April 09, 2008

Joe and Gina Get Married

SO Joe and Gina got married....Happy days for the Lobo family. Here's the pics. Sorry there aren't more, but I was busy that day. And ignore the pics of my face, I just liked my make up so much I wanted to get a good look at what she did ;-)

September 08, 2007

DSCN0661.JPG

 

Cary and I went to the Ukulele Festival @ Yerba Buena Gardens today. This lovely pic is of Cary and Jake Shimabukuro, ukulele talent. Come to think of it, talent is an understatement. Once I figure out how to compress the video, I'll post it here.

Jake was a really nice guy (Cary got to talk to him for a bit). Jake really took his time with meeting everyone when he got there. I'm really impressed with him, artistically and personally. A great day in SF in the sun! 

Char 

 

November 25, 2006

Done.

I finally organized all the pictures and uploaded all the pictures we wanted to share with you. Make sure you check it all out, k?

In a meanwhile, we'll be posting here as things happen in our lives. Stuff to share with the peeps! Thanks again for 'going with us' on our trip. We should do this again sometime, right?

 

char/cary

November 19, 2006

Back.

it's nice to be back at home. From the smoke free restaurants and the evidence of more Asians who don't give you furtive looks...those sideway glances that beg of contact yet are too afraid to do so.

We took the long way home. The freakin' 16 hour one. 8.5 hours to Detroit from Paris. 4 hours from Detroit to San Francisco. the 2 hour layover in Detroit. Someone asked us why we didn't take the direct 10 hour flight. Well, it was out of budget. We were pretty delirious towards the end of the night to be honest. We started quoting supertroopers (I want a 1 liter of cola), talking about what kind of food we want next (again we go back to sushi), and how good it's going to feel to take a shower.

My stomach issues didn't resolve themselves in Rome. The severe upset stomach came back on the plane (pretty fresh, huh), and I was making return trips to the toilet like there was no tomorrow. I ate a meal at home, and sadly i was leary of the aftereffects.

Cary on the other hand came home and passed out after eating. Straight up. i had to get through Lost because I had to know! It was almost 2Am by the time I went to sleep, but at the very least I knew what was going on.

For now I feel like the walking dead. Someone who is clearly exhausted, wondering if I can make it through my work retreat tomorrow, and after checking the 225 emails I got over the vacation from work, if I have time to work it out with everyone who wants my time. It was nice to have my own sense of time over the last few weeks, and I'm glad to have been able to do that, but like all vacations you need one from one, right?

So it's 8:30 in the morning, and I'm going to catch up with Heroes now. thank god for DVRS.

Rome postcards were went on Wednesday (sorry, lagging)...so check your boxes in a week!

char 

November 17, 2006

Woah, I Don't Even Know What Day It Is...

Okay, so I was a little off...we were in Rome one more day...and today we are back in Paris. It's good to be back, except for the fact that I got a touch of food poisoning in Rome. I knew eggs on pizza were not a good idea. I was a whiny little so and so yesterday, and Cary was kind enough to pack both of our belonging and get us ready to leave for Paris this morning.

We had a moment of despair, at 5:15 in the morning we could not find a cab to save our lives. We went to three corners and no one would stop. Finally we flagged one down, but not after yelling at each other over what to do. We got to the airport, Ciampino, in good time, but the cattle call feel of Southwest just doesn't do it for me, you know? Cary yaks on the plane (in the bathroom) and we're set. We have to take a hour long bus ride from the airport...think that this is Ryanair, and it's like southwest therefore that means that it's not in a major airport like San Francisco. It's in...Stockton. No offense, Stocktonites. Yikes.

The good news though is that we got a second chance to go to the Musei Vaticani, and yes we did see the Sistine Chapel, and we did get to see the Raphael Rooms. I felt like crap when we got there and it was closed, but definitely happy that Cary got to see the museum we travelled so far to see.

The last few days in Rome were pretty good, but we definitely have dropped some weight due to my food poisoning (damn eggs) and just eating less than we're used to. Mind you, it's not that we are not eating, it's just that it gets mad expensive, you know? Cary and I have been talking about what we are going to eat when we get back. I want a rainbow salad from Burma Superstar, and he wants dim sum or some chinese food. WE have both sworn off pasta for the next two years.

Today is our day to pick up the gifts for family and tie up some loose ends here. We're dead ready to get back home. We haven't loaded any pics from Rome but I'm going to try since we're on stolen internet ;-)

At any rate, thanks for all the well wishes...talk to you all soon! In person, even! We fly into SFO tomorrow at 9:45 for reals this time.

Char/Cary

November 15, 2006

Thanks for coming to the Sistine Chapel, Now Go Home.

c

Thanks for coming to the Sistine Chapel, Now Go Home.

Damn it all to high heaven. We are finally over our jet lag. It was pretty bad, people. I attribute it mainly to the fact that we were living above a nightclub that was very active until 6-7AM. Seriously. People at all hours singing, dancing, and getting their freak on outside our window in Paris. Now that we have serious double paned windows and shutters that block out sound as well as light, we are now getting our 8 hours of sleep. It's a better feeling, and we're not all garbage like we are in Paris.

That being said, yesterday, we did some math (in Char language, we measured out the 250 meters that we walked with a crumb from a cookie on our map) and we walked 3000meters yesterday. That's freakin' far. I don't even know what that translates to, but we hauled boo-tay. We passed out last night after talking about how return plans to Paris tomorrow AM. I woke up early, but feeling bad for Cary who has the lumpy side of the sofabed, I let him sleep in. That was a huge mistake because we could have gone to the Sistine Chapel...more on that later.

I woke up, did some reading of my GQ magazine and fixed Cary some breakfast (a sandwich; we're living simply these days) and made some for myself as well. he got up around 11:30. ate some breakfast and we headed out. As we cut through St. Peter's, we noticed that the Swiss Guard were standing around the area near the pulpit (or whatever it's called), and sure enough, I checked my guide, and sometimes the Pope comes through does a wavey-wave, and goes on with his bidness. We hung around for a little bit, and sure enough, you hear some cheering, and out comes the pope mobile. We're too far off to rush over to where homeboy is, but people don't give a care and bum rush (Mom, that means they run over real fast) the area where he is. I think he's going to do a quick loop around, but he just cruises down some stairs (in the pope mobile) and heads over to the back of the Basilica where he holds his audiences.

Cary takes a few pictures (did I mention yesterday I took 130 pictures? Cary took 324 pictures.) and we head over to the Musei Vaticani. And that mess is closed. We missed it by a few minutes, actually. But it was important to Cary that we see the Deutschish Pope. So even though he might be minute by all intents and purposes, we did see him. Quite special.

Today we spent having gelato, overhearing a priest who was hanging out in Rome with his mom and her homies after hearing her get freaked out over how expensive food here is in Rome, taking more time inside St. Peter's, and eating pizza in Palazzo Farnese and coming back to the internet point to get some quality time with you all.

Tomorrow morning we head off to Paris again, tie up some loose ends there and get ready to fly home on Saturday. So Mom, if you're reading this, we'll be back around 9:45PM, but we have to clear customs first! We'll call you once we're ready to go. At any rate, we're ready to come home, and we're quite anxious to come back to familiar places. The trip has been wonderful, it really has. But nothing is quite as good as your own car, your own time, your own friends and family. We probably won't have a gang of goodies to bring back to you all, but we'll think of something. ;-)

Anyways, I'm going to check some email. Cary is at his own terminal doing his email, and I have to do some of mine too! Geez, to think, I have to go to work on Monday. Who knew!

Char