Friends
Wandering Around the Waldorf Astoria
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Fun, Photography | 4 Comments
This is Art - Thao and Vanessa at the Waldorf Astoria
Last Tuesday, Thao invited me to attend the Project ALS gala held at the Waldorf Astoria. Since she works for Viacom, sometimes these random opportunities appear out of the blue. Ben Stiller was hosting and it sounded like a good time plus we both got to get dressed up!
Though the subject matter was quite sad, Ben Stiller and Sarah Silverman were hilarious, the food was good, and the wine flowed unceasingly. After the event, Thao and I wandered the halls of the Waldorf Astoria, literally, and took a bunch of photos. I hope you enjoy the photos of our drunken wanderings as much as we enjoyed taking them!
Letter to God, Letter to the World
Friday, July 25th, 2008 | Popular, Positivity | 6 Comments
Dear God, World, Universe, Energy - whatever is out there…
I want to create and live off of my creations. I want to create by myself. I want to create with other people. I want to write, sing, make movies (documentaries for now). I want to help others get published and get published myself. I want to take photographs and sell them. I want Justin and I to take photographs together and travel the world. I want to make videos with Val! and have a following of people that are genuinely interested. I want us to be able to sustain a nice living off of these projects. I want to create, love and be happy - and I want the same for my loved ones and all those that want this for themselves, too.
I want life to be “how it should be.” A community of good people, good friends, creating, enjoying, being out there in the world and really living and experiencing it all.
Thanks for the thunderstorm the other night. That was a great birthday present. And thanks in advance, for the future.
Love,
Ness
“one of these days all we’ll do is create and live off of it, and travel and enjoy it all”
The Awesomeness of Puerto Rico
Monday, July 21st, 2008 | Adventure, Popular | 7 Comments
This is from a letter I quickly wrote to Dao and Rob (as they too have experienced the kick-ass nature of Puerto Rico):
Justin and I got back from a weekend in Puerto Rico late last night. We had a blast!!!! We took one of his coworkers (Alex) and his friend (Marisa). They said it was one of the best trips of their lives (and they’ve been all over the place). This is how our trip went:
Day 1: Breakfast at Casa Cubuy in El Yunque, hike through the rain forest and swim in a variety of pools. Get back to the hotel and discover there are masseuses-in-training just down the street. We each get a 1 hour massage for $20! Drive to Naguabo and go out with Capt. Paco to see Monkey Island and snorkel. Capt. Paco was super busy so he dropped us off on our own with a kayak and supplies! We snorkeled out there - just us, monkeys, fish and seagulls for almost 2 hours. It was great!!! We even got to take turns kayaking. We also saw lots of starfish.
It was amazing. Return to Naguabo and have dinner. Head back to the hotel with a stop to grab rum and mixers. Sit outside for hours talking and drinking before hitting the hay.
Day 2: Breakfast at Casa Cubuy then head to the end of the road, where no cars are allowed. We were informed of a neat hike that takes you across a metal bridge (actually, not so much a bridge as a big pipe over a river). We were the only ones on the trail (actually - on both days!). Hiked for a while and came to a beautiful scenic overlook. On our way back, Justin suggested we head down to the river. We found and amazing lagoon at the bottom of a treacherous looking waterfall! Marisa kept climbing up rocks and finding neat places to jump in from.
There were lots of tiny little fish and even some prawns! Leaving El Yunque, we stopped at a beach on the way back to San Juan, walked along it, and spotted some hermit crabs. Back in San Juan, we bought some food to take back to the airport with us (I got amaaaazing camarones enchilados - shrimp in hot sauce, and beans) and stopped for pina coladas at Barrachina - of course!!! We made it back to the airport just in time to get on the flight!!! All in all, an action packed, exciting weekend. :)
There were only 2 minor hitches and they both worked out. 1) Our camera tumbled into raging water and somehow we managed to find it. The memory card compartment came open during the fall and somehow we managed to find the Flash card, too! 2) Alex forgot his wallet at a gas station on the way back to San Juan when he was changing in the bathroom. This morning he spoke with a woman there that found it and is FedExing back to him free of charge! So nice!!!
Re-reading my entry above, I feel kind of like I am reading a diary entry from when I was a little kid. I was pretty much never patient enough to go into things in depth. I guess that isn’t really a bad thing. :) Photos to follow. <3 :D
Photo Update
Ness’s Flickr Photo Gallery
Justin’s Facebook Photo Gallery
Last Night’s Dinner with Thao and Katie
Saturday, April 5th, 2008 | Family, Food, Friends, Photography, Puppies | 2 Comments
Justin and I had a really nice time having Thao and Katie over for dinner Thursday night. Thao shared with us a lot of her photos from Kenya (you can see them here) and narrated as she walked through the different experiences. Justin hooked my laptop up to our TV so we had a good viewing arrangement. It was so neat. I definitely want to go to Kenya now! If I can get a detailed itinerary of Thao’s journey, I’ll put it up here. She visited beautiful, deserted beaches; lovely, cheap inns; took a self-guided driving safari with some friends; took children to a giraffe feeding/petting area (not only did she escort these children, but she helped raise money so they could go in the first place - right on!); and all the while got around in bizarrely decorated buses. It looked and sounded like a lot of fun. She also brought me back salad spoons with rhinos on the ends! I love them :) Thanks Tizzle! :)
It was nice having Thao and Katie over… I just feel bad they got home so late on a Thursday night! Tonight, Val!, Justin and I went to Hill Country. A new friend of Val!’s, Chris, met us as well. The wait was an hour and a half but we had a good time. We sat there talking for hours and then for another half an hour on the sidewalk once we’d decided to leave. I pronounce “Friendship Friday” a serious success! :)
Event at the Scandinavia House
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 | Adventure, Photography, Seasonal | No Comments
What a nice day! I accomplished a lot at work today - discussed SEO objectives with our analysts, communicated with our web team in India regarding their progress on our social networking site, added photos to a press release (ALA’s Favorite Top Ten Hikes), and changed all the maps from their previous, ugly Google Earth images to beautiful and colorful images created by our designer that truly evokes the ALA brand.
As I was about to hunker down into catching up on work email, my Outlook popped up a reminder. This afternoon was the ExOfficio PR event and mixer! Uh oh! Thank goodness for technology reminding me about things. I rushed to change out of my casual clothes to more appropriate attire, quickly fixed up my hair and makeup, and rushed Justin home from work (thanks for hurrying home, sweetie). We were on our way to Manhattan in record time.
I was so glad to be in the city during daylight hours. Well-dressed individuals were leaving work or heading out, arm in arm, for the evening. The best part was seeing the trees full of heavy buds. Some were already blossoming! Are they dogwoods? Magnolias? I am not sure. It was so lovely. The trees in Forest Hills haven’t gotten their flowers yet. Strange how the environment changes in 4 miles! :)
Justin and I had a nice time at the mixer. The ExOfficio (Chris and Rudy) people and their PR people were very nice. I really enjoy talking to Chris. She is such a vibrant, fun person. We both talked about engagements, traveling, work, marketing, etc. She is also going to Brazil for the Adventure Travel World Summit! Ahh!! I want to go! Isn’t that something I should be, like, required by LAW to attend??? Justin and Rudy talked about domain names and web stuff. Now it’s late - again. I am exhausted - again. At least it was all for a good reason.
I am looking forward to hearing all about Tizzle’s trip to Africa tomorrow! She is back and coming over for dinner. Yippy!!! :)
For those of you that haven’t checked out Follow Your Happiness yet - you’re missing out! We’ve just discusses Wellness Wednesday - don’t miss Tout your Talents Thursday for crying outloud.
Halloween Pumpkin Carving
Sunday, October 28th, 2007 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
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| Random October 2007 |
After packing for the big move ‘07, Justin, Thao, and I settled in for some good old fashioned pumpkin carving! We got some AWESOME photos of the pumpkins, us, and the babies! You HAVE to see these!
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