Category Archives: life

first half 2012 photo dump

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I’ve been meaning to do a photo dump for MONTHS. I feel like time has been flying by on fast forward (let’s not even think about the 17 days I was pretty much glued to the TV watching the Olympics – at least I met my Olympics boyfriend Nathan Adrian, hehe). So I thought I’d take a look back at the year so far by sharing some random iphone pics. A combined “happy things” and “slice of life” post…



Earlier this year we spent a morning on Balboa Island. We shared a yummy Balboa bar (vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate and rolled with the topping of your choice – we selected almonds), strolled along the water and took the ferry back and forth from the island to the peninsula. We’re really lucky to live so close to such beautiful places to visit. We really need to do more exploring in Orange County.



We brought the absolute BEST strawberry croissants from Japanese bakery Cream Pan to dinner at a friend’s new house. I LOVE THESE SO MUCH. I want one right now.

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comic-con 2012: days 2-4

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Here’s the wrap-up to Comic-Con 2012!

Friday, July 13

We decided to stay away from Ballroom 20 (the venue for the Firefly 10th Anniversary panel – people were camping out all night!) and see some of the less popular panels.



We ended up at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Rob. Pretty cool to see actors like Sean Astin and Jason Biggs so excited about their voice work on this upcoming animated show.



And I chose the Cult panel. Pretty much only for Matt Davis. Heh. Oh, and Alona Tal. Love those two actors. We got to see the pilot, which was… underwhelming. It’s centered around a TV show about a cult that is inspiring real life disappearances. Yeeeaaahhh. I don’t see myself obsessing about this show next season.

After these two panels, we finally hit the convention floor!

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comic-con 2012: days 0 & 1

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Before I get into my Comic-Con recap, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to the people of Aurora, CO. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the senseless shooting that occurred there last week. It’s been on my mind all week long.

On a lighter note, it’s been over a week now since Rob & I got back from our 4th trip to Comic-Con. We had a blast as per usual. 🙂 Thought I’d share some highlights!

Wednesday, July 11



Well, hello there San Diego! I’m back again!

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NY/DC Trip Report: FOOD!

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Final post on our trip to NY/DC! If you don’t like pictures of food, I suggest skipping this entry. Or if pictures of food make you hungry, maybe come back later. 🙂 Here’s a random pic of us at Times Square while you decide…



You still here? OK!

So in planning, there were specific food experiences we wanted to have. Like a classic NY bagel. A NY pizza. Street meat. One great table service dinner. And so on.

We had a couple of misses — for us anyway — Norma’s and Burger Joint (both at our hotel Le Parker Meridien). But for the most part everything we tried was memorable if not AMAZING. Interestingly enough, our best meals in DC happened to be quintessential NY. I guess we’ll have to go back to DC to get a taste for their local cuisine someday. 🙂

Beware lots of food pics…

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DC Trip Report: Part 2

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Besides visiting museums, we also spent a lot of time in DC visiting monuments and national treasures. Everywhere you turn there’s something to see!

We headed over the Potomac River to the Arlington National Cemetery.



In specific older sections of the cemetery there are different styles of grave markers but in the newer sections they are all uniform.

The grounds are enormous (and we relied on the cemetery shuttle bus) so we only visited the most popular sights…



Of course the Kennedy Gravesites where President John F. Kennedy, his wife Jackie and two of their children are buried.



And the Tomb of the Unknowns where we also got to experience the Changing of the Guard.

Truly an amazing experience.

The one monument that was at the VERY top of my “to see” list was the Marine War Corps Memorial aka the Iwo Jima Memorial. I’ve seen it so many times on TV and in photos and it’s always taken my breath away.



It’s exactly the same in person. And SO much larger than I envisioned. We walked to it from the Cemetery and the approach is spectacular. I wish I had better pictures to share because it made my jaw drop. This is definitely a can’t miss memorial in my book.

Most of the other monuments are located in the city center and are easily accessible following a circular loop that’s roughly 3+ miles. One sunny afternoon we decided to walk all the monuments (it’s a looooong walk and I got sunburned!) and then on our last night we visited the same monuments again but via bike! Pics here are a combination of both days.



Here’s Rob before we set out on our bike ride. Hehe. We did the Monuments at Night tour with Bike and Roll. It was fantastic.



Our first sighting of the Washington Monument! Taken from the National Mall.



At the start of our monument walk/bike tour.



And at night! Stunning.

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DC Trip Report: Part 1

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Ok, picking up my trip report again. This time we’re heading to DC!

From NYC’s Penn Station we took Amtrak (the Northeast Regional route) straight to Union Station in DC. It was an easy breezy 3+ hours on the train. I highly recommend the train over a flight. No need to get to the station as early, no security and cheaper fares! TIP: TAKE ADVANTAGE of Amtrak’s Red Cap service if it’s available. There are Red Cap agents at many major stations that offer FREE baggage handling directly to the train platform AHEAD of general boarding. All you need to do is tip the agent. If we hadn’t used the service, we probably wouldn’t have gotten seats together.

For some reason, I only got this random pic of Rob & Cap on the train…



This was when we got to DC — the train was packed with commuters the whole way!



Union Station is so beautiful.

In this entry, I’m going to cover the museums we visited. Our first stop was the Smithsonian Castle.



It’s mostly an informational building so we didn’t linger too long before heading to the National Air and Space Museum.



This is tied for my favorite museum of the trip.



So happy! 🙂



Cap fits right in.



The Space Race exhibit featuring missiles and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in the back.



And the Apollo Lunar Module in the Exploring the Moon exhibit.

We walked through the entire first and second floors in a few hours – so fun!

We made the mistake of visiting the National Museum of Natural History on a Friday. AAAAHHHHH. SO MANY KIDS ON FIELD TRIPS. It was incredibly crowded (and this coming from someone who can deal with the crowds at Disneyland) so we basically walked in, saw the Hope Diamond, and high-tailed it outta there.



Before leaving I had to take a picture of the elephant in the rotunda. So iconic.

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cap + thor

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Rob & I went to WonderCon back in March and I TOTALLY forgot to share this pic of us. Although it makes much more sense to post it now in light of my last entry.

So Marvel had an Avengers booth where you could take a picture with both Captain America’s shield and Thor’s hammer (Mjolnir). There was NO LINE so of course we seized the opportunity… and I learned that the shield is INSANELY heavy.



YAY! 🙂

NYC Trip Report: Part 2

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We continued our NYC adventures by hitting some of the most recognizable points of interest in the city…

Like the Statue of Liberty!



Heading out to Liberty Island.



I got chills seeing Lady Liberty!



Cap showing you the gorgeous view of Lower Manhattan from Liberty Island.

We paid our respects at the 9/11 Memorial.



The twin reflecting pools stand in the same footprint as the towers. It’s such a sobering experience to visit the memorial. It’s so difficult to imagine the devastation and terror that took place there. I’m glad we took some time to remember.

One thing I HAD to do in NYC is walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing Miranda & Steve meet on the bridge in the Sex and the City movie might have made an impression on me. 🙂



It’s so beautiful. Sadly for us, the bridge was under construction so it wasn’t quite the romantic walk I envisioned. There was aluminum-type scaffolding covering various parts of the bridge, which made it difficult to see the view.



But once we hit the halfway point, there was a fantastic view of Manhattan waiting for us.

For more views of the city, we headed to Rockefeller Center.



Rockefeller Plaza



And up to the Top of the Rock!

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NYC Trip Report: Part 1

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Rob & I got back from our NYC/DC trip last week. We had SO MUCH FUN!!! I’m so excited to share our pics with all of you.



But first let me introduce you to Cap who served as our vacation mascot. 🙂 He’s seen here on our flight from LAX to JFK on Virgin America. We took him along in honor of the opening weekend of his movie, The Avengers. Hehe.

It’s been over 20 years since I visited NYC and Rob’s never been so we did almost everything touristy imaginable. And I absolutely fell in love with the city. It’s just so vibrant and alive. Rob and I both agree that we’d love to go back to explore the other neighborhoods we didn’t get a chance to see. The only question is when!

Anyway, in our first couple of days, we managed to knock off quite a few items from our NYC bucket lists.



Visited Grand Central Terminal.

It’s SO beautiful inside. Even more amazing than I imagined. But as soon as I walked in, the first thing I thought of was… “Spotted at Grand Central. Bags in hand. Serena Van Der Woodsen.” LOL.



Please tell me someone else knows what TV show I’m referring to.



Ok ok, it’s a Gossip Girl reference. I kept quoting the show and all Rob could do was roll his eyes at my nerdiness.

Walked all around Midtown and saw iconic NYC buildings like…



The Flatiron Building



The Chrysler Building



New York Public Library – and of course, the famous marble Lions guarding the Fifth Avenue building. We went inside briefly to see the catalog room on the 3rd floor but I didn’t realize the Main Reading Room was open as well. I would have loved to see it in person. Next time!

Headed Uptown to Museum Mile where we saw the Guggenheim…



Stunning! We didn’t go inside because we were saving our museum time for…



The Metropolitan Museum of Art! Here I am sitting on The Met steps just like the girls from Gossip Girl. HAHAHAHAHA. We’re not huge museum people (we have short attention spans, what can I say?) and The Met is enormous so we only hit specific galleries.



I HAD to see their collection of Edgar Degas pieces.

One of my favorite things about NYC is that amidst the “concrete jungle,” there are so many great parks to enjoy. Since we were on our feet so much, we took full advantage of the parks to sit, catch our breath, and relax.



In Madison Square Park, we saw the Shake Shack that started it all.



Look at the crazy line! We waited until the DC leg of our trip to indulge.



Taking a break in Bryant Park.

And of course, Central Park – the most famous NYC park of them all. We spent a few hours traipsing around and ended up getting lost. The paths are rambling and it’s easy to lose your way if you don’t know where you’re going. The weather was phenomenal, though, so it was great to be outside.



We started our Central Park walk at the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and headed south. The reservoir looked just like the movies! Breathtaking.

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vegas quickie

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HEHE.

Back in February, Rob & I took a quick 2 night trip to Las Vegas where we spent the entire time eating and shopping. Really. Oh, and gambling for Rob. We scored a great deal at the Wynn by going Sunday through Tuesday. Our trip was right around the time that I was SUPER busy with work and was working late nights and weekends. So even though I ended up working for a few hours while we were there, it was wonderful to get away from “real life.”

Growing up in Southern California, I’ve been to Las Vegas many times. MANY. At LEAST once a year for as long as I can remember. So aside from checking out whatever new hotel has popped up on the Strip, there’s rarely anything I ever have to do while there. Not this time! I wanted to check out a few tourist-y things.



Like the Welcome to Las Vegas sign! Woohoo. In all my trips, I’ve never seen the sign up close before.



Elvis was there. LOL. He kinda reeked of alcohol. But he was really nice.



He even took our picture. 🙂



We also went to the Neon Museum for a tour. They collect and restore iconic Las Vegas neon signs and they offer tours of their Boneyard. Loved this place! It was SO COOL. Some of my favorite signs…



They’re opening a Visitor Center later this year that will include more exhibits and access to Boneyard tours. Next time I want to check out the neon signs at the Fremont Street Gallery.



And of course, we stopped to watch the Bellagio water show one night when walking back to the hotel. It always reminds me of Ocean’s Eleven. The George Clooney version. Hee.

But a Robokel trip wouldn’t be complete without lots of NOMMY food.

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