Girls' Trip

Here's our very first Girls' Only Trip this year which took place in sunny California. That means, no husbands, boyfriends, babies/children, dogs or pagers. This was our first but I hope not last reunion.

Our "reunion" memorialized in sand, which was soon erased by the ocean wave.

At the Santa Cruz beach. As Laurel said, the ocean waves and vista make one contemplative.

I can't help but dream of living in California one day, but hubby never fails to remind me of the inconvenient threats that come with paradise: earthquakes, forest fires, and tsunamis.

Shadow picture, Shoreh's idea.

With Laurel at Firshermen's Wharf. That's an eyeball flower to the left of me!

The awesome foursome, R to L: Joyce, Shoreh, Laurel, and Linda. We've known each other for 16 years!! My oldest and bestest friends.

My Day Off

The good thing about having weekdays off is that when you visit places like the park or store, it's not overcrowded. The downside is of course going to work on weekends, :( Here's our recent picnic and frolic at White Rock Lake. Yeah, we always go to the same spot.

"Too much sun in my face!"

Car ride home, "I'm pooped". . .

. . .Maybe not.

Cool biking pics

Thanks to Sameer, I downloaded these from his Facebook site.

Now the chronicle of our SF trip is complete.

The Best of San Fran

Take a short picture tour of San Francisco with me. For more pics, check out my Facebook site. Darn blogger limits my picture memory!

We stayed with David, my BIL, at the Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco. It was within walking distance to almost everything: the Fisherman's Wharf, the beach, and Golden Gate Bridge. Look at that view! The highest incline of any street was up to 31 degrees.

The Golden Gate Bridge in the fog as seen on our ferry tour.


It was so chilly and windy on the ferry, but had beautiful views of the bay city, Alcatraz island, and the Golden Gate Bridge.



The Crookedest St, seriously, that's its name and what it is. See how winding the street is behind us? There's a 5 mph limit. A flower-filled and picturesque place, the Crookedest St is the last part of Lombard St. in the Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Beautiful flowers abound in San Fran.

With my best friend, Shoreh, who just recently migrated from the east coast and is already calling Cali her home. It was so awesome seeing her! We spent the Fourth on the Pier and took a ferry to Sausalito, a city across the bay north of SF.

Another view of the GGB.

Bike the Bridge. Here's David with his roommate, Sameer. On Saturday, the four of us rented bikes and rode along the Pacific ocean, all the way across the GG Bridge, and into Sausalito. We had well-deserved ice cream cones in Sausalito before heading back to SF on a ferry with our bikes. It was a really fun day and awesome way to experience SF.

Stopping for a pic. . . and for me to catch my breath. Biking with 3 guys was hard, being an out-of-shape wimp didn't help either, but I made it!

View of Chinatown at sunset. We had two meals here, different days but same restaurant. It was very good but not anything that Dallas couldn't offer. Some restaurants looked very sketchy to me as in I wouldn't eat there in a million years.

Another day with BFF, Shoreh. Here we are on Sunday at the Fillmore St. Jazz festival where good food is to be had, and one can stroll around with wine or sangria in hand admiring the expensive crafts and brave souls singing karaoke.

Paul and I at the Fillmore St. Jazz Festival.

Food at the festival. Check out the size of those baked oysters! So yummy that I wish I had more.

Caricatures with Shoreh at Fisherman's Wharf. Such a tourist trap, but I don't care!

At the beach at Crissy Fields.

I love the beach, even the unswimmable, chilly beach of San Fran.

Our last meal in San Fran, oysters and clams at the Hog Island Oyster Company.

Oysters on the half shell at the Hog Island Oyster Bar. The best place for fresh oysters in SF. It was uber fresh and full of yumminess. I was never a raw oyster person, but that won my over.

San Francisco was simply wonderful. I am ever so grateful that David is there this summer and had such a awesomely located apartment and cool roommate (Sameer) to boot. We took over David's room and I can only hope the couch didn't do much damage to David's back. I thank Sameer for being so friendly and for letting Paul play with his PS3 every night. Apparently "Call of Duty" is a very addictive game for the guys. It made hubby's vacation that much better.

There are tons of things to do. Of all the touristy things to do, we didn't get to ride the cable cars. The one chance we had, the cable car was full! I would have also loved to take a tour of Alcatraz island, bike to Tiburon, visit Napa Valley, and I can always spend more time at the beach.

It really does take planning to have a good vacation. And I took pains to plan our itinerary and get to know the city beforehand. But no matter how hard one plans, it's always wise to leave a little room for chance. As for my big plans to see the fireworks at the Pier. Well, it didn't pan out. The night got so very cold, so we went home and had take-out Thai food instead, not very patriotic. It turns out the fog was so heavy, even people at the Pier didn't get to see the fireworks. I also wanted to see the adorable sealions at Pier 39, but unknownst to me, they had migrated elsewhere this time of year. Then there are good things that come unplanned, serendipities! While at Sausalito with Shoreh, it was Farmers' Market day so we got to buy the freshest berries and peaches. It was so good!

So, food is definitely a big highlight of of trip. Our first meal was at a hibachi grill place in Japantown, the restaurant (I don't remember the name) turned out to be owned by Rocky Aoki, father of model Devon Aoki. Don't ask me how I know these people, just the random facts I know! The next day, we ate at Scoma's, a nice sit-down dinner at the Wharf where we had large bowl of clams and seafood sautee with prawns, crabs, lobsters, scallops. The dish looked just as beautiful as it tasted, no pic that day 'cause I know hubby would be embarrased if I took a pic then. Then there was the fresh crabs bought from street vendors, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl at Boudin's Bakery, dim sum at Chinatown, and oysters at the Hog Island Oyster Bar.

While we were gone, Hiro boarded at Petite Pooch Chateau. If only dogs could talk, but I assume he had a good stay there. The lady there told me Hiro had a "big personality." Now I wonder if that was her euphemism for "naughty" which is perfectly inline with Hiro's personality. Since I've been touting other commercial venues in this post, I will recommend Petite Pooch to anyone in the Dallas area looking for dog boarding places. This was a first for me and I had no idea where to pick, so I actually visited a few places as well as read online reviews. I liked Petite Pooch because it was clean, had a grassy yard, and only accepted dogs <30lbs.

Lastly, I have to say both Paul and I fell in love with the San Fran weather. We would move there in a heartbeat if it weren't for the outrageous housing prices and oh yeah, the little situation of employment. Coming back, the Dallas heat hit me hard, like hubby said today, Dallas "is next to hell." But home sweet home it still is!

St. Patty's Saturday

I had this Saturday off from work. I woke up to a to-do list of running errands and household chores. Such a beautiful day, I just couldn't bring myself to go to Target and buy Drano for our clogged drain and other such things. I digress but did you know there are different Dranos for standing clogs (water won't go down) vs. slow drains (water drains too slowly)? Anyways, I balked at my list of to-dos. Here's what hubby and I did instead on Saturday:

Hiro, off-leash. Bet you can't outrun him.

At the dog park, Hiro met many new friends.

Dogs take no time to get to know each other.

Run like the wind, free as the birds.

Our picnic by White Rock Lake. I wore Green for St.Patty's Day.

It was a enjoyable day.

Doggone Days

Here's our Sunday excursion to the nearby walking/jogging trail that I discovered yesterday.

Hiro meet the duckies. They are bigger than you!


Hmm, Hiro not as interested in duckies as hubby.

We walked for over a hour.. . and there were still energy left in the little guy!

Hiro, the maltipoo at 7 months old.

Today was also Superbowel Sunday. I was not very invested in it, but go New York Giants!!

Pictures (of wedding and Kitty)

There are few events more enjoyable than a wedding. I've regretted the several weddings we were unable to attend this past year due to school, weather, work, travel, graduation, etc. Here's one we were able to attend in Arkansas, James and Melinda's wedding last Saturday.

We are both very cheeky (full cheeks), no?




With the happy couple.



Here is Kitty enjoying a movie. . .it was "Because I Said So."

Borrrrrrrrrinnngg. . .that or I'm just an old cat who needs her sleep.

Ahh, this elective month is great . . .I'm actually getting paid to read EKGs with the cardiologists.

Mel and Omar's Wedding

Paul and I attended my school friends, Mel and Omar's wedding this weekend. Mel and Omar are a great couple. I have fond memories of celebrating birthdays, having get-togethers and pot-luck dinners and more recently, double dating with them. They are so down-to-earth and cheerful people, a couple of cool personalities and warm spirits. It was also great seeing a handful of classmates and friends that I haven't seen in many months.

Me with Mel and Omar (future pediatrician and family medicine doctor, in that order). They had Mariachi band in the background, so festive!

Robert and Lieu at the wedding, also future pediatrician and family doctor, respectively.

By the stroke of chance or perhaps something more divine, we found out that we are going to be in Tokyo at the same time as Robert and Lieu!! They are a couple of friends of mine from school and they are spending a couple of weeks traveling through Japan. We are arriving at Narita airport on the same day just 1 hour apart on different flights! Truth be told, I have been rather concerned about our mini 3-day trip in Tokyo ever since I found out that David (Paul's older bro) is not going to be there. We would have cancelled the stay in Tokyo if it weren't for the expensive ticket change fee. The whole point of going to Japan was to visit David and be under his wings while he orchestrated and guided our adventure in a foreign land. But duty calls, he has to be out of the country for work during our trip! So Japan became much more of an adventure than I bargained for! I started having visions of us getting lost amist the massive subway system in Tokyo. . .how do I exchange $$ to yen? What is the best way to get from Narita to Tokyo? What places should we visit?! Where are good places to eat without clearing out our wallet or risk poisoning by ill-prepared puffer fish ?? What can I say, I'm a worrier by nature. I had much research and planning to do. But then I found out Robert and Lieu are going to be there, too! We've vowed to stick together, for better or worse, in times of getting lost, in times of trying sushi. . .plus, we can take couples' pictures for each other!