A Weekend in San Diego

Many people have been asking how the weekend in San Diego went. It was fantastic! A miniature vacation really. It's amazing how just one night in a different city really refreshes you, and makes you ready for the coming week.

Saturday we left around 8:30 am to make it to Mission Bay, where we rented a Pontoon Boat for four hours. Unfortunately it was overcast, and VERY COLD. I had my bathing suit on under my many layers of clothing, but I stayed covered up. The guys stayed towards the back of the boat, where as we, the women, were bundled up with beach towels. We took off from the dock at 10:00am and just loitered all around the bay. The first thing that the guys did was attach a pirate's flag to the back of the pontoon. Yes, we are hard core. So as we are having fun, listening to music, drinking and eating, the Coast Guards come up to us. We though, "uh oh the pirate flag is what did us in." But no, they were just verifying that we had enough life jackets on board. Funny thing is, we barely had enough to go around. Ultimately we got an hour comped on our price since we had to "chaperoned" by the Coast Guard until a person from the company was at the closest dock with extra life jackets for us. After that incident, we went right back to just floating around....until 2:00pm.

After the boat ride, well wind burned and sun burned, the group decided to head back to the hotel for a dip in the hot tub and a nap before the night's festivities went underway. Instead of going to the hot tub, a walk downtown and through the Gaslamp District was in order. The walk was relaxing and it was nice to get some alone time. After the walk a short nap was due so that I wouldn't fall asleep at dinner or at the club...

Dinner was at the Hardrock Cafe in the Gaslamp District. It was a little rough in some parts, the party was 25 people, the tables got added and charged incorrectly and the drinks were watered down. We were all quite happy to get done with dinner to hit the club.

table one...the more mellow of the two

Bryan was going around to both tables taking random photos. Mind you this is the first time I'm meeting all these people...and here I steal Bryan's caption... Well Hello Sandra!


And as a birthday picture for the ages, all the women take a shot and toast to the birthday couple...


After a brief walk in the cold and the wind, the group made it to On Broadway Nightclub, where we entered VIP. We had a little cabana room with free booze, two couches to lounge on and a waitress. It was a great setup since the club was so big, if someone got lost we'd just meet back at the room. Downstairs where our room was, there was the dancing for the more R&B type, then there was another room in a vault that had more 80's type dance music, and upstairs was a huge room with a DJ spinning and mixing techno/trance and dancers on the tables. That was by far my favorite room! Since we had already drank at dinner, we made sure to take a few stiff drinks before any one else as soon as the drinks arrived in the cabana. And after that we were set to have fun for the rest of the night, not worrying about holding a drink in our hand to dance. We stayed out until about 2:00am when we finally decided that is was time to make it back to the hotel to get any sort of sleep.

the rap and R&B room

Having fun posing!
Andy, Me, Tasha and Jon in the back
birthday kids Bryan and Kath in the front

and yet another picture in the room
me, Andy, Travis, Jon and James
Tasha and Sarah
and yes, Tasha is eating a scrumptious chocolate covered strawberry...you bet I was all over those.

In the morning, it was yet another overcast day, and so we didn't end up staying very long. We were going to try to walk around SD and have lunch but by 10:00am we had already packed and gotten the car loaded to go home. Luckily we missed all the traffic and were home in an hour.

So that was the fun little excursion to San Diego. I will try to get some pictures up soon for all to see ;-)

Beautiful Easter 2008

Happy Easter to everyone. This year Easter was on the second earliest date that it could possibly be, March 23rd. And to celebrate the beginning of Spring, and the festivities of Easter, we hosted a large feast with all our closest family and friends. (Minus a few due to extenuating circumstances of course!)

Saturday afternoon mom and I went grocery shopping, and for some strange reason it took us four hours and four different stores to find MOST of the ingredients. For the both of us, that was not a good sign for the rest of the preparation for the guests the next day. Finally, after we threw our hands in the air and said we would cook what we had, that is what we did. From about seven in the evening until past midnight, we kept cooking and prepping the food for the next day. I prepared the Limoncello Tiramisu, the Honey-Almond-Anise Biscotti, the Basil-Marinated Shrimp that was to go on the White Bean Crostini with Arugula the next day. Mom prepared the homemade Chicken Broth, the fifty or so Mini Parsley Meatballs to go in the broth, and the Lamb. We figured the more we did the night before, the less we would have to do the next day....good thinking right?! And who could forget the decorating of the eggs.

Step 1: Prep Workspace

Step 2: Base coat the eggs with the color

Step 3: Speckle paint the eggs and VOILA!

Saturday night the preparations were underway. And Sunday morning, I was back at mom and dad's house by nine in the morning to keep preparing the food. The Crostini were broiled, the glaze was cooking and the broth was keeping warm.


Mom prepped the lamb and the parsley spread, which you see here. Not much of the lamb was left, and I bet if you could eat bones then those would be gone too.


Even amidst the frantic cooking Mom and I took a quick snapshot, knowing that this would most likely be the only photo of the two of us all day.


Finally, the appetizers were out about twenty minutes after the guests arrived. It was the first time that ALL the guests were just about on time, and I was VERY behind in my cooking. Here we see the Grilled Polenta with Rosemary Sauteed Mushrooms.


And also, we had Pecorino cubes covered in a Balsamic Black Pepper Glaze.


Once all the appetizers had been cleared of the plates we all sat down for a long meal of about 3 course. With sixteen people total, the meal lasted quite a long time.


The centerpieces were lovely, with bowls filled with pebbles, water and white floating candles. Also, the candle holders and candlesticks were contributed by Urmi, and were too cute not to display.

a closer look at the table (Dad is of course serving the wine)

Finally, after the meal and coffee, tea and after dinner drinks had been served, dessert made its way outside. As a quick fix to the Limoncello Tiramisu, more like a quick last minute decoration, I swirl peeled the skin of a lemon.


The Lady fingers and Biscotti were excellent as well. I wish I could say I made the ladyfinger because they are so perfectly cooked, but no.


Although, the Honey-Almond-Anise Biscotti did look good, despite having been made by a tired cook at midnight the night before :-)



In all, Easter this year went beautifully. The weather was perfect, sunny, warm but not too hot. And it was really a perfect afternoon with such great family friends. Days like this one are never a miss, with the right people and a great occasion!

PS I do not have any photos of the goings on in the afternoon between the meal and dessert. But the guests are schemers I tell you. Apparently all the guests had prepared gag gifts for my mom's fiftieth birthday seeing as we are not holding a party for her. (By her own request) So as to put her in the spotlight nevertheless, we had a little birthday celebration for her as well!

A Brief Night at Cabana Club

On Friday night, the girls and I went up to Cabana Club in Hollywood. We all got dolled up to hit up the City of Angels.

Nancy and I

me, Nancy, Vicky and Angie

Leanna's Bridal Shower in Florida

Congratulations to the bride-to-be! I flew to Tampa, Florida for the weekend of February 29- March 2, to attend Leanna's Bridal Shower on March 1. I took a red-eye flight Friday night, which was interesting to say the least. My flight from John Wayne to Vegas was fine, but the 3 hour layover, plus the fact that we had to change air crafts, caused the flight to be 3 hours late to Tampa. I had fallen asleep on the plane waiting to take off from Vegas, and all of a sudden I hear over the loud speaker that the dent in the front of the aircraft was more serious than they thought, so we had to haul ourselves off the plane on to another aircraft which happened to be located at the other end of the airport. I was half asleep walking through the airport, the sounds of the slot machines all blurring together trying to figure out what gate I was supposed to get to. Luckily, I never really fully reawakened and the moment I found my seat on the new plane I fell asleep until our descent in Florida. I reached the airport, Leanna was there to greet me and the day began. I met her mom and her sister and we all went to get pedicures. After that, we cooked all day long, appetizers and food to bring for the shower. It was a slightly warm yet cool day in Tampa, a little on the hazy side. But it was perfect weather to cook and grill hamburgers on the grill. At 5 pm the fiasco began. Leanna opened her dress that she got cleaned at the dry cleaners, and lo and behold it was not cleaned. There were spots all over it, and it was still wrinkled, therefore proving to us that they did not even bother to press it. Leanna and her mom quickly went to some boutiques, one of which was closed, but when they saw Leanna come up to the door banging and sobbing, she found the perfect long gown, and with an added bonus the boutique let her take the shoes to wear with the dress. Needless to say, we made it to the shower only 20 minutes late. I don't know anyone that can find a gown an hour before their own big event...props to you Leanna.

the bride-to-be

Leanna and I

When we arrived to the home of her manager, who was hosting the Bridal Shower, we were instantaneously greeted and led to the bar. Leanna's sister, Jo Ellen, took over the drink making and created tasty Cosmos all night long. Then the games began. Leanna took names from a bag and we created teams to play "Toilet Paper Bride". I am now 2 for 2 at Bridal Showers to be the one that gets to be dressed in toilet paper.

JoEllen designing my veil

Leanna's Mom designing Susan's gown

JoEllen still creating my veil. I almost did not even have a dress at the end when time was called.

the halter top to Susan's gown

Laura creating Laura's veil

Finally JoEllen is making the bottom part of the gown. At least I won't be completely naked on the way down the aisle.

Instead of creating an entirely new top, we just took pieces of toilet paper and stuck them in my bra to stay up.

Leanna just getting a kick out of these three minutes.

Time was called and we had to show off our gown down the aisle...who makes the prettiest bride?

After laughing a good long while from the toilet paper bride game we had dinner, which was a buffet of all different appetizers. We just couldn't wait thought to get our hands on the beautiful cake. The color for Leanna's wedding is like a periwinkle, blue gray, which will also be the color of the bridesmaids dresses :-)

From the enclosed patio, this is the group that we had.

Leanna and her mom

After we were contented eating cake, Leanna got to opening her gifts. She really did get such great things, and this is only a foreshadowing of the items that she is going to get at the wedding. So Leanna, be prepared, it's going to be a lot of opening of boxes. Being one of the bridesmaids, I had to do my duty and write down each and every gift and who it was from, hence my legs to the side of the picture and holding a pad and pen in my hand.




The Bridal Shower lasted until 10:30 pm. It was such a fun night, and I am so grateful that I made it out there to be a part of this time in her life. Leanna has become one of my closest girlfriends and I'm glad that I can be in her life to share this with her. Ben is a wonderful man, and I hope the best for the two of them. And hopefully he will be in the US soon.

I left Tampa the following morning at 11 am. Unfortunately it was too early to really be able to do anything on a Sunday morning, so I spent my Sunday waiting in airports for my flights. Luckily there were no problems getting home, I must admit, after a 24 hour trip across the continent, it was nice to be home.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Friday was dad's birthday. I believe he is now..43..if we are counting backwards from 50 :-)

Mom and I took him out for the night to the CoachHouse where, there we saw Dave Mason. I admit I was one of the youngest there, but there's nothing like a night with 50 and 60 year olds just having a great time!