Bon Voyage!

St. Lucia or bust!

Bolinas, CA. Where the real Hippies reside.

A few weeks back on our way to a hike in the Point Reyes National Forest, we made a planned pit stop at the tiny town of Bolinas.  I had heard about this place from a few people in the city, and what I had learned from it is that, first and foremost, its not easy to find the first time around.  The residents of this community like to keep outsiders/tourists at bay and so you won't find any street signs that lead to the town, since the remove almost all of them themselves.  But Adam's pretty good at following a map, and based on the shape of the land, he lead us to the colorful town.

Forget Haight & Ashbury, this is is a true 'flower power' town.

There are quite a few old hippies who moved there from the city many years ago. The laid back, tree hugging lifestyle is evident in this town.

The local center

Its a very popular surf spot. And they make sure you know the rules of their GREEN beach.

After an hour or so there, we got back on the road and headed toward Point Reyes.

 

At this point we had hiked for about 20 minutes. It was very foggy at first.

After about an hour, the sun showed up!

I loved these.  They look like the Andy Warhol flowers.

I love how the trees created a canopy along this path. With the sun filtering through it, it looked like something out of a secret garden.

One of the two lakes we passed along the way

We were hiking to the Alamere waterfalls, which was an unmaintained trail and has plenty of warning signs. We basically had to cover our face from the branches that poked out from everywhere. It was super muddy and I was nervous that every plant may be Poison Ivy!

The views were awesome

After about 3 hrs, we made it to the top. And to the falls.

They were great but not as big as I thought they would be.

Lunch on this cliff overlooking the beach was a perfect break before making our way back.

Hiking up here in Northern Cal is one of my most favorite things to do.  The scenery is breathtaking.  So lush, green and really makes you feel like you are one with nature.  Love it!

Photo of the Day

Walking to the Mission from Castro, we passed this old Victorian.  Two hairless cats and a Bulldog in the window.  Not sure if this picture really conveys how creepy the cats were, but those eyes were definitely out of this world.  Eeeek!

On Being Outdoorsy

I hadn't been feeling in the mood to blog in the last few months. Not for any particular reason, other than I just wasn't feeling motivated...that is until I caught up with my friend's awesome blog, and poof! Inspiration city!

Not sure if anyone out there is actually reading this stimulating blog of mine, but writing does help me feel a bit more creative, and so I will try to keep up with it if not only for my own sanity.

New Year's weekend this year was great. Ad and I took a trip down to Monterrey and Carmel. Its so beautiful and serene there. As much as I'm enjoying the city, I definitely get a bit nutty after a few weeks of not venturing outside of it. Much of it had to do with the lack of driving in my life. And while a car isn't needed in a city like San Francisco where one can quickly hop on a bus/train/trolley and best of all walk, to any destination within its boundaries, it also definitely leaves me feeling a bit limited. I sometimes miss the freedom that comes with jumping in your car and going for a drive.

This weekend  we drove up to Point Reyes National Forest. Its about an hour north of the city, and is a great escape.

We took a great 4 mile hike, and are already planning another trip set for maybe this next weekend. Woot!

And to keep up with our "outdoorsey" weekend, we also packed a bag and headed for Golden Gate Park recently.  On tow we had a picnic blanket, sandwiches the husband make for us, iced tea, and our current books we're reading.

On my New Year's resolution list is to begin reading the classics.  I've always loved to read, but mostly books with such titles as True Confessions of a Shopoholic, Twilight the series, On Fifth Avenue and so on.  You get the point.
So first on this year's list is a book that contains both Walden and Civil Disobedience by Thoreau.  Good books for those spiritual/granola type of moods.

P.S.
Waterfalls are great!

Wedded Bliss

Hi everyone!
So much has happened within the last month.
First of all, Adam and I got married on August 15!

It was an incredible ceremony, held in a Catholic church that my family has long been a part of.
Our reception was held at a Country Club, that was surrounded by a lush green landscape.
Cocktails hour began at about 5pm in which we had Mariachis playing for the guests while Adam and I had pictures taken. When we were done with that, the Mariachis aligned themselves along the stair case and we made a very cute enterance down to the pool area. It was so much fun!
Everything turned out even better than we imagined it. It was a beautiful room, and most of all we danced all night! We truly enjoyed every second of it and in my mind, I re-live the entire day over and over again. I loved my wedding :)

First Dance: Beatles - In My Life

People wanted us to smear the cake on each other...yeah, not so much.

Dancing Machines!


We arrived to our hotel room that night, where we found a nice setup of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries the hotel left for us. So sweet!


The next day, Adam's parents drove us to LAX where we hopped on a direct flight to London. We visited all the famous places, such as Buckingham Palace (saw the official changing of the guards ceremony), Westminster Abbey, House of Parliament and Big Ben, St. Pauls Cathedral, took the Double Decker Bus tour, Harrods department sore where we had afternoon tea, and Top Shop! We were there 3 days, then took the Chunnel to PARIS were we stayed for 4 days. Here we went up the Eiffel Tower, visited Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Arc of Triumph, the Louvre, Laduree for the best macaroons in the world (we basically had our itinerary prepared by my friend Candida who stayed in Paris for a few months not too long ago. We did almost everything she told us to do), Versailles, took an evening boat cruise down the Seine, and much, much more. From there we flew to the south of France, arriving in Nice. We took the train to Monaco - Monte Carlo and the casino,and took a train again to Cannes the next day, where we walked around and actually got to hang out on the beach and lay out for a while. A couple of days down there, and it was time for a flight to Venice. We were there two days, and saw the entire island. It truly is picturesque there. Just like I imagined it! We took an evening gondola cruise down the Grand Canal. It was so beautiful! Finally we took a train from Venice to ROMA! In Rome, we stayed about 4 days. Our hotel was in Vatican city which gave us about a 5 minute walk to the steps of the Basilica. We even were able to attend Sunday mass, which was such a great experience.

In front of the Houses of Parliament/Big Ben, and Thames river, London

Self explanatory ;)

The Louvre, Paris

In front of the Monte Carlo Casino, Monaco

At St. Mark's Square, Venice

Gondola ride down the Grand Canal, Venice

At the Vatican/St. Peter's Square, Rome

Inside the Colosseum, Rome


We had the best honeymoon I could imagine taking! We enjoyed every second of it and were sad to leave it. Believe it or not, we (I mostly) ended up taking just over 1300pictures. We printed about 500 for our album but the rest will remain in a CD. =)

My two most favourite parts? Chateau Versailles and the Vatican. Hands down, two of the most amazing places I have ever seen!

We got back to SF this Sunday, and its back to the grind. We have been setting up our apartment with all our new things we received from our wedding. I love decorating so, I am doing the best I can with our little space here. We love it so far! I came back inspired from Paris, but there is only so much one can do with a small city apartment, so for the meantime Adam and I refer to our place as our Paris hotel room. Thats what it feels like! lol. Pictures of our hotel room will be coming soon :)

XO,
Lizeth a.k.a. Mrs. Artunian!

Photo of the Day

I hear from my mom that Orange County is pretty hot right now, as are most places in the US considering that presently we are experiencing a little thing called summer right?
Well I thought I would show you what I wore for work yesterday:
Black warm pants - check.
long sleeved layering blouse (not shown) - check.
black cardigan (also not shown) - check.
Warm fleece pea coat - check
Black pashmina style scarf - check.
Frizzy hair due to extreme fog on my walk to work - check.
Summer is SF!

Also, this guy was parading around in his bouncy shoes. It was funny =0

Gwen and Gavin in the city!

I just had to post today to tell about my day's adventure.

I left work at about 5:30 today and began my daily walk up California St. to go home. It was about a block from work when I was fidgeting with my ipod but took immediate notice of the gorgeous couple walking right past me. It took a second to realize that it was Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale!
My pulse jumped and my immediate reaction was to turn and follow them. (creepy but I'm safe!)
I was about 10 ft behind them and called Adam to squeal. Then hung up and called Candi who I knew would understand my excitement. She did, and we squealed together.
I took a picture with my phone but the quality is terrible and to make matters worse, it was a typical SF day. Cold and gloomy, so the lighting was terrible but I took shot hoping they wouldn't see me.
Most people noticed them, Gavin is definitely adorable and Gwen was as fashionable and glamorous as her magazine pics and videos. They both stood out immediately. I wasn't going to follow behind forever, so while they waited to cross the street right in front of my work (yes,I backtracked) I quickly told them that I was a fan of theirs and that they are such a cute couple. Yes, lame but it was the first thing I thought to say. She smiled at me and said thank you and he gave me a warm smile.
When I got to my apt I went online and did some research. Turns out No Doubt is playing here in the East Bay tomorrow. My luck!

So here is the picture I took while I was behind them, which turned out terrible but you'll just have to take my word for it. It made my day!

Photo of the day

Behold, Mr.Zeus

This is the cutest, most fashionable pup I have seen yet...

XO

Photo of the Day

En route to work, I've passed this car all week and just had to take a pic. And run.

Family time and SF Giants

I had family visit over Memorial Day weekend, which was great. Adam and I got to show them our favorite spots in the city, including a visit to Coit Tower (where we got engaged). We ate a lot and mainly walked a lot. My mom was disappointed that high heels were a no-no here which I thought was funny. She wore sneakers and she thanked me later =)

This was at Dino's on Filmore. Dino gave us an entire bottle of wine...on the house!

Below was at Joe DiMaggio's in Little Italy. Its a great Italian chophouse and has tons of Marylin Monroe & Joe DiMaggio memorabilia all over the walls. This includes a framed marriage certificate from their wedding ceremony at a beautiful Catholic church, which is directly across the street from the restaurant. So cute! (btw, its the same church I posted pics of earlier this year)...

Erika, Ray, Adam, and I had a blast at this place, (being sneaky) ;)



Tuesday, the firm I work for had extra tickets to see the Giants play the Braves. They were VIP tickets, so I snagged them and met Adam in SOMA to watch the game. The seats were amazing, and the stadium was great.



XO