Sausalito day trip & Mazda 6 saves the day

Mazda-HeaderWho needs a reason to go out and explore, especially when you’re living in California? The minute I get a vehicle delivered, I pop back into the house for a quick minute, leash Alfie up and we’re on our way.

Alfie-in-windowAnd because I can’t say no to this cute face! Usually I do this first so I can take photos while the car is spic-n-span and free of dust, but also — hello sport mode fun! I just discovered this over the weekend, that when you put cars in sport-mode… it’s automatically jumped up from being: okay this is fun, to: whoa this is awesome.

Mazda6Also, I’ve noticed lately a lot of review cars are red. I wonder if there’s a reason for that? 

I got the Mazda 6 last Thursday for review, so that’s when I took Alfie on a jaunt around town, exploring neighbourhoods. Since my husband was working on Friday, I decided to venture out to the climbing gym and meet my internet climbing buddies, turned into real life climbing buddies. You might know Esther and Jacob from their blog Local Adventurer! Esther-and-Jacob

BoulderingWe bouldered for about an hour, then left the gym to meet up with Lauren, and Jessica for lunch at the new Eureka restaurant in Cupertino. No photos taken, only Snapchat videos that are forever deleted (ahem, unless you follow me). But wow, what a gorgeous little area to hang out in! We were there for a couple of hours, and since it’s a new build that I haven’t checked out for a while, they also added a Phil’s Coffee (which is so picturesque it’s insane).

I only took photos of the palm trees, because I still feel like a newbie tourist here. I love it.Palm-tree

Saturday was pretty low-key and we didn’t do too much. Yawn! OH WAIT. CHANGED MY MIND. Except for the morning when my husband called me mentioning he got a flat tire on his bicycle and it was unrepairable due to the tube busting out of it.

Mazda to the rescue!Mazda6-to-rescue

Alfie and I hopped in the car and drove 30 minutes north on the highway (he wasn’t on the highway, I obviously had to exit lol) to bring him gear to fix the tire. He didn’t want a ride home! So we hung around with him as he fixed his tire, and we watched all the other cyclists pass by (a lot of them stopped and asked if we needed help), it’s a hotspot area for cyclists for sure! Wow. Mazda-to-Rescue

Sunday, we ended up checking out a new-to-us pizza place called 1000 Degrees Pizza since we had a free coupon to go try it out. We ended up doing a build-your-own 10″ pizza to split between the two of us and we added SO much stuff.1000-pizza

The regular cost would’ve been $8.95 which is a decent deal for a nice wood-fired thin crust pizza — my ultimate favourite kind of pizza. It was cooked super fast (assuming because it’s in a 1000 degree oven) and by the time we finished paying (for our drink) it was cooked and plated.pizza-up-close My husband really liked it, and I liked it too but I think I added too many toppings and I wish the center of the pizza wasn’t gooey/watery.

Eat-the-pizzaMaybe too much sauce? I’m not sure. I did enjoy the rest of the delicious pizza, since we polished off 3 slices each. Hee hee!

I told my husband I wanted to take him to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge and check out the views of the city and the bridge from that side. Precisely what we did — and hundreds of other tourists. I guess I forget what it’s like in the city on weekends, especially long weekends! I usually take our visitors (or even myself) up to the city on weekdays. Definitely not as crowded.Alfie-smilesAlfie’s “I’m ready to go!” excited face.

Mazda-insideHere I am snappin’ photos of me turnin’ on the tunes and adjusting the power seats in the Mazda6 before the ‘long trek’. A lot fancier than my own Mazda!

Our first stop was to a vista point along the highway, we rarely do this – so I pulled in and checked out these gorgeous views of the hills. views

vista-point

Then we made it across the Golden Gate bridge and down to this spot. One view I will never tire of:Golden-Gate

Alfie-Me-Golden-GateOnce we hung out at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge for a while, I drove us up to Sausalito, which is a small city in Marin County north of the Golden Gate.

sausalitooLittle history lesson here for ya, but back in World War 2, Sausalito was a shipbuilding center.

Sausalito-maiIt’s a gorgeous little spot with tons of character, tons of rich people (just bein’ honest!) and a lot of beautiful and huge sail boats.

Palm-trees-dog-walk

SausalitoWe walked around the main street and had a bit of a snacky-picnic right along the water. It was such a beautiful day!

I was so tired yesterday from our walking around, and me driving all along the coast, but we ended up finishing up our weekend by going for a 6km run with just the two of us. Usually Alfie comes with, but since he was out with us in the sun the entire day and we didn’t want him to get too overheated. I am pooped!

Not only that, this week is going to be a scorcher here in San Jose. On one of the days this week, it’s reading it’s going to get upwards to 39°C (which is 102°F), I’ll definitely be on the lookout for a pool/beach to swim in on that day. Wowzers!

How was your Memorial Day Weekend?

Mazda-wheelThanks to Mazda for loaning me the vehicle for the week, and for allowing these adventures to happen! And thanks to you guys, reading my blog – because this wouldn’t have happened without your help!

Continue Reading

2014 year end reflection

scott-nancy2014 was a complete game-changer on so many levels. Starting off the year, my husband and I had been married for a little less than 48 hours, and were planning our move across North America from little ol’ university town of Waterloo Ontario, to smack dab into Silicon Valley, Amurica.

Never in my wildest dreams, had I ever thought about, or even imagined that I would be living in the United States, let alone breathtaking Northern California. Nevertheless, I must say 2014 was the best year yet — although it went by in such a blur I cannot believe we moved down here 11 months ago. We’re no longer newly weds, and we’re no longer new to being in California! Crazy!

My main goals when moving to the USA was to push my introverted self out of my comfort zone and say yes to more things, speak up to strangers and meet new friends (check, and check!), and overall embrace the change. It wasn’t scary to move down to California if we’re going to be honest. Especially easy since we moved during a Canadian winter. I wasn’t overly fond of living in Ontario, because I was stuck in a rut. I didn’t have many friends, and I certainty didn’t like the place we lived. We were already a 4 hour flight away from family, what’s another 6 added on top of that?

Okay okay, before I get all mushy let me walk you through all last year had to offer, shall we?

surpriseJanuary was full of panic and packing. It was when we came back to work, told our bosses we would be leaving our amazing wonderful jobs to pick up and move to the USA. I still miss my co-workers so much. I continue to e-mail all 30 of the staff on a weekly basis (every Thursday as a matter of fact), to keep them updated. I’m not sure if everyone is on board with my random ramblings, but for the most part a lot of them seem to be enjoying the updates. We skype, we BBM video, and we chat as though I am still part of their team. I loved that I was completely caught off guard by my going away/wedding/surprise party thrown by some of my co-workers, while I was at the mall with Aimster (who just so happened to be my bosses daughter and my co-worker).

imageFebruary was the time we took the swift 3 day drive from Canada to California in our 17 foot u-haul with my little Mazda on top of a trailer attached to the u-haul. I’m surprised we weren’t pulled over and asked for a truckers drivers license. That thing was a beast to drive, and so scary — I definitely white knuckled driving that monster. I looked back on my archives and it looks as though I blogged just the once. Guess that goes to show how busy we were driving across the continent, looking for places to live, and having our internet hooked up. Luckily we found a spot in no time, thanks to Jessica a hundred times over for helping us out from driving me to all kinds of apartments to me leeching off her internet to find apartments to look at. Couldn’t have done it without her help. By the way, can you not get over how amazing California looks in February?!

MonksMarch was another fun month. I got the chance to have a complete makeover at the Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara at MAKE UP FOR EVER which was pretty sweet. I walked around Santa Row a lot, checking out all the stores readily available just waiting for me to whip out my pocket book. Man, the shopping is excellent here. We drove out to Lake Tahoe for a day trip so The Guy could get in some last minute cross country skiing done before the season ended. I had enough of the snow at this point, I wasn’t about to get on a set of ski’s especially after leaving the wretched cold winter up north. I was ready for some sun! So I got some at Capitola Beach when our friends from Ontario came down to visit their in-laws. My old co-op student from my previous job in Ontario was in San Francisco on a work term, so I visited him for a day and we were treated like celebrities, it was fantastic.

Golden-Gate-JumpApril I stepped out of my comfort zone as Ellen, a blog reader e-mailed me out of the blue one day mentioning she had been reading my blog for some time, but has never left a comment. She is also a climber, and suggested we meet up some time for a climb at the local rock gym. Of course I’m going to say YES. It was awesome, and I hope to continue to climb with her again this year! Our first Easter in California was a success, and pret-tee delicious if you ask me, gotta say… I’m a great cook ;) This was also the month my blog received a complete overhaul and re-branding, I love how it turned out. April was pretty memorable because Jessica took me out to see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time in my life!

birthday-bannerMay ah my birth month, where even my local pizza place delivered me a heart-shaped pizza for my birthday, sweet. I got a membership to the local rock climbing gym and climbed more with Ellen. On Mother’s Day The Guy and I went to the Golden Gate Bridge to take some photos so I could make some Thank You cards to send out to our wedding guests. Not only that, I got to eat breakfast at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay!

June I bought a pretty sweet gym bag and bouldered a V4 for the first time in years, pretty happy about that. I visited Google for the first time, that place is so fun! I swore during yoga class. My husbands younger sister came by (and the older one came in July as their trips overlapped). The Guy and I finally have a grown-up bedroom, with a headboard and all. Now we just need to upgrade our bed from a double to a king.

BlogHer-BloggersJuly is when I went to my first BlogParty in San Francisco and met so many awesome Bay Area blogging buddies. I also attended the BlogHer conference where I spotted Khloe Kardashian in person, kinda fun. My two sister-in-law’s (husband’s sisters) came down for a visit and we totally bonded, froze are buns off in San Francisco on the Fourth of July, and had a laugh, it was amazing having them both here. I cannot wait until they both come down again, hopefully SOON!

BlogHer14-Day2-005August was a slow month in the blogging world. Jessica and I teamed up and hosted a giveaway together, and I posted the outfit photos (here too)that she took of me at the blogging conference. Total fav. Then there was a whole whack of talkin’ and reviewing of some Dior products. Nothing much to report in August, really!

Swimming-IMTahoe-2014September The Guy made his featured appearance on the blog and starting reviewing running shoes. I was back to Newfoundland for most of August and a little bit of September. I still haven’t recapped our non-wedding wedding reception that we flew back for, in August. I didn’t take many photos from the day, so there isn’t much to look at really. But I did take you around to the little fishing place called Petty Harbour, and then showed you the most easterly point in North America, Cape Spear. I blogged about going to the annual Flatrock Festival (climbing fest) too. The Guy was going for his 6th Ironman in September, out in Lake Tahoe but it ended up being cancelled due to smoke from forest fires, and we came face-to-face with a bear at our hotel. Scary stuff.

Alfie-shower-cap-1October onto my husband’s birth month. For his birthday I surprised him with a two day honeymoon to the romantic village of Carmel, an hour or so south of us. The views from Point Lobos had to be my favourite spot of our trip. October is when I introduced Pomeranian Friday’s to the blog, which seems to be a huge hit with the readers. Glad you’re enjoying Alfie as much as we are!

Bloggers-at-UniqloNovember was a fun month because not only did I received a ton of lip glosses to play with courtesy of bareMinerals, I attended a pretty fun event for the grand opening of Uniqlo in the Milpitas mall. I also started exploring coffee shops, which I’ll continue to do as a feature throughout 2015. The Guy, Alfie and I hit the trails one afternoon, and then I showed you what my “uniform” looks like on weekends. Then I did a flashback to the summer where I  talked you through beautiful Conception Harbour, Newfoundland.

napkins2December is my favourite month of the year! For our first American thanksgiving (although in November but blogged about in December) we hosted our first dinner guests, ever ever!  We invited our Canadian friends to join us as I cooked us a feast! I attended a really cool event in San Francisco and received the utmost royal treatment getting there. I ended up taking my hair dye woes into my own hands and doing an at-home dye-job, how did it go? In December we hosted some more family and friends, and after they left I showed you how I like to unwind after a long day. I visited another great coffee shop! December was pretty awesome, we got to fly home again to be with our family. Although arriving later than expected with many airline troubles, we still enjoyed our time in Newfoundland.

If you’ve read this far, thank you! That’s the end of my 2014 recap. I’m feelin’ good about you, year 2015. I sure am.

Continue Reading

Alice and Olivia event + The Golden Gate Bridge

A few weekends ago, Jessica and I drove to San Francisco to attend the two year anniversary of Alice and Olivia store on Fillmore Street, in San Francisco. Alice-and-Olivia-San-Franci

Julia-from-Gal-Meets-GlamI gotta be honest. The only reason I went, is because I knew Julia Engel from Gal Meets Glam was going to be there and since I’ve been reading her blog for a little over a year, I wanted to meet her face-to-face. I felt under dressed. :) She was really nice in person, and thankfully easy to talk to.

lunch-at-the-groveBoth of us browsed around the store for a little while, meeting a few other bloggers. Then walked down to The Grove, which was recommended to us by Nichole. It was just a few minutes down the road by foot, so we easily filled our tummies quickly with a huge delicious turkey sandwich. We could’ve easily split it if we knew how large the portions were going to be.

Hills-of-San-FranWe walked back to the car which was parked up on the hills. I couldn’t stop reiterating how incredible the view was. Holy smokes that’s one steep road.

San-FranJessica is the best person to have around, seriously. Here I was, thinking we were driving out of town, and I was just snapping pictures like wild on my blackberry as she brought me to this fancy area of San Francisco.

Little did I realize we were on our way to see the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. My entire month … even a few months, had just been made. I’ve always wanted to visit the bridge!  The Guy had already went to view the Golden Gate Bridge when he was in the city, before we moved down. Unfortunately for him, it was a girls day this weekend and I didn’t invite him to tag along :)

Golden-Gate-JumpI was so happy, I had a permanent smile the entire time I was there. Jessica took this pretty sweet photo of me jumping. Man it looks like I’ve got some sweet air.

Golden-Gate-BridgeI cannot wait to go back and see that beautiful bridge again! The Guy and I are thinking of going there to take some photos of ourselves so we can print them off and send them as our wedding Thank-You cards! Kinda neat right? Maybe cheesy, but I think it’s a cool idea.

Have you ever seen the Golden Gate Bridge in person?

Have you met another blogger?

What’s your favorite type of sandwich?

Continue Reading