Last Friday, my uncle Eric came into to. Eric is actually my father’s cousin, but we have called him Uncle Eric my whole life. He lives in Illinois and I usually only get to see him for about one week … Continue reading
Crabs, Lunch and Family Time
Tag Archives: Family
Thanksgiving and Black Friday
This year, our Thanksgiving dinner was a small group, tasty foods, and a perfect day. I’ve been staying for a few dayswith my parents and I finally ended my epic clothes hold-out, and started doing laundry. If you don’t remember, … Continue reading
Name Ideas for my new Prius
On Saturday, my brother, Mom and I went up to Redwood City Toyota to look at Prius’s. We met with the same salesman that Mom had gotten her plug-in Prius from last year. It took a few hours, but by … Continue reading
Year Two, To-Do Lists, Blue Beast and SCU
So I fell off the blog writing planet. My apologies, but life turned into one hot mess. But I’m back now!
I started back with professional development at my school basically the first week of August. It was a surprising return to work after a lazy, delicious week and a half in France, and a week in Holland with my dear old mum.
This year I am teaching 4 sections of Intro to Art, and one new honours class called Visual Communications. It has been a big change jumping from teaching 3 sections last year to having 2 preps and teaching 5 classes this year. I’m also in my second year of BTSA, which is this huge project that feels like insane amounts of busy work.
In September I started at Santa Clara University for my Master’s program. It has been the worst experience of schooling in my life, but I have already invested so much there, that leaving now seems like such a waste. I can go more in to detail at a later point, but for now I am just putting my head down and finishing my masters and getting the hell outta there. I thank god, that my good friend Annie is in the program with me, or else I would have given up on SCU a long time ago.
About 3 weeks ago, I was in a car accident on the freeway. I was shaken up and pretty sore, but overall I am fine. My beloved blue beast of a Prius, was not fine, it was totaled. It was my first accident where I had been the driver.
Losing my car was such an emotional blow to me, it was my first brand new thing, that I got to pick out and own all by myself. Afterwards I struggled with feeling guilty, even though it was not my fault at all, I still felt a sense of loss over losing my first car. I have been unbelievably blessed by kind and giving parents (and a super awesome and helpful brother) who are helping me with all of this headache and drama of being in a serious car accident.
We got money from the insurance company pretty quickly, but I wanted to do some research on cars. I looked at a few others, but am pleased to say that I am going with another Prius. For now, I am lucky enough to borrow my mom’s car while my parents are out of town. My brother has been amazing over the last few weeks, he was a giant help with the whole car mess, and overall we have been hanging out a ton and getting along famously (which is rare for us), so that’s nice.
So, in short, life has been busy, some days better than others, but still pretty good I would say. I am trying to remain positive. I have a job I love, a great itty bitty apartment that is all mine, and in the future, a bigger paycheck. I voted (yahoo!) and have been trying to stay on top of all my different areas of life. But to be fair, my to-do list is out of control! Even my to do lists has a to-do list! I am so behind on my Christmas shopping, usually by now I’m done.
But, life is still pretty good. Hows yours? How are things? How has your week been?
-S
Summer Adventures
In the last 3 weeks of summer I have:
- Gone berry-picking with my brother
- Watched Frozen with my brother
- Made strawberry shortcake-yum!
- Visited Natasha at Google, again!
- Had a girls weekend in Pittsburgh with my mother, including these delicious waffles!
- Watched a rain and thunderstorm in Pittsburgh, just outside of this building
- Saw my very first drive-in movie (How to Train Your Dragon 2)
- Had a beach day with my girls, and used my newly finished t-shirt quilt!
- Followed up the beach-day with some fantastic horchata ice cream from Marianne’s
Watched a gorgeous sunset with my dad
- Participated in our family portraits photo-shoot, taken by the talented Andria Hautamaki (more photos coming!) Aren’t we a cute ‘lil family?!
- Knocked 2 things off my 101 list!
So far, its been a great 3 weeks of summer! How’s your summer going? How was your 4th of July? What did you do for it?
Love,
-S
Miami Beach and the Everglades
The last day or two of our vacation was spent in Florida. We flew back to the US and took a tour of the Everglades, and then poked about my mother’s hometown. It was great to finally see the house that my mother grew up in, and see the city that she spent her youth in. I had grown up visiting my father’s parents and seeing his hometown almost every summer but this was my first time seeing my mother’s birthplace. The Everglades was beautiful, and bursting with wild-life.
We grabbed lunch at Joe’s Stone Crab and it was the perfect finish to a fantastic family vacation. It took all day on Sunday to get back to California (3 flights again!), but it was worth every minute of the travel to have a week in the Caribbean.
I hope everyone is getting a chance to relax this weekend! You’ve earned it.
Love,
-S
Cayman Islands Part 1
Two weeks ago, my family and I flew to the Grand Cayman Islands in the Carribbeans for our first family vacation in years.I had been running pretty ragged between work, babysitting and fighting a nasty cold.
I had wanted warm water, sunshine,beautiful beaches and this trip was exactly what I needed!
There were iguanas everyone, our hotel was a dream, beautiful sunsets every night and warm sunshine-filled days. It was a perfect.More photos coming tomorrow.
Happy Monday! I know I swooned over some of the dresses at the Academy Awards, anybody watch them besides me?
Love,
-S
Wine Tasting in Napa
On Saturday, the Roomie, my brother, Alex and I drove up to Napa and enjoyed some wine tasting at two lovely vineyards. I had never been to Napa, so I was pretty excited to explore the area and see some new sites.
It was a cold and misty day, but that did not diminish our excitement or trip in anyway. It was a lovely drive, winding up through the City and I snapped a few photos to document the lovely day, as wine tasting was on my 101 in 1001 list. It has been so much fun to cross things off my bucket list!
We stopped for breakfast at this charming little red cafe, called Boon Fly Cafe, after which we enjoyed the first vineyard, William Hill. We tasted a few wines, and then wandered over to ZD Wines. It was a dark and gloomy day, so it was fun to sip some wines, sit indoors and chat away.
Today I ran a bunch of errands, and got in a bit of shopping with the Roomie & Grant. Last night, I watched West Wing while cuddling with the pups. It was a busy weekend, but filled with fun things.
How was your weekend? What was your favorite thing you did all weekend? Have you even been wine tasting?
Love,
-S
New Year’s Eve
We were a full house for New Year’s Eve, all total I think 11. For the last two year’s we have had a tradition of having a steak for dinner on NYE. We also ate a ton of veggies and mashed potatoes. We had some cocktails, played some wii earlier in the day and just enjoyed the day together. A few of us pulled on some sparklier clothes, but for the most part it was a pretty casual evening.
I mean, after dinner we worked on a puzzle. Crazy, right?!
Monday was my first day back at work, and tomorrow we see our students. I’m looking forward to starting over with them. For the past few it has been pretty low-key, and I have been liking every minute of it. I know before Christmas it was crazy, chaotic and rushed. Having this last week and a half to recharge has been great. Sometimes you just need some you-time.
I hope your NYE was as delightful as mine was!
I’m also organising things to knock off my 101 in 1001 list. Check it out if you haven’t already!
Love,
-S
101 in 1001
Image From Daily Fancies & Pinterest
I’m inspired by Mackenzie of Design Darling (which, if you don’t read, you totally should!) and Carly of College Prepster in creating a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. 1001 days, which is 2.75 years, is the enough time to do things without it being a total bucket list.
I stole some ideas from their lists, and then added a few of my own!
I’m officially starting mine on January first so my end date is September 28th, 2016.
Completed Items: crossed out.
In progress items: Italics.
101 in 1001
Inspire someone to write a list of their own (Maryah in Jan 2014)Go wine tasting with friends or family (Jan 11th, 2014)- Learn to play an instrument
- Go hot air ballooning
- Make cake balls
- Invest in a food processor
- Climb a tall mountain
- Go sky diving
- Visit a new continent
- Go zip-lining (I’ve got my eye on your Mt. Hermon)
- Build my dream closet
- Upgrade to a DSLR camera
- Go to a taylor swift concert
- Buy a house/car/condo/boat, something!
- Visit the Anne Frank house
- Get my own puppy
- Run a marathon (the San Francisco one in July maybe?)
- Spend a day at a spa
- Visit a castle (ideally this one: Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany)
- Take a tour the white house (planned for July this summer)
Fast for three days (March 2014)- Visit the Harry Potter World in Florida
- Tour Hearst Castle (on our road trip hit list this summer)
- Visit Canada (on our road trip hit list this summer)
- Donate money on Kiva
- Go paint balling
- Send a message in a bottle
- Buy a large jewelry box for all my bangles and earrings
- Invest in Tory Birch boots
- Take photos under the hollywood sign (planned for this June)
- Take photos with lit sparklers
- Learn to shoot a bow and arrow
- Order business cards
- Invest in a classic handbag (Frank Clegg/Tory Birch/Coach/Kate Spade)
Organize my Itunes (January 1st, 2014)- Send out christmas cards on time
- Throw a surprise party for a friend
- Buy my first piece of furniture
Find my signature cocktail (January 13th, 2014) Lemon Drop- Attend a horse race or polo match
Track my spending for a month January and February 2014)- Drink 8 glasses of water (50 oz) every day for at least one week.
- Buy personalised luggage
- Throw my first sunday brunch party
- Blog for 30 days straight
- Top up my emergency funds for a total of one year’s rent money (almost at 6months)
- Get a mani and pedi that match (scheduled for June 2014)
- Set up a photo shoot for the whole family
- Meet a fellow blogger in real life
- Find a set of china that i love
Don’t eat out for one month (February 2014)- Write a guest post for another blog
Buy all the Gilmore Girls DVD’s (Yay!)- Invest in my first piece of tiffany’s jewelry
- Learn the sock bun successfully(I plan on asking Brandy/Amy)
- Cook dinner every night for a week (0/7)
- Buy myself flowers every week for a month (0/4)
- Go one month without buying Starbucks (February here I come)
- Invest in nice undergarments
- See a second Frank Lloyd Wright home
- Purchase or make a bar cart
- Complete a jigsaw puzzle by myself
Buy a plane ticket with my frequent flier miles only (Santa Fe Tickets there & back)- Come up with a way to organize ALL jewelry
- Take an Instagram photo errr’day for a month (in progress!)
Do a “no spend month” (February 2014)Create a gallery wall (in my classroom January 2014)- Create a custom blog logo
- See the Great Gatsby movie (this one)
Do a three day juice cleanse (March 2014)- Throw a masquerade party
- Be in a fashion photo shoot
- Participate in a color run (This Saturday!)
- Keep a food journal for one month
- Try hot yoga
- Find an infinity scarf i don’t feel silly in
- Go without “bedtime tv” for a week
- Unplug for a whole weekend
- Reach my ideal weight
- Read & watch every Jane Austen Novel/Movie (watched 3/5) (read 1/5)
- Update my good reads profile for three months.
- Go on a road trip (planned for July this summer)
- Make fig jam/red wine jelly with my mom
Drink a glass of wine every night for a week (February 2014)- Eat “clean” for one whole week
- Get a blow out at a “dry bar” just because
- Ride in a limo
- Try a spinning class
- Invest in a monogrammed necklace or bracelet
- Finish my T-shirt quilt
- Learn needlepoint
- Walk through a corn maze
- Buy more J.Crew blazers
Buy a new watch (March 2014)
- Take myself to the movies and watch a double feature
Buy a whole cd (March 2014)- Have a stay-cation at home one day every weekend for a month
Get a hammock (January 2014)- Learn calligraphy
- Get a new hairdryer (preferably this one)
- Put 10$ into savings for every goal accomplished
Ps. If I inspire you to write your own list and you DO, email me either your link or your list.. and I’ll link it to my list and get to cross one off.. Thanks!
16 Down, 85 more to go!
Love
-S
Classy and Fabulous 
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