Roomie dinner at Hakone.

Summer's here, summer's here! Days are longer, and I feel like I can do like a gazillion things more. Which is so not true - proven today a work, I hate days where everything I do seems to go wrong. Which probably comes as a surprise to a lot of ppl. I'm very hard on myself when it comes to work and I absolutely hate when I'm not up to par. Enough of that no sense worrying about work. I haven't posted in weeks, probably because I've been ridiculously busy (as usual), here's a list of my summer to dos:

-HIKE MORE!!!

-Sell my crap at the swap meet.

-Finish reading Harry Potter before the July 15th premiere of Deathly Hallows pt. 2. (I know after reading the first two books I'm a total HP freak, I can't believe I wasn't into this earlier, I'm a sucker for dorky things like magical creatures, weird powers, etc.)

-Water park.

-See all the summer movies I want to see. (Super 8, Cars 2, HP, Green Lantern, Transformers 3, Winnie The Pooh, Friends with Benefits, Planet of the Apes, Glee Live, oh and Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez...hehe). I've already seen X-Men First Class... so epic, great way to start of the summer movie season. More about X-Men later.

-Mini Maui Vacay, I'm ready to visit again.

-BBQs.

-Beach time.

-Keep up with the blogs and photoging.

I'm pretty sure there is more but I can't think of any at the moment.

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Okay now back to X-Men, many people don't know this, but I am a huge X-Men fan. Fell in love with Cyclops and Gambit from the first time I watched it Saturday morning on Fox way back when. I actually named my car Professor X, because my license plate starts with PCX (Professor Charles Xavier!!). After watching X3: The Last Stand, I was a little salty because 1. Cyclops and Prof. X dies and 2. the story line sucked and 3. Bryan Singer wasn't directing. I was so disappointed with the direction the X-Men movies went that I didn't even bother watching X-Men origins: Wolverine. But I must say X-Men First Class totally makes up for X3, I hear they are going to make it into another 3-part movie series. The storyline was really good and the cast was pretty hot... that kid from About A Boy and the guy that played Hannah Montana's love interest is in it. They grow up so fast.

I also saw the previews for Captain America. I think it's a little weird that Chris Evans is playing the lead, I mean he played the Human Torch in both Fantastic Four movies. I think actors should only be allowed to play one superhero EVER. Like the fact that Ryan Reynolds is both The Green Lantern and Deadpool, give other actors a chance at being superheroes for crying out loud. I know what your saying one is a DC comics, the other is Marvel, I wanna bet half of the population doesn't know the difference between the two comic companies. I don't know it's just weird.

OH Disneyland. When I think about my happy places... this definitely ranks top 5. I honestly could go to Disneyland every other week. When you're there it feels like time has stopped, and you can be a kid again. I used to go to Disneyland EVERY other year, but I haven't been here since 2006, LONG over due. I am so grateful to my Auntie, Uncle, cousin Jami, and my favorite little man Dylan. Jami and Dylan have annual passes, I'm SO J. Over the years when I'd go it'd be with my sister, this is the first time I went with a little kid. And oh my goodness... the energy they have!!! "Let's go in this cave!" "We didn't go this way!" Even though Dylan is a pretty experienced Disneylander, he still would get excited about rides and seeing things. He's kind of a scaredy cat (just like his Auntie Sarah, lol), he absolutely refused to go on Pirates of the Caribbean (even though he likes the movies) and we renamed Haunted Mansion, The Funky House. We stayed there all day, it was perfect!!! Next year I'd love to take Dyland to The Wizardly World of Harry Potter in Orlando!

One of the highlights of my trip, visiting the school that they film Glee at. Hello fake McKinley High! Finn, Puckerman, Mike Chang, and Trouty Mouth where you at? Rachel Berry I'm ready for my diva off.

Also not the best photos of me, had a ridiculous hangover (this was the day after the wedding), thank you to my family and friends for putting up with that. Who knew a hamburger, fries, and root beer from In-n-Out would miraculously cure it. After a good rest, my cousin and I went shopping at the Irvine Spectrum, one my favorite places, while my auntie and cousin-in-law Kenny cooked some freaking kick butt Mexican food!

Rain rain go away, I would like to run and ride my bike today. Actually just running, if I don't run every other day I feel like a fat ass. And with all these new Japanese restaurants I've been eating like a heffer. So weather please clear up so I can go for my every-other-day run. I don't know how I will ever stand Seattle weather, if I move up there. And I hate going to the gym, I'm more of a get outdoors kind of workout person. I feel like it takes too much effort to go to the gym. Ok so it actually stopped raining, and I plopped my lazy ass down in the papa san chair and I've been just watching glee videos on youtube for the past hour. At least I'm not watching General Hospital. I go through sporadic periods where I get into GH, last time this happened I think it was 2 years ago when Robin and Patrick were having a baby. Then I try to catch myself up to speed with the story lines, then I get sucked back by all the hot guys because let's face it of all the soap operas GH has the hottest cast (hello Dr. Patrick Drake).

Well back to my Cali trip recap... I hope to be back soon. I'm having some serious withdraws. The whole reason for this glorious trip was for Kristin's wedding. The first girl from our Krazy 8 to get hitched, and I couldn't be more happy for her. The wedding was at MOLAA Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, outdoors, cold, but beautiful. The reception was held in the museum (super cool and gave me ideas for my future non-existenet wedding... hmmm dinosaurs at the Bishop Museum or the Contemporary Museum gardens?!?). As guests walked in there was a mini-photo booth, which we camera whores (me, glo, and kay) took full advantage of later. And we danced and drank (well just me) the night away. It was great to be back all together. Congratulations to Kristin and Gabe, here's to a happy, loving, blissful life together!!!

I don't know what is about weddings but it always makes you think of how you want your wedding to be, you dream about who you will marry (hopefully a cross between sweet Finn Hudson, funny Jim Halpert, and hot Patrick Drake). How you're ceremony will be, who you will have to cut from the guest list, the dance playlist, colors, bridesmaid dresses (Fighting Eel)... oh weddings.  All I can say is 5 years from now I'm still planning on having a Glee wedding.

 
Yes my first Pinkberry experience gets it's own blog entry. I'm not the biggest froyo lover, I'll eat it once in awhile, usually just yogurtland with roomies or an after work snack with Chaz at the Waikiki location. I'm also a non-adventurous yogurt eater, my favorite flavor is plain (is this a reflection of my personality?) and my toppings consist of fresh fruit and chocolate chips, AND never does my cup go over $4 at yogurtland. haha... but Pinkberry, oh Pinkberry. I think if a Pinkberry opened here in Honolulu (other than the airport!?! grrr) it could change my relationship with froyo drastically.
Now I never ever go to California seeking Pinkberry. I know I know you'd think I would with all the hype and celebs gushing about it, I just wasn't something I felt I needed. Anna and I just had to stumble upon the shop after some shopping at Ross and Nordstrom Rack. We looked at each other and were just like, "Let's do it!" I ordered a plain with waffle cone chips and hot milk chocolate with crisps for my topping. IT WAS AMAZING. The yogurt wasn't too tart, and just enough of the creamy taste, it just blended so perfect. After I finished my cup I immediately texted my friend Ross, also a Pinkberry lover, "Sorry won't be able to make it back to work, I've died and gone to Pinkberry heaven."
Looks like I've added another eatery on my please open one in Hawaii list...

Ahhh good ol California, probably one of my favorite state to visit. Last week roomie Anna headed to the so called sunshine state (really it was overcast and COLD most of the time) for our dear friend Kristin's wedding, which I'll blog about later. We stayed at the Renaissance in Long Beach with some of our old high school crew, Kay and Gloria. The four of us together was just like old times. We're still silly, happy-go-lucky, dorky, it's good to have friends that just get you.
I haven't explored Long Beach much before, I've heard mixed reviews ghetto in certain areas, not much to do, home to Snoop Dogg and Warren G. So when I was researching what fun things we could do together, we stuck to the touristy stuff. Our first night was spent dining on the historic RMS Queen Mary. It wasn't hoppin as I expected, the ship was pretty eerie in fact, not many people walking around, the restaurants wasn't bustling. Anna said she heard that the ship was haunted, I wouldn't be surprised, it's old, and they do offer ghost tours. The food was pretty good, but unfortunately Anna and I had an In-n-Out burger right when we got off the plane, so I was pretty full. We wanted to go back and explore the ship in the daytime, but we didn't have enough time.
The next day Gloria, Anna, and I decided to explore the Aquarium of the Pacific! When I was reading reviews, the thing that I was most excited about was they had an area where you could touch sharks. I'm not sure if you know this but I LOVE sharks, ever since I was kid. Favorite animal: sharks. The aquarium was really good, definitely a great place to take the kids. I still think Maui Ocean Center or the Vancouver Aquarium are my favorites tho.