10/23/10: Today was the reason we came to LA in the first place. Its Breezy and Ephrim (Richard)'s wedding day.
We woke up early so we could take care of some errands that we needed to run, which included getting an AUX cord for the road trip up to the Bay and finding a swimsuit. I was trying my best to be optimistic about finding a swimsuit, which was proven to be very difficult. We had to get new swimsuits because ours got ruined in the whole pool/jacuzzi fiasco, so the hotel reimbursed us for new ones. They better be glad we got them on sale because we didn't have a choice. It's a miracle that we even found them.
After the great swimsuit hunt, we were tired and hungry, (you might be noticing a trend here), so we decided to get some grub. We grumbled a little about what to eat, and decided to go into a place that we just happened to walk by called Souplantation (http://www.souplanation.com), which was a great find. We need one of these in Hawaii, Rita and I agreed that we both missed these kinds of restaurants, where it is all you can eat, but semi healthy, and fairly inexpensive at about $9 per person for unlimited soup, salad, dessert, and much more.
It was time to get dressed for the wedding after we ate lunch, so there really wasnt any down time in between, but we managed. The house where the wedding was at was only 15 minutes away from our hotel. It was held at this retreat center in Simi Valley that was a gorgeous house with an indoor heated pool and hot tub that looked like you were in a hidden cave. The ceremony was short and sweet and the reception was good as well. It was so fun to see Breezy again and Marie who I haven't seen in over 2 years. I miss my old roomie. To bad we didn't get more time to hang out, but thats okay at least we got to see each other. We ended up leaving early after dinner and the toasts because we had to get up early and drive to the Bay.
Were callin it an early night.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Time to Reconnect!
10/22/10: Oh man, sleep was not easy last night, nor did it feel good. If it wasn't so cold I think it would have been the perfect night for no blankets. I don't know about Rita, but I was waking up every hour or so to put more lotion on my hands because they were hurting so much. We got up much earlier this morning than yesterday though. We spent the day apart with friends. To save some money we bought cereal and milk yesterday to eat for breakfast, so we started our day off with a healthy bowl of frosted mini wheats and a cup of coffee.
After lathering ourselves up with aloe cream we were ready to get the day going.
I met up with my friend Kyle from college who came up from Costa Mesa/Chino Hills to spend some time together. We met our freshman year in college and have been friends ever since. We grabbed a bite to eat at Corner Bakery, oh how I have missed their Chicken Pomodori Panini without tomatoes, its so ono! We were going to see the Mummies of the World exhibit, but found out that to many streets were being closed because Obama was in town for a rally at USC. Instead we drove a little ways into LA to The Getty Museum, which was beautiful. It was fun to take the little tram up to the museum and explore all of the paintings, sculptures, and artifacts. I almost felt like I was in the Louvre. The view from The Getty was AMAZING and very clear. If you have a chance you should visit the museum (http://www.getty.edu). Kyle was kind enough to drop me off in Hollywood on his way home so I could meet up with another friend. It was so much fun hanging out with him and I miss him already.
After I got dropped off I wandered Hollywood Boulevard for a couple hours while I waited for my friend Amber to get off of work. I cruised the walk of fame to find some stars, checked out Graumans even though I have been before, looked around the shopping mall, saw a huge piece of macaroni at the Kodak Theatre, and watched the set for the show How Do I Look? be built. I met up with Amber once she got off of work, and was so antsy to see her since it has been over 10 years since we have seen each other. We have known each other since we were 4 years old, and so crazy that we had to meet up in California to see each other. We just picked a random restaurant/bar to partake in happy hour while we caught up on each others lives and watched the baseball game (final game Rangers vs. Yankees). We were SOOO excited that our Rangers WON!!!!!! Were goin to the world series baby!!!!!!!!!! After the game was over we decided to walk around for a bit and ended up at the Pig and Whistle (http://www.pig-and-whistle.com) for some Irish Coffee. Our waitress was a little quirky and kept singing songs and talking about how her parents owned an Irish pub and that she made a good Irish Coffee, but I'm gonna be honest, it wasn't that great. Shortly after finishing our coffees, Rita came to pick me up.
Rita had spent the day with one of her Breast Cancer Project members that she hadn't seen in years and got to meet her beautiful family. It would have been amazing to meet them as well, but our schedules clashed. Rita got to play with her clients daughter and get to catch up on each others lives. It sounded like she had a beautiful and wonderful time. It's amazing to see the person you become after overcoming a life threatening obstacle.
It was a rather long and tiring day and night after going hours away from Simi Valley, but definitely well worth the trips because both of us got to see special people that we hardly ever get to see. Good Night. Until Tomorrow.
After lathering ourselves up with aloe cream we were ready to get the day going.
I met up with my friend Kyle from college who came up from Costa Mesa/Chino Hills to spend some time together. We met our freshman year in college and have been friends ever since. We grabbed a bite to eat at Corner Bakery, oh how I have missed their Chicken Pomodori Panini without tomatoes, its so ono! We were going to see the Mummies of the World exhibit, but found out that to many streets were being closed because Obama was in town for a rally at USC. Instead we drove a little ways into LA to The Getty Museum, which was beautiful. It was fun to take the little tram up to the museum and explore all of the paintings, sculptures, and artifacts. I almost felt like I was in the Louvre. The view from The Getty was AMAZING and very clear. If you have a chance you should visit the museum (http://www.getty.edu). Kyle was kind enough to drop me off in Hollywood on his way home so I could meet up with another friend. It was so much fun hanging out with him and I miss him already.
After I got dropped off I wandered Hollywood Boulevard for a couple hours while I waited for my friend Amber to get off of work. I cruised the walk of fame to find some stars, checked out Graumans even though I have been before, looked around the shopping mall, saw a huge piece of macaroni at the Kodak Theatre, and watched the set for the show How Do I Look? be built. I met up with Amber once she got off of work, and was so antsy to see her since it has been over 10 years since we have seen each other. We have known each other since we were 4 years old, and so crazy that we had to meet up in California to see each other. We just picked a random restaurant/bar to partake in happy hour while we caught up on each others lives and watched the baseball game (final game Rangers vs. Yankees). We were SOOO excited that our Rangers WON!!!!!! Were goin to the world series baby!!!!!!!!!! After the game was over we decided to walk around for a bit and ended up at the Pig and Whistle (http://www.pig-and-whistle.com) for some Irish Coffee. Our waitress was a little quirky and kept singing songs and talking about how her parents owned an Irish pub and that she made a good Irish Coffee, but I'm gonna be honest, it wasn't that great. Shortly after finishing our coffees, Rita came to pick me up.
Rita had spent the day with one of her Breast Cancer Project members that she hadn't seen in years and got to meet her beautiful family. It would have been amazing to meet them as well, but our schedules clashed. Rita got to play with her clients daughter and get to catch up on each others lives. It sounded like she had a beautiful and wonderful time. It's amazing to see the person you become after overcoming a life threatening obstacle.
It was a rather long and tiring day and night after going hours away from Simi Valley, but definitely well worth the trips because both of us got to see special people that we hardly ever get to see. Good Night. Until Tomorrow.
An Unexpected Accident
10/21/10: Well its day two of our trip and it has been one heck of a day. It started off very nice, but ended kind of well rotten and painful. We started off with breakfast in bed, which included toast, bacon, eggs, juice, and coffee. It was nice to just lay in bed and lounge around for the majority of the morning even though neither Rita or myself know how to not work, so of course we checked, responded, and wrote emails. Thank goodness for free wireless at the hotel.
Rita decided it would be a fun idea to hibernate all day, but after attempting to myself, I just couldn't do it, so I got bundled up and walked to the mall. Lets give it up to Simi Valley Town Center for keeping me entertained, well lets face it, there wasn't much else in walking distance from the hotel. It was fun to visit stores that we don't have on the island. After wandering for quite some time and perusing, Ms. Rita awoke from her hibernation spell and called me after much confusion because I was no longer in the room. Don't worry people, I left her a note alerting her to my whereabouts, but she didn't see it until after she called me. Upon her arrival to the mall we hit up the stores that I resisted going to without her such as the amazingly fun Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie. Purchases are hardly ever made at either of these stores due to the high prices, but today was our lucky day because we found several beautiful, fun, and great things on shall I say it, SALE!!!!!! Our most exciting purchases were Blue and Pink 35mm Holga's (thats a camera if your not familiar). We are not the shopping types, so needless to say we were exhausted and starving after wandering about the mall and decided to give a local restaurant a try.
And here is were we introduce Famous Daves BBQ, where we ate Texas Brisket (which really wasn't Texas brisket, but I will let them think it is), cornbread, mashed potatoes, a sausage link, and a tall Samuel Adams Oktoberfest. I will admit that the food could have been a little better, but it was still pretty good. After we were stuffed to the brim with bbq, we stumbled back to the hotel so Rita could get some work done and a quick little recharge. We then hit the town for some items that we needed from CVS/Longs Drugs, and just so happened to stumble upon a ROSS, Big Lots, and Albertsons. I must say that it has been a really long time since either of us has been in a Big Lots and Albertsons, so it was pretty fun to explore the stores and grab some grub and beverages for later.
After this tiring day we decided that it would be really nice to head back to the hotel, throw on our swimsuits, and chill out in the hot tub. So we took a quick dip in the pool, which was surprisingly warm and swam some laps and then went to cruise in the hot tub. Rita and I know that hotel pools always wreak of chlorine, so we didn't think anything of it when we got in the hot tub. That was a HUGE mistake, because it wasn't until after we got out of there that we realized how much we smelled like chlorine and also that we were both burning but didn't know why. It wasn't until we took our showers that we really started to notice the damage not only to our skin, but also to our swimsuits. My black swimsuit was bleached to gray and a hole was burned in it by the jet, and Rita's white swimsuit was bleached to a cream color. After complaining/alerting the hotel staff, which the story would take to long to type out, we ended up getting our room taken care of for the time that we stayed there because we both received 1st degree chemical burns from the high chlorine levels. Our skin feels like rubber gloves, faces are bright red like we got a sunburn, sensitive skin areas are burning, and our palms are bright red. There isn't enough lotion or aloe in the world to keep us moist. Not to mention that according to several internet sources the best thing to do is take a cold shower for 20 minutes, which was painful.
To dull the pain we cracked open some brewskies, popped in our microwave dinners, turned on some Private Practice, and cruised in bed. Sleeping tonight should be interesting. Tomorrow is a big day, going to see good friends from the past.
Rita decided it would be a fun idea to hibernate all day, but after attempting to myself, I just couldn't do it, so I got bundled up and walked to the mall. Lets give it up to Simi Valley Town Center for keeping me entertained, well lets face it, there wasn't much else in walking distance from the hotel. It was fun to visit stores that we don't have on the island. After wandering for quite some time and perusing, Ms. Rita awoke from her hibernation spell and called me after much confusion because I was no longer in the room. Don't worry people, I left her a note alerting her to my whereabouts, but she didn't see it until after she called me. Upon her arrival to the mall we hit up the stores that I resisted going to without her such as the amazingly fun Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie. Purchases are hardly ever made at either of these stores due to the high prices, but today was our lucky day because we found several beautiful, fun, and great things on shall I say it, SALE!!!!!! Our most exciting purchases were Blue and Pink 35mm Holga's (thats a camera if your not familiar). We are not the shopping types, so needless to say we were exhausted and starving after wandering about the mall and decided to give a local restaurant a try.
And here is were we introduce Famous Daves BBQ, where we ate Texas Brisket (which really wasn't Texas brisket, but I will let them think it is), cornbread, mashed potatoes, a sausage link, and a tall Samuel Adams Oktoberfest. I will admit that the food could have been a little better, but it was still pretty good. After we were stuffed to the brim with bbq, we stumbled back to the hotel so Rita could get some work done and a quick little recharge. We then hit the town for some items that we needed from CVS/Longs Drugs, and just so happened to stumble upon a ROSS, Big Lots, and Albertsons. I must say that it has been a really long time since either of us has been in a Big Lots and Albertsons, so it was pretty fun to explore the stores and grab some grub and beverages for later.
After this tiring day we decided that it would be really nice to head back to the hotel, throw on our swimsuits, and chill out in the hot tub. So we took a quick dip in the pool, which was surprisingly warm and swam some laps and then went to cruise in the hot tub. Rita and I know that hotel pools always wreak of chlorine, so we didn't think anything of it when we got in the hot tub. That was a HUGE mistake, because it wasn't until after we got out of there that we realized how much we smelled like chlorine and also that we were both burning but didn't know why. It wasn't until we took our showers that we really started to notice the damage not only to our skin, but also to our swimsuits. My black swimsuit was bleached to gray and a hole was burned in it by the jet, and Rita's white swimsuit was bleached to a cream color. After complaining/alerting the hotel staff, which the story would take to long to type out, we ended up getting our room taken care of for the time that we stayed there because we both received 1st degree chemical burns from the high chlorine levels. Our skin feels like rubber gloves, faces are bright red like we got a sunburn, sensitive skin areas are burning, and our palms are bright red. There isn't enough lotion or aloe in the world to keep us moist. Not to mention that according to several internet sources the best thing to do is take a cold shower for 20 minutes, which was painful.
To dull the pain we cracked open some brewskies, popped in our microwave dinners, turned on some Private Practice, and cruised in bed. Sleeping tonight should be interesting. Tomorrow is a big day, going to see good friends from the past.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Welcome to "Sunny" California
10/20/10: What a crazy day this has been?! It began rather early for both Rita and I. Today was a big big day for Rita because she is on TV. Shes gonna be famous! (P.S. You can check her out here http://www.khon2.com/content/news/morning/story/Real-World-Magazine-Breast-Cancer-Awareness/K4R7YCOjU0KqL7B0f11l0w.cspx . Rita's breast cancer work is being featured in the AMAZING Real Word Magazine. Because of the interview things got skewed a little, but it was worth it. I was her sub at her BNI meeting this morning and made some good contacts. After both of our morning commitments were complete we spent some time running around to finish up last minute errands and packing. Our wonderful friend Eri picked us up shortly after we finished running around like headless chickens to take us to the airport. Thank goodness for online check-in and no checked bags because the line was wicked and we just went straight to security and were on our way to the gate. With it being national wear purple day in support of the young people that lost their lives for being gay, both Rita and I were wearing purple and got some funny stares from people because we were essentially matching.
Our flight was pretty good aside from a few bumpy spots along the way. This was a very nice airplane, shows how long it has been since I flew to the mainland on Hawaiian Airlines, but props to them for giving such great service. Each seat had its own touch screen monitor, but there were no free movies, you had to pay for everything so that was a bummer. After attempting to watch a movie on the computer, then the iPad, and then via plugging in the iPod to the computer, we ended up watching the Incredibles on my little screen of my iPod. Thank goodness for our headphone splitter. We still got a free meal, I think Hawaiian is one of the few that still gives a free meal and a snack. Surprisingly the food was pretty good and dinner included chicken and mushroom pasta with a slice of cherry cordial cake.
We arrived at LAX around 10pm and went to pick up our rental car. Of course there was a little confusion with our reservation because we thought it was with one company but it was with another company, so thank goodness we looked before getting onto the shuttle. Rita and I were showing the island love to the check out lady at the car rental company, because there's no need to be rude if you don't gotta be. It's nice to know that you made someones day and made them smile, just by being nice and easygoing. Navigating through the LA area was a little difficult but we made it on the the 405 and to the 118 and 44 miles later we arrived in Simi Valley at our hotel, the Grand Vista Hotel.
After checking into our hotel room and doing a little nesting we decided it was time to get some grub and thank goodness there was a Del Taco that has a 24 hour drive through across the street from our hotel. As we drove up to the drive through a sign lit up with a glowing light saying "you must order me," haha it was for $0.39 tacos. We ordered quite a bit of food plus two medium drinks which looked like huge jugs of soda and it was all under $10, Amazing! After stuffing our faces, taking showers, checking email and facebook, we finally laid our sleepy heads down for some well deserved and much needed sleep. Oh I cant forget, we ordered breakfast in bed for tomorrow morning.
Our flight was pretty good aside from a few bumpy spots along the way. This was a very nice airplane, shows how long it has been since I flew to the mainland on Hawaiian Airlines, but props to them for giving such great service. Each seat had its own touch screen monitor, but there were no free movies, you had to pay for everything so that was a bummer. After attempting to watch a movie on the computer, then the iPad, and then via plugging in the iPod to the computer, we ended up watching the Incredibles on my little screen of my iPod. Thank goodness for our headphone splitter. We still got a free meal, I think Hawaiian is one of the few that still gives a free meal and a snack. Surprisingly the food was pretty good and dinner included chicken and mushroom pasta with a slice of cherry cordial cake.
We arrived at LAX around 10pm and went to pick up our rental car. Of course there was a little confusion with our reservation because we thought it was with one company but it was with another company, so thank goodness we looked before getting onto the shuttle. Rita and I were showing the island love to the check out lady at the car rental company, because there's no need to be rude if you don't gotta be. It's nice to know that you made someones day and made them smile, just by being nice and easygoing. Navigating through the LA area was a little difficult but we made it on the the 405 and to the 118 and 44 miles later we arrived in Simi Valley at our hotel, the Grand Vista Hotel.
After checking into our hotel room and doing a little nesting we decided it was time to get some grub and thank goodness there was a Del Taco that has a 24 hour drive through across the street from our hotel. As we drove up to the drive through a sign lit up with a glowing light saying "you must order me," haha it was for $0.39 tacos. We ordered quite a bit of food plus two medium drinks which looked like huge jugs of soda and it was all under $10, Amazing! After stuffing our faces, taking showers, checking email and facebook, we finally laid our sleepy heads down for some well deserved and much needed sleep. Oh I cant forget, we ordered breakfast in bed for tomorrow morning.
Let The Fun Times BEGIN!!!!
10/20/10 Cheeeeeee to da HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It's time to get off da rock! Though Rita and I love the rock, there are times when it is just necessary to get away, refresh, and remind ourselves that we are Lucky We Live Hawaii! Lets face it, we live in paradise, but most of the time we are so focused with the day to day chores of life from work to paying bills, to eating, etc that we forget the beauty that the islands hold. We are blessed to have the opportunity to live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by the deep blue sea, where we can swim our worries, fears, stresses, and whatever emotions away. Hawaii has a healing force within it. If you've forgotten that or haven't seen it in a while, take a second to sit back and enjoy the beauty of Hawaii. It's off to California we go! Starting in LA and roadtripping up to the Bay! So good to drive for hours and be somewhere different.
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