Life Beyond The List » travel

Design inspiration: the colors of Italy

loulala — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:25:46 +0000

During our fabulous Italian honeymoon, color was one of the things that made me feel alive again. Even in San Francisco, the city by the bay, with a riot of natural beauty all year round, day to day life can sometimes prevent you from living in full color. I realized this when we got to London on the first leg of our trip, and I realized that most of my clothes were variations on black stretchy cotton. So sad! Yes, kinda stylish, but a little sad too.

So, i was delighted and inspired by the range of color on display – some natural, some not, some vivid, some muted. Here are my favorites:

La Bella Italia: 1 honeymoon, 3 cities

loulala — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:07:41 +0000

Although part of me was pining for 10 days at home sleeping pretty much every second of the day, our honeymoon ended up being the perfect storm of social calls, sightseeing and sea-gazing. With plenty of pasta and gelato thrown in!

Starting in London, where my mom traveled down especially for the day, we had a wonderful time with friends and new additions, plus an amazing break with perfect English weather!

But that was just the start. Impossible to post about everything we saw and experienced in Rome and on the Amalfi Coast, so here are the vital statistics and best shots!

3 cities: London, Rome, Amalfi
20 gelatos, especially hazelnut and Nutella. Especially Rick
60 photos, including this one:

30 times we asked for ‘il conto’, after swearing to each other to use our Italian more
2 bouts of travel sickness on Amalfi’s amazingly scenic, but very twisty roads
45 minutes travel on a hot sticky day to reach the world’s best cacio e pepe pasta
1 day to discover the wonders of pecorino cheese with honey

5 bowls of pasta all’ amatriciana
76 times we had to consult our map in Rome
78 times we had flash arguments about directions in Rome, always resolved by a ‘well, which way is the gelato place?’ conversation
Endless times we were speechless about what we were seeing, in Rome and in Amalfi
2 sets of happy tears on seeing the Cistine Chapel
1 set of happy tears (mine), on finding my favorite Italian cookies in a grocery store
9 times that Rick said he’d be happy to live in Rome. Forgetting that a basic grasp of the Italian language would be somewhat helpful in pursuing that goal
7 pounds that I probably gained during our trip in my own personal Eat, Pray, Love homage. O Jenny Craig where art thou? Seriously.
15 instances of counting our blessings that the hardest decision of the day was finding the place with the best cappuccino
2 very happy honeymooners:

Where life took me in 2009

loulala — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:12:44 +0000

So, inspired by one of my favorite lifestyle bloggers, Anh Minh, here’s my year in cities during 2009. It definitely tells a story for me, this year, one of love and new family, and new experiences, book-ended by plenty of time in my home country of England. And no, it doesn’t include my lovely current residence of San Francisco (although outliers are included!) Here it is:

Denver, CO
Bachelor Gulch, CO (hmm, not really a city, but a destination nonetheless!)
London, England
Wolverhampton, England (and I’m disputing this claim by the way!)
Orlando, FL
Boston, MA
White Plains, NY
New York City, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Maui, HI
Sonoma, CA
Napa, CA
Half Moon Bay, CA ( again, not sure if this is really a city?)
Calistoga, CA
New York, NY
Manchester, NH
London, England
Wolverhampton, England

Pretty good I think! Represents plenty of both work and play, and of course, lots of family time too. And let’s just say, we definitely enjoyed the full breadth of Wine Country! On the wish list for next year? Rome and Positano for our belated honeymoon, perhaps a little more ski-ing if we’re lucky, and Minnesota to visit Rick’s family. Oh, and Chicago – has to be done! Let’s see how I do.

September life goals

loulala — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:32:43 +0000

Inspired by a couple of my new favorite blogs, NYC Full Heart and Modite, I thought it would be a good time to think about some life goals for September. It’s shaping up to be quite a month! As this meant to be a blog about the time when you’re NOT at work, I didn’t include career goals, but instead, thought about some of the other areas in my life that could do a with a little more dedication!

Here they are:

September Life Goals

As I’m getting married in October, my main goal is to plan a stress-free, low-key wedding that Rick and I will both remember forever
This is still a nascent blog, so I’d like to increase my readership by at least 10% this month
Plan out fun trips with R to NYC in October and the UK at Christmas
Finally harvest my herbs I’ve been nurturing outside all summer (basil, thyme and sage), then actually incorporate them into new recipes!
Remember to spend quality time with my friends, when I’m not a) working, b) working out, c) blogging, d) talking to the dog, Sophie, e) planning aforementioned low-key wedding, f) watching SYTYCD and Glee, g) practicing Lindy Hop with R.

Yeah, going to be an interesting month!

Do you have time to relax? Switching off the to-do list in your brain

loulala — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:45:14 +0000

Sometimes it seems as if even your free time is highly regimented. This blog is called Life Beyond The List for a reason, as it’s my attempt to chronicle some of the ways even an anally-retentive, list freak like me can chill out and enjoy the good stuff. BUT, then i find myself with a to-do list for weekend activities! This weekend, it went something like this:

Spend quality time with boyfriend (yep, this actually made it onto an actual list – and yes, before you say it, I feel sorry for him too;)
Go to gym twice, so i can kid myself those two Specialtys cookies last week won’t make it onto my hips
Go to grocery store, so i can buy some healthy food for the week and not resort to take-out tacos from the hole in the wall on Divisadero Street, near our cottage
Cook said food in advance for the week, knowing that there won’t be time to cook all the luscious-looking veggies and fish when i actually need to eat them
Harangue myself for buying the same old things at Whole Foods, that are easy to make, taste good and fairly healthy. I always want to cook new recipes, but just never have the time. Turkey chili and roasted squash it is then
Call my Mom back in England, for a weekly dose of local gossip, swine flu update, and progress report on my brother finally moving out, aged 29…
Set up my new laptop, so i can transfer my ridiculous number of photos and have a proper repository for my blog materials
Research a potential Fall trip to Chicago, only feasible if United points can be used. And we all know how easy and intuitive it is to book flights with miles…
Wonder aloud for the hundredth time why my herbs (Italian Basil, Thyme and Sage if you’re asking) won’t grow any taller, but be grateful that at least they smell amazing
Wring my hands in horror at the damage snails have wrought on my baby squash plants, and consider kind ways of torturing them
Try and train an 11 yr old dog in the basics of obedience
Walk 11 yr old dog for an extra time during the day, ’cause the sun is shining and i feel like a bad person if i don’t
Facebook my friends that left me messages three weeks ago
Finish and order my first Blurb book, of our new cottage, for my Mom back in England
Buy frames for two prints that are begging to go on a wall, somewhere
Work out new ways of preventing dog from going upstairs and chewing through baby gate, without damaging the look and feel of our cottage
Decide on a theme (with boyfriend of course) for each room in cottage, so we can finally make some more progress in the decor dept (note to boyfriend – posters of classic Sci-Fi movies do not a country-style cottage make…)
Sort through photographs to start planning the photo wall that Anh-Minh inspired me to create
Visit a new restaurant or new bar (in this case, Press Club for delicious wine, and Lolo for quirky, amazing food), so i can at least kid myself my boundaries extend beyond SPQR and Delfina Pizzeria
Try and walk past Gap without buying some new floral print item of clothing (oops, failed – take a look: http://tr.im/u7rt)
See the new Harry Potter movie, because, you know, it has to be done. (Very good by the way. Nice and dark, which always appeals to me)
Practice Lindy Hop before our two hour, Monday night class

Yep – sounds sooo relaxing doesn’t it?? And the sad thing is, this didn’t even involve hanging out much with my friends, something that definitely needs to be remedied for next weekend (luckily, August is full of good times ahead in that dept, so a little calm before the Margarita storm was actually kinda welcome this weekend).

BUT – the good thing is, it did involve hanging out with my boyfriend a lot, which, as he works every Sunday, was a good deal. It also involved one of the best massages i’ve had in a long time at Uncoiled (try it, and say i referred you – discounts in it for you and me!), and some old-fashioned, zero cost, zero stress, sitting on a chair on my porch, in the sun, and with a very happy dog, just the flowers, butterflies and wind chime for company. Lovely.

View from my back yard

It’s a constant battle of mine to actually switch off completely and relax. I’m not that great at it, and sometimes, it isn’t even that great for me. In fact, sometimes (and as noted with the Lindy Hop trials), it’s actually more therapeutic to engage my brain in something different and challenging, then just lie around, feeling wan and apathetic. But, i would like to feel less pressure to complete all these different personal projects, that can sometimes feel overwhelming. Even a three day trip to Calistoga has required military-style planning, and don’t even get me started on a Christmas trip to the UK. I guess i need to remember that sometimes, a day spent in the sunshine, listening to nothing but peace and quiet, and stroking a very chilled out dog, should be at the very top of my own, personal, to-do list.

What about you? What’s top of the personal de-stress list, and do you have enough of it in your life?