To 2012

I just fulfilled my new years resolution and it feels great! Last Christmas I got a new pair f running shoes and it was my goal to put 365 miles on them, an average of a mile a day.  It seemed pretty easy but with a few sick days, rainy days, and a summer abroad without my running shoes I fell behind pretty quickly.  But I am proud to say that I ran my last mile this morning and it felt great.  I'm still thinking of what to tackle in 2012.  For now I'm off to Shaver to ring in the new year.

Happy New Year everyone!

A Very Happy 21st

Well we made it to Paso Robles on Tuesday.  My family recovered from the flu and were ready to celebrate.

We started our day off with the cave tour at Eberle followed by a picnic lunch.

We then headed all the way to Justin, and it was well worth it.

 On our trek back towards our destination at Tobin James we stopped off at Niner, where they have a beautiful view of the heart on the hill.

And had a blast at Clautiere playing with the wigs.

 My dad had to buy my sister and I bottles of their "Two Cocky Sisters", we didn't take it personally ;)

 We then made it to Tobin and had a great time.

 Visiting five wineries was more than enough. On the drive home we stopped at a pizza place in Paso and had a great dinner with some gelato sundays.  It was a great way to make up for a flu-ish 21st!

a not so happy 21st

Merry Christmas to all! I had a wonderful Christmas shared over many great meals and lasting memories.  This season came and went all too quickly.

Well today is Megan's and my birthday and we've had a change of plans that took place late last night when Megan, my mom, and I all came down with the flu.  We had to postpone our trip to Paso Robles for wine tasting until hopefully tomorrow for when we're feeling better.

Justin

Justin

Eberle Winery Cave

Tobin James

Clautiere

Clautiere

Niner

Opolo

Opolo

 As for now I am glued to the couch watching movie after movie. But hey, it's not too bad, just making the most of life's curveballs.

Mission Impossible: Gluten Free

Dry weather, one of the few bad things about the winter season. Add in the home heater and cue extreme eczema. I'm on a kick of home remedies, the most difficult of which: Gluten free.  It is literally in everything! I have tried for a week now to go at least one day without consuming any gluten and have failed miserably. If I hadn't heard a success story of a gluten free diet to improve eczema I wouldn't be so determined, but since I have, I figured it was worth a shot (and waaay easier than a lactose free diet).

So here's to a new day and a fresh attempt. Bring on the rice chex!

December 21st already?

Christmas time is here! Time for joy and cheer and baking!

We've had some fun making multiple personality Gingerbreadmen and lots of various chocolate dipped goods, the best of which were my fingers. But there is still lots of baking to be had as the 25th approaches.

Megan, my cousin Ally and myself all returned from San Francisco last night.  We had a great time;  dinner at Scomas and Chez Papa and lunch at the Ferry Building. Many a good meals else where. And it wouldn't be a trip to the city without a little shopping. I now have a big wrapping job ahead of me.  I can't wait to share some joy :)

Giving Thanks

I had such a great week at home.  I love my luxurious 2 days of class schedule that allows for that.  I'm going to miss this next quarter.

I ran the Turkey Trot with Megan and Mom.  It was such a blast.  There was almost 4000 people that participated in it.  We "ran" into a lot of old friends.  I hope we can start a new tradition of doing the trot every thanksgiving.  I mean it is a Win-Win situation, you race against hunger for others who are starving and then you race for your hunger to eat 3 servings of the best stuffing in town... or maybe that last part is just my win in the situation :)

We had our annual Isham bowl and it was a blast, minus a few minor injuries but everyone was still able to make it to dinner of course!  We did shirts again this year, here was our cute little design I did on Illustrator:


I had my High School english teacher who has a screen printing business  from his garage (Miller Bros Printing) print them up.  He's great, cheap, quick, and always adds a little something extra.  I recommend him if you ever need some shirts made.  [end free publicity]

Just 8 more days and I'll be home for Christmas!

Excuse me Professor, but can I get an extension?

The cold air, a lot of rain, and a horrendous 10 page research paper to do... this calls to the smells of some slow cooked crock pot chili to fill the house all day.

Heres to a fun filled Saturday, cause there's just so much else that I wish I could do.

Running up stream

My roommate and I just ran the Patagonia 5K this morning in Ventura.  Just kinda spontaneously fell into it.  It was a lot of fun but a super fast race.  The top finishing time was something around 15:21, so fast.  

It's called the Salmon Run because we actually run in and up the dry river bed in Ventura.  But since it rained last night it was a little muddy but still so much fun.  Especially since the sun came out just in time for it!

April and I post-race

I finished 122 out of 400+, not too bad for my first race since the pro-youth heart runs when I was 13. My roommate finished 33, she took top place in our age group and won a nice new Patagonia jacket.  Go April!  We finished up with a nice big breakfast in Ventura.  What a good SUNday.

Gift list 2011!

Just a few ideas,  I didn't necessarily think I wanted very much until I got on the nordies website.  Thank you consumer America for supplying me with "needs"

Canon PowerShot 300HS (black or silver)

Enzo Angiolini "Zayra" Boot

Garmin Forerunner

Maui Jim "Pau Hana"

this ridiculous Marc Jacobs wallet would be first choice but I'd be happy with this one too...

from Michael Kors

Map of the world skirt at Anthropologie

So this post just made me feel very materialistic.  I would be happy with anything from this list or even nothing.  What I like most about Christmas is all the family dinners, and wrapping my gifts for others in some creative way!

Now thats enough about Christmas, I don't want to neglect Thanksgiving.  Bring on the stuffing!!!

Say good bye to the great pumpkin king

So now that I am FINALLY done with midterms, I can return to enjoying life.
Last weekend was Halloween and Megan, Madi, and Sarah came to visit.  It was a fun time:)

We went to the pumpkin patch

 Carved pumpkins

Made little pumpkin cups (it was a good idea but made the beer get warm very quickly!)

Annnd unfortunately this always means then end of halloween.

But now it's time for Thanksgiving! That means lots of time recipe browsing and even more fun times cooking in the kitchen with the family!  

Script to Screen: Jeff Nathanson

UCSB Carsey Wolf Center has put together a series of lectures called Script to screen where they show a movie and follow up with a Q and A with the screen writer.  Last night was the first one with UCSB alumn, Jeff Nathanson who gave us an advance screening of his new movie with Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphey, Tower Heist

I thought it was a good movie, had some unexpecting twists and Matthew Broderick had a pretty funny character.  Sure it had it's unrealistic points like any heist movie,  but I would recommend this one if you're looking for a laugh.

And Jeff Nathanson is a cool guy, so go support him!

Trot on

Such a nice weekend.  I didn't do much to prepare for school (it's what I've devoted today to ) but I took advantage of a few little pockets of sunshine to go on some runs.  I guess you could say I'm preparing for my 5k on thanksgiving.

It'll be a fun little run, the info can be found here if any of you Visalians want to join!

Deathly Swallows

Holy cow another week has come and gone.  It'll be christmas before we know it!  Buuut thats not such a bad thing :)

The weather here has turned pretty cold and gloomy.  Reminds me of curling up and reading or watching Harry Potter, which my weekend ACTUALLY will include.  Tonight I'm going to my old roommate Katie's new apartment for some wizarding cocktails followed by a viewing of The Deathly Hallows pt. 2 in IV theater.  I am actually ashamed to say that as a Harry Potter fan, I have still not seen the last movie!  Annd what I'm really looking forward to is a little of this:

The Three Broomsticks Butterbeer

Yields 4 servings

1 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup heavy cream, divided 

Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda, chilled

1 shot(or 2 or 3)of Bandy

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar with 2 tablespoons water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the mixture reaches  a gentle boil and turn off the heat after about a minute of cooking.

Add the butter, salt, vinegar, and 1/4 cup heavy cream. Stir until smooth. Cool mixture to room temperature before using.

In a medium bowl, beat together the remaining cream (1/2 cup) with 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar syrup.

In each glass, mix together 1/4 cup brown sugar syrup with 1/4 cup cream soda and brandy. Pour in the rest of the cream soda until it is nearly to the brim of the glass. Top with whipped cream.

Serve immediately!

I say, bring on the Dementors!

Adventures with Unis

What a week, what a week!
It was nice to be home last weekend to see some dear friends and family, but seriously, longest week ever.

So this was my first full week of biking to campus everyday and I had some fun little occurrences...

I got a new bike light that I am so excited about.  The first time I rode home in the dark I was so paranoid of being kid-napped that it took me a good 10 minutes longer than usual, which kinda doesn't make sense, but oh well. Thank you cruel world for the unnecessary fear. Anyways I've got my sweet light mounted and can cruise home like it's daylight.

I'm sure the rest of California experienced this heatwave of week, which made for sweaty and smelly conditions in the classroom for my peers. I could apologize for my scuzzy appearance but I'm too busy being environmentally friendly.  And lesson learned, biking in jeans on a hot day (or any day for that matter) is MISERABLE.

This morning I was officially chased by my first dog, it was terrifying, not to mention uphill. I've never despised a golden retriever more. Needless to say it ended in a shouting match between me and the dog.  I won.  

Well I had my first mid term today, totally not in exam mode yet but fingers crossed that it went well.

Tomorrow I am off to UCLA to visit some friends from Spain.  I am so excited!  And it'll be a nice break for my fanny.

One of those days

Well it happened, I got my first parking violation.  Oh the joys of parking services at UCSB.
I have been patiently waiting on a waiting list for a parking pass, and in the mean time I was getting tired of buying day passes at an outrageous rate.  So yesterday I was running a little late and I decided to park closer to campus at Goleta beach.  Seemed like a good deal, right next to my first class and no fee.  Well turns out UCSB students cannot park there.  My attempt of beating the system won me a beating.  A $100 beating. Ouch. And to top it all off, when I got home I received an email saying that I could now print my temporary parking permit....

So I'm determined to make the best of today.  I drove home last night after class to be home for the wedding my neighbor and dear friend. Then tonight we're going out to my aunt Margaret's for a good ol' Isham family pizza throw down.... I'm off to browse some recipes and get a head start on the competition!

[S]eing John Malkovich

I got to go listen to a Q&A with Mr. John Malkovich.  It was pretty entertaining.  He's a funny guy.  One of my favorites things he said:

Well, I could tell you that becoming an actor was easy and blah, blah, blah.  But, that would be a lie.  If I hadn't gotten into acting I'd probably be doing something else, involving some trouble with the law.

Probably what made it so funny was his slow presentation.  Anyways, he was in town for the play, "The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of A Serial Killer", about Jack Unterweger, the Austrian serial killer, in which he starred as Jack Unterweger.  I didn't go see the play but I'm sure it was a good show, it was part opera and had music from the Vienna symphony.  The story was from the perspective of Jack, after killing and being condemned to hell, as kind of a look into the mind of a killer.  So not exactly a comedy...

Sunny Barbara

It is a beautiful day here in Santa Barbara.  I woke up with the sun shinning through my window and decided to eat my breakfast out on the patio.

I was reading the new NewsWeek and got pretty warm so I decided to go for a swim.  My roommate April and her boyfriend, Jesse, joined too.  It was a nice relaxing morning, I wish the weather could stay like this forever!

Heres a few other pictures of the house, you'll have to excuse the bad photo quality, I'm really not hapy with my camera anymore...

Dave's darling Plumerias 

The Kitchen

The living room

 My desk

and bed

 Some of my favorite art 

Top: Seville, Spain

San Francisco sketches by my talented cousin Kami

Bottom: La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

So I still have a few more things to do around my room and some more art from Spain to frame and hang but I think it's coming along nicely.  

Well mom and dad are driving down from Morro Bay to visit and see Dave's new place and or course to take me out to dinner.  I'm thinking about trying someplace new or returning to my all time favorite Santa Barbara restaurant, Jane.    We'll see how the evening plays out.