Scenery Overload

Posted by Nicole

Today we have grand plans to explore Monterey, Carmel, and Pebble Beach in celebration of Sam’s birthday. It should be lots of fun!

Let’s talk about yesterday… it kinda felt like two days in one.

I started the morning off fairly late and decided to take advantage of the kitchen and actually prepare breakfast. I love having free breakfast options at work, but sometimes it’s nice to prepare my own breakfast, especially because it is my favorite meal of the day!

I whipped up a giant scramble of ingredients in this order- mushrooms, carrots, spinach, green onion, freshly minced garlic, one egg, and 3/4 cup egg whites. Right before removing it from the stove, I mixed in a bit of ranch dressing and it definitely took it to the next level.

I ate it on the porch and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

After a quick shower, it was time to get movin’ on my day. Remember how I hung out with Hanah a couple days ago in SF? Well… I accidentally left my wallet in purse when I left on Thursday night. I needed to get it back and figured, why not drive up and spend some more time with her?!

So… I drove up to the city and met up with her and Allison, one of our other roomies for next semester. (I can’t believe that the semester starts in one measly month and a half. Crazy!)

I picked them up in foggy Pacific Heights and we drove to the nearby Presidio/Chestnut area. It was my first time in this cutesy downtown/waterfront town, and I loved it! Not to mention, the sun came out and it was one of the best SF weather days I have ever seen!

None of us were very hungry, so we ended up just walking along the street and peeking into the various stores and restaurants. We looped back and enjoyed the waterfront views- of Alcatraz, the Presidio, the gorgeous (and hellza expensive) houses, the boats, and a teensy bit of the Golden Gate Bridge behind the fog.

We also walked by the Palace of Fine Arts- it was gorgeous!

Once we were back at the car, I dropped them off at the BART station, and headed back south to San Jose. Before I got on 101, I managed to see a few other “touristy” spots of SF… the Bay Bridge and AT&T Park (home to the SF Giants).

I hope Hanah liked her trip to NorCal, I know that I enjoyed revisiting a few of the city’s tourist spots. And maybe now she will agree that Northern California is better than Southern ;)

I made it home around 4, ate a bowl of oat bran/banana/greek yogurt, and fell asleep shortly thereafter. Today was the first day in probably two weeks that I haven’t had any caffeine and/or pain killers. Boy was I draggin….

After my two hour nap, it felt like a brand new day. I ate some cereal, watched an episode of Miss Advised (love the idea of this show, btw), and headed out on a run at about 8:30.

It wasn’t totally dark when I set out, but I knew that it soon would be. Twilight runs sure are refreshing.

I ran about a mile to the nearby park, ran a loop around the lake, ran back to my house, and did a couple loops around the neighborhood. My legs didn’t feel too great and I had to walk a little bit in the end, but overall the run went well. I’m just happy I didn’t trip on any sidewalk bumps in the dark!

The night concluded with some tea and grapes, a tradition I could get used to :)

A day of beautiful sights, necessary rest, best friends, and a decent run… a good day, indeed.

- Nicole