Zin Zin & more Zin

My mom & I spent a much needed girls weekend down in Atascadero/Paso Robles and it was filled with great talks, lots of wine, and some awesome one-liners. (my phone can be blamed for the photo blurriness)

We kicked off our weekend with a Friday night dinner at the very posh Villa Creek restaurant, recommended to us by my boss, Amber. From the beet salad, to the rib-eye and broccolini, to the butter-braised scallops, it was absolutely delicious!

We decided to go all out and each get a sampling of Zins from J. Dusi, Ridge, and Turley. My favorite was definitely the 2009 Zin from Turley. YUM! We tried our best at wine talk (e.g., "Can you taste the berry undertones?", "This one has darkness, oh yes, can you taste the darkness?") but for the life of us we could not detect the sawdust (excuse me, what?!) flavor claimed to be in one of them.





The next day we avoided the rain by watching 21 Jump Street (overall, very entertaining and, since Chan Chan Tatum is arguably the most attractive man in the world, it was well worth cringing through the not-so-classy parts) and shopping in the cute eclectic boutiques of Paso. She pointed out that there are lots of cowboys in Paso so we made sure to keep our eyes peeled. Then we made our way to an evening at the Zin Festival!

Picture a huge convention center filled with tables and tables of wine experts providing free samples of their Zin varietals, delicious gourmet food samples, and collective cheers every time someone dropped their complimentary wine glass (it happened a lot). We had SO much fun hopping from winery to winery, trying to detect the differences between various wines, eating more than our fair share of chocolate desserts, learning about the wine-making process, and laughing the night away.

The older I get and the more I "get to know" my mom the more I respect the woman she is and am thankful to have her in my life. She is without a doubt the most generous, selfless, determined, & life-loving person I know, AND a heck of a lot of fun. So Mom (because I know you are one of the few readers of this blog), know that I love you more than words and, to steal your line, you're my favorite "gal" in the world too <3.

Pain Now, Wine Later

My very first friend at Northwestern was Miss Emily Garrett. We met on one of those pre-college service trips (shout-out to Camp Heartland!) and ever since she has been on my “most favorite people in the entire world" list. She also introduced me to Kels Farabee, who has officially become my fellow country-lovin' nature-enthusiast, restaurant tester, concert-goer, and general adventurer up in the Bay – her name is also on my “list”.

The three of us spent the summer after our freshman year on a program called Engage Uganda and it goes without saying that living in Uganda for 2.5 months was a pretty life-changing adventure.

The beautiful people, country, and culture of Uganda will always be close to my heart.

HOWEVER. There were quite a few near death experiences. (1) A phobia-inducing [true story, ask Vanessa] rafting trip down the Nile river full of class 5/6 rapids (e.g., literally getting stuck on the top of a 10 ft waterfall, capsizing ½ a million times, and having a hung-over boat guide)

(2) Riding boda-bodas to get around (a.k.a. motorcycle taxis). Without helmets, of course.

(3) Eating quite delicious “meat on a stick” [meat = we-have-no-idea-what-animal-this-is-from] we bought off of street vendors

(4) Repelling HUNDREDS of feet down Sipi Falls feeling totally safe knowing I was being held up by a tiny loop "secured" in a piece of rock at the top of the mountain.

Before I somehow forced myself to step off that cliff, they warned me to put my hair up to avoid "getting it caught in the rope, since that would cause my scalp to be ripped off". My hair was up faster than you could say PARDON, SIR?!




To finish my trip down memory lane, here's a fun story for you: while waiting in the security line to head back to the States a Ugandan woman suddenly whipped around, mumbled something incomprehensible, and proceeded to shove her BABY into Kels' arms to hold while she worked her way through security. True story:

NAPA MARATHON
ANYWAYS. This past weekend Ems flew in from NYC to visit and run the Napa Marathon with Kels. It was SO so good to see her :)

Though I was definitely not running it [they got me a matching skirt to wear though!], Kels’ dad and I had an awesome time cheering, taking pictures, holding up signs, and making multiple Starbucks runs. For all of you who haven’t been to a marathon, it’s a pretty moving [pun intended] experience for all parties involved.

I was in awe of the mental and physical stamina these folks had to endure 26.2 miles. I ran 3 miles a few days ago and not only had to stop and walk halfway through but literally couldn’t walk up stairs the next day. To know that people twice and thrice my age can run almost 9 times that absolutely blows my mind. It certainly motivates me to get moving again, though.

THEY DID IT!

The girls quite quickly earned the names of Hobs and Wobs with their hilarious post-marathon shuffle walking but were total troopers and up for some wine-tasting. We spent the rest of the day catching up on life, trying not to fall asleep, and wine-tasting at both V. Sattui winery and Castello di Amorosa (a legit castle, torture chamber and all).

Napa Round 2 = SUCCESS!

Manderz & Muscat

Have I mentioned lately how amazing my girlfriends are? I feel pretty darn lucky to have found such genuine, beautiful women to share my laughs, cries, and adventures with. And terribly embarrassing moments, too (yes, King Carl of the Hill, you know exactly what I'm referring to).

MANDERZ COMES TO VISIT!

Rewind 4+ years ago to my very first class at Northwestern (i.e.,"Wake Up & Smell the Coffee") and that is where Miss Amanda Jo Haase first graced me with her presence. Manderz was by my side every step of the four years I spent at Northwestern - without her I wouldn't be the person I am today and mostly definitely wouldn't be here in one piece! She & her boyfriend Sam came to visit this past week and let me tell you, getting to spend DAYS with this girl for the first time in 8 months felt. so. good.

I had to work for half of their trip, but we made sure to fit in a full day of Manderz/Bonanz time filled with our usual coffee shop reading, jewelry shopping at Francesca's, and chick flicks. Driving over the Golden Gate, eating a full crab, checking out sea lions at Pier 39 (while getting dive-bombed by sea gulls), and a comedy show also filled our week.

You know those rare friends that you just know in your heart of hearts you'll still be calling up and visiting when you're graying and bouncing your grandkids on your lap? Well, that's the case with Miss Haase - she's most certainly stuck with me for life whether she likes it or not. She's the sister I never had and is truly the salt of the earth - I pretty much won the friend lottery when I decided to take a seat next her in 2007 :)

WINE TASTING IN NAPA - ROUND ONE

Michelle and I have known each other since 5th grade. Yep, 5th grade. For her sake, I'll refrain from telling you how our friendship began (it may or may not have involved a certain up- chucking of cheerios incident on the playground and me triumphantly winning the hand-raise to take her to the office). Ever since that fateful day (sorry Shell, I'll never let you live that down) we became the best of friends and yes, we have those matching friendships necklaces to prove it.

One of the absolute best parts of life in the Bay is being 10 min. from Michelle and her amazing roommates Katie & Jules. From weekly Bachelor viewings, "darties" for Jimmy Kimmel's birthday, to blasting Andy Grammer on repeat, I've had the best time with these three ladies. This past weekend the four of us headed up to Napa for a full day of wine-tasting on a "wine-shuttle".

I've had some pretty incredible adventures since moving here, but this day pretty much took the cake on being one of the best days yet. We were joined by 7 other twenty/thirty-something years-olds and after 6 hours and 5 wineries we had laughed til our faces hurt, were calling each other by nicknames (e.g., Brazilian, Sparkles, Sacramento, Little Hands, etc.), had sung "Happy Birthday" three times because our new friend Lorena wanted to "sing something we all knew", and at the last winery we all nearly broke our necks by making an epic human pyramid.

Well, trying to make one...

Yep, our day couldn't have been better.

Kids at Play

Lessons learned from this past week: I am head over heels in love with San Francisco, smiling and laughing incessantly makes your face sore (in a good way), and Vanessa Lee (a.k.a. Snakeskinface, long story) is without a doubt one of the best darn things in the whole wide world. She is one of the sassiest, strongest, fun, and generous people I know, and my life will always be a whole lot richer because she’s in it. We missed Leighann and Kathryn, two of the other best parts of time abroad, but we made up for it by vowing to visit Leighann in Canada and taking a “reliving-our-ocean-adventures-in-Aus“ cruise with them over the next few years.

Having Ness here was the perfect excuse to explore some of the must-see areas of SF, and with every passing day I became more and more in awe of all this place has to offer. I’d love to travel and live abroad again during my twenties, but I’d be a darn happy camper if I eventually ended up hanging my hat in SF. On to our adventures!

Thursday night was spent at Nightlife, a 21+ event every Thurs at the Cal Academy of Sciences where they open up this aquarium/planetarium/history museum at night. Picture cocktails, science, and comedians (the theme was “Sketchfest” and we saw Greg Proops from Whose Line Is It Anyway!), arguably one of the best combinations in the world. We saw everything from a live dissection of a bird (cue: upchucking) to upside down jellyfish and even an albino alligator (Did you hear me? An ALBINO alligator! So. cool.). The nerd in me was in heaven.

Friday we hit the road with Peet’s coffee in hand, music blaring, the sunroof open, and made our way up to Muir Woods and Marin county for some outdoor escapades. Even with getting more than a little lost, our hike through the redwood forest was awesome, emphasis on the awe. I’ve always found myself humbled and amazed by nature; I could have spent the whole day there and been happy as a clam.

But since time wasn’t of the essence, we headed from there out to Sausalito, one of the cutest seaside towns I've ever been to. We tried our luck at sea kayaking in the afternoon but because of a defective kayak (not our pathetic lack of kayaking skills and coordination, of course) we didn’t get too far out in the bay. Our night was filled with lots of great friends and watching bands play at Hotel Utah in the city.

On Saturday we let our true tourist come out. You know how I said I fell in love with San Fran? Well this is the day when I officially tripped and fell flat on my face. We started off at Crissy Fields and walked along a beautiful beach path with incredible views of the Golden Gate Bridge and a ton of runners, families playing on the beach, and about a gazillion cute puppies. It took all of my strength to not walk across the street and put a down payment on one of the apartments there (you know, since I can totally afford it).

From there we headed to Land’s End, a trail on the most northwest side of SF that looks out onto the Pacific, and saw the Sutro Bath Ruins, explored a super cool tunnel through the cliffs, and got some great views of Baker Beach.

The next few hours consisted of clam chowder in Boudin bread bowls at Fisherman’s wharf, a mint sundae bigger than our heads at Ghiradelli’s Square, an impromptu stop at Lombard Street, and stumbling home in the late afternoon to take a much needed nap before night-time festivities. I threw in a picture of In & Out too, grub that all non-Califo's should be required to eat on their visits :)

In honor of my roommate Hansae and our friend Maggie, we threw our third “Yellow House” (my apt is literally bright yellow) party of the year. It was without doubt the most epic one we’ve had yet. It felt like college again with 40+ people crammed into a few tiny rooms, red Solo cups, and music blaring. Highlights of the night included birthday singing, an impromptu photo shoot on the back porch, having 5 Northwestern alums under one roof, and turning our living room into a dance floor where we sang and flailed around to 90’s music until 3am. Whoever said college is the best time of our lives clearly never experienced a Yellow House party.
The birthday boy!

Northwestern alums

Photoshoot with Kels & Vanessa! (Note the yellow)

Our last day together was filled with biking through Golden Gate Park (did you know they have a bison park in there? Yes, I said bison), getting our nails done, and going to Hudson for Oakland restaurant week (i.e. a prix fixe menu of deliciousness). With good food and a lot of laughter, it was a perfect ending to a wonderful visit.

And to end this excessively long post for all of you who are actually still reading it (sorry, I tend to write volumes unnecessarily), here are some funny images to make your face sore (in a good way). So Ness and I had a few interesting experiences sharing my bed (try to picture these moments, there’s no way you can’t laugh at the ridiculousness of it all)...

1. The first night, just as I was drifting off to sleep, Ness had a huge leg spasm; I swear I flew at least 2 feet in the air thinking there was some sort of animal attacking me.
2. In the middle of the second night we both slowly rolled in towards the middle of the bed at the same time and ended up with our cheeks lightly smooshed together, to which I immediately began laughing uncontrollably. All Nessa remembers is me creepily giggling next to her in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.
3. On the last morning, with our faces literally a foot away from each other (already weird, I know), we both slowly opened our eyes at the exact.same.moment. only to find ourselves staring directly into the others eyes; needless to say our eyes immediately grew to the size of melons in initial terror.

This post is for you Snakeskinface, I love you more than words, miss you already, and can’t wait for all the adventures I know we’ll have over the years.