A Little Culture, A Lot of Drama

So, I was gone for about 60 hours this weekend; heading down to Redwood City to tour Christine's place of employment on Friday, then onward to San Jose where we met up with Kevin for the beginning of a fantastic weekend! 2 things I learned on this leg of the trip: One is that bay area traffic sends my blood pressure through the roof, and he second is that going to advertising is a bad career move.

Once in San Jose and after I got settled at Christine's, we headed over to Opa! restaurant in Willow Glen, where one of the Kouretas restaurants in the area are. The newest one is in Los Gatos, but we avoided that one because we weren't sure of the crowds. But the way, it was fantastic food, I had the chicken skewers and Kev and Christine split the Pork ones. We were all impressed and the staff was so great. No cousin sightings, though.

We then went to see Will play in a concert at the school-- it was like an artsy talent show: Jazz band, string ensemble, wind ensemble, dance, choir. It was great to see how talented my family is (I knew it!). I'll never forgot seeing Will play the Marimba like that, but mostly he played the sax. I got to see Mere, Wes and Emily there too and they are just growing so quickly and I can't believe how well they all get along. I wish I could have a redo with my siblings and treat them better growing up. That's what I learned on this leg of the trip.

After that, we went out to Santana Row (which I kept calling Cannery Row by accident before getting there, but after seeing it, there was not mistaking Santana Row. I have a new Mecca. Actually, I never had an old Mecca, but you can understand my symbolism.) It's like the Rodeo Drive of the bay area. We went to a hotel lounge where the "young kids" hang out. At least that's what Kevin said. My stomach was already bothering me so I had a sprite. Seriously. I have witnesses. I chalked it up to the stressful drive that day. I got to know Christine more and I felt like we were instant friends. We really only met a month ago, but because of talking with Kevin since they started dating, I felt like I knew her MUCH longer. It was great to interact as the 3 of us. I never usually feel like the 3rd wheel and this trip was no different. At this point we started joking about Kevin and Christine possibly making me sick with their mushy-loveness (this is important to remember for future reference).

Saturday morning was a sleep in day--one I desperately needed since weeks before graduation-- and Kevin met Christine and I back at her house around 10 for brunch and he had Starbucks in hand. Christine kept saying that he was "too good to be true" and when handed a Starbucks over, I believed her. (Shawna, Kevin came in and the first thing he said was, "Tawny, will you please tell your CEO that the Starbucks on Park Ave. has lost their sense of urgency to the customer?" I laughed so hard!!) Anyway, we had a delightful brunch and them agreed to meet up again at 2 to leave for Carmel for the day. There was an Art Gallery reveal that K&C were invited to and I was the plus 1. So after a couple hours (I read, Christine did some work), we started on the way to Carmel. I kept joking that I will go wherever they wanted as long as I did not have to drive. Kev was driving so I was all ready for this little side trip. About an hour into the drive down 17, my stomach flipped. I was talking to Kev and Christine was asleep and after fighting it for 5 minutes I said. "Uh, Kev, I need you to pull over whenever you get the chance." He heard the tone in my voice and found a restaurant about a mile down and I ran in and was so sick. Thinking it was the windy drive, he got me some sprite and said we could turn around if I was ill. I figured I was ok by this point, so we moved forward (Christine is now completely awake) and about 20 minutes later we were in Carmel! I was busy looking for a bathroom again, so Kev dropped me off while he parked-- and again I was sick. It was so strange. I had energy, but was so queasy. So after discussing staying vs. leaving it was decided that I was either sick in San Jose or Carmel so might as well enjoy it. We had a blast!

We spent the afternoon shopping... I mean WINDOW shopping: Coach, Tiffany, Tommy Bahama. Here we are right out side of Kenneth Cole. It turned out to be a perfect beach day.

Right before we went to the gallery reveal, I went to go be sick again, but I was just on empty. It was so bizarre. I met up with Kev and Christine again and said "I want a steak!" They laughed and promised after the party that we would go to a restaurant where they had steak. The opening was cool-- the man Richard McDonald did sculptures based on Cirque du Soleil characters. They were quite lovely and we felt very snooty critiquing his work.

We then drove to the ocean where the setting was just perfect for these beach shots. (click on image to make it larger). It was a breathtaking view and I got to teach K&C how to take a self-portrait with only a camera and a long arm.

We then found Clint Eastwood's former Restaurant called The Hogs Breath Inn. The name did not sound appetizing but I got my steak and it was heaven. We had a lovely time (although service was not great) and we reminisced over the day. It was Christine who finally lamented "Oh no! We did make you sick with our mushy-loveness!" So, in the end, we figured out what my little stomach bug was. Finishing our dinner outside by the fireplace with coffee, I wondered if life got any better than this. My trips to San Jose are always full of hope as Kev seems to bring it out in me in so many different ways.

Well, the way home was uneventful, except that I got the front seat this time to prevent more sickness and Kev put on a playlist from his ipod that was labeled "Christine." I dryly told him that if he felt a hang a his leg that it WASN'T me.

Hugging goodbye that evening was hardest, for they were waking up early to go to church in San Francisco and all I had to do was wake up and drive home. I left around 11 a.m. and made a short stop over in Pleasanton and then went to Di's house in Concord for a little bit. We hung out briefly- enough to go to her parents for her brothers 21st birthday celebration, find her diary from high school, and then laugh hysterically at with her while reading it outloud on the way home. It was actually quite entertaining. But I look and felt like death on Sunday, so I hit the road soon after that. All was well until...

The red and blue lights pulled an Explorer over in front of me in Williams, CA. Once on the side of the road, the $@*# cop kept going with his lights on behind me to pull me over as well. Yep, a two-for-one special. He asked if I knew how fast I was going. No. 84 mph. My first reaction was, "That's all??" but I squelched it and awaited the inevitable ticket. I got it (because looking like death helped me zero percent). And then I got mad that whenever something good happens them something bad seems to happen too. I hate that it's such a pessimistic way to look at the world so I am fighting my attitude on this. I did "break the law" but was on the long, straight stretch of a sparsely populated highway on a clear sunny evening. I wish having a police officer brother afforded me a chance to be on the good side of the law. What a black sheep I am. My lesson on this last leg of the trip is that I HAVE GOT to move out of the North State and on to a place where the cops have better things to do.

So, I am back in rainy Redding and I had a really did have a great time in 60 hours. Though, my travelling days might be over for awhile. We'll see. Perhaps I am just being dramatic...