Mills-Monterey! Day 2

Deep breaths. I'm scared about how long this post is going to be.

Saturday morning we went to Tommy's. I've blogged about this place before, so I'll just remind you all why I love it so much: everything under $3. Yup.

We are so cool sitting at the bar.

We both ordered the Tommy's special - eggs, pancakes, hash browns, and bacon (or sausage if that's your thing).

After breakfast we drove from Marina to Carmel. The plan was to start as far south as possible and hit up the tourist spots as we headed north. First stop, the Carmel Mission!

The Mission itself isn't that tall looking, but somehow when Kmills stood in front of it and I snapped this picture, it looked so much taller! Optical illusion making is one of Kerry's hidden talents. Inside the choir was practicing. It was nice to see the inside because last time I was here (for Easter mass) we had to stand in the entrance because of how packed it was!

There's something so pretty about the Catholic Missions. Kinda creepy how people are buried right there in the church - reminded us of our trip to Westmister Abbey back in the summer of 2007, where patriots like Oliver Cromwell, scientists like Isaac Newton, poets like Chaucer, etc are buried under your feet!

Throwback pic on right: Okay so this guy's not dead - but it is from our trip to London, and yes, I want everyone to know we met Zac Efron... plus, I didn't take any Westmister Abbey pictures :)

We played around in the strange room, taking fun mirror pictures, then we went outside and painted.

Isn't Kerry's picture coming together beautifully? She's such a talented artist.

There was a small little fair. We rubbed olive oil on our hands to make them smooth....

Then we passed through their gift shop. Kerry begged me to get her BibleOpoly but I refused to spend another dime on buying her versions of Monopoly. I've already given her Birdopoly, Elvis edition Monopoly, The Lord of the Rings edition Monopoly, and Sponge Bob Square Pants edition....





Next stop: Carmel-by-the-sea's Ocean Avenue!

We walked around for a while with one major destination in mind: the Cottage of Sweets! I've blogged about this place a lot too so here's why I love it: SWEETS, sold in a COTTAGE.

Kerry chose white chocolate covered pretzel balls and salted carmel fudge. I went with chocolate covered gummy bears in memory of Natalie, peanut butter chocolate malt balls (my recent favorite), and their peanut butter squares.

We grabbed coffee from a cafe up the street and then walked down to the beautiful beach to enjoy our treats.

  

Continuing on our journey, we drove 17 Mile Drive the back way through Carmel towards Pebble Beach. They still had some of the tents up from the US Open, which was going on the week before.

Look! It's the Lone Cypress ("a salt pruned tree which is the official symbol of Pebble Beach and a frequent fixture of television broadcasts from this area" Wikipedia... and since I know you are curious: "Salt pruning is the process by which saline mists generated by seawater are driven ashore by winds to alter the shape of trees over considerable times throughout the growth cycle of the affected plant... [it] selectively degrades foliage and branches on the windward side of the plant facing the body of saline water. The resultant growth form is an asymmetrical plant form, swept back away from the ocean")

Much to our delight there was a wedding party that arrived via trolley to take pictures. When they abandoned their vehicle to walk down to the Lone Cypress, we hijacked it for our own pictures hah!

The 17 Mile Drive continued on along the coast. We drove through Pacific Grove and then parked on Lighthouse. After a quick stop in the liquor store nearby and then another quick stop at Nob Hill for a light lunch of fruits, we walked to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Get ready for a compilation of Kerry Mills at the Aquarium photos:

Kerry with the jellyfish

Kerry with the crazy looking seahorses

Kerry with this cow statue

Kerry getting ZAPped!

The clam shell! Max if you are reading this: this is my first time actually seeing the clam shell at the Aquarium. Up until recently I didn't think it existed, only in your photoshopping abilities.

We left the aquarium and walked up and down Cannery Row. We stopped in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a second and I saw these chocolate covered potato chips. Weird!!

When we were driving back to my house, I spotted Mrs. Delish's Cupcake Boutique. I was literally like "WTF?? Since WHEN has that been there?" Kerry, I don't know if I said that out loud, but I was definitely thinking it! Since Kerry's visit I've read a review about the place on Special Edible's blog. I really want to go check that place out soon!

P.S. If you are local to Monterey I suggest you start following that blog because the author, Mark Anderson, works for Monterey County Weekly and reviews a lot of awesome local spots!
P.P.S. Also, if you don't yet, pick up a copy of the Weekly or read their stuff online. LOVE the local paper. I hear about neat events and free stuff from it. Oh and they have the Best Of list that I'm trying to tackle.

We decided to get Baan Thai takeout for dinner. We picked the pumpkin curry (no surprise, if you know me) and pad thai. Kerry let me order, so I of course chose extra hot. The combination of EXTREME heat and an ongoing sinus cold made it impossible to taste our high class $2 bottle of wine.

Empty! :)

Victor, Max, Maren, and Tyler came over (except that Tyler now lives here so I can't really phrase it that way anymore haha) and we busted out the deck of cards!

King's cup is always such a fun game to play.... especially when the rule made up is you have to say your appointed nickname before you say ANYTHING. Slippy Slappy Hippy Happy Trippy Trappy. TOUGH STUFF.

Slappy and Hippy make me Happy.

Sarah was there too - her bro showed us his new tattoo. Then Tyler iced her. Despite the fact that she was on her way to bed, she took it like a champ on one knee!

Then we went downtown.... if you take one good look at the picture below you'll realize how much fun we were having at the Mucky Duck.... such a good dance spot ;)

Not pictured: our trip to the Hippodrome "club" that had cages ... annnnddd yes - we did dance in them.

Mills-Monterey! Day 1

Kerry Mills came to visit me the last weekend of June and we had such a blast! I LOVE KERRRRRRYYYY!!! (She has a blog too! 100 Things to do in the OC) She flew up here from San Diego on Allegiant Air. They have the best Monterey/SD flight deals but because of low interest, they are getting rid of them July 31st. SO DUMB.

Anyways, Kerry arrived Friday night around 7. We got in the car and quickly stopped at my house to pick up Tyler, Max, and Dave. Then the five of us road-tripped up to Santa Cruz to spend some time at the Boardwalk. 

A few people from the Bay Area (old kickball teammates and Megan & Paul) met up with us and we listened to the Blue Oyster Cult perform. Can't remember their hit song, but it was nice sitting on the beach. Every Friday a band plays two sets at the Boardwalk. Place gets packed. No joke.

The hungry bug bit us and we went to find food using my coupon book. We settled on buy one get one free corn dogs. Believe it or not, this was my first corn dog experience. It was delicious!! Corn dogs remind me of a mix between hot dogs and doughnuts, not hot dogs and corn bread. 

We rode the iconic Big Dipper next. It is such a classic! 

Then we rode the Fireball... It was getting pretty late and we were supposed to go to this bar in downtown Santa Cruz called The Red Room.


However, Megan and Paul (-->) told us about a place (<--) called Marianne's Ice Cream (1020 Ocean St, Santa Cruz) where they serve up crazy delicious flavors like Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough and Heaven (vanilla ice cream with brownie bits, peanut butter and fudge) and Mud Pie and Horchata and Lavender and Pumpkin and Orangesicle.... over 40 flavors that they make themselves.

We got lucky finding parking because we got there pretty late (open til midnight Friday and Saturday) - I'm definitely making that a staple Santa Cruz stop! If you are reading this and want to hang out in Santa Cruz anytime soon please invite me and we'll go here together!

So by now it was practically 11:30 maybe and we finally got to the Red Room. Kerry, the lovely lady she is, bought me a PBR and one for herself. PBR Love. The Rrrred Rrrrroom was a rrrrreally cool spot! Obv. they had red lights and it was very old school with mahogany, rich carpets, lots of plush velvet seating and what not. Most of the San Jose people left and we went downstairs to the "other" red room type place. They allowed smoking in there. Weird. Not a fan of indoor smoking! After a wee little bit we drove back to Monterey and crawled in bed. Saturday was going to be a busy day!

Defining a buttload.

Sup readers.

Yes, I say SUP.

This past week included a buttload of driving.



"How much is a buttload?"
"A thousand dollars"

Okay so not a thousand dollars worth of driving, but Monday night was San Jose, Tuesday night was Palo Alto, Wednesday night was San Jose, Friday night was San Francisco, Saturday night was Palo Alto, and now I'm back in my Marina (at Starbucks!)

Time to catch up on a post about the fabulous Kerry Mills, who came to visit me 2 weekends ago!

Good thing my car can handle anything! Love this throwback pic. Miss po5 :(

Plans

SF, North Beach, Palo Alto, FIFA, me time, shopping?, blogging, picture uploading, run, Rihanna, downtown PA.

Weekend Warrior!



Post lacking a picture. Here's what a space toilet looks like.



As seen at the Chabot Space Center in Oakland.

Sister Sister

Tonight I drove up to San Jose to hang out with Nicole. I saw her Monday night after camping (also in SJ) but I guess I just can't get enough time with her before... dun dun dun...she goes all the way to San Diego :'( for college TEARZ.



When I got home we began baking. (Boo Radley has an order for cupcakes this weekend!!) On the menu is a fruity, decadent Sangria cupcake. Also being served is a moist chocolate Guinness cupcake - probably the most requested cake flavor!


For dinner we drove to Pasta Pomodoro. I love their bread and olive oil-green dipping liquid thing (pesto-y?) ... While Nicole and I discussed her college future, incl. classes, social ish, and how much she will miss me, we waited eagerly for our angel hair/pesto/shrimp/sun-dried tomato dish and butternut squash ravs. Yum. Yum. I am excited to eat our leftovers tomorrow at lunch!! (aka a nice break from frrrrozen meals thank gawd)




Next up: our dessert of choice - froyo! We went to Whimsical off Curtner and endulged x2! Finally we drove back home and continued baking...




Nicole is such an amazing kitchen helper I'm so lucky to have her with me, especially when there's a lot on my plate (har har). I don't say it enough but thank you so so so much Nicole!

The cuppies turned out great! I'll get some pictures up soon hopefully! Night!

ps vanilla beans are so cool! Must find a cheaper place to buy them!

Location:Desert Flame Dr,San Jose,United States

Happy Birthday Gramps

Today is Kyle's birthday; he's a grandpa. Silver hairs have sprouted from his scalp. His lack of upper body mobility has resulted in an atrophied left bicep.

...But at least we get to celebrate!

Tonight we went to Mantra (632 Emerson St, Palo Alto) for dinner. It's a nice Indian restaurant in downtown Palo Alto a few streets off Castro. We ordered the hummus and naan to start - the naan was delicious, fresh, and warm. For our main plates we shared a scallop & shrimp risotto and a slow roasted lamb dish that had noodles, tomatoes, cucumbers, and artichokes.

The food was yummy and so was the birthday dessert they brought out. It was ... I forget. I'll try and remember/fact check soon. As we walked back to Kyle's house, we stopped at Patxi's and said hi to Jeremy. After finishing two Hoegaardens, we continued our walk and got ready to go to his indoor soccer game.




Before the game we went to a sports bar, met up with Kit, and watched some FIFA highlights. The game was close but... Kyle's team (green) won!

Happy Birthday Doze!

Monterey Beer Festival

 Lauren goes to the fairgrounds....

Accompanied by fantastic, amazing, wonderful friends....

Let's back it up a little bit....

On Saturday June 5th I went with a group of my comrades to the Monterey Beer Festival, which is held annually at the fairgrounds. 

The website described this event as the "greatest assortment of Beer ever assembled on the Central Coast. Sample varied styles of Ales, Lagers & Ciders from over eighty (80+) breweries with hundreds of beers to taste. On hand will be the best of beer from around the world, including:

America, Belgium, Germany, England, France, Australia, Thailand, Italy, Asia, Ireland, Russia, Mexico, Jamaica & California."

These folks weren't kidding.

The weather was absolutely perfect.

The night before Beerfest, Sarah and I had friends over for a game of battleship. Guys vs. Girls... the girls won, naturally. Before heading to bed I went with Chris and Combo to a liquor store to buy some Smirnoff Ice. Yes, the Icing phenomenon was unleashed this weekend.

We woke up Saturday morning and headed to Tommy's in Marina. Kyle's keys were stashed away next to a Smirnoff Ice. Therefore he had to get on one knee and down it like a chick bro.

Between the seven of us, our bill was only $27 bucks. I ordered the French Toast with a side of hash browns. $3 dollars. Combo ordered 9 pieces of toast, 6 eggs, and 3 chunks of hash browns. $3 dollars. This place is crazy! So back to beerfest.... the line to get in was extremely long. 12:30 came and passed and the doors did not open.

Finallllyyyy we were let in and were able to taste the yummy beers (I just wrote 'bears' ha). My personal favorite was the Russian-made Baltika's wheat ale. I sampled almost all Baltika had to offer but the wheat stood out.











Other favorites include the pear and raspberry ciders from (I believe) Widmer's, and a mix of beer and champagne offered up by First Awakenings, a breakfast/lunch spot on Cannery Row.





As the hours passed, my focus strayed away from the beers and on to food - I vaguely remember pizza. I also strayed into the tent that was showing bits of short films as part of the Short Pour Film Festival. We all spent the last half hour (or was it longer?) listening to some of the bands and apparently there was a chicken fight?

     

We left the fairgrounds, headed back to my place, and a few people took some naps. After what seemed like a while, we decided to go get food. Restaurant of choice? SAFEWAY! People grabbed a variety of food, including ICE CREAM SANDWICHES! MmmmmMMmM...

We took our eats over to Tyler's house and checked to see if anyone wanted to go downtown. Those who were willing - the Safeway crew - drove down to Alvarado Street and went to the Mucky Duck. But first... a sneak Ice attack:

The Mucky Duck is such a fun bar! They have an outdoor dance floor, fire pits, a DJ, an outdoor bar, and $2 jello shots haha.... Oooh and they had a photographer. I informed him that we love getting our picture taken. That might have backfired considering my coworker told me she saw me on Mucky Duck's Facebook page :S



I had such a great time with all my friends and I owe each of them a big huge THANK YOU!!! for driving from all over California to visit me. See you all next year!

P.S. Sarah - I had no idea this happened! HAHA :)