J - 4

Well, I leave for France in 4 days and am really excited and a little stressed out. I can't wait to not only be on vacation for 11 days straight, but also to see my family and native country, a trip that is much overdue.

Work has been a little stressful lately with a lot of changes, but I'm adapting. I just want to make sure that everything gets done properly before I leave so that I have very minimal worries. I really, really want to enjoy this vacation. I will be laptop free and don't want to think about work. I know I'll be checking emails though. Sigh...

This week has been fun, Babe's sisters stayed here for the week on vacation and for a dance audition in LA, and Babe's been here since Thursday, and I absolutely love how we can do nothing and enjoy each other's company. He finished the semester and will not be going back until fall, so he may be living here with me for the summer - not set in stone yet, but that would be cool.

The past month has been great too, $teve's on his famous road trip and we were able to hang out, so I've had a lot of visitors lately!

Hope everyone is well. Have a great weekend!

Ca fait un bail

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted... but I finished my New Orleans post which you can see below. I've been sick with a sore throat since Wednesday, while my colleague was gone so I worked 11-12 hour days and was exhausted, almost to the point of a small meltdown. I'm ok, though :) just resting today. Dang, resting feels good. And doing laundry. And watching Shrek on Comedy Central. And giving good advice. Yeah, I actually did that today, kinda proud of myself :)

Today I'm grateful that my throat is getting better (at least I can speak now!) and that tomorrow, work should be normal again. Hope you're all having a great weekend.

La Nouvelle Orleans

New Orleans was a blast, I must say. Definitely wouldn't want to live there, but the French Quarter was really cute, balconies galore (Mom and I kept saying "T'as vu? T'as vu?" Like, a million times) 

and depending on the street you were on, the atmosphere was trendy, dirty, artsy, yummy, cultural... it was really really cool (not too fond of the dirty part - wouldn't bring my kids there at least). I'm so glad too that we're able to go and spend some money and their tourism is able to still flourish after Katrina... because even on a Sunday night, Bourbon Street and everything else was really crowded with tourists.

So here we go.

Friday, Day 1: fly to Memphis, meet Mom & B, see Elvis memorabilia & have a southern pulled pork sandwich at the airport (mmmmm...) fly to NOLA, stay in Kenner, go to the Treasure Chest Casino for a seafood and lobster buffet, listen to some live jazz, inhale some casino smoke and ruin my lungs, go to bed.

Saturday, Day 2: Taxi to downtown NOLA, check in the hotel, got lost in the morning for about 2 hours trying to find Café Du Monde. Stupid iPhone - told us it was somewhere in the business district. Nope. Funny thing is, another group of tourists with iPhones did the exact same thing!! By the time we got to the French quarter where it actually is, it was lunchtime... so we ate at Maspero's, where I sampled sausage with red beans and rice and jambalaya... very good.

We then finally found Cafe du Monde and had delicious beignets for desserts! I used to make those with mom years ago. I think I'll make them again soon :)

What is a beignet (beh-gnay) you ask? This delicious thing of fried dough you see above with way too much powdered sugar. We then went through Jackson Square with lots of artists, and dancers/performers who want your money and make you laugh. 

We did Royal Street, Bourbon Street, Canal Street, enjoyed some live music and people watching. My, oh my, the people watching!! By 3PM we had walked probably 4 miles total and were toast. We went back to the hotel, rested our feet, actually fell asleep (and I'm SO against naps!), and at night we ate at "Mulate", a cute Cajun restaurant with live music and the best bread pudding ever. I had gumbo - which wasn't that fantastic I decided. We then went to bed (or at least tried to, because the club outside the hotel room window was happenin' till at least 3am. What happened to double paned windows??)

Sunday, Day 3: B bought a "Who Dat" hat @ the Rivercenter, took the street car to the French Farmer's Market:

I tried some alligator meat (tastes like really spicy sausage), saw some cool stuff (love Farmer's markets! Anywhere, Salt Lake, LA, Le Lavandou, you name it!)

So we walked around... a LOT again. We had lunch at a restaurant, forgot the name, but this was really tasty: 

During the day, we went to the Garden District and walked around. After waiting 45 minutes for the streetcar to take us back, we decided to walk the 2 miles back, strolling through the neighborhoods, and man were we toast... and that sun was brutal... and my feet were killing me. Luckily, my knee was fine!! That's a good sign, I think it's almost healed. 

The garden District... beautiful Victorian homes and leftover Mardi Gras beads GALORE

At night, we walked to Bourbon Street and did balcony dining at a yummy Italian restaurant, "Tony Moran's." On a Sunday night, Bourbon Street was still crowded. We took a cab back to the hotel as we were super, super exhausted from all the walking all day long.

Monday, Day 4: last day for me. B went to the WWII Museum, Mom went to her conference and I slept in, checked email, and took care of some work items. You know, in a way, I dream of the day I don't have to worry about work while on vacation. But I just can't wait till retirement, ya know? I then met Mom at noon, we walked back to the Museum to get B, and one of my favorite parts of the trip: We ate at Emeril's restaurant! We had a 3 course lunch menu which was super, super yummy. Great experience. Then I took a cab to the airport and flew home!

Great trip, things I'm grateful for on this trip:

*Discovered a different culture and area of the country.

*Hang out with Mom & B which are always great

*Surrounded by many things with French roots

*The food. Oh my, the food!

*Walking towns. There's so much you can discover on foot.

*Oh, and did I mention that there were balconies everywhere?

I must clarify my fascination with balconies: no, I don't like them because of things I could do on them for Mardi Gras... but there's something so pleasant and satisfying in eating lunch or dinner on a balcony while taking in some sun, fresh air, and watch people below as they wish they were as happy as I look right now.

The end. Have a great day!!

Pleins de voyages

Well hi everyone! Hope you're all doing fabulous and getting excited for Spring Equinox. I, myself am very excited because I will get to travel extensively these next few months, which means that I have to be super careful with my budget!!! Haha.

This weekend, March 12-15 is New Orleans, baby! I know $teve will be very jealous, but because he's pretty awesome, he's going to tell me all the places that are worth going to so that I can make the most out of trip with my parents. Thanks, $teve!

Easter Weekend I plan to go to Salt Lake to see fam, go to Babe's cousin's wedding and see friends hopefully.

In May I'm going to France for 11 days!!! I am very, very excited for that. I haven't been in 2 years and it's overdue. I can't wait to see my dad, brother and sister, and other family. I just can't wait! I keep imagining me landing in Charles De Gaulle, hearing those Frenchmen yelling at one another (it's Paris, yo), there are heavy clouds and it's raining (it's Paris, yo), and I suddenly share a small tear of joy... as it's still my childhood home... and I feel all melancholy and happy and sad at the same time. It's going to be great.

So, that's the near future... let's focus on the near past now. In the past month I've been to KoreaTown twice, sang my heart out on karaoke for what amazingly ended up being 3+ hours, finally done my taxes, been to Palm Springs twice, had my 17 year old cat put down, still haven't played volleyball, and probably other stuff I've forgotten by now.

Today I'm grateful that I get to go to my home country soon to see those I should see more often but don't get to. I'm grateful that my work was able to grant me 11 straight days off, because my colleague's going to have to pick up most of the slack. Thank you!!!

Hope you all are doing well, enjoy the rest of this weekend!

La St Valentin

Had a great V-day with my babe. No, scratch that, had an amazing whole Valentines weekend!!! Babe flew in standby Thursday night after work, and left Monday night back to SL. We had a lot of fun. Among the things we did, we particularly enjoyed:

-Great Thai Food

-Getty Center

-Cheese AND Meat Fondue at home by candlelight

-Go to Old Navy

-Get engagement ring cleaned

-Wake up at 5 AM to try and catch a flight he did not get on

-Ate at a terrible restaurant in Long Beach for breakfast

-Went to a Chinese New Year Party

-Had a ridiculous wait time at Creme De La Crepe for breakfast (which turned out to be lunch)

-Jamba Juice and YogurtLand

-Manhattan Beach

-Gorgeous 70+ degree weather

-3 whole afternoons of taking pictures for an assignment

-Each other's company

Bottom line, it was great to see him, and I can't wait for next time. Now, some of the things on the list were a pain... but we did them together so that's what counts :)

What's cool though is that I will now have another round of family visitors - Mom & B are coming to LA this Friday night, and we'll spend the weekend together here and in Palm Springs with my grandma. Yay for seeing them again! 

Today I'm grateful for friends and family that love me and that I get to see them once in a while... I sure love that! Have a great night everybody.

Un Petit Weekend a Vegas

Vegas, Baby!

Yeah, that's where I was last weekend. It was fun, there were 6 of us, wish babe were there... we left Friday afternoon (left work at 3, by the time we picked everyone up it was 5, we got on the 10 freeway at 5PM on a Friday afternoon... craziest thing ever). Finally got out of L.A. two hours later, and got to Vegas around 10:30 PM. We ate at an authentic Japanese place (west of the Strip, would never venture out there!), had to take off our shoes and everything, checked in the hotel at midnight, and went to bed to get ready for our Saturday.

Saturday - let's go to the Strip! A few fun things:

*Wheel of fortune

*Sex and the City Slot Machine

*Delightful pastries at Jean-Phillippe Patissier, such as these:

Visisted the new Arya and Vdara hotels, which I believe had incredible architecture and decor, not particularly my style but I still loved its contemporaryness...

Then we went to Wynn's buffet for an early dinner, and had $50 worth of crab legs and other fabulous food. I was so stuffed... better go out dancing to burn off all those calories. We went to Eve, Eva Longoria's club, where apparently Fez from That 70's show was celebrating his 30th birthday. Happy birthday, Wilmer! Do you recognize him with the mike?

Overall, a great weekend, nice to do something different and hang out with friends in a different place. We got home Sunday around 5PM, I had dinner with L&E, and went home afterwards to rest and get ready for the work week.

Work's been pretty good, I actually had my yearly performance review, which, I won't go into details, but there's great, good and bad stuff, and basically I'm glad my boss opened up to me and she truly inspires me to do great at my job, so that's exactly what I'm going to do for the next year!

Today I'm grateful to have a particular characteristic I think is a good trait: I don't take things personally and I don't offended easily. If somebody offends me, I usually turn the other cheek. Or if it's really meant to be taken seriously, then I think about the situation and say "you know what, you're probably right" or "you must be saying this for a reason, you've got good evidence, and I see your point, so I believe you." Not bad, considering I'm known to be as stubborn as a mule sometimes. Maybe I'm maturing (maybe).

:)

Have a great night!

Sad news. An Optimist Drowns in Half-full Tub.