Half Moon Bay

When driving down to Fremont to visit Z's parents, we always passed by the off-ramp to Half Moon Bay while taking the San Mateo bridge.  My curiosity continued to grow as I asked Z tons of questions about this bay since his family usually went there for special occasions, such as Mother's Day. I had also heard through the grapevine of people heading down this way to pick up pumpkins for Halloween and then Christmas trees in the later seasons.

One day, Z surprised me and we took a day-cation to the mysterious (at least in my eyes -___- ) Half Moon Bay. Growing up, I have always lived near the beach. My younger days were spent exploring the beaches of the Central coast (my favorites), then off to the warm sandy beaches of Oahu in Hawaii (since my father was in the Air Force), and then finally the crowded beaches of Southern California.  I must say that my beach is more along the lines of the Northern Pacific coast where the beaches only get prettier and less populated. The times I did go to the beach in Southern California were for bonfires, sunbathing, reading, and of course--people watching. Now I mostly like exploring beach caves and climbing on rocks. It's nicest for me when it's a bit overcast even, because if it's too sunny and hot, I can't hike around as much or I get all sweaty and gross.

Located 35 minutes south of San Francisco along the Pacific Ocean, Half Moon Bay is a stunning slice of the Golden State and boasts an unrivaled combination of coastal town friendliness, charm, and natural beauty. After checking out all the cute boutiques that the town had to offer, we decided to check out the tide pools at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach. The reserve stretches for 3 miles and is an underwater park designed to help conserve and protect ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems. We arrived during low tide and were able to view sea anemones, mussels, hermit crabs, and other beautiful creatures hiding among the rocks.

After exploring the beach, we stopped at Barbara's Fish Trap for lunch. It is a small seafood restaurant overlooking the water serving delicious Italian dishes, sandwiches, and of course--the essential clam chowder or fish n' chips basket! I forgot to take photos of the food for everything was much too delicious to stop and snap a photo. Half Moon Bay is truly a beautiful place to visit when you want to escape from the busy hustle of the city for a while.

Spring Cleaning

Spring is finally here! Along with the arrival of blossoming flowers, I thought that my blog needed a change as well. Hopefully this will streamline everything that I eventually have planned for this page. One of my goals is to streamline my closet and post some of my pieces in a shop later, which I am pretty sure Z will appreciate since he won't have to look at my exploding closet. 

These last set of Portland photos are from a trip to the Portland Japanese Garden that Z and I trekked all the way from our hotel in Downtown to see it.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to take some photos to share with my mom, whom is a huge fan of Japanese gardening, art, and just anything Japanese in general.  The garden itself is sprawled across 5.5 acres and is composed of five different Japanese gardening styles: Flat Garden, Strolling Pond Garden, Tea Garden, Natural Garden, and the Sand and Stone Garden.  

The Sakura blossoms were my favorite part of the gardens as they were in bloom during our visit. I never used to be a fan of the color pink when I was younger, but the color is growing on me now. The blush pink flower with its hot pink--almost red center is simply a breath taking sight.  If you are ever in Portland, make sure to check out this lovely garden.

They Build Buildings

I finished my midterms this week and I am still recovering from when my sister and her boyfriend were up here in San Francisco visiting. I have to say it is quite tiring being a tourist in your own city, discovering things that you never really took the time to view and appreciate. More on their visit later. Well actually, it will probably take me months and months to develop the film I shot this past week (Argh! I really need to get better at being more timely with the blog posts or invest in a nice digital camera so that I can post easily!). 
Here is the next batch of photos from when Z and I visited Portland. I really enjoyed the brick buildings since we don't really see much of the brick and mortar here in San Francisco. There's something really charming in seeing that these bricks have stood the test of time and are still standing. Am I being wishy-washy? Probably.   On this day, we walked around the Pearl District and stopped by Powell's Books. It is supposed to be the largest bookstore around with so many used and new books. Z could have probably stayed the whole day perousing the endless aisles. We wanted to buy some books, but did not want to lug them around in our already full luggage.  Whenever Z and I are visiting a new place, we are most content in walking around and wandering into random shops and parks. We seem to find the most interesting things that way, which is completely fine with me. More to come!

In The Neighborhood

I finally developed some film that I took on a trip to Portland with Z. We got a terrific flight and hotel deal to stay in the downtown area within close proximity to the light rail and buses. We spent each day walking around exploring the different neighborhoods. Cherry blossom trees were everywhere and lined the streets to cute character homes. All the houses are so lovely and unique. After the rising prices to just rent here in San Francisco, the amount of space you can get up in the Pac NW made it seem like Disneyland. I know that a certain little spoiled pug would definitely love a backyard to run around in. Portland seems like a lovely place that I can definitely see myself living, but I know that I would start to get homesick after a while since I'm such a baby when it comes to those things. The following are some photos of the various neighborhoods that we explored. I'll post more pictures that we took on our trip soon!