Ithaca, Viajes

Just Keep Swimming: A Birthday Reflection

I turn 46 today. It’s the first birthday in a few years that I’m not on vacation, but that’s okay. Since I’m at work, I’ve gotten a little celebration from my coworkers and I can joke that a big event we have planned in two days is my delayed birthday party.

Last week during our staff meeting, they surprised me and my fellow Virgo Queen (8/30!) with a some goodies and a card. Our cards said “I wish you more _____; and less _____.” I got to wish something for my coworker and then something for myself:

More time in water and less kids arguing over a bajillion things.

In the last few weeks of summer — the weather turns quick here, whereas late August in LA is still super hot — I’m reflecting on all the good times in/near water and how I want to continue that.

This summer we joined a local swim club for the first time. I’ve never felt it was worth the cost since the kids attended a day camp where they swam everyday. But this year we made other plans (“camp couch” according to Archie), and made the most of our membership. The pool is open until 8 pm and many days Archie and I would go after I got home from work for an hour or so. Sometimes I’d play with him if his friends weren’t around, and sometimes I’d swim laps. I’m not a lap swimmer, but I worked on being stronger, improving my freestyle stroke and not feeling out of breath. I learned to swim as a kid but never had lessons or coaching as an adult, so I just tried to remember from videos on TikTok and YouTube. Either the videos have helped or I’m just getting stronger.

To kick off summer, we took a trip to South Haven, Michigan. We joined our compadres from Chicago and continued our tradition of semi-annual summer vacations. Ideally it would be annual, but I’m grateful for this time and seeing the kids grow. Our Airbnb was a few blocks away from Lake Michigan and we had a fun beach day. The water was FREEZING, but it was refreshing on a hot day.

I went to an indoor water park for the first time. My niece loves the Great Wolf Lodge and we joined my brother Adrian’s family for their trip to celebrate her 5th birthday. When not in the pools and water slide, I got to snuggle my 3-month old nephew.

When we visit, my parents always set-up a huge inflatable slide that splashes down into a wading pool. The kids and their cousins love it. I didn’t go down the slide but did splash around to keep cool with the boys and my nieces.

We spent an afternoon at the nice newish LA County pool in my parents’ area. I got to see my niece practice artistic swim. She even taught me how to do one of her fancy underwater back flips with legs pointed in the air. I was not graceful and she laughed, but I got it.

And of course while we were in LA we had a beach day at Huntington Beach, the same sight of many teen beach days and bonfires. On the day we went the waves were a bit strong so I didn’t go in as far as I usually would, but it was still fun.

I can’t forget days by Cayuga Lake, in our area. Although we can’t swim at this park, I do enjoy just chilling on the dock.

I haven’t been swimming this much since I was a kid… or maybe a teen. I can’t remember, but I do know I want more summers like this and time to play and exercise in water. When I’m in the water, I can’t doomscroll or answer just one more email or even delve into another book. I just need to focus on my breath and being in the moment.

Here’s to 46 and more time in water.

Amigos, Viajes

Forty hours in New Orleans

I’ve been a little lax on blogging. I’ve been out and about doing some cool stuff like taking a super quick trip to New Orleans for a wedding. Sean’s former ZogSports (intramural football) teammates, Tony and Christina, got married on May 12th.

I arrived on Friday. Sean picked me up at the airport. He flew in the day before and had an extra day to party and reunite with his New York friends. We dropped my stuff off at the hotel, Maison Dupuy, and walked around the French Quarter for a little bit.

We had café au lait and beignets at Café du Monde and stared out at the Mississippi for a moment. Later that evening, we met up with several others for a delicious dinner at Emeril’s Delmonico.

Afterward we went to a club to meet up with the groom and more friends. We didn’t hang out too long since I was tired, still recovering from my cold and not really up for enjoying the New Orleans nightlife.

On Saturday we had brunch near the hotel and then shared some beers with friends in a pirate-themed bar. I felt like I was at Disneyland with the pirate and French Quarter thing going on. We didn’t do much that afternoon except get ready for the wedding since we weren’t too interested in walking around in a storm.

Tony and Christina’s wedding was a lot of fun and worth the too-quick trip. They had a short ceremony at Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was the first time I attended a Catholic wedding that wasn’t a full Mass; they just did the liturgy (readings) and vows. The reception was held at Maison Dupuy. Since the courtyard was still wet from the rain on Friday and Saturday, the party was moved to two smaller ballrooms indoors.

Highlights from the wedding:

– Tony sang/played a surprise song he composed for Christina. It was really sweet. Tony’s mom asked Sean how he was going to top that.

– The excellent band of about a dozen musicians and singers. They played covers of current pop songs and old rock hits but it wasn’t cheesy at all. They were great and once I started dancing I couldn’t stop. I guess when you’re in New Orleans there’s no shortage of great live music.

– The food. They set up a buffet of hors d’oeuvres, gumbo, roast beef carving station, fruit and cheese. Judging by how I felt the next morning on the flight home, I liked the food and champagne a little too much.

– My handsome date.

– Being teal twins with Jen (totally unplanned). I think the color suits us well.

– Dancing and partying with the NY crew. I hope they bring the party to our wedding, but leave the Yankee fandom out of our decorations. Sean really liked the groom’s cake.

– The second line through the French Quarter at the end of the party. It’s been a dozen years since I’ve been in a parade with a brass band. Last time, Rose Parade 1999, was much different since I (a) didn’t need to play my trombone and (b) wasn’t in a band uniform. Instead I just marched/walked to the music and waved a white handkerchief as is customary. Since it was a Saturday night, there were lots of spectators cheering on the wedding party as we circled several blocks in the French Quarter.

When we arrived back at the hotel, we danced a little more. I’m really glad my purse was big enough to hold a pair of flip flops. I wouldn’t have made it back to the hotel in my heels.

We only got a few hours of sleep before waking up at 5 am to make our 7 am flights. Ugh. The trip home was not fun.

All non-iPhone pictures borrowed from Sean since I forgot my camera.

Viajes

A few days in Lake Arrowhead

Early last week, my brother Adrian called and asked about my plans for the week. He was on vacation from one job and spring break from the other. He and his girlfriend, Alexis, had rented a condo up in Lake Arrowhead and invited Sean and I to join them for part of the trip.

“We’ll probably be just sitting around eating, drinking and relaxing.”

I liked the idea of going up to the San Bernardino Mountains. I used to go pretty often in high school and college with church and school groups, but it’s been nearly 10 years since my last trip with family. I wasn’t sure if I could get away during the busy first week of spring quarter, but I was able to leave early on Thursday and take Friday off. Sean and I drove up Thursday afternoon. Traffic was light due to the holiday weekend.

We made a pit stop at my mom’s for to-go burritos and capirotada (Mexican bread pudding, a Lenten tradition). I’d been craving capirotada for weeks and dug into some leftovers my Madrina Chilo left behind when she visited my grandparents. I’d like to believe she knew I was stopping by and left this for me because I’m her goddaughter.

We arrived at the condo just in time to enjoy some views of the lake at sunset from the balcony.

Adrian and Alexis were great hosts. There were no luchador fights, just a lot of smiles and good drinks.

As Adrian promised, there was a lot eating, drinking and games. We played card games, Taboo, Uno, ping pong and king’s cup. It’s a good thing we were all staying in the condo since no one was going anywhere after king’s cup.

The condo is right on the lake and is a short walk away from Lake Arrowhead Village. Each day, we walked along the lakefront path to the village for groceries and drinks. On Friday evening, Alexis’ co-worker and friend drove up, our group grew to six.

It was a little too cold to kayak or go swimming in the lake, but we did spend a lot of time on the balcony just staring at the water, sipping sangria and enjoying some time in the sun.

Although I’ve been to Lake Arrowhead many times, I’d never stayed so close to the lake. We didn’t take advantage of the proximity due to the cool weather, — there was still some snow on the ground — but it was nice to be able to walk out from the bedroom and be immediately by the water.

I’m thankful to the little brother and Alexis for the hospitality.

Viajes

Joshua Tree National Park trip

While a bunch of Angelenos were all excited about a rock from Riverside County making a very slow trip to the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA), Sean and I decided to go to Riverside County and see some more impressive rocks… and trees.

In the middle of the week, I suggested taking a trip to Joshua Tree National Park to celebrate our second anniversary. A few things made it attractive: neither of us had visited; it’s close (2 hours is close in Southern California); it’s inexpensive; and it’d offer lots of great views/sites to photograph. About the first one, I’ve been to the Coachella Valley and Palm Desert several times with friends and family but I’d never been to the park. My Mojave Desert camping experience had been limited to Kern River. Sean was down.

We headed out Sunday morning and arrived in Joshua Tree early in the afternoon. Our first stop was at the visitor’s center to get more water and some maps. Our plan for the day: lunch at the Hidden Valley picnic area; exploring the Hidden Valley nature loop; and then hanging out at Key’s View until sunset.

Continue reading →

Comida, Viajes

NY vacation and engagement party eats

Sean and I didn’t have much of an agenda for our NY trip. There were only a few things we wanted to do and see. Of course, some of those things were food related.

We arrived on Wednesday night and went straight to the future in-law’s home in Long Island. We were very hungry as we’d only eaten breakfast and snacks on the plane. Sadly, JetBlue stopped carrying Munchies. That was one of my favorite parts about my monthly flights to/from JFK. I actually complained about it on the customer satisfaction survey. Kenny (future brother-in-law) picked us up form the airport. On the way there he told us Mrs C (fMIL) had made a steak dinner. It was delicious. No, I don’t have photos.

A few hours later, we were ready for dessert: Dunkin’ Donuts. LA transplants, especially those from NY, have a lot of valid reasons to complain about LA. One of those is often the lack of DD. We used to have DD, but the donut market was already saturated with mom and pop shops and Winchell’s. Although you can’t go to a DD in LA, you can buy a gift card at drugstores or grocery stores. Sean ate a few vanilla donuts. I tried a few of the season flavors (pumpkin, apple spice), but my favorite is still the simple glazed donut. We had DD a few more times on our trip.

On Thursday night, we went out to dinner with friends for Filipino Food Nite at Tito Rad’s in Queens. I missed the first Filipino Food Nite, but was glad for the second. We ate family style and had several dishes including: fried calamari, lumpia (yum!), chicken adobo, pork adobo, sisig, pancit, tuna, and plain white rice.

The Meatball Shop was the only restaurant on our to-do/see/visit list. We went on Friday afternoon, our first day back in Manhattan. Luckily, there was no wait. I had the special, the chile relleno meatball. It was less spicy than I expected and they were a little stingy with the perfectly spicy tomatillo salsa. I tend to load my tacos with cilantro, and was sad that it could barely be tasted in the meatballs. I had butternut squash with ricotta and candied walnuts on the side.

On Friday evening, we attended a birthday party at the Mercury Bar. The bar is two doors down from Pizza 33, which Sean recommended. Rather than eat at the bar, we stepped out for Ziti pizza. The pizza was too dry, adding red pepper flakes helped. It wasn’t the best pizza I’ve had in NY, but it was certainly enough to fuel some drinking and dancing.

On Saturday night, the future in-laws hosted a small engagement party. Although Sean’s met most of my extended family, I’ve only met his parents and brother. Mrs C did a great job cooking up a variety of Jamaican dishes for the party. I’m not too familiar with Jamaican food. I’ve had a few typical dishes (e.g., beef patties, jerk chicken, oxtail soup, red beans and rice), but still have a lot to learn. The menu for the party included: jerk chicken, jerk pork, BBQ ribs, fried chicken, mussels, salmon, oxtail soup, a paella-like seafood and rice dish, a few different types of rice, mac n’ cheese, green salad, beef patties, saltfish and crackers, and green beans. I know I’m forgetting something.

Despite filling up my plate twice, I didn’t get to try everything. There was a lot of food leftover which we ate for the next couple of days. My favorite was the very tender jerk chicken and jerk pork. It was quite spicy (much more than the one Sean occasionally makes).

I washed this all down with some wine and later some very sweet and potent rum punch and rum cake.

Lotería Chicana

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