#Cancun trip fiasco

[bree-t]

2022 was an eventful and challenging year in many ways:

-B and I struggled to find our groove as a married couple and committed to breaking our negative cycles and patterns together.

-We celebrated my dad’s 70th birthday (69 but 70 according to the Chinese calendar)

-I went roller skating with my nieces

-We hosted and celebrated LNY with yummy food and roasted marshmallows in the backyard.

-We went to an immersive art exhibit.

-I hung with my sister friends: painted with Lily and Catherine, visited Leslie, Nicole and Maya.

-Brent took me to see Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith for my belated birthday.

-celebrated Lily’s birthday with an escape room and brunch

-took my parents to the Ruth Bancroft Botanical Garden

-hosted my parents for lots of visits and meals

-picnicked by Lake Merritt with coworker friends

-had a board game day with the Lambs

-hosted Megan’s baby shower in SD with Diana

-volunteered to pack meals for Ukraine

-traveled to Cancun to celebrate Michael and Edison’s wedding and love with the UCSD fam

-road-tripped to visit Jordan and Nicole (and Maya and the pets!) in Sac

-celebrated Andrew and Bryce’s wedding in LA

-caught up with LA friends/fam: Andrew and Kyle and Garrett

-had a bbq girls date with my sister and nieces

-went to the AAPI Community Festival with Catherine and met the directors of Turning Red

-hosted the first in-person orientation and social events since the pandemic

-supported Aunt Carole’s garden club plant sale

-saw Mount Westmore (and probably caught covid there!)

-saw Oh Wonder with Lily

-met Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul!

-traveled to Bergen, Norway with Catherine and saw the fjords! (Also learned what a fjord is lol)

-traveled to Stockholm, Sweden to launch a Global Internships program and finally meet Sabrina and faculty I had been working with for years for the first time!

-reconnected with Gerald in Stockholm of all places!

-Brent got in a car accident but got a new suv (bigger for more cargo!)

-We saw and met Earth, Wind, and Fire and Santana.. from the 3rd row!!

-celebrated Jiten and Preeti’s wedding with UCSD residents and friends

-celebrated Fourth of July with Andrew, Kyle, Adrienne, Chris, and Brent - lots of wine and kbbq of course

-traveled to the Middle East for the first time, and explored Jordan and Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa)

-explored Wadi Rum and Petra

-launched a new program in Haifa, Israel - a project that I started years ago

-celebrated Bobby and Perry’s colorful Toshiba themed wedding in Monterey

-celebrated our one year wedding anniversary!

-celebrated Brent’s birthday in SF with the stranger things experience and a seafood dinner

-danced the night away at the Backstreet Boys concert

-relived my youth at a throwback concert with Nelly, Ja Rule, Ashanti, and Lloyd

-went to a Giants game for Victor’s 70th birthday

-volunteered to host Comedy Night for Cal freshman - for the first time since the pandemic

-caught up with Global Glimpse Brent over Indian food

-hosted Madison and Leah for a sleepover: and played lots of animal crossing and games

-saw Jazz is Dead in SF

-saw Kendrick Lamar!

-spent Labor Day in Mendocino: eating bomb seafood, picnicking at the winery, and walking to see the seals

-celebrated Catherine’s birthday at Rupaul’s Werk the World Tour

-celebrated Maya’s 6th birthday

-drag brunch with coworkers and friends

-family trip to Groveland and Yosemite to hike, eat, and drink

-taught a freshman seminar class - in-person!

-hiked Muir Woods with Alyssa, Clark, and Brent and had bomb Puerto Rican food after

-saw Lupe Fiasco in SF

-presented at the Diversity Abroad Conference in SF

-presented at FORUM CIGL in Milan, Italy

-traveled to Lake Como, Bellagio, and Verona in Italy and Lugano, Switzerland with Lily.

-celebrated Scott and Kristen’s wedding

-celebrated Kenzie’s 3rd birthday

-celebrated my 34th birthday with Jose in Arnold

-finally took my parents to HOPR!

-hosted the fam for thanksgiving hot pot

-celebrated thanksgiving dinner with the Costas

-saw Clue at the Lescher Center for Performance Arts with Brent’s parents

-saw Bow Wow, Lloyd, and other throw back artists

-went to Disneyland and California Adventure, and got to stay at the Grand Californian Hotel!

-took a day trip to Petaluma to reset and reinvest in our relationship

-ate and drank our way through a cheese advent calendar with Adrienne and Josephine

-watched my nieces perform in their annual Hoike

-celebrated a quiet Christmas with our little family

-visited my parents in LA for a couple days, managed cancelled flights and rented a car to get home

-celebrated a belated Christmas with Brent’s parents, Sharon, and aunt Carole

-and ended the year with a flood garage!

[heyybeautifulll]

NOLA BIIIHHH

So about that time I planned a trip with my friends for my 21st birthday to go to NOLA and it turned out amazingly amazing.

Thursday: Supposed to leave at 4:00 right after I finished my class but we were running a tad behind schedule so Marissa and Katherine pick Coco up from her apartment then swing by and get me from campus. Stop at Chipotle so Katherine can get some food then off to get Kevin from his apartment. Ended up leaving Gainesville by 5:00! Marissa drove to Tallahassee while me, Coco, and Kevin squeezed in the back seat-me being squished in the middle seat. Got a cramp in both my shins from the position I was sitting in, decided it was okay for me to stretch my legs into the front seat because I was just too darn uncomfortable!!! We get to Tally and I had already made plans with Jenney and Gabby for them to meet us up for dinner. Asked Gabby if she had any suggestions- suggested Cancun’s, not the best food but the margs were BOGO so how can you say no to that! It was so nice that Gabby and Jenney could come out, missed them tons and it was great to have them around even if it was just for a short dinner. Got a tad tipsy off my BOGO daiquiri then headed to Em’s place where we got ready to go out (mind you I had gone out the night before for my actual birthday so I was ready to rally!). Squeezed into Emily’s car where Marissa drove Me, Emily, Kevin, Katherine and Julie out to Pot’s. Marissa didn’t go out because she was tired (?) and had to drive to NOLA the next day, don’t blame her! $10 cover at Pot’s but all you can drink until midnight, so can’t complain! Tried a new drink, vodka/water/lime, 7/10 recommend! Pot’s is like a giant maze and I don’t know Tally so I made sure to stay with my peeps there. Katherine and I hit up the bar by ourselves then find Kevin again with guess who..Travis, woo (sarcasm). Literally whenever I see/hear/mention this boy I just get so annoyed with every aspect of the night he bothers me that much. & I’m sorry why did he have to be in Tally the same night that we were there and at the same bar!!! Mood instantly dropped after seeing him and I was not having fun anymore and wanted to go home. Of course him and Kev are like BFFs so he was attached to him the whole rest of the night-yay! Even made an excuse that I had to go to the bathroom so I could spend 10 minutes away from him in hopes he would be gone when I got back, he wasn’t. Left 20 minutes after this whole fiasco. Back to Em’s where Kev and I slept on the couch, Katherine in a chair downstairs and Marissa in Em’s bed (Coco stayed at her friends place)

Friday: Woke up with a killer hangover because all you can drink so why not. Marissa and I went to Publix and Starbucks to get snacks and breakfast than we got on the road at 9:00AM, sat in the middle--again, drove “half way” to Mobile, Alabama where I found a cute BBQ joint for us to get lunch, walked around the town for a bit then got back in the car to drive to NOLA. Got to NOLA around 3:00 PM (1 hr time difference), drove passed the new hurricane levy’s then to Rafi’s off campus Frat house, gross! Stayed for like 10 minutes then left, thank god! Got to our Air B&B which of course was a block away from the nice part of town and straight into the ratchet part of town, lets just say I am glad Kevin was with us! Stayed on the second floor of our Air B&B, could not figure out the locks to save our life, 3 doors, 4 keys! Eventually made it into the Air B&B, nice room. Kitchen, two rooms shared by a door and a small bathroom. Found a place on Magazine street to get Po Boy’s, missed HH by like 10 minutes. Walked back to the Air B&B got ready and headed to Bourbon around 10:00 PM. First stop on Bourbon was of course to get ourselves a hand grenade ($10) all of us got one, girls got it skinny (less sugar) Kevin got his not skinny. Each bouncer I showed my ID too would wish me a happy birthday :). Got drunk very fast on the hand grenade then Kevin and Katherine wanted to get a “Big Ass Beer”, we werent allowed in with our drinks so we stayed outside where a guy with a “Big Ass Beer” sign was dancing and let us hold his sign and wear his beads, he took a picture of us then solicited us for money, Marissa gave him $1! LOL. Kept walking down Bourbon, wanted someone to take a picture of the 5 of us, the only people we trusted were the cops. One of the cops took a selfie of himself before taking our picture. We were obsessed with getting beads the first night. Got some beads from grandma! No tatas were shown for the beads. Got solicited again-- test tube shots, two of them were each $12!! was too drunk to realize how much we were spending on them but you only NOLA once- couldnt even swallow the whole shot, spit some of it into my hand grenade. Kept walking down bourbon when we got to the end Marissa and Kevin had to go potty so Coco Katherine and I wait outside where these guys come up to us who are celebrating a bachelor party- gave us beads so yay! Most of the people there were well over our age so it was awk. Ended the night at 2:00 AM- bars there don’t close until 6:00 AM!!! Got back to the Air B&B, ate some cheese-itz, cleaned the makeup off of Katherine’s face before she passed out then went sleepy.