haircut tomorrow!

I'm going in for my back-to-school haircut (which to me is the official end of summer). Last year's cut didn't end so well, a little too short and triangular; I spent the whole year growing it out. So this year I'm going in with some inspiration and photo back-up. Here's what I'm hoping for tomorrow:

one//two//three//four//five//six//seven//eight

That's right... I'm going for the lob (long bob). We'll see how it turns out tomorrow. I'll post an update once it's done!

book list

Jane Mount, Ideal Bookshelf 660

One of my goals for this year was to up my reading ante with the goal of reading 20 books in 2015. Right now I'm a little over halfway there but I'm going to need to increase the reading load over the next few months to make it in time! One of the big perks about teaching is the long breaks I get throughout the year, and one of my favorite things to do is to fill them is reading.

Here's my reading list as of right now. I'll be crossing off books as I go through them!

The Luminaries

Americanah

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

The Poisonwood Bible

Julie and Julia

The Girl on the Train

The Bone Clocks

Yes Please

We Should All be Feminists

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Etta and Otto and Russell and James

All the Light We Cannot See

I'll Give You the Sun

Empire Falls

The Other Wes Moore

The Boys in the Boat

Me Before You

Euphoria

Everything I Never Told You

With 9 books to go, right now it still feels doable, since I currently have all the free time I need in the next few days. But, all breaks must come to a close and I know that I'll need to finish most of those books over Thanksgiving and Christmas break...

I'm excited for the push!

Taking Stock - Friday

M A K I N G : lesson plans. I'm about to head to a neighborhood coffee shop to get some unit mapping done. I'm hoping to get the first month planned out to ease the stress into the new school year.

D R I N K I N G : coffee. I've been having a rough couple of nights of sleep lately - waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. Needed a slow morning today.

W A N T I N G : these boots. They're on sale and in my size; quite hard to resist. And with the el niño heading towards California this year they may be very necessary.

W A T C H I N G : (or rewatching) scandal. There is something highly addictive about this show. I also tend to have a thing about presidential shows. Though completely different, the west wing is another favorite. I love me some good presidential drama.

R E A D I N G : I just finished the yiddish policemen's union. It wasn't my favorite... it took awhile to get through; definitely not a book that I would be able to finish during the school year with a lot of starting and stopping. It was my first Michael Chabon book. telegraph avenue is on my reading list but I might put it off for awhile before going back him. My next read, which I started last night is etta and otto and russell and james. It has an interesting layout so far, a lot of switching from the present to the past (it seems in every chapter). It seems like the start of an adventure though!

L I S T E N I N G T O : whatever pandora plays me. Last night while finishing the yiddish policemen's union, I had norah jones radio on, but podcasts have been keeping me company on my drives. I listened to a lot of Fresh Air on my drive to and from Santa Barbara.

E A T I N G : (or at least hoping to) something from the smitten kitchen cookbook tonight. I just got a new recipe box that I'm in love with and so I'm currently going through my library's stock of cookbooks to collect the ones I want to keep. I'll let you know if any recipes stick!

W I S H I N G : my brother and his girlfriend all the best! She's currently in labor with my newest nephew who I cannot wait to meet. So jealous of my other siblings who get to be there. I've been standing by my phone all morning waiting for the text!

H O P I N G : flight prices around christmas take a dip soon! I love going home for the holidays but it's gotten so dang expensive! I've got a bunch of google flight watches on a few flights home and I'm crossing my fingers they go down sometime in september (and then don't go down even further because that's just the most disappointing thing)

N E E D I N G : the motivation to clean up the apartment a little! I'm definitely still in summer mode in terms of lazing around which is starting (definitely) to show in the cleanliness factor. (sorry peter that my santa barbara stuff is still on the ground in our dining room - eek!)

F O L L O W I N G : dearfriendblog through her exciting summer adventures! This is one lady who definitely knows how to do summer as a teacher. Her writing also just makes me the happiest - it reminds me of anne of green gables in terms of optimism and love for all things. She also constantly reminds me of my love for the east coast in any season.

F E E L I N G : calm and a little more rested.

W E A R I N G : peter's discarded flannel. Way too big, but it's the perfect amount of comfort for this cloudy morning.

B O O K M A R K I N G : this post from hither and thither. Our walls are still alarmingly blank, so any tips and places to find cheap, good wall art is always appreciated. I need to go back and take a closer look.

L O V I N G : the moment I open the blinds in our apartment and the morning light floods in. It feels so refreshing and good.

Quick trip to Santa Barbara

I took a spontaneous mini trip over the past 48 hours down to Santa Barbara and back up. It's a beautiful city that I would love to visit again, maybe with a little bit more time and planning out.
Here's a little bit about the trip

Getting there
I mostly followed my waze directions to get down to Santa Barbara. I took the 101 instead of the 5 which avoided some of the monotony of I-5 (so boring! so many (dry) farms!). The 101 is also a little monotonous, but I saw the Cuesta forest fire on my way down which was a little scary, it was really close to the highway, like I could see flames right next to my car... and driving by Pismo beach was really pretty. If I were going for a more scenic route I would have taken the Pacific Coast Highway which is beautiful, if not a little scary due to all the curves!

Staying
We stayed at the Wayfarer, which way exceeded expectations. I was visiting with my best friend's sister and her mom so there were three of us. They got there before me and were cracking up as we walked to the room. When the two of them arrived, they were a bit confused because the room was tight and there only appeared to be one bed:

They checked back in at the front desk, confused, asking how we would fit three people, to which the person at the desk responded that there's a murphy bed in the room... again they were confused as to where the murphy bed would be. The guy said he would send over maintenance who came and opened up the murphy bed:

Heh! They used their "air space." Too funny.

The Wayfarer was really clean, had a kitchen you could use that had pots pans and kitchen basics like olive oil and spices. We didn't utilize it but I could see it being really nice if you stayed for a longer visit. The pool was on the smaller side but relaxing after laying by the beach. And our room came with a small veranda with two chairs giving a nice space to lay out if the pool was too crowded. 

I would definitely stay again.

Things To Do

With very limited time to spend in Santa Barbara, we had to choose our activities wisely. We decided to visit two very standard stops... the beach and the courthouse, both beautiful in different ways. We started at the courthouse which was stunning. There's so much history in those walls, I loved that you could just wander around at your own pace.

The beach was also beautiful. We went by the pier by the Wayfarer just to lay around. You could have rented kayaks or paddle boards but we decided to just laze around in the afternoon. The beach wasn't crowded at all despite it being sunny and warm which I really appreciated. Later, after freshening up at the hotel we walked along the coast to watch the sunset. We walked down the cliffs along a path called "one thousand steps" (exaggerated.) and we were able to walk around a bend to see the sun. It was a perfect walk to take right before dinner.

Good Eats
I want to highlight one of the places we went to eat, Tupelo Junction Cafe. After quickly looking up some yelp reviews while downtown and starving for lunch, we happily stumbled into this cafe. They have a southern flare to their food: fried green tomatoes, hushpuppies. Everything we had was delicious, though guilt inducing. I would absolutely head back there for seconds and thirds if I could.

Can't wait for my next trip back to this beautiful place.

photos of The Wayfarer from their website.

Food Reviews: The Advocate

Our new apartment is in the lovely town of Elmwood in Berkeley. While I love the Berkeley food scene, any new additions are always welcome. I find that Peter and I get stuck in a rut when it comes to eating out going to our same five favorites and not branching out often. We were delighted to hear that one of our favorite restaurants, Comal, opened a sister restaurant right in our neighborhood just two weeks ago, called The Advocate.

We decided to try it out tonight (since it is just about a million degrees and the thought of turning on an oven makes me break out into a sweat) and here's what I thought...

We walked over there at about 5:20 to get there by the time it opened. Both Comal and the Advocate have a no reservations policy which, as we've seen at Comal, can mean that tables fill up fast. When we turned the corner there was a line already out the door to get in! But we were lucky enough to sit down right away. They had plenty of space.

I started out with their ricotta toast which was delicious. It was slightly sweet, topped with flowers and olive oil. It was the one thing I was able to get a picture of before it was eaten up!

Peter started off with their carrot soup and reported that it was really tasty. I told him he was crazy for eating such a hot dish when we were finally sitting in some air conditioning.

We both ended up getting the spit-roasted chicken. They have a similar dish at Comal where you order a whole chicken to share. I thought it was really tasty. The chicken was perfectly roasted and juicy on the inside. The only thing I hope they improve on is the underlings - they had pureed turnips (I think), mushrooms and pearl onions. I would have loved something either a little heartier or some green vegetables, but I'm sure those will change with the seasons.

Overall it was great! They have a beautiful space inside, I loved all of their hanging lamps. Can't wait to try some drinks next time! The swizzle is top on my list!