Life in Sacramento is sweet and good. It’s chilly but the palm trees make up for it. Mom and I went to the mall today for some browsing fun. Bath and Body Works almost got me to buy that $5 lotion but I didn’t give in. “Ha!” Did I get a pair of BOBS? Yes I did. Love ’em or hate ’em, I don’t care. Mine sparkle aaand they’re orange.
I told my mom I was doing sociological research for a highly esteemed institution -as I photographed the tourists…
Posing for pictures
Giving directions on the phone
Sight Seeing
Enjoying a fieldtrip
Showing off da bears!
Considering spending that parking money…
Leaving their mark:
Step 1: Select a flat, twin-sized, bed-sheet. *tie-dye and flower patterns work best.
Step 2: Tie the bottom sheet corners around your ankles like so:
Step 3: Find some strong winds and face toward them.
Step 4: With the next big gust, jump into the air, catching the wind in your sheet like a sail.
Step 5: Feel the sensation of flying and falling at the same time.
Step 6: Repeat Steps 3-5, Repeating Step 2 when necessary.
Happy Sailing!
Tourists are always on vacation. You might respond to this with a “duh” but it all made sense to me Saturday, on the commute to work:So Spring happened and driving in the sunshine with my pink earbuds brought me to Collective Soul’s 2007 album, Afterwords: the epitome of what living in California sounds like. Call me crazy but every song just sings of palm-tree, care-free, California-days and I’m not just referring to Hollywood‘s reference to that “sunshine, bright-eyed, California, cotton-candy taste”…
Track 1 New Vibration: beach volleyball. Confession: I’ve yet to participate in a Cali v-ball game, but when I do, New Vibration will be playing, along with Kenny Loggins’ Playing with the Boys (we can’t forget Top Gun)
Track 2 What Can I Give You: Ice cream, always ice cream; and it doesn’t have to be Gunther’s. It could be frozen yogurt too…or sorbet. Oh, and rolling down a grassy hill.
Track 3 Never Here Alone: being in traffic on I-80. You’re driving to the Arden Mall with a group of friends, (just because you can) during rush-hour.
Track 4 Bearing Witness: Stargazing in Placerville. Have you ever seen Saturn? I mean really seen Saturn? Rings and all? Get a telescope, it’ll blow your mind.
Track 5 All that I Know: falling in love (in California of course). Like walking down J street on a Second Saturday, taking in an evening of live music and free art –while holding hands (this is a must)
Track 6 I Don’t Need Anymore Friends: Clearly this is an emotional low point of Afterwords, but I’d say this track is still relatable to California because the summers are HOT. Sure it gets hot in other places, but one afternoon Rayla and I walked all over downtown Sac and seriously got soaked in our own sweat. Gross, but truth.
Track 7 Good Morning After All: Riding my bike on a Saturday morning. The early cool air is just warming up, my fingers are chilled and the daily joggers give a nod as I pass by.
Track 8 Hollywood: Bubble-gum. Bright pink, sticky, bubble-tape, bubble-gum. Put that with wayfarer sunglasses and driving with the top down and you’re set. Of course, you better be driving down a major California highway…
Track 9 Persuasion of You: Browsing that record store in downtown Sacramento, the Beat right? Yeah, it’s totally the Beat. Talk about legit.
Track 10 Georgia Girl: Not-from-around-here. I’m quietly settling in to living the California way, the culture shock is silently fading, and although Seattle is no Jersey Shore, I think I can relate to Georgia Girl, at least a little bit.
Track 11 Adored: dancing in the moonlight. You can do that here, almost any time of the year, because winter almost doesn’t exist. *sigh*
Track 12 An Evening With: Going dancing with friends. I never really got into hip-hop and rap until I moved to California. While Collective Soul is far from either genre, I’d have to say this track totally brings me to dancing the night away every other weekend last summer. My friend, Diane, once said, “I go dancing for me”.
Track 13 Ain’t That Enough: Life’s never perfect and sometimes you just gotta go for a drive. I’d pick the back river road up through Freeport. The vineyards are amazing and the setting sun on the water, even more so.
Track 14 Give: Just looking ahead to all of the good things that await a California soul. Whether you’re visiting, born and raised, or just moved in:
“all these days of sunshine, will never end; now my eyes have opened, to all the love that you give”
You know the smell of Pumpkin Spice at Christmas time? Well Starbucks has this drink where they warm some milk and mix it with those smells…then they poor it into one of those cups with a coffee collar and call it a Steamer. I’m in love with it. So naturally the next best thing would be a cafe called Steamers…
I’m not sure yet, if Steamers serves flavored warm-milk, but I do know that among other things, you can order soup of the day, sandwiches, fries and of course burgers. Last week I tried turkey on sourdough and it was pretty good. My fries were warm and I watched Old Sacramento from a bar-style window seat. After 5 minutes I had to run, which made my order-to-go-box come in handy. A few weeks ago I picked up a Steamers scone with orange juice and hurried to work. It’s not really the food though that keeps me coming back, but the atmosphere.
I guess I’m definitely one of those creatures of habit…or maybe not. More a creature of adventure I guess…which is completely the opposite…but what I mean is, I enjoy finding new, comfy places to call my own and visiting them frequently. People-watching being one of my hobbies, Steamers is instantly a comfortable place with tourists speaking in accents, regulars surfing the web, and others making small-talk at outside tables. Everything speaks urban living which, I might add, is my favorite part about visiting any city…and all I want to do is get comfortable with a good newspaper or an empty moleskin and fountain pen. Yep, Steamers is your typical downtown cafe and next time I’m going to ask for a warm, flavored-milk.
My first Spring in California smells like popcorn and looks like cherry blossoms. March 4th may not be an official day of Spring, but this weekend was fair enough to be mistaken so. I walked Lily this afternoon, taking advantage of a shady tree while I watched a group playing Cricket in the park.
Now there’s a lot to be said for a Cricket game Sacramento, but that’s a post for another day. Just know that it was awesome.
After sitting a bit, having a lovely conversation with my sister, Gina, Lily insisted we get on with the day. So off we went, under a blue-blue sky (because one “blue” just isn’t enough) and I looked up in time to see a row of trees in bloom. I tried to capture the moment with my cellphone, but, as they say, “it just couldn’t do it justice”. So I invite you to come and see it sometime; but hurry, Summer will be here before you know it.
Reflecting streetlights
I walked around Old Sacramento early last week as rain sprinkled from the sky. It’s a tourist part of the town, built to look like the city during the Old West. Some of the buildings are actually original and you can take tours underground. Wandering through the shops, waiting for my ride, I happened upon one man twice in my travels. He was wearing trendy horn-rimmed glasses and a hoodie and said “Hello” as he walked by. I continued my stroll and came across a Magnolia tree. I saw my first Magnolia trees this past summer in California. Their flowers are white and smell like heaven. This evening the waxy leaves glistened in the rain as the sidewalk reflected light from an evening lamp. I could not let this moment pass undocumented and pulled out my pink camera to take a shot.
“This is why people move to California,” I thought to myself, “it’s even beautiful in the rain.”
The beauty of this state truly never ceases to amaze me. The fruit, the plants, the birds. I see egrets all the time and heard my first doves coo. Mockingbirds are beautiful and you can literally pick Pomegranates off of trees in the park.
I wore sandals yesterday and look forward to wearing them more in the coming months and driving back-river-roads just to pass the vineyards by. Now that’s a site I’ll certainly capture for you when the grapes are in bloom.
Time to go home.
Rain-Kissed Magnolia
First off –I don’t like oranges. At least I thought I didn’t.
As posted before, I think it’s pretty neat that Californians can grow citrus trees in their front yards. Lemons, grapefruit, oranges, not to mention: the Blood Orange. I first discovered this creation one February afternoon with my friend, Cassidy. He had a handful of oranges and offered me one. I politely accepted the fruit –even though oranges really aren’t my favorite treat. He told me that it was a blood orange and I was suddenly curious. I had remembered reading about blood oranges for a school project and always wondered how they tasted. I began to peel the fruit and was surprised when red juice started to dribble down the rind. I soon made it to the deep red, fleshy fruit and took a bite. Talk about delicious: (Blood Oranges are exceptionally juicy with a sweet-tart kick). I quickly gobbled up the fruit and couldn’t stop thinking about how good it tasted even the next day.
Now this very whole time, there had been a bowl of oranges on the table at home; but because I was so used to detesting oranges, of course I hadn’t tried one. I later heard my brother, Kennedy, talking about how we had blood oranges and my ears perked up right away.
“We have blood oranges?!” I exclaimed.
Kennedy: “Yeah”
Me: “Alllll of these are blood oranges?”
Kennedy: “Yeah…”
Haha, and I ate about 2 or 3 of them that very afternoon.
They’re smaller than regular oranges. I’m going to post a youtube clip of peeling a blood orange.
The funniest thing is how now, I actually like oranges. They’ll be another comforting reminder of home to me when I’m back at the “Y”. Back at the “Y”, Good Morning Susan: Back at the “Y” ~Coming soon in just 7 months from now!
