All These Things I've Done

"All These Things I've Done" by the Killers

I've got soul but I'm not a soldier...

Howdy Howdy from chilly Northern California. I know, all of you east coasters are rolling your eyes at me. I'm that person you see while traveling that is wearing the scarf in 60 degree sunshine. Yep. I'm there. Acclimation at its best, I suppose. One of my major "side effects" from surgery is that I am literally the coldest human in the universe. Even 113 lbs ago, I was freezing. (Clearly, I am defective.) Now it's WORSE. Picture this: right now, I'm sitting in my bed in the following situation: mattress warmers cranked up to high, which is the temperate equivalent of a low heat frying pan, long fleece pj pants, 3 shirts including a hooded sweatshirt with hood on, and 2 pairs of socks (trust me, the second pair makes a huge difference!) and count them....4 blankets. I'm a freak of nature. Somethings I will never understand. I spent most of the 100+ degree summer feeling cold to the bone. Like, New York February chilled. And I'm not anemic. Just a wierdo. :-)

Other than being freezing, things are going very well. Harvest is done... pretty much, we're pressing off the last of our reds on Thursday, they say. Now I can have weekends...whatever will I do? Homework? Learn guitar? Bike? Run? Empty out my DVR? (Don't worry, I've been on top of GLEE!) I have a fairly extensive bucket list lately...I've been feeling ambitious. Luckily I have the energy to match.

Oh, all of you should most definitely check out my pal Sarah's blog here. She's connected to me through a co-worker (Debbie, the one who took wonderful care of me after surgery and on my birthday and beyond) and she is a stylish and well-spoken chick! She blogs about food, fashion, wine, life! She and I share many of the same food philosophies, so I appreciate her ideas. She is responsible for my burgeoning Luna bar habit! She's a much more frequent blogger than me, too, so that's much more enjoyable for you all.

Traveled to DC this past weekend because, well, I could. I try to make it a habit to travel to see the people I miss (duh....) and that is exactly what I got to do. Good food, good wine, good people. All amazing. Here is a pic from dinner out in DC, my college room mates and some of my favorite people in the world.



Many good drinks were had. At this meal, which was at a restaurant called Momiji DC, I ordered a mixed drink that I could smell from the bar...it smelled so strongly of passionfruit, yet it contained none. Psssssychhhh. Not too sugary. And plenty alcoholic. It was fantastic to catch up with the girls...who seem, like me, to be adults. Frightening.

I'm currently reading the book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I resisted reading it for a long time, but I found it at a library book sale for 50c early in the fall and I thought...what the hell. The book is literally changing my life. Good books do change your life, right? They change your perspective by expanding it...introducing new.



It explores the pursuit of pleasure, spirituality, and balance. I struggle with all of those things. Mostly, I found her quest for spirituality and how it intertwines into her life most intriguing. Up to this point, I thought I was fairly alone in not finding an organized religion that I could really...you know...go all in for and get behind. I had always found myself wishing that I could bespiritually "cherry picking", a practice which seemed as though it should be unacceptable to me. I had some pretty regular "deal-breakers" with many organized religions: women's right to chose, all other religions go to hell, and well, I don't hate homosexuals in the least...love is love, it is all good with me....so I never felt at "home" with any of the organized religions that I know anything about. Sparing you any further spirituality talk, this book suggests that spiritual cherry picking is alright...as long as you aim to live your life in a loving and good manner. Now that I will have more idle time, I will have a little time to mediate on things like these!

Time for some sleep, I think. Thanksgiving soon! Hopefully I will give into my narcissism and blog more frequently, but nothing in life is certain!

Cheers all, see you soon!

Say Hey (I Love You)

"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti and Spearhead

The above is a happy-go-lucky tune I discovered at the beginning of harvest that I often bump in my ipod when I'm outside checking tanks at the winery. It matches my mood...most of the time.

I wouldn't have blogged this evening but I am just so damn excited because the YANKEES ARE GOING TO TO WORLD SERIES!!! The game didn't end until 9 pm my time, which is late in New York, but I'm all wound up because of it. :-) And I spent the night making chili...high protein, high fiber, yum yum!

Anyway, it has been harvest pretty much since I got back from New York. In September, I spent two weekends in a row in Washington State doing the required "camps" for my certificate programs. They were lots of fun! I have been kind of dragging my feet waiting for the pictures to appear...but to no avail. I learned a lot about viticulture in the viticulture weekend. The enology weekend was....a nice review. I do enology-type work fairly, um, regularly, so, it was mostly a .....review. My classmates were excellent. I was surprised at how different the enology class was when compared to the viticulture class. There were more women in the viticulture class, which I was somewhat surprised by. I got a harsh reminder in the wine industry of often an old boys club when I left for my first weekend, so it was refreshing to see the abundance of XX chromosomes in the viticulture certificate program.

The harvest at Wente has been different then any harvest I have experienced. It was a slow start...with a trickle just enough to keep us marginally busy, but easily distracted. The sugars were slow to rise in the vineyard samples that I saw come across my bench. Then suddenly, the chardonnay was ready and BAM! It has been mania ever since. Six days a week crazy crazy. Don't get me wrong, that is exactly how I like it, but, it does a girl in!

In other news, I love 100 lbs! 108, now, actually. That's like...an entire person. It is a strange place that I'm in right now, I can honestly say, I feel like I'm the same size as I was when I went into surgery....maybe larger. My rational brain knows that that is not the case, but every time I look into the mirror I see...fat. What a strange reversal in the way that I think. I can't figure it out, but I don't have too much time to dwell on it either. My clothes certainly fit "better"....if better is defined by ridiculously large. My jeans are especially annoying because I spend the entire day hiking them up! Oh well. I think my hair is done falling out....it had been falling out since June and ceased last week. I'm still freezing cold though. Interesting new life I'm leading.

I'm DC bound fairly soon for a little weekend away (208 $ plane ticket...non-stop). I am excited to be the heck out of California for a few days. I went to Napa to spend the night with Deb and Ed last weekend, and a few dogs, and it was incredibly therapeutic! I enjoyed being away and with people I love so much. I got back to Livermore and was actually disappointed when I returned home.

Quick update. Sorry there are no pics, but I'm having a hard time finding some that looks like I've lost 100 lbs. That's probably because I'm having trouble seeing it myself. I will find something suitable hopefully. Be patient!

Til next time.

Cheers
Catrina

'Til Summer Comes Around

'Til Summer Comes Around, Keith Urban

Okay, so I just made a very very tasty meatloaf. Mushrooms, onions, 93% lean beef, fresh parsley, garlic, bread crumbs...very yum (24g protein per 3 oz serving, 220 cals). I got one broccoli floret and three bites of meatloaf in and BAM, no more. I think people think I'm nuts, but, this means that I'm having a "small pouch day". It always seems to happen when I have something delicious to eat! A small trade off for -90 lbs, but, occasionally frustrating.

Anyway, it has been about a month since I updated. I've been HOME since I last wrote. Being home was absolutely fabulous. Not only were the people from PY there, but my chicks from Gettysburg came too! I got to see beautiful Kate get married, and it was AWESOME! Here's a photo of the two of us:


She was a beautiful bride! :-)

The G-burg girls rented a boat, which was, of course, very much fun. Very therapeutic to spend time on my lake. Ahhhh. We had a good party at Casa North on Friday night. I hear the food was great, but I think the company was great. It was so fabulous to see you guys, enjoy the weather (hot and humid lol) and a few adult beverages! Being home is such a treat. I will be back at Christmas time! :-)

Anyway, then Kourteney came out for a visit, which was right at the beginning of HARVEST! Yay! How excited am I! Well, I'm excited to be making wine, but doubly excited to be making MONEY! Here's a photo of the first load of grapes (Chardonnay Cuvee) to hit the presses.


Upcoming, I go to WA for school! I'm excited, but not for all of the travel. I hate airports (think twice before you're rude to an obese person in the airport...we're not having fun either). I'll keep you posted on how my hands-on learning weekends go.

Sorry this is brief. Time to run back to Wine Chemistry. Boo.

Sympathique

Sympathique, by Pink Martini

Sorry guys, long time no blog! No excuses, but I've been a busy girl. Two of my classes ended at the same time (Growing Grapes and Wine Production I) so I was hella swamped with those. Anyway.

Let's see, let me bring you quickly up to speed. Since the wedding, I've seen quite a few people. The first were Maelina and Ela, friends of mine from college, who were out visiting SF. Thankfully, I was able to spend an afternoon with them in the city. It was VERY nice to catch up with both of them. We ate lunch at a restaurant called the Stinking Rose, which is in North Beach, the Italian Neighborhood of SF. We then we off on a walking tour-ish of downtown...we saw Chinatown, did a tea tasting, and walked, basically. I attempted to take them to my favorite Chinatown stop, a bakery called the Golden Gate Bakery, which has Chinese pastries to die for. Unfortunately, the bakery was closed.

Chinatown is a favorite of mine in SF. It doesn't smell like NYC's Chinatown and it reminds me very much of Sydney. It's one of my happy places, and I go there as often as I can. If anyone wants to go...let me know!

Anyway, some photos:


Maelina and I posing in front of the Port of SF/Embarcadero...in cartoon motion!


Ela and I in front of the Bay Bridge

Thanks to she and Maelina, these are their photos!

Upon arrival home that evening, I had house guests! My friends from Fox Run, Mike and JR, came out from their new home in Healdsburg to visit so that we could make the trip to Gilroy for the mother of all Garlic Festivals. Also arriving that evening was Gianna, another Fox Run alum who is on temporary assignment in LA. Reunion! We drank some FL riesling (home it's home i'd like to be!) and ate some pizza. There is something very special about spending time with people who know where you come from.

The next day we were off to Gilroy for the less than awesome garlic fest. Numero uno: it was FREAKIN' HOT! Fox Run puts on a much more garlic centered festival! Gilroy's fest was over commercialized, and I was surprised at how little raw garlic there was there! One of my favorite memories of the Fox Run garlic fest was sneaking out from behind the tasting room bar and doing a "garlic tasting" of all of the different types of garlic. Nothing of the sort in Gilroy! Most everything was cooked garlic. And, don't get me wrong, I loved my garlic fries, but, totally missed Fox Run. First full weekend in August people, remember!

Took Gianna to the airport and JR and Mike to Wente for some barrel surfing. It was nice to see their reactions to the sheer size of Wente. I have adjusted, but it was a nice reminder of the wonder I once felt. Now I just need to work on restoring that sense of wonder!

Here we are with the Foster Farms chicken people, saying "No" to plumping....and YES to sunscreen!



And...the coolest thing in Gilroy...the Olympic torch of garlic...amazing.




The next weekend, my old friend Sara Marian visited! She is amazing! I hadn't seen her since I visited her in Boulder, CO. She's now in med school and kicking ass! She's pretty much my shopping soulmate...and it was so nice to see her! We did Wente, climb Mt Diablo (yes, I mean climbed...we took a wrong turn and took a very long and steep path up the mountain!), toured around in the city, and had ray-ban wayfarer and dress up day in Napa. She, of course, is one of the only people who can talk me into wearing a dress where jeans are perfectly appropriate. ;-)


The vista from the summit of Mt. Diablo. Yes, it was sunset. This resulted in some running back down said steep mountain.


Extra-circular dress wearing day.

And finally, this past weekend, we had a weekend outing just the Wente labbies! Chris has a cabin near Lake Alpine, CA. OMG! It was amazing. It reminded me of how much I missed green. I accomplished the first of my "skinny" goals: kayaking. Turns out, I freaking love it! Chris has promised before we left that he would teach me, so I held him to his word.



Ahhhh...Nirvana. I will be kayaking a lot more in the future.

It was a fantastic weekend. I admit I was a little anxious to go away someplace for an extended amount of time with my coworkers, but my anxiety was not grounded. I think we all agree we had a great time! On my first day at Wente, one of the winemakers said to me "Welcome to the Family", and he wasn't kidding. They are a big part of my Cali family. :-)

Speaking of family...I GET TO SEE MINE IN THREE DAYS! Family of the east coast variety, of course. I am so ridiculously excited. I haven't been to NY in 14 months...since Miranda's wedding! I could just about dance up and down I am so excited. I get to see my grandparents, cousins, friends, ahhhhh! So pumped!

For any of you in the PY metro, I expect you to stop by my house for a hot dog and a beer on Friday (the 14th) after 7 pm. Party up in 289 E. Lake Road. Come on now, put it in your GPS.

More pics on facebook from the last few weeks.

Cheers
Catrina

All Apologies, AKA Anna's Wedding

All Apologies, Nirvana

I simply cannot write an entry that takes place in Seattle without giving a musical nod to Nirvana, who were the first rock group I ever listened to from the modern days and my first idea that Seattle existed...outside of PY.

So last weekend I went to Seattle for my dear friend Anna's wedding. I was even a bridesmaid! I tried to be a good bridesmaid and help where I could! I visited in January and participated in paper cutting (all of Anna's invitations, save the dates, place cards, etc were HAND MADE) and some bridesmaids dress picking. Before any of us knew it, July was here. I even had to give a toast! And the day of, I wound up transporting the rings to the site. Holy cow. What stress. Don't worry, they made it.

Anyway, the wedding was at Golden Gardens Bath House, which is run by the Seattle Park Service as a beach destination in Seattle. From what I can gather, it's quite popular in the sunny months!



Thanks Jess, I borrowed your image. :-)

Pretty great, right?

Well, the wedding began with a bachelorette party which I am not permitted to post any photos of, then onto the rehearsal dinner at a med restaurant on Alki Beach in Seattle called Pheonicia. It was delicious! The owner, Hussein, prints menus, but never really uses them. He is this cute little old man who doesn't appear to speak much english and when he approaches your table and says he'll "fix you something special", you kind of just have to trust him and run with it. I didn't take many pictures at the rehearsal dinner, but I will post one if it ever surfaces. It was a great time with a great group and great food! Anna and Jess' families were both outstanding! I met a lot of great people!

The big day was upon us on Saturday the 18th, and thanks to Anna's meticulous planning, there was very little stress that day. One little snafu with the park service resulted in everyone showing up (ie-caterers) and the venue not being open (thanks seattle park service) and us having to put Anna in her dress outside for pictures, but, it went amazingly well. The bridesmaid, Kathryn, Athena, Kassidy, and myself all got along very well. The groomsmen, two of Jess' brothers, then a cousin, and an old friend of his, showed a bit less solidarity, especially when it came time to decorate...errrr...vandalize the bride and grooms car. Big ups to Minh, the only groomsmen who helped out!

Bonus, I got to see my room mate from Wenatchee, who I hadn't seen since I left washington. And double bonus, I got to play beach volleyball in my dress. And drink lots of alcohol.


The whole wedding party, including the ring bearers Oscar and Pow Sticky! Minus the Flower Girl, though



Anna was beautiful! Here she is getting ready to walk down the aisle. Check out that train!


Tables with Seattle based Jones Soda favors, and recall: all hand made paper products, including menus, favor cards, etc etc.


One our way out to decorate vehicles...there are scissors in my shirt bc we were sneaking out, but had to stop for drinks from Gary on the way out.


Our handwork on Anna's car, which I, ironically, drove home with 4 other people in the car. It was hard to explain to people...I should also note that we attached a galloon milk jug to the bumper, and it made it all the way back to Anna's house in tact!


Craftsmanship on Jess' car, which they did drive home!


Sunset dance party with the MOTB and MOTG!


Pow Sticky tried climbing into my suitcase to come back and soak up some Cali sun...

So did Oscar!


I came back to SF exhausted, but having had a great weekend! I'm of the belief that Anna should be married every year so we can all get together and party on the beach! I will post more pics when the pro shots come out. SWEET!

Cheers!

Ain't It Good, Part II

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh Yea! Alcatraz. So, the national park service runs Alcatraz. It certainly shows its age and it is sad to think that it won't be there forever! So anyway, Alcatraz was first a military base, then a federal maximum security prison. It closed its doors in 1963, owing to the gigundo cost to run it...being off shore they had logistical issues with waste, supplies, etc etc.

So, it is about a 20 minute boat ride across the (very windy and cold bay) to get there. See below:



Windy!

They call it "the rock" for a reason:


So, when you approach the island to dock, one of the first things you see is a large sign identifying the place, but someone has spray painted "Indians Welcome". I'm not 100% sure on the story, but Alcatraz was occupied by Native Americans for nearly two years, and the proposed to turn it into an ecology center, etc, but they were forced out, and it was during this period that many fires took place. Here is the wikipedia article should you want to read more about it!

Here is a photo:



You get off the boat and hike up a gently sloping hill that is supposedly about 13 stories when you get to the prison at the top, but didn't seem to bad to me, then you go in the main cell block area and start an audio tour. I have to say, I felt like a giant nerd walking around with that orange string around my neck with a player attached to it, but it did end up being cool. The park service went and found prisoners and guard from Alcatraz and interview them for the tour, and it was nice to hear some history first hand.

I'll walk you through a bit of it here.

First stop: in take showers. This is where the tour started. Not terribly private, hey?



Welcome to Alcatraz, here is your cell! (Very similar to my 1k per month apartment!)



Block of cells on C-D Street.


The inmates had plenty of time to knit!


Solitary Confinement was not a friendly place. This is where "The Bird Man" spent a great deal of his time.



Where inmates had visitors.

There's Jennie in front of the city skyline from Alcatraz. Could be worse for a federal penn, right? CHHHYEA!


Three inmates escaped from Alcatraz by burrowing holes from their cells air vents into the exhaust system and out. Somehow, they managed to make life like masks of themselves and place them in their beds, so the guards didn't notice that they were gone until long after they had left the island. No one knows if they made it to the city or the Angel Island (the "Ellis Island" of the west) to this day. They were never heard from again. They may have made it to safety, they also may have drown int the cold waters of the bay. It is up to your imagination as to what happened to them. I imagine that they made it to San Fran and got the hell out of dodge so fast no one could find them. The above photo is one of the dug-out air vents.

And finally, one of the things I found strangest about Alcatraz was that the menu board hung with the breakfast menu from the day they moved the prisoners. Granted, someone may have re-created it, but in my world it has remained intact, kind of like a snapshot in history. I found it fascinating that a detail like that would be left intact, even during the Native occupation and almost 50 years. Here's a photo:


There is your brief tour of Alcatraz. :-P I recommend the full one to anyone in the area!

The rest of the time, Jen and I took a tour of the city (sorry, not too many pics, too fast) and then we went back to Livermore for the 4th, watched some fireworks, drove around the valley a bit, and just laid low after several days of jamming.

The 5th came and I dropped her off at the airport, and was sad for a while, but, owing to my very generous mother, was able to go drown my sorrows in retail therapy. I needed new sneakers very badly, and I got them. Did you know you're supposed to switch out your sneakers every 300 miles? Well, I had long since bypassed that mark, but now I have a bright pair of brand new Nike's. I will be honest and say I had never been able to fit in Nike's before, but these are awesome. Thanks Mom!

Next, I was off to my coworker Debbie's place for dinner, but first she had agreed to take me to a movie. I love going to the movies, but I so rarely do it, so it was so very nice of Debbie to take me! We saw Public Enemies, which was a bit long, but still very bad ass. Then she had me over for dinner, and her oldest son Eric and his GF Sarah surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of lillies and peonies, which made my kitchen smell wonderful for a week. Sweet birthday, right? I had dinner at Debbie's, he SO, Ron, made kebabs of chicken and lamb. I had one bite of just about everything on the table...risotto, kebab, fresh tomatoes and cheese, yum yum! It was a birthday feast for sure. Debbie and her fam even got an angel food cake with lots of fresh fruit and sung to me! I didn't have much, but it was so delicious. I took a photo of my glowing cake (I know it's bright, 25 whole candles!). Here it is:



Aren't I lucky?

As if that wasn't enough, the party continued Monday! Plenty of well wishes from my coworkers. My Claude, the SLW winemaker, had myself and Monika and her family over for yet another amazing meal. We had venison...it went very good. Best I've had, probably. And bonus, I got to see Monika's adorable daughter! My supervisor, Chris, made me real buttermilk pancakes too, and he even made them tiny sized for me. Perfect. I will admit, I am spoiled. I had a FANTASTIC birthday. Thank you to everyone for making it so special!

PHEW. Lots of adventures. And the summer of fun continues: this weekend I am off to Seattle to be in Anna Sweet's wedding. Heck yes! I am psyched. Weddings are very exciting. I get to see my room mate Chris, from crush in WA, for the first time a while too. You all will hear about that soon!

PS-- Home in NY in just under a month! Can you say...excited?!!?!?

Cheers!

Ain't It Good?

Song: Ain't It Good, Children of Eden, Original Cast Recording

Long time, no update. Call it an unfortunate case of a very long to-do list. My birthday has come and gone, and I can say with absolute certainty that I have gotten a lot accomplished in my 24th year. Surgery, school, working, keeping my head above water. I gave myself a nice pat on the back and a few of my favorite potato chips in celebration. Yes, sour cream and cheddar ruffles. Yes, they are unfortunately just as delicious post-op as they were pre. Drat. Since I can't have birthday cake really, they are my choice of stand-in. :-P

Anyway, for my birthday and the 4th, my best friend Jennie came out from Washington DC. Can you say AWESOME! Well, we got up to quite a few things while she was here. She had a series of requests for places to visit, most of which I had never visited, so I was happy to oblige.

Our first stop was to spend the night in Monterey, CA. Monterey is a beautiful coastal town about 40 miles south of Santa Cruz on the extremely scenic Route 1. We drove down on a Wednesday after a delicious break fast at Zorn's, my favorite breakfast place in the area, who makes killer avocado, tomato, bacon and cheddar omelettes. Jennie discovered the magic of traveling with a gastric bypass patient...we're cheap dates. One omelette, two cups of coffee, and two satisfied customers.

We were on our way, sponsored by my Aunt Deb who had picked up some free passes, to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. OH.MY.GOD. It was AMAZING. It narrowly beat out the Sydney Aquarium because they had so little space and did so much with it! I highly recommend it to all who visit the bay area. My favorite exhibit was the jellyfish, Jennie's was the otters, I think. They also had an entire exhibit dedicated to seahorses. Here are some photos:



Beautiful jellyfish.



Yes, ESers, those are Emerita. Not talpoida though. Could have fooled me!



Some sea anemones.


Jen's favorite, the very endearing otters



Entrance to the Aquarium



These jellyfish are currently the background on my computer. Aren't the colors awesome?

After spending the night and awaking to the sound of the ocean outside of our room, we headed out to drive south on Route 1 to Big Sur, which was quite a ways down the coast.

We did a portion of 17 mile drive, which is famed, evidently, but gave up before the end because it was boring. Ha! Sorry, but, you're better off to stay on Route 1 and skip the 9$ fee. But, we did get to see the lone Cypress, which is a very famed image of a single Cyprus tree rising up from a rock formation in the sea. Here is a photo.


On the way from Monterey to Big Sur, we stopped in Carmel, dictated by our empty stomachs. As luck would have it, Carmel is home to a historic mission! Jennie and I both love visiting missions. We're not altogether sure why, considering she and I are both not terribly religious, let alone history buffs or Catholic. But, as I mentioned in a previous entry, something about them really strikes me. So, we stopped, browsed the rosaries in the gift shop and went to check out the mission. We met a very nice padre there, he seemed very humble and kind, exactly what I like to think of when I picture holy men.


Beautiful day behind the bell tower, don't you think?




Inside the main sanctuary...don't worry, it's cool to take pics, I made sure.



Older graves marked out by rather large abalone shells.



Fountains and Gardens.



Bell Tower and Sanctuary Building

We drove southward until we reached Big Sur, then we turned around and came back up. It was beautiful. However, it was a very windy and frustrating drive, with lots of shifting and breaking, it was tough on my little CRV. But, I always make sure my CRV gets to see all of the sights. It deserves it, after all, carrying me around! Below is a photo of Jennie and my CRV enjoying the scenery near Big Sur.



See? The CRV needs love too!

And here are two shots of the scenery at the coast. It was breath taking, really.


The biker on the right side of this pic was REALLY GRUMPY!!!




Next stop was Santa Cruz for dinner...for the BEST fish tacos in the universe. I mean, they are amazing. Fresh, of course. Let's see if I can remember them all: scallop, snapper, shrimp...oh, I can't. But I will tell you, none of them are deep fried and they are all delicious. They are from a little taco bar in the back of the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasters called El Palomar. Just for all of you, I took some photos! I had one bite of each...yum!



PS- Don't be scared, one of the tacos pictured is asada (beef), for those who noticed.

Alright, I unfortunately need to go to bed. I have to work tomorrow, sheesh! I will finish vacation round two including Alcatraz and a San Fran city tour and my week long birthday mania tomorrow night!!

Stay Tuned!

Cheers Big Ears