Carmel Visit

Carmel Beach City Park

Recently I had family in town and we took them down to Carmel-by-the-Sea for a night. When people come to visit I just think on how lucky I am to live in a destination area where people want to vacation.

I found a good deal at the Best Western Plus Bay View Inn (my first time at a Best Western and highly recommend this one). We took our time heading down from San Francisco, meeting up with friends in Half Moon Bay first and then winding our way down Highway 1. It was still a quick visit but Carmel is small enough so you can quickly get a good sense of downtown. The hotel is super close to the shops and restaurants/cafes. In the evening it was very windy and I was glad that we only had to walk a short distance for dinner at Casanova.

The beach is maybe a half mile downhill - very easy to get to, and I went down during my run in the morning (when it was not windy, fortunately). I love the mix of European architecture around town and that it is clearly a vacation spot. It's a laid back place to meander, with tons of stores to poke around in. The only things I bought were food: sweets from a candy shop, coffee and a pastry to enjoy while sitting at a cafe table in the sun, and sandwiches for the ride back to SF.

Casanova restaurant

downtown Carmel

Cypress Inn

Dogeaters & a "Big Weekend" in the Bay

Lands End

SB50 has taken over the Bay Area. Even though the game itself was about an hour's drive outside of the city, street closures started in San Francisco more than a week ahead of time. Aircraft were flying low, one of the teams' bus caravans got in a fender bender on the highway (typical for the 101), and media descended upon the city. It's funny but everyone I know who actually lives in SF was expecting the worst in terms of crowds and traffic, and therefore avoided downtown as much as they could. I'm glad that so many people have been interested in the festivities, but personally I stuck to my favorite everyday neighborhoods.

Mission Street

Thankfully there wasn't much traffic outside of the Soma/FiDi area. And it's been pretty warm out so it's been so nice to walk through the city. This morning, we walked through the Mission up to Hayes Valley for brunch (surprisingly with no wait for a table) and last evening was spent with a nice walk from Russian Hill through the Marina to Fort Mason.

I went to Fort Mason's Magic Theater to see a new play, Dogeaters. I'd read the book when I was younger since it was a contemporary novel about my native country, the Philippines. I hadn't even known it was adapted to the stage until a friend shared it, but a few of us went to see it in previews (it opens this week) and it was good. The story takes place in 1982 Manila, when the country was still under martial law. A few scenes were really intense and overall it was probably darker than the usual portrayal of the Philippines but I think having an ensemble cast of characters lends itself to portraying a more comprehensive picture of the urban culture at that time. There were young people flocking to the city to chase success in careers and in love, folks in various kinds of businesses/hustles, politicians putting out self-serving spins on reality, families reuniting and being torn apart, and overall people looking to make their own way in and their on mark on a chaotic world. It was exciting to watch and it's been getting press, so I hope it does really well. 

personal photo

I still went to a fun Super Bowl party at a friend's house, but I think getting my culture on at the Magic Theatre was actually the highlight of the weekend.

Tech Help

I've had a smartphone in my life for just over five years now. It's amazing that in a few short years your daily life can change so much because of new technology. All the toddlers growing up now won't know a world without smart phones and mobile apps! (My niece is already a pro with the iPad and she's only been alive for just over five years.) 

Due to work, family and personal obligations and aspirations, your life can get pretty busy. I always have my phone on me to look up info, snap a photo, and of course communicate with others. These are some ways I keep myself organized and motivated:

1. Schedule it on your calendar. Just give in to the cloud. It will just be that much easier to keep track of things, especially now that google reads your mail and automatically adds things to your calendar, and that calendars often link to map features so you can put in a precise location. Bonus points for blocking off your "me time".

Gmail Blog

1a. For conference lines, I use the Instant Meeting app, which syncs to your calendar and dials the conference codes for you automatically. If you have one of those jobs where everyone has a conference code, and/or you make your calls while on the road, this will save you so much time/brain energy:

meetingapps.com

2. Keep lists or notes (I really like Wunderlist and Swipes). Again, it makes it easier to keep track of things if you just record them. I have ongoing lists for things to do, groceries (which you can re-use by unchecking old items), books to read, vacation spots to look up, etc. Runner up is Swipes, which gives you that gratifying ability to swipe.

https://www.wunderlist.com/

http://swipesapp.com/personal/

3. Keep up with the world. Aside from work-related news and a couple general news headline emails, I subscribe to these daily email newsletters: The Skimm & The Broadsheet. They're both focused on women, in different ways - theSkimm was started by young women around my age to get the news in a digestible format and familiar voice to their peer demographic, and The Broadsheet has a more general news-y tone but gives you headlines on women in news/politics/business/culture. I look forward to reading both each weekday morning and feel like I'm not living under a rock.

http://www.theskimm.com/

http://fortune.com/newsletter/broadsheet

4. Keep yourself motivated. I found out about Shine texts in early December and now keep recommending it to friends. Right on the home page it says "We'll text you daily work hacks and reminders of why you're a badass." Uh, yea that made me up. So far, the texts have included gifs of Maya Rudolph, the Broad City girls, and Beyonce.

http://shinetext.herokuapp.com/

So there's 4 1/2 ways to simplify life and feel like you know what's going on.