A "Wicked" Good Birthday

For my 28th birthday, Eric and I went to see Wicked in San Francisco. Ever since we moved here, I have been wanting to go see the musical. I love musicals and plays, and I was very excited to see Wicked because I've heard so many good reviews of the show. The reviews were correct. I loved every minute of the play! Eric even liked it. We had orchestra seats so I was able to see everything in the play. As we were leaving, I bought a poster with signatures from the cast- it didn't hurt that it was tax deductible. I couldn't get the songs from the show out of my head- "Popular! I know about popular!" and "I'm defying gravity." Also, here is a little known San Francisco fact- Wicked started out in San Francisco before moving to Broadway in 2003. Eric took me to dinner near Union Square at First Crush. We had a delicious meal and talked about the play. My 28th birthday turned out to be a "wickedly" good one.

San Francisco Civic Center- near our parking spot

WICKED!

Outside the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco with Elphaba & Glinda

Me & the witches

My handsome husband patiently waiting for dinner after the play

Rancho San Antonio

The weather has been great here in California, and on Sunday, it was really great. So we went hiking in Palo Alto with some of our friends and Eric's co-residents. The views from Rancho San Antonio were amazing. You can see Palo Alto and a lot of the Bay area. It was a great hike and good times with new friends.

View of Palo Alto

Eric & me with a beautiful background

Eric & me with another view of the city

We could also see San Francisco from this view.

Ariel, Achal, Do, & Eric enjoying the hike

By the way, there were a lot of people hiking that day, and we couldn't find parking. So we parked in a neighborhood near the park and stopped in for an open house at a home for sale. It was too funny that we were crashing the open house just for parking because we certainly cannot afford a $2 million dollar house. :)

Hogs beat the Bears!

The Arkansas Razorback Baseball team played a 3-game series against Cal this past weekend. Eric and I met up with Scott and Kristen Walnofer to go the game on Saturday. It was a beautiful and sunny California day at the ball park. There were lots of Hog fans there and most were members of the San Francisco Alumni Association. We enjoyed "calling the Hogs." It was my first time to do so since moving to CA (or at least in public). The Razorbacks won 9-5 and hit 3 home runs over the fence. Go Hogs! After the game, we toured the UC Berkeley campus. It was pretty but not as pretty as Stanford's campus. For dinner, Scott (the soon-to-be graduate of the Culinary Institute of America) picked the restaurant- Vic's Chaat. It was an authentic (very authentic) Indian restaurant. No one really understood the menu except for Scott so he did all of the ordering for us. The food was very different than Indian-fusion food I've had before, but it was very good. There were a lot of surprising tastes in the dishes. However, I would not recommend Indian desserts. I did not like them at all. One even tasted like roses- maybe prepared with rose water?? Don't waste your time on that. It was a great day hanging out with the Razorbacks and our friends.

Go Hogs!

Razorback Baseball Team

Scott, Kristen and Eric at Berkeley

Sather Tower- UC Berkeley's Campanile

It is the 3rd largest bell and clock tower in the world.

View of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance from the Campanile

Eric took a picture of our receipt so we could ask some of our friends what we ate.

Viva Las Vegas

Eric had a week of vacation so we headed to VEGAS! Eric has never been to Las Vegas, and I went with my family when I was 16 years old. So we were excited to see all of the lights and glitz of Vegas. It was such a short flight for us since we live close to Nevada. We were in Vegas in no time at all. While we were there, we enjoyed touring "The Strip" with all of the beautiful hotels, casinos, shopping, and restaurants. We played a few games and won a little bit of money. We watched Mystere, a Cirque de Soleil show. It was amazing! Eric and I couldn't believe all of the talent. I was also scared the whole time we watched the show because all of the crazy acrobatics they do! I was worried someone was going to get hurt, but they didn't- thank goodness. We also saw a magic show, and I made Eric ride the gondola with me at The Venetian. One night, we met up with Missy, a friend of mine from Morrilton who moved to Vegas 6 years ago. She had tickets to a VIP event at the Hard Rock Cafe. We enjoyed seeing her and listening to the music. She is always so much fun. Missy and I had our picture taken at the event, and she called me last week to let me know we made a local magazine. I guess I am hanging out with the right people. :) Eric and I headed back to California, but I'm sure we will visit again since we live close by and had a great and relaxing vacation in Las Vegas.

Eric starting off at the slot machine. Lady Luck!

Eric and the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel

Me at the Paris Hotel

At the Venetian with one the statues

I have no idea how those people stay so still without passing out.

On the gondola ride I made Eric get on with me

Our gondola driver

It really looks like a true sky.

Happy Chinese New Year! We have celebrate this a lot since moving to the West Coast.

Missy and me at the Hard Rock Cafe event she invited us to

Dr. & Mrs. Wright in VEGAS!

My handsome husband waiting on the Mirage volcano show

Wow!

Bellagio Hotel lobby- beautiful

Happy Chinese New Year, again! It is the year of the Tiger.

Me & the Tiger- It is going to be Rita's year. :)

Enjoying the scenery

Sleeping lions at the MGM Grand

They are asleep on top of the walk-through. This is probably the closest I've been to a lion.

Bellagio water show

Eric enjoying the view

Caesar's Palace

We had a great time in Vegas!

San Francisco Zoo

Eric and I went to the San Francisco Zoo on February 7th before the Super Bowl Party. It was a beautiful day in SF. There were a lot of different animals at the zoo. We enjoyed walking around, reading, and talking about all of them. Also, the zoo is right next to the ocean. We could here the ocean waves crashing while we were at the zoo, and we walked to the beach afterwards. Here are a few photos I took and some of our comments.

Me & the Lion- As you know, we are big fans of cats since they are Rita's cousins. :)

This lion was "opening" a present from the zoo keeper.

Me & the Flamingos- I love their pink color.

This one reminded me of Eric post-call.

This is how Eric looks when he has worked 30+ hours.

Eric is enjoying the zoo and more importantly, his day off.

The Pacific Ocean

It was very windy in San Francisco.

Eric and the beach

Lake Tahoe

Eric and I went to Lake Tahoe to ski with some friends. We stayed at one of the Stanford surgeon's home in Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful. We had a good time the night before skiing. The next morning we went skiing at Squaw Valley. I haven't skied in FOREVER so I was nervous. Eric went last year in Salt Lake City so I had more confidence in him. Some of the residents are expert skiers. They were on the black slopes! I can't even imagine. Eric, Achal, David, and I were on the green and blue slopes. It was a lot of fun. We skied all day, and we were so sore the next day. Eric said that I skied well. :) We had a great time with our friends and enjoyed the beautiful scenery in Lake Tahoe. We are planning on going back soon since we live so close. We may even try snow boarding since a lot of our friends ski and snow board.

Achal, Eric, and David ready to ski

Me & Eric on the slopes

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Squaw Valley

Squaw Valley

Me & Achal on the ski lift

David, Eric, and Achal on the slopes

Looking good

Go Eric!