Hola from San Juan!

After a very long flight from Seattle, we arrived in San Juan early afternoon to beautiful, sunny and VERY HOT weather. Our cruise on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas begins tomorrow, and we arrived a day early as a precaution. We've had a chill day involving lots of great food, some beach time, walking around El Morro and checking out the casinos in our hotel and next door. Taking advantage of the free wifi at the hotel right now, I've uploaded pictures taken from today -- check it out! Tomorrow will be light as we just grab a bite to eat and hopefully have more beach time before heading to the pier to begin the herding-of-the-cows boarding of the cruise ship....but we are really looking forward to it.

Today has been a walk through memory lane -- for those of you that know, my family has a timeshare here and I spent much of my childhood coming here every March. When I grew up, I took advantage of the place and brought a bunch of girlfriends here...and later visited again. It's probably been a good 8 years or so since I was last here and it's been fascinating to see how much the city has grown. Isla Verde, the neighborhood where the timeshare is located as well as our 1-night hotel, is so much bigger than before--there are now many more hotels and eating establishments. That said, it's great to see many of my favorites still standing.

Frozen Custard comes to Seattle!

In Kansas, there is frozen custard EVERYWHERE. I remember this even in high school as the trend started picking up...you couldn't find an ice cream shop except the Baskin-Robbins in the strip mall...but you could find a few frozen custard stores. I'd been wondering if it was just a midwest thing as I never saw such a store on the East Coast or West Coast. Well, about a month ago, after having dinner at Spinasse up the street, Matt and I noticed a sign for a frozen custard place and wondered.........well, it finally opened! Old School Frozen Custard is just up the street---I can't wait to check it out. As part of its grand opening, free cones from 3pm - 10pm this Saturday!

my body hates me

Over the last 24 hours, I got sunburnt over lunch in the sun (just sitting there for 40 minutes in the Microsoft commons!), then attended an intense Circuit Training class at the ProClub and then suddenly had the inspiration to bike 30 miles home around Lake Washington. My body hates me. It feels good but man, my legs are like jello. Here was my route:



In other news:

• My dearest friends, Jigna and Matt, celebrated the birth of their daughter, Kiran, on May 9th---congratulations! I went and visited them on day 2 and she was so precious!
• Another couple we love -- Jessica and John -- got married up in Friday Harbor on May 16th. We had a fabulous weekend in the San Juan Islands, renting a log cabin with Matt & Asayo and also hanging out a bunch with Katy & Lenny. While there, we biked into town, saw a camel and spent a lot of time hanging out with Jessica's relatives from Tennessee! Some picture to check out:
  
  • Weekend in Friday Harbor
  • John & Jessica's Wedding
    

• The weather in Seattle has been unusually warm -- it'll be in the upper 80's today! No wonder I got a sunburn. I'm putting sunblock before going to work....bizarre.
  
• For the 2nd time, Matt and I decided to attend the Secret Film Festival as part of SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival)---I'd love to tell you about the movies we've seen, but...they're secret!
• Remember how I had to replace my tires? Well, one month after getting the new tires, my rear passenger side tire went flat AGAIN! I brought it in and got it replaced for free...but a weird coincidence.
• For Mother's Day, my brother and I secretly flew to Vegas and surprised our mother by sitting in her bedroom until she got home. It was a fun weekend, filled with karaoke, bowling, yummy food, Cirque du Soleil and swimming in the pool together for the first time. Here's the video of us surprising her:



• My favorite quote from the weekend with our mother was when Aaron and I were teaching her how to plays craps in the Palazzo casino. Afterwards, we asked what she learned: "when Aaron rolls, better bet "Don't Pass!"" Ha Ha.
• I'm in love with 2 new recent neighborhood joints: Molly Moon's Ice Cream and Oddfellows Cafe for brunch
• Matt is graduating soon!!! 2 more weeks!
• To celebrate his graduation and our upcoming anniversary, we've recently booked a Caribbean Cruise!!! We're going on RCI's Adventure of the Seas, leaving from San Juan, Puerto Rico and visiting Curacao, Dominica, Aruba and St. Thomas...at the end of June. I've never been on a cruise without my parents and it's probably been a good 10 years since my last cruise...this will be Matt's first. I'm really looking forward to a bunch of relaxation, sitting by the pool with a dacquiri in hand, scuba diving in Curacao and ice skating! Yes, there's a freakin' ice skating rink on this boat.