Journey to LA!

Hello from not-so-sunny Cali!

Due to lack of internet/Wi-Fi, my update has been delayed a few days.  But have no fear!  I'm in the process of getting it, and when I do, I anticipate more blogs to be posted.  :) 

So, in the frenzy of trying to check up on all the internet stuff I've missed all week, I will be briefly updating on my past week while listening to Starbucks radio, enjoying a peppermint mocha, and fondly video-chatting with my love.  <3 p="p">
Catherine and I left on a fairly clear day, taking us only 10.5 hrs to get to Los Angeles.  With a short stop for food in Las Vegas (Bachi Burger was packed!  We settled for real Japanese ramen noodles) and a few pit stops for Candi, we safely made it to East Los Angeles, my abode for the next little while.

Annie, my landlady, is really nice and thorough.  She is very helpful in the ways of LA, full of advice and suggestions.  I have a hardwood floor room with a walk-in closet, plenty of space for me to play.  Unfortunately since there has been a problem with the wifi, hence visits to Starbucks as a patron ($4/day can add up!) to stay for hours and hours for a chance to be with Tommy, even if it is for a little while.  :)

The first day we hung out with Catherine's friend, Kai, in Fountain Valley at all the beaches and good eats.  Lunch was at Mick's Karma Bar, with yummy mint mojitos and delicious burgers.  That special sauce is bawss.  After checking the tide pools in Corona del Mar and touring the shops at Laguna Beach, we settled at the rooftop of the hotel to watch the sunset.  To our disappointment, we missed the sunset... *stupid cloud....* but were off to Mangia Mangia for some yummy Italian food.  Lots of friends joined us, including his friends (Yee and.... Jeff?) and our friends, Rich, Sonya and Mila.  Our day ended with a walk down candy-cane lane, a neighborhood decked out in fluffy cotton-fake snow and lights like you wouldn't believe.

The second day started off a bit stressful.... we did a dry-run drive to work through the traffic to see how long it would actually take.  It took us 45 minutes to drive to work 14 miles away.  @_@  Yay... Instead of fighting traffic back, we went grocery shopping and bought $100 worth of food... for 1 person!  Uhm, I need to re-evaluate the quantity of the food I get (I'm so use to buying enough food for 5!).  We meandered through Walmart for some organizing tools and stopped at Tea Station in San Gabriel for some boba and green tea wanton soup noodles.  We lost track of time from several frustrating attempts to turn my phone into a free wifi hotspot (AT&T has done everything in their power to make this impossible) we were late for our dinner date with family friends.  Driving to the 90210, we met up with Auntie Linda and Eric, her son who is a little younger than us, and his cousin, Jason, visiting during his pharmacy rotation at the VA hospital in LA.  We went to get Japanese food near UCLA and then the famous ice cream cookie sandwiches in Hollywood: Didy Riese.  Sweet but absolutely delicious!  We returned home after a busy day driving around LA. 

I somehow forgot my cord to my camera and can't upload pics now, but in due time...

First day of work was miserable.  They weren't joking when they said it was a fast-paced setting!  Subacute Rehab is indeed short and very progressive.  I wish I had a little more leeway to figure things out, but the first day absolutely exhausted me... I wanted to cry (and eventually did that night) because I thought I would hate this job and be stuck with it, but Thursday got better and Friday was great.  I just needed a chance to get on my feet and all will be well!

My first day off (Saturday) after 3 hard days of work (we are kept at 90% productivity for a guaranteed 8 hrs a day), I slept in, made myself a nice spinach omelet for breakfast, and drive to Temicula for some wine tasting and tour of a winery.  I met up with an OCA friend, Ted, who introduced me to Amy, Francis, Robert and Theresa.  We did barrel tasting, got to see the wine cellar, and tried many different types of wine.  I learned a thing or two about the techniques of wine tasting and it's a fun experience everyone should try.

Afterwards we went to Ted's for some Taiwanese style hot pot.  We ate until we were stuffed, and I dreaded the drive from San Diego back up to LA.  But alas, it had to be done. 

Those were the highlights of the trip.  So far so good, some ups and downs, but I'll only highlight the fun things on this post.  :)

Hope all is well with everyone!  Hopefully I'll have internet soon to keep people updated.  Miss all you folks from Utah very much <3 p="p">