Royal Wedding - and re-orientation

Luckily for me, the U.S. seems to have enjoyed the Royal Wedding. It's all over the newspapers and TV here. Thanks to this, and to the magic of the internet, I've enjoyed it too and am happily up to speed on all things Kate and William.

Wow. What a beautiful wedding. It was so classy and, despite the formality, it radiated warmth and love. Kate's dress and hair were just gorgeous. How elegantly beautiful did she and Pippa look? I loved that they were both very natural, yet polished and classic. Kate always appears confident and poised without seeming arrogant. And I SO want the white angora cardigan she wore to the evening reception:

(Thank you, Daily Mail and the Official Royal Wedding website for the images).

Did I get a little carried away there? Er, oops.

Travel blog. Right.

So, I'm now ensconced in my little beach cottage at Pleasure Point. It's only a block back from the beach. The landlord, Annie, lives next door and is super nice. She's a surfing instructor, so we organised for me to take lessons from her starting in week's time, after she returns from house-sitting in Venice, LA. As you do.

Getting out of bed is always tough when your body thinks it's midnight, but today was another lovely, sunny day, and a good dose of melatonin works wonders on the old pineal gland. I got in my big, fat, red baby truck and headed out to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) labs to time how long it took, given that I'm staying about 6km east of where I was last year. It took 22 minutes. I wonder how much longer that'll be in traffic on Monday.

Next on the agenda was going to be breakfast at a Farmer's Market I'd visited last year, but I'd brought the wrong brochure with me so didn't have the address, and I couldn't managed to find it from memory. So instead I headed to Safeway (supermarket) on Mission St., grabbed some sushi and a chai latte from their cafe, read the Royal Wedding coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle and stocked up on groceries. Um, and on U.S. Royal Wedding souvenir magazines. Just to mark the occasion. Not that I'm obsessed or anything.

I love U.S. supermarkets. Despite increasing convergence on the grocery front between Australia and the U.S. (although I hope we never get Cool Whip - and probably the U.S. folks would wish the same viz-a-viz Vegemite), it's still fun to check out the different products. And to discover that chickpeas are called "Garbanzo Beans" here. Wild! Naturally I laid in a supplys of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups :-)

Here I am outside the supermarket, eating a 50c fundraising cupcake. That's my red baby truck behind me.

Next I headed up to the UCSC campus, ostensibly to re-orient but in reality to check out the bookstore. I got a little lost (one bunch of dorm buildings amongst the redwoods is much like another) but found the heart of campus in the end. I wanted some stationary but the selection didn't seem to be as good as last year. Somehow I ended up with a long-sleeved T-shirt instead. How did that happen?! Am officially UCSC Posterchild with the amount of kit I now possess. Was v. tempted by UCSC trackie-dacks but luckily for my Visa card they only make them for long-legged folks.

It was a very warm day, so I decided I should take the groceries home to the fridge. I did some washing and spent the rest of the day working. Sorry, not too exciting. But I do have to say that FaceTime is the Best Invention In The Land. I can talk face to face with Sean and see my doggies without it costing a cent!

At 8:30pm I headed into town and had a divine salad at Asana Tea House (best and healthiest food in town) and now I'm calling it a night. Tomorrow will be more work and some cooking, interspered with checking out the beach :-) 

Here I am in my new clobber, and here's a shot of the main room of my little cottage, taken from the front door. Think I'll have to bust out the Nikon tomorrow and get some decent photos.

 

Good night, everyone! It's late and I'm off to bed.