Christmas 2010 in San Diego, CA

Christmas time is one that I love spending time with my family. San Diego, CA has always been a favorite place to visit for my family. I have very many fond memories of the city from when I was a child. So this Christmas, my mother, sister, our dog stitch, and I headed down for our family vacation!

We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel, which was pet friendly (free of charge)! It's the very first vacation our dog has ever gone with us. We were only in town for one night and when we arrived, we took some time to check out the grounds of our hotel.

After the exploration of the hotel was done, we headed off to dinner. Most places were closed on Christmas day, but we went into Downtown San Diego and found many places open along 5th avenue. We chose a fancy steakhouse that offered 21 day dry aged filet mignon! Yummm.... But it wasn't that easy. The waiter we had was super friendly. We ordered our food and when it came out on the table...a ROACH crawled out of one of the side dishes! Well...we walked out on the meal and the bill! I've listed my full review on yelp.com. Well, after the steakhouse fiasco, we opted for room service at the hotel.

Our next day was spent at Seaport Village. We spent the day eating, visiting all the cute shops, walking the dog around the area, and taking lots of pictures!

Downtown Los Angeles

In going through my camera, I found this great picture...no story, just thought I'd share!

Holiday Volunteering at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank - December 18, 2010

For the month of December, I wanted to give back in two ways. The first was to help feed the hungry and the second was to give toys to children who have never had or will not have a Christmas this year. Unfortunately, the gifts to children organization cancelled at the last minute. I was pretty bummed about that, but there is always next year. So, I ended up at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank giving back to the hungry.

 

We arrived at a giant warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles. It was pouring rain in the early hours of the morning, but regardless of the weather, over 50+ volunteers showed up to donate their time. This was the first time I had ever worked with this organization and was a bit excited to see what they had in store for us. We watched a video that showed us where the food comes from and who it helps out. It was interesting to know that the bulk of the donations come from large organizations. The food that get sorted by the volunteers gets delivered to senior citizens, children whose families cannot afford to eat on a regular basis, and many more.

We were assigned the duty of "Juice". As you can see, it meant placing 2 large bottles of apple juice into the plastic bags that were inside the bins. This was our job for the next three hours. It was amazingto see the rows of people setting up the bins and bags, then to go down the row and see one volunteer after another placing their specific item into each bag. By the end of the day, we were tired, yet happy knowing that our dirty hands and aching shoulders would help someone else have a meal for the day or even week.

It was quite a sight to see all the bins stacked  up high for just a few hours of work. Definetly worthwhile!

(Note: These pictures were taken from my iphone rather than my D40)

Cancun, Mexico 2010 - November 2010

Day 6: Coba Ruins

We had met some fellow travelers on our trip to Cancun. They had been gracious throughout our trip and offered to take us to go visit the Mayan Ruins. There are many different ruin sites in Cancun, but our new friends said that this one was the most beautiful and interactive!

It was a little more than 2 hours away from hotel row. We arrived and again, decided that exploration on our own was better than doing the guided tour. We rented bicycles and went on our way...

We saw some of the most beautiful ruins beneath some of the most tropical trees!

This final photo was the "interactive" part of the ruins! It is one of the tallest Mayan Ruins and we were about to climb to the top! I took a deep breath and started my climb!...Needless to say, I am very afraid of heights and there was nothing to hold on to but a rope!

The view from the top made the climb all worth it!

At the end of the day, we found a small restaurant next to the ruins. These meals were cheap and delicious! I ordered the Mexican Spaghetti...(i now regret not taking a picture of it first, but i was starving at the time). I found out that Mexican Spaghetti is spaghetti with the tomato sauce and cubed ham, then it was covered with a mexican cheese and evaporated milk! Strange as it may sound, it had an almost mac & cheese quality to it. It's definetly a dish that I will never forget and that I may recreate one day in my own kitchen.  

We were extremely exhausted from this day trip that we spent our evening back at the hotel having dinner with our new friends. The following day (Day 7) was our last day in Cancun. I made our last breakfast and we enjoyed it on our balcony.

We decided to relax on this day and spend it by the pool and at the beach...On our final day here, we made one last friend...

Cancun, Mexico 2010 - November 2010 Part 2

Day 4: Downtown Cancun

Now that we had figured out our way around the town, night #4 started with a tour around the nightlife in Downtown Cancun. There are about 10 bars and nightclubs right next to one another. Every few feet there are "promoters" trying to get you into their club/bar. After a while, it's pretty annoying. Anyhow, we decided to go to an open bar for $10 per person all you can drink, and then head into the most happenin' club (at least to the locals) Coco Bongo.

Barra Libre!

Coco Bongo was quite an experience! It's not like most of the nightclubs in Los Angeles. From the time they open until about 2AM, it's a live musical show. Performers come out and sing, dance, and fly through the air with ziplines. It's a small floor with a few tables and bars to stand and dance around in. Once the performances are over, it turns into a typical nightclub with dancing and loud music, and in Cancun...the party does not stop until the sun rises!



Coco Bongo

Coco Bongo



We got tired pretty early (2AM) in the morning and headed out of Coco Bongo to find us some food! Now, I am a lover of Mexican food and was craving some tacos! Hidden behind one of the bars in an alleyway is a restaurant that sells tacos, burritos, and fajitas. We tried the carne asada (steak) tacos and they were fine. But then I saw something roasting on a spit and insisted on trying it out. I found out that these were Al Pastor (pork) marinated tacos...and i fell in LOVE! Needless to say, we had these tacos almost every night for the remainder of our trip!

These tacos were the perfect way to end the night! We hopped back on the bus and went back to our hotel.

Day 5: Isla Mujeres

We woke up the next morning and set off to take a tour of Isla Mujeres (The Woman's Island). Most hotels offered group tours to the Island that cost anywhere from $50-$100 per person! To us, this was a sort of outrageous price, so we decided to do it ourselves. We took the bus to the ferry stop, which is just about a mile past Downtown Cancun. The ferry ride was $15 per person and took about 30 minutes. The waters on the way to Isla Mujeres were amazingly blue! It looks like what you would see on a postcard.

Once we got onto the island, it was time to explore! First getting off the ferry, again, you are bombarded with people trying to sell you things or come join their tour. It's pretty difficult to navigate through the number of people selling things. We chose to rent a moped for $25 for the whole day and explore on our own. There are many small hotels and small local restaurants further into the island. We found an ice cream cart on the side of the road and tasted what seemed to be the smoothest and lightest coconut ice cream! Yum! We continued on our moped ride and took several pictures of the natural beauty that surrounded us.

Moped Rental

Ice Cream Cart



We ended our moped tour on the beach with a couple of cervezas. The waters at the beach on the island were much calmer than those in front of our hotel. We were able to swim for hours!

We ended our day back on the ferry with the beautiful sunset!

Cancun, Mexico 2010 - November 2010 Part 1

Every year, I make it a point to travel to a different part of the world / United States. The past few years, I have visited places like Cabo San Lucas and Aruba. This year, I wanted to visit Cancun. I've heard for years about the beautiful beaches and amazingly blue waters and I was going to get to see it with my own eyes.

We arrived for a seven day vacation in beautiful Cancun! We stayed at the Omni Resorts as part of our timeshare excange with Interval International. I have some mixed reviews on the Omni itself. First the great part was it was beachfront and the staff was super friendly. The bad parts is that although the Omni is one of the highest rated hotels, that was just it...its a HOTEL! When one owns a timeshare, the expectation is a place that has a fully functioning kitchen...even if it is just a studio. This is so that we save money while on the trip, but instead they are trying to convert this hotel into a timeshare property, and the rooms have some poor excuse for a makeshift kitchen. Now that all of my reviews are out of the way, lets start with the trip and some beautiful pictures.

Day 1-3:
Most of these days were spent roaming around Cancun figuring our way around the town and enjoying the hotel amenities. We discovered the local bus, Downtown, and of course...WAL-Mart! The local bus is $0.85 per person and runs all day and night. It's actually really safe. Downtown is where all the nightlife happens. Walmart is where we did most of our grocery shopping in order to save on our food budget for the week.

Omni Canun Beachfront

View of the Lagoon from our Hotel

Poolside Reading



Volunteering at the Diabetes Walk - November 2010

Volunteering is really beginning to become a passion for me. It feels amazing being able to give up my time in order to help someone else that may really need it. No thank you's needed, just the warmth in  my heart. I've decided that I was going to spend at least one day each month giving up my time in order to help out a worthy cause. For the month of November 2010, the diabetes walk was the best opportunity to give back.

This year's Diabetes walk was held early morning in the backlot of Universal Studio's Hollywood. It was a three mile walk with two rest stations set up for the walkers. My portion of the volunteer duties was to hand out water, frutis, and snacks at rest stop #2. It was inspiring to see children, adults, grandparents, and families walking for a cause. Again, I was pretty inspired by not only the walkers, but by the countless volunteers who dedicated their Sunday morning to help a great cause!

Volunteer for the Nephcure Foundation - November 2010

I decided that volunteer work would be the next step in giving back to my community and finding things that I can become more passionate about. I found this organization on volunteermatch.com. It was for the Nephcure Walk which was being held in Santa Monica, CA. This particular walk deals with persons who suffer from nephrotic syndrome which affects the kidneys. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I lost my father about four years ago to Kidney failure. With that connection, I decided that this cause would be my first volunteer opportunity.

I arrived bright and early at the Santa Monica Pier and met with the volunteer coordinator, Catherine Lepone. She was an amazing person working for a great cause. I met some wonderful people who shared their stories about the family members that suffered from nephrotic syndrome. Everyone from patients, family, and even doctors from UCLA arrieved to show their support. In addition to general help with set up, information, and breakdown of the booths, I luckily brought by D40 (which I carry everywhere!). This gave me an opportunity to volunteer by doing something I love...taking photographs!

Overall, this is a great organization, and I hope to volunteer again next year for the Nephcure walks!

On A Double Decker Bus - October 15, 2010

With my ongoing quest to discover the city I live in, a friend and I decided to take one of those super touristy double decker bus tours through Hollywood to see if we could discover anything new in our hometown. We planned our day of tourism in the city we live two weeks in advance, but just our luck...it was a rainy day.

We hopped on the bus and started our tour. We passed by some pretty interesting things, but nothing that I didn't already know about. Below are some of the highlights from the tour.

Grauman's Chinese Theater

House of Blues

Rodeo Drive!

Paramount Pictures Studios

Hollywood Forever Cemetary

Pantages Theater

KTLA Studios

El Capitan Theater



Strangest lookin 'elmo' I've seen
entertaining the crowd
on Hollywood Blvd