11 for 2011: Fly a Kite

Jerry likes to make fun of me for not having much of a childhood.  It's kind of true.  Growing up without siblings or a second parent (my mom raised me all by herself!!), I had to forgo certain childhood traditions.  For example I never went trick-or-treating as a kid.  I didn't get my first bike until I was 11, and I had to teach myself how to ride...sans training wheels.  I never saw snow until I was an adult.  Forget about sleepovers or going to the movies, and while my friends were playing outside, I had to do all the chores/cooking while my mom worked.  I also had to help my mom sew at least a dozen hours a week from middle school until college.  I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing have grown up this way.  It's certainly shaped me to be who I am today.  And, as a kid, I got to travel to a lot of places around the world (post to come later!)  However, once in a while I get these pangs of having missed out on certain things that would have been pretty awesome as a kid.  For example, kite flying.  So for my birthday Jerry bought me a kite, and we finally flew it last month!  (Like my biking outfit? I didn't bother to take off my helmet cus then I'd have to readjust my hair, and its annoying to do it twice, so I'll dorkily wear my helmet while not riding.) Okay, it's pretty fun as an adult, but I think as a kid it would have felt more magical.  :) I can't wait someday to introduce our kids to kite flying.

Check out this list of kite festivals around the world.
5 down, 6 to go!

Looking Forward To, Summer Edition

I guess it's safe to say that I gave up on the photography challenge.  Work got super busy and I just didn't have the time or energy!  Since my last post I've had to work in Chinatown, Claremont, Cerritos, downtown, San Gabriel, and Hermosa Beach, and this week I'm slated to be in Santa Monica, Sierra Madre and Monterey Park.  If you are familiar with LA you'll know that some of these cities take forever to drive to...whew!  I'll be glad when this week is over because it means 9 days off in a row for me!  Here's what else I'm looking forward to this summer:

My in-laws are coming to town this weekend and will be spending 2 weekends with us.  We have an awesome lineup of places to visit and things and eat including the Godmother sammie from Bay Cities Deli, desserts from Churros Calientes and Sweet Rose Creamery, and the most amazing chicken pasta from Hurry Curry, etc, etc.  I even made reservations for afternoon tea at the Bazaar, one of my favorite places in LA!  My SIL J and I will get some peaceful chat time while the guys and kids visit the Petersen Automotive Museum.  :)

In between the LA fun-filled weekends, we'll be going on a short cruise to Catalina and Ensenada via the Carnival Paradise.  I'm super excited as this is my first cruise, and we'll also get to spend quality time playing with our niece and nephews.  I can't wait to just relax and not be bothered by email or phone calls!

This summer I'll finally be able to check out the the Renegade LA craft fair.  I just stocked up on goodies at Unique LA in December, but I can't resist stopping by to browse through more crafty goodness at Renegade.  Plus it's free admission, versus Unique LA which charges 10 bucks pp. 

I'm planning a family camping trip at Crystal Lake, Azusa (part of the San Gabriel River (formerly Mount Baldy) District of The Angeles National Forest).  Many of my relatives have never been camping before...so this will be interesting.  I'm hoping that my cousins will catch the camping bug and go more often with us!  Jerry and I looooove camping and we go several times a year.  I can't wait to have kids and to take them camping. :)

My old college roommate C and I are going to see Much Ado About Nothing this summer as part of the Shakespeare by the Sea series!  Around 4 years ago, we picnicked at the Shakespeare Under the Stars in San Juan Capistrano and watched The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged).  I don't remember what it was about, but it was funny!  Can't wait to have another picnic again.  :)

We're also going to Lake Tahoe this summer along with Jerry's family- about 13 of us total- but instead of camping we've rented a cabin for the weekend.  It'll be my first time to Lake Tahoe so I'm excited!  Since our truck is now freed from camping gear, we're gonna bring our bikes. :)  In addition, my SIL L and I are going to this concert at one of the casinos:

Not many people I know are into Chinese pop music anymore so I'm happy to share this experience with her!  My dream is still see Faye Wong live...but not sure if that will ever happen.  I don't know any of the new singers nowadays, so I don't know who's hot or good.  I'm actually so out of touch that I had no idea that these guys formed the Big Four.  All I know is that I LOVED William So's music back in the day and I can't wait to hear him live, and as a bonus I also get to see Andy Hui!!  This is so geeky of me, but it would also be awesome of Sammi (Andy's gf) made a surprise appearance.  :) 

My first time to Chicago!  Our plane tix ended up being around $140 RT for a Thurs-Sun during peak travel season.  Ridiculous huh??  I was one of the lucky folks to nab this Groupon, and Virgin America had introductory rates of $99 each way.  I had been waiting for VA to launch at ORD, so it was just a waiting game.  The groupon deal made it even sweeter!  (A great way to get travel deals is to watch for new launches- when VA launched Toronto I used a coupon code via Twitter to get 50% off introductory fares, so only $250 RT, and right now Jet Blue is launching flights to Alaska, so you can fly for just $300 RT out of Long Beach!)  Anyhoo, I am excited to eat my way through this city, admire the architecture, and explore via boat and bike.  Speaking of eating...

After over 250 phone calls between the two of us (redialing over...and over...and over) Jerry finally managed to get through and made reservations at Alinea!  It's currently the #1 restaurant in North America and #6 in the world.  I am especially looking forward to this trip because I just finished the chef/owner of Alinea- Grant Achatz's book Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat.  It's one of the most insightful and well-written pieces of non-fiction that I've read in a long time.  I highly, highly recommend it.

It's going to be a great summer full of firsts.  My entire summer last year was consumed by wedding planning and crafting.  As proud as I was of all my DIY projects, I am REALLY glad to have my weekends back now.  Jerry and I are sooooo over anything wedding related!

When His Pet Butterfly Betrayed Him and Sold His House, Billy Wept

Went to a friend's birthday party and learned this new game- it's a hybrid of Telephone and Pictionary.  I laughed so hard that I had tears coming out of my eyes.  My tummy was sore from all the belly laughs!

Basically everyone gets the same number of papers as players.  You number them.  Each person writes down a phrase- could be a sentence or a single word.  Then everyone hands their entire stack to the person either clockwise or counterclockwise.  The next person interprets the phase with the drawing, places the first page with the original phrase to the bottom of the stack, and hands the stack to the next person.  The 3rd person then has to interpret the drawing by writing down a phrase.  The game keeps going until the stacks go through all the players.

As you can see, the more "unique" the phrase, the more belly laughs!  We had some unoriginal phrases such as "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Big Fish Eat The Little Fish" which were pretty easy to draw/interpret.  This is a wonderful idea for an icebreaker/party game at your next gathering/meeting, esp if people don't know each other that well or you have limited space.  I seriously want to throw another get-together so I can play this game again. :)

What Would Happen

If I won the lottery?

The most recent Megamillions jackpot has probably inserted this question in many folks minds.  It certainly has in mine!  By the way, we got 3 out of the 6 numbers last night.  So we won 7 bucks...or errr we lost 13 :)  If we had played the LOST numbers, we would have won $150.   Besides the obvious splurging of consumer products, this is what came to my mind.

What would change:
I'd keep two homes, one in LA, one up north so that we'd always have our own place to stay wherever we are.  And the kitchens in both houses would be pimped out to the max. 
I'd help out more with my younger relatives' college funds (on the condition they work at least one crappy service job- none of those fancy "internships" where they don't learn the value of hard work)
I'd donate a ton of money to our LA library system, and any school/workplace that I've been associated with, you get the idea.
I'd build up a killer spice/seasonings collection, like real vanilla beans and diff kinds of sea salt!  Can you imagine always cooking with the best spices and flavorings?  What a luxury!  For now I'll have to do with rationing my precious jar of vanilla paste from Spice Station, and the Costco sized bottle of vanilla extract. 
I would treat my family and friends to fun vacations!
We probably wouldn't work full-time anymore.
We'd buy a shiba inu, husky, AND a red lab!  And we'd hire someone to teach us how to take care of our dogs.
I would pay someone else to hem my pants.  It's my least favorite sewing chore. 
I'd buy the best and most luxurious bath towels out there.  
I would fly first class on international trips, or buy the seat next to me.  I'd probably still sleep crappy, but at least I wouldn't have to sit next to a super smelly or fat person.

What would not change:
We'd still make our kids work shit service jobs in HS/college.  I worked in the student store in HS filling up cup of noodles and I changed rat cages in college.  Jerry made McDonalds french fries in HS and pushed Food 4 Less shopping carts back to the front in college.  We worked crappy jobs then so that when we got our real jobs now, we'd have a sense of appreciation and reality.
We'd still cook at home most days. 
I'd still eat $1 hole in the wall tacos.  Just because I'm $350 million dollars richer doesn't mean that a $12 white man fancy version of a taco is going to taste better.
I'd still borrow DVDs from the library.  Most movies are not worth owning or watching in the theaters, no matter how much money or space you have.
I would still fly southwest to/from LAX to SJC/OAK. It's the most efficient airline for that type of travel! Time = money.
I still wouldn't pay someone to raise our kids.  And I wouldn't pay someone to do our kids' chores.
I guess I still would have to wear contact lenses.  Boo, there are just some things money can't buy.

My list is infinite, but the above things are what came to mind.  What's on yours?

Fun Finds

Things I have bought recently:

From J. Crew

I was looking for a new swimsuit after my relatively new perfect-shade-of-green suit got bleached beyond recognition due to the jacuzzi being over-chlorinated.   I hate you, Homewood Suites: Carlsbad.  Your hot breakfast was awesome though.  Anyhoo, I'm going to try to dye my suit before our honeymoon, but I don't know if I can bring it back to all its glory.  This adorable polka dot ruffly one piece is lessening the blow in the meantime. 

Also from J. Crew

I wanted something I could wear outside to cover up my arms.  This cardigan is a perfect weight, and on a sunny day I get some sun protection without feeling overheated.  The violet color is really subtle and I'm a sucker for pockets.

From Amazon

I've been itching for some type of medium for video recording for a long time, esp after we got the D300 and I gave my parents my old Olympus.  I had won 2 Flip Cameras in some contests but ultimately we decided to not keep either b/c they weren't HD and they weren't automatically waterproof (you have to buy an accessory case).  Jerry sold both and did some research on other products.  We ended up not getting the HD version of the Flip because the regular HD version, though waterproof, felt a little clunky.  The sleeker version (Mino HD) was not waterproof.  Since we had been also thinking about getting a P&S for the times when we can't lug the Nikon around we decided to hold out for a decent P&S that had HD quality video AND was waterproof.  Enter the Panasonic Lumix!  It took many weeks for it to arrive but it was worth the wait (tip: when you pre-order on Amazon you will not only lock in your order price, but if the $ drops you'll get the lowest price prior to the release date)!  The still picture quality is decent and does the job.  Of course it's not up to par with the D300 but sometimes I just need a picture of something where I don't need accurate ISO or perfect exposure.  I've eaten at 2 buffets this month and this is the perfect camera to capture my meals.  I find it really unwieldy to haul our other camera around places like buffets.  I'll blog about the video quality in another post!  But in the meantime, I'm really happy with this camera overall.

From Ikea

We really don't need straws at our wedding but I couldn't resist.  These colors are fun and festive!  And they were on sale for $1.  Excuse me while I go find 200 glasses now...because our caterer won't supply drinking vessels.  Never a dull moment in planning this shindig!

We both picked up some new Oakley sunglasses from Endless.  Here's Jerry's, and here's mine.  Yes, you read right- that's Asian fit!  Jerry's been a loyal Oakley customer for many years (currently has 3 pairs- brown tinted ones for driving, one for walking around, and a clear pair for playing vball/working in the garage) but this is my first pair.  I have a hard time finding good fitting sunglasses that frame my face well.  Mine aren't Asian fit, but they fit well and are comfortable.  

And finally:

Image via istockphoto

My most exciting purchase of all- I hopped on this Twitter promo and bought us tix to Toronto!  It is quite expensive to fly to Canada so I was happy to find this deal.  This will mark my 7th time to our northern neighbors, and Jer's first time.  My cousin has been eager for me to visit and since she just had her second baby, I'm excited to see my new family members (I still haven't met her first kid either!).  The deal was only good for June-November so August seemed like a good month to go.  I wasn't planning on traveling so close to the wedding and our honeymoon but you really can't beat 50% off flights.  Since my family is graciously hosting us, we really only have to worry about meals and the copious amounts of maple syrup that I will be hauling back.  I'm also taking orders for ketchup chips now. 

Any fun finds on your end?  I know of a certain someone who got a backpack from REI for a STEAL! :P

California Adventure

The 3rd part of our day included Disney's California Adventure!  I had never been before so I was excited to explore the park.

My favorite kiddie ride was the Toy Story one.  It's replaced Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters as my fave game!  Unfortunately, the line was an hour long and we couldn't Fast Pass so I didn't get to go on it again, boo.  We also tried to Fast Pass the Soarin' California one but it was so popular they shut down the Fast Pass as well!  Monsters Inc was pretty much a snooze.  

We did a few more things including Mulholland Madness, California Screamin', Soarin' Over California (40 min wait...just okay) and Maliboomer.  The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was my favorite though!  Since the middle kid couldn't do much, his dad took him on the Jellyfish ride above.  It's like a tot version of Maliboomer I guess!

Seriously, why don't people use a recycling bin?!  It's not that far away..

The park is still a work in progress so I could see myself going back someday.  Not anytime soon though!

And that concludes our jam-packed Disney adventure! 

Club 33

My Club 33 experience was really fun and lived up to the hype in my book.  I would jump at the opportunity to go again, but for my first time, I went as if it was my last!  Here goes:

When you get to the park you have to go to Guest Relations to pick up your tickets.  Our hook-up was really generous- we got park hopper tix for free!  The paper on the bottom right corner listed the dress code, rules, etc.  We already knew ahead of time that the dress code for lunch was more lax than for dinner so we were able to stick to jeans, shorts, and skorts.  As you'll notice later, Jerry and I changed our tops when we got inside.  Just because. :)

I took A LOT of pictures just of the door!  The entrance is located in New Orleans Square, next to the Blue Bayou restaurant.  It's pretty unobtrusive.  You lift up the little door on the left side and there's an intercom!  State your name, and the number in your party...

And you'll be let into the lobby.  It has a very old and grandeur type feeling.  There's also an elevator that fits about 2-3 people.  Jerry said it was broken the first time they went (yep, with the exception of the baby, everyone else in our party has gone before!) so I'm glad it worked this time!  There's a place for strollers.  Because Disneyland = Strollerland.

Yes, like everyone else I took pictures of the restroom.  And yes, the toilet is throne shaped.  And the mini powder/vanity room was sooooooooo shabby chic cute.  (Jerry said that the men's room wasn't as decked out.)   He took a wad of napkins from the men's room that said Club 33 on it.  We are really classy people.

Ok, onto the dining room.  I believe there's 2 rooms, and we were seated in the larger, more formal one.  The menu is limited to a handful of entrees.  There's also a kids menu as well!  We got a choice of sparkling champagne or cider.  There's a full bar too but we didn't partake in it as the majority of us can't/don't drink.  

In addition to the selected entree, there's an appetizer/dessert buffet.  From the top right, counter clockwise- a selection of shrimp, lobster tail, and perfectly de-clawed crab claws (a perfect circle cut around the shell- those must be some industrial grade seafood scissors!).  Lemons, cocktail sauce and Tabasco sauce.  The seafood was SO delicious!  We also had fruits, a selection of cheese and caprese.  Not picture were a selection of salads, pastas and prosciutto. I really enjoyed the pasta (picture below)- it had lots of artichokes and grilled veggies.  On the other side of the wall was the soup of the day and some bread and crackers with diff kinds of olive oil.  The SOTD was a potato leek soup and it was SO FREAKING GOOD.  Finally there was a super rich and decadent dessert buffet. 

Most of us chose the monkfish with lobster bisque for our entrees.  The Israeli couscous was super yummy and I kept sopping up the bisque with more bread! Jer's sis got the beef which was really nice and tender.  Jerry sort of regretted not getting the beef but I reminded him that 3 days before we devoured prime rib so it was a good idea to try something new.  The deconstructed s'mores above were good the first couple bites...but after that it was way too rich for me.  

Here's some more close ups.  That chocolate torte looking thing in the top left corner was pretty darn good.  It was rich, but had some bitter tones so that helped tone it down.  I have a lot of pictures of the soup b/c it came in the most adorable cup!  Good thing it wasn't bigger...talk about portion control.  I still had thirds though.  And by the way, the service is impeccable!  The only thing that I didn't like was that they would fold our dirty napkins every time we left the table for another round at the buffet.  They stopped doing that about 2/3 through the meal, but at the beginning I felt a little bad that they had to keep touching my dirty napkin!  I'm all for great service...but I really don't want anyone to touch my stuff.  I know their hands are clean...but still.

Since it was Jerry's bday wknd, we had to let the staff know.  He got a bday button and a candle.  We sang (quietly).  The rest of the day, he got a great kick out of Disneyland staff wishing him happy birthday.

While we were eating, Mickey and Pluto paid us a visit!  Baby K was not scared at all and loved playing with their noses! 

So by now we were stuffed.  But we didn't want to leave yet so we just walked around and took even more pictures.

There's a souvenir case where you can buy Club 33 goods.  Jer's family picked up some items such as a latte mug and the ears above (it's the same pair of ears modeled by all of us).  Jerry and I took some more napkins and stir sticks adorned with the Club 33 logo, since the cheapest thing there was an $18 shot glass.  There's keychains, polo shirts, pens, etc. I would have taken the pen that comes with the bill as others on the internet have written about doing, but as it turned out, our meal was comped!  Thanks hook-up!

 

Overall I really enjoyed being able to partake in such an experience.  The food is not the best food ever (except for that soup!!), but it's pretty darn excellent for a theme park.  If I ever get a chance to go back I'd definitely go to the balcony (pictured above).  In all my excitement I completely forgot to check it out!  This also goes against my documentation tendencies, but I really think they should ban cameras in order to preserve the mystique.  Just a thought!

And so concludes my Club 33 experience.  I highly recommend it! :)

Disneyland

Even though I grew up relatively close by, I rarely went to Disneyland as a kid.  My first time wasn't until I was 10!  Otherwise I've gone here and there since: 8th grade graduation trip, HS Chemistry trip (that was a lot of chips and candy sold), Grad Nite (that was a lot of chocolate bunnies that us seniors had to sell!), twice in college when we had family visit, and twice now with Jer's family.  I notice that for each subsequent time I go, I'm less eager to hit all the rides and try to jam pack my day.  Instead it feels nice to just take it easy and ride whatever is along the path.  For this particular visit, I think we spent the majority of time in Tomorrowland and only made quick detours to Adventureland and Frontierland.  (And New Orleans Square...but that's another post. :P )

Even though rain was in the forecast it ended up being a pretty nice day for walking around.  The lighting conditions were great, I only had to adjust the ISO whenever we were inside waiting for a ride.  Otherwise I mostly shot around ISO 500.

Okay, has anyone gone to Disneyland recently and notice that the park guide/map is made much cheaply now?  It's quite thin and flimsy!  Doesn't have the heft or weight that old park guides use to have.  (And I just realized that's a map of California Adventure, not D-land.  Oh well, too lazy to change the collage now!)

Thanks to the Fast Pass system, we were able to go on quite a few rides w/o waiting in line that long.  We hit up Buzz Lightyear twice, and Autopia and Space Mountain before lunch.  After lunch we went on Big Thunder Railroad and Indiana Jones.  That may not sound like a lot, but when you're with kids, you can't just run from one line to another.  Someone always has to use the restroom (and never at the same time- I'd have to go, and when I would be walking back to the group meeting place, a kid would have to go haha), babies need to get changed and fed, and we even had a nosebleed right before we turned in our Fast Passes for Indiana Jones.  (Luckily, there was a worker at that part of the line and she told us to come come back to the front, whew.)

While the rides were fun, the real highlight of our morning was the Jedi Training Academy that takes place about every hour and a half throughout the whole day.  Basically, 20 kids get picked to go up and learn how to wield a lightsaber and then they get to fake-fight Darth Vader.  Not all the kids get picked though, so Jer's sister created these signs (which got confiscated after both boys were picked- no signs allowed haha) and the boys jumped up and down with them in order to increase their chances of being picked.  Oh, and we also staked out seats in the front too- that definitely helped!  It was really fun to watch all the kids participate.  Younger kid C was pretty slow on the uptake (as you can see from the pics), but it was still cute regardless!  And no, they didn't get to keep the lightsabers, but they did get certificates at the end.  And I have to say that the Asian Jedi Master was HILARIOUS with his comments and quips. 

And here's a new thing I learned at Disneyland:

This particular restroom isn't on the map or park guide.  Pretty neat huh!  It's not really a secret, as the sign blatantly says "restroom" but it is sort of hidden and you have to look for it.  I honestly don't remember where it is, but I'm sure its location can be googled.  I like this one b/c it's much cleaner and quite spacious since it's a family restroom.  Also, no lines! Of course I wouldn't go out of my way to use this particular facility, but if it's on the way to another ride, why not? :)

And then it was time for lunch...to be continued!

A "Free Saturday"

Saturday was one of those rare days where we didn't have to meet up with people or run errands. Lately it seemed that our commitment plate was getting quite full, and so it was very nice to have a day to ourselves. And we took full advantage of it.

So what did we end up doing? While some ppl might treat a free day as a day to sleep in, lie in bed, and lounge all day we:

Both woke up at 5am. Couldn't go back to sleep. So restless. So we decided to go running along the Strand. It was super nice outside! We weren't the only ones out there, there were quite a few early birds out and about!

(taken in Dec 2007, but this is basically the view as we ran to the pier and back, except it was much darker)

The run was perfect b/c I need to digest the 10 course Chinese meal from the night before (wedding tasting menu, blog entry to come). So what do you do when u digest a 10 course meal? You eat some more! So we took advantage of eating at Uncle Bills right when it opened at 7am. Any time after 8:30am and expect a 1-2 hour wait (in that case, we have gotten Uncle Bills as take out and just eaten it along the Strand, it's just as nice that way too!)

Also taken in Dec 2007, but I didn't bring the camera along yesterday and these pics were in my archives

After a yummy breakfast of omelets and waffles that was washed down with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, we went back home where I surfed the web a bit and Jerry napped. (Although since when is 8am considered a nap time?)

Then it was time to paint our room! Except we found out we ran out of roller covers so we had to drive to Home Depot. Luckily we only live a few min away from one. I loved the grey color we used (from Lowes though, HD paint is crap). So pretty!

I hate, hate, hate the prep work but I hate, hate, hate correcting my mistakes more, so we take great care in prepping right. It's so tedious but definitely worth it. Jerry is a much better painter than I am which is why he does all the hard to reach detailing.

We finished in the late afternoon so we decided to go for a swim. It was the perfect activity to do given the weather. However, there was this annoying guy in the pool who thought that he would plant his butt in the middle of the pool and just stand there. Doing nothing. He wasn't even swimming! I hate it when ppl are hogging the pool but not doing anything. That is what the lounge chair is for!

After an early dinner (we ate leftovers from the 10 course chinese meal), I decided that I was craving some sort of dessert, specifically the peach-kiwi smoothie at Boba Time in Gardena (I have very specific cravings). Since it was only 6pm, we decided to go for a drive as well. Then came the decision of where to go. Btwn the two of us, we had ventured almost every inch that was a 10 mile radius of us. (We didn't want to go that far) So we annoyed each other by going back and forth and vetoing each others suggestions of what place to go to. Then finally we came up with the idea that we should pick an activity to do, rather than a place to go to! We immediately decided to go miniature golfing since neither of us have gone together before. It was the best decision ever as an impromptu date-night. We went to Mulligan Family Fun Center in Torrance and had a blast!

We did two diff rounds of mini-golf (the 18th hole eats your ball, so what u do is finish at 17 and hop over the rope to the other course to start a new round). We got stuck in this crowd but we were patient. However, the girl in one hole behind us was so...weird. During one of the holes, we were sitting on the bench waiting for the couple in front of us to finish and she just waltzed right past us and plunked down her ball! And I was like..excuse me? And she said, oh sorry you are in front of us? ...DUH. So for the rest of the holes, she kept going ahead of her group and crowding in our space. On one of the holes, I went first and got my ball through. Jer went next, except his ball went into a weird place and he wanted to try again. As I went to get the ball, she stood right behind him (her group was still on the hole behind us!). So instead of tossing the ball to him to try again, I walked it over to him and practically wedged myself between her and him. And. She. WOULD NOT. Move. What a weirdo. So then, I stared her right in the face and with a smile, I said, would you like to go first? And she looked taken aback and said, uh...no thanks.

So we ended up getting the last laugh b/c since she was so eager to do every hole, on the last one (which we had skipped in favor of doing course #2), she played and it promptly ate hers and her group's balls. We saw them look around for at least 10 minutes for their balls, it was hilarious. And the thing is, they kept looking at US, wondering why we were able to keep playing! We had such a good laugh about it. Suckers!!

We capped off the night with me getting about 25 cuts at the batting cages. Yay, another thing to cross off my list! It was really fun, however 2/3 of the way through, my body was getting tired though and the bat felt so much heavier. So I think I can only handle 1 or 2 sessions at the most, well spaced apart. Looking forward to doing it again some day!

I think for one of our bdays we're just gonna have all our friends buy the unlimited pass for 15 bucks and we'll just play all night long. They even have lazer tag! Call me nerdy, but this is my idea of fun :)

What's your idea of a free day?

Splash Cafe & ATVing

Stopped by Pismo on our way to Norcal.

Had their famous clam chowder

Pretty tasty for the most part, but quite salty. We like making our own b/c we can control the sodium content.

Also had fish and chips. Pretty yummy, but I think I've had better.

I like the paintings, whimsical and colorful.

Splash Cafe
197 Pomeroy
Pismo Beach, Ca.
805.773.4653

We also went ATVing, very fun! It was my first time and Jerry's second (first was in New Zealand).

At first I went really slow, like excruciatingly 2 mph slow. Then I got the hang of it and didn't want to stop. :( I was sad when our 2 hours were over. I could see this as being a really fun bachelor party activity too. Maybe bachelorette also but I dunno if all my gfs would enjoy ATVing, haha. What I didn't enjoy was the sand in my contacts and my hair getting all over my face (but after I blinked out the sand and retied my hair, I felt less uncomfortable). Plus it is quite pricey, $75 per person for 2 hours. But its worth it to go at least once! Maybe we'll go again if we're ever in Nevada/Arizona (I think I prefer sand over forest).

Casablanca/Quiddler

Went to Casablanca on Lincoln. I don't get the theme...it's Humphrey Bogart meets Mexican food? Anyways, the tortillas are delicious!! Probably b/c they are made of lard. Yum. The food is good, but I've had better Mexican food, and for a lot cheaper too. Afterwards we played Quiddler, this word game. It's okay fun, not super fun. I still like Scrabble better. But Quiddler is great for large groups, while I prefer Scrabble with just one person. Anyhoo, go to Casablanca, order the cheapest thing, and eat tortillas!!

Casablanca Restaurant

220 Lincoln Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291

310.392.5751

Oh, that doggie is Guido. Really cute dog!