Hi friends and happy Sunday! I have had a really nice few days of relaxing at home. The weather hasn't been the best this weekend, so it was nice to just take it easy and reset a bit. As I mentioned last week, I've been feeling a bit out of sorts with my schedule (more on that below), so the past few days have been exactly what I needed. I spent time in the kitchen, catching up with girlfriends, and I ran SEVEN miles yesterday morning!! To be fair - I am super sore today, but I guess that is to be expected when you lay off running for over a week and then come back and push it a bit. Oh well - I am thankful for the exercise :)
Now - where we last left off, I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful (just work, really), and then I spent a few short days in Geneva saying good-bye to some colleagues who are repatriating to the US and enjoying my first time at a Swiss music festival.
As part of my work arrangements, I visit my home office (Nashville) each year. I usually try to make my visits to the US coincide with some sort of technical training (gotta stay fresh on my skills!), and when I saw that there was a training in San Francisco at a time when I would have a bit of a break from work in Switzerland, the timing was perfect! I spent a few lovely days in Nashville catching up with friends, meeting with colleagues, and visiting some old (and new to me) favorites!
After a few days in Nashville, I headed out west to San Francisco! My training didn't start until Tuesday, but since my friend Lauren had recently moved from Geneva to the Bay Area, it seemed like a great excuse to head over early! This was actually my first time properly visiting the area, and it was amazing - I can definitely see why so many people love the city.
Lauren and I, in a nod towards one of the first times we met, decided to head out towards wine country and do some exploring there. We were hoping to stay a bit further out from the main Napa/Sonoma areas in order to avoid the more tourist-y vineyards, so on Saturday morning, we drove up to Healdsburg, rented some bikes, and hit the road!
What seemed like a leisurely and lovely idea of biking through wine country was actually quite the workout! We ended up covering about 25 miles of rolling hills on our bikes that day, and my lower body was completely exhausted!
On Sunday, we agreed to not do any cycling, and instead drove over towards the St. Helena / Rutherford area. We stopped and sipped (responsibly!) as we slowly made our way back towards the city.
In what turned out to be another great surprise, Lena was actually also in the San Francisco area at the same time as I was! So Lauren and I met up with Lena and her friend Nancy for dinner in San Jose on Sunday night.
The next morning, Lena picked me up, and we headed into the city to explore more of the city! After a quick breakfast - I had a chia pudding bowl (how SF!) - we walked down towards the water to look for these famous sea lions down at Pier 39.
I could've watched those sea lions for ages - they were so entertaining! But we only had one day, so we wanted to make the most of it, and we decided to take a quick boat tour of the bay. It was totally tourist-y, but it was totally great to be able to see so much of the city from the waterfront in such a short period of time. Plus, who doesn't love being on a boat?!
For lunch, Lena and I were definitely on a mission!! We were super bummed to find out that there wasn't a Din Tai Fung in San Francisco, but the internet managed to lead us to some fabulous places in Chinatown. Being in San Francisco made me really realize how much I miss Asia - or at least the food. After lunch, we also went for a quick foot reflexology session, which was also SUCH a nice treat :)
I bid Lena farewell as she drove out towards Oregon, and I spent the rest of my days in San Fran going to work and then exploring the area.
Aside from enjoying the fabulous weather and the delicious food, one major highlight of my time there was CorePower Yoga! I had heard of this yoga chain through the blogosphere, and since there was a studio close to where I was staying, I popped in one night for a class. You guys - I am obsessed!! I loved everything about the class - the temperature, the flow, the music - I would 100% recommend this to anyone who loves yoga!! Going to class was such a great high, but it also made me super sad that I haven't been able to find a yoga studio that I love in Geneva :( Granted, I have only been to one studio, so I guess I haven't tried that hard, but honestly - there is nothing like a great yoga class. CorePower is amazing.
So as you can probably tell (if you have even made it this far down the post!), I had a great time being back in the States. It was such an enjoyable visit, but it really left me feeling a bit less in love with my life here in Geneva. I love living over here, and the opportunity to travel has been such a blessing to me - it's changed my outlook on life, expanded my thinking, and introduced me to so many new people, places, and things. However, I think that in my rush to see as much as possible, I've sort of pushed my home life to the backburner. I was talking about it with some girlfriends last night, and I think that one thing that I've been struggling with lately is feeling a lack of stability. Of course, I know that I have a stable job, and that obviously provides a lot of stability in so many ways, but in my life outside of work, my life in Geneva is not nearly as settled or stable as my life was in Singapore. Seeing some friends leave, going to the US, and a non-stop schedule has really caused me to see that I need to take a step back and slow it down.
So I'm going to be working on building out some ways to feel more stability in my life here. I'd like to figure out a way to have a yoga practice that I love. I'd like to spend more than a week at a time at home. I'd like to incorporate some small routines and patterns into my life. I'd like to turn my apartment into more of a home, and less of just a place where I'm sleeping for a few years.
As soon as I publish this post, I'm also going to update my upcoming travel schedule on the right side of this home page, and the upcoming month is pretty brutal. But I'm determined to get better about enjoying my time at home and making it feel more like home. Since this post is already super long, I'm just going to leave it at that. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Now - where we last left off, I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful (just work, really), and then I spent a few short days in Geneva saying good-bye to some colleagues who are repatriating to the US and enjoying my first time at a Swiss music festival.
As part of my work arrangements, I visit my home office (Nashville) each year. I usually try to make my visits to the US coincide with some sort of technical training (gotta stay fresh on my skills!), and when I saw that there was a training in San Francisco at a time when I would have a bit of a break from work in Switzerland, the timing was perfect! I spent a few lovely days in Nashville catching up with friends, meeting with colleagues, and visiting some old (and new to me) favorites!
Running on the Greenway! My favorite path in Nashville!
View of the Cumberland from the office
Hattie B's was totally worth the hype!
Summertime = Dairy Dip
Back at Owen :)
Notice the clock in the background haha.
After a few days in Nashville, I headed out west to San Francisco! My training didn't start until Tuesday, but since my friend Lauren had recently moved from Geneva to the Bay Area, it seemed like a great excuse to head over early! This was actually my first time properly visiting the area, and it was amazing - I can definitely see why so many people love the city.
Lauren and I, in a nod towards one of the first times we met, decided to head out towards wine country and do some exploring there. We were hoping to stay a bit further out from the main Napa/Sonoma areas in order to avoid the more tourist-y vineyards, so on Saturday morning, we drove up to Healdsburg, rented some bikes, and hit the road!
This one was actually my favorite in Healdsburg - the people working there were SO nice!
Picnic!!
The general store - how cute is this place?
Love this firetruck!
What seemed like a leisurely and lovely idea of biking through wine country was actually quite the workout! We ended up covering about 25 miles of rolling hills on our bikes that day, and my lower body was completely exhausted!
On Sunday, we agreed to not do any cycling, and instead drove over towards the St. Helena / Rutherford area. We stopped and sipped (responsibly!) as we slowly made our way back towards the city.
In what turned out to be another great surprise, Lena was actually also in the San Francisco area at the same time as I was! So Lauren and I met up with Lena and her friend Nancy for dinner in San Jose on Sunday night.
Sushi!!
The next morning, Lena picked me up, and we headed into the city to explore more of the city! After a quick breakfast - I had a chia pudding bowl (how SF!) - we walked down towards the water to look for these famous sea lions down at Pier 39.
These guys were hilarious
I could've watched those sea lions for ages - they were so entertaining! But we only had one day, so we wanted to make the most of it, and we decided to take a quick boat tour of the bay. It was totally tourist-y, but it was totally great to be able to see so much of the city from the waterfront in such a short period of time. Plus, who doesn't love being on a boat?!
For lunch, Lena and I were definitely on a mission!! We were super bummed to find out that there wasn't a Din Tai Fung in San Francisco, but the internet managed to lead us to some fabulous places in Chinatown. Being in San Francisco made me really realize how much I miss Asia - or at least the food. After lunch, we also went for a quick foot reflexology session, which was also SUCH a nice treat :)
Xiao long bao and scallion pancakes! We also had dou miao and fried rice. It was heaven!
I bid Lena farewell as she drove out towards Oregon, and I spent the rest of my days in San Fran going to work and then exploring the area.
Finally!
This cracked me up!
We grew up together!
Aside from enjoying the fabulous weather and the delicious food, one major highlight of my time there was CorePower Yoga! I had heard of this yoga chain through the blogosphere, and since there was a studio close to where I was staying, I popped in one night for a class. You guys - I am obsessed!! I loved everything about the class - the temperature, the flow, the music - I would 100% recommend this to anyone who loves yoga!! Going to class was such a great high, but it also made me super sad that I haven't been able to find a yoga studio that I love in Geneva :( Granted, I have only been to one studio, so I guess I haven't tried that hard, but honestly - there is nothing like a great yoga class. CorePower is amazing.
So as you can probably tell (if you have even made it this far down the post!), I had a great time being back in the States. It was such an enjoyable visit, but it really left me feeling a bit less in love with my life here in Geneva. I love living over here, and the opportunity to travel has been such a blessing to me - it's changed my outlook on life, expanded my thinking, and introduced me to so many new people, places, and things. However, I think that in my rush to see as much as possible, I've sort of pushed my home life to the backburner. I was talking about it with some girlfriends last night, and I think that one thing that I've been struggling with lately is feeling a lack of stability. Of course, I know that I have a stable job, and that obviously provides a lot of stability in so many ways, but in my life outside of work, my life in Geneva is not nearly as settled or stable as my life was in Singapore. Seeing some friends leave, going to the US, and a non-stop schedule has really caused me to see that I need to take a step back and slow it down.
So I'm going to be working on building out some ways to feel more stability in my life here. I'd like to figure out a way to have a yoga practice that I love. I'd like to spend more than a week at a time at home. I'd like to incorporate some small routines and patterns into my life. I'd like to turn my apartment into more of a home, and less of just a place where I'm sleeping for a few years.
As soon as I publish this post, I'm also going to update my upcoming travel schedule on the right side of this home page, and the upcoming month is pretty brutal. But I'm determined to get better about enjoying my time at home and making it feel more like home. Since this post is already super long, I'm just going to leave it at that. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
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