back over. 

I couldn't seem to take one of us without blocking the bridge.

It's hard to get an idea of how big these really are without going there. But as you can tell the base of this one is pretty big. 

The shadows (and us blocking it) make it hard to see, but this tree had a huge opening, one you could comfortably fit a few people in.

Christina did a great job hiking. We stayed on mostly level ground. There was this one path that looked like it had some hills. I kept asking Christina, "are you sure you will be able to do this?" She said yes, but then changed her mind once we started up the first hill. That was probably a good thing. I always tell her not to push it, but she just doesn't like not being able to do things.

Christina almost didn't make it through this opening. Just kidding.

Pixar Museum!

 Well, it wasn't quite a Pixar Museum, it was actually a Pixar exhibit at the California Museum of Art in Oakland. It was there for a few months and I really wanted to go. I finally decided to get some tickets and Christina and I made date night out of it. We were going on the second to last day and tickets eventually sold out, so it's a good thing I bought them online in advance. After a trip to the Oakland temple and dinner at Chili's we made our way to the museum.

 Just from the title I'm sure you can tell that this is my type of place. I love Pixar! I plan to be their CFO someday (that's my dream position, that and sportswriter for ESPN). The exhibit consisted of mostly everything that is created in the production stages of the movies nicely displayed all over. They had storyboards, colorboards (I think that's the name), sculptures of characters, little videos about the production process, and so forth. I would only recommend this exhibit to people that are big fans of Pixar, animation, or movies. Otherwise it might not be worth your while. I'm not sure where it's off to next.

Both of us really enjoyed it! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit, so this one is from the museum store. Our favorite thing was the zoetrope. It's pretty much real 3-D animation. No glasses necessary. The characters from Toy Story were like action figures I guess and they move around super quickly to make it look like they are moving. Here it is on youtube, but it's a lot cooler in person. It will also slow down and come to a complete stop to show you the different stages--then speed back up.

Want a Tour?

Moving brings on a mixture of emotions... excitement with packing the U-haul, boredom from driving 12+ hours, relief upon seeing the street sign of your new neighborhood, and pure happiness at unpacking and reorganizing your new home with your husband.  And with all the excitement and exhaustion that comes with unpacking and starting a new interior design for your home's new "look", it is a moment of triumph when that last box is unpacked, the last article of clothing thrown into the dresser, and the house is in perfect order.  

Well, I don't think I've ever conquered that "perfect order" aspect of being a housewife yet, but I'd like to hope that I come somewhat close at times.  Otherwise the photos Jordan took of our home may not reflect all that I would want them to; but you can be the judge of that :)  

Let's start our tour of our new home with the living room.  This is the first view you would have as you walk into our home.

Now, to give you a more complete "picture"this is a photo of the living room from the opposite direction.  With this view you can get a better grasp of the room layout and see the much loved piano!  

Then we come to the kitchen - the room that I have found much use for.  Currently we are decked out for Halloween, so pardon the table decor.

At first I was concerned about the size of the kitchen; but in all reality it has more counter space than our first apartment.  Plus, it encourages me to put the food on the table, which results in less up-down-up-down during dinner.  I've found this kitchen style to be a plus.  

And then, of course, most all guests end up using the bathroom at one point or another.  So, just as a disclaimer: Jordan and I have a palm tree themed bathroom, complete with matching towel sets.  Unfortunately, these are not much complimented by the pink-colored tiles, haha. 

Lastly, we come to the bedroom.  Jordan and I recently purchased our first bedroom set.  For the last 9 months we've been living out of suitcases.  Those days are gone!  Shopping around took a couple tiring trips of running in and out of various stores.  After  a while we discovered that our preference in style had a common design and we both fell in love with this one!  

Overall, moving can be exhausting; but it's also a great experience to share.  There were surprises and unexpected expenses - but we SURVIVED (and with smiles too)!  Thanks for joining us on this makeshift tour of our new home.  We hope you liked it!