You Are Here Concert

The band played to a big crowd in Lucinda's backyard! I was definitely nervous but we had a great time!

A Year of Dates

For Valentines, I gave Chris 12 envelopes with pre-planned dates to use once per month for a year.  I tried to find a picture of us that would hint what the date would be and put it on the outside of the envelope. February went fast, so we didn't have time to do the Iron Chef challenge, but we will do it soon.

February: Iron Chef... coming soon

March: The Symphony
For March, I found us surprisingly inexpensive tickets to the Pacific Symphony.  We also went to a lovely dinner at Leatherby's before.  It was a fabulous night.  The envelope had a picture of us playing blow-up microphone and guitar that Emily brought to SF for my birthday a few years ago.  We ended up marching around playing these instruments.



We had the prix fixe 3 course menu and Chris got the most beautiful salad I think I've ever seen.




The program we saw started with a large chorus joining the symphony and all those voices singing together sounded great.  After intermission was Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony.  It was haunting and beautiful.



April: Padres Game
This date turned into a family affair, but we had a great time at PetCo stadium in San Diego for a Padres v. Giants game.  We drank beer, ate peanuts, and sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (thats my favorite part).  There were parachuters that landed on the field! They had a hashtag that you could add to an Instagram and they put it on the big screen, so Emily and I got our faces onto that screen!

May: Hiking in OC
I got Chris a book of 50 hikes in Orange County, so we started out with the Pectin Reef Loop . It wasn't to far out in to the wilderness, but it was a cool hike through what was all underwater millions of years ago.  We could see fossils in the rocks around us and it was nice to be outside.  Now, just 49 more hikes to go!

Sedona

Barley graciously helped me pack...

After an 8 hour drive through the California and Arizona desert, I finally arrived at our fancy resort, Poco Diablo.  My favorite part of the drive is when you see one cactus and then a million cacti.  Why is there an imaginary line where they grow like crazy on one side, and not at all on the other? Bao arrived a few minutes later and we had dinner and martini's! After a good nights sleep, our first stop was up to the Airport Vista, to get a good look at Sedona and the surrounding red rocks.

From there, we drove and wandered around - hitting Bell Rock and the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is embedded into the beautiful red rocks.



Next we went to Tlaquepaque Village, an arts and crafts area with galleries, shops and restaurants and wandered around looking at cool art (Sebastien Levigne!) and jewelry.  We stopped for tacos and prickly pear margaritas before heading out on a Jeep adventure to the Airport Vortex, in front of a huge cross at the Masonic Temple.  What's weird is that before we went up there, I wasn't feeling too great- tired and a bit congested- but when we got back I felt better - refreshed and energetic.  Take from that what you will.



After our Jeep tour, we got some coffee and went to a rock/gem store, where I went crazy and got some beautiful rocks and matching leopard skin jasper bracelets for Bao and I.  We met another interesting person here with a passion for rocks and their energy, and he told us about the Corral Castel in Miami... another place to add to my list.  Feeling adventurous, we went to the Sacred Light Center to get aura photos or psychic readings, but I broke the shaman, and he told me he'd give me a raincheck... not really sure what happened and I'm still thinking about that experience.

Here is a blurry picture of my favorite rock, the Courthouse, which was blazing as the sun was going down.


Stay tuned for pictures from the fancy camera!

Happy Valentines Day!

We both had to work in the morning, and though my experiment fell apart, we still had a great lazy day.  We went to the store and got ingredients for swiss fondue and made ourselves a fabulous dinner.

We sang some of our favorite songs and watched the movie Horns, which turned out to be really wierd and good and oddly romantic.

So Beautiful

Sergei Polunin, "Take Me to Church" by Hozier, Directed by David LaChapelle from David LaChapelle Studio on Vimeo.

Beach Day!

Good morning

I woke up this morning and our room was filled with pink light

Tacos & Tunes

Had a great time last night having dinner with friends... I finally put the crock pot to use and made carnitas.  It turned out great and was pretty easy.  I set it up in the morning, with the meat, an onion, garlic, jalapeno, orange juice and rind, and lime juice and rind.  It cooked for 8 hours and then we easily shredded the meat.  We had tacos with fresh guac and coconut chocolate ice cream for dessert.  The highlight of the night was listening to "The Sea" record which was music and sounds of the sea with Rod McKuen speaking poetry over the top.  The record was from the 60s and it was hilarious.

Together at Last!

Emily, Chris and I went up to LA to see Pete Holmes and Rob Bell in a show called Together at Last.  It was hilarious and great.  We randomly went to dinner first and had a great meal and spotted celebrity Joe Lo Truglio who is a hilarious actor, we love him as Boyle on Brooklyn 99.  I had a deliciuos cocktail with honey in it and we shared a bunch of plates - brussel sprouts, chicken sliders, and devilled eggs.

We walked about 15 minutes through downtown LA to the Regent Theater, which is a weird space with folding chairs, but it worked.  Pete and Rob came out and would alternatively talk about topics like wonder and joy, then did a little Q&A, then gave advice... it was unlike anything I've been to.  

I suck at taking selfies.

We got a few minutes to talk to them and I asked Pete to sign a scientific article that I happened to have in my purse.  I had to present it in my cancer bio class, it was quite interesting about breast cancer heterogeneity and cancer stem cells.  Anyways, I thought it would help give me perspective and joy while preparing to present it, and it did.  I got nervous and didnt ask Rob to sign it.

A great night.

Old LV

Chris started our last night in Vegas with a giant margarita.  We also got an awesome show by a mentalist while our food was being made... I'm still trying to figure out how he knew the name of the person that someone was thinking of....

We went downtown, and the light roof is crazy!!!! There was also a sax man, zip lining over our heads, a Doors light show, chippendales, cops, showgirls, gambling and drinking on the street.