Easter Dinner

One of my favorite things to do is entertain. Gav and I selected our apartment with the full intention of having people over as often as we can. I think that he and I make a pretty good pair when it comes to hosting a little soiree and we put our skills to the test this past weekend. We threw a little dinner and egg-coloring party for Easter.

Our dinner menu was pretty much 100% from Costco and it consisted of a lamb roast with mint sauce, a ham, roasted fingerling potatoes and veggies and a delicious spinach salad with pesto dressing (thank you Ina Garten).

After dinner, we dyed about 4 dozen eggs and I don't think I've had this much fun coloring eggs since I was 8 years old. Check out the link at the bottom of the post to see more pics of the eggs. My personal favorites were the Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, Papa Smurf, The Globe, Yoshi's egg, the penis egg and the strawberry.


Gavin and the heart-shaped potato.


He really knows how to handle a big piece of meat.


Good friends, food and wine. Perfection.

The finished Easter Basket!

Easter Party 2008

Flashback: Tokyo, September 2007

After spending a wonderful summer in Seattle, Gavin and I hit the road again and started the Asia leg of our world tour. In September we flew from Seattle to Tokyo with our friend John to experience Japan.

We spent one week in Japan and visited the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima. With our Japan Rail Pass and a lot of determination, we saw as much of Japan as humanly possible in 7 short days. John, Gavin and I put together and ambitious itinerary that had us zooming at bullet-fast speeds across The Land of the Rising Sun.

Our adventure started out in business class on an United Boeing 777, where we drank copious amounts of sake and were treated like rock-stars. Upon arrival in Tokyo-Narita we were overwhelmed by that feeling you get only when you travel to a new country. On the plane, I tried my hardest to brush up on my Japanese, because I knew that my two companions would depend on me to make things happen on their first trip to the Orient. It had been over 15 years since I last visited Japan as a teen-ager and I wanted to show the boys a great time.

We easily found our way from the airport to our hotel overlooking Shinjuku Station, the busiest commuter rail station in Tokyo. High up on the 27th floor, we were treated to an amazing view of the Tokyo skyline. I've been to some big cities in my life, but Tokyo has got to rank up on top of the list in size. What a metropolis!

The three of us were excited to see what Japan had to offer in terms of food and drink, and we were not disappointed! We were on a mission to try experience as much of Japanese cuisine as possible. This included shabu shabu, izakaya, sushi, ramen, sukiyaki and yakitori.

In the 3 days that we spent in Tokyo, we went to the Fall Sumo Tournament, toured the Fuji Television Building, saw the world's biggest wholesale fishmarket at Tsukiji, checked out the funky district of Harajuku, went to the Tokyo-Edo Museum and met up with our friend Mark for a wild night on the town.

Check out my Tokyo Album at the bottom of the page.



Gav and John upon arrival at Tokyo-Narita.


Shinjuku by night.


Sumo!


The world's freshest sushi at the Tsukiji Fish Market.

More Pics from Tokyo!

The Big Move!

After experiencing 13 countries on four continents and being home-less for close to two years, Gavin and I were excited (and ready) to finally make the move to our new home: San Francisco. We spent the first part of our trip interviewing cities, trying to figure out where we wanted to move to. San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, New York and Washington DC were all on the list, but one-by-one we worked our way and chose San Francisco as our final destination.

We bid farewell to our friends and family in Hawaii and boarded the United Airlines Boeing 767 at the Kona International Airport (I love the Kona Airport because they don't use jet-ways and actually pull the stairs right up to the jumbo-jets. What says Aloha more than getting off of your 10 hour flight from snowy Chicago and greeted by the sun and warmth of paradise?) and flew 5 hours to San Francisco.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by cold winter weather and the rain. This was the reality of returning to the real world, because for close to two years, we had followed the summer from the northern hemisphere to the south and then back up again. Thankfully, San Francisco's winter isn't nearly as harsh as most other parts of the country.

Without jobs or a home, my brother kindly took us in until we were able to find a home to call our own. It took us about 2 weeks before we stumbled upon the apartment of our dreams. Located not far from my brother and our other friends in the city, Gavin and I signed a lease and moved our few posessions into our new home.

With much pleasure and a lot of excitment, I am ready to begin the next chapter in my life. Wish me luck!


Aloha Hawaii! Until we meet again.


The naked bedroom. I love the hard-wood floors and bay window!


The bathroom with claw-footed tub.


The rug (bought over the internets) in the living room.

Kona!

Gav and I took an over-night trip to Kona to visit my cousin. It was great to play tourist and explore the Big Island in our trusty rental car. Hawaii is awesome.


Fun Fact: The Big Island of Hawaii is twice as large as all of the other islands put together?


A beach made of little black pebbles?


Gavin after swimming in beautiful Kealakekua Bay.


Saddle Road.

Kegs, Dry Ice and Tetherball!

For my father's birthday, he got himself a min-keg from Hilo's own Mehana Brewing Company. We set it up in the garage and enjoyed ice-cold beer for a few days. I'm looking forward to going back to Hilo and getting another mini-keg to enjoy with the family.




Kailee's dad went down to Gaspro and got her a few pounds of dry-ice, which gave Uncle Gavin a great opportunity to conduct a mini science lab for us.


A game of tetherball is a great way to work off all of that beer and turkey!

Thanksgiving in Hilo

Thanksgiving has got to be one of my favorite holidays of the year (I also love Halloween, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Arbor Day). Who doesn't love a day where you can eat yourself into a coma? Come on! What's not to love? In addition to the eating, I also love football and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Oh the good times!

This year, Gav and I flew to Hilo to spend Thanksgiving with my family. My father cooked us a great meal and it was outstanding. The turkey was the star of the dinner, and it was outstanding. My father used a recipe that he read in the New York Times and brined the turkey for 4 hours before cooking it. It was moist and delicious.


Gav, Julia, Kailee, Mom, Dad & Ipo


Mom & Dad (and an unfinshed pineapple upsidedown cake)


Chaos at the dinner table.


Hilo ice-shave. Gotta love it.

Summer in Seattle: Tyler's Lake House

Sometime in July, our good friend Tyler invited us up to his family's lake house on the Olympic Peninsula. Never to pass up a good time, Gav and I jumped at the opportunity and took him up on the offer.

We carpooled with Ross from Seattle to the lake house, which was located near Port Angeles. Along the way, we got to see the beauty of western Washington and experience various modes of transportation. In a car, over a bridge, in a ferry and in the back seat of a flat bed tow-truck. It was fabulous. (Long story short, Ross' car had some issues along the way and we had to get it towed. The problems were fixed by time we had to return to Seattle and shortly after we returned, Ross got a brand new kick-ass BMW. Happy ending.)

Once we got to the lake house, all of the problems of the world were forgotten. It was peace and quiet mixed in with watersports (hee hee) and lots of partying. Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it: We had a great time.

Check out my webalbum link below.

Tyler's Lake House

Almost a Family Reunion in SF

Back in July, Gav and I flew to SF to meet up with my mom, sister and niece and my brother (who lives there). My dad decided to care for a sick dog and stayed in Hawaii.

This was our first family vacation since I was a kid, so I was very excited to make the most of it. We hit the city hard and played tourist like you would not imagine. From Chinatown to the Golden Gate Bridge, we explored San Francisco like champs!

Check out the pics below and click on the link for more pictures.



Me, Julia, Kailee and my mom.


Me, Kai, Kailee and Gav.


Kailee and I, exploring the wilds of the Castro.


I love my niece.

San Francisco Web Album

A Japanese Media Feeding Frenzy!

Ross treated us to a wonderful day at the ballpark for one of the best games I've seen in recent history. The Boston Red Sox came to town with their ace pitcher Daisuki Matsuzaka, for one of the highly anticipated match-ups between him and Mariner All-Star Ichiro Suzuki. It felt as if all of Japan's media had descended upon Safeco Field.

A mild Seattle summer day at the ballpark is one of the greatest things in life that I can think of, and a Mariner victory was nothing short of a perfection.


Gavin and the 5-liter Heineken Keg Can. (What does this have to do with the ball game? Nothing.)


Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.


Ichiro Suzuki. One of the finest baseball players. Period.


Red Sox ace pitcher Daisuki Matsuzaka.

Summer in Seattle

Gav and I weren't quite ready to find jobs after returning home to the US from Argentina, so put our heads together and came up with a plan to relive our youth and have a good ole fashioned Summer Vacation!

Gav made a stop in Norfolk, VA to visit his family and I flew to the Lone Star State of Texas to visit Joe D in the Dallas area. This was our first time being apart in over a year and a half! It felt awkward being alone, but it was definitely needed. In Dallas, I stayed at the palatial home of Joe (honestly Joe ... 3 floors of living?). Joe was a wonderful host and we had a blast during the 2.5 weeks that I stayed with him. Unfortuantely, I didn't have the camera, so no pictures were taken during my stay in Dallas, our trip to the Six Flags waterpark, the weekend trip to Austin with Ross and Rich or our trip to Oklahoma City to meet up with the Air Force Boys.

Gavin and I met up in Seattle in mid-June. We decided to cash in on some of my social-capital and couch surf our way through the lovely city of Seattle, Washington.

We arrived in Seattle just before my 30th birthday, and I had the most amazing time celebrating it with my amazing friends. I love Seattle.


The Seattle skyline looking north.


My first time behind the wheel in almost 8 months.


Seattle-Tacoma International Airport


Grrr ... Seattle traffic sucks!