Oakland

When I first moved to Oakland, I wasn't convinced. I had heard that there were a lot of vibrant neighborhoods, but my reason for living there was purely strategic: it's right next to Berkeley, and a lot cheaper.

But over the past two years, I have come to really love this city. It is in the heart of the Bay Area, yet it feels so undiscovered. It's crazy to me that Lake Merritt can exist in the middle of downtown, and I love how bike-friendly it is. There is something so genuinely eclectic about Oakland. I'm really going to miss this place.

This is my friend Naomi, cooking at her place in the Temescal. She has lived in that neighborhood for nearly all of her life, and lives in a funky house with an amazing backyard garden. Very cool, and very Oakland.

A view of the Grand Lake Theater, from under one of the many freeways that divide the city.

Lake Merritt, on a surprisingly warm winter day.

Big Sur

Big Sur. It is one of my favorite. places. ever.

And that's not something that I say lightly.

I love taking people to Big Sur for the first time. It is so exciting to share a place that you love and find inspiring with people that haven't yet experienced it. I always look at things a little differently. And that's a pretty amazing gift, to be able to see a place that you've been a million times in a new and exciting way.

bay area dreaming

I'm moving to L.A. For the next four (four!) years.

There. I said it.

I'm looking forward to getting to love L.A., but leaving the Bay Area is somewhat heartbreaking. I love this place: the people, the general attitude, the coffee shops, the hiking trails, the view from my balcony of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges...I could go on forever. But something in me clicked when I decided to move, and I have been spendi

ng every extra second checking off my Bay Area "to do" list that I have been putting off for the past eight years.

Today: hiking in Marin County.