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Hard to believe, but it’s been a year since our wonderful honeymoon that spanned London, Rome and Amalfi. A lot has happened since then. Some good and some terribly sad. But when I look back at the pictures, I feel a sense of calm that comes from having the best of memories, from the best of times. And of course, there’s nothing like a burst of Italian sunshine to boost the spirits. Or a glass of vino. Or some gelato.
Now that Spring is finally and officially here, (I would wish it for it to be Summer too, but I live in San Francisco, so Summer is kind of a moot point), I’m itching to pack up my bags and head out on adventures with Rick.
Luckily, living on the West Coast of the US gives you plenty of nearby options for exploring, so here’s my (pretty much) local wish list for this season. All of them do-able in a weekend. Let’s see how many we can get to…
1) Ace Hotel, Palm Springs: The coolest kid on the desert block.
2) Lake Tahoe: Can I get another ski trip in this year? Doubtful, but worth a shot.
3) Bettane Ranch, Sonoma County: For an overnight getaway that feels like you could really get away from it all.
4) Pelican Inn, Muir Beach: Booked and happening! Just so I can tick it off my “living in San Francisco” list.
5) Big Sur: Yep, still haven’t done this after five years. I know, I know…
6) Indian Springs, Calistoga: An old favorite, but one look at the art deco pool and I’m sold, time after time.
7) Portland: Because I want to pretend I’m a smug eco-warrier. And because everyone that lives there looks so darned happy all the time. Must be all the non-fat, dairy-free, wheat-free, vegan gourmet delicacies.
8) Jupiter and Orlando, Florida: Not local at all. And a somewhat random entry. But hey, when you’ve got good friends and a great hotel luring you there, as well as sunshine and cocktails, what’s not to love?
We’ll get a little further afield during the rest of the year too, to spend time with both sides of the family on both sides of The Atlantic. But this is a pretty good list for starters! I’ll let you know how many actually come to fruition!
Heading off to Maui tomorrow for a much-needed few days of R&R! Sophie will be well cared for, while Rick and I do…not much of anything!
Photo from A Maui Blog.
This photo is a little wistful isn’t it? Perhaps it’s because I’m not going home for the holidays this year (first time ever!), or because one way or the other, it’s been one hell of a year. But, as 2010 draws to a close, I’ve been really proud of everything I’ve managed to achieve.
Now, time for a few days of fun and relaxation! As the Italians say, “Il dolce far niente” – the exquisite sweetness of doing nothing. Sounds good to me!
Happy Holidays!
After a great weekend in Napa, sampling wines at the wonderful Cakebread, and eating waaaay too much at Mustard’s Grill (hands up who is as dorky as me about the fact that the owner, Cindy Pawlcyn, has been on Top Chef), which was, to quote another Bravo fave, Rachel Zoe, “bananas”; it’s time for a little detox.
But, honestly, doesn’t water get a little boring sometimes? Especially after a long, grueling day, and an equally grueling workout. Water might be refreshing, healthy and oooh, pure, but I drink it all day. In the evenings, I want something a little more interesting. A little something that might be considered a treat.
Some days of course, that’s wine. And now I have a couple bottles of delicious Napa specials to crack open for a special occasion. But there are lots of days when wine just isn’t a great idea – smack bang in the middle of a busy working week, and with the first, suspicious murmurings of a sore throat, is one of those days.
So what’s a girl to do? Well, i finally cracked open a mini bottle of Wine Country soda. Check the cute bottle in the pic and tell me it doesn’t look delicious! We were given a couple bottles of this stuff on a recent stay at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, and brought them home with us. it’s non-alcoholic, and uses wine grapes. This one is Pinot Noir. Pour it into a beautiful wine glass, add some ice and voila! It has all of the flavor and none of the alcohol (and alcohol calories!) of wine, and you still get the feeling of ‘ritual’ that you get when uncorking a really great bottle of vino.
I think this might become my stand-by treat for evenings at home, when a mere splash of aqua just won’t do.
Vignette Wine Country Soda
Rick and I have gone up in the world! Now at level 2 of Lindy Hop at the Cheryl Burke School of Dance, we are starting to learn how to turn our disjointed steps into more of a fluid, connected routine. However, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the first week of level 2 was bit of a rude awakening… Level 1 and Level 1 plus were just so, comforting, so fun, so “we don’t know what the hell we’re doing yet, but hell, neither does anyone else”. We had a lot of fun, received a lot of critique (yes, it won’t surprise anyone that knows me to learn that i had a few problems learning how to be a good follower…), had a few arguments with each other (hmm, not really the intended effect, but there you go), and learnt some basic steps. At the end of seven weeks of hard graft, sore feet, and lots of bumping into each other and apologizing to anyone else we had the misfortune to dance with, we could do the basics.
I’m still not sure whether our teacher was just being kind when he told us that we were ‘ready’ for level 2. Two weeks in, and it’s now slightly less terrifying and horrifying, but we still leave after two hours thinking, “how did we manage to muddle our way through it??” Everyone else is just so good, we are always running to catch up. And when we heard we’d be doing moves called the ‘hammerlock’, and ‘saw-kicks’, I think we both wondered if we’d inadvertently stepped onto the set of Psycho, rather than onto a dancefloor.
To make matters worse, the classes are on a Monday night, from 7:45 – 9:30pm, which, after a nearly 12 hour day at work and no time for dinner, is a bit of a super-natural feat. Add in the fact that classes are in the middle of nowhere (otherwise known as Potrero Hill…), and that having no car of our own, we need a cab to get back home in one piece and before midnight, you might wonder why in the world we bother!
Well, it turns out that dancing isn’t just good for the body, it’s also very good for the soul. Talk about work/life balance, I’ll tell you that when you’re standing on one foot, grabbing onto your partner for dear life, and then executing a double turn for the first time, all to a very fast 8 count of music, there’s really NO room in your head for any work-related stress. In fact, there’s no room for anything else in your head. Period. Everything gets focused on the steps, the hold, the count, the rhythm, the technique, even the odd piece of flair! I’ve had multiple massages in my life, gone to a zen retreat and done hours of yoga, yet nothing has ever managed to still my mind quite as much as this. It’s total concentration first, followed by total performance (that point when actually manage to stop thinking about the steps and just dance, is quite a revelation), and for me, it’s become an essential and enjoyable way to switch off. I tend to relax most when i’m still engaged in doing something, preferably learning something new, and having fun while i’m doing it. So Lindy Hop is perfect for me. I’ve danced before, but never this style, so I have to un-learn old habits and focus on how i can continually improve and learn. Then I get to see the results pay off in the fundamental and elemental pleasure i get from the dancing itself. Strikes me as a rather good practice for other areas of my life too, both professional and personal. Focus, learn, improve, enjoy. Simple!
So, if meditation, bending like a pretzel and being kneaded into a pulp just aren’t cutting it in the relaxation stakes, try cutting it on the dance floor instead. It’s a crappy movie, but the look of pure joy on Richard Gere’s face in “Shall We Dance”, when he masters a tricky ballroom move, is the same one i have plastered on every Monday night. And with moves like the ‘eggbeater’, ‘yump’ and ‘bellyslide’ promised in the coming months, it’s a sure bet that there’s more joy (or at least, confusion, followed by ‘no, i can’t do that’, followed by ‘ok i’ll try it’, followed by joy) in my Monday night future.
I haven’t even touched here on on the cool culture surrounding swing dance and Lindy Hop, not least, the fabulous styling that accompanies it. But i will, just as soon as i master that hammerlock… In the meantime, if you’re in San Francisco and want to know what all the fuss is about, check out this list of Lindy events, and enjoy this video of people doing it properly (i.e. our teacher!)
(Thanks to Boston College Lindy group for this great image!)
