Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 really was divine.

Top 9 of 2009:

9. Running the Athens Marathon in November.
8. Spending 5 days in France & Switzerland with Kristine in January.
7. 4th of July in Huntington Beach.
6. Rockettes in December.
5. Laying out at the beach in Mallorca.
4. Singing Christmas carols to a good friend, Arnold, with some of my closest friends.
3. All the time spent laughing with Rachael.
2. Seeing Leslie Hall with Uzi.
1. Picnic breakfast in Hyde Park in September.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Before we get to resolutions...

I've been out and about while I've been home the past week here in Utah. In fact, I've been spending time with some people that I haven't spent time with in at least 5 years. I didn't really plan on it before I got home, but the opportunities have just kind of fallen in my lap.

In some ways, I've been reminded of a person that I used to be and I'm having a hard time deciding if I like that person better or worse than the person I am now. I don't want to say that I'm a worse person now, but I think that I was at a different place in my life 8 years ago. Even 5 years ago I was pretty different. I think that of course in some ways I was much better and in others, I was just less mature.

Obviously this is all useless drivel. But I just wanted to say that these random people that I've met up with have all told me that they love me. And not in a weird way; just in a sincere "I really still care about you" way. I guess it shouldn't surprise me; but it has. Sometimes it is easier to move on with your life when you really start to believe that people from your past don't love you anymore.

I'm slowly learning that moving on doesn't necessarily mean letting go of love. I sometimes wish that it meant that love lets go of you.

Monday, December 28, 2009

White Christmas


I sure hope your Christmas was wonderful. Being with people I love is the most wonderful thing I can imagine. Having Santa there is just a bonus.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

This year my Christmas cards were made by the lovely and talented Rebecca Turner. I really love the way they turned out. Even if you didn't get one in the mail, I hope your holidays are merry & bright.

(I was going to include "1 Hott British Ex-Boyfriend" on the card, but decided against it at the last minute.) I truly am grateful for the wonderful year that I had - if I counted up the laughs against the tears, it would be a million to one ratio. I count myself very fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life. Thanks for being a part of that.

xoxo

Steph

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Ski Trip

Tomorrow is the big Annual Christmas Eve ski trip. I went through a bunch of my photos to find as many as I could from past years. We haven't taken photos every year, but here is all I could find while I was at work.

2008



2007


2006


2005


Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

For a good cause...

My friend Emily over at EmilyStyle is donating a dollar to the San Francisco Food Bank for every comment she gets through January 4th. Click here to leave one yourself.

He took the words right out of my mouth.



This is absolutely hilarious. Enjoy.

Monday, December 21, 2009

It's Christmas Time In The City

This weekend was packed full of wonderful things. Almost as full as this photo booth was on Friday night at the Union Square ice skating rink.

And almost as full as your heart is right now, staring at these awesome photos of me.

You. Are. Welcome.

Post Edit: In an order to keep my dignity even after these sub-par photos have been posted, here are some better ones that were taken on a higher quality camera than a cell phone or a photo booth.





I have been doing all sorts of things to celebrate the season this year.

Like taffy pulling:

And cookie decorating

And cable car caroling in the rain.

And in Chicago, I celebrated by standing in front of Christmas trees in every hotel I went into. My boss took more photos when we were together on Monday and Tuesday, but these are from Wednesday when I was by myself.

At the Ritz Carlton Chicago


The Hyatt Regency McCormick Place

The Hard Rock Hotel Chicago

The Four Seasons Chicago

And the Embassy Suites Lakefront Chicago.


Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

almost friday.

How do you feel about a Thursday list?

I feel good about it personally, so here we go.

1. I spent the last 4 days in Chicago. It was cold, but I enjoyed my time there. I did have some photos taken, so stay tuned for those.
2. Yesterday I volunteered to get on a later flight and in return get a free domestic flight. For those who give me a hard time about traveling, this is how this happens. Now have I have 4 flight vouchers to use in 2009.
3. A few weeks ago I had a long talk with an old friend and sometimes it is nice to know that even though you don't talk to certain people anymore, they still love you and think about you. In light of the heavy heart I still have inside of me, this was quite comforting.
4. I will be in Utah skiing with friends in a week. I can't wait.
5. This weekend is San Franidazzle. I've been looking forward to this since December 2008.
6. You could skip ahead to 3:00 if you want to see the best parts. It is no secret that I love the muppets.

7. Kobe Bryant talked to me in the lobby of our hotel the other night of his own free will. He started it; I swear.

remember my new boyfriend kobe?

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Friends, Friends, New York,, and Friends.

Last weekend I went to New York. The trip was so short, in fact, that I still am having a hard time believing that I was really there. Was that just a dream? Well, dream or not, it was quite the adventure and I'm so glad I went.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos while I was there. Well, that is a lie. I took 2.

One of Melissa trying on a bird cage veil...

And one of me trying the same thing on 2 seconds later.


This was of course right after leaving the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. Lucky for you, the things we did in New York are easy to swipe photos of off the internet. I went a few years ago to see the Rockettes and I loved it just as much this time around. The show was slightly different, but I still cried out of sheer happiness that I was there. And it was great going with Melissa.

I love their Twelve Days of Christmas routine so much, that here it is, folks.



The rest of the day was spent in the rain and snow going to a Martha Stewart Craft Fair (which was NOT that great to be honest), eating in Hells Kitchen with some good friends, and then going to Brooklyn to celebrate my dear friend's 30th birthday with some other good friends. And even though I've had this photo on my blog before and it was not taken this weekend, you will have to be flexible. Scott doesn't really read my blog, but in case he does, Happy Belated Birthday to someone who deserves the best. I love you mucho.


There were some snafus on the subway on Sunday evening involving a rat which ended up in me missing my flight despite all the nice people who let me cut in line at security. So I left the airport quite defeated and stayed another night in New York at my friend Steph's house. And to give her the proper credit that she deserves for being so nice to a vagrant and since it is cold outside and I since I need something to warm my cold, cold heart and since we're being flexible here...I present to you a photo of Steph B and Steph Z at Duck Beach this last year.

Due to recent events, I'm trying to fill my weekends up as much as possible with people who I know just love me. This last weekend was PERFECT for that and for that, I am extremely grateful.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Twilight Years

Enjoy.

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

Santorini!!

As my dad says, "There's no rest for the wicked, and the righteous don't need it."

At 6am the morning after the marathon, we got ourselves out of bed and to the airport to get to Santorini. Needless to say, I was moving very slowly that morning.

Just a short plane ride and a few hours later we were arriving at our hotel: Pantelia Suites in Fira.

This place was so unbelievable. I really couldn't recommend it enough.

And of course the weather was amazing, so we enjoyed the porch for a little while.

And this is what we saw when we looked out from our porch. The land form in the photo that resembles an island is actually a caldera, or a volcano. I'm pretty sure that there was an eruption in the 1950's, so it is still quite active.

And then wen went exploring around town. Please note the English signs - this place is a huge tourist trap, but one worth the visit.

And the views did not disappoint. I love how the town was built down the side of the cliff instead of where there is flat land. I guess that is the coolest thing about traveling; just learning that people around the world think differently than you do or your culture does.



We played a lot of cards at night in our hotel room, and watched the boys do silly things. For example, in the below photo, Aaron climbed up into this little cubby above Kristy and I's bed. The next day the guys jumped down onto the roof of someone's house and Brian almost fell through a wall. Good times.

We learned quickly that one of the best things about our hotel was the breakfast that was included in our room rate. We pretty much got to eat whatever we wanted - and as much of it as we wanted.

Us girls thought this photo was quite hilarious - Aaron looked like he was at the spa out on the porch eating his breakfast.

And Brooke was quite excited about our plate of fruit.

Our second full day in Santorini, we rented ATVs and rode all over the island. It was quite the adventure since I was the navigator and our map wasn't quite to scale. :) But we saw the entire island and below are the photos from the day.

A cathedral in Pyrgos.

Someone's Grandma.

Yours truly.

The beach in Perissa.

Group shot on the ATVs with the Aegean Sea in the background. It was super windy that day, so there was no way I was going out on the beach.

On our way to the beach we passed a bunch of windmills, so we went back to check them out.

And at the end of the road there was this awesome church overlooking the island.


Brooke had the guts to climb to the top of one of the windmills even though I'm pretty sure it is ready to crumble any second. But apparently Brooke was quite happy about making it to the top of the windmill in one piece. Please click on this photo to see it as large as possible. Brooke, you are welcome.

Oia is at the northern tip of the island and it took us about an hour to get there on our little ATVs.

We wanted to go up there to watch the sunset since it is on the western side of the island. My impression of Santorini was that most of it looked like the little towns on the cliff, but below is a good view of what it really looked like there. Terraced land with blue domed churches, everywhere. So beautiful.

And below is the town of Oia - pronounced "ee-ya."


We still weren't sure if this was the best place to watch the sunset, so we rode to some small beaches to see if we could get a better view. We came around the corner to find this opening in the side of a hill - and just before the boys decided to get off their ATVs and go inside, this donkey walked out and scared us all. We lovingly refer to this place as the "ass cave."


Oia turned out to be the perfect place to watch the sunset, so here is a photo I took trying to capture it. The next day we found out that Beyonce was in Oia that night. If you can spot her in this photo, I will give you lots of money. But I can guarantee that she is in one of the buildings pictured below. I wish I were kidding - the entire next day we were looking around for anyone who resembled Beyonce.



And it was quite windy. Luckily Uzi found someone to block the wind.


We scheduled a volcano and hot springs tour for the next morning and when we got down to the water, found out that the water was too choppy and the tour had been cancelled. And it was 6 euros to take the cable car back up the side of the mountain, or 5 euros to take a donkey. I thought that this was one of the funnest things we did on the entire trip.

If this didn't initiate me into the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, then I don't know what could. Uzi and I almost traded jeans right there on the side of the mountain.





It rained for a while that afternoon & evening, so we didn't do much after that except for play cards and watch the lightening for a while. Well, except for take a walk around our the staircases by our hotel.

This is when Brian almost fell through the wall. Please note the hole on the right by the pole - that is where the ceiling fell through.


Me & Uzi


Oh, Santorini, we loved you. Maybe one day we'll go back in the summer so we can lay out at the beach and avoid the wind.