Mid Summer's Update

Hey! I have been busy working, working, working! Monday I started at Kaiser with a bus ride at 5:30 am up to Pasadena to go to a day long orientation for all of Southern California. It was a long day, but I was able to read all of The Great Gatsby throughout the day. The next couple days were just regular orientation and computer training in San Diego. I really think I am going to like working at Kaiser. They are an HMO medical group/hospital that really focuses on prevention. They have some of the best television and radio ads out there. At orientation, they showed us a lot of them, some I hadn't seen before. This was my favorite:




Here's another cute one:




I start REAL training in the hospital next week, which will be a lot of fun! I love my job at Healthy Dining, but I really miss interacting with people and taking care of patients.

Speaking of Healthy Dining... I have been doing more writing lately, which has been really enjoyable. One of my favorite things I have done was write an article on basic nutrition for restaurant owners. I have also been answering a lot of "Ask the RD" questions. I also finally updated the site, so I actually have a bio up!

That's about it for  now! Jeff and I are going to see Wicked with my friend Sarah tonight. I am so excited to go (and for Jeff to see it!) Last night we went to the Legend of Zelda symphony with my mom and brother...and it was pretty awesome.

Here was Jeff's favorite song (from The Windwaker):




This one was my favorite...because it is my favorite video game of all time (The LEgend of Zelda, a Link to the Past):



These videos aren't from the concert that we saw. Because Comic Con is going on right now, this was considered a part of comic con, and so there were a lot of people dressed up there. It brought back SO MANY childhood memories. I used to ask my mom to "play Zelda until I fall asleep" at night instead of reading me a story. It is one connection my entire family has in common.

Anyway, it was really cool and we had a great time! It was an outdoor concert along the San Diego Harbor (kind of by seaport village, behind the convention center).

We also saw the biggest boat we have ever seen while walking to the show. It had a helicopter on the back. We looked it up online this morning, and it says it was $250 million dollars. Crazy! If I can find the article, I'll post it here.

Anyway, that's all for now!!

Yes, another Disneyland trip...

This one was to celebrate my birthday, although it was a week after I turned 28...

This time, Jeff joined Heather, Chris and Me. We had a great time! Jeff got a park hopper pass too, so we could go to both California Adventure AND Disneyland.

We started out the day at California Adventure:

Very serious on California Screamin' (except for Chris)

Excuse me for a minute, I have to take this call (on Tower of Terror)

Me and Jeff outside of Tower of Terror

Posing with Mr. Incredible

Then we headed over to Disneyland...

Went on the newly refurbished Matterhorn. There were men climbing the matterhorn like they were climbing a mountain. It was really cool! I would love that job - To climb the matterhorn and wave at people all day. 

Then we went on Star Tours and Jeff got a little motion sick, so we got him some dramamine and went on Space Mountain. We decided to be super secret spies on this one. 

We also went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster.

Next it was time for our Cars Land fast pass. Let me just say that Cars Land looks SO MUCH like Radiator Springs. It is really cool! It is a great addition to Disneyland. 

And, the new ride: Radiator Springs Racers (is really cool). It could have gone a little bit faster, but it was really neat. Yet another Disney First (which if you remember from my last post, always is magical).

We should have taken more pictures in Cars Land, but you can look it up online. This blog has some great pictures. 

Then we went back to Disneyland because it was hot and we wanted to go on Splash Mountain, but we ran into Cruella DeVille (who was hilarious and I want her job). 

Then we went on Splash Mountain and it was really scary

Had to take a picture in front of the little door. 

We went to toon town and took some fun pictures. 

Then we ended our day at California Adventure. We wanted to go on (the best ride ever) Toy Story Mania and the (second best ride ever) Tower of Terror again. 

Probably one of the best photo-op places in California Adventure. 

The last two rides of the day. As you can tell on Tower of Terror, we were pretty sleepy!

We then went back to the car as the Fireworks were lighting up the sky. All in all it was a great day! We didn't end with a trip to Cafe Rio because it was so late...but maybe next time!

Disneyland on 6/14/12

In March, my friend best Heather came back from Australia where she was living for a couple years. I picked her up from LAX and we immediately went to Disneyland.  We have that kind of special Disney connection. Shortly after we were able to drive (I think we were 18 & 19?) we got annual passes and would go to Disneyland on a regular basis. at least once a month. Now ten years later, we a annual pass carrying members and are starting to go quite a bit. Here are pictures from the trip we made on June 14 (the day before Cars Land opened, so we couldn't go to California Adventure). 

Kissing Mr. Toad. Some pictures you just have to get every time you're there...This is one of them.

On the Buzz Lightyear Ride

Heather is obsessed with Star Wars

We found Snow Wite

Mary Poppins told us that we reminded her of two of her friends, Belle and Merida...

See the resemblance???

After that, we decided to go try to meet the real Merida. Heather auditioned for the part and to every one's dismay, they hired a brunette and stuck a wig on her. We have a theory that Disneyland is anti-gingers because Heather never gets hired and they always hire non-red heads to play the red-headed princesses. (anyway, that is a tangent, but a conversation that Heather and I have often...)

Also, when we were meeting Merida, our friend Chris finally showed up (three hours late!) He also has an annual pass and is obsessed with Disneyland. We have been friends since 10th grade (which Heather has him beat by one year). 

We are Brave!

So, we had fun around the park and went out to Downtown Disney for lunch. We caught the monorail Downtown to take us back into the park. 

It was on this ride that I had a"Disney First" (which is pretty magical when you've gone as many times as I have). Chris and I got to sit in the VERY FRONT of the monorail with the conductor. there wasn't enough room for Heather so she took one for the team and sat in the car. It was so cool. 

So then we went on a bunch of rides and posed with a lot of characters (which aren't usually out in abundance, but probably because there were so many media types around, they wanted to make the park EXTRA magical). 

First attempt at the cell phone picture. 

See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. 

With Brear Bear

With Goofy and Max

With a Penguin

Lastly, a couple years ago, I looked up the locations of the closest Cafe Rio and knew that there was one in Orange County. On one of my trips back to San Diego, we pulled off the freeway at El Toro and were looking for a place to grab breakfast, and we drove past Cafe Rio. Unfortunately they were closed for Breakfast, but I knew where it was whenever I needed a fix. So, because we left the park a little early (probably around 7:30), we decided to swing by Cafe Rio on our way home. Heather was hooked and said she would wake up in the mornings and crave Pork Salad. So, we now have a new Disneyland tradition of Cafe Rio!

Vacation in Paradise

From June 2-9, Jeff and I went to Puerto Aventuras in Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is just an hour South of Cancun, so it is on the East Coast. Our hotel was right on the beautiful Caribbean Sea with the clear warm water and baby powder beach. The beaches in Cancun are very sandy and go on forever, but the beach at Puerto Aventuras was rocky and had many varieties of fish swimming about. There were SO MANY activities to do at our hotel and nearby. We definitely couldn't say we were bored this trip. We got to go kayaking in the ocean and ride on a catamaran. Puerto Aventuras is a small fishing town, so there was a marina next to our hotel that had dolphins, sea otter, manatees, etc. It was really fun to walk around the marina and see all the wild life and go shopping. They had a coffee shop with WiFi, so we went over there to use our computer a couple times.

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort again. It is SO NICE to not have to cook, clean or pay for food for an entire week. I think that is really the selling point for me!!

Here are a couple shots of our room, and the view looking out the balcony. The last picture was the view from the other side/entrance to the room. It is so beautiful - A lush jungle with rooftops peeking out.

We decided to go on a tour with Almas LDS Tours again. Because we were repeat customers, we got a break on the price (which was really nice!). We decided to go to Tulum again (see above) and Coba. There was so much to learn at Tulum and Jeff and I wanted a chance to hear it again. 

Sarah, Me and Sylvia in Tulum

Me and Jeff in Tulum

Me and Jeff in Tulum

Me and Jeff in Tulum 

The next stop on our tour was lunch at a traditional Mayan restaurant and then go to Coba, which is a vast archaeological site that you have to tour on bikes. I really wanted to go visit Coba because we would get to actually climb the ruins. 

This is what we were able to climb. It was SO STEEP and TALL, this picture doesn't really do it justice. Sarah started to climb, but then decided she couldn't do it and came down halfway. I thought I was not going to make it because I was getting really scared, but we made it to the top!

Me and Sylvia at the top

Jeff and I at the top. This is the tallest ruins  (and perhaps the tallest point?) in the Yucatan Peninsula!

The way back down. This is a little bit better representation of the steepness. At least the steps were large enough for us to sit on and scoot our way down. 

Sylvia, Sarah and me at the bottom.

Jeff and me after the big climb.

Another set of ruins on the archaeological site of Coba.

After going to Coba, we went and swam in a cenote then visited a traditional Mayan family. That might have been the coolest  part of the trip. They had so many wild animals on their farm. There was even a spider monkey there to welcome us (which just made my day!).

We then went and met the family. This (below) is the mother who is making dinner for the family in the kitchen area. It looked like it would be a really fun lifestyle - almost like camping and making crafts all day! All (8?) of her daughters were named Maria Something (like Maria Lupita, Maria Christina, Maria...) and so I kept thinking that would be cool if they adopted me and named me Maria Amanda ;-)

Like I said, they had so many wild animals living on their property. Below is a Ocelot (which was really cute!) They also had a deer, wolverine looking thing, a bunch of wild dogs and havlinas (pigs).

Other than the tour, we hung out around the resort a lot. Jeff and I had a date night, where we ate a lobster dinner on the beach. It was pretty amazing!! 

Here are some random pictures from around the hotel and the Marina next door. 

The fridge in our room was stocked daily with diet coke and water, which made me happy. 

I also tried a Coke Zero in Mexico, and to my dismay, the Diet Coke (or, coca cola light) tastes better than the Coke Zero. That wouldn't happen in America!

Jeff playing Volleyball. They had a game every day at 4. I played one day, but it was also at the same time as Zumba...

Jeff found a store selling "Local Quickies" (...)

Another view of the resort from our room. 

There were giant iguanas everywhere, which is pretty cool. 

The dolphins in the Marina next door. 

Sarah and Sylvia paid to go swim with the dolphins!

All in all it was a really fun trip. Getting back to the US was a different story though...At around 5pm, we found out that our flight was delayed until 2am the next morning. We had to go through customs and immigration again, get on a bus and was shuttled over to a nearby hotel. We checked in and got to eat and sleep for a couple hours and then at 10pm we all met at the lobby of the hotel and they told us our flight was delayed until 5am, so meet at the hotel lobby at 3am. So Jeff and I put in an order for room service at 2:30 am (which was a lot of fun!) and then we got back to the airport and had to go through security/check in again. It was a hassle, but in retrospect, wasn't that bad. It just created some more memories ;-) 

Now that we got to go to Cancun/Cancun Area twice, we likely will go somewhere else on our next vacation, but this is always such a good deal, it is very tempting!!