tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15330051785766197842024-03-21T21:21:35.573-07:00where is tita?a travel log. travelog. travel blog? whatever.<br><br>http://<b>whereistita</b>.blogspot.comtitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-67634369392921461792009-07-20T16:19:00.000-07:002009-07-20T16:23:13.336-07:00>>> where is tita, indeeeeedI know, I know -- I am a failure as a so-called blogger. Meh. Sorry. Blame it on everlasting writer's block and a busy schedule.<br /><br />I did just pop in to let you know about a confirmed upcoming trip -- Calgary! In less than two weeks! Me, Ricky, and Alyssa are heading up for bonfires, water slides, hot springs, and maybe just a little bit of debauchery since Alyssa's 18 now (legal drinking age in Alberta is 18, unlike the rest of Canada where it is 19).<br /><br />I'm so excited to see the Calgarians again! I missed them... even though I just saw them 3 months ago. Haha.<br /><br />I hope to be posting here again soon, but don't hold me to that. ;)titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-89783811412138994852009-04-26T21:46:00.000-07:002009-04-26T22:09:19.936-07:00>>> orlando, FL: travel vlog #2!!!<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzTzW3ddt3JN7GhbjJPFlTKRplAX4la9TrWStgPS0TIu9cVGX_0wrjNQb8cFt8wMD0QbE8KwpW-uYXaX180RQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Filmed at the Omni Orlando Hotel at Championsgate in Championsgate, FL<br />Featuring: Neeks, Paulo, Mario, and Kristina</span><br /></div>titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-91436330542402917192009-04-26T20:49:00.000-07:002009-04-26T21:55:37.811-07:00>>> orlando, FL: travel vlog for 04.24.09<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzUERpAlW2YJi7J_KQ4O_tqiA3V6u2s-e1sz56gdfFPLZhzBieqPi70lynuOUDzupaxNp7zVGMteDL2wOsGxw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Filmed at NBA City Restaurant at Universal CityWalk in Orlando, FL<br />Featuring: Neeks, Feef, Mario, Richie, Keeks, and Chan<br /></span></div>titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-52992476386953711832009-04-25T01:13:00.000-07:002009-04-25T01:57:23.563-07:00>>> orlando, days 1 & 2Can this be true? Tell me, can this be real? <span style="font-style: italic;">I'm actually BLOGGING??!</span><br /><br />Yes, it's true. Greetings from Orlando! It's about 4AM over here and I'm still pretty much on Seattle/Pacific Standard Time, so I'm trying to take advantage of the quiet hours and catch up on some stuff. First off, I uploaded all of the pictures I have so far (from NWFASA Conference to lunch on the Ave to Orlando), then a video from yesterday, and now I'm at the next natural step, which is to update my travel blog. I also have a sort of vlog for yesterday, but I have to wake up in about 5 hours so I don't have time to work on that quite yet. Maybe on Sunday. :)<br /><br />And yes, I know, I know, I never finished my entry about Forks. It'll come soon enough and I will send you (Sheree) a link to the post once it's done. Deal? Okay.<br /><br />Let me start at the beginning of this lovely trip: 10pm Wednesday evening, Seatac airport. Wednesday had been a pretty terrible day: I woke up 3.5 hours late for work, I embarrassed myself horribly at work, I dumped a whole lot of freezing water all over myself at home, and then discovered while drying myself that the jeans I'd worn all that day had a giant hole in the crotch/thigh area. So when I got to the airport a couple of hours before my 11:55PM flight, I have to admit that I was expecting the worst to happen. It would've fit.<br /><br />Luckily, the only bad thing to really happen at the airport was that our first aircraft was deemed "out of order" and they had to switch us to another aircraft a few gates down, and then we took off a little late because people were super slow putting their luggage in the overhead compartments. But by 12:20AM we were on our way to Houston, and I was seated next to a lovely older couple who gave me gum to combat inner ear pressure (or at least,<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>I<span style="font-style: italic;"> think</span> that's what it was for... haha). I was able to sleep for 3 hours, and then I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Houston airport is pretty damn nice.<br /><br />Then came the bad news: my layover was more than 3 hours long. I somehow overlooked that when booking the ticket because I was confused by the time differences and how they were reflected in the schedule. Whatever. I bought some beef jerky and took a nap in one of those uncomfortable airport chairs.<br /><br />By the time I had boarded the second flight from Houston to Orlando, I discovered that the flight was full of high school cheerleaders on their way to a cheer competition at DisneyWorld. This would not have been so bad except one cheerleader's little brother sat behind me and was kicking the back of my seat for most of the flight. No sleep.<br /><br />Anyway, the moment I stepped out of the Orlando airport I was greeting by the muggy 83F degree weather. Whew. Quite a leap from cool, rainy Seattle.. My parents picked me up (they were in Daytona for a few days before that for my mom's work) and we headed off to the hotel.<br /><br />The hotel is nice; it's new and they did a lot of work to make it seem fancy like putting Sleep Number beds and flatscreen TVs in every room... The internet is free :) but the connection is terrible. Oh well, I have to make do with what I've got. We got here with a few hours to spare before going to my cousin's wedding rehearsal dinner, so while my parents napped, I worked out in the room and watched <span style="font-style: italic;">Elle<span style="font-style: italic;">n</span></span>. And then after we got all dressed up, we headed out to Epcot to meet up with the family and the bridal party and friends.<br /><br />My cousin Edith (or "Ditas"), the one who is getting married, grew up in San Diego but all of her first cousins grew up in Calgary (they're the Calgary cousins I've mentioned many times before). She moved to Orlando for her residency and ended up joining a medical practice here, so most of the wedding guests are from all over the place (in addition to the guests from Seattle and Calgary, there are guests from California, New Jersey, Minnesota, Virginia...). This meant that all of the out-of-towners got lost trying to find Epcot, then got lost finding parking, and then got lost trying to find the Guest Relations Center. So instead of going into the park at 6:30PM as planned, we didn't get in til after 7 and by then everyone was all sweaty because no one was used to this kind of weather but still happy to see one another. I, of course, was extremely psyched to see my Calgary cousins. Ah, good times.<br /><br />We had a nice dinner in The Living Seas, and then afterwards we all trekked from the restaurant to Germany. If you haven't been to Epcot before, let me explain: a large portion of the park is called the World Showcase which is comprised of 11 pavilions that represent different countries of the world by displaying their architecture, food, music, crafts, etc. They have Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure (haha wtf), Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. Anyway, the groom's brother reserved a patio in Germany for us to watch the nightly fireworks display at 9PM, however dinner ran sort of late so we had to haul ass from one end of the park to another (see map: we ran from The Living Seas at the bottom to Germany at the top). Half of the time we were moving, my cousin Paulo and I were running with our heads turned to the side to watch the fireworks. Not the smartest idea in the dark with lots of young children around, but whatever.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtyIofqgcwRpIOK7CtorM6P15T26uePCBkzrnECBH4Rs73V0PxppeXmNX8-ViWiD5ZWEYUh_HVl2rKkpiCFb-BykLApuvGA8-vsb4S9yVhPlPva6vPNihqp4qU9mwBe3vLTquoqAEwQdr/s1600-h/disney-epcot-map.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtyIofqgcwRpIOK7CtorM6P15T26uePCBkzrnECBH4Rs73V0PxppeXmNX8-ViWiD5ZWEYUh_HVl2rKkpiCFb-BykLApuvGA8-vsb4S9yVhPlPva6vPNihqp4qU9mwBe3vLTquoqAEwQdr/s400/disney-epcot-map.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328547800804510530" border="0" /></a><br />Anyway, after that was done my parents and I left to stop by the grocery store for snacks, and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest.<br /><br />Then yesterday morning I woke up early because my cousins and I were supposed to meet at the Orlando Premium Outlets at 10AM. They eventually arrived at 10:45AM and we then spent the next 5 or 6 hours walking around. I'm proud to announce that I did not spend a single cent at the outlet mall. Maybe it's because my cousins bought everything, I don't know. All I know is, I don't know anyone else who shops like these cousins. I don't know what they get paid in Calgary but I'm thinking I need to move up there and make bank like they seem to!<br /><br />After the outlets, we decided to go swimming at the house my cousins and their families are renting for this trip. Luckily I remembered to bring my waterproof camera case, so for a couple of hours we had fun taking pictures and videos underwater until we finally got hungry. After swimming we took showers and 7 of us piled into Kiko's rental (meant to seat 5 only, haha) to head to Universal CityWalk for dinner.<br /><br />I haven't been to Orlando since 2001 but I don't remember Universal CityWalk being <span style="font-style: italic;">quite</span> like it was last night. It's the shopping/eating entertainment area between the two Universal theme parks (Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) and it's free to go in, but damn dude. Teenagers everywhere! I don't know what teenagers in Seattle do on Friday nights nowadays, but I know they don't have a place like CityWalk to hang out at. It was insanely loud and rowdy and we all felt too old to be there. Nevertheless, we went to the NBA City Restaurant for food, booze, and alcohol, and left Universal CityWalk a few hours later with our spirits lifted. LOL.<br /><br />Well, I guess I'd better get to sleep since it's now almost 5AM and I have to wake up soon. I'll try to update again tomorrow after all the wedding craziness is over... But we'll see. There are no set plans for tomorrow (Sunday) except that me and the cousins are going to watch that new Channing Tatum movie ;), and then Monday is DisneyWorld and Tuesday is Disney Typhoon Lagoon! I can't wait!<br /><br />Hope you're having happy days, whoever/wherever you are!titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-80947157905220499532009-03-10T22:57:00.000-07:002009-03-10T23:02:00.523-07:00>>> march & may: BOOKED!Okay, I'm not going very far for my "trip" this month --- it's just a few hours' drive away to Forks, Washington. Yes, this is a <span style="font-style: italic;">Twilight</span>-related trip. A few of my besties from grade school and I are going to have a little overnight trip there, see the sights, take pictures, relax, catch up... it's going to be fun. =)<br /><br />And then Memorial Day weekend I'm heading back to CALI! Such a random trip that spurred out of nowhere. The idea came up earlier today, it was discussed a little bit, and then a couple of hours ago I booked my ticket! My friend Eilleen (who is from Seattle but currently lives in San Diego) is getting married in November and asked me and our friend Jeffrey to take the engagement pictures for her and her fiance --- at DISNEYLAND. Disneyland!!! You know that's one of my most favorite places ever! So next thing I know, me and Pao are flying into San Francisco to meet up with Toni and Jeffrey, and then the four of us will be driving down to SoCal to meet up with Eilleen and Alvin. I'm really looking forward to this trip, I know it's going to be awesome. =)<br /><br />Don't think I haven't forgotten about Florida and DISNEYWORLD next month. Hahaha. I'm still so psyched for that trip... This may be the best Spring I've ever had (or at least a close second to going to NYC last year for Spring Break. LOL)!titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-77425061289431837892009-02-11T16:13:00.001-08:002009-02-11T16:20:08.243-08:00>>> maui in 2011?71 days til Orlando --- I can't wait to get outta here. =) Ticket's been booked, I just need to figure out my hotel and car stuff...<br /><br />Just found out about another potential trip: my cousin/godsister/best friend is planning to get married to her boyfriend of a million-times-infinity years --- in Maui. Yahayyyy.. I've never been to Hawaii! Now that I know I need to saving up for that, too... And find a date for the wedding. Haha ;)titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-29998206193218578722009-01-22T23:03:00.000-08:002009-01-27T23:56:49.182-08:00>>> back in action<div>Did ya miss me? You're probably thinking, "Nope. I read your other blog religiously. You posted something the other day. There's been no time to miss you." I'm going to take this opportunity to point out to you that I am not the same Tita that writes emo fluff about the passage of time and growing old; I am Traveling Tita. I travel the world and have fun and am never emo and the only stuff I wonder about regarding the future is whether I need to bring flip flops or if open-toed foot paraphernalia is inappropriate for the climate. Whole 'nother story, ya dig?</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>Technically, I effed up and didn't post about some recent traveling that I did. I went to Vancouver, B.C. (that's in Canada if you don't already know) with my brother and a couple of friends. I was going to write that a trip to a location less that is less than a 4 hour drive away from home shouldn't count and therefore shouldn't be written about by Traveling Tita, but who am I trying to fool? Canada is a foreign land (sort of)! That deserves a blog entry, right? I guess I will work retroactively about it soon and tell you what I did. Not right now, though. I don't feel like it.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div>Right now I feel like talking about Orlando, Florida. I've been fB messaging back and forth with my cousin Richard, who lives in Calgary (Canada!!!), and we're making plans for Florida. You see, our cousin Edith (aka Ate Ditas) is getting married over there in April and the whole Calgary family, plus 3 Seattlelites (me and my parents), are going to attend. I am super excited for this trip because 1) I love my Calgary family a whole bunch but only see them every few years; 2) I love weddings; 3) I desperately want to go to a sunny place; and 4) DISNEYWORLD, duh!<br /><br />The plan is as follows: I'm going to fly out to Orlando on the Thursday before the wedding, get the rental car, and check into the hotel with my parents so we can get settled and ready for the rehearsal dinner at Epcot Center. The next day, Friday, will probably be a family bonding day since everyone should be there by then, and then the wedding is on Saturday. Sunday my parents will be flying back home, so Richie and whoever else wants to will stay with me at the hotel until I leave on Wednesday morning. And in between Sunday and Wednesday, we're trying to hit up DisneyWorld (at least the Magic Kingdom for Ate Gemma's little kids, but I'm going to lobby for Animal Kingdom because I want to see animals!) as well as a water park.<br /><br />Exciting, right? Hahaha. It sounds like it'll be pretty chill and I'm looking forward to that. I actually don't care what we end up doing as long as it's sunny, it's fun, and it's with my cousins.<br /><br />As far as documentation goes, I'll most likely have my dSLR by then and hopefully I'll have had a lot of practice beforehand so my photos turn out well. And I'll have my Flip MinoHD camcorder, too, so if I have a free internet connection while I'm down there, I might just end up vlogging instead of writing. We'll see.<br /><br /></div><div> </div>Anyhoot, I look forward to travel-blogging again! Even though I was so glad to be home after my last trip, I think I've caught the travel bug again because I've been itching to get out of here, just for a little while. Too bad I still have about three months to go until the trip...<br /><div> </div>titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-87548080322811646492008-09-17T05:29:00.001-07:002008-09-17T05:36:42.805-07:00>>> lagggggg.Home. Finally! I was relieved to get home and find that Milo was in good spirits and even lost a couple of pounds (this is a good thing; he has quite a few more to lose to get back to his old self, haha.)<br /><br />I'd so been looking forward to getting home for the past couple of weeks (sad, I know), but now that I'm here it feels weird. That was bound to happen, I suppose --- I <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> been gone for 3 weeks, plus that week in California before I left for Europe. Did I just get used to not being here?<br /><br />[...I don't know how to <span style="font-weight: bold;">be </span>anywhere.]<br /><br />Maybe I'm just lagging. Not just jetlagging (cuz I am -- I didn't sleep last night just so that I can try to get back on schedule by tonight for work tomorrow... if that makes any sense), but delayed in my realization that I am <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">finally HOME</span></span>. Whew.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm going to take advantage of the few spare hours I've got before life gets back to normal (whatever that is) and try to unpack, maybe do some laundry. I'll try to post up the old blogs that I wrote a couple of weeks ago, but... does that even matter anymore? Hahaha. If I have time, I'll take care of it. We'll see. Today I don't have work, but I do have to take Milo swimming at Edmonds, take my laptop + cord in to Best Buy to get a new one, go to the bank, and then get ready for Ann-Marie's birthday dinner later on tonight. And I might try to finish my pic upload before the end of the day (I've already posted up 10 albums since we got home).<br /><br />See how I do? Always hit the ground running. ;)<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-50159865746162869432008-09-07T15:05:00.000-07:002008-09-07T15:17:06.601-07:00>>> mini update?Greetings from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea! I'm sitting in the internet cafe on the ship, en route to Venice (our last stop), and about 100 feet away from me are a hundred people doing a conga line arond a champagne waterfall/fountain thing to the on-ship band playing "Let's Groove". Life is funny that way.<br /><br />I don't remember where my last post left us at. Istanbul? At sea? Let me check.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Okay, now I got it. Istanbul was pretty cool except I was in a <em>terrible</em> mood that day. Got very little sleep and things at home were keeping my mind rancid. Luckily, I've got plenty of people around me to get my spirits up and keep em that way. I've been pretty successful since then to keep myself in a good mood and not thinking about stupid stuff that I'll just deal with in about 8 days.<br /><br />Back to the topic at hand: travels! Istanbul was tight, but I think I liked Kusadasi (also in Turkey) a little better. We spent most of the day looking for a present for Liz's best friend and we were in luck because she found a beautiful turquoise pendant and a box made of cowbone to go with it. Then I finally laid out on the boat for a couple of hours and read some Vonnegut and got my back all dark. ;)<br /><br />Athens and the Acropolis were quite the experience. We walked about half a mile to a train station, took the train to Thissio, and then saw the huge climb it would take to get up to the Parthenon. I wasn't too hyped for that because it was 95 degrees out and dusty as hell, but then we found this tourist train thingie that took us <em>almost</em> to the top. We still had to walk up those last 87 marble steps to get to the top. Marble is slippery as @$%#$^, by the way. Us "kids" took some fun pictures at the top, then I ate the best Greek food ever, and then we headed back to the ship.<br /><br />Today was our last "at sea" day and our last formal night. I spent most of the day sleeping because we stayed up til about 4am last night. The time spent not sleeping was spent eating and/or getting ready for formal night. I didn't realize how dark I've gotten on this trip until I put my dress on (which is mostly white). I don't think people will recognize me when I get home. :)<br /><br />Tomorrow we pull in to Venice, and then we stay there for a day and a night and disembark Tuesday morning. From there, we will say goodbye to the Magnos and Jamoras (*tear*) and head off to Rome and Florence, and then to London, and then <em>FINALLY</em> I will be home.<br /><br />My brothers and I have discussed what we will be doing as soon as we get home in about 8 days. We're going to hop into my car, go to Albertson's, and buy Tony's pizzas and Coke and Gatorade and just lie around the house. Sounds like a plan, right?<br /><br />Unfortunately, my laptop is still dead and so I can't upload pictures until I get home. But you better believe it will be done the moment I get there!<br /><br />Wish you were here, really I do.<br /><br /><3titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-69020473438425606772008-09-03T15:53:00.000-07:002008-09-03T16:04:46.101-07:00>>> lessons learned in the mediterraneanI've gotta make this quick --- Internet minutes are a-wasting!<br /><br />So, tough break. The power cord for my laptop appears to be broken and I have no way of charging my laptop, which conveniently is devoid of battery power. So until I return to Seattle on September 16th, I won't be able to upload any pictures or copy and paste the entries that I had already written out for this blog. <a href="mailto:!@$#@%%$*@#$)@$">!@$#@%%$*@#$)@$</a>!(!@!#@~!!!<br /><br />I will try to break it down for you right quick because the point was to keep you posted on what I'm up to and I've been gone for over a week now and I haven't been posting ANYTHING!<br /><br />BARCELONA: really hot, cool city, beautiful people, cool architecture, nice scene. I liked it.<br />MARSEILLE: also really hot there, really really beautiful scenery, too expensive though!<br />LUCCA/PISA: really really hot, kind of boring historical stuff, and once you take your obligatory picture with the Leaning Tower, there isn't anything else to do there.<br />ROME: really really really hot, dirty, got ripped off by one of those tour bus thingies, the Vatican is cool, people at the Vatican were not cool (cut me off in line several times trying to buy <em>rosaries</em>, of all things!), Trevi Fountain is beautiful, but all in all I was not a fan of Rome.<br />NAPLES/POMPEII: really hot, kinda dirty, got bug bites, pedestrians are always in danger, people on the buses and trains are always in danger of pickpocketing, but hey, the PIZZA WAS GOOD.<br />MYKONOS: beautiful scenery, lots of wind, we took a lot of great pictures that you'll probably never see because I can't upload (grrr!), and had the best day because it was all strolling and pleasant chatting and taking pics.<br /><br />Other than that, we've all been stuffing our faces on the boat and been gradually getting bigger and bigger (except for Alex, who only gets buffer --- but he's a personal trainer, so he's exempt from the "get fat on the cruise" rule). I'm getting along really well with Ricky and Paco, as well as the other "kids" on the boat with me.<br /><br />The thing is, though, I'm still pretty homesick and I've only been gone for about a week. It's been the longest 8 or 9 days (I'm not sure) <em>everrrr</em> and I'm still not going to be home for another couple of weeks. It's really making me realize how hard it would be for me to relocate to another country and it's also making me realize how much I depend on my social connections with friends. Shouldn't family and family friends be enough social interaction for me? I guess I just really miss my usual routine and the comforts of home. I guess. I dunno, I've been having a lot of time to reflect on this trip. We'll see what happens when I <em>finally</em> get home.<br /><br />AUGH, the laptop thing is going to drive me insane. I feel like my links to civilization are all getting severed?<br /><br /><em>Shouldn't this be the best time of my life? Why doesn't it feel like it?</em><br /><em></em><br />Really, really, really wish you were here.<br /><br /><3titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-17098720752442678412008-08-29T09:59:00.000-07:002008-08-29T10:12:06.094-07:00>>> greetings from the mediterranean seaHello all,<br /><br />This is ridiculous. I am so addicted to the Internet that I'm actually paying $.55 a minute to have access to the slowest connection possible. There's no justifying it. I'm just... Insane.<br /><br />Europe is beautiful and hot and expensive --- just as I anticipated it would be. I'm having fun, but not at its fullest potential. I guess I'm kind of homesick. And I've only been gone for 3 days! I have 19 days to go, so... I'm either gonna get over it real soon, or be really sad for a few weeks.<br /><br />I guess that's one lesson learned: I can never, ever move away from Seattle. LOL just kidding.<br /><br />It's just... I miss Milo, I miss cheap Coca-Cola (2 euros for a <span style="font-style: italic;">can</span>!), I miss my bed and the comforts of home, and I probably miss you.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, though... I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I'm getting to see what's out here. And out here, it's beautiful and different. This is invaluable information to have obtained at my age.<br /><br />I'll post entries about Barcelona and Marseille soon enough... I just gotta write 'em. ;) None of this "on the fly" writing... Also, if I told you I'd write you postcards, I totally did and you should expect them in your mailboxes sometime in the next two weeks. :D<br /><br />If you have my number, text me once in a while. It's cheaper than using this crappy boat wifi and it will make me feel closer to home. :)<br /><br />Wish you were here! Really, I do.<br /><br /><3titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-25110012399056272722008-08-26T08:40:00.000-07:002008-08-26T17:31:25.863-07:00>>> heathrow airport (London, UK)Man, the Brits weren't messing around when they built Heathrow Airport. Really though, the place is HUGE and kind of confusing -- my family was walking around in circles for a while before we found our way.<br /><br />The flight from Seatac to London was 8.5 hours; luckily, I was able to sleep through most of it (except for when I was watching Made of Honor, hahaha).<br /><br />As soon as our plane touched ground and I was able to turn my phone on, I received a barrage of texts wishing me a Happy Birthday. THANK YOOUU!!! to everyone who sent their well wishes from home! Thanks for remembering (you probably saw it on Facebook, but that don't matter) because my own family didn't remember til a few minutes ago, hahaha.<br /><br />I am now seated smack dab in the middle of a British Airways plane, awash in a sea of good-looking Spaniards on their way back home. Now that I've gotten to see just a small sample of Spain's progeny, I'm thinking one thing: I'm gonna like it in Barcelona.<br /><br />Wish you were here (really).<br /><br /><3titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-14742055425806313942008-08-25T22:27:00.000-07:002008-08-25T22:29:43.242-07:00>>> next stop: Europe!I am currently seated in 33J on a NWA plane that is about to depart for London's Heathrow Airport. From there, we're hitting up Barcelona via plane then train.<br /><br />Planes, trains, and automobiles... Tis the story of my life right now. LOL.<br /><br />Be good, Seattle. I'll be back before you know it.titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-4338568101338067942008-08-24T12:39:00.000-07:002008-08-25T22:27:05.814-07:00>>> california: days five to eight (san francisco)The adventures continue!<br /><br />[Note: You'll have to excuse me if there are any typos or missing words or missing capitlizations... I started this post a couple of days ago by uploading pics to it but didn't get to write anything, and now I'm sitting at the airport about to leave for Barcelona and all I have to access the internet is my Blackberry. Whoops. I guess I could wait until I find some internet cafe in Spain to do this, but we all know that probably won't happen. Let's be real. So this will be a briefer-than-usual recap of my SF trip, sorry.]<br /><br />DAY 5: My uncles went back to work and Anna left early in the morning to head back to Seattle, so 90% of my day was spent in solitude. My flight to San Francisco wasn't til 5, so I kicked it at the house and watched movies and didn't blog and packed up at the last minute.. Hahaha. I took my very first cab ride by myself and it cost me $18 to go 3.46 miles. Yes.<br /><br />So I flew out to SFO, grabbed the Airtrain to the BART, took the BART to downtown SF, and walked up to our hotel (Hotel Adagio).<br /><br />The rest of the gang (Toni, Jeffrey, Paolo, Erika, Justin & Plinette, plus Kuya Don) didn't get to the hotel until a few hours later, and then we (I) had a late dinner at a Thai restaurant called Asha where the first picture below was taken. Good times. :)<br /><br />DAY 6: We all got a pretty early start to the day - had breakfast at a diner called Dollie's and then piled into Toni's truck (Momo!) to search for the KidRobot store!<br /><br />Oh man, my love for KidRobot vinyl toys really knows no bounds! Pao and I bought an entire box of Munny zipper pulls together, and I also picked up a couple of other toys. We walked around the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a while, then walked over to the USF campus for a bit, and then headed back to the car to check out the Golden Gate Bridge.<br /><br />Unfortunately, it was extremely foggy over the water, so most of the bridge was not visible. It was almost as though it didn't exist... We took a couple of pictures there anyway, walked around a scenic area (I can't remember the name! =p), and then headed back to the hotel so that we could go shopping around Powell.<br /><br />After a decent amount of shopping time, we all had some fun BOB (Bodies on Bunks/Beds) time in the hotel, watching the Olympics *and stuff* while waiting for Kuya Don to join us for dinner. It was a pretty early night in for everyone - we ate out at Tad's Steak House and then went to sleep afterwards. True story. ;)<br /><br />DAY 7: Got off to a slightly later start than the morning before.. Pao, Ek, Pliny, Justin and I ate at a diner across the street from the hotel (mmm, bacon) while Toni got a haircut and Jeffrey went shopping. By noon we were on our way to Stanford University to see the campus and possibly get stuff from the student store. The latter didn't actually happen, but we did get to see a bit of the campus. Our conclusion? UW campus is prettier :)<br /><br />Afterwards, we headed to Mountain View for lunch at Best Bites, a Mediterranean restaurant that the Bay Area Sanchezes like to frequent. We ate some yummy kabobs and geeerooos (gyros) and then headed back to the hotel to rest.<br /><br />What we had intended to be just a couple hours of rest before going out turned into a night of Chinese takeout and a scary movie at the hotel. If you're ever staying in the Union Square area and want some crazy ass cheap Chinese takeout, I highly recommend you call Tai Chi Restaurant. The NFT guide to SF does not lie -- it really is crazy ass cheap and pretty good!<br /><br />That was pretty much it for day 7. I did get a chance to wander around for a couple of hours that night, but that's another story for another time. Or for never. Hahaha.<br /><br />DAY 8: Sadness -- the end of my California adventures. I got to wander around a bit more in the morning by myself, and then it was time to pack it up and check out. We crammed ourselves into Momo once more --- still better than taking the BART - quality car time! --- and I got dropped off at SFO. I was back in Seattle by 330, just in time to start my laundry and start packing for the next leg of the Tita World Tour '08.<br /><br />Thank you, Sunshine State, for a great time. I look forward to seeing you again soon. =D<br /><br />Please enjoy the captionless pictures below... For more, you can check my Facebook albums.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9Lnu3OlllX5gFjKToo3CLmYp1yc8Mq0v5JtZ3YN3fiVFZQsKyuhie_oJ18JozM0qZMVyDKrJM4mDZfvPzUiB9bHEJTG3ySR1V_Yv3js4PPlWkLfwxAgvgWI-ZSWKpdwL1RqdEFbykI2S/s1600-h/day05_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9Lnu3OlllX5gFjKToo3CLmYp1yc8Mq0v5JtZ3YN3fiVFZQsKyuhie_oJ18JozM0qZMVyDKrJM4mDZfvPzUiB9bHEJTG3ySR1V_Yv3js4PPlWkLfwxAgvgWI-ZSWKpdwL1RqdEFbykI2S/s400/day05_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238172382096656882" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL4psEfhEHs7RDsM5rxd9HPwo8ApLzu1Gy7UATASagURbeJobvNACMe_qd8z5USBwfM5LJYI1IcSbM5vhS6rrNWEWmdjvQEn4tel_XTdAB_7lAgHMPO0OQtdYx8gnttty8TSCkW48p8iQs/s1600-h/day06_00.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL4psEfhEHs7RDsM5rxd9HPwo8ApLzu1Gy7UATASagURbeJobvNACMe_qd8z5USBwfM5LJYI1IcSbM5vhS6rrNWEWmdjvQEn4tel_XTdAB_7lAgHMPO0OQtdYx8gnttty8TSCkW48p8iQs/s400/day06_00.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238172270259727698" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhagXyEjce7qxmRsd9xliilKjqH6mbs1ppHL8Wp8s1TBD_NnWbAL9oMhvDDXQzpOSD6BXN3bWSj-nX4x7KoUFgPLLP88tlDQ93rngCt8V9xW_o0xOIQYGPh2ST1yb28v8C8XDiU8aLaUPS0/s1600-h/day06_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhagXyEjce7qxmRsd9xliilKjqH6mbs1ppHL8Wp8s1TBD_NnWbAL9oMhvDDXQzpOSD6BXN3bWSj-nX4x7KoUFgPLLP88tlDQ93rngCt8V9xW_o0xOIQYGPh2ST1yb28v8C8XDiU8aLaUPS0/s400/day06_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238172098768646274" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkBjpaDYslY_dlgd22Mroa9NbM19-EktXuMraslbgHK93BkBDywAvVpW6b7SkM0URJRrEZGDYSGb5gMhuuJ5l-HHtuWpWNdhR-2eKwzt01L7vODQf0J9F7bAYG4KRzJlnnK8lp0GHpFe5/s1600-h/day06_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkBjpaDYslY_dlgd22Mroa9NbM19-EktXuMraslbgHK93BkBDywAvVpW6b7SkM0URJRrEZGDYSGb5gMhuuJ5l-HHtuWpWNdhR-2eKwzt01L7vODQf0J9F7bAYG4KRzJlnnK8lp0GHpFe5/s400/day06_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238172029836797458" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdByKwTa_qsSL1TWr0Vny_tXFa1SFkNfru9JXEV6rqZ8QKcckKzuHaghz9ItCU-N-a7XIRaD3O8ddjZJmcyK76jinaXbCbOX_O3_6-5Bf9kWWqUcOHbLxrKJy_faCCsyrByQHkUQPhdvGw/s1600-h/day06_03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdByKwTa_qsSL1TWr0Vny_tXFa1SFkNfru9JXEV6rqZ8QKcckKzuHaghz9ItCU-N-a7XIRaD3O8ddjZJmcyK76jinaXbCbOX_O3_6-5Bf9kWWqUcOHbLxrKJy_faCCsyrByQHkUQPhdvGw/s400/day06_03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238171954263889922" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWuwnjJsUvC4scFXuZorz9bhxi36XnD4XKAcaHsB3g3pLAJ2N1l5kYzPsHU4Q4SW_K-iI1KVoGh1s0qMGTPDgxD6LQOtRNWnLdHtKW6TmOKi09ewxnWH8NLYCGY6FkHaC73e4ds-0aTw3/s1600-h/day06_04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWuwnjJsUvC4scFXuZorz9bhxi36XnD4XKAcaHsB3g3pLAJ2N1l5kYzPsHU4Q4SW_K-iI1KVoGh1s0qMGTPDgxD6LQOtRNWnLdHtKW6TmOKi09ewxnWH8NLYCGY6FkHaC73e4ds-0aTw3/s400/day06_04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238171813751744610" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaLrY0uqY6lNCXqnHeG8MUsv4gaenalHqfDLHqMChH98uB9o_tMf5AFnmEJiDvzJIkpp8WqLLpnt0OOIfXJggcPWOlifLMvqy20gtXi7jsSMTy1NxZQ-FhDFKw0J9m25iuMlA6_pmIrlE/s1600-h/day06_05.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaLrY0uqY6lNCXqnHeG8MUsv4gaenalHqfDLHqMChH98uB9o_tMf5AFnmEJiDvzJIkpp8WqLLpnt0OOIfXJggcPWOlifLMvqy20gtXi7jsSMTy1NxZQ-FhDFKw0J9m25iuMlA6_pmIrlE/s400/day06_05.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238171752947465666" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW25h4jT8Spc3nH7gNB7TUW5njYWuqpXt_PLZlQLzEq2GfeTy5bftcmzgadN_v7MeFeRS-u-btEAOlssykf4_g0vTOSFI6ZYN1MoOTc-Aat293a8f4ac1me_xRO6ZdhQKBx-o5CjdRcusv/s1600-h/day06_06.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW25h4jT8Spc3nH7gNB7TUW5njYWuqpXt_PLZlQLzEq2GfeTy5bftcmzgadN_v7MeFeRS-u-btEAOlssykf4_g0vTOSFI6ZYN1MoOTc-Aat293a8f4ac1me_xRO6ZdhQKBx-o5CjdRcusv/s400/day06_06.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238171673459183986" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ylDLrnYwHwbNGkXOwejHD3BLDmbHI2bieoQ31qUFq5dOsvOw9xwXGtygOvFKuFJh_G2999U5HsRPMwZG4h_Z0jOT8-C9TEtmwrEeRz4ltignXGC-HvWpTNvQDE2IyCq6Ngnt6-4xvhr1/s1600-h/day07_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ylDLrnYwHwbNGkXOwejHD3BLDmbHI2bieoQ31qUFq5dOsvOw9xwXGtygOvFKuFJh_G2999U5HsRPMwZG4h_Z0jOT8-C9TEtmwrEeRz4ltignXGC-HvWpTNvQDE2IyCq6Ngnt6-4xvhr1/s400/day07_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238171582816734034" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX78umOBBMCU4u73RPd7cMIGMOv6kwu2fh1pgTBP9VUY20mMi5EyXW9-2DMnFpDAQQKKsAx1DHypG79v6cpngES2kRObMHMWYcEl2uf26W6aaHKYPalCMQqj1RJdsGzqyLaZ0gbkwjpJE/s1600-h/day07_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX78umOBBMCU4u73RPd7cMIGMOv6kwu2fh1pgTBP9VUY20mMi5EyXW9-2DMnFpDAQQKKsAx1DHypG79v6cpngES2kRObMHMWYcEl2uf26W6aaHKYPalCMQqj1RJdsGzqyLaZ0gbkwjpJE/s400/day07_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238171496397048594" border="0"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyXyRR_grmY6E_HSI_XAjt39LYNh9aN9jH4AXGQL90oZlYCrcPFUhZ7573j46s_RLa36qTMVUjRI6lkYboLPuQUuVW9ay7GcinNLhSN7IFl0G3uj97xxHBf2YQgC_DNkFz9FMbC6Een9R/s1600-h/day08_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyXyRR_grmY6E_HSI_XAjt39LYNh9aN9jH4AXGQL90oZlYCrcPFUhZ7573j46s_RLa36qTMVUjRI6lkYboLPuQUuVW9ay7GcinNLhSN7IFl0G3uj97xxHBf2YQgC_DNkFz9FMbC6Een9R/s400/day08_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238171429360125378" border="0"></a>titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-36318477356052090092008-08-23T01:06:00.000-07:002008-08-23T02:14:14.149-07:00>>> california: days two to four (san diego/anaheim)Oh my gosh. Here I am, about 12 hours away from the end of this vacation, and I haven't even updated the blog since my first day out here in California. SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY to the people who have been waiting for an update (there's probably only 2 of you, haha). I am a terrible blogger, I know!<br /><br />I'm going to try to recap all that went down in San Diego first before trying to tackle San Francisco, so here we gooo...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivfCaJCCSfBpImI51dnzy9lZnjF_NP5KdLKLXG_jCFUBuYJbqGPU4F9cAXfmmcGWE7kJqBF3SK66QmgWdw1kDyRed7emorFl_YJYcn8tXwo4LH-b4s3RTxCR0ppJOShhW1PGG9_1G7nZVD/s1600-h/day02_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivfCaJCCSfBpImI51dnzy9lZnjF_NP5KdLKLXG_jCFUBuYJbqGPU4F9cAXfmmcGWE7kJqBF3SK66QmgWdw1kDyRed7emorFl_YJYcn8tXwo4LH-b4s3RTxCR0ppJOShhW1PGG9_1G7nZVD/s400/day02_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622774414493378" border="0" /></a>[<span style="font-weight: bold;">hot</span>, right?]<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">DAY 2</span>: After an unsuccessful attempt to wake up early after our night out at Gaslamp, Anna and I finally got up sometime around noon --- just in time for low tide at La Jolla Shores. Last year we had a great time snorkeling with Uncle Joey and our Kiwi buddy Nathan, so we asked if we could do it again this time around.<br /></div><br />So Uncle Joey, Uncle Mike, new buddy Brent, Anna, and I set out for the beach. Unfortunately, the beach was PACKED, both sand and surf, because it was a Sunday afternoon AND everyone knew that the leopard sharks were back in town for breeding in the shallow waters. Uncle Joey dropped us off with the snorkeling gear and boogie boards before going to find parking, and after about 45 minutes, we were in the water.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcybHXygDoUjyZxZsTxnax_TWyU69Sgh3k2A8Sj-eMrDrNxlqDUGDCwrBk8HpjOGplOx0zpGa15nysixeCvSHQp_tKeGWA0B7vcIIiPUdo2b-audjmatJOq3jsgHau_hVOQ1j4FvGlVb0A/s1600-h/day02_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcybHXygDoUjyZxZsTxnax_TWyU69Sgh3k2A8Sj-eMrDrNxlqDUGDCwrBk8HpjOGplOx0zpGa15nysixeCvSHQp_tKeGWA0B7vcIIiPUdo2b-audjmatJOq3jsgHau_hVOQ1j4FvGlVb0A/s400/day02_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622700478512658" border="0" /></a>[I love my underwater camera case :D]<br /></div><br />The water was warm and full of kayak and snorkel traffic, and I had quite the struggle with my boogie board because my rib is still injured (I slipped in the bathtub a couple of weeks ago and am still recovering), so I only got to see one leopard shark; all of the activity in the water was scaring the sharks away, and I was preoccupied with avoiding drowning.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkdE0WmishhMo61XTgsZp-U0VWmzjSA2ppd_M2i0YB3ie8g94RGFIuAFmYBjUYpJOmL5ixTSWAT2c-2xgReJlHpjXHDtOxpHRLysx0_Th03KQDQTpMqX-fgFlWlT8keulYwV6_1i4uHkX/s1600-h/day02_03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkdE0WmishhMo61XTgsZp-U0VWmzjSA2ppd_M2i0YB3ie8g94RGFIuAFmYBjUYpJOmL5ixTSWAT2c-2xgReJlHpjXHDtOxpHRLysx0_Th03KQDQTpMqX-fgFlWlT8keulYwV6_1i4uHkX/s400/day02_03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622630735343570" border="0" /></a>[leopard sharks --- totally harmless ;)]<br /></div><br />Fortunately, Uncle Joey swims like a friggin' dolphin, so I handed my camera off to him and he was able to spot about 20 leopard sharks and take pics of them. He also took several pictures of me and Anna trying not to drown. :)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVakTHlz7Ti0ywhnR4WaMZmRuZ-bdVp282vR907Ly2S9IYOiouYwQ_86Cu19fexRnFRYCA-fCIrruBmPfeHbuxHwR6UzYnAgv05_G7RulfzE_sTmQ0L0iR8QljSps1eOCkAlRpLWekXJCG/s1600-h/day03_05.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVakTHlz7Ti0ywhnR4WaMZmRuZ-bdVp282vR907Ly2S9IYOiouYwQ_86Cu19fexRnFRYCA-fCIrruBmPfeHbuxHwR6UzYnAgv05_G7RulfzE_sTmQ0L0iR8QljSps1eOCkAlRpLWekXJCG/s400/day03_05.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622550448726914" border="0" /></a></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">[happiest place on earth]<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />DAY 3</span>: DISNEYLAAAAAAND! Who cares if I'm almost (*gulp*) 25? My love for Disneyland will never fade. No trip to southern California would be complete without a trip to the Magic Kingdom.<br /><br />Uncle Joey works in LA during the week, so we hitched a ride up north with him at 5am and were outside the Disneyland premises by 6:30am. Disneyland doesn't actually open until 8am, so with time to kill, we grabbed breakfast at IHOP.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_bSh6_2u80WEEdmkiHgUhaNS4NdhYB7WdLquslyikMJQhkl8RJBWGbvnYVSBWgrS4etUzG6LKlexsTxUyR5ahS4FK9m62fX5eBh2S4N8WJzAmukCE7KVceTUh2EoXsjKut9YCmqiXnyu/s1600-h/day03_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_bSh6_2u80WEEdmkiHgUhaNS4NdhYB7WdLquslyikMJQhkl8RJBWGbvnYVSBWgrS4etUzG6LKlexsTxUyR5ahS4FK9m62fX5eBh2S4N8WJzAmukCE7KVceTUh2EoXsjKut9YCmqiXnyu/s400/day03_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622465001723842" border="0" /></a>[7:48AM and still happy to be there]<br /></div><br />We lined up to buy our tickets around 7:30, so by 8:05am we were IN. I have to admit though, Disneyland really doesn't feel like Disneyland that early in the morning, especially when the sky is gray and the air is cold. It kind of smelled like garbage, too.<br /><br />The good thing about getting there so early is that the lines for rides are really short. In the first couple of hours, we were able to browse a lot of the shops and fit in four rides (Buzz Lightyear, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, and the Haunted Mansion). And thankfully, the sun decided to come out to play and the garbage smelled slowly got replaced with the smell of popcorn, cotton candy, and churros.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjU5hH05dC3MseGCiMp6BHP_4_5r7HmV_dnOHWQNLV-X5NBOlPG5kWYmi7qv3PsplbafEMgDcaILMNanQuVBD33hPad1EeAK89M-ez8ZLp4RIfXvtBV4znQ8aGGIdirxW90h5Yr3g7EkEi/s1600-h/day03_03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjU5hH05dC3MseGCiMp6BHP_4_5r7HmV_dnOHWQNLV-X5NBOlPG5kWYmi7qv3PsplbafEMgDcaILMNanQuVBD33hPad1EeAK89M-ez8ZLp4RIfXvtBV4znQ8aGGIdirxW90h5Yr3g7EkEi/s400/day03_03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622382437972786" border="0" /></a>[California Screamin': unfortunately, we did not go on this one for fear of further injury to my ribs]<br /></div><br />We had the 1-day hopper pass to go between the two parks, so after California Adventure opened at 10am, we headed over to ride Soaring Over California. We ventured further into the park than we did last time and rode the big ferris wheel and the swing ride inside of the giant orange (I don't recall the names of these ones) before stopping for lunch (and gossip).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9nOcF4IV-BcEBWajVIL2UZ2om_b5iXQS7p9AHGh8Q-6nE4a56q7b5Y82nrgUu-vUOiM50EboVLjj6u6vzEcHz8kkX3yAasXQS0Wr9wAWSIH_yLvejympmcY46QZcpON7XTGYMo8d5fej/s1600-h/day03_04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9nOcF4IV-BcEBWajVIL2UZ2om_b5iXQS7p9AHGh8Q-6nE4a56q7b5Y82nrgUu-vUOiM50EboVLjj6u6vzEcHz8kkX3yAasXQS0Wr9wAWSIH_yLvejympmcY46QZcpON7XTGYMo8d5fej/s400/day03_04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622289188719666" border="0" /></a>[C is for...]<br /></div><br />All in all, we were at the Disneyland resort for 12 hours. We didn't go on many more rides, but we did a lot of browsing and shopping, as well as sitting and talking. It definitely lived up to my expectations.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirIFosQVD8nM4EcNXBGl9nr0omqFSH3zAkGlx-K9TEVzO9iCHVUxyhn6yWUAOMGTaa_XeEYs_En-ZDyx-iwvdLht4lX5GRSeynBX0kTh8k1wkqQpe6YCVpy2r4UQg2NoXuEk4w0XXq-FKh/s1600-h/day03_06.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirIFosQVD8nM4EcNXBGl9nr0omqFSH3zAkGlx-K9TEVzO9iCHVUxyhn6yWUAOMGTaa_XeEYs_En-ZDyx-iwvdLht4lX5GRSeynBX0kTh8k1wkqQpe6YCVpy2r4UQg2NoXuEk4w0XXq-FKh/s400/day03_06.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622184573743090" border="0" /></a>[our DIY picture in front of the castle]<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DAY 4</span>: For our last full day in SD, Uncle Joey took Anna and I to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, located about an hour north of where the uncles reside. It was originally the space where the zoo animals were taken care of (bred, acclimated, nursed to health, etc.), but I guess a while ago they had the bright idea of turning it into a Jurassic Park-like wildlife reserve.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWejZA7-ElAYqXkCc0BkVarhBkRLiOZUpSNt8780HkuKGndgl5SOrRK3Lbe5JrGWJN21nGWO3kIIXCCe3hBwWIQlbiqjxg0RUrNkImgezjCiQaLo3INxNqHqcopUeNEIHYrN24mvDp8mEz/s1600-h/day04_03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWejZA7-ElAYqXkCc0BkVarhBkRLiOZUpSNt8780HkuKGndgl5SOrRK3Lbe5JrGWJN21nGWO3kIIXCCe3hBwWIQlbiqjxg0RUrNkImgezjCiQaLo3INxNqHqcopUeNEIHYrN24mvDp8mEz/s400/day04_03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237622073428280402" border="0" /></a>[view of the open range portion of the park]<br /></div><br />It was pretty cool --- we went on a tour of the reserve on a tram and go to see a lot of the animals peacefully coexisting on 18 acres of land. Most of them were antelopes and other antlered creatures, but there were also rhinoceroses, giraffes, zebras, and birds.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73sidFIlDoSI8OO_ZJKqfblryzuVLEyqX4u4eTv-yUk7Xv-JuHLUFT9_2I8hUg0NJOgzcWdBuAe3036zrkb_GQW0YheGt1INvvb2pOXkF_DomClu3i7hHRZtdQSNe9643fsQflzp3T2qv/s1600-h/day04_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73sidFIlDoSI8OO_ZJKqfblryzuVLEyqX4u4eTv-yUk7Xv-JuHLUFT9_2I8hUg0NJOgzcWdBuAe3036zrkb_GQW0YheGt1INvvb2pOXkF_DomClu3i7hHRZtdQSNe9643fsQflzp3T2qv/s400/day04_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237621998086715314" border="0" /></a>[Nola the Northern White Rhinoceros]<br /></div><br />I consider myself to be quite the animal lover (except when it comes to birds... sorry), so I ended up taking more pictures of the animals that day than I did at Disneyland.<br /><br />I found a new appreciation for rhinoceroses (rhinoceri? is that the plural) on this trip, especially for the one pictured above, which is a female Northern White Rhinoceros. This species is extinct in the wild and there are only <span style="font-weight: bold;">8</span> left in the entire world (three of which are currently living at the Wild Animal Park). Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any efforts to repopulate the species will be successful as most of the females are beyond their fertile age and there's only one known male left (also located at the Wild Animal Park).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWPuem7LDA2mCbU1PXPFDAWWREkn1w2r-cbC8nLjjRS1HNIBs_f0Syqg4rOqBIhiRdGYtyL9Xl1ghWuKLRGrvVnHvN44pd4ExVgLnT9nduH3ouzcWSqP-IVhVGe3fX42MOamQOZyWF7XCf/s1600-h/day04_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWPuem7LDA2mCbU1PXPFDAWWREkn1w2r-cbC8nLjjRS1HNIBs_f0Syqg4rOqBIhiRdGYtyL9Xl1ghWuKLRGrvVnHvN44pd4ExVgLnT9nduH3ouzcWSqP-IVhVGe3fX42MOamQOZyWF7XCf/s400/day04_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237621924717084178" border="0" /></a>[steady chillin]<br /></div><br />We also caught one of the shows at the park, bought a few stuffed animals, and rode the carousel once before leaving to eat and then head back to the house to rest. Our San Diego trip was short this time around, but we were still able to do everything we had intended to in an abbreviated amount of time. Good times, man, good times.<br /><br />Until next time... Stay classy, San Diego. ;)titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-56744443412080410672008-08-17T22:58:00.000-07:002008-08-18T04:27:53.968-07:00>>> california: day oneOh, San Diego. How I love thee.<br /><br />Anna and I have been here for a day and a half now, and it's been a great time thus far. I feel like I'm going to need a vacation after this vacation because I'm so tired and sore! This was to be expected, though --- the last time we were here (a year ago), we were going to sleep by 10 every night because we'd be so exhausted. Uncle Joey usually doesn't let us have an idle moment.<br /><br />Anyway, let's rewind to the beginning of this, my second trip this summer. :) I stayed out late Friday night/Saturday morning and hadn't really started packing for California. =P I got home around 2:30AM and finished up my laundry. Then I started cleaning my makeup brushes slowly while watching TV, and next thing I knew, it was 6:00AM and I barely had anything packed. I decided to lie down for a moment to rest my back, and <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> the next thing I knew, Ricky was waking me up at 7:00AM to give me money for his Super Crew shirt (more on that later). I got up, took a shower, got ready, <span style="font-style: italic;">and then</span> finished packing about 15 minutes before Anna and James picked me up to go to the airport. It was the most inefficient packing job I've ever done and I'm pretty sure I'm going to run out of clothing before the trip ends, but oh well. I can always buy clothes to wear, right? ;)<br /><br />Anna and I got to the airport about 2 hours before our flight, but it took about a half an hour to check in. The airport is PACKED on a Saturday morning! Travel tip: don't fly out of an airport during the day on a Saturday. Just don't do it. I saw that the line for NorthWest Airlines was incredibly long, which is disheartening because in 8 days I will be in that line. DAMN.<br /><br />So like I said, the airport was packed and there were long lines for everything, food included. By the time we found something to eat, we got to our gate and found that everyone had boarded already. Wow.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.virginamerica.com/">Virgin America</a> plane was a small one, but pretty cool. Whoever designed their planes knew how to appeal to the kids because it felt like I was flying in a ginormous iPod with purple lighting.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipR23WyJEbSNOKj886wYudgHeuQCNBUAuxlq0h7f6R5cz0SoidSEWQoTDRiqYb30gm9nXyNwogubSQJEq7UzbNRs5r_ArUOJ-Bv5o6PqZHgCLy8q6sqxrwXHX8lO6wkgpRxFL77Ex6GMcH/s1600-h/day01_00.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipR23WyJEbSNOKj886wYudgHeuQCNBUAuxlq0h7f6R5cz0SoidSEWQoTDRiqYb30gm9nXyNwogubSQJEq7UzbNRs5r_ArUOJ-Bv5o6PqZHgCLy8q6sqxrwXHX8lO6wkgpRxFL77Ex6GMcH/s400/day01_00.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235735308052274098" border="0" /></a><br />Both of our flights were pretty short, so I don't have very many complaints about them or the airline. There's a touchscreen on the back of every seat, so it was very cool and high-tech but kind of annoying when the person behind you presses each button really hard. I sat next to a really sweet older Mormon couple from Vegas who chatted me up for most of the first flight (Anna and I were separated). Then for the second flight, Anna and I sat next to each other and listened to the "Tita No Like Mix #2" (thanks Pao) on my laptop and chilled.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnnP6hOr8PnTl2YeuWrlRUq3we1p6_dvPKpbC0179j9_MfHqgYEjtxSIMV2hfdGbTFsEACWig4SshhANMhizuE67lQQb1q7fkCrOWiYGOMrdG-dZUrkwy5mcrvKidHj7enqw8UNVeIczy/s1600-h/day01_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnnP6hOr8PnTl2YeuWrlRUq3we1p6_dvPKpbC0179j9_MfHqgYEjtxSIMV2hfdGbTFsEACWig4SshhANMhizuE67lQQb1q7fkCrOWiYGOMrdG-dZUrkwy5mcrvKidHj7enqw8UNVeIczy/s400/day01_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235735248180917730" border="0" /></a>After Uncle Joey picked us up from the airport, we dropped our stuff off at the house before setting to our first task: hitting up the <a href="http://www.armoryhiphop.com/">Armory Survival Gear</a> store, where they sell <a href="http://www.jabbawockeez.com/">Jabbawockeez</a> and SuperCrew shirts, among other things. Ricky and I had been perusing their site about a month ago when we discovered that they have two stores in San Diego, so rather than ordering shirts online, I told Ricky I'd pick something up for him when I got here. UNFORTUNATELY, they were having a massive Back-To-School sale this weekend, so by the time we got to the Pacific Beach location at 5:30PM, there was only one SuperCrew shirt left and it was size 2XL. Sorry, Ricky. I did manage to cop a Jabbawockeez shirt for Pao and Anna got one for James, so the trip to PB wasn't a total loss.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHoBb-tSuISeJbhXIDWisgwxiXwSdIzw5rttWFr3YrYXuw9RbCll7TmzLwCjQaycWiRMMFxcoBl18jlc3rGt8jmhEXk7Fa2zFnz0yw3jvDIWUboac0eoqBKU8SQ6IhN9OYaIDhz6Kdy4_/s1600-h/day01_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHoBb-tSuISeJbhXIDWisgwxiXwSdIzw5rttWFr3YrYXuw9RbCll7TmzLwCjQaycWiRMMFxcoBl18jlc3rGt8jmhEXk7Fa2zFnz0yw3jvDIWUboac0eoqBKU8SQ6IhN9OYaIDhz6Kdy4_/s400/day01_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235735162974143810" border="0" /></a>Anna and I hadn't eaten all day, so the next stop was <a href="http://www.carlsjr.com/">Carl's Jr</a>, of course. Last summer, when we were here in SD, we must've eaten Carl's Jr burgers almost every day. So we got our burger and crisscut fries fix before continuing on our merry way. :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsx7XK65icMG7KU95xsr36CG7d6xBTPFJE2vQ1zuvU0vrrSUbqr3i6h63CD4Bxcxyxd9WeSW-mwiskdSOe4IfH1DzTlFZ9_MKHVS1Evi6jeswLXsb_68QvlTYRvSfj7dNz5gQU3Gd59Jy/s1600-h/day01_03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsx7XK65icMG7KU95xsr36CG7d6xBTPFJE2vQ1zuvU0vrrSUbqr3i6h63CD4Bxcxyxd9WeSW-mwiskdSOe4IfH1DzTlFZ9_MKHVS1Evi6jeswLXsb_68QvlTYRvSfj7dNz5gQU3Gd59Jy/s400/day01_03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235735095015394690" border="0" /></a>Of course, we had to hit up a beach at some point on our first day! The natural choice would've been to go to Pacific Beach since we were already in the neighborhood, but there was absolutely no parking in the area so we went a little bit south of there to Mission Beach and watched the red sunset.<br /><br />After a quick rest at the house, Anna and I met up with Toni, Jeffrey, and Denise at the <a href="http://www.ivyhotel.com/">Ivy Hotel</a> in the Gaslamp Quarter, where Toni and Jeffrey are staying. Talk about swanky! The hotel had a rooftop lounge with a color-changing pool and beds and waitresses in white swimsuits and sarongs, another lounge downstairs, and a club downstairs. The line outside to get into each of these kickit spots was long, but Jeffrey was able to get us all-access wrist stamps, so there was no waiting for us. Eilleen and Alvin met up with us as Toni, Jeffrey, and Denise were finishing up their dinner, and we all headed up to check out what is probably the most accommodating hotel room I've ever seen.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUSdp2yO3vCa5a0zSMEhfOeH8tpW9sDZZLrdQ7lA5S6qvXicy1iSs4ksuv_qlvWIJlMqtZIsNpW28q-GctFyKGEgCODR2VZYYb7dQu0u1pd6nr9L9J4uEXkl7Vk1eKps07xx6FWi6yoac/s1600-h/day01_04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUSdp2yO3vCa5a0zSMEhfOeH8tpW9sDZZLrdQ7lA5S6qvXicy1iSs4ksuv_qlvWIJlMqtZIsNpW28q-GctFyKGEgCODR2VZYYb7dQu0u1pd6nr9L9J4uEXkl7Vk1eKps07xx6FWi6yoac/s400/day01_04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235734989419447266" border="0" /></a>What do I mean by that? Well, in addition to free champagne at check-in, this particular hotel also provides its guests with unlimited access to its lounges and club, a fully-stocked bar in each room, and, uhhh, other <span style="font-style: italic;">special</span> accommodations. Ask me about it the next time you see me if you're really that curious.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgOjz-XuyKfU56eDQOgNXTvrVQKy65Ih5RYfeow80nWOuImnvoTR-Q7jqnxP7Is1xmFwg_4YmV2Y_06zctSatEa39A6khYq0Y_-k-N58EvNUcTs9_eOCL-Br4J1lTBeLNBe34eFHhfnJ_s/s1600-h/day01_05.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgOjz-XuyKfU56eDQOgNXTvrVQKy65Ih5RYfeow80nWOuImnvoTR-Q7jqnxP7Is1xmFwg_4YmV2Y_06zctSatEa39A6khYq0Y_-k-N58EvNUcTs9_eOCL-Br4J1lTBeLNBe34eFHhfnJ_s/s400/day01_05.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235734919183086162" border="0" /></a>After visiting the room, we headed straight up to the rooftop lounge for drinks and then down to Club Envy for more drinks and dancing. We had <span style="font-style: italic;">such a good time</span> that we were all exhausted by 12:3oAM and went our separate ways. Check the Facebook album ("<a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2304794&id=10709651">California Adventures, Day One</a>") for the photographic evidence of our fun.<br /><br />Not bad for our first 8 hours of vacation, right? I've still got to tell you all about our snorkeling adventure, but right now I have to go to sleep because in about 5 hours I've got to wake up to go to --- *drumrolllll, please!* --- DISNEYLAND! I can hardly wait!titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-1428456626172798482008-08-04T02:46:00.000-07:002008-08-04T19:49:22.340-07:00>>> thank you.I always speak very highly and warmly of Calgary, Alberta, and people often wonder why. "Where the heck is Calgary, and what's so great about it?" they ask. "Why are you so amped on some place in the middle of Canada?"<br /><br />First off, I wish people wouldn't speak so disparagingly about Canada. This may be a broad generalization, but Canadians are very hospitable and genuinely nice people. Plus, they have little to no gun violence! What's not to love about that? And my friends in Seattle will, without a doubt, attest to the fact that the best sushi they've had was in Canada (Richmond Sushi in Vancouver BC, that's wassup). So stop hatin' on them cuz they dope (Step Up 2 reference, holler --- just for Neeks).<br /><br />Anyway, Calgary is a very nice place that I have found to be pretty similar to Seattle except that there are a lot more "cowboys" here and they don't have freeways or carpool lanes, so it takes at least a half an hour to get anywhere. That's my only beef with the city, really. Their minimum wage is like $13/hour nowadays and I like the scene and the weather is okay (though I haven't been here during their typical snowy weather, so I can't really say...)<br /><br />But the real reason that I love Calgary so much and am so drawn to this place is my family here, especially my 3rd (or 4th?) cousins. They are the warmest, most hilarious, raddest, cutest, most down-to-earth people in all of Canada and if they didn't live in Calgary, I'm not so sure my Calgary hype would be at this level. We all get along fabulously well and have a great time together, and 3 days was definitely not enough for proper cousin bonding. I am always sad to say goodbye to them, and this time its especially sad because Paco and Ricky and I didn't even get to say goodbye to them in person =(. I guess its okay because we'll be seeing them in Orlando, FL., for our Ate Ditas's wedding next April, but still. No hugs goodbye? I will be terribly sad on the 14-hr ride home today. =P<br /><br />In case my dear Calgarians happen to be reading this, I want to thank them for being awesome as always, for organizing a wonderful family reunion, for driving us EVERYWHERE all weekend, for taking me and my brothers, as well as Alyssa and Cody, to all the (shopping) places they thought we'd like (and of course they were right), for being so funny and warm, and for all of the memories and laughs. I love you guys like crazy and will see you again soon!<br /><br />I took over 500 pictures over the long weekend, all of which will be posted on Facebook within the next 24 hours (guaranteed!), so keep an eye out for that. I also have a couple more blog entries that haven't been posted yet because I haven't had time to edit or add pics, but those will be up very shortly.<br />Thank you again, fam, and congrats on another successful Origuel Family Reunion!<br /><br />Now, about that 14-hour drive home...titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-9246065954978290542008-08-01T02:15:00.000-07:002008-08-02T12:36:48.234-07:00>>> aaaand 27 hours later…<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">GEEZ that was a long journey. We left my house sometime after 10pm and after a quick stop to return beer to QFC (yes) and fill up on gas, we made pretty good time to the border. But then we got lost for an hour trying to get to Nicko’s aunt’s house in West Vancouver. I definitely fell asleep on the way and didn’t even realize anything was wrong when I woke up until I checked the clock. 2am --- sheeeesh. We all pretty much crashed, but not before we agreed that we would depart for Calgary at 7am.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Cut to 7am --- we’re all still sleeping. Wait, cut to 6am first, when my alarm woke me up and I turned it off and went back to sleep. Nicko finally woke me and Chan up at 8am and after some showering and eating, we left West Vancouver a little bit before 11am.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">The drive was not toooo bad; Nicko drove for most of the time, only getting a break when Rick drove. I rode bitch almost the entire way, which I didn’t really mind except when I fell asleep it was awkward and Nicko got some really lame pictures of me sleeping. Hopefully those won’t ever get circulated on the internet. Anyway, for the most part we slept or just listened to music, stopping only a few times for gas, for food (at Tim Horton’s), and a couple of run-ins with the wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wees. Yes, we were stopped twice in one day. Don’t ask. We even saw a bear chilling on the side of the highway; it looked like he was leaning with his elbows on the guardrail. Do bears have elbows? I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">We had hoped that by some miracle we’d get to Calgary quicker than the estimated 11 hrs and 38 minutes that Mapquest stated it would take to get there, but it was actually pretty accurate. We rolled up to Tita Neneng’s house at around 11:45pm (MST) --- about 11 hrs and 45 minutes after we’d left Vancouver. Granted we did drop Vin off at home first, but still… It was a long journey.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">We hung out with whoever was still at the house until 2am, and now my brother, my dad, and I are at a family friend’s house about to go to sleep. I am exhausted and I’m sure my dad is too (my dad and the rest of the Seattle fam left the Seattle area at about 6:45am and didn’t arrive in Calgary until 10pm MST --- they definitely had a lot of stops along the way), so I don’t think we’re even going to think about leaving the house until 11am. Whew.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">The plan for tomorrow (technically today) is to hit up 17<sup>th</sup> Ave and Chinook for shopping, and then the reunion officially kicks off with dinner at Tito Fred’s house. The guy cousins are already trying to corrupt Paco this time around and bring him to the peelers, but I keep threatening to smack them in the faces if they do. We’ll see what happens. We also have to find a way to pick Ricky up from the airport at midnight…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:16;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Anyway, my eyelids are drooping so that’s my cue. Stay classy, Seattle!</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-32383031069673554532008-07-30T13:08:00.000-07:002008-08-02T12:35:19.071-07:00>>> and so it begins...<div align="center"><a href="http://www.calgarybroadcasters.com/calgary.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://www.calgarybroadcasters.com/calgary.jpg" border="0" /></a> [Calgary. looks a lot like Seattle, huh?]</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="left">My cousins from Calgary, Chantelle and Nicko, and Nicko's friends Rick and Vin arrived in Seattle last night. They stopped at the Tulalip shopping outlet on their way down, which added up to about a 4.5-hr detour... This just gave me more time to clean my room (where Chantelle stayed for the night). I had planned on taking them to happy hour, but they were pretty tired so we ended up watching the last 30 minutes of <em>Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay</em>, and then buying pizzas and beer and staying at home watching America's Best Dance Crew. I actually liked that better than the original plan because it allowed me to be lazy and to sit around in sweat pants. :D </div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left">You may be wondering why the Calgarians came all the way over here when we're all supposed to be in Calgary by tomorrow... Well, they went to a <em>huge</em> music festival over the weekend called the <a href="http://www.pembertonfestival.com/">Pemberton Festival</a>, which is in north British Columbia, so they figured while they were on this side of the continent, why not spend a couple of days in Seattle and pick Tita up while they were at it? I was going to drive up to Calgary with my own family anyway, but I figured it'd be a little more fun driving over with the cousins so I agreed to go with them.<br /></div><div align="left">So the plan for today is that we are going to leave for Vancouver after I get out of work and spend the night at Nicko's aunt's house, and then wake up early to get started on our 10-12 hour trek back to Cowtown, where we will be dining with the whole fam (or rather, whoever is already there) at Chan's house. Yay! I know it's really geeky, but I love family reunions and I love spending time with the Calgary fam, so I'm really really really excited to get there. =D<br /><br />There's this funny "game" that my brothers and I always play with our Canadian cousins. It's the "Do You Have...?" game --- we spend a lot of time asking the Canadians if they have certain stores/brands/policies/etc. in Canada/Calgary, and they ask us the same sorts of questions about the U.S./Seattle. In this round, I'm discovering that we basically have all the same things. They even have Palomino's there! The major differences are that the legal drinking age in Calgary is 18, they don't have natural bodies of water (just manmade lakes) and their full price movie theater tickets are $13.75 each. Yikes.</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Maybe the reason why I like Calgary so much because it's a lot like Seattle, even in appearance. I just couldn't live there, mainly because of the movie prices. And the water thing, too.</div>titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-65022282952765459752008-07-12T12:25:00.000-07:002008-07-12T12:29:49.755-07:00>>> snail mail.I'm going to try my hardest to send postcards to people while I'm away (in the past I've always purchased the cards and forgotten to send them), but it's kind of hard to do so when I don't have anyone's addresses.<br /><br />So <a href="mailto:carmelitamejino@gmail.com">email me your address</a> and you might get a postcard from me ("might" being the operative word here.)titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-25142172989548350242008-07-12T00:51:00.000-07:002008-07-12T00:59:17.540-07:00>>> update: bay areaYep. Definitely happening. Changed my return flight(s) and everything.<br /><br />This brings my total days out of town to 35 (out of the next 67 days). I predict a little homesickness coming on...<br /><br />...but I'm still excited. :)titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-48783164106943637502008-07-08T16:56:00.000-07:002008-07-12T00:59:01.171-07:00>>> change in plans?I might be changing my flight back from San Diego to Seattle and extending my "layover" in San Francisco... Possibly stay in the Bay Area for a few days?<br /><br />I usually don't like being away from home so much (half of August and half of September!), but when the opportunity to go places and see things arises, I should grab it, right?<br /><br />Time to start living!titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-57694870159548259632008-07-03T09:13:00.000-07:002008-07-03T09:19:03.142-07:00Just realized that I need to start reviewing my Italian NOW.<br />Crap.titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1533005178576619784.post-42171982059084572372008-07-02T09:19:00.000-07:002008-07-02T09:21:12.191-07:00>>> still in seattle.I still have about a month before I go anywhere.<br />This is just a test.titahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07458473294723115330noreply@blogger.com0