2015 in Photos

What an incredible year 2015 has been! There have been so many new adventures in my life, such as moving to a new city and having fun living with Green Guy, gardening and eating vegetables I've grown myself, learning new recipes in the kitchen, meeting awesome new people in my community who advocate for better bicycling opportunities, and so much more. To celebrate and reflect on the last twelve months, here are (more than) twelve photos from 2015:

On January, Green Guy and I hiked to the top of Buzzard's Roost in Big Basin State Park.

 

 

In January, we also went on the Light Up the Night Bike Party ride in Santa Cruz.

In February, I tabled for the Sierra Club at an event at UC Santa Cruz. Throughout 2014 and 2015, I did a lot of tabling for the Santa Cruz Group and worked with many awesome interns who helped support the Sierra Club mission to explore, enjoy, and protect our planet. 

 

In February on Valentine's Day, my sister and I participated in a One Billion Rising march in downtown Santa Cruz to raise awareness of and stop violence against women.

In March, I attended the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. and was able to bring my best friend from high school along with me! The summit was an awesome opportunity to learn about bicycle advocacy work nationwide, and my friend and I had a blast exploring our nation's capital.

Also in March, I helped organize a Trans Pacific Partnership forum in Santa Cruz to educate the community about what the TPP and Fast Track would mean for our country and our region. It was well-attended, and I continued to work on opposing Fast Track and the TPP for many months following this event. I was inspired and impressed by those who actively follow trade and global issues like this one. It's complicated and very political work, and I definitely learned a lot about what that side of environmental advocacy is all about.

In April, I organized a UCSC Sustainabilibuddies Alumni Reunion at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. Lots of alumni of all ages showed up, and we had a great time seeing old friends and enjoying local beer.

The next day, I celebrated my 23rd b-earthday at my house with friends and family.  My amazing housemates made me TWO vegan ice cream cakes for the occasion! The one above was strawberry, and the other one was chocolate. Delicious and beautiful!

In May, I co-led a Sierra Club Outing as my final step in becoming certified as an Outings Leader for our local Group. I had read a lot of information online and taken a quiz prior to co-leading the hike. I became certified so that some of my interns from UCSC could co-lead hikes of their own for their final projects. 

 May was jam-packed full of intern-led hikes, including an incredible birdwalk led by a student with astounding birding skills (above), a history hike through Pogonip Park, a study break hike to the Porter Caves at UCSC, and a family hike with children at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

At the very end of May, Green Guy and I moved into a house together in a new city. A few days later, we were headed to the Bahamas for about a week of relaxation, swimming, boating, and fun in the sun. After that, we joined his family in San Diego for his grandparents' anniversary. What a way to kick off the summer!

In July, we got our first set of plants for our new garden out back. It was so sparse and empty back then!

In August, we took a weekend trip to Yosemite National Park and camped at Campsite 4 in the Valley. We waited in line for a campsite from 6 AM - 9 AM; it was worth the wait. We hiked most of the way up to Upper Yosemite Falls, made really yummy food on our camp stove, and drove up to Washburn and Glacier Points to take in the Valley from above.

In August, we also attended the Silicon Valley Bike Summit, which you can read about here.

August was a month of many new adventures, and it's also when I began blogging again more regularly. Here's a photo from when we volunteered at Veggielution Farm. Read about it here.

 

The last adventure we had in August was surfing with my old housemate for Green Guy's birthday. Very challenging, but so awesome!

 In September, I began worm composting and blogged all about it here.

I also attended the Silicon Valley Tour de Coop in September with two friends. We biked around exploring farms, chicken coops, and even a Duck-A-Ponics system!

In October, we took Caltrain with our bikes to San Francisco to see the Blue Angels.

Also in October, my coworkers and I attended Bioneers in San Rafael. What an inspiring conference! I blogged about it here.

 

 

Also in October, I participated in the Banana Slug Parade to celebrate UCSC's 50th Anniversary. We pulled Happening Couch dressed up as a sustainable slug.

In November, the garden was looking very lush! You can read all of my blog posts about the garden here.

 In December, we got a living pine tree for our Christmas tree! 

 I also baked a million sugar cookies and decorated them to share at Christmas.

Thanks to Pinterest, I also learned how to make rein-beer in December.

In December, Green Guy got this awesome handmade Stormtrooper full-face beanie for Christmas from my dad and stepmom, and he snowboarded at Heavenly with it on. I skied along beside him, and we had an amazing time in the fresh snow!

Of all of the adventures we had this year, I think the type of adventure we did the most was make and eat tons of amazing sushi! We had a few sushi making parties, and we found our new favorite sushi restaurant near our house. Yum!

Wow, what an awesome year! So many photos of fun adventures are not pictured here, but it would take far too long to include everything. Thanks to everyone who made 2015 so great. Here's to 2016 and 365 days of new experiences. Happy New Year!