Camping Adventures

Just so you all know, my posts this week will somehow involve Burning Man.  Since I am not going this year, I will find a way to talk about it or things that have to do with it.  Since this story is about camping its perfect for this week!

When we moved to Vancouver we knew one of the places we had to go to was Vancouver Island, specifically Tofino.  We were lucky enough to have friends that already had an awesome place to camp so we set off on a four day weekend of surfing, camping and exploring this beautiful island.

Getting to the island takes a little bit of coordinating, which we didn't do so we had to wait three hours to get on the ferry. When people kept asking if we made reservations, I said "No, but we'll be OK."  I would get a look like, "Oh you wait, smart ass, you just wait."  Needless to say we'll have reservations next time. Once you get to the island you make your way to Tofino, which is about a three hour drive passing through lakes with the most amazing views. We got to Green Point, which was right above a beach, so close you can hear the waves crashing as you fall asleep. Tall majestic trees provide shade and a coolness in the air.  I can see why this campsite gets booked a year in advanced. After we set up camp we made a fire and relaxed under the stars with a well deserved beer.

No sleep for the weary.  Our first night was a little rough, I didn't hear waves crashing so much as I heard Maggie growling at every noise she heard, oh and then there's Cody who was snoring away without a care in the world.  Yes, we had our dogs with us in the tent.  I think their bed took up half the tent actually.  Anyhow, when you camp with people that are solely there to surf, you get up early to stake out your spot at the beach.  I wasn't sure what was happening, I saw things getting repacked, dogs getting loaded into the car and I still didn't have coffee. WTF?  Once we got to the beach, my Husband set up our little stove and had the french press going stat.  Yes, french press while camping.  I like good coffee.  Our first beach was Long Beach and it was beautiful.  The water was pretty cold as people kept warning us So Cal kids and the waves were pretty flat, but Kyle was happy to be surfing no matter what the conditions were.  We ended our second night with dinner at a restaurant called Shelter - which was amazing.  Good wine, good friends and fresh crab. I love his town.

By day three I was ready to roll, Kyle had the coffee going, I had the dogs fed and we were out to stake out our spot at a new beach, Cox Bay, hoping for better surf.  Once we got to our spot and checked the surf we headed back to our cars, set up our kitchen and chef'd up breakfast. The waves were better today, but the water was still so cold.  We all had full suits on, gloves and booties.  We had such a fun day, and I have to say that our dogs are so rad, they chilled on the beach while we surfed, actually the whole trip they just chilled, always happy to be wherever we were and never strayed too far.  We ended our night with dinner around the campfire and Allie teaching me fun tricks with my camera, which lead to a full-on camp photo shoot, naturally.

It was time to head home and I was feeling pretty sad.  The beaches here are so beautiful, the town has this hippy vibe to it that I love, it reminded me of living in Mammoth in the summer time.  We are already planning our next trip back, but we'll call that resort adventures!

Here are some pictures of our awesome weekend.

Isn't she a beauty?

My camping essential.

It's sorta like being at Burning Man, but way too much clothing.

A girl and her dog: Cox Bay

We did this for a long, long time...

Beautiful BC

In-between sets you have to have a little food and wine.

Cody and Maggie waiting patiently for breakfast, while we wait patiently for the surf to pick up. 

Long Beach

Fun with photography.

My loves...

My How Time Flies...

My poor little blog has been neglected and I'm sorry.  I started working again and just haven't had time to update - this is a totally lame excuse btw. I am working at an advertising agency here in Vancouver. I do love the ad life; the creative people, the creative process and making shit happen. I've always loved working on a campaign from the beginning, going through the trenches with the team and seeing all the hard work come to life.  My super talented Husband has been working his ass off too and it has paid off - again. He has been promoted to Cinematic's Director.  He was in Malaysia for work and I thought for sure I'd get a call saying he decided to go surf in Bali!  We moved up here for him to take this job and to see so much success come his way is amazing.  He deserves every bit of this and I am so proud of him!

Vancouver comes alive in the summer!  It seems like every weekend there is some sort of festival happening. The fireworks shows on the beach have started and go all month long in August! We've have had 35 days of straight sunshine and I guess that's pretty damn good for Vancouver.  We've been hiking a bunch, going to festivals and hanging out at the beach.  Next weekend is a long weekend and we're heading to Tofino with friends to camp on the beach. Tofino is town on Vancouver Island and it's supposed to be amazing!  We've wanted to go for a long time so we're really excited for the trip.

We've had some friends visit us which has been really nice!  I've also been lucky enough to see a few people from my old ad agency back home as they come here to shoot some of the Lexus spots.  We're planning a trip back home in October to go to my annual Italian Family Picnic!  I do miss home - my family, my nephew and all of my friends, we'll try and see everyone and Do All The Things!  Speaking of friends, I have been so lucky to have met such a great group of people here.  Of course they're Burners, only in that community can you have a friend of a friend intro you on FB and have those people reach out to you and start inviting you to do things with them! Over the past couple of years I  have made a conscious effort to cut ties with people in my life that had negative energy.  It's beautiful to fill your life and time with amazing people and I can say that the friends I have met here are going to be in my life forever.

Our dogs, Cody and Maggie are doing great!  They love it here and really what's not to love?  We hike and go to the beach nearly every weekend.  They're in heaven.  Cody is getting up there though.  He has definitely slowed down and has trouble keeping up with Maggie (aka Simple Dog).  I always take Cody on special little adventures where he can be as slow as he wants and not be trampled by Simple Dog.  Just the other day I was walking to the store and I kid you not, I was stopped by five people that wanted to pet him. He even has a little girl, Charlie who is five that has become his best friend.  Every time we go on a walk, we pass her house and if she's outside he get's really excited and runs up to her.  He'll sit with her all day.  Our neighbor's have a little girl too, she is one and just started walking.  He will lay down and just let her crawl all over him.  He is going to be so good when we have our own little ones!  He is my sweet, sweet boy! Maggie keeps me active, she is so much fun to take hiking and swimming at the beach.  She's got quite a personality on her and everyone in the neighborhood knows and loves her.

I'll leave you with some photos and I will be sure to update after our trip to Tofino!  Tip for mom, (again), click on images to bring up larger photo...

Kyle's trip to Malaysia - The Petronas Towers. 

With fancy titles comes fancy accommodations.-The Ritz-Carlton.

Batu Caves, Malaysia  

The Chef - Squamish. If you want to do 4000 simulated stairs, this is the place.

The Chef - Squamish.

Lynn Loop - The North Shore.

A Man and his dog ...

Do you spot Kyle?

Spanish Banks at low tide.  Maggie on my left running like a maniac, Cody going to check out a pack of buds.

Maggie is on fire...

She proceeded to roll in this, guaranteeing herself a bath.

Don't you just love him?!

Mitch & Me. She is the absolute best.

My brother is fully responsible for this one and I couldn't be happier!  Ladies and gentleman, this is Trouble!

Just a typical night for us really...

This is Jen, we were neighbor's in Laguna Beach.  She moved to Portland five years ago and we got to see her and her wonderful husband and baby while they were here visiting.  We still laugh at the most ridiculous things. "Pea puree...so hot right now".

Kyle is happy to have some guy time.  We love'd having you Eric!

I love seeing my old T1 crew!

Us out and about at the Kits Festival

This picture has nothing to do with anything except for the fact that I make the most awesome chocolate chip cookies ever. Recipe can be found on my Pinterest page .  You should totally follow me because I pin awesome shit.

The Big Cheese

Happy Father's Day everyone!

I started to write this post that was a story about my dad and me and our relationship through the years.  How him buying my first snowboard when I was eighteen would lead me to where I am today.  How he bought my first ticket to Burning Man, again altering my life and helping me to become the person I am today.  Yes, Burning Man can do that for you.  How he became the Big Cheese and how everyone knows him, loves him and has a great story about him.  It became a much bigger story than I had anticipated.  We've really been through a lot over the years.  Before he was the Big Cheese and after.  I am going to save that story for another time. I still wanted to share something that would sum up my dad and give you a taste of the kind of guy he is.  His sense of humor is like no other.

Before Kyle asked me to marry him, he of course had to ask for my dad's blessing.  My dad knew something was up when Kyle asked him out for drinks one night.  My dad came prepared.  As Kyle asked for my dad's blessing, my dad handed him a piece of paper and asked Kyle to fill it out for him.  The following is my dad's hilarious way of saying, "welcome to this crazy family..."

Potential Son-in-Law Questionnaire

Can you afford Lisa?

Will you be a loyal husband?

Do you have a prison record?

(Drunk and disorderly doesn’t count)

What size diamond (number of karats) did you purchase? Should be equivalent to two months gross salary.

When can we expect a grandchild?

(Is this a shotgun wedding?)

Would you consider naming him/her after a grandparent, specifically me or Squeeze? (We’re not that concerned about the other grandparents.)

In becoming a member of  “Family Fromage”, will you be attending Burning Man with the rest of the family?

Will there be fire spinning at your wedding?

Lisa has a lot of, well let’s just say freaky circus friends from Cirque Berzerk and Wandering Marionettes (fire breathers, stilters, dancers and aerialist and such) will they be invited to the wedding?

What kind of music will be played at the reception?

(Check all that apply) (No Trance please)

Dubstep           House              Progressive                   Breaks (Funky Breaks could work)

Trip Hop          Glitch            Deep House                 Hip Hop

Bassnectar would be great 

Do you have plans to buy a house? LA County? Orange County?

Will it be large enough for in-laws (specifically Squeeze and I) to move in at some point? (We’re not that concerned about the other in-laws.)

Do you intend to snowboard with your future father-in-law?

Preferences:

(Check all that apply)

Irish Whiskey               Scotch              Bourbon           Vodka              Gin         Goldschlager

Budweiser                    PBR                 Imports            Micro Brews

Sativa               Indica


And in case you were wondering, Kyle filled it out on the spot, said no to fire-spinning, then proceeded to drink whiskey with his soon-to-be father-in-law.  The rest is history.

Rainbows & Unicorns - My Kind Of Programming.

I don't like to watch movies or TV shows with a lot of violence in them. You know, Sopranos type shit.  Can't. Do. It. I can get right to the part where they bash someone's head in and I run out of the room screaming or hide under a blanket.  Then I ask Kyle to tell me what happened. Kyle's typical response is: "It can't always be rainbows and unicorns".  I'm pretty sure it can be, but until I can convince someone to have a TV channel that only has rainbows and unicorns flash on the screen all day, I'll just have to settle for Nickelodeon.  But since I don't have kids (yet) I really don't want to hear crappy songs all day that will make me long for the days where I want to see someone getting whacked for being a rat.

Since I make Kyle sit and watch all my crappy reality shows, I figured I should try and watch a few that he likes.  Dexter, totally into it. Breaking Bad, yep. Sons Of Anarchy?  I'll join SAMCRO right this minute. But I cannot and will not watch Game Of Thrones.  Nope, never going to happen.  I have tried, trust me I have. Everyone and their GoT. I get it, it's great and yes we all know you read the damn books. Good for you.  Kyle shared with me the hilarious videos of everyone's reactions to the "Red Wedding" episode and that right there confirmed that I will never watch a single show and I am OK with that.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs: Oh, Noa. and she of course sums up how most women feel about shows like GoT.  In a hilarious way.  Check it here:

Oh, and if you're a big-time TV Producer, let's talk about my new channel: Rainbows & Unicorns. I have tons of ideas for it.

It's A Sunday Thing.

Hello June and Happy Sunday!  Kyle and I are heading to Squamish today to hike since it is so nice out!  But as we do every Sunday we'll come home and end our weekend with a pasta dish...

I grew up in an Italian family that loved parties, loved to eat and loved traditions. We still do! I also grew up with my Grandparents living next door.  My Grandmother was a Sicilian fireball and my Grandfather is a stubborn Calabrian.  I'm half Italian and half Irish, when I was little I asked why I didn't have an Italian last name like my Grandparents or all of my Cousins?  The answer I got still makes me laugh to this day:  I was told that although I am half Irish, when I was born, the Dr.'s took my Irish blood and when I turned eighteen I could go back and get it.  As far as I was concerned, I was 100% Italian.  Growing up next to my Grandparents was the best experience a child can have! I am not sure my parents always liked it but to me it was awesome!  My Grandma let me drink coffee, let me stay up late to watch Johnny Carson and my best friend growing up lived on the other side, so we would stay up all night talking to each other from our windows. My Grandma died unfortunately when I was seventeen years old. I will never forget that day and I will never forget all of the special times I was lucky enough to share with her. One of my favorite memories was the tradition of having sauce every Thursday and Sunday.  If those days fell on a holiday you could bet the house would be filled with Aunts and Cousins making homemade pasta while the sauce cooked for hours.  If the pasta wasn't being made from scratch, my Grandmother would go to the Italian deli to buy pasta. Sauce was never from a jar, that you could count on.

When my Husband and I moved in together we started making different pasta dishes on Sundays and it has now, five years later become our family tradition. When we have kids they will also know this tradition and hopefully have the same fond memories as I do. I love that so many of my Cousins still have this tradition and it makes me smile when I see a post on Facebook about sauce being on all day.  There are few things in life that I can never give up and pasta is one of them. I am lucky Kyle doesn't have a weird allergy to pasta, I am not sure how I would explain this to my family!

I thought I'd share a few of our favorite recipes that are on the Sunday rotation. I can't share the family sauce recipe but thankfully there's Pinterest and FoodGawker. I find tons of great recipies on there. 

Tag Pic Pac Pasta (Carrabba's Italian Grill)

I'm not a fan of Italian chain restaurants, but once Kyle made this for me, I was hooked!

Pesto Orecchiette With Chicken Sausage

I substitute with a mix of hot and mild Italian sausage.

 

Linguine with Asparagus and Egg  

Easy like Sunday mornings.

  People always ask what my favorite pasta dish is and I have to admit that although I grew up on sauce, my favorite is spaghetti aglio olio (garlic and oil).  It was actually one of my Grandma's favorites as well as my dads.  That's my go-to comfort dish!  Do you have a favorite pasta dish?  Leave me a comment below!