& a very happy birthday 2 u

Sun :: James' birthday so we carried on doing our usual activities such as going to the Farmers Market - this week we went to Mountain View. The market was enjoyable with the sampling of delicious fruits on offer this week - raspberries & blackberries & oh so cheap & yum! The pic of James is with his dream birthday present - a Firebird. We met a mate of James' there & then went out for a coffee down Castro Street, San Jose - Red Rock coffee http://www.redrockcoffee.org/ very good place to hang out for a drink & a snack & of course if you are a techhead take your laptop to do some WiFi action too. There was a whole row of ppl just hanging there with their laptops doing their thing.

As it was such a special day we thought we would head down to San Jose to go to a recommended by (James) place to eat - Original Joe's. It is an Italian restaurant with traditional Italian food with very big servings. Here I thought I was getting an entree but an entree in America is your main meal!! So if you would like an entree have a Starter. Anyhoo I order Eggplant Parmagiana & it was just delicious. James ordered a three quarter meal ($4 cheper than a main) which was lucky as I don't think he would have been able to finish a full meal. James' friend Greg ordered a Chicken Parma which looked amazing & was very tasty as well. Well how can you go by the dessert section on a menu (there is always room for dessert) & we found Sherbert - mmm what was that I thought. We had to try it & it was berry gelati - yummo & it just fitted in after such a scrumptious meal. Ashwin was there enjoying some as well after he had scoffed some bread, a packet of butter (which he covered his face in) and some tomato sauce from the Parma - it was funny to watch his face when he tasted the sherbert but he loved it and wanted more. That evening we just came home & couldn't fit in another morsel for dinner!

the weekend starts here...

Nothing like starting the weekend with a lovely meal of spaghetti bolognaise (vegetarian) & a glass or two of red wine. With the online grocery order that was delivered to the door came a swag of alcohol to enjoy with our dinners - we just wanted to try some californian wine so why not order a range plus some raspberry stoli of course! We enjoyed a bottle of 2003 merlot with our spaghetti bol but it is hard to compare with some of the Australian wines we were scoring from Dans which were cheep & very tasty. Oh well we will just have to continue the Californian wine mission & try somemore :)

Sat :: We went to SF lovefest http://www2.sflovefest.org/ as u can see from the umbrella pic people were in loving mode - getting it on in the park! There were plenty of sites to check out such as the Abercrombie & Fitch store - mmm who is their target market?? buff boys whoo hoo - hands in the air... You see by the time we got into the city we were starving so we found a great Sri Chinmoy vegetarian restaurant Ananda Fuara (staffed by some beautiful folk with the most peaceful energy) http://www.srichinmoycentre.org/FrontPage/dining_out/ananda-fuara-wins-award. The food there was just delicious & so satisfying that we left with our bellys full and felt very happy & ready to play. Ashwin even had a great time in there as well, being the little star that he is! As we thought of our stomachs before the parade we missed the majority of the street parade & just saw the tail end - which were a couple of massive speakers on a truck playing drum & bass & of course, house music on another. It was cool as we just wandered with the crowd & sat down under some trees to watch the freaky folk go by (that is freaky in a good sense). The sight of naked man on bicycle was just funny as we thought if this guy gets busted by the cops he'll scoot away on his pushie. Others were just wearing a g-string & oil, most were wearing feathers & faux fur was very popular, rainbows & leg warmers were the go, as well as there were some gorgeous wigs on show.

After a while the buzz was waning & we went for a wander down Market St (kinda like Oxford St in Sydney) with the sex shops/shows/cinema?? Whew too much, lucky Ashwin was asleep by then. It was interesting to see some stilt walkers & some street urchins for the festival around the hood. We got back to the Civic Centre when it was time to catch a BART home & make tracks onto Caltrain back to Mountain View station. Quite a mission if your trains aren't in sync - we know for our next trip into da city!

U scream I scream we all scream for ice cream

On one of our wanders I wanted to check out what an American 7-Eleven has on offer (anything like the Simos?) So we picked up the cone - a delicious Ben & Jerry ice cream in some funky packaging! It was just delicious on a summers day wandering the streets of cupertino checking out the mansions with their 3 car garages and 3 storey houses (preety boring in design), gardens that are quite bare with lots of green grass & bushy trees. I did find a couple of established willow trees which were just divine as their shade was so cool. Ashwin enjoyed munching on the ice cream (c pic - chocolate face) although the shock of the cold was an unusual experience for him.

Our first weeks entertainment...

Ashwin & I spent our first week at home in the apartment complex while James had his first week at work (BTW which he enjoyed & is having a good time there too!) Anyhow Ashwin & I had to entertain each other for a whole 5 days! This isn't too bad considering Ashwin is at an age now where he is a lot more interesting & interested in different things. While Ashwin is enjoying himself with a small selection of toys (bad move - should have bought his whole box of goodies!!) & toys made from found objects (my mothers group will know of my creative use of cds, egg cartons & tins) I spent my time hanging out in the kitchen making Ashwins food & doing the housework - good stuff :) Apart from the domestics I had to catch up on my emails (as I don't want to loose touch with what is going on back home in Australia) & of course updating my blog... Other exciting things to do when Ashwin goes for his afternoon nap is to catch up on some shopping, such as shopping on the internet - doing the groceries, shop for James' birthday prezzie at Amazon (cds) & find some more toys for Ashwin for his birthday. Thought some musical instruments would be a great idea as he likes shaking things about - ta da some maracas came in the post. Ashwin just loves them & enjoys it when u shake them around with him & sing la cuccaracha (the only maraca song I can remember) think I'll have to increase my repertoire!

At least we have some entertainment in the form of the cats - when they are active that is... Food is the key with both of them, we now have some tasty fish flavoured cat treats to tempt the cats out of their slumber. Ashwin will shake the container & they suddenly appear. I have included a pic of scrap here to show you that he can be active in his old age & that he has some great whiskers :)

Meet me in San Jose

Sun :: Went down to San Jose for the day - had a great time as there is quite a bit to check out. The art gallery looked really cool but there was an event on so we thought we would see what it was like. It was Mexican Independence Day at the local park & we had heaps of fun eating and watching the dancing (c pic). I loved the costumes the kids wore - so colourful. Got some video of it all too so when I get my iMac I can make a DVD. James found mango on a stick (c pic - as big as Ashwins head!) which was just divine & I am certainly getting into Mexican food - it is deee-licious. Different to the Mexican we get in Oz - just a taco (small little tortilla) with rice & tomato salsa on top.

Enjoyed checking out the Adobe building with some funky little insect sculptures (c pic) around the gardens surrounding it. There was a lovely river walk too but we reached a dead end all too soon. A great city to visit will be back soon...

Ashwin getting patriotic

Great outfit Ashwin - this is a great little romper found at a goodwill shop in sunnyvale, the cat is cool with a stars & stripes scarf on!?? Thought it would be an entertaining buy :) Great to go shopping to the goodwill stores where u can find some bargains esp if you are into dot com T's - hehehe!

The cats have settled in...

Both Mack & Scrap have settled in our temporay accom as well with Scrap lazing around on the couch most of the day & mack enjoying himself in the balcony breeze. Here is a pic of mack getting friendly with some Hello Kitty lollies that James just loves!! We are on the 3rd floor so they don't have a lot of space to venture out to except the neighbours pot plants to take care of business :) Once we move into our permanent residence (hopefully soon - 10 days our stuff is in customs!!) there will be lots of space for them to wander round to as we will be on the ground floor and there are beautiful trees & gardens surrounding the apartment. Ashwin just loves chasing the cats around but they are just too quick for him!

Food glorious food

After scouring the safeway to no avail, we finally have found some excellent places to get our food. As most of you would know being from Melbourne you have a fine apprection of fresh food & enjoy the markets & delis around the place esp. the Vic Market. Well there is nothing to match the Vic Market but we have found something close enough a store called Whole Foods http://wholefoods.com/ that has it all from fruit & veges to meat, cheese & bread and packaged goods in between. It is a bit pricey but hey it is worth it. We have been having issues with finding decent cheese here but in the end we found some from Murray Bridge, SA that is close to Tassie Tasty - so we are happy now. The bread from Whole Foods is yummy too... We found free range chicken called Rocky & Rosie and some organic beef too - this place has it all!

The other find are the various farmers markets that are around the cities here - we went to the Sunnyvale market on Sat (c pic) and had a fab time sampling all the fresh foods that were available. Every stall we went to there was food to try - cheesecake, indian food, fruit, tofu, pasta & more! We were thrilled to find fresh shitake mushrooms at a reasonable price too!! In the pic Ashwin was kicked out of his pram & he was replaced by the food we bought.

We found this great shop in the Sunnyvale strip - The Hidden Closet - where u can find designer clothes at a fraction of the price. They are all excellent quality & there is a very cool vintage section as well. I found this great skirt that is an anthropologie brand http://www.anthropologie.com for $40 - bargain! Amazon is just great too & some of the shipping is free - lovin' it! While I look after Ashwin at home I can go shopping & buy his birthday present - cannot believe he will be 12 months old on the 11th October.

Day trippin'

Fri :: We spent our morning day tripping with our relocation consultant Leslie - it was excellent! We headed out in her Subaru SUV & off we went through Los Altos & coffee at Peet's Los Gatos (perfect - an shot of espresso with same amount of milk is what I had to order to get a latte - finally!) Went & had a look at a great store called 'uncommon threads' which sold knitting yarn & knitted bits & pieces - loved it! After our wander through it was time for a japanese lunch at Burlingame - just beautiful a Bento box that was gigantic for $7.00, so big I had to share it! In the arvo we finally found what we were looking for in a grocer - WholeFoods, organic, fresh & such a great choice. Is a bit pricy but well worth it! Finally had a lovely glass of wine with dinner - it was French Sauv Blanc

Downtown

Our lunch was a bit disappointing but hey we didn't know where to go. Really we should have consulted Lonely Planet for some insights. Am still checking out the coffee & here is James enjoying an espresso (aka short black) and Ashwin is having fun in a high chair. After lunch we wandered past Union Square where we were "fined" $10 for being happy (& basically looking like a tourist, suckers!) by some Hari dude who gave us a bunch of stickers with I heart San Francisco, the flag of the USA, I love your smile and of course the Hari book which we gave to Ashwin for some entertainment on the way home. I had fun checking out the Camper shoe store (scored this great catalogue/bible/wish book) then it was James' turn to go to CompUSA (a huge Tandy/Dick smith store) to get our headset for Skype. I was having fun playing with the new MacBooks - oh dream on :)...

Adventures downtown...

Thu :: 'Twas our day to wander downtown San Francisco - what a beautiful city & it has a very relaxed energy. Went via University Ave, Palo Alto & caught the CalTrain into da city.

The trip took about 45 mins - kinda like tripping from Geelong to Melbourne without the regional feel. Palo Alto is a very beautiful city in the valley, but it is quite expensive & a bit out of the way for James's work. Saw some wildlife as well (c pic)....

The train journey was very fast at about 80mph so the view outside was a bit blurred?? Ashwin seemed to be having a good time though. We landed downtown & there were people everywhere due to the San Francisco Giants playing some kind of sport - maybe baseball?? The shopping downtown was just sooo good and I enjoyed the window shopping - will be making a trip in the near future to do a bit of shopping I am sure. We only went into macy's (kinda like myer/DJs) to get Ashwin some new threads - $14 USD later & he scored a couple of pairs of shorts & a T.

Settling into da swing of things...

Sunday :: 11am arriving SFO airport going back in time. First we got off the plane to wait in line at immigration to see the dude Sands who had a pistol in his pocket to suss out our visa which seemed to take ages. As it would do after a 13 hour flight from MEL & I was feeling a bit spaced out too! Then we found our luggage & Ashwins stroller (hidden somewhere else?) & the mission of finding the cats too in the Singapore airlines hangar waiting to be picked up. We ended up sussing it all out after hanging around the airport & making a call to find out the real deal... Then we caught the BART (dude) to the rental car co & after waiting for ages after a archiac credit card transaction we wandered down to find a 3 door car. That is just GREAT when u have a baby seat in the back of a car!! Next mission was trying to fill the car with our luggage & saving space for two cat containers. We managed to fit us all in and Ashwin was happy to see his cat friends. OK next stop the apartment in Cupertino - whew jetlagged and on the 101 heading south to San Jose. Lucky James had been here before & driven on the wrong side of the road so we got here to then discover where the hell are the keys for the pad?? in some box then there is a code to get in to the complex... Man too much to deal with but lucky we had an emergency burrito & massive softdrink to get us through the final hurdle. There was more to come carrying our luggage 3 flights of stairs from the carpark to the apartment. After all that, it was good to finally find our place to rest & let Ashwin play for a bit before we all settled in & tuned out.

TV is just crazy with so many ads - thought we had a lot back home in Australia but here it is HUGE! I can get used to watching the Simos 3 times a day though!! TV is a great educational experience and excellent to check out the food, junk food & lots of it - shame I ain't a junk addict??!! Now with whipped cream and a cherry :)

Monday :: Checked out the DMV, the bank & the social security info to get it all happening. It will all happen but very slowly... First we have to wait 12 days till we can apply for a social security number to be an active member here in the US. So till then we have to wait till we go to the DMV to get our drivers licence - now that will be an interesting experience with having to set our appointment to get a licence, then do a written test & set up another appointment to bring your car in to do a driving test. Have to have a few more lessons in the back streets to get my driving wings as it will take a while to get used to driving on the other side of the road. Have been reprogramming my brain with the trips on the highway with James.

We were very lucky to open a bank account though so we are just waiting for those plastic cards so we can go shopping - hehehe!!

In the arvo we went to Safeway - man oh man there is so much stuff in there enough to double myself in size - who knows in a couple of years maybe... now that is a scary thought!! Our fave was the isle of breakfast cereals, so many varieties of fruit loops i.e. basically sugar coated sugar in a box for breakfast with some fancy colourful packaging will certainly get u going in the morning. We were looking for muesli but the closest we got was granola (quite nice too!). Grocery shopping is an experience that we have to get used to with the different stuff on the shelf - it took us nearly two hours to get a few basics??!!

Tuesday :: we spent the morning trying to get Ashwin on track as he felt quite sick & it was a very hot day as well plus we had to have a look at some apartments to find a place to settle down & call the valley our home for a while. Luckily we found a place with a heated pool & spa a 2BR apartment will be different from our house back home. We ended up getting it happening with Ashwin spewing in the car on the way back to our temp pad.

Wed :: Have been enjoying the weather here in California by going down to the pool & spa & taking Ashwin in for a dip in his nappy swimmers. I can get used to this way of life hangin' out by the pool in the sunshine.
We all needed some sleep to catch up on all we missed out on before we headed over to the US of A. It was lovely relaxo day...

Leaving Melbourne for San Francisco

The day finally came for us to leave our friends, family and our home...
There were days of excitement & sadness. The pending move had us renovating the house till the wee hours as well as cleaning out stuff for the big move to the US of A. The house looked fab when we left it so looking forward to seeing the garden in a couple of years to see how it has grown up :) The airport was daunting as there were good byes and the realisation of when will we be back home?? We ended up hanging out in the lounge before the flight preparing Ashwin for his first long haul flight - of course that meant a clean nappy & being well fed. Of course, we were too but I was looking forward to a drink or two on the plane at long last!! The flight was great with the movies and the comfy chairs & it was a blessing to have flown business class with an 11 month old bubba loo. Thank you relocation team!! Ashwin was a bit grizzly at times but we made it through with sharing him in our sky beds. We had fun watching the movies and catching up on a few lost zzzzz's.