chocolate by the bald man

finally, max brenner and i reunite. love you.

empire state of mind

we’re in nyc! it’s kind of sad because it is 10pm here (9pm at home) and we are already in our hotel room about to fall asleep. but give us a break – we’ve been up since 6am and we had a crying baby on the flight. and we’ve been walking since 3:30pm. excited for tomorrow! here’s a pic of us in times square to prove we are really here… and also a pic of oriana in a glove.

go in nola (3.52)

this past weekend, g and i had an extended weekend date in new orleans. it was my second time (first was the sta manager’s conference back in 2007) and g’s first. amazing food. dirty streets. and walking around with drinks in your hand is always a plus. on saturday, we had two dinners. seriously. 5:30 p.m. was at cochon and 8:45 p.m. was at emeril’s nola. my suggestion – have a plan of action if you’re ever going to do this. we did not and suffered the consequences. but man, it was good. also, hand grenades > hurricanes.

pics from the rebel to come. full set here.

3.52: trip to new orleans together

in weekends past

i’m a little behind on this blogging thing. oops. let’s recap.

boston
boston with the mother was uber fun. we had a really nice hotel that made it easy to relax and just enjoy ourselves. walked around boston a lot. i never realized it was such a small city… it’s just all really compact. we discovered farmer’s markets (in loveeee), boston doesn’t have a good dessert scene, people pee on the park benches, the freedom trail is really long, mother gets drunk (or high?) off raspberry coulis, mit and harvard are right next to each other, i lost the wicked lottery, mother hates bad pictures of herself and makes me delete them, boston has no sales tax on clothes – shopping is awesome… i could probably go on and on, but simply put, it was a great experience. i realized i don’t take enough time to appreciate my mother. even in just the easiest ways like, taking her on a much needed vacation. cheers to the start of the annual mother/daughter trip!

more boston photos here.

grapefest 2010
gather a bunch of “sophisticated” people together on a small street in downtown grapevine looking for everything wine and wallah – you’ve got grapefest. walked around for a bit, boy was it hot. we got tickets to the wine tasting, which consisted of around 40ish different wineries in the area and all with around 3-5 wines to taste. that equals a lot of wine tasting, btw. i had to stop a little more than halfway through to keep myself sane. there was also a kid’s area with this awesome hamster mascot… i was in love with it.

more grapefest photos here.

tx vs ou
ahh, saved the worst for last. (second) sad day in texas football. this year just isn’t our year. oh well, i’ve been able to revel in many years of good texas football – with vince young and colt mccoy… i’d say i’m pretty satisfied. love you, horns!

hammer and alex came into town and it was fun seeing them again. went out with coworkers and friends to addison friday night to do some bar hopping consisting of sherlock’s, flying saucer and dukes. love me some beer and cheese! CHEESE! woke up early saturday morn to get my horns up. headed to steph’s to chill then off to the state fair on the dart. walked around, had some turkey leg (got tired of it after 1/3 was gone) then found varun and gang at a texas tailgate party. hung around, found a tv during the 2nd quarter and drowned my sorrows away in the fair after that. g won me an awesome domo, so i guess not all was lost. stayed up till 3 am that night doing nothing but watching how i met your mother and listening to hammer strum away on the guitar. it’s the simple life.

more tx/ou photos here.

and that brings us to the present. booooring.

to the big apple

it is time… for the ULTIMATE SISTER TRIP!! i have never taken a vacation with my sister, and it’s about time! we’re off to nyc in december for 4 nights of sisterly fun! today, i made it official by booking our tickets and hotel.

expect much more of the following…

the vegas montage

some memories:
- g scoring us an upgrade to aria’s sky suites just be name dropping zeshan… who wasn’t even in the suite himself
- jean phillipe at aria… amazing cakes and pastries!
- number 1 priority: noodle asia… delicious delicious roast duck noodle soup
- trying to catch up to everyone’s level with 151
- night #1: tao at venetian… paying $200 to skip the line to stay for 30 minutes…
- poor joon in the morning
- chocolate croissant crumbs all over the floor… oops
- annoying front staff at the aria buffet, gave us SO MUCH trouble for wanting to seat 10 all together when the restaurant wasn’t even full… DO NOT RECOMMEND.
- discovering the sky suite complimentary lounge with glass bottles of various sodas, fiji water, breakfast, snacks, and all the liquor you’d ever want
- steph: “can i have a shot of goose?” | sky lounge lady: *pours two glasses of goose* | stephanie: *drinks it all*
- awesome flower arrangements at aria
- liquid pool party with the hot pool water – gross
- frozen watermelon balls… YUM… but $15 each… oops
- angry varun getting banned from the pool and escorted out
- water in steph’s ear… for 30 minutes until she passed out – thank GOD
-  salt and butter mix for bread at sage! reminds me of oystercatchers… delicious
- “are scallops vegetables?”
- meeting up with justin lee! it’s been 3 years since i last saw him at UT!
- night #2: haze at aria… paying another $200 to skip the line… but we stayed more than 30 minutes
- SO LOUD AT HAZE – did not enjoy the foam from the ceiling… protect the beer!
- awkward, hilarious random guy dancing alone and BAD
-  relaxing poolside at aria with ms. stephanie king
- annie’s pina-ca-load-a
- the yoons… stephphil yoon!
- witnessing the XS craze at encore… holy crap that line was LONG and it was only 11 p.m.
- night#3: XS at encore… paying $400 total to skip the line… but had an awesome, awesome night
- apparently paris hilton was there, but didn’t see her
- “excuse me… can i squeeze in here?”
- “her name is michelle olivia wong!!!!” DANGIT STEPHANIE.
- jade stephanie king is from new hampshire, works in finance and is 27 years old
- michelle olivia wong is from san francisco, it’s her bachelorette party, is a marketing professional and is 15 years old
- steph, can you even name a city in new hampshire??
- lies, lies and more lies
- random guys: “so, would you girls like to go to the dance floor with us? | me: *thinking* “yes, perfect time to leave them behind…” | steph: “YES!” | me: DOH!
- varun trying to teach us how to dance… fail
- the joon dance
- leaving at around 3 a.m. and the line still being very, very LONG
- matching the encore carpet
- falling asleep while sitting across from steph at the cafe after XS
- steph wolfing her beef hash down in 3 minutes
- paris brunch: paying $10 to skip the line… WORTH IT.
- you can never go wrong with all-you-can-eat-and-drink-champagne brunch
- passing out yet again after a champagne brunch
- awkward zumanity with steph
- bouchon is still amazing. i have yet to taste anything better in vegas.
- steph winning her $900 with her $25 chip… always follow your feelings!
- night#4: staying in the hotel to sleep… paying $0 (this is what happens when only the asians are left, hehe)
- luckies!!!
- taking a total of 4 ‘special’ cars (2 limos, 1 escalade, 1 yukon)… have never taken more than that in my life

good times.

VEGAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just got really excited.

presidential in cleveland

behold, our hotel room when visiting cleveland this past weekend… apparently the likes of wayne newton and michael jackson stayed in this very room.

congrats to priscilla!

london

for all things london, visit okitisokay.tumblr.com

london, baby!

it’s london, baby! kat won a virgin atlantic ticket to london on my company’s facebook page for a beach photo contest we were having (i swear i didn’t rig it at all). so, i decided to accompany her on her trip to london!

yesterday i officially booked my ticket. i am super excited cause this marks the very first OK trip ever!! can you imagine all the photos that are going to come out of this?

also, it pays to work for a travel agency. found a room at the hyatt regency london (normally upwards of $400 US) for $160 US with the travel agent rate. kat, you better love me. and you also should call me back to confirm this is okay so i can book it. *grin*