November: Month in Review Part 1

Nov. 1st-3rd: Weekend in NorCal for Linda's Wedding

Flew into SFO on Friday night and stayed with my friends Lauren and Jason in Castro Valley. On Saturday morning we had to get up early to help with the tea ceremony. It was a really nice Vietnamese tea ceremony at Linda's house and then they went to Will's house to do the Chinese tea ceremony. We got a little break between the tea ceremony and the actual wedding ceremony at the chapel at the University of the Pacific so we went back to Lauren and Jason's to take a nap. After the chapel we headed to the Chinese restaurant to help the wedding coordinator set up the wedding favors and other little nick-nacks for the reception.

The day after the wedding we went to have brunch at Denica's Real Food Kitchen in Dublin. It was pretty tasty food. We then went to see Ender's Game. Thought it was a pretty good movie but then again I haven't read the book. I was actually really surprised at the end but I had suspected it since they all looked so nervous. After the movie we quickly browsed around at the outlets and then went back to Lauren and Jason's house to pack up for our flight back to San Diego.

I've never flown into or out of SFO before but that airport is absolutely ooozing swag. It does't feel like an airport at all... but then again we flew Virgin Airlines and apparently they had remodeled that area recently.

We got to the airport a bit early so we decided to get a light snack before the flight. We stopped at Cat Cora's Kitchen.

something strong lol (can't remember the name) and farmer's market bloody mary

chef selected cheeses

Nov. 4th-6th: Work


Nov. 7th-8th: Viewing and Funeral

On Thursday I drove back to the SGV for my grandmother's viewing and then Friday morning was the funeral.

After the viewing on Thursday night, my mom and I opted for take out comfort food.

After the funeral on Friday we went to eat buffet with the family. After lunch we went home for a nap and then met up with some friends in the area around the Grove and Melrose for some grub and drinks.

Nov. 9th-10th: Christina's Bachelorette in Santa Barbara

On Saturday morning we started our journey to Santa Barbara for Christina's Bachelorette. First thing on our agenda of things to do was horseback riding. I've never gone horseback riding before so I didn't know what to expect but it was a lot harder than I thought! There were points where I was struggling to stay on the horse. My horse was a little piggy 'cause he kept trying to eat during the trail and they aren't supposed to.

drinking in the lodge after horseback riding

loved all of anna's decorations and favors for the bachelorette! 

On Sunday, we packed up our stuff and headed to brunch at Scarlet Begonia. Such a beautiful cafe/restaurant! It really reminds me of Venice, Italy and people eating outdoors in little courtyards.

Nov. 11th-14th: Work

After work on the 12th we went out to enjoy a movie. I can't remember for the life of me what movie we watched. I believe it was Thor - The Dark World. Really loved Loki in that movie hahaha. I've never been one to like the anyone but the protagonist in any movie but I feel like Tom Hiddleston does such a great job portraying Loki that I honestly believe that he's really Loki lol.

berry frost - soooo good!

On my birthday my coworkers were so sweet to nab me a Despicable Cake. It's cause I "bee-doh" all day in the pharmacy lol.

They also got me these gorgeous flowers. Love the vibrant colors!

The man took me out to dinner at Sushi Ota, one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego.

That pretty much concludes the first part of the month. Part 2 should be coming soon!

The Birthday Post 2012

cake from my manager :D

First and foremost, I wanted to say a big thank you to my amazing friends for making the treck down to San Diego to spend the weekend with me. I've been a little homesick without my friends around and it really meant the world to me.

Birthday weekend commenced on Nov. 10th. We started the day off with me heading off to the post office to pick up a package my friend had sent me. I got to the post office at 8:30a but they weren't open until 9a so I decided to start the morning off right by going to Starbucks! I got their Caramel Brulee Latte which was absolutely delish! This has been my favorite winter drink. It used to be the White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha. Anyways, I digress. I got back to the post office right at 9a and I kinda wanted to punch myself in the face for being one of "those" people that wait right outside your workplace when you just opened your doors. I guess it's a pet peeve of mine when people are waiting outside the pharmacy when we haven't even opened yet. But I get it now lol. As soon as I got home, I opened up my present and was seriously floored! I couldn't believe she got me the iPad mini! I don't own a tablet and I've had my laptop since I started pharmacy school back in the summer of 2008 so this was definitely something that I really needed (as I mentioned in another post, I was looking into getting a new laptop). Now that I have the iPad mini, I'll just get a bluetooth keyboard and I'll have "laptop" lol. Seriously, I'm so attached to this thing. I'm surprised I didn't jump on this bandwagon earlier! Totally love it!

thanks tanya!!!

I've been itching to shop so we headed to the mall. Macy's was having an absolutely amazing sale! I got a bunch of stuff for almost $50. I was looking for a dress for a wedding and I got one for $10 including tax! The lines were crazy! We were starving after being done with shopping we got some food and that's when all my friends arrived! We did a little more shopping and then headed back to our place. We decided on eating ramen for dinner. Tony's friends were talking about this place called Under Belly so I decided to give it a try. Plus, it was in Little Italy and I was hoping to go to Extraordinary Desserts after dinner. Saturday night was absolutely FREEZING in San Diego. I wasn't feeling that well because I had bottomless mimosas at lunch (lol) so dinner in the freezing cold (the restaurant is outdoors and you eat on window panes) wasn't exactly the best. It was so cold that we decided not to stop at Extraordinary Desserts. But when I got home, I was surprised by the beautiful tiramisu cake my friends got me! So pretty!

tiramisu cake from extraordinary desserts courtesy of my besties

We spent the rest of the night watching the last season of How I Met Your Mother and attempting to make friendship bracelets lol. We ended up calling it a night pretty early since I wasn't feeling really well.

The next day, we had a lunch date at The Prado.

It was a beautiful for lunch outdoors.

After lunch, we enjoyed some picture whoring opportunities around Balboa Park.

It was an amazing weekend but all good things must come to an end. I had work on Tuesday but after work when I got home, I found the bf with this huge present!

when i saw the words "bloom" all i could think of was ross and "bloometh" lol

New toy! If only I had time to play with it!

We decided to go to Sushi Ota for dinner since they had such great reviews. It was absolutely delicious!  It definitely deserves the 4.5 stars on Yelp. Everything was super duper fresh.

Such a yummy dinner!

Twas an amazing birthday! Until next year! Love you all and have a great weekend!