Boston

Oh Boston, how I love thee. Boston put its best foot forward for my visit and I didn't want to leave! First off, my Airbnb apartment was the best- great location (Beacon Hill) and friendly host (who also happened to be a two time olympic rower nbd). I arrived in from Vermont kind of late, so I got dinner at Tip Tap Room (chicken tips + good wine = yum), picked up some food from Whole Foods for breakfast and headed to bed.

Leaf Peeping in Vermont

After a great trip to DC, I headed up north to visit my friend Emily in Burlington and do a little leaf peeping. I had never heard of leaf peeping before this trip and while I still think its an odd expression, the leaves are LEGIT and I had an awesome time.

Big Sur Road Trip

Over Labor Day weekend, I decided to take a little solo road trip down the California coast. It was just me, Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance on audiobook (hilarious fyi) and Highway One.

Last Stop = Sydney

Sydney | Day 24

Expectation: I won't have much time in Sydney so an overnight flight from Bali would be the best way to save time (and money on a hotel room!)- plus I sleep great on flights so what could go wrong???

Reality: Six long, sleepless hours of pure flying hell. It seemed as if everyone on the plane was sick- coughing, sneezing and sniffling fought their way over the sound of the plane engines to be the main soundtrack to the flight. There weren't any TV screens, so I used my phone to stream Virgin Australia movies/TV shows except they kept cutting out and I kept getting elbowed by my fellow passenger every time we hit turbulence (which we did A LOT). Lovely.

We finally stopped in Melbourne where I had a very short amount of time (due to the delayed Bali flight) to pick up my bags, clear customs and immigration AND stand in line with the rest of the holiday crowded to check in for my next flight. Ran to the gate just as it was starting to board and managed to grab a quick smoothie before being one of the last passengers on board. At that point, I had the clumsiest 55 min flight of my life. I dropped my cell phone twice (and forced the kind lady behind me to contort her body to pick it up off the floor in a crowded plane), I dropped my kindle, I went to lean my head against the window and misjudged the distance and ended up slamming my head into the side of the plane AND I dropped my smoothie on myself so I smelled like mango coconut for the flight. The second time I dropped my phone was near the end of the flight and I looked over at the (very tall, good looking) guy next to me and at the same time we burst out laughing...yup, I was a total disaster who could barely function but at least I was amusing. 

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend was so much fun! Spent lots of time with friends, tried new things and even got in some relaxing...can we please have three day weekends all the time? How do I make that happen? Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Anyways, first up was bookclub on Friday night- got my inner Martha Stewart on and decorated the mason jars and baked a cake (this cake to be exact). However I did not extend the Martha skills to the actual dinner and just ended up ordering pizza...mainly so I could spend all my time holding the tiniest member of the group (she's so cute!!).

#42 Celebrate the 4th of July

It took awhile but I finally crossed another item off the list! Yup I got all dolled up in my 'Merican finest and celebrated Independence day at my parent's house. Please note the use of my USA beer mitt- best purchase ever! I love my parent's house and affectionately refer to it as my 'summer home'- anytime its foggy in SF its usually super hot and sunny where they're at so its worth the trip over every time (plus seeing my parents is cool too). It was over 100 degrees so I spent most of the day in the pool- mainly lounging with a beer...relaxation at its best.

Happy 4th of July!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their day off to celebrate the good ol' US of A. I will be drinking by the pool all day. Hope you're doing the same and if you're at a loss as to what to drink, then we are no longer friends- come on yo! Its not hard! Crack open a brewski and get to celebrating 'Murica's day. Ok fine if you're really struggling I recommend these 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon beers- refreshing, summery and super patriotic with Lady Liberty on the cans = triple win. And now some 'Murican links to distract you for a little while:

-An American flag onesie exists and I don't own one?!?! What is this world coming to??
-Bacon flag print- dress up your apartment plus mmmm bacon
-the weather in SF has been pretty awesome lately so you might need these aviators
-24 proud patriots (omg I'm so sorry but #3 is totes NSFW or for your eyes in general-#7, 13, 19 and 20 also NSFW)
-Totally bizarre pieces of Americana- some are super creepy
-20 things America has done right
-17 epic pieces of presidential fan art
-21 red white and blue desserts- yuuummmm

Canada Day 2013 Eh

This past Monday was the wonder that is known as Canada Day (July 1st for those who don't know) and as a proud Canadian I forgot about my whole dual citizenship thing and went full on Canuck for the day. Now ideally I would like all my Canada Day's to be on a Thursday/Friday/Saturday kind of situation but at least this year it wasn't on a Sunday (unlike last year). So how does one celebrate their homeland while at work in American? Easy! First lots of Canadian flair is needed- basically anything red and white will do but bonus points if a majestic maple leaf is on it.

Happy President's Day

Hope everyone had a good vacation- I love a good three day weekend. Grace at Design Sponge put together a list of 10 Great Presidential-Inspired Designs. I love this print- lots of good info there.

'Murican Christmas 2012

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I haven't quite gotten into the spirit yet- mainly I'm dodging tourists and people who apparently forget how to walk in the city like a normal human being for the month of December (I mean seriously?!? you're going to take up the entire sidewalk and go 0.002 miles an hour arrrrgggghhhh)- shopping in downtown SF during the holidays is not fun. I need to get my head in the game since Christmas is a week away- woo hoo!!! I need to stop muttering 'seriously/are you serious right now/you've GOT to be kidding me' to all the tourists and perhaps throw in a 'happy holidays' every once in awhile to mix it up a bit. Or I could avoid it all together by shopping online (where I've done 90% of all my shopping...oh Amazon Prime how I love you). Anyways, here's a last minute gift list if you're stumped on what to get for an American loving family member or friend.

(Foot)Ballin' at a Christmas party

Well I haven't crossed #24 'Go to a football game' off my list yet but I did go to a party with Joe Montana, Dwight Clark and Joe Staley! How did that happen? Well my roommate's company hosted a party for a tree lighting event in downtown SF where Robin Thicke performed- pretty awesome looking tree eh?

Thanksgiving 2012

Turns out that there is a limit on how many pictures you can post for free on Blogger- good to know. Now that the blog is all fixed up: happy belated-Thanksgiving! Since my parents were in Australia this Thanksgiving (no I was not invited, yes I was super jealous) and Christine's kitchen is in major renovation mode, I 'hosted' Thanksgiving at my parents house. What do I mean by 'hosted'? Well basically I did the appetizers, one roasted veggie dish and set up the decorations...and Christine did EVERYTHING else. It was awesome! It was a sunny day and warm enough to hang out around the pool so we put the apps outside on the bar. 

Halloween 2012

I went as a mountie again this year although unlike last year I added a special touch:

Independence Day 2012

'Murican beer pride photo thanks to Rebekah

So Vegas trip happened this past weekend...yup it really really did...I need some major recovery time. Long weekend plus a 3 hour delay (getting in at 11 instead of 8) makes for a miserable Monday morning. Great trip but I'm sooo tired...I'll recap in a few days. In the mean time, I already did my Canada Day prep post so here's a nod to my American side: 

1. Tracey from Shutterbean but together an awesome post about 4th of July foods. If you're trying to figure out what to serve or what to bring to a party she's got answers. I want her strawberry goat cheese bruschetta real bad.

2. Chiara from Oh Happy Day has a cute DIY red white and blue garland idea. Not sold on that one? She also has a giant garland DIY too.

3. Making It Lovely has cute table decorating ideas.

4. Planning a BBQ? Serious Eats has a 12 different homemade BBQ sauce recipes for you to try out.

5. AMERICAN FLAG CAKE!!! Obviously this is my favorite thing ever and someone *ahem Rebecca ahem* needs to make this.

6.  If you aren't sold on the cake I don't know what's wrong with you...I kid I kid that cake looks like a lot of work. Serious Eats pulled together a list of 15 desserts to make...these all look pretty damn good too.

And what will my plans be? Heading to the beach with the family (including my awesome cousins from Vancouver) to play in the sand and eat way too much food...can't wait!

Canada Day 2012 Prep

Its been a busy few weeks and its about to get even busier...at least its all fun stuff coming up! I checked NASCAR off the list last weekend and I'll be checking off going to Vegas this weekend, celebrating the 4th and going to the county fair next week. Some people might prep for a busy week by getting a good nights rest while they can...eh not my style. Instead I stopped mid-laundry and cleaning to bust into the two pounds- yup pounds- of Chimes ginger candies I bought from Amazon (I even signed up for Amazon Prime so I could get these in two days since 3-5 days seemed soooo long<-- new low) and am watching The Electric Horseman.  Cleaning? Packing? Going to bed early? Getting work done? Nope nothing is better than eating candy and watching hot young Robert Redford. 

Happy Mother's Day

Celebrating with my awesome Mom!

Happy Good Friday!

If only I was small enough (and lived in Dallas, TX) to ride this patriotic pony...so awesome!

New Years Fondue Party

What could be better than ringing in the new year with cheese, booze and more cheese?!? It practically screams American...according to an internet search Americans loved a good fondue party back in the day. Anyways, Bonnie, Rebecca and I put together a seriously awesome fondue dinner party (if I do say so myself) to celebrate the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.

Clean living room ready and waiting for people to show up

Donkey paperweight holding down the fort by the olives and nuts

AmeriCanadian Christmas 2011

Made it through the holidays as Americans- success! We spent Christmas eve at my parents house where my mom made a delish turkey dinner and we watched old home videos (Buddy the puppy stole the show however there were also a lot of Spice Girl songs involved...my 'choreography' has not stood the test of time...awkward). My brother and dad spent most of the afternoon/evening trying to find the funniest meme's..."highlights" were Karate Kyle, Insanity Puppy and High Expectations Asian Father. We slept in Christmas morning and took our time opening presents- we used the iPhone Face Time to see/talk to family back in the homeland (and to totally freak out all the dogs...they had no clue where the voices were coming from)...very cool to be able to see everyone. Speaking of dogs, I love this. 

AmeriCanadian Christmas family portrait

Santacon 2011

I never used to understand why people got so stressed around the holidays...thats because I was Canadian. As a canadian holidays = fun, happiness, lights, snowboarding, good food, friends, family,  gingerbread cookies, shortbread cookies, thumbprint cookies...notice a theme? 

But no, not this year...now that I'm Americanadian the full weight of the holidays has turned me into a stressed out mess. This is 80% due to work stress...why do people want to buy furniture before the holidays?!?! go buy Christmas/ Hanukkah presents and leave me alone!!

How awesome is this?!?!