Summertime

I'm typically one to stand firmly in the FALLTHETHINGS corner - brisk mornings, cozy sweaters, pumpkin muffins, you know the drill, I'm sure. Even the earlier evenings - I totally dig holing deeper into the couch, PJ's on and a hearty meal simmering away on the stove. In fact, I've always been a bit.... skeptical... of summer and, more specifically, people who love summer. What do you mean summer's the best - are you not affected by sweat, intense heat rashes, and boring days stuck at home over break?

Well. Now that we're a few weeks out of Summer 2018, consider me officially converted. It's not that I'm not giddily anticipating candles and boots and Crockpot meals (I most certainly am!), it's that this summer was absolutely incredible and I'm in denial that we're waving off the 9pm sunsets and the light, the light, the beautiful light! This is 100% a self-indulgent post, but allow me to ramble on about a few of the absolute highlights...

:: TEN DAYS IN CROATIA & SLOVENIA

I mean, need I say more?

The beginning of summer was a whirlwind - we had friends in town, a concert, Bay to Breakers (San Francisco's merriest event of the year) - and then my best friend and I were off to Europe for a week and a half. This trip in itself checked off several summer bucket list items: a road trip with unforeseen twists and turns, afternoons laying out on the rocks by the water, gelato multiple times a day, jacket-less evenings. Take me back!

:: DELIGHTFUL EVENINGS

Whether it was a bonfire in Santa Cruz with my best friends (parkas on, of course, because Northern California summer nights are not so summery), pizza and rose enjoyed on the roof, walking the mile home from work pausing every few minutes to admire the rosy skies, happy hours al fresco, watching in disbelief as the last of the sun still lingered on at 10pm beyond the Space Needle in Seattle, "family dinners" on Sunday nights at our favorite Japanese curry spot, or simply dancing and singing along to musicals in the kitchen with my roommates every night - the evenings have been so so so precious.

:: EXPLORING SAN FRANCISCO

Oh, this beloved city of mine.

San Francisco was so kind to us this summer, keeping the chillier days at a minimum and blessing us with sunshine, mild park-friendly temperatures. 

We spent so much of this summer - especially on weekends - discovering new nooks and crannies, but also loving on our favorite corners. There's one night in particular that I'm so fond of (you'll find a snap from the night two pictures down). We ventured out to a favorite jazz bar; the act of the evening was a motley crew of musicians and belly dancers and belly dancing musicians. It was a blast listening to them for a few hours, but then at 2am as they were preparing to close the bar, the band started playing I'm a Survivor, followed by Those Were The Days. A couple dozen strangers all squeezed onto the tiny stage and danced the last of the night away, sweaty and out of breath and deliriously happy. It's hands down one of my favorite San Francisco memories.

:: MUSIC!

The soundtrack to this summer is the loveliest, and I was so lucky to have seen a handful of acts live - Glass Animals, Outside Lands performers, Florence & the Machine (again) in Portland, jazz bars, favorite playlists on repeat during long drives.  

:: WEST COAST TRAVEL

I saw A LOT of 4am alarms these past few months, and know SFO at 5am like the back of hand. I made frequent work trips to our LA office, spent a handful of the most wonderful weekends in Seattle with my family, and then seriously had the most fun ever in Portland on a mini-vacay to cap off the summer. West Coast, Best Coast indeed.

:: AND ALL WITH THE BEST COMPANY

... and all of this wouldn't have been even a fraction as crazy-wonderful without the best people along for the ride. I learned so much from and created cherished memories with new friends, re-connected with a handful of old friends over nostalgia-laced stories and glasses of wine (and in some cases, something stronger), loved on my little nephew and watched him turn ONE, and came home every day to a noisy apartment with the most loving roommates. 

It's been one for the books, let's leave it at that.

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The Quarter Life Crisis

I'm sitting here, an hour away from 25*, chuckling because: 
1) I discovered twenty minutes ago that we have access to the Disney Channel, and am legitimately finding this Wizards of Waverly Place episode to be hysterical. God, I miss the Golden Age of the Disney Channel.
2) Yesterday, we started off my birthday celebration with Andre in blue Solo cups and ended it with frozen burritos. At what age do these become unacceptable?

This year, the birthday tradition for our little squad has been for the rest of the group to plan a day of small surprises and activities with the birthday girl in mind.

For Hanna's birthday, we drove to Tomales Bay to purchase a sack of 70 oysters and then we picnicked at Stinson Beach with cevapi, a selection of pies, and YouTube oyster-shucking videos. I still need to share pictures from this day with you guys because it was THE BEST.

Cassandra's birthday started out with an indulgent brunch at Absinthe where we ordered far too many goodies, a peek at the Civic Center - her very favorite building in San Francisco - then a detour to the batting cages, and finally an afternoon enjoying the sunshine down at Stanford with cupcakes and coffee with Bailey's.

Leah's... well Leah's still a baby for another month, so I'll get back to you on this one.

BUT MINE.

Cassandra and Hanna ignored my cries for more sleep, blasted The Greatest Showman songs from two different sources, wafted the scent of cinnamon rolls baking in the oven into my room, and placed a giant (yes, blue Solo) cup of mimosa in my hand.

I'm up, I'm here for this.

Once Leah showed up, we filled up water bottles with more mimosas and ran out into the street...

...only to be confronted by cops who playfully called out, "what's in those containers?!" 

Perhaps it was the mustaches or the birthday hats or the sunshine, but they declined to interrogate us any further and sent us off with a laugh.

Our first stop was Flora Grubb Gardens, a plant nursery / Instagram hotspot with an espresso bar. Here's the killer though: this spot is like 15 minutes away from my place... and I've never even heard about it! Truly impressive move by my friends because I really don't do much else with my time except search for cutesy spots like this one around town.

I made them go around the table and tell me all the things they love most about me as we enjoyed our coffees - I'm definitely the low-maintenance friend if you couldn't tell.

Once I was satisfied with their answers, we proceeded to wander around the property, taking pictures to my heart's content.

Why can't it be my birthday every day.

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Fields of Yellow in Half Moon Bay, Fields of Rambling Thoughts In My Mind

I got schooled by a thirteen-year-old in the ways of hip photography and also generally being cool.

(...I say like I find that to be a surprise...)

Here I was thinking I'm still somewhat in the loop of the Cool Kids Club, mostly because our CRO holds weekly sync-ups to discuss teenager lingo in order to "hold a proper conversation" with his daughter – this gives me LIFE by the way – and I'm usually aware of about 30% of the hot topics. So not to brag or anything but your girl is in. the. know. (Okay, I can hear you scoffing. Stop.)

Anyway! My source tells me that the Huji app is the new It App. Y'all. The point of this app is to make your photos look like they were taken with a disposable camera, a la 1998.

And you guys, I started feeling like my mother.

Squealing over the neon "'98" timestamp in the corner, claiming that nothing was so wonderful as the 'good old days' and how 'everything old is new again.' Momspeak.

In my own mind, I've always felt a bit like a 70-year-old - I'm wary of "youths" and pretty cynical and can think of nothing more ideal than curling up with a blanket by 8pm, a steaming cup of coffee in hand, and a procedural on TV.

But being in your early twenties comes with a strong sense of security: you're allowed to be indecisive, selfish, risky, and downright naive because you have your whole life ahead of you and there's time to learn from mistakes. And as April 17th comes around every year and I slowly start to leave my early twenties behind just as I'm getting used to it, a part of me still holds firmly onto that part of my identity and the security blanket that it offers.

Good grief, did any of that make sense to you?

These photos really have me feeling some type of way, evidently!

Anyway, this is all to say that usually I'm caught between 70 or fresh out of college in my mind, although my birth certificate indicates neither. Lately though, I've been seeing signs in my day-to-day life that remind me that I have indeed matured evolved in the last three years.

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Love Letters

Well! The second half of February has been quite the couple of weeks of firing on all cylinders over here. Had I shown up 'round these parts, my posts would not have been the least bit fun. They would've looked something along the lines of:
asdfj;ds
merp
halp
ksieijdmzzzzzzzz
someone buy me a DRINK please
I went to grab coffee with a coworker yesterday; he took one look at me and asked apprehensively, "... are you okay? You've been looking a bit... frazzled."
Duly noted. But there's really one thought that stuck with me through the month, and wait for it because this is going to be cheesy AF - but it's pure gratitude. Every blah feeling was accompanied by twice as many things eliciting pure joy. I don't mean to discount negative emotions, but you guys. I was sitting on my couch with mac and cheese and an SVU episode, really leaning into the bad day blues, and there was this one persistent thought in my head: I can't remember the last time I had a really bad day. And if that doesn't bring the point home, then I don't know what will. So, a few love letters to those keeping me afloat. 

Dear out-of-towner best friends who always bring such light into my life, is it time for a return visit yet? I need more coffee and pasta dates and quality catch up sessions as well as late-night antics (with one, it was a ghost wreaking havoc in our apartment; with the other, it was difficult yoga lessons that came close to injuring more than one roommate.) and reminiscing about years gone by. 
Dear conversations about love languages and social / cultural psychology, GAH this stuff gets me goin'. I guess it's a good thing that I have a degree in it?
Dear Valentine's, You've got nothing on my Galentine's. I came home from a work drinks to candles lit, 50 Shades on the screen, freshly grilled steaks, Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie, plenty of antacids, and two of my very best friends. Who could ever love me as much as they do?!

Dear MoviePass, BLESS. YOUR. EXISTENCE. Granted, we haven't been using it for Oscars research and instead have leveraged it to watch The Greatest Showman twice (and Game Night once) but I feel like it's really revitalized the practice of going to the movies and "watercooler talk" is once again heavily based around the movies everyone has seen, which has been fun! 
Dear The Greatest Showman, you really are the greatest show, man. The music, the cast, the cinematography, just... everything. I'm trying to find people to go with me for a third time, that's how amazing I thought it was!
Dear local lasagneria, so first of all, thank you for being in our neighborhood. Although we can never seem to catch you when you're open, the times we do make it are all the more special. You've made work-from-home days so incredibly lovely with a sneaky glass of wine, your delicious, fresh burrata and charming Italian mom-and-pop vibes.

Dear coworkers, The running theme of 2018 has been how amazing you guys are, and getting to know you outside of the office - whether it's all of us together at dinner post-company kickoff, or meeting up with former colleagues at a bar, or dishing at a cafe, or out and about on walk-and-talks. Two thoughts here: 1) I don't know if it's a tech world thing, but I find that in this day and age, coworkers really are closer than ever before. 2) Considering that these are the people I see more than my own friends and family, I'm so grateful for how supportive, hilarious, and smart you all are! 
Dear Girl Scout cookies, ugh, yes.
Dear wineries with a view, you beaut. I can't wait until summer days when we can spend warmer evenings with ya, but even despite the bone-chilling winds, you're a pretty stellar hangout spot now.

Dear FaceTime, thank you for letting me play virtual babysitter to my nephew whenever my mom needs to do the dishes or fold laundry. I've developed a real talent of making all sorts of sounds to keep him entertained, a truly under-appreciated lifeskill! 
Dear SVU, Give me back my Barba!!
Dear spontaneous adventures, you give me life. How a hunt for yellow flower fields resulted in eating too many donuts at Dunkin, a wayward drive along the Pacific Coast Highway, a secret beach on the Ritz Carlton property, and then purchasing fresh seafood, I'll never know, but thank goodness for all the stories you help to create.
Dear March, you be a little kinder to us all, eh?

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