The Beck Beat

2011 Recap

2012-01-01T12:15:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are again...kicking off another new year and looking back on the one just past.

2011 was great and a very special and memorable year. Lots of change for sure! Last night as we were ringing in the new year, Jason looked over and said, "Do you remember what I said last New Year's Eve?" I responded, "Yeah, you said 2011 was going to be a great year." We then looked at each other and said, "It sure was."

Some 2011 highlights include:

January

Must have been wedding planning all month...

February

My bridal shower

Turned 27

March

My bachelorette party -wine tasting in Napa

April

Our April 2nd wedding...definitely the highlight of the year

Followed by our honeymoon to Maui

May

Finally able to relax and settle into our first place together

June

Celebrated my friend Kirsten's engagement in Tahoe

July

Our niece Adalynn April was born

Jason turned the big 3-0

August

Annual family trip to Tahoe

Started my 5th year of teaching

We switched churches and got plugged into a small group with other young married couples

September

My friend Kristina's bachelorette party to Santa Barbara

Jason's cousin's wedding
October

Our friends Matt and Mary then got married

Grammy turned 100

Took my first cooking class

November

Kristina's wedding

Started leading the young adults group at our church

December

Our first Christmas together as Mr. and Mrs.

2011 also threw us some tough curve balls. The first was when Jason's mentor (him and his wife also did our pre-marital counseling) was diagnosed with brain cancer in May. Then, the next month, Jason's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Both came out of nowhere, but we have seen God's hand of grace covering both of these situations.

With the new year also comes by blog-o-versary. Which means it's time to check in with my 30 before 30. Well, this year was a mini-fail with the 30 before 30. It's funny because I came up with this idea when I was single and had recently ended a relationship. I didn't want to get caught up into thinking I needed to get married, buy a house, and have 2 kids before I was thirty. There are so many other great things to focus on. Hence, I started brainstorming things I wanted to do before 30 (besides those indicated above).

Funny because by the time I finished writing my list of 30 things, I had already met Jason, and we had been dating for a month or so when I started this blog. I was still all about my 30 things, though. That first year I checked nine things off my list!

Well, then this year came, and I got married. And...I only checked three things off my list (and I had intentionally not put 'get married' on the 30 before 30). Mini-fail because I'm now 'behind' (in the sense that I should have half my items done since I'm at the half-way point to 30...welcome to my math teacher brain). But, not a huge fail because I did have one major (and great) event in getting married and then learning how to live life with someone else. Plus, a lot of the items on my list cost $, which was lacking after paying for half our wedding ourselves and then setting up our place.

So, I guess my plan is kinda backfiring on me. But, I'm still moving on with my list.

Here is the updated list with what I accomplished this year and my changed items from the previous year. I definitely have a few more things I want to change, but I haven't finalized those quite yet.

Travel

1. Austin (completed June 4-6, 2010)

2. Boston
3. Thanksgiving in New York

4. Greece

5. Canada

6. Cruise (completed January 2010)

California Tourism

7. Alcatraz

8. Wine tasting in Wine Country (completed January 9, 2010)

9. Monterey Bay Aquarium (completed April 7, 2010)

10. Hearst Castle (completed August 8, 2010)
11. Lighthouses of California (from San Francisco to Santa Barbara)

Adventure

12. Skydive

13. Hike Half Dome (completed June 17, 2010)

14. Run a half marathon (completed October 3, 2010)

15. Triathlon

16. White Water Raft

17. Hot Air Balloon
18. Ski in another state

Intellectual/Spiritual

19. Read The Chronicles of Narnia ('Attempted' Summer 2011)

20. Memorize a chapter of the Bible
21. Take a Bible class
*Deleted Read 5 Classics*

Entertainment

22. Sharks Game (completed November 20, 2010)

23. NBA Basketball Game (completed December 31, 2011)
24. Live orchestra/symphony
25. Circus
26. Eat 30 ethnic cuisines that I have never had before (Added 9 new countries in 2011)

Personal Development

27. Cooking/Baking Class (completed October 2011)

28. Learn to sew

29. Start a blog (completed January 1, 2010)

30. *Learn Photography* (new)

I am looking forward to 2012, which I'm sure will be full of unknowns, uncertainties, and surprises, but rich with our God's love and mercy.

Jason on Ice

2011-12-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

* I have been given permission by Jason to write this post. Permission was necessary based on the content of this post, as it could be considered blackmail.*

Our church small group decided to go ice skating (dressed in our finest tacky Christmas sweaters) as part of our Christmas party.

Jason told me that he was a horrible ice skater, and when I thought about that, I was sure it was true. There is just something about his size that doesn't lend to graceful on ice skates.

Well, when he made his debut, he did not disappoint. It was more than I imagined. Check him out.

Jason on Ice

While this was the best video I captured, it wasn't his best act...but I'm sure he's glad that this was all I captured.

We didn't last long out there, but we sure had some great laughs (and bruises) along the way!

The Christmas Stash - 2011 Edition

2011-12-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

Well, it is day 1 of 18 of winter break! So looking forward to the extra long break they are giving us this year. I must say that I really have nothing planned for my days off. I do plan on watching many Christmas movies since Christmas is a week away and I am yet to watch ONE Christmas movie. Christmas fail on my part. I haven't even busted out my iPod to listen to my favorite Christmas songs but have rather reverted to the 24 hrs of Christmas music that they play on 96.5 KQUIT, which just isn't the same (because it's not as good as my personal selection).

It's sad, but I feel like I just haven't had the time to get in the Christmas spirit this year. Jason and I have been so busy during this window between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Jason just finished his second term of grad school, which was a crazy class on political economy and required tons of reading and many papers. (We are both very glad that class is over as of last night). This class also just happened to coincide with his busiest time at work, so he spent many evenings and weekends trying to juggle work, grad school, and all the other activities that go on with life. We started leading a college group at our church, which has been so great, but is another night out during the week. We also chose the *best* time of year to try and buy a house, so we've been squeezing the house hunt in as well! All really great stuff, though.

To go along with last year's post, I thought I would give you a preview of my 2011 student stash (gifts from my students). Jason definitely looks forward to this more than I do. When he called me after school yesterday, the first thing he said was, "What did you get?" I think he is beginning to question how good of a teacher I am though because the stash this year was much lighter than in previous years. But it is always so thoughtful of students to hook their teachers up during the holidays. So, here is what I came home with.

The theme of this year was probably home baked goods and scarves. Lots of treats that my students (or their parents) made. I also got three scarves, which is pretty fun.

I did get some chocolate, but not the 6 pounds worth that I came home with last year, which is probably a good thing.

A handful of coffee gift cards, which came at the perfect time, as I only have a few dollars left on my last card from the end of last school year.
There is always a selection of bath gels and picture frames, too. I love the little hiker ornament that has 'Mrs. Baker' written on it. It's hanging on the Christmas tree! No jewelry this year, though. Or taj mahal replicas.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Fall into Christmas

2011-12-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it is officially post-Thanksgiving, which means...it is now the Christmas season.

The day after Thanksgiving is the first day I allow myself to do anything Christmas related (besides celebrate Jesus, of course). So, the fall decorations went away and the Christmas ones came out! Here is a preview of my Fall to Christmas decor...

Since this is the first year I actually I had my 'own' place to decorate, I was quite exited about it. I did have to go out and buy a few more decorations - thank you Target, Ross, and Marshalls :)

Jason and I went to ~~cut down~~ buy our Christmas tree at Home Depot the Saturday after Christmas. This was the first time I had picked out a tree at Home Depot...or anywhere besides the mountains where we cut it down, so it was very anti-climatic for me. (More later on my family tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree).
We went with the first tree the guy un-tied for us. It looked okay, and we figured it would look better once the branches fell and we had decorated it. Well, not so much. Next time we probably won't go with the first tree we see...unless we actually really like it. Home Depot fail.

Jason decided to carry our tree home since we live half a mile from Home Depot. We should have just put the tree on top of our car, as it ended up being heavier than he thought. Again, we
probably won't do that again. Home Depot fail.
Here is our tree all decorated. I'm calling it our bush because I am used to growing up with 13-15 foot Christmas trees. Home Depot fail.

I must say that a bonus of going to Home Depot is that the experience is very fast...and cheap. The whole process took us about 30 minutes and cost us $30. But, I love the experience of cutting down the Christmas tree, so I'm hoping we make that happen next Christmas season!

Operation Christmas Child

2011-11-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child is a great opportunity to give a box full of gifts to a child in another country who normally would not receive a gift on Christmas. Samaritan's Purse has been doing this for about twenty years, and this was my second year participating in the project.

The idea is so simple: pack a shoe box full of gifts (from hygiene products to clothing to toys), indicate the appropriate gender and age for the gift, and drop off the gift. Samaritan's Purse then sends the gift to a developing country to bless a child during the Christmas season with a box full of gifts along with a message of the Good News!
Jason and I had so much fun shopping together for our shoe box gifts. I bought for a girl between the ages of 5-9. I packed my box with a toothbrush/toothpaste, hair clips, lip glosses, stickers, crayons, a harmonica, watch, princess purse, jelly belly's, socks, and a shirt.
Jason shopped for a boy between 10-14. He bought a toothbrush/toothpaste, harmonica, jelly bellys, shirt, hat, and (his pride and joy) a glow in the dark neon football!
I'm pretty sure all the boxes have been collected for this year, but if you're looking to give back next Christmas season, this is a great opportunity.

Cooking Class Completed!

2011-11-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a light year when it comes to checking items off my 30 before 30, but I completed my second item of this year...I took a cooking class!

My friend's mom was hosting a beginning cooking class through the Livermore Rec Center. That sounded like a fit for me. Plus, it was pretty inexpensive compared to other cooking classes I had researched. She sent out an email about the class in August, and I totally forgot about it until a few days before when she sent out another email asking if I was still interested.

So, I jumped on board! The cooking classes were held each Thursday during the month of October for 2.5 hours each.

Here is a brief summary of each class:

In the first class we made puffed pastries. I couldn't believe how easy they were to make. We sampled one filled with cream cheese and salsa that can be served as an appetizer, and then we made dessert puffed pastries filled with a vanilla pudding and topped with chocolate. Delicious! I will definitely be making these in the future. We also made a crook pot pulled pork that was marinated in beer. We roasted garlic and carmalized onions and added those to our sandwiches. So flavorful! We also learned how to cut up a chicken. I've decided to continue to go with the pre-cut chicken...

Class two was on focused on fish and biscotti. We made a chocolate almond biscotti, which is great for the holidays. We also made two different fish recipes.

The third class was pie class! We each made a pie from scratch. This was my first time making a pie, so I was very excited! Some made apple pie, others pumpkin. I went with apple because neither Jason or I like pumpkin much...and apple is Jason's very favorite. My sister's have both made apple pie for Jason...but as his wife, I had failed to do so. Until a few weeks ago! Apple pie is actually quite easy to make. The hardest part is the crust, which I might cheat on in the future and go with the pre-made :) Part of the reason why the pie was so easy was because our teacher had a food processor that slices the apples up in seconds. Might need to invest in one of those - we used it all the time in our class. Here is my first pie:
Our last class was a mixture of a bunch of things. We made sushi, baked brussel sprouts (definitely were covered in olive oil, butter, and seasoning), more fish, and practiced with pie crust again (focused on doing a lattice top, which is how I made my pie). We took home our pie crusts so that we could make another pie...which is easy once the crust is done.

It was a great class, filled with yummy food, and lots of cooking/baking tips along the way. Glad to check another item off my list!

100 Years in the Making

2011-10-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we celebrated my grandma's (Grammy) 100th Birthday! Yes, she is an official centurion. Grammy is the first person I've known to make it to 100! So proud to have her as my grandmother.
Grammy was born on October 27, 1911. It is amazing to think about how much of our nation's history she has lived through and remembers first hand. She has definitely been through a lot in her own life, and like most, didn't think she would live to see 100. Grammy loves her family more than anyone I know and takes such pride in her two daughters, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren (with the 8th due in May). She attributes being surrounded by her loving family as one of the ways she made it to 100. She also gives credit to drinking coffee, staying away from doctors, and having a daily happy hour (vodka cranberry is Grammy's drink of choice).

Grammy's four grand-daughters toasting Grammy with a vodka cranberry!

Grammy is truly one of the strongest women I have met. At age 100, she still lives by herself in the home she had built when she was 80 years old! Maybe she did know she had many years ahead of her! I have many memories in this house of hers...

Grammy spends her days watching sports on her 60'' flat screen. We always come visit her for her birthday in October, and it never fails that she has one of the college games on when we walk through the door. She still follows sports to this day.

About ten years ago when Grammy hit 90 and was still going strong, we began to talk about her making it to 100. As each birthday after that came and went, we encouraged her all the more to keep going strong. And she kept going and hit triple digits. On her birthday, she received a letter from the president, a letter from Willard Scott of the Today Show, and was featured in her local newspaper.
We had so much fun honoring Grammy and celebrating her life this weekend!

Happy 100th, Grammy! We love you!

SF Tourist

2011-10-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

I love San Francisco. I would not want to live there, but I love going into the city. On Father's Day weekend, my parents, sister, and I went to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building. It was so fun! The weather was gorgeous, and it was great to walk around, sample yummy food, and enjoy the hustle and bustle. Jason was at a Dodger's game (boo) that day with his dad, so I've been wanting to go back with him for quite a while. Our weekends have been so busy though with bridal showers, bachelorette parties, weddings, family gatherings, or grad school for Jason, so we haven't had a free Saturday in forever. This past Saturday was one of the first free Saturdays we've had in months...and the last we'll have for weeks, so we wanted to make the best of it. Plus, Jason is in between terms for grad school, so he didn't have any homework to do this weekend. Yay!

A few weeks ago we marked October 22nd as our fun day. We planned to go into the city and just explore. I, of course, had a few things on the agenda: Farmer's Market, Coffee Bean, Gott's for lunch, Land's End Trail...Well, we got all of that in, plus more. The weather was on our side...October is definitely the city's summer. Such a pretty day.
We sampled lots of yummy goodies at the Farmer's Market and enjoyed great burgers and sweet potato fries at Gott's for lunch.

Jason works for Ross Corporate, and they just opened a store at Fisherman's Wharf, so we did a little store visit there.
We then played SF tourist and started driving...drove through North Beach, then down Union Street (so cute), down to Crissy Field, then through the Presidio to the Land's End Trail.

Jason proposed on the Land's End Trail, but it was crummy weather that day, so we were excited to walk the trail on a clear day with a perfect view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

And, a day in the city wouldn't be complete without a stop at Coffee Bean and a stroll through Pac Heights. We had such a fun day exploring and enjoying the beautiful San Francisco weather!

Eat Around the World - Chile

2011-10-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had our first 'eat around the world' experience with some friends! We actually have friends that are as adventurous as we are when it comes to trying crazy cuisines!

Our friends, Brandon and Mary, actually found this restaurant themselves. We were super excited for Chilean food because it wasn't a cuisine we had on our list to try.

The restaurant was called Valparaiso (Yelp review here) and was in Berkeley (like most of the restaurants we have been to).
Right away, I loved the ambiance of the restaurant. It was probably one of the best that we've experience (Jason had to tell me to put my camera away).
Jason and I split two entrees. One was Pollo Bahia:boneless chicken thigh sautéed in coconut milk, tomatoes, onion, bell peppers, and white wine. Served with rice and black beans. This was extremely flavorful!
The other entree was Chorrillana: fried potatoes (french fries) tossed with onion, eggs, and beef sautéed in red wine. It actually tastes much better than it looks! It was kinda like an egg scramble...with french fries :)
We also got a side of fried plaintans, which were so good...(even though they look a little 'interesting')!
The four of us shared two desserts: Torta Milhoja (a Chilean specialty pastry layered with walnuts and caramel milk) and Nino Envuelto (a Chilean pancake stuffed with manjar -caramel milk). Both were very good, but the winner goes to the Torta Milhoja. Delicious!

All in all, we had a great time. Loved the ambiance and the food was good. I wouldn't say that the food is great though...giving the restaurant a 7 out of 10.

Blue Angels Fail

2011-10-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I headed out to San Francisco with my parents and sister Elyse (Jason had grad school homework to do) to see the Blue Angels. I had never seen the Blue Angels, and my mom had talked up the show, so I was excited for the festivities.

Two years ago, my dad attempted to take his boat out on the bay to watch the Blue Angels. However, the water was so choppy that our boat felt like a roller coaster ride. It was a failed attempt to see the Blue Angels from the water, and we ended up having to turn around just a few minutes after getting on the water.

This time I was more hopeful. The weather was beautiful as we headed into the city, so we were excited for a good show. We were able to find a parking spot about a mile away from the Aquatic Center. The walk down was so fun because of the Columbus Day parade going on in North Beach.

We made it down to the Aquatic Center, right at 3pm for the start of the Blue Angels. First though, my sister and I did a quick stop at Buena Vista to get some Irish coffees. Yummy.

We got all settled in with the crowd, excited for the show to start. The Blue Angels did their first fly by...and then the announcer comes on and says that the show will be delayed about 5-10 minutes while they decide whether to proceed or not due to the weather.

Yes, that fog off in the distance was the concern. Blue skies above us...but fog on the other side of the Bay. We sat and waited, hoping the show would continue.

But, alas, it was canceled. We were so sad. Two and a half hours to get into the city...and no show. This was about as much of the Blue Angels as we saw..

My mom, who hates the city, was especially disappointed. Instead, we headed to the Ferry Building and walked around for a bit. Hoping next year is a better success!

Crock Pot Jambalaya

2011-10-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

My sister Mel is hosting Crock-tober on her blog, so I decided to participate in my first blog 'link-up'!

This has been a big week for me domestically. I joined Pinterest, took my first cooking class (30 before 30), and used my crockpot for the first time (cause who really uses one in spring or summer?)!

Coincidentally, my cooking class made crock pot pulled pork the first week. However, I decided to go with a Pintererst recipe for jambalaya instead because Jason loves jambalaya. I am not really a fan, but I'm always hopeful that I'll like it...

The recipe was super easy (like all crock pot recipes). Here is what it calls for:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pound smoked turkey sausage, sliced (I used smoked chicken sausage)
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
3 Tbsp dried minced onion flakes
1 cup chicken broth
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper (I used about 1 1/2 tsp for an extra kick)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
*You can also add 1 cup of chopped green bell pepper and 1 cup of chopped celery for some crunch.
White rice or instant rice (I used about 1.5 cups of Jasmine rice)

Mix everything together in the crock pot, except for the rice. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Cook the rice on the stove according to directions about 30 minutes before eating.

Add the rice in for about 15-20 minutes to heat through.

Eat Around the World - Indonesia

2011-10-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

It had been over a month since we had tried a new ethnic cuisine, so last Friday we set out to explore a new country. We didn't really have anything in mind specifically, but we were thinking Asian. Both of us wanted Mongolian barbeque, but we weren't able to find a restaurant that looked really good.

We ended up deciding on Indonesian and headed to Jayakarta Restaurant in Berkeley (Yelp review here). The restaurant was really crowded, and we were excited for some new flavors.

We ordered four entrees, all of which were very different. For noodles, we ordered mie tek-tek: egg noodles sauteed with fried eggs, strips of chicken, vegetables, and spicy sauce. This was by far our favorite! So flavorful!

A yelp review we read said that the satays were good, so we ordered the assorted sate with chicken, pork, beef, and shrimp. They are basically like kabobs with a peanut sauce on the meat. These were probably my second favorite item.

For one of our main dishes we went the chicken route and ordered ayam panggang bumbu rujak. Say what? According to the menu, this is barbequed chicken marinated in their special gravy of peanut and coconut milk sauce. This item was almost too flavorful for me - too strong. I felt like I was eating potpourri. Also, the chicken was not boneless, so it was kinda a pain to eat over rice.

Lastly, we ordered babat goreng kecap: beef deep fried and crispy, then sauteed in sweet soy sauce. This was a big disappointment. When we read deep fried and crispy, we thought there would still be some beef left. Wrong. The beef had been fried to crispy strips of...crispy strips. There was literally no meat left.

All in all, we gave the restaurant a seven (good). It was not amazing, but we enjoyed most of what we ate and would go back. The noodles by far blew everything else out of the water!

Chronicles of Narnia

2011-10-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

My summer activity list included reading all seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. This was something I put on my 30 before 30. Since I grew up in the church, I think people were shocked to hear that I hadn't read the Chronicles of Narnia. I'm simply not into fantasy. But, I had seen movie The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and since I enjoyed it, I thought I would also enjoy the book series.
Wrong. One word sums up my 'attempt' to read The Chronicles of Narnia...FAIL. I couldn't do it. I started the series the first week of summer with the first book, The Magician's Nephew. It definitely started slow for me, but towards the end, I enjoyed it because of all the symbolism of creation and sin.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was probably my favorite read...most likely because I had seen the movie, knew the story line, and had an idea of where everything was going. There was tons of spiritual symbolism, and I loved the image of Aslan as God and Redeemer.

The third book, The Horse and His Boy, was just no good. I could not get into this book. I dreaded reading it. It took me a few weeks to make it all the way through. I think I had such a bad taste after this book, that it tampered my experience for the rest of the endeavor.

When I started reading Prince Caspian, I was glad to see the original characters reappear. I felt like I started to get back into the story...but that didn't seem to last long. I struggled through this book, and by the time I finished it, I was depressed that I still had three more books left in the series.

I am stubborn though, and I was determined to read all seven books because...well, I had said I wanted to read the series before I turned 30. So, I picked up The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and started reading away. By this point, school was about to start back up, I was busy, and the time between readings began to become longer and longer. It took me close to a month to get through this book, which made it hard to get into.

Five down, two to go. I can do it. I started The Silver Chair, got about 50 pages in, and finally said, "I quit." I was so tired of dreading the book that I was reading. The whole point of my 30 Before 30 is to do things I'm excited about, and if I'm no longer excited about doing something on my list, then I shouldn't keep doing it.

The Chronicles of Narnia just wasn't for me. Too much fantasy and description. I'm too ADD to follow it. I did enjoy the spiritual symbolism, but not enough to read the last two books.

I have officially moved on and decided to go the classic route soon. I just bought two Jane Austin books (since reading some classics is on my list). But, before I tackle that, I'm going to spend some time reading a few books that I have been looking forward to reading for some time. I just started The Help and am loving it so far. It's great to read a book that I don't want to put down.

Eat Around the World - Burma

2011-08-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Over a year ago, Jason and I headed out to Alameda for an evening out. Neither one of us had really been to Alameda, and we had heard that it was a cute little town. Someone had recommended an Italian restaurant to eat at, but we wanted to walk the town before dinner. As we were walking around, we stumbled across Burma Superstar! (Yelp Review here) and saw a big crowd hanging around outside the restaurant. We took mental note of the restaurant, so when we came back a few months later, we were all excited to try Burmese food. However, the wait was super long...and we were hungry, so we settled for a restaurant serving New Zealand cuisine.

We were determined to make it back to Alameda though so we could eat at Burmese Superstar. Well, it took us a year to get back there, but in May of 2011, we had our first taste of Burmese food, and it did not disappoint! On our first visit, we ordered their signature salad: the tea leaf salad filled with "urmese tea leaves, tomatoes, lettuce, dried shrimp (or vegetarian), fried garlic, sesame seeds, peanuts, and split yellow peas.” They bring out the salad with all the ingredients separated and then mix it together at your table. Delicious!

For our entrees we ordered garlic noodles, pork curry with potatoes, and the fiery beef. The fiery beef (pictured below) was by far the best entree we ordered. Don't let the tofu freak you out (or order it without), but I don't even remember the tofu.

After our first week of being back at school, Jason and I wanted to treat ourselves to a meal out. We talked about going somewhere, and in my head I was thinking Burma Superstar...and then Jason suggested it. I love it when that happens...we are finding stuff like this happening more and more often. The two really do become one upon being wed!

So last Friday we headed back out to Alameda for take two of Burmese food. We made sure that we didn't get any repeat items from our first go. Instead of the tea leaf salad we got the rainbow salad: 22 ingredients, including four kinds of noodles, crispy fried garlic, diced potatoes, tofu, dried shrimp, fried onions, green papaya, roasted chilies, crushed yellow beans, cilantro, won ton chips, cabbage and a tamarind dressing.

As our server said, every bite tastes a little different, and she sure was right! Our entrees were sesame beef (strips of beef lightly fried with a sweet and tangy sauce. Topped with sesame seeds) and spicy & crispy chicken (deep fried chicken breast in a sweet, tangy, and spicy sauce with chili and garlic...and they don't go easy on the garlic!).

Sesame Beef (Above)
Spicy & Crispy Chicken (Below)

Winner of the night was the sesame beef. Delicious! We can't wait to go back (we were already talking about what our visit #3 picks will be). We give Burma Superstar a 10 out of 10!

New Beginnings

2011-08-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

Phew! I made it through the first week back at school. I always forget how exhausting this week is - even with it having been a short week, it still sucks everything out of you! It's quite the adjustment to go from 10 weeks of summer, no work, and sleeping in, to dealing with 185 eleven year olds, talking for 6 hours straight, and getting up at 6am.

But, I must say that it was a great first week back! I was definitely ready to go back to work this year. Summer was great, but because it was a mellow one, I was ready to get back into a routine. Anyone else love routine like me? I thrive off of it. Love having a schedule and feel so much more productive when I have one.

I love the start of the school year. It's like a new beginning, a fresh start. Any frustrations and difficulties from the previous year are behind you. It's a brand new group of students, who I think, also see the new school year as a new beginning. They have new teachers, new classes, a new schedule...they are relaxed, rested, and ready to go! I love my little 6th graders at the beginning of the school year. They are like perfect little angels. Part of it is that they are scared to death, but the other part is they are so excited for their new beginning - starting middle school. They are enthusiastic, polite, and eager to learn. And...they do exactly what I say. But, it's always fun to see their personalities come out during the school (well, most of the time...)

This school year is also really exciting for me because I have TONS of siblings from former students. The past two years there, I have had a handful of siblings. But, because this is now our fourth year as a school, we are seeing lots of siblings come through. In every class I have at least 5-6 (or more) siblings of former students. So much fun!

800 plus students pouring out of campus

Not only was this week a new beginning for me, but it was for Jason, too. While I went back to being a teacher this week, Jason went back to being a student. That's right, Jason started grad school on Monday through Liberty University. He is getting his Masters in Public Policy and is really excited about his program. However, it was definitely a week of reading, writing papers, and re-learning how to format a paper in APA. Oh, the joys of being a student again...

We are both really excited about where we are at right now and what is to come. So, Year 5 of Teaching and Year 1 of Grad School...we're ready!

Eat Around the World - Poland

2011-08-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Jason and I went to a Polish restaurant in Walnut Creek called Chopin Cafe & Restaurant (click here for the Yelp review). We're all about trying to find places with good reviews, but you often have to go into San Francisco to get some of the better ones, but we were excited when Chopin Cafe & Restaurant came up.

Again, like a lot of these places, the outside was nothing grand and looked more like a coffee shop or small cafe (which I guess it technically is a cafe). I was even more surprised when I walked in and saw how small it was. A handful of tables to sit two people, and then a few more of those squished together to hold up to four. When a party of seven came in shortly after us, they practically had to turn the restaurant upside down to accommodate them. The entire restaurant held probably 30 people, and boy did they quickly occupy all of those seats. This place was hopping, which is always a good sign!

We read on Yelp that the herring was amazing for an appetizer. To be honest, I didn't even know what herring was and didn't read the description on the menu, but just let Jason go ahead and order it since we both had read that it was good. So, I must say I was quite surprised to see raw fish come out all fancied up with tomatoes, pickles, and onions.

Jason took a bite before I was able to, and the first thing he said was, "You're not going to like this." I am a huge texture person, and he said that it was even a bit difficult for him. I am trying to be braver and bolder though, so I made myself try it. I had a piece and wow - it was not good. I mean, it's raw fish. It was slimy, mushy, and so odd tasting (and odd is my polite way of saying nasty). I wouldn't attribute this to the restaurant, I'm pretty sure this is just what herring tastes like no matter where you get it. (Upon trying it, I went back and read the reviews on yelp about the herring, and most of them agreed with my description - guess we read the wrong review...)

For our entrees we wanted to make sure we went classic Polish. Entree number 1 was pierogi, which are stuffed dumplings. We had half ours filled with potato and cheese, while the other half was beef. They were then topped with caramelized onions.

The dumplings were great, especially with the caramelized onions (however, expect to burp them up for the rest of your evening...not fun). They were extremely flavorful, but also very heavy. Two or three of them about did me in. I'm not a huge ground beef fan though, so I liked the potato and cheese better than the beef.

Entree number 2 (which Jason ate 95% of) was Beef Roulade - rolled slices of tender beef stuffed with onions and peppers with gravy and potato dumplings on the side. Huge portion size!

Jason was in love with this entree. The beef was so tender and extremely flavorful. Again, I'm particular about my beef, so the slow-cooked way is not my favorite. The potato dumplings and gravy were delicious, and I might even say I liked the plain potato dumplings the best.

We had planned on getting blintzes for dessert (with raspberry and whipped cream), but we were way too stuffed from the hearty Polish meal.

However, our server did give us a free piece of pineapple cake to take home (which I am eating right now as I write this...of course with some Open Nature's vanilla bean ice cream...yummy). Some people have complained about the service at Chopin, but we had no complaints. It is a family run restaurant, and there was one server for the entire night. He did such a great job considering the crowd. He was a great host and very friendly. There was a 3-year-old girl at the table next to us, and he was so sweet to her, calling her princess all night.

Overall, we gave the restaurant a 7.5 - rating it as good. I think I'm just not into the hearty cuisine that the Polish eat, so it lowered my rating a bit. Plus the herring was a huge mistake that somewhat tainted the experience. I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you like this sort of food, though. Plus, they serve breakfast Friday - Sunday, which looks quite good.

Eat Around the World - Turkey

2011-08-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

While our summer kick-off event was trying Brazilian cuisine, our end of summer splurge was a Giant's game in San Francisco, followed by some Turkish food! (Unfortunately, the Giants got spanked by the Pirates, 2-9. Painful). Nonetheless, we still had a great time (I got to see the Giants play...and Jason got to see the Giants lose. Dodger fan...).

Since we were in the city for the day, we wanted to take advantage of the wide variety of cuisines offered in San Francisco. We took BART into the city, so we wanted to find something within walking distance from the park. We were originally thinking Russian food, but nothing was close by (we really want to color in Russia on our map - huge country!) We then thought maybe German, but we wanted to eat a sausage at the game, and we figured German food for dinner after would be overkill. After doing some research on Yelp, we found a review for a Turkish restaurant, and everyone said it was great. It was only about 2.5 miles from the park, so we figured we'd give it a go!

Conveniently, half-way there, we walked by Coffee Bean for 'happy hour' and then did some shopping around Union Square.

After our coffee and shopping fix, we made the trek up Geary into the Tenderlion area of San Francisco and arrived at A La Turca Restaurant (click here for Yelp review).

While it sure didn't look too promising from the outside, things got better upon entering. It was really cute inside, with a mural on one of the side walls and rock all along the back wall.

For an appetizer we ordered Ispanakli Borek. Say what? Basically it is pastry dough filled with spinach and feta cheese. The pastry dough was crispy and flaky - melted in your mouth.

For the main course, I ordered flat bread grilled and filled with chicken, feta, mozzarella, and bell peppers. (I am notorious for ordering the 'safest' item on the menu, and afterwards told Jason he needs to start ordering for me because I 'chicken' out every time and end up ordering something with chicken in it). It came out looking like a quesadilla. It was really good, but rich (which I am also notorious for ordering). Probably would order something different next time.

Jason always goes for the boldest item on the menu...with the most meat in it. Jason order the Combo Donor (donor is Turkish for gyro meat). It came with chicken, beef, and lamb gyro meat, salad, and rice. The meat was so flavorful, with tons of spices and seasoning. I wish I got something with more spunk to it since it tasted so good.

We were so full after our meal that we didn't have room for dessert. We decided to get something go to and were going to order their baklava, but our server talked us into getting kadayif, which is their shredded phyllo dough with pistachios.

They looked really yummy, but we were both a little disappointed when we went to eat them the next day. Both of us took one bit, looked at each other, and agreed that it wasn't worth eating the rest. We then resorted to our summer dessert...Open Nature's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (found at Safeway...seriously, the best vanilla ice cream from the carton) with mashed up blackberries. We are loving this dessert...and eat it almost every night!

Overall, we gave A La Turca an 8 out of 10. Our appetizer was for sure a 10, along with Jason's meal, but I would rate mine a little lower, along with our disappointing dessert. If you're looking to try Turkish food, we recommend A La Turca.

Eat Around the World - Brazil

2011-08-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

For our summer kick-off meal on June 11th, Jason and I went to Brazil Cafe in Berkeley (click here for Yelp review). We had driven by this place many times and had been wanting to try it out for quite awhile. Brazil Cafe has two locations: one is an actual restaurant on University Ave, the other is this...

So, of course we visited this location for the great ambiance of sitting on the street corner of University. We were immediately greeted by the owner, who was coming around handing out samples. Awesome!

I ordered the staple item: the tri-tip sandwich. But this is no ordinary tri-tip sandwich. This is a tri-tip sandwich Brazilian style. I love bbq sauce, so I was pretty sure that it couldn't get much better than the American tri-tip sandwich. And then I bit into the Brazilian tri-tip...filled with grilled onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and the clincher: cilantro garlic sauce. So good! And, to go along it, I ordered a mango smoothie. Delicious. I had no complaints about my experience at Brazil Cafe.

Jason and I never order the same item at a restaurant because we want to maximize our experience by trying as much variety as we can! So, Jason ordered the tri-tip Mediterranean plate: hummus, salad, and tri-tip over rice with grilled onions and pita bread. It was very similar to mine, but you lose out on the yummy cilantro garlic sauce. However, in place of it, you get hummus and pita bread, which was a good exchange. However, we both agreed that the tri-tip sandwich was the better option.

We highly recommend Brazil Cafe. Overall, we rated it as excellent, giving the restaurant a 10 out of 10. There was not one thing to complain about. We can't wait to go back again ourselves!

Eat Around the World

2011-08-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

On our first 'date' (which was actually what I call a fake date), Jason and I discovered a potential problem that would continue into our soon-to-be relationship. It was November of 2009, and we had just spent a few hours helping out with an organization called Trade As One. While we were driving home, Jason asked if he could take me to dinner. I said sure, and then we faced the problem...where to eat. We hummed and hawed and didn't know where to go, until finally Jason suggested a restaurant. Well, the same routine occurred over the next few months every time we wanted to eat out.

Then, one night in January when trying to figure out where to eat, Jason suggested we try something 'exotic', something we have never eaten before. I had heard that Ethiopian food was good, so decided to give that a go. We headed out to Berkeley to a restaurant called Addis, and we ate their combination platter of Ethiopian meats and vegetables. We loved the 'cultural' experience of eating with our hands, along with an African ambiance in the restaurant.

Since we had such a great experience, we decided to try and 'eat our way around the world' by trying exotic cuisines we had never experienced from different countries. And...(this was when I really began to think that Jason was 'the one') we decided to color in a map for each country whose cuisine we ate, along with the date and restaurant we dined at. So began our adventure!

Well, I neglected to bring along my camera until recently. So, here is an update of where we have been so far, along with our rating out of 10...

Ethiopia: Addis in Berkeley (1.29.10) Rating = Excellent (9)
Greece: Simply Greek in Pleasanton (reoccurring) Rating = Good (8)
El Salvador: La Pupusa House in Livermore (1.30.10) Rating = Good (7)
Singapore: Old Town Cafe in Dublin (2.13.10) Rating = Excellent (9) *closed
Peru: Cholas in Concord (2.25.10) Rating = Poor (3) *closed
Tibet: Cafe Tibet in Berkeley (3.2.10) Rating = Awful (1)
Thailand: Sri Thai in Dublin (4.24.10) Rating = Good (8)
New Zealand: The New Zealander in Alameda (5.15.10) Rating = Poor (4) *closed
Japan: Yoshis Jazz Club in Oakland (5.28.10) Rating = Good (7)
Iran: Shiraz in San Ramon (6.19.10) Rating = Average (6)
Korea: Sam Won BBQ House in Oakland (8.13.10) Rating = Good (8)
England: The Crown in Danville (1.7.11) Rating = Average (6)
Vietnam: 19 Market in San Jose (2.11.11) Rating = Average (5)
India: Cafe Tandoor in San Ramon (4.29.11) Rating = Average (5) (I recommend Sansar in Livermore)
Afghanistan: Pamir in Dublin (5.7.11) Rating = Good (8)
Burma/Yemen: Burma Superstar in Alameda (5.20.11) Rating = Excellent (10)
Brazil: Cafe Brazil in Berkeley (6.11.11) Rating = Excellent (10)
Israel: The Holy Land in Oakland (7.12.11) Rating = Good (8)
Turkey: A La Turca in San Francisco (8.10.11) Rating = Good (8)

With the exception of a few restaurants, most of the food we've tried has been great! I plan to give you a more in depth update of some of the last few restaurants we've been to and then hope to keep you updated as we go from here. My goal is to eat 30 new cuisines that I have never had before I am 30. From the list above, I had eaten a few of the listed cuisines before Jason and I started our journey. Take Greece, Thailand, Japan, Korea, England, and India off that list, and I have had 13 new cuisines so far...leaving me with 17 more to go! You might think that's a lot of additional cuisines to come up with, but we've done our research and you'd be amazed at some of the cuisines that are out there. We're loving this adventure so far!

Tahoe 2011

2011-08-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Compared to last summer, I did not have very many trips planned for this summer. Since Jason and I took our big trip in April to Maui for our honeymoon, we were left with some small trips to take over summer. Two of those trips were to Tahoe! I love Tahoe. I think it is the most beautiful place in California. When I was younger, my family would go to Tahoe every summer for vacation. Then, as we got older, my sister and I played competitive soccer, which required us to travel a lot. So, our summer vacations began to revolve around the locations of our soccer tournaments. But, the last five summers, my family has started back up with summer vacations to Tahoe! It is great!

However, the first trip to Tahoe this summer was with all my high school friends - or more like elementary school friends. (Remember my 'Austin 2010' post about how we are all still great friends). One of my closest friends growing up (and neighbor since I was two), Kirsten, is getting married in Maui this December. Because they are only having family at the wedding, she decided to throw an engagement party in Tahoe with a bunch of her closest friends. Her parents have a house there right on the water, and it is incredible! There were five of us from growing up that went, and we each brought our significant others. The five of us have all known each other from some point in elementary school. And...four out of the five of us got engaged within a four month period (last August, September, November, and December), and then the fifth just got engaged this 4th of July! I love how stuff like that happens!

We had a great weekend celebrating Kirsten and Andy. We spent Saturday hiking along Lake Tahoe to Emerald Bay. It was one of the most gorgeous hikes I have done because you are literally hiking right along the water. Then, Saturday night we had such a fun dinner at Sunnyside, toasting Kirsten and Andy and sharing memories from the twenty plus years we have been friends (crazy that Kirsten and I have been friends for 25 years)! Congrats to Kirst and Andy!

Then, this past week, I went to Tahoe with my family for eight days! For the past four summers we have gone to South Shore because my dad's company has a house there. However, they rented out the house this year, so instead we went to my brother-in-law's family cabin in North Shore. It was fun to switch it up this year. We definitely beached it up everyday! We spent most of our time at Tahoe Donner, which I had never been to. It's a great little beach area, especially if you have young kids because they have a shallow area for them to play in the water.

Kate digging away

Claire Bear

We also went to King's Beach one day in North Shore, and then made the drive to South Shore another day for old time's sake. I love Jameson Beach on South Shore. Nothing beats the view of Lake Tahoe there, plus there is tons going on with the Beacon Bar and Grill right there, which has a live band on most days. And, let's not forget about their yummy rum runners (which we failed to enjoy this year). The beach was super crowded (as usual), but even more so this year because the beach line is so small from all the rain/snow this winter...spring...oh, and summer. I love the activity though because I am such a people watcher. It's constant entertainment :)

King's Beach (note the two feet of beach)

Jameson Beach - my all time favorite!

Can you say, Rum Runner!

Emerald Bay

I had a great time with my family, but about half way through the trip I was ready to go home. Jason wasn't able to come because he took so much time off in April for our wedding and honeymoon. We're clearly still in the newlywed stage, and eight days apart was too much for us to take. (He even slept on our couch half the time because he didn't want to sleep in our bed alone). While I love vacations with my family, I might have to cut next summers a little short.

The Kitchen Sink

2011-07-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we undertook another 'Man Vs. Food' challenge...The Kitchen Sink at the San Francisco Creamery. When we first saw this episode on the show 'Man Vs. Food', Jason was certain he would be able to take down this challenge because he LOVES ice cream so much. However, I think his confidence was a little shaken after his defeat in the Hellfire hot wing challenge. So, instead of Jason trying to undertake the challenge on his own, we decided to team up with my college roommate Katie and her husband, Luke. Our results as a team of four would then help Jason determine if he could take it on his own.

The current fastest completion of the kitchen sink (by one person) is 7 minutes, 45 seconds!

We arrived at the Creamery around 1 in the afternoon. The boys wanted to coat their stomachs with some 'real' food before starting the challenge, so they split a french dip sandwich. While they ate, we planned out our ice cream and topping selections. We needed 8 scoops of ice cream and 8 toppings. However, we didn't want to go with 8 different flavors of ice cream because we feared that once it started melting, 8 different flavors would not blend to taste very good. So, we decided to stick with 3 main flavor groups and take variations of those flavors. Our base flavors were coffee, mint, and vanilla with some sort of caramel, cookie dough, or chocolate chip filling. Our 8 scoops of ice cream were:

Coffee Cookie Dough
Coffee Caramel Crunch
Caramel White Chocolate Chip (2 scoops)
Mint Chocolate Chip
Mint Cookie
Cookie Dough
Chocolate Chip

We wanted to keep our toppings simple, so for our 8 toppings we went with:

chocolate syrup
caramel
chocolate chips
chocolate sprinkles (x2)
oreo
chocolate toffee drops (x2) ~ amazing!

Here is its grand debut: 8 scoops of ice cream, 8 toppings, whipped cream, and cherries - all to make one TWO gallon sundae!

After a few pictures and many stares from those at the tables around us, we jumped in! They make all their ice cream there at the Creamery, and it is SO good! But, it is also extremely rich. We're not talking your basic carton of Dreyer's ice cream, here. We're talking the real deal...which means lots of butter fat and all that goes along with it. While the ice cream tasted so good, it was so filling...

And in the end, we were defeated. We figured we got through about 2/3 of it before the sugar coma completely set in. In the words of Adam Richman, "In the challenge of Man Vs. Food, food won"...once again.

"The Loop"

2011-06-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

If you know my family, you know that we are all very close. I can't recall a time when I ever fought with my parents. My sisters and I had small squabbles when we were younger, but we were always great friends. To this day, I consider my sisters as two of my very best friends.

When my sisters and I each graduated from college, we all moved back home for a period of time. But, then we of course each eventually moved out. My two sisters have always lived within a few miles of my parent's house. But I...I moved almost 20 miles away! Not only was it required to take the freeway to my place from my parents, but you had to go on TWO different freeways, which is practically forbidden in my mother's book! In the year and a half that I lived there, my mom came over three times: once to move me in, once to move me out, and one time to pick me up on the way to my grandmas! The line was that I had moved outside of 'the loop!' Even Jason was living in the loop for over half our relationship since he move in with my sister almost a year before we got married.

My parent's house - where I grew up

Well, I can now say that I am officially back in 'the loop.' Here is how the loop works: from our place to my sister Mel's it is 2.3 miles (about a 5 minute drive). From my sister Mel's house to my parents it is 1.2 miles (about a 3 minute drive). From my parents to my sister Elyse's place it is 2.9 miles (about a 7-8 minute drive). Then to complete the loop (which is almost a perfect circle), from Elyse's back to our place it is 2.5 miles (about 5 minutes). My mom officially has her three daughters all within 5 miles or less and no freeways are needed to get to any of us! We are all in three different zip codes, but they are all adjoining zip codes, so it works. She sure is one happy mother!

SuMmEr is HeRe!

2011-06-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

Officially one week into summer, and I must say, it has been wonderful! I was initially freaking out a bit about summer because I really had no plans. I know that sounds strange to most people, but I like to be busy, to have something to do, to feel productive. With wedding planning for six months, I especially got used to being super busy and always having something to do. So, when all that ended, I really didn't know what to do with myself...and I was still working at the time! However, with the first week of summer winding up, I have found plenty of things to keep me busy and am not too worried about the weeks to come!

Summer was kicked off with the usual end of the school year gifts from students. Lots of gift cards to Starbucks and then a few fun ones thrown in the mix (Macy's, Target, movie dollars, Barnes and Noble). Remember my post during Christmas about some of the unique gifts I received? Well, I think I got a winner this year. Check it out...

A frozen Indian dinner with an Indian yogurt shake to go with it. Definitely different!

Jason and I had a fun, but relaxing weekend - we went to Berkeley on Saturday afternoon for Brazilian food. Amazing. (More to come on our crazy food adventures). We then went and saw the movie Bridesmaids. If you haven't seen - go! Hilarious and maybe worth the $22 it costs for two to go to the movies (thankful for movie dollars!)

On Monday and Tuesday, my mom and I went to visit my grandma in the Central Valley. She's still going strong at 99 and only has four months to go until she hits triple digits! She didn't come up for the wedding, so I brought the wedding to her and showed her the video and lots of pictures. I was also able to meet my cousin's baby...who was born on my birthday. My uncle and I also share the same birthday, so in one family, we have three February 7th birthdays! Pretty cool!

My uncle Denis (2.7.41), with his niece (me - 2.7.84) and his grandson (Max - 2.7.11)

Yesterday I was able to meet up with my college roommate of four years for some shopping in Corte Madera out by Marin. Such a fun day and so excited to have her back from Seattle and living in CA again!

I'm really excited about this summer. Last summer was so busy with tons of trips every week or two. This summer will be a great mix of working (I'm tutoring lots), relaxing, and a few fun little trips planned to Tahoe and SLO. And, I haven't forgotten about my '30 before 30' - planning on checking off some of my reading. Chronicles of Narnia is currently in progress...then off to the classics!

Happy Summer!

Man Vs. Food

2011-06-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of our relationship, Jason and I have been watching the show Man vs. Food on the travel channel. The show's host, Adam Richman, goes to different cities across the country and visits some of their best restaurants. Then, in each city he visits, he takes on a food challenge at one of the city's restaurants. The challenges range from holding down an 11 lb pizza or 72 oz. of steak to enduring the heat of some of the spiciest buffalo wings made. We love this show, and Adam is such an entertaining host!

If Jason were to compose a '30 before 30' list, I'm pretty sure it would be a list of 30 food challenges to take on! A month or two into our relationship, Jason set out to tackle the 'Hellfire Challenge' at Smoke Eaters in San Jose. Unfortunately, they weren't offering the challenge on that day, so he wasn't able to do it. Instead, we went to Iguanas, which was also featured on the same episode as the 'Hellfire Challenge'. Here they serve a 5 lb burrito. While there is no challenge attached to this burrito, we decided to make one up. The challenge was for Jason to eat the entire 5 lb burrito in less than 30 minutes. It was painful to watch, and the whole time I was telling him to stop because I didn't want him to get sick...while his cousin Donnie was yelling at him to man up and not be a quitter. Haha - the difference between guys and girls. In the end, Jason made it through about 4/5 of the burrito, which I must say was pretty impressive.

Making of the burrito

Jason holding his 5 lb. burrito

Half way done and feeling good!

Starting to hit a wall...

And, we're done.

Ever since then, Jason has been waiting to do another 'challenge.' For a while he was talking about doing the 'Kitchen Sink' challenge at the San Francisco Creamery. He then came to his senses and realized how insane that challenge is!

Well, last Saturday we went down to Cupertino to buy a new bed, and Jason saw it as the perfect opportunity to try the Hellfire wing challenge at Smoke Eaters since we were so close. I must say that he was quite confident in his ability to conquer this challenge and was very excited about the free shirt he would get if he accomplished the challenge. Twelve flaming hot buffalo wings in ten minutes and then sit for another five minutes without a napkin or beverage to marinate in the heat. Just have to fight the heat for a few minutes, no big deal, right?

After signing the waiver (which literally said you are an IDIOT if you attempt this), Jason ordered the wings. There was a one inch binder thick of waivers, with only 11 people having finished the challenge.The server came out with the timer as Jason prepared to take down the hellfire challenge. My heart is pounding. Three wings in, and Jason was no longer able to sit on the stool. Soon, his body literally begins to shake as he spits out in anguish how freaking hot the wings are. Sweat is pouring down the side of his face, his eyes are blood shot, and by the time he finishes up the fourth wing, he is saying, "It is so hot I can't swallow. My throat is closing up." At that point, I was like..."Um, this needs to STOP." I seriously started having visions of taking my husband to the hospital as a result of a stupid wing challenge.

When all is right with the world...

The pain hasn't quite sunk in yet

He then throws the fourth wing bone in defeat and rushes to the bathroom to splash his face and try to cool off. For the next 45 minutes, we sat in the restaurant as he chugged down milk and sucked on ice cubes. In Jason's words, "That was the stupidest thing I have ever tried." (And if you know Jason, he has quite the adventurous past...).

As far as he got...

Sitting in the pain (note the bright red lips and swollen face)

The after effects lasted well into the following day...Never again will Jason attempt another wing challenge. I'm definitely okay with that, too!

Our Saturday night...

One Mirrored Car...

2011-06-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

If you've ridden in my car (or even just seen my car) sometime in the past year and a half, you most likely experienced this...

Yes, the missing passenger side view mirror. In September of 2009 (yes, over 20 months ago), my side view mirror hit the trash can while I was pulling out of my garage. I was shocked when the whole mirror was left hanging by wires, especially considering that I was only going like 2 mph (if that). I went that day and got a few quotes on the cost to replace it and couldn't believe that it was going to cost me close to $300! My mirror was perfectly undamaged, but I would have to buy a whole new mirror in order for them to reconnect it to my car. I refused. Once I found out that it was legal to drive with only one side view mirror, I decided to delay the process of replacing my mirror.

Six months later, in April of 2010, the worker who was remodeling my parent's bathroom decided to make it his mission to find me a new mirror. He found a matching one at a junk yard and removed it from the car himself. He brought it to me in perfect condition, and it was much cheaper than the $300 the mechanic was trying to charge me. Well, I was hesitant to put it on my car because I was afraid that I was going to knock it off again (the garbage cans in my garage made it a very tight squeeze into my parking spot). So, I decided to delay putting on the new mirror...and it sat in my trunk for another six months.

In November of 2010, I moved back in with my parents for a few months to save money for the wedding. This would have been the perfect time to put my new side mirror on since I wasn't dealing with the garage issue anymore. But, I guess I was so used to driving with only one side mirror that the whole thing just was bugging me that much anymore. I had perfected parallel parking without a side mirror. Plus, I was so busy with wedding planning, that my car's side view mirror simply wasn't a priority.

Another 7 months went and finally Jason had it. He refused to ride in a car with only one side mirror. I admit, it did look very tacky! Considering that I even had the replacement mirror, it was even more ridiculous that I was still driving around with only one mirror. So, last weekend, Jason and my dad put my new mirror on my car! It did involve a little bit of 'jimmy rigging' since the wires didn't match up perfectly, but in the end, it all worked out. And now, 20 months later, my '98 Camry is looking back to normal!

Maui Honeymoon

2011-05-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Jason and I decided to go to Maui for our honeymoon. Our dream vacation right now is a trip to the Greek Isles, but we didn't want to deal with the long flight and time change on our honeymoon. Since we knew we wanted somewhere tropical and close, what better place than Hawaii! Jason had been as a young kid, and I had only been to Oahu when I was a freshman in high school (which I was not impressed with). We debated between Maui and Kauai, but opted for Maui since there is a little more activity on that island.

Our flight left the morning after our wedding. Unfortunately, it was delayed over two hours due to mechanical problems. Uh...not very comforting. Due to the time change though, we still landed in Maui around 4 and got to our hotel around 5 or so!

We stayed at the Marriott on Kaanapali. Our room was oceanfront, and we had an awesome view! This was our view upon arriving that evening!

Below are some other views from our balcony...

The first night there, we walked around Kaanapali, went to Whaler's Village, and had dinner at the Hula Grill. Check out the free ice cream sandwich we got with our Marriott reward's card!

Monday was our beach day. We just wanted to relax that first day so we could unwind from all the wedding frenzy. The weather was gorgeous that first day. We spent a few hours at the beach/pool. We then walked around Lahaina and got the best.shaved.ice.ever! We then had dinner that night at Kimos and sat right along the water. It was an incredible view with a gorgeous sunset that night. And, my coconut crusted swordfish was delicious!

The forecast was predicting rain while we were there, so we wanted to make sure we did the Road to Hana before the rain came. The drive was very pretty, but definitely a little bumpy on the backside. My favorite part was the black sand beach at Waianapanapa State Park.

We were very excited for snorkeling on Wednesday, but were then disappointed in the site that was recommended to us by Kaanapali. So, we set off for a second recommended location called Big Beach (Makena State Beach) that was over on Wailea. Well, once we got there we realized that this certainly was no snorkeling spot, but rather one of the best body surfing beaches! The waves were huge, raising to probably five or six feet, crashing right on the shore. Not only that, but it was the prettiest beach I have even seen. Turquoise water hitting a white sand beach ~ breathtaking! Jason had a blast bodysurfing in these waves, while I was getting way too beat up by them! Nonetheless, it was such a beautiful beach that we made another trip back later on in the week.

On Thursday we had breakfast at a place called Kehei Cafe, another recommendation. Jason was excited to try the Loco Moco, a hamburger patty covered with eggs and gravy, all over a mound of rice. Can you say gross?! I chose the banana macadamia nut french toast with coconut syrup. Yum! After our massive breakfast we worked it off by hiking at Iao Valley. We had a difficult time staying on the actual trail due to all the brush, but we sure did enjoy the scenery. That night we had dinner at a deep dish pizza place. It was good, but nothing beats Zachary's pizza!

On Friday we had tickets for a whale watching boat trip. We got them for free by attending the Marriott's time share presentation. An hour of your time for two tickets valued at $60 each is not a bad deal! It was the end of whale season, so we didn't see tons of whales, but did see a few. Our favorite part was actually meeting and talking with other couples on the boat trip.

Our last day was spent relaxing - did some more pool time, went back to Makena Beach, and did some shopping. We stumbled across a store called 'Big Daddy Surf,' and those of you who know the story of Big Daddy will surely appreciate that! For our last hooray of the trip, we had tickets to the Old Lahina Luau. This luau is great, and I highly recommend it. You see a pig roasting, the food is great, lots of dancing, and you get one of those real floral lays! I've always wanted one of those :)

We had a great time in Maui, but were also excited to come back home and start real life together! We're learning lots and having a great time together!

Wedding Workings = Blogging Break

2011-04-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

...but now I'm back...as Rebecca Baker!

So, I haven't blogged since the first of the year. Oops! Things really didn't get all too busy with wedding planning until mid-March or so, but I just never made it to the computer to blog before the wedding.

I figured I would use this blog entry as a quick snapshot of all the pre-wedding festivities I was busy with since I never blogged about any of them.

First is my bridal shower. My sisters and mom threw me a bridal shower with all of the relatives and family friends on February 5th. It was a gorgeous day! My sister Mel hosted it at her house and did an AWESOME job with all the decorations - that's definitely her niche! Here a few pics of the decorations.

I thought the shower might be a little overwhelming since it was going to be a mix of my family, Jason's family, our family friends, and two of my personal friends, but it all worked out great! And, we got lots of great stuff for our place!

'The Future Mrs. Baker'

Sisters

Mom and her daughters

With some of my future family...

(For the complete blog of my bridal shower, visit my sister's blog: Something Blue...)

Next was my bachelorette party. I didn't want a big production for my bachelorette, but just a fun day with my closest friends. I decided to do a day of wine tasting in Napa, and then come back for dinner and presents at my sister's house. It was a beautiful day in Napa, especially with all of the spring colors. Here a some pictures from our day wine tasting.

Of course the day wouldn't be complete without some hearts...

The wine tasting group

Sisters

Friends since elementary school

Future cousin-in-law and sister-in-law

Lunch at Dean and Duluca

Again, Mel did an amazing job hosting the shower back at her house, and we had some yummy appetizers. I was definitely a little red in the face opening up these presents, but it was so fun to spend the day celebrating with my friends and sisters.

(For more details, visit my sister's blog: Wine Tasting in Napa and Around the Clock Bridal Shower)

Then came wedding week! Ah, everyone says this week is crazy stressful. I have to say that I really was not that overwhelmed with a list of things to do. We had a few things lefts, such as tying ribbon on the programs and the menus, making the place cards, and finalizing some of the logistics. The one thing that stressed me out the most was the freaking weather forecast that couldn't make up its mind about sun or showers! Ah, so annoying. My sister and I were obsessed with checking the weather and kept refreshing it all day on our computers. We kept joking that God was playing tricks on us because Saturday was the ONLY day all week where the weather kept changing, and it was the ONLY day that had a potential of rain out of the entire 10 day forecast. Haha. I did have one melt down on Thursday night (sorry Jason) - mostly because I was just tired and done with all the planning.

Here we are tying lots and lots of bows :)

Finally...April 2nd came!! It was everything I had dreamed it would be. Such a great day!! (And the weather was absolutely perfect - sunny and 70!) I had so much fun! I will do a whole separate post once I get all of my professional pics...but here is a sneak peak :)

More to come soon...but for now, I am loving married life!

One Year Later

2011-01-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

Wow. I can't believe it has been a year since I started this blog. I guess this would make today my blog-o-versary, as I had my first blog post on 1.1.10. With the new year, comes a new look to my blog, too!

2010 was a great year, full of many highlights and lots of checks on my 30 Before 30. (I was able to check nine items off my 30 Before 30 list)! Here is a breakdown of some of my highlights by the month.

January
Wine Tasting in Napa for my friend Kristina's birthday (30 Before 30)
Cruise to Mexico (30 Before 30)
February
My 26th Birthday, which happened to fall on Super Bowl Sunday
March
Apparently I didn't do anything exciting this month

April
Pebble Beach with my family and Jason over Spring Break
Monterey Bay Aquarium (30 Before 30)
Jason's Brother's Wedding

May
Celebrated 6 months with Jason at Yoshi's Jazz Club
June
Trip to Austin with my high school girl friends (30 Before 30)
Ended my 3rd year of teaching

Hiked Half Dome (30 Before 30)
Road trip from Colorado to California with Megan
July
Ran the Bad Bass 10k (my first)
Trip to LA with Jason for my first Dodger game
Trip to SLO for Megan's bachelorette party
August
Annual summer trip to Tahoe with the family
Megan's wedding in SLO
Hearst Castle (30 Before 30)
September
Jason proposed on 9.19.10!
October
Ran my first half-marathon (30 Before 30) - and still have a messed up knee
Celebrated Grammy's 99th Birthday
Moved back home with my parents

November
Sharks game with Jason (30 Before 30)
Celebrated one year with Jason
Thanksgiving in Sacramento with Jason's family

December
Apple Hill with Jason
Many Christmas festivities and relaxing on my 2 weeks off!

A year into my 30 Before 30, I have decided to take a few things off my list and add some new interests. (I gave myself permission to do so). With that, here is my 2011 Updated 30 Before 30.

Travel

1. Austin (completed June 4-6, 2010)

2. Boston
3. Thanksgiving in New York

4. Greece

5. *Canada* (changed from Africa)

6. Cruise (completed January 2010)

California Tourism

7. Alcatraz

8. Wine tasting in Wine Country (completed January 9, 2010)

9. Monterey Bay Aquarium (completed April 7, 2010)

10. Hearst Castle (completed August 8, 2010)
11. Lighthouses of California (from San Francisco to Santa Barbara)

Adventure

12. Skydive

13. Hike Half Dome (completed June 17, 2010)

14. Run a half marathon (completed October 3, 2010)

15. Triathlon

16. White Water Raft

17. Hot Air Balloon
18. Ski in another state

Intellectual/Spiritual

19. Read 5 Classics

20. Read The Chronicles of Narnia ('Attempted' Summer 2011)

21. Memorize a chapter of the Bible
22. Take a Bible class
*Delated Listen to all of Mark Driscoll's archived podcasts*

Entertainment

23. Sharks Game (completed November 20, 2010)

24. *NBA Basketball Game * (changed from 5 concerts of my favorite bands)
25. Live orchestra/symphony
26. Circus
27. *Eat 30 ethnic cuisines that I have never had before *(new)

Personal Development

28. Cooking/Baking Class (completed October 2011)

29. Learn to sew

30. Start a blog (completed January 1, 2010)

We'll see where 2011 takes me! I'm very excited for the new year and all that it holds - especially my April 2nd wedding (just 3 months away now)! Wishing you all a Happy 2011!

12 Days of Christmas

2010-12-19T23:07:00.000-08:00

One of the many perks of being a teacher (no, I'm not going to say the 2 weeks off work I get during Christmas) is getting hooked up at Christmas time with gifts from your students. The school I work at definitely has some very generous families. Starting on the Monday of the last week before break, the gifts start piling in. Most students bring their gift on Friday, and I feel like it is a scene out of the movie Christmas Story, where all the students bring their gift up to their teacher's desk. It's a little different for me, in that I stand at the door to greet my students, and they just start handing gifts off to me right there at the door.

Chocolate. Well, every year has a different variety, so I thought I would share some of my 2010 Christmas gifts from my students. The theme for this year was definitely chocolate. Take a look at my stash of chocolate. I added it up, and I received over six pounds of chocolate.

Gift Cards. The next runner up was coffee gift cards. That is usually pretty common, but last year I got tons of Target gift cards, so I was getting a little excited about that since Target is my favorite store! I did get two Target gift cards, but Peet's and Starbucks were the winners. Some of my students like to be a little more creative in their gift card giving, so I also got a gift card to Bebe, The Elephant Bar, and let's not forget the Indian restaurant...? Yes, so random...but also, not...

Please also note the electric plug in travel coffee mug

Jewelry. Middle school students are really into giving jewelry to their teachers. This year I received a pearl necklace, and a home made earring and necklace set. However, none of these compare to the necklace I received two years ago. One of my all time favorite gifts.

Home decor. This is where it starts getting fun! A few candles, some great soaps from Bath & Body Works, coasters, a crystal mantel cloak...and I can't forget to mention the sea foam green beaded pillow case covers. But the gift of the year was this...looks like a nicely decorated box..

But, lets open it up and see what's inside.

The Taj Mahal...in a box?

At first I was really confused as to what to do with a Taj Mahal in a box. Do you keep the box closed? Or do you leave it open? But then I noticed the yellow bands securing the Taj Mahal in the box and realized that the Taj Mahal comes out, allowing for a nice decorating piece.

And a quick look at all the home decor I received this year is below...

Whatever this Christmas season brings you in gifts, I hope you remember the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. Wishing you a very blessed Merry Christmas!

Sharks Game

2010-11-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, I have really wanted to go to a Sharks hockey game. To be honest, I'm really not that into the Sharks, but I've been to two Stockton Thunder minor league hockey games, and they were so fun. I figured that going to see a professional game would be even more exciting. Plus, my brother-in-law is a huge Sharks fan (my 3 year-old niece has known how to do the Shark 'jaws' during a power play since the time she was 18 months), so I've had the family enthusiasm spurring me on! And...you must admit, hockey is a great, fast paced sport to watch.

I've never been to a professional football game or basketball game either, but I didn't put a 49ner game or Warriors game on my list of 30 Before 30. The Sharks are who I wanted to see!

Well, it's funny because the first time Jason and I ever hung out was at a Stockton Thunder game (you can get the whole scoop in my previous post One Year Ago). Well, one year and exactly one week later, we went to our second hockey game together...this time it was the Sharks, though! Jason had been wanting to take me for awhile, and we finally had a wide open night. We didn't start looking for tickets until about two hours before the game. Jason went on craigslist to find season ticket holders trying to get rid of their tickets. About an hour before the game started, he struck a deal with a guy, and we got AWESOME seats for half the original price. (Seriously, this is the way to get tickets if you can wait until the last minute).

So we made our way to San Jose (in the pouring rain) and had a great time at the Sharks game. Unfortunately the Sharks lost 3-0 to the Blue Jackets, but we did see a good fight :) I was blown away by how clean the rank was and all the fans are so fun! And, I must say, any sport's stadium that has fully padded chairs is okay in my book! I definitely want to make it to another Sharks game in the near future...and hopefully see them score at least one goal...

One Year Ago...

2010-11-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

I met my future husband. And now, five months from tomorrow we will be married. Wow! The saying, "A lot can change in a year" sure has applied to me this past year!

Jason and I met on November 1, 2009 at the young adult's group at our church. He was sitting in the seat behind me, so that's how I noticed him. After the group ended, I went to use the restroom, and as I was walking back in, he was on his way out. I stopped and introduced myself and then sent him on his way, as he appeared to be in a rush out, and I didn't want to keep him. While I thought I was being friendly to the new guy by saying hi, he interpreted my actions as rude because I seemed so quick to say hi and then bye...

One week later, we crossed paths once again at church. This time I was on my way out, but I had a quick question I needed to ask our pastor before leaving. I saw that Jason was talking with our pastor, so I stood to the side, waiting for them to finish their conversation...trying to be polite and not interrupt. After a minute or so, their conversation was interrupted by someone else, so I figured this would be an opportune time to slide in and quickly ask my question. Well, our pastor is an extremely relational guy, so he was more concerned about making sure that I had met Jason. So, right away, he asks, "Rebecca, have you met Jason?" I was so focused on being quick with my question so as to not interrupt their conversation, that I flippantly responded, "Yeah, we met last week..." and then proceeded in asking my question to our pastor. Jason again interpreted my actions as rude. This time I agree how he could see that...but that was never the intent :)

Fast forward one more week. This time it's Saturday night, and a bunch of people from church had planned to go to a hockey game. Turns out that Jason signed up to go as well. Also turns out that we happened to ride together in the same car to the game with two other friends. Here is when we really began to get to know each other, as it was a good 45 minute drive. Jason then conveniently seated himself next to me at the hockey game, so the conversations continued. We all went to dessert afterward, and what do you know, who did I find sitting across from me there...? Yes, Jason.

The next week was full of facebook messages back and forth that led to what I call our fake first date. Our church was helping out with a fair trade organization during the holidays, and we could volunteer to go to the organization's warehouse to help box packages. Since it was my Thanksgiving Break, I had signed up to help on Tuesday. Jason had signed up for the same day because it was his day off. This was not planned, but when Jason heard I was going on the same day he was, he suggested we carpool out together since it was about a 30 minute drive from where we lived. So, he came and picked me up, we drove out there together, volunteered for a few hours, and then he took me to dinner after. Hence, the fake date. Nice work, buddy.

Well, the first real date happened just a few days later on Saturday, November 28th. At this point we had talked on the phone every day since the fake date. It was a Saturday, and neither of us had plans for the evening, so he asked to take me out. He knew I loved the city (especially during the holidays), and while he is not such a fan of the city, he still took me there. We walked around Ghirardelli Square and ended up having dinner at Aliotos, right along on the water. Before we knew it, we were the only ones left in the restaurant and figured it was time to go since they were trying to set up for the next day.

I really didn't think ten months later we would be engaged! But God has blessed me with an amazing man, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him. It's funny because when I made my 30 Before 30 list, I can't tell you how many people asked if I was going to put 'Get Married' on my list. Part of the reason why I even made my list was because I didn't want to dwell on being married by the time I was 30. I didn't want to feel like I hadn't lived life fully by age 30 if I wasn't yet married. But, I guess things happen when you least expect it...God surprised me on this one, and I must say it was a very good surprise!

13.1 Miles!

2010-10-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

Well, first let me start off by saying, "I made it!" After 12 weeks of training, I finally ran my first 1/2 marathon! I really didn't think that day would ever come. Then, 10 months ago (last December) when my friend Kristina and I signed up for the San Jose Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, I still didn't think that day would ever come, being that it was so far away. But this past Sunday at 8am in San Jose, we set off to conquer those 13.1 miles!

Right before the craziness ensued!

I hadn't really set a goal time for myself, but Jason told me that I was going to do it in under 2 hours. So, I did the math on that and figured I would have to run at a 9:14 mile pace the entire 13 miles. I didn't think that I could make that happen. But, once the race started, I kept hitting each mile mark between 8:45 and 9 minutes, so then it was on! I was determined to finish under 2 hours!

The first 10 to 11 miles were great! They completely shut down the streets of downtown San Jose, along with some of the nearby neighborhoods, and people just fill the streets to cheer you on! The energy was contagious and added to the already adrenaline rush. People would stand outside their houses drinking their morning coffee and clap for you. The downtown streets were filled with thousands of enthusiastic 'fans'. Since it was a rock 'n roll marathon, there was a band playing every mile. It was great inspiration because every time you heard the band, you knew you were nearing the completion of another mile! Plus, some people even set up their own mini-bands in front of their houses - little kids playing on their toy drum sets...and one guy even had his own electric guitar and was jamming out in his driveway (with an amplifier and all)! It was so much fun!! Until I hit mile 11...

Here I am at mile 4 - smiling and happy

Kristina and I had only trained up to 10 miles, and there is definitely something to be said about muscle memory. Once I started nearing the 11 mile mark, my legs were like, "Um, I've never ran this far at this pace..." and they started to freak out on me. They started to fill with lactic acid and began to get extremely tight. The thing with this though is that stopping only intensifies the cramping and tightening, so you have no choice but to push through it if you want to finish. Thankfully the last 2 miles of the race are through the downtown area, which is laden with people cheering and screaming. It definitely helped me push through those last 2 miles. They are a complete blur to me, but I know I did it because I crossed that finish line! And, I did it in under 2 hours, finishing in 1:57:20! I placed 2,325 out of over 13,000 (604th female and 119th in my age group).

Focused on the finish - I can see it!

Straining - almost there!

Done and VERY happy about it :)

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I would just make sure that I trained up to 11 or 12 miles. The pain I'm in right now is pretty awful, and I literally walk like I have two braces on my legs...but I'm sure I will soon forget about the pain and remember the excitement of finishing 13.1 miles after months of training!

YES!

2010-09-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Not that I believe in superstition, but I had never caught a bouquet at a wedding before...until 4 months ago. In May, at my friend Travis' wedding, I caught the bouquet. Two months after that, I caught (or picked up) the bouquet at my friend Megan's wedding. Less than two months after that...I was engaged!

Last Sunday, 9-19-10, Jason proposed in San Francisco!

It started off like any normal Sunday...church and then some afternoon errands. The day before, my sister Elyse had decided to take a trip to Hawaii to visit a friend since she has a bunch of frequent flyer miles to use up. Upon hearing this, Jason immediately offered to take her to the airport. On Saturday evening, he suggested that we make a day out of it and hangout in the city after. (Little did I know that he had picked up my ring that morning - He was actually going to try and wait...yeah right...until the following weekend to propose because we already had plans to go into the city that weekend).

So on Sunday afternoon we headed out to SFO and dropped my sister off at the airport. The plan was to then go and walk along the Land's End Trail, which runs from Ocean Beach to Baker Beach (I told him he should have proposed on Baker Beach since that is his last name - but he claims it is a nudist beach...)

After a pit stop at Coffee Bean (well done), we made our way down to the water. About 5 minutes away, the song "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flats came on the radio, which Jason and I had previously discussed as a song we wanted played at our wedding. (Apparently Jason was fighting tears the whole time the song was playing...knowing that he would soon be proposing to me).

A few minutes later, we were parked and walking along the Land's End Trail. Any suspicion that I may have had of Jason proposing was soon dissipated by Jason's lack of decisiveness about where to go along the trail. (Apparently he was looking for a place called Mile Point Beach...I saw about 3 signs indicating its location...but I guess Jason was too nervous to notice them). So we're walking along and hit a bunch of stairs that go down to the water. Jason didn't know if these were the stairs that led to Mile Point Beach, so he didn't want us to walk down them and discover it was the wrong spot...and then make me walk further. We kept walking, but the trail soon ended, with about 50-75 stairs that you could then walk up. At this point, I think Jason just didn't know what to do or where to go, so he started asking me what I wanted to do (again - suspicion of proposal was out the window because he clearly didn't seem to have a plan...). I said I didn't care (typical), and we decided to turn around and go down the first set of stairs that we passed. Well, good thing we did because these were the stairs that led to Mile Point Beach - the proposal spot. Once you go down the stairs, you walk along this cliff type trail that takes you to a big cliff that overlooks the water. On a clear day, it is a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge (which we will have to see another time). I was standing on the edge, looking out on the water and Jason was behind me. He then grabbed my waste and began turning me around towards him. As he did so, he began bending down on one knee. My knees began trembling.

Despite the distraction of a group of about 25 people on the cliff that was 20-30 feet below us, I actually remember everything that Jason said when he proposed! (As soon as he got down on his knee, this guy decided it was a great time to start yelling, "Did she say YES?!" I wanted to yell back at him, "Dude, give the guy a chance to ask me!") Upon my YES, the crowd below began cheering and shouting hoorays for us! We didn't have a camera on us (My camera was in my purse, which I left in the car, not thinking I would need anything from it...) We asked someone to take some pictures for us on their camera, and I gave them my email, so we got some pictures!

Here we are on the upper cliff area where he proposed

Down on the lower area by the water

Here is a picture from the internet of the spot he proposed (taken from the upper cliff looking down on the lower cliff)

He proposed on the upper cliff, and the group of people were on the lower part where the circle is

Here we are later that night at my sister and brother-in-laws

It was such a wonderful moment. And...I LOVE my ring!! It is exactly what I wanted - Jason did great (although apparently my ring was quite the burden/5 ton weight for him to bare, as it took almost 3 months for my ring to arrive...well, at least for the correct ring to arrive...long story. But, he was going CRAZY with all the waiting).

We are SO excited to get married - and aren't wasting anytime doing so. The date is set for April 2, 2011 - just about 6 months away. Things are falling into place very smoothly so far - church and reception venue are booked, photographer and caterer are just about in place...AND...I found my dress! It was the first one I tried on, was everything I wanted, and I had no reason to look anymore. Pictures to come in April :)

Labor Day Hike

2010-09-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Last Monday for Labor Day, Jason and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We figured that since it was in the high 90's out our way, that it would be much nicer along the water. We headed out to Stinson Beach to hike around Mt. Tamalpais. I had heard from a few people that Mt. Tam is a great place to hike, and now I want to extend the recommendation to all of you! It is gorgeous - full of redwood trees combined with an ocean view - can't get much better than that.

After our 2.5 hour drive (yes, it was so backed up on Hwy 1 getting into Stinson Beach - took over an hour to go just a few miles), we were more than ready to start our hike. We started at the Matt Davis trail head, and went from there. That trail took us to the ranger station, and from there, we took the Dipsy trail back down. Overall, it was about a 7.5 mile hike and took us about 3 hours. If you have a weekend afternoon free, I highly recommend it. It was beautiful. Here are a few pictures to convince you to go!

Back to School...

2010-08-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, school starts tomorrow, which means summer is officially over! I think that this was by far the fastest summer ever! Because I had seven trips planned between the June 4th and August 5th (click here for my pre-summer post), it made my summer fly by because I never really settled in. But, I must say that I had a blast this summer with all of my trips.

I've been in my classroom this last week, getting things all organized and ready for my 4th year of teaching (I can't believe I'm entering year four!) Here is my classroom, all set and ready for the 175 little 6th graders that will be my students this year...

For the first time in three years, I didn't feel like I had to spend the last two weeks of summer living in my classroom. This is the first year that I didn't switch classrooms, and it's also the first year that I am teaching the exact same curriculum as I did the year before. I definitely feel much more prepared and relaxed going into this school year than I have in any of the previous years. I hoping that it will be a great year. Farewell summer, welcome year 4!

Hearst Castle

2010-08-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends (Yay, Meg!) from college got married this past weekend in San Luis Obispo. While that could be a whole post in and of itself (such a fun wedding/college reunion), this post is dedicated to what I did the day AFTER her wedding...

Funny how I went to college only 45 minutes away from Hearst Castle and somehow during those four years at Cal Poly, I never made it to Hearst Castle. Well, it only took me another four years since graduating college to actually get in my tour of Hearst Castle. With that, the day after Meg's wedding, Jason and I made the short drive from San Luis Obispo to San Simeon, the home of Hearst Castle.

I really didn't know much about Hearst Castle (or William Randolph Hearst) going into the tour, but boy did I learn a lot! The tour started with a five mile bus ride through the hills to make the 1000 foot ascent up to Hearst Castle. The bus ride gives you a history of the Hearst Family and the construction of the castle, plus a beautiful view to enjoy along the way.

View from Hearst Castle

Upon arriving at the castle, we were shown the outside of one of the many guests houses (or mansions) - this guest house has 18 rooms! (We saw four bedrooms and a sitting room).

Casa Del Sol - Spanish Style

We then saw the outside pool and wow, this was awesome. Mr. Hearst and his wife were all about bringing European culture and architecture to their estate, and the pool was one of my favorite demonstrations of that. Loved the ancient Roman and Greek history here.

The Neptune Pool and Roman Pool

Apart from the pool, the gardens were probably my favorite part. The vegetation was so colorful - I couldn't stop taking pictures.

The last stop of the tour was the main house. We viewed two of the sitting rooms, the dining room, the billiard room, and the theater. And of course, we couldn't have a complete tour without viewing the indoor pool.

Casa Grande - The main house

Assembly Room

The Refectory - one very long table

The Indoor Pool

I had so much fun exploring Hearst Castle and feeling a part of another century. Too bad I waited so many years to visit when I was so close for so many years...

Training is in Full Swing!

2010-08-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Running a half-marathon is one of the check-offs on my '30 before 30'. I started training about three weeks ago for my half-marathon, giving myself twelve weeks of training before I actually run my first half-marathon on October 3rd! (I'm running the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon with my friend Kristina). My new running shoes and my nike+ipod are a good motivator to get me out running. (The nike+ipod is awesome! It is a small chip that I put in my shoe, and then there is another piece that I attach to my ipod. It keeps track of all my runs, telling me how far I went, what my pace was per mile, how many calories I burned, etc. I can then plug the piece into my computer and it creates graphs and what-not. Basically, perfect for me!)

My new running shoes

My nike+ipod ~ love!

I figured it might be good for me to do a few smaller races leading up to my half-marathon (well, Jason more so decided for me or rather highly encouraged...), so this past Saturday we both ran in Brazen's Bad Bass at Lake Chabot. (Jason was ecstatic about doing our first race together - especially because I have been refusing to run with him because I think I'll be too slow). I ran the 10k and Jason did the half-marathon.

Right before the race...

Again, Jason was very excited!

The challenging part was that the run was 50% trail and 50% paved - which means for me I literally had to run 1.5 miles straight uphill. But, I must say that it was a GREAT experience, and I absolutely loved it. Jason and I both did really well, too. We were both very pleased with our times - I ran my 10k in 1:02 and he did his half-marathon in 2:08. Considering that we were running straight-up hill for a quarter of our race, we were happy. I ended up coming in 5th for my age group (and 35th overall out of 140), and Jason got 2nd in his age group (and 37th overall out of 95).

Just about at the finish line!

Besides the fact that it still hurts to walk (that downhill is brutal on your body), I had a blast! I could definitely see myself doing a few more of these leading up to my half-marathon. The only downfall is that it sure isn't cheap to do these races. However, they sure can become addicting!

Weekend in LA

2010-07-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

Jason and I spent this past weekend in LA. Jason is a huge Dodger's fan (I know...), and he goes to a home Dodger's game every summer. This year he insisted that I come along and experience my first game at Dodger's stadium...

We left early Saturday morning (6am) and made a quick stop at Anderson's Pea Soup. Jason got a cup of split pea soup for the road at 7:45am. Gross.

Split pea soup at 7:45am.

We first headed down to Santa Monica. We were planning on spending the afternoon at the beach, but it was pretty overcast and a bit chilly. Instead we had lunch down by the pier and then walked around 3rd St. Promenade and got some Coffee Bean (Jason's first experience). If anyone knows me well, you know I LOVE Coffee Bean! On Saturday night we went to Downtown Disney, which was so cool. I had never been there before, and I loved the ambiance. It is so fun. We ate at this amazing restaurant called Ralph Brennan Jazz Kitchen. It is designed with New Orlean's architecture and ambiance - with an open-air courtyard in the middle of the restaurant (which is where we sat). They also have a jazz club, which you can hear in the background while you eat. Sometimes you sacrifice good food for the sake of good ambiance, but the food here was amazing! We had coconut golf shrimp with a pineapple-mango salsa as an appetizer, and for dinner I had blackened salmon with blue crab, and Jason had the seafood jambalaya. We were both blown away by the food.

The fountain that was next to our table at RB Jazz Kitchen

Downtown Disney

On Sunday we went to John MacArthur's church (one of Jason's favorite pastors). Unfortunately he wasn't preaching, but the guy who was, Steve Lawson, was amazing, so it ended up being a win-win situation. After church, Jason took me to his all-time favorite Mexican food restaurant called El Tepeyac. I was served the biggest burrito I have ever attempted to eat! I ate about a fourth of mine; Jason polished his off. No surprise there.

My burrito at El Tepeyac - huge!

Jason's finished product next to my finished product.

Jason and his cleared plate.

We spent Sunday afternoon in the Venice Beach area before heading to the Dodger game. We had great seats at the game (lower level in the outfield by the first baseline) and sat next to such a fun crowd. While I'm no Dodger's fan, I must say that my first experience at a Dodger's game was a blast (and I did wear Dodger blue...but NOT a Dodger's shirt. I figured that since they were playing the Cubs, I was technically neutral since the Cubs are also the same shade of blue). The Dodger's beat the Cubs 7-0, so of course Jason was a happy camper.

My first Dodger Dog - When in Rome...?

We tried to go see the Hollywood sign on Sunday night after the game, but didn't really have directions, so after roaming around the Hollywood Hills for a while, we finally gave up and settled for some Diddy Riese. So good!

We left on Monday morning, and made a stop in Hanford on the way home to see my grandma and my mom's whole side of the family. Jason hadn't meet Grammy yet, so I wanted to make sure that happened sooner than later (especially since Grammy is turning 99 in a few months). We had a great time visiting with family (plus, my mom, sisters, and nieces came down too, so it was quite a full house). Jason and I had a great first trip together and are looking forward to many more!

Adventures in Roadtripping!

2010-07-05T22:56:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends from college, Megan, just finished grad school in Denver with a Master's in Social Work (congrats, Meg!). She is getting married in a month, and her and her soon-to-be- husband will be living in San Luis Obispo. So, about six months ago Megan asked me if I would be up for a little roadtrip from Colorado to San Luis Obsipo this summer. Of course I was in! I love Colorado (my sister Mel went to University of Colorado, so I've spent a bit of time there)...plus, I'm always up for an adventure (which turned out to be more than expected)!

I flew out to Denver on a Tuesday night. On Wednesday we spent the day in Boulder - love that place! We enjoyed Buchanan's Coffee, Illegal Pete's (confession: I think Chipotle is better), and Pearl Street. Thursday was packing day and loading up the U-Haul so that we could leave early the next day. On Thursday night we went to a Rookie's vs. Red Socks game, which turned out to be one of the best baseball games I have ever seen. (The Red Socks won 13-11 in the 10th).

Pearl Street

Coors Field

Packed game - so fun!

We set out at about 8:15 on Friday morning, planning on a ten hour drive to St. George Utah, and then a nine hour drive on Saturday from St. George to SLO. Well, that plan was quickly out the window pretty soon, as we were pulling a U-Haul and were pretty much stuck going 60mph the entire time (our roadtrip ended up taking about 6 hours longer than we expected...)

Colorful Colorado! So beautiful

The adventure really started about four hours into the trip. We stopped for lunch, and as we were getting on the freeway, Meg realized we should have got gas while we were stopped. But since we were already getting back on the freeway, we decided to get it within the next few miles since we were already back to driving. We had over a fourth of the tank left, so we were good to go...so we thought. Well, Meg and I get to chatting, and its been maybe 30 minutes and we still haven't stopped for gas. I then see a blue sign on the side of the freeway that says "No Services 60 miles." (Thank you, Utah desert). And so begins the dilemma: Can we make it? We have a little under a fourth of a tank at this point. We decide to just go for it...

If anyone knows me, they can quickly guess that I am beginning to freak out at this point. Let me give you the play-by-play of how all the events unfolded from this point forward:

Gas tank approaching empty. No services 60 miles.
Megan: "We'll be fine."

Gas tank on empty. No services 40 miles.
Megan: "The gas light hasn't come on yet. We're good for 20-30 miles once that comes on. And it hasn't even come on yet. We'll be fine."

Gas tank below empty. No services 20 miles.
Rebecca: "My stomach is in knots."
Megan: "We'll be fine. It's not like we're gong to die."

Sign: Thompson Springs 1 mile - Services!
Car begins stalling.
Rebecca: "I'm pretty sure we're running out of gas."
Megan: "No, that's just the cruise control."

Car out of gas. Almost stopped.
Rebecca: "We're out of gas. Pull to the shoulder."
Megan: "We can just cruise like this on the shoulder the rest of the way, right?"
Car stops.
Rebecca: "No."

Start walking to the gas station in the middle of Utah's desert. Get gas, refill, start driving again.
Megan: "We did a lot of things right up to this point - got the U-Haul, packed it up ourselves, drove for five hours. You can't win them all..."

No, you can't win them all. And we certainly didn't. We had a few other funny stories (such as paying for gas at a gas station and then leaving without actually filling up - whoops, miscommunication....or driving 15 miles in the wrong direction before there was actually an exit to allow us to turn around) but running out of gas was definitely the best of them all - or the worst? Here's a little photo op from that portion of the journey...

@#!$ - 20 miles?

I can't tell you how many NO SERVICES signs we drove by!

Almost to gas!

Oh wait, we're out of gas...

After 24 hours of driving (13 hours on Friday and 11 on Saturday) and about 22 hours of talking (we only listened to 3 CD's - one time through each - for the entire trip) we finally arrived in SLO safely (much to the relief of the men in our lives...). We were quick to hit up Firestone's for a burger and beer after that trip!

Back safely in SLO

Jason came down on Sunday to pick me up, and we had a great day exploring SLO and the surrounding areas before I had to hop back in the car for another 3 hours of driving!

Half Dome Conquered!

2010-06-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

If asked how I would sum up my experience hiking Half Dome, I would respond, "Longest day of my life!" The day after could then be described as "Most painful day of my life (thus far - I imagine child labor will be up there...)."

I decided to head into Half Dome with the "ignorance is bliss" approach. And to be honest, I think it was a great idea! I knew about how many miles it was, that it involved some stairs (turned out to be much more than I thought), that I would have to use some cables to climb the last part (which I didn't plan on doing), and that it would take around 14 hours.

So, I packed my backpack with lots of water and gatorade, threw in some pb&j's and trail mix, and I figured I was good to go. Jason asked me the day before I was left if I was mentally ready? I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Sure." No big deal, right? (I think the whole me not training bit made him a little nervous. I figured, once an athlete, always an athlete...)

Well, after our 3:30am wake-up call, our 4:15am departure, and our 1.5 hour drive from the cabin to our starting point, we finally hit the the trail around 6:30am. We started at Glacier point and took the Panorama Trail. We made it to Nevada Falls at about 9am (which was almost 5 miles in). We had another 4.5 miles to hike before he hit Half Dome.

The Half Dome Hikers!

Some sights along the way

Our group of 15 split up during this route of the trip, and we were now in groups of 4-5. The trek from Nevada Falls to Half Dome was much more steep, but it wasn't too bad. A little after Nevada Falls, we hit some small stairs (maybe just a few inches high). I stupidly remarked, "I wonder if these are the stairs that everyone talks about...?" I quickly was laughed at by a guy hiking down, who while laughing, said very clearly, "No." A few miles later I would understand why my question was so stupid. Here's why...

These are the stairs you have to climb to get to the top of the sub dome, which is where the cables start. Now, a few of these stairs don't look too bad, but try climbing over 600 hundred of them (after you just hiked almost 9 miles), and it is tough! Definitely was the most strenuous part of the hike! But we did it, and the first group of us made it to the top of the sub dome at about 11:45.

After climbing all of those steps, I was now determined to do the cables. I was not going to get this far and then quit. Despite my mild fear of heights, I pushed though and climbed the cables. The frustrating part was that we had to wait in line for over an hour to simply start climbing the cables and because they were so congested, it took us about 30-45 minutes to climb the 400 feet up them.

The Ascent up Half Dome

I made it!

The view at the top of Half Dome was nice (but not much different than that from the sub dome). We spent about an hour up top looking around and taking pictures. The descent down the cables was another long wait of about 45 minutes and a 30 minute climb down.

By now it was almost 4:30, so we hauled down the trail. We took the John Muir Trail (about 8 miles), and were finished at about 8:30.

So, start to finish, here are the stats:

Total distance: 18 miles
Total elevation: 4,796 feet
Total Stairs: Over 600
Total Time: 14 hours (cables took a long time).

We didn't end up getting back to the cabin until 12:30am due to having to go get our cars at Glacier Point (an hour away from where we ended). But we eventually all got showers and food in our bodies, and crashed after being up for almost 24 hours! What a day!

The Oakland Zoo

2010-06-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

As I talked about in my Monterey Bay Aquarium post, my family is not huge animal lovers - hence my first trip to the zoo occurred when I was 13 years old. Well, I have now gone to the zoo twice!

I had never been to the Oakland Zoo (despite living 30 minutes from it my entire childhood). However, my sister has season passes there (I guess you stoop to such crazy extremes when you have young kids), so she invited me along last week. Since we're both teachers, it"s great that we can do summer activities together. I wasn't so excited about the whole zoo aspect, but I was excited to spend an afternoon with my two adorable nieces!

I must say that, overall, I was pretty unimpressed with the Oakland Zoo - not necessarily because I'm not an animal lover, but rather because I didn't really see that many animals. We saw some elephants (Kate's favorite), zebras, meer cats (gross), giraffes, turtles...and well, I can't recall much else.

The best part was watching my nieces on the carousel and then seeing Kate on the airplane ride. They had a blast - and I had a blast hanging out with my nieces for the afternoon!

3 Reasons For Teaching...

2010-06-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

June. July. August.

My sister Mel, who is also a middle school math teacher, used to say this to me. Then, last year one of my students gave me this plaque.

I wasn't quite sure how to take this (since it was from a student)...or where I was supposed to hang it. Certainly not in my classroom. Thursday was officially the last day of school, and I decided to bust out this plaque and hang it on my door handle. Since all the students had left at this point, I figured it was somewhat appropriate. Yesterday was a teacher work day, so that officially makes today the first day of summer for me! I am super excited for this summer. It will be the first year in four years that I have not gone abroad. But, I have plenty of other fun trips planned. I guess I technically kicked off summer a week early with my trip to Austin last weekend. Here is what else I have planned for this summer:

Half Dome - Climbing this with about 20 friends! Another to check off my list
Colorado - I'm flying out there, spending a few days in Denver and Boulder with my friend Megan from college, and then we're road tripping back!
LA - Jason insists that I go to a home Dodger's game...
San Luis Obispo -Megan's bachelorette party and then again for her wedding! So excited!
Tahoe - Annual summer vacation with the family

So, here I am one day into summer - I bet it's going to fly by with all these trips I have planned!

Austin 2010

2010-06-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

Not many people can say that they still keep in touch with their friends from high school. Well, I not only keep in touch with my friends from high school, I keep in touch with my friends from middle school...wait back it up one more, I keep in touch with my friends from elementary school! And one of those friendships even backdates to when we were just two years old! There are nine of us who still keep in touch...about 5 of us became friends in elementary school...then we picked up the others in middle school. I remember people saying that when we went off to high school, we would split apart and make new friends. But, we stayed together. Now, eight years after high school, we are all still great friends!

Because we all haven't been together in three years, about nine months ago we started talking about a reunion trip. I clearly remember the night the conversation started - four of us were sitting in a wine bar in SF, thinking up locations. We considered a cruise, Mexico, Arizona, Vegas...but then I suggested Austin. I know...random. I had heard that Austin is a super fun city (plus, it's on my 30 Things) and since none of us had ever been there, we decided to run with it.

Well, four months later we bought our plane tickets and this past weekend we reunited in Austin! Eight out of the nine were able to come (our friend Sarah who is in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii couldn't make it). The trip landed at a great time, too. (Dr.) Kirsten was not only celebrating her 26th birthday, but also her graduation from Georgetown Medical School (top of her class)!

So, what was my first impression of Austin? HOT! And HUMID! Oh my gosh - I remember walking out of the airport, gasping for air. I could not breathe. It was in the high 90's with probably 90% humidity. (And my boyfriend wants to live in Texas - ha!) After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, we bolted to a restaurant down the street and cooled ourselves down with cold beverages and misting fans! We then checked out 6th Street...which we would soon discover is a whole different place once nighttime hits!

Reunited!

Sixth Street is the main downtown strip of Austin, full of bars and restaurants. And let me tell you, it comes alive at night. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before - us girls walking down the streets and guys chasing us to come to their bar, with the promise of a free round of drinks for all of us. I must say this was exciting at first, but when it was going on all night long, it definitely lost its thrill. Plus, bar hopping is not my scene. Nonetheless, it was fun to experience the 6th Street scene.

Two free bottles of campaign - set up in the window...

Saturday morning was spent tanning at the pool. We then attempted to walk to Lake Austin. Our hotel front desk told us it would be about a 25 minute walk. Well, take the heat and the humidity, and combine it with...not a 25 minute walk...but rather, a 3 mile walk, and let's just say we didn't make it. We stopped after about half a mile, got lunch, and visited Sandra Bullock's bakery. We then attempted the walk again, and made it another half mile before we quit and called a cab.

Gave up on the walk and stopped for lunch...
Walton's - Sandra Bullock's bakery

As we were sitting on the street corner waiting for our cab, a guy walked by and asked if we were okay. We said we were just waiting for our cab. As he walked away, Kirsten recognized him and asked him if he was an actor...on HBO's "The Wire." He confirmed that he was, and then Kirsten realized that he is the current quarterback on the show "Friday Night Lights." So, of course we had to get a picture with him! (I would have been more star struck if I knew who he was, but I didnt...). As we were taking the picture, our cab pulls up and then leaves without us. Our new friend Mike (Michael B. Jordan) then offers to give us a ride (in what turns out to be his sweet car!).

Just waiting for our cab...

Oh, look who walks by...

And, you need ride - I'll drive you in my sweet ride

Is this really happening?!

After arriving at Lake Austin with our famous chauffeur, we hung out at The Hula Hut and then wandered down to Mozart's Coffee House! This was one of my favorite places in Austin. My friend Julie who went to University of Texas had told me about Mozart's, so I'm so glad I got to experience it. I mean, a coffee shop on the lake! What more could you ask for?! We then headed over to UT to explore the campus, which was beautiful.

Mozart's Coffee Shop - on Lake Austin

Go Longhorns!

Saturday night was much mellower and spent at a really cool two-story bar called Union Park. They have a huge patio up top, and with 98 degree days, nights in Austin are gorgeous. We had such a great time hanging out on the patio and chatting!

In our buggy...

My trip ended after a short 48 hours in Austin, but I sure was ready to get out of the heat and humidity. It was so fun to reconnect with all my high school...eh, elementary school...friends. We are all at such fun places in life - finishing grad school...starting jobs...getting married (or engaged), so I loved catching up with everyone! We are already planning "(Insert new fun city) 2012".

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

A great perk about being a teacher is the ten week break called 'summer vacation.' A student last year gave me a plaque that said '3 Reasons for Teaching: June, July, and August.' I didn't quite know how to respond to that considering it came from a student (nor where I was supposed to hang it - certainly not in my classroom).

However, besides the 10 week long summer break, there are 4 additional weeks of vacation that come in the course of the year. One of those is the greatly awaited Spring Break! March always seems to be one of the longest months of the school year because it is the only month that we get NO days off. I know, sounds ridiculous because in every 'real' job that is a reality for almost every month of the year. But, I think that teachers need days off because the students need days off. When the kids don't get a break, they start going crazy...especially when Spring hits.

All to say, I was definitely ready for Spring Break this year and eagerly awaiting my 9 days off of teaching. Last year I spent my Spring Break in Taiwan.

While that was a great trip (but no, I don't need to be going back to Asia anytime soon), it was also somewhat exhausting due to the long hours of traveling (and being in a completely different time zone). This Spring Break, I was excited to stay local. And, I had a lot of fun things planned. Here are my Spring Break 2010 highlights.

1. Easter Tradition Resurrected - Ever since I can remember, we spent our Easter with a handful of close family friends from our church. It was something that I always looked forward to. Unfortunately, that tradition took a three year hiatus from 2007-2009. But, we officially resurrected the tradition this year, and it was so fun to celebrate Easter with great family friends.

2. Pebble Beach at the Valdez House - My dad has a connection to a house in Pebble Beach, which we spent time at during my 2008 Thanksgiving Break and this past July. We went back again last week for two nights, and it was a great get away. I LOVE this house! It is right off of 17 Mile Drive and just a few minutes walk down to the beach. The house itself is adorable, with an amazing backyard. I would love to live in this house if I could! Here are some pictures from our time in Pebble Beach.

With my niece Kate (above), niece Claire (right), and Jason (below).

3. Monterey Bay Aquarium - See my post about this. Of course I'm all about checking another item off my '30 Things Before 30' list.

4. A's Game - While I'm no huge A's fan, Jason's mom has AMAZING season tickets. We literally sat in the two best seats in the stadium - no two seats are closer to home plate. It was incredible. We were directly behind the A's dugout. You can practically hear their conversations. Too bad I'm not a bigger fan (I'm more of a Giants fan, but the A's are one of the only sports teams that Jason and I at least both somewhat like. He's a Dodgers, Cowboys, and Lakers fan. Seriously?)

The pictures above are from Rajai Davis' home run hit.

Picture taken at our seats - practically on the field!

5. Jason's brother's wedding - I finally got to meet a majority of Jason's extended family. They are great, and we both had a lot of fun at the wedding - apart from the BRIGHT red vest Jason had to wear as a groomsman...

While Spring Break 2010 was great and I was a bit sad to go back to work, I only have 37 more days of teaching until Summer Break!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

2010-04-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

I definitely was not a deprived child growing up and my parents did a lot of fun things with us when we were younger (Tahoe, Grand Canyon, Hawaii, DC, New York, The Olympics...I could go on). However, one thing my parents neglected to expose me to was anything involving animals. Let's just say we're not huge animal lovers in the Cartmell family. The first time I ever went to the zoo was when I was 13. And my parents didn't even take me. My sister Elyse took me to the zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico while we were there for our sister Mel's soccer tournament. So, it is no surprise that at the age of 26, I still had never been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (despite living only an hour and half away from it my whole life).

Well, that all changed yesterday! Because my sister Mel and I are both teachers, we're pretty good at getting the rest of our family to take vacations during our long holiday breaks. My dad has a connection to a house in Pebble Beach, so we spent Monday-Wednesday of Spring Break down there. I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to check the aquarium off my list since we were just a few miles away.

Jason came down to Pebble Beach, too, so he agreed to come with me (even though he has been many times and the great white shark exhibit was no longer there...). After planning our route (he is so perfect for me), we started off in the Kelp Forrest. The leopard shark was totally my highlight here - they were totally cool. We then saw 'The Giant Pacific Octopus'. I couldn't 'flash the octopus', so I wasn't able to get a picture, but that thing was unreal. Huge. Kinda gross. But definitely cool. We then ventured to the pools and saw some more leopard sharks and some sting rays. I refused to put my hands in the touch pools. I prefer to experience with sight, not touch. Jason was a little more adventurous than me, but definitely still 'purell-ed' after.

Leopard Shark!

Next up were the sea otters. These were one of my favorites! They were so adorable. I felt like (and probably looked like) one of the little kids pressed up against the glass staring at the otters. They were like little puppies swimming around. I took lots of pictures of them (this is probably where I killed most of my battery).

Look at him rubbing up against the window - I think he's trying to say hi to me.

Little guys playing with each other.

Next were the jelly fish - another highlight for sure! Jelly fish are so cool to look at. I was captivated.

Moon Jelly - look at the cool flower design on them!

Wouldn't want to be in that tank! That's an invitation for death. Ouch.

We then visited the Outer Layer - a tank full of huge fish (I never knew how big tuna fish could get), and also with hammerhead sharks. This tank was one of Jason's highlights! I tried to get a picture of a hammerhead. Not too successful.

Finally we arrived at one of the exhibits I was so excited to see - The Hot Pink Flamingos! No, they are no great white shark, but I thought they were pretty fun!

And how cute are these penguins. I've always thought penguins are adorable. My mom used to wrap our Christmas presents in penguin wrapping paper because she thought they were pretty darling. I guess she passed it on to me... These two little guys bellow were hysterical. They guy on the right (Salsa), really had no personality and just stood there. He looked dead standing up. But the guy on the left (Dulce) was all about his life behind a glass wall. At one point they started scratching each other's ears for one another. What great little buddies. I tried to get a picture of it, but my camera died right as I went to take the pic (Note to self - If you bring a spare battery, don't leave it in the car...)

Dulce and Salsa: Buddies for Life.

Tango out for a little swim.

My battery was dead for the sea horse exhibit, but truthfully, I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the sea horses. I think that the sea horses that I've seen in pictures were a lot cooler than the ones they had there. Or maybe I just had high expectations or am hard to please. We also saw some more penguins (African, opposed the the Brazilian ones above).

All in all, it was a great visit to the aquarium. I am excited to go back when I have kids (unlike my parents, I will take my children to the aquarium), but I don't think I'll be back before then...

26...And Still Celebrating With Hearts...

2010-02-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

I have the wonderful 'privilege' of being born exactly one week before Valentine's Day. Now, to most of you that doesn't sound too awful, right? One could understand someones annoyance in being born ON Valentine's Day...or on Christmas...or even anywhere near Christmas. But, a week before Valentine's Day...that doesn't seem like such a big deal.

Wrong. You see...around Valentine's Day, the stores are filled with an over-abundance of heart decor. And when I was a little girl, my mom could never resist these adorable heart-themed decorations. Ever. So, while many little girls usually get to experience their Disney-themed birthday parties with their favorite character, I enjoyed a heart-themed party. Every single year.

Here is a preview of my first twelve birthdays.

(1st birthday - The Classic Heart Cake - to be displayed in the next 10 pictures)

(2nd birthday - Heart cake, heart cups, downcast child)

(3rd birthday - Heart cake, heart cups, heart plates, heart table cloth, heart dress)

(4th birthday - hearts all around...those are also heart balloons hanging at the top)

(5th birthday)

(6th birthday - hearts - and my dress also has a big heart on the front)

(7th birthday - hearts and bowling)

(8th birthday)

(10th birthday - I don't have any pics from my 9th birthday)

(11th birthday - we are making Valentines)

(12th birthday - I think this is the last year of the heart cake...but not the hearts)

I got a break from the hearts throughout most of middle school, high school, and college. But, take a look at my post-college birthdays...

(23rd birthday - Kate a few weeks old in hearts to celebrate my birthday)

(24th birthday - and now my friends are in on it, too)

(25th birthday - the regular heart bag. Claire was also dressed in hearts this day)

To my defeat, it's still going on today. On Sunday, I turned 26. I was hoping the Super Bowl might distract from the hearts. Maybe a football themed birthday instead? Wrong. Alas, a football themed birthday party wasn't going to cut it for my family. My sister Mel loves to rub in my face my aversion for hearts by dressing my nieces in hearts around (and on) my birthday, so they showed up wearing heart shirts (as always). I also received a birthday card from my niece Kate with a big heart outlined on the front for her to color. And of course, we can't have a birthday without the classic heart paper plates and napkins. I was also fortunate enough to receive a heart balloon from my friend Jenn. Here are some pics from my 26th birthday.

(Kate and I opening my presents - note the heart outfit; Claire had the exact same one)

(Heart cookies made during my birthday party - lying on the same heart plates we ate cake on)

(I have had victory over the heart cake, though - yummy mud pie ice cream cake instead!)

While I whine and complain about all the hearts, I am totally thankful for my mom and the many birthday parties she gave me - and for my family and friends who constantly remind me of this by allowing (forcing?) me to continue to celebrate my birthday with hearts.

Cruisin'

2010-01-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

I've always been bewildered by the idea of a cruise - fascinated about how a boat could encompass so much - restaurants, casinos, pools, spas, theaters, miniature golf, hundreds of rooms to house thousands of people. I just couldn't wrap my brain around it. Well, last weekend my wonder became a reality as I embarked on my first cruise.

After a 5am wake-up call and four hours of sleep (good thing we stopped at Coffee Bean on the drive down), we arrived in Long Beach for our cruise to beautiful, tropical Mexico. Oh wait, we were only going to Ensenada, so replace beautiful and tropical with ugly and booze saturated. Nonetheless, we were all excited for our adventure!

Everyone except Josh. Ready to board our ship.

Welcome to Carnival's Paradise

We encountered a few mishaps prior to actually being able to board the ship - such as me and Ray not being on the master list of people for the cruise. So, we were held behind as the rest continued on through security. After a short wait, they found us in the computer, and we were able to continue onward. However, as soon as we caught up with our friends, we were once again at a standstill. One of our friends (I won't mention names) was flying down from Seattle and meeting us on the cruise, so he had us carry on a backpack for him. Well, he didn't mention to us that he would also be carrying a knife in that backpack. Let's just say security won that one, and Kari (what a good friend) had to take the knife back to the car, and then go back through the entire security process. But, eventually we all made it onto the boat!

Our dungeon...I mean, room...

We boarded the ship on Friday late afternoon in Long Beach and woke up in Ensenada on Saturday morning. Everyone but Jess and I rented dune buggies and spent the morning exploring Ensenada in such fashion. Jess and I chose to wander around downtown Ensenada instead. After being jipped into paying $2 to take a shuttle a whole two blocks, we arrived in downtown Ensenada. We lasted about 30 minutes before we realized we had seen it all. There are only so many shops you can wander into before you realize that they are all selling the exact same cheap jewelry. So we walked back to the ship and spent the rest of the morning lying on lounge chairs eating soft serve ice cream. We later met up with everyone else for lunch in downtown Ensenada. Let me just say, it can get crazy down there.

Hello Mexico

Those palm trees are about as tropical as it got...

Mango Mango - where we had lunch on Saturday

Authentic Mexican Food

Prior to going on one, I had heard two main things about cruises: the rooms are really small and you will eat a lot of food. Both turned out to be true. While I won't say that it was the most amazing food I have ever had, I will say that the dinners were probably my favorite part of the cruise. We dressed up every night (us girls, excitedly...the boys, begrudgingly) and feasted like royalty! Um, can I just say how much I loved the fact that you could order whatever you wanted on the menu. For free. Well, I guess I paid for my food when I paid for the cruise, but there's something about not paying when you are actually eating. And for an indecisive person like me, the ordering process is perfect. Oh, so that Mahi Mahi looks good on the menu...but that steak also sounds delicious. Hmm...don't know which one to choose. Oh wait, I don't have to pick because I can just order BOTH entrees. Amazing. Yes, same process works for appetizers and dessert. I definitely loved being able to double dip at dinner. The first night I had Mahi Mahi and this pumpkin pot pie (it had some fancier name). Second night was lobster and shrimp (with some spectacular mashed potatoes - I may have overreacted when I had my first bite of them). Third night was a crusted veal and a seafood pasta. And let's not forget to mention the chocolate melting cake that we all indulged in every night. Here are some pictures from dinner each night.

Dinner - First Night

Dinner Night Two - Formal Night

Last night's dinner

Apart from the food, the other great part about dinner is the servers. You have the same two servers every night, so you totally build a relationship with them. They know your name after asking you your beverage choice the first night. Plus, they dance for you every night, which I must say was quite entertaining. So, meet Nelo from the Philippines and Gregery from Romania - they totally completed my dining experience on the Paradise cruise ship. (To see their dance from the last night, click here)

Dancing on the first night

Sunday, our last day on the ship, was spent at sea and was all-together relaxing. We spent the morning reading on lounge chairs on the deck of the boat. Unfortunately, there was no sun to tan us. We also soaked in the spa and just hung-out (oh, and ate...of course). It was a great day spent with friends.

All in all, the cruise was a great time. I'm so glad I went. However, I don't know how much of a 'cruise person' I am, and I'm not dying to go on another one anytime soon. Maybe if the weather was warmer or the destination was nicer, I might say differently. But, while I loved going with my friends and had so much fun with them, I wasn't that into the entertainment the ship provided. I like having more freedom to do whatever I want and go wherever I want and being on a boat limits that to an extent. But now I know...and my questions about how they cram so much onto one ship are finally answered!

Oh, and I just bought my plane ticket to Austin - will check that one off my list on June 4th - 6th!

Wine Country: Check

2010-01-12T22:46:00.000-08:00

While I am no expert connoisseur, I do enjoy a good glass of wine. Up until this past weekend, I had been wine tasting three times. The first was in college for my 22nd birthday when a bunch of my college friends rented a limo for the day and went wine tasting in Paso Rablos. Here is a picture from my first wine tasting experience.

My next wine tasting adventure was in October of 2008 in good 'ol Lodi (yes!) Every Fall they have what they call School Street Stroll, where all the local wineries set up booths in the stores in downtown Lodi. It's such a blast and a fun, different way to wine taste.

Trav, me, Steph, Jeff

And lastly, I went wine tasting for my 25th birthday last February. I had originally wanted to go to Napa for my 25th birthday, but opted for the local wineries of Livermore since it is closer and would be easier for more of my friends to come. It was such a fun (and beautiful) day, and I definitely want to do it again!

At White Crane, my favorite (thus far) in Livermore

However, I have always wanted to wine taste in Napa (or wine country), so when my friend Kristina planned this for her 26th birthday, I was so excited. A group of 13 of us went to three different wineries. Our first stop was Matanzas Creek. The grounds are beautiful, as it is tucked back in the hills. I want to go back in June when their lavender fields are in full bloom - we saw pictures and it is breathtaking! One of Kristina's friends has an uncle who works here, so he gave us a tour and then set up a lunch for us in this darling barn at the winery. So fun. Favorite wine pick: 2006 Cabernet. Here are some pics from Matanzas Creek.

The group for the day

Everyone needs a goofy picture

Homemade soups, bread, and brie for us in the barn

The second winery we went to was J. Keverson. The ambiance here was great, and it definitely had more of a rustic feel. They were so friendly here and even had a mural on the wall where you could paint your own picture. Stinee definitely took them up on this offer (see pictures below). I usually prefer reds, but their 2007 and 2008 Chardonnay were awesome - if you like Rombaur's Chardonnay, they picked their grapes from the same place for the 2008 Chardonnay. Below are pictures from J. Keverson.

Me and the birthday girl

Friends since middle school (some of us longer)

Stinee's finished product

Our last stop was Trione. Trione has only been open for a year, and it is really nice. I mean, really nice. We didn't get to spend too much time here because we were running behind schedule, but they definitely treated us like royalty during our short stay with them. They set us all up at this huge dining table, and it was totally an 'intimate' wine tasting experience. Again, I would love to come back here in the summer when the weather is nice and sit out on their nice back deck. My favorite pick was their 2006 Cabernet (which probably explains why it is a $75 dollar bottle of wine - Tim learned that the hard way). Below are some pictures from Trione.

The entrance

The table they set us up at - it was awesome!

All in all, it was a great day with old friends. I'm so thankful for these friendships. And, we're currently in the process of planning our trip to Austin this June - that'll be another one to check off the list!

30 Things Before 30

2010-01-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

About two months ago I was inspired to create a list of 30 things I wanted to do before I turned 30. It all came about one Saturday afternoon while my friend Jess and I were having lunch. (May I also note how much I love the fact that she is the one who inspired my list - so appropriate!) She was telling me about a conversation she had recently had with our friend Joe. Jess' 29th birthday was approaching, and Joe had mentioned to her how she should make a "30 Things Before 30" list. As Jess was telling me this, all I could think about was how I wanted to create such a list. I instantly became consumed with the idea. For the rest of that day, I couldn't stop brainstorming ideas for my list.

There are many reasons why I think I became so excited about this potential 'project.' First, I've found myself stuck somewhat in a routine over the last year. Now that I'm in my third year of teaching, things have 'settled' down for me somewhat over the past year as I've adjusted to my new career. I love how things are more stable for me now (and I'm sure those that have journeyed with me the last three years are even more thankful for this - love you all), and so I'm finding myself craving more adventure to 'mix' things up in my life. Secondly, I think it's easy to put boundaries around our life and to imagine that our life might look a certain way at a certain age or point in time. I know that for myself, I had certain expectations about what my life might look like when I was 30. True, I still have four more years until I turn 30 and a lot can happen in four years, but I don't want to live life holding onto an expectation. I've learned to let go of what I've imagined my life might look like and start embracing other possibilities. So, why not start that process?! Thirdly, I love doing fun things AND checking things off lists! With four years to go until I turn 30 (I don't turn 30 until February 7, 2014), I have a serious chance at checking 30 things off my 'wish list' of things to do!

With that, I've spent the last two months brainstorming, researching, talking with friends, and creating my list of '30 Things to do Before 30.' This list has gone through many drafts and revisions, but I think I am fairly confident that this is the final product. Since it is my list, I have given myself permission to edit this list over the next four years - I might discover something else I really want to do, or I might lose interest in something that is already on the list. Nonetheless, over the next four years, I am adamant on doing 30 things that I have never done before!

So, without further-ado, I present to you my '30 Things Before 30' list: (Yes, it is categorized - would you expect anything less from me?)

Travel

1. Austin (completed June 4-6, 2010)

2. Boston
3. Thanksgiving in New York

4. Greece

5. Africa

6. Cruise (completed January 2010)

California Tourism

7. Alcatraz

8. Wine tasting in Wine Country (completed January 9, 2010)

9. Monterey Bay Aquarium (completed April 7, 2010)

10. Hearst Castle (completed August 8, 2010)
11. Lighthouses of California (from San Francisco to Santa Barbara)

Adventure

12. Skydive

13. Hike Half Dome (completed June 17, 2010)

14. Run a half marathon (completed October 3, 2010)

15. Triathlon

16. White Water Raft

17. Hot Air Balloon
18. Ski in another state

Intellectual/Spiritual

19. Read 5 Classics

20. Read The Chronicles of Narnia

21. Listen to all of Mark Driscoll's archived podcasts

22. Memorize a chapter of the Bible
23. Take a Bible class

Entertainment

24. Sharks Game (completed November 20, 2010)

25. 5 concerts of my favorite bands
26. Live orchestra/symphony
27. Circus

Personal Development

28. Cooking/Baking Class

29. Learn to sew

30. Start a blog (completed January 1, 2010)

With the publishing of this post, I have now officially marked the first item off my list: Start a blog. I actually set up this blog in October of 2008, but never found a good enough reason to actually write a post - I mean, my life isn't *that* interesting. However, I am excited to use this blog to share my stories as I check things off my list, plus as a means of sharing other random or exciting happenings in my life. Hope you enjoy the adventure...