San Diego Bachelorette...

Andrea (high school & college friend), Carla (maid of honor, high school friend), me, Nichole (friend in the OC), Kelly (future sister-in-law), Devon (college friend).

Prior to my party, the only thing I knew was that I was going to San Diego, staying at the swanky Hard Rock Hotel, and Carla, Andrea, Kelly, and Nichole would be there. I was very stressed trying to pack for a weekend of suprises! So here's the low down of my last weekend as a single girl (ok, there are really 7 more weekends left)
On Friday I hitched a ride to San Diego with my friends Nichole and sister-in-law to be Kelly. We drove to the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp. We stayed at the Hard Rock courtesy of Nichole and her husband Brian, who bought a "rockstar suite" there. The hotel is smack dab in the center of the Gaslamp, looking into Petco Park.
We arrived Friday evening and met my maid of honor Carla in the room. The room was decorated with your standard bachelorette fare (streamers, banners, balloons, champagne, etc.). We settled in, and then Andrea and Devon showed up! Devon was my suprise of the weekend, I had no idea she was going to be able to make it! Woohoo! So we ventured out Friday night and picked up pizza, and then returned to the hotel to drink champagne, eat pizza, and chat all night. Our champagne with pomengranite juice...

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the pool for a few hours. Did I mention the weather???? It was in the 80s and 90s all weekend...it felt like August, so the pool was the prefect way to start the day. All I knew about the day was we had to leave the hotel at 12:30 to be somewhere. I was told to dress "comfy-casual". Not knowing what to wear, everyone let me stress about my outfit for awhile before Devon presented me with a navy blue t-shirt with baseballs and "soon to be Mrs McCarthy" scrolled across the back. Ah-ha...we were going to a baseball game! So we trekked 1/2 a block away to Petco Park and settled into the 2nd row for a Padres vs. Diamond Backs game.
Andrea had a lofty goal of appearing on the jumbo-screen, so we mentioned it to the young usher of our section, who wrote our seat numbers down, and during the 7th inning presented me with a Padres swag bag filled with a visor, hat, poster, calendar, flag, banner, rally rags (or as Andrea says, they are dish towels now that I am getting married). Whew...too bad I had already shelled out $20 for a visor during the first inning! The game was a blast, we befriended the crowd around us, and did make it onto the jumbo-screen while waving my new flag.


After the game, we hurried back to the Hard Rock to shower and get ready for the evening. We then headed to Cafe Sevilla, a tapas bar a few blocks away. I took the lead and ordered for all (of course, it was my party!!). Seriously, these are the best tapas I have had outside of Spain. We ate 2 types of tortilla (potato/egg frittata), patatas bravas, queso fundido (mmm, a pot of manchego and goat cheese with crostini to scoop it up with), shrimp ajillo (garlic & white wine sauce), and spicy marinated octopus. We quenched our thirst with a pitcher of sangria, and a carafe of garrabata (a mixture of beer, white wine, and sprite). The drink itself was not the attraction, but rather the serving vessel. It came in a glass carafe with a spout on one side. You are supposed to pour it into your mouth from a high. Devon and Carla tried from high, and ended up with messes.

After tapas, we ended up at Shour Dueling Piano Bar. We had 2 tables reserved in the front row and I had another swag bag (T-shirt, underwear, shot glass, key chain, coupons). The show was hilarious, and got raunchier as the night progressed. Shots were taken, songs were requested, and at some point I ended up on stage doing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" and then I was on stage AGAIN dancing to "I Like Big Butts", but that time I was accompanied by Andrea. We stayed at the bar all night and trekked home late with no voices due to too much bad singing. Oh, by the way, thanks to my party planners for not making me wear any embarrassing bachelorette party gear...I looked classy in my black boa and jeweled arm tattoos =)


The next morning we dined at MaryJanes in the hotel. It was old school diner with a DJ blasting music in the center. There were probably some huge movie stars there I didn't recognize. We were going to hit the pool before our return trip home, but there was an "intervention" party going on, which, contrary to what the name suggests, involves copious amounts of alcohol mixed with the bare minimum of clothing. If we packed our string bikinis, 4 inch heels, and super short see-through dresses, we would have been ready to go! So we opted to stroll the street and window shop in the 90 degree heat.
Thanks for the WONDERFUL weekend...I had a blast!

BIG News

Scott and I met on the street in Costa Mesa infront of a palm tree. Scott said the tree was a symbol of our relationship, but then the tree got sick and they cut it down 2 years ago. So much for that symbol. Our first date was at The Pasta Connection, a little family owned Italian-Argentinian restaurant in Costa Mesa. They closed today. Hmmm, looks like things aren't going our way in Orange County...
So we are going to pick up and move! I am currently looking for speech jobs in Northern CA, and Scott is eager to find work in a culinary-rich area such as Napa, Sonoma, or San Francisco. Let's face it, Orange County is NOT the culinary center of the universe. We're looking to settle in the east bay this August, and seeing what happens from there...

Career change???

Now that I am 5 weeks away from finishing my Speech Language Pathology Assistant license, I am already looking ahead to figure out what to accomplish next. Of course I will work as a SLPA next year (2 years of part time work has really left a financial mark on me...no more spa pedicures!), but I can't be a SLPA forever, I couldn't work under a speech pathologist my whole life knowing that is my ultimate apiration. However, as many of you know from my griping, speech pathology master's programs are severely impacted, sparsely located, and require lists of pre-reqs to begin. It is a nightmare thinking about it, and only state schools offer it. I have already tried navigating my way through Fullerton and Long Beach, and all I have figured out is that Scripps was well worth the $30,000 each year, you never had to call 6 different people to get a question answered! So because the speech masters is so daunting, I decided to look into audiology programs. Audiology is a growing hearing field, working with hard of hearing clients and dealing with cochlear implants and such things. Sounds so interesting and is very connected to speech, maybe that is a better choice! Ummm, not so much. After looking into it, I find out there is a new minimum doctorate degree to get licensed in CA, called the AUd. And, the only school that offers the program in the WHOLE STATE is San Diego State (although Cal State LA is starting a program too). The program sounds super intense, and there are scary pre-reqs like 5 statistic courses, 3 upper division science courses, and 2 college level math courses. No thanks, I think I'll stick to speech =)
But audiology is so intruiging...I wish I was 18 again and could start college over now that I know what I want to do!

Grapefruit Brulee

Here's a quick easy recipe for you! I totally stole this idea from brunch in Chicago, I think devon ordered it the day after the wedding. Grapefruits are super ripe and cheap right now. I've been buying them at our produce store for 33 cents each. Just remember, even if they are ugly on the outside, they will most likely by sweet and delicious inside!
1. Cut your grapefruit in 2
2. Sprinkle with sugar, the more sugar you sprinkle = a thicker brulee coating. That means when Scott, the professional, makes it, it has a thick crust, but when I, healthy cook, make it, the crust is thinner.
3. Now the fun part...torch! Don't be afraid of the torch, you need to keep it on for a bit until the sugar is bubbling and brown.
When you eat it, it has the classic "tap tap" sound of a creme brulee, but no fat!
Oh, and check out our heavy duty torch (yes, it really is as tall as our coffee maker). The little ones just don't have much power!

Crazy Spring Break!

I'm on spring break (woo hoo!) and I spending it...addressing wedding invitations! Not quite the same as the time devon and I went to San Felipe, Mexico. This break does not involve margaritas or foam parties, but rather envelopes and stamps...what is my life coming too??? Anyway, here is a picture of my dining room table totally overtaken with invitation realia. The beautiful flowers are from the family I tutor for on Balboa Island. The mom got 30 vases like that sent to her last Monday, and then 30 more on Tuesday, with balloons..her husband must have done something...

Wedding Shower

Last weekend Scott and I had our first wedding shower. It was a couple's shower thrown by Marian, a friend of Scott's mom. Now Marian, aka Martha Stewart, is an experienced event thrower. She stocks up on various themed items and stores them until the right occasion comes up to use them. She is not a professionsl event planner, but would be very successful at it. Our "theme" was hearts (awww), and cooking. Marian invited a sprinkling of our Orange County friends, along with my grandparents, and Scott's family. In the invitation, guests were sent 2 recipe cards and asked to bring some special recipes to share with us. Marian collected the recipes in a cute box for us, and now we have new recipes for my Nana's butter riches, Matt's beef bourguinon, and Carla's causa (a Peruvian dish).
When the guests arrived, they played the "white" game and the "spice" game. The "white" game consisted about 10 small bowls filled with white foods (salt, flour, cornstarch, sugar, etc). The goal was to guess as many correctly as possible just by smell (no tasting!!). The "spice" game consisted of a cupcake pan, each bowl filled with a different spice or dried herb (cumin, dried basil, paprika, celery seed, star anise, etc.), and the player had to once again guess by smell alone. Scott and I were not allowed to play, so I "helped" my grandma play, and amazingly, Nana won! I don't want to brag, but I knew every single spice in the "spice" game, and no one else did (besides Scott)!Carla and Mike play the spice game.
Now when I mentioned that the theme was hearts, I mean everything was hearts...on the door, the crackers, the salad bowls, even the ice in the water glasses. And if something was not heart shaped, it was red. Marian really outdid herself. She even conspired with Scott's family and my parents to make little books about us. I received 2 books, one from each parent, filled with handwritten notes of why they love me. Scott received the same thing, but one from his mom, and one from each sibling. Jeff reads his book to Scott. Mine was filled with notes like "I love how you do whatever it takes to spend time with family", and " I loved the perm you had when you were 5 years old." Thanks mom and dad, I really love my books!
After dinner we played "Scott & Holly BINGO", a whole BINGO game made about Scott and I by his sister Kelly. Nana and Jeff (Scott's brother) teamed up and swept the tournament, and Nana won the grand prize at the end, a huge electric heart light.
The shower was quite an experience, and I have 2 more coming up (one at work and one thrown by my grandma in Walnut Creek). Now that we have officially had a shower, the wedding seems REAL now! I have my first dress fitting next Saturday....
A pasta pot to add to our All-Clad collection!
Glass plates from my granparents!