Two weekends at home

Aaron and I have spent the last two weekends at home in Los Angeles... but did we rest? Not quite. Last weekend were up early to get to the Rose Bowl stadium in time to tailgate and then cheer on the UCLA football team. That evening we rallied to head out to a favorite local bar, The Arsenal, to celebrate our friend Vince's thirtieth birthday. Sunday morning I took a bike ride with Alanna while Aaron played in his basketball league. We then headed down to Orange County and kicked off the holiday season with Kelley, Zach and Rosemary by ice skating at the Irvine Spectrum. I have to brag just a little that I was a bit more of a natural than Aaron.

This weekend we watched the LA Lakers beat the Pistons (thank you to Aaron's grandfather for the tickets!). We boogied out of downtown to get to Hollywood in time to watch our friend Minh's band's show. It was a pretty big deal since they were in town from Austin, Texas. Finally we had a chance to sleep in on Saturday morning - felt like the first time in months. That afternoon we went to a couple of house parties/BBQ's in the South Bay. Having made a stop at Lowes yesterday for some supplies, Aaron and I were able to work some more on our backyard this afternoon. Just as the sun went down it was time for me to head out for my book club. This time we read In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson to commemorate that one of our members is leaving to live in Australia.

Weekend in the Bay Area

This past weekend Aaron and I were in the San Francisco bay area visiting a couple of good friends. We started our visit with two nights with Rafunzel and Lisa in the city. They have an awesome place right in the heart of things and we spent most of our time together walking around the city shopping, eating and laughing.

Lunch was a 'must' at Hooters near Fisherman's Wharf. Yes, we passed up the traditional clam chowder in a bread bowl, but it was in an effort to take a small trip down memory lane. In Aaron's first glimpse of me on my Friendster.com profile (it's a pre-MySpace social networking site) I was eating a chicken wing at Hooters with Funzel. We figured that it was about time for us to all officially commemorate the role that Hooters has in our relationship. Now we don't ever actually have to go there again. :)

Saturday morning we headed down the peninsula to attend a friend's father's memorial and then to see Aaron's best man Jason, his wife Andrea, and their son Eric. Saturday evening we checked out Main Street in Los Gatos with a very important stop at the local candy store. Sunday morning after grabbing bagels we all went to the San Jose Tech Museum. Aaron and Jason may have had even more fun playin with all of the gadgets and displays than little Eric!

Two long weekends away in a row (whew) is exhausting, but very much worth it.

Aloha!

Aaron and I just returned to Los Angeles after a long weekend in Hawaii. Some friends were getting married in their home town Honolulu, so of course we were excited when we got the invitation to help them celebrate! We arrived on Thursday afternoon and spent some time walking the beaches and window shopping in Waikiki. Friday we hiked up Diamondhead and enjoyed some Hawaiian Shaved Ice once we made it back to sea level. The wedding was Saturday morning and later that evening a huge group went to a club to continue the party. Sunday was a water day - we went boogie boarding in the morning and then spent the afternoon snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. I was surprised by how *huge* the fish were and very tame. They barely swam away when we approached them for a closer look! We spent our last evening on the island with our friends Karen and Jonathan driving through the countryside to check out Northshore. It was a nice extended weekend away!

Aunt Sue in Santa Monica

This weekend my Aunt Sue came to visit from Colorado. Technically she came to see my mom who lives part time in southland, but this exemplifies another bonus to having my mom here: Aaron and I reap the benefits of visitors coming through town. Aaron finished watching the UCLA football team beat Cal - Go Bruins! - and then we headed out for some Santa Monica culture in the form of a walk along the cliffs and the homeless, then back through the shopping and the street performers on the Third Street Promenade. The weather was perfect and we covered a little more than 2 1/2 miles. Worked up an appetite for dinner at Gyu-Kaku, a Japanese BBQ favorite where you cook your own food at your table. We introduced the 'older generation' with us to Pinkberry for dessert and then headed back to our place so my mom could open her birthday present from us (a couple of Newberry Award winning books to add to her collection).

All work and no play.... makes for a boring blog!

So, it's been a little while since I've blogged. I have been sooooooo busy with work that I haven't really wanted to sit at the computer for any longer than I already have on any given day. I have been to Miami and Phoenix (both for work) since I last wrote. Sadly, I don't have a hot Miami night life story to write since I spent my entire time there busy at a conference. And well, Phoenix... is Phoenix. I am still searching for 'the scene' there.

For those of you who haven't heard, little Alex is officially ours. We adopted him (or did he adopt us?). In the process he had to stay at the animal shelter for 5 days where he ate very little and caught a kitty cold. After nearly two weeks of really crappy days and us forcing anti-biotics down his throat, the little guy has made a full recovery and is as cute as ever. He still needs to gain some weight back, but he's nearly there.

Aaron and I have kickball tonight - to which I plan on bringing my new fancy camera. If I get a good shot, I'll post it so you can see us in action.

Sooooooo hungry!

This past weekend was Yom Kippur, which for those who might not know is one of the high holy days in Judaism. Aaron traditionally observes the holiday like many Jews by fasting. I hadn't ever fasted before, but wanted to support Aaron. The idea is that you fast in order to improve your ability to focus on repentance and ask for forgiveness - it's a day of atonement. My main outstanding question for Aaron was that if this was indeed a holy day, how does watching football fit into the plan? Why were we starving ourselves only to entertain ourselves with tv rather than doing something more spiritual or observant? So, the tv was turned off and we spent some quality time together. We made it through the day with only the expected and tolerated amount of grumpiness.

Phoenix

Today I took my first of many trips to Phoenix for work. It was a quick flight, though very early in the morning, and I returned the same evening. I've weighed out the plus and minuses about this new role that I have at work - I'm the lead marketer for our Arizona practice - and all in all I think it's going to be a good gig. One of the obvious bonuses is going to be watching my Rapid Rewards program membership from Southwest Airlines grow. SWA and I are going to be good friends!