my very cali birthday

My trip to California started with a stop in San Francisco. I had a great view from my hotel.

Here's a plane landing. It looks like it's landing on water.


Here's another view.


On Friday, I flew down to LA and spent the rest of my trip in the OC. My Saturday was spent babysitting my niece and watching college football.

I managed to do both in this picture.

That's the USC/Notre Dame game on TV. I taught Serena how to say, "Boo Irish!"

Speaking of USC, what was initially a joke turned out to be the real thing. My family threw me a very Trojan party.


This is the cake my sister made. Yes, she decorated it herself.


I started to feel like an 8 year old, what with all of the decorations and all. So, after dinner came the obligatory present opening. Here are some highlights.
A scarf from Aditi.

A necklace Lisa made for me.

A Coach make up bag from Aurelio.

And Jesse didn't make it out to California for me so he Fed Exed one of his gifts in time for my party...

Which was appropriately a USC visor and t-shirt, perfect for the Homecoming Game we're going to in two weeks.


Finally, my friends started making their ways home.



It was a great birthday. Can't wait for my DC birthday party tomorrow!

sometimes, i wish i was making this stuff up

Here is my trip to California in a nutshell (a very, very large nutshell).

Day One (Wednesday).
I flew out of Dulles at 8 a.m. on Virgin America. It was my first time flying with them and I was impressed. I really liked the atmosphere on the plane and the seats in coach had a lot of room. Plus, we all had our own TVs at our seats, like JetBlue. Unfortunately, the satellite wasn’t working, so the only channel I could get was Fox. Boo.

The flight to SF is normally 5.5 hours. About two hours in, I was feeling incredibly uncomfortable in my seat. I was freezing cold and my body was achy. It wasn’t long before I realized that I was feverish. I put on my down jacket, asked for a blanket from the Virgin flight attendant and hoped that would help. Ummm…nope. Let me tell you how much it sucks to have a fever on a plane. It’s awful. It’s hell. So at the 5.5 hour mark, I was anxious to land. Except we weren’t. We were circling and circling for what felt like an eternity. Apparently, the folks at San Francisco Airport weren’t letting us land.

All of that circling led to one little problem—the plane I was on was starting to run out of gas. So, we headed over to San Jose Airport to get some gas and hang out on their run way until we were cleared to land at SFO. Still feeling feverish, I willed myself to sleep. When I woke up from my nap (feeling incredibly rested so it had to have been at least an hour), we were landing at SFO.

Day Two (Thursday, AKA my birthday)
I had a hard time getting up and an even harder time getting ready to go to my conference. My body was so incredibly achy and I had developed a cough. I really wasn’t feeling well, but I had to work so I forced myself to go.

I left the conference early because I really wasn’t feeling well. I thought maybe if I got some fresh air and tried to enjoy the day, maybe I could salvage my birthday. So my friend Kattie (who flew up to keep me company) and I headed into the city (Union Square) to do some shopping, my favorite pastime and usually the cure to all of my ills. Unfortunately, not today. I didn’t buy much (a pair of shoes, a necklace, and tank top) and I felt so miserable while going from store to store. But I wanted to enjoy my day, I really did. Finally, we left H&M and headed to dinner at a restaurant called Colibrio Mexican. OH MY GOD. The food was so good. And the dessert was even better. And the sangria helped me forget about my misery for a little bit. But then, once sober, it all came back.

Day Three
Right after the conference, I left for the airport for my flight to L.A. When my mom gets out of the car to hug me, I beg her, “Please make me feel better. Please.”

Day Four (Saturday, AKA, the day of my Cali birthday party)
I was determined to have a good time despite how horrible I felt. I learned that coughing up phlegm was making me feel better, albeit temporarily. Shortly before my friends showed up at my mom’s house for the festivities, I threw up phlegm in the bathroom. I thought I was done because I started feeling better.

While talking to my friends, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The coughing came back. But I put on a smile and made the most of it. I had a great time with my friends. And then, little by little, they left. I rushed to the bathroom after the last person left and coughed and coughed and threw up some more phlegm (I know the difference between coughing up and throwing up and I managed to do both). This time, it came out red. Damn it. I told my mom and she said, “We’re going to the hospital. NOW.”

Day Five
At the crack of dawn on Sunday, I was in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange. Turns out I have pneumonia.

Day Six
Sleeeeeep. Mmmmm…

Day Seven
Back to DC (cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze).

Ok, blog peeps, I really want to post pictures and blog about the wildfires (many of which I saw) but it took all I had to write this post. I’m going to go back to sleep. G’nite.

california dreamin'

I had the following conversation over the phone this weekend.

My sister had just sent me a text message with the latest picture of my niece Serena doing something cute.

Sister: So, did you get it?
Me: Yeah, it’s cute. I just showed Jesse.
Sister: Yeah, isn’t she adorable? I was trying to get a picture of her eating and then she posed right as I took it. Here. Do you want to talk to her?
Me: Yeah, of course.

Muffled sounds as the phone is passed to my niece.

Serena: HI! (giggles)
Me: Hi, Serena! What are you doing?
Serena: Uh...eating French fries.
Me: You’re eating French fries? Yum!
Serena: Yummmm!
Me: They’re good, huh?
Serena: Are you coming home now?

At this point, my heart sunk all the way down to my stomach. I couldn’t believe she asked me that. A lump formed in my throat. I wanted to tell her, Yes. I wanted to see her right then and there and just hug her with all of my might. But I couldn’t because I was on the opposite side of the country.

I took a second to compose myself.

Me: No, Serena. Not yet. But I’m coming home soon.
Serena: Ok. Love you!
Me: I love you too! (that lump in my throat suddenly doubled in size)
Serena: Ok, BYE BYE!

Muffled sounds as the phone is passed back to my sister.

Sister: Wow. I can’t believe she said that.
Me: Neither can I. Did you tell her to ask me that?
Sister: No, I didn’t. I swear. Isn’t that cute though?
Me (thinking), Sure, if you call your heart breaking cute.
Me: Yeah, that is cute.
Sister: So when are you coming home?
Me: Soon.

And I am going home soon. My tour of the West Coast starts Oct. 17 in San Francisco and then I’ll fly down to the OC to celebrate my birthday with family and friends.

Oh and I can’t wait to see this little angel:

the SF chronicles come to an end

Here it is! The end to our adventures in San Francisco. SF is an awesome city and I'm sure we'll go back some day. However, I vote that Jesse and I spend our anniversary in San Diego next year!

So...after we sobered up from Monday's all night Drink Fest 06, Jesse and I decided to rent a car and head out to Wine Country, CA.




Oh the awesome Golden Gate Bridge. I think almost half of the 120 pictures Jesse and I took were of this bridge. Here, we are about to go under the first arch.














The beautiful landscaping of Cline winery. It's the first major winery we hit in Sonoma and it is gorgeous. They had good, affordable wine too!

The friendly sheep at Cline. So cute, but the female was a little wacky. Jesse and I engaged them in a friendly "baaaaah"-ing competition. I think we won.












One of Cline's many fountains. I love this picture because my hair looks good.






Jesse and I only did one wine tasting in Napa, but this picture pretty much sums up Napa--miles and miles of grapes along Route 29.



The trip to SF was amazing. Thank you to Matt, Josh, and Reed for making it even more memorable.

the drinking continues

I was lucky enough to hang with two friends on Monday--first Josh, then Matty.

Matty just so happened to be at the same baseball game. I knew that he would know where all the best SF watering holes are. So after we hugged and said our hellos, I got straight to the point, "Where are we gonna get our drink on?" Of course Matt knew where we could go on a Monday night. I'm convinced he knows the best places to drink any day of the week.






So Matt introduced us to Vesuvio, a super cool bar with poetry written on the walls of the women's bathroom.




Awww...the happy, drunk couple!











And when last call came and went, we left the bar, looking for our next drink. We found it at Reed's place.












And when we got tired of Reed's drawings of naked women (hey, it's ART), we collectively decided that the best thing to do would be to hit the roof!




And for reasons I don't remember because they were probably explained while I was drunk, Reed's grandparents collect animal skulls and Reed decided the roof would be a good place for this one. Clearly the roof was lacking some decor.



Since I wasn't able to take a picture of the awesome views from the roof, Jesse settled for a pic with his friend.









Let this be a lesson to you kids. When you drink too much gin two nights in a row, you just might pass out...two nights in a row. Lucky for Reed, Jesse and I caught the second pass-out on film.


Ah...it was a fun night for all!

Drink Fest SF '06 begins

Back to my San Francisco story...

From Fishermans' Wharf, we walked uphill to Lombard Street (the crookedest street in America) and we were nearly attacked by the crazy parrots of Telegraph Hill.














From there, we trekked over to Embarcadero and met my friend Josh for drinks at Market Bar at the Port of SF. Note: drinking has begun...it is now 5-ish.



Josh, who has never discouraged me from drinking in the 9 years I've known him (what a true friend), made sure that I was sufficiently buzzed before the Giants game.







AT&T Park was a bit of a disappointment, although the garlic fries were good and came with a mint. Basically, if you take the Warehouse away from Camden Yards and add water, you've got AT&T Park. Still, I got to see my Angels and Jesse got to see Barry Bonds play, so it was still a fun thing to do for our anniversary.

the day I finally admitted to being a tourist

Monday, June 19--the actual big oh-two anniversary. Lots of sight-seeing on this day. Jesse and I hit all the BIG touristy hot spots.



A view of the Bay and Alcatraz from Ghirardelli Square. Jesse and I are wearing hoodies because it was a slightly chilly 67 degrees that day.













You know, I'm not really a fan of chocolate (unless it's THAT time of the month). However, even non-chocolate lovers can appreciate the old school charm of the Ghirardelli building.





A view of the skyline from Pier 43




The world famous California Sea Lions outside of Pier 41. Aren't they so cute and chubby and lazy? They spend all day just hanging out and basking in the sun. Just add a Corona and that would be the perfect day for me.






The view of the Golden Gate Bridge from our boat tour.









Alcatraz













Jesse and the Bridge


















Me and the skyline






To be continued...

San Francisco--where the homeless have cell phones

Jesse and I just got back in from the Best Side very early this morning. San Francisco was awesome! The only way to do The City justice is by bloggin' about it one day at a time.

Sunday, June 18, 2006







Ahhh...Union Square. San Francisco's big shopping district. Every store you could possibly think of is here. I even walked into an Old Navy that I actually wanted to shop in because it was so cute.














Tiffanys is beautiful in any city!














SF Museum of Modern Art. Jesse and I saw this great exhibit from a Japanese photographer about life in Japan after the A bomb hit. I recommend it to anyone who is in The City. Very, very thought provoking.















On our way to Chinatown for dinner, Jesse and I crossed his street--Jessie Street, that is!













The view from Stockton. Yes, DC. This is what a real Chinatown should look like. It should be full of shops whose names I don't understand. And those shops should sell things I've never seen before and I shouldn't understand what to do with them. Ended up eating at the Great Eastern Restaurant. It wasn't very whole-in-the-wall, but it was classy and good. Another good sign, Jesse and I were the only non-Chinese people eating there.
















The TransAmerica building--one of the most recognizable buildings in San Francisco's skyline.










After the TA building, Jesse and I thought it would be fun to walk up the North Beach stairs in order to work off the Chinese food we ate. Unfortunately, I was too out of breath to take pictures when we got to the top. Wasn't too tired to head over to the bars in North Beach though.

off to the Best Side

So, Jesse and I are off to the West Coast to celebrate the big TWO. I will return to the blogosphere on Thursday with pics--you know I'm gonna get camera happy! I'll be thinking of you all as I'm enjoying the mild temperatures of San Francisco.

it's like a whole other state up there

I'm very excited about this weekend and I can't wait for Saturday. Jesse and I are leaving Saturday for San Francisco to celebrate the big 2--our two year anniversary. Neither of us have ever been and we've both heard about what a beautiful city it is. Our patience with a particular crappy airline was rewarded with free tickets, so we decided to get away and head West for the big celebration.

When I've mentioned to people that I've never been to 'Frisco (and no, I don't really call it that), some people are completely shocked. "What! You've never been to San Francisco? But you're from California!!" Yes, I know I'm from SoCal, but people forget that Cali is a very big state. NorCal is totally different from SoCal. It's like a totally different state up there. And it might as well be. The East Coast has a bunch of different, little (by comparison) states. The West Coast has three. And Cali is pretty much most of the coast.

Besides the expected romantic, lovey-dovey stuff about the trip, I'm very much looking forward to going to the West Coast and experiencing something very different from the OC. The weather is expected to be in the high 60s, low 70s so it will be great to escape the heat in DC. I'm also very, very excited about Monday (which is the actual anniversary day); Jesse and I will be going to the Giants/Angels game--a rematch of the best World Series ever (the Angels won the whole thing). I know that every girl who just read that is thinking, I can't believe they're going to a baseball game for their anniversary. But if you know anything about Jesse and me, then you know that we're big baseball fans, that I LOVE the Angels (despite their current woes), and that Jesse is a Bonds fan. This is probably the perfect thing for us to do together to celebrate.