travel light

Rach and I are currently in the process of repacking our car after the first half of our road trip. I thought it was best to stay committed to my "travel suitcase" during our time in Denver so I'm done packing while Rachel is trying to figure out how she got everything to fit the first time around. We've had a travel method all this time. For our road trips we each have of the smaller suitcases in which we live out of. The larger, "permanent" suitcases full of clothes we won't need for our travels remain in the car and untouched. We decided to take everything out of our car while we were in Denver so that our car didn't weigh a ton while we used it for the 10 days. I put my big permanent suitcase in a corner and haven't touched it while Rachel dove straight into hers. I'm done packing. I get to blog while I watch her pack. So far lots of success creating a good balance this road trip between fun and relaxation. AMC helped by putting on a 48 hour Rocky I-V marathon on television. I'm going to list my highlights of the trip so far so that I don't go into a big long narrative of each one, which I have a habit of doing.

My highlights so far

1. Seeing a few people of college in L.A.

2. Exploring the beach in Malibu with Christina and finding all the cool starfish. Also the big rock we climbed. (Sorry mom and dad)

3. Hiking with Christina and Rachel to the waterfall.

4. San Diego Zoo with Steph and Rach. (Even though we got to the tiger cage too late to see it)

5. Going into some random bar in San Diego to watch the World Series only to find it was a Bill's backer bar.

6. Seeing the homeless person selling lies for a dollar. (He was "selling Michael Jackson tickets and had good crack"

7. Playing drinking games around the kitchen table with Nick, Kim, Steph and Rach at the Army Post and then listening to Nick and Kim sing a song in the livingroom.

8. Listening to Rachel freaking out on the phone with Chase bank after realizing she left her ID, her debit card, her credit card and a piece of paper with both our banking account numbers on it at the last rest stop we were at.... 2 hours back.

9. Watching Rachel find all those things while she was still on the phone with Chase in the cranny of the car door.

10. Drinking beers in the hotel shower in Vegas.

11. Going to bed at 10pm and never leaving our Vegas hotel because we were drunk.

12. Taking Becca to see the mountains.

13. Going out to dinner with Becca and Liz at Rioja to eat artichoke and truffle tortelloni.

14. Seared kangaroo meat. (I hated it, Rachel liked it. I think it tastes like what you would expect dog to taste like)

15. Sushi with Julie and Kelsey.

16. Cuddling up and watching endless hours of Rocky movies.

17. Cheersing Rachel because she handed me a glass of wine while I'm blogging.

18. Getting my official Hunter E-mail address.

19. Running errands all day to restart roadtrip tomorrow.

20. Looking forward to everything to come.

Tonight we're going to Stella for dinner. Tomorrow we'll get up early and drive to Santa Fe for where we'll hang out for a little bit before we head over to Albuquerque. We'll spend the night there and head out early for Dallas. Thats supposed to be a pretty long trip and I really want to check out Roswell on the way. We'll see how time is I guess. Trips really going to pick up momentum now so we're pumped and ready to go! P.S-Rach seems to still be packing.

-lj

Away we go

Well...the day is finally here. I figured since I haven't posted in months and Joanna is busy putting on the bike rack that I would take on the responsibility of blogging before we depart! The best news about this morning is that our friends came to say goodbye to us but decided to follow us down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!!!!!!!! No sad goodbyes yet =) And... Becca is coming to Denver so definitely no sad goodbyes there. I'm happy to say that our eyes popped open at 6am ready for our adventure. We saved packing the car for this morning and it is complete. Shipping six boxes definitely helped with freeing up some space. I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving San Francisco but mostly I am SO excited to get back to NYC and be with family and friends. This was a very, very cool city and it really grew on us. Our jobs were amazing and we met some pretty cool people. Between trips to Muir woods, our tough mudder adventure, countless walks down the wharf, and some of the best food we've ever eaten San Francisco's definitely on the top of my list. Sadly our video camera has bit the dust but have no fear, Joanna insisted we get a new one. I'm sure Joey will blog later with more details but for now we must hit the road. To all we're leaving behind, it's been an awesome adventure... to all those in our path ahead... can't wait to see you =) Love to all xoxo

-lr

Last Times

We leave early Tuesday morning. Our last day of work is Sunday and of course, we've saved everything we have to do to be ready to leave for Monday. Personally, I'm in the nostalgic phase of leaving an adventure city. Everything in my mind is based upon "last times". The last time I'll drive through China town with the windows down after dropping Rachel off at work. Singing in the car in between stop lights where I drop my volume and watch all the Asians dedicate themselves to finding the perfect produce. All of them picking their way from market to market rummaging through countless bins of vegetables, roots and fruit I can't identify, searching for an acceptable specimen. The elders, all always so hunched over, ancient looking and scowling as if nothing in the world any longer meets their standards. There's always several panic-sticken looking men and women, practically sprinting, carrying heavy suitcases or pull carts, trying to make a bus that isn't going anywhere fast enough for them to miss it. I enjoy my drive through China town- it's like driving through a wormhole into a completely different world. Today was my last time sitting on my blanket in Percita Park with a book, my eyes stinging with clumsily sprayed tanning oil. My time in the park is rarely relaxing because it revolves around trying to find a comfortable balance between reading without sun in my eyes and getting my face tan. This is never relaxing because the balance doesn't exist. The relaxation only happens at the times when I put my book down so I can rest my arm and watch all the dogs play catch with they're owners who only like to talk about what breed of dog they have. You'd think I'd have learned to just leave my book at home. The goodbyes and mapping out of goodbyes have started to happen at work. I hate goodbyes. I'm sick of saying them and feeling the sadness that wraps itself around them. The hub of construction right by my house shifted in the past two days which means my last turn left onto Bryant to go to my house was had without my knowing. I feel cheated. Besides my last day of work at a job that I love, the biggest last is going to be my last walk down the wharf in between Rachel's and my restaurants. I can't count how many times I've done it in the past five months and it's probably my favorite part of the day. There's street performers, sometimes sea lions if I feel like walking down Pier 39, about 20 languages happening around me and a fantastic view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz the whole way. This last walk will happen tomorrow. From Fog City Diner to Cappuros, which is the favorable direction because the wharf gets busier the closer you get to Cappuros. Also I can take my time since I'll be coming from work rather than rushing toward it. Saying goodbye to my coworkers isn't even something I like thinking about. I've worked here the longest of all the places and these people are like my family. The only bad thing I could possibly say about this job is about the uniforms. White in a restaurant is silly and impractical. That being said, I couldn't ask for a better job or for better coworkers. Thank God I don't have to say goodbye to Becca yet. If I did, it would make this week a million times more stressful. Becca will be coming to Denver for a few days and I'm so excited to show her one of my favorite cities in the country. As sad as all these "last times" are, we're ready to go. We don't hate San Francisco. Actually, we've grown to really like San Francisco. But it's time to move on. I just found out a few days ago that I was accepted into Hunter College. At least that's what the recording sounded like when I sneakily checked the status of my application via phone. I'm 99% sure I was accepted to Hunter. I'm going to start in February and have about 8 classes to take before I can apply to Hunter's Nursing Program, which is one of the best in the country. I'm keep thinking back to an 18 year old Joey, showing her chemistry teacher a blank homework sheet in defiance. He would look at me, take a deep breath, mark something down, and move on. Once he walked away I would lean back in my chair and continue my conversations with my friends about rehearsal the day before and about rehearsal after school today. I was going to be an actor- I didn't need to know chemistry. .....woops. The average GPA of a student getting into Hunter's Nursing program is 3.5. Whats the difference again between an electron and a proton? I'm excited to actually find out if I'm smart if I apply myself. I'm telling myself I am. I'm also telling myself I'm lucky part of the Nursing School application is a personal essay. One thing is for sure- that was the 'last time' I get to get away with not doing my Chemistry homework. I wish I was able to savor that moment more...I feel cheated. -lj

Y Adventure

Today will be an adventurous day. Sadly, probably the last adventurous day in Northern California before we leave. Rachel and I are packing our backpacks for our Yosemite adventure this morning. Becca and Brett are on their way to pick us up. We can only stay one night but we're all very very excited. Please excuse my lack of fluidity and imagination with this blog- blogging usually only happens after several cups of coffee and I am functioning only on a few sips.

We'll be staying in a hotel tent- a tent with a wooden frame and canvas walls. I, of course, keep having flashes of bear encounters which is up there with "Joey's Top 5 Fears". When we return tomorrow night, I work everyday until the day we leave, which while stressful, is fiscally necessary. I absolutely promise to do a serious NorCal reflection as well as a briefing on our trip across the country (which is going to be amazing). Today though, I will be busy meeting nature as I've never met her before. I promise not to climb any trees Mom and Dad- at least not too high. ;) lj

Tough Mudder NorCal 2011

I should probably tell you about Tough Mudder while it's still pretty fresh in my memory. We woke up Saturday morning around 8am and finished all our last minute packing. We made extra sure we had all our energy bars and gu's, our gloves for good grip, our sneakers and our brand new outfits and white headbands. We decided that morning that it would be quicker for Becca to meet us here and keep her car in our driveway since our house is closer to the Bay Bridge than hers. We both woke up with lots of energy and were practically bouncing off the walls. It was finally here! I absolutely insisted that we bring the video camera. We have one and have barely used it this whole adventure! So dumb. Finally, Becca arrived and the first thing I did was grab the camera to capture our departure. We stopped for some breakfast before really getting on the road and I got to enjoy a pumpkin latte, which is one of my favorite things. And a pumpkin muffin. And a sandwich. A great thing about knowing you're about to do an event is that you don't feel guilty about what you eat beforehand. Rachel was driving, I rode shotgun with my latte in hand and Becca was sprawled in the back and we set off for our 4 hour roadtrip to Squaw Valley. The ride was beautiful and as we got closer we noticed a car on the highway packed with a bunch of dudes around our age. I had a strange feeling they were headed for the race too. A grabbed a piece of paper and wrote in big letters "Tough Mudder?". We got in the lane next to them and pushed the paper against the window. They smiled and gave us a thumbs up. About five minutes later our cars lined up again and there was a piece of paper against they're window this time. We got closer. We squinted. What does that say? "SEX?" Boys. Rachel laughed and Becca and I rolled our eyes. We gave them a thumbs up and drove on. We finally got to Squaw and realized it was almost at 7,000 feet elevation. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It looked like the movies. I kept wondering what it would be like to go snowboarding on these mountains and felt a touch of sadness that we were leaving before I could find out. We checked into our room, which we realized was a suite (sweet!) and we headed into the village (steps from our lodge) for some food. The small village was totally taken over by Tough Mudder. Most of the people had done in that day and were sporting the orange headband you're handed when you cross the finish line. People were also sporting limps. Lots of limping. Some people had scrapped legs, a few were on crutches. We would ask some people in passing how the race was. The response wasn't motivating. Everyone took a deep breath before answering and they would all respond the same..."it was long. Much longer than you think it's going to be". "oh....ok" we'd say. Lots of people told us to tape our ankles since its so rocky. Lots of people also told us to make sure we ate something with potassium along the way because cramping was a huge problem since our bodies were getting cold and wet so often. Not once did someone say "oh man it was awesome! I wish I could do it again tomorrow!" We were slightly weary of this "super long race" and we headed back to the lodge to sit in the hot tub. There were some tough mudders in the hot tub so we asked them how it was. Luckily, these people were super friendly and said it was lots of fun. They also told us how long it was, to tape our ankles and to watch for cramping. But at least they said it was fun! We headed to the room to relax a bit and went to get some dinner. The whole village was in party mode because so many people had already done the race and we felt a little left out. We headed home to make sure we got to bed nice and early. The next morning we woke up around 6:30. We got dressed and went outside to discover something that we hadn't anticipated. It was absolutely....freezing. You could see our breath in the air. We were told it was going to be 90 degrees. We were also told that the first obstacle of the race was in cold water. We laughed nervously about our discovery and headed to breakfast hoping that the sun would heat the world for us within the next three hours. Our start time was 10:20 so hopefully, the elevation meant the sun had super powers. We ate as much as could at breakfast and headed over to register. It was already warming up and we felt much more confident in the temperature. We got our numbers drawn on our heads with a sharpie, had number flags on our backs and returned to our room to stretch and gear up. We were all definitely nervous, but really excited too. Our biggest fear was that we didn't want to be cold for six hours, which is how long we expected the race to be. After about forty minutes and calls to parents we realized it was time to go. We walked over to the starting point where we stood with our group of maybe a few hundred people and an MC got us all jumping and excited. Before we went, the National Anthem was sung and it was the most I've ever enjoyed it. Most of the group I stood with were standing there because they had raised money for troops. I never feel too patriotic but I really did at that moment. After that was done, the music was cranked up again and the jumping continued. Everyone put up their right hand and repeated a pledge prompted by the MC. It went something like "Tough Mudder is not a race. It is a challenge. I will help my fellow Mudders finish the course. Comraderie comes before my finishing time. Tough Mudders do not cry. Babies cry." We jumped a few times more and it was time. Last high fives and nervous smiles. Here we go....its about to start....holy shit.....GO! And we were off. It was such a large crowd that the only people who had the option to run were the people right in front. It was kind of a slow shuffle out onto the course which was pretty anti-climactic. Good thing though because the course was immediately up hill. After about a half hour of fast paced hiking (most people fact paced hiked the whole thing- running was for super hero's only) we came to our first obstacle. It was a pit of mud blanketed with barbed wire. We had to army crawl through the freezing mud under the wire. It was really, really cold. But it was also really, really fun. We got out and continued. The obstacles were all really fun and also either very cold, or very difficult, or both. We had to submerge ourselves in an ice bath which is scary because your body almost stops working and you have a marine screaming at you to go faster. About half way through I saw one of the most touching things I've ever witnessed. A lot of people who do Tough Mudder are people from the army who have lost friends, have hurt friends and were hurt. I saw one guy with no hand fling himself over a wall like a one armed ninja. So anyway, we were hiking, hiking, hiking for what seems like forever and we noticed that we were coming up on some sort of a bottleneck. A team of about 8 people. One of them, was in a homemade wheelchair constructed of heavy duty wheels, a seat, a pair of crutches and handles on the side. Me, Becca and Rachel all had to stop for a moment and watch what was happening. There was a girl in the wheelchair with no legs below her knees. They were fake. Her team was carrying the wheel chair up and down the mountain. When they would come to an obstacle they would ALL complete it. They would carry her and she would use her arms and thighs to help. To make this clear...there were sections of the mountain, a lot of them, that you almost had to sit on your butt and slide down or scramble up because it was so steep. It was slippery, and rocky and absolutely no joke. If this girls wheelchair tipped over, which I saw almost happen a few times, there was going to be a serious problem with probably serious injuries. We watched them for a second and told them they were rockstars when we passed them. We stopped after completing the next obstacle to watch them do it. They all did. They all scrambled over and under logs in a maze of more barbed wire. Tears glassed over all of our eyes and we promised each other that we wouldn't once complain during the rest of the challenge that we were tired or cold or in any pain. I didn't see them at all after that. I would love to know how long it took them to complete the whole course which turned out to be around 13 miles and went up to almost 9,000 feet of elevation. Hands down the most inspiring thing I've ever seen. After almost 6 hours and about 25 obstacles, we finished the race all three of us holding hands and sprinting through the finish line. We jumped up and down and hugged and grabbed our free beer. All I could think was "Oh man, that was awesome. I wish I could do it again tomorrow." -lj

everything

First, I must say thank you to everyone who donated to Wounded Warrior Project. The race is on Sunday and I gotta tell ya... we're a little nervous. The Tough Mudder website says to work your way up to six miles runs, which we've done, and to be able to bang out 15 pushups in a row, which we can also do. However, something tells me that running 2,300 feet up a mountain covered in mud over the course of 11 miles might be a little bit harder than running a straight line up and down the San Francisco Bay...I dunno...just a gut feeling. Never the less, we're really really excited. Not only for the race but to go on a little 3 day vacation with our pal Becca. Also, once the race is over... the planning can begin. Oh yes...oh yes, we're getting close to the countdown ladies and gentlemen. The countdown...for the next page of our lives? No. The next chapter then? Oh yes, yes it must be a new chapter! But no. This is way bigger than that. Well....ok yes, I guess the road trip east can be a new chapter sure...BUT...once we hit the other coast of this big, beautiful (and I can tell you from personal experience, it is pretty beautiful) country, we're starting a BRAND NEW BOOK! A new volume to the Rachie and Joey Saga! I don't know about you but for us, "excited" doesn't nearly cover it. Want to know why ending adventure is so much more exciting than beginning adventure? Because once "travel" adventure number one is over...."life" adventure gets to start. Know whats gonna be in "life" adventure? Everything. In about three months, Rachel and I get to unpack our suitcases for the last time and start everything. It feels very similar to when you're about to graduate college and about to conquer the world, only instead, we're probably going back to college, and we've already conquered the world. Or at least the country. When I shut my eyes and fast forward 2 years, I see me and Rachel living in a very small apartment in Brooklyn, sitting on a love seat, with medical and anatomy books sprawled across the coffee table and plates containing discarded bites of a poorly cooked, but healthy, meal at our sides. We're trying to study but can't stop talking about what our future house is going to look like. We're laughing about how much easier it is to carry three plates to a table than carry five textbooks on the subway. If that Joanna shuts her eyes and fast forwards another two years, we're in the same living room, packing our old textbooks into boxes. We're carefully wrapping our wedding albums in tissue paper and putting those in boxes as well. There's another box in the corner labeled "scrubs" and I silently congratulate myself on my new job. We're moving into our new house tomorrow, our first house. It's small, but everything we've been dreaming of. Most importantly it has a lawn. Which brings me to my next fast forward. It's five years later this time and I'm inside our house. It's Sunday and its the first Bills game of the season. The game starts in a half hour. I'm excited for the game and I'm throwing a tiny Bills Jersey over the head of my favorite person in the whole world. I hand my favorite person a small, soft football and explain how important the game of catch is and hand in hand we're headed outside to the lawn for the very first lesson. So, why are we so excited for adventure number two? Because it's gonna be everything. -lj

in the mood for a quickie?

I'm sitting at the computer waiting for my friend Becca to come over and play in the park with me so I thought, hey, might as well update my friends. Last Sunday I played softball on my sister restaurants team and we won twice. I was MVP by default (I was batted in a lot) and had some of the best fun I've had since I've been here. I'm counting down the days to Sunday when i get to play again. Beers and softball at 10 in the morning on a Sunday is definitely on the top of my list. We play against other restaurants which for some reason, makes it more fun. I'm almost done with my new tattoo! I've sat for 7 hours total so far. It's on my right arm and is a half sleeve and its the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Every time I'm in the chair I'm amazed that I'm (well, Rachel) is paying someone an obscene amount of money to basically torture me. It's my birthday present and I was looking at it today and must say, its coming out beautiful. I kind of wish I had stuck with my original plan of a quarter sleeve instead of a half, but then everything would look smooshed and not as pretty. I'm hoping I only have one more session left. It's frustrating because I've been trying to work out a lot, training for race, and every time I get tattooed I have to take a few days off to heal. What else is new?...hm... I still like my job. Oh! How can I forget! I applied to college yesterday! I applied to four CUNY schools. It's basically just to take my pre-reqs for nursing school. I want to go to Hunter for nursing school so I hope I can take my prereqs there too. Uh oh. Becca is here. Guess we'll finish this up later. Adios! -lj

sparkles and splashes

Rachel promised she'd tell you about it, but I'll give you a rundown about our trip to Napa. We stayed at the Old World Napa Inn in a verry nice room. It had a fifty inch flat screen, big bathtub, separate showers, king size bed, and my own little touch, a bottle of Domain Chandon Sparkling Wine waiting in the room for us. (the lady actually brought it to us two minutes after we walked in). Well, thats all Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum needed to get a night going in Napa. We downed the bottle and headed out. We chose a cute little spot for dinner and ordered a second bottle of sparkles (unlike us to drink sparkles but it was nice). We sat outside and basked in the actual summer weather, which we, by, have forgotten the pleasures of. We decided to eat light so that we could go to another restaurant later. We split mussels and then Halibut. Both delicious. The mussels were the biggest I'd ever seen anywhere. We paid our bill and walked around downtown Napa, which is absolutely adorable. It reminded us of Cherry Creek in Colorado, but more quaint. We found a bar and decided to go in for a cocktail. We sat down and ordered mojitos. While the drinks were delicious, we hated the energy of the bar so we enjoyed each others company, drank our mint rum and were on our way. We walked around some more and next thing I know, it's dark outside and I ask Rachel what she'd like to do next. She grabbed my hand and said "I know what I want to do". Flopping my shoulders quickly up and down I say "ok!" and briskly followed her along. I remember being astonished that she knew where she was going. Before I can try to figure out where she's taking me, I realize we're siting in a nice Italian restaurant, for whatever reason, making the decision with our server to get a bottle of more sparkles. Finally time slowed back down and I took a moment to look around. This place was pretty nice! Great menu too. Are we even hungry? Drunk, obviously, but hungry? Who cares. We're in Napa. We order steak carpaccio and some sort of appetizer sampler. Pretty yummy. We both have big crushes on Gnocchi in any sort of pesto so even though we were full, it was on the menu so we followed with that. Mistake. It was so salty we couldn't even force it down. We even contemplated for a moment about whether or not we should complain. We decided against it and asked for the bill (we couldn't fit dessert) and left a full glass of sparkles each. Thank goodness! We got home and leaped into our big bed. Rachel was out as soon as she hit the pillow while I stayed up and drunkly watched Frasier and the Golden Girls on our big TV. I didn't finish the episode of Golden Girls and I find myself still wondering what happened to Dorothy at the end. We woke up at 9 for breakfast, which was held downstairs in the "wine cellar". It was very yummy, but not the easiest breakfast we'd ever gotten through. We crawled back to our room and fell asleep for another hour. I told Rachel to make sure we were ready to go at 11. At least we felt better after our nap. We showered and we ready in time to meet Lonnie outside. I had arranged for Lonnie to pick us up in a nice big SUV and take us Vinyard hopping for a few hours. We climbed into the SUV and found...you'll never guess....a bottle of....sparkles!...in the backseat with two empty glasses and to cold water bottles. Lonnie said it was for us and that we could do whatever we wanted with it, even if we wanted to take it with us and "drink it in our bathtub tonight or whatever we want". Phew. We thanked him and both went for the water bottles. He took us to four wineries throughout the day. I had given a list of the wineries to my manger at Fog City before hand and he made a few phone calls. Each of the wineries gave us complimentary tastings. To show our thanks we bought at least one bottle of wine at each winery. We ended up with around $200 dollars worth of wine...but really nice wine. We had asked Lonnie in the SUV what his favorite kind of wine was. He had mentioned he liked Cabs,so we bought him a bottle of Cab that we gave to him at the end. At the second winery we went to, which was the biggest one, Lonnie set a picnic for us overlooking the vinyards. We had sandwiches and pineapple coleslaw while someone who worked at the winery came over every once in a while to give us a taste of a different wine. Then Lonnie surprised us with a homemade cake and a candle for Rachel. Our last vinyard was our favorite. The man who owned it took us out and showed us the vines and described the growing process. Then we went inside for a tasting. We liked his wines the best too. We bought three bottles from him. Lonnie dropped us off and I thanked him a million times. He seemed very touched that we had bought him a bottle of wine. (A nice bottle). We went back into our big Bed and Breakfast room and laid down for a little while. Then we went out to dinner at La Toque. We were going to do the tasting but the menu is set up that you could choose any four things on the menu for a set price. Because you could choose what you wanted that way, we each did that. We had lobster salad, mushroom and fava bean ravioli (which was my favorite), fried halibut (also very good), soft shell crab, duck, rabbit and lamb. It was fun, but all in all a little disappointing. Being blown away by food is so much fun and the ravioli was really the only thing that did that. Service was really great though. It was one of the back servers first day and you could tell he was nervous. He was super sweet and would say "merci" to each of us every time he refilled our water. (which he would refill after we took two sips). We went home and I tried to stay up for Golden Girls to try and find out what happened the night before but I fell asleep during Frasier. Breakfast the next morning was much easier to get through. We tried not to eat too much before Rachel's big birthday lunch. This was the big event of the trip. I had made reservations at Morimoto Napa. I had secretly e-mailed the executive chef to tell him we were coming. I had met Chef Lunak months ago while working at Clio in Boston. I was his backwaiter and he gave me his card towards the end of his meal telling me if I were ever to move to Napa to call him for a job. Yes, yes I'm kicking myself in the ass now. Well, we got there and decided we wanted to sit outside in the sun. This restaurant inside is seriously seriously awesome. We were pumped the moment we walked in. Our server came over and asked us about water. Someone came over and filled our water. Our waiter came back two minutes later with two glasses of sparkles, smiling. The Chef sent us sparkles! Two words...rock...star. I looked like a rockstar. I knew the chef and he just sent me and my girlfriend out champagne! This guy is no joke. He's on Morimoto's team on Iron Chef America. The one with the blonde facial hair for next time you watch. We cheersed and sat looking at our menus in awe and excitement. Someone was coming over. We looked up. The coolest looking dish I'd ever seen was placed on our table. It was Morimoto's famous toro tartare with six condiments. Again, no joke. It's a 28$ dollar appetizer. And it was freaking....amazing. We gobbled it up and had a blast doing it. It was cleared from our table. Or waiter came back over....and took our menus away. Took them away. He said "it looks like your in for a leisurely lunch". We both sat there wide-eyed. Then, half-shelled HUGE crablegs were set on our table smothered in some spicy red sauce. We both just stared at the food. Then at the waiter. Then back at the food. He told us what it was, smiled and walked away. We inhaled it. Someone came and took our empty plates away. Then two more dishes arrived. A lamb tartare and a tuna pizza. Seriously, some of the best food I've ever had, not to mention the most beautiful looking. While we stuffing our faces with raw meat covered in yumminess I looked up and Chef Lunak was standing over our table smiling, hand extended to me telling me how nice it was to see me again. I shook his hand and introduced him to Rachel. I tried to explain how grateful we were and how incredible his food was but I'm sure I couldn't possibly have done a good job. He said to make sure we said goodbye before we left and left us to our meal. After we were done the waiter finally brought us back our menus. We were so full but had to order something. We ordered rock shrimp tempura and miso glazed cod lunch combo thing. Both were good, but didn't compare to the mind blowing (there it is!) dishes he had chosen for us. While we were eating the General Manager of the restaurant came over. He extended his hand and said "I heard I'm supposed to recruit you." I laughed and told him he was more than welcome to. He chatted us up for a few minutes and gave us each his card, telling us that if we wanted to try Napa, we'd both have jobs. You better believe we had a pretty long discussion about moving to Napa when he walked away! We sadly decided against it and kept our sights on Brooklyn. However, I looked it up and there's a Morimoto in New York now. Looks like I'm keeping these contacts handy! While we were at lunch I gave Rach her birthday card and an envelope marked "What Are We Gonna Do On Your BIG Day??". Inside the envelope were two tickets for the day to Six Flags which is half way between Napa and San Francisco. We got there around 3 and knowing we only had 5 hours there (God forbid) we dropped some money for a Platinum Flash Pass. I don't know if you've noticed but Rachel and I like to pretend we're loaded...its actually our favorite thing to do. We got to skip all the lines. Lines that took an hour for others took us two minutes. Also, with our special wristbands we were allowed to ride a ride twice in a row if we felt like staying on. We learned quickly that roller coasters are short for a reason and only used that privilege twice. My favorite part of our six flags day were the two shows we saw. A dolphin show and a killer whale show. I would totally trade in nursing to be a whale or dolphin trainer so I might look into that. What job is better than that!? We also got center (towards) the front seats with our special flash passes and got cooled off a few times with some splashes. During the dolphin show some guy proposed to his girlfriend on the microphone which was sweet, but a little awkward. It was hard coming home but it was probably the best trip we've ever taken. Not that we don't kind of live on a big trip, but you know what I mean. Now our focus is saving money to finally settle down, which we're very excited about. Are there killer whale shows in Brooklyn? -lj

dad-e

happy birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy birthday dear daddy

happy birthday to you

lj

i miss my family. happy birthday to my dad. i love you.

looking forward

So we're still not crazy about San Francisco but we do have some things to look forward to and be happy about. First off, we went and saw Harry Potter last night at midnight. Thumbs up to that. Secondly, we've signed up for another endurance event! You all know we did the New York City Triathlon two years ago. Well we just signed up for Tough Mudders NorCal. It's Sept 18th and is a ten mile long obstacle course/run around a mountain. You basically run 10 miles hitting about 20 obstacles along the way designed by the British Special Forces. Ice cold water, electric shock, 2300 feet of elevation gain, 15ft cliff jumps, 12 foot walls, and lots of mud are all involved. We're raising money for Wounded Warrior Project which helps vets from Afghanistan and Iraq that have been wounded. Here's my donation page, I would really really appreciate any contributions. Even if it's just five dollars, it would show me that you support me. https://www.raceit.com/fundraising/donate.aspx?event=3355&fundraiser=r1483841

My friend Becca from work also signed up to do it with us. It's in Squaw Valley, CA, close to Tahoe.

In other news, Rachel's birthday is this week!! I'm taking her to Napa for a romantic weekend. I don't want to ruin any events so I'll leave the details for after we return. It should be a fantastic time. Dangerous to send two foodies that like to pretend they're rich when they're not over to Napa. Very very dangerous. But we make great money at our jobs, which luckily, we both love. We spend our days working and working out in whichever order is more convenient. We talk about going to NY every day. We can't wait. We're looking forward to settling down and going back to school just as much as we were looking forward to adventure over a year ago. I'm already having stress about telling my job even though it's still a few months away (end of October). I promised them I was here to stay when I was hired and they were nervous about trusting me. How can they expect me to live somewhere I don't like though?

Linda is gone for two weeks on vacation. Tuck, the roommate who moved out when we moved in is staying with us while she's gone and then he's going to move in permanently. We're babysitting his mom's dog. I very old, very fat, very soft and sweet one-eyed pug named Maggie. I never want her to leave. Did I mention she's very very fat? Did I mention she only has one eye? Her strange barks sound more like a mix between a baby crying and a pig squeeling. Nothing like a dog which makes her all the more charming. ....she's so fat. She's hilarious. I still can't pinpoint exactly why we don't like San Francisco, but we really really don't. Maybe a huge part of it is that we're homesick and so ready to settle, for now. I can't wait to get the nursing ball rolling and to go apartment hunting and have a home again with Rach, where we can live exactly how we want to. This is also way too far from family. Way way too far. Even if we loved it here I don't think we'd be able to stay so far. Just knowing everyone is so far away makes me miss them more. Since we make such good money we're staying until the end of October and after Napa we're turning our dials onto save mode. It feels nice to look forward to home. Adventure was awesome but it's definitely time to wrap things up. Scroll back up the blog and don't forget to donate please!! -lj