Thrill Seeking

In my opinion, a little adventure is a necessary part of life. Wikipedia defines an adventure as : "an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome." Without a sense of adventure life can get boring, mundane, predictable.  A little bit of adrenaline is good for the soul.  It keeps you on your toes.  It keeps you truly living.

That said, there are many ways that one can have an adventure and get the thrill that they are seeking.  As for Mark, he takes the use of the term "adventure" very literally; usually translating to some sort of outdoor expedition. This is definitely an interpretation of adventure that I can get on board with and Mark and I have had lots of great adventures together: ski trips, exploring the Chanel Islands and most recently an Oregon adventure weekend of kayak clamming and waterfall hiking.

Dogs like adventure too.

 

While this type of adventure is awesome and enjoyable, personally, I like to live a life were I can relish in more "everyday adventures."  That was really the whole point of this blog, to track my new adventure of moving across the country on my own and all the sub-adventures that came along with it.  As you may have noticed, the blog has not seen a lot of activity lately.  And it's not because I haven't wanted to write, it's because nothing in my life (aside from the above Mark-ventures) has seemed particularly blog worthy.  What once used to be my LA adventure has become standard. Predictable. Low risk.  The opposite of the Wiki definition above...

Now I know what you are thinking, "Girl!  Get your booty out and do something!  You live in the second biggest city in the nation!"  Sure.  Makes sense.  The real issue is, that I don't want to. Though a bit mundane, I'm content going to the same restaurants with the same friends. Settling into a routine of yoga, hiking, and beach biking.  Sure there are more things I have yet to do in LA, but now that I really understand the whole "LA scene" they don't seem as exciting or unpredictable.  I like my Santa Monica bubble and I prefer to live life repeating things I enjoy instead of experiencing things I'm not really into just to say I've done it.  Lately, my biggest adventures have been in my kitchen which, while enjoyable, are truly safe and thrill less for anyone but me. But if you are interested, you can check out my monthly featured recipes for Cosmo's Spicy Ranch here.

So, where do we go from here?  Is the blog dead? Have I transformed from an active, outgoing, adventure seeker to a passive yogi with a food and wine fetish?  Not a chance (but I do love yoga, food, and wine).  Even though I'm loving my life and routine in Santa Monica, I would be lying if I said I wasn't restless.  I am.  And after having my first Kardashian sighting and feeling my first earthquake in the past month (both more underwhelming then I thought they would be, hence why they do not have their own blog posts) I feel like my LA to-do list is about done.  Or that I'm at least done with it, I'm there. I'm settled. This place is no longer foreign and unique. And once I've completed one challenge, I need to find another.  I thrive off taking risks, embarking on new challenges, and enjoying the ride along the way. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm ready for a new adventure. A big one.  Stay tuned folks, I promise it's about to get good :)

Fa La LA-LA Land

Last night, as I drove home from work and up the Lincoln exit ramp off the 10, I noticed a a panhandler, which is pretty typical.  What was atypical was the sign he was holding. It was small and said simply, "Love."  It made me smile and almost give him a dollar.  Almost. I learned in St. Louis that you don't open your car to people on the street... anyway... the point I am actually trying to make is that his sign felt like a perfect way to sum up the holiday season that has just come to a close.

I've officially been in LA for over a year and it's crazy to think about how far I have come in that time. A year ago, I was lamenting the warm, snowless December and trying to navigate my new life.  This year, I was fully embracing the holiday spirit in my new home:

I found a more appropriate place to hang my stocking

I upgraded my tree from last year

And I even added a touch of Mistletoe

 I also embraced typical winter activities with a LA twist, like ice skating in 60 degree weather:

I tried (and kinda failed at...) some new holiday baking ideas:

It was too hard to frost his face...

And I enjoyed a winter bike ride that could only take place in LA:


Manhattan Beach Pier with Christmas Lights

Mental gymnastics.

I've been struggling with yoga lately. It's definitely my preferred workout of choice, but I'm just not getting out of it what I used to.  I was initially so drawn to yoga because I felt like it did a lot for both my mental and physical health, but recently, going to yoga has seemed like more of an obligation and has felt more stressful to me than relaxing. Probably because I have been so crazy busy this fall... but despite that, I have been trying to sprinkle in some other ways to maintain both my mental and physical health. Here is a look at how I have been trying to keep a balance over the last few months and find time to enjoy the fall (which apparently means random 90 degree days in November here...).

MENTAL HEALTH: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
As we speak, I am sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine. And I skipped yoga today. It was rainy, chilly, and I was in a bad mood. The traffic getting to yoga and parking would have been terrible and I wanted nothing more than to feel cozy and cook some comfort food. Shocking I know, that cooking and eating mac and cheese relaxes me. But I needed it tonight. There is just something about dancing around your kitchen, listening to music, and making-up an ingenious culinary creation.  That's right, totally made this up and I am super proud of it.  (The recipe is at the bottom of the blog post for those who are interested.) Then of course, putting on fuzzy socks and eating a bowl of the stuff is pretty divine too.

PHYSICAL HEALTH: Heroes of Hope 5K
As many of you probably know from Facebook, I ran a 5k last Sunday with some girls from my sorority Alumni group to benefit brain tumor research. It was a great day to run on the beach, a bit warm, but really beautiful. This was actually quite a big accomplishment for me. Since breaking my ankle 4 years ago and getting hardware to repair it, I have really struggled to run like I used to. I have had a lot of problems with leg pain and sciatica and have been really frustrated and annoyed with myself and my body.  It was really great to balance running with yoga to train for this and I really focused on not pushing myself too hard, too fast (my main problem post-new ankle). I'm proud to say that I ran the entire 5k in 29:16. My goal was to run it in 30 minutes, so I was spot on. The best part is that I feel great and more pain free than I have felt after running in a really long time.  And all of my wonder friends and family almost doubled my fundraising goal for the race. THANK YOU to everyone that donated.  It means so much to me and of course to those who will benefit from the research that is being funded at all the major hospitals in the LA area.

This adolescent bear is quite proud of me.

LA and I make amends...

So, after getting in a bit of a fight with Los Angeles, I spent sometime getting back to one of the things that made me excited about this city in the first place, nature. Being active and outside has always been somewhat of a reset button for me and a reset was definitely necessary these past few weeks.  I've been traveling a lot lately and I haven't had much time to relax. Any time that I have had in LA has been short and spent trying to cram in friends and events.  Without time to recharge, it's easy to get frustrated. Fortunately, between all of my trips and traveling, I was able to spend some time with nature.

A few weeks ago, my friend Carrie invited me to join a girl she knows from college and her friends to go hiking in Malibu. I've been hiking in Malibu many times, but I had never heard of these so called "moon pools" that we were going to see.  After a bit of a slow start, we made our way up PCH and up into Malibu Creek State Park.

Aside from being an absolutely gorgeous place to spend the day, the park has also been used to film many movies and tv shows, as part of it used to be owned by 20th Century Fox. One of the most well known things to be filmed in the park is the tv show M*A*S*H, and you can actually do a hike to the filming site.

M*A*S*H Site hike from Feb 2012

Cheese and Wine

Sunset and cocktails the top of the Shangri-la on my birthday

Oy, once again, time has gotten the best of me and I find myself weeks behind in my blogging  with several post ideas to write.  In my defense, I have been crazy busy- July was packed with visitors, trips, and my 27th birthday. I have not, and will not, have a free weekend until the end of September.  I'm not complaining, but this schedule leaves very little time for retelling all the action packed fun. In order to ease my burden, I'm using this post to kill two birds with one stone by combining two of my favorite July events which happen to feature two of my favorite things in the world: Cheese and Wine.

The cheese comes in my favorite form; mac and cheese. This year, my birthday party was a mac and cheese tasting hosted by my friend Danielle at her apartment. Guests were asked to bring a variety of mac and cheese to share and everyone at the party tasted the dishes and voted on their favorite.  I felt like a very lucky girl as many of my friends, new and old, showed up with various combinations of cheese and noodles. Even Joni and Sean made the trip up from San Diego!

My creation, Chorizo Mac and Cheese, surrounded by all of the
delicious contributions of my party guests.
Pure heaven.

Though everything was absolutely delicious, in the end, there could only be one winner...

Bring on the Gloom...

Tomorrow is June. JUNE!  I have no idea where May went.  To jog my memory and catch everyone up (since I'm sure you have all been on the edge of your seats wondering where I am...) here is a photo recap of my Magnificent May:

First stop, SAN DIEGO for Joni's Junior League fundraiser gala and some quality time with her and Sean:

Island Divine

La Jolla Glider Port

Next, off to my favorite state, COLORADO, for Ms. Krystal's  mountain wedding:

Urban Jungle

Moving from the 3rd largest city in the US to the 2nd largest, I expected that I would be getting more of a lot of things.  More traffic, more smog, more people, more money (earned and spent), more sunshine, more professional basketball teams, more celebrities, more homeless people, and well, you get the picture.  One thing I was not expecting more of was nature.  I was actually expecting to move to a larger city and get less nature to account for the more of everything else.  LA has pleasantly surprised me by being a place that is FULL of natural beauty and outdoorsy activities.  Who knew?

Plastic Santas and Santa Anas

So... it's December and I don't think I have ever felt less in the holiday spirit.  It's not that I'm a Grinch or anything, it just doesn't feel like the holidays when it's 65 degrees and there are palm trees everywhere.  Oh, and it's super windy.  Earlier this week, someone commented that the winds must make me feel like I'm back in Chicago.  No.  No, the Santa Ana Winds DO NOT remind me of Chicago.  ALSO, Chicago is not significantly winder than any other city (see table below from www.currentresults.com) and earned the nick-name "The Windy City" for the "windbag" politicians not the weather .  In addition, I have never had large amounts of sand blown into my face in Chicago.  Snow, sure.  Sand, dust, palm leaves, not so much.

Average annual wind speed of the windiest US cities

(in miles per hour and kilometres per hour)

City	MPH	KPH
Boston, Massachusetts	12.3	19.8
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	12.2	19.6
Buffalo, New York	11.8	19.0
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	11.5	18.5
Dallas, Texas	10.7	17.2
Kansas City, Missouri	10.6	17.1
San Francisco, California	10.6	17.1
Cleveland, Ohio	10.5	16.9
Minneapolis, Minnesota	10.5	16.9
Virginia Beach, Virginia	10.5	16.9
Providence, Rhode Island	10.4	16.7
Chicago, Illinois	10.3	16.6
Detroit, Michigan	10.2	16.4

No place like home.

Philosophically, there are multitudes of different opinions on what constitutes "home".  People, places, things, states of mind or combinations of these.  For me, it's difficult to describe how I view "home" because it's more of a feeling I get.  I feel a comfort, familiarity and warmth with floods of old memories and excitement for new ones.  For me, home is not necessarily where I live, though places I live do often become home.

I knew October in LA was going to be difficult for me- the weekend I moved into my apartment is the only weekend I have had and will have in the apartment all month.  To top that off, all of my weekends would be spent with many old friends in all of my favorite places.  This past weekend was the motherload.  First stop:

Blending in

Ever since we were little, my mother stressed blending in and not acting like tourists when were were on vacation.  Especially when we were in Colorado- Mom wanted everyone to think that we were locals.  Blending in was no easy task with my father aka Tourist Man taking pictures of EVERYTHING:

With his tiny camera backpack of power and the hat he only bought
yesterday, he dons his socks with sandals and sets off to experience
AUSTRALIA!

Yeah, ok.  We all kinda failed on this one...

Mom would fight the powers of Tourist Man by not letting us eat anywhere we could eat at home and making Ken and I keep walking when Dad jumped into a random bush to take a picture of a flower.  In Colorado, we were supposed to try to dress like locals (aka, wear our pajamas to breakfast- done and done!); the hallmark of fitting in was being asked for directions by some "lame tourist."

California here we come!

Greeting from a Starbucks in The Valley!  All I can think about right now is Cher from Clueless ("Eww!  The Valley!") so I'm not really sure how I am supposed to feel about his place...

There are about a million things I should be doing while I have internet access-- but I'm choosing to blog-- in a very cliche' manner non the less.  Courtesy of my sister's excellent Googling, I'll be relocating to Cabo Cantina in Santa Monica later this afternoon.  Free WiFi + Margs= win.  Also, much less cliche' and potentially less productive.  So let me get you up to speed on my cross-country trek and my first 36 hours on the coast:

After shoving my life into the U-Box:

Mom and I set off for our 28 hour drive--

Chicago says CHEEEESSSSEEE!

Yeah, I know.  I'm a huge dork.  Just trying to keep things interesting...

So, since my last post I finally got the pictures off of my Dad's camera.  I had to take his compact flash drive to a photo kiosk at Target and make a photo CD since apparently my version of windows was "attacking" his software and "fouling" it up.  All my fault, bad daughter, shame shame.  In the Sale house, electronics never break on their own or just stop working.  You always "had to have done something!"  I apparently conspired with Vista to take the compact flash converter under siege and reject the drivers from the camera software.  My bad.  

The kiosk was actually awesome because it allowed me to tint the pics, enlarge them and print them so they are all ready to move on to the display step... once I figure out exactly what that step is...

Drum roll please......

Hopefully you can see that this spells out C-H-I-C-A-G-O.  It's probably easier when they are horizontal (TWSS?) so use your imagination.  First C is a Cubs jersey, H is the Wrigley Building from State St, I is the Water Tower, second C is from the Chicago Theater, A is the El tracks running above Lake St, G is from Giordano's, and O is the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. 

I think they turned out pretty well, but displaying them could really make or break it.  I have a long poster frame from Target that I could put them in, but I still kinda want to get them each their own glass with clips and then attach them together with a piece of wood or something... we will see.

Suggestions and comments welcome!!!

Out with a bang

Alright, so you know when you were a kid and you would get a new toy and play with it all day, everyday for like a week and then never again??  I find that as an adult-ish person, I still have this quality though now it mostly applies to workout plans and guys I attempt to date.  I'm also concerned that this may happen to my blog.  So my first 5 posts were all consecutive (*cough* excited child) and then followed by about 5 days of radio silence however, I feel that I have a perfectly good excuse for my lapse: playing in Chicago!

Before I head out to California, I really wanted to make one more visit to the city I love enough to consider one of my three homes (Iowa and Colorado would be the other two) and soak in all of my favorite things.  It seems logical that I should have memories of having fun, knowing my way around a place and spending time with people I love before I'm lost, confused and friendless on the coast.

Not to be wine-y...

... but I have never been a fan of wines made from grapes grown in the Midwest. Call me a snob but they just don't taste good. The climate condones small, sweet grapes and if I wanted that flavor, grape juice is far cheaper (most of the time). One thing I truly love in life is wine; not just because it has a higher alcohol content than beer but because of the complexities in the flavor and the science behind creating the perfect blend (nerd alert).

I started developing my palate (I know, snobby) when I was 20 years old and studying abroad in Australia.

Sydney Uni Wine Society Grape Escape 2006

I joined the Sydney University Wine Society and began going to tastings all semester and eventually on a 3-day "Grape Escape" to the wineries in Mudgee, AU. This is when I really began to enjoy drinking wine and when I was first introduced to the process behind it.

Yes, I will take any excuse to use this pic!

It is my FAV!

Soooooo... all that being said, the Midwest really surprised me yesterday by allowing my mom and me to be a part of the craft by harvesting grapes! Something I have wanted to do FOREVER!