Finally, Our Summer Video

While on the road we tried to take as many videos as we could, so that we could make a small movie to remember our trip. In the end we didn't take as many as we would have liked to, but it was enough to make this short clip!

Here is our first movie!



(Forgive the quality in some parts. Many of the videos were taken from our phones)

Something to Make You Giggle

I love this version of this song, and it is not a happy one, but this video...

Update: School's Out / Brain's Off

My first semester of grad-school ended about two weeks ago and I haven't posted anything here. After three months of intense work, I suddenly have no responsibilities, and I feel as if I was floating around. Even though I want to take advantage of the break, and do as much as I can around The Bay Area it seems as though planning things is too much for my mind at the time. So I have no trips or pictures worthy of posting about. But since I don't want to abandon the blog, here is a bit of what I have been doing (From My Instagram feed)

1. I've been eating and eating and eating. But most importantly, I ate this beautiful princess cake at IKEA

2. Penguins have been on my feet constantly. 

3. We bought and decorated a miniature christmas tree. This is our first real tree (in our life).

4. I've been trying to get better at running. I was very very proud of myself when I reached 10 miles in one week, that is until I called my sister to tell her about it and she informed me that she started running a month ago and has been running 35 miles a week. 

5. This actually what has been taking 90% of my time. I decided to try knitting after I found the free Hemingway Hat Pattern from Wool and The Gang. I want to knit more of their things, but I can't afford their kits/yarn/patterns, so I decided to make this hat over and over again for everyone I know (currently working on #5)

6. (Forgive my full cheeked/can't control herself happy face) Today was Lilo's last day off work until christmas, so we took a trip to Napa (It blows my mind that it is only one hour away). There I found a small Venezuelan food joint! (It's called Pica Pica Maize Kitchen) and although I heard that the one in San Francisco is terrible, this one was not bad at all. 

Now I'm back to knitting. I will try to keep on posting about life for my imaginary readers and for myself. But for now, happy almost christmas! 

The Bay Area: Montara Beach

A couple of weeks ago we decided to go relax at the beach. It was a really warm day, but we know how deceiving the bay area is, so we brought blankets, scarfs, jackets, sweaters. We got there pretty early and we wanted to wait for the sunset, so we stayed for about 4 hours, and it was sooo chilly. The whole time I tried to stay on the ground so that the cold wind wouldn't freeze me. We read a bit, and we even brought some food, and a little stove to warm it on.

Have you heard of "Spaghetti Squash"?

Since the fall began Lilo has been trying all these different sorts of squash. The coolest one by far has been the "Spaguetti Squash". This strange thing starts just like a normal squash, and then falls apart into spaghetti. I had never heard about it before, so for me it was like magic. Now, I'm not going to go around saying that "it tastes just like real spaghetti!", because it doesn't. But it does satisfy my pasta craving!

You can see all the fibers before its cooked! 

Our favorite 3-ingredient pasta sauce with spaghetti squash. (Broccoli-Italian Sausage-Garlic)

The best part about it is that it fills you up even better than real pasta, but it counts as a vegetable (right?). We cooked it in the oven. We just cut it in half, took the seeds out, put it cut side down on a pan with some olive oil and stuck it in the oven at 375 degrees F for an hour. Then, it just fell apart with a fork!

Muir Overlook & Beach

While we were at Muir Woods for our birthdays, we decided to stop by Muir Beach. It happened to be only 5 minutes away, and we were told about the beautiful overlook. 

The overlook was gorgeous. It is off the shore a bit, so you really have an amazing view from it. When we got there the light was beautiful, and it was about the time when the fog comes in, so everything was slowly being covered by white.

Even though it was technically still the summer, it was freezing there. When I moved to California I thought that it was warm and sunny all over the state. Silly me. The Bay Area is only warm for a couple of days a year, and it is never warm enough for a swim.

I braved up and felt the water a bit, and it was FREEZING! At first it hurt a lot, but once my feet lost sensitivity it became fun. Even though the water is too cold to be swimmable, the west coast beaches do have one thing that I love... SUNSETS! I could never wake up early enough to see the sunrise when going to beaches on the east, but the sunset here has been hard to miss! I love it! 

Muir Woods

Lilo's birthday is only two days earlier than mine. Because of this, we tend to extend the celebration over a three day period. Last year, both of us had jobs, so we spent the whole weekend celebrating and buying each-other presents. This time I am back on a student budget, and we had just gotten done with a very expensive move, so we tried to find cheap activities and forget about the presents. The first thing we did was go to Muir Woods. One year ago I came here with my parents for the first time, and thought that it was beautiful. But the main reason for us to come here this time was the grilled cheese sandwich from The Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" (See the post about it). It was tasty! although not the best thing I ever ate. But the park was gorgeous, as last time. Here are some pictures!

"The Best Thing I Ever Ate" - Muir Woods Grilled Cheese

I found out that one of Food Networks' "Best Thing I Ever Ate" episodes was about a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup sold at the cafe at Muir Woods, and I had to go try it! Lilo and I made a trip there for our birthday weekend, and got THE sandwich! 

This cafe is really different from other State Park Cafes. You would think they'd have corn-dogs, and nachos, and superBIG cokes, but nope. They are all about using local and healthy ingredients. Look at the video!!! 

I'm living a movie life...

California Academy of Science

School started almost two months ago, and there hasn't been time for anything. We haven't even finished making our apartment livable, but for now that will have to wait. About a month ago we finally had time to visit San Francisco and relax. We decided to go to the California Academy of Sciences after a friend's recommendation. It was really nice to be able to go out and forget about everything! 

Even though I am aware that this city is our home now, I can't help but feel like I am on a vacation trip when we go to San Francisco. I know that eventually we will get used to it, and it will start feeling more like 'our' town, but for now I love being able to feel this way without having to go too far!