The Last Year and a Half

So, instead of writing a ten page term paper that is due tomorrow, I am going to share my last year and a half through pictures. The procrastinator way of life. I wasn't going to post much til the new blog is up and running, but oh well! (The picture above I took while driving under the Golden Gate in March 2012...yeah not the safest idea.)

After school got out last May, my sister, Irene, and I went on a mini road trip along the Northern California coast to the little town of Arcata. I love that place. The redwood forests up there are majestic.
Also, notice I finally had the balls to ombre my hair! Ye.

In June, I went down to Texas to visit one of my best friends. She lives in Houston so we spent a lot of time exploring the town, going to museums, the nearby Galveston beach, and a spectacular night in Austin (coolest place in the world I've decided). We ate a lot of oysters. We are oyster fiends. But really, I loved Texas. I would move there in a second. 

I also went REAL camping for the first time in my life over the summer. Twice. A bit sad that it took me twenty years, but hey, late is better than never! The first time I camped at Donner Memorial State Park. Here I am floating on Donner Lake. It is literally like swimming in a beautiful glass of ice water. So COLD! My second camping trip was in the Stanislaus National Forest, where I camped at the site of an old Miwok village. I stayed with a lovely Miwok family (and some ladies from the neighboring Mono tribe) and learned the ways of their ancestors. It was a pretty eye opening experience.

I went to San Francisco about a million times. Here I am at Jack Kerouac Alley, right behind the City Lights bookstore that first published his works. He is one of my favorite authors so it was a pretty cool experience for me. Though I'm usually not a tourist when I go to San Fran, it's fun to do it once in a while!
This is Point Reyes, the quietest bit of coastline I have ever been to in California. I went with some geologist friends of mine who showed me the San Andreas fault line on those cliffs in the background of the photo. We had a lovely picnic and froze our buns off in the ocean!
Fall semester I completed one of my life goals: I was a college radio DJ! I had a weekly show where I played indie rock/pop/dance/what have you, for an hour. I also got to interview some bands I LOVE like The Maccabees, Electric Guest, and Walk the Moon. They were all a lot of fun, but The Maccabees interview was beyond cool. As they're from England and the show was in San Francisco, they wanted to make new friends or something, I guess. As I had just turned 21 the week before, I was able to join them when they invited my friend and I out after the show. Pretty awesome way to celebrate my 21st birthday.  Really though, all of the artists were great, so check out their music. Also, you can listen to my past shows right here :D
In January, I went to visit one of my old friends in Colorado for a week. It was snowing when I first arrived. Gorgeous! We hung around Denver mostly where we went out for lots of yummy food, a few comedy shows, whiskey tasting at Stranahan's Distillery (delicious), and watched some good old fashioned football while chowing down tacos. One day we went to Garden of the Gods, where I finally got to see my beloved red rock formations. 

Simply breathtaking.

In April, I won a trip to Las Vegas for the Academy of Country Music Awards Show. Pretty freaking cool. I brought along my Texas friend and boy, did we have a good time! Luckily, we both secretly like country music, so going to a Jake Owen concert, a Tim McGraw concert (that will be on TV this month apparently), and the ACM awards was awesome. We also did a lot of people watching, buffet eating, poolside napping, and of course had to get our dance on. Also, we ate A LOT of food.

And last but not least, a couple weekends ago, my mother and I ran off for a spur of the moment trip to visit my sister in Humboldt. Here they're acting like goobers on the beach. It was a much needed weekend of relaxation and girl bonding time. 

So, looking back on my last year and a half, I actually did a lot more than I thought! I've always had a heart full of wanderlust and I seem to have fulfilled a lot of it. Hopefully the rest of this year will be just as adventurous! And now that I have a real camera, all of my pictures won't look like a terrible mess. Ah well, now that I have wasted an hour, back to the paper writing. Ugh.

P.S. Sorry for the appearance of my blog. It's SO old. Once I get the real website running, I'll fix this outdated thing.

Back for the Billionth Time

Hello my blogging friends! Yes, I am doing it again. I am back to the blogging world. What has prompted this? Ah well, summer is in the air (and I have many adventures planned), I purchased my dream camera, and I bought an actual official domain for the blog. I still have to figure out how to set up the actual website (Google, you guys have some serious technical issues yo) and have a few more weeks of finals, but I plan to be posting often after that! So look out for me to be back around the end of May. See you then ;)

A Day in Wine Country

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Last weekend my mom, old roommate, Becky, and I headed to the one and only wine country (in the States anyways), Napa. We started off the day by heading to my family's favorite winery. It was a gorgeous day, sun high in the sky and pretty warm out. Not much like fall weather, but I wasn't complaining! We did a little wine tasting and walked around the winery for a bit. As far as wines go, my favorite is rose, or a sweet glass of moscato, but I don't discriminate ;)


Instead of going out to a restaurant for lunch, we decided to stay at the winery. We went to their deli where we found a creamy gruyere cheese, a sharp, dry gouda, a fresh french baguette, sweet grapes, and of course, wine. I could seriously eat this every day! But I'm only fancy on special occasions.


Growing up in a Greek household, wine is kind of an integral part of our culture. I've had friends who think wine is disgusting or admonish me for drinking it since I was a toddler, but I look at it differently. In Greece, if you go over to someone's house for dinner, whether you are 60 or 10, the host offers you wine or beer. When you ask for water, they look at you like you're crazy. So there's my two cents. Drink up me hearties, yo ho!

Something About Autumn

There is just something about autumn that I will always love. I think when I was younger, the fact that school was starting and my birthday was at the end of September first sparked my love for this season. As I got older, the scenery during this time of year kept me happy. (Not to mention wearing my favorite clothes, boots and sweaters, everywhere!)


Something about autumn just makes me want this: sitting in the tub, writing or reading, sipping on delicious tea (or hot apple cider...yum!), with candles flickering everywhere. It's the simple things that always make me feel at peace. Too bad with today's crazy lifestyle this doesn't happen often enough.


I think in the end, the colors of fall really get to me. Sunset has always been my favorite time of day and the way the sun filters through the leaves in the fall is breathtaking. I even love the smell of the leaves. Weird, yes. But, what can I say? I don't know what I would do if I didn't live in a place that didn't have autumn.

A Weekend Away

Last weekend was the best weekend I've had in ages. My sister is all grown up and off to college, so I decided to give her a little 4-day weekend visit. Her school is in one of the prettiest places I've ever seen. Right by the sea, in the redwood forests, it's literally perfect.


I arrived on late Friday evening and we basically spent the night catching up, going to a pretty hopping party, and getting late night donuts. The next morning, we went to a cafe, grabbed some coffee, and headed off to the farmer's market. We bought some delicious grapes, apples, and the best lavender honey in the world. De-LI-cious. We saw quite a few bands playing around the market (my favorite included a banjo player & a lad on the spoons) and met a lovely young lady who sold poetry for "your subject, your price". Pretty neat-o. The poem she wrote for me is freaking amazing.


After hanging out at the market for a few hours, we took the goods we bought (along with some fresh bread and chai tea), and headed off for a hike. We came across a little hidden cove in the trees, nicknamed "Narnia" and enjoyed a little picnic. After the hike, we were wiped out so we relaxed, went out for a late birthday dinner, and came back to a night of movie watching.


Sunday we woke up and headed to our favorite little cafe for breakfast and then did some mosey-ing around the shops in town. We brought her guitar along and then headed to the park. Of course, being the amazing place this town is, people came around and sat down to either listen or join us playing. We ended my trip with a visit to an old friend from high school, complete with wine and more music playing. I am seriously contemplating moving there. Life there is so crazy relaxing.


Argh, I miss my sister. Just a few more weeks 'til I head back :)

Back, Again

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Well, hello there! I'm a bit bipolar when it comes to blogging. One minute I am updating all the time and then I drop it for a few months. So, yes, I am having withdrawals and feel it's time to come back! Sorry for annoying you with my blogging mood swings. There is just something about fall and blogging.

I've been getting into my photography again and felt the need to share, so expect more soon! (Also, I now have a tumblr, which I mainly use for posting random videos, music, and pictures that are mostly not my own. Hoorah.)

On a side note...I think I need to clean this blog up a bit. Expect a renovation, soonish.

Down the Hill & Across the Bay

photo courtesy of me :)

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Finally back from camp! Internet was pretty much non-existent up there so blogging wasn't really an option. Not to mention we worked 10 hour days with little kids... definitely the most tiring job I've ever had. But living in Tahoe was worth it! Still need to develop the pictures from my craptastic fake Holga camera.

Upon our return, my sister and I went to one of my favorite places in the world, San Francisco and more specifically, Ghirardelli Square. I love that place. I don't know why, but somehow I always feel relaxed while walking along the ocean by it. It's my little quiet spot in the city of madness.

Anyways, I am probably not going to be blogging too often (not that I really do anyways). It kind of sucks the life out of me preparing these time-consuming posts and getting lost in reading other blogger's posts. Bad bad! I'll leave posting to those moments of extreme boredom where there is nothing else to do....like now. Well, off to fill my day with non-internet related things.