Come back to Texas

I'd love to say for my last day I did something awesome, but not really.  I did go to Saratoga and do 1 last wine tasting at Cinnabar.   To take advantage of the weather for the last time, I went to one of the places on Santana Row that has a rooftop bar.  I got to drink a glass of wine, listen to some classical guitar, and watch the sunset.  A perfect way to end my stay in Califonia - if only Mark were here! 

What I'll miss most about California:

1. Hanging out with David and Tim

2. Trader Joe's

3. the weather (although I do enjoy a few really hot days!)

4. H&M

5. Baja Fresh

Au Revoir, Mark!

Mark left for France today, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally jealous.  To add insult to injury, my parents also left for Sweeden!  To get a European feeling, I visited the Rodin museum on Stanford's campus (made me feel smarter just being there!).   Later in the evening I decided - what the heck, I'll go back to the drive-in.  I ended up seeing Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon.  Shrek was really funny - I especially loved fat Puss - he cracked me up!  HtTYD was also really good - I knew it got good reviews, but I really enjoyed it - super cute, too.  I loved the drive-in - wish we had more of those!

The days go by so fast

I had a list of things I wanted to do in California, and since I only have a few days left I'm trying to get as much done as possible.  I went to Overfelt Gardens, which is one of the places I've been meaning to go.  Big disappointment!  Most of the ponds were drained, and there were hardly any flowers.  I did get to see a goose and some goslings, though.  Mark and I went to Tied House for dinner and our last night together for awhile.  Garlic fries are so good - IDK why they aren't popular anywhere else!  Overall a good day!

Marky Phelps

Tuesday was a crazy day for me - I was all over the place!  I finally got to have lunch with Mark at Invidia, and it was more exciting than he thought it would be! :)  Afterwards I drove around and finally found Mission Santa Clara (see previous post), and followed some random people around to try to find a bathroom.  After that, I drove to Los Gatos to check out the cute downtown.  It was an odd mix of boutiques and J.Crew/Gap/Williams Sonoma stores.  I also found another Powell's candy store and stocked up on some goodies. :) Then I picked Mark up from work, and we went to SJSU to swim.  The pool is heated, but outdoors so it feels good when you're in and cold when you get out.  I ended up swimming some laps with Mark (Katie-style - look for it in the next summer olympics :P )  and got a pretty good workout.  I took 1 picture of Mark before the lifeguard told me no pictures (check out the contraband below - ha!).  Despite excercising, I thought it was fun!  Luckily I negated the calories I burned when I got home and had dinner...b/c you know I'd hate to lose any weight. 

Below: Cork tree, cork tree up close, mission, birds of paradise, Marky Phelps

Peace that passeth all understanding

Like most Christians (or people of any religion, probably), although ever present, my faith ebbs and flows.  Lately I haven't felt really close to God - I know he's still there, but there has been something missing on my part.  I visited the Mission Santa Clara de Asis today and felt complete again.  The mission is from 1777, and it was the first mission in CA dedicated to a woman (woo!).  They still hold regular church services and have those scary old fashioned confessionals.  At the front of the sanctuary there's a book where people write their prayer requests.  There were so many, and I stood there for about 15 minutes reading them.  One of them really touched me, though.  It was in a child's handwritting, and said something to the extent of: "Please help my mommy get through this hard time, and please let the baby in her tummy live.  I already love him."  There were also several asking God to give them direction in their lives, help them find jobs, etc.  It was very moving - I am so glad I decided to go check it out!  It never ceases to amaze me - when I am feeling down or lost, God always finds a way to remind me why I am here.

When in doubt, read my favorite verse:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; on your own intelligence rely not. In all your thoughts be mindful of Him, and He will make straight your paths."  - Proverbs 3:5-6

Crazy dog lady

Move over, crazy cat lady(s) - a new breed of need-something-to-smother-in-affection animal lovers has come to town!  Presenting the crazy dog lady! 
California seems to have a knack for breeding crazy...I have seen a few crazy dog ladies, but this woman today changed her dog's outfit TWICE in the span of about an hour.  Dogs are not people.  They do not want to wear clothes. Period.  I hope the dog rips off the outfit and pees on it. 

Anyway...this is my last week in California, so I'm trying to make the most of it!  

 

This mug says, "why do dishes when you can do daiquiris?"

The pic was taken with my cellphone so it's hard to read!

Mark and I checked out the Egyptian Museum and saw some cool stuff

Now I know where flies go to die

So after staying up until 4:00 the night before, we woke up around 12:00 and went to breakfast with Anna, Mariana, and Shraz (I have no idea how to spell his name, ha!).   I love Maudies and I hope this won't discourage anyone from going there, but we got a table next to the window and there were like 50 dead flies - and some others trying to escape.  It was gross...but I still ate my delicious food b/c there were no flies in it - I promise!   Then we got to the airport and found out Mark's flight was delayed several hours...and that there was a direct flight to Oakland that had seats.  The irony is we bought a ticket for Mark in case he couldn't get back to San Jose non-reving b/c he had to be back at work.  As it turns out, his flight was later cancelled.  Ha!  So we got on the Oakland flight - I was seated in the middle which I don't usually mind except I ended up between 2 married older people.  The wife kept yelling at the husband OVER ME.  Pleasant!

Below: San Franciso's artistic way of stopping skateboarders.  So cute!

Above: Bay Bridge

Since we ended up in Oakland, we took the train into the city and had dinner with David and Tim (love those guys!) and walked around a bit before they dropped us off at the Caltrain station, then took the Caltrain back to San Jose to get the car at the airport.  On the train I was subjected to listen to awful conversation from teenagers, one of which said: "If this train, like, didn't make so many stops, we'd get there like so much faster." - DUH.  Also their friends across from us made out the entire time.    When we finally got to the tram stop that would take us to the car (yep...another mode of transportation!), I had a kind of awesome moment.  So you know when you have an idea of what a book character should look like?  This is before they ruin it by making a movie out of it...anyway, I *saw* a character I've been following for a little while now.  It was amazing - almost to a "t" what I pictured this guy to look like.  Crazy!  Too bad I didn't get a picture. 

Bonus picture: I uploaded the pic of the asian guy from my phone - however, it doesn't capture the true essence.