I'm back!

After a baseball weekend in Bakersfield (check back on my sports blog, I'm sure some weekend stories will pop up there soon), I'm home. Ugh, I'm so pissed too. Someone egged my car while I was gone.... I'm guessing it's due to the UC Santa Barbara Alumni plates I have and how this weekend was Pacific's graduation ceremony. Maybe you shouldn't display rival schools plates on a weekend celebrating your campus??

But I do have this weekend off! And I plan to go home and see the fam for the first time in about a month.

So how about some life updates, eh?

* Last night I finished the longest run of my life! 7.59 miles and today my legs feel GREAT. I was super sore during my workout and I also tried my very first running gel, which was a horrible first experience. My stomach was hurting the entire run and I told myself I wasn't going to do more than two miles. But it FLEW by and I figured that trying the gel around mile 3 would calm down my stomach. It did, but it tasted SOOOO nasty. I had the PowerBar Tangerine caffeine/protein gel and I literally had to choke it down. The consistency reminded me of warm, chunky toothpaste. Bleh. I won't be trying that one again.

* At work we've purchased the newest version of PhotoShop and WOW it's amazing.... it's so so so so so cool and much easier to work with than the version I had, from two generations ago.

* Purchases! I've been a buying machine. Well, not really, I'm staying within my limited budget so as to put about 1/3 of my paycheck into savings each month. But I did buy something cool I've had my eye on for a while. THE APRON!! I couldn't resist. I've never had an apron before and it's so girly and awesome.

And I promise, I'm not naked under it. I had on a tank top and shorts, just finished either running or yoga as this photo was snapped. And I apologize for the crappy iPhone quality photos. haha, but I did buy J.D. a new digi camera for his birthday last weekend, so maybe he'll let me use it for the blog ;) I also really want to buy this Champion running shirt in hot pink. It's also very feminine and cute. I'm going to hold off for a bit.... but I realllllllly want it!!!

* And finally, there is some possible relocation in my life. J.D. is interviewing for a job at Pepperdine in Malibu, California, ON THE BEEEEACH!!! If he gets it, off we go this summer :) I loooove Southern California and have been trying to get back there since graduating. And, I've been responsible and already notified my co-workers that this may be a possibility if it all works out. We'll see though. Otherwise, I'll continue my adventures in Stockton!

(Pepperdine looks a lot like my alma mater, UC Santa Barbara, no??)

* Which also reminds me..... I guess I've now officially turned down a possible life-changing offer. A while ago I applied to do some grad school at the University of Melbourne...... in AUSTRALIA. It would have been a two year program, but would have cost me waaaay more money than I'm willing to spend. Plus, I have my little doggie now :) I really would like to keep traveling and living abroad after two stints in France. But I think I'll need to work up some money first. And then, back to travels :) Sorry for keeping that a secret from y'all for so long!

Fuzzy Woodstock (ha, get it?!) seeing me off before my 7.59 mile run last night!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! xx

Summer 2k10 Plans

This summer, J.D. and I already have some travel plans in the works.

As I've already blogged, we're going to be spending one week in June in the midwest for my first time on a trip that promises to be jam-packed with baseball at all levels: professional, minor leagues and college playoffs.

Then on the 4th of July weekend, there will be a CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Convention in San Francisco. Since J.D.'s a member, he'll be making the trip an hour west and I figured I'd come along for the ride :) We haven't really decided if we're going to stay in a hotel in SF (for the second time this year), or maybe just stay at my parents' house for the weekend and hang out in the East Bay as well as San Francisco.

And finally, I still have an itch for a beach weekend somewhere! San Diego, Orange County... who knows! Maybe we could find a dog-friendly hotel and bring little Woody along with us :)

But I haven't mentioned this yet. Our women's soccer team starts the year out in Hawaii this August. But a week before that, they're taking a trip to COSTA RICA! Which is one of the top 10 places I want to see in my life!! So if I am comfortable with shelling out the money.... I, too, could be on that trip. I'm too afraid to commit to spending that right now, but we'll see I guess.


As for next year, I think we're informally planning a big trip somewhere. Last summer both of us really wanted to go to Belize. Now I'm entertaining him with ideas of going to Sweden - homeland of his family! But above all, I really want to go on a tropical cruise somewhere :)

CRUISESWEDEN

What's your favorite summer travel destination? Do you prefer cruises, flights or road trips? Do you have any plans this summer??

On road travel

For the amount I've flown, I shouldn't be as afraid of planes as I am. Granted, I've never really been afraid of flying, my hands just get extra clammy on take-offs and landings and my heart beats heavily in my chest as of late.

Maybe that's due to the small 60-person carriers I was used to shuffling in on my way back and forth from the Bay Area/Santa Barbara (with its two gates) when I was in college. I swear during one flight on an abnormally windy day in San Jose, our pilot made an announcement over the PA system that he couldn't fight the wind on account of our plane being so small. So we literally were tossed around in the air, my stomach doing flip-flops the entire time.

Today was much of the same story. Let me explain myself a bit.

We flew out of Orange County, the John Wayne Airport, in one of the first flights of the day this morning (8 a.m.). The county of Orange has some interesting noise ordinances regarding the airport, since Los Angeles is the epitome of suburbia and urban sprawl, and per capita, is the most densely populated city in the United States. So with houses literally on the landing strip, John Wayne Airport (referred to as SNA from here on out) has reduced hours of operation. Furthermore, planes must take off at abnormally fast rates, almost like a sonic burst of energy, to create as little noise pollution as possible.

See SNA's explanation of this ordinance below:

"John Wayne Airport (SNA) is one of the busiest and most noise sensitive airports in the United States. The Airport is located in the center of Orange County, California with residential areas in close proximity. To mitigate potential noise impacts from aircraft operations and to enhance compatibility with surrounding communities, the Airport maintains some of the most stringent noise rules in the United States. The General Aviation Noise Ordinance (GANO) has been adopted by the County of Orange to regulate the hours of operation and the maximum permitted noise levels associated with general aviation operations."

SNA, note the cluster of houses and businesses just beyond the airport

Another aerial view of SNA and surrounding suburban areas

Well, today when we began to take off, we streaked through the sky in less than one minute. However, a pilot could not rationally continue at top speeds like that, because it makes for a very turbulent and jittery ride on a small 737 plane. So as soon as we hit the appropriate marker in the sky, I believe the pilot completely let off the gas. Instead of slowly decreasing down to our average speed, he just let go.

All of a sudden, looking out the window, I noticed we were going from rapidly ascending, to quickly descending in free fall. You know that annoying, adrenaline-induced feeling in the pit of your stomach when you drop in a rollercoaster? Well it felt like that, but much, much worse without the suspension to a track to guide our fall.

A billion thoughts ran through my mind at once, as our free fall hit close to the one-minute mark. I thought for sure we were crashing, my biggest fear in life. As soon as the sensation subsided, I unlocked my vice grip on the seat handles, noticing that my hands were abnormally sweaty. At this point, my breath caught up with me and my heart battered around in my chest, as I began to sort of hyperventillate.

Sitting next to me, our trainer, Kyle, let out a long, "WOAH." Seconds later confiding in me that he, too, feared we were all going to die in a matter of horrible seconds. Honestly, that was one of the WORST experiences of my life. Nervously joking, we both talked about the horrid sensation during the course of the next 15 minutes.

It is not without immense appreciation, that I say I'm glad to be back on solid ground for the next couple of weeks. I don't think we'll fly out again the remainder of the basketball season, unless we make the post-season tournament in Anaheim mid-March (spring break). I think that'll give me enough time to recover.

Las Vegas, finally!

So after avoiding it for nearly a month, it's now time to regale you with tales from my first "real" trip to Las Vegas.

DAY ONE

J.D. and I hopped on our plane on Dec. 12 in San Francisco, headed towards Las Vegas. We enjoyed the quick one hour flight in the middle of the day, but upon arriving in Sin City, stopped to grab a quick bite to eat in our terminal. We tried to find a healthy option and ended up paying $20 for two half-sized paninis, chips and a soda. Yikes.

While awaiting our luggage, I wanted to wander through the airport, as every aisle was lined with slot machines or video poker! But again, grabbing our luggage was a breeze, as hardly anyone was flying to Vegas in the middle of the week, in the middle of winter. So we grabbed a cab and made our way through the desert, to the Strip, and our final destination, THEhotel at Mandalay Bay.

We walked up to the front desk, and I asked the woman working if we could possibly check in an hour early, since our flight arrived sooner than anticipated. She replied that it was no problem, but we'd have to wait 20 minutes before heading up to our room because house keeping was still tidying up.

No problem, we still had to eat our lunch and wanted to check out the place. So we stowed our baggage behind the desk and wandered in awe throughout the hotel. Let me just say that the ambient lighting and soft music pulsing through the lobby made me feel like I was inside of some futuristic day spa. We eventually made our way through the casino and to the central dining area. Again, hardly anyone was around, so we had prime real estate at an open table in front of some crêpe/frozen yogurt shop (guess what I had after lunch?!).

After filling our bellies and wasting over 30 minutes, we headed up to our room. Except, the keys didn't work. So we trekked back downstairs once again, asking for them to re-key our cards. So the same woman apologized, said yes the key was in fact dead, and re-keyed it. She also told us, if it didn't work a second time, to call the front desk from the phone located in the elevator room, and a technician would come up to help us.

Guess what? The second key didn't work, so I angrily called the front desk and they said someone was on his way. But J.D. and I waited, and waited. And made a pact that if 20 minutes passed, we'd call again. So he did in 20 minutes, and they still maintained that someone was on his way.

Well, after an hour of waiting, someone finally did meet us. And was appalled that we'd been waiting so long, because he only received the work order 15 minutes ago. He walked us to the room and explained that the entire system had switched to new keys and the front desk was still using the old system, because - it not so few words - they were idiots. So he told us he'd relay the word on that we'd been inconvenienced and he was on his merry way, as we, finally, made it to our room!

And what a room it was! I believe it was almost 800 sq. ft., including a living room with massive TV, front bathroom, bedroom with walk-in closet TV thing, and the largest room of all - master bathroom with TV - waterfall tub, shower, and a separate room for the toilet.


Anxious to get out, we wanted to familiarize ourselves with every corner of our hotel, then hit up the Strip at night! But while I was getting ready for our night out, J.D. angrily called guest services and complained about our hour ordeal. The front desk apologized for our inconvenience and offered us a $100 credit to the hotel owned dining services! SWEET! That would be about three free meals for each of us to share. Suddenly, that hour wait didn't seem so bad anymore.

As promised, the technician did put in a good word for us at the front desk, and they called apologizing for their f-up and were willing to offer us a mere $50 credit. However, she looked at our file, and realized we'd already been given $100. Again, she apologized and hung up. I'd be ok if I am never apologized to again after that cluster.


Then we were out, walking down the Strip when our bellies once again called to us. So we decided to enter the first casino, New York, New York, and look around there for a place to eat. Our location ended up being Nine Fine Irishmen, an Irish pub/restaurant.

Drinks around, J.D. ordered fish and chips, as I picked out a maple-drenched piece of salmon with leeks and dried cherries.

And then the rest of first night was all about taking inventory. After dinner, we walked the length of the strip and ended the night with a large "vase-like" glass of yummy frozen alcohol and sugaryness.

This is what we saw that night (much to our hurting feets' dismay):

Days Two, Three and Four to come!

Final post of 2009

The countdown begins....

Wow. It's almost 2010. That sounds insane. Like super futuristic and crap. Like way older than the Jetsons. Like.... I'm going to turn 25 this upcoming year...... (pause several months for quarter-life crisis, kids. I'm getting that two year itch again, like usual, telling me to up and leave out of the country again. Will it happen? Stay tuned to find out)

Anyways, 2010. It's been TEN YEARS since the whole Y2K debacle. Yeah, seriously. I get a French channel here in Stockton, TV5 Monde Etats-Unis, and I was watching the journal télévisé (again, snooty way of me saying French newscast) and they were looking at the past decade in review. BTW, happy new year for those of you on the other side of the planet! Anyways, they were showing a side-by-side video comparison of cell phones from now and 2000, computers, Internet user stats (users have increased 6x since 2000 - I blame it on all the 10 year olds who were born in 2000 and came out of the womb texting and myspacing.) Even the picture quality from the video of last decade is unbelievable.

So with that, here's what I've been thinking about lately. I've never been one for resolutions, so let's just call these my goals for 2010, shall we?

a.) write more often ... not blogging, per se, but creative writing. Short stories, long stories, poems, crap, it doesn't matter. I want to write more. I always have.

b.) exercise more ... if not daily, then every other day. I used to be super good about this over the summer, but the lack of sunlight when I get home really puts a damper on my willingness to run. So that's where Wii Fit and my new EA Sports Active Wii video games come into play. I hate to sound lame, but those games really give you a frickin workout. And hey, whatever gets you moving, right?

c.) read more ... starting up that book club means I have to finish at least one book a month. That's usually never been a problem for me, but I'll get back into it.

d.) travel ... It's been over two years since I left the country. I want out again! I'm currently planning a D.C. (I realize that's still in the U.S., just bear with my random tangents) trip to visit my college roommate in June. Free Delta miles and a place to crash? What the heck would be stopping me???

And those are four things I'd love to see myself accomplish over the next 365 days. Wish me luck.

For now, I have a lot of shit to do before the year's even over. I've been slaving away at my basketball notes because we leave for our first conference road trip tomorrow. Flying down to Los Angeles so we can play Cal State Northridge on Saturday and Cal State Fullerton Monday.

That means Monique has a lot of laundry/cleaning/Christmas deconstructing/book shelf assembling/NYE dinner cooking to do. (I'm making a shrimp, bacon and spinach quiche for dinner tonight and splitting a bottle of champagne with J.D. for the end of the year meal. He works tonight and I have to leave at 10 a.m. for work tomorrow. What a pair we are).

Which reminds me.... another goal I've set for myself is NOT TO DRINK TOO MUCH (hmmm, can you imagine what over the past few days has brought this on?)!!! Unless I'm going wine tasting, which doesn't happen too often these days, I'm trying to stick to about a drink a month or less. I don't need alcohol. It messes me up all the time :)

Happy New Year, everone. If you're going out, please drive safe. If not, have a little extra for me ;)

Love me some baseball

It's a busy Sunday full of cleaning. We're talking not only sweeping and mopping, but on hands and knees scrubbing baseboards, cleaning out heating/cooling vents, etc.

My hands, back and neck are super sore so I'm taking my well-deserved break. I could be sitting here writing about my trips to the East Coast, Portland, or even Las Vegas for God's sake, but those are for another time I suppose.

Right now, I'm going to share with you all how excited I am about a summer opportunity I've applied for. For the first time ever, USA Baseball is opening up all of its Press Officer positions to collegiate baseball sports information directors, or SIDs (i.e., 1/3 of my current job position at Pacific).

That means, the traveling US National Baseball teams (levels: college, 18U, 16U and 14U) will all be in need of someone to travel with them over the summer and perform more or less the same duties I do every single day (scroll down past all this if you don't care about the job description):

• Log box scores and statistics for each game and work closely with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) and USA Baseball to post all information to USABaseball.com.

• Create and email post-game recaps for USABaseball.com, www.usocpressbox.org and to designated USA Baseball email distribution lists and social media outlets.

• File any photographs, video, blogs, video journals, etc. with USA Baseball and MLBAM.

• Compile pre- and post-game stats for team manager and coaches as needed.

• Provide necessary roster and statistics information in pressboxes at each game.

• Generate new story ideas and/or write feature stories for local, national and international press, players' hometown media outlets, and for USABaseball.com, www.teamusa.org and other USA Baseball publications.

• Facilitate all media requests -- print, web, radio, broadcast, press conferences.

• Review and compile daily clips featuring your respective team.

• Communicate with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) on behalf of USA Baseball to meet all in-hand deadlines for Athlete/Team of the Month votes, stat/roster information, www.usocpressbox.org postings, and other USOC needs.

• Assist in USA Baseball media and marketing efforts including local day-of-game responsibilities at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., and help build relationships with local media contacts in the Raleigh-Durham ("Triangle") area.

• Provide assistance when needed to your respective team's general manager in regards to miscellaneous team operational needs.

• Help facilitate on- and off-field, and baseball card-related photo shoots and autograph signings.

• Write an end-of-season wrap-up article and compile a book/annual featuring clips, final stats, pictures, etc. both for post to USABaseball.com and for USA Baseball's records.

• Update your respective team's history at the end of the season -- roster, stats, schedule/results and record book.

• Report back to and coordinate daily with Director, Media & Public Relations from the road as needed

• Position requires a positive, friendly and helpful attitude and exceptional writing and communication skills. Candidate must be self-motivated and able to generate creative, new and fresh story ideas. Individual MUST be available during the entirety of the required dates of the position for which you apply. Must also be prepared to work nights, weekends and holidays.

• Candidate must provide own laptop loaded with StatCrew's The Automated Scorebook Software and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel). Ownership of PDF creation and photo editing software preferred. If candidate does not own TAS or other preferred software, USA Baseball will work with candidate to explore alternatives. USA Baseball will also not provide candidate with a dedicated, portable printer. Printing options will be made available at each stadium to you through the home team or through your respective team's general manager.

Ok, I know that's a lot of crap as assigned. But like I said, it's essentially the same exact thing I'll be doing from February to May, once baseball season is in. I can't believe that it starts one month after we the students get back from Christmas break.

However, the aspect about this summer position that most appeals to me is the international travel entailed. The collegiate national team will travel within the Midwest, North Carolina and to Taiwan and Japan from July to early August. The 18U team travels through the North (think Minnesota, etc.) and "internationally" to Thunder Bay, Canada. On the upside, the Minnesota Twins will be playing at their new stadium this summer, so perhaps the national teams will play at the Metrodome this summer???

As for the 16U team, they trapeze through North Carolina and then "North and South America (outside the US)," which I'm guessing means Latin American locales. Finally, the 14U squad will spend its summer in North Carolina and Nicaragua; however, I did not apply for that position because it runs until September, so that would cut into my current job's time frame.

So, this sounds like a really sweet deal, something that I could have a lot of fun with. But the problem is that there are over 300 Division I universities. Then consider how many Division II and III schools there are, and I'm willing to bet that at least 70 percent of those programs have baseball. So I'm potentially competing against all other baseball (current and former) SIDs for one of three-to-four positions.

Which is why the day I received the e-mail notification about the position, I refined my resume, drafted a cover letter and sent off five different baseball writing samples to accompany my application. I'd guess it opened up on Monday, and the deadline is March 1, 2010.

Am I in over my head, here?? Well, at least if I don't get the job, I'm showing a great deal of motivation by applying within the first week, out of 12 possible weeks to apply.

Wish me luck!

All B-ball, All The Time.

Tonight's Stockton Showcase downtown at the Stockton Arena kicks off four-straight games for me before my Vegas trip.

After working professional sporting games in the past, going to a mid-major Division I collegiate team has been a nice change of pace. While the pressure still is great, it's not as terribly demanding as the professional realm.

But when we host Pac-10 opponent Cal downtown tonight, in front of nearly 8,000 fans and 25 media members to perform for, I think it's finally going to feel like what college hoops is all about on the grand scale. Tonight just might be a glimpse into working for a big-time BCS school. And I'm fairly excited about that prospect!

So we have tonight's game, women's basketball tomorrow night, men's basketball again on Saturday night and women's basketball Sunday afternoon. Then I head out to my parents' house in the East Bay Sunday night, so as to catch an early flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas on Monday morning.

Gosh I can't wait!

And I really am trying to practice my story writing. I made a promise to myself that it's going to get me somewhere. But you can't run a marathon before stretching... so consider this my pre-warm-up lap stretch.

I'm like a nomad

As I prepare to hit the road again with my basketball team this weekend, I can't help but think back to all the places I've been this year.

Where I've been in 2009:

CALIFORNIA
Alamo
Auburn
Costa Mesa
Davis
Elk Grove
Fullerton
Goleta
Granite Bay
Huntington Beach
Manhattan Beach
Montecito
Napa
Newport Beach
Northridge
Lake Tahoe
Lodi
Long Beach
Los Angeles
Palo Alto
Pismo Beach
Roseville
Sacramento
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Santa Monica

HAWAII
Aiea
Honolulu
Waikiki
Waipahu

NEVADA
Lake Tahoe
Reno

NEW JERSEY
West Long Branch

NEW YORK
Manhattan
New Rochelle
New York City
White Plains

OREGON
Eugene
Pleasant Hill

WASHINGTON
Seattle
Spokane

Where I'm going to close out 2009:
Portland, Oregon this weekend
Las Vegas, Nevada in less than two weeks!

Although I've been to over half of the states, traveling to Gonzaga with the baseball team was my first actual journey to Washington!

I'm noticing a trend in my chosen profession. At my last job, I lived in France and traveled all over Europe for a year. And prior to that, just after graduating from UC Santa Barbara in 2007, I traveled all over the United States to 17 different cities with the AVP.

I don't know what I'd do if I was stuck in a job that kept me in the same place all the time!! As I've said before, my promise to myself is to keep traveling and living in different states/countries every couple of years. You know, change things up before I have to settle down and be a real person :)

This is my FAVORITE time of year!

Preparing to head home for the Thanksgiving break tonight, I had nearly an hour-long conversation with one of my good friends from home last night, as she and I were looking to plan an evening out before the holiday.

But in talking with her, I found out she's planning to move to Sydney, Australia in July 2010!!!!!

Kat visited me when I was living in France, so whatever's in store for me career-wise in July, I WILL be taking a two week vacation to go see her.... at the VERY least!

I'm super excited and am going to try with all I've got to make sure this happens.

2,833 Miles Later....

I made it to New York, in case you were curious.

And boy what a trip it's already been. Have I mentioned that we've only been here for just under four hours?

As I mentioned earlier (or Tweeted, I can't remember anymore) our women's basketball team hosted Southern Utah last night. I did my radio broadcast of the event and then stayed after the game's conclusion to write up my story and update stats on the website. At about 10:45, I was ready to leave my office, until a number I didn't recognize called my work phone. Normally, I would have ignored it since I don't like taking calls from numbers I don't recognize on my cell phone, or after 5 p.m. at the office. If it's important enough, someone will leave me a message.

Well that person did. And I decided to check it instead of going home to pack. Lucky for him, it was the media contact at Southern Utah with desperation in his voice, asking if I'd go into our gym and get his computer charged and bring it to their hotel since he'd forgotten to pack it.

Oh yeah, they also left at 7 a.m. this morning. Apprehensively, I called him back and said I'd go search for it, but as I made my way down to the arena at 11 p.m., the lights were all off and it was locked. So I had a coworker come let me in, who generously agreed to take the charger himself. I owe ya, Ben.... :)

Then I get home just after 11 p.m. and frantically try to finish my packing for our East Coast road trip. I take a shower at 11:20ish and realize I'm starving. So J.D. made me some food while he was watching TV downstairs. After eating, we finish watching Chopped and for the life of me, I can't fall asleep. Every hour it felt like I was fruitlessly rolling around in bed, only to find another one of my four precious hours of sleep has disappeared.

When my alarm finally sounded at 3:35 THIS MORNING, I was already laying in bed, dreading its noise. Having no other choice, I gathered my belongings and made it to the athletics department.

We had about an hour and a half drive to the Oakland Airport, but I couldn't sleep and felt ill from my less than two hours of sleep and lack of food. But we finally made it. And I had to pay for my second checked bag, but I'm hoping for reimburstment.

With less than 30 minutes to go, I scurry through security and conveniently find a Chili's right in front of my gate serving breakfast. I order a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and wheat toast to go as to make our 7 a.m. departure. However, I become a nervous wreck as the preparation takes nearly 10 minutes. And cost me $12!!! But as soon as I grabbed my meal, my seating group was called to board. Lucky me.

Once we take off, I open up my breakfast box and quickly consume it all, only to feel slightly ill from the poor quality of ingredients. As is my usual reaction, I tried to sleep it off. But my head kept falling down the aisle pillow waking me up. And my foot fell asleep.

So I finished my notes on during the three hours my battery lasted me. For the final hour and a half, I tried a combination of reading and watching DirecTV (I <3 Jet Blue!) before I started feeling motion sickness. I really have the world's worst stomach.

When we land, we board our charter bus to take us to the hotel (aptly named Luck of the Irish Lines), before one of the freshmen players finds $20 on the seat near her, shrieking "It's the Luck 'o' the Irish!" Well, turns out it wasn't, our trainer had lost $20 from his pocket. Or so he claims. Our associate head coach caught on and said the staff would be sharing that money for an evening out. $20 in New York for seven people.... good luck :)

All is well and fine to set forth, except our driver had awesome road rage. And I became enraged because he kept giving us spiel after spiel about why the "New York Yankees are the greatest team in the world, from the greatest city in the world." Whatever, dude. If they're so great, where have they been the past nine years?? I guess money can't buy you everything, afterall.

However, it was a pleasant trip, because this crotchety driver was a riot. And I was quite impressed how in tune he is with current events, sports, politics, history and local tourism. Needless to say, we got a mini tour on our way up to White Plains, N.Y., where our hotel is located. Apparently he'll be taking us on a bus tour of New York City on Monday, so I'm certainly looking forward to that.

Close to 5 p.m. EST, we arrived at the hotel and within seconds of spotting the name, I shouted out, "I've stayed here before! They give you free cookies!"

Turns out, this is exactly where we camped when I worked with the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour and had a weekend tournament on Coney Island. Kind of an inconvenient commute, but fun nonetheless. I got to spend two days in the City with my mom two years ago.

But back to the present stay.... I seemed to impress some of the other coaches, because as we made our grand entrance (how do 13 college girls in matching Pacific Tiger sweats, along with five similarly-clad coaches not make a grand entrance?), what should appear other than a large, inviting plate of warm chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies.

And a free "social hour" complete with booze, salad bar, hot wings, fries and my personal favorite, hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Awesome! I think it's going to be a good trip. Now about getting some sleep....

Self promise

Maybe I should stop reading friends'/acquaintances' travel blogs... Maybe I should stop buying travel literature... Maybe I should stop watching the Travel Chanel and traveling culinary shows on the Food Network.

There are a lot of things I should stop doing to indulge my fantasy to continue traveling in the next phase of my life. But I can't.

I made a promise to myself that I'm going to live abroad again within the next five years. And I fully intend on following through.

Six-Word Memoir

Have you heard about the Six Word Memoir project?!

Here is mine: This Restless Soul Longs To Travel.



What's yours Photo Geek, Una Notta delle Stelle and Jennie en France?
**After you write yours, pick three random blogs from your list!

If I didn't tag you, leave your six-word memoir in the comments section, or better yet, make your own post about it! I'm also in love with vintage travel posters. At some point in my life, I'd like to decorate my house with these!!

Hodgepodge of photos

Since I've been talking a lot about my adventures, I figure I'd post some photos for you all to see. These aren't really turning out full size... I'll see if I can figure out how to make them smaller. In the meantime, here is the link of all my recent photos on facebook. You can get the actual size there!

Enjoy! Hope the holiday weekend treated you all well :)

Moules frites and my new kitchen/dining room!

J.D. and me at my alma mater: UC Santa Barbara!

Wine and cheese tasting in Santa Barbara. That was soooo delicious!

Santa Barbara crew at another wine-tasting room and jazz house! I had such a blast :)

Just an idea....

I may have found a solution to my endless restlessness. Location-wise that is.

I may have found something that requires a big move and travel I'd like to do beginning in 2010. It's going to be a long, long process and journey and it might end up being something that's not for me.

Only time will tell.

Sorry for being too vague, I haven't quite made up my mind on this yet. When I do, you'll all be the second to know. Someone and I have a lot of talking/thinking/deciding before I decide where I'm going to be in the future.

I guess this is my hint:

Road trippin'

After spending five days in San Diego with the Pacific baseball team last month, I'm off to Spokane, Washington tomorrow for four. Washington is one of the few states I still haven't visited so I'm about to set foot on my 35th state or something like that this weekend.

Highs are supposedly around 40 degrees this weekend. So maybe I'll get to catch a little glimpse of snow?! It'll be a big change from the 65-70ish weather we've been having in California the past few weeks :)

The campus of Gonzaga University... where we'll be playing this weekend

...See you when I come back.

sort of insomnia...

I haven't been sleeping much lately. And I haven't really been tired.

But remember how I was talking about still wanting to travel? I just found an organized school trip to Israel for the summer of 2009. It sounds really interesting and is something I know nothing about. It'd be outside of my comfort level, not a romance-langue European country (oops, just realized I wrote "language" in French. Think I'll keep it that way), and it's a language I don't even know a thing about. I've always been afraid of languages I can't figure out (i.e. Arabic, Japanese, Russian... etc.)



There are some informational meetings and I'll keep updating as I figure it out. But I've been saying for so long that I want to expand my reach and travel to foreign places. This would really classify as such a trip.

Let's hope it's not going to cost too much. However, since I'm on an "athletic scholarship" equivalent as a graduate student employee, I wonder if it could be funded for me...

I shouldn't be doing this...

Every now and then, I delight in travel novels. I really enjoy other peoples' writing about their travels and adventures.

Except this time, it's really getting to me. I'm currently reading Eat, Pray, Love and even though I'm only in the "eat" section, I'm reallllly getting the desire to travel. Nevermind that she left her husband and then went on this crazy life journey, I'm not even close to that level.


But I would absolutely love to work up for a few years (have to get promoted first, because it's not happening on my stipend) and save loads of money. Then, instead of buying property like most normal "adults," I want to travel for a year. Maybe more. Just living with a camera, clothes and money. I don't care where -- South America, Africa, Europe, it really doesn't matter to me.

Reflecting back on my (two) time(s) in France, my absolute favorite parts involved my significant travels. I think if it had all worked out with my roommate/living situation, maybe I'd still be over there, really coming into my own.

But before any of this happens, I need to continue learning Spanish and maybe pick up another language. That's it, I'm deciding when I'm not taking master's classes (be it summer, or when I finish), I WILL take more language classes.

And one day, I will travel. I'm going to live like a nomad and see the world.


...Anyone want in with me?

Where'd Monique go?

I know, I know.... sorry I haven't been posting much (Mom).

Life is getting pretty busy, what with grad school, fall and winter sports starting up and weekend tournaments/games! I've been working, going to class, eating and exercising. That's about it.

But I do get to do a mini lecture presentation to Prof. Schroeder's undergrad sports marketing class tomorrow, as one of my first big projects for his graduate-level sports marketing class. I'm kind of looking forward to it! But this is actually a neat indicator for me, because I'm still tossing around the idea of one day getting a Ph.D. and lecturing/researching at the university level. Who knows if it'd be in sport sciences, French or English lit. All sound equally exciting. Though, if I found a way to get my master's education completely funded, I'm not even thinking about post-doctoral unless I can pull off the same deal again.

Oh and, I get to travel on the team bus this weekend for my first away game road trip! The women's volleyball team is traveling to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. So I get to go back to my alma mater and do my first radio broadcast of the year! Can't wait, we leave on Thursday. So don't expect any updates on my end anytime this weekend, I'm warning you in advance.

(Click on the UCSB "listen live" link if you wanna hear me on Friday and Saturday!)

I'm getting the itch again!

Well, after the family wedding extravaganza weekend I can say that I'm back in French-speaking mode. For two straight days I found four different people who wanted to hear me speak French (because they all are native speakers).It was fun and is making me nostalgic again! But I think I keep realizing, I don't necessarily want to live in France all alone. I'd like to travel with people I know and enjoy all the world has to offer, while still coming back to California from time to time!

So this is where my revalation kicked in: My six trips to and from California/France over the past three years has racked up quite a few skymiles with Delta.

So I'm doing some research and trying to decide where I'd tentatively lik

e to go over Christmas break (maybe after Christmas until New Years-ish?).

Anyone wanna join me in .... ____________???

Haiti:

Martinique:

Costa Rica:

Brazil:

I would travel to any of these destinations in a heartbeat! So I think before I travel back to France again, I'm making it my goal to have already seen these four locations!

Drivin' down the 101

The circular red itinerary is what I'll be doing in just a few minutes!

ROAD TRIP from:

Alamo

to San Luis Obispo

to Goleta/Isla Vista and Santa Barbara

to Los Angeles/Newport Beach

to Bakersfield
(Sorry, I couldn't find any good pictures. This is the best I got.... pretty accurate, actually.)

and then back to Alamo!

Though, as excited as I am, I'm realllly not looking forward to driving through the (multiple) armpits of California. Beginning tomorrow with Greenfield, King City, and pretty much anything between San Jose and SLO. Then again, Wednesday's going to suck going through and beyond Bakersfield, then near Kettleman City where they probably raise 85% of all McDonald's beef on about less than a square mile of property. Don't you envy me right now?

Biggest joke of our drives down 101, "What exactly is happening?" Welcome to Steinbeck land, my friends.

I'm so excited to see all my friends from college, most of whom I haven't seen in about a year now. See the rest of you next Wednesday, when I'll be back to scrapbooking, reading, and overall avoiding any possible GRE studying.