Is the world ending? My poor family flew into New York. That same day they got hit by Hurricane Irene. Then we all came to San Diego, where we all got to experience the blackout. I felt sorry for my family and thought, wow, we need a vacation from this vacation.
My family was in town for two weeks and we did a lot together. It was great to be around family again. I was especially excited to spend time with my little sister, who I haven’t seen in more than four years. Our time together got me thinking what’s life all about?
Well, I think it’s about all the connections and experiences you have with other people. Life is all about interaction. I’ve been fortunate to have an amazing family. Sadly, they live far away, so I don’t get a chance to enjoy them as much as I’d like. But I do have my San Diego family, including Nicole, Jason, Chris and even close friends in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. These are people that I know if I ever need them, they will be there for me, and that’s a great thing to have. Thank you all for your loyal friendship and love.
Las Vegas baby
If you recall, when my dad was visiting I went to Vegas and lost a lot of money on the damn Sex and the City slot machines. Well Carrie and the girls finally came through. They recently contacted me and offered me three days at a suite at the Palazzo, two tickets for the Phantom of the Opera and a $250 slot credit by the casino! So that’s where we stayed and it was great. I had a blast at the pool … but that’s all I am going to say about that. During our stay, we saw Phantom at the Venetian and Viva Elvis at Aria. Elvis was OK, though a little too slow for my taste – but still an amazing production. Of course I got my family hooked on the Sex and the City slot machines. My sister taught me how to play blackjack and I taught her how to drink and not to pay for drinks at the casino. I also took her to Krave with Tim Hooper, a really good friend of mine. We all had a blast and she drank both of us under the table. It was hard to keep up with the younger sister.
Of course of all nights, the one during which I had my sister with me, this really hot guy was cruising me; but I was too shy to engage in any serious flirtations in front of my sister.
Later, I was happy to realize that when you are around true friends, no matter how long you’ve been apart, you can just go right back to where you left off. I was dancing and kind of checking to see if the hot guy was still dancing behind me. My longtime friend Tim said, “Yes girl, he’s still there and moving closer!” He can read me like a book. It was just like old times when we would go out and cruise guys together.
From glam to ghetto
After staying at this beautiful suite and dining at some great restaurants in Vegas we headed to San Diego. On our way here, I started to see all the Facebook posts about the blackout. I warned my parents, but we had no idea how bad it was. We got to San Diego at about 10 p.m. and checked in to the Lafayette Hotel where they handed us one glow stick. Of course, no elevator and we had over eight oversized pieces of luggage. Nevertheless, we dropped off the bags and went on a journey to find food. Everywhere was dark but Urban Mo’s. Because of SDG&E’s surprise gift, everyone had a reason to get out of the house and drink! The only food we were able to find was from a food truck parked on University. My thought was, “Well, we’ll get some hot dogs and hamburgers,” but when I asked what they had the reply blew me away.
“I just made some king crab risotto.” I stopped for a second and thought: this guy is probably joking. Well, no; he wasn’t joking. And let me tell you; his food was better than some of the food I had at some of the restaurants in Vegas. So if you see a Curiocity Catering food truck parked in your neighborhood, sure to stop by to taste their food. If you see one driving by, flag it down!
Are there gay Smurfs?
I finally caught up with my movies. My sister and I both grew up watching the Smurfs, so we decided it was a good “family” thing to do. I have to say that I love how they had Ken so gay on Toy Story 3 and in The Smurfs the choreographer smurf was beyond gay. My two favorite lines were, “I am too beautiful to die!” and “Gorgeous! Muah!” as he looks at himself in the mirror. I also took my sister to the Imax to see Contagion. They don’t have Imax in Brazil and she wanted to experience that. I was a little disappointed to find nothing in the movie that justifies showing it on an Imax screen. The movie was good, but I had higher expectations.