5 Favorite Things (About Sacramento!)

So I live near the state capitol of California - Sacramento! This past July 1st was our 7-year anniversary; we still live in the same apartment, even. (Although that time is probably coming to an end soon - we'll discuss that some other time.)

When we moved here, we thought this would be somewhat temporary; we both grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and figured we'd move back once we were a little more financially viable. We never considered Sacramento a possible permanent home, but now I can't imagine moving back to the Bay. I'm NOT saying I don't miss it like crazy sometimes, but it's become a nice place to visit and reminisce. Sacramento is where The Hubs and I have spent most of our time together, and it feels more like home now.

So here are my 5 favorite things about Sacramento and the surrounding area:

• The Capitol building. It's GORGEOUS, and I love seeing it from various cross streets. During the day or at night, it's a sight to see. Also adding to its gorgeousness: Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom. YUM. Despite his working regularly in close proximity, I've yet to actually see him. Mainly because stalking is illegal and I also know I would make a damn fool out of m'self if I saw him, squeeing like a teen girl at a One Direction concert.
• The Crocker Art Museum - I lived here for 6 years before I finally checked it out - then I checked it out twice in six months! First time was with my fellow art/theater nerd N, and second time was with The Hubs (they had a fantastic Norman Rockwell exhibit that we were both interested in viewing). It was just the old Crocker mansion, but then they expanded it into a modern building in addition to the original mansion. 
• The Sacramento Rivercats, our local minor league baseball team - The Hubs is a huge SF Giants fan - and unfortunately, the Rivercats are the feeder team for the Oakland A's (doh!). We don't hold it against them, though. Raley Field, where they play, is a very nice park with good concessions, and I enjoy the little extra entertainments they throw in for the kids and between innings. All this makes for a fun night out during the summer months!
• Ghostbusters! That's right, who ya gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS! I first saw them during a local 4th of July parade, but I've seen the car driving around at least twice since. It always makes me smile. They're committed cosplayers (so as a huge nerd I LOVE that), and they do charity work. How can you not love that? Plus what other city can claim to actually have the Ghostbusters? ;D
•  The FOOD. So many great restaurants to check out! Plus fancy grocery stores (I'm such a sucker for that stuff), from chains like Trader Joe's and Whole Paycheck Foods to local favorites like Taylor's Market and Corti Bros. My favorite local restaurants so far have been in Midtown Sacramento, for the most part; our favorite place to take out-of-towners is to Chicago Fire because the buffalo wings are perfect, the pizza is AMAZING, and their chocolate chip cookie a la mode is heaven. We've checked out tons of places that we loved and keep meaning to go back to, but just haven't (we try to keep the pricy meals out limited to once a month indulgences), and with so many options it's too tempting to try something new every time! I'm just happy to have my local sushi favorite, my local Chinese food favorite, and my local sandwich place favorite for quick meals, and then so many options to explore for fancier meals out! Off the top of my head, I highly recommend the Squeeze Inn for burgers, Paesano's for a unique Italian-style meal, the Buckhorn Grill for yummy tri-tip, and Thai House for Thai food.

Ok, 1 more thing that I HAVE to include and is not technically IN Sacramento: 

• Location, Location, Location! - I love that Sacramento is so close to so many things! Ok, "close" is a relative term. What I mean by this is Sacramento is only a couple hours away from a wealth of different activities. Major attractions like Reno/South Lake Tahoe is only a few hours away, the Napa Valley is about an hour and a half, San Francisco is about 2 hours away (excluding traffic), San Jose is just over 3 hours away (we go there at least once a year to see the SJ Sharks). Then there's local attractions that are less than an hour away (or right in town), like Apple Hill, Historic Folsom, the Jelly Belly factory, the state fair (which just ended!), and Old Sacramento. It's great to have so many interesting options for when you want to get out of town for a day or a weekend! 

I could go on! We have a great theater scene that I'm still discovering, nearby Placer county has lots of unique sites to visit, there's farmland all over the place (if you're into that sort of thing - having taught students in FFA clubs, though, it is kind of neat if you're a city mouse like m'self), lots of local breweries (if you're into that sort of thing)... there's so much about Sacramento to experience! It's only in the last few years that I finally warmed up to the city, and at this point it feels like home. I look forward to raising our family around here!

Link Parties I've linked up to

5 Favorite Things (Right Now)

I really thought there would be a bigger gap between my last 5 Faves and the next one, but what can I say, I find new awesome stuff quickly!

"Orange Is the New Black" - if you follow me on Twitter this is old news, but OH MY GOSH IT IS SO GOOD YOU GUYS. The characters are diverse, well-developed, and mostly immune from the stereotypes of a female prisoner. It has dark humor and pathos, and is just super-engrossing! Try and pace yourself; I'm already done and now I'm sad. Good thing Netflix has already lined up a 2nd season. 

"American Ninja Warrior" - I am OBVIOUSLY not an athlete, but I am totally into this show. The obstacle courses are insane, and test so many different areas of athleticism. Plus I'm a sucker for the back-stories they give on the competitors. I'm usually all for some schadenfreude, but with this show I want everyone to succeed! It's enjoyable, inspiring brain rot. ;)

Trader Joe's "Hold the Cone!" mini ice cream cones - the perfect little summer treat. I get an ice cream cone that doesn't send my sugars sky-rocketing! It's a nice way to end my day. :)

Striped t-shirts - this summer I needed to stock up on t-shirts that were cute and casual. Without meaning to, I've bought 4 striped shirts. This makes my total of striped shirts now 6. Yes, I tripled my striped shirt wardrobe! I'm just INTO them all of a sudden. Plus the shirts I've bought are lightweight and comfy, so that just makes them even better. :) 

My new nail polish - Isn't it awesome? It looks like glass shards to me! I want to try it over a black polish. 

I found it at a Forever 21, if you would also like to make your nails look like a shattered church window. ;)

I hope you find something you'll also love!

5 Favorite Things (Right Now)

Hey all! Hope you had a lovely holiday weekend! Mine was social every day except the 4th - Daisy the dog got sick again on the 4th, and we didn't want to leave her all alone. She got better, though - we think she ate something she wasn't supposed to when we weren't looking or something.

ANYWAY.

I've been doing the 5 Random Things, and it's fun; if I can come up with a decent theme, it's a fun writing-based "blog filler", plus I usually get to talk about myself! (Super fun for me!)

I've also been enjoying blogs I follow and their own variations on "Friday Favorites" or a weekly links compilation. These are some of my favorite posts, to be honest, because I find even more stuff on the internets to waste time explore!

So I'm thinking I'd like to combine the two, and post my 5 Favorite Things, either random melange of objects, or themed items. Could be books, link, food, etc. WHATEVA, it's my 5 favorite things (right now)!

• Relish: My Life in the Kitchen* (physical copy) or Relish: My Life in the Kitchen* (Kindle!) - This is a graphic novel/memoir/recipe collection/foodie fangirling book by the wonderful Lucy Knisley. It's a food-based autobiography - Knisley shares poignant memories that revolve around food, and her drawings and love of food makes it so you can practically taste the food. Bonus: In the case of some food, you can! Once you make it yourself based on her included illustrated recipes, that is. ;D If you'd like a feel for her writing/drawing style, you can read the first chapter here.
  

  

  It's a book best read with food ;D

  
  

  
  

• A Beautiful Mess App - I adore the lifestyle blog A Beautiful Mess; they've created their own unique look that makes the blog enjoyable from a visual standpoint as well as content standpoint. What they achieved on their photos with Photoshop, they've now made available to anyone with an iPhone! (Android app is coming ASAP) I've been playing with it on my phone, and I loooooove it so far. Totally worth the whole $0.99 I paid - they have even more packages available for purchase (filters, "doodles", font styles, etc.), but the basics that come with so far have proven to be PA-LENTY. (You can see an example of the app's abilities above - the title image for this post was made with the app!)
•  Gone Girl: A Novel* (physical copy) by Gillian Flynn - GURL. This novel is BONKERS, in like the BEST WAY EVER. In part 2, and the twist was a TUH-WIST. I'd heard previously that there's a major twist, and I totally thought I'd figured it out; turns out I had really early in the book, dismissed it as illogical, then assumed I'd guessed the "real" twist - and go fig, my initial instinct was right! My ego didn't care, though, because OMG THIS BOOK, Y'ALL. OH. MUH. GAWD! I stayed up until 2am finishing it Thursday night because it just got so good and I had to find out how it ended! WORTH THE LOST SLEEP. I can't believe the ending, man oh man oh MAN. Such a good book!
• Raw white cheddar from Spring Hill Jersey Cheese. This has been my snacking cheese - I just cut a chunk and NOM NOM NOM NOM, along with some cheddar-onion pistachios and some fruit, all bought at my local farmer's market. That's right, I'm spoiled enough to buy this cheese right down the street at my local market. But hey, apparently they sell it online! We've also had the pesto jack, garlic jack, and sage cheddar - they're all so creamy and flavorful! YUM. They also made a smoked jack that we used in mac & cheese that was the perfect amount of smokiness. 
• "This Is the End" - I saw three different movies last week: A free preview of "The Lone Ranger", "Monsters University", and "This Is the End". "Lone Ranger" was meh (If you need an excuse to get out of the heat, you could do worse - it was definitely worth the price ;D); "Monsters University" was cute but not as great as its predecessor. I wasn't expecting "This Is the End" to be that great, but it had great reviews and I do generally enjoy the cast. I'm actually glad I went in with low expectations, because I enjoyed the movie that much more! It's very funny, and also a leetle bit scary in parts! (It DOES take place during Armageddon, after all.) I literally jumped and clung to The Hubs at one part, it scared me so bad! (I'm also a big fraidy cat, though.) I can't describe my favorite scene, unfortunately, because it's so much better to be seen without knowing. It's towards the end. I laughed a lot!

I hope you find something you will also love amongst my favorite things (right now)!



*Links marked with the asterisk will lead you to Amazon.com - it is an affiliate link, and I will make a very small commission if you end up purchasing something through my link. Just an FYI!