I Love You, California!

I have to say that getting up early on a Sunday morning to watch a football game starting at 10am has taken a little bit of getting used to. However, it always proves to be a fun time! We spent the better part of a very chilly Sunday cuddled up by the fireplace at McNally's, our local Irish pub around the corner from our apartment. Go Packers and Bears!

Christmas Eve   This was our first year ever doing Christmas on our own at our home (with the exception of the year we went to Mexico for our honeymoon and spent Christmas there). Though we missed our family terribly, we made the most of it and hopefully started some new traditions! On Christmas Eve I baked a cherry pie that we would enjoy with our Christmas dinner the next evening. Later that night we had some pizza for dinner and watched The Polar Express. It was a very relaxing day and evening; just what we needed! Christmas Day We s lep t in nice and late and had a very rela xed morning. We started with some coffee, mimosas, and presents! W hat could it be? Thanks for the boxes and tissue paper! It is too funny how many times Will and I always seem to have a similar thought pattern. It has happened multiple time where our gifts are related somehow, and it has happened again! One of the gifts I gave to will is a set of fifty cards that display a h...

We were so excited to have our dear friends Matt and Angie come visit us this weekend. They have been our friends since our college days in Minnesota, and they now live in San Diego. For the holidays they planned a trip driving along the coast with a final destination of Tahoe in mind. However, those plans were interrupted by six feet of snow in the Sierra's the night they were planning to drive there from the Bay, so they stayed an extra night here in the Bay before heading back toward San Diego. The same storm that was headed to the Sierra's passed through the Bay area first, providing us with torrential downpours almost all weekend which meant lots of indoor activities! They arrived on Saturday. Will and I cooked dinner and we spent the evening sitting around the table playing games and catching up. Sunday we went out for brunch in Jack London Square at the Fat Lady . Will and I stopped in here for a drink when we were visiting back in February and it had been on our lis...

When Will and I visited Napa back in October we joined Chandon Winery to have some bubbly for the holiday season. We figured instead of paying for shipping we would opt to pick it up considering we live only an hour from Napa! So we drove up for the day to visit a couple wineries and pick up our December shipment from Chandon. It was a really rainy day, but despite that, we had a wonderful time. It made it nice and cozy! One benefit of going on a gloomy raining day in December is that it is the off season, so everything was very quiet and we got great treatment during our visits. Our first stop was Trefethen Family Vineyards . This might be one of my favorite vineyards so far. The wines were delicious, but our favorites were very expensive! The grounds are beautiful. To get to the main building the road travels through the immense vineyards. Once in the building the ambiance is very cozy, charming, and homey. We will definitely be back! In the barrel room at Trefethen. This ...

We spent the evening decorating the tree and cooking dinner. The tree certainly makes it feel more like Christmas here in California! Will picking out the next ornament. Christmas Kitties! All decorated! Can you find the hidden object in the picture?

We were very fortunate to be able to fly back to Madison to spend the week of Thanksgiving with our families. We traveled back to Madison via trains, planes, and automobiles! During the week we saw a few friends, lots of family, and I got my fill of Wisconsin beer and cheese curds! On Thanksgiving we stuffed ourselves silly with two Thanksgiving meals, one with my family, and one with Will's. Friday morning came all to quickly and we woke to the sight of snowflakes! Now my winter is complete because I got to have some snow, and no, I contrary to many people's beliefs, I will not miss the snow! Now that we are all settled back home and back into our routine and work week, we are gearing up for our first Christmas together in California! Over the weekend I put up a lot of my decorations, and last night Will and I went to pick out our Christmas tree. There is a Christmas tree lot just about three blocks away from us, so we walked over, picked one out, and Will carried it back. W...

After spending the last few weekends out and about we needed to take the time to run errands and take care of business. Some of our errands took us to the island of Alameda. While we were out we managed to sneak in a quick break at the beach! Oh, by the way, did I mention yet that I got a J-O-B?! I work in Alameda now so I had the opportunity to show Will where I have been working!! I am working as a program facilitator at a non-profit organization called Girls Inc. They provide a lot of different programming for girls ages first grade all the way through high school. My role works with first through fifth graders in an after school program. I teach lessons and plan activities which inspire and empower girls to be brave, bold, and smart. It is a very rewarding job. Here is where I work! This next week will be busy with work and getting ready for our trip back to Wisconsin. We are excited to see our friends and family for Thanksgiving!

I am trying to get all of our Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving, so Will and I went into San Francisco to hit up the arts and crafts vendors and other shops. As long as we were there we picked up some veggies from the Ferry Building farmers' market to get ingredients for chili that Will made on Sunday. We were along the waterfront later in the afternoon, so we decided to go to happy hour at two of the fancier restaurants that we otherwise might not be able to go to for a dinner out. It was a good way to be able to try out some really good food at a low cost! Our favorite was La Mar, a Peruvian restaurant run by a chef who also has restaurants in Peru, Columbia, and Panama among others. The cocktail menu was also amazing with combinations I've never had before. Their Pisco Sour has been rated the best in San Francisco! One of the coolest things about it is that the building it is located in is a historic landmark, so it was beautiful inside! Info about the historic l...

Cal Berkeley Bears that is! Some of the people in Will's company attended UC Berkeley and are Bears fans. The Bears stadium just opened up this season after getting a big renovation. It was a fun game and a beautiful stadium Most of the group!

Will has been yearning to go Mountain biking since the day before we knew we were even moving to California - ha! When we got out here we knew we needed to upgrade my bike, so I got a brand spanking new one on sale at REI back in July. I'd used it several times just around the city, but it was time to go test it out on some trails! We ventured off to Redwood Regional Park which is a whopping 15 minute drive from our apartment, right here in Oakland. We are so lucky to have such diversity in landscape just a short distance from us! When we got there we started off with a picnic lunch in the Redwood Bowl, which is a big opening in the middle of the park. It was an extremely foggy morning. It was 12:15 already and still this foggy! It made for a really cool atmosphere though, it felt like a rainforest inside. Then we were off on our bike ride. It is about a nine mile loop around the park and we did the whole loop. The technicality level of trail is intermediate for biking, and...

After two extremely gloomy, somewhat rainy days, the fog lifted and the sun came out, making for a beautiful day to go to Napa! This time we ventured off with our neighbors Katie and Alex. A month or so ago we bought coupons from livingsocial (a groupon like website) for a tour in Napa. We assumed it was for a group tour, and I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be, but apparently we were the only people who signed up for the day or something. When we got to our pick up location, a guy came over and asked if we were Erin party of four, we said yes, and he guided us over to our own personal Lincoln Navigator! So we got a private driver for the day to Napa! whoop whoop! We stopped at the lookout for the Golden Gate Bridge before we headed out of town. I don't remember the name of our first stop. I'll fill in that detail later when Will gets home. He'll remember I hope! On our way to the next winery we popped the bottle of champagne that was included with o...