So Long .. Farewell...

It's almost official.. TB's about to go to the glue factory. How depressing.

NY: Wicked Times

I needed to get away from the bay area and I wanted to blend into the crowd so that I didn't have to put any effort into being social with people I knew or would randomly bump into. I had a few choices in my head - NY, SD, Austin, ...pretty much anywhere away from the bay area.

I ended up telling a few friends that I wanted to do this and without even really thinking about it, my buddy J tells me to head out to NY, and I spontaneously was down. He just got a new place (sorta) and offered his place to crash at. Every other time I'd been in NY, it had been for work so I never got to do much. This time, I wanted to wander around like a tourist, I wanted to shop, I wanted to grub, and I wanted to just have a good time. I did just that...and thensome.

I took a redeye Thursday night and got into the city at 630am. Being the princess that I am (NOT), a towncar was waiting for me at the airport. I had one of those cute lil caddies (okay, he was an old, heavier man... same thing =P) holding up my name as I got to baggage claim. It was a bit early and with all the city traffic, J sent a towncar for me. It was such a Big and Carrie moment. (Did I mention the ridiculous humidity at 630am?)

The day was spent vegging out and resting up from a long flight over there. Plus, J had to do some unexpected work so it all worked out good. We headed over to happy hour in Times Square at BlueFin to meet up with some other people and to get some fruity champagne. Mind you this is 5PMish and we end up leaving a while later to catch a reservation at Macelleria for some yummy porterhouse , oysters, and wine. Apparently, the look on my face after the first bite into the steak said it all. I was in absolute heaven. After the wine, I was pretty tipsy but that didn't stop us from going to Spice Market for kumquat mojitos. Mmmmm! And to think..this is only Friday!

Saturday greeted me with a pretty hefty headache but that didn't stop us from going sightseeing - Seaport, Wall St., Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island, Chinatown, Century 21... it was a productive afternoon. Then, it was off to see Wicked - I'd have to say that it's up there with my favorite shows. It's the first one I've seen in a long while that didn't make me sad or cry when I left the show. I was a giddy little kid running around. At this point, I realize I hadn't eaten yet so we head to Sushi Samba for some grub. Imagine japanese chefs trying to salsa while they roll sushi. Hilarious.

I finally stopped playing phone tag with my high school friend, Christine DV, and meet up at a hiphop/reggae lounge. Ann (another hs friend) is there too, along with new friends they introduced me to. Ann's been working on her upcoming CD and Christine's been working way too much at her fashion gig. Groovin music, reminiscing, and lots of drinks. Too much fun. I get home only to find another surprise. J got me cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. Super yummmm. (Notice how much food's in my tummy by this point in the weekend!)

The weekend flew by at this point and it was Sunday already. I'm hungover and tired. Perfect times for The Coffee Shop so around lunch time, I'm grubbin on pancakes and rib eye steak, Brazillian style. I notice two full bars in the diner, as well as tons of aspiring models for our help staff. Weird, but who cares because I'm dehydrated and in need of a really long nap. I didn't want to nap though because I was in NY and had to leave that evening. We ended up meeting with Ann, Christine, and Kila and vegged for the rest of the afternoon. It was the perfect way to end such a fun filled weekend (Thanks J!!!) and in general, the best thing I could have done for myself. Who would have thought that a big city would grow on a suburb girl... I can't wait to go back.

I've Got Nuthin but Love for Ya...

Mmm... look what's coming to town soon...

The last month's flown by, so much that I haven't been able to tell stories. I'll let the pictures tell the stories for me (then I'll also have reminders about future posts).

Rainbow in Cupertino
Hat night with Angela
Google Picnic Contortionist
Lil Sis!
Giants game with Alice - bumped into Mike and Jojo
Stingers with Alice
Santa Cruz with the girls
Drunken Monkies
Drinking Olympics comes to an end
Chopped 7 inches off my hair/Hanging with MJ
Happy Birthday Lil Bro!
Stingers with Gerome
NYC with Ann & Christine (HS friends)
Statue of Liberty with Jimmy
Rosewood with the girls
Kimmy's Bridal Shower
Tribeca Anniversary with Billy Bob & Caesar
Sha-Mayn, me, Mykee
2nd Sunday

..and I'm spent...

Tapas and Ciabatta

Last night, my roomies and a couple of friends headed to the Mission for some tapas at Picaro (a recommendation by AD). If only your tummy could have an orgasm. Mmmm! I never thought there would be a place that had better sangria than Cha Cha Cha's...

Somewhere in the middle of the night, one of the five of us says "Ciabatta... C-I-A-B-A-double T-A.. Ciabatta.. Peace out." Until the end of today, until now.. it's stuck in my head. That's sooo ciabatta. You'll have to imagine 5 drunkards running around the Mission on a Tuesday night screaming ciabatta!

Pass me the KoolAid...

I'm one of those people you'd call a social blogger, in the context much like a social drinker/smoker. You do it for the social reasons of interacting with other people. I'm not consistent with it - sometimes I don't feel drawn to tell the world what I'm thinking and sometimes I just want the world to know, without even asking. Maybe I should say I'm a moody blogger instead.

For instance, last weekend I attended BlogHer down in Santa Clara. Though I didn't attend the whole conference, I did enjoy the part that I did. I didn't feel compelled to live blog or moblog it as some people did, however, for sheer reasons of laziness. I didn't want to drag my laptop with me. I wanted to just listen, attend the conference, and write at my own pace. So yes, I'm a social blogger. I only do it when I feel like it.. when I have the urge to say hi to the world and when I'm not feeling antisocial.

The good and bad parts of it - let's start with the bad. I usually forget what I wanted to blog about unless I write it down in my journal. I forget how I was feeling at that very moment when I wanted to blog and it's usually pretty hard to recreate it. It makes for a not so up-to-date account of my thoughts/life.

And the good you ask? It's at my pace and there's no pressure to keep updating my blog. You might say I might lose readers this way? Whether I have 1 reader or 100 readers, I'm still going to be writing about the same things, in the same way. Hell, I even wrote this post 3 days ago and am just now finishing/posting it.

So for now, I'm off to NY tomorrow to get away from the world to recharge myself. Getting away is very much needed so I'm sure I'll be posting stories and pictures afterwards at my own pace...