3 Weekends, 2 People, 1 Story

The blogging has been delayed, and for that I apologize. Trust me... I've heard plenty of reader complaints from my sister. I owe a few weekend updates, so we better get started!

Two weekends ago was a trip up to the city! We woke up super early on Saturday to take the BART into San Fran. It's honestly strange how much I love the BART. (And pretty embarassing that I'll admit it publicly.) Once in the city, we headed to a shelter to volunteer. We prepared and served brunch to the residents of the shelter which was incredible. The chef of the kitchen was the nicest lady ever, and having the chance to meet the residents was so inspirational. Giving back is such a blessing and a nice reminder to be thankful for all you have. After filling our hearts with love, it was time to fill our tummy's with some delicous food. We ate at this scrumptious Thai restaurant with the plan to brave the outdoor ice skating rink afterward. While we did go to the ice skating, we never actually got on it. After observing the skaters for a bit, we both quickly remembered the things that make ice skating not as romantic in reality as it is in movies. People watching was good enough for us, and after a while we headed back toward home for wine tasting in Saratoga. It was our first time visiting the little down town area, and it was a blast. The town is so charming and the people were fantastic!

Last weekend was Christmas in Los Gatos! Friday night was the annual tree lighting festival in the square. Unfortunately, I didn't get out of the office in time to make it. Ooops. It was okay though, because Saturday continued the festivities! We woke up early and went on a long run and headed straight to the Christmas Parade afterward. It was the biggest small-town parade I've ever seen. The town was completely packed, and the parade lasted 2.5 hours. Seriously... it was crazy. Luckily we live down town and didn't have to fight traffic! Afterward, we rested up for a date that night. It consisted of a little Christmas shopping, drinks at our favorite bar and dinner at a restaurant we've been wanting try. It was Italian food and YUM! Sunday we tortured ourselves by watching the Cowboys lose due to icing their own kicker. The bright side? The 49ers clinched their division at the same time, so we got free drinks at the bar. Woo hoo??

This week was a blast. Thursday was the holiday party at my office, and then we went to the Sharks vs. Stars game that night. Unfortunately, the Stars got their butt's kicked. It was still fun, and we ended up sitting in the same section and same row as some of our friends. Totally random... and awesome! To top it off, I won the game Chris and I had to see who could find another Stars fan first. Victory is sweet, my friends. The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. We finished up Christmas shopping, caught up on some movies, and Sunday morning visited the farmer's market which always makes for a good (snack) time.

What we're REALLY excited about is next Saturday! The Lara family makes their arrival for four days, and we can hardly wait. We have big plans, and it will be so nice to have family around. T-5 days!

The view on our Saturday morning run. Nice.

Chris washing them dishes like a champ!

Making brownies. Don't be jelly of my hair net...

Ice Viewing

Go Stars!!!

Living the Wildlife

I thought y'all might have needed time to recover from Chris's blog, so last week I skipped the update. Hopefully, you're ready for more now. Rest assured... I'll be taking the reigns from here on out.

So, there are a couple weekends worth of stories to share. Weekend before last was pretty fantastic. We went to the the Ski and Snowboard Festival on Saturday. It was full of vendors, resorts, exhibits and free wine and  beer. Who can say no to that?! Plus, we got free and discounted lift tickets, hotel stays, etc. When we left, we thought it would be a great idea to check out one of the local casinos. San Jose has 2 casinos that existed before any gambling laws, so they've been able to stick around. While I will definitely chalk it up as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I'm not sure we'll be going back any time soon. S-K-E-T-C-H-Y. The other descriptors I would use are mostly inappropriate, so we'll leave it at that. Sunday was for football and chores. See... our life isn't all glamour, people.

This past weekend was awesome! Friday night I walked around Los Gatos and did a little shopping. The holidays are arriving in full force, and it's so beautiful here. I'll post pics of the town soon. It definitely put me in the spirit. (Except that one store, which I'll leave nameless to protect its identity, was passing out drinks to everyone who was shopping.... except me! I couldn't get a Schnaup's shot if my life depended on it. Chris insists it's because I look like an 18 year old, which I hate to hear. Bah humbug.) The weather has been back and forth between perfect autumn days and rain. Luckily, Saturday was one of the perfect sort because we had outdoor plans! We woke up early to head to Monterey Bay. We were going WHALE WATCHING! We had coffee on the Fisherman's Wharf and then went on a three hour boat ride. We saw dolphins and humpback whales and met a little boy that was more entertaining than either of the previous. The captain made the mistake of saying the whales were three miles away at one point, so he kept shouting, "Has it been three miles yet?!" That was all before he told us that he used to know how to "speak whale". Unfortunate when people forget their native tongue as they get older, right? He also spotted Spongebob, Dora and Nemo among the other wildlife. Good eyes!

Sunday we went to our favorite bar for bloody marys and football. I mean, there are limited options when football starts at 10 a.m. and you don't get the game at home. Tough decision? I think not. Afterward, we did a little shopping in town until we got the idea to go wine tasting. The pictures below don't do the views justice, but we tried! We went to two new wineries up in the mountains. They are only about 4 miles away, but the winding roads make it seem like 30. We bought a case of wine at the first stop, so we're stocked up for a while now. I rationalized that we "needed" to buy it because it was on sale and it would save us money on our grocery bill. Hmmm... I'm rather surprised I got Chris to agree to that logic, because I'm still not sure I really do. Hopefully he doesn't read this. Odds are in my favor. So, you're all invited over for a glass (or two) of wine. We have plenty. :)

This is a short week, and we're super excited about Thanksgiving. Our friends graciously offered to host us, and now the group has grown to 11 people total. It should be a fun day of food, friends and football at the Bastards' Thanksgiving Celebration. I plan to cook a schmorgesborg, so it will be a busy kitchen Wednesday and Thursday. Big plans on the books for next weekend, but no one likes a spoiler, so mum's the word for now. Next time!

 This is from the top of the mountain. Fog filling in the valleys.

 Entrance to our favorite winery!

 Fisherman's Warf

Whale spout!

WAAAASSSSAAAAKKKKEEEE!!!!!!

  Steph has been hounding and hounding me to write the blog this time. I'm definitely not a writer; that is Steph's job. You guys that know, she is very persistant(annoying)j/k.  I don't have the great and witty words that she has, but I will give it a shot.
 Steph and I had a delicious dinner Thursday with Michael, Michelle, Tom and Betty in San Francisco at Paliminos.  It was great to see some familiar faces. Hope y'all had fun! After dinner, we stayed with our friend in San Francisco, which was nice for me because I've been commuting to the city for work the last few months.  The whole time we were there, we were thinking that we need to move to the city ,so we'll see!

Friday night we had dinner at a new restaurant in Los Gatos. They had Irish nachos which we were excited about, but they could not compare to J. Gilligans.  We ended the night at our favorite bar in Los Gatos, Carry Nations, and  Steph spent the the majority of the night trying to be match-maker for one of our friends. Sorry Dude!  Its probably not going to work out.

 Saturday was Sake time at Takara! Takara brewery was very interesting. We watched a video on how sake is made and died laughing at the very dramatic music. Takara had a museum with all the tools the Japanese used. The best part was a flight of sake was only 5 bucks, and a bottle of sake is 8 dollars. We did not know that there were so many different types of sake.We both had a fun time in Berkley. Of course after a tour of Takara, we had to have sushi. Then, we ended our Saturday night at Bocce Ball with a couple we're good friends with.  It's even sweeter that us guys beat the ladies. Check out the pictures.

  Sunday we spent the day in Palo Alto. We visited Ikea to get new bedding stuff and then headed to the nice down town strip. We ate delicious gyros and then we drove around Stanford. The campus was amazing!

This was my first blog and probably my last.  I hope that I kept ya'll interested.

Tasting Room

Sake Museum

Cheers!

Let's take a ride.

Emotional rides, bike rides and car rides frame another weekend in paradise. It started as a night out with some of our new-ish friends here in Los Gatos: big plans to watch the Rangers win the World Series, eat delicious food, have a beer and catch up with good people. All of those came true except one. You know which one... Luckily, it was served up with all things good at least. Maybe 2012 will make the third time the charm for the ol' red and blue.  Until then, ride 'em Cowboys!! Oh yea, they're losing 34-7 as I type. Lots to look forward to! :)

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go to Spin for the Cure. It was a two hour bike ride I signed Chris and me up for to raise money for breast cancer awareness. If you've never done Spin, this doesn't mean much to you. If you have, I graciously accept your pity. I did achieve the only goal I set - survive - so I'm pretty happy with the outcome. The icing on the cake was how amazing the experience was. They coordinated some of the songs with a survival theme, which was really moving. I might have held back tears during a couple of songs. Yowzah. After the ride of a life, we left with a heart full of love and clothes full of sweat. Well worth it, for sure. The rest of Saturday was comprised of eating, wine tasting, sleeping, shopping and movie watching. Talk about a Saturday worth living!!

Then there was Sunday, which definitely lived up to its predecessor. We headed out early to Monterrey for a car ride on the 17 Mile Scenic Drive. It goes from Monterrey, through Pebble Beach and comes out in Carmel by the Sea. Wow. It was some of the most beautiful sights I've seen (including natural sights, golf courses and ridiculous mansions). It was incredible. Lucky for you, there a few snap shots below to give you a hint. Chris and I had a blast. When we came out in Carmel, we toured through the town and had lunch at this super cute restaurant. The entire town looks like an old village of cottages, and there is a mixture of high end shops and unique boutiques. One of my favorite stops was The Cheese Shop (I feel obliged to stop here and confess that this was the second cheese shop of the weekend... They opened one right across the street from us in LG and we visited Saturday. This could be bad.) After a good time, we headed back to LG and the remainder of Sunday was pretty routine. I took Gunnar up to the dog park and hit the jackpot when a gay guy from the same gym we go to was also there. I was successful in striking up conversation, and I'm pretty sure we're going to be best friends by the next time I post. Score! Yes, I realize posting this in a public forum is risky and could potentially creep him out to the point of destroying our future together, but since only 7 people read the blog, I feel like rolling the dice. It's this kind of dirt that keeps you coming back, right?

On that note, this ride has come to end. See you next time!

 Monterrey Bay

 Rocky Point

 Golf Course by the Water

 The Famous Lone Cypress

 Pebble  Beach Golf Course

Why Chris almost wrecked the car

"I took some time out for life." - James L. Brooks

I know, I know... your Monday morning coffee just hasn't been the same without an update from the Coffee's. All our apologies - life got crazy awesome and we've been trying to tame it. Here's the quick synopsis since we last posted: I went to Kentucky for one of my best friend's weddings, we went on a 16 night vacation to Spain and Italy, we bought a brand new car, tried to catch up at work from our long absence, joined a gym, celebrated the William's new baby, and cheered on the fantastic Rangers and disappointing Cowboys. Let's just say September and two thirds of October have been a whirlwind. No complaints, except from our avid blog followers, of course. :)
Due to all of our recent activities, we haven't been exploring CA as much as we'd like. Our "to-see" list is long though, and we'll be getting back to it now that we're stationary for awhile. Therefore, we are currently planning a lot for the next few months; a trip to the 17 mile scenic drive, a visit to sketchy San Jose casinos, a fun-filled weekend when we get a visit from the Lara's in December, a secret Christmas trip that Chris is planning (we're not making it back to TX this year!), a visit to Utah to see my favorite brother and ring in 2012, and our first "real" visit back to TX for Chris's 30th birthday in March. It appears we don't know how to lay low very well...

More frequent updates are a promise and pictures from the last two months are a goal. Cheers!

Say (goat) CHEESE!!!

The posts have been delayed, because I (Stephanie) went on a posting boycott until Chris finally contributed. Well, he did... and then I edited. Typical.

Before we tell you about this weekend, let's rewind back to last weekend. Saturday was much anticipated and turned out to be a blast. I made reservations at the goat cheese farm for a tour a week in advance. Yes, I'll give you a minute to go back and re-read that locale.... Ok, moving forward. After much debate, we decided to take highway 9 to get there; the longest of three routes that was also the "most scenic." While it was a very beautiful scenic drive, it took us 1 1/2 hours to drive 30 miles. Turns out "scenic" just means "winding-pain-in-the-butt-one-lane-road-pretending-to-be-two-lanes". To make it even more adventurous, there was also a bicycle race happening on Highway 9, and they don't move out of the way because they can't hear the Prius. Kind of funny now; not at all funny at the time. Nonetheless, we finally made it after heated brake pads and conversations, and the farm and tour were great! It brought back a lot of childhood memories for Chris who apparently grew up playing with goats?? Weird, I know. We hung out with the goats, saw the cheese-making process and finished by eating our weight in goat cheese. Yum.

Then, we headed to eat lunch at one the oldest bars in California called Duarte's. It's in the small town of Pescadero and has been around since 1898. The food and people watching were amazing!  Next on the agenda was a southbound drive on Highway 1 toward Santa Cruz. I read rumors about this wine village there, so we had to see if it was real. Great news - it was!  We started at the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Company with a flight of their beers, and then hit up a few wineries nearby. There are a total of 12 (I think), so of course we didn't make them all. It was such a great time though! After meeting a few interesting people (my favorite being the guy from Houston wearing a Camelbak...), we wrapped up conversations and headed back to LG.

All in all, life is good! We're both loving our jobs and the area we live in. They just opened the Safeway (grocery store, for you Texans) that we can walk to, and it has an elevator you take up from the parking garage beneath it. I was embarrassingly excited about that for some very strange reason. Chris has spent his time testing out the cigar shop across the street from us, mountain biking and commuting to San Francisco for work. Not a bad deal, all in all.

Now... here's the pics you've been awaiting. Say (goat) cheese!!!!

Where does the time go???

Today is our 4 year anniversary. CRAZY!!! I'm not sure where the time goes, but I know it goes quickly. We celebrated pretty moderately, because we're looking forward to our trip to Spain and Italy in a couple weeks. I left him a card out this morning, he had one for me when I got home from work. Then, we walked to a new-to-us Mexican food restaurant for dinner. He just got back in town today, so honestly we just felt lucky to be together.

We're adjusting quite nicely to our new apartment and town. I love that stretchy pants are the norm, even if it means everyone else is a work-out-aholic. I also love that we can walk to EVERYTHING. Last night, I walked to Papyrus to get Chris a card (and took Gunnar in, which was weird) and then to the bank. Did I mention I was in my stretchy pants? :) The weather is also fantastic, and we are both loving our new jobs. So far, so good.

At least for the human family members, that is. Gunnar... not quite normal yet. Before I arrived, you know from reading the previous blog, he whined and cried like crazy. Now that I'm here, his new thing is shredding stuff. We have yet to figure out how he manages to get on the kitchen counter to shred the recycle bag and the sponge (each on different days). I'm tempted to webcam him one day to get to the bottom of it. Not to mention, his potty manners are less than polite. As you can see from below, he doesn't understand modesty. I wish he did.

The situation:
I finished my morning run and took Gunnar for his daily morning walk. We turned a corner and there was a group of about 5-6 women gathered for their walking(?) group. Gunnar and I walked about 20 feet past them and then BOOM. He walks off the sidewalk and out into the middle of the street to make a poopy. I was SO embarassed! His business took so long I had time to contemplate my embarassment, get my phone out, open camera app, snap pic, and text to Chris to show him what "his" dog was doing to me. Nice move, Gunnar. Yes... I see who the boss is. Thank you.

The First of Many

Weekends, that is! We had a fantastic first weekend together in sunny California. The weather gave us a nice warm welcome that we appreciated and took full advantage of.

I arrived early Saturday morning, after catching the ridiculously early flight out of Dallas (thanks Hilda and Ed for the airport drop off!). The second car was delivered right after I landed... I mean, RIGHT after. We drove around lost while the poor car delivery guy tried to give us directions to meet him in a Lowe's parking lot to accept delivery. We finally found him after many left turns, so we're once again a two vehicle family! We headed back to the apartment, and Chris was very excited to show off all the work he had done to put things in order. After some organizing, we walked over to a cute little cafe to have breakfast and realized there was a Festival of Arts going on! You know we can't miss a good festival... especially one we can walk to! So a few food tickets and dip mix tastings later, we watched some of the wine-o's work out their best dance moves to the live music and headed home to decide what the next activity would be.

What are two of the Coffee's favorite things? Well, we've already given one away (festivals), so the other should be easy...WINE!!! Chris found that a winery which had been recommended by a couple of my favorite Stryker friends (and taste-test-approved by yours truly) was only .5 miles from our house. He thought it would be fun to walk there for a tasting, and I couldn't turn down the idea. You know what we learned? We learned that the epic failure of Google maps is that it doesn't point out that the .5 miles is an uphill battle!!!! So, we made the trek, Chris in his polo and me in my sundress and flat sandles, and arrived short of breath with a sweaty glisten. Charming. They still accepted us, and we left a member of the wine club and two delicious bottles of wine richer. But you have to know that only one of those survived the evening; RIP Chardonnay.

And then it was Sunday, and Sunday was for food; Farmer's Market, grocery shopping, preparing lunch and then a fantastic dinner. The good news is that the weather was so nice we peppered that with walks and runs. Maybe we won't gain too much weight with all the delicious food options here? TBD.

No idea why this is sideways, but I gave up trying to straighten it...

First of many... wine tastings, that is!

The entry to the winery. Is this real life??? Yes. It is.

Go West Young Man...

Haven't you been told? California's full of whisky, women and gold. Sleeping out all night beneath the desert stars, dream in my eye and a prayer in my heart.

Well, at least those were Toby Keith's words of advice...  but feeling the mix of dreams in our eyes and prayers in our hearts reminds me that we decided to actually take it! But don't worry... Chris and I have seriously discussed the "full of women" comment. :)

Chris headed west on August 3rd and arrived in the beautiful town of Los Gatos two days later to get the keys to our new one bedroom, one bath apartment. But don't you worry family and friends; we splurged on a new sofa bed so that you have a real comfortable place to lay your heads down when you visit. Only the best for you all, of course! The good news is that Chris's journey resulted in a few cool pics to make you all feel included (see below). The bad news is that our dog-child Gunnar wasn't so excited about the road trip. Chris had convinced himself (by default) that Gunnar would make the perfect partner for his adventure. Unfortunately, Gunnar remembered he was canine, rather than human, and stressed out after two full days of 14 hour car rides. Outcome: One weird sketched out dog that whined and whimpered any moment left alone. As bad as he felt, at least it lead to an introduction to our new neighbors, which could have been otherwise tough to come by. 

New neighbor enters stage left. Chris: "Yes, I'm new here; Apt. #41. Nice to meet! Are Y'ALL from around here? ... Me?? No, not so much. Oh.... our dog is torturing you? About that..."

Yes, Los Gatos. We have arrived. Well, at least two of us for now.

Road Trip Partners!

Loving getting out of 115 degrees!

Flagstaff

Flagstaff

Finally out of Chris's lap and onto his own  bed!!!

Heading west!

Welcome to our blog!

Let's get this blogging started! We've been saying for awhile that we're going to start a blog about our journey West, and it has finally materialized! This will make it much easier to get the latest news about our adventures, as I'm sure you're dying to fill your free time reading about us... :)

So, tell your friends and put a reminder in your calendar to check in on your favorite Coffee's over your morning cup o' coffee.