New Year’s Weekend in L.A.

So Sarah and I met up with Steph and Bre around 8:45am on Friday so we could sort of caravan down to L.A.. We ended up taking a couple of different freeways, but remained in the vicinity of each other. They even passed us on the freeway once and didn’t know it. After making one gas/food stop together, we arrived in L.A. ten mins apart from each other. We checked in the hotel which is an older hotel, and we later learned has VERY tiny rooms. There were a ton of 20 something’s checking in at the same time. We later learned that there was some local Rave and a bunch of them were going to it (dressed very oddly… I feel old).

Sarah unfortunately had pneumonia, but came on the trip anyway. She was feeling kinda ok, but she decided to take a nap before we headed out for the evening. At 6pm we met up with Steph, Bre and Jeremy to head to El Coyote Café, that Claire and Bobby recommended to me, for dinner.

We passed through Beverly Hills and Hollywood and ogled the mansions. The restaurant was eclectic and fun. I decided on the ostrich tacos, because how often do you find that on a menu (although I have had ostrich before), and they were great. Everyone enjoyed the place. After, we decided to head over to the Santa Monica Pier, which we predicted was going to be a madhouse.

Luckily it wasn’t. Michelle and Dan had been at the Ducks/Flyers game and met us at the Pier. We walked around a bit, took some pictures with a macaroni,
scared Steph by walking to the end of the pier over the water, watched some fireworks at 9pm down the beach, then walked down to the beach. Afterwards we went to Bubba Gumps for some late night drinks, appetizers and dessert before heading back to the hotel.

We got back around midnight and all headed to Steph and Bre’s room, which was a mansion compared to ours ;-) and we all hung out and chatted and laughed (boy did we) until 3am. Steph had woken up at 3am, so Sarah thought it would be fun to see if Steph could last 24 hours, and she did.

Saturday morning Sarah wasn’t feeling so hot, so she wanted to sleep in. We were meeting the gang at 3pm at the Yard House, but unfortunately Sarah wasn’t up to it, so she stayed behind. We walked down there and luckily it was no issue getting a table for 20 at that time. Slowly but surely everyone arrived (ended up being 15 people). It was great to see all the people from the previous night, plus Heidi, her 2 friends, Des, James, Kym and her husband, Matt and Stephanie.

We had a great time at lunch/dinner, even though it took them forever to take our orders. We walked over to Staples around 5 and went our separate ways to either the store, or to watch warm ups. Luckily Sarah was feeling better that this point and walked down to meet us for the game.

We were all seated in the same row for the game, which was nice. The game itself was a little mellow. Not a lot of fights or penalties, so it seemed to go pretty quick actually. But the Sharks pulled out a 1-0 win, and that’s what matters. We took our traditional group pic next to the Gretzky statue, then said our goodbyes.

Steph, Bre, Jeremy, Dan and I ended up hanging out and chatting for a few hours. It was a good time.

Sunday however was the day we had to leave. Sarah and my goal was to leave town by 11am, but after getting out of the parking garage, and getting gas, it was more like 11:20am. So off we went on a dreary day. Sarah’s Mom already gave us a heads up that there was a ton of rain between us and home, so we expected that. One we got close to the Grapevine, we saw a sign that said “snow escort, expect delays”. We didn’t know what a snow escort was, but thought it would be cool to see some snow. Well, after we were up the mountain, maybe around 1pm, we started seeing snow.

We thought, cool, and took some pictures. Then after a while, it was starting to stick to the ground, and the hills were looking dusted with snow.


Then the snow started piling up more, and that’s when traffic stood still. We started off with 5 lanes (or was it 4?) of traffic, moving pretty darn slowly. Then the snow started coming down really heavy, and we started moving about a mile an hour.

Then we would stop, then maybe go for 10 feet, stop another minute or so, go another 10 feet, etc. And I have never in my life driven on icy or snow covered roads in a non-4 wheel drive before. I would press the gas, my wheels wanted to force me to the right, and I had to compensate by turning to the left every time. I didn’t tell Sarah, but I was pretty freaked. I was worried I was going to spin out, or my car was going to shift to the right and hit another car, or get stuck in the snow. My heart was racing.

There were even a few people getting out of their cars and walking in the snow on the shoulder, not sure why. On the other side of the freeway, we could see plows, one at a time going down one lane, then a row of cars following it. So we knew that’s what was happening up ahead of us too.


After about an hour from when we first stopped in our tracks, the 5 lanes had been merged down to 1.

Some big trucks sucked it up and plowed through the snow in some of the outer lanes (yikes), but the rest of us played follow the leader and I tried to keep my tires in the tire tracks of the car in front of me. The icy roads had turned into slush and snow, and was much easier to drive on. It took us a full 2+ hours to get over the Grapevine, in what took us maybe 30 minutes on the way down.

And I have never seen so many cars just stranded on the side of the road for one reason or another. It was insane. When we were close to the bottom, we noticed no traffic on the other side of the freeways, and the road was just covered in snow. We knew at that point they closed the freeway down. Which apparently they did at 1pm, and may not reopen until tomorrow or Tuesday. And we felt bad for all the people on the other side that didn’t know this yet.

We stopped at the first place we could to make a pit stop. The gas station, food places, etc had no power. OK, so we drove another 5-10 minutes to the next place with services, this place MUCH larger. No power to the whole town either.

OK, so we just decided to move on and make up some time and made a stop a few hours later. We finally got to Sarah’s about 8 or so hours later, which took us less than 6 hours on the way down. Then I still had about a 45 minute drive home. We both made it home safely, which is what matters, and we have a story to tell.

Article about the storm and I-5 closure. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cold-weather-20110103,0,3315839.story

Yosemite 2010

About 2 weeks ago, Claire, Bobby and I decided to head to their family cabin in Foresta (Yosemite) for Easter weekend. I headed to their place on Thursday so we could finalize the menu, etc. Which basically means that they plan yummy food to cook, and I agree to eat it ;-) Then we hung out and played Wii for a while. My first time ever touching the thing, now I want one. We played bowling, archery, wakeboarding and frisbee. Fun stuff. Anyway...

So on Friday, we headed out early'ish and were on our way. Once we hit the entrance to the park, there was snow all around on the side of the road and in the trees. We stopped so I could take a picture. But then there was more snow to see from then on. Snow banks on the side of the road, then through the forest to the left and right. It was beautiful. The last time I recall seeing snow was at the far end of Horseshoe Lake, outside Mammoth Lakes, the last time I was there in 2008 I think. Once we hit Crane Flat, it was actually snowing, so I took some video. Then we got to the cabin and unpacked. There was no snow down in Foresta, but the weather was overcast. We decided to head down to the Valley since it was early in the day still. So we stopped at Bridalveil first. The last time I was there, the water was whisping off the top like some water through a fan. This time it was gushing down, which was great to see. We walked up to the viewing spot, in the rain, then continued on. We headed to the store in the valley and bought some last min food and stuff. I kept looking at the souvenirs and was inclined to buy something. I collect magnets, but have about 5 from Yosemite, so that was pointless. Plus, I figure that I am there every one or 2 years, so I can get stuff next time.

Back at the cabin, we settled in and they made a nice fire in the wood burning stove. Played some Scattergories, Skip-Bo, etc. And they prepped the most amazing looking Enchiladas Verde, with homemade pinto beans and Mexican rice. All made from scratch, starting with the salsa verde for the enchiladas. And me even shucking some fresh peas from their pods for the rice dish. Although my main contribution was continually reading the recipes during the process :-) Unfortunately, I started to not feel well, so headed to bed without eating dinner. It was warm up in the loft with the wood stove shooting all the heat up there. But I adjusted to it.

Saturday (late) morning we headed out to the Ahwanee to check it out (not the first time of course), just because it's beautiful. Then headed to the Valley and had a chicken/mushroom/cheese pizza down there that was pretty good. Then wandered the Native American museum and village. After we went down to check out the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, which were gushing. So we walked the path to the Lower Falls. There was a ton of snow of the ground around the path which was beautiful. Then took a few customary pictures and headed on our way. We drove around the Valley just because. And in doing so, we saw a coyote in a field, so we pulled over and watched it for a while. Then saw a few deer laying down in the distance. Claire and Bobby decided to rent bikes for an hour (which we all did several years ago together) but I opted out this time. So they did that, and in the meantime I wandered a few shops at the Yosemite Lodge, got a snack and sat and watched the ever changing Upper Yosemite Falls, Beautiful!! We headed back to the cabin after that.

Instead of another elaborate dinner, we had a recap of dinner the night before. Luckily, because I missed out. So the enchiladas, beans and rice were amazing. We had the fire stocked again, and very warm, to counter balance the supposed 25-30 degree weather outside. We enjoyed many bottles of wine and sparkling wine this trip, which was a nice change from beer and liquor. Nothing wrong with either. It was just a change :-) After keeping the loft window open for a while to cool me down as I tried to sleep, I closed it and went to bed.

Then it was the ritual of getting up to clean what you had dirtied before leaving the place. So we tidied up for an hour or 2 and headed on our way. Hours later we were back at their place watching the Sharks lose in OT, and eating an awesome spaghetti with homemade meatball and salad dinner :-) A very nice weekend!

The cold... and my diet...

The weather has changed quite a bit. I started using the heater in my house about a month ago. The weather started cooling down and I thought it was time. But not needed more than in the last few days. Snow all over the Bay Area and lows around 30 degrees. Brrrrr!!! We have these spells every year, and I actually enjoy them. It’s nice to have a change in climate every once in a while. Reminds me of when I lived in Mammoth Lakes, having moved there New Years Eve, having never lived in the snow before. My biggest “cold” memory of that time, was the feeling of first waking up all warm in your bed, and having to walk to the bathroom to take a shower in the morning and shivering like crazy. When I walked into my bathroom earlier I had that thought. I keep the window in there cracked almost year round, and just keep the door closed. But boy if it isn’t 20 degrees colder in there than the rest of my house right now. Seriously. BRRRR!!!

Anyway… my other thought was my dinner tonight. I was craving Taco Bell, sick I know, but true. So I decided to screw my diet for the night and get 3 crunchy taco supremes for dinner. They tasted good at the time, but funny how your system changes after not eating fast food for a while. I wasn’t feeling so hot afterwards and wondered why I did that to myself. Not that I haven’t cheated on my diet here and there, but almost every time, my body know it’s something I shouldn’t be eating. It’s kind of interesting. But regardless of the cheating on my diet a little, I lost 5 lbs last week. And that was the week after Thanksgiving. I was amazed. That was week 8. My weight loss in lbs has been like this over the 8 weeks… 7, 5, 0, 1, 4, 2, 1 and 5. 25lbs in total. I still haven’t really been exercising like I should, so that is just a diet change only. I’m happy about that. This is going to be another tough week however. I am going to dinner with a friend on my Birthday (Wed). Then my Great Aunt is taking me to a Birthday lunch on Thursday. Then I have a friend’s Holiday party on Saturday. In a restaurant, I do my best to order the most sensible option. But at the party this weekend, the food cannot be resisted, so I will indulge.

Anyway, those were just my random thought for the evening.

The Diet and stuff...

So my Aunt and I have been chatting the last couple of months about doing Atkins. She started watching what she was eating, but not really doing the numbers and stuff. But my cousin (her son) is getting married in Feb (mentioned that before) and she wants to shed a few pounds. So anyway, I finally jumped on the bandwagon 15 days ago. And full force. Like back when I was 25 or so, and was still biting my nails as I had all my life, so I decided to stop. And I did. And when I had made the decision to quit smoking 3 years ago (after 13 years), I picked a day and using the patch, the rest is history. So I'm hoping I can use the same will to do this too.

You are supposed to start out eating 20g net carbs a day for the first 2 weeks, then increase after that. Well, my goal is to keep it under that all the time, then if I go over on a certain day or something, I won't freak. Well, I lost 7lbs the first week, and 5 more this last week. That was exciting. I carry my little book withe the general nutritional stats for food with me everywhere I go. As well as an Atkins journal where I write down everything I've been eating. Works for me so far.

Today though, was my friend's daughter's Bday party that was happening at a Frozen Yogurt shop. For the last couple of months I've been craving frozen yogurt, so I already knew I was going to splurge and have a little today. So I did. Then that turned into eating pizza for dinner as well. My friend, being the awesome person she is, was actually looking in her fridge to find something carb friendly to make me so I didn't have to have pizza. But told her I was just going to splurge and have the pizza. Then had a root beer (not diet) with it, not even thinking. Let's just say my diet was screwed today big time. And as I was driving home a couple of hours ago, I realized I didn't feel so good. I think mentally and physically, what I did today didn't feel so hot. Back on track tomorrow, I hope. Some good friend's invited me over tomorrow night for dinner, and they are gourmet cooks. So think I just need to be mindful of what I choose to eat. It's a learning curve, but I think the results will be worth it.

Oh... and my awesome friend and her husband let me put on the Sharks game after we got back from the yogurt shop. Yay for a Sharks win :-)

Nice Dinner.

We had a really nice time tonight. And thanks to Uncle Mark and Bruce for picking up the tab. It was good seeing them, my cousin, and her bf. Interesting just to hear about my Grandfather, who is now 81, and I haven't seen since maybe my middle school days. And my other Uncles, etc. The restaurant was good too. Full of the 65+ crowd, and a live band playing music I would expect to hear in New Orleans or on a riverboat. And they had flashy boas that the people could wear, and a lot of those couples were getting up to dance. It was cute. I had the clam chowder and the Kalua pork, both I recommend highly.

We thought that next time we get together we should bring a bunch of old photos to share. And also to maybe see if we can figure who some of the mystery people in them are. So it was great to just be spontaneous and just get together like that. Next time will be fun too.

Good food and stuff...

So my good friends planned a spontaneous 7th Anniversary trip to Cabo this week, and they leave tomorrow morning. They asked if I would cat sit next week, and I said yes. Firstly, I haven't cat sat for them in maybe 2 years. And even then, they had one cat and not 2 at the time. And being a dog person who loves cats, have just never had one, I needed a refresher course. So I went over there last night to get the run down. So we had some beers while they made yummy grilled cheeseburgers and onion rings from scratch. See the progression of pictures below. Good stuff as always.






Then today we all went to one of all our favorite all time restaurants, which is in Napa... Bistro Jeanty. YUM!! We each had a tomato soup in puff pastry, which I think may actually be my most favorite dish I have ever had... top 5 at least. You do not go there and not order it. I try to go back at least once a year for it. Then we all shared the crispy fried smelt with aioli, the ham and leek quiche with butter lettuce salad and the potato gratin. What a fantastic meal. I only took pictures of the smelt and soup however.





So then a nice weekend I hope, then off to their place to watch the cats for 4 days.