Totally drained

But so glad to be back home.

Hi Guys,

I'm going to make this brief because I am tired as hell. Just got home from the islands and I am exhausted beyond words. All I have to say is that I am ready to go back to work. I feel rested and anxious to get stuff done. I have a busy week ahead of me. My mother and my sis will be in town on Tuesday (tomorrow), meaning I won't have very much time to blog this week. We are helping her move into her dorm in SFSU. Oh god, it is soooooo refreshing to be home. And it is so refreshing to be with family. What a crazy few days this will be. Eek!

Mary Anne

Out of the office

I'm leaving you again, but this time for Maui.
New York wasn't as nearly as fun as this will be.
Will be back to post on the 21st.

Aloha!

Photos from NYC

So I didn't really tell anyone I was going to New York City because I didn't know myself till a few days before the actual trip. I figured since my husband would be on work travel during 4th of July weekend and I had some friends cancel out on me last minute, hey why not tag along with him.


We started our morning @ YouTube. Parked our car in the garage and took a taxi cab to the airport. Long term parking gets expensive.




San Francisco International Airport


If you haven't already flew on Virgin America, you should. However, flights are limited to only major cities. At least for now. But if you have the opportunity to, do it. They're affordable and all the seats have a view of this. You can play music, watch tvs, order movies, play video games, order food/drinks, the works.


The fog machine and the lights give it a club feel.


We arrive at our 4 star hotel (according to HotWire) and was surprised how tiny it was. Literally a shoe box. But we figured we wouldn't spend as much time here anyways.


We stayed in midtown, also known as "crowded as fuck", which is also known as Time Square. Tourist central.


Never again will I stay in midtown. Next time I'll stay in the Chelsea area known for the yuppiness of all yuppy. It's better.


We ate at this crappy English Pub-like restaurant above a main intersection in Midtown. Although the location and views were nice, the food fucking sucked. NEVER ORDER ITALIAN FOOD FROM AN ENGLISH RESTAURANT. NEVER.


Playwright Tavern is the name. It was so bad that I had to remind myself what the restaurant was called by this photo.


Best part of my meal was this flower.




I pulled out my camera to take a photo of Leo's New York hot dog. But by the time I snapped the photo, he ate most of it.


Funny story: I walked above some grates in Harlem and my mini dress blew up above my head. So anything below my chin was probably visible. I probably made someones day. Oh well. This photo was taken while we were waiting in line to see Rent on Broadway.


I could finally cross off "SEEN A BROADWAY SHOW" on my list of things to do before I die. You know, right next to "SWAM WITH A LARGE SHARK IN HAWAII."


This was in the New York Times building. A bunch of articles shuffle through these tiny marquees.


Also this phrase. Don't know why.




We took back a few slices of New York pizza to our hotel room to make up for the crapppy dinner. Gotta love these open very late kinda joints.




Entrance to Central Park.








The famous Central Park fountain.


I'm proud of this photo. I placed it on a ledge of a wall and used the timer feature. Not bad.




We rented a little row boat. T'was romantic.














Near the place where Borat washed his tighty whities.


Boat pond.


106 and Park. Not too sure why Leo took me here. I guess the whole reference to hip hop being concieved here or some shit like that. Luckily we didn't get shot.


It was basically this basketball court and a huge graffiti wall...


...and this bridge.


Funny sign.


Harlem.




Brooklyn Bridge


Happily.


Gift from the French.


Trying to pinch the lady.


Gotcha.


City skyline from the ferry.


We ordered room service to send us this delicious brownie with ice cream. This was seriously the best brownie I ever had in my life.




We ate at Little Italy at a restaurant called Cafe Sorento. It was good compared to the crap we've had.


Best part of my meal was dessert. Leo had a canoli while I had a tiramisu. They should just rename to tiramagood.


City view from the Google building.

Despite the humidity and the urine smelling streets, I like New York. A LOT. Leo and I have contemplated moving here, but for now, I'm going to say no. As a Californian, I realized how spoiled I am. Having so much space and cleaner air. It's great. Besides, if I wanted big city, San Francisco is right here.

Going to New York... be back in a bit

Friends,
Leaving to New York City early tomorrow. I will be back to update on Wednesday. Have a great holiday weekend!

xoxo

Going, going, back, back, to Maui, Maui

Two months ago, Leo and I decided that we were going back to Maui for our yearly vacation. Our initial plan was to go to Kauia, but that fell through. This will be my second time going to Hawaii this year. Rough life, I know.

In 2006, we stayed in Kihei for a week at the Kihei Beach Resort, shown in the beginning of this video.


This time we will be staying north of Lahaina, which is a touristy part of the island. I don't really mind it at all. We don't plan to stay indoors 98% of the time anyway. The weather is perfect enough to even sleep on the sand.

The significance about Maui is that this is the place where we were engaged. Leo had asked me to marry him at the Keanae Peninsula on April 23, 2006. We were on the road to Hana. You can view a video of the peninsula at 00:47.



Everything about our engagement was absolutely perfect. Except for the part when I started bawling uncontrollably after Leo had proposed. Five minutes and three snot stains on his shirt later, I finally said yes. I wasn't ready for that one.



The best part about Maui, is the snorkeling. We really enjoyed the snorkeling in Molokini Crater . We woke up really early to take a ferry out. Hopefully we can do something like this: a video of a crew that went to Molokini and sighted a large whale shark. People dove in to experience an opportunity of a life time.



How cool is that? This was around the time we went to Maui.

Although we didn't do anything as remotely cool as swimming with a whale shark, we did see some humpback whales swimming by while we were snorkeling. Somebody yelled out, "whales!" I looked up and saw them passing by from a distance. Just the fact that we were sharing the same body of water with these magnificent mammals was pretty cool in itself.

For some really awesome breath-taking views of the island, we did the group bike ride down the Haleakala volcano to see the sunrise.





Lastly, we went scuba diving near Wailea. This has to be one of the best experiences I've had in my life. We took an early class and made our way out towards the shore just a little bit before noon. We saw all sorts of wildlife and sea turtles! The sea turtles were so cute.



A photo of Leo and I swimming after a sea turtle.

If you're ever planning to take a trip to Maui, feel free to ask me for some activity advice. I still have the names of the companies we've used. Unfortunely, Yelp has not reached a high demand for users in Hawaii. Otherwise I would have just posted it there.

At any rate, Maui is for lovers.

So my lover and I will return in August.

Palm Springs!

Last time I was in Palm Springs I was 7 years old. 17 years ago! My parents, siblings, and I hiked a trail and rode the tramway. Tomorrow, I'm flying out to the desert with the co-workers and it's going to be sweet. I'm rooming with my co-worker Lily, who happened to be my Hawaii roomy.

We're both guilty for snoring loud so we figured we'd actually do the other girls a favor and keep the snorers in one room. I get really stoked about office outings because the other girls in my office always want to room with me. Makes me feel wanted. Like I'm the popular kid in class.

Anyhow, I don't think I'll get much sleep that night. I have a feeling I'll have tons of girls in my hotel room or I'll probably be dragged to join people at the pool around 10pm. Learned from my Hawaii experience that these trips means less sleep. But I'll make sure I'll have fun for you.

Ciao!

Oahu

I can cross off Oahu on my list of islands visited in Hawaii. Although, I've been to Oahu a couple of times, it really doesn't count. That was because it was a connecting flight to the Philippines or to Maui. Aside from all the tourist traps, Oahu has tons of history. I would stay longer just to visit these landmarks, but we only had five days to do anything. Five days is long enough when you're away from your family. I would actually like to go back with Leo some day. Leo being the history buff and all, I think he would enjoy it.

We stayed at the dead center of Waikiki. Meaning we were surrounded by all the tourist crap, malls, crowds, street performers, chain restaurants and whatnot. So the whole islander experience is something that you do not find on the southside of Oahu. That whole area thrives solely on tourism and tourism alone. Unless of course, if you like Prada and Starbucks at every corner, you are in luck. Our hotel overlooked a mall that was open till 10pm to cater to all the Japanese people on Japanese time. I would say 95% of the tourist were Japanese. During my stay at the hotel, I've probably seen 14 non-traditional Japanese weddings. Which is so ironic considering the Japanese totally obliterated that side of the island a few decades ago, killing 2,403 people. But that was hatchet buried a long time ago. It's the fact that Hawaii is only 8 hours away from Japan and that the beauty of Hawaii is too hard to resist.

On Oahu's famous, North Shore, they have this thing called "shaved ice." I know that sounds stupid alone, but it's actually really popular. It's shaved iced with ice cream. I've never had it, but the lady sitting next to me on the plane told me all about it. I thought it was kind of weird that she asked "have you ever had shaved ice." Being the asshole that I am, I gave her a funny look that said, "hey lady, I wasn't born yesterday." So I found a link to better explain what I'm talking about. My co-workers tried it (without me, bastards), and said they loved it. Check it out and see what you think. I didn't live one of my dreams, however. And that would be surfing at North Shore. With the little time we had, it was something I never got to do. Surfers are a lot territorial on that part of the island, according to a local. And the waves aren't something to mess with unless you know what the hell you are doing. So I guess it probably wouldn't be a great idea to go unless I went with someone who knew what the hell they were doing. I can't really rely on my girly-girl co-workers to save my life.

On my previous post, I told you about my shark siting while I was snorkeling with my boss. Well, I did my research and found out that Hawaii has all sorts of sharks (not just great whites, thank god). Harmless and aggressive sharks. Commonly found sharks on Hawaii are the whitetip reef sharks that are found on the sea floor resting beneath the coral reefs. I do believe that is what I swam with and we should just leave it at that. But the fact that the shark was bigger than me, scared me shitless. I can't wait till my boss develops the underwater photos. You can be the judge. Now I can check "swimming with sharks" off of my list of THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE.

Hoping our next island stop will be Kauai. I read and heard how absolutely beautiful it is. It's the kind of island where you sleep on the beach and roll into the water. And plus it's where they filmed Jurrasic Park! Oh yes, and they have lots of sharks for me to swim with.

Hawaii Trip 2008

Happy Friday.

Finally a weekend to relax. I know that sounds kind of retarded considering I was in Hawaii (on the island of Oahu) last week, but you have no idea.

In a nutshell... with photos from the collaborative efforts of me and my wonderful co-workers.


We stayed at the Moana Surfrider Hotel (A Westin Hotel) on Waikiki Beach. It's actually the first hotel establishment (1901) on Waikiki and is on the National Register of Historic Places.


Behind the hotel is Waikiki Beach!


From the outside, it looks like a mansion.


From our balcony view to the right is the city.


And to the left is Waikiki Beach.


Inside the hotel elevators with Mel.


This meal cost me nothing but hard dedicated work.


My boss.


Breakfast the very next morning on the veranda. That's James.


And here's the rest of the gang.


My gorgeous co-worker, Lakeisha.


Off to the beaches.

This was the same day we snorkeled out towards the ocean and I swam above a shark without even knowing it. My boss grabbed me and told me to stay calm and that there was a shark right below me. I looked down and saw how big it was. And yes, it was big. I freaked out and hugged my boss. Mel, my boss, and I swam to shore safe. There is a longer version to this story. But I freak myself out everytime I think about it. I'm waiting for my boss to develop the underwater photos so I can share with you the horror. He thought it was funny. I obviously want to smack him across the face.


We saw a monk seal hanging out outside our hotel on the beach. The monk seal is an endangered specie with only an estimated 1,200 remaining in the world. How cool is that?!


Lily and I.


My Melody.


On our hike up to the tippy top of Diamond Head Crater the very next morning.


We woke up early in the morning to do this hike so we could watch the sunrise. Apparently crowds of people beat us to it.


Japanese tourist everywhere!




More Japanese tourist and Honolulu in the background.


Waikiki Beach in the morning.




This.


Is.


Love.




Getting ready for the 16 mile hike... ON OUR VACATION! My boss and James behind me.


View above the trees.


Manoa Falls.




That's me tempted to take my clothes off and dip into the pool of cold mountain water. It gets really hot in the jungle.


Boss man and James surrounded in bamboo trees.






We ran into this random man in the jungle. He probably lives somewhere in the trees. He says his name is Harold. But it's probably Mohipupunakoki.


View of a valley during our hike.


We attended a luau in Paradise Cove - which is somewhere I can't tell you because I really don't know my ways around the island and that is why you pay good money for internet to do the research.


Honestly, I prefer the luau in Maui (Lahaina) over this one because it really wasn't that great. The Maui luau wasn't all that great either which says a lot about how god awful this one was. However, if you do drink enough mai-tai's with your friends/co-workers, it's not so bad.


The pig.


And of course, the guy with the flaming batons at each end of the stick. This was kind of cool. It's like a raver with glowsticks, but on steroids.


It began to rain on our way to Pearl Harbor. It really sets the mood for whats to come.


Mel not happy with the rain and traffic.


...which makes for good PICTURE TIME!




The USS Arizona memorial. Unfortunately we did not make it to the last ferry to see the actual sunken battleship. But we did visit the visitor's center and enlightened ourselves with some good ol' US history... ON OUR VACATION!


I sat on this bench when I took this photo overlooking the harbor and thought to myself, "Holy shit, Japanese fighter planes hovered across these skies and totally pwned the US... I really miss playing TF2 with Leo... I would so want to be a soldier right now."


Sunset at the famous North Shore. The waves were calmer that day.


A closer look at the sunset. This is love.


Eating Mexican food for dinner at North Shore with the gang. On the right is me pouring Splenda into my ice tea. That was probably my 6th packet. I never use less than that.


Back in Waikiki there was some drinking.


And then some drunk karaoke.


And where there is drunk karaoke, there is drunk people. I do not know what is wrong with my face in that photo.


What I do know is, we had one hell of a time.


But Hawaii is for lovers.

And my lover was back home.

So I left.

Aloha

Back on the mainland. The trip that took less than a month to plan was a complete success. My co-workers, boss, and I had a grand time. I will keep you guys updated with more photos and stories of swimming with sharks and drunk karaoke. I'm still on Hawaii time so I need to sleep. In the meantime, here are some photos. 1.) My feet on Waikiki beach 2.) USS Arizona anchor, Pearl Harbor 3.) Sunset in North Shore







Aloha!

A Vegas Recap

A lot of you have asked how the Vegas trip was last weekend, so here's a recap of what I did. Sorry for the delay. I've been so caught up in job and house hunting prepartions up north.

Last weekend, we flew to Vegas for a much needed getaway. We touched down a little before noon and it was already a scorching 114 degrees. The heat was literally drying the moisture out of my eyes. I probably told Leo how hot it was like 5 million times. Like pointing out the obvious was going to rectify the heat from melting the hair off my head. Not exactly San Diego weather, where it's warm outside, but still cool from the coastal breeze. No. This was insanely hot. So hot that you can cook a steak on the sidewalk right next to the nudee magazine racks.

We first went to a distant relatives house for a family reunion. It was located 8 miles away from the Vegas strip. When we arrived, we were greeted by relatives that I have never seen in my life. I found out that one of my thems is a producer in Hollywood. At the ending credits of the original three Star Wars movie, look for Nilo Rodis. Awesome. And then I found out that I had an attorney cousin who lives in the Bay Area with his family. Some comforting news since we will be moving up there shortly. He also writes a column in AsianWeek and is a 49er's fan. Booooo. I even sang a little kareoke and did my Celine Dion number of My Heart Will Go On. After a long day with family, Leo and I headed back to our hotel.

We stayed at the Planet Hollywood (formerly known as the Aladdin). It wasn't our first choice. But it sure was our first choice in buffet. Spice Market Buffet is rated the number one buffet in all of Sin City. With a reputation like that, how could our bellies refuse? All I really remember from that buffet experience was how awesome their crepes are. ALL YOU CAN EAT CREPES. Yes indeed, the reputation lived up to it's critics.

Las Vegas is notorious for their over-the-top hotels. Planet Hollywood was actually really nice and very modern. Unlike Bellagio, Venetian, or Paris, the Planet Hollywood Hotel stood out from the typical fancy Romanesque/Meditarranean/European decor and mythical god statues with fountains shooting out of their ass. It kind of gets old after awhile. I think the only bad part about the hotel, was the pool. Two pools that really suck. Which was understandable because of major renovations from the previous Aladdin hotel. They're currently in the process of building two towers on the existing hotel with a totally new pool. Including residential/timeshare units on the upper levels.

While checking in, an employee of the hotel told us that the man standing next to us was the owner of the hotel. We later learned that he owns a string of hotels in Vegas. I stood there hoping he would notice me. And then maybe adopt me because I'm cute.

On the bottom level, is a shopping mall called the Miracle Mile. Leo bought me the coolest shirt in the world at the Urban Outfitters. I'll take a photo of myself proudly wearing it on a later post.

Our first attempt at a night club was located at the Venetian. A restaurant called Tao, which later in the evening converts into a club, was first on our list. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we were told that Sunday was not a club night. I was disappointed at the fact that my co-worker highly recommended that place and was one of the hot spots that I was really looking forward to. Tao is notorious for celebrity sightings and hot naked girls swimming in bathtubs while people dance around them on the dancefloor. Sure beats the typical go-go dancers. Here's a photo of how it looks like with a camera flash. I can't believe we missed that one.





Luckily, the bouncer was nice enough to give us recommendations before we left. He suggested Tryst at the Wynn Hotel. Elated by the news that we were going to the Wynn, I didn't mind the quarter mile trek in the blistering 10pm heat. I just fucking love the Wynn Hotel. It's seriously the classiest hotel I've ever been to but never stayed at. I feel so unworthy when I step foot on the marble floors with my $50.00 heels. Like the marble laughs at my shoes because they don't meet the minimum requirements of a $500 pair of Minolo Blancs.

Can I tell you how awesome that place is? There is seriously someone in the Women's room who holds your purse and wipes your hand after you wash it. You mean there's a person who's specific duties include holding your hair up while you puke? YES. THERE. IS. And just because my past clubbing experience was never so good, I tipped the lady a dollar just for the sake of her being on standby. On behalf of all the girls that ever hurled on themselves in a night club bathroom without support from their girlfriends.

The club was definately the classiest club I've ever been to. Abundant with waterfalls and beautiful people. Not the kind of crowd you see at the local bar or club in your city. Tryst really put the ASS in CLASS. Check out these photos including a video clip of Tryst.

At the end of the night, both Leo and I agreed that clubbing isn't our scene and never really was to begin with. I think our favorite scene is curled up on the couch watching hours of Godfather. But once in awhile, it's fun to dance and pretend like you just turned 21. Makes me wish that I had my bachlorette party at Tryst, instead of Rumjungle at the Mandalay Bay last year. Bottle service at the Tryst was bitchen.

The next morning, we ate at a Brazillian grille called Pampas. If any of you aren't familiar with the Brazillian BBQ experience, then you should really check it out. The servers come around with skewers of fresh meat off the grill and then cut it into pieces on your plate. And for the boring vegetarians, they also have a salad and side entree bar. It was nice to have a non-typical meal. We haven't had Brazillian food in awhile - so it was a very refreshing experience.

With all good things, they must come to an end. We took an earlier flight to San Diego on Monday because two nights is a long time to be in the City of Sin. We wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Being away from San Diego, even for a short amount of time, made me realize how fortunate we are to be living in such a great city. And that the worst part of traveling is missing our own bed.