Visitors and AIPs!

Hello!

I had a simply fantastic day yesterday! My mom, sister, and little niece came to visit me in Davis. We ate tasty food, chatted, and did lots of AIPs... apartment improvement projects! They also brought me sweet surprises...

Here they are!

Emily made me these Scrabble pillows after I saw some on Etsy!

Look how cute the back of the pillows are too!

My mom brought me this fantastic spooky garland!
And yes, those curtains are new!

My new front room curtains!

My doctoral sofa and new curtains!

The other side!

Wall mounted dish rack! Saves precious counter space!

Loaded up!

One of the new curtains in my bedroom.
(Just adorable)

The other curtain and my new collage frame!
I'm going to send photos to get printed tonight.

Cozy and perfect!

It was so nice to have them visit and it's extra nice to have a proper apartment for visitors -- I'm mostly talking about space here! I love having a bigger apartment! It's getting more adorable as the days go on. I love my new curtains, pillows, and frame, and my very functional dish rack. :-) How awesome is it to have two seamstresses, carpenters, and interior designers come to your home AND bring a sweet, happy little Daphne, too!

P.S. Daphne loved California. Last night, I asked her what she liked most! She gave me a big tale full of smiles, oohs, and ahhs! :-)

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2. Go wining in Napa/Sonoma

The second item on my 24 before 24 (the golden birthday) list was wining in Napa or Sonoma! I had been to Napa a couple of times, but never to actually experience what Wine Country is all about. This weekend Sean took me to Castello di Amorosa, a winery in a castle. A castle! (P.S. All photos are by Sean!)

<3

On a drawbridge!

 A beautiful view of Napa behind me!

We took a tour of Castello di Amorosa which included some fun stats (it cost $40 million to build the place, not including actual vinting gear!), seeing a consecrated Catholic chapel, a very cool hand painted grand hall, where and how they ferment white and red wines, a very curious and certainly disturbing torture dungeon, and cellars full of barrels of wine! We had a barrel tasting, a very young (2 year old) Cabernet Sauvignon, which was delightful.

I quite like young vino!

As you can see above, my boyfriend is super cute.

Barrels and barrels!

We tasted a number of wines, brainstormed adjectives (we are quite the wine connoisseurs, you know), and rated them. We tried their chardonnay, described it as "wedding-ish, fruity, and winey" and gave it a score of 70/100. We tried two reds, a merlot (one of my favorites, which was described as "dad, would go well with steak, and tannins!, average score between the two of us: 50) and the Cabernet as a four year old ("oaky, rubbing alcohol, hydrochloric acid" - one of us liked it, the other didn't...). They paired the Cabernet with dark chocolate with sea salt, and accordingly it got two scores. 50 without chocolate, 60 with.

Our favorites were the sweet wines. We tried three: One called Simpatica, which got a combined score of 84! A muscat called Il Raggio del Sole, which got a combined score of 84.5. And, finally, one called La Fantasia, which was sweet, yet complex. It received the highest marks by far. A combined 95. It is the official wine of Sean and Natalie. :-D

From their website:

Tasting Notes:
An Italian style sweet and sparkling wine with is lower in alcohol, with bright aromas of cherry, exotic flowers and wild berries. Lovely black raspberry, plum and strawberry flavors in the mouth and just a hint of sweetness leads to a creamy, round finish.


Totally delicious, very sweet. Just like our love...
...I'm sorry, but I had to say it!


This outing was simply one of the most enjoyable I have had in a long time, which says something because every outing with Sean is a blast. It was so fun to go discover something new, a random castle in the middle of Napa, and a tasty, new wine.

1. Leave the country. (Canada!)
2. Go wining in Napa/Sonoma. (At Castello di Amorosa, near Calistoga, with Sean!)
3. Go backpacking.
4. Walk across the Golden Gate.
5. Finish my master's degree.*
6. Have a gluten-free beer tasting.
7. Buy my first diamond. (Nose stud!)
8. Crochet a baby blanket. (Or... type a baby quilt!)
9. Ride a roller coaster. (Disneyland!)
10. Take a midnight walk on the beach.
11. Make gluten-free pasta.
12. Paint.
13. Take a tap class in San Francisco. (Changed to Davis as I found a class offered here!)
14. Write my own sexual autobiography.
15. Do an entire roll of instant film using strangers as subjects.
16. Get over fear of touching raw chicken. (Rubbed raw chicken down with butter and stuffed it with garlic!)
17. Play the California lottery. (Lost!)
18. Hold a newborn baby. (Held little Daphne Kate!)
19. Create a signature cocktail.
20. Make my own goat cheese.
21. See the San Francisco Ballet. (Saw the San Francisco Symphony with Sean!)
22. Take the train to Reno.
23. Have my photo taken at 1 Infinite Loop. (Snapped by Sarah!)
24. Be a tourist in Salt Lake City. (Showed Sean around my beloved, and sometimes bizarre, hometown!)

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#14. Write my own sexual autobiography, etc.

It's 3:30 AM and I can't sleep. So I decided to finish up writing my sexual autobiography. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Obviously, I won't be sharing it with you, Dear Blogosphere, or anyone else for that matter, but I will say that I talked about how my family, boyfriends, growing up Mormon, education, media, and my development influenced the sexual person I am and the values I hold today. 


Some of you might be wondering why. In the past, I have TA'ed for a human sexuality course. The final paper is a sexual autobiography. Since I've read 500 or so of them, I decided to try writing my own. If you feel so inclined to explore what/who influenced you, here is the prompt:


"The autobiography is an analysis of the development of your “sexual self”. It should attempt to answer the question, “How did I become the sexual person I am today?” by considering your own development as it relates to the developmental issues discussed in class and by considering what has influenced your beliefs, attitudes, values and behavior in the area of sexuality and intimate relationships (e.g. parents, religion, culture, media, peers, experiences).  It is not the case that one needs to have had intercourse or be sexually active in order to be able to write this paper.  It is also not necessary to disclose any personal information beyond what is comfortable for you in order to write a thoughtful paper."


It's certainly an exercise in critically thinking about past events and influences. :-)


In other news: I am so looking forward to Monday, when my mom, Emily, and Daphne arrive! :-D I need to get my apartment spruced up and ready to entertain/host this weekend. YAY! 


Also, iOS 5 is SO COOL. I was not underwhelmed in the least. I love the new notifications, the Cards app, and being creeped out by the Stalker app. Oops! It's called Find Friends. It's like Google latitude.... Anyway, ALSO, Sean got Foursquare so we are in a big old competition now (he is rather competitive, but I will rise to the challenge)! I got the Overshare badge today. Haha. (Wow, am I really blogging about an overshare Foursquare badge? Overshare much?!)


And, finally, I haven't be blogging as much because (1) I am busy and (2) I am addicted to Pinterest. See?


OK, that's all.


-N


1. Leave the country. (Canada!)
2. Go wining in Napa/Sonoma.
3. Go backpacking.
4. Walk across the Golden Gate.
5. Finish my master's degree.
6. Have a gluten-free beer tasting.
7. Buy my first diamond. (Nose stud!)
8. Crochet a baby blanket. (Or... type a baby quilt!)
9. Ride a roller coaster. (Disneyland!)
10. Take a midnight walk on the beach.
11. Make gluten-free pasta.
12. Paint.
13. Take a tap class in San Francisco. (Changed to Davis as I found a class offered here!)
14. Write my own sexual autobiography.
15. Do an entire roll of instant film using strangers as subjects.
16. Get over fear of touching raw chicken. (Rubbed raw chicken down with butter and stuffed it with garlic!)
17. Play the California lottery. (Lost!)
18. Hold a newborn baby. (Held little Daphne Kate!)
19. Create a signature cocktail.
20. Make my own goat cheese.
21. See the San Francisco Ballet. (Saw the San Francisco Symphony with Sean!)
22. Take the train to Reno.
23. Have my photo taken at 1 Infinite Loop. (Snapped by Sarah!)
24. Be a tourist in Salt Lake City. (Showed Sean around my beloved, and sometimes bizarre, hometown!)

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For love is the desire of the whole...

So, I am officiating at a wedding next month and I've been brainstorming ideas of what to say. My mind keeps returning to Aristophanes's speech in Plato's Symposium.

....The sexes were originally three, men, women, and the union of the two; and they were made round--having four hands, four feet, two faces on a round neck, and the rest to correspond. Terrible was their strength and swiftness; and they were essaying to scale heaven and attack the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils; the gods were divided between the desire of quelling the pride of man and the fear of losing the sacrifices. At last Zeus hit upon an expedient. Let us cut them in two, he said; then they will only have half their strength, and we shall have twice as many sacrifices. He spake, and split them as you might split an egg with an hair; and when this was done, he told Apollo to give their faces a twist and re-arrange their persons, taking out the wrinkles and tying the skin in a knot about the navel. The two halves went about looking for one another, and were ready to die of hunger in one another's arms. Then Zeus invented an adjustment of the sexes, which enabled them to marry and go their way to the business of life. Now the characters of men differ accordingly as they are derived from the original man or the original woman, or the original man-woman. Those who come from the man-woman are lascivious and adulterous; those who come from the woman form female attachments; those who are a section of the male follow the male and embrace him, and in him all their desires centre. The pair are inseparable and live together in pure and manly affection; yet they cannot tell what they want from each other. But if Hephaestus were to come to them with his instruments and propose that they should be melted into one and remain one here and hereafter, they would acknowledge that this was the very expression of their want. For love is the desire of the whole, and the pursuit of the whole is called love....

It's quite beautiful, isn't it?

Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.

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A little more summer

I had a tasty dinner tonight of late summer vegetables... or, well, fruit, I suppose.

Heirloom tomato and avocado!

 Turned them into a simple pasta salad, dressed in olive oil and red wine vinegar.

MMM.

:-)

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Hello, Autumn!

Autumn seems to have arrived! Sweaters, boots, umbrellas, changing leaves, all things pumpkin and spooky. I love October.

After having a great weekend (Sean took me on a wonderful date, including a viewing of Moneyball, which I highly recommend -- lots of stats! Oh, and baseball!) and Monday, with teaching and ballet class, I had a pretty swell day again! I decorated my apartment a little for fall and enjoyed a very autumn-y dinner.

This little fellow will meet you at the door!

Festive tealights! Pumpkin scented. Mmm.

My sweet candy corn tray! With some tasty treats.

Roasted vegetables for dinner... they tasted a million times better than they look!
I had them with chicken cooked in a little butter. So juicy.
I love fall food!

A couple other exciting things to note! My cousin Alan and his wife, Misty, had a handsome baby boy on Sept. 30. WELCOME, FRANKLIN OLIVER! Yay for more Morrises! And, very exciting, my mom, Emily, and little Daphne are going to come to California the week after next. I am so excited to hang out with them, chat with Daphne, and eat some tasty food. Oh! And for them to see the Nat Flat #2. :-D

It's an exciting month. Yep, I do love October!

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