Off to Bigger and Newer Things

I'm sure many of my regular readers have noticed that I've been posting with a bit more frequency. I'm sure you've all thought this was me catching up for the time I was studying or trying to close the gap between my blog posts and present days, but I have different news.

Over the last few weeks, I've done some thinking about this blog. I have really loved keeping track of my adventures on here. When I started this blog I was heartbroken and lost. I needed to get out in the world, but I needed some sort of motivation. By setting a goal for myself and using the blog to keep me accountable, I ended up vastly exceeding what I set out to accomplish.

Even though I've gone on many adventures in the time gap between the last post and present day, I think at this point I'm moving backwards instead of forwards by posting them. Closing up the blog after 1 year's worth of adventures seemed like a great stopping point. The way I see it, the trips I took in July of 2011 were a big start to building who I am today. I wasn't afraid to explore on my own and take off on personal adventures. It was a big lesson in independence. If you want to do something, do it. You don't need anyone to go with you or hold your hand.

But on the contrary - I've also seen a lot of my friendships grow over the 2 years since I started the blog. I made sure to carve out time to spend with friends on more of an individual basis instead of only at parties. The quality of my friendships improved. That's where lesson number 2 came in: even if you can do things alone, you don't always have to. It's nice to be able to ask some friends if they would like to join you, but also being able to go it alone if you need to or even if you just want some time to yourself is important.

It's funny to think about my life and see where I've come from and where I've gone. A few years ago, one of my friends called me "relationship girl" and I was absolutely taken aback. "No, that's not me" I thought, but then I realized - as long as she'd known me, I had always had a boyfriend. From my perspective, I'd only had boyfriends for a few years. Thinking back from middle school to high school, I was always the friend that was going on adventures, exploring on my own, and being fairly independent. I thought I was still that person but I realized that even though I felt that way, maybe I didn't act that way anymore. You know you have a problem when the way you see you isn't the way that other people see you.

As I pointed out, I didn't realized that I would find all of that through this blog - I just thought that I was finding a way to systematically explore San Francisco more. Explore I did and even though I found a lot of cool things to do in this fantastic city, I also found myself.

The second year of my adventure, the one you won't get to read about, is probably where I grew the most but not really through the new adventures so much. At first I made the shift from "One New Thing a Week" to "New Things" in general just to accommodate changes in my schedule. Some weeks I could do 5 things, sometimes none. I thought it would even it out more. What I found though is that I didn't need any more motivation to do new things - they just happened. Going to new restaurants and cafes became second nature. I also realized an important lesson - just because you can do something new, doesn't mean you have to. That's when came upon a new dilemma, I wanted to go back and further explore some of my previous "New Things." I found parks and coffee shops and restaurants that I loved. Doing new things is important but it's nice to also have places and spaces that you love. The important thing was that I was getting out more and even in a familiar space, there are always new corners to explore, new exhibits to check out, or a new dish on the menu.

Through all of this, it became evident that while I loved the blog, it was a crutch I didn't need anymore. I had my life in a good place where I was able to explore, read books, have better friendships, and as of lately, find closure.

This blog started with a walk. I wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and no one could or wanted to go with me so I had to go it alone. I ended up spending the whole walk deep in thought and that's when I thought of the new-thing-a-week challenge and then later realized that a blog would be a good way to keep track of it. Recently, I was visiting my family in Southern California, I went with my mom to the beach and took another walk. I was originally looking for tide pools since a sign had indicated there were some nearby, but it ended up being another really good chance to think. I walked down the beach for miles at my own speed and stop to take pictures of star fish. It made me realize how much I love being able to do things on my own and I needed to be able to learn how to do that. Now that I have, I'm ready for something more.

Thanks to everyone for reading and supporting my blog. I am very guilty of checking my stats and it's really surprised me how many visitors I get and the geographic scope of my blog. Whoever you are in China, Russia, Malaysia, or Germany - thank you for finding my blog! In it's lifetime, I've seen almost 20,000 page views. That's way more than I ever anticipated.

It's time for me to stop looking backward, and start looking forward. I know I've said about 20 times how much I love this blog, and I do! The hardest part was figuring out what I would do with my pent up need to write about myself. I think the best move for me is start a new blog that is a little less personal. One of the biggest things for me in the past few years was to really come into my own and figure out what my own interests were outside of a relationship. So my new blog, is a collaboration with a few friends called Cinnamon Geek. It's basically going to be us geeking out over all the things we love in life. There may be some carry over from this blog but obviously from a different perspective. So sorry if my proliferation of posts gave you the impression that I was gearing up this blog - I was actually just eager to get started on my new project. There are too many geeky things going on in the world and it was a good time to move on.

To new beginnings!

P.S. I plan on carrying over my "Resolutions" so if you want to know how those went, be sure to check on Cinnamon Geek at the end of December.


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Week of July 25th 2011: The National Archives

On my second day in DC, Mike insisted that I check out the National Archives. This is where many of the country's founding documents are stored. What would a trip to D.C. be without a visit to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights?

Even though I started my day relatively early, there was still a line to get into the National Archives. It moved quickly enough and the day wasn't too hot and soon I was inside. The security was understandably intense and it felt almost like going through an airport.

The first thing I did was watch a video describing the history and importance of the National Archives. It showed stories of several people who went to research their family's histories and were able to discover that that they had important ancestors. I found this really interesting since I have a pretty famous last name but I don't know if I'm related to the person that made my name important. I definitely want to see if I can do some research on it next time I'm in D.C. (Actually, while doing some refresher work on their website, I learned that they have satellite offices around the country so I might be able to achieve this more locally...)

After that, I wanted to go see the famous documents. I knew that would have a line as well and it would only be getting longer. Of course there was some wait, but they made it better by putting little informational signs around the line. Eventually, I was in the room with all of the documents. It was really cool to see them. They were much larger than I expected and of course relatively faded. The Archives did a good job of putting signs and posters around that pointed out what time had done to them and give some interesting background stories. I always love when there is extra background information. The Smithsonian was good about this as well.

The National Archives are provide the "National Archives Experience" which serves as more of a museum to the public. The experience gives visitors a glimpse into historical documents and their importance throughout the years. This may sound boring but think about patents or letters and how these have shaped history? A document can be so much more than a piece of paper and this exhibit lets you discover this.

I had a lot of fun in the National Archives. It was a further reminder of how important even the details in our history could be. It was also a good reflection on the importance of letters in history. Letter writing used to be so common and the Archives apparently have a large collection of significant letters. On my lists of books to read are John Steinbeck and Einstein's letters... but letter writing has long since fallen by the wayside and replaced by emails. I wonder what kind of effect this will have on our history. Maybe the future of the archives will be in emails, tweets, blog posts and Facebook statuses. It would be interesting to see what history does with everything we've put out into the world now that letter writing is less common. 

Week of July 25th 2011: The Smithsonian Museums and the National Portrait Gallery

I was originally going to do a post for every museum I visited, but I think it may get a little tiring if there are 30 posts from this trip. I'm going to do a lot of condensing so even though I could write a book on the Smithsonian museums, I'm going to try to limit it to a blog post... you may need to read this one in a few goes. I am also including the National Portrait Gallery.
(I also apologize for the poor picture quality - this is the camera that fell down some rocks and went swimming when I was in Los Angeles and it never quite recovered)

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My first stop on the Smithsonian tour was the American History museum. I knew next to nothing about the museum and wasn't really looking forward to it but it was the closest to where I was and I was dying to get out of the heat. Well, to say the museum surpassed my expectations would be an understatement.

I may be biased though... I decided to explore the museum in order and of course the first exhibit I wandered into explored Los Angeles in the early 90's. For those not aware, this was basically my childhood. It was fun to see an exhibit that explored the place I lived as a kid especially when there was one board specifically on the San Fernando Valley.

The American history museum is also where you can find a lot of really cool American relics. In one extremely dark and chilled room, the original Star Spangled banner can be seen. It's basically in shreds after all of these years so the museum is doing it's best to preserve it (and of course that means no photography so you will have to go check it out for yourself).

After that, I decided to check out the Hall of First Ladies. I think many people may be familiar with this exhibit, but as I had said, I knew next to nothing about this museum before visiting it. The first hallway that I walked down had beautiful sketches of many historical First Lady Inauguration dresses. I was so excited, I decided to start snapping photos of all of them, especially those before I was born. I thought it was so cool that I could see what they all looked like.... until I went into the next room and they were all on the display. The actual dresses. I'm not very big into fashion, but that was cool. Of course the more recent dresses were in the center of the room, including Michelle's dress from 2008. I really enjoy seeing things in person that I had seen on TV. There is something fascinating about being able to get a close up on those little details that just don't get caught on the camera.

The last exhibit that really caught my eye was the one on Film and Television. This is where you can find some more fun artifacts from our country's great entertainment industry such as Dorothy's ruby red slippers and some of the original Muppets. My favorite piece though of course was the 70's Batman TV show Catwoman costume. I found it very entertaining that a few weeks earlier I was able to see the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman suit when I was at the Tim Burton exhibit. This means I only have one more Catwoman suit to track down and that movie isn't even out yet. 


The best part of the whole museum though was seeing a picture of one of my friends in the robotic section. It turns out, his contributions to that field earned him and his team a spot in the Smithsonian which was really cool to see. I was so proud of him and also felt like I knew a celebrity. When anyone else walked by, I wanted to brag that I knew that guy. 

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Extra in Independence Day

After the American History Museum, I went next door to the Natural History Museum. Typically, I don't get excited about natural history museums because to me, they are just a collection of stuffed animals. However, after being thoroughly impressed with the American History Museum, I decided to give it a shot. 

 There definitely were a lot of collections of stuffed animals, but it was way more than that. The facts and displays they had were really interesting. I think I'd just gotten turned off from them because I had seen a really boring exhibit on mammals a year earlier. The ocean exhibits were particularly cool since they had a fun exhibit of Giant Squid - which I've decided are the inspiration for quite a few movies about aliens. It was also cool to see the Paleontology exhibits. I hadn't really been to a museum with nearly that many fossils (even though these were just copies, of course). 


But I'm sure it's easy to guess what I liked the best.... the Hope Diamond! I also wasn't expecting to see this on my museum excursion, but I really should have known it was there since it was a big plot point on one of my favorite South Park episodes. The Hope Diamond and all of the other jewels are extremely beautiful. I really enjoy seeing diamonds of different colors. It's also fun to see something different. 

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Maybe he'll catch the road runner?

The next day, Mike had to work in the morning so I was on my own again. After visiting the National Archives (which we'll get to later), I decided to visit the National Portrait Gallery and its Sculpture Gardens. I thought on a lovely July day, a midday walk through the sculpture garden would be nice - well, I really overestimated my ability to handle heat. 8 years in the Bay Area has left me really incapable of handling seasons. Plus, even though I grew up in Los Angeles, the dry heat was much more bearable than the stifling humidity of the East Coast. I quickly took my walk through the garden and ended up spending a long time sitting with my feet in the fountain. 


As you can imagine, I was eager to get into the air conditioned Portrait Gallery. The portrait gallery is really large and broken up into two museums. The first wing has more classical art. Since I had several hours to kill and didn't feel the need to go outside again, I was able to explore both thoroughly. I think a lot of the classical pieces are similar to a lot of posts I've written about before so I'm going to brush over that pretty quickly. The only thing that really stood out to me was that once again, this museum had a Degas Ballerina. Since I had just seen another in New York the week before, I finally came to the conclusion that there were several of them. I also went in search of the Dutch wing to see if they had the Girl with the Pearl Earring. Still no luck so I finally broke down and looked it up. It's in the Hague of course but I'm excited to report that it's coming to SF in a few months and I can't wait to see it in person.

The second part of the museum has more modern and contemporary art. The two wings are connected by a space like tunnel that really reminds me of Space Mountain at Disneyland. When I got to the other side, there was a great contemporary art exhibit. The floor space for it was very open with a split level so when you walk up to it, the first thing you see is a display made up of dozens of hands saying things in sign language. I wish I had been able to translate!

Across from that was another cool piece of art - a giant black and white portrait of an older lady. It didn't seem that crazy... until I looked closely and saw that it was made up of thumbprints! I love how contemporary art has different angles like that. Something can seem so normal until you get up close and see that it's far more complicated.

The wing had several other standout pieces but then you always have the "I could have done that" stuff. For me, it was a wall that looked like it had been scribbled on with crayon. I actually used to that as a kid and got into a ton of trouble for it. Turns out I could have been an artistic genius who was suppressed before her full potential was reached.

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The last museum I went to visit was the Air and Space Museum. Even though this was one of the ones I was looking the most forward to, I was pretty beat by the time I'd gotten here. Two straight days of looking at Museums, Memorials, Archives, and the Political System (you have many fun posts to look forward to) had me a little museum'd out.


This time I wasn't alone though. My friends Nate and Mike joined me. Mike had been working all day so we literally left him to take a nap while we explored. The biggest thing I remember was that we spent a lot of time in the Wright Brothers exhibit. I was really interested in just how these guys finally pulled off the mechanics of flight. Nate was similarly interested so we both were really engrossed in all of the mechanisms they had in the room. 


I wish I'd been able to explore the museum more but at least there was one more highlight that is really neat. Along the sidewalk, they have all of the planets in our solar system, proportionally spaced from each other. In front of the museum, there is Pluto (I know, I know, but the Smithsonian website also says nine planets so I feel comfortable with this) and the rest of the planets, some comets and the sun are placed at one ten billionth of their actual scale. It was a cool thing to see and something to keep us entertained on our walk back to the Metro station.

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The Smithsonian museums are amazing. I could have spent weeks in there and I hope some day I get to go back and see more of the exhibits in detail, as well as the museums I missed. I'm really jealous of my D.C. friends who get to see these fantastic learning centers on a regular basis. 

Week of July 25th 2011: Welcome to Washington D.C. and the Corcoran Gallery of Art

The day after the Broadway show, I went to work for a little bit and then I was off on a bus to D.C. (Tangent - if you want to city hop, I recommend the bus system. My bus ticket was about $25 and I got two seats to myself because it wasn't full. It only takes a little longer than the train which was much more expensive.) 

In D.C., I would be staying with my friend Mike who works for congress. Since Mike would be working the first day I was there, I had a chance to explore on my own. If you haven't caught on yet, exploring on my own is one of my favorite things. Company is nice but so is being able to take in as much or as little as you like.

I took the Metro to the National Mall and figured I would just walk from there. I was really excited to check out the museums because they're all free. I thought I would walk around about since it was earlier in the day and the sun wasn't at full force yet. I went on a nice stroll past the White House and the National Christmas Tree before coming to the Corcoran Gallery of Art. I was a little taken aback when I was charged admission... yup, plenty of free, public museums and I stroll into one of the few private ones. I was a little embarrassed by the mistake so I paid the admission and went in.

The Corcoran Museum focuses on American Art but while I was there, many of the exhibits featured contemporary works. If you remember from my LACMA post, contemporary art was really growing on my radar so it was a fun museum to explore. As with any of the more modern types, there was some "How is this art? I made this in 3rd grade?" mixed in with some really cool plays on pop culture. I think you can imagine which was my preference.

One of my favorites though, was an exhibit that had a bunch of little glowing squares of different colors. It seemed cool but I couldn't figure it out so I read the sign and was excited when it said that this was an interactive exhibit. Guests could move around the little squares and if you touch them, they change color. I knew I had to leave my mark somehow and it didn't take me long to figure out exactly what I wanted to create. My contribution to the museum only lasted until the first group of kids appeared but at least I immortalized it in film.

Like many of the museum posts you'll see, I'm not going to go through gallery by gallery but I'll scatter some pretty pictures through the post. However, there was one more exhibit that stands out in my head. The featured exhibit was another modern artist who creates giant pieces while working outside. This one piece he did in a park and let birds walk all over it as part of the work. It was cool to see how it changed with little bird prints in it.

I guess that's the thing about modern art... maybe it wasn't the most skilled piece I've ever seen but there is a "I've never thought about that" quality to it as well. A few months earlier, I would have been pretty annoyed about being in a museum with primarily modern and contemporary pieces but a lot of it is really growing on me. That's a huge take away from this blog... maybe you assume you don't like something but you really just need to try it. There is still a lot of modern art that I really think is stupid but there are just as many that are so talented or creative. I'm glad I've had to chance to discover this side of it as well.

Week of July 25th 2011: See a Broadway Show

Even though I spent a few days wandering around the city and checking out Times Square, Rockefeller Center and the World Trade Center, I didn't feel like I really had enough on each one to write a story about it.
Instead, we are going to fast forward to my last night in New York City. Elissa wanted to get me a belated birthday gift so she decided to take me out to my first Broadway Show. Before my trip, I had given her a few options and since Book of Mormon was sold out forever, she went with my second choice - How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. I'm not going to lie, all I knew about the show going into it were that Daniel Radcliffe was starring and the name sounded kind of familiar.
Good enough for me!
Elissa and I had a lot of fun dressing up and going to see the show - which was also hilarious. The plot is pretty straight forward from the name - it's about a young guy who uses a book called "How to Succeed" to quickly climb the corporate ladder. I would say that it's good for anyone in business but really, it's probably entertaining for anyone who has ever had any job ever.
We both thought it was very entertaining that there were many kids in the audience. The show, while very comical, still has a lot of adult themes so we figured they were basically there because of the leading man. It makes me wonder what kind of audience there is now that a Jonas Brother has the part. I also hope these parents didn't take their kids to see Daniel's first play...
Elissa's gift was so fantastic and I'm glad we got to spend my last night doing something so memorable. Elissa and I used to go to shows together in SF so it was also just a great to do one of our favorite things together.

Week of July 18th 2011: Social Eatz

There was one more Top Chef restaurant that I had to check out and that was Angelo Sosa's Social Eatz. His food always looked so good on TV and on the show they had said he worked in a sandwich shop so that felt very accessible. However, just before going to New York, I found out that the sandwich shop closed. Luckily, worry turned to excitement when I found out that instead he had opened up his own wider menu (but still relatively affordable and accessible) Asian-fusion type shop.

I know Asian fusion sounds a little played out but Angelo really attacked it in a new way. Almost of all the dishes seemed like American comfort food on the surface (burgers, hot dogs, etc) but it was easy to see that they were layered with unique Asian flavors. I got tacos and chicken wings and they were very tasty. I can't remember what Elissa ordered or which drinks we got (they have an extensive, original cocktail menu) but I do remember that we were both raving about it. She was trying to find out if they delivered to her neighborhood or office. It turned out that both were just out of their delivery radius and yes, she considered a few wacky, Seinfeld-esque ways to work around that.

The most important thing you should know about Social Eatz though - neither of us mentioned that it was my first time in New York and guess how much free stuff we got? None.

I actually got to meet Angelo a few weeks ago when he was in SF for a book signing. I literally chased him about half a block down a busy SF touristy area before I caught up and was able to ask him for a picture. Even though I seemed like a crazy stalker, him and his wife were very nice and understanding. It's also really nice to be able to tell a chef to his face that you liked his food.

Week of July 18th 2011: Boating in the Park

The famous Boat House

Before I even got to New York, Elissa had been asking me if we could go boating. She explained that a few blocks from her apartment, in Central Park, there was a place you could go boating. Even though I had never been to New York before, I'd of course, seen several movies that took place there (even the night before we had seen a post dinner showing of Friends with Benefits) so of course I had heard of the infamous Boat House. Somehow I did not put two and two together.

stopping for some noms

Once I figured that one out, my excitement escalated. It's always fun to see something in person that you'd only seen in a movie or TV show or read about in a book. Since we didn't have a small fortune or a reservation, we didn't have lunch at the Boat House (maybe next time) and instead got a some park-esque food and cookies before our boat ride.

Can you see our turtle friend?

Elissa and I were so excited about our adventure. She kept telling me how romantic it was and that I would have to row for her since I was stronger. This led to many jokes along the way about how I would be such a good boyfriend for her and that I should propose to her in the boat because it would be the most romantic thing ever.

We rowed to the edge of what we thought was the whole lake rather quickly and began to wonder what we would do for the rest of the hour that we had rented... until we got closer and saw that the lake kept going... and going... and going. Maybe we should have gotten two hours? (this map hopefully illustrates how you can't see most of the lake from when you start out and it's actually about 10x bigger than you initially think)

Our little spin around the lake was so fun. You get to see parks of the park that are otherwise a little hidden. There was a person who had set up a little easel and was painting the scene, people bouldering, lake turtles popping their heads up occasionally, and of course the other-boat-people-watching.

Others enjoying a lake picnic

Eventually we got to the far end of the lake and Elissa insisted on rowing. I'm not going to comment except to say that apparently, the boat doesn't move if you get stuck on the rocks... I may have had to pry us loose a couple of times.

We eventually were getting close to our hour time limit so I took the paddles back and rowed us quickly back to the shore. Sadly, our romantic boat ride had come to an end but I will never forget my fantastic date with Elissa.

On a side note - I mentioned seeing Friends with Benefits for a reason. There is one scene where they are at a really pretty part of the park with a lovely steps and a fountain. Elissa had been wondering where that could possibly be and suggested we look for it. So - a little cell phone googling and we saw that the nearest street was the one we were near... it had been several hundred feet from us the whole time... we had rowed past it. Either way, we had fun taking some pictures there and then walking through a lot of the rest of the park.

Beautiful view of the Upper West Side

Week of January 23rd 2012: Bottle Cap

For my 3rd Dine About Town experience - I really wanted to go to Bottle Cap. My favorite source for blog ideas - 7x7 - had recently recommended it as a great date spot. So, I decided it would be a great place to go on a girl date with my friend Sheena.

As soon as we got the menus, we knew we had made a good choice. After long work days, we were both quick to order a fun cocktail. We both got the Bondly named Dr. No which the waiter referred to as a fancy mai tai. It was delicious.

For appetizers, Sheena got a beef stew that was hearty and delicious. I got a smoked rainbow trout salad. Unfortunately, my dish wasn't quite what I imagined but still interesting and I managed to finish my plate. I had been torn between the trout and some some fried chicken thighs, and I sadly chose poorly.

We both chose the Wagyu steak for on entrees. Wagyu steak is a marbly type of beef that tends to be higher in flavor. It is similar to Kobe in a lot of ways. I've seen it appear on many a cooking show so I was excited to be able to order it at a reasonable price. The portions did not disappoint either - the restaurant gave us hefty portions as well as tasty sides of broccoli rabe, mushrooms, potato/squash gratin. A couple had just sat down next to us when we got our plates, and their eyes nearly popped out of their heads. "What is that??" "Is it good??" Yes, yes it is.

When our dessert courses came, our neighbors again asked what we'd gotten. Sheena got a chocolate brioche cake topped with torched whipped cream. I, only the other hand, have slowly been becoming less and less interested in super sweet desserts and was very happy that they had a fried goat cheese option.

As we enjoyed our dessert, we began striking up a conversation with our neighbors. They asked how many Dine About Town restaurants we had gone to. Then, they mentioned that they were only in town visiting from Chicago. For those of you who don't know, Chicago is very high on my list of cities to visit. It is an ultimate foodie town meriting both unique styles of food (ask any Chicagoan about hot dogs or pizza) and a variety of renowned chefs. I began asking them about all of the Chicago restaurants that I've wanted to go to, and they gave me their reviews. We talked about Restaurant Week (Chicago and NY's version of Dine About Town) and I shared my stories of the freebies I got on my trip to the Big Apple. The couple then said "Oh yes, we have a similar story.." and proceeded to tell us about how Wolfgang Puck sat down and had dessert with them when they were at Spago in Los Angeles. My jaw dropped - what an amazing story!

My favorite part of the night was when, mid-conversation, the wife stopped her sentence and said "Is the band playing Paparazzi?" Sure enough, the classic instrumental band was playing the hit Lady Gaga song.

I don't imagine that everyone will make such entertaining friends at Bottle Cap but the restaurant still had amazing food and a great atmosphere. The quaint decorating options give the feel of a French bistro while the classical ensemble playing pop music, gave a quirky, fun vibe to the meal. Bottle Cap is definitely going on my list of places to go to often.

Week of July 18th 2011: Les Halles

I'm not going to lie - I basically came into New York with a list of restaurants I had to go to. While I didn't make all of them, I'm very glad I got to try Les Halles.

After reading, Anthony Bourdain's first book, Kitchen Confidential, I felt like I knew Les Halles intimately. It felt odd that I was so familiar with the inner workings of this New York restaurant without having ever tried it's food. So, after my trip to the Met, Elissa and I got all dressed up for our French bistro style dinner. 


Although Les Halles also had a restaurant week special, we decided to order off the regular menu. I got the waiter's suggestion of the pepper steak frites while Elissa got a lovely salmon dish. It was so great. I'm not the biggest fan of a ton of pepper so I probably should have gotten the regular steak but it was still incredibly tasty. I definitely have a French food crush on steak frites after reading a travel book before my first visit to Paris so it was nice to have some again. 


I forget how it happened, but somehow the two of us fell into conversation with our waiter and, of course, I dropped the "this is my first time in New York line." So he asked me about San Francisco and insisted that I make him a list of restaurants that he should eat at next time he travels here. He also gave me a business card that told me which episodes of No Reservations he was on. He was also helpful with wine pairings... so helpful that he gave us a full glass "taste" of something he had recommended. 


As we were finishing our dinner, he surprised us with a bowl of different sorbets. I swear to you - if it is your first time in a new city tell people!!! I think if you're a nice person who is generally interested in the place you are visiting, the worst thing is that people will be nice back to you and the best is that they may leave you a few treats with your dinner. 


I loved the food at Les Halles and even though Mr. Bourdain doesn't work there anymore, the food is still fantastic. I highly recommend it to everyone. 

Week of July 18th 2011: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The next day, I finally got to explore some of New York City. Elissa had to wait for some couches to be delivered to her apartment (she had only moved in a couple of weeks earlier after all) so we got lunch and then she left me to explore the Met on  my own.

To be honest, I kind of like exploring museums like this on my own. It's such a big museum with so many varieties of art that it's nice to just get lost and figure out what kind of things I like best. I quickly found a few things that I really loved about the Met. Since this trip was a while ago, my memory is a little fragmented so this post is going to jump around a little bit.

The thing I love most - was just the age of the building. One of my favorite things in the old European museums are the worn down steps that show just how many people have traversed over them though out the years. Another thing that I really loved about the Met were the buildings inside the building. Apparently when the Met was built, it was significantly smaller than it is now. In order to expand, they just continued to build around it, leaving the original pieces intact. This makes for a really cool aesthetic where you can often see parts of the original. I was so fascinated by this. It is so fun to see history as part of your surroundings - it's why I love the Paris museums so much as well.


I continued to wander around the museum in no particular order. The photography wing had a highlight that the nerd in me went crazy for. There was a wall that was covered in identical photos of the Lincoln side of a penny at different stages of oxidation. I was so amused by how different the penny could look depending on how far along it was. I think the exhibit itself focused on those kinds of intricacies in every day life.

I was excited to see Degas' ballerina statue though. I had learned about it in art class years ago and saw it at the Musee D'Orsay the first time I went. I knew the museum was under renovation so I figured this was where the original was hanging out until the renovation was done. I would soon find out how wrong I was.

Near the end of my trip to The Met I just wandered around the contemporary and modern art wings. Like I had mentioned before, contemporary art has really been growing on me. It definitely made my day to see a statue of a man crouched against a wall. It had a very fun Nightcrawler vibe to it and even though it's missing the tail, I decided to think of it as the Nightcrawler statue.


I really wish I had taken more notes about the museum when I went because I'm at a huge loss for things to say even though I know I really loved it. I guess I'll just scatter some pretty pictures through this post and call it a day.

Week of July 18th 2011: New York City and Colicchio & Sons

If you are a constant reader of my blog, you know that I have a consistent New Year's Resolution to travel to a new place. The reason this one is so important to me is that even though I've don'e a good bit of international travel, I've been really terrible about going to places that are more domestic. Up until July of last year, I hadn't even been to New York (aside from changing planes at JFK). This was way at the top of my list of places to go but I knew that if I was going to go I'd want a companion or place to stay. Well, after my friend, Elissa, moved there earlier in the summer, I knew I had both.

Elissa had given me the directions to get to her apartment from the airport. After several transfers, I soon found myself stepping out of a subway and into the sweltering heat of New York in the summer. For someone who grew up in a city that frequently had over 100 degree summers, it's funny how quickly I've adapted to the mild seasons of San Francisco.

After Elissa got off work, she helped me settled into her lovely Upper East Side apartment and then we changed to go out to dinner. I had luckily showed up in New York during Restaurant Week (similar to dine about town with $35 prix fixe menu) so I was excited to try a lot of places that were otherwise out of my price range. As a big Top Chef fan, I was really happy to see that Tom Colicchio (long standing head judge of the show) had a restaurant on the list and I was able to snag a reservation!

We showed up at Colicchio and Sons which was located just by the meat packing district and the elevated park and were instantly impressed by the modern decor. I personally loved the wine bottle tree. I gave my name to the hostess, but she couldn't find my reservation so - I pulled up the Open Table email on my phone... and quickly realized that I had been off by a week. I was so sad about messing up the reservation and told the hostess that it was my first night ever in NYC and had really  looked forward to dining there. Luckily, the hostess team was very nice and said they'd find a way to squeeze us in if we wouldn't mind waiting a the bar for a bit. We were so happy that they were accommodating, that we didn't have any problem finding something off of the impressive drink menu.

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of our dinner so it's a little harder to remember exactly what we got. However, I do remember getting an extra course of rabbit sausage pizza mysteriously delivered to our table. We quickly began to realize that mentioning that it was my first time in New York was a great way to have people give us really good service (aka freebies).

We also got a chance to meet up with my friends Anthony and Ian who were roadtripping across the country and happened to be in New York at the same time as me. We end up at several college-esque bars that felt quite appropriate as a meetup with some of my college friends. Anthony has a blog as well and he wrote about our adventures with only a week lag instead of 11 months. You can read that here.

It was definitely a great start to the first of many adventures that we were going to have that trip.

As an aside - the next few posts will be pretty picture free. I had dropped my camera in a creek while in Southern California and my phone had terrible battery life. I took what I could between my broken camera, phone and tablet (yes, I was that awkward person taking tablet pictures - I was desperate) but there will be a lot of barren posts. I know they are less interesting. I'm sorry.

Week of July 11th 2011: River Rafting

It's hard to believe I'm almost a whole year behind on posts! I think my change from One New Thing a  Week to Nikki's New Things will help it catch up somewhere around the beginning of 2012 but there are still a lot of adventures to write about. Let's hope my memory does them justice.

Last summer, my friend Conor organized a river rafting trip on the American River. I had never been river rafting so I was really excited to go and instantly told him to count me in. When I thought of river rafting, my first thought was immediately of white water rapid, helmets, big rocks, possibly falling out of the boat, etc. Well, turns out rafting on the American River is a completely different experience.

We got to the river rafting site, and Conor went to get our rafts as the rest of us put on sunscreen and ate some lunch. Soon, we were carrying our rafts full of beer down to the very calm water. This kind of rafting trip was much more like a moving summer pool party than anything too dangerous. We had a little raft race and then eventually tied our two rafts together so we didn't have to worry about losing each other.

Since it wasn't too far into the summer, the water was still pretty chilly and I was a little hesitant to just dive right in but a few hours in the sun and the water felt nice. Sometimes we didn't have too much of a choice as many passing rafts would spray us with water guns. Soon most of us were in and out of the raft and really enjoying the water. We even pulled our raft over a couple of times to find places where we could all jump in the water.

A little ways down the river, we saw a few rafts pulled over and swinging into the water from a rope hanging from a tree. Of course our group pulled over to join in as well. We noticed that the other groups were only sending up boys so the girls in our group decided that we would have to go up and join in too. I was definitely really nervous about swinging in. Even though I love adventures, I always think about everything that could go wrong - but that was all for naught because when it was my turn, I swung far out and landed safely in the icey water. All of the other rafts were really nice and they helped check to make sure I didn't have any problem getting out of the water and then offered me a beer.

Eventually we made it to the end of rafting portion of the river and had to return everything and wait for the bus back to where we parked. Rafting down the American River was such a great way to spend a warm, sunny day and I'm very excited that I get a chance to go back later this summer... with an even bigger group!!!

And We're Back...

As I'm sure you may have noticed, I had to block my own site for a while. No, this wasn't some sort of protest against internet privacy laws, but it did have to do with my internet privacy. I recently had the unfortunate experience of being the target of internet harassment.

I've worked really hard to make the conscious decision to keep track of what I put out there in internet world. On this blog, I've been very deliberate to not post my full name, where I work, or even full pictures of myself. This blog is probably my most public online image and as such, I've tried to keep it really private where it matters. On the other hand, I am more public on my social networks where I have tight privacy settings and monitor who I accept as friends or links or put in my circles.

Despite that, I found something that I couldn't control - what other people said about me. Just because I could control what I put out about myself, didn't mean that others where unable to say false things about me on the internet or share my private information. Finding this gap in privacy and reputation control was incredibly disheartening.

While I did my best to report any posts about myself or my friends, I realized that the biggest thing I could do was stop the poison from spreading anymore. I double checked and reinforced my privacy settings, but I knew I would have to tackle the bigger question of what to do with my blog. While there is not personal information and there are no pictures, I do share a lot of personal experiences. This blog is as much a way for me to remember some really cool things I did, as it is a means for me to let people know what's out there. I really love my blog and I realized that I didn't want this person to touch something that I love.

I hope I didn't lose any of my followers by having to privatize my blog. It's made me really happy to see the number of readers I get a month grow. Based on the countries that read my blog based on my stats, I don't think my Twitter and Facebook messages got out to everyone so here is hoping that you're still checking on me.

If any of you have been the target of internet harassment or defamation and would like to reach out to me with how you dealt with it, I'd really like to hear about it. I'm not really sure what my options are and I'd be really comforted to know that I have some.

Spring Cleaning

Every now and then I like to write a post that has nothing to do with the theme of the blog, but one of my resolutions was to get more organized and I wanted to show you some of the little things I've been doing to reach that goal.

To say I'm not the neatest person in the whole world, would be an understatement. My desk and room are in a perpetual state of "clutter" and I function on the system of "everything has a place - but I'm the only person who knows that that place is so don't bother to figure it out." But, still, I'm only human and the clutter gets to a point that I scream inside and need to figure out a better system. Now that I'm home a lot studying, this has happened more often so I wanted to share some of the things I've been doing to clean out my life a little and stay focused. You may call it procrastinating since I really should be studying but I like to borrow the words of my 9th grade English teacher and say "a cluttered space is a cluttered mind." So let's get rid of some clutter.

Do you really need it?
Sometimes it's good to get rid of things even if you're not replacing them. You just have to go through and think about if you're really going to use something. The next few tips are just some of my methods of getting rid of the things I don't really need.

One In, One Out
Lately I've been doing a lot of shopping. I recently changed jobs and I also just realized my wardrobe was a little out of date. After 3-4 years in the working world, it was time to replace some of the things that I've had since starting. I didn't strictly count piece by piece but after each shopping trip I would go through my closet and drawers and get rid of my older clothes. I've made bags and bags of things to give to Goodwill over the past couple of years. In all honesty, I've probably given more than I've purchased since I was the same size for a long time and kind of hoarded clothing. At some point, you need to face the facts that you're not actually going to wear that again and you don't need 25 similar t-shirts.

On the t-shirt note, I've had some friends make t-shirt quilts from shirts that we got for free or for fund raisers. I didn't have the patience for this product but I'm pretty jealous of the quilts they ended up with.

If you itemize your taxes, places like Goodwill also give receipts for your donations. I don't itemize and I usually like to be in and out so I just drop mine off.

Sell It
The hardest things for me to get rid of are movies, books, and games. One of my favorite childhood (and still) movies is Beauty and the Beast and I used to dream of have a floor to ceiling library in my future mansion. Because of that, I hoard books notoriously. I was always really skeptical of the e-book trend and was steadfast that I needed to save every book so that I could have my library. I don't think I'll ever let go of my childhood dream but right now, I live in a tiny San Francisco apartment so these things just aren't practical. I joined the Kindle bandwagon a couple of years ago, but I still have my old paper favorites. I've gone through my books and movies and games and decided to sell or donate the ones that I don't absolutely LOVE. Am I really going to read that chick lit book again? No. Am I really going to play that video game again when I have tons I haven't played? Probably not. Am I going to watch all of these movies when my Netflix queue has hundreds of movies and I usually just watch them when they're on TV? I think you know the answer.

On our way to a few local bookstores

The problem with trying to sell these things is that the re-sale value drops quickly. A lot of stores won't give you much but if you're willing to go through the time, you can get something. The internet is probably your best bet if you want to get every penny out of your goods. Glyde.com is my favorite for video games and movies. You can set your price and they will tell you how much you'll net out of that. When someone buys your item, they send you a pre-paid envelope so that you can ship it to them. I like how hassle-free it is but if you're willing to trek to the post office every now and then half.com, ebay.com, and amazon.com are all great options too. If you don't want to wait and don't mind getting a little less, there are plenty of stores that buy back too. A quick internet search should be able to guide you in the right direction.

Or do things the old fashioned way....
But when you do need paper, I find a filing cabinet is great. I can keep track of all my important paperwork this way. Even though it's a hassle to organize, it makes me feel safe knowing that I've held onto the paperwork for my car or medical records, etc. Since I'm one, young person I don't have a ton of paperwork so I use the bottom drawer of the cabinet as additional storage.

Keep the Same Items in Less Space
Actually, the more I think about it (this post was written over a period of time...), I really can't part with my DVDs. They were such a big investment at the time are worth so little now (thanks Netflix). Instead, I decided to get a giant CD case to put them all into so that I can get rid of the cases, take up less space but don't have to part with my costly collection.

Make the most of your space
I used to kind of just throw the things I wasn't using into my closet. However with a growing shoe collection (the one thing I seem to find impossible to purge) I realized I needed a better system so I decided to keep the shoe boxes for my newer shoes so that I could stack them easily. My older shoes don't have boxes so they just rest on my shoe rack. For flip flops, I keep them in a line on the floor of my closet.

Even though I have a ton of shoes, they only take up one side of my tiny closet. On the right side of my closet, I took an old crate I wasn't using anymore and put all my purses in it. Since I usually use the same bag for work, it keeps the others out of the way until I need one. On the floor of my closet, I have a small shelfing unit for extra storage. I keep printer paper and other computer supplies on one and my bedding on the other.

I also have a ton of bookshelves. Since I've been trying to donate or sell books and read more electronically, they have plenty of space for other items. Bookshelves can be a good way to display fun items you have, or for a little extra storage. For some of my shelves, I bought cute wicker baskets so that I could keep smaller items tucked away out of site.

Storage Solutions
If you really can't bear to part with something - find a place for it. I have a few puzzles that I've collected from some of my trips. It would be easy to say "you don't use them so trash them" but I really love them and the only reason I don't use them is because I don't have a big enough surface in my apartment. Since I know I won't be using them for a while I tucked them out of the way in some drawers and shelves that are harder to access. This way I can make use of storage but I don't have to worry about how hard to get to they are.

To organize my jewelry, I got a necklace tree and ring dish. After hanging up my jewelery, I realized the tree was looking very crowded and it was a good push for me to get rid of some cheaper old necklaces that I never wear.

And if all that fails...

Just Trash It!

Coverless, chewed up or out of date books

Sometimes there just isn't a place for something. I donate most of the things I get rid of but I know even Goodwill won't take something that's excessively damaged and there's no choice but to trash or recycle it. This is also just a good practice for things that come in. Junk mail? Straight to the recycling bin. Freebies? Just don't take them! That cute macaron box that you swear you're going to put things in? Put something in it or move on.

For a long time, I used to keep my magazines and swear that I was going to go through and cut out cool pictures for a collages. Well, after years of magazine hoarding I realized that I haven't made a collage in 7 years and finance magazines probably wouldn't be a good place to start so I went through the few magazines that probably would have fun clips or recipes and trashed the rest. I still don't look at those but it's a small comfort until I can work through everything else.

Making Things Pretty

The pair of these flowers cost me $20

So hopefully you have a ton of space now so make your home pretty. Since I have a ton of empty shelves, I've used them to display artwork or nick knacks that have sentimental value. Some shelves have some nicer glassware or souvenirs too.

It's also nice just to have open space. Keeping my counters clear has given me some room to display flowers so I've been trying to keep some at the apartment. You can get a nice bouquet at Safeway, Trader Joes or Costco for $4-$20 (depending on the type of flower) and they last a couple of weeks.

And most importantly.... KEEP THE JUNK OUT! Just because you have more space now doesn't mean you need to fill it up with the kind of stuff you just got rid of.

These are just some of the things that I've found helpful. Like I said, I'm far from the neatest person but in my effort to fix that, I've found some things that work. If you have any of your own tips feel free to share them! It may seem like a lot but I basically spent one evening/afternoon a week sorting through things and organizing.

In the weeks since writing this, I've seen some of the clutter sneak back out (mostly since I've been studying so much) but it's definitely been controlled by the fact that there is just less stuff around the apartment.

Week of July 11th 2011: San Francisco Zoo

Is it ok if I make up for missing weeks by doing two posts in one week? Can I just average 52 posts a year? Ironically, I tend to have a few "draft" posts but none of them were quite ready for publishing. In either case, my warning is that with studying, work, and some semblance of a life - I'm stretched a little thin for the next few weeks but I will definitely make it up to you. Anyways, enough of my excuses...

I love animals and so I really like zoos. Growing up in LA, I went to an amazing zoo fairly often. When I was in college, I decided to check out the Oakland zoo and was really disapointed. I'd heard bad things about the San Francisco Zoo as well so I was skeptical about going. However, my last job started having an annual volunteer day and one of the options was a day doing landscaping at the zoo. I don't mind manual labor and it was a chance to check out the zoo so I decided to sign up for it.

I got to pet you!

The morning at the zoo was really fun. Because there were a few different options for the volunteer day, it really split up our company and I got to interact with some people I don't get to talk to as much. Even though I knew I wouldn't be there much longer, it never hurts to be nice and get to know the people that you work with.

Since we had a pretty big group, we finished the area of the zoo that they had set out for us with plenty of time before we had to go back to work. In order to thank us for the hard work, the zoo gave us a special treat - we got to pet a Koala bear!!!

Koala bears aren't really what you'd expect... they fur is almost like petting a coarse poodle... very fluffy. The eucalyptus leaves make their fur smell amazing as well. The Koala we got to pet was "friendly" but you could tell he was still quite shy.

After the Koala bear petting, we got a brief tour of the zoo. I was really excited to get to see the tigers. Say what you will about tigers in San Francisco (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not going to learn here), they are my favorite animal. The SF zoo had several tigers and each had their own habitat, plenty of room to pace, and were easy to see. I feel like whenever I go to a zoo, the tigers are sleeping or hiding. In Oakland, the viewing areas were so small it was impossible to see anything. However, at the SF zoo, they were awake and almost eerily watching us. I made a little video of one of them pacing.

The rest of the tour was pretty brief. We saw a lot of the usual animals but there was one other stand out. The SF zoo had a few little penguins. Apparently they are a special breed that can handle warmer climates. I'd never seen those before so that was really cool.

Like I said, I really love animals and I really want to go back to the zoo some day. They actually have volunteer days some Saturdays and I've been meaning to go back. If anyone would like to join me, let me know and I send you the information.

Week of July 3rd 2011: La Brea Tar Pits

As I was driving around LACMA looking for parking, I had passed the La Brea Tar Pits. Despite buildings and streets in the area being named "La Brea," I had never pieced together that the tar pits were in the middle of a busy part of Los Angeles. I figured that since I was in the area, it would be a good opportunity to check out the  prehistoric landmark.

Along the street is one of the bigger pits. This one has some large, fake, extinct creatures placed in it for decoration so I decided to snap a few photos of that and then continue exploring.

The actual tar pits themselves are part of a bigger museum that focuses on the fossils that have been found and pre-historic discoveries. I'm actually a huge science nerd and really wanted to check this out, but I knew I didn't have enough time to really do it justice. It will probably be fun to come back some time with my young niece and help teach her about science (and post about that new experience too).

Since I wasn't able to go into the actual museum itself, I decided to keep walking around and looking at the various tar pits that were scattered around the park. Yes, the tar pits are actually separated by lovely paths and gardens (that I later found out all house pre-historic plants) so it was really nice to take a leisurely stroll around the area (about as leisurely as a 100 degree day can be at least).

After walking around a bit, I found something especially interesting - there was a tar pit that was currently under excavation. The pit had a small viewing area for guests to look into and see what the site looks like while scientists are busy unearthing new fossils. It was really interesting to see the set up and wonder if they'd found anything interesting so far.

According to their website, the new site was found when LACMA decided to build a new parking garage. In the process, they found new fossils. Luckily, they were able to start the new excavations despite the construction.

I really loved that there were current excavations going on. It's a good reminder that museums aren't just collections of artifacts for people to look at, they are also places where current research is being done and discoveries are being made.

Plus, it never hurts remembering that Science is fun. 

Week of July 3rd 2011: Los Angeles County Museum of Art

After checking out the Tim Burton exhibit, I decided to look through the rest of the LA County Museum of Art or LACMA, as it's more commonly referred to.

LACMA is in a very interesting space. The museum is held over several different buildings and outdoor spaces, showing a real separation between themes. As a natural progression, I decided to go to the building right next to the Tim Burton exhibit. This was the home to the Contemporary wing. If you had asked me earlier that day, I would have told you that I hate modern and contemporary art. This exhibit changed my mind.

The Contemporary wing opened up to a huge, very noticeable piece - a giant balloon dog. Of course, it wasn't actually a balloon but I just thought the piece was so fun, I had to get a snapshot of it. At first glance, the room didn't seem to have anything else that was too spectacular. The same artist had a few other pieces, but these looked so much less impressive. One looked like an inflatable raft stuck between the rungs of a ladder. Another was a floatie that that had been pushed through a chain link fence. At first I thought this was really dumb too... until I started thinking that there was no way it should still be inflated. So I read the descriptions of the pieces and saw that they weren't floaties or inflatable rafts... they were actually created from metal and paint. They looked so realistic, and at that moment I had such a realization of how amazing this artist really was.

On the back wall of the room, there were also some giant works that looked like some photo/art collage mixes. Just like the "inflatable" pieces, I didn't think much of them... until I realized that there was no a single photograph - they were all painted. I'd never seen such a realistic looking painting before. I spent the rest of the time in the exhibit trying to figure out what was a photo and what was a painting. They were all paintings.

That room had a few other gems, some you may recognize from some little old artist that goes by Andy Warhol...


I hate to say this, but I was much less impressed by his pieces after seeing the hyper-realistic ones. They just made his seem simple in comparison.

The rest of the contemporary wing was fun, even if it was a little less memorable. It made me realize that contemporary art is all about showing you something ordinary in an extraordinary way. Maybe it portrays a feeling or sensation - just like the twisted bed reminded me of sleepless nights and my fits of insomnia. Maybe it was just showing a sense of humor - like the giant litter box.

Since the contemporary wing was so fun, I decided to go check out the modern art exhibits. There were some pieces that seemed very similar to the contemporary wing. This giant comb was still fitting of style of ordinary-in-an-extraordinary way.

But then I turned a corner and remembered why I dislike modern art so much...

I will never ever understand the artistic quality of a blank canvas. Ever. My theory with art is that if I feel like I can go home and make it rather quickly - it probably shouldn't be a in a museum.

I thought the blank canvas was bad... until I saw the piece that looked like a painting that was just wrapped up for shipping. For some reason, this one was even worse in my opinion. For all I know, it was wrapped up to be shipped out for another museum. I'm sure that a curator would have some explanation about the artistic merits of modern art, but I just find it all pretty unbelievable.

The rest of the museum had a lot of beautiful exhibits as well. I went through them a little quicker so I don't have specific comments or pictures for you. Honestly, the museum is huge so it was hard to take everything in. I definitely would love to make a few more trips back there and maybe even bring my sketchbook. It was one of the things I really wished I had on this trip, and sketching while in a museum is something I haven't done yet. I know it's really common for artists and students so I definitely would love to give it a try and see what I'll be inspired to come up with.

So what do you do when you're done looking at art? Well, you go check out some smelly tar pits of course! But - that's for next time.