Hulk chocolates, Minnie Driver and February sunshine!

It’s the middle of winter here in Northern California…

Vitamin D levels? Awesome. Proximity to Zika Virus? Not so much.

Today marks the 6-month anniversary since George arrived in SF to an apartment full of Ikea packages (and the requisite Kate Spade shoebox).  Thankfully, the Ikea has ceased and we are back to fully-fledged Lego construction to adorn our humble abode. Over the last month, both GKT and I have noticed how much we’ve settled into life here, and the initial ‘extended-holiday’ vibe of the first 3 months has subsided into a pretty normal routine of weekend grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s (It’s ALDI but with American branding), avoiding most of downtown SF during the Superbowl festivities and eating our way through foodie joints across the Bay Area, including the elusive #1 hotspot Kokkari.

It now appears that I spell ‘color’, ‘favorite’ and ‘organization’ the wrong way. (And it destroys a piece of my soul every single time).

I find myself becoming increasingly emotionally invested in the outcome of the US Presidential race (Canada is looking like more viable option with each passing day).

We’ve realized that the smell wafting through our window at 3am is actual skunks and not ‘skunk’  (Hipster vernacular for wacky tobaccy. #PepeLePew)

Plus I don’t remember what good coffee tastes like anymore. How’s that for acclimatization?

And although I still haven’t eaten Mac ‘n’ cheese, I suppose it’s only a matter of time… But until then Nigella’s Sweet Potato/Feta Mac ‘n’ Cheese will suffice (Thank you Annabel Crabb for interviewing my favorite chef). 

Admittedly, sunshine, pavlova, mimosas and delicious Nespresso featured heavily at our fun day of Australia Day festivities… but it’s just not the same without Southern Cross flags (Nicely done, Coles) and racist undertones.  We had to wait until Martin Luther King Day for that.

And then President’s Day long weekend was a true celebration of the Hallmark-Disney-Marvel juggernaut that is Valentine’s Day (Evidence of #romance and #cleaneating below) but more importantly, the ridiculous abundance of sunshine meant long hikes and windy ocean views down at Land’s End along the Pacific Ocean and the aptly named Billy Goat Hill. I’ll say one thing about these deathly hills is that once you have depleted your lactic acid and calf muscles climbing up them – the views are spectacular, once you acclimatize to the altitude.

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George is currently in the throes of preparing for his first trip of 2016 to London in a few weeks while I just returned from my first official PL+US: Paid Leave for the US (#obligatorylinkhere) trip to L.A.

Following our launch in early February (when 10.5 consecutive hours of website-building took place and I lost my tiny mind in the labyrinth that is SquareSpace), I had the privilege of a whirlwind 36 hour in L.A to attend ‘Artists for Progress’ – a.k.a Dinner at Moby‘s impossible-to-get-a-table restaurant in LA, with celebrities and activists. It’s a bit surreal having a whisky with the guy throwing Elton John’s Oscars Charity Party, or a discussion with Minnie Driver and Lisa Edelstein about grassroots campaigning and social justice. I couldn’t have been prouder of Katie, presenting the campaign for paid family leave alongside Black Lives Matter, MoveOn, Climate Truth and NARAL.

Lowlight: Bidding adieu to my dream of duetting with Anna Kendrick by pretending not to see her in a local LA restaurant. Subtlety and respect for privacy is overrated – but her new beau is super cute. You heard it here first.

Highlight: Winning over Minnie Driver with our paid family leave campaign, without fan-girling.

I’ll leave it there – with more updates soon following our impending snow weekend in Lake Tahoe (well, George will ski and I will day-spa) and George’s pilgrimage to ComicCon to meet the original cast from Back To The Future. Let the celebrity-spotting continue!