Dear Friday,

Every week you arrive, replete with bells and whistles and end-of-workday excitement. I love that. Keep on keepin' on. Just do what you do. And I'll keep loving it.

THIS very friday I have fun plans. Tonight, my leetle seester is coming over, sans (most adorable) nephew and hubby (she thinks he's adorable, me - not so much, but he's cool). We have big plans for our GNI - Girl's Night In. It all begins with a quick stop in the Downtown Walnut Creek shopping district at Buckhorn Grill for some yummy tri-tip stuffs, then over to Cheesecake Factory for our favorite slices of cheesecake heaven (mine's Godiva Chocolate, sisters is either the Latte or the PB, depending on the night) then off to mi casa for a marathon of Austen-tatiousness!

Heaven. (Queue Choirs of heavenly music!)

What's your favorite GNI consist of ?

Walnut Creek! Oh, Walnut Creek! If ever there was a perfect little Northern California town, you are it. You are the Corona Del Mar of the North!

I love living here. It's as fabulous as beach-less living can be.*

Let me tell you why, at the risk of sounding like a snob:

-The weather here is generally great. When people think of the San Francisco bay area they think overcastish and cool. Not the WC. The microclimate here gives us great, hot, sunny summers and cool winters.

-It's kinda yuppie. Upscale shopping is the name of the game in downtown Walnut Creek: Neiman Marcus, Nordies, Chanel, Burberry, Juicy... Blah, blah, blah. I'm not a shopper and personally think those places are ridiculous. But I do like the atmosphere of downtown. It's lush and breezy and laid back and posh. It feeeeeeeels beautiful, dahling.

(I must interject here, or at some point, that I grew up in Vallejo, do you remember me telling you that before? Va-lle-jo. The most recent alumus to the world's collection [of two] bankrupt cities. Growing up, my Mom brought me to Walnut Creek every so often for a girl's day out. We'd shop, and go out for lunch and do girly things in this lush environment. Walnut Creek was the luxury destination. Now I live here. Which wasn't planned, or even wished for, it just kinda happened, and I LOVE it!)

-MOSTLY, in this lists of things that I love about the WC, I love the hiking. I love the open spaces and the sheer acreage of open space and nature that surrounds me. There are miles of bike and running trails, places I can go for a stroll, parks that rim the creek (of Walnut Creek) and even Mt. Diablo.

So, the inspiration behind this entire post is the newest Open Space I've fallen in love with here in the WC: Shell Ridge. It's wonderful! And what's more, I've found that it actually connects, through miles and miles of trails to two other Open Spaces that I really enjoy in this area. I like this place so much that I hiked here Friday for an hour, then came back Saturday evening and hiked for two more hours, exploring trails and finding more to explore. I pretty much loved it.

So Walnut Creek: Don't change. You're gorgeous.








(*excepting of course were I to be living in Rome)

As promised, here is the story about Harry Potter book 5 & me.

As you know, I breezed through books 1-4 the Christmas prior to June of 2003. I was so VERY excited for the fifth book to be released. But much to my dismay, when summer came around I was slated to join the MS Veendam in Alaska for a two week contract as a youth counselor, followed by a flight to Florida to join the MS Zuiderdam for eight weeks in the Caribbean. The book was to be released the day after I joined the Ryndam. I knew I'd be able to pick it up in the airport on my way to Florida, but like any good Veruca Salt impressionist and victim of mass marketing, I wanted it NOOOOOOOW! Ah well, my excitement would have to wait. No way around it.

When I boarded the Veen I was absolutely delighted to find not one, but TWO of my favorite Cruise Staff fellas. Dale (who also happens to be one of my favorite humans on the planet) and Luke (Cruise DJ and Man-whore extraordinaire). They joined the same day I did and it was SO fun to see them again. We were all assigned cabins right next door to each other (Crew areas on ships are divided into halls according to job. It gives the residents a better chance at a good night's sleep/quiet hall because they all share similar shifts, hopefully.) Lucky for me, the guys were in the habit of leaving a key in their door. I say lucky because two things happened:

1. Knowing better, but stupidly believing people when they said that Alaska was quite warm in the summer, I packed for the Caribbean because I didn't have room in my luggage to pack for both the Caribbean and Alaska (and I wouldn't be going home between the two destinations to re-pack). The weeks I spent in AK were the last two of the season (For all cruise ships- they would thereafter reposition to warmer posts) and many of the ports were foggy, overcast, drizzly and, yup, you guessed it: COLD!!

Well, the guys were on the Veen for a six month assignment, so they had packed for colder weather (I think the Veendam was repositioning to Baja/South America after Alaska... so they were prepped for all kinds of weather) and I may have helped myself to Luke's clothes, he being the taller of the two and me liking loose-fitting clothing. (Besides, this wasn't the first time I'd worn his clothes and I knew they fit... nothing skanky happened! I promise! Read all about it here: http://cmewander.blogspot.com/2011/04/nat-fat-rat-and-travel-nightmares.html )

It all happened quite by accident at first - I was freezing, the guys weren't home, so I borrowed a sweatshirt. I washed it and returned it the next day and borrowed another - that's when Luke caught me. "Are you wearing my sweatshirt?" he asked, surprised. I batted my eyes at him and explained that I was freezing and could I prettttttty please borrow it?

He shrugged, smiled and said (like the man-whore he is) "Sure, but you know this means we're sleeping together!" I just laughed, smooched him on the cheek and left. (He knew I was [am] Mormon and there was NO way that was happening.)


---

2. When I returned the second sweatshirt I noticed something interesting sitting on the shelf in Luke's wardrobe. HARRY freaking POTTER, book 5. Yah. I don't know how he obtained the copy of that book. We'd been at sea since boarding the ship and the day the book was released was one of those sea days... I was both perplexed and thrilled!! After thinking about it for a minute, I realized I shouldn't have been surprised that Luke had managed to sweet talk his way into getting a copy of the book early. The man was a born flirt and could charm the scales off a snake.

I may have taken two items from Luke's wardrobe that evening. Can you guess what they were?

For the most part, Luke and I had different work schedules, but sometimes our free time overlapped. Luke was very quick to come-a-knocking at my door looking for that book. *Bang*Bang*Bang* "Christy where's my book??"

My response: "Five more minutes, Ma!"

Of course I gave him the book when he asked for it. But we definitely competed to see who could finish it the fastest. It really irked him that I was a very fast reader.

Sadly, I was only about halfway through the book when I left the Veendam. But I was able to pick up my very own copy (and finish it) before joining the MS Zuiderdam (I had an overnight in Florida).

--

So there you have it: My adventures in Alaska with my man-whore friend Luke, stealing his clothes and his book and having a ridiculously fun time.

The book was good too.

--

I was looking through my photos for a good Alaska pic and realized that I didn't take a single photo during that contract. Not one. I wasn't heavily into photography at that point and didn't have a digital camera of any kind, so there you have it. No Alaska. Besides, I think it looked too much like the Northwest (where my parents live) and I wasn't overly impressed by any of it. Don't hate.

I remember watching the TV series Young Indiana Jones as a kid and falling so in love with the adventure of it all! Each episode took young Indy to a faraway, exotic location. During one episode, Indy and his Dad visited a monastery in Greece called Meteora. It is perched high above the valley floor on a bunch of high-rising cliffs.

During childhood I wondered how on earth the movies had made such a cool looking place. But just a little while ago, I discovered that it's real!

It sits high above a little town called Kalambaka, balanced across 24 natural stone pillars. Speculation begins construction on the buildings around the 9th century. The Monasteries are a long, 4-hour drive on windy roads from Athens, and well worth the effort.

Check them out:

For a week now I have been trying to think of what to say about my recent trip to Crystal Cove Beach Cottages in Newport Beach, CA.

I'm still at a loss for words. Perhaps because this trip was never intended as a grand adventure.

Here's what it was: 

It was a soulful getaway.

It was a restful bit of relaxation and indulgence.

And it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Four nights, five days of going to sleep when I felt like it. Napping when I cared to. Rolling out of bed and going directly to the deck that adjoined the room and lounging on an adironak chair while reading book after book after book... Soaking up hours of sunshine. Exisiting in a state of quasi-narcolepsy.

The most adventurous thing I did each day was to leave Crystal Cove and it's perfect 1940's-esque confines and go with my vacation-roommate to eat breakfast at a bakery, or lunch at Cafe Rio or Rubys. And one day I drove her to downtown Huntington beach so she could shop while I read a book (I hate shopping). But for the rest of each day, we lazed, and lounged and lunched on leftovers and loved every minute of the day!

At least once each day I padded barefoot down the paved street, down a steep staircase and onto the sand-lined street below, past the beachcomber restaurant and a line of freshly restored cottages (as in just opened the day before) to the golden sands, deep blue waters and deafening silence of the crashing waves on the beach.

There was a pattern to the day, in the life of the beach, I observed. In the mornings, the sounds of children playing and people laughing were king on the beach, over the gulls and waves. But around dinner time, the people faded away. Then the residents of the cottages could be seen walking solo, slowly down the stretches of sand. After dark, a flashlight here or there illuminated small patches of beach, their owners searching for sand crabs and sea-life. But mostly, after dark, all was peace and thunderous waves where the sea met the earth, trying to beat it back and reclaim it for it's own.

And I know now, again, why I was always meant to live by the ocean, for the peace it speaks to my soul. And I know now why I don't live now by the ocean, for nothing else matters when I'm there.


But someday.
Someday I'll walk the expanse, smooth, wet sand enveloping my feet, waves drowning out every care and I'll be there to stay.

The sea will have reclaimed me.

This is a prank best played on unsuspecting (and even on suspecting) teenagers. I speak from experience.

Well, maybe it is a trick best played on unsuspecting anyones. Yes, that's more like it.

Needed:

-Pad of butter, prefferably the kind that come with little slips of paper on two sides, found commonly in restaurants or Cruise Ship Buffets.

-Salt shaker containing (what else?) salt.

-Unsuspecting someone.


Scene: a group of Youth Counselors sit and eat dinner together. A bunch of the teenagers they run activities for during the day/evening decide to crash the youth counselors' dinner.

Youth Counselor Sarah decides to do something about it. She says to the kid sitting across from her:

"Hey, did you know that when you put salt on butter it gives off a heat reaction?"

Kid "Uh... no."

Sarah, wide-eyed "It does!" She's unwrapped the pad of butter and salted it. She waves her hand over the pad of butter and says: "Yup, it started. Heat."

The kid eyes her with disbelief, then waves his hand over the butter too.

That's where he went wrong. Sarah, ready for him, slaps his hand down directly into the butter.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the butter trick.

My NBT (Next Big Trip) is finally just around the corner! Six weeks out now and I'm ridiculously excited. Because I've got a smidgeon of time before the trip, I sometimes find myself checking on alternate hotels/flights, etc, just to make sure I'm going where I want for the price I want to pay.

I just priced out my flights again, the same flights which I paid $530 (taxes) and 60,000 British Airways miles for (which I mostly got for free because I signed up for their credit card at at time when they were offering 100k miles to new accounts! For real!)

Here's what the fare would be if I were to pay for it outright:


Ummm... yah, that says $6309.77!!!!!!!!!!


I've gotta say that a savings of $5800 ain't bad at all!

What's the best travel hacking you've done?

& BTW: Happy 4th of July, America!