A Dog's Life

Zuri, our big and precious lab mix, does very well with all of our travels.  She rides in the car without a peep, and I frequently forget that she is in the backseat.  It usually takes her about a week to get situated in our new home, which is to be expected of a dog.  This is also her first experience living in a big and exciting city.  She hasn't been sure what to make of long walks on pavement instead of the grass that she is used to in the suburbs.  Luckily she got about two hours of quality walking time in Golden Gate Park every day last week.  This is where she goes a bit nuts, and I have to scold her more than I am used to.  She loves to attack the ducks and birds, but her favorite thing is to dig for poor innocent moles.  I laugh so hard as I reprimand her at the park!  Here are some funny pictures that I snapped of her from last week in the park.

And then here are a few of her at Half Moon Bay recently.

We love her so much, even though she tends to be very full of herself!  She is such a wonderful part of our little family!

December Pictures

Here are a few photos from December.  More to come of our place in the city!

  

Zuri on the long journey to Colorado

The very barren landscape of Nevada

Utah!

Wyoming

 

The folks and Aaron in SC

My first ornament still looks lovely on the tree!

Clemson cows.

More Clemson cows looking very fine!

One of Zuri's favorite locations in Colorado.

 

It is hard to believe that the holidays are over and 2011 is here.  We had some wonderful times with both of our families, and it was so refreshing to have time off from work to sleep late and lounge as we desired.  Actually I spent very little time sleeping and was usually out of bed by seven and ready to start the day.  Why can't I be that enthused to be up and about on the days that I work?!  Our road trip back to San Francisco was rushed and a bit stressful, but we made it without any difficulties.  The high winds and blowing snow during our entire drive through Wyoming was really unpleasant, but Aaron did a fine job taking it slowly and keeping us safe.  The conditions greatly improved when we crossed into Utah and from there on out it was a relaxing drive.  We were so happy to land in Elko, NV for the night, and after a quick dinner of pizza we were asleep by early evening.  The following day's drive was uneventful until we got to Reno.  From there the traffic was heavy and through the mountains we were greeted by some rain and snow that slowed us down and enhanced our grumpy moods.  We arrived to Sacramento, packed the cars and closed up the storage garage and made our way too our new apartment in the city.   It took us about three hours to get from Sacramento to San Fran because of a couple of minor accidents on the side of the highway along the way.  It was so nice to arrive to our new place.  Of course, our parking spaces were taken, so we had no place to park our cars, but it worked out okay.  Aaron called the emergency number and they eventually called back and told us to park in another location where we would be safe from tickets and towing.  After unloading the cars we walked down to a small gyro cafe, and ordered our food to go.  We ate dinner next door at a local pub and drank some much needed beer.  It was soooo good!

The following day Aaron had to be at work by eight thirty, so I ended up driving him to the hospital.  The location was only about three miles from home, but it took a good fifteen minutes to get him there.  Driving through the city is quite an interesting and slightly terrifying experience, but luckily I made it home safely.  I love the narrow winding roads and the many hills.  My fear of heights does kick in when driving up and down the hills here, and I just pray that my brakes continue to work well.  After getting the husband situated, I took Zuri over to Golden Gate Park for a long walk/run.  It is a beautiful place, and we are so fortunate that it is just across the street.  The green grass, tall beautiful trees, botanical gardens, and museums make it a wonderful place to visit frequently!  I know that Zuri is a fan.  After getting showered and cleaned up I made my way to Safeway for groceries, and managed to buy a few things for over $100.00, and got a parking ticket while shopping for less than ten minutes.  Good times.  That evening after Aaron got home we headed out to Target to find some furniture items.  It turned out to be a successful shopping trip, and our apartment is starting to feel and look like home. 

So over the past couple of days, we have been figuring out the transportation system, so that we can keep our cars safely parked and not have to drive.  It has been lots of fun.  I really enjoy the Muni, and plan to spend a good portion of my day tomorrow riding it all throughout the city and exploring.  Yesterday my friend Tami came up from Mountain View and we wandered the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood together.  The streets are full of funky grungy hippies, and it is wonderful!  We wandered, talked and talked, people watched, and drank plenty of good wine.  Today I don't have too much planned.  I might take Zuri to Half Moon Bay so that she can run around unleashed for a while.  It is just nice to be here and have the week off to get situated and acquainted with this amazing city!!  I will post some pictures of the apartment soon.

Dinner with a 'Foreign Flair'

We are currently enjoying time with my folks in South Carolina.  We're having a relaxing visit hanging out at the house, drinking good beer and getting ready for Christmas.  I have been trying to do more cooking lately.  I really like to explore various ethnic cuisines.  Last night I prepared a very basic veggie stir-fry that seemed to please our palates.  There were no complaints, and we all had clean plates, so that is a positive sign.  This morning I started thumbing through Mom's cookbooks searching for a soup recipe to fix for tonight.  I decided to go with the Russian soup borsch, which is one of my favorites.  Aaron and I ate plenty of this beet filled soup while we traveled through Poland, and it is a perfect meal for a cold winter evening.  The recipe as follows

Borsch-from Better Homes and Gardens, Meals with a Foreign Flair

Add 2 cups shredded beets and 1 cup each chopped carrots and chopped onions to 3.5 cups boiling salted water; cook 20 minutes.  Add 1 can beef broth (or vegetable broth), 1 cup shredded cabbage, 1 tablespoon butter; cook uncovered 15 minutes.  Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice; pour into 6 bowls, and add a dollop of sour cream to each.

Mom, Aaron and I dined on the Borsch while Dad chose to go with chicken noodle, since he isn't a beet fan.  On the side we ate popovers with butter and strawberry jam.  It was a lovely combination!  The soup turned out well with a very pleasing flavor.  I used canned beets because there were no fresh ones to be found at the market today.  Next time I might try using one can of plain beets and one of pickled just to add a bit more flavor.  I think tomorrow night we are having sandwiches, but I plan to help Mom with fixing dinner for the whole family on Saturday.  She is planning on making a variety of delicious quiches.  More fine dining experiences in the near future! 

1,275 Miles

We had planned on leaving California on Thursday mid-morning after Aaron got off his last shift, but we decided to head out on Friday instead.  The thought of packing and driving after a long night of work was pretty unbearable.  It was nice to have Thursday free for Aaron to nap and for me to slowly get things together.  I even managed to go shopping and workout briefly.

Our goal was to be on the road by 6:30 on Friday, and we did quite well in achieving that early hour as we were driving by 6:44 to be exact.  The drive to Sacramento took us only two hours, and wasn't too bad even though the roads were already congested with commuters.  Once in town we found a little cafe for breakfast before heading to our storage space to park my car for the month.  So Friday was a very long day, and we didn't make it to Salt Lake until 9:15 or so.  At least it was a scenic ride taking us through the snow clad Sierra Nevada mountains and then onto the unusual state of Nevada.  After leaving Reno, I-80 leads to a very barren terrain.  There are no trees and no towns for many miles, and you look out onto rolling brown hills with cold and forbidding snow capped mountains in the distance.  Although the landscape is harsh and uninviting, I really love it.  It is truly a unique sight for a southern girl like me.  Overall Friday was overcast with big threatening gray clouds and very little sunshine.  We actually managed to get into a snow shower about 80 or so miles outside of Salt Lake City.  This was a bit concerning since it was snowing very hard and sticking to the roads, and the only real warm items in the car were Zuri's blankets.  Fortunately we drove out of the storm within about ten minutes and didn't have any more snow for the rest of the trip.

Saturday morning we managed to sleep in until 8:30 and didn't get leave until well after 9 o'clock.  The skies were clear, which made for a lovely day of driving.  We were in Wyoming by mid morning, and there isn't much scenery to take note of along this stretch of the drive.  Treeless hills that go on forever pretty much sums it up.  Once in Cheyenne we dropped down to I-25 that took us to Fort Collins.  We even made it for Claire's 1st birthday party, which was fun.  Both girls are getting so big, and it is just amazing to observe how much they grow with each visit!  We got back to Rosanne and Dean's by 8:30 and visited with them for a while before crashing. Overall it was a really successful road trip with no unwanted interruptions.  We listened to good music, talked about politics and our future travels, and ate plenty of Subway sandwiches.  All of these things combined makes for quality time spent on the road.

Today we have just relaxed with Aaron's parents, and we are preparing for our trip to South Carolina tomorrow.  Lots to look forward to these days!

Pics of Alcatraz Trip

We have had a busy past few days.  My schedule at work is so choppy this week, that I am having a difficult time remembering what day it is. Oh well, just very typical.

Monday Aaron got off of work and crashed for three short hours before our friends Chris and Karen arrived into town from Monterey.  They're a couple we met in Wisconsin a couple of years ago, and we have managed to stay in close contact.  They just recently got married and will be moving permanently up to Rochester, MN to work at Mayo Clinic.  We always have such a good time when we hang out together, and my face usually hurts from laughing too much from their crazy stories.  It is so much fun!!!

So, on Monday afternoon they came over and we headed into San Francisco to go on the evening Alcatraz tour.  We managed to get there early, so we went to a nearby restaurant for appetizers and drinks.  We ordered a few various food items and two rounds of drinks and the bill was well over $100.00.  Wow!  I suppose we should pay closer attention to prices next time, but that takes some of the fun out of it!  After eating we went to get in line for the ferry to Alcatraz.  I was stunned by how many Europeans and Asians were standing in line.  Aaron and I are so glad they are here and supporting our weak economy!  The ferry ride was brutally cold, but it was a clear evening, so we had to stand on the outer deck and take in the amazing views of the city and Golden Gate Bridge.  The evening sky over the bridge was a perfect combination of orange and pink, and it was truly a mesmerizing sight.  Once to Alcatraz we got off the boat and made our way up the rock to the main prison.  The whole experience was really quite eerie, but that was to be expected.  We each received a headset that took us through a walking-audio tour.  The audio part was very informative, and the sound effects were fantastic.  Aaron even found out that tourists can pay to spend the night on the island.  Maybe that would be a fun Christmas gift for him!  Hmmmm...  So I won't go into too many details of the tour, but it was well worth the money and lots of fun to do with Chris and Karen.  Following our time in SF we went back to our town and drank beer on University Ave.  It is where all of the undergrads spend their wild college nights, and we love to drink quality brew with them at all of the quaint little pubs that line the street.   A perfect ending to a great day.

I worked on Tuesday, but Wednesday proved to be very productive as we found an apartment in the city and even managed to sign the lease and get the keys all by 4pm.  Not too bad!  The apartment building is 51 years old, so it is quite dated, but it has lots of charm and character.  It is only three floors, and the outside is painted a variety of 70's colors that remind me of The Price is Right studio.  Even though the grounds are small and there is very little green space, I was so impressed with the flowers that have been planted around the building.  We will live on the second floor in a very spacious 1 bedroom apartment.  The kitchen is very small, but the living room and bedroom are big, so we will have plenty of space for all of our stuff.  The landlord was so nice and had the lease ready for us to sign by 3pm.  The surrounding neighborhood seems safe, and I can even see UCSF hospital from the bedroom window.  Also, Golden Gate Park is just across the street, so Zuri will get plenty of exercise without going too far.  We also managed to get into Chinatown for a couple of hours to eat at my favorite Thai restaurant.  They have the best peanut tofu sauce in town, and it always gives me heartburn, but I can't seem to stay away!

The past couple of days I worked, and now I am off for one lonely day before going back tomorrow.  I am thrilled to only have three shifts left!  Today is for the gym, errands and hiking with a friend, and holiday beer in the evening.  I found a great Christmas beer that has a  nutmeg and cinnamon flavor.  Drinking this is a heavenly experience!