This past weekend, 12 beautiful ladies made their way down to San Diego to celebrate my good friend Rachel’s bachelorette party.

Please take note of the lingerie and penis balloons in the background.

Rachel and I were both involved in the Student Alumni Association at UCLA and were roommates for a year in college. Best. Year. Ever. We have so many special memories from that year.

From left to right: Gina (My roommate for 4 years!), Lynsey (Roomie for 3), Rachel (Roomie for 1), and Me

We rented a beachhouse in Mission Beach for the weekend. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it was a block from the beach and was a pretty great set-up on the inside.

Friday:

We got there a few hours before the bride-to-be to decorate the house a bit.

We wasted no time and, when the bride-to-be arrived, we jumped right into the festivities.

Why, yes. That’s a penis straw in my margarita.

That night, we went on a Laker-themed bar crawl around Mission Beach.

But we played the, “How Well Do You Know Adam?” game before we took off.

Needless to say, Rachel knows Adam very well. (They’ve been together since middle school!)

Even though we were all really excited to go out, we needed to make sure we didn’t go too crazy and mess up our Saturday plans. It ended up being a fairly early night and we were back in the house by around midnight.

Saturday:

We spent the day at the beach.

Remind me again why I moved away from this beautiful place?

Baked some cake:

And got ready to go out sushi-ing, sake-ing, and dancing:

It was SUCH an incredible weekend. Beautiful place. Great girls. And a wedding 3 weeks away to look forward to!

It took me 3 days to fully recover from the weekend, but it was absolutely worth it.

************************************************************

What are some bachelorette games/activities you’ve seen or done in the past?

Happy weekend, friends!

This picture can pretty much sum up how my week has been.

There are not enough hours in the day! I started out the week trying to be calm and mindful, but somewhere along the way, the chest pains came back. And I can guarantee it’s due to stress. I have been tracking my food intake and my workouts throughout the week and I have been doing fairly well. It happens most during the moments when there is a lot running through my mind. I wish there were a switch that could just turn my mind off for a few hours.

Luckily for me, I have amazing co-workers and friends that know when I’m stressed out and know how to make me feel so much happier.

Hand-delivered by the students

And a sister who puts up with me wanting to Facetime with her all the time. Even when she’s at the gym. Even when I make creepy, ridiculous faces the whole time.

Don’t judge me.

************************************************************************

• Who is your biggest support when you’re stressed out?

• REMINDER - Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! $50 to buy headphones? Speakers? DO IT!

Scenes from this past week:

Last weekend was glorious. Early Saturday morning, I drove up to Healdsburg, CA with a few friends to partake in some bike-riding and wine-tasting adventures. It’s about 2 hours north of where I live and it is absolutely gorgeous. Lucky for us, the weather was great. We parked our cars by 10:15 at Wine Country Bikes and were out the door with bikes and really attractive helmets by 10:30.

Spit if you’re tasting wine. Hm. No thanks.

First stop: Sapphire Hill Winery

First Winery

We biked toward the downtown area to stop at Oakville Grocery to pick up some sandwiches and snacks to go (and by “to go,” I mean we basically ate everything 5 minutes after we bought ‘em.)

Next stop – Kendall-Jackson Tasting Room, where our tastings were free – thank you 4Square!

We continued winery-hopping and biked out of the downtown area toward Seghesio Family Vineyards. 

But our absolute favorite winery was the next one we went to: Alderbrook Winery. They had live music, a Valentines theme going on, cupcakes and candy all over the place, and games and hula-hoops out by the vineyard.

TicTacToe with Corks!

Hula Hoopin’

Valentines Day Tastings!

I also got these little salt and pepper shakers from Alderbrook – aren’t they so fun?! 

We stayed at the winery until it was time to return the bikes. And then walked to the final winery, Hudson Street Wineries, where I ended up buying most of my loot from!

I am every winemaker’s dream.  I buy all the things.

And if that wasn’t wine enough, Downtown Campbell had their Wine Walk on Wednesday.

Don’t mind the legs in the background. That’s not awkward at all.

Clearly, this is my motto this week:

**************************************************

Question Time!

What do you prefer – red or white?
I used to be a white gal. But I’m now a big fan of Malbecs and Cabs!

What’s your favorite winery/vineyard?
Mine is Cupcake – Red Velvet! Affordable AND delicious!

Scenes from this past week:

Last Friday, I was beat. Completely done with work. Exhausted from writing reports. Tired of all the “grown-up drama” that comes along with this job. I just needed to take some time to myself. Away from everyone. So I left work shortly after the kids did and went to Stevens Creek County Park.

It was just me, my mini bottle of wine, and my book (hi-tech version). Nobody else nearby. It was exactly what I needed. Uninterrupted relaxation time.

I also picked up my first shipment of wine from Picchetti Winery! The cool thing about this place is that, with each shipment, you get a free wine gift. This time they included a wine stopper (although who really needs a wine stopper – isn’t it bad luck or something if you don’t finish the bottle?)

Saturday:

I spent most of the day running small errands and reading a lot. At night, I went broom balling with a couple friends in San Mateo. I haven’t done that since college and I had forgotten how much fun it was.

Sunday: Day of relaxation and FINALLY checking the mail:

My sister is the coolest. She’s probably the most thoughtful, selfless person I’ve ever met. She’s always thinking of others and ways to make them happy. Sissy sent me a package with this really cute dress in it. This is not the first package. Last time it was a pair of TOMS shoes. The time before that, it was this beautiful poster of LA to hang up in my room. The time before that, it was pillow cases to match by bedcovers.

Just try not to be jealous of Sister Budhraja. She’s pretty damn amazing.

 I also drove over to San Francisco to watch the Super Bowl. It was such a great game (but who am I kidding? I was in it for the Beyonce concert…). 

Monday: Learning Day and Happy Hours

AKA – Early Morning Walk of Shame 

Today was actually really great because it gave me the chance to get a program overview of one of the high schools we feed our students into. I was really impressed with the amount of support and the number of resources they had. It makes me feel really relieved to know where I’m sending them off to next year.

I also tried out a new-to-me place in Downtown Campbell called Sushi Confidential. They had a great happy hour:

I just got the California Roll. I know, I know. Boring. I get it. The guy who was making the rolls basically laughed at me like I was some sort of amateur.

Tuesday: IEPs and MORE Food

Call me a nerd but I love data. I don’t particularly enjoy having to be so consistent about monitoring and assessing students performance. But I love being able to visually see when a student makes progress. And for this particular IEP, the student had made a significant amount of growth both academically and socially. When I see things like that, it validates my belief that a particular program or intervention is working. I LOVE IT.

I went to another new-to-me place in Downtown Campbell called Jalisco Mexican Food. It’s definitely a hidden gem! I accidentally stumbled on it when I was trying to make a U-Turn and decided to pull into the parking lot. So glad I did. Look at this food:

Wednesday: Worst Day Ever

Wednesday has always been the worst day in terms of work. I don’t have any prep periods on this day so I always feel a bit overwhelmed. Today, in particular, was the worst. And not because of work.

One of my closest friends from college, Kirstin, recently got engaged!! A few friends were going to grab dinner in the city to celebrate. I left work right after the students were dismissed so that I wouldn’t hit any traffic. I parked my car about a block away from the restaurant we’d be eating at and then went into Vinyl – a really cute coffee/wine shop that I was going to work at until dinner. Around 6PM, I head out and walk back to my car to drop off my bag.

I couldn’t find my car.

I walked up and down that damn street, pressing my car alarm over and over – hoping I’d hear it off in the distance. But no such luck. A few minutes later, I realize my car had gotten towed. Here’s the fun part – it turned out to be a whopping $600. How’s that for a slap in the face? 

Anyway, I’m moving on with my life. Kirstin gave me some good advice. Pretend I bought a really expensive coat and never speak of this again. It happened. It’s over. It was my initiation into the bay area. I’m moving on.

Dinner ended up being great. (Can you tell it’s been a while since I’ve cooked at home?) We went to Nopa on Divisadero (also the street “I bought my coat” on). It was delicious. I wasn’t a huge fan of their cocktails to be honest, but the food was great.

Flatbread of spicy fennel sausage, pickled onions, and spinach

And, of course, the newly engaged couple:

Kirst and Brian!

The couple that drives my carless ass to the towing lot I owe them big time! Aside from my very expensive  drama ”coat,” it was such an enjoyable night with some of the best people I know!  

Now I’ve just returned from this:

…and I’m realizing I’ve eaten every single dinner out this week. Time to get back on track!

**************************************************

When’s the last time you got a parking/speeding/towing ticket? 

Cheap, healthy meal ideas for a girl who is now $600 poorer? 

So sad to leave New York. It definitely hit me when I got in my car to head back home and sat through 1.5 hours of 405 freeway traffic. Oh well, I’ve gotta learn to deal since I just accepted a job offer in Los Angeles!! (<— more on that later!)

To celebrate my last night in New York, I hopped on a Subway to head to Hell’s Kitchen to meet up with Stephen at a cute place called Casa Nonna. 

I got there at 6:40 and we had 20 minutes left for Happy Hour menu. Their happy hour is wonderful. They have a small little menu with 4 drink options:

Pinot Grigio for me, please!

And yes, if you look carefully above the drink selections, you are given a complementary “bite” when you order a drink off the happy hour menu. What a fun idea. Sure beats the PILED-HIGH plate of nachos or FRIED onion rings/fries/chicken/shit they serve at the happy-hours I’m used to going to. And it allows you to get a taste of the food they offer at their restaurant. Which was wonderful, by the way. If I lived in New York, I would definitely be going back to this place. We ordered the: Focaccia di Recco, Gorgonzola Crostini, Polpetta, and the Rotolo (two drinks each – four bites to try!). Don’t let the pictures fool you – I like to zoom in real close, but these are actual bite-sized items – which, to be honest, I enjoyed. I like trying LOTS of things without feeling disgustingly full and guilty at the end of the night.

Rotolo (Pork Sausage, Sweet Peppers and Provolone in Pizza Crust)

Focaccia di Recco (Ricotta and Stracchino Cheeses, Red Pepper, Rosemary)

They were all DELICIOUS. After happy hour was over, we went to two other bars/restaurants in Hell’s Kitchen that had Happy Hour til 8 or 9.

Why, yes. Barrage is a gay bar for men. They’re very subtle about advertising that. Needless to say, I was the only female in there.

After that, we stopped by at one of Stephen’s favorite places: Flaming Saddles. No pictures from there, because I was too entranced by the bartenders dressed up as cowboys that were dancing on top of the bar. We ordered a margarita to split and quickly left to meet up with the family at The Billiard Company in Forest Hills. It was really empty (considering it was a Monday night), but we still had a lot of fun. Thankfully, they had table tennis too (since I can never seem to understand how to hold the stick to shoot the balls <—– that sounds terrible, but I don’t know how else to describe it. I don’t know proper pool terms).

Proper stick-holding form. That’s not my hand. Clearly.

Incredible night, wonderful trip. So grateful for the family and friends in my life. 

Happy National Best Friend Day! =)

To start the celebrations off, I took the subway (thank you HopStop!) to meet Alyssa for lunch. We decided to go to Artichoke to get some real NY pizza. I had been here before, but I had never eaten it right out of the oven (the roof of my mouth is still burning FYI. I attacked the pizza. Well, I guess it attacked me). It was incredible. We split a piece of Margherita pizza and their infamous Artichoke pizza. I zoomed in a bit on the artichoke pizza so you can see how deliciously creamy, oily, and fatty it was. Luckily, I walked all across/around, into, over the city today, so I didn’t feel too bad indulging in a slice of pizza.

After lunch, I took the subway uptown to Hunter College to watch Stephen’s graduation ceremony.  Normally, graduations bore the hell out of me. But I really enjoyed this one – it was a little more interactive (the City Year corps members were showing off their chants/cheers they do each morning), the “commencement” speaker was really eloquent and powerful, and it really allowed me to get a sense of what he’s been doing this year. I am so inspired by people who give back. By people who are actively changing the world. By people who see so much potential in children and help them see it in themselves. By people who take the words, “I can’t” and change them into “I did.” Needless to say, I was in tears at the end of the ceremony. Obviously.

He clearly looks thrilled to have graduated.

Just so lucky to have the friends and family I do. The ones that make a difference in my life every day. Yea, National Best Friends Day is today. But I celebrate it EVERY DAY! =) Thank you best friends.

The interview yesterday went really, really well! I think it reaffirmed that teaching in an urban school is what I really want to do and what I’m really passionate about. I ended up only having to work with three students (the 4th was absent). They were so respectful and polite and quiet (possibly because the principal and the dean were in the room observing). But I think they seemed to enjoy the adding/subtracting integers game that I created.

Some more pictures with the actual game board:

I think the best part about the interview is that they allowed me to reflect on my lesson before they gave me any feedback. So I got to talk about the activity’s strengths and I got to tell them where I think I could have improved. I really appreciated that because I think that gave me the opportunity to show them that I was aware of what areas needed to be tweaked and targeted. Rather than them just attacking me with what went wrong with the lesson. It seemed like a great school, a great staff, and really supportive administrators. We’ll see what happens!

After the interview, I went to stop by to visit one of my former campers, Jackie (camp name: Spidey). Camper turned volunteer Really hard to think that – makes me feel so OLD!

And then met up with Roxana/Star to grab dinner. She’s moving to Chicago in less than two weeks for Teach for America! So proud of her…she’s been doing City Year   in downtown LA for almost a year and I think she’s going to be a wonderful teacher! We had a really interesting conversation about paraprofessionals in the classroom. It seems like (1) a majority of paraprofessionals and 1:1 aides don’t really have a background or formal training in education and (2) teachers don’t utilize their TA’s or paraprofessionals in the best possible way. It seems like teachers don’t know how (or aren’t willing to) utilize paraprofessionals in their daily lesson plans. Instead, these paraprofessionals (who may often times be really qualified, educated individuals) are off making copies or sitting in the back of the room until something needs to get done. I feel like an effective educator should utilize the extra support and figure out how it would best benefit the students. Perhaps breaking the students off into centers so that they’re all getting more individualized attention? Or having the paraprofessional teach a lesson so the teacher can walk around and assess for understanding. There’s so many advantages to having that extra pair of hands in the classroom – it’s just on the teachers to figure out how to utilize them.

So. among our intense discussion, we also got to enjoy some great appetizers, sushi, and of course sake (peach-flavored apparently). A great night with great company! =)

It was a hard day at work…

I wouldn’t touch that….I’m not a shrimp girl.

California Roll – more my style