Sera Sera

I am so sad that today is the last day of my school break. Although, I did have a good, long month break. I really shouldn't complain. However, I am coughing up mucus, blowing my nose, and trying to pop my congested right ear. Not exactly how I planned on going to school tomorrow. 

Good thing I got to see some friends this month. I needed it. It has charged my batteries, so I am ready to bust through this next semester without any of them around. 

Tonight was a special night. I spent it with a dear friend from Virginia who I have not seen in almost seven years. We drank champagne and ate strawberries at the Top of the Hyatt last night. My husband was with us, and he drove us to Pacific Beach so we could bar hop and dance. 

Today, we walked on the beaches of Del Mar and La Jolla. Ate chipotle shrimp at Flavor and enjoyed Tapas at La Valencia Hotel listening to a jazz pianist that was blind. It was a beautiful day. I will always remember it. 

It is hard to fall asleep when you are sick. I am watching the Vampire Diaries to get me in rest mode. Long day tomorrow.

Back in the Groove

Home Sweet Home!

I was gone for 7 weeks. I got straight A's in summer school! Woohoo! On my way home, I stopped and saw all my friends and family on the way down. That was awesome. I realized that I have more friends/family in California than anywhere else! I have driven all over California from Napa, Oroville, Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area to Southern California in Chula Vista. I have a pretty good grip on the highways now and am familiar with Northern California and am getting to know the San Diego County better. I never thought I'd be a California girl. It's strange how it even happened. I had no desire or thought of living in California ever. It just so happened I relocated to Utah, wasn't very happy there and California was close by and I wanted to give it a shot. Five years later, I have been up and down all over this state even having the privilege to live in both northern and southern California. What's crazier to me is that I have experienced more of this state than some of the Native Californians! How sad! Most of us east coasters have been up and down the coast from Maine to Florida. How could you not have taken some road trips in this huge coastal state of California all your life?! Sad I say. Although what's kind of embarrassing is that Jessica has been to Disney land enough times to know her way around it without a map! When she visited here a few months ago with my dad and Jeremy, she was showing ME and Ron around Disney land, only a 2 hour drive north from San Diego. While at Disney land, I didn't enjoy standing in line and I don't care for crowds much. By mid afternoon, I was over it and ready to get out of there. I'm not into the amusement park scene these days. Maybe it has to do with getting older, not sure.

I stopped and visited my brother-in-law Lyle on the way down in Ventura. We went boogie boarding. He's a surfer and that's what I'm trying to get into now. I moved here for the weather and I should be taking advantage of the beaches more often. So he taught me how to boogie board because there are a lot of things you have to get used to in the waves before surfing. He was right. I probably would have given up if I would've tried surfing first. I felt like I was getting beat up out there but at least the wet suit keeps you warm. By the way, that was a HUGE FEAR I conquered getting out there in the ocean like that. I have ALWAYS been afraid to swim past the point of touching the sand. Lyle pushed me into some waves so I was able to enjoy a few good ones. This is definitely going to take some practice to get into the surfing world. Ron used to be into it, so now that I am doing it, we can do it together. I've been meaning to get into an active hobby that allows me to enjoy being outside. I love swimming so this is a great way to be active without forcing myself to exercise. :o) I can't wait to post pics of me in a wet suit actually catching waves!

Now that I'm back though, I have to start working again. Boooo. I was so happy up north not working. I may quit In-N-Out and just focus on school. Ron and I have talked about that as a possibility if this becomes too much for me. Then I can focus on school where I feel like I'm making something of myself. I am so lucky to have Ron because I just might need a break from the worthless work world! I'm hanging in there but I doubt my ability to do that for much longer. It was nice to take a leave of absence for 7 weeks. I had no money but I was happy! I got straight A's and I was at peace with myself. It's amazing how a job can just suck the life out of you. Ron loves his job and I can't wait to have a job that I love too and feel valued at. :o) School starts the 20th. I am so ready. In the mean time, I'm gonna do this boogie boarding thing!

New Year 2012

I realized I forgot to talk about my New Years Eve! Ron and I have a tradition now with the Coombes family. They are a fun, wonderful Filipino family that live up North in Pittsburg, CA. It's about an hour north of San Jose. We were invited over for the 2010 New Years Eve party. It was SO MUCH fun. They made home made everything... lumpia, panset, pandesol, babinka, etc. I don't care too much for Filipino food but I like lumpia and pandesol. And they also made spaghetti because Ron is vegetarian. It worked out great.

They had one room for karaoke. Upstairs was for games. The kitchen was food and shots. The dining room was cleared out for dancing. One of the kids had professional DJ equipment and he knew how to work it! They turned down the lights and had Christmas lights on the walls. I danced for hours. It was SO MUCH fun. This reminds me of my Uncle's house in Brazil. I remember dancing samba outdoors in his outdoor kitchen and eating some mangos off the tree in his yard. I love people from different countries. First generation foreigners are so different from Americans. They bring their love, culture, and friendly values with them. Since that night, it has become tradition to spend New Years with them and their family. This year, they came down to a cousin's house in National City (half hour from where we live now). This house was the same fun! Same EXACT scenario and setting. I danced for hours. I didn't really drink much this time. I had one shot and one beer.

I don't drink patron, so I knew I could only handle one shot or I would be sick. It didn't stop me from having a fabulous time. They had party hats, silly string, glow necklaces and bracelets. It was really a lot of fun. Their was triple the amount of food here. We even had a roasted pig head and home made cake pops.

They feel like the family I never had. I fit right in with these people and I can truly be myself. This family reminds Ron of his mother. I probably would have been great friends with his mom.

Mama Marilou =) 

 Melissa & AJ

Mama Marilou & Papa Edwin

Gettin' ready for shots! 

That's Bonehead on the right... AKA Mikey

This girl was crazy fun.

Don't they know how to have a good time?!

Home Sweet Home

I took Ron to Hershey, PA this week and showed him around my home town. I took him to Chocolate World and I felt like a kid again. It was really neat to experience it with him for the first time. I faced a lot of ghosts, confronted the past, dealt with the emotions and had a great experience here. I love the season of fall. I haven't seen fall in 5 years, so it was nice to come home to the trees and crisp, chill air. Unfortunately, there was a snow storm before we came so a lot of the leaves were stripped off the trees and the remaining leaves were brown and yellow. I got robbed of my visit a little bit, but at least the weather was nice and the snow had melted when we arrived.

I didn't think it would feel so good to be in Hershey again because my memories are mostly negative in this town. But being in a better place now, at peace with myself and happy in my new home, I was able to enjoy it here and appreciate the country. Boy, do I ever miss the country! It was so nice to be one of the only cars on the road with slow speed limits and non-crowded shops/restaurants. I really do miss the small town life, but I certainly am not built for snow winters. My body freezes up and I hibernate until it's over! I do miss the thunderstorms and warm rain for days, sometimes weeks. East coast weather gave me an excuse to stay in and snuggle in a blanket, read, watch TV, scrapbook or nap. I actually missed it and if I had to, I could live on the east coast again. I think it's beautiful out there and I am a country gal at heart.

I took Ron to the Amish community in Lancaster. It was quite the experience for him. He said, "I feel like I just went back in a time machine to the 1800's." I could live the Amish life - no phones, computer or TV. But without the clothes and controlling beliefs. I love the simple life! I could easily move to a small island and live among the islanders fishing, cooking over the beach fires, and cooperate as family with the villagers. Simple, no stress, natural work and natural deaths. That's the best way to go in my opinion. I've been giving that some serious thought lately. I'm beginning my research on small island life where the people are not colonized because the island is too small and too inconvenient to get to. It is a dream of mine. :o)

Ron & I went to the Steelers vs. the Ravens in Pittsburgh. That was way fun! He's been a Steelers fan since he was a kid. His San Diego Chargers friends say he must have been dropped on his head when he was a baby. :o) I went all out! We were waving our terrible towels! Although this game had a disappointing end, we got to enjoy most of the game until the last 20 seconds when the Ravens scored a touchdown to get 3 points ahead of us and win. That was a bummer. But I was glad we got to enjoy the Steeler comrade around us for most of the game. How miserable it would have been to sit through most of the game as losers! I will post more pictures of our trip later, as Ron has deleted them from our computer already! >:(

Viva Las Vegas 9/9-9/12

I just had a weekend of fabulousness with Monica and Mikey. We stayed in the Aria Casino, which is pretty brand new. It's beautiful of course. Words can't do it justice. Click here to see! The beginning of my trip was a little deranged due to a nuclear power plant shut down, with Southern California, Arizona, and Northern Mexico power all lost.

 Of course, my flight was supposed to leave at 7AM but that wasn't possible since the power was out. All flights departing Friday morning were canceled. I ended up driving to Vegas. Good thing it is only a 4 1/2 hour drive! It ended up being a blessing in disguise because the drive is not that bad. You just go through the desert at 70 MPH (I went 80) and it's really doesn't have much traffic. Get up early and go and all is well! It takes the same amount of time if you were to go to the airport and depart. You get to the airport 2 hours early to check in, go through security, an hour flight, land, get luggage, shuttle to the airport. It's the same time. And we had a car, so we didn't have to waste money on renting one or cabs.

Aria has some fun clothing shops. I'll be back to do some damage. I found some SUPER cute and fun bath and soaps. They look like cupcakes, ice cream, cookies and lollipops. Click here for party favor ideas and gifts.

I had AMAZING cupcakes at the Cupcakery in the Aria. I took home a strawberry shortcake cupcake with strawberry buttercream frosting and a milk chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate ganache with a hint of mint in it. Split it with Ron when I got home and it was orgasmically tasteful.

The waterfall in front of the Aria we stayed in.

We hit up the club...

Got our drink on...

Love the Crystals at the new Cosmopolitan.

Room service for our day of recovery.

Fun water whirlpool in the mall...

Chocolate Flowers!

We had Fun, Fun, Fun!

And LOVED the Beatles show! A MUST GO SEE!!!

LOVE VEGAS <3 Will make this an annual trip with the ladies! 

The Marine Room

I celebrated a very elegant, gourmet dinner with Ron yesterday for my birthday. *July 12, 1986*

What a beautiful restaurant in La Jolla located right on the beach. The waves are crashing on the window at high tide during your meal. I wore my wedding dress. It can be worn 10-15 different ways and it was only $300.00 at a Boutique. I think there should be an award for the Smartest Bride Ever. It was not only a deal, but a reusable dress as a different dress every time I use it. I could have gotten it in the white color, but I chose not to get white for personal reasons. If you really care to know, you can ask me and I'd be elated to tell you. I just feel it's too personal to write on a public blog.

You can click on my dress for any skeptical viewers to see just how brilliant I was in the choice of my dress. A one size fits all - so there was no stressing about gaining or losing too much! :-) I'm not one to brag, but this is one of those things that I can't help but boast about.

Ron and I were all nicely dressed up. The food was FABULICIOUS! Click the Marine Room to see how exquisite it is! I recommend all my friends to dine here when in San Diego. Worth every penny.

Coincidentally, I sat at table #25 for my 25th birthday. That wasn't planned. It is one of the best tables in the restaurant and I also feel like I'm rocking at life right now so I'm going to take that as an indicator that this year is going to be absolutely fabulous! A new life in a new area with a new job and new aspirations. Touche to that!

I also worked for a few hours prior to the dinner and brought in my chocolate banana cake topped with peanut butter chocolate ganache. There was only a quarter of it left by the time I left to go home. Ron wrote me such a meaningful card. It brought joyful tears to my eyes. It was a fantastic birthday this year of 2011. A very memorable day. I have an incredible husband.