SLO, Part I

A couple weekends ago I took off work Friday and Francis and I drove up to our beloved* San Luis Obispo for a long weekend. Our first day started with brunch (yes, brunch - we slept in since we pulled up to our hotel around 2am) at Del Monte's. We worked off brunch with a hike to and through Poly Canyon** accompanied by a smattering of giant raindrops. After some treacherous measures taken to avoid poison oak we headed (unscathed) downtown...to be continued in Part II.

{view from Del Monte's where we stopped for breakfast}

{condiments}

{creamer pour}

{patiently awaiting breakfast}

{on our first mini quest, the destination: Poly Canyon}

{he had a rather difficult time climbing the tree}

{almost there}

{nailed it}

{a somewhat confusing map of the Poly Canyon structures}

{structure 1, as in the first structure we came upon}

{the sun was out and it started to rain}

{cantilevered bridge to nowheres, but still awesome}

{looking pensive}

{cables, rolling green hills}

{structure!}

{this structure looked like a conch shell}

{this little pod was my favorite}

{dat ders cows out yonder way}

{lover shot}

{hay bale structure, me trying to look interested in the hay bale structure}

{hay bale structure from afar}

{we may or may not have taken some illegal self guided tours}

{very coolorganic structure}

{cool reuse of road signs as shingles}

*technically just Francis's beloved since he attended Cal Poly SLO and actually lived there, and I did not. But my older sister did go there hence I visited the town a few times and fell in love with it. So there.

**for those of you unfamiliar with Poly Canyon, it is a nine-acre canyon adjacent to the main SLO campus. It encompasses an "outdoor experimental construction laboratory that for more than four decades has been the host site of several structures designed and built mostly by students of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design". (quoted from Cal Poly website)

***Not pictured: a desperate hunt for Taco Bell on the late drive up to SLO whilst a very grumpy Christina sat hungrily pouting in the passenger until her demands for a burrito were met.

Francis obliged. The remainder of the drive proceeded peacefully, mostly due to the satiated co-pilot's burrito nap.

weekends past

Last last weekend was awesome. We kicked it off with a sunset hike of Torrey Pines (where we revisited the exact spot where Francis proposed, awww). Saturday we rose early to head east for my very first paintballing experience. For those of you who haven't tried it, paintballing is crazy fun and I highly recommend it. We played different courses some of which included trampling through poison oak in the spirit of guerilla warfare.*

We ended an exhausting Saturday with friends at Sushi Deli and then basically chilled all day Sunday.

{cactus at Torrey Pines}

{I suppose I should start giving credit where credit is due: shot by F}

{shot by F}

{flowers shot by F}

{lone flower}

{sandstone}

{Torrey Pines in all its splendor}

{ocean in evening light}

{sunset, right around when we saw dolphins}

{badass!}

{airing a welt on my shoulder}

{man down}

{thug life}

*Frequently asked question regarding paintballing answered here: yes it a hurts a bit to be hit by a paintball. It stings for a second and then it's fine until a few hours later when the welts start to look gross (aka like ringworm), and then a few days later they turn to bruises in my case. All battle wounds are totally worth it. The worst was when I took a shot in the thumb. But I took it like a man.

Birthday, Part III

This post doesn't really have anything to do with my birthday, it was simply the day after the party but that would be a long title, so whatevs.

The day after the partay F and I visited our friends' new bundle of joy then headed over to Balboa Park to tour the Marston House.

{fountain}

{view of the house from the garden}

{these little beauties are in bloom all over town}

{I may have gotten carried away with photographing them}

{just a bit...}

{or a lot}

{brick archway}

{dress form in the sewing room}

{Marston house in the late afternoon sun}

Birthday, Part II

F and I hosted a Time Warp themed party for my birthday. It was awesome. We took some photos - but not nearly enough.

{tissue paper flowers and streamers adorned the living room}

{LOTS of tissue paper flowers}

{no, seriously, LOTS}

{ball lights, strung}

{blondies}

{friends rocking some amazing Goodwill finds}

{representing the 70s, I think? I don't know, I wasn't around then...also, can't take credit for this one - borrowed from FB}

{the college years}

{mason jars + tea lights}

{B and I reacting very differently to something, not sure what}

{70s tennis star Francis stoking the fire}

{friends around the fire}

*Do you like my attempt at making some of the photos look old school?