birthdays

I moved again! I don't think I will go into details again since I think everyone understands what moving is like: stressful, confusing, and somewhat refreshing. This move involved roaches and an ear infection. Life has certainly thrown some curve balls. Between all this moving, my birthday snuck up on me. I personally love being a November baby because I love fall and gloomy weather. Even better, my birthday falls on the day before Veteran's Day so I've always had the luxury of a three day holiday.

This year, I went out with good friends and ate Thai food and shared drinks at local bars. It was a very low-key and laughter-filled night, and it made grateful to have the friends I do. I have no pictures, but I remember crying from laughing so hard, and joy like that is sometimes hard to capture on film.

Erik also planned a "surprise" getaway the weekend before my birthday. I say "surprise" because I guessed it! He tried so hard to keep it from me, but it dawned on me at once and I blurted it out right as we were walking out the door.

After a 2.5 hour drive through San Francisco, watching the scenery change from ticky-tack houses lined up side by side to the beautiful Northern coast with crashing waves and pampas grass and surfers, we finally arrived at Half Moon Bay.

 Here we indulged in a variety of wines made by wineries in Santa Cruz county.

They were also selling food from local restaurants, including calzones and clam chowder. We were given 20 raffle tickets each, and were able to use them how we wanted with all wines ranging from 1-6 raffle tickets, but averaging 3-4 tickets. Our favorite was a black muscat, which was sparkly and reminded us of blackberries. We are novice wine drinkers, so the sweet ones are still both our favorites, but we enjoyed all the wines save one or two. There may have been a Sauvignon Blanc that was simply awful.

After the wine festival was over, we indulged in some salt water taffy of all different flavors, including caramel apple and even a Hot Tamale flavored one! Erik picked that one, of course, not being able to resist spicy things even in candy.

 We strolled the beach after, and did some sorority girl poses.

I definitely won.

Erik decided to try his hand at real life modeling of things we learned in a class about rivers. It involved building levees and dams to control velocity of flow of water from this very odd puddle of ocean water in the middle of the sand that was being recharged by water bubbling from under the surface. And other nerdy things of that nature.

Afterwards, we stopped by Berkeley on the drive back and had Zachary's, a Chicago deep-dish style pizzaria, suggested to me by a friend. I wish I had photos because that pizza was glorious.

 That was my birthday! And as for everything else, this giraffe I snapped on a trip to the Sacramento Zoo this summer describes everything:

He was reaching across the fence to nab some delicious leaves beyond his reach, so persistent but ultimately unsuccessful. I relate to him so much, his exasperation and silliness. I am anthropomorphizing, but I relate to that face in so many odd ways. My projects are coming along, showing progress but not completion. I will post pictures once they are done!