2 Months?!?

CoCo here, ready to re-enter the blogosphere.

Now I knew it had been a while since we last updated, but two months?? En serio??? Well... yo confieso that I have no good excuse. It's por mi culpa, por mi culpa, por mi gran culpa. Time to get back in the habit.

While I was busy not blogging, I was enjoying the summer with my boo. I'll use this post to fill you in.

The end of July was the beginning of our "Quintessential [Northern] California Vacation", as one of my colleagues called it. We started off by visiting the beach town of Santa Cruz. Surprisingly, Franco had never been and I was excited to introduce him to one of my childhood loves. We ate at great restaurants (Saturn Cafe, Cafe Brasil), hung out at the boardwalk (rides and the imperial circus from China and more rides and salt water taffy and more rides - I was a giddy kid again), and played some fun games (mini golf! bowling!). It was a very chill trip and we really enjoyed ourselves. The perfect way to start a vacation.

Next up was Lake Tahoe. We're lucky because my grandparents have a cabin on the North Shore, so off we went to Grandma Gloria's Bed & Breakfast. I know most people visit Tahoe in the winter but I love it in the summer. I look forward to lazily lying on the beach all day. I got plenty of sunbathing in, and Franco even convinced me to hit a trail. 

From Tahoe, we drove to Yosemite. Neither of us had been and we were extremely excited to visit. Since we were driving from the lake, we drove through Nevada and into the park from the east. I was kind of dreading the drive because it was going to be long and I didn't know what to expect, but it was beautiful. Of course, Yosemite was amazingly beautiful as well (believe the hype). We spent time in Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley hiking and swimming and taking in the natural beauty. The photos really are nothing to compare to the real thing. I'm already thinking about our next visit.

After our vacation, it was back to the grind. However, we did manage to fit in good food, the outdoors, and another trip to Tahoe in the next month. And we watched our mini porch garden bloom. All in all, it was a great summer. The best thing is, we have another one coming. Get ready for Indian Summer!!!

Summer Escapes

Hi all, CoCo here.

You’ve all heard that infamous quotation about summer in San Francisco being the coldest blah, blah, blah. It makes me mad for two reasons. One: I don’t like to hear anyone trash talking my beloved city of residence. Two: It’s true. Summer in San Francisco is pretty cold. For the past week I’ve woken up to drizzly fog and shivered my way to the train station each morning. Not fun (unless you are the sun-hating half of Francoco). What’s a Bay Area city girl to do? Head to the river.


So far this summer we’ve headed to the river twice. (Far too few times, in my opinion.) Our first visit was a day-trip to tube down a stretch of the Russian River. I spend my entire winters fantasizing about that one-mile stretch just north of Cloverdale. It’s like a home away from home and I am slowly convincing Franco that we need more of it in our lives (he goes back and forth between liking these trips and feeling indifferent). 


Our second trip was this past weekend and we went camping along the Eel River in Potter Valley. It was our first camping trip together and I'm glad to say we made it out alive! And happy! We had some awesome new camping equipment from our wedding registry (thank you Jordan, Andrew, and Hable!), good company (my brothers and their ladies, plus a very cute baby), and beautiful scenery (think Bob Ross). By Sunday Franco was trying to convince me to drive to cell signal to let my boss know I'd be out an extra day. So I'd say it was a very successful mini-vacation.

I'll leave you with some photos from our trips (yay for dry sacks!):

 Root beer on the river. 

One of our many stops as we floated down the Russian River.

Heading home after a nice float.

 Yay! We're camping!

(Sorry for the crappy, front camera iPhone shot.)

 Everyone made fun of our mini tent (right).

In my element. 

Franco's favorite camping companion (our nephew, Sugar).

Patney Fiesta

Good morning y'all, CoCo here.

This past weekend Franco and I traveled up to Washington state for a Peace Corps reunion. Wait, no... I mean Patrick and Whitney's wedding. (Sorry!) Since they were part of our Peace Corps group, there were inevitably a handful of other ex-volunteers there as well. Put a group of us in the same room and there's always a lot of fun. But let's not let that overshadow the whole point of the weekend: two amazing people getting hitched!

After going to the wrong church initially, we finally made it to the beautiful chapel in Olympia where Patrick and Whitney got married. (Although, we did walk in after the bride. Oops.) Franco and I loved how green Washington is and the church had huge windows behind the alter to show off the area's natural beauty. I almost cried during the ceremony. It was really great to see Patrick and Whitney so happy and making such a huge commitment in front of friends and family.

After the ceremony we headed over to Schilter Family Farm for the reception. It was beautiful. Whitney's family paid perfect attention to the details, from the scrabble-themed garlands to the W&P hot sauce favors. 

Once the bride and groom joined us they took over as bartenders, which was incredibly cute.

Everyone raved about the BBQ dinner and the homemade cupcake dessert. Following tradition, the maid of honor and the best man gave speeches after dinner.

And then, of course, came the dancing! (Can you tell that's my favorite part of a wedding reception?)

And of course there was some goofing-off...

At the end of the reception, Danny and Jen (Peace Corps friends, pictured above with Franco) had a limo pick up the Peace Corps folk, wedding couple included, and we drove around Olympia having fun. And I just happened to have 150 glow sticks in my bag to add to the fun! (Electro-loving party goddess here. Ha!) After our joy ride we dropped off the newlyweds at home.

As if the fairytale wedding and reception weren't enough, Whitney's parents invited all the couple's family and friends over the next morning for coffee and pastries. (I'm not sure how they weren't passed out with exhaustion at that point.) It was the perfect end to an amazing wedding weekend.