Rain Rain Go Away

It's been raining tons here this week! It makes the commute a little painful since many Californians don't seem to know how to drive in the rain. This has been demonstrated by

1) Constant unnecessary braking

2) Drivers who don't turn on the lights in the rain

3) Drivers who still tailgate in the rain

Interesting. Oh well, hopefully it will be over soon. I had my first ever MLK holiday as a working person and I couldn't really enjoy it because of the torrential rain. Just sat at home, and exercised as I watched the Star Wars Clone Wars movie. Not particularly exciting, eh?

Ready for Texas

It's been a long week! I'm counting down the days until my time off when I head back to good ol' Texas. In addition to seeing family and friends, I'm looking forward to some good food. On the list:

1) Chuy's

2) Salt Lick

3) Ann's Kitchen Cakes Chocolate Cake

4) Kerbey Queso and pumpkin pancakes if they have them

5) Chik-Fil-A fries or Sonic tater tots and slushie

Yum! Who's going to be in Austin between Dec 19 - 30? If so, let me know - would love to see you!

The Blind Side

OK, I know I'm long overdue for a post, but I saw The Blind Side and it is such a good movie! Go see it - it's inspiring. So inspiring that I'm going to read the book. It looks like the movie exaggerates some parts but all in all, the heart is there. So go see it!

First Months in Cali

I'm starting to get a little more settled into the new city. It's been nice to have a variety of friends around so that I can try new things. Some highlights have included
1) AVP tournament in the city - I walked right by Keri Walsh - she's super tall!
2) Giants game - random work perk, I got to sit right behind the 1st base dugout
3) Killer's concert - my friend had work tickets for a VIP box at the concert, super fun
4) Yosemite - I did the famed Half Dome hike even though I had no real idea what it was about...

5) Not in the Bay area - but I went to a wedding in Newport, RI for HBS friends, Kate and Neil. It was a gorgeous wedding on a beautiful weekend

Some photos:

The Journey

Here are some pics from our trip along the way including
1) The Road
2) The Mission outside of Tuscon
3) Lolo's Chicken and Waffles in Phoenix
4) Windmill farm outside of L.A.
5) Coffee & Dinner with L.A. friends
6) Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes & Spanish Chorizo and Homefries @ BLD
7) Walking around the Hollywood Walk of Stars (I think that's what it's called?)
8) The New Room

Moved in?

Ok after a trip to IKEA, one to Wal-Mart, and multiple trips to Target I think I'm finally settled in. It's such a relief to have unpacked and found some place to square away my random stuff. Surprisingly, the whole move process has kept me pretty occupied this past week. Since Christina was so kind to make the drive to Cali with me, the weekend and first half of the week flew by. We were blessed with meeting up with friends along the way - thanks to Jasmine and Norm who let us stay with them in Phoenix, as well as my B-school friend a place to stay in L.A. Plus, it was nice to see a lot of old friends over coffee in L.A. One highlight for me was chasing down a place I saw on the Food Network. BLD was quoted in an episode of the best thing I ever ate. We ordered the featured blueberry ricotta pancakes along with a side of Spanish chorizo homefries, and I thought it was pretty awesome and delicious. So good! The second half of the week was also busy with visitors. I happened to have multiple friends come into town for random reasons and was able to meet up with them between the unpacking/building furniture process.

Hopefully this second week will go by as nicely. On the docket for the week - getting a Cali driver's license and registering my car. Not THAT much. So I'm hoping to squeeze in a trip to In n' Out too. Yes, I know I'm being extremely ambitious but hopefully it will work out ;)

Soon to be Californian

Friday morning I begin the road trip to Cali. In 4 days I'll arrive and begin my new residence in the Bay Area. Please pray for our trip - for safety, for no mishaps, and for a fun time!

Still need a new name for the blog...