OT: Help, another travelogue
Mar. 18th, 2008 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanIf I may, I'd like to shill for Virgin America, which I flew to SF last weekend for wedding stuff. So far it only flies to and from a handful of cities but if you ever get the chance, take it! It's basically a hipper JetBlue. Both my flight there and back were at night, so I don't know about daytime flights, but it was lit up more like a nightclub than a plane. What's amazing is the in-flight entertainment system: satellite t.v., games, movies, short YouTube type stuff, music videos, and a huge music library to listen from. I think you'll be able to go on the internet and shop on the system soon too. JetBlue has better satellite t.v., but I was kept busy the whole time with the music library and this game Anagramarama. You can take out a handheld controller from the arm of your seat, which is cool. And you can order drinks and snacks right from your seat on the same touchscreen system. Best of all, it's cheap…it was only $100 roundtrip.
Fortunately, I managed to dodge bad weather for the most part. It rained a bit after I got in and in the middle of the night, and it rained briefly in Sonoma on our way out. Basically on Saturday we went to see where they're holing up all of the wedding guests in Santa Rosa, check out the winery where the wedding is going to actually be, see the b&b where my bro and his fiancee are going to stay after the wedding (they leave on their honeymoon a few days later), do some cake tasting, and check out the place where we plan on having the rehearsal dinner. Then we capped it off with a dinner in downtown SF at some place called Cortez. The Bay Area is aculinary school graduate dumping ground foodie's paradise and this place would probably make ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darthkittius very happy. The chef has a Michelin star! Woooo. I have no idea what the heck faro is but boy is their's awesome. I also had this soup shot of cabbage and foam made from beets and pork. It sounds nasty but it was actually pretty good. I had the best lamb osso buco ever but I was told the Japanese octopus was out of this world. Maybe next time.
(One day I plan to publish a book called "The Greatest Restaurants To Visit If Someone Else Is Paying.")
The next day, a whole bunch of us, including a couple that's friends with my brother, were supposed to meet for brunch. I learned the hard way that I should bring power bars or something for a trip because I am one miserable cow if I go from 7:30 a.m. through 1:30 p.m. without eating anything. It got ugly, especially after my brother decided it was a great idea to walk 15 minutes up and down steep hills to the restaurant.
Once I got to finally eat something and recover, I went with the fiancee, my mom, and her mom (also visiting that weekend) to check out the bridesmaid dresses. It didn't turn out the way we expected. First of all, I found out that the store is a franchise, so it can't take an order at that location and let me pick up the dress at the one in SD. The next problem was that the store was very limited in its sample sizes. The chick at the store said most of the sample dresses were in size 8. WTF? You mean to tell me that women who are a size 0 or a size 18 can't possibly be bridesmaids? No swizzlesticks or fatties need apply? To make things worse, the store assistant wasn't terribly helpful. She was quite young and probably bummed she had to work on such a nice Sunday.
Fortunately, it wasn't a total loss. I showed the bride-to-be the dress styles I liked and she okayed all of them. As it turned out, there were sizes other than 8 available, and in one of the styles I liked, there was a dress about a size or two smaller than what I normally wear. I guess the samples ran big because I was able to get the dress on and zip it up. It was tight around my middle, but otherwise it fit okay. So I may be able to go down a size in the dress. Now I have to make an appointment to go into the store here in SD and get it all finalized.
We finished early and spent an hour so walking around the shops. I bought two bracelets, one from a teeny-tiny shop where everything is locally-made by some lady from Turkey and a Tarina Tarantino bracelet at another store on sale.
After sitting around my brother's apartment for a while, we decided to take a short stroll around the neighborhood. We stopped into the Marc Jacobs store and while most of what Marc Jacobs makes is quite pricey (even the diffusion line), this store had really inexpensive accessories available as well. The store had a bizarre spring tradition where you can take pictures for free in the front window with a costumed character. Last year it was a bunny. This year, it was a skunk. Somehow, I got talked into taking a family picture with the skunk.
Then it was pretty much off to the airport. We had some awesome Chinese food for dinner, which surprised me.
In SW-related news, the fiancee spilled that she has a cousin who works for Lucas Animation on a contract basis. Dude, that means he may, just may, be working on CW! Apparently, he's going to be at the wedding so I'll have to corner him and drag out all of the dirt. Of course, the wedding is going to be about 2 weeks before CW comes out, but still!
Fortunately, I managed to dodge bad weather for the most part. It rained a bit after I got in and in the middle of the night, and it rained briefly in Sonoma on our way out. Basically on Saturday we went to see where they're holing up all of the wedding guests in Santa Rosa, check out the winery where the wedding is going to actually be, see the b&b where my bro and his fiancee are going to stay after the wedding (they leave on their honeymoon a few days later), do some cake tasting, and check out the place where we plan on having the rehearsal dinner. Then we capped it off with a dinner in downtown SF at some place called Cortez. The Bay Area is a
darthkittius very happy. The chef has a Michelin star! Woooo. I have no idea what the heck faro is but boy is their's awesome. I also had this soup shot of cabbage and foam made from beets and pork. It sounds nasty but it was actually pretty good. I had the best lamb osso buco ever but I was told the Japanese octopus was out of this world. Maybe next time.(One day I plan to publish a book called "The Greatest Restaurants To Visit If Someone Else Is Paying.")
The next day, a whole bunch of us, including a couple that's friends with my brother, were supposed to meet for brunch. I learned the hard way that I should bring power bars or something for a trip because I am one miserable cow if I go from 7:30 a.m. through 1:30 p.m. without eating anything. It got ugly, especially after my brother decided it was a great idea to walk 15 minutes up and down steep hills to the restaurant.
Once I got to finally eat something and recover, I went with the fiancee, my mom, and her mom (also visiting that weekend) to check out the bridesmaid dresses. It didn't turn out the way we expected. First of all, I found out that the store is a franchise, so it can't take an order at that location and let me pick up the dress at the one in SD. The next problem was that the store was very limited in its sample sizes. The chick at the store said most of the sample dresses were in size 8. WTF? You mean to tell me that women who are a size 0 or a size 18 can't possibly be bridesmaids? No swizzlesticks or fatties need apply? To make things worse, the store assistant wasn't terribly helpful. She was quite young and probably bummed she had to work on such a nice Sunday.
Fortunately, it wasn't a total loss. I showed the bride-to-be the dress styles I liked and she okayed all of them. As it turned out, there were sizes other than 8 available, and in one of the styles I liked, there was a dress about a size or two smaller than what I normally wear. I guess the samples ran big because I was able to get the dress on and zip it up. It was tight around my middle, but otherwise it fit okay. So I may be able to go down a size in the dress. Now I have to make an appointment to go into the store here in SD and get it all finalized.
We finished early and spent an hour so walking around the shops. I bought two bracelets, one from a teeny-tiny shop where everything is locally-made by some lady from Turkey and a Tarina Tarantino bracelet at another store on sale.
After sitting around my brother's apartment for a while, we decided to take a short stroll around the neighborhood. We stopped into the Marc Jacobs store and while most of what Marc Jacobs makes is quite pricey (even the diffusion line), this store had really inexpensive accessories available as well. The store had a bizarre spring tradition where you can take pictures for free in the front window with a costumed character. Last year it was a bunny. This year, it was a skunk. Somehow, I got talked into taking a family picture with the skunk.
Then it was pretty much off to the airport. We had some awesome Chinese food for dinner, which surprised me.
In SW-related news, the fiancee spilled that she has a cousin who works for Lucas Animation on a contract basis. Dude, that means he may, just may, be working on CW! Apparently, he's going to be at the wedding so I'll have to corner him and drag out all of the dirt. Of course, the wedding is going to be about 2 weeks before CW comes out, but still!
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-20 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 03:23 pm (UTC)Ooooooohhhhh, have I told you lately that I love you? :D :D :x :x *bounces eagerly* Ohhhh, please, *yes* please, enquiring minds do surely want and need to know, and are actually quite desperate right around now, too, I daresay....also, hrmmmm, methinks having a relative-even-by-marriage who enjoys at least *some* working relationship with the likes of Lucasfilm or Lucasarts? *Connections*, baby! :D *squees excitedly*
no subject
Date: 2008-03-20 02:52 am (UTC)I adore VA -
Date: 2008-03-19 10:26 pm (UTC)Now if either of them would open a res office here...
Re: I adore VA -
Date: 2008-03-20 02:55 am (UTC)