"When my roommate's away, the cat will [want to] play... and rub all over me."

Carrie's birthday!

My last full weekend in Monterey has passed! (phew!) And so, I am trying to cram in as much fun stuff as possible with all the great people I've met here, in the time I have left!

My love at Lover's Point!

Friday night, Natalia and I enjoyed our last night together as roommates, since she flew home to Moldova on Saturday night. We ate at Crystal Fish (the BEST sushi on the peninsula) and met up with Kevin after his (LONG) drive up from LA to go to a few bars downtown. Of course, I found the only other Marylander at the bar (from Easton), who was probably the only other person in the bar rooting for the Ravens to win the replayed game that was on the TVs!

Cool bottle window

Kevin and I enjoyed some other yummy new places this weekend, and we hung out with some coworkers to celebrate a birthday Saturday night. We went to Lover's Point on Sunday morning for a picnic brunch, then left with some of my things in his truck (I've expanded past my one-carload-limit with a shelf I bought here for my unfurnished room!) Thankfully it was his last long drive home from my apartment in Monterey! 

Rabbit.. Five ways! (stewed, pate-ish, fried,
roasted leg, one other I can't remember!)

Monday night, I shared an AMAZING dinner with some coworkers at "A Moveable Feast," which is attached a little general store in the middle of NOWHERE in Carmel Valley. An hour from Monterey on super-windy roads, they only serve dinner on Monday nights and have a pretty unique menu! I ate "rabbit 5 ways," which was YUMMO! 

Band, restaurant, great food! 

Great place, backwoods atmosphere, totally unique (four-hour+) dining experience. 

Kim, Andy, and I

Walking around the lake in my
neighborhood with Kim! 

Two more days of work before I'll be MOVING ON!!

"If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done."

My time in Monterey is slowly ticking away! In only 2 weeks, I will be done at the VNA (not complaining) and ALICIA WILL BE HERE FOR A VISIT!

As far as where I'll be heading next, I will start work at Kaiser LA Medical Center on September 9th, located on the outskirts of Hollywood. It will be nice to be out of my car and back in the hospital for a while! I spent this weekend with Nardos in LA, apartment-hunting and saying goodbye to Jeff and Hill for a while, as they'll head back to Michigan in a week. I've only got one traveler friend left in California, while the rest have all gone back to Michigan! 



Spending the weekend with Nardos was great, and I'm excited that I'll soon live within a half hour drive of her apartment and within an hour drive of Kevin's! I found a place in Los Feliz, within a mile of the hospital and very close to Griffith Park, cute downtown Los Feliz shops, and walking distance to stores - it'll be a good transition from living in Monterey and being able to walk/bike everywhere here too! I'll have a roommate again, (this time, her name is Lauren too, so she's gotta be awesome :-) which will be nice living in the city. 

I did a little bit of solo exploring while Nardos was out extra-ing in a movie scene, through the gardens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and through the recognizable lights out front of the museum (seen in multiple movies).






The walk through the city was a nice way to ease back into some activity after last weekend's excitement. Kevin and his friend Jeff came to Monterey for the Spartan Beast race, a 12+ mile obstacle/mud/hill/torture race. We finished successfully, but definitely a little bruised, exhausted, and sore! 

 As far as tonight, I spent the afternoon and evening driving back to Monterey, though the beginning of my trip was stalled by this wildfire. Lots of fire fighters on scene (thank goodness!) and lots of traffic. Hopefully they have gotten it under control by now! 

And finally, who doesn't love baby animal photos? This is Ruby, who belongs to Natalia's future roommate. She has been staying with us on weekends to get to know our current kitty, Leeloo, a little better. Ruby just happens to think she owns the place! (until you turn on the shower :-D ) 

"Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts"

Long time no blog. Here comes a [mostly photo] recap of the past month of fun!

Ali and her friend Megan came to visit at the end of June, which was AWESOME! Finally, a few photos have surfaced from their trip (thanks Ali!), though I'm still waiting for the close-up seal and otter pictures from our kayak trip through Elkhorn Slough! It was a beautiful day for our hike at Point Lobos. 

 

Took a little while to grab this group shot with the tide threatening with every attempt to jump up onto the rock! 

July started off great... with more visitors! Kevin drove up and Nardos took the train up, and we spent 4th of July weekend together in Monterey. On the 4th, we bonfired it up on the beach with a bunch of my coworkers (yay, friends!), grilled some delicious eats, and melted up some s'mores. The rest of the weekend we spent lounging, eating, chatting, shopping, bowling, and just enjoying each other's company! 

And then there was Maryland. The flight there sucked, but the rest was amazing (okay, except my rental car... I'm clearly not a Ford girl). 

So many great parts to that trip... the long awaited first snowball of the year. 

Box Hill. The crab cake. The friends. The family. The work family. The baby bumps. 

What a fantastic week, humidity and all. Love ya, Maryland!

After a great vacation, sometimes the best remedy to a stressful 2-day workweek is another vacation. Megan, my San Jose traveler friend, wanted to see Vegas before she leaves the west coast to head home for Michigan, so there we went! Kevin was sweet enough to meet us there, and Megan's friend David helped hook us up with a suite in the Venetian. A quick trip, but a fun one! 

Because I can't turn down a party, I drove down to SoCal this weekend (first time in a while, almost forgot how long it takes :-P) to accompany Kev to his cousins' 40th birthday(s) party. Super fun masquerade party, which apparently ended in a proposal (we left before it happened to go to bed so we could wake up at 445 the next morning) - congrats Jeff and Dwayne! 

There I go!

On Sunday we somehow woke up for a fun day of climbing with Val (my awesome Loma Linda roommate!) and some new (to me) friends! New Jack City is only ~1hr 15 or less from Kevin's house and has lots of routes to try in the future, so I'm sure we'll be back! By the time we left after our climbs, the temperature was >100*, so it was definitely worth the early morning trek!

And so the story goes...

This is how Monterey gets ya! It's chilly,
but too gorgeous not to love <3