Hit up Monterey w/Router. Him and his dad dropped me off downtown Carmel and I walked around for a few hours checking out the shops, art galleries (love Godard and Walfrido!), grabbed some fish & chips at A.W. Shucks Oyster & Cocktail Bar, and lounged at the beach. They picked me up and we went to one wine tasting room for a quick stop. Since all the other wineries were closed, we headed to Bernardus Lounge. I got a Muscado (my favorite wine these days) and Booker’s Bourbon on the rocks (my latest trend with whiskey). Afterward, we dropped off his dad at a restaurant to meet his friends and we headed back the bay area. It was a really nice, fun, and quick get away from the bay.

Sunday, 7/18:

Met up and hung out with Yosemite #1 downtown SF. We grabbed lunch and drinks at Palomino’s, hung around Yerba Buena gardens for music and dancing and caught the Cyrus movie in the evening. Afterward, we headed to the Mission to meet up with his Oakland friends for dinner at a Thai restaurant. After dinner we walked across the street to Kilowatt, grabbed drinks, played pool, and chatted up the night! Headed back home on the last BART. ‘Twas a fun Sunday night!

Tuesday, 7/20:

Short 6.5 mile hike at Sweeney Ridge trail with Yosemite #2 then to BF’s birthday dinner in Oakland and drinks thereafter. ‘Twas a mellow but fun, in-good-company night.

Thursday, 7/22:

Hit up Pinnacles National Monument with Yosemite #2. Hiked the High Peaks – Bear Gulch loop. This took us from 10-5 or so. We stopped quite frequently as it was nearly 100 degrees, 1,400 elevation gain and 6.7 miles. Got lots of sun. The caves were cool, literally — and it’s fairly family friendly with rails and steps the whole way through.

Sunday, 7/25:

Hit up Big Sur with Yosemite #2 and hiked the Valley View and Pfeiffer Falls trails at 450 ft elevation gain and 2.4 miles. It was a short, easy and relaxing hike. Thereafter, we visited the Mcway Falls which is a waterfall that hits the beach. It was neat, but there were so many people there. Y#2 said he wanted to climb down to the beach. I said I’m afraid of heights! Grabbed dinner at Little Napoli Bistro Italiano in Carmel. Wouldn’t really recommend it, but decent atmosphere nonetheless. Headed to our lodging in Salinas (Courtyard Marriott) and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday, 7/26:

Hit up Pinnacles again and hiked Old Pinnacles Trail to Balconies Cave (6.3 miles). It was a slow paced, easy hike with minimal elevation gain. The caves were much more fascinating than the Bear Gulch, for the sole fact that there are no railings or steps (non-family friendly). Also, traversing through them without a guide and just a flashlight makes anyone feel like an explorer! We took some photos along the Balconies Cliffs trail and caught sight of some rock climbers. It was fascinating to watch! We left the park around 5 and returned to the bay area.

A few of my photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pipsyrules/sets/72157624517618188/

Though LL took some amazing photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/wheezy/Yosemite2010#

Tuesday, 7/13:

• Bridalveil Falls

• Mirror Lake

Wednesday, 7/14:

• Woke up around 5:45am, grabbed breakfast at 6am, left for the park at 6:30am, and arrived around 7:45am.
• Walked from Parking lot C to Camp 4.
• Hiked from the base of Camp 4 to Upper Yosemite Falls. We started around 9:30am and didn’t make it to the top until 2pm. MP was feeling nauseous from the elevation gain, so we stopped several times. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel affected (though it wasn’t until we were descending that it actually started making me feel dizzy!). MP has said for us to continue going on to the top without her and we’d catch up with her on our way down. Halfway through the hike I had ran out of water, and then LL did too. Luckily we ran into someone (from Foster City!) that had a filtration system. What a lifesaver! When we got to the top, we were stunned by the beauty of the running stream that flows over the edge of the mountain and becomes the waterfall! I had told LL we should cross the stream to get to the other side (since there was no real way to climb down the rocks onto the side where there few people). She crossed immediately, but then I started to have doubts as the rock was slippery! A guy from the side that I wanted to get to actually came out and helped me across! There were 3 guys that we ended up talking to, all from Israel. One of them goes to school in San Diego for Architecture now. He lent me his towel so I could change into my bathing suit. How nice! The 3 guys said they had actually walked all the way around the water to get to that side but what we had done was much easier and faster.  MP came up and crossed to our side and LL and MP went further up the stream to sit in the water. I hung out and laid flat on my back in the icy, cold water and also dunked my face in first. It was soooo refreshing! Lot’s of other people started to cross the water once we had done so…we tend to start trends!  :) We hung out around the top for a good hour and a half. Too bad we didn’t have more time, like half a day left…  We crossed back through the water, and the guy who originally lent me his hand, assisted again. Then his friend, who goes to San Diego ends up crossing too and asks me for my number! Anyway, LL and I check out the overlook point and then the three of us girls head down the mountain. When we got to the ground floor, we were relieved and overjoyed. Nothing like good ‘ole flat land! We walked to the market to pick up drinks and relax for a bit. While we were relaxing on the bench outside the market, we noticed the same dog we walked passed (while walking to the market) waiting for it’s owner outside. We wanted to know what it was, so once the owner came out, I sprang up and asked him. From there, we got into a conversation of his dog, a Napoleon Mastiff, where he’s from, rock climbing, where we’re staying/where he’s living, what we do for a living, and national parks. The girls left me by myself to converse with the dude. Lot’s of people came up to ask to pet his dog, in which they did. While that happened, I grabbed my phone, quickly trying to think of how to ask him for his contact info. When I got back to him, he turns around and says, “Oh, and I should give you my contact information in case you’re in the area again.” That SAVED ME from asking him!  Whew!  I would have sounded all blubbery! Anyway, it was quite surreal. I was all scrubby, sweaty, dirt dirty with an orange bandanna in my hair, hiked up socks, wallet items bulging out of my breast pocket. God, I was a mess! But strangely, he was okay with that! Anyway, it was a good day! Two phone numbers without trying! Ohhh, keep the outdoorsy guys coming!

Thursday, 7/15:

• Picked up breakfast at the lodge, headed out of Oakhurst and made stops in Merced (3 boutique shops), Turlock (Sonic), and the Tracy (outlets — absolutely nothing there). It was kind of an uneventful day, but relaxing. I dropped off the girls at their houses around 2pm and was exhausted when I got home. Ended up going to sleep around 8pm!

I can’t wait to go back to Yosemite…I really want to do the four mile trail, nevada trail, and vernal falls trail!

Quick mini-vacation. First “real” time vineyard hopping! See photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pipsyrules/sets/72157624507375138/

Went with MP and CI and stayed at the Renaissance Lodge at Sonoma. We had a fun and relaxing time. Somehow my schedule and planning was successful!

Things that were amazing:

• Sonoma — being what it is, a gem! So close to SF, just a quick hour-drive away!
• We didn’t have to rush nor felt rushed and the day went by surprisingly, quick.
• We beat the crowd wherever we went.
• All our tasting room attendants were super nice and held entertaining conversations (esp. Joe @ Cline!)

The one thing that I learned this trip is that I really like white wine…perhaps even more so than red. So most of my trip consisted of tasting white wines while CI tried a mix and MP stuck w/her reds.

Below is a recap of our successful schedule:

10:00am - MP and I met up with CI and began complimentary wine tasting any 4 that we wanted from Jacuzzi. My favorite was the Moscato Bianco – Alexander Valley, 2009. “Also known as Muscat Canelli, the wine offers delicate floral and peach aromas with lovely citrus notes.” Afterward, we walked a few feet to the free olive oil tasting where we seriously tried ~10 different olive oils! Gulping them down, our palettes were just getting warmed up! We explored the beautiful, picturesque estate thereafter and randomly decided to hit up Viansa.

11:00am – Went to Viansa and had more complimentary olive oil, balsamic, and honey tastings. We then went to the counter to create our own flight of 4 wines for $5. Our tasting room attendant happened to be from Chico State, so he and I ::high fived:: Small world! Older gentleman though, he says Whitney Hall was just being built when he was there! Anyway, my favorites were the Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (vino bianco), “100% stainless steel fermented, prominent notes of nectarine and citrus. 13.8% abv,” and Frescolina Tocai Friulano 2007 (vino dolce), “93% Tocai Friulano, 7% Moscato. Aromas of honeysuckle, tropical fruit, apricot, wildflower honey and ripe peaches.” See picture of bottle: http://store.viansa.com/2007Frescolina It’s quite beautiful. I ended up purchasing it too!

12:30pm – Headed to Cline (across the street from Jacuzzi). While most people were wine tasting inside the house, we got pretty awesome timing and serving from Joe who served a large group outside and just finished up! He ended up pouring us 4 or 5 wines (can’t remember) and we took our last red wine to the 1pm tour. The tour was interesting and a great way to really get the history on the estate. Of course, by this time we were quite giddy and happy, so it seemed interesting! What was absolutely shocking was meeting two North Carolina folks that just climbed Half Dome the day before, and it only took them 3 hours going up!!! I’m still speechless. The husband is training for his second Ironman triathlon and the wife runs pretty regularly — so guess what they did? Yes, they ran up! Ahhh — crazy! Anyway, after we took the estate tour we grabbed the lunch I prepared and picnicked out in the sun. We had turkey, smoked gouda, brie, swiss, water crackers, seedless organic red and green grapes, organic roma tomatoes, dijon mustard, and Ghirardelli dark chocolate. CI also brought artichoke hearts and bread! We scarfed everything down pretty well. We were sooo hungry!

3:30pm(?) – I think this is about the time we left and checked into our hotel. We lounged around for about a half an hour and then headed to Roche winery via complimentary shuttle from our hotel.

4:00pm – Complimentary tasting of 3 wines at Roche (also went there last year as part of the Russian wedding!). Our server has retired from the CEO life and “works” at the winery 2 days a week, boats around the bay area, Australia, and New Zealand, and travels to countries such as Kenya and Tanzania for 2 full months. Quite the life to aspire to! After the tasting we walked to the Sonoma Cheese Factory and tried about 8 different cheeses. The two memorable ones are the habanero and hot pepper. One tiny square sets your mouth on fire for a little while. Super addicting, might I add. Addicted to the pain! We kept walking around Sonoma Plaza and saw a sign for a complimentary tasting at Eric and James. We went in and had 4 red wines. They were not pleasant for my palette…

5:30pm – Hit up Sonoma Farmer’s Market and got the famous Uncle Bill’s corn dog. The batter was fresh and dipped solely mustard was heavenly. We also tasted many samples of different olives. We were sooo full by 6:15ish, we decided to cancel our 7:30 reservation at the Girl and the Fig.

We managed to flag down the shuttle to our hotel as we were walking…which was quite relieving after standing all day. We lounged around the pool, enjoyed the sun, and headed to our room when it started to get chilly. CI headed back to the bay around 7:30 and MP and I lounged more. We started getting hungry so we swiped another reservation at the Girl and the Fig at 9pm.

9:00pm - Waited maybe a few minutes after 9 to get a table, even with a reservation it was jam packed. Sat next to an older couple who wanted me to take photos of them. I also asked the gentleman whether his rock cod was good since I wanted to order it. He forced me to try a slice of his, so I did. And thank goodness because I decided against it (too dry and no flavor). He ended up sending his order back and got a salmon appetizer in replace. I ordered the duck confit (one leg) with a frisee salad and potato fingerlings. Everything was tasty except the frisee salad, as it lacked seasoning. MP ordered the scallops and seemed to enjoy everything but the scallops! The restaurant was reasonably priced compared to other French restaurants (less than $50 for the both of us).

We got back to the hotel at 10pm and ended up passing out before 1am. Luckily, I woke up with no hangover!

Wednesday we went to the Sunflower Caffe for breakfast. I think the alcohol from the prior day had residual effects. We were both relaxed and enjoyed just sitting out in the warm weather, dining, lounging, conversing, and sipping our coffee and latte’s for a good three hours! I ordered the herbed goat cheese and spinach omelet which came with a side of potatoes, toast, and orange slices. It’s a bit on the expensive side for breakfast (~$12), but it was hearty and delicious. The environment couldn’t be beat either. I was going to order a regular coffee, but the barista asked me twice, “You mean, latte?” and after twice of saying no and him just about to pour the coffee, I said, “Okay! Fine. A latte!” He then says, “It’s the best latte in the world…” and he rambles on and such. He then says he’ll charge me the coffee price instead. That was nice of him! He also said if I didn’t like the latte that he’d refund my money. Well, I don’t drink latte’s. In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many latte’s I’ve had in my entire life…but it was super smooth and tasty (with two packets of sugar!) He came by later and asked me how I liked it, and I just beamed! Now, I’m probably going to order latte’s and expect it to be something amazing. Way to set me up for failure, barista!

After lounging for a solid 3 hours, we walked around Sonoma plaza a bit more and then headed back home. Sonoma proved to be a great, simple, last minute, relaxing vacation!

This is the first place I’ve traveled where I’ve felt unsafe walking around. I almost broke down on the second day, and started feeling like I should just stay in my hotel room…even though that’s far from what I would want to do. I was harassed and called mean things walking around San Pedro St. (bad area) the first day I arrived, which threw me a new perspective. Bums and crazy people in downtown LA are mean and racist. Regular, normal people are just unfriendly. Completely different than from walking around in SF. Mid-week (Wednesday), I hung out with Claire for 12 hours straight! This was by far, the best day of my entire trip. On Saturday, teh nerdery group and I attended Kris and Jay’s wedding day at Kris’ uncle’s house, right off PCH in Malibu. Just so happens that Kris’ uncle is Dick Clark. His “house” was an amazing venue with an expansive view of the pacific ocean. It was beautifully arranged with three different areas: hors d’oeuvre’s, ceremony, and reception. The night was filled with lots of alcohol, our hoot’n and hollar’n, rowdy, Crown memorial Beach table moving…and dancing! Oh, and the best man speech was amazing and funny! One cannot expect anything less from Warren! Sunday I woke up with a hangover and hopped my 3pm flight at LAX. I didn’t capture many photos, but here’s a link to my set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pipsyrules/sets/72157624270650518/ and a link to BF’s set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7416625@N04/sets/72157624282854780/

‘Twas a long day to a long week in SoCal (for better and for worse)!

6/7:

• Flight from SFO -> LAX.
• Taxi to Omni Hotel, downtown LA.
• Walked to Daikokuya for tasty Ramen in Little Tokyo.
• Walked around Little Tokyo and grabbed mochi at Mikawaya.
• Walked through the Flower Market to get to the Fashion District and Santee Alley.
• Harassed by bum/crazy person. Ran a few blocks.
• Headed back to the hotel for shower and sleep.

6/8:

• Woke early, checked out of Omni Hotel (love complimentary beverages and newspapers in the morning!)
• Walked to KPMG office building for a full day of training.
• Checked into Millennium Biltmore Hotel on Grand.
• Hopped the Metro to Wilshire/Vermont and walked Wilshire blvd to get to Han Bat Sul Lung Tang (korean, hole-in-the-wall restaurant) for dinner.
• Hopped the nearest Metro back to the hotel (Wilshire/Western to Pershing Square)

6/9:

• Picked up by Claire around 10:30am. Drove to 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.
• Bought Sam Edelman sandles (at a reduce price) at Kitson outlet.
• Farmer’s market and tasted different foods.
• BOA steakhouse for sangrias and lunch!
• Santa Monica Pier and beach with lemonade in hand
• Watched guys work out on the rings.  ;)
• Swings!
• Drove to the Grove & walked around the farmer’s market. Split a hugggeeeee red velvet cupcake between the two of us! Walked through the shops and Nordstrom for more shoes!
• Dinner at Cheesecake Factory and people-watched the good lookin’ guys behind our table!
• Drove through Rodeo Drive, Miracle Mile, and Westwood/UCLA area.
• Returned to hotel around 11pm.

6/10:

• Chinatown for Phillipes’ pork sandwich, macaroni salad, and iced tea.
• Olvera Street
• Union Station to Old Pasadena (Del Mar station)
• Colorado Street and shopping
• Violet’s Cakes for red velvet cupcake
• Cafe Santorini for braised lamb shank
• Returned to hotel via Metro

6/11:

• Metro to Hollywood/Highland for Hollywood Blvd walk
• Walked to Sunset Blvd and grabbed a quick drink at the Coffee Bean.
• Walked down to Santa Monica Blvd and stopped around Robertson Blvd to get picked up by Amber and Router.



• Walked in and out of the shops at Rodeo Drive
• Dinner at Palermo in Westwood
• Frozen yogurt for dessert!
• Drinks and live music at the hotel – shot from the bassist, Ryan!

6/12:

• Dash store in Calabassas and tried on clothes at the store next door.

• Corner Bakery for breakfast across the the street. Saw Nikki Sixx.
• Wedding
• 4 glasses of red wine, 3 glasses of champagne, 2 shots of whiskey
• Table moving…
• Dancing…

6/13:

• Hungover, dehydrated, jittery.
• Continental breakfast!
• Lounge/nap by the pool
• Road Runner to LAX.

…and decided to give it a try.

It took me approximately 30 minutes to come up with a combination of 36 statements and questions. The questions seemed to revolve around self-doubt — but I think it was necessary to write them down for progression. The more that I spent time and wrote down random thoughts, the more I made a breaking. There was a natural theme progression around people, relationships, being valuable, and being myself.

I don’t feel completely satisfied with my cumulative collection of thoughts, as I feel like its too vague to really be measurable in results, but this is what I came up with (and will have to do for now).

My purpose in life is to:

Be helpful, considerate, valuable, and trusted. When I am such, I can be happy, right, and free to do things knowing I am making the right decision. Build cohesion, community, unity, and promote ownership and responsibility with others. Stay grounded and true in my principals and what makes me happy, short term and long term. My overall purpose in life is to be me — rather than transforming into other peoples persona, lifestyles, and how they want to see me.

My next step is to begin filling out: http://weekplan.net/

Hopefully the website will help me evolve some of my thoughts — painting a clearer and more detailed picture.