When is enough enough?

This is going to be an odd blog... you are prewarned. I think we all have those bad days. They may consist of failing a test- which I did today. Getting yelled at by a boss. Wrecking you car. Fighting with friends and family or so much more. But when do you deem enough enough? Better yet, at what age are you supposed to learn your breaking point or how you specifically cope when things get bad?

This was all brought up due to an incident that happened at my apartment complex Sunday morning. After battling a cold for the past three weeks I have been sleeping harder than normal waking for nothing. So, the story goes as follows: Saturday was phenomenally beautiful here in San Diego. So beautiful I am still sporting a nasty sunburn from laying at the pool. Needless to say, Saturday night was another early night. I opened all my windows and quickly fell asleep. Sunday morning comes and I'm amazed at how peaceful I slept the night before.... so serene that I slept in and only had 5 minutes to get ready for church. So i hopped on the elevator and was greeted by a neighbor on one of the floors below. He asked if I was kept up all night by all of the ambulance, firetruck and cop sirens out front of the building. I kinda laughed because i was still half asleep from the night before. So, the neighbor continued to tell me how a guy on the 12 floor decided to jump off his balcony and commit suicide. I was in disbelief. I didn't want to pry and walk out front of my building in case it was true.Instead of continuing to the basement to get in my car I hit the button for floor 15 and headed back to my apt. Opened my balcony door and saw exactly what happened only a few hours before. From 8 am - noon some poor man had the job of scrubbing and powerwashing our sidewalk.

So, this goes back to my question. When is enough enough? How do you decide it needs to come to that. i don't understand how anything could be so bad that you decide to end it all. I think it's safe to assume we all have crappy days and you should never look at suicide as an out. I just feel sorry for whoever had to make that phone call to this guys parents at 3am Sunday morning.

....Studying is not fun!

A few weeks ago I started preparing for my PMP exam by taking step one, signing up for a PMP Exam Prep course. The classes consist of an all day Saturday study session for 6 consecutive Saturdays. Each week I have anywhere from 3-6 chapters to basically memorize, online tests, podcasts to listen to, and study groups to attend. Somehow during all of this "school work" i am supposed to actually complete my normal work week... Needless to say, I have had many nights like tonight, sitting at Cafe Solana a few blocks down the street from my house, drinking way to much coffee trying to actually focus and taking way to many notes that I will never memorize. People, let me tell you NEVER go back to studying after you graduate from school. Keep the pattern in one direct path and do school fully through then look for a job. I seriously feel for anyone who goes back to school part time while working a full work week..... Last but not least, let's just pray that all these long nights pay off and I pass on my first sitting of this test (which as my teacher nicknamed it "The Bitch") because if not, then I'm basically back on step one since the book of my life, PMBOK, is being revised and reproduced to a new edition-- therefore, conveniently changing the test questions in June...uhhhhh.

Selfishness

Just as each of you have been following the story of the octuplets and now family of 14 so have I. I'm not sure if any of you have watched the interviews with the mother but I feel she is completely selfish! She says she will provide for all of her children and love them but how do you provide food for your children when you don't even have a college degree or job? Better yet, she says she will return back to school so she can provide for her family, but who will watch the children when she goes to college? Finally, she doesn't want any type of hand outs but how does she think she will handle any of the financial burdens? Of course she is looking for handouts- look at the last family that had octuplets- they received a house, free formula and free diapers. Unfortunately, she must not have realized that the way the economy is she will not have any handouts coming here way such as previous families. It's pure selfishness. She didn't like being an only child, her mother even sounds weary about all of this and is planning to move out of the house once Nadia returns from the hospital +8, and to top it off she hired a publicist (on that non-existent salary) to tell her story. Sounds like someone is trying to make some money off of these babies. I think she went a little too crazy while working at the insane asylum.

But hey, that's my opinion.

My checkmark for my Bucket List

This weekend my best friend Jenny and I headed to Norcal for a brief lil getaway from San Diego. Rachel, a college friend invited us to come stay with her while she is shooting the movie "Carmel" located in Carmel/ Pebble Beach. So, the two of us took off work early Friday and began the trek up North. The 9 hour drive on the PCH/ CA HWY 101 was AMAZING..... well that actually is an understatement. This has always been a trip I have had recommended to me- drive the coastal highway. I have to say, I used to think San Diego was beautiful, it's not compared to this part of the country!! San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz and everything in between was so green and comforting.

We got to Carmel around 10:30 Friday night after driving all 9 hours in downpour rain. We met up with the movie crew at a local pub since they didn't think we would be able to find the house we were staying at in Pebble Beach golf course.... it's probably a good thing too because that golf course community is HUGE! First off, i just lied. It was not a house we stayed in- it was a mansion on the 15th hole. I would yell for jenny and couldn't find her, so then i'd have to go in search of her.. i think you get my point.

Anyhow, i'm trying to get more pictures off my phone but of course it doesn't want to cooperate. Point of this blog- get your butt in a car, drive the PCH/ HWY101 and visit these areas. This trip definitely is worth adding to your Bucket List!

A Wine Country Date

One thing I have always wanted to do since I moved to San Diego is spend a day in Temecula wine tasting. As a small version of Napa, San Diego County is home to close to 25 wineries, multiple bed in breakfasts, and numerous amazing restraunts. The experience of tasting multiple wines and sparkling white wines (aka Champagne)easily has me wanting to head back to Temecula.

My trip actually started over a casual dinner date conversation. The guy that took me out knew more about wine than any person I have ever met. During dinner he told me about great places in Napa and the wineries outside of LA. Then the conversation turned to our own county. Once again, not having much experience with any "good" wines, i again admitted defeat that I had never been to Temecula wine tasting.

So, it was decided we should go....First off lunch was amazing! We started off at South Coast Winery, Resort and Spa. Vineyard Rose restaurant definitely was a nice unexpected treat. I believe it has even won awards as Best Restraunt in the Inland Empire. The best way to desicribe the ambiance is countryside chic. http://wineresort.com/ So we grabbed a seat on the patio overlooking the vines and began our first tasting paired with amazing Ahi. After lunch we started the tastings at the following wineries:
1. South Coast, www.wineresort.com
2. Wlson Creek, http://www.wilsoncreekwinery.com/
3. Stuart Cellars, http://www.stuartcellars.com/main.html
4. Mount Palomar, http://www.mountpalomar.com/mtpalomar/index.jsp

All in all it was so amazing. I am even more excited about going to Napa and heading back to Temecula to stay at the BnBs!

Yummy Yummy Salmon

Last night I cooked dinner for my date and myself. Try this recipe it's great! We both really liked it!

Ingredients
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 6-ounce salmon fillets
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 fresh pineapple
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
2 cups cooked white rice
Preparation

Heat broiler.

Whisk together the maple syrup and mustard in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the salmon in a foil-lined 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Season with the salt and pepper. Slice the peel from the pineapple half and cut it lengthwise into quarters, then cut each quarter into 1/2-inch-thick triangles. Scatter the pineapple and jalapeño around the salmon. Brush the salmon with the syrup mixture. Broil for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the salmon flakes easily when pricked with a fork and the inside is the same color throughout. Serve the salmon and pineapple with the rice and drizzle with the remaining glaze, if desired.

First Weekend

Last week I quickly became settled in at 9th Ave floor 15. As I know reside close to 2000 ft in the air I casually keep my feet propped up, the balcony door open, and tv on. No, being up so high does not scare me any longer. Instead it intrigues me. The one thing that all my friends keep saying is, "wow all of this furniture fit in your studio??" Yes, and doesn't it look even better spread out? To top that, look at any of the three closets and look at how my clothes are breathing now! Long story short, I'm still happy.

So what do you do when you get a new place? You have a house warmer. After a long and bad day at work on Friday I opted that I was bailing on my date and spending the night with my best friend Jenny since she had just as crummy day. We walked down to a Italian restraunt that I had always been told was great. Waited thirty minutes in line only to be completely disappointed. How someone could possibly tell you that mediocre restraunt fell remotely close to the beyond phenomenal food of Little Italy astounds me! So after a bad day and bad dinner we walked back to my apartment checking out the new neighborhood. Any other night Jenny and I would have gone out to dinner in nice enough clothes to actually get into the laid back bars. Instead tonight our hair was in ponytails and we sported tshirts blue jeans and flops. So we stopped off at a local Irish Pub which I have deemed my new favorite place. The food looks amazing, the scene is relaxed and well it's 4 blocks away. I think this will be a new study place for me to help me focus outside of my apartment. After that we ventured to bareback. It is an Australian bar next door to the Irish Pub. Then my colleagues met up with us for a night of laughter. The best part of the night was the rule no one could bitch-----about anything! It's great to have that rule in your life!

So Saturday rolled around and me being lazy blew off my lunch date and played downtown. I ran around all downtown and became quite familiar with my new neighborhood. that evening several of my friends came over to see the new place. They all loved it!I even got a great new house warming gift of wine glasses!! I now can't wait for each of you to see the new place! Although, it's still new I have broken this place in and made it "homey and comfy". That took only a few short days!