Italia

A few months ago, in the midst of my work's busiest season, I decided that I would need a good reward when vacation time came, so Chris and I decided on a trip around Italy. I've never been to Italy and Chris has never been out of country, so it was very exciting for both of us! Our trip was 2 weeks long and we started in Rome.

We were pretty jet lagged the day we got there, but managed to check out a few churches near our hotel. We also took a walk through Rome, recommended in our guidebook, to the Campo di Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Piazza Colonna, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.


On July 24th, we went to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, and Capital Hill. It was pretty interesting to see all of the ancient ruins. We skipped the line (thanks to our Rick Steve's Guidebook) by going to the line at Palatine Hill instead of the Colosseum. It was extremely hot, but we were happy that there were lots of water fountains to fill up our water bottles.




On the 25th, we woke up early and went to Vatican City. The line to get in stretched around the block, but moved pretty quickly. But after, when we came out, we saw there was no line, so I guess we shouldn't have waited. We were impressed by the museum's big art collection and lots of painted, gaudy ceilings, but a little disappointed with the Sistine Chapel. It was not what I thought it would be at all. We seemed to stumble on it like any other hallway in the Vatican, when I thought it would be some grand cathedral. It was really hard to see the famous painted ceiling, because it was painted in lots of really small panels. Then, we went to St. Peter's Cathedral, which was as exciting as we thought it would be. In the afternoon, we went to the National Museum of Rome and saw famous statues, like the Discus Thrower, but many of them were copies, so I was confused whether what we were looking at was the real thing or not.

Our last day in Rome, we went to the Villa Borghese. The gallery there was gorgeous and we felt the ceilings were what the Sistine Chapel should have been. They were colorful, dramatic, and large! There were also some fantastic sculptures there with lots of emotion. There were no photos allowed and they were very strict about it. They wouldn't even let you in with a camera! Maybe this is why the art was kept in such pristine condition? We spent the rest of the day in the Villa Borghese, which is a big park (like Central Park in NYC), except with statues and roman columns scattered around. We rented a boat and rowed on a small lake there. Then walked back to our hotel.

On Friday, the 27th, we took a day trip to Pompei. We had to take a subway from Naples, which was very sketchy, and dirty. They kept announcing to beware of pickpockets, so we kept a close eye on our bags. The weather was predicted to be 95 degrees (and feel like 101!), so we prepared for the worst. But it wasn't as bad as we thought, except for the subway, which was extremely humid and made poor Chris sweat profusely. In Pompei, I was expecting just to see lots of plastered people, but there were only a couple. The more fascinating thing was to see how an ancient city was designed/run. We were shocked how large it was, it would be so easy to get lost!

On the 28th, we took an express train to Florence. When we got there, we ate lunch atop a department store in Piazza Republica (recommended by a friend), and went inside the Duomo. In the afternoon, we walked around the San Lorenzo Market and bought some leather souveniers. The next day, we went to the Uffizi Gallery (again skipped the line, by making reservations - Thanks, Rick Steves) and saw many famous Medieval and Renaissance paintings, and read through the tour in our guidebook to learn how art developed through the years. It saved us quite a bit of money not having to do the audioguides at every museum. We walked across the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and went to the Boboli Gardens in the afternoon.

On Monday July 30th, we went to the Bargello Museum. It was kind of a bust because many of the more famous statues were under restoration. We walked to the Santa Croce Church and saw quite a number of famous people's tombs, like Galileo, Michaelangelo, Dante, etc. From there we went to the Science Museum which had lots of mathematical tools and some of the first clocks. It also had the middle finger of Galileo. There aren't too many pictures of Florence, because most of the museums did not allow cameras!

On the 31st, we went to the Accademia in the morning, to see the famous David statue by Michaelangelo. We paid 13 Euros for that museum and the only thing there was the statue of David! What a rip off! The statue was HUGE, but a pretty good piece of art. They said no pictures, but everyone was taking them of the statue. Chris and I didn't break the rules, so we don't have any photos of it. After that, we decided to take a day trip to Pisa, which wasn't in our original plans. We went up the Leaning Tower, which until 2001 had been under renovation to partially correct the lean. They brought it back about 6 degrees, to the same place it had been 200 years ago. It still leans pretty badly, enough to give you some vertigo at the top! We had to wait a few hours because they only let a certain amount of people up at a time, so we ate a leisurely lunch and went into the Church there before getting to climb the tower. It was pretty exciting to get to the top and there were some pretty good views. Chris got a little nervous at the top (I just thought it was exciting).

On August 1st, we left Florence for an overnight in Siena. It was nice, with lots of winding streets and hills. We went to the Duomo there, and then relaxed in Il Campo, the main square for the afternoon. We walked to the San Domenico Church, with the Patron Saint of Siena (St. Catherine). It was not very interesting, so we walked back to the square with some gelato and waited for dinner pigeon/people watching.

On the 2nd, we left Siena and took a train to Venice. We had to change trains in Florence, it took most of the day to get to Venice. We rode the Vaperetto (Water Bus) from the train station to St. Marks Square. Then we attempted to walk to our hotel nearby. I say attempted, because we took a couple of wrong bridges! They tell you to get lost in Venice, but it wasn't so fun with our luggage! It ended up that we were on the right track and we found our hotel without getting too frustrated. After we checked in, we decided to get a good map of Venice that showed all the side streets and alleys.

On the 3rd, we headed to Saint Mark's Square, but it was drizzling a little. We were happy to see some cool rain after all the heat! Venice looked beautiful and I thought that maybe this is how Venice was meant to be seen: rising out of the fog, a gray, city from the past... Again, we got to skip the long line at the Basilica, thanks to tips from our trusty Rick Steves Guidebook! Then, we bought some birdseed and fed the pigeons. It was quite fun. and we finished, just before a big rain storm dumped on us and cleared the square. To get out of the rain, we followed everyone else into Doge's Palace. It was really neat to see the workings of Venice's (VERY) proud republic as well as the corrupt parts, like the covered Bridge of Sighs that took prisoners to their jail cells in secrecy, never to be heard from again! After Doge's palace, the skies had cleared up and we walked to the busy Rialto Bridge. For dinner, we went out to a very nice dinner (my mom's gift to us) and had some great wine.

On the 4th, our last day in Italy, we got a ride to Murano island, where they make beautiful glass art. We saw a quick and lame demonstration, then walked through the shops on the island. The glass museum was closed, so we went back to Venice and wandered around for the rest of the afternoon, getting lost (this time on purpose). But everytime we walked down some back alley, we'd end up back on some square that we recognized, so we wandered our way back to the hotel. Then we went on a gondola ride at dusk for our last views of Venice. It was definately not worth the Euros, but something that was nice and of course, mandatory for a couple's vacation in Venice.


On Sunday, the 5th, to complete our 2 weeks abroad, we left early for the airport to fly home. Overall, it was a pretty perfect trip. Good travel partners (though, we already knew we got along), and I really like the amount of time we spent in each city, as well as the order we did it in. It seemed to go from the beginning of western society to the end of the renaissance. Chris (a tomato-hater), even found a liking for Bruschetta!! Hopefully, he also discovered a passion for traveling, to keep up with me! =)

CADA Camp

As part of my job, I went to Santa Barbara a couple weeks ago to oversee some Student ASB Leaders at a Camp. My company doesn't put together the camp, but we do sponsor some events like a picnic and a couple of dances which showcase some of our vendors to them. During the first camp, my coworkers came up with me and it was my last chance to hang out with Nicole, who decided to leave our company. She will definitely be missed, as I felt that I was just getting close to her! =( For the second camp, we had hired someone on the spot and brought her along THAT day for her first day of work! Poor girl, getting thrown into the mix right away! Oh well. Then my coworkers all left and I stayed for the entire duration of the second camp. My boyfriend came to visit me because I had a free day in Santa Barbara with nothing to do. Here are pictures from the first camp:

We went out to dinner the night before. Suffice to say, I had a little too much to drink. Pictured: My Bosses Tiff and Yvette with Nicole and me in the middle.


The theme of the camp was Leadership Adventure (Pirates)


Here is our awesome Caricaturist, Don Flaws. He did a portrait of Nicole and me as a going away present and I have it hanging in my office, now.


Here is our Strolling Magician, Johnny Ace Palmer. I have seen his tricks multiple times and still don't know how he does it!


Here is the inflatable giant slide. It's pretty fun!


I know Nicole has been wanting to fight me since the day I started work. She finally got her chance on the Jousting. She pretty much kicked my ass.


Here's Tiffany and Yvette with one of our really cute DJ's, Derek!


We went out to dinner the next night, too. This is my favorite picture of my coworkers/bosses:

A day shopping in Beverly Hills

My sister got engaged this past March. Of course that means I am planning her wedding (though, sometimes my mom confuses this fact). It will be summer next year ('08), which means we have plenty of time for every detail. As sister of the bride, I also get to be part of the fun stuff, like bridal dress shopping. There are many great stores in San Francisco, but I thought there would be even more designer shops in Beverly Hills. So, we made a girls trip of it and my mom and sister flew down to meet me yesterday.

I circled around LAX a few times because they had to go to the bathroom (my sister has the smallest bladder in the world). We were late to the first shop, but she didn't seem to mind. We met with the designer. She was very small and quiet, but her designs were gorgeous. Before the day, we told my sister to wear a white bra (she usually wears brightly colored lumpy ones). She did this, but failed to figure out that these designers would be helping her into the dress, so she would also need some decent underware! She wore a bright pink thong and was quite embarrassed when she realized she would have to be nearly naked in front of the posh saleswomen. In the first store, my sister tried on a gorgeous design that had a scoop neck and a drop waist that hugged her curves, then modestly flared out. It looked fabulous on her (though, we soon learned that it was hard for my sister to look bad in any dress).

The second store we went to was a palace of imported bridal dresses. The minute we walked in, we were ready to leave and could tell that there weren't any styles we were interested in. The sales woman was very pushy, so my sister obliged her and tried on a few of the numbers. Some were definite no's and the others were OK, but we all agreed there was no comparison to the first store so we left and had lunch. The third store was beautiful and had a very nice, helpful saleswoman. My sister found two dresses that she liked. One was very structured and modern, the other very traditional, all lace. We discussed making a few alterations to make the dresses closer to what my sister wanted, and left considering both styles. Ultimately, they were both rejected, but they were definitely considerable. The 4th store we went to was more of a bridesmaid dress store, which meant that I got to try on a couple of dresses, too! It was good for my sister to get some ideas on some bridesmaid dress styles and colors. We left with color and fabric swatches, and one wedding gown choice for my sister. A very simple, modern dress with a unique back. The back had a sash that could be extended to drag on the floor as a short train, or pulled up, into a modern bustle.

The fifth and final store we went to was the highlight of the trip. My sister had seen a gown in a magazine and we had based our trip on the appointment at this store. She had seen an all lace gown, with lace cap sleeves. When she tried the dress on, however, it did not have any support and did not look very good on her. The sales woman suggested a similar dress that was more fitted and had a bodice inside for support. It did not have the sleeves she had fallen in love with, but we were assured it could be added. This modification made my sister's perfect dress.

We left for dinner with three choices: one from the first store, one from the 4th store and one from the 5th store. Surprisingly, the one from the 4th store was about one TENTH the price of the other two. Knowing my sister, she feels very uncomfortable and guilty about spending ghastly amounts of money on a dress for one night, so her choice was rather obvious. We finished up our day at Spago (Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills restaurant). Being a Berkeley "foodie", I expected to be disappointed with the food based on the price. Instead, we were all very impressed with the food and even agreed it was better than our local 5-Star Chez Panisse. We discussed this at length, only to realize later that at the table next to us, who was delivered special tasters from the Chef, was in fact a Chef from Chez Panisse! (I recognized him from my internship, and we overheard him mention it). Whoops!

After dinner, we stopped at a bar named Aphrodisiac to check out the selection. My sister and I have dreamed of opening up this very thing, so we popped our head in to judge how they had carried it out. Our consensus was of course, we would've done it better! But alas - hindsight...

Less than Six Degrees

Most people accept that there are six degrees of separation between all of us. But somehow we are amazed to find seemingly random connections of 2 degrees or less. And even more amazing is the fragility of the strands that connect us. One difference in our decisions or one change in our game plan and those strings never would have met. But for some reason, fate perhaps, we did go to that place on that day and then here we are, connected to that person for eternity and to their friends, and their friends of friends, ...who ultimately end up being our friends. Here are a couple of connections that have amazed me in the past 24 hours.

1. I recently discovered that one of my oldest friends, a friend from preschool, happens to know my coworker's fiance. Both my preschool buddy and I are from Northern California, but have moved to Southern California to start our lives. My coworker is from Minnesota and her fiance is also a non-native to California. Somehow, he traveled to the mid-west, met my co-worker, began dating her, fell in love and is now marrying her in a month! She moved to California, and after competing for the same job at the same company, we both got hired, and now I find that they are both connected to my long-lost preschool buddy!

2. Three years ago, my sister was taking up fashion design as a hobby, which forced me into a volunteer modeling role for her. I modeled her clothes for a couple of fashion shows, the biggest being in San Francisco, complete with dozens of photographers at the end of a runway. Fast forward to today. I received and email from my boyfriend's sister. Her roommate was sending out emails for a promotional, marketing event. One of those "test drive our cars" type things. I happened to look at the company she was emailing from. I wouldn't have thought much of it, except that today I was reminiscing the modeling days. The very same Celebrity Marketing Events Company that this email came from was the host of the fashion show 4 years ago! The Fashion Show was their first birthday celebration. Now, a few years later, they are a very large successful company! And yet another connection: As I read the company bio, I saw that their creative department is headed by the one and only man that my ex boss worships. Almost a year ago, in my first job out of college, I worked for a marketing events company and my boss literally idolized this creative designer. He had worked with him on previous projects and used his expertise to launch the success of the company's largest event. I was shocked to come across this man's legendary name in a company bio! This last connection reminded me of one major lesson: NEVER burn bridges in the professional world, because everyone knows everyone.

House of Horrors

Ok, so I thought this story was funny enough to print, although it is funnier to actually see and hear me tell it:

Because my company plans proms for high schools, this weekend, I had to work at a prom that was at Universal Studios. I was leading it, and hadn't been to a prom there before, so I made sure to get there early. It was just as they were closing the park and shuffling everyone to the gates. I asked around and they told me to go to these green gates on the side, to be let into the Prom area.

I find the green gates and flag down a guy that is vacuuming. He comes over and I tell him I am there for the prom, but he informs me that since I'm early, the gates haven't been dis-armed. He told me that I could enter through the loading dock, however, so he told me to go downstairs one level, and then come back up in the elevator.

I head downstairs, find the loading dock and don't see the freight elevator. So, I head to the door of the building. I walk through this winding hallway and pass a few people, but they don't seem to stop me or think I'm out of place. Then I arrive in this dressing room with costumes for the Universal Park Characters staff. A couple of people are in there, taking off their masks, but they don't question me, so I see an elevator and decide to head upstairs. I'm on level "K", so I go up one floor to "LL".

The elevator doors open to pitch black. I peer out. Is this the right place?! He said one floor? I hear lots of sound effects, as if I'm in the back of a movie theater... I can't see a damn thing, but there are some stairs to my left, so I go up a few until I get to a landing, and then I can't see where they turn. I decide this is the wrong way, so I go back downstairs and contemplate getting back into the elevator. Just then, a maintenance looking man comes out of a curtain ahead of me. Beyond the curtain, I can see some glowing exit signs. He doesn't stop and continues up the stairs. I draw back the curtain and head into the next dark room. I see 3 glowing exit signs, but am unsure whether I should use them, for fear that they are emergency exits and alarmed! So, I follow this dark plywood path. It makes a turn and suddenly a werewolf jumps out and tries to grab me!!!! I scream because I'm startled and realize that I'm in the middle of Universal's newest attraction: The House of Horrors.

With my heart still racing and still not being able to see anything, I decide to try and leave the exhibit as soon as possible, but soon another monster jumps out at me! I scream, again, and cling to my binder. I decide that they should know that I'm not a visitor, but when the third monster jumps at me, I scream and whine, "No, I'm just trying to leeeave!!!" To which the monster replied, "Rawwwrrr, Nooo, STAAAY" in a scary voice. I see the next monster waiting for me, so I plead to him, "Nooo, please, don't... No!!" I think he took pity on me and didn't jump out at me as much, but he still tried to grab me, which made me scream again. One more monster tries to get me and by this point I'm saying in a very scared, shakey voice, "No, stopp!!!" Then I see daylight, and am very relieved. I start laughing at how ridiculous it was to have been so frightened and how on earth I ended up in the middle of that attraction!

By the time my co-workers arrived, the gate was unlocked and they didn't have to get lost. Next time, maybe I'll see what other rides I can sneak into before the park closes! (Just kidding)

CADA Convention 2007

Last weekend, my company went to the 2007 CADA Convention. It's the Association for California's High and Junior High School Activities Directors. Since the company I work for plans proms, it was the perfect opportunity to market ourselves and build relationships with clients.
Our booth came in FIRST place:



The bikes were hand-built by Kelly, one of the guys in our office. BMWs and beautiful!



My favorite was the side car! He did a really good job and they were the gems of our booth!



Here are the owners of my company, Tiffany and Yvette.


This is Karah on a Segway.


Kaelin was in charge of putting together the booth. The first place plaque now hangs on her wall! Good job! We also shared our booth with some DJs. This is Derek and Kaelin.


Here is the rest of the DJ posse: Michael, Alex, and Tyler. (Kyle not pictured)


This is all of us "Wow Girls": Nicole, Tiffany, Karah, Yvette, me, and Kaelin.


The 2nd night, we all dressed in black cocktail dresses and white boas. Unfortunately, I don't have a shot of all of us matching.

Sun Valley Pictures (Thank you, John!)

My Sister and John....



At lunch on the mountain. Chris, me, mom, Ginny. (John taking photo)


At fancy dinner, Chris and me


I'm trying to flip off the camera, but water glasses got in the way.


Is it just me, or does my sister have the exact same expression on her face as the last photo of me?


I remind myself of my mom in this picture. =(


Ginny modeling on Santa's Lap


Classic Picture: Mom explaining some long-winded story, my sister staring at her like "When is she going to stop?", me about to interrupt with a critical remark, and Chris: the only one who is aware of a picture being taken....


While we were bowling, my dad was playing Pool with John. Great photo, John!


The whole gang for Sun Valley 2007: Chris, Me, Center of Attention (Ginny), John, Peter, and Teresa


Had to take one in front of the sun... Tradition.

Sun Valley 07

Over the holidays, I found out that my parents were planning a trip to Sun Valley, ID. Assuming I was invited (because I have been every other year), I asked when it was. To my dismay, my mom told me that it was a trip for only she and my dad. After a little convincing (read: inviting myself), my mom decided to make it a family trip with my boyfriend and my sister's new beau... Since none of us are in school anymore, we scheduled it for Jan 18-23.

Jan 18th
Left at 6pm, stopped in Reno. I was tempted to play the slots - $1 to win $13 mil!!! But I didn't want to waste a dollar. We got into Boise at 10 and then had to wait 30 min for the rest of my family, who was meeting us from Oakland. We took a private shuttle 3 hours to Sun Valley and got into bed around 2:30am

Jan 19th
Woke up early, ate breakfast and then hit the slopes. There was less snow than usual in Sun Valley, but still gorgeous to ski on. I'm so spoiled because I'm used to such good snow and long, empty slopes. If the snow is the least bit icy or lumpy from being skied on too much, I hate it. My sister had a melt-down on the slopes and for the first time, I wasn't the one annoying her (usually I'm the first to start annoying her). She felt frustrated because she hasn't been skiing in a long time and we were going at normal pace, not taking it easy for her. We were unfair, so I talked her into taking a lesson in order to feel more confident. We took it easy, and left pretty early to get into the jacuzzi. Then we got dressed for dinner at the nice restaurant in the Lodge. My mom insisted we play her favorite game during dinner: Table Topics. It's a game with questions to promp conversation, but my mom uses them to get to know our boyfriends and make judgements about their worthiness of dating her daughters. My sister's boyfriend bought her the "couples" edition, so she was thrilled to get the opportunity to learn about our relationships. We answered questions like "What do you think makes a good parent?" and "What patterns do you repeat in every relationship?" etc. I guess both guys answered the questions pretty well. Then we went to sleep.

Jan 20th
Woke up and went skiing. My dad took the day off, so I went with Chris and my sister's boyfriend while my mom and sister took a lesson. We came back fairly early, so Chris and I walked around the village. My family decided to go to a comedy show. My mom already had 2 drinks (her limit) in the bar, but of course we all drank more at the show. It was pretty empty, so the comedians had a tough job, but they were pretty funny. They ended up teasing my mom a lot, since she was loud and drunk. My sister and I were especially embarrassed when the comedian asked who in the audience had used viagra and my mom cheered! Afterwards, we went to pizza, then back to the lounge to play some games before bed.

Jan 21st
Chris and I decided to sleep in and do a half day of skiing. I called my mom and told her, and didn't call my sister because I was scared she would yell at me for waking her up. When I finally did she was mad, because everyone would've done a half day and she had just had some coffee. My sister borrowed my helmut and we all agreed to meet at the base at 1pm. My mom skiied down with my helmut, but even though she took the "easy way down", a road, she got going too fast and fell. She thought she broke her wrist, but she didn't. Instead, she just got my helmut soaking wet. =( We skiied for the afternoon, but I wasn't doing very well, so we stopped, came home and then watched some football. We went to the bar and watched the first half of the 2nd game, until we had to go to dinner. We ate at an italian restaurant and it was only OK. Then we came back and played more games in the 2nd floor lounge.

Jan 22nd
Chris and I decided not to go skiing after a late breakfast, so we played scrabble in the lounge and relaxed, until my family got back from skiing. They played more scrabble in the bar with us, and then we went to the lodge bowling alley for some bowling and pool. My dad and my sister's boyfriend played pool and Chris beat the girls at bowling. My mom was drunk again and ended up DIVING for a falling glass, only to end up face down on the floor. We went to the only bar in town that had a real size pool table (Lodge only has mini pool and mini bowling). The food was greasy and two guys were all over the only pool table, so we left, played more games in the lounge and then packed...

Jan 23rd
Woke up, ate breakfast, finished packing, and rode the bus back to the Boise airport. My sister, who has the smallest bladder in the world, of course had to stop. She got pissed at my mom and swore her out of her life (she does this approximately every 6 months). Anyway, then we flew to Oakland and Chris and I went on to LA.

Beautiful Vancouver!

View from our Hotel in Vancouver

Float Plane to Victoria

Butchart Gardens in Victoria

The Twelve Days of Christmas... Here are "Five Golden Rings" and "Eight Maids A Milking"

Totem Poles at Butchart Gardens

Kissing my frog prince, or just drinking from his fountain?

Dorky pictures of my sister and I on some Brass Donkeys and my mom in front of a Poinsettia Display

"Art Shots"