B is for Birthday!

After spending the last three birthdays at UCLA, celebrating the big 22 with my family was really sweet. After stopping at this incredible salvage store in Petaluma, we went to Bodega Bay. Eating on the waterfront definitely brought back some of my favorite family memories. Looking at the original cottages, it was really neat to imagine my great-grandpa making his living there. And a day with us isn't complete without something completely random, so we stopped at Hole in the Head in Bodega... aka an abandoned nuclear power plant that is simply a hole nowadays. Awesome! We snagged some delish salt water taffy at this pink and white striped store. I would love a house that included a room like these stripes.

It's a family tradition to make this bunny cake every Easter, and I was so lucky that we had it on my birthday this year. Almost as good as having the baby sis dress up as a bunny ;) After living alone for (a whopping) two weeks, I was so grateful to spend a weekend in Sonoma with so much of my extended family. We also went to a outdoor sunrise mass for the first time this year, and the cows, donkeys and chickens made the environment seem more like Christmastime in a stable. Amazing, nonetheless.




All of the texts, calls and letters from my friends that I miss oh so much was the cherry on top this perfect weekend.

We're All Made of Stars

Two of my favorite friends had birthdays this week. I may have only know Nicoley for four years, but girlfriend is my partner in crime. I can't wait to rehash all our shenans when we are old ladies. Only she knows the true meaning of the Ke$ha song "Blow," the significance of cheesy potatoes, or how it feels to live in frat house where our closet included an electrical cord to hang out clothes. Fact. No matter where she chooses to go in the world to use her incredible talents (she thrives in an ER setting!), she's a friend for life and I cannot wait to see what she does! Or where I'll get to visit her... hence the travel budget.





I've know Kimi since we were we babies and we've filled photo albums with our Halloween pictures. We've never gone to the same school. We were only neighbors for six years. We sometimes went months without seeing each other. But she is the kind of friend that every time I see her, I feel the same way my ten-year-old self did when we still played with American Girl Dolls. Except now we talk about boys and careers and exciting big grownup things.





Love is nothing you can tax.
Especially the love of friends.

Sunday Funday

I had this adorable collage photo frame that I've filled and re-filled over the years, but I broke the glass when trying to take it out this weekend. The wicker was also painted a dreary shade of pink and definitely needed an update.




After a couple coats of Cherry Red spray paint, some twine and baby clothesline clips, the board was transformed into a crafty message board. Now I just need to find a spot to hang it!




This is my all-time favorite photo of Mags and me. Although it may look slightly painful, I'm pretty sure I'm just showing her that I can always make her smile.




Can't wait to see her and the fam bam next weekend!

Week One

Sorry the font is so small, but this
Brave Girls letter felt so appropriate. Pull out your reading glasses ;) I love the part where it says I can choose what I put my energy into.... every, single day. I'm pretty sure every call I've made or every text I've sent about the move and work includes how crazy and overwhelming this still kind of feels, but how excited and grateful I am for this opportunity. The decisions that have brought me here felt bigger than myself, but I'm seeing life unfold in beautiful ways every day I am on my own. And I finally have legit internet, so it will be a lot easier to share my adventures with you all.

Decorating my cube with little touches of home and ADPi. And I finally opened my Get Fuzzy desk calendar I got for Christmas!



Getting my fit on! Gotta love how inspiring putting on a new pair of tennies is.



This lil guy made me so happy every time I looked at him while I was at work this week. Great way to remind myself to not be overwhelmed and enjoy the first weeks of work. Spreading my wings baby!




Oh and it's Easter next weekend. Isn't this platter from Pottery Barn fun with those plump bunnies?

Rewind...

I enjoyed moving. So much that we had to fake our moving faces.









The weekend really was more like this. The sun seemed to get brighter the more stuff we unloaded :)




Thankful to the moon and back for my family!

At First Glance

I think I am going to like it here. Mountain View has free wi-fi but it's stronger in some places than others, so I'm taking advantage of the nice weather and posting this from downtown MV (aka a 5 min walk) until my service starts tm. I want my place to be in tip-top shape before I share it with the world, so those pics should be up my the weekend!

My favorite street corner... I mean, I've only been here three days but can it get any better than this?


The house across the street has precious purple accents.


I'll take allergies any day of the week if it means trees like this! I'm definitely missing having a beach down the road, but there is stunning landscaping everywhere in MV.


Turnarounds everyyyyyyywhere. Seriously friends, I love myself a good turnaround and these are awesome! Ask me anytime for a good turnaround story or two :)


St. Joseph's is appropriately located on Church Street. And since one of my bff's is named Joseph, I think it's a good sign.


Cute little St. Joseph statue and sunny sunny sunshine.



I miss La La land but this all by myself attitude definitely has a fun flavor of its own!

What a Weekend

This weekend was pure, wonderful insanity. Thanks to my mom, the interior decorator extraordinaire, my dad (who brought more tools than I knew what to do with, and the entertainment (Mags and Brig), the move was super successful. Everything about this weekend makes me want to sing the Destiny's Child song Independent Woman.

Best parts about the weekend?

Not a single item was broken during the move!
The redone china cabinet looked so stunning I almost fell over.
Successfully moving said china cabinet into the apartment.
Dyyying of laughter as we shoved the couch through my front door.
Realizing how similar my kitchen is to my dad's childhood kitchen - so retro cute.
All the Giants-related items everywhere. Buh bye silly Dodgers-loving land!
A grocery store trip that included NO frozen dinners, top ramen or macaroni and cheese... hello healthier post-college lifestyle!
Noticing bicycles and parks everywhere.
Strolling down Castro Street.
Showing the fam bam where I'll be working.
Buying fresh bread, apples and flowers at the Farmer's Market down the street.
The library 2 blocks from my apartment (where I am currently stealing internet).
Finding the nearby Target, Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
My 'to-see' list that keeps growing and growing :)
A kitty cat named Dexter.
All the sweet emails, texts, fb messages and phone calls from friends and family.

Pictures to come as soon as I set up internet and my apartment returns to the 21st century.

Life in Motion

The (e)motions that go along with packing up all my stuff, moving to a city where I don't know a single person (well, except my landlord), and preparing to live ALL BY MYSELF are being put on hold until the technical aspects of moving get situated. My bedroom has slowly been boxed up, and those piles of boxes are sitting everywhere from the living room to Maggie's bedroom. I'm taking up my bedroom set until I find something that I love and want to invest my working woman budget into, and I think it's so funny how nakey my bed looks. This feels like moving away to UCLA all over again, except I need things like end tables and cleaning supplies. Tonight we're picking up the moving truck (!!!), and one of the last things on my 'to-do' list was to make snacks for the movers... aka my family :) Monkey munch and a Mumford cd to motivate the troops? The rest of today and tomorrow are going to be crazy, but definitely exciting!