Our World It Smiles...

"My witness is the empty sky"

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The sunset along Ocean Road in Pacific Grove…

My husband and I have a long list of “things to do” during our year in Monterey, things like visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, wine tasting in Napa, and camping weekends in Yosemite and Death Valley.  What sometimes seems more difficult to accomplish is my list of things to make a habit of, and picnicking at sunset at this spot down the road is at the top of that list. 

I have been fortunate enough to live brief periods of my life is some very special places: The Upper West Side of Manhattan, along the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam, the lovely neighborhood of Los Feliz in Los Angeles, and my fondest memories of all those places are of the spots I made a part of my regular experience. My greatest regrets about all of those places, of course, are the things I failed to do or see as often as I had hoped to. So for our year in Monterey I am making a point of taking full advantage of our time, and making habits of the beautiful experiences that will become the essence of my memories here.

Rushing down to the ocean with a bottle of wine at 4:30, to sit along the rocky shoreline cuddled up with my husband to watch the sun set in all its glory over the Pacific, is something I want to look back on as a defining experience of our year on the Central California Coast.

Filed under sunset california

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McWay Waterfall Trail, Big Sur

“….But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?”-Jack Kerouac

Filed under big sur travel jack kerouac

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Thanksgiving weekend we drove down Highway 1 to check out some quick trails in the beautiful and infamous Big Sur. The drive alone was worth the trip, the stretch from Monterey to Big Sur offers a perfect way to get a real sense of the California experience in only 40 mins.  Breath-taking, awe-inspiring, and right outside our door, the Central California Coastline epitomizes, in my mind, every travelers mantra that “the journey is the destination.” 

Filed under big sur travel

4 notes

Newlywed Firsts! This Thanksgiving was my first as a married women, and as a holiday hostess! Unable to make the trip back to the east coast for the holiday we took on the exciting task of cooking up a Thanksgiving feast! Fortunately we had a few friends in need of a pseudo-family for the occasion as well, so we were able to really go all out with our menu. Mike took care of the turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes, I made a sweet potato casserole, sautéed green beans with almonds, stuffing, cranberry sauce and spicy roasted cauliflower and brussel sprouts, and April made chocolate pecan pie and an apple buttermilk pie! I attempted more cooking for this one occasion than I have in my whole life and everything was a success (I am starting to feel slightly more domestically inclined and adventurous!) One fun aspect of this domestic adventure was pulling together our table setting. Being just the two of us with a limited budget we had decided on a minimalist approach and have been slowly adding to our collection as needed, leading to the colorful and eclectic display seen here. Luckily for us our neighborhood has a vast selection of beautiful benefit shops offering lovely vintage items at amazing prices! (I’m hoping that if we stick to a color scheme this method will prove a success over time, and each piece will bring back it’s own memories of where and when and why!) It’s always noted that holidays just aren’t the same after childhood, some how the magic slowly disappears, but I must say that this year I’ve learned that Thanksgiving is one that (for me at least) improves with age. Planning, cooking and hosting dinner was the most fun I’ve ever had on Thanksgiving, and I hope that this new holiday magic translates to Christmas. (Having our own home to decorate has already started to bring a whole new layer of joy to the holiday!)

Newlywed Firsts!

This Thanksgiving was my first as a married women, and as a holiday hostess! Unable to make the trip back to the east coast for the holiday we took on the exciting task of cooking up a Thanksgiving feast! Fortunately we had a few friends in need of a pseudo-family for the occasion as well, so we were able to really go all out with our menu. Mike took care of the turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes, I made a sweet potato casserole, sautéed green beans with almonds, stuffing, cranberry sauce and spicy roasted cauliflower and brussel sprouts, and April made chocolate pecan pie and an apple buttermilk pie! I attempted more cooking for this one occasion than I have in my whole life and everything was a success (I am starting to feel slightly more domestically inclined and adventurous!)

One fun aspect of this domestic adventure was pulling together our table setting. Being just the two of us with a limited budget we had decided on a minimalist approach and have been slowly adding to our collection as needed, leading to the colorful and eclectic display seen here. Luckily for us our neighborhood has a vast selection of beautiful benefit shops offering lovely vintage items at amazing prices! (I’m hoping that if we stick to a color scheme this method will prove a success over time, and each piece will bring back it’s own memories of where and when and why!)

It’s always noted that holidays just aren’t the same after childhood, some how the magic slowly disappears, but I must say that this year I’ve learned that Thanksgiving is one that (for me at least) improves with age. Planning, cooking and hosting dinner was the most fun I’ve ever had on Thanksgiving, and I hope that this new holiday magic translates to Christmas. (Having our own home to decorate has already started to bring a whole new layer of joy to the holiday!)