This past week has been quite an adventure. Andrew and I booked a hotel mid-week in SF as we had some evening plans and decided to make a trip of it. We stayed in the quirkily old-fashioned Inn San Francisco, which has a pink exterior and an interior that resembles a stately Victorian manor – lots of wood panels, ancient furniture and pictures of severe aristocrats. It also had a fabulous wooden hot tub in the garden. For our first night in SF, we went to our favourite pub quiz at Laszlo, who have now added a new category on film stills – I thought this would be my round,…

This weekend Andrew and I went on a little road trip over the Bay Bridge to Sonoma County. We had a lovely drive with the roof down blasting drum & bass and enjoying the warm sunshine. Our first stop was Santa Rosa, where we had booked a hotel called Hotel E. We had initially had plans to go to Napa Valley and sozzle at a vineyard. Then we checked the cost of the hotels and swiftly decided against it, deciding that Santa Rosa was still technically in wine country so we could still enjoy a glass or 12. We arrived soon after lunch and decided to check out one of…

I have now been here two months and am happy to report the weather is still glorious and we are both loving our adventures in California. On Saturday, I made last-minute plans to go to a drag show with Emily in San Francisco called Twisted Disney at Oasis. This was to be my first proper night out in SF and I was giddy with excitement. I put on my cat dress and sparkly pink DMs and we set off for a night of dancing and giggles. Oasis was fab – the front room had a magnificent throne for the ultimate selfies, and the bar was only charging $5 per drink…

In mid-February Andrew and I went on a weekend break to Lake Tahoe with Emily, Owen and Tom. We all squeezed into one car and made the four-hour journey to the mountains. I find it completely bonkers that in that time we travelled from 20°C sunshine on the coast to a 2°C snow-covered ski resort. On route, we stopped at a proper all-American diner complete with jukeboxes, American memorabilia plastered all over the walls and waitresses who were far too cheerful. Andrew and I shared a malt vanilla milkshake that was so sweet my bloodsugar travelled to the moon. We arrived at Heavenly Ski Resort late in the afternoon on…

Apologies for the woeful delay in publishing my next blog post – February has been a bonkers month and I have been a slow snail when it comes to writing. At some point, I will tell you about our trip skiing in Lake Tahoe and our amazing tour to Alcatraz. However, right now I want to write about our blissful weekend exploring northern California. Andrew and I have finally purchased a car, and by golly she’s a beauty. I don’t want to be a shameless showoff so if you want to meet her then get in touch and I will send some pics.   The best thing about having a…

Last week was quite the rollercoaster! After our epic hike at Purisima Creek, my legs were pretty achy and I was hobbling around like an old bat. I still decided it would be a great idea to go out on a run – I never regret it here as the weather is so amazing, especially the pink sky when the sun is setting. On Wednesday, we were excited to go to SF to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – I had managed to nab some cheap tickets. Alas, the pandemic had other plans and we were informed the day before the show that the cast was rampant with…

After a very jolly Friday night, Andrew and I forced ourselves out of bed early on Saturday morning (yuk) to go on our weekly running club run. We spent the majority of our run chatting with Laurent and Mignon discussing the best British detective series. We all agreed that Vera and Shetland are great, although there was a clash of opinions on Morse, who I think is a miserly misogynist. After the run, we went for brunch again and this time there were 19 of us, so we filled up half the restaurant. My favourite discussion during brunch was the strangest things we have eaten. Turns out I have eaten…

The past week Andrew and I have been fairly smug thanks to the glorious Californian weather. It got to 18°C last week, which meant that I have felt obligated to spend as much time as possible outside. Thanks to the great weather I have got back into running regularly, and have been trying to explore new places. San Mateo itself is a bit concrete, with lots of massive crossroads, so it’s quite frustrating running on the roads as it is very stop-and-start. On Tuesday afternoon I ran to Seal Point Park, which has a massive hill…which I chose to run around rather than over. It was just approaching dusk and…

It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday and Andrew had the day off, so we decided to go and explore somewhere new. We jumped on the Caltrain to San Jose with our bikes and a nice salad (yes there is such a thing) for lunch which included my homemade mozzarella. We planned to cycle the Los Gatos Creek Trail, which runs for almost 10 miles to the Lexington Reservoir County Park. I entertained myself on the train by listening to the Podcast Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera, which is really good by the way – I hadn’t previously heard of Miriam Rivera or the reality TV…

Andrew and I are now back in San Mateo after a month in England. Even though the weather was even worse than usual, it was lovely to spend Christmas with our respective families. I have spent the last few days trying to fight the jetlag by being as active as possible in daylight. On Saturday morning, we cycled over to Seal Point Park to take part in our first run with Mid-Peninsula Running Club (MPRC). After a few minutes of awkwardly hovering, some friendly people introduced themselves and invited us for a warm-up walk. By the time the run began, there were around 30 of us and Andrew and I…