I Love You, California!

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!