Nor Cal Love

Our street festooned with fall glory!

So I’ve been a little MIA lately and Chelsea has been writing all the posts but it’s all good, she has covered tons of stuff.

I wanted to pop in really quickly and post some thoughts of living in Northern California. I was born in SoCal and in my heart I thought I’d always be a Southern California boy, but the more time I spend up here experiencing all the seasons, from scorching summers to chilly, drizzly falls (so far), I am quickly falling in love with the place.

I came to Sacramento with little expectations, knowing that we are back home in the good ole’ USA and we’d make the most of it. But as I wander the grid-like streets, through tree-lined avenues and watch amazing sunsets I realize I didn’t do Sacramento justice. It’s a great town not too big, not too small and in the middle of everything. We can go east to Lake Tahoe, or we can go west to San Francisco. Moreover, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Napa valley, and Sonoma are a couple hours away. If we wanted to go on a hike we could hit up the rivers, the mountains, or the parks nearby. So many options and I think we need to experience them more.  

For example, this last weekend we went to Santa Rosa to celebrate Stephan’s 21^st Birthday. We drove up and down the Dry Creek Valley hitting up 5 wineries. We even were able to visit a winery we tried at the Santa Rosa Harvest festival early in October. It was a whirl-wind weekend but all the great wines we tasted made it worth it.

I will try to post more as we continue this new adventure, but for now sit back and enjoy some photos of picturesque Northern California.  

The bridge that crosses into West Sacramento over the Sacramento River

Fall came in full force the other day. Leaves were strewn everywhere.

Some beautiful shots of a winery in the Dry Creek area

The colors are simply amazing

My new dream: own a vineyard, just so I can wake up to this scene every fall. It is really, really awe inspiring

The fam for Stephan's 21st!

Sequoias in Santa Rosa. I love it.

Truly majestic beings, these trees.

So we went on a hike, this is what we saw. Takes a bit of a walk to get this view in So Cal.

 

Meet Toast!

Two weeks ago an unexpected knock on the door brought a new friend into our lives. Meet Toast, the surprise puppy!

We weren’t planning to adopt a dog but when my friend showed up at our door to say we had first dibs on this little pup who needed a home, we couldn’t resist her cute face. We told my friend that we would take her in for a week to interview the dog and see if we could handle the responsibilities of having a puppy.

Within the first few days Toast nuzzled her way into our hearts. She is a two month-old boxer, beagle, pit bull mix and already such a good dog! She is mostly house broken. She has occasional accidents when we leave her in the kitchen/laundry room while we are at work/school (but always on puppy training pads! What great inventions!). She already knows how to sit and waits patiently, sitting still, staring up at us with her adorable scrunchy face when we are about to feed her.

Yes, a pet is an added responsibility and an added expense in our lives right now but adopting Toast is such a great thing. She brings so much joy and laughter into my daily life. I stay more focused while I am at school (less dawdling on facebook at the library) because I know I need to come home and take the dog out. Then when I do come home, it is to ebullient puppy energy, playfulness and snuggles.

Right now Toast hasn’t had all her vaccines, and she is too small, but someday soon we will be able to go for long walks and runs and I know that will be good for me. I have been much less disciplined about exercising since I’ve been in law school. Hopefully Toast will help get me in shape.

Tim and I are also realizing that taking care of a puppy is good practice, at least in some small way, for the type of coordination and balance needed for parenting. We see ourselves having to transition away from thinking only about ourselves on a daily basis since we have to plan our days, holidays and futures taking into account another being (albeit a canine one). I know we won’t be able to leave our future babies in the kitchen with a bowl of food or just put them in the backyard when the are being bad (or can we…..?) but at least we are realizing that, as with most everything else we have done so far, with flexibility, patience and teamwork we can make anything work.

Toast is so little right now, but I imagine she won't be a lap dog forever!

Toast came to the polling place and voted with us on election day

A great companion for studying on cold nights.

Everyone who came to our house said we have the perfect backyard for a dog. Toast thinks so too.

Scrunchy face!

So cute.

We love her little pout face.