I'm baaack: Work, Hollywood Bowl, and St. Louis.

Wow, it has been a long time since I have blogged. When we got back from China, things got very, very busy. Work has really picked up lately and has been taking up a lot of time. July has seen my largest billable day so far ... and then the billable day to beat that billable day! Phew. (Also, I haven't touched my Google Reader in three weeks. I will definitely read each and every post of my pals, but I apologize for the lack of comments from me. I am back on the bandwagon, though, so you should be hearing from me regularly again!)

Despite work, there have been a lot of fun things happening over here. Last weekend, Josh and I took Bug and Ajax to the Hollywood Bowl to see Julie Andrews. Julie Andrews was Bug's childhood hero, and we watched Sound of Music countless times as little girls.

We packed a picnic in our new picnic basket.



Sandwiches from Gelson's.



Josh, excited about the pasta salad. (He is such a ham.)



Josh, Bug, and Ajax.



The picnic basket made an excellent table!



Bug + Ajax.



Some blurry pics of the Bowl.





Some big, tall dude sat directly in front of me, so this was my view.



(Luckily, I leaned on Josh most of the night.)

The concert opened with the opening scene from the movie, with a young Julie Andrews singing "Sound of Music." The real, live, senior Julie Andrews came onstage at the end and picked up, and Bug and I both got a little teary.

We saw The Dark Knight the next day with Jackie and PJ at the IMAX. It was awesome. After, we had dinner at Salsa and Beer, which was actually really good, and spent the evening hanging out at our place and talking about our trip (still no decision on where we're going, but stay tuned).

The week was long. Friday morning, I left for St. Louis to attend the Volunteer Training Conference for my sorority. I have been involved with my sorority since graduating, and after this weekend, I remember why. My new position can be summed up as risk management for the "western territory" (about 23 chapters).

The weekend was jam-packed (8:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. each day). I roomed with Schwee, and it was so great to spend time with her and with H and meet a ton of new sisters. Sadly, I didn't have time to see my friend, Peter, who is sort of local, but my Uncle Paul did pick me up from the hotel and drove Schwee and me to the airport (after a brief detour for lunch). I have cousins and other relatives in St. Louis I would have loved to see, but the weekend was a complete whirlwind!

Now, it's back to the grindstone. Josh and I leave for Alaska Saturday, so it will probably be a hectic few days. I'm sure there will be some Alaska posts soon, though ...

Mojitos, Martinis, and SATC.

And so, another week has started, and I am already ready for the weekend . . .

Friday, we had a "team meeting" with Jackie and PJ to narrow down locations we can all agree on for a potential trip in March. They came over, we poured some wine, and then we all compared lists. There were two spots that ended up on all four of our lists: Thailand and Argentina. So, now we need to pick between the two. Where should we go?

Saturday, I slept until the late morning (oh, sweet, luxurious sleep). Josh was the best husband ever and grabbed me a breakfast burrito (my fave!) from a little cafe by our house, and we vegged, ate breakfast, and watched TV. So relaxing.

In the evening, we went to a firm party at Elevate in downtown. We ended up sitting with a couple good friends of mine instead of mingling all night like a good associate. (Hey, it was Saturday.) We had a B-list celebrity spotting: Nicole Linkletter, the winner of Cycle 5 of America's Next Top Model.

I had a couple delicious mojitos and some amazing sushi. After a couple of hours, some good food and drinks, and making the rounds, Josh and I escaped out the side door to meet up with Bug and Ajax at Arclight.

Bug and I are both huge Sex and the City fans, and we had purchased tickets for the 21 and over show over a week ago. Actually, we got the last of the tickets . . . a week ago! Apparently, there are other obsessive fans. We dragged Josh and Ajax, and they were pretty much the only men there. Since it was a 21+ showing, all the women there were, well, tipsy. (We definitely had a cosmo in honor of the occasion.) There was lots of cheering, booing, and gasping throughout the show. It was pretty fantastic.

As for the movie, I have to say I totally loved it. Actually, I want to see it again.

Sunday, I slept in . . . again. It was a fabulously lazy day. I left the house only to get a pedicure with Jackie and then grab fro yo with Jackie and PJ. It was lovely!

Time to watch the Bachelorette. I know. I can't believe I watch it either, but I can't seem to look away!

A week in review.

So much to say, so much to say. A lot has happened in the last week. Let's see . . .

Saturday, we went to Josh's rugby banquet at the Cornell Winery. Can I just say, I am in love with this place? It may have something to do with the big, gorgeous chandelier. Or, maybe that it's all the fabulous wine awakened my inner oenophile. It's not yet open to the public (only private events), but I'm pretty sure I'll be a regular once it is. In the meantime, I have dropped some massive hints that this would be a good place for a birthday party . . . Haha. Yes, I'm so subtle.

After the banquet, we met up with my sis, Ajax, my dad, and his girlfriend at this dive bar in Camarillo that Josh and my dad love. I think they love it because of the ridiculous karaoke that takes place there. Well, Bug decided it would be a good idea to have Irish car bombs. Before I knew it, we were belting out a very bad rendition of "Tiny Dancer." The night ended with me jumping into our pool. Enough said.

Sunday, I worked during the day, and then Josh and I met up with Jackie and PJ to see Iron Man at Arclight. I am a big Robert Downey, Jr. fan, so I was easily persuaded. It was a great movie. Exactly the sort of fun, summer movie I have been needing lately. I definitely recommend it if you like the other comic book movies.

The early part of the week was a little rocky, to say the least. However, my week was saved by a wonderful dinner with WeeMo and Trish at Sai Sai. I love these girls and feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends.

Also, a random highlight: I ran into the Verizon guy on the corner of the street outside my building where they were, apparently, filming a Verizon commercial! It took all my self-control to not respond to his "hello" with "Can you hear me now? Good!" Haha. Wonder how many times he's heard that!

Today, my co-worker, Ryan, and I had lunch at Yorkshire Grill, my favorite greasy spoon downtown. I had the Yorkshire Special, my fave, a sandwich with turkey, pastrami, swiss and cole slaw in the sandwich. It is so good. Although, it's pretty heavy, which made me want to take a nap!

This weekend is Josh's bday! We have a lot of fun plans, many of which will be blogged about, I'm sure. Tonight, we are kicking off celebrating Josh's birthday by going to see Kids in the Hall at the Orpheum. Josh is a huge fan and is super excited. Should be fun!

**Side note: I am annoyed by the formatting of this post and cannot get it to work for me. Why is some text scrunched and some is not? Grrr, Blogger, grrr.

"So much to say, so much to say, so much to say..."

I love that Dave Matthews' song! Anyway, as the title indicates, there is a quite a bit to blog about since the last entry! So, here goes...

I had a pretty good week at work. First, on Wednesday I argued my first motion all by my little self, and what do you know? We won!!! And, it was a surprise, since the other attorney on the case and I thought our chances were quite slim. So, it was an especially happy victory. I joked to my secretary that I'd like my business cards reprinted to say "won every motion argued." She almost threw something at me. :)

Thursday, I defended a depo right by my house, so I didn't even have to brave a commute! After, I met up with Jackie and Kristen to hear all about their fabulous 2-week trip to Australia!

Friday morning, I arrived at a client's warehouse in Riverside at 2:30 a.m. to do interviews of folks who work the night shift. I went into my office around 7:00 a.m., and the day itself was pretty uneventful, except for one major item of note. I received my first, annual performance review. The feedback was very positive and was accompanied by a generous bonus. I was very happy (and relieved)!

After my long day, I came home, ordered pizza with Josh, and passed out at 9 p.m. I didn't wake up yesterday morning until 12 p.m.! 15 hours of sleep! Pretty impressive, I think.

Last night, we went and saw "Definitely, Maybe." I thought it was cute, and Ryan Reynolds is so dreamy.

But, perhaps the most exciting news of all is that Josh and I booked plane flights for our trip in June!! We are going to China for ten days!!! Our plan is to fly into Beijing and out of Shanghai. There may be a couple detours (perhaps to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors), but other than that, we have yet to plan out the details. Ten days will be awfully quick (not enough time to do Western China and Tibet, which I really wanted to do), but I will take what I can get! (Josh and I have agreed we will have to return someday and devote an entire trip to Tibet.) We considered booking a tour, but I think we have now decided that we are going to do it on our own. I am so excited!!!!! I couldn't sleep a wink last night!

Do you know the way ...

Ah, San Jose. It was not that long ago I was here for work, and, whaddya know....I'm baaack. Oh, I know what you're thinking. How come I get to go to so many exciting, exotic places on business? Hey now, don't be jealous.

I arrived here yesterday evening and have spent the day interviewing employees. These are not the normal witness interviews I do, where I get to sit down and chit chat with an employee or manager about certain events around the litigation. No, these interviews are for a big class action, so I have prepared questions, and I ask the employee about his/her job duties, hours worked, etc.

The company I am at is eerily like Initech. Given the nature of my questions and the fact that I am set up in a conference room, I can't help but feel like one of "the Bobs." ("What exactly would you say you do here at Initech?") In fact, there is even "executive" parking up front, no doubt reserved for Lumbergh.

So, I am here until Wednesday evening. My co-workers are off at a bar, and I am stuck in my room writing an opposition. Ah, well. Maybe I can come out and play tomorrow.

Oh hey, I haven't even told you what I did this weekend... Alright, here goes, the quick and the dirty:

Friday, Josh and I went to see Juno. Liked it a lot. Liked the sarcastic teen. Loved Allison Janney.

Saturday, Josh had his first ever rugby game in the afternoon, and I sat out in the sun, watching the game and enjoying the gorgeous weather. I know L.A. supposedly doesn't have seasons (a statement I disagree with -- they are subtle, ok?), but I swear it felt like the first day of spring. One of our trees even had a flower on it! Anyway, Josh's team lost, but I think he still had fun. In the evening, Josh and I met up with Jackie and PJ at Chimney Sweep. Interesting place. Feels like it should be a dive bar, but there were lots of "trendy" people there. Only in L.A. could there be a trendy dive bar.

Sunday, we went to church and then met Dad and Cathy for breakfast at Side Street. I tried to clean, I swear, but after scrubbing the kitchen, I ended up passed out on the couch watching "Keeping Up with the Kardashians." (Those of you who feared reading would interfere with my trashy-TV-watching, have faith.)

Okay, time to crank out this opposition...

Ug.

I don't know how I am still standing. Okay, well, I am sitting, but you get what I'm saying. I am so swamped at work, I can barely keep up. I worked all day Sunday in my office, and all Saturday was spent at the new house trying to get things taken care of. We've moved back our move-in date to tomorrow. Yeah. About a third of our apartment is packed. Looks like an all-nighter of packing ahead. Boo, hiss.

Okay, enough complaining. I am counting down the days to Thanksgiving so I can relax for a few days. It's going to be a sprint until then, I think.

I did get to do one fun thing Friday night! I have been wanting to see a movie (any movie!) for over a month, and we finally had some time to get away and see a late show. We saw The Darjeeling Limited with PJ. I thought it was great! The costumes and sets were so interesting, and the chemistry between Jason Schwartzmann, Owen Wilson, and Adrian Brody was fantastic! If you're a Wes Anderson fan, I think you'll dig it.