Category Archives: Travel

First Day In New York (or How To Do The Most You Can On Less Than 3 Hours Of Sleep)

Right after my flight landed at JFK, I had to go from one terminal to another to meet up with Krystle, my sister-in-law. It was only one terminal over, and being used to LAX I figured it couldn’t be that hard to walk over.

While it wasn’t too far (maybe about 1/4 a mile), it was freezing out! And I mean literally freezing! It was about 30 degrees outside, so I definitely woke up from that walk over. On the plus side, I got to see the amazing sunrise.

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Once I made it over to the other terminal, we got a cab and headed into the city. We had let the Waldorf Astoria know that we wanted a very early check in, but there was no guarantee that they would have a room ready for us. But when we got to the hotel around 8am, we were lucky enough to be able to check in then and go to our room. We got changed and got our purses together and headed out for the day.

Our first stop was going to be breakfast. We found a place that we wanted to check out, and we consulted our map on how to get there. But we mixed up what were subway lines and what were bus lines and weren’t able to figure out how to get there. We eventually found the subway and took it to Times Square because we figured we could find something there.

We ended up finding a random breakfast place that made custom omelets for about $6, and that sounded perfect! And those omelets were super delicious!

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After getting some breakfast in our stomachs, we headed down to Canal St. where  we did some cheap shopping. Krystle got 2 fake Louis Vuitton wallets and some jewelry. I got 2 rings (there were selling them for $15 each and I got them down to $25 for both).

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For fake rings, I think they look pretty good.

After doing some shopping, it started to rain and it was getting close to the time that the show we were going to was starting, so we headed back to Times Square on the subway. We hung out in a Starbucks for a bit to warm up (it was still close to freezing temperatures) and then headed down the street to the Broadway Theater to see “Cinderella”.

Right now, Fran Drescher plays the stepmother and Carly Rae Jepsen plays Cinderella, but Carly Rae Jepsen doesn’t perform on Wednesday matinees, so we saw the understudy (who was fantastic!).

We had gotten some really great seats in the mezzanine, and they weren’t too expensive either (we bought them online before going on the trip).

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And the theater was really gorgeous with some amazing chandeliers.

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The show was so great! The cast was amazing and it was a fun and upbeat show. Before I came on the trip, I had mentioned on Facebook that I was going to be seeing this show. My friend (and previous boss) Laura had mentioned that her friend was one of the cast members. So after the show, we found him and I got a picture with him to show Laura that we met each other.

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After the show, it was still raining and we had about an hour and a half before our dinner reservations. As we were walking to the theater, I realized that I bar that I had been wanting to go to was around the corner from the theater. So after the show, that’s where we headed.

We went to McGee’s, which is the inspiration for the bar McLaren’s on the tv show “How I Met Your Mother”. Not only do I love the show, my friend Woody has been playing the bartender on it for the past few seasons!

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I didn’t really get any pictures that made McGee’s look like McLaren’s, but you can tell being inside there that there are some similar things and how the creators used the bar to inspire the one on the show. Of course, I texted my friend Woody to tell him I was sad that he wasn’t behind the bar.

Besides the bar being the inspiration for the show, I have to say that it really is a great bar. We both ordered a drink there and honestly they were the strongest drinks either of us has ever had.

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Finally, it was time to head back onto the subway to get to our dinner. We had reservations at Rubirosa, which is known for their pizza. We ordered some rice balls as an appetizer and got a pizza to share.

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The pizza seemed huge, but since the slices are super thin crust, it wasn’t as crazy as it seemed. Plus, it had been about 10 hours since we had breakfast so both of us were pretty hungry. It was delicious and a perfect dinner for our first day in NYC.

After dinner, the jet lag and lack of sleep started to kick in. My hips were also starting to get a bit sore from all the walking (and all the stairs up and down for the subway). So we got back on to the subway and headed back to the hotel. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I went to bed pretty early and I really needed it. I had a lot of sleep to catch up on, and I needed a lot of energy for the rest of the trip!

Adventures On The Red-Eye (or Surviving On Almost No Sleep)

Well, I made it to NYC! It’s my first time being back since August 2000 (yes, a lot of things have changed here since then) and I couldn’t be more excited!

Since I was leaving from Los Angeles and my sister-in-law was leaving from San Francisco, we did our best to try to get flights around the same time. We got it to where she got in about 90 minutes before me, so that’s not too bad.

I haven’t taken a red-eye flight since January 2005 and that flight was a long one so there was plenty of time to sleep (that was Chicago to Paris). Since this flight was going to be just over 5 hours and I have my issues with flying, I really was hoping for the best this time.

I took my panic meds on my usual schedule for flying days and right before I left for LAX I took an Advil PM. I thought that would help me in 2 ways. First of all, it would help me fall asleep a bit easier. Also, it would help me from getting too sore since I was going to be sleeping in an economy class seat (upgrading to first class was an extra $300 and I just can’t afford that).

I had a friend take me to LAX (thank you Lupe!) and right before she came to pick me up, I did some more prep work for being ready to sleep on a plane. I got changed into comfortable travel clothes (leggings, t-shirt, and a sweatshirt/sweater hybrid), brushed my teeth, and took out my contact lenses and put on my glasses.

Once I got on the plane, I tried to get settled very quickly. I got as comfortable as I could in my seat (thank goodness I had a window seat so I could lean on the side) and got my neck pillow out and ready to be used. I also took a quick picture because the mood lighting on Virgin America was pretty awesome.

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I tried to close my eyes as soon as the plane took off, but I still wasn’t too comfortable in my seat. Finally, once we were allowed to put our seats back, I did and was able to feel a bit more relaxed.

But I have to say, my mission to sleep on the plane was a failure. I took a couple of naps on the flight, but each of those was under an hour and I was probably awake for a half hour in between each nap. I guessed that over the entire flight, I maybe slept 2.5 hours. That’s not too good for what was supposed to be my entire night’s sleep!

About 30 minutes before we landed, I woke up from one of my naps and I realized that I had to give up on trying to sleep. So I turned on my tv on the seat in front of me and watched our progress into JFK.

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The sun was starting to rise as we were close to landing, so I got a cool view of the sky.

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After the flight, I was able to meet up with my sister-in-law (who landed in a different terminal than I did) and we got a cab to take us to Midtown Manhattan to the Waldorf Astoria (where we are staying for this trip).

We had a pretty full first day in New York, but that will have to wait until the next blog post. I’m actually writing this on Wednesday evening (so technically less than 24 hours after I left LAX). It’s currently 8:17pm here in NY, and I’m going to bed! I seriously need to catch up on some sleep!

Trip Prep (or How The Earthquake Made Me Super Productive)

On Monday and Tuesday this week, I knew I had to do all of my prep work for my NYC trip. I was leaving on the red-eye on Tuesday so I knew I had most of that day to get things done, but I didn’t want to leave everything to the last-minute.

My plan was to wake up on Monday and do most of my trip packing. On a daily basis, my alarm is set for 7am (yes, even while I’m unemployed). On Monday, I woke up at 6:24am (I know the exact time because I looked at my phone) and was mad because I wanted to go back to sleep and get in that last half hour. But a minute after I woke up, a 4.4 earthquake hit Los Angeles.

While a 4.4 isn’t too big of an earthquake, when it starts, you have no idea how big it will get. The first jolt was pretty big and the rumbling was very loud. Turns out, the epicenter was pretty close to me.

As soon as the shaking stopped, I got out of bed and went over to my living room to watch the news. I also got on my computer and sent a quick email to my parents to let them know that I was ok (I didn’t want them to see it on their news and not have heard from me). Since it was a smaller quake, there really wasn’t a lot of damage. In my house, one wineglass broke. That’s it.

After watching the news for a bit to see that it wasn’t a big quake somewhere and that everything was ok, I decided to start my day (I forgot to turn off my alarm and it went off a few minutes after I turned off the news).

I got all my packing done. It was tough because I’m only bringing a carry on and the weather is supposed to be highs in the mid 50’s and lows in the 20’s. That’s a lot of variety. But fortunately, I got some travel storage bags so I could make my sweaters and bulky jacket take up less room in my suitcase. I managed to get everything in there that I needed to bring.

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On Tuesday, I kept my schedule pretty open so I could try to prevent some stress about flying. All I really did was go over to my friend Erin’s house because she was going to blow out and style my hair for me.

Other than that, I tried to stay calm and get ready for my red-eye flight that night.

I’ll admit that I’m writing this post before my flight, so I’ll have to share my experience with that on another post.

Next time, I’ll be writing from NYC!

Attempting Snow And Sand In One Day (or A One Day Road Trip)

Recently in Los Angeles Magazine, there was a list of things that everyone who lives in LA should do. Some things on the list were easy like eating at Pinks Hot Dogs or seeing a celebrity. But others were a bit tougher.

One thing on the list was to see the snow and beach in a single day. It sounded like a fun challenge, so I decided that I wanted to try it.

I asked around to see if anyone would be up for the adventure and my friend Kate said she wanted to come too.

So yesterday morning, we technically started by the beach (or at least pretty close to it). We got into my car and headed up to Mt. Baldy, which is the closest ski place to Los Angeles. It’s under an hour and a half away, so it wasn’t a bad trip (I’m used to the 2 hour long drives to San Diego).

It was an interesting drive. Lots of city stuff in LA, then we got into a rock quarry area, and finally got off the freeway in a nice little community. It didn’t seem like a mountain area, but we were trusting my GPS.

We finally turned onto a road that looked much more like what I’m used to seeing in Lake Tahoe. There were lots of log cabins and signs that talked about the snow plows coming by.

The only thing missing at that point was snow. But Kate and I both said that maybe the snow starts up much higher. We kept climbing in elevation and finally saw the sign for the ski resort.

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But sadly, due to the horrible drought here in California, there was seriously no snow anywhere to be found. There was some snow showing on their webcams, but I don’t think it was anywhere we could have walked to.

The parking lot was a little creepy. There was only one other car there besides us. We both thought it looked a little post-apocalyptic when we looked around.

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Even though it was a little creepy and there was no snow, it was still a gorgeous day and we both enjoyed our little adventure out of LA.

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We started to head back after a little bit since there really wasn’t much for us to do up there. Our original plan was to head straight to the beach and hang out there for the afternoon, but we ended up changing our plans because last night was Drag Queen Bingo (more on that in tomorrow’s post!).

So we didn’t quite make it to the snow and the sand on the same day. But we did make it from 0 feet elevation to 6500 feet elevation and back in one day.

That should count for something, right?

And hopefully next winter will be better and I can make another attempt at this adventure.

Trying A New Spin (or Knowing When A Place Does Feel Like Home)

On my last day at my parents’ house, my dad and I decided to go to a spin class. We actually wanted to try a spin class when I was home at Christmas, but other things ended up happening.

The spin class was at the Courtside Club, the gym that my parents have belonged to for forever. And I do mean forever. My mom has been a member there for 34 years and my dad joined when he and my mom were dating. In fact, their wedding reception was held at the Club (back then it was more of a hotel and tennis club than a gym).

While home at Christmas, my dad and I did a little investigating into the spin classes. We found out that most classes were an hour (compared to 45 minutes at SoulCycle) and that the bikes had both clips and cages so you could either wear bike shoes or sneakers. My dad had found out between my trips home that the clips for spin class were different than what I have on my fancy bike shoes, so I had to use the cages and my sneakers.

When my dad and I got to the class, we managed to find bikes off to the side (almost in a similar place to where I ride at SoulCycle). I tried to set up my bike on my own based on the guidelines that I’ve learned at SoulCycle, but my dad still called the instructor over to help us. He was actually pretty impressed with how well I set up my bike. The instructor (whose name I can’t remember, sorry!) was very friendly and asked if my dad and I had ever been to spin before. We both said that we had, just not at Courtside. He told us to take things at our own pace and to try our best.

Right before the class started, the instructor announced that I was joining the class for the first time and everyone gave me a round of applause (I have no idea why my dad wasn’t acknowledged too). Then the class started.

It was totally different to what I’m used to. There was a little computer on each bike and you were supposed to get to a certain RPM at different points in the class. I’m not used to that at all. At SoulCycle, we ride to the beat. That’s what I’ve focused on. The RPMs weren’t too hard, but I still found myself riding to the beat even though it was the wrong speed.

There were also some technical difficulties with the stereo and microphone so I know that the instructor was a bit flustered and the class was affected a bit by that. But I survived the class.

Even though I had an ok time (if I do that class next time I’m visiting my parents, I’m buying the proper clips because using the cages sucked), I still got in a good workout. And it has reassured me once again that being at SoulCycle is the place for me and that that is the perfect workout for what I’m looking for.

Getting Ready For Next Month (or Broadway Here We Come!)

Saturday was a day that was pretty much spent at home with my parents. My high school friend, Jackie, came over with her son to see Tucker (and her little son was pretty traumatized by Tucker since Tucker was trying to kiss him every minute). It was a fast visit, but a nice one. Jackie is expecting her 2nd baby in about 2 months and I’m excited for her and her husband (they are waiting until the baby is born to find out if it’s a boy or a girl).

After Jackie and her son left, my brother and sister-in-law came over. They came by to hang out and have a family dinner, but Krystle and I had a lot of planning to do. Our trip to New York is in about a month and besides having our flights and hotel booked, we had nothing else done!

And since Saturday was the only time that she and I would be in the same place at the same time before the trip, we tried to get as much done as possible.

In planning the trip, Krystle decided that I should plan what Broadway shows we should go to and she would plan what restaurants we would go to. We both want to see “Book Of Mormon”, but those tickets are so crazy expensive! We have a date in mind to see the show and we might take a chance on the ticket lottery, but we might just have to suck it up and pay the full price (which is like $150 a ticket!).

But we did get great prices on the 3 other Broadway shows we are going to see. We got tickets for “Cinderella”, “Matilda”, and “Heathers” (which my friend AJ is in!). All of those tickets were under $100 each so I think that was a pretty good deal.

We also did some planning on what we want to do during the day while we are out in New York. We did some investigating on the hop on hop off bus options and managed to find one that has our hotel as a stop. We haven’t gotten tickets for it yet, but I’m sure we will. We also have some plans to do some shopping and see a museum or two.

Exactly a month from today, we leave for the trip (both of us are taking red-eye flights and will be arriving early the next morning). I’m a little nervous about the flight. I don’t sleep too well on planes, and that flight is pretty much going to have to count as my night’s sleep. I don’t like taking medicine to help me sleep, but I might do some research and find something that I can take this one time so I won’t be exhausted on my first day of the trip (which is the day we are going to see a matinée of “Cinderella”).

I’m so beyond excited for this trip and I know that Krystle is too. I just can’t wait for the next month to fly by so I can go on my adventure!

Meeting Tucker! (or Having An Awesome Valentine’s Day Without A Valentine)

Friday morning, I flew home to my parents’ house. I was so excited to meet Tucker that I only had a minor panic attack on the plane (I think being able to listen to my podcasts during takeoff and landing helps too).

My dad got me at the airport and we went right home so I could finally meet Tucker (and see my mom too).

Even though my parents have been sending me photos almost every day, it was still a surprise to meet the puppy. He’s so much bigger than I thought he’d be! When we measured his height to his shoulder, he’s only about 2 inches shorter than Dante was when he was fully grown! And Tucker isn’t even 4 months old yet! I think we are going to have a very tall puppy.

I spent most of Friday getting to know Tucker and his fun little quirks. For example, he likes to sit really funny. He puts his butt on a stair (or a person if a stair isn’t close) and sits almost like he’s in a chair.

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He’s also very much a puppy. He has moments of being wild and crazy and then he crashes pretty hard for a nap. And he is obsessed with food. My parents have to split his meals into a few servings so he doesn’t eat too fast (and each serving is gobbled up and not even chewed).

But he’s super sweet and you can tell that he wants to please people. He tries so hard to be good, but sometimes his puppyness gets the best of him and he does something not so great (like trying to bite your hands).

By the end of Friday, I think Tucker accepted me as a member of his family. When I tried to have my mom take a picture of him and me, all Tucker wanted to do was kiss my face.

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And when Tucker was taking his nap before going to bed, he decided to use my shoe as his pillow.

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It was really a great Valentine’s Day. I got to spend it with family and the puppy and got tons of love throughout the day!

Exciting Weekend Plans (or Finally Meeting The Puppy!)

As you are reading this, I’m on my way to the Bay Area to see my parents and finally meet Tucker! I’m so excited! I’ve been seeing so many videos and pictures of Tucker that my parents send to me, but I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever (but in reality like 6 weeks) to meet him!

And Tucker is no longer a baby puppy. This week he graduated from puppy socialization school (although in the end he ended up being the only puppy to finish all the classes) and my dad texted me this picture yesterday morning.

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It’s hard to tell, but Tucker lost his first puppy tooth (right in the middle on top)! He’s officially becoming a grown up puppy now!

I’m also excited to see my parents. It will be my first visit with my mom since she finished chemo (and by the time I get to the house tomorrow she will be 1/3 of the way done with radiation). And I’m planning a fun trip to the gym with my dad (more on that when we get it done).

I’ll also be seeing my brother and sister-in-law on Saturday. My sister-in-law and I have a lot of planning to get done for our trip, which is coming up in a month, so we’ll be working on that this weekend.

Going home will also be a nice break from being in LA and feeling a little lost without a job. But I will say that after my 2 job trial offers I got this week, my 3rd interview resulted in me getting hired! I’ll be working as an on-call personal assistant. There’s no guarantee with hours and the pay is independent contractor (so I have so save a lot of the money I earn to pay my taxes), but it’s something. And my birthday twin, Joanna, is hired by this company as well so I know that it’s a good and flexible day job.

As I’ve said before, I’m hoping that this round of unemployment ends quickly. While I’m getting by with unemployment money, it’s not enough to pay all the bills (or pay down my credit card). I don’t want to be surviving on that money for too long.

But for now, I’m not focusing on my lack of work but my excitement about meeting Tucker (and seeing everyone else in my family!)! And seeing my family will make my Valentine’s Day a day filled with people I love. I hope that you all get to have the same!

Take Two With Day One Of Unemployment (or Doing Some Fun Stuff, Finally!)

I’m going to share my second attempt at my first day of unemployment, but first, I want to do some updates.

First, an update on my job. It was officially announced yesterday that we are not coming back. They have decided to use an outside company to do telesales, which is what they did before I started working there. I’m hoping to see if there are any other opportunities for me at my current work, but I’m also working hard on finding something elsewhere.

Second, an update on my health. Thanks to everyone who tweeted, Facebooked, or messaged me that they hoped I was ok. I’m almost feeling 100% back to normal now. Those antibiotics really worked quickly!

So after my first day of unemployment was spent in pain or at urgent care, I wanted to try to make my next day be a lot better. I was calling it my do-over first day.

I spent a lot of my morning binge-watching “Veronica Mars” on Amazon Prime. I’m almost done with the second season and I know that I’ll be done with the third season before the movie comes out.

I met a friend of mine for lunch in downtown Culver City. She saw that I posted on Facebook that I was looking for some recommendations of places to go to in New York when I take my trip with my sister-in-law. She used to live in New York, so she had a ton of recommendations! She was going to email me a list, but since she and I are both unemployed right now, I said that we should meet for lunch so she could go over her list with me.

We met at Ugo and they have an awesome lunch menu where pretty much everything is under $7. I had a sandwich and she had some fries (sadly, I forgot to get a picture of the food but it was delicious!).

After eating, we went over the list that she made for me about New York. When she mentioned making me a list, I thought maybe it would be a couple of things in a few categories. No, this is an awesome list that had more suggestions than we’d have time for!

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I know you can’t really read it in that picture, but just know that it’s a full-page list that is double-sided!

After lunch, I had some time to relax and then I went off to work to work a show shift. I personally didn’t think it would be awkward, but since everyone had just found out about us being let go, others thought it was. A couple of people who work there came up to me in shock that we weren’t coming back. I guess I’m not too shocked because I had a warning that this would probably happen about a week ago. I’ll be working 2 more show shifts this week and then I’m not too sure what will happen after that.

All in all, it was a pretty good 2nd try at my first day of unemployment (although can I still call it unemployment when I worked 2 hours at my old job?).

A Free Weekday (or Planning Ahead For Fun Things)

While I was out sick last week from work, I missed some schedule changes that were made. So when I returned on Friday, I learned that we were going to have Monday off because of the MLK Holiday. I still ended up working on Sunday so it didn’t feel like an extra day off, but it was a pleasant surprise.

A lot of times with these extra days off I try to plan some sort of adventure. But since I’m still in recovery mode from this cold, I tried to take it easy but have a fun time as well.

I went out to lunch with my friend Kate. She’s currently job hunting so I wanted to catch up on that with her. And I had my usual randomness to catch her up on. Since I will be unemployed soon, we are trying to figure out some fun outings to go on when we both are out of work. One thing that is definitely on our list is to go to California Adventure at Disneyland. Kate has never been in that part of Disneyland before and I told her that she has to do it (she agrees with me).

After a nice lunch, I continued on my adventures by doing a little shopping for a trip that I have in a few months. My sister-in-law, Krystle, and I are going to New York for a few days in March. I don’t really need too much stuff for that trip, but there is a new Nordstrom’s Rack I wanted to check out and shopping for that trip was a good excuse.

I’m still not in “standard” sized clothes, so shopping is still pretty tough. And the plus size clothes options are pretty pathetic. But I did managed to find a 100% cashmere sweater that was only $40. So I got that. And I’m still on the lookout for a trench coat for my trip. I don’t really own any rain coats or nice jackets and I’m pretty sure that I will need that for my trip. It might not be as cold in March as it is right now in New York, but it will probably be colder than it is right now in LA (where it’s been 75 degrees and sunny every day).

Shopping for the trip is really getting me excited about it. Krystle and I really need to get on top of doing some planning. We have our flights and hotel booked, but that’s it so far. But I’m looking forward to doing whatever we end up doing because I haven’t been to New York since the summer I turned 17.

After my shopping (where it seemed everyone was shopping because it took me almost an hour to pay), I headed back home to do what I usually do on Sundays to prepare for a full work week (grocery shop, clean, do laundry). I’m starting to feel almost back to normal again and I feel like taking the time yesterday to have some fun has really gotten me ready to be back at work for a full week.