Of Christmas Brunches and Other Surprises

To finish up the "Ida weekend," where we essentially spent some good time with the Muffin since she's moving back to Norway, a bunch of us met up at Garage Restaurant for Brunch and mimosas.

I didn't think the breakfast was that good, to be honest. I wouldn't return there for the food. The mimosas were great, though, and I had a great many of them.

After we went to Stonewall Inn for some pool and more drinks. We got a little carried away, and ended up spending most of the afternoon there instead of at the movies as we had originally planned. A good time was had by all, though. The crowd at the Stonewall (at least on a Sunday afternoon) is friendly and mellow, which sometimes is all one wants.

I stumbled my way into the subway and eventually to Mi Cariños', where I proceeded to fall asleep for an hour or two before we went to have some crepes with Pam and Laura. I have tried savory crepes before, but nothing had prepared me for the awesomeness that is Crepes with Nutella. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures for you.

What I do have pictures of, is of my early Christmas present. Nervous because I've been talking about buying one for myself, Mi Cariño decided to give me my gift early. I won't keep you in suspense: It's a Kindle!

It couldn't be awesomer. It's a touch kindle, wifi with ads - which means that when I put it to sleep, I get an ad from Amazon. I don't mind the ads at all, since they only appear when I'm not reading and at the bottom of the main page when I'm searching for the book I'm going to read next.

Best present ever. I've named her Santana. I'm already in love.

Anything Goes

Today I made Ida and Mi Cariño wake up at the butt crack of dawn to get in line to score cheap tickets to see "Anything Goes" with the wonderful Sutton Foster and the only Joel Grey. It was cold and windy, and we were the first ones in line, which Ida and Mi Cariño did not appreciate as much as I did. I took a picture of them but will not post, since I would like for them to continue to be in speaking terms with me.

That is my stolen pic at the stage at the end of the show. I don't know how people record entire numbers - the ushers were hella serious about making sure no one had a phone out at any time! They were even talking to each other through walkies about possible transgressors.

I loved it. I was even more surprised to see that the wonderful Kelly Bishop was part of the cast. She was great! Still dancing around gracefully and wonderfully like it's nobody's business. The show had many lovely old songs, and Sutton is great at being "old timey Broadway." Plus she's sexy as all freaking get-go.

Originally we were supposed to go dancing after, but we were all just too beat to do it. Instead we had something to drink at XXL, then went our separate ways.

Vacation all I ever wanted!

Today began my "Holidays" vacation - I am off until next year! I worked until 1:30pm, then came home to this wonderful meal cooked by my mother.

Locrío de pollo with a banana, and a wonderful salad comprised of romaine, carrots, chayotes, cucumbers, radishes, and an oil, vinegar and onions dressing. Lick your fingers good, and the perfect start to a vacation!

Later tonight the girls and I will have our "Christmas/Hannukah Dinner." This is our second year having it, and it's kind of nice - we're going back to the same steak place where we ate last year to exchange gifts, have some good conversation, and devour some meat.

Holidays...

So, last year Mi Cariño and I did a gingerbread house to celebrate the holidays. This year she came up with the idea for us to do our own ornaments.

We met after work in Queens, and the setting this time was cozier. We made the ornaments with pieces of cloth, needle and thread. It was easy, since I've done similar things with manualidades  growing up, but I'm just not really good at combining colors and what not. We were there with Mi Cariño's friend/coworker Becky, who chose some really nice colors, as did Mi Cariño. Ah well, everyone has their own strengths. Here's the finished product:

Mine is in the bottom left, the one with the crazy colors. Mi Cariño's is the beautiful one up top.

Afterward we were all ready for dinner, and so we walked to Wave, a Thai place we've been to several times now, but it's quite tasty. In an effort for something different, I went with Tofu Cashew Nut: onions, mushroom, carrots, baby corn and peppers. Couple that with some white rice:

YUM! I quite enjoyed it. Hopefully we'll be able to continue coming up with fun Holiday things to do in the years to come.

California Dreaming, Day 7

Today, we had a big break between interviews and so we took an extra long lunch break and drove to Old Town, San Diego. I enjoyed using the filters in my camera app. Some sightseeing shots:

Since today was also my last day of recording in California, we decided to live up the rest of the day and after everything was packed and put away, we took the short drive to Sunset Cliffs, CA to enjoy a nice sunset. Some shots:

I love this shot of Alex in silhouette. Totally jealous that we couldn't replicate it with me. 

This is a horribly drawn K & Y within a heart. Cuz I'm sappy like that. 

All the fresh air left us starving and so we met up with Alex's friend Billy and headed to Phil's BBQ. We had to wait about thirty minutes in a line that snaked around the building, but it was completely worth it. Waiters would come out every once in a while and provide people with an onion ring to make the wait bearable. At Phil's, you order at the counter, pick up your food and stuff, then hope to try to find a place. I realize that most "tasty" BBQ places do this. Because I felt adventurous I went with the pulled pork, and a ginormous order of fries to share with Alex.

To boot they had malted vinegar, which was amazing. It took forever to eat this, and both Alex and I gave it a valiant try. I did eat more than he did, and I had a great time rubbing it in cuz ha ha! Reminded me of my High School years at Church, where on Saturday nights our idea of fun was daring each other to see who could eat more, or the spiciest thing, and stuff like that. I always won at the eat more contests, because Mama didn't raise no fool.

Now to get ready for New York! This trip was exhausting, everything from my thumb being hurt to the time difference from NY, which made phone calls to Mi Cariño short and unfulfilling. I'm glad that this is my last recording trip of the year!

California Dreaming, Day 6

Some travel days, I'm not in the mood for anything. Today, I ate in my room and watched episodes of Gilmore Girls. Here's a picture of a piece of art hanging on the office building where we worked today.

California Dreaming, Day 5

Today, worked at the Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust - but didn't have a chance to walk through its exhibits. It is a great big building with lots of cool concrete to feel under your fingers and some sharp angles in the main lobby.

It was a short recording day, although it began early. As soon as we were done, Alex and I headed to Canter's Deli, which is supposed to be an L.A. Institution. It looked like a NY Deli. I had regular meatloaf, but forgot to take a picture.

After, we began the trek to San Diego, stopping first very briefly (as in, as long as the stoplight took) outside of Paramount Pictures, just to say I saw something Hollywood'y.

We also got to enjoy the sight of some palm trees adorning the streets

The drive to San Diego wasn't too bad, considering that we left around quittin' time. It's nice to be able to use the carpool lane at such a times like this. The fun part was driving all the way down to the wrong hotel in San Diego - thankfully the right one wasn't too far away, but it wasn't as nice as the first one so that was a bit of a letdown.

California Dreaming, Days 3 and 4

What a long day. We had a full recording day, then made our way from Salinas to San Francisco. The way in took longer, since we hit rush hour BUT we had the fun part of enjoying the Carpool Lane, even making up a little ditty to the tune of "Carwash."

Once in San Fran, I crashed at my co-worker Natalia's place, which was much more comfortable than I expected if still a bit awkward. She hooked me up with dinner - I don't remember what it was.

Day 4 was a travel day - I got to see the San Francisco booth, then flew down to Los Angeles. It was my first time there, and the movies don't kid: traffic can be a killer. And all the driving you've got to do! It took a little over an hour from the airport to my hotel. Once there I gave a call to Mi Cariño's dear friend Kristie, and I met up with her and her girlfriend Emily - we had purchased tickets to go see "Bring it on: The Musical."

We almost didn't make it thanks to the traffic, but we got there just when we should've. Lin-Manuel Miranda of In The Heights fame is the lyricist for this musical, main reason why we were interested. At the theater we met up with Kristie and Emily's friend Miguel, who coincidentally also had tickets. The show was decent enough, even though the music was not extremely memorable. The actors were pretty impressive with their jumping and what not.

After, we drove around to a hip diner-like place... I just can't remember the name. I wasn't bowled over by it all. I had a turkey meatloaf sandwich. Pretty unimpressive.

I was nervous since I was essentially hanging out for the first time with Mi Cariño's friends without her, but they were so open and friendly and fun that time flew. All in all, I'm excited about Bring It On: The Musical eventually making it to Broadway, and getting to enjoy the changes it'll go through after the tour.

California Dreaming, Day 2

I made it through a day of facilitating with a wonky hand. To celebrate, we drove off to Big Sur, to enjoy the hella amazing view.

Later, we drove to Monterey, to get some Thai Food at Krua Thai. It was a great little place, although a bit cold and unprepared for that kind of weather. There were veggie rolls,

this evening I had spicy noodles with tofu.

California Dreaming, Day 1

Today starts a week long tour of California. Super excited about it - except that I hurt my hand while playing Volleyball yesterday. My hand felt like hell while flying and all I kept thinking was that my thumb was broken. But, I'm nothing if not a professional, and so I got on a plane, on my own with two bags of equipment and flew all the way to San Francisco Airport to meet up with Kevin.

From San Francisco he drove us to Salinas, California. It's not a small town at all, but it has that kind of feel. However, blocks away from our hotel we found an In-n-Out, and that just made my night. It's simple, delicious, and you've got those little bible verses pre-printed on the food wrappers to entertain you.

After, Kevin and I made our way to Salinas Valley Emergency Group Hospital. The place, was amazing. I was seen almost immediately, and I was incredibly impressed by the equipment and how organized it all was. Ah, to have health insurance and have a private hospital nearby! My thumb was only sprained, but it meant that I get to spend my week with my hand looking like this:

Oh yea. Really looking forward to setting up the equipment and writing my log sheets. /end sarcasm.