POLE DANCING...signed up for an introductory class with S Factor in Encino.  The class is $40 and it is a mixture of pilates, yoga, and strip tease aerobics as well as pole tricks.  It's a great work out as well as a way to get comfortable with your body.  I had a lot of fun.  Afterwards had dinner with the girls at a diner nearby.

FREE LUNCH...at Afloat Sushi in Pasadena.  Thanks evanjellydonut!  He put his business card in a drawing and won.  But of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch so we had to listen for 5 minutes to a financial planner from Ameritrade but it was pretty interesting...although I don't think I really need one since I consider myself to be pretty financially savvy, hehe.

COMEDY CLUB...went to see a show at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood.  The headliner was John Lovitz.  He was pretty funny...haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

OPERA...got tickets to see Grendel at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  The tale is based upon the legend of Beowulf but seen through the eyes of the "monster".  It was a world premier and a very interesting allegory of man's existential questions.  It was a modern opera and very different to hear the words sung in English instead of Italian or French.

SPRING SKIING...who would've thought I'd still be snowboarding in June?  Went up to Mammoth this weekend for one last trip of the season.  We stayed at Snowflower Condos.  Conditions were a little slushy but still good.  It was like surfing on snow, hehe.  I saw a tiny bear cub for the second time in two weeks...so cute!  Again though it ran away before I could get a picture   Had dinner at Restaurant Lulu in the Village.  They offer a fusion of provencal fare served family style.  Traditional stop at Schat's in Bishop on the way back.

• dinner at Caffe La Strada in Belmont Shore...I had the penne pesto au gratin
  
• work dinner at Duke's in Malibu...amazing views of the ocean and sunset...there was also this really good kitesurfer...definitely something I want to try one of these days.
  
• happy hour at Ciudad...$4 mojitos/margaritas/sangrias and $2-4 appetizers (the calamari, carnitas tacos, meatballs, and quesadillas were really good), dinner at Bossa Nova's in West Hollywood, gelato place for dessert
  
• networking event at Lounge 1020 in Arcadia...$3 drink specials for the ladies

Whitewater Rafting in Yosemite

We drove up Friday after work to camp out at Summerdale.  Drove into Yosemite National Park on Saturday morning.  Took some pictures and set up camp at Upper Pines.  Then we went for a hike to Vernal Falls along the Mist Trail.  Even though I've done this hike before it was so much better this time, hehe.  You definitely get soaked. 

The next day we went white water rafting on the Toulumne River (18 miles of Class IV) with Sierra Mac.  They're a pretty good company...very safety conscious.  I always get the best guides because I've never fallen out or had the raft flip over before...and I've gone probably 8 times.  They had a guide that kayaked the whole thing...he made it look so easy...definitely thinking about getting my own kayak now.  We had dinner at Two Guys Pizza Pies in Groveland.  Got back to our campsite to hang around the campfire for a bit...fires were only allowed from 5-10pm and it was too cold to stay up too late.  Next day, got up and packed before driving home...took us about 6.5 hours to get back.  For the funny highlights of the trip go here. 

Decided to go watch X-Men III: The Last Stand with my brothers at Long Beach Towne Center.  Great movie although they ended up changing the storyline a bit from the comics.  You have to stay until after the credits for the last scene.

MUSICAL...went to watch STOMP at the Pantages Theatre...it's amazing how they were able to make musical instruments out of everyday items...and I mean everything including the kitchen sink, hehe.  It was pretty interactive too with the audience clapping along to the beats.  It was wierd how there was no intermission though.  Afterwards, we went to get some drinks at Citizen Smith...really cool restaurant/lounge with an oak stump for a table, giant sliding doors, just overall interesting decor and an attractive crowd.  Migrated over to Tokio for dancing to some house beats.  Late night snack at Dos Burritos...carne asada and al pastor tacos...yummy!

CLUBBING...went to Privilege in West Hollywood...used to be the old Shelter...new plush red drapes and suede seating...I had a couple shots and was asked to take a "time out" by security...lolz. 

SURFING...went to County Line and attempted to learn how to surf...I couldn't even paddle past the break   I have this total phobia of water ever since I got caught in a riptide and almost drowned when I was 10 coupled with the fact that I'm not that strong a swimmer...I started to freak out a little bit.  So stayed in the whitewater and was able to almost stand up...surfing in California is a lot harder and colder than Costa Rica.  Took a nap on the beach and then grabbed a late lunch at Baja Fresh.  Napped a little more and we were tired so decided to do a chill night in...had CPK take-out and rented a DVD...Shopgirl...kind of a dark comedy about dating and love...more of a chick flick though than funny.

WALKING...volunteered for Relay for Life in San Pedro.  It's a 24 hour event where each team has one member walking around the track at all times.  The goal is to help raise money for cancer research.  This year I raised $1015.00 beating my goal...thanks to all those who donated.  Our team raised over $6000 and the whole event in San Pedro raised $160,000.

MOVIE...had lunch at Happy Family in Alhambra...it's a vegan restaurant...lots of greasy tofu and "vegetarian meats"...pretty good though.  Afterwards went to go watch The Da Vinci Code.  I loved the book so of course had to go see the movie.  I think they did a pretty good job despite the bad reviews...of course the book is always better but it's still nice to be able to see the paintings and actual places like the Louvre onscreen instead of just as descriptions.

MARTINIS...went to Lola's in West Hollywood for a networking event.  Unfortunately, they had the wrong time on the evite so we missed it but we ended up staying for drinks, appetizers, and to shoot some pool.  Definitely recommend the canteloupe martini.

• happy hour at McCormick & Schmicks in El Segundo
  
• drinks at the Standard on Sunset
  
• I cooked dinner...the appetizer was pear and walnut salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing, main entree was salmon and spinach fettucine with a garlic lemon wine sauce.  Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
8 ounces dry fettuccine pasta
1/4 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 pound smoked salmon, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
2 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh oregano 
1 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup dry white wine

DIRECTIONS:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
Add fettuccine, and cook for 11 to 13 minutes or until
al dente; drain.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the
butter, and blend with milk. Mix in the flour to
thicken. Gradually stir in the Parmesan cheese until
melted. Add the lemon juice and white wine.
Crumble salmon into the butter mixture. Stir in the
spinach, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and oregano. Cook
and stir about 3 minutes, until heated through. Serve
over the cooked pasta.

• ordered Thai food and watched Memoirs of a Geisha...thought the movie was pretty good although a little long
  
• Weekend in Santa Barbara...we camped at El Capitan State Beach which was a pretty nice campsite close to the ocean with restrooms and showers.  On Saturday, we had split pea soup at Andersens in Buellton which they are famous for.  Then we went to Ostrich Land to pet and feed the ostriches.  Their eggs are so huge!  They are the only birds with 2 toes, they can run up to 45 mph, and their kicks are lethal.  Next we drove to Solvang and rented some bikes.  We did the Bailard Canyon loop which is 12 miles and biked from Solvang to Los Olivos and back.  Along the way we stopped to go wine tasting at Presidio Winery, Buttonwood Winery (bought a bottle of their Cab), and Daniel Gehrs Winery.  Thankfully I wasn't stopped for a BUI, hehe.  For dinner, Damon cooked us a lovely meal of chicken, cous cous, grilled vegetables, soup, salad, and steak.  He also made some delicious omelettes for breakfast too.  The next day we went on a hike along the beach (it goes for 2.5 miles to Refugio State Beach).  Afterwards we stopped in downtown Santa Barbara for some shopping and lunch at Pascucci.  Their garlic cheese bread is so good and they have an open kitchen so you can watch them make your food.  Very reasonably priced and tasty.  Bought a book of sudoku puzzles so that should keep me occupied for some time.
  
• dinner at home for Mother's Day (she didn't want to go out and fight the crowds)

Weekend update:

Zakir Hussain...went to see a concert of the world's best tabla player (it's a drum from northern India) at Royce Hall in UCLA.  It was really enjoyable and unique...I especially liked the sitar player.  Had philly cheesesteaks at South Street in Westwood Village and dessert at Diddy Riese...can't beat an ice cream cookie sandwich for $1.

Cactus to Clouds hike...22 miles from the Palm Springs art museum to the top of Mt. San Jacinto at 10,800 ft. elevation.  Started at 2am and finished around 7pm for a total of 15 hours hiking.  This was definitely a tough hike but what made it even harder was all the snow at the top (especially since I didn't have snow shoes or crampons).  People have fallen and died or gotten lost at the top before so it added an extra element of risk.  The hardest part is the Skyline trail (11 miles with 8000 ft elevation gain) which leads you to Long Valley at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, the world's largest rotating tram.  Here you can stop and take a break, grab lunch/dinner/drinks, and refill for water.  After that it's a 5.5 mile hike to the summit and then the same back down to the top of the tram station.  Had dinner at Thai Smile in Palm Springs...good food but a little pricey.

group shot at Long Valley

The sunrise

Proof that I made it to the top

My zen moment at the highest point of the peak

On the tram ride down

Rockreation...did some climbing at the gym in West LA...boy am I out of shape...couldn't even get up a 5.10b   Need to do some more bouldering to build up my upper body strength.  Want to do more leading too.

Mission Impossible 3...had dinner and a movie at the Arclight.  Nothing really stands out about the movie except Tom Cruise does a lot of running, lolz.  Lots of good action scenes though so it was enjoyable.

·        late night dinner at Swingers in Santa Monica

·        philisophical discussions at Cheebo in Hollywood...the goat cheese salad is really good

·        Coachella was awesome...Depeche Mode was so great to see live as well as Kanye West, Sigur Ros, Ladytron, Joey Beltram, DJ Collette, etc. Too much waiting in line though...from picking up tickets at will call, getting through security, getting ID checked, going to the bathroom, waiting to buy food/drinks. Some things to remember to bring for next time...cooler clothing (it was so hot!), hat, sunglasses, sunscreen lotion, flip flops (my feet were hurting by the end of the day)

·        winetasting at San Antonio Winery, the only one in L.A. The tour was pretty interesting (our guide was a little tipsy)...I would love to work here...where else can you drink on the job? Bought a couple of bottles...their Muscat was really good! We had lunch at Maddelena Restaurant...they don't have a menu. They just have two tables with all the dishes that they make so you can actually see what your order will look like...then you get served cafeteria style. Cute ambiance with the oak barrels, string lights, and live saxophone player.

·        Johnnie Walker whiskey tasting event. For a $5 donation we got to have drinks, hor'deurves, and taste the 5 different labels. The best was definitely the blue label...so smooth...I can definitely see why it is $200+ a bottle. Next best was the green label and then the black label. The red label was good for mixing. The gold label, served chilled, was too strong in my opinion.

·        dessert at Sweet Lady Jane...us four girls were quite the party there...so much so that Philippe gave us a free slice of 5 layer fudge cake...and yes it is almost as good as sex, haha.  Afterwards we went to Pink's for some hot dogs.

·        dinner at Maggiano’s in Costa Mesa...nice little Italian chain...just get the 1/2 orders...its more than enough food to fill you up

MAMMOTH…starting to get a little slushy even though it snowed part of the weekend.  The snow at the top by Huevos Grandes was good though.  I started trying to do some tricks and was able to successfully do a frontside grab.  Also tried doing a box…didn’t quite stick the landing the first time but got it on the second try.  Then decided to try the one by Thunder Bound and ended up falling hard on my ass on the box…I think I have a huge bruise *ouch*.  At least I didn’t get seriously injured, unlike my friend who wound up fracturing his ulna and dislocating his wrist.  We spent a couple hours in the ER and he had to get surgery and stay overnight at the hospital.  Luckily, the surgery was successful and everything worked out well.  Just made me realize though that I have to be careful not to push the envelope too much since I really can’t afford to be out of commission for that long.  Try the Hennessey’s Lemonade…you can hardly taste the vodka but you definitely feel it warming you up, hehe.

DOWNTOWN ALHAMBRA…had a chance to hang out here for the first time and it’s a cute area.  I had dinner  at Charlie Trio’s Café, an Italian place.  I tried the Chicken Diablo (really spicy!) and we shared a bottle of Pinot Noir from Sonoma.  I want to go to the Taste of Alhambra on Sunday June 4^th from 5-9pm where you can try out the food and drinks at different restaurants in the area for just $40.  Anybody interested in coming with me?

HOME COOKING…it’s been a long time since someone has cooked for me.  Dinner was BBQ ribs with tomatoes and asparagus.  I brought a bottle of Merlot and for dessert we had strawberry crepes with chocolate, whipped cream, and a cherry on top.  The way to my heart is definitely through my stomach

SHOWS AND MUSEUMS…I want to get tickets to go see STOMP and Hairspray at the Pantages.  It’s only $31/ticket.  Also want to check out the Norton Simon Museum, Armand Hammer Museum, the Geffen MOCA, California Science Center, Museum of Tolerance, and the Aquarium of the Pacific.  Anyone want to go?

I forgot to mention that last week I went on a Grunion run on Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro.  I had gone before but didn’t actually get to see it because we were too loud and scared the scouts away.  If you haven’t had a chance to see it, it’s pretty cool.  These tiny fish come onto the shore at high tide during a full moon to mate.  The females burrow themselves into the sand and lay their eggs while the males crowd around and spill their milt (semen) into the hole to fertilize the eggs.  There’s nothing more romantic than watching fish porn, hehe.  We had dinner beforehand at a Korean BBQ place in Torrance. 

Tuesday went out for dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery in Long Beach.  We shared the Jambalaya and the Smothered Chicken and for dessert we had the Chocolate Raspberry Passion…all the food was really good.   I’m starting to like trying beers from microbreweries now.  Not quite ready to go home, we went to the Auld Dubliner, an Irish bar for some drinks. 

Yesterday I got in some good girl bonding time over happy hour at Blowfish Sushi in West Hollywood.  From 6-8pm they have $5 “make your own” sushi rolls and sake cocktails (I liked the Wild Orchid).  Afterwards we headed over to Red Rock for some more drinks.  Then I met up with another friend at Zanzibar in Santa Monica for Brazilian night. 

Tonight we are having dinner at Chomp Rockin Sushi & Teppan Grill in Fullerton for some all-you-can-eat sushi from 8:30 to 11pm...only $20/person.  They give you a color coded ticket and you can order 3 things at a time.  A green ticket gets first priority, yellow second, and red last priority.  The baked mushrooms are really good.  They also play an eclectic mix of music and most of the restaurant sings along...very fun atmosphere.  I'm going with a group of friends which I haven’t seen in a while but we’re trying to do monthly dinner get togethers.  Even though I’m having fun with going out on dates and living the single life…I definitely want to make sure that I still make time for my friends who have always been there for me when I needed them most. 

This weekend it’s off to Mammoth again!

In memory of my cousin who died from cancer I will be participating in this year's Relay for Life in San Pedro.  Please come out and support us or make a donation by clicking below:

http://www.acsevents.org/relay/ca/sanpedro/serinatran?faf=1&e=577150915

So far I've raised $465...help me get to my goal of $1000...Thanks!

Here's a pic from my company dinner dance a few weeks ago...the theme was Moroccan Magic

Plans for the weekend to go climbing at Red Rocks got canceled due to the rain.  So ended up staying in town.  Got a root canal done on Thursday so I was doped up on pain meds Friday night and just stayed in and rented a DVD.  Vicodin and wine is such a  good combo, hehe.  Saturday night went to Aqua in Beverly Hills.  They have a cool "under the sea" theme.  Really nice and trendy place.  When one of us got sick the manager gave us water to drink and a bucket to throw up in, hehe.  Sunday went to the Hollywood Canteen...ate at Benitos Tacos and then headed over to Deep at the Vanguard.  Got home 5am.  Had a date tonight at Gaucho Grill in Brea.  The Argentinean food and wine here are very good.  We closed down the restaurant   It sucks though how everything closes so early here.

Random thoughts: 

I decided to get bangs to try something different but they're kind of annoying cuz they keep getting in my eyes

I've gotten so addicted to text messaging now that I finally figured out how to use predictive text...yeah I know I'm a dork...I think I need to upgrade my account to unlimited texts, hehe

I have a new boss now...been thinking about looking for a new job

I lost my voice...need to stop partying on Sundays. 

Some pics from Miami:

• drinks at the Mai Tai Bar in Long Beach...their martinis are really good and only $4 during their late night happy hour
  
• dinner at Blue Pacific in Hermosa Beach...they let you pick out your own sake cup...afterwards watched the Inside Man...Clive Owen is so hot...pretty good movie but a little predictable
  
• dinner at Bamboo Restaurant in Culver City...yummy Caribbean food...drinks at Saints & Sinners...try the Angel Dust.  Afterwards headed down to Hermosa Beach to go to Blue 32 for some dancing
  
• hiking along the Shipwreck trail in Palos Verdes...nice views of the cliffs
  
• work dinner dance at the Irvine Marriott...they had bellydancers and an 80s band
  
• mini Miami reunion at Hollywood Canteen...great people and great house music...afterwards headed over to Club XES and finally finishing off at Blue Monkey Lounge
  
• dinner at Bangkok Four in Costa Mesa...cute Thai place...food is very americanized though and not authentic Thai