Tour of California

the largest cycling event in america rolled thru santa cruz and i got to see it with my very own eyes! the amgen tour of california is america's version of the tour de france. this 8 day trek starts in northern california (sac town) and ends in southern cali (escondido). this was the first year that santa cruz was a host city, so ya better believe that all the locals were out there scoping it out. yes it was windy and cold, and yes it rained, but we sucked it up and stood out there. we got there early, and since the riders were still making their way from san francisco, we had some time to walk around and check out all the vendors. we even scored some free junk...cowbells, energy drinks, nutritious power shots from herbalife (you got this after they make you step on a scale and tell you how fat you are...bitches).

the finish line was the hot spot, so we claimed our territory and stood there until the winner rolled by. i should probably mention the race itself took over 5 hours to finish, and i think we started standing around the finish line 2-3 hours into it. yeah. but whatever, a couple of news teams came and talked to us and we even made the footage when the news aired...go us!

but anyway, after the winner rolled in and after i barely got a glance of lance armstrong (my camera wasn't quick enough to catch him), we called it a day and treated ourselves to the best burgers santa cruz has to offer!!

the winner of stage 2

lance was just around the corner...doh!

crazy lady with the cowbell

Trust

what makes you trust someone?

so a friend of mine told me some really big news, like life changing news, and i'm the only person who knows so far. in a way, i feel like a lot of weight has been put on my shoulders, but in another way, i feel quite honored that they could confide in me and trust that i wouldn't go around telling everyone and their mom what they told me. i know the news is going to affect a lot of people that i care deeply about, but it's really not my place to go and be the first to tell them. that would obviously break the trust bond, and i so don't want to go there. all i can do right now is keep it to myself and be there for my friend when they do decide to share the news with others. at the end of our conversation, i thanked my friend for trusting and relying on me (i know i'd be able to do the same with them). it takes a lot for you to trust someone, but it takes just as much, or even more, to have someone put their trust in you.

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved"--George Macdonald

Scrubs

any episode of this tv show that involves turk dancing is usually a good one. this clip will ALWAYS be one of my favorites:



"Never trust a big butt and smile. That girl is POISOOOOON......."
*flashes back to 1990*

Slumdog

go see it...NOW!! stop reading this and go! sheesh!

I Heart Bubba Gumps!

one of my all time favorite movies is forrest gump. with that being said, it's no surprise that one of my favorite restaurants is bubba gumps. i love how everything on the walls is based on the movie. i love how they play the movie the whole entire time. and i love that they have a shrimp platter! my most recent visit took place in san francisco where i was accompanied by my lovely mother, my tia chayo (mom's sis), and my "too coo' for schoo'" cousin, julian. my relatives came up to santa cruz on the loveliest weekend the west coast could ask for. we took advantage of the beautiful weather and drove up the coast to frisco. after driving over the golden gate bridge and taking some snapshots at vista point, we decided to hit up fisherman's wharf. by the time we parked and walked there, i was starrrving! my cousin is a growing boy (at age 22 or somewhere around there) so i knew he was hungry too. the two of us were hauling ass, looking back every minute or two to see if our lolly-gagging mothers were still behind us...do all sisters walk the same and at the same pace? as we approached bubba gumps i was expecting to see a lot of people standing or sitting, waiting to be called to be seated, but only a few were loitering around. we walked right in and got seated right away...AWESOME! my favorite part of the whole bubba gumps experience is when your waiter quizzes you on the movie. the last time i ate there, the waiter didn't play trivia with us, so i was pretty bummed about that. this time we got quizzed, and i've come to realize that i KICK ASS at forrest gump trivia! i answered all the questions (or should i say i blurted them out before anyone else at the table could even think about it), and i got all of them right. just when the waiter thought he was going to stump us, or me, i fired out the answer. the waiter dude was so amazed that he gave all of us free passes to the san francisco bay aquarium, what-what!! so yeah, that pretty much was the highlight of my day (that and spending the day with familia). even though the aquarium was pretty crappy, it gave us something else to do and see without having to bust out our wallets. a couple of other neato-speedo things that we did was taking a tour of the wax museum (that place was scawey!), and driving down the crooked street (i am no longer a lombard street virgen, thankyouverymuch).

College Bowl Pick 'em

college football is officially over, boo! with the last bowl game played last week, and might i add it was a really good one, we now have to wait until august/september to watch NCAA teams go at it again to fight for that #1 spot.

this year a group of friends and i created a fantasy league for the regular season and for the bowl games. in the regular season, it was pretty much just picking who you thought was going to win. it wasn't so easy for the bowl games--you had to strategize and give points out and really do some research on each team. we made it a little more interesting and put in 20 bucks each to play. the winner walked out with 160 big ones! unfortunately, i wasn't the jackpot winner. i came in 4th out of 8 players, which isn't too bad. the chart below shows our final scores and how many picks we got right. i never realized that there were 34 bowl games!



sorry for the blurryness--i fought with the effin thing for days and this was the best i could get it to look = (

The Birthday Boy!

my nephew, elijah, is 5 years old today!! this boy is quite a character, let me tell ya. he is just down right silly and really knows how to make me laugh. for example, i called him to wish him a happy birthday, and in the middle of our conversation he says, "hold on. i need to pull up my pants because you can see my buttcrack." how can you not die of laughter after hearing a 5 year old say that? he is too much!

when elijah was born, my dad went and got him his very own bee bee gun (it's so like my dad to do something like that). now that he's somewhat old enough to use it, he goes out and shoots cans and other non-living targets. i was really impressed (and a wee bit scared) with his shooting skills--his form was perfect and his aim was way better than mine. i guess you can say he's a typical boy, but to me he's still my ridiculously cute nephew who will always get smothered with hugs and kisses no matter how old (or dirty) he might be! ahh, the perks of being an aunt...

my lil' sharp-shooter!