First post since May? Wow, how time has flown by!
I figured since I recapped 2010, it would be fun to do the same for 2011.
In January, we returned from our holiday vacation in Colorado and started back at work. I ended up in the ER with an asthma attack one night after inhaling cooking spray at work, and ended up getting pneumonia. It kind of put a damper on the rest of the month!
We started February with a quick weekend trip to visit Travis' family in Palmdale. I spent the day with his Grandma and Aunt, and that night we got dinner all together with his cousins and Uncle. The next weekend we went to Vegas for the first time as 21+ visitors, and we had a great Valentine's weekend. We ate at good restaurants, hiked up and down the Strip, saw Cirque de Soleil, and checked out the nightlife at Studio54. A couple weeks later my friend Clare came out to visit and we took a day trip down to Disneyland (sans Travis) and showed her around Redondo a bit.
(in front of the Bellagio fountains in vegas!)
In March I started teaching Portuguese on the side, was tutoring Spanish at night, working at the bakery, and decided to pick up another part time job at a chiropractor's office. I got into Middlebury college for a summer Portuguese program and needed the extra money!
Trav and I visited the South Coast Botanic Garden, which used to be a landfill but is now a spectacular getaway on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. That night we drove to visit Aleta and Wes in Silverlake and got dressed up and headed to the Edison in downtown L.A., an old power plant turned into a 1920s style speakeasy bar. We crashed at their house that night after some spicy cocktails!
In April we took a quick trip to Colorado for the weekend to see Trav's nephew, Evan. He was originally set to be born after the holidays, but came early on Christmas instead. We still took a little trip to see him and catch up with family. At the end of the month, Travis' parents came out to visit for my birthday weekend/Easter and we had a brunch at our house to celebrate. We drank traditional Ramus Fizzes, "kipped" eggs, and enjoyed time with family.
May was mostly work, but we spent the first weekend in Rancho Bernardo for my birthday. We got a deal on a stay at the Rancho Bernardo Inn and took a limo wine tasting at three local vineyards. It was excellent!
In June I quit my jobs and prepared to leave for Middlebury, VT for the summer.
I stopped over in Colorado for a week to see friends and family first. Trav headed to Colorado for a long stay over the 4th of July weekend and spent time with his parents at a lake doing all kinds of water sports. I immersed myself in Brazilian Portuguese and was taking three classes, teaching yoga, dancing samba, playing tennis, singing and in general having an amazing time. While I was gone, Trav went to his cousin Sarah's wedding and we did our best to talk every night.
(enjoying Vermont in the summertime with my hallmate, Raquel)
In August, I finished classes, packed up my dorm, and Travis flew to pick me up in Middlebury. He rented a car and we spent the next week traveling around the east coast on a food/drink tour of sorts. We spent the first day wandering around tiny Middlebury, visited the Otter Creek Brewery, and then that night we drove to Burlington.
Burlington is very reminiscent of Boulder and parts of it's downtown mall were built by the same designer as Pearl st. The next morning we visited a wonderful breakfast bakery and picked up some goodies to bring to his Aunt Cassie in Montreal. We spent most of the day driving across the border to Canada, but made time to stop at the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory.
We finally made it to Cassie's house that evening. It was my first time in French Canada and it was not what I had imagined. Such a big city!
Cassie took us to a lovely dinner the first night at a Greek seafood place, and the next day we wandered around the city by ourselves. I think the best part was Chinatown. That night we went to a Portuguese fusion restaurant that had excellent Caldo Verde soup. The next morning was our last and we packed up our little purple Yaris and said farewell to Cassie and her terrier, Lucy.
(Trav goofing around in Montreal) We crossed the border back to the U.S. and headed through Vermont to Maine. The drive was beautiful and green and took us past the Stowe ski resort which vaguely resembled Switzerland.
We got to Portland, Maine that evening and checked in to our hotel. Portland was right on the water, beautiful, small, and a foodie's paradise. We ate at a restaurant called "Duck Fat" which is well-known in the foodie world, visited Shipyard brewery, went to the top of an old lighthouse, visited bakeries, tasted mead at a meadery, and in general loved it.
(the lighthouse)
Next stop was Boston and we again packed up the Yaris and headed into the unknown. We had made the decision to keep our car going in to Boston so we could maybe take a day trip to Martha's vineyard. Unbeknownst to us, driving in Boston is a hellish nightmare involving overlapping tunnels and one way streets. We had our route to the hotel pulled up on the GPS and trav's iPhone as we slowly crawled in the traffic into the city, but halfway there, we lost signal in a tunnel and were left with no clue as to where we were! A paper map would have been a godsend! After 25 minutes driving around one way streets in Chinatown, we finally found the entrance to our hotel parking lot, and decided we would not be venturing out with the car again until we left for the airport. This would have been great had we not been paying both the rental car fee AND an exorbitant fee to park in the garage. We lost a couple hundred dollars on that silly mistake. Besides the drama, Boston was interesting and a mix of people and old and new. I was amazed at the sheer population density, even coming from L.A. People seem to just live stacked on top of one another. We didn't have much time to explore (Trav wanted to visit Cambridge...) but we walked the Freedom Trail one day and went to dinner with a couple of friends in Little Italy that night. All in all, it was a quick trip, but we hit some excellent spots along the way!
(on the Freedom Trail in Boston)
When we flew back to Redondo in late August, I was ready for a break and we both had to readjust to living together. In early September we were invited by a friend I met over the summer to come stay for a night at his parents' beach house in Ventura. They were excellent hosts and we enjoyed a walk on the beach, read and played games, and had a fantastic dinner at a tiny wine and cheese shop in town. It was a nice getaway.
Later in September we had Trav's little sister Stacy come and visit...she's always fun to have around! We also visited the L.A. County Fair in Pomona for the first time. Fried twinkies are not good...
(on the ferris wheel)
October was full of job interviews and researching grad school programs, neither of which was very fruitful. I turned down a job because I would have been making less than I spent on gas! Luckily amongst all the disappointment I started volunteering as a Garden Angel with the Beach Cities Health District. I join a few other ladies every week to tend to the elementary school gardens and occasionally talk to the kids about planting and veggies. It's a pretty sweet gig! Trav and I also picked up tennis rackets and started playing on the courts at the local high school. I played over the summer at Middlebury, but neither of us is very good. I love it, though.
November Trav started traveling for work. We knew way in advance, but it was hard to be apart, nonetheless, especially after a summer apart! I did my best to keep busy and got to see my dad and sister for a couple days while he was out visiting. We both ended up in Colorado for Thanksgiving last minute and enjoyed some R&R in Parker before heading back to L.A.
In December Trav traveled again for a couple weeks before Xmas and I spent my time baking and getting christmas cards sent out. We both flew to Colorado a couple days after the big storm and caught some great weather. We caught up with a ton of friends and family, and I think we are slowly learning how to use our time efficiently and see family as much as possible.
(baby Evan is one year old now!)
Trav left again for (hopefully!) the last time this morning, and will be back mid-January. In the meantime, I will be looking for work, Spring Cleaning, and hosting my friend Clare again.
Here's hoping 2012 will be a great year!
XOXO
E & T
