Philadelphia!

In an effort to be a better blogger (inspired by Joslyn's post http://www.simplelovelyblog.com/2011/06/little-bit-of-looking-back.html), I'll try and actually write while I'm actually traveling or shortly thereafter.

I'm here in Philly for a wedding today that is actually an hour outside the city. But in order to maximize by adventure time, I took a red-eye Thursday and took in a lot of Philly sights yesterday. I wish Mechen was here but the tickets were too expensive and he isn't as good friends with the couple so he decided to forego the travels. I'm sure he'll drown his sorrows this weekend in golf and surfing.

I arrived a 6 a.m. (wheeee!) after a red-eye that I didn't sleep as well on as a normally do. Boo! But I felt ok and stopped by the hotel to drop off my bag. The Independent is a really nice boutique hotel with the building's old brick interior mixed in with more modern elements. The linens and bed are amazing and there is a DOUBLE shower head! I love it. I didn't find all this out until 6 at night b/c I was busy sight-seeing but last night's sleep was AWESOME.

After dropping off my bags, I went to "Jack and the Brewstalk," which is an ok coffee shop. I think my reaction to it was that it was trying too hard to be cute and as a result, I'm being overcritical but I got my Jack size coffee (instead of giant, get it?) and headed out.

First I went to the Philadelphia Museum which is a Blue Star museum this Summer so I got in free! I didn't even realize until I asked for a military discount, figuring it would be the student rate. Instead, I got to wander the halls and saw beautiful artwork. I saw old favorites like Mary Cassat and the Marcel Duchamp gallery (have these two ever been linked in a single thought before EVER?) and wandered through some reconstructed rooms. There was an old Southern France monastery courtyard that was breathtakingly restored and so evocative of a beautiful night where possibility is heavy in the air. That was my favorite part (picture coming!).

The museum also has several Winslow Homers- I forgot how much I loved his work, especially the Maine coast scenes. Then I travelled across the street to another building to see a Chagall exhibit. He's not my favorite, but the layout and companion pieces illustrating various contemporaries/inspirations was laid out expertly by the exhibit's curator.

Next, I went to the Rodin museum. Nothing original for me to say here- I love "The Cathedral" and "The Gates of Hell." Rodin was an amazing sculptor and the lyrical lines are so beautiful. I also love the figures of the men and women in embrace. You can feel the passion through the positioning, which really is a testament to natural, unforced, unfiltered body language.

Then I was tired. So I took the bus to 8th&Market, hopped off and walked to Little Italy. I walked all the way down to Pat's where I inhaled a cheesesteak. I was SO hungry and it was falling apart in my hands so gobble, gobble. When I was done, I felt fine but I had a stern little talk with myself along the lines of "Chew your g-damn food!" Seriously! How am I going to be a healthy eater if I don't even chew and I just have partially chewed crap in my stomach. (Ok, ignore the fact that this is all in reference to a cheesesteak which is in no way healthy, but more along a general principle that chewing is a good thing).

Then I walked to Walnut near Rittenhouse and proceeding to negate any savings I had made during trip planning by buying a wedding outfit at Anthro, a shirt for Mechen and travel pants for me at Lulu and two tank tops from the Gap (<--the only one of these three is not stupidly expensive!).

I came to the hotel, checked into my lovely room, went to the gym and came back and hung out. I talked to Mechen on the phone. I really wanted to go to a wine bar named Tria, but I figured that I might as well save some money for when I can go out with Mechen and/or friends. In addition, I plan on drinking at the wedding and I decided to not do two nights in a row since I may also have some wine when I go out with Mechen Sunday night.

Phew! That's it! I had a light breakfast this morning and now I'm off for a run. Yipes! I just looked at the time and I have to get going!

Coachella 4/15-4/17

Coachella was AWESOME! I knew that I would have a good time, but the whole experience exceeded my expectations. We went with two friends and camped at the Polo Grounds. Camping was great, although we lucked out with our site in a few ways. Our neighbors were all pretty mellow and quiet, but not too mellow in a blasting Marley or the Beatles (seriously?) during the day type of way. We were also in the middle of a row, away from random foot traffic and, more importantly, large floodlights.

But the music, you say! Stop being so crochety and old and talking about where you slept. Boring!

So the first day, I saw CeeLo Green who had the plug pulled since he was 30 minutes late into a 40 minute set and was really mad at the organizers. Lauryn Hill’s set was AMAZING with Fugees and “Miseducation” songs seamlessly flowing and she sounded great. A new discovery (for me) was the Cold War Kids who are a great rock band and I downloaded several songs immediately- “Royal Blue” and “Bulldozer” stand out. Brandon Flowers set was terrific and I had never really heard his songs before. I now have his whole album thanks to Jenny! In addition, the Killers came out for “Read My Mind” and “Mr Brighteyes.” The only disconcerting thing about Brandon Flowers is that his voice has a shitload of strain in it. I kept thinking his voice would crack and I’m sure he has singer nodules in his future. I loved Robyn and am working out to several of her songs all the time. Finally, we say Floggin Molly that night, super late (until 130). They had an amazing amount of energy. Other bands we heard that day were The Black Keys, Crystal Castle and Ozomatli.

On Saturday, we saw The Joy Formidable who have a guitarist/singer who is this really bad-ass pixie. Sean saw Two Door Cinema Club, whom he said were awesome and the “Irish Killers” so I definitely want to check them out at some point. New Pornographers and Bright Eyes were very good. Bright Eyes was followed by Mumford and Sons and they were awesome! We were really close to the stage for their show and the energy was through the roof! They played two new songs- “Blinded by the Light” which I heard at Belly Up and another that I’m blanking on right now. Finally, the night ended with Arcade Fire. They were great and I finally got to see them after my frustrating near-miss in Tokyo 3 years ago!

The last day was more mellow for us. We saw Twin Shadow, Jack’s Mannequin and Best Coast which were all new finds for us and sounded great. Nas and Damian Marley were great and Wiz Khalifa had really energetic fans especially considering there was a pot smoke cloud over the crowd the entire time. We ended our night with The National then headed home, totally tired but so happy.

The concerts were amazing. There were a few folks we weren’t as fond of but more due to our tastes rather than lack of musical artistery. I missed the advance sale for 2012 (boo!) but I’ll definitely be looking for tix in Jan, 2012!

Vacation, part 1

After the beer bus, Mechen and I started vacation! We were hung-overish on Sunday morning, then headed up to San Luis Obispo and stayed in a Rock Room (Swiss Belle). That evening, we went to the steakhouse on site which had pretty ridiculous portions (we split a main) and was pretty good.

The next day, we went to the SLO mission, had breakfast at the Big Sky Café, field trip to Morro Bay and ate creekside at Novo. Morro Bay was awesome and I also bought my first piece of art there- yipes! It’s awesome, but man, I don’t know if I’ll make it a habit. Maybe I’ll try my hand at painting?

The next day, we went on a hike to see the 7 Sisters, walked around Solvang and ate at Root 246.
Finally, we had a great breakfast at our B&B, Mirabella Inn. We ate lunch at Twin Oaks (steak #1) and went to several wine tasting rooms (Consilience, Carharrt, Epiphany and our hotel lobby (beer). We also went to Foxen Winery, which was pretty awesome. We went to the original wine tasting room and their newer, sleeker one. Any winery that has two tasting rooms has to be good, right?

Then, we had the meal of the vacation at the Brothers Restaurant at Mattei's Tavern. I had a delicious grilled prime filet. The preceding bread basket was so awesome and we completely gorged. Then we rolled ourselves back to the hotel.

The next day, we ate brekkie and headed home in order to pack and make preparations to leave for Coachella the next day

Birthday, part 2

On April 3^rd, I went out to brunch at the Pearl with some of my friends and one little baby who was definitely star of the show. She is the cutest. It was great brunch with delicious mimosas and Bloody Marys.

The big celebration though, was the San Diego Brew Tour we went on the 9^th. Cat and I both have April birthdays so we decided to host a pre-party and then go on the tour. I had been on one before about 2 years ago and had a blast, so I really wanted to do it with all of my San Diego friends.

The pre-party was at Cat’s house and I was in charge of the quarter keg, which was filled with Airdale Amber- delish! Our bus driver was great, the tunes were awesome and we went to Lost Abbey, Ballast Point and Pizza Port. I was pretty hammered- in part because I made the rookie mistake of not eating enough but mostly because I just drank like a fish.

Note to self: remember to get Ballast’s Bloody Mary mix. Awesome!

It was a great evening and I actually just relived it looking at pictures on Brooke’s phone yesterday at the post-Bridge Run brunch. They were so funny. Only casualty- my point-and-shoot, which I totally squished.

Turning 30, for "real" this time!

My birthday was, in a word, amazing. I had been sort of smarting all year long at what a dud my 30^th birthday had been. Not to dwell, but it wasn’t exactly the celebration that I think “aught” birthdays should have. Certainly there were extenuating circumstances (like Mechen’s deployment) but either way, I told Mechen that this year, I was turning 30 again. And oh man, did he ever come through!

The morning was pretty relaxed. He headed out and when he came back, he gave me a card. I opened it and voila! A spa gift certificate. He said I had an appointment in about 40 minutes that I could either keep or cancel. I decided I was in the mood and also, he said he needed the time to work on things.

I went and had a great massage at Sante in Solana Beach. I sat in the steam room until I physically had to leave. Then, I sat in the waterfall room until my massage, which was really, really good. Then I had a quick sauna, shower and went home.

The house smelled amazing. At first, I thought it was a puff pastry baked Brie, but then I figured out that maybe it was a cake (more later)? Mechen said we were going out to dinner so I got ready and off we went to San Diego for a dinner at Starlite, my favorite restaurant.

When we walked in, the host asked if we had a reservation and I said, “I think he does,” and Mechen gave his name. The host said, “Oh, MECHEN,” and led us to a corner table where there was the most amazing, gorgeous, huge bouquet of flowers I’ve ever seen. It was perfect and awesome and I was totally blown away. I couldn’t stop smiling and the guys near us on their own dates probably couldn’t stop thinking, “You SOB” to Mechen.

After dinner, which was delicious (at this point, it’s slightly hazy but I had a really delicious fish prepared in a Moroccan fashion, Mechen had a great steak and we split a lamb bruschetta), we went back home where Mechen had made my favorite cake- yellow with chocolate frosting. Yum-o!
I felt so amazing and special on my birthday. It was perfect. Most of all, I felt so, so lucky to have Mechen in my life. It was incredible.

Last weekend in March, 2011

The last weekend in March, we hiked/camped in Red Rock Canyon, which is a beautiful slash of rock that is absolutely gorgeous with all the reds and veins of different composition alternately layered in and slashing through.

We also went to the Antelope Valley Flower fields and we were way too early. Fortunately, we found a patch on the side of the road that helped us imagine what it was supposed to look like.  I can't wait until I can see fields and fields of flowers!

Present update!

Oh, so my Valentine’s Day surprise?  A poem, a handmade flower, fortune cookies and some really amazing tea- totally low-key and really sweet.  But wait until you read what I got for my birthday!!!!