I made it through the holidays and now I'm back in front of my work desk where I belong. Well, I guess I don't really belong here, but I do spend a huge amount of time in this chair.
Like most of my vacations, it was a whirlwind and now I need a vacation to recuperate from my vacation. As usual I hit the ground running and didn't stop until I boarded my plane. Thank goodness I didn't fly back on the 3rd--I would have been stuck in a plane at Newark Airport for hours. I don't think I could have handled that--the lady telling me to check in my tiny slightly overstuffed suitcase was hard enough for me to deal with. I mean, come on...I've traveled enough with the thing to know when it can and can't fit into the overhead compartment. What really irked me was when I saw suitcases bigger than mine sprawled out sideways instead of the recommended wheels out formation. Two suitcases could have easily fit in the space that one was occupying. Whatever--I was in no mood to be detained by airport security over whether or not my suitcase would actually fit.
Anyway, the vacay was filled with meeting up with friends, a short trip up north to wine country, a day at Disneyland, the birth of my friend's baby girl and some quality time with the family. Although exhausting, I had a good time and was very sad to leave the 70-degree weather. As you know, the bitter cold does not sit well with me.
Here's a quick (sort of) rundown of the trip:
Old Friends: Catching up with old friends is one of my favorite things to do when I'm home. It gives me a chance to find out what's going on with them while eating at some of my fave places or trying out new restaurants.
Like most of my vacations, it was a whirlwind and now I need a vacation to recuperate from my vacation. As usual I hit the ground running and didn't stop until I boarded my plane. Thank goodness I didn't fly back on the 3rd--I would have been stuck in a plane at Newark Airport for hours. I don't think I could have handled that--the lady telling me to check in my tiny slightly overstuffed suitcase was hard enough for me to deal with. I mean, come on...I've traveled enough with the thing to know when it can and can't fit into the overhead compartment. What really irked me was when I saw suitcases bigger than mine sprawled out sideways instead of the recommended wheels out formation. Two suitcases could have easily fit in the space that one was occupying. Whatever--I was in no mood to be detained by airport security over whether or not my suitcase would actually fit.
Anyway, the vacay was filled with meeting up with friends, a short trip up north to wine country, a day at Disneyland, the birth of my friend's baby girl and some quality time with the family. Although exhausting, I had a good time and was very sad to leave the 70-degree weather. As you know, the bitter cold does not sit well with me.
Here's a quick (sort of) rundown of the trip:
Old Friends: Catching up with old friends is one of my favorite things to do when I'm home. It gives me a chance to find out what's going on with them while eating at some of my fave places or trying out new restaurants.
My Friday girls' night with AD had us pigging out at the Soup Plantation. Most people would laugh at us for loving a soup and salad bar, but we do and we're not ashamed of it. This time around we didn't have her kids since she came from work, so I didn't get a chance to see them. Her daughter is going to be a teen by the time I give her the Hello Kitty stuff I bought her.
The next night JP and I decided to grab some burgers at Red Robin (love their strawberry lemonade!) and follow it up with a movie. We saw 2012, which was a pretty entertaining action flick. JP kept cracking me up with her emotional roller coaster ride. Whenever I looked over at her she was sniffling, which of course made me laugh and that triggered her to laugh. Yeah, we're not right.
Then Sunday was lunch at the Gypsy Den with three fabulous gals from the old workplace. Unfortunately, GP was under the weather so it was just me, TC and LT. I hadn't been to The Lab in forever and in all the times I'd been there I'd never eaten at the Gypsy Den. The mac n cheese and vegetarian chilli were pretty damn good--so were the sugar plums that LT gave us. They were like little balls of powdery goodness.
The Wednesday before Xmas my sister and I had dinner with one of my favorite couples, RJ and SJ. They took us to this pretty awesome diner called Corky's Kitchen & Bakery. OMG...talk about great comfort food. This place is definitely a must-visit-again establishment. I ordered one of my favorites, chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes. Sooooo good! Even the roll was fantastic. The peach pie with ice cream that my sister and I split was equally as good. Sigh...I love food.
One of my last get-togethers was with DS and NG. It's tradition for us to have tea at The Huntington when I'm in town for the holidays so that's just what we did. I totally look forward to this outing every year. Since I had to wake up early to take my mom to Sylmar, I was only about 30 minutes away from The Huntington so I decided to go early and take a look at the new exhibits. I was able to check out Central Avenue and Beyond and a few new additions to the library. After tea, DS and I strolled over to the newly completed Chinese Garden. The Huntington is definitely one of my favorite places in SoCal.
One of the best things of this trip home was being able to see one of my sorority sisters when I went up North. I hadn't seen her since 2006, so I was glad we could somehow figure out a way to meet up for dinner. JM and AM live about 30 minutes away from Sonoma Valley, which was perfect since that's where we were staying. It was so good to finally see them in their new house with their adorable puppy Bourbon. Well, he isn't exactly a puppy--more like a seven-year-old bundle of furry cuteness. The minute I saw him I was hooked. He totally made my doggy hall of fame. I just wish I'd been there during the day to take pics of him and their cute house. Oh well, perhaps I'll just have to visit in April and camp out in their cozy guest room. BTW...JM I loved that pesto you made. Is the recipe on the Williams Sonoma site?
The Birth: One of the goals of this trip was to meet my friend's baby before I left, but unfortunately, this was all up to the bundle of joy residing in her tummy. Her due date was January 5, but I kept my fingers crossed that little Chloe would make an appearance before my departure, just like her big sis Sam. Sure enough, at 12:52 a.m. on December 26, she made her appearance. I woke up to a text message with her cute little face. A few days later the proud mama, papa and big sis came by to visit and I got to hold the tiny little girl. Luckily, she didn't cry as much as her big sis did when I held her. So excited to see her grow. Hmmmm...I wonder if my friend is going to try for a third. I say, go for it! They make cute babies. :)
Wine Country: My mom's been talking about going up to Napa for a long time, so we decided to take advantage of my sister's employee discount and stayed at The Lodge at Sonoma. Since my sister had to work the morning of the 26th, we didn't leave until 5 p.m. This meant we didn't arrive in Sonoma until 1 a.m. The next day we visited a couple of wineries in Sonoma. My favorite was definitely Imagery Estate Winery. Each wine features a unique piece of artwork by an artist. Some of it was really cool and the wine wasn't that bad either. I'm far from being an oenophile, but I know what I like. Then we had lunch at this cute little restaurant called Doce Lunas. The food was fabulous! I highly recommend it. After a few more winery stops we decided to splurge a little and have dinner at the hotel--they have an excellent sea bass dish. Yum!
The next day was reserved for Napa Valley. We drove all the way up to Calistoga and then back down. Lots of driving on this trip. I'd list all the wineries we went to, but that would involve looking for the map I marked up and right now I'm too lazy.
The last day was spent driving back down to SoCal for dinner at Taiko with family friends we hadn't seen in a long time. It seemed like all the Oregon Ducks decided to drive down at the same time. As if that wasn't enough--L.A. traffic almost killed me! I'm amazed we got to Taiko in one piece.
Tired yet? I totally was by the time we got home.
Disneyland: Since everyone and their mama has an annual pass to Disneyland, I spent New Year's Day at the Happiest Place on Earth with my sister, RJ and SJ. DD later joined us for lunch and one ride on Space Mountain before bailing on us to go help his uncle. Anyway, I hadn't been to Disneyland in years and it was fun to bounce between it and California Adventure (for the first time!). That Toy Story ride was so much fun. I definitely doing that again! The rides I used to be afraid of weren't nearly as scary as they used to be, well, except for the one ride that always scares the crap out of me. Note to self: Do not believe your sister and friends when they say they took out the dips on Space Mountain. Not only were there dips but apparently it was going faster than normal. Uhhh...never again! NEVER!
After RJ and SJ went home, my sister and I went on a few more rides including my favorite ride ever--The Haunted Mansion. It was all decked out with Nightmare Before Xmas stuff. So cool! Then we plopped down on a piece of concrete and watched Fantasmic and the fireworks show. OMG...I've never been so uncomfortable in my life. The cold concrete hurt my butt. Although the shows were awesome, I was sore from sitting in weird positions all night. When we finally got home it was 11:30 and I literally crawled into bed. I was so tired. I even fell asleep in the car, which rarely happens.
Regardless of my exhausted state, it was a fun way to spend the first day of 2010!
The Low-Key Holidays: Although most of the vacay was spent in a car running around, the actual holidays were pretty quiet. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve were spent hanging out with family. I actually rang in the New Year kissing the pups. LOL! I know, I'm such a dork. I was never really into the whole New Year's Eve thing, so it really wasn't that big of a deal that I didn't do anything. I prefer quiet over crazy any day.
OK, I think that's it for the vacation rundown. Sorry for the lack of pics. Hopefully I'll be getting them from my sister and RJ soon. Once I do I'll upload them to my Flickr account for you to enjoy. Hope your holiday season was fantastic. Here's to an amazing 2010!
Tired yet? I totally was by the time we got home.
Disneyland: Since everyone and their mama has an annual pass to Disneyland, I spent New Year's Day at the Happiest Place on Earth with my sister, RJ and SJ. DD later joined us for lunch and one ride on Space Mountain before bailing on us to go help his uncle. Anyway, I hadn't been to Disneyland in years and it was fun to bounce between it and California Adventure (for the first time!). That Toy Story ride was so much fun. I definitely doing that again! The rides I used to be afraid of weren't nearly as scary as they used to be, well, except for the one ride that always scares the crap out of me. Note to self: Do not believe your sister and friends when they say they took out the dips on Space Mountain. Not only were there dips but apparently it was going faster than normal. Uhhh...never again! NEVER!
After RJ and SJ went home, my sister and I went on a few more rides including my favorite ride ever--The Haunted Mansion. It was all decked out with Nightmare Before Xmas stuff. So cool! Then we plopped down on a piece of concrete and watched Fantasmic and the fireworks show. OMG...I've never been so uncomfortable in my life. The cold concrete hurt my butt. Although the shows were awesome, I was sore from sitting in weird positions all night. When we finally got home it was 11:30 and I literally crawled into bed. I was so tired. I even fell asleep in the car, which rarely happens.
Regardless of my exhausted state, it was a fun way to spend the first day of 2010!
The Low-Key Holidays: Although most of the vacay was spent in a car running around, the actual holidays were pretty quiet. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve were spent hanging out with family. I actually rang in the New Year kissing the pups. LOL! I know, I'm such a dork. I was never really into the whole New Year's Eve thing, so it really wasn't that big of a deal that I didn't do anything. I prefer quiet over crazy any day.
OK, I think that's it for the vacation rundown. Sorry for the lack of pics. Hopefully I'll be getting them from my sister and RJ soon. Once I do I'll upload them to my Flickr account for you to enjoy. Hope your holiday season was fantastic. Here's to an amazing 2010!
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