I'm a princess

.... did we ever doubt this? However, as much as my industry indulges on treating our clients and attendees like VIPs, I never see that treatment. Well, I finally did this past week. I had a "networking" event to attend Thursday afternoon for lunch. My boss decided it was best to spend the night at the resort it was being held on so we wouldn't have to worry about driving that morning in traffic. Here's the kicker, I didn't have to be there until 11 AM for the silent auctions.

With no objections, I went ahead and signed up for the meeting along with 700 other attendees. It was for the Site SoCal Holiday Party. It consisted of meeting planners, travel coordinators, and hotel representatives from all around SoCal and NorCal. Now, to the good stuff. I ended up working late on Wednesday evening and arrived to the resort after dark. With the uplighting and palm trees I could tell I was pulling into a palace. I swear the Grand Del Mar Resort is a hidden treasure!! So I arrive, valet my car, and head straight to the front desk. By this point all I wanted to do was take my heels off and enjoy a glass of wine with my colleagues at the very swanky bar. So, I check in, get escorted to my room, which has already been turned down and prepared for me to arrive. The TV was playing soft jazz music, one of the many lamps was turned on and the front desk attendant who walked me down started to tell me about my room. I was in such awe that I didn't hear one word. First, the room was larger than my entire studio. The view of the golf course from my little porch was amazing. Second, the bathtub could have fit 4 people in it. Let's not mention the enormous shower. I have to say I was disgusted once I made it to the back of the bathroom, this was after I passed the second plasma tv in my bathroom- the closet was next, as I walked in I wondered, how much this room cost. I could have slept in my closet!! So the attendant went ahead and departed leaving me in my shock. So I headed back to the bedroom passing my bar. Still in shock I just dove onto the bed and decided I wasn't heading down to the bar. I grabbed my bottle of wine, tasty lil treats, and soaked it all in in my enormous bath tub as I soaked in a great salt bath-- yup I had all the types of bath oils, salts, and bubble baths I wanted in my amenities.... This is what I'm talking about when I say my clients get treated well. The amenities the "planner" sent to my room consisted of a great bottle of wine, lots of lil treats to snack on, bath oils, salts, and bubble bath from the spa downstairs, and my favorite flowers- tulips and orchids!! I think they just got lucky on the flower one.

Don't think the princess 2 day extraganza is over yet! If you know me, you know I don't like to eat breakfast... Well, today was different. Since I was in this luxurious resort I had to treat myself to breakfast. I will say the eggs with scallions and some type of meat in them were damn good. Still lounging around in my robe I finally got dressed ( yes, I totally slept in and lived it up on a work day.) Next, was the meeting I was there for. I really wasn't sure what to expect but soon found out. There were roughly 150 items to bid on for a silent auction. Ranging from 7 Jeans for Mankind starting at $20 to trips all around the world. Now if I hadn't received my Christmas bonus the night before I might have been hesitant to even think about bidding- but then I remembered I wasn't taking a trip for my 25 bday anymore and decided to test my hand in luck. The decision was, do I bid on the 6 day trip to Bora Bora, Italy, Lisbon, the Rainforest, Whistler, China, or one of the other 100 destination packages?? So I made the first lap around the room meeting and mingling and decided to bid on something none of the "older" crowd would opt for. The 4 day vacation split at 2 different resorts with all meals and touristy packages and spa packages in the rainforest. Seriously people, you know I would do this in a heartbeat- especially since we were planning to go the rainforest in Costa Rica this year for the bday. So, I waited and waited and NO ONE bid on this the entire hour it was out. So I placed my starting bid at $275. Then some sneak old lady in an outfit that totally did not match or flatter her swooped in. Thinking I was sneaky, I waiting 1 minute before the sheets were pulled and out bid here. Excited with my steal I started to envision my vacation in the rainforest! Word to the wise folks, do smile until you know you have it. The sneaky old bat stole it from me outbidding me- you can only imagine how upset I was. I guess old people do know a think or two still. But what a steal -a vacation valued at close to $3000 I almost had for $300!!

So, then we headed into the luncheon where I received more gifts of Godiva Chocolates, misc goodies, and more bottles of wine. I enjoyed my delicious lunch which only consisted of Steak, Salmon, and Seared Ahi Tuna... Then I rolled my stuffed self back to the office and tried to work.

As long as this story is I finally found out how much my hotel room valued at for one night- $800. I highly suggest if you have the money to drop to stay here and treat yourself. Check it out at http://www.thegranddelmar.com/?gclid=COrcmc-Vq5ACFSQvQQodmF6ujA . I know i definitely want to go back- only it's free though! Definitely one of my favorite places out of the world now.

MIA

Yes, I know, I have been MIA on my blog here lately- here's the sad part, it has only taken me three weeks to write this one entry. Yes, I started this three weeks ago. Let's just say work has definitely picked up! Over the past two weeks we have had three programs, 1 in SD, 1 in LA, and 1 in San Jose (which is currently where I'm typing from.) The funny thing is all three clients are completely different, from having all types of wants and needs to being laid back to the governement..... can you guess which one I had the least stress with.

So, let's see where the update should begin..... Well, I have been really single and going on lots of dates and getting good food here lately. Lots of tall boys too- I have been wearing my tallest heels when I go out with these guys, it's fabulous to feel like every other girl finally. Next, I have joined a girls group which meets every Tuesday night. One girl is responsible for cooking, one brings a movie, and the other brings the wine. If you know of any "cool and sane" girls in SD who you think should join definitely let me know! Work, well work has been busy and stressful over the past week. I suppose once I adjust to the way things are done in this office it will get better, until then-..... There have been plenty of nights out with all of the friends. Oh, speaking of friends, my college friend Jennifer Shook came out to stay with me one weekend. It actually was a GREAT weekend. She flew in Friday from NYC and we had a casual night at my house with a bottle of wine just gossiping about life. Saturday we started off with breakfast on the beach at my favorite place, Firehouse and then hit up the boardwalk home. Next we hopped in the car and headed to Temecula 45 minutes away for wine tasting. Since this was my first time to go on a wine tasting tour I had no idea what to expect. The last time I did a wine tasting was when I was 15 in France..... needless to say we didn't pound the bottles of wine the weekend Jennifer was here like we did in France. once we arrived in Temecula we stated off at this one Winery and tasted probably 7 glasses. There were lots I liked and probably only one I didn't like. Next we decided to stop off and get a late lunch at one of the cafes at the winerys. Well, late lunch turned into appetizers followed by the next winery. And yes, at this point I didn't drink anything else.

After the winery we hoped in the car and headed for SD to get ready for Natalie's birthday dinner with her family. So after we got dressed we immediately headed downtown and had a great Mediterranean dinner with Natalie, her boyfriend Al, her dad, stepmom, uncle, two best friends from high school, Jennifer, Jenny, and me. Later one of Al's roommates got us into Ivy this really exclusive hot spot in SD, actually the new hot spot in Southern LA. After exploring the first two floors of the club, dancing, and having a good time we met some people who got us into the VIP level on the roof. This was such a sweet spot over looking the entire city. So we proceeded to lounge in the cabanas and be spoiled since we NOW had an undending supply of table service..... I love nights when me and my friends look pretty!

Then I had another two visitors this past weekend..... Mom and Dad! Yup, they flew in for a quick weekend after their trip in San Francisco. I have to say, everytime they are here SD has the oddest weather. It doesn't live up to the best weather ever. When I moved here they were have a heat wave- all you Southerners will love this, the heat wave was 92 degrees farenheit! Ha, without humidity- some heat wave. Then when mom came out here last month we were having fires. Then there was this weekend, the monsoon rains. I'm really surprised we didn't have any landslides. I started off the weekend by taking them to one of my favorite restaurants in Little Italy where we got delicious delicous delicious food!! And yes, the left overs didn't make it for a day. Then on Saturday we headed out to the Wild Animal Park. I highly suggest you go see this if you are ever here. But if you opt to go in the winter time like us, take blankets!!! It was really interesting and I"m glad I finally got to see it. Next, we were off to have dinner with my two best friends. I think mom and dad were finally glad to put names to faces finally since all my stories include Jenny and Natalie. Then we were off to the airport early Sunday morning. Below is a pic of mom and I with the Macaw. Enjoy!

** Oh yea, I'll have to get a picture of me with the new hair.... I'm back to having dark dark hair!

Pics of the SD Fire

So I couldn't get to close but here are two photos. Notice the smoke.

Trick or Treat

Bzzzz I'm a bumble bee! This year Halloween surpassed all others! Friday night we had a house party that had an incredible amount of people..... wow i've met alot of folks so far! Plus some other random pics from this weekend.

Girls Weekend

Ok, sorry, I know this is long overdue but with the fires out here last week I never had a chance to upload my pics. So, mom, Aunt Betty, Aunt Sandy, and Aunt B all came out to see me. Trust me when I say they brought their party shoes and lived it up. Friday afternoon they flew in before I was off work and walked up and down the boardwalk and probably a mile and half down to my apartment.By the time I finally was able to get them on the phone on my way home from work they had already wandered down to Raphael's- this really cute, good , and inexpensive restaurant a block from my house. However, before they went they did not know it was a brown bag kinda restaurant. Needless to say I rescued the moment when I arrived by pulling a bottlel of wine out of my purse..... to bad none of us could open it because we weren't strong enough! After dinner mom, Aunt B, and Aunt Betty all partook in what is now a tradition of sitting on the roof Friday nights. You see, we had probably 3 hours to kill before Aunt Sandy's plane arrive. So, we popped open another bottle of wine and took in the sites. Well, at least we took in the sites for 2.5 hours before my landlord came to the roof and kicked us off for being to noisy....... yes we got kicked off. I'm still in shock!! But it was for a good laugh.

The next day we started off really early with the farmers market. Then we were off to do some site seeing. First, we hopped aboard a boat and took a tour throughout the bay learning about different sites and areas. Then we walked down to the seaport village and had lunch, did a little shopping, and wandered some more. After this we headed over to Coronado Island and looked at the famous hotel over there and walked along the beach. Then I took everyone back to the hotel to clean up for dinner and do a little more shopping (hey it was Macy's one day sale I definitely had to hit that up!!) From the beginning of the trip Aunt Sandy and Aunt B were looking for good margaritas and trust me I think we found a pretty damn good one that night. After we left the mall we stopped in at this cute and authenic looking mexican restaurant. I know I myself can't wait to go back there with some friends!!

Sunday was a busy busy day. First we started off with a massive breakfast at the Firehouse. Trust me, if you ever come out here be sure to share breakfast here. But I think it is safe to say we all LOVED our food. Then I took the girls down Garnet Street for some more shopping. We stopped off in this one store that has close to 15 seperate shops in it. All the locals rent a spot inside the store and each bring in their own items to sell. This always is fun to wander around in. I think the girls enjoyed going in here. Then we were off to the zoo. The San Diego Zoo is massive!! To save time and try to see as much possible we took a bus around the zoo then walked to the gorilla section. I don't even think we saw 1/3 this. I do want to go back and ride the gondola. Yes, how many zoo's do you know that have gondola's? Then we were off for a quick shower and RnR before dinner. Tonight we ate at this really good seafood restraunt on the boardwalk in PB and shared in a dessert for mom's birthday. I think I ate better this entire weekend than normally!! And yes, I got plent of leftovers to enjoy for the next week.

All in all I think it is safe to say the girls all enjoyed seeing San Diego. They definitely will have to come back so we can go tour the vineyards and get massages but we did see so much while they were here. I was glad to have company and visit with everyone during their stay. I will leave the rest of the story telling about their San Diego trip to each one of them!

I'm still alive

Don't freak out- I'm still alive!! The fires have not touched PB at all. Thank you everyone for constantly calling, checking, texting, and emailing me over the past few days.

Sunday:
Sunday was a day unlike any other because mom and the Aunts were in town (I promise I will update the blog with pics and stories soon.) So we started off going to the Firehouse Restaurant, which I completely find ironic now,for breakfast. After stuffing ourselves with more food than any of us could eat we headed to shop a little bit on Garnet Street. A brief history on the Firehouse- it's a GREAT bar that overlooks the ocean but is located next to the firehouse. A few years ago the bar actually burned down. After shopping we then headed to the zoo. At some point in the afternoon mom made a comment about the sky and how it looked hazy.... my response: oh it's just smog. Good one Sarah, San Diego doesn't have smog! So needless to say we were clueless about the fires until later that night. In between dinner and the being at the zoo I talked to a friend and he notified me there were fires in the area. Still unconcerned I didn't really think about these.

Monday:
Needless to say everyone knows all about the fire I didn't really care to learn about. So, Monday rolls around. At that point the Today Show was talking about them, national news, and every radio station/ tv station alive was talking about the Souther California Fires. I still didn't take anytime to learn about them. I got up and went to work like usual- minus ALL of the traffic and actually made it to the office in 15 minutes. By that point I knew something was wrong. So I clicked on the radio and found out the fires were surrounding our office- not literally but almost. So we all sat around the office talking until 4 pm when we had a voluntary evacuation of our offices and surrounding areas. By this point two people in our office had evacuated their homes as well. We are still waiting to hear from one girl whether or not her house survived the fires.

It still is and was very ashy in the air. Everytime you walk outside you can feel the smoke you enhale and defiitely smell it. I believe it was Monday Denver was making fun of me. I sent out an email to the fam and said I just walked outside in my business suit and got ash all over it. So the question now is- if you have a black business suit on and you get black ash on it does it matter??

By Monday night my entire apartment smelled of the smoke- not to bad though. And then the biggest realization hit me, I haven't turned in my new updated insurance information, which includes my renters insurance. "Oh Shit" kept being repeated every 5 seconds. About this time was when all the phone calls started to come in from everyone. My friends back in Rancho Cucamonga called and offered me a place to stay at their condo if I needed to be evacuated. So, I formed a plan in my mind- if I have to evac tonight then I'm headed to Rancho to stay with Ryan and Cain. Great, i'm preplanning and prepared right? No. Completely wrong. You see this freakin Fire is only 110 feet high in some spots, meaning, it jumped and blocked 2 interstates. The two interstates that take you North. I -5 a 8-10 lane interstate and 1-15, a 12-16 lane interstate. So then the phrase of F*#k what the hell am I supposed to do now? Kept creaping through my mind. Then I talked to some other friends who live in PB and we all decided we would go to Coronado Island and hope to be safe there. Which is South- but at the time wasn't near any of the other fires. So needless to say, I slept like a baby Monday night. Don't worry- everyone is supposed to call everyone in our area if we get evac notice.

Tuesday:
It still smells. Not as much ash is flying in the air. Went to work again. Not much happened today- everything kept burning. Did go to a cocktail party for work though- that's always fun. After the party I went and met friends at a bar for a drink... like college when we had hurricane parties and tornado parties we were having fire parties here. Kinda wrong in a sense now that I think about it.

Wednesday:
So did I mention Monday night I scratched my eye? It was itching from the smoke and ash in the air and I now have this scratch with a bloody looking spot on my eye. Freakin great. Halloween is this weekend- that means I will have a bloody lookign eye (it's not that bad) for pictures. I guess I should adjust my costume to fit it.

It sounds like the fires are starting to be contained. People are going back into their homes and getting on with life... sorta. I found out last night that the area I used to live in is on fire too. All I was told was 3 of the people I worked with were evacuated from their homes. Hopefully they didn't burn.

So, as you see, it's just another day in the life of Sarah Hill...... there's always excitement around me!

Oh yea, I hope to have pictures up here either late tonight or tomorrow night. I think me and some friends are going to try to hike up Mt. Soledad past the landslide to view the fires. Don't worry it's safe. It actually will give us a look of everything burnign from north to west to south. Should be interesting.

And I keep on trucking!

If you have ever decided that you want a new job and love to go, go, go, go and go a little more then go into event planning! This is what my life has been like for the past few weeks. Not bad though! It's been no stress just trying to time manage my life. The best part are the after work parties however. I remember living in Memphis and always going to free parties, social gathers, getting free goodies, etc. And now, it is starting up out here. Thursday I had my first cocktail party. It was the opening of a new spa out here. So we dabbled in the parafin treatments, got massages, and then enjoyed AWESOME food made right in front of our eyes. The kind of food you only see made on the food network.

Afterwards, me and some co-workers went up to Bub's bar on Garnet (Garnet is the Beale Street of PB.) Where I proceeded to call everyone I know down here, and yes, that is alot of people. So instead of relaxing I ended up running around the bar talking to everyone and their brother.... sounds like my life in Memphis. But it was great to finally feel like I had a network of friends. Oh and not to mention the Asst. Director of the Spa, Laura and I decided we should be friends and go out together.

So needless to say Thursday night ended late and Friday morning came to early. However, I still managed to interview 5 people on no sleep. Saturday however was a productive day. I finally found a sephora shop. If you have never shopped here I highly suggest ladies to go here to get your makeup and boys for your cologn.

Saturday afternoon followed by LOTS of football and meeting lots of new people. I went downtown San Diego with my friend John where we met up with probably 20 of his friends. We continued to cheer on the football and baseball games along with playing a few darts here and there. Not to mention, it was Italian Fest (we were in Little Italy.) The locals were drawing artwork on the sidewalks that put plenty of professionals to shame. Then we intermingled between the food booths. Not a bad afternoon that ended at 7 pm. Then we opted to stay out, eat a lil grub, and head back into the Gaslamp District and go dancing. Now, I have to say, I was called a flake this past Monday by someone else who lives down here because I opted to stay downtown where I was instead of going to Hillcrest to wander around art galleries. Note to self everyone, a 3- 4 cancellation policy isn't accepted by everyone. At first I was upset by the rude email I got.... not to mention all the other drama I was dealing with.... consoling people all weekend... and then this email after a crappy day of work. You know what, I don't regret anything- I gave ample warning and I offered for that friend to come join the 30 some odd people I was out with that evening- he opted not to. Lesson- you can only watch out for number one.... ok, bad lesson.

So, saturday night we ended up dancing the night away and heading back to a friends apartment downtown by 1:30 am. Then sunday arrived....... ok, people out here are so passionate about their football!! I was up and at em by 11:30 AM cheering on some yankee football teams...... yes, I hang out with lots of yankees out here. Then Sunday night ended with a cookout that I cooked but didn't even eat......

...... I'm exhausted, it's Wednesday, and I haven't caught up on my rest! But great news is Mom, Aunt B, Aunt Betty, and Aunt Sandy get here on Friday!

Just another night out on the town!

Ok, so I can't get my pics to upload. So here ya go!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2090836&l=ecfc7&id=26501530

Just another night out on the town

Just another bumming around weekend

Once again, I will reiterate that I LOVE my life! I don't think I have quit smiling since I got to San Diego, and this weekend was just another example of a great time! Why? It's because we did absolutely nothing that cost money- yet had more fun than if we had spent money. It all started off on Friday night when we (Jenny and I) were supposed to go out for happy hour with some guys we met the weekend before. However, since nobody was picking up there phones when I wanted them to, I decided to change happy hour from the local pub across the street to my roof. Yes, my roof became the official new Friday happy hour joint for several people this week. It was so much fun we decided to hang out there until 3 am staring a the beach, laughing, meeting my neighbors, and singing to whatever was on the stereo system on the roof. I can't wait to do it all over again! Although, hopefully next time it will be warmer. You see, a front came through that day and the marine layer hung around all day..... so my ski jackets and blankets were broken out to keep everyone warm. Not that I'm complaining a 60 degree night is bad, but when there is a whipping wind off the ocean it feels like it's 40.

Saturday: Saturday started off with breakfast in La Jolla with John (another new friend.) Ok, if anyone ever tells you Potatoe Cakes with apple sauce and cream cheese is good- don't listen!!! That is the nastiest crap I have ever eaten! The Potatoe cakes were fabtabulous though. After breakfast we ventured up to Mount Soledad- I highly recommend you check out this view if you have never seen it! You can see up and down the entire coast line, all of Coronado Island and beyond. After breakfast I headed out with Natalie and Jenny to the Adams Street Festival. This was so much fun! There were 6 different stages, an assortment of vendors selling stuff, food of all types galore (thai, chinese, Jamaican BBQ, corn dogs, kettle corn, and everything in between. ) So we definitely pigged out for both Saturday and Sunday on different food. But in the meantime we also caught lots of good acts.

I also have decided I'm going to start a page of : what were they thinking? on here. This weekend I have seen more people dressed ridiculous!! I even saw a man who looked like Jesus dancing next to me, an 70 year old grandma dressed up as a hooker, and much much more. So feel free to send me a picture if you see someone who should go on the :what are they thinking page!

(sorry pics will go up soon- I forgot my camera cord at home)

Then this morning before I headed to the Adam's Street Festival again I went to Balboa Park to see some friends who were working a 10K race. I still don't know how people have enough energy at 6 am to party much less run. Yes, these were the happiest people in the world! Plus there were some great bands playing... for free of course! I swear you definitely can get fed and entertained at the finish line of a running race! If you are broke, like most of us are, go to one of these and you will make out much better than when you started the day off.

So, as you can tell me and my firends have had a blast all weekend. I wish however, the week wasn't alreayd here I feel like I have been on the go!

Get a few laughs

The best part of this trailer is the last 5 seconds.




Future little punks

A mid week update

I'm convinced getting up never gets easier! This week has been such a low key week of season premiers, friends coming to hang out on my couch, and a night out with the girls for dinner that it has made it almost impossible to get up in the mornings! But today was the worst of all days. First, I woke myself up in the middle of the night sleep talking..... not exactly sure why or what I was saying but I was sitting straight up in bed just jabbering away. So I went back to sleep and then the buzzing of my alarm began. I quickly jumped out of bed with the biggest grin across my face, dancing to the tunes on the radio, and planning my days lunch before I even decide on my outfit! Why?? Well, why else other than because it was Friday. The sucky part was it took me 30 minutes to realize it was only Thursday...BOOOOOO THAT SUCKED!

On another note, work has been going really well! It's still demanding and hard but I'm liking it! My boss pulled me in the other day and told me that I will become the Operations Director/ Operations Supervisor. Meaning, I get to monitor all of our projects, hire/ fire, maintain office meetings, and so much more! Exciting but scary in the same time. I have decided with this job I am going to approach it completely different from every other job. 1. This is work. I am here to work not be best friends and not to bash people. 2. Work is not a place to make friends. Yes, I like having friendships with the people I work with but since I'm in a supervising position it's difficult to be taken seriouse once you cross that line. 3. I have learned how to give creative critcism. 4. I'm sick of people's whining and bitching. If I have been able to do this over the years so can others. Shut up, suck it up, and get it done. 4. Coffee is my enemy- it doesn't wake me up it makes me drag for the entire day.

Well, Ugly Betty's premier is beginning.... Time to zone into the tv for the next 3 hours! If only I had sugar cookies or cookie dough I'd be in heaven!!!!

The first of manys

This week was so much fun! I have to say, I really have made alot of friends down here so far- it has been so easy too! Thursday night I decided to host my first dinner party. I made a big pan of Chicken spagetti, vegetables, and chocolate cake. Let's just say I have so much food left over I could feed a samll country! Then we all headed to the roof and hung out there for a little bit!

Yesterday I did something I never have done before- I went to an air show. Apparently the Redbull Airshow has been advertised all over the country because so many people called and asked if I was going. So me and my friend Jenny headed downtown amongst the other 40,000 spectators. All I can say is those planes are so fast!

Well, I have finally done it! I went out in PB last night with Jenny. Oh yea, Jenny is my new friend who moved here a week after me. She is from Martin TN- who woulda thought! So, we walked to the bars and checked out a little night life...... it was so much fun! We ended up at a bar called the Firehouse that is right on the beach. All I can say is I like drinking martinis overlooking the ocean. And yes, we met plenty of other transplants to the area at the bar!

Click on this picture below and it will show you a video of the airshow.

A little Tuesday Humor

The priest and the hairdryer

A distinguished young woman on a flight from Switzerland asked the
Priest beside her, "Father, may I ask a favor?" "Of course, what may I
do for you?" "Well, I bought an expensive woman's electronic hair dryer

for my mother's birthday that is un-opened and well over the Customs
limits, and I'm afraid they'll confiscate it. Is there any way you
could carry it through Customs for me, under your robes perhaps?

"I would love to help you, dear, but I must warn you: I will not lie."
"With your honest face, Father, no one will question you."
When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her.
The official asked, "Father, do you have anything to declare?"
"From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing "

The official thought this answer strange, so asked, "And what do you
have to declare from your waist to the floor?"
"I have a marvelous instrument designed to be used on a woman, but
which is, to date, unused." Roaring with laughter, the official said,
"Go ahead, Father. Next!"

It's almost Halloween!!!!

Do you know what time it is??? It's fall, and with fall comes halloween!!! Wahoo! In case none of you know, Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday by far! My birthday month of parties usually comes close to the thrill of halloween weekend, but usually not near beating it!

So, the question of the night is what should I be this year??? Last year we were Vegas Showgirls, the year before I was Rainbow Bright (which I still wear the leggings and arm warmers that are multicolored) every now and then. I just can't seem to think of what I want to be this year however. I suppose I could take Meaghan Cox's idea and be "Major Babe" and dress in an army jacket.

So y'all let me know what I should be! That way I can be getting the costume together!

#7

I'm totally about to begin a top ten list of places to visit in San Diego..... when I visit at least ten that is! Ha. But in the meantime while the list is being formed, check this place out. I went on a date the other night here for dessert. I didn't mention to my date that I don't like sugary foods, instead just went. It was AWESOME! I definitely will be taking all you visitors here for their inredible grub!!! Not to mention the atmosphere was cool, (total chic, modern, and clean.) Apparently there are three restaurants in San Diego but the downtown area is the best one with more places to sit and enjoy yourself. Although it was phenomenal food, I still don't like sugary food!

http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/

The first two weeks

Wow, ok where to begin about this past week???? I suppose from the first part. First off, when you are planning on moving don't plan anything the few weeks prior. I learned this lesson during this move becuase I found myself having more anxiety abut everything I thought about. However, going back home the weekend prior was so worth all of the anxiety! Below are a few pictures from the trip home for Meg's wedding.

So, we, being mom, dad, and me all made it down to pacific beach last Wednesday. After showing them around the town for the next few days we ventured over to Coronado Island. I highly recommend anyone taking a vacation to this area if you have never been here before. There is the Coronado Hotel, which is a really old and historic hotel that is just a beautiful resort. Located on the beaches you can rent bike, little carts, or beach equipment and definitely spend a day touring all around. They also have a quaint little downtown with restaurants and boutiques and homes you can wander through to waste some time. Another spot we stopped off in was "Old Town." A Mexican influenced section of San Diego, with very authenic Mexican food!! I had mom and dad try out the Horchata, which ended up being the family triva question of the..... for 200 points do you know what Horchata is??? Dirty Rice water! or in a prettier term, rice water, with cinnamon, and sugar. It's super good!! Definitely one of my favorite drinks now! Then it was move time! Which, surprisingly went fairly quick and painless. I now live in a large studio roughly 2 blocks from the beach. The best part is all of my stuff fit within the studio so I didn't have to get a storage unit!

This week has been relatively busy after work. As mentioned in the blog below I went out with Cain and Kent one night, then I went out with another guy I met down here, Eric, a Texan transplanted to the beach, Ryan, Rob and Holley's friend, and Valerie, a friend from my last job. So as you can tell I have begun venturing out into SD getting all types of locals opinions on things and even trying to fit in with the locals! Then this upcoming week I am going out with a friend who used to live in Memphis that now lives in PB and Amy, Erick, and John (Mom's friend's niece.) Maybe at some point I will even walk down to the beach...ha ! Yup that's right, I haven't even gone down on the beach for some RnR yet. Crazy.

One cool thing I did do this week was hitting up the art scene in SD. Ryan took me to the Contemporary Museum of art on Thursday night. I think this is something alot of art museums do around the country- I even think some of the museums in Memphis did it too. Basically, the admission is free to get in, and then there is beer and wine along with bands playing. That is one thing I learned this week about SD is it has a huge music scene that I never knew about! I can't wait to explore that.

As mentioned prior, definitely check out the pics of the past two weeks. It's been a whirlwind but an absolute blast so far!

Update

Ok everyone, super sorry I haven't posted here lately. With the move, travel, work and everything in between I never set up a phone line for internet. So I decided to take a break from the beach life and wander into a Starbucks to update everyone really quick.

The new move is AWESOME!!! I absolutely love San Diego. Every part of it too! Thank goodness for all of you who have sent me names of people who live down here because they have been checking on me and taking me out and getting me acquainted with the SD life. Now for the updates:

1. Yes, there was a riot in the town i live in (pacific beach) and no it was not as bad as the media made it out to be. For one thing none of the rioters were the ones who "pushed" the cops ATV's into the ocean. The dumb cops parked the ATV's next to the water while high tide came in. So the water took it away. As for 500 people involved. Well, come on that was the only excitement everyone just wanted a glimpse.

2. I hung out with Cain and his cousin the other night. Cain's a friend from the last town i lived in. He was in town to pick up is cousin from the airport since his cousin Kent was racing in the last race at the Del Mar track for the season..... Talk about a short guy! But hey, now I can add pro jockey to my list of famous people I"ve partied with..... and I also know to bet on him!! He's won three kentucky derbies!!

3. I love my new job. It's so great to be working with corporate america again! Everyone I work with is great too very talented.

4. The Studio is so fun!! I promise I will post pics next week when I get internet or I amy venture back to Starkbucks this week!!

the girls or the boys... or both?

I think it's comes as no surprise to anyone that I was a tom-boy growing up. Always playing in the dirt, the only girl playing sports, getting hurt, and well of course sporting one of my many t-shirts (most likely a swim t-shirt that mom literally stole and threw out.) Although I still am the sporty girl who has settled on giving up almost all of my sports, I have ventured far far away from being the Tom boy. So what sparks this topic tonight? Well, years ago the famous HBO TV series, Sex and the City, came out. At once it was an instance success among the women demographic and led the weekly watering hole topic sessions. Who was Carrie dating this week, was Scarlett ever going to find her Mr. Right or just her Mr. Right now? and so on and so on. Most girls and women enjoyed the show because it finally showed a lighter side to life and added the comedy we so wanted tv to finally discuss. It's no wonder HBO had a hit success on their hands.

Even I, once prior tom boy related to the four friends. I remember having all my friends ask me, " Which Sex and The City character do you most relate to? The classy one, the eccentric one, the skanky socialite, or the stuffy old worker? Well, depending on your mood of the week you related to just about all the girls at one point or another. Then the show went off air and was soon replaced with Entourage- the guys version of Sex and the City.

However, even though Sex and the City is gone I have found another show that I really relate to. You see, I'm still not a "girly girl." I dig sports, I don't mind getting dirty, and I mostly have all guy friends. So that in itself never really allowed me to relate with Sex and the City Characters, but it does allow me to relate to the "My Boys" characters. I don't know if any of you watch this show on TBS but it is about the one sporty professional girl and how she hangs out with all the guys. She's sporty, goes out with friends, yet maintains her own identity. This past week's episode however really had me cracking up. It played a spoof of PJ (sporty girl) and one of her college friends, a girl. The girl "used to be cool and hang out" however after college she moved to NYC and became a writer, aka Carrie Bradshaw. Here is an excerpt from the show My Boys when the friends meet up. Notice the mock Sex and the City characters....especially Samantha!

Copy and paste the link below into your browser. This is the 2nd clip of 3 (series title Douchebag in the City.)

http://www.tbs.com/video/0,,116211|340865|,00.html

Do you know your personality?

I have been meaning to post this now for over a month. I remember in college learning about Briggs- Meyer personality tests and how widely they are used due to their accuracy. This new job I'm heading to actually had me take this test after my second interview to see if my personality would fit in with everyone in the office. It's crazy accurate, you should check it out and see what it says about you!

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

James First Vacay- Laguna Beach

This week/ weekend James was in for a treat, he got to go on his first vacation to none other than Laguna Beach, CA. In the process I got to spend the weekend visiting with Heather, Jason and James. I am pleased to say I have officially babysat for the first time! It's true, at 24 I have never baby-sat in my life. And just to let you know, yes, James is still alive!! Both Friday and Saturday night mom and dad Thomson went out and celebrated Daniel and Michelle's wedding while James and i played in the room. Let me be the first to say Turkey has more energy than anyone I know. Today I ended up taking a 4 hour nap because the entire weekend exhausted me!! All in all we had a blast, some great sushi at Hapi Sushi, saw LC from Laguna Beach and The Hills, and even made it to a wedding.

Cousins kick butt!

As most of you already know I have gotten visitors usually twice a month since I have moved here. This past month my cousin Brad and his girlfriend came out to LA for a week to play and work but mostly play. So one night I decided to join up with both Brad and Julia along with a few of Brad's co-workers and take them out on the town. What did suck was it was the first night none of the clubs had anything good going on. So we dined on Sunset at a great lil Italian joint and then walked up to a pub for the rest of the night. As you can see we did have a casual night of playing darts. However, what you don't see is the video of Brad dancing for all the LA'ns in a lord of the dance style. Just ask me to send the videos it's great! But as always it was so much fun to meet new people along with visiting with family and being able to show them around the town.

Oh yea, just to inform everyone Brad and I dominated the dart boards winning 4 of 4 games..... How about that!

Conserve gas ride a bike, PB doesn't discriminate!

The task this weekend was to find an apartment in one days time. After lots and lots of searching and lots of help from all of you I eventually found a place to call home. Although it was a streneuous day it was a fun day. The morning started off with a breakfast date. We rode beach cruisers down the ocean boardwalk, bay, and through all the PB (Pacific Beach) neighborhoods. It was amazing just to see how many people actually ride beach cruisers. I know I definitely will have to get one, even though I'm literally only a few blocks from the beach, it will be so much more convenient to ride a bike everywhere instead of fighting the insane traffic down here. Anyhow, back to the morning. So get this, I suppose the "conserve gas" philosphy is growing and people are really beginning to ride bikes everywhere that the need for valet bike parking has arose. When we got to the firehouse, the restaurant/ club, we had breakfast at that's exactly what you could do with your beach cruiser! How fabulous!!!

Although someone told me she thinks it's ghetto to ride a beach cruiser, I still want one! I just will have to convert you when you come visit by refusing to drive anywhere and only allow biking it for the weekend!

Some of these pictures are from the rooftop of the studio too.

Can I buy Turkey a basketball yet??

So James, or as I like to refer to him as Turkey, is on the move- so what's the bet of what sport Turkey is destined for? Basketball, baseball, water skiier like dad, football??? Maybe we can get him into the x-games at an early age!

Apparently I don't know how to post a video, so check it out on Heather's blog.

On the move again

Well, yes, it's true, I'm on the move again! This time I'm headed to San Diego to work and live! As most of you probably have already heard, I have accepted a position with Meeting Sites Pro in San Diego to be part of their meeting planning team. I have spent my past few Monday's wandering through the city looking for good areas to live, meeting people, and negotiating the move.

All in all I feel I have given Redlands/ Rialto the 7 month chance and it just hasn't lived up to what I want. Both work and personal. I mean I'm a beach girl not a dessert girl. I am sad to leave all the friends I have made here but I'm not doubtful they won't make the hour and half drive to visit me. Espeically if I land the apartment on the beach (ok 2 blocks away but with a potential view.)

So I have to say, I'm jealous of my own life!

On another note, this weekend I went to Frisco for the first time to work(San Francisco) and LOVED it. Friday night I went out with a friend to a blues club and wandered the streets. I definitely saw some talent on the stage. This woman was belting out Denise LaSalle hits like it was nothing. While I was there work was work. After work Sunday me and some co-workers snatched one of the rental cars and went and saw more sights. From the bay bridge, to the golden gate, little italy, china town, sosolita, and everything in between! It's so interesting how the fog hangs around the golden gate... I really want to see the bridge at night or early morning when the lights are on.

If you make it to Frisco you need to go to the Ferry Building and check out the market too! During my lunch break I wandered through the market and got fresh fruit and breads, then there also are all types of flower stands. I think if I lived here I definitely would spend several Saturday's a year just wandering through the market.

Amazing

Roadtrip with the Weekend Roommates

This past weekend mom and dad finally came out to visit me. Instead of sitting around the apartment we decided to take a little roadtrip. The weekend started off with dinner with one of dad's friends who lives outside of Newport Beach. We went to the Mission Inn, a historic hotel located in a town nearby, Riverside. Then the next morning we were off to the Sequoia National Forest where we ventured through all the BIG trees. Dad and I even ventured up this Moro Rock (the pictures that have the top of the sky in the background. After we finished venturing through the forest we decided to grab a bite to eat. Note: if there are flys in the restaurant you are at and the waitress offers to spray bugspray on your table to disperse them, leave immediately! That was our story at dinner that day. The next day we headed back down south. However, after a brush fire shut down the Interstate we were on we had to make a slight detour, which lead us through another national forest. This forest however, was just long roads that looked over the entire valley. A great view however a long ride that lead to an interesting midpoint. this is true too, mom and dad took me to a biker bar for lunch! While we were eating our lunch we overheard one of the locals who were drinking their beer at 11 am state to the owner, I didn't even know you served food. This tickled mom beyond belief!!

After departing the biker bar we then cotinued over to the coast. Our first stop was a quick visit to Santa Barbara beaches. A very pretty area I recommend you visit. Then we went down to Ventura where we stopped for the night. The hotel we stopped at was on the ventura harbor so we went down to the harbor where we found a little dive had a few drinks and continued walking around until we found a seafood restuarant to eat in. The next day we headed back towards Redlands with a brief drive-through of Old Town Pasadena.

After arriving home we ran a few personal errands and then mom and dad were off and I went out of town for work. All in all I'm still trying to recoup from but enjoyed a weekend with the rents!

Another earthquake???

I found this funny earlier today. So, as most of you know I FREAKED out on my first earthquake. I was sitting here a minute ago on the telephone with a vendor who is somewhere in the middle of the country and the secretary answered the phone exactly the time there was this loud boom and both front doors blew open (not necessarily blew but opened real quick.) So I hung up not know what happened only to find out it was the sonic boom from when the space shuttle came into the solar system.....crazy! I'm going through way to many crazy things out here. Ha

Another gross yummie!

If you can't tell I have a slight obsession with food!

Today at lunch I found another food/ drink that sounded absolutely disgusting but is sooo good! I don't remember the name of it and plus I couldn't pronounce it if I tried. Being so close to the Mexican border we have so many great lil shacks you just pull up to and get real authenic Mexican food. So today, Ivonne and I decided to venture into what they call the ghetto. First, if that was a ghetto then the other side of the train tracks in Collierville is worse than this ghetto!

Anyhow, this is the description of the drink Ivonne told me to get- it's the dirty water rice is boiled in with cinnamon...... Needless to say, I'm working on my second glass. I think I just found my relpacement for sweet tea!

Customer Service reps make me hit my head against the wall....

Do people who have the job title customer service representative not realize their job is to listen to us bitch about their employers products? After dealing with Timewarner for the past three hours because I came home to find a fuzzy screen, they first sent me to the store to pick up a new box, then told me to wait until this weekend for a technician to come out. Let's not mention this is the one company it took 2 months to hook up my tv after I moved here. It's not like I really want to watch my DVD's anymore since I had to watch them for 2 months time after time!!

So, does my bill get compensated for this inconvenience?? Well, in Memphis you usually get a snappy answer in broken ebonics. In California I get a snappy answer in Spanglish. I mean seriously- until Saturday- it's only freakin Tuesday. I know I'm lazy but I do enjoy watching the news every morning. I do enjoy watching silly movies at night. And worst of all, I have now lost ALL of my t-vo'd items..... Wow, it's really the 21st century. I'm complaining because I lost silly movies like the princess bride, Count of Monte Cristo, I'll miss Starter Wife, and probably Army Wives, the horrible show Traveler. Thank goodness for the internet- I'll just watch stuff on here for the next 5 days(what I wouldn't give to be going out of town this week for work!)

Back to the main point though, I wish the unfriendly people in customer service realized they only worsten the situation when they snap back. Better yet, I wish Time Warner would work on their customers service responses instead of monopolizing the cable market.

Wahoo, here goes to a weekend of sitting around for the cable guy to show up on Saturday. Bahumbug.

A week of Memphians in Socal

Yup, in 4 days I had 6 Memphians come visit me! Plenty of fun was had in LA, Redlands, Del Mar, and La Jolla. I absolutely loved the visitors but I'm pooped and am ready to kick my feet back and just enjoy doing nothing now.

I made real pasta....from scratch!

I'm so excited, I bought a new cookbook- an Italian cookbook! And what's the best way to break it in....better yet, my kitchen in, is to splash flour all over the place while making noodles from scratch! I started off wanting to make ravioli but after rolling my dough and trying to flatten it, well my arms were too exhausted to even try to thin the dough even more for ravioli. So I settled for regular ole pasta noodles..... Trust me these were just as tough to continue to roll and cut out, but I did it, along with cooking the largest pot of spaghetti sauce. The sauce also was a new treat, it had carrots, celery, a bay leaf, onions, beef stock, chicken livers, pureed tomatoes, tomatoe paste, ground beef, and cured salted pork. It actually sounds gross but it was really good! Below are some pictures of the noodles. Enjoy- the red bowl has the finished product!

My favorite random food

...so most of you already know this one. Even though it disgusts every person who has ever heard that I eat this, well, I still eat it. Ha- you have to try everything once right.

Chocolate Macronni and Cheese

I cheat, get two boxes of mac n' cheese. When you go to mix in your milk, mix chocolate milk with your butter and cheese sauce. To top it off just squeeze a little or alot of ketchup into the mixutre!! I told you I eat wierd things.



Or on another note try this.

A fancy dinner
8 chicken breast
flour
salt
pepper
oregano
olive oil
1 clove of garlic
2-4 cups of a dry red wine
frozen OJ concentrated
muschrooms
red onions
green and red bell peppers
wild rice

Mix together 3/4 flour, tspn of salt, plenty of sprinkles of pepper, in a bowl or plate. Preheat oven to 375. Wash your chicken off and coat all sides in flour. In a skillet add olive oil and minced garlic clove (chopped finely for those who don't know minced.) Then fry all sides of your chicken breasts until the flour turns a golden brown. ( Make sure you have open a window or fan on.) Once chicken is browned place in a casserole dish. In a deep pot mix together your wine and oj. Once boiling turn down your heat and let the juices simmer for a few minutes. Next, pour your juices over the chicken and cook for 30 minutes.

Add more butter and olive oil to the skillet and sautee your vegetables. Once the chicken is finished cooking pour your vegetables on top and continute cooking for 30 minutes. Baste the chicken every 10 minutes. Cook your wild rice and serve the chicken on the top of it.

Super yummie- This is what I cooked for Easter Sunday dinner. The boys seemed to eat like they had never seen food before!

A new yummie

As much as I love to cook and tell everyone about it, I figured it might be time to post some of these ...creations for y'all to try.
I actually just cooked these and they were sooooo good. I think I might go buy another onion.

This is SUPER simple and anyone can do it. The good ole onion rings for those who don't have a deep fryer.

1 onion (I used a purple one, but any sweet onion will do)
handful of flour
red pepper
Tony's cajun seasoning
1 egg white yolk
2 teaspoons or 2 big squeezes of Italian dressing
oil
1 skillet
1 backing sheet

Preheat your oven to 400. Cut your onion up in whatever style you want. In a seperate bowl mix your yolk white and the Italian dressing and mix well. In another seperate bowl, mix your handful of flour, as much red pepper as you can handle, samething for the Tony's cajun seasoning.

Take your cut up onions and saturate them in the yolk Italian mix. Then roll the onions into the flour mixture. In your skillet pour your plain cooking oil-(not olive oil) and fry all sides of your onions. Basically 1.5 minute on each side. After all sides are fried, place the onions on your cookie sheet. Cook them for 3.5 minutes then flip the rings and cook them for another 3 minutes.

Eat em up!!

Jackson-land

I believe it is safe to say I am finished traveling, personal travel that is, for awhile. This weekend I headed to Jackson and Hattiesburg for a friend's wedding. And now, I plan to stay in California until late August for Meg's wedding. However, back to the Jackson trip. After arriving late Friday evening we settled for a simple night of bowling. Then the next morning we were off to Hattiesburg. It was great to visit with friends again. This time it was friends from the football team, sorority, and plenty of others.

So there's always a kicker right?? Well, while I was in Memphis a family friend told me she wanted to move to London next summer. Then this past weekend I found out another friend is moving to London the beginning of July. I keep finding evident signs that I don't belong in California but wow- London- now that would be a blast! I have always wanted to move over seas. I have already been to London and definitely think it's a great place.

So, now you all know what I am thinking about... Let's pray I figure out what I'm doing with my life soon!

What a stud

check out my nephew. What a stud!

Political Views

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How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

This week's lesson

This week I can't say I have learned much but I have learned a very important thing. Always remember when you bought your eggs.

Today, I decided to bake a cake to have for dessert tonight. I came home cleaned my apartment, finally unpacked from the weekend, ran a few errands and then headed to my kitchen. Got the blender out, poured in some cake mix, poured in the water, poured in the oil, cracked an egg, cracked another egg and actually looked at what I did to find a horrific smelling black egg in my bowl.... needless to say the smell caused me to throw up my lunch. I can't even go in my kitchen right now. Geeze all I want is a freakin piece of cake!

The Wedding

Reception

Stories to come later....