RECAP

1(a). Cal football's first game of the season at our new stadium.  I can't say i care about football as much as Taylor would like me to, but I'll root for anything regarding Cal! 1(b). Finally met this little guy!  (I drew his friend Roy the Rhino because I cannot draw people)   3. Celebrated my friend Tiff Foo's birthday by going to a Dodger game  4. the DNC kickoff!   5.Our new office pet 6. learned how to use our dishwasher... it was life changing! 8. Eric proposed to Jen at Twin Peaks! 10. dentist appointment 15. pretty much lived off ling lings the entire week because I was studying  17. Took my second exam! 22. first day of fall.... although it doesn't really start to feel like fall til the first day of winter   23. My newest house plant  25. Taylor got an iphone! 30 (a) mid autumn moon festival 30 (b) noah purifoy foundation

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I'm super late in posting my September recap  but I was inspired to stick with it when I saw Daphne's awesome September highlights.   

September came and went and just flew completely by!  The beginning started with another trip to the Bay area, and was buzzing with the start of the sports season (which would have gone completely unnoticed by me except for the fact that Taylor no longer hangs out with me on Saturdays) , and the Democratic National Convention.  (Clinton speech = uhhhmaaaaaazing) After that, I went into hibernation and dropped off the face of the planet to prepare for my exam, but was then whisked away to our getaway in Palm Springs shortly after.

My favorite part about this time of year are the mornings.  Crisp and cool, not deathly cold yet (by California standards anyway).  For some reason something in me really loves leaving the house while it's still dark.  The sunrise over the clouds during my morning drive to work have been pretty spectacular.

Here also, are July and August recaps if you missed those!

ANNIVERSARY TRIP PART 5 // A few other things we did

My SD card broke during our trip (I think it was too hot!), so I lost a lot of the pictures from the first half of our trip. But even though I don't have pictures, here are some other things we did that I think are worth mentioning:

1. Estate sale shopping!
I'm still getting the hang of estate sales, but in hopes of scoring some affordable mid century modern furniture, we decided to give it a try. I found a pair of chairs, that were more vintage than modern, but I think they're unique, and they have a little padding on the seat, which my bony butt has quite enjoyed sitting on! We had them in the back of our car, and taylor came up with the idea of taking a picture with them in the middle of the mountains (picture above).

2. Noah Purifoy Foundation:
If you like outdoor art, this place is a MUST SEE! Taylor got some really cool pictures of this place, so  those were the pictures I was the most disappointed to lose. But in any case, don't take my word for it, check out the website to see how cool it is! Be sure to call or email them a few days before to get the address (it's not published online to avoid vandalism).

3. Palm Springs Aerial Tram:
I think it's the highest rotating tram in the world or something like that. The views are pretty amazing, and it's like a whole different world when you get to the top (not to mention 30 degrees cooler!).    My coworker told me he proposed to his now wife at the top, wow... that's a hard one to outdo!  It requires a bit of walking to get to some of the views though, I think Taylor was pretty shocked at what a lazy hiker I am.

4. Food: 
Our favorites were Las Casuelas and Johnny Costas.  Las Casuelas was super relaxing and the food was great.  Mr Costas used to be Frank Sinatra's personal chef, and it was cool to try Sinatra's favorite dish- linguini with clams

ANNIVERSARY TRIP PART 4 // A few pictures of the mountains

Just a few simple pictures of the area. I loved being so close to the mountains!

ANNIVERSARY TRIP PART 3 // The Ace Hotel

OUR COOL HOTEL ROOM:






KING'S HIGHWAY







Here are some pictures we took during our stay at the Ace Hotel.

I had been wanting to go to Palm Springs for a really long time and was so excited to finally go. Even though it's known to be  a party city, I just wanted to go so I could nerd out on all the modern architecture built during the mid century modern glory years of Palm Springs (also known as "California Modernism").  So many of my favorite designers and architects come from the modern era- Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, and Ray and Charles Eames, to name a few.

I had planned to spend a day doing a bike tour to see the various homes, but it was just unbelievably scorching hot, so we spent the majority of our day at our hotel instead.

I felt kind of bad because Taylor was so excited to swim (he used to go to Palm Springs with his family every summer and kept telling me stories about swimming from morning til night and relaxing all day). But as soon as we got to the pool and saw the ridiculous herds of beautiful model-esque people walking everywhere, we got too intimidated and scurried off back to our room!  We eventually worked up the courage to go to the quieter pool where people were reading, but it was still kind of awkward because we felt like we weren't allowed to talk and had to whisper the whole time!

Things didn't go totally as expected, but I still had fun because I was with Taylor and I'm thankful that we can still laugh at ourselves when we are in awkward situations

ANNIVERSARY TRIP PART 2 // Joshua Tree During the Day

I finally finished putting together some of the photos from our trip. These are from the day portion from our visit to Joshua Tree. I thought it was breathtaking. The literal Joshua tree is such a quirky creature full of personality and was a great contrast to stillness of the massive rock formations spread across the mountain. At first the desert seems deathly silent with the heat of the sun bearing down, and the animals hiding away; but if you look close enough, you will find that everything is still alive, and in constant conversation with one another!

ANNIVERSARY TRIP PART 1 // A Night Under the Stars

Just got back from our trip to Palm Springs last night. These shots are from a day trip we made to Joshua Tree National Forrest.

I can't imagine anything more romantic than star gazing. After seeing Christina's pintrest page, I knew that I'd want to spend a night outside the city lights to see these beauties.

As the sun started to go down, we could see star after star appear one by one. At first I was kind of sad that it was a full moon, because it made the sky too bright to really be able to see/take photos of the stars at their full potential. But goodness, the moon is quite a sight to behold as well. When there are no other lights, it's unbelievably bright. So much so that we were walking around without flashlights and could even see our shadows as we walked!

Anyway, I can't believe I've been married for over a year now. It's a wonderful and surreal feeling and I am so thankful to God for my amazing husband.