California Dreamin' - Part 2

For so much drinking the night before we actually woke up pretty early and ready to pick up our rental car. We took a cab over to Enterprise and were on our way!

Some scenes from the drive:

Flash flood!

Our first stop was Sausalito for some breakfast. We went to a little diner and I had a huge omelette.

I REALLY wanted to go to the Redwood Forest but it was about 5 hours out of the way, so we "compromised" with a stop at the Muir Woods. I say compromised because the woods were absolutely gorgeous. It was an amazing stop. It started with a very windy road up the mountain. We of course had to stop a few times to take in the amazing views:

Sadly my iPhone camera is pretty terrible and you can't see the Golden Gate and the skyline in the background. Luckily I have my brain to always remember the beauty!

I will never forget the amazing scent that came through the windows as we drove up the mountain. It was the first of many times I would experience pure, unadulterated joy on this trip. If I could bottle that smell up and sell it as linen spray I'd be a rich woman!

We spent about two hours wandering through the woods, chatting about life and other less serious things. Some photos:

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir :)

A few hours later we were in Napa! We arrived at our AirBnB, an adorable little cottage about 5 minutes from downtown Napa.

Love it. This house came with an ORANGE TREE!!!, a lemon tree, and a 2 year old snuggly kitten. Clearly it was made for me.

We hung out at the house for a little while and got to know our host Laura: an older divorcee from London. As she's giving us the tour of the house she tells us, "The house comes with a special surprise that wasn't in the listing: a 25-year old, 6 ft tall, former college swimmer lives in the other wing. He's at the gym right now." WHAT!?! Haha I love this lady!! We waited for the dude to show up so we could introduce ourselves, then made our way downtown for dinner. I had done some research ahead of time and really wanted to go to Carpe Diem Wine Bar but when we showed up it was closed because of the earthquake back in August! Sheesh. 

We walked over to another place I had bookmarked -- Celadon -- but it was a two hour wait for a table. We had time to spare, so we put our names down and went in search for some charcuterie. Downtown Napa is super cute:

We eventually stumbled upon Cadet Wine & Beer Bar, which was *literally* my dream restaurant come true. They ONLY served freshly made charcuterie, wine from smaller vineyards, and some uber local craft beers. They also had an old school record player and tons of vinyls -- you buy a bottle from them, you pick the next record! Amazing. Cadet had only recently opened so we spent a bunch of time talking to the woman who created the place. She was so great. I want to be her.

Yum. I also had my first few glasses of Napa wine! Unfortunately I can't remember anything about them except that they were delicious. The time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to head back to Celadon. Despite the charcuterie I was ready to eat! We ordered mussels to start:

And I ordered the seared tuna for my entree. It was great!

We considered heading out to a bar after dinner but opted instead to head back to the house and try to get a decent night's sleep. Luckily Sophie (the cat) was waiting or us!

California Dreamin' - Part 1

I am really lucky we have an office in San Francisco. Every once in a while I get to hop on a flight for free and make my way to sunny California. I love it there!

We were hosting another event at the St. Regis so I managed to sneak my way into the luxury hotel with 50% off rooms! And this time, I didn't have to share!

My room came with the most amazing bed ever, a jacuzzi tub with a TV in the bathroom, a huge flat screen TV, turn down service, and electronic control of lights, temperature and shades! Seriously, how did I get so lucky?!?!

When I arrived at the hotel it was 8:30 pm California time, but 11:30 my time. I decided to immediately hop in the tub to prolong my early sleep. Nothing better than watching New Girl while sitting in a jacuzzi. I still fell asleep on the early side, and probably experienced the best sleep of my life until the crazy ass fire alarm went off at 5:30 am!! I think I had a small heart attack when it went off. The alarm was BLARING and a guy on a loud speaker was saying, "There is a fire on your floor, you must evacuate now." I have to admit, I was pretty unimpressed with my response to this. I hopped out of bed but then stood there for about 5 minutes trying to figure out where I am/wake up/calm my heart down/decide if I should put a bra on before I go outside. By the time I was dressed and made it to the stairway the guy came back on and told us it was a mistake. Are you kidding me!?!? I couldn't fall back to sleep after that so I just laid in the huge bed watching TV.

Unfortunately I didn't do much in San Francisco besides work and eat. Here are a couple of photos:

Fresh fruit and granola at my favorite breakfast spot: The Grove.

Dinner at Mikkeller Bar. I ordered a beef sausage with jalapeno, fried onions and chipotle ranch. It was totally delish.

This place had a GREAT beer selection. They also served beers at their proper temperature. Pretty awesome. Alpine Beer Company's "Hoppy Birthday" is pictured below. It has a "100" rating on Beer Advocate!

Setting up the room for our event. The Bay Area is way swankier than Boston. I like it.

Dang, you can barely read this menu. We had four courses at this event!

This one was my favorite: spinach and mushroom stuffed lobster. An homage to my organization's Boston roots :)

Wearing a signature green dress to the event in case anyone forgets where I work. I actually networked A LOT at this event -- I think I'm more comfortable when I'm 3,000 miles from home.

On Friday my friend Sara flew in from DC and met me in San Francisco! We planned to spend one more night in the city, then rent a car in the morning and drive to Napa. I have been anxiously awaiting this trip for a long time. I was so happy to see her and have some real vacation time!!

We stayed at a perfect Air BnB in Cow Hallow/Marina. It was my first time using Air BnB and I will absolutely continue to use it. Our host was awesome and was feeding us beers and shots of vodka about 10 minutes after we arrived. We only had one night in San Francisco, so we wanted to make the best of it!

I didn't take any photos for the rest of the night, but it included food at Roam Artisan Burgers and lots of drinks out on the town. My favorite stop of the night was Taps Social House -- awesome bartender, fun crowd, and great beers. Why is it so much easier to make new friends when you're a visitor??

And we're off to Napa in the morning!!

You've set on me but you are not the sun

This morning I woke up in the 6 AM hour (by accident) and decided to go for a run. Exercise has been pretty...minimal...these last few months.

Today's run reminded me of a few things:
- How good it feels to pound it out to music (This song was on repeat, I felt like I was in middle school again...) Speaking of middle school, I even threw a little angry Brand New into my playlist. I wonder if anyone got the post's title reference?
- My foot still F*CKING hurts. Why, why WHY?? I need to go to the doctor.
- Sometimes I can still surprise myself. After a long break I was able to pretty easily run 3 miles with a couple short walks! Wooowee.

Now that I'm basically going out for food/drinks or traveling around the country nearly every night of the week (who am I?) I must figure out a new exercise regime. Hence the waking up well before my body is ready to crawl out of bed. I've tried and failed this numerous times, but maybe the trick is just taking advantage of the mornings when my roommate's door slamming jolts me out of my precious dreams?

I feel like I am getting sick for the first time in a loooong time. Could be the nearly 96 hours I spent drinking in California last week? More on that later!

Hook from Once Upon a Time is the hottest pirate I have ever seen. Here's a little montage of funny internet things:

He's pretty banging as a regular guy too...

Is this post random enough? No? Okay then, I will share my favorite songs of the moment (neither of these are actually new). Enjoy:

Life Lately

Ready for picture overload? Here's what I was up to in October:

Nice views in Philadelphia.

Beers with straws at MSG.

The Piano Man <3

The ultimate NY bagel with bacon chive cream cheese.

Fuzzy Jake Gyllenhall spotted on the streets of NYC.

Throwback to when Gabbe was a tiny kitty.

Spooky evening strolls.

Peaceful sunset.

Perfect night for some kickball!

Beauty. 

Beauty x 2.

My favorite oyster shuckers at Wellfleet.

Friends at Oyster Fest!

Picklepalooza!

Shot callin', pub crawlin'

Birthday celebrations.

Best dessert I've ever made.

In love with my new ring (those nails need work though).

Capital Cities jamming.

Drinks on drinks.

Halloween!

The best bars have beer pong.

Spontaneous Broadway show!

Subway chillin.

Frickles!

NYC <3

Perfect fall cocktail.

Scenes from the High Line.

Magic art.

Obligatory Empire State Building shot.

A New Beginning

In the early days of this breakup many people told me that I had to feel the range of emotions that surface when someone you love unexpectedly leaves you. You can't hide from grief; the only way through it is through it, and there are no shortcuts. But that doesn't mean I didn't try.

For the first couple of months I used this blog to pretend I was fine. It was a way to force myself to be outwardly positive when inside it felt like I was drowning. But sometimes visiting this blog at all was just too painful. Having all of the very detailed memories from the last few years at my fingertips was often just too much to handle, so I decided to put it on hold for a while. It's been four months now, and while the pain is still ever present, I am grateful that it's whittled itself down to a dull ache that only rears its nasty head here and there.

But a few weeks ago the pain returned, full force and with a vengeance. We live in a world of over sharing, and let's be honest, the internet sucks during a breakup. You do what you can, but if you dig hard enough you'll eventually uncover whatever it is you're looking for (or trying to avoid). Finding out that your ex has moved on is a very bitter pill to swallow. My opinion on this -- although I'm sure it can be guessed -- simply does not matter.

What does matter is the realization that there is no point in wasting any more time, energy, or emotions on this relationship. There were many things I wanted to do/say upon this discovery, but after playing out the various scenarios in my mind, the only one that ends well for me is the one where I focus on my own life, not his. Tom is his own person, not an extension of me. Whatever he does has nothing to do with me, and whatever he gets or doesn’t get out of life impacts me only as much as I choose to let it.

Once the more horrible and painful emotions subsided I was pleasantly surprised to feel something like relief rise to the surface. I almost felt like I could finally give myself permission to say, and more importantly, believe, "There, it's done. And now it's time to get on with your life."

So now, it's time to take a deep breath and get back on the proverbial horse that is life. For the first time in months I am feeling happiness and smiling genuinely again. And sometimes, I'm even bursting with excitement at all of the possibilities for my future. I'm eager to discover who I am now and start to embrace my new single lady self. It feels extremely refreshing to -- probably for the first time in my life -- spend my time and energy exactly how I want to, without anyone's influence or opinion.

So, I leave now with a reminder from my diary of 2007 (19-year-old Julie was a wise one):