the stars at night are big and bright

well, i’m back! :)

my trip to texas with marke was so much fun and went really well. :)  check out the photos here when you get bored of my writing.  i may add some more soon because i know marke took some but i haven’t seen them yet.

anyway, so thursday morning, we got up too early and marke’s dad took us to the long beach airport.  marke is fully convinced it’s not a real airport now that he knows the gate areas for jet blue are just a big trailer (in which a few birds live).  and then we took what he insists is not a full size plane because it only had two seats on each side of the aisle.  i maintain it’s a full size plane, however.  anyway, he was panicked flying on a plane that small, but we made it just fine all the way to austin.

we made it to our hotel fine, also.  biggest hotel room i’ve ever stayed in.  just enormous.  the first of many texas-sized things on our trip.  and then we walked to this place called hut’s because they have great hamburgers.  i didn’t have a burger, but marke did and he said it was pretty excellent.  thus started our frommer’s guide eating.

we spent the rest of the afternoon walking all around austin.  it was gorgoeus out and we were happy to be wandering around.  we saw fountains and a lot of the campus at ut.

thursday night was the main event, the whole reason there ever was an austin trip!  we went to see brad paisley in concert!  (here’s one review)  darius rucker and dierks bentley opened, and i enjoyed them both a ton!  brad was awesome, of course!  and i got chris on the phone a couple times so he could listen to the music; he was so sad not to be there with us.  marke survived the whole show.  he doesn’t do country music.  at all.  but he was a good sport.  and by the time we walked back to the hotel, we were both really ready to crash.

saturday, we rented a car.  a red chevy aveo.  haha!  anyway, we had breakfast at the flagship whole foods store in austin, which was amazing.  the food was so good and the store was just amazing.  we could have spent hours wandering, but we had a lot more planned for the day.  we drove down to san antonio and parked the car downtown.  we started walking toward the alamo.  there’s an ice cream shop right near there, and marke suggest ice cream as we walked by.  of course, i said yes!  so we took our ice cream and walked to the alamo on another beautiful day.  we strolled around a bit.  truthfully, it’s not super amazing or super big.  anyway, then we walked around the riverwalk a bit.  that was really lovely, and we both enjoyed that a lot.  and then we had lunch at acenar, right above the river.  we had really, really incredible mexican food.  great lunch!  and then we walked around a bit more because it was so nice.

and then we headed away from the city center and towards katie’s house.  she lives on the edge of san antonio in a beautiful neighborhood in a lovely home.  she just had a baby boy, lukas nolan!  they were still recovering and everything, but i wanted to see them so badly!  so i got to see katie, lukas, and katie’s parents.  it was so wonderful! :)  they’re doing well.

and then marke and i headed back to austin.  we went to a great record store called waterloo and an even better bookstore called book people.  we had a good time wandering around, and marke bought a few things.  i resisted. :)  and we had a really fabulous dinner at a small italian place called la traviata.  really good.  by this point, i had marke mostly convinced that frommer’s picks the best restaurants.   so anyway, we brought the car back and went back to the hotel.  i hit the gym for a late night session while marke checked email and such.  and then we crashed.

on saturday, we slept in a little later because we could. :)  and then we took our time getting checked out of the hotel.  then we headed out with every intention of seeing some sights.  until we realized it was suddenly very wintry out.  like 50 and crazy windy.  we weren’t dressed for that at all, so we altered our plans.  we wandered around the capitol building a bit.  it’s the largest of all the state capitols.  actually, it was pretty cool.  and then we had an amazing mexican lunch at manuel’s.  marke then decided frommer’s is totally the way to go when choosing where to eat and told me he wanted one for san clemente.  yep.  rock. :)  and then we found a cool coffeeshop called jo’s and hung out there.  i read and sipped a mocha, and marke listened to music and had tea.  and we were content blending in with the locals.

and then it was time to get to the airport and fly home.  we made it without incident.  and amy and roderick were in long beach to pick us up.  so in all, i had a really fun time with marke and hope we’ll do more traveling together.

sunday was a pretty lazy day.  i did some shopping because marke’s birthday is quickly approaching.  and i went out for ice cream (though i ended up with a smoothie instead) with lauren and roderick.

and it’s been a busy week so far.  life can get a little crazy and stressful, but i’m feeling pretty good tonight.  more soon.

beautiful disaster

tonight i think i’ll start with what’s coming up and then get to what i’ve been doing in the past week.

thursday morning, i’m headed to austin.  you might know i’ve been planning to be in austin on that date for a few months now.  that’s the only thing that’s stayed the same from the original plan to see brad paisley in concert in austin that night.  new company.  new transportation.  whole new plan.  long story short, marke and i are flying out there on thursday.  we’ll enjoy austin and san antonio for a few days, and then we’ll head back saturday night.  i’m so excited, even though it has all changed.  we’re going to have a great time!  i’ll let you know about what sorts of mischief we find there. ;)

so the past week has been fairly busy.  no surprises there.  church has been good.  work has been busy.  the gym has been challenging.

friday night, marke, chris (from work), and i hung out at chris’s place.  we had a delicious dinner at chick-fil-a.  seriously, i need that closer to where i live.  anyway, then we watched “the fall,” which was visually spectacular.  and marke was hilarious during the drive back north.  perhaps it was those last two swigs off the vodka and rum bottles.  we had to stop at this sketchy rest stop in the middle of nowhere.  awesome.  haha!

saturday, i hung around in the morning watching basketball before joining marke and roderick for some shopping.  not for me.  for marke.  apparently he needs new clothes, and i am always up for browsing, so we all had a good time hanging out.  and i spent the night hanging out, cleaning my messy apartment, and catching up with lots of tv.

sunday afternoon, i found myself playing dodgeball with about 20 people again.  it was a bit more instense this time around because it was a lot more guys than girls, but i held my own okay and had a really good time!  and then a few of us hung out afterwards at a’s burgers, which is always delicious. :)

i had a (rare) holiday from work.  i had to go in in the morning for about an hour to take care of an emergency.  and then i met up with marke, amy, twins jennifer and dana, and their mom nancy.  we all headed up to annajoy’s, way up in the mountains.  and from there, we went on an afternoon hike.  annajoy even brought justin on a horse.  it was a wonderfully gorgeous day out and from the ridge, the mountains and ocean looked especially amazing.  just stunning.  so we had a great hike. :)

and yesterday evening, i met up with lauren for dinner, so we could catch up.  it’d been too long since we’d seen each other and we had lots to talk about.  and then we both headed over to the women’s study.

and tonight, i picked up sprinkles and then went to see “rachel getting married,” which i thought was good and interesting and different, but not the best movie i’ve seen this year.  still, it was worth seeing.

so that’s about it for now.  :)

i love you more than

i’ve recently started reading this blog because it makes me smile. :)  my submission landed on this entry.  also, check it out on my flickr. :)

(it wasn’t a romantic submission.  it was just about how much i care for people.)

forever and always

i’m here, alive, and well.  i know you’ve missed me. ;)  i’ll just get on with it, and if you get bored, check out the latest photos over on my flickr.

so adam and i made the long drive back to socal after a great visit home.  it was so wonderful to spend some quality time with friends and family while i was there, though i was also anxious to get back to my life here in san clemente.

about an hour after i made it home to my apartment, a bunch of my friends came over to hang out and watch some football.  it was so wonderful to fill my apartment with great friends immediately upon my return.  i missed them while i was away!  we watched the game and hung out and enjoyed being with each other.  we even played this silly party game called fax machine!  it was wonderful.

i went to see “gran torino” with roderick, chris, and chris’s stepbrother.  what a great movie!  it was amazing and funny and wonderful.  i love love loved it and think you definitely need to go see it.  it’s different than i expected.  anyway, go!  now! :)

i also went to see “revolutionary road.”  also brilliant and beautiful, though i don’t think it’s a movie for everyone.  it was also different than i thought it would be — not quite as depressing.  just really well done.

thursday night after a great  night at emmaus (you should go listen online), i hung out with a bunch of friends at in-n-out.  it was so much fun!  i mean, we pretty much always go out afterwards, but this was a particularly fun night.  loved it.

friday night, i went out with marke, annajoy, laura, amy, roderick, jen, and jen’s friend trevor.  we had dinner at macaroni grill (because someone let me actually pick out the restaurant!!!) and then went to see “milk.”  dinner was fab.  of course.  and the movie was well acted and well filmed and lacking in actual story.  still, i’m glad i saw it, even if i don’t think i’d watch it again.

saturday was going to be my mellow day, but lauren called and there was a change of (non)plans. :)  i met up with her after lunch and we went up to laguna.  we wandered around south laguna near the montage resort and through there.  i’d never been there before, and it was absolutely gorgeous.  oh, by the way, we are having ridiculous weather here right now.  85 degrees on the coast in january.  i am one happy camper!  anyway, then we made our way to downtown laguna and found great drinks (juice, not alcohol) at a little cafe and wandered around main beach.  and then we went further north in lagauna and did more walking along a coastal path.  so gorgeous.  and so fun. :)  and then we made our way up to newport for cupcakes from sprinkles.  what a great day!

saturday evening, i picked up marke and we went to a birthday party for lindsay at her new place.  it was fun to hang out with some people there for a while.  and then marke and i met up with annajoy and roderick for some late night bowling, which was way too much fun.  i actually beat marke in the first game by 34 (i think) point.  i love beating him because i never do! :)  anyway, we had a great time.

sunday was another busy one.  some friends came over to watch the chargers lose to the steelers.  then about 20 of us went to play dodgeball in a local tennis court.  what a great time!  grownups playing with big rubber playground balls!  it was so much fun, and i wouldn’t doubt that we do it again soon, though i’m told we’re doing kickball on this coming sunday.  and then a few of us hung around my apartment a while watching some tv.  it was a just a really nice day.

work’s also been keeping me quite busy.  (tentatively) i’m not working next week between the mlk holiday and me having tuesday through friday off for a trip to texas.  that means i have some work to do to make sure everything’s in order before i’m gone.  but it’ll be worth the work. :)

so anwyay, that’s the scoop.  more from me soon. :)

oh!  and i’m looking for people who want to go to new york in the next couple months.  seriously.  i need friends who want to and can go! :)

brand new year

happy new year, everyone!  and merry christmas!  and i hope you’re all doing very well.  i realize it’s been a very long time since i’ve updated, so i’m going to try to fill you in on everything that i’ve been up to, as well as let you know about what might be coming up as we kick off 2009.

currently, i am at home in san carlos, and i’m headed back home to san clemente on saturday.

so let’s go backwards first.  here’s a brief(ish) rundown of various goings on…

the rtc group had a christmas party this year.  we closed up the office early on a friday afternoon and then had a delicious dinner at maggiano’s and went to see a performance of “a christmas carol” at south coast rep.  it was a pretty good time, and i will take pretty much any excuse to eat dinner at maggiano’s. :)  after the party, i went up to la to pick up adam so he could hang out with me for the weekend.  he’d just finished up finals for his fall quarter, and then was headed home for his winter break.  i made him take me to diddy riese for ice cream sandwiches.  mmm… more delicious food!

adam mostly came to visit me so we could spend most of a saturday at the john wooden classic, which is a double-header of college basketball.  we both basically worship john wooden (so legendary), so we wanted to catch a glimpse of him in person, as well as see some good basketball.  it was a good time.  then we raced back to my apartment to get ready for the party.

what party?  well, we threw roderick a huge birthday party at my apartment.  i made lumpia (like the filipino version of eggrolls) for him because no filipino party is complete without lumpia.  marke made a massive, delicious lasagna.  other people brought other food, and we pretty much packed the apartment with people.  it was a huge success, and i’m so glad we did it!

i had a movie night at my place, and we watched “dark knight.”  not “a knight’s tale.”  both feature heath ledger; i can see how it’s confusing.  haha!  anyway, it’s nice to have friends over on a random monday night to just hang out.

there was more birthday cake for roderick on his actual birthday because lauren had a bunch of us over to her house after emmaus.  we had fun hanging out, and it was much quieter than the previous party so we got to really enjoy each other’s company more.

there are lots of movie nights, it turns out.  i went to a big one at nikki and jen’s house to watch “elf,” which is an excellent choice around the holidays. :)

i had a very busy saturday with lots of different friends.  i love when days come together like this one did.  it started with lunch out with lauren and nikki.  we had great thai food!  and then i met up with dana to try out scuba diving.  it was really, really cool to get to try in a pool and just learn what it’s all about.  basically, it was a free private lesson.  and we even got to take a photo with a scuba diving santa!  hooray for trying new things!  and then that evening, i met up with chris, and we went to see this band called the union line play at oc tavern.  he’s good friends with some of the guys in the band, which makes it even more fun to see them.  they were actually quite good!

and i had a busy sunday with all sorts of little things, as well.  i worked on a few little design projects, and i baked my christmas cookies (which turned out beautifully but a tiny bit too salty).  then i went christmas caroling at an assisted living home with the kids from emmaus and then went to the emmaus christmas party.  so busy but so much christmas fun!

before leaving town for a week and a half, i wanted to see my friends, so i threw a little dinner/game night at my apartment.  i made delicious mac and cheese, and everyone else helped out with the sides.  it was so nice to see everyone there just hanging out and realxing and enjoying each other.  i love nights like that! :)

two days before christmas, i made the long drive home to san carlos.  it took me over 9 hours, when it should have taken 7.5, but i made it safely and really without incident.

christmas eve was spent hanging out with adam.  we did some last-second christmas shopping.  :)  and then we had dinner with some family, and i made them play hoopla with me!  it was really fun! :)  and then adam and i went to midnight mass with our cousin theresa.  after mass, we drove down eucalyptus street in san carlos to look at all the lights.  it was rainy and beautiful! :)

on christmas day, the whole family came over to our house for our (late) lunch.  it was good to see everyone, but it was the first day of this terrible cold i’ve been fighting, so i spent a lot of the day curled up on the couch feeling pretty awful.  i even napped through part of the afternoon.  at least i got to be miserable at home.

when i’m up here, i love to see all my girlfriends, so i had a fabulous dinner at il fornaio with  katherine, annahita, and tiffany.  we dined at 7:30.  we had planned on seeing a movie at 9:30 or 10:30.  we talked at the restaurant until 11:15 when they were really closing down, so we moved over to a frozen yogurt shop and talked for another hour or so.  we had lots and lots of catching up to do, apparently!  it was a blast! :)

sarah came down from woodland to hang out with me for a day.  we had a great pizza lunch at toto’s before shopping at stanford and enjoying cupcakes at the new sprinkles there.  and then we went down to santana row for more shopping and a great dinner at maggiano’s.  it was really a perfect day for us: shopping and eating! :)

adam turned 20.  i can hardly believe it.  mom threw a party for him here at the house, which was fun.  i played lots and lots of mah jong with grandma and didn’t do too badly!  i’m usually pretty terrible, so it feels like a pretty big achievement that i won several rounds.  plus, it’s good to hang out with grandma a bit.

mel loves pizookie as much as i do, so mel, meg, and i had a fun little dinner at bj’s together.  i love those girls.  we also talk and talk and talk. :)

on new year’s eve day, i dragged my family on an outing with me.  they might deny it, but they loved it!  first, we went to an open space preserve off skyline boulevard and took a little hike through the redwoods.  it was absolutely beautiful, and i will definitely be going back there again for more hiking!  i love that i live so close to the city and so close to places like that that feel so remote.  next up, we had lunch at duarte’s tavern in the tiny town of pescadero.  we bought an olallieberry pie.  apparently, that’s not a made up berry.  ;)  it was delicious!  and then we went up to half moon bay and walked around main street.  the whole day was really delightful and different and great.

on new year’s eve, i went out to dinner at gordon biersch with jackie, annahita, and katherine.  and then annahita and i went over to meg’s house for a party.  we hung out there with meg’s friends until after midnight, when we bailed because we were both feeling pretty sick.  but still, it was a good new year’s eve.

and today, i went up to the city with megs for an afternoon of shopping.  it was so cold out, but we did manage to have a good time shopping. :)  i didn’t buy much, but it was still a good time.  and then we had a very delicious dinner at sneakers here in san carlos.  and the family was hanging out here when i got home, so i got to see them, which was cool.  it turned out to be a more fun day than i had expected.

and now for what’s coming up…

adam and i are driving back to socal on saturday.  i already have my first gathering at my place planned for saturday night.  we’re going to watch the chargers in the playoffs.  mostly, i’m just looking forward to seeing my friends down there!

i’m trying to nail down some good travel plans for this year.  i’ll let you know as they develop. :)

i’ll be back at the gym as soon as i’m back in san clemente.  i’m feeling a lot better, but this cold is still lingering longer than i would have liked.

i think that’s about it for right now.  more from me soon…