birthday toms

Classic navy birthday toms, courtesy of my best friend who currently lives in Burma. Thanks! Wish you were here! You've got 2 days to get here till my birthday.

Outside and Across the Street

The Outside Lands line-up was announced a few days ago and I want to go. It will be just across the street in the GG Park, so I don't think I can pass up the convenience. The line-up is pretty good, but I'd be mostly excited to see Arcade Fire. Gotta decide by Thursday.

Speaking of outside, we've actually been going outside as of late with the weather being nice(it got up to 80 degrees!) and just a desire to be more active. The past couple of weeks, we've been taking advantage of the frisbee golf course, tennis courts, and hiking trails. This picture was taken on our hike last week, I think it was the Land's End trail. Lots of stairs, great views, and side trails to explore.

Hybrid Necklace

I made this hybrid necklace...

...out of this...

...and this.

I've been checking out a lot of style and fashion blogs lately and thought I might add some style components to my own blog. So there may be more outfit and style posts starting...now.

I have some hand-me-down items in my wardrobe and jewelry collection that I took simply because they were handed to me. Always a sucker for free things. Even if they aren't necessarily items I would choose myself. Because of this, I seem to have collected a few long strings of beads that I haven't really worn. So I was playing around with them and decided to try to make a hybrid beaded necklace. This turqoise and yellow necklace is what I came up with , looping them around and letting them hang with each other. Now I think I may actually get some use out of these.

First Few Weeks in SF

October in San Francisco has had it's bout of nice weather as it has been known to do.


Got a pumpkin last week. We drove all the way out to a place called Nicasio Farms, but got there right about when they were closing. They graciously let us pick a pumpkin anyway and I'd say we got a mighty fine one. Still deciding on what to make of it, but it's presence is comforting.


I can't help but miss my cat though(and my red dresser for that matter). Still trying to find a place to live and move into Halloween weekend that will also take in my cat...but it's proving to be an unsurprisingly difficult process. It seems like we just want simple things...decent area, good closet space, a separate living room, maybe some laundry nearby. But SF seems to be littered with outdated studios and awkward 1 bedrooms that are overly priced no matter the area. So, we're trying to remain optimistic. Things always work out some way or another...and we could always look at apartmentlessness as a good money saving strategy.

Also...looking for a job again.

Holiday Pictures

I realized I didn't really leave our holiday to a conclusion and it's been about a month since we've been back. We enjoyed our trip, but were thrown back into the real world when just a day after returning, we had to move our mom out of the townhouse we grew up in. Andrei is now in San Diego and starting his first year this week. And I will be moving up to San Fransisco next week.

Here are a few(relative) pictures from our trip. Some of my favorites. Some highlights.

Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace.

Peter Pan statue.

First (1/2) pint in London.

Harrod's and the Tube.

Tower Bridge.

Stonehenge.

Green Baths.

Bath.

Abbey Road.

Greenwich.

After the rain at the Greenwich Observatory.

Prime Meridian.

He got a kilt.

The Castle.

Highland Cow.

Loch Ness and Uruqhart Castle.

Edinburgh view on our hike.

Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.

Complimentary pint at the Guinness Storehouse.

Cliffs of Moher

Today was our bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher on the West Coast of Ireland. They are not the tallest cliffs in Ireland at about 750 feet, but they are the most accessible and therefore most visited. They were beautiful, of course, if any of you have seen pictures of them before. Eroded and staggered, picturesque. The cows grazing by the cliffs were a nice touch. We were there for about an hour and a half, just walking up and down the cliffs, trying to not get blown off(as we learned some people have in the past).

The rest of the tour took us through the countryside(cows everywhere) and down the west coast. We stopped at a few photo stops including a castle, a deserted abbey, and an area on the coast covered in rocks that once used to be the ocean floor(sorry, forgot what it was called). We also discovered that surfing is popular on the west coast because the water is rather warm from the gulf stream.

It was a relaxing day. I'm glad we planned these bus tours amidst all the walking. It's nice to get away from the cities too and see the green countryside.

In Dublin

Now we are in Dublin, Ireland!

This will probably be a short entry because although the internet is free at our new hostel, it resets every so often. So, we'll see how this goes.

We arrived in Dublin yesterday afternoon. The second we got off the bus, it started pouring rain. Lovely. Checked into our hostel and found a famous fish and chips place called Burdocks. Giant portions and fresh fish. Delicious. Also managed to get a Guinness at a pub across the street from our hostel.

Today we started off the day with a tour of Trinity College. It was led by a comical Irish student and left us off at the Old Library to see the Book of Kells exhibit. It was beautiful, although there were only 2 of the 4 books on display.

Next, we just walked down Grafton Street, a pedestrian mall pretty much. Fairly famous. We followed that down to St. Stephen's Green. We found some lunch at a noodle place which was tasty.

To end our day, we walked up and down O'Connell Street and saw the various monuments, statues, and various other historical sights that line the street. We also saw O'Connell Bridge and the River Liffey which divides Dublin north and south.

Dublin is a nice city and we are going to try to take it more easy here since it is not as big as London and we are spending as much time here.

Tomorrow we will visit the Cliffs of Moher!