And We Are Back in Business

Well, that was a crazy couple of months. Guys - moving is hard. Let me just repeat that. Moving is really really hard. I kind of thought we would just throw all our stuff in a U-haul, drive down to San Diego, and be unpacked and get settled in a week - immediately having tons of free time for blog posts and cosplay and kitchen experiments. In reality - I think there's STILL a box or two hanging around and we've been here almost 4 months! I'll probably unpack it in November and then we'll decide to change apartments or something.

To add to the madness, a month in I decided that I absolutely could not continue to function without "just going to look at some puppies." We came home with the first one that seemed like she could be a good medium sized puppy that would fit our active lifestyle. Oops.

Aside from just unpacking and getting used to a baby animal in the house, moving is so much more than that. When you get to a new place, especially one as awesome as San Diego, you want to explore. We go out more at night. We've been making friends. We sign up for a lot of events. We are doing a lot. It's always so nice here. My free time isn't spent in front of a computer, it's going on walks, or swimming, or getting some sun at the pool. Finally though, I realized I missed by blog and there are a couple of clouds outside (which is probably as close as we are going to get to good blog writing weather) so it's time to fill you guys in.

One thing that I've loved about this blog is the way it's evolved. It started as My One New Thing a Week - a way for me to get out and explore SF because I wanted to move to San Diego. Ironically, after that I decided I wanted to stay in SF longer - but hey! looks like we made it to San Diego eventually after all. From there, it just became a way to document all kinds of adventures and personal journeys, and then I just wanted to step out of talking about my personal life for a while because I was hurt and a little broken and it was easier to talk about exciting new movies and my favorite books and go into another world. When I came back again, this blog became about all of those things and more. It's a place for my adventures, nerdy interests, recipes, craft ideas - everything.


So I figured all of those branches of what this blog was and is - they are all part of where I want to take it. I want to share with you my recipes and cooking adventures (and trust me, I think all the time about trying to do another cooking challenge), I want to share event and restaurant reviews, and I want this to be a great way for friends near and far to get a good pulse and what's going on with Nikki and Dan in San Diego Ville.

Anyways - we are back! I spent a strenuous afternoon at the pool taking lots of notes on blog posts for you guys so I need to get busy writing and sharing all of our adventures with you!

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 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 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!!!

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: Ocean Jet Skiing

Jet skiing is probably my favorite thing that I don't do nearly as much as I wish I did. I can count on one hand each time that I've gone and each memory is so vivid. I've always wanted to live somewhere where owning a jet ski was practical and it's always been a short term goal for me. Since I can' justify the jet ski yet, I was at least able to come close to the feeling and get a scooter. While riding through the streets has similar thrills, pavement and traffic just don't compare to feeling of waves splashing on you as you zip through the water.

While in Santa Barbara, I was so close to the beach that I knew I would regret it if I didn't find some time to kayak (another love of mine) or jet ski. However, this was supposed to be a bit more of a budget trip and I wasn't sure if I wanted to drop the heavy price tag for jet skiing yet kayaking by myself didn't seem too fun either.

After getting a little lost in the Santa Barbara hills, I finally found my way to the beach and at the risk of being too late to the family 4th of July barbecue, I pulled into the first parking spot I saw. I pulled up Google Maps and looked up exactly where this jet ski place was and by sheer coincidence, I'd parked about 100 yards away from it. I'm superstitious enough to know that I had to do this. While I was still concerned about the cost, I knew I had to bite the bullet. Looking back, I know that there is no way that small savings would have made me as happy as jet skiing did.

It's funny how easy it is to rent something like a jet ski. Pay some money, sign your life away, hand over proof that you know how to drive something and you're off!

Riding a Jet ski is just so much fun. If you haven't tried it, I highly suggest it. My ride in Santa Barbara was so amazing. There were tons of seals sitting on the buoys and I even saw a few dolphins jumping in the water. I didn't have a waterproof camera at the time and I am really kicking myself for not thinking to buy one before. I will definitely try to get some photos next time.

Week of July 3rd 2011: Rattlesnake Canyon

I really love hiking, but it's a little ridiculous how infrequently I do it. My parents house was located behind a huge park and I basically grew up going on hikes, climbing trees, and discovering new paths literally in my back yard. I always want to go on hikes but it is one of the few things that I won't do alone (I've read enough articles about young women disappearing in the woods) so when my cousin posted pictures on Facebook of a beautiful hike in the Santa Barbara woods - I asked if she would take me on that hike when I visited.

My cousin, Alexah, loves the outdoors. Last summer when I went to visit, it was the summer before her senior year in high school and she was about to go on a fellowship in Yellowstone. She was also on track (and did) to graduate a semester early. She's pretty much amazing so I was pretty confident that she was going to lead us on a great hike.

We drove through the winding Santa Barbara hills until we finally arrived at the place where we could enter the hike. As we were following a stream, Alexah suggested just walking barefoot. At first my mind jumped at every terrible possibility - leeches, slipping, stepping on a pointy rock - and then I thought, "She's clearly done this before and you used to this when you were her age too. When did you get so... worried?" so I took off my shoes and joined her.

The hike was amazing. It wasn't the normal trail path that I do occasionally here in San Francisco, but one where you had to step over stones, fallen branchs, walk through the creek and climb over rocks. This is the kind of thing that I used to do when I was Alexah's age and younger and I missed it so badly. We eventually got to a point where there was a short waterfall and a pool of water. Alexah climbed up the rocks and jumped into the water and I knew I couldn't let her show me up so I soon followed. We continued our hike through the hills until we found a second waterfall / pool area. Alexah continued to jump into the water but this pool was a lot colder and a little shallower so I decided just to watch this time.

I loved this hike so much. It was nice to do something carefree but also a little more complicated than just following a trail - anyone can do that. I also got to spend some time with my little cousin in almost total solitude (we only saw two other people the whole time). I will definitely drag her out for another hike next time I'm in Santa Barbara for a weekend.

Week of June 27th 2011: Butterfly Beach

The first stop on my road trip was Santa Barbara. My closest Aunt and Godmother lives there and I try to visit her every so often. I hadn't been to stay with her in some time though so I was long overdue.

Visiting my Aunt is always one of my favorite things. My parents used to ship me away to Santa Barbara for about a week every summer and my Aunt had a huge hand in shaping who I am today. She used to take me to book stores, show me how to paint, teach me ceramics, and show me the beauty of the outdoors. It's no wonder that reading, painting, sculpting and exploring nature are still very important to me. As I've become an adult, we've also just realized we really get along so I definitely owed her a visit, especially after she had been up to see me earlier that year.

My Aunt and Uncle always roll out the red carpet for me. I arrived to a beautiful plate full of dried meats, smoked salmon and cheeses. So what did I do? I pulled out one of my many bottles of wine and we discussed what I wanted to see while I was there. We through around a few ideas but thought that going to see Butterfly Beach would be a good way to spend the next afternoon. 

Butterfly beach is located near Montecito and in a very nice part of the city (not that there are any bad parts in Santa Barbara) full of ritzy hotels and amazing houses. The tide was rather high while we were there so my Aunt stayed behind to take pictures (she later makes beautiful paintings based on her snapshots) while my Uncle, my cousin, and I roamed down the beach, picking out which houses we would buy when we were billionaires. 

Although we only stopped by the beach in order to have short stroll through the waves, there were many people there with their families so it's also a great place to go and spend the day. 

July 2011

July was a really great month for me last year. When I was working on the chronology page of this blog, I also decided to start listing the things I plan to write about and July had a ton. July really was about new things.

In the beginning of the month I decided to take a road trip to visit my family, by myself, for no special occaission. I hadn't really done that before.There was something so nice about having the freedom to stop and do what I wanted. Whether it was making a pit stop at the beach to go jet skiing, or stopping by a little factory to buy new sandals - the whole trip was on my schedule. I know my family also really appreciated me taking the time to visit them when there wasn't really a special occasion. From my Aunt to my parents to my brothers, I could tell they appreciated me finally making good on my promises to come visit.

But July wasn't only about visiting family, I had a lot of friends who were wondering when I was going to see them as well. For over a year, my friend in Washington D.C. had been asking when I was going to see them so after Elissa moved to New York, I decided to make one big East Coast trip. The fun thing about visiting people is that it's really nice being someone's guest and they're usually really excited to show you what's amazing about their city... but they have lives too so you also get a lot of time to explore on your own and I loved that. Whether it was boating or going to a baseball game with company or explore towers, memorials and museums on my own - I loved every bit of my East Coast trip.

I didn't go anywhere exotic (in fact, quite the opposite as going to SoCal is always a little like going home), but the trips were so remarkable. Whether the new thing was giving myself the freedom to take a trip on my own or or being a complete tourist in some of the biggest cities in the country, there were a lot of them. There is something special and important between finding that balance between independence, family, and friendship; between exciting new adventures and comforting old ones.

Trying to pick just a few snapshots from my adventures just reminded me how much I did that month and I can't wait to share it with you.

Week of May 30th: BFD

I was just thinking that I flew through the May posts and then I realized that I was exerting my new option to not write about each and every new thing... Don't worry, it will be worth me skipping over the boring stuff to get to the plethora of posts I have for July (I've been keeping track of what I plan to write about in the Chronological Archive tab so see for yourself).

BFD was the day after the CFA exam so it was basically the first real day for me to let loose. For those of you who don't know - BFD basically stands for "Big Freaking Deal" and it's big concert that the local rock station, Live 105.3, puts on every summer. On Cinco de Mayo, I had invited a bunch of friends to go to a Mexican bar and restaurant with me. Live 105 had a booth there and they had a pinata full of prizes. My friend, Oleg, got in line and since it was a few days after my birthday, I took it upon myself to cut him in line. Turns out - I pulled the last envelope with tickets so I invited Oleg to be my guest to the concert.

BFD was conveniently scheduled the day after my big CFA exam so I was excited to have a fun filled day planned. Oleg and I planned to meet up with my friends Filip and Dom as they had also won tickets on Cinco de Mayo. We got there early as I would recommend to anyone going to the Shoreline Ampitheatre. EVER. Always go early. One time I missed all of the opening acts of a concert because it took an hour to park. So our two cars got there early and missed a lot of the crowds. After enjoying some beverages and having a very entertaining encounter with a young man who was "too drunk" to go to his job as "alcohol enforcement" we decided to head into the show.

BFD is a festival style concert so there were tons of options to choose from. Luckily - the concert provided these temporary tattoos with the schedules for the three most popular stages. I thought this was pretty genius (until I tried to get it off before work the next day...). I didn't have much of an agenda so we just followed the crowd from stage to stage until it got closer to the main stage perfomances.

Since I was the most excited to see Snoop Dogg and Linkin Park (and super tired from my test the day before), I volunteered to go save some spots on the lawn area. Even though it was a few hours before the bands came on it was still packed. Luckily I was able to grab a spot and proceed gentley into nap land.

My friends joined me and woke me up just in time for Snoop Dogg... who was incredible. It was really cool hearing a lot of his songs that I used to listen to in high school. There's something a little nostalgic about that. Plus, he was just hilarious and cracking jokes the whole time. I also don't think there are many artists who can perform a sold out concert... in sweatsuit, but Snoop Dogg pulled it off.

I have always loved Linkin Park and they also did not disappoint. They had really cool black and white lighting that just looked amazing. It's also nice putting more of a face to the members. The singer has such an incredible voice and was so emotional with his singing which contrasted nicely with the rapper.
The rest of the band was also very talented and were constantly switching instruments to create the beats.

BFD was a lot of fun. I definitely am going to check out the line up for next year.. and maybe even stay awake the whole day.

Week of May 9th 2011: Bay to Breakers

Bay to Breakers was an event that constantly came up on my list of things to do each year, but the infamous race always fell a few weeks before the CFA exam and I just couldn't justify missing out on the valuable study time. However, I usually ended up spending the day moping that I was the only person in the city not taking part and decided that this year I would participate.

I actually only found out what Bay to Breakers was a few years ago when I was a senior in college, the first time I had ever heard its name was many years before that. Like many high schoolers, I spent my summers as a camp counselor. Our camp was known for having themed weeks - the best being Color Wars. Color Wars was something like the houses in Harry Potter - the whole came was divided into colors. They were encouraged to wear them around camp all week and certain activities would win points for your color. One year, the captain of the blue team had a shirt (he wore it most of the week so I think it was his only blue shirt) that said "I did not run in Bay to Breakers." All week kids would ask him what that was and he would respond with "I don't know - I've never ran in it." So, it was pretty interested when I found out it was a real event and kind of a big deal.

For those not in the Bay Area - Bay to Breakers is a race in San Francisco that goes from the Bay to the Ocean (Breakers) which is approximately 7.5 miles (12 km). It's well known for being a shorter but rather challenging course due to the hilly nature of the city. It is also well known for the number of people who dress up in silly costumes or themes during the race. It's estimated that about half of the participants are not registered runners, but simply participating in the festivities.

The 2011 enforced many new rules - no public drinking and no floats. As my first year participating, I didn't really know what this meant for me. My friends and I pulled together some random costume items and decided to head out anyways. I definitely think the best part of Bay to Breakers is just seeing all of the costumes that everyone dons. I love costume parties and Bay to Breakers feels like a city-wide one.

Also - here is Ryan. Ryan told me he wouldn't read my blog until I wrote about him. I always want to increase my readership so here you are:

I had a blast at Bay to Breakers and I'm glad my friends dragged me out to it. Even though many participants said it wasn't as fun with the new rules - I still had a great time since there was nothing to compare it to.

Week of March 28th 2011: Dolores Park

The weekend after my big trip, I realized I had a lot of studying to do and I still hadn't done my new thing so I decided to grab my books, put on my skates (yes, skates. Some people still use those) and make my way over to Dolores Park.

Distance is a funny thing. For the first year and a half that I lived in my very central apartment, aside from trips to the supermarket or gym, I made way into the Mission so infrequently. However, starting this project has shown me how close and easy to get to the Mission is. It was one less barrier to exploring the city. The reason I had never gone to the Mission before was because I always wanted to drive instead of walk and the parking situation made that impossible. Getting over that laziness was essential.

So, I found a spot up on a hill in the park and made myself comfortable - so comfortable in fact that I put away my study guide and took out my Kindle. It was too nice of an afternoon and I wanted to something I enjoyed.

I don't know how long I sat up there reading and people watching, but it was long enough to do a lot of both. The cherry on the top of the afternoon was the guy who rode his speaker-covered bicycle through the park blasting "Paradise City." There were so many different people in the park that day but almost all of them seemed to be entranced by the music. It's the little things that always seem to bring the diverse residents of San Francisco together.

Week of March 21st 2011: St. James Park and Hyde Park (London)

Near the end of my trip, once we returned to London, I noticed two things were happening. I was getting a little burnt out from going to museums and London was having exceptionally nice weather for March. I decided to take advantage and spend a couple of days just walking around the city and seeing the greenery.

For being a fairly large and industrial city, London has a large number of really big and well kept up parks. I had wanted to see all of them, but just in case it wasn’t possible, I asked Kevin for his recommendation. He said his favorite was St. James Park so I decided to check it out first. The park literally looked like it came out of a painting. There were daffodils blooming all over and little children running under the shade of the trees. It was just nice to sit and soak up the scenery. I found a nice try to sit under and wrote the first draft of my post on traveling and then decided to read for a bit. While in the park, I also took the opportunity to take some really pretty pictures of Buckingham Palace which is a few blocks away.

The next day I decided to make my way to Hyde Park. Having only seen it on a map, I assumed it would be like the large American parks (having my only reference of one those be Golden Gate Park…) which have several fields and ponds and things separated by groups of trees and paths. Hyde Park, contrarily, was a big open field with a large lake in the middle. It did have smaller recreational areas and stages, but it just wasn’t as segmented as what I had been imagining. By the time I got to Hyde Park, I’d done quite a bit of walking and just really wanted some water. Due to its sheer size, I had to walk a while before I found any refreshment stands, but it was nice to sit for a while and just read once I had gotten settled. I also had my macarons with me so I was able to enjoy a few of those… I only saw a little part of Hyde Park but it didn’t strike me as particularly impressive. The only thing I wish I would have done is go horseback riding but I’m not exactly sure what you need to reserve in order to do that.

Overall, I’d have to agree with Kevin, St. James Park was the nicest. I hadn’t been expecting that since it’s not very big and it’s in a very busy area but somehow they managed to create a really serene escape from the busy city.

Week of March 14th 2011: The Grand Trianon and Marie Antoinette's Estate (Versailles, France)

Although I had been to Versailles before, I hadn't wandered too far from the Palace and the main gardens. While the Palace is extremely beautiful, I wasn't too excited to go back. It tends to be very crowded and seeing extravagant room after extravagant room gets very tiring. However, Kevin had never been and I knew it was a must see for a trip to Paris.

Since I am a notorious over planner, I spent the week before my trip trying to figure out what I wanted to see. While talking about my plans and the day trip to Versailles with friends and co-workers, I started hearing the same thing over and over again - check out the rest of the gardens and Marie Antoinette's estate.

After a couple of days in Paris, Kevin and I (joined also by Lindsay), went on our day trip to Versailles. I was lucky that they felt similarly to me about the Palace. While it is incredible to see, it's very hard to spend a lot of time in and soon we were on a lovely stroll through the gardens to the Petite Trianon, Marie Antoinette's home away from the Palace.

I had been mostly looking forward to seeing Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet which is located in the gardens behind the Petite Trianon. The Hamlet looks like something that fell out of a Disney movie… in fact, I’m pretty certain that Belle’s house was designed after one of them. Lindsay and I had a blast looking at all of the little structures and picking which one each of us would live in. I loved the one with the balcony and spiral staircase. Lindsay made a wonderful tour guide too. She explained that each of the buildings had a different purpose and acted as a different room in a house so there was a kitchen, coop, bedroom, etc.

We continued our walk around the gardens (and by that I mean we got terribly lost… like, got to the end of the estate and had to back track) until we got back to the Petite Trianon. We decided to walk through it and I really enjoyed the relative (relative to the Palace) modesty of it. However, like the rest of Versailles, there was still quite a bit of extravagance. I was pretty entertained by the over sized billiards table we came across. We all tried to figure out how people a foot shorter than us would be able to play on it. There was also a caption saying that they had been planning a renovation the dining room that would allow the table to be stored in the kitchen so that the servants could cover it with food and then raise it up through a hole to the floor above where the diners would be waiting.  

After that, we checked out the Grand Trianon as well but our feet were aching and there weren’t many rooms open to the public so there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Lindsay had said there was a blue and gold theater somewhere nearby but after looking for a bit we realized it was way out of our way and decided to skip it since it was getting late and Kevin and I still want to go to the Louvre (our 2 day museum pass was expiring!!). That’s the problem with short trips – too much to see and never enough time. Lindsay and I didn’t even get to take Kevin up on his offer to rent a row boat for us so we could paddle through the canals! Next time…

So, if you go to Versailles, don’t get caught up in the extravagance of the palace – make your way around to the rest of the estate. It may sound cheesy, but I would also recommend watching Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. A lot of the film was filmed in Versailles and it will give you a bit of the history behind what you’re seeing.

Week of March 7th 2011: Sherlock Holmes Museum & Regent's Park (London)

I don't think a lot of people know this but I really love mystery and suspense stories. I love solving problems and I've often found that I can guess how a story is going to end so I love finding ones with a twist, unexpected turn, or more complicated solution. A couple of years ago I started getting really into Hitchcock movies and the original Sherlock Holmes stories - it was great to find more complicated, intellectual mysteries. So when I was looking for things to do around London and saw that there was a Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker St., I knew I had to visit.

Luckily for me, my host was also a big Holmes fan and he was just as excited to go as I was so we decided to make it one of my first stops. We got on the circle line and soon were at the Baker St. stop. Honestly, this was one of the best parts of going to the museum. The Baker St. stop is one of the oldest tube stops in London and it was just really cool to see it. I wish I could have taken a picture, but as there was significant construction (to prepare for the Olympics) during my time there, I was swiftly moved along.

At the entrance to the museum, there was a man dressed as an old London police officer. You could take a picture with him while wearing a Sherlock Holmes style cap. Then, he took your tickets and let you into the museum. The interior of the museum was more or less what you would expect from a museum based on a fictional series. The first two floors were set up to look like Holmes and Watson's apartment based on how they are described in the books. The top floor had several wax figures and props from the books.

I think the most surprising thing about the museum was how small the rooms are. Obviously, London is a big city and flat space is at a premium, but I just always got the impression that the sitting room was larger than it was (or maybe I watch too many Robert Downy Jr. movies...). Then again, I suppose the smaller size better explains how some of the visitors "filled the room with their presence."

Even though it was a little cheesy, it was still fun to look at all of the wax figures and props in the other rooms as well. Having read most of the stories, I really enjoyed trying to figure out which story each one was from. Here's an easy one:

After the museum, we decided to walk around Regent's Park since it was at the end of the block. Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London and it's huge. In it there are several gardens, sports fields and a zoo. Since it was such a large park, we didn't walk through the whole thing. We mostly checked out the Queen's Garden. While very beautiful, the garden was a bit of a maze and once inside, it was very difficult to find our way out. At least I got some nice pictures first.