Home for Christmas - Antioch, CA

I can’t believe the time delay in my blogs. I find that I want to do all of this in chronological order, but I am not disciplined enough to blog in a timely manner. I wish I could promise “Yes We Can” like change, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.

So my last trip in December was to my hometown, Antioch, CA. I hadn’t anticipated returning home for Christmas, but being in Phoenix and having vacation time that needed to be used, it just seemed foreordained. It turned out to be a nice trip home as my family was together again for the first time in over a year and a half. It also turned out to be a blast from the past trip as I caught up with two of my best friends from high school that I had not seen many years.

My friend Veronica Leong is a professor in the Engineering Department at Arizona State University (this is especially weird because I spent the prior week in Tempe, AZ but I thought Verny was still working on her post doc at UCLA). She actually runs her own lab and teaches classes and is one of the smartest people in the world. I don’t know if she has been officially designated as one of the smartest, but she is an Antioch High School success story. Thanks for making us look good Verny. She is married to Ryan Santos and has an adorable little boy named Bradley who starts off shy, but then makes us all drink imaginary soup.

When I think of Michelle Kirby, I instantly think of the kindest and most genuine people I know. Michelle doesn’t have a mean bone in her body and it isn’t because she is pushover, it is because she is truly and sincerely kind. I haven’t seen Michelle in many years and I am so glad that our time at home coincided. Michelle has accomplished quite a bit since we last communicated: earning her MBA, running all kinds of insane (in my opinion because I hate exercise and physical pain) marathons and trail races, and traveling the world. She lives in the Denver area and I am rooting for a trip to Denver very, very soon.

It was great to catch up and it honestly seemed as if no time had passed since high school or when we all graduated from college. Since I wasn’t home for very long we didn’t get to spend a ton of time together, but the girls came over to my place one night to catch up. I think it freaked my parents out a bit to have us all together again – it was a bit of time warp.

The next morning we all went out to breakfast so we could also spend some time with Ryan and Bradley. Veronica even brought some of her high school year books to peruse, which was a bizarre and sometimes terrifying walk down memory lane. It was just so wonderful to see my two friends all grown up. I know it sounds condescending, although I don’t intend it to be, but I am so very proud of both of them and I am so happy that we are still friends. I need to make sure it doesn’t take to so long for us to get together again.

Next Trip – Sacramento, CA

Phoenix, AZ

As I said in the last post, December 2008 turned out to be crazy busy. The third trip of the month took me to Phoenix, AZ. I was very excited about this trip because my awesome friend Elise attends Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. I rarely get to see Elise now that I live on the East Coast and as she will testify, I am horrible at keeping in touch with people over the phone (Elise, I promise that this is true for everyone, not just you. I am an equal opportunity ignorer). I have a wonderful friend, Suzette, who lives in Tucson, AZ – or so I thought. I was so pleasantly surprised to learn that she now lives in Phoenix and we were able to get together and catch up. What a great trip.

I booked a reservation at the Hyatt in downtown Phoenix based on the recommendation of my client. Supposedly the Hyatt was only a few blocks from the training location and it would have been an easy walk to and from the hotel. Well, at the last minute they changed locations and I ended up commuting everyday to Tempe. I’ll admit, I was tempted to change hotels, but once I get settled in I am loathe to leave. Also Hyatt Hotels are pretty nice. Plus, it was a reverse commute and I had a nice rental car, so it turned out pretty well in the end. I will say that I am disappointed with the Phoenix downtown area. Unless there is a basketball game going on, the place is practically dead after 5 pm. I didn’t enjoy walking to my hotel from the parking garage at night because the streets were almost as empty as a ghost town. To be honest, it freaked me out a bit.

Elise and I love to go out and eat and this trip was no exception. Elise and I planned on meeting after she was finished with school (she is working on her PhD) and I was finished working. Monday night we went to her favorite Vietnamese restaurant. They had some awesome egg rolls. After that we went to Cold Stone and had the best ice cream combo that was ever created: After Dinner Mint. It is Chocolate Peppermint ice cream with marshmallows, Oreos and chocolate shavings in it. So good, but sadly it is only available during the holidays.

Tuesday night Elise and I headed off to one of our favorite places to eat, California Pizza Kitchen. As some of you may recall (Mom you are probably the only one that remembers this) that I have been boycotting CPK for removing my favorite pizza, the Pear and Gorgonzola, from the menu. I am sure that the loss of my patronage did irreparable damage to CPK’s financials, but that is what they get for crossing me. I am so glad I gave CPK another try because PEAR AND GORGONZOLA IS BACK ON THE MENU! Shout it from the rooftops and everyone order that pizza because I don’t want to have to be without it again. Afterwards we saw a Christmas movie with Freddie Rodriguez in it – which was fine by me because he is super cute.

I also drove by a Costco Home store on Tuesday. Now this is not a Kirkland’s or a regular Costco Warehouse with furniture in it – this is a separate warehouse with just furniture and accessories. Why do we not have this in Virginia? I want one and I want one now here in Virginia and also one for my friends and family in California (my Veruca Salt impression). Costco, don’t hold out on me – share the joy!

I also found a Half Price Books in the Phoenix area – would it be a Jen trip if I didn’t visit Half Price Books? It was a nice shop and I was able to sell some books for a solid price and I loved browsing around the store. I really wish we had a Half Price Books out here in DC, think of all the money I would waste.

Wednesday night we just ordered Pizza Hut (with their yummy breadsticks) so I could do laundry at Elise’s place. I watched my first episode of Private Practice (yummy Taye Diggs) and Elise and I talked about our feelings and relationships. We love to talk about feelings and relationships.

I had demanded Mexican food while I was in Arizona. Elise knew of an excellent place called Ponchos. It was amazing food – their red sauce on the enchiladas had a hint of smokiness that was so delicious (chipotle powder perhaps?). It must be well known in the area because we had to wait 20 minutes to get in on Thursday night. Also, Bill Clinton ate there when he was president, and say what you want about Bill, but he strikes me as the kind of guy that enjoys good food. Elise and I took a picture in front of Ponchos so I wouldn’t forget all the places we ate while in Phoenix. I will say that this picture below is not very flattering of me, but I think it is totally hilarious. I am standing next to Elise and look at how enormous my head is in comparison to hers. What on earth happened to me? Is my parent’s house built over a nuclear waste disposal site? Has the military been conducting experiments on me? What caused me to grow this gigantic head – I know that it isn’t to house my gigantic brain. I think that radiation or nuclear waste is the only answer.

On Friday I met up with my friend Suzette for lunch at a sushi restaurant in Tempe called Ra. It was very good sushi – I especially enjoyed the tuna which didn’t have a fishy taste at all. Suzette and I met doing a study abroad in Madrid, Spain. We ended up assigned to the same house and just hit it off. Before this trip to Phoenix, I hadn’t seen Suzette since June 2001. I had so much fun catching up – it was as if only a few months had passed and not 8 years. Suzette is working on a MA in Accounting. What a savvy girl to get a degree in something practical and useful.

I booked a flight from Phoenix to Oakland so I could go home to Antioch for Christmas. A few hours before my flight left, I met Elise at a very popular restaurant called Oreganos. They have this cookie sundae that is out of this world. Essentially, it is a freshly baked cookie, warm out of the oven and still a little doughy, served with vanilla ice cream on the top. It was heavenly and if I close my eyes I can still taste it. Elise, I hope you will eat another one of those cookie sundaes in my honor. It was so hard to say goodbye to Elise, I wanted to pack her in my suitcase and take her on all my trips. Sadly, Elise has a dissertation to finish and loads of money to earn so she can buy me pretty things.

I have to admit that when I first arrived in Phoenix, I thought it lacked charm. Upon leaving, however, I began to see the beauty in the landscape. I sometimes wonder if I could live there long term, although I think I would complain endlessly about the hot summers.

I would also like to give a shout out to my friend Tina. Tina was in my class in Phoenix and we became instant friends. She is a super cool chic and I hope to see her again in the near future.

Next trip – Antioch, CA

Orlando, FL

Being a West Coast gal, when it came to visiting a Disney theme park as kids, the Davis clan headed 7 hours south to Disneyland. I had naturally heard of Disney World, but really had no interest in going out of my way to visit. Disneyland is enough for me, it being the original and therefore the best Disney theme park. Skip ahead to my early 30s and the time arrived for me to visit Disney World.

What prompted this visit you may ask? Work. I signed up to take an analytical investigation methods course so I could be a better worker bee. While I may sound flippant, I really appreciate that my company will pay for me to take training courses. The closest course to DC was in Orlando, so that is how I scored a trip to the happiest place in Florida.

December turned out to be a crazy month for me. I started off the month in Ottawa, headed down to Orlando, FL a few days later, then traveled directly to Phoenix, AZ for a week, flew from Phoenix to Antioch for Christmas and made it back to Reston in time for the New Year. I am still tired from those trips. It was quite an environmental shock to go from Ottawa (freezing cold) to DC (pretty cold) to Orlando (do I really need a sweater cold). Being a professional, I only complained about the climate change every 10 minutes or so. What willpower I have!

The course was very helpful for my job, mostly because it reaffirmed that I am on the right track and I have acquired a pretty solid foundation when it comes to link analysis. There were some very, very cool people in the class and I really enjoyed learning from them. You guys know who you are.

I got to spend a lot of time with Sloane, a fellow student, who is just awesome. Since her agency wouldn’t spring for a rental car (Bad Government! You don’t send a lone woman into a sketchy area of town without a rental car – it just isn’t safe) she and I would pal around trying local restaurants. It helped that we stayed at the same hotel, which was the Marriott Courtyard Orlando Downtown. The problem with this place is that the local police warned us not to walk around at night and there was no place to eat within walking distance anyway. Also, the beds were so hard only Seabreeze would have enjoyed them. I didn’t sleep well for 6 nights because of those stupid beds.

The first night we went to Boston Lobster Feast. I am not going to eat at a seafood buffet ever again. I don’t like seafood enough to make it worth the money and any seafood buffet is a total sacrifice for quantity over quality. I think I ate more chocolate soft-serve than I did actual food.

The next night we headed for Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment center located at the Walt Disney World Resort. What I like about Downtown Disney is that it is free. Sloane and I decided to go have Cuban food at Bongo’s Cuban Café. I really enjoyed the food: tostones, flank steak with chimichurri sauce and a virgin strawberry daiquiri. It was also lovely eating outside (in December – Crazy!) and overlooking the lake. After dinner Sloane and I headed to the largest Disney store in the world and were totally overwhelmed.


Sloane and I also ate at a sandwich shop called Firehouse Subs. They serve some nice hot subs there and for those of you that like hot sauce, they have every variety under the sun. Lastly, before I took Sloane to the airport we ended our quest for a good Cuban sandwich at Vega’s. They were great sandwiches and cooked on authentic Cuban style bread. I am not a huge fan of pickles on my sandwiches, but the entire combination of mustard, bread, pickles, and pork all smashed together was absolutely delicious.

While in Orlando I learned a few things about crime. One, never travel on Orange Blossom Trail unless you are looking for transvestite prostitutes. Two, don’t murder your child. I bring this up because they found Kaylee Anthony’s body while I was in Orlando taking a course at the Orange County Sherriff’s Office. When I walked out of the Sherriff’s Office after class, the place was crawling with reporters and there were helicopters flying overhead. I even saw a CourtTV van in front of the county courthouse. It was a total circus. Now I am not qualified to say if she is guilty, but she totally is.

On my last day in Orlando, I decided to go to the Magic Kingdom – by myself. Now I have been to an amusement park by myself once before and I hated it. For some reason I thought that the Magic Kingdom would be different. I was so wrong. I was the only person by themselves that I saw the entire day. It was all adoring families together for the holidays and reveling in each others company. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity which is why I decided to go in the first place, but it was so depressing to be such a loser. It should be called the Suicidal Kingdom for Singles. I did have fun going on the rides and watching all the little kids dressed up as princesses and pirates but I still would have liked to have had someone, anyone with me. Plus I felt compelled to stay the entire day as I paid almost $80.00 to be all depressed. I may have been miserable, but I was bound and determined to get my money’s worth of misery.

On a final note, Disneyland is way better than the Magic Kingdom. Disneyland’s holiday decorations are far better and the Magic Kingdom doesn’t even turn the Haunted Mansion into the Nightmare Before Christmas ride. What’s the deal?

Next Trip: Phoenix, AZ

Ottawa, ON

Back in December I made my very first trip to the Great White North. My company sponsored our first ever Canadian User Conference and I was one of the lucky trainers selected to go to Ottawa in the middle of winter. Aside from the freezing cold I really liked Ottawa and Canadians in general.

Since I was there for a conference, I only really left the hotel once. Most of what I know about Ottawa I learned from my cab driver. Apparently in winter the river totally freezes over and the city hosts skating races, a winter festival, and all kinds of “funtivities.” I did not get to see any of this. I did catch a glimpse of the Parliament building which was amazingly beautiful.

The night before the conference I did go out to eat at an amazing restaurant in Ottawa called Giovanni’s. It is located in the Little Italy section of the city and was by far the best Italian food I have ever had. I kept trying to find a way to sneak back to Giovanni’s but I was too busy and exhausted to make a break for it. I had the “Pappardelle con Porcini” which I still occasionally reflect on as the ideal pasta dish. The noodles were fresh, and the cream sauce was sparingly added so the dish wasn’t too heavy, and there was just the right amount of mushroom flavor. To be perfectly honest, I am rooting for another trip to Ottawa just to go to Giovanni’s again.

I found out after I ate at Giovanni’s (thanks to some of our conference attendees) that the owner was arrested about a week before I arrived for being involved in a drug-smuggling operation and gangsterism. Yikes, talk about an Italian cliché. Check out the article.

One more noteworthy item – Canadians know how to party. I was really impressed that as a collective they drank all of my colleagues under the table and still held coherent conversations about law enforcement, hockey, universal healthcare, and Canadian politics. If you want to party with the best just visit our neighbors to the north.

Next Trip – Orlando, FL

Thanksgiving in Sacramento

I hadn’t planned on going home to California for Thanksgiving, but all the stars and planets aligned and the trip came together flawlessly. I love Thanksgiving. I love food. I love watching Food Network obsessively for 2 weeks before the holiday. I love having an eating strategy that I spend hours perfecting. Thanksgiving is awesome.

I also need to talk about how much I love JetBlue. It is a great airline because they have tons of DirectTV channels, give you snacks, and free sodas (unlike some airlines – you know who you are). The only issue that I have with JetBlue is that they don’t fly everywhere I need to go. Now US Airways…

Thanksgiving was relatively uneventful. The trip was so brief that I didn’t get to see a lot of my friends. I did try to prepare a few items for the big feast. My cranberry sauce turned out well, but my green bean casserole (which I made from scratch –thank you Alton Brown) didn’t turn out well. It isn’t Alton’s fault, as I have made the dish successfully before, but I didn’t cook the beans enough and I burned the fried onions. Snafus aside, Thanksgiving dinner rocked my world. Jody, every year you out do yourself. It was also great to see so many of my cousins and their children. Every time I go home it always hits me how much I really miss California.

Next trip – Ottawa, ON

Camp Lejeune, NC

I was there.

Next Trip - Home for Thanksgiving

Shenandoah National Park and Monticello

When I first moved out to Virginia, my mom and I took a roadtrip to see Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and then Monticello. We had such a good time that I decided to make it an annual event. Since my mom couldn’t (or wouldn’t – good use of guilt Jen) come this year my friends Shelley, Evan and Justin decided to join me instead.

Skyline Drive is always a gamble because you have to go at just the right time during the Fall. I have yet to find the right time and have decided to make it my mission in life to travel Skyline Drive in all is autumnal glory. When mom and I went in 2007 most of the leaves had not turned, when I went in 2008 they were already falling in vast numbers. 2009 is going to be my year!

We had a great trip! Shelley, Justin and Evan had never been Shenandoah so it was good chance to check it off the list. We made it about halfway through the park when we cut out and headed to Monticello in Charlottesville, VA.

Monticello is one of my happy places. I find the home and the property so tranquil that I would love to just take a book up there and read all day. I love to walk through the gardens and enjoy the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I don’t like gardening or growing things, but if other people are doing to do all the work, I am more than willing to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

After taking a tour of the grounds, house and family graveyard at Monticello, we headed back to Charlottesville for dinner. We had a great meal at a place on Main Street called Bizou. The weather had been so nice all day that we even ate outside, which is impressive for November 1st. I had a chicken pot pie that had cripy leeks on the top instead of crust. It was a nice re-working of a classic dish.

Thanks to Evan, Shelley and Justin for joining me. Any one game for 2009?

Next trip – Camp Lejeune, NC