i heart CA

from norcal to the central coast to southern california... i love it all. got a chance to remind myself why with our last vacation week. i do so, so love my state. and vacation.

we started out in SF, for the CAFP battle of the residents. we thought we had a pretty good shot, seeing as we had a team of 3rd years- one categorical, one FP/OB and one FP/psych... we came in tied for second, having been wiped out in final jeopardy. boo. i don't take well to losing. but it did make for an evening in SF with the FP folks, with whom i don't get to spend much time. here's us in chinatown (below). we ate dinner at jeanne d'arc, which was walking distance from the battle.

then, the next day we headed further south to big sur for our first camping adventure in our married lives. just us, a tent, and the wilderness. oh and running water/toilets... that was one of my stipulations because, after all, it is ME we're talking about.

it was beautiful. but unexpectedly dangerous. see the falls above? the picture to the right shows about a 10 foot drop down from the viewing area, which my hubs fell/leaped down in pursuit of our camera. he also scared two fellow hikers, who actually saw him go over the edge and then subsequently were telling themselves, "that was the craziest thing I've ever seen!" luckily a few scrapes were the extent of the damage... or else i would have REALLY had to injure him. ;)

some views from the coast, a grassy spot where we cooked ourselves lunch on the way down to the central coast, and a view from the car when we were driving.

next stop on our vacation- hearst castle and cambria! unfortunately, the drizzle that cut our camping trip short followed us on our tour, but it was still worthwhile. ken burns was right, national parks ARE america's best idea.

cambria itself was also so cute. we spent some time wandering by this seaside trail, watching otters gamboling in the surf and sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks. it was cloudy for the first part of the afternoon, then literally in 30 minutes the wind came and swept the clouds away. i caught a bit of otter reality TV on video- the last part of an otter clapping, then grabbing a quick smooch from his partner.

cambria also happened to have some great food! had a few nice dinners at the black cat bistro, and robin's. also tried the famous ollalieberry pie at linn's. so tasty...

speaking of food, which i tend to do quite a bit on this blog and in life, we made a few tasty stops on the way back down to yorba linda. ate some cajun goodies at the palace grill in santa barbara, and stopped by the brown butter cookie company in cayucos. i've decided that i looooove anything with brown butter. my personal favorites were the honey and original brown butter cookies- not so much a fan of the cocoa or coffee.

so for the 2nd year in a row, we were able to spend our 3rd anniversary with my family, including my parents who were celebrating their birthday as well. dinner was again french, tradition by pascal in newport beach.

then, on our last weekend, a beach vespers trip to laguna beach with yorba linda church. the boys have grown up so much... every time i see them, it's a reminder of how much time is passing up here and how OLD i'm getting ;)

2 more years... just 2 more years...

the dangers of car sleeping

just finished a glorious week of vacation, and now paying the price for indulgently napping on the drive up here. can't sleep! must work tomorrow! gah...

i'm probably the worst driving companion ever, what with my penchants for throwing my feet up on the dashboard and frequent dozing off for hours at a time. i think it stems from my increasingly virulent carsickness- i often used to sleep on buses when going on school trips or tours to fend off the nausea. i think the gentle motion of a running automobile is as soporific to me now as it probably was when i was a baby. it makes matters worse that the hubs claims to be unable to sleep while i'm driving... something about me not being a "defensive driver", or some such nonsense. anyway it makes it so i never contribute to our long driving trips, unless it's through some windy mountain roads and i'm unable to fall asleep. which is probably for the best, because actually, i've been able to admit to myself that i'm really NOT a good driver. in fact, i'm kind of a bad one. which has been difficult to swallow, what with 10+ years of denial behind me. call it a female version of machismo (feminisma?). i really really didn't want to be that stereotype- asian female [BAD] driver. but after multiple incidents of hopping the curbs, lopsided parking, amnestic stretches of distance, and a ticket or two for the "california roll" thru stops, i have to admit... dood, i suck. so i happily pass along the responsibility to the steady, capable hands of my partner, and nap luxuriously. which works out well on most counts, not so much at 1am on a work night.

tis the season!

the hubs and i have been able to travel west a few times in the past few weekends... something that i hope will be happening more frequently now that he's done with inpatient rotations FOREVER. and EVER. maybe.

we started off the wedding season by going back to stanford to witness a traditional Catholic wedding- my friend julie, from my college days of korean drumming, married sam. it was also my first Catholic service ever, and i was fascinated by the ritualistic nature of it all- standing, sitting, chanting. but in the end, twas the same as every other wedding ceremony... it resulted in a happy married couple. ah, tis spring, the time of twitterpated-ness.

julie & sam's wedding @ mem chu

wedding favors- only julie would rummage through countless stores to find hundreds of cute teacups and saucers to give away...

hwimie ladies!

the lovely bride had 3 outfits for the reception- chinese (in honor of her newly minted husband), korean, and the lovely pink dress that her own mother wore at her reception.
so cute.

another trip was to the Cartier exhibit at the legion of honor museum in SF. we picked a gorgeous day to visit, and saw some STUNNING pieces that belonged to the likes of the Vanderbilts, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, and various other very very wealthy people.
ah, to have been born a princess/heiress/actress. below, some pics of the jewels courtesy of nytimes, as they didn't allow photography in the museum.




though i suppose a princess/heiress/actress would not have made a little trip down to burma superstar, a hole-in-the-wall yelp and foodtv phenomenon for their touted dishes- rainbow salad, tea leaf salad and samusa soup. we came, we ate, we were satisfied.
who needs diamonds and fancy things when you've got a full belly? ;)

it's not such a psych-ation anymore...

i've been doing outpatient psychiatry exclusively for the past 3 months now, which is a surprisingly refreshing change from switching rotations every month. i have my own office, that i decked out in ikea-esque decor in shades of blue and gray. i have a regular 8-5pm schedule. i'm able to dash out for a leisurely lunch on the town from time to time, with friends/co-residents who AREN'T EVEN ON THE SAME ROTATION. which is, as you may infer from the caps, shocking... in that somehow we can coordinate the same amount of time to go out and eat lunch together, despite the fact that we are technically still slave laborers aka residents. perhaps most shockingly, i know what my schedule will be > 1 month in advance. though i thought this year might be unbearably boring and humdrum, given my supposed 3 week attention span for any given rotation, i'm finding that to my surprise... i really like it. turns out, i am a creature of habit and the slower pace of outpatient psych suits me quite well. i like being able to flat-iron my hair in the morning, and maybe try on an outfit or two prior to picking one for the day. i like coming home and sometimes (though still not always) having the energy and ambition to cook something for dinner. i even like the camaraderie of sorts that i find in driving during rush hour- at least i'm not driving the deserted freeways found late at night or way too unbearably early in the morning. i get to go to work, and go home when most everyone else does. there's a lot to like. typically when we switch over to psych, it's like a vacation- thus, psych-ation.

however... it's also in some ways the hardest rotation i've ever had. i'm learning how to do therapy, and therapy is... interesting, challenging, exhausting, humbling, enlightening, infuriating... all of those things and more. along the way, i'm learning much more about myself... which in itself is proving to be occasionally painful. not to mention the burden of all that psychic pain that sits in my office every day. it's funny... i didn't know this is what it would be like when i chose this field, so i guess i'm lucky that i'm enjoying it overall... but i'm definitely also feeling the strain of having to think so hard all the time. ;)

my mom was afraid that i'd get weird(er) by going into psychiatry. i do wonder sometimes if this part of the training is testing the bounds of my mental wellness and personality. i'm quite grateful for a partner who, among other things, is there to anchor me while at work i explore very strange, new lands.

wishes

i wish i could do therapy... or do... anything, the way these dancers dance.

i wish my hubs had more time with his dad.

i wish i could find a way to avoid eating my feelings. or to stop avoiding the gym.

i wish our health care system wasn't rationed based on income/employment status.

oh, and i also wish for world peace.

in loving memory

in memoriam

11/17/46 - 3/6/10

life goes on

a brief pictorial mash-up of the past few months... like the christmas decorations lingering about our house, which i'm only now starting to slowly pack away again, there were a bunch of pics i needed to post- so, let's take it back to... the holidays :)

thanksgiving and christmas dinners were made for two at home. roasted my first turkey, ate our first turducken (from nugget). good times, even if we couldn't spend it with the rest of our families.

new year's was the one holiday spent with family. we wiled away the last few hours of 2009 with my folks at home, accompanied by alice & her significant other. we were also able to meet up with some friends, erica and jennyfur pictured below.

is it really that time already? the 3rd annual combined resident rank-list meeting, potluck-style, as pictured below.

now that i'm in outpatient psych clinic for the year, with "regular" office hours, i'm much more likely to actually get three day weekends. we were lucky enough to have MLK Jr weekend off, so headed off to SF and Napa. ate at fabulous places, like Vitrine at the St Regis, Chez Papa Resto, and Bouchon. also ate some street food, awesome cheese, and many... many yummy Bouchon bakery goodies. wandered through SFMOMA, found (appropriately enough) the MLK Jr. memorial waterfall, and generally lolled around like well-kept yuppies.

we had a vacation week earlier this month, which was spent in michigan with andy's family. we were around for andy's dad's first chemo treatment, and i'm happy to report that he's doing well. also reaffirmed andy's belief that i couldn't survive in harsh weather conditions when i tried to help shovel/snow-blow out the driveway and got exhausted after moving the snow around ineffectually for a few minutes. how do people live like this?!

needless to say, very grateful to be living in norcal and humbled into NOT complaining about our drizzly weather. not, however, as happy to be going back to work. who says you have to retire in your old age... wouldn't it make much more sense to retire earlier on, say in your 20s, when you can enjoy the time? then maybe go back to work when you're bored of not working?? *sigh*