santa cruz weekend

we recently went to this park:
Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz.
(a town we totally wish we could afford to live in, but probably never will)


we walked down this boardwalk in a eucalyptus grove...


and we saw these:



it's monarch butterfly migration time. it was neat to see. they fluttered above us in the trees and we pointed and whispered.

can't wait to take my bro ben here when he comes to visit for christmas.

BIG sur

we drove down the big sur coast a couple weekends ago.
our intent was to camp at kirk creek campground - right on the ocean side. it was packed by the time we got down there, so we ended up 12 miles inland at a plain but nice campground called ponderosa.
it was fun, besides the fact that brett was certain that the old man camping next to us was going to murder us in our sleep. we lived, but brett kept tossing and turning all night listening for him.

go giants!

we had the chance to go to a giants game a couple weekends ago.
brett's become quite a fan since we moved here...
now they're in the playoffs, and brett's anxiously watching their every move.

Tahoe...

Just got back from our non-labor-labor-day-weekend trip to tahoe.
No wonder people talk so highly about this place. It was beautiful.
We did all our favorite things: hiking, mountain biking (at a ski-resort that took us up on chair lifts, which was a-mazing), and paddle-boarding.
Oh, yeah, and we ate all kinds of horrible-for-you food all weekend. it was awesome!

3 years and still kickin'

June 8, 2007 - June 8, 2010.
We returned to the place where we found each other.

Our new Bikes. Yay.

So some of you heard about how both of our mountain bikes were stolen within a month of moving to our new place. We love our apt, but it must be said that our new neighborhood is a bit sketchy.

Anyways, with summer upon us, Brett and I have been researching and shopping for our new bikes. Finally, we have made our purchases. I just finished putting mine together yesterday. I'm pretty excited to try them out on the Santa Cruz mountains when Brett's bike arrives, in a couple weeks.

Here's Mine:

Here's Brett's:

Is it just me or are these bikes twinners? That was not on purpose, but I love it.
Pretty much awesome. I'm excited to see what we can do when we take them out. Pretty sure I'm preparing for some cuts and bruises. I love mountain biking, but I'm pretty weak.

4 eyes

i remember when i was 10 i wanted glasses more than anything in the world.
what was i thinking? my wish was granted, finally. boo.

A Living Teddy Bear

So we got a dog. Marley.
And he's pretty awesome.
His perfect day = walk, cuddle, walk, cuddle, walk, cuddle, walk...

He's not a barker, a scratcher, or a chewer.
We rescued him from a shelter in Sacramento. He loves us. But he also loves any human who will pet him, so let's be real... he would leave us tomorrow if someone gave him a treat and scratched his head.

And, now here's what he looks like after we got his hair cut. A different dog.

the ultimate weekend

this past weekend brett took monday off and we packed in as many fun events as possible for the ultimate valentine's weekend. first:
we went to maverick's surf competition - if you didn't already hear, the waves were so big this year that they swept spectators off the beachside with broken bones, so we had to watch from afar...
so, this is what we actually saw (through binoculars we could see the surfers)


this is what we wish we saw:


then:
we finally found a new apartment! We like it a lot, it's way cheaper, and we are moving in 1 1/2 weeks!
this is the place:


that night, we planned to do a fancy-pants valentine's dinner, but we were so pooped we just had pizza and watched the olympics, cozy style.

next: we went to our favorite fruit & vegetable stand in watsonville, ca and bought like 20 lbs of produce:


finally, we relaxed on the beach in santa cruz. aaahhhhhhh...



we love california... way more than i thought we ever would. we are surrounded by amazing beauty on all sides!

Outrageous.

I remember once in Haleiwa, HI when Brett & I got pulled over for not having a seatbelt on, not having registration, and not having current insurance. The cop joked with us for a bit, asked us if we were employed, and said he would flip a coin to decide to give us a ticket or not. We lost the coin toss, and he still let us off with a warning.

But in the last few weeks Brett has been trying to find out what he can get away with in CA. Turns out when they get ya, they get ya hard.
Speeding Ticket - 71 in a 55: $300. Yikes.
Not coming to a complete stop before turning right on red: $500.

Turns out ya can't get away with much here. Another reason to miss the land of Aloha...

finally blogging again

so now that brett is working crazy late hours i am finally getting back to blogging and looking at all your blogs, while i wait for him to get home...
these pics are actually from our halloween trip to yosemite. we traded in costumes and candy for hiking this year, and it was lovely.