• Traveled the entire year = spent 128 nights in hotels
• Weddings, weddings, weddings, weddings, weddings
• Photographed the Houston Marathon
• Austin, San Diego, Chicago, Toronto, Seattle, Peru, Miami, DC, LA, NYC, Bogota, Arizona, and STL (of course)
• Met my very first niece! (What do I really call her?)
• Attended the last round of high school/college graduations for a while
• Worked on 3 different projects/clients
• Picked up golfing!
• Saw my BSB lovers in concert TWICE <3

• Journal at least once a week
• Read my Bible every night
• Learn how to cook from my mommy!
• Take more photos
• Embrace change

Here’s to hoping that 2012 will be the year that something big happens. I’m ready for it :)

• Total Airfare: $200 (just had to buy a ticket for my momma, since I used points for my ticket and my Companion Pass for my father’s)
• Total Rental Car Cost: $30 (used my Hertz points & just had to pay the airport tax + fees). Oh and I guess gas, too
• Total Hotel Cost: $0

Glad to see that the 2+ years of traveling are paying off! We stayed at the Canyon Suites at the Phoenician – absolutely beautiful hotel & grounds. The desert scenery is completely unlike any other, and I realized just how pretty it is! Among all the cactuses (cacti?) and other desert vegetation, the hotel was also at the foot of the Camelback Mountain, which provided some amazing views both at daytime and night. We also hiked it on Saturday morning…so fun! I wish we had mountains to hike in Houston.

My favorite part of the trip was visiting the Grand Canyon!!! I had never been before, so I was super excited for our day-trip. It’s about 4 hours from Scottsdale, so we left bright & early on Friday morning. The drive there was so scenic and pretty and as we got closer, the temperatures started dropping lower & lower. By the time we got there, it was in the 20′s and the entire place was covered with snow. It’s incredible how the seasons are so distinctive – definitely not something we’re used to in Texas, haha. I’ve only ever seen pictures of the GC during summer and I can only imagine how HOT it is so it was really neat to see the entire place covered in snow. And it wasn’t hot OR crowded. Winner.

After taking a gazillion pictures, we left GC around 5-6pm, as it started getting dark. On the way back, the weather started to turn nasty. It was snowing and visibility was really low, so we were driving maybe 35 mph for a few hours. The weather started getting better once we hit Flagstaff and headed back towards Scottsdale, but it was pretty scary at times! Good thing father is a good driver :) I’m so glad that we went on Friday because we later found out that they closed the entire highway on Saturday, due to the weather. We were lucky!

The rest of the weekend was packed with shopping (there’s this HUGE mall really close to the hotel) and eating. Yes, we ate at In-N-Out…twice. And it was awesome. And on Sunday, we stumbled upon the Arizona State campus and discovered this huge farmer’s market that was there for just that weekend only! Great way to pass the day, especially since the weather was so nice.

Another update in the traveling arena: I finally got a Starwood Ambassador!! I’ve been hearing my coworker talk about his for the past few years, and now I finally have one too!! Basically, I now have a personal customer service representative who will help me with anything travel-related, including (hopefully) hooking me up with some sweet upgrades and the like :) Too bad I got one right as I stopped traveling…but hopefully I can pick it up again to start fully reaping the benefits!

So, 2012 travel plans are still very tentative (minus Iceland/Boston in February), but I’m pretty sure LA in May (for my cousin’s wedding) and…wait for it…AUSTRALIA in August are on the table. Get excited, because I know I am :)

We literally booked the tickets maybe 3 weeks before the trip, and in my moment of spontaneity, I didn’t pause to consider any other factors (including, but not limited to, the language barrier, the country’s history/reputation of being dangerous, or the fact that I could unknowingly be turned into a drug mule…or something like that). Maybe a bit heavy on the dramatics, but I literally bought the tickets and then hopped on a plane a few weeks later without any real planning.

From STL, I connected in Newark where I had to run to make my connection, thanks to a flight delay (of course). And when I finally landed in Bogota, Colombia, it was nearly midnight and I still had to make my way to the hotel. Jessie said there would be a hotel driver waiting for me at the airport with a sign that had my name and “GHP” on it. I made my way through customs and finally got outside…to find that the airport was nearly deserted with only a handful of people waiting. I scanned the thinning crowd and eventually spotted a guy holding a sign with my name…but no “GHP”. Since there have been numerous stories of fake drivers who just copy the signs of the real drivers, I knew to be wary. But it was late, I was tired, and the man looked nice enough. So I followed him…through some narrow construction alleys…into a dark parking lot…and got into his unmarked car.

Scared yet?

We left the parking lot and started driving, and the entire city was eerily quiet (very unlike the hustle & bustle that we saw in late-night Lima). The whole time, I was praying, “God, please just let me make it to Jessie. All I gotta do is make it safely to Jessie”. And slowly but surely, I started to see a change in my surroundings – the neighborhoods were getting nicer! Eventually, we pass this really nice building, and I thought to myself, “Ooh, that building is pretty”…and then the driver pulled up to it. It was our hotel, yay! The Charleston Casa Medina – beeeautiful hotel! Safe & sound & super happy to see Jessie :)

The rest of the trip was filled with lots of walking (sometimes into the not-so-good parts of town), eating, and trying to get around using our poor Espanol. Other highlights were the Museo del Oro (the Gold Museum), the Botero Museum, the Salt Cathedral (join a tour – we did the Tour Catedral de Sal), visiting a coffee plantation about 2 hours south of Bogota (DestinoBogota’s Coffee Experience tour), and watching the Colombia vs Venezula / Colombia vs Argentina futbol games! Them S. Americans be crazy dedicated – way more fun than watching soccer games in the States.

Weather-wise, I would give Bogota a B-. The weather sort of cooperated with us. It would rain at least once a day, but luckily, we only got caught in the downpour once or twice. Good thing because those times, we were literally soaked. And cold.

Food-wise, I would give it an A-. Our hotel was located in Zona G (aka the “Gourmet Zone” where a lot of nice restaurants are). We had a lot of empanadas and a lot of ajiaco – a delicious chicken & potato soup & the local specialty of Bogota. But my favorite meal was at a restaurant called Rafael that served Peruvian food. We had sea bass ceviche, sea grouper, and octopus…D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. We also had some good Italian food, burgers (not our first choice, but our coffee plantation tour guide, Claudia, said we HAD to try the burgers because of the meat. She was right, it was good…or we were just hungry), and beef. Oh, and of course the coffee. And hot chocolate!

Language-wise, I would give Jessie & I a C. We had many a snafu (mostly with figuring how much to pay the taxi drivers and/or other merchants – numbers are hard). Incidents included…1) accidentally ordering a full meal when we meant to order only hot chocolates, 2) accidentally spending all of our money and not having enough for the airport driver because we misread the currency, and 3) accidentally ordering another round of Pisco Sours (traditional Peruvian drink). It went a little something like this:

Waiter: Más Pisco Sours?
Me (thinking he asked “How’s Pisco Sours?”): Bueno!
Waiter: Está bien!!

Whoops. At least it made for an unforgettable & fun evening :)

Safety-wise, I would give the city a B! Probably because we were sure to stay in all the safe & nice areas, but I think Bogota is a perfectly safe place to visit if you just stay alert & smart. Avoid taxis that you haven’t called beforehand (the story is they take you to an ATM, make you empty your bank account, then drop you off somewhere else). Don’t get caught in bad parts of town (or do as we did and just walk really fast through those areas :P). Be aware of your surroundings. Basically, act like you’re in any other big city and you’ll be fine. I was a tad nervous coming in, but we met this girl from Mexico City who reminded us that anything can happen wherever you are, so just be smart :)

Overall, the trip was really fun! It’s interesting being in Bogota and getting to talk with all the locals because you realize that Colombia is on the verge of becoming a really great place to be. It’s so neat to see how far the country has come in the past decade or so, and it’s going to be exciting to see how the people respond to change & the desire to move forward. I’m glad I visited now because I think everything (especially the tourism industry) will undergo a lot of transformation in the coming years. The only thing I would say is that we started to run out of things to do since we were there for so long. At the end of our 5 days, I was ready to come home, but also really grateful for this opportunity to visit.

Oh, and I got to meet up with Hugo, a local Bogota-ian who was in our group for the Machu Picchu trek. It was really nice to catch up, and even nicer to see that you can keep up with friends even if they’re in a totally different part of the world. Until next time, South America!

This year, however, Halloween festivities played a much larger role in my life. Knott’s Scary Farm in LA, helping TKap assemble her last-minute costume, seeing little kids run around the office in Darth Vader costumes brandishing their light sabers yelling “I’m gonna slice you!”…so cute :) But the highlight of this year’s dark holiday was…Scarefest Extravaganza Drinkathon 2011, as so dubbed by Alex. The itinerary of the night:

1) Happy hour at Benjy’s
2) Paranormal Activity 3
3) Reverse happy hour at Max’s Wine Dive
4) Haunted house

Why so many happy hours, you ask? After hearing Alex’s suggestions of PA3 + haunted house, I thought back to my Knott’s Scary Farm experience and I knew that some extra, um, help would be greatly appreciated in helping me get through the crazy zombies chasing you through a maze with real chainsaws. And it didn’t help that Alex kept talking about how people literally peed their pants because it was so scary. Therefore some light-hearted fun was planned before both scary events.

Benjy’s HH was great…good food & good drinks. We headed from there to the theater (well, Z & Rach went to Target and Jessie & TTH watched 50/50 instead), but the rest of us put on our brave faces and sat through 1.5 hours of suspense & creepiness. The movie was okay…not many new concepts, but a few parts definitely creeped me out/made me jump. From there, we headed to Max’s where we discovered that reverse HH was actually at midnight…whoops. But still, good food & good drinks. We then drove out to the haunted house and since we arrived as they were about to close, there was no line, yay! We got into formation (Dehorne up front, girls in the middle, and Jon Lai bringing up the rear) and started the journey of terror. Surprisingly, it was okay and not too scary, partly because Dehorne would try to scare the people first, partly because they targeted Carmen & Joanne in the middle the most, and partly because Jon Lai (unintentionally) kept blocking them from scaring me from behind. But it was pretty dark at some parts and I’m definitely glad we were all holding on to each other to stay together. Roughly 20 minutes later, we were out…and we survived!

Overall, I’d say the first annual SFDE was a success! There was much talk about going to another haunted house in NYC this weekend, but not enough people were game for going :( But now we have a year to plan an even scarier and creepier event for next year…excellent.

I went to LA with Z in the beginning of October where our MAIN & ONLY PURPOSE was to visit Ch and no one else ;) We didn’t actually spend much time in LA because we had a weekend booked at the St Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, about 1.5 hours south of the city. Once again, thank you Starpoints for allowing us to be fake high rollers! The hotel itself was gorgeous and so relaxing with its private beach, multiple pools, and huge golf course. And since Dana Point is right next to Laguna Beach, we just had to go…and stalk all the places that were featured on the show. We may be independent women in our mid 20′s but we are still teenyboppers at heart.

The time that we did spend in LA was used for hanging out with friends & family, which was really nice. We went to Knott’s Scary Farm with cousin Kevin (so frightening) and ate Korean BBQ with Irene (yay!) and cousins Kevin & Jeffrey (delicious). The Korean BBQ was definitely one of the highlights of the trip…that’s the benefit of having a local Korean friend who knows where the good places are ;) The good thing about LA is that since it’s such a large city, there’s always something different to do each time. All in all, a fun and different weekend from all the other typical LA weekends I’ve done.

Secondly, I went to NYC this past weekend! I was in real danger of being a fifth wheel, but thankfully the awesome Oli stepped in for a last-minute rescue. The 6 of us (me, Oli, Alex, Jessie, JLau, & Rachel) spent the weekend eating too much…then walking too much (and too fast) to offset all the eating. Food highlights: Shake Shack!!! (twice…of course), Ramen (once at Ippudo, once at Totto), Momofuku, Chelsea Market, Korean BBQ, Eataly (omg heaven), and Halal cart! Not too shabby for 3 days. We ate so much that at work on Monday, I got hungry so quickly because I was too accustomed to eating a full meal every 2-3 hours.

In the little time we had between meals, we made time to explore places in NYC too. Sony Wonder Technology Lab, 9/11 Memorial, Occupy Wall Street, and of course the classics like Times Square and Rockefeller Center. We actually got an apartment the first two nights through HomeAway, which was really fun and actually cheaper than a hotel! Definitely reinforced the fact that NYC living is small, expensive, and way harder than the Texas housing we’re used to. Oli & I then stayed the third night at The Chatwal, a boutique hotel one block from Times Square (thanks again, Starpoints!). Hotel itself was really nice, especially since we got upgraded to a weird suite, yay! And the name definitely made for some interesting…conversation :P #C-Wal

And for some more Adventures of Ippy-related news…I now have a new adventure buddy, Jessie!! In a very spontaneous, last-minute booking decision, I will now be going to Bogota, Colombia with her next week! Since she’ll be there for work, she generously invited me to come spend the weekend and a few extra days with her. I’m pretty sure that this will be my last international adventure for 2011, but that’s ok, because I’m also going to Iceland with Oli in February! Looking forward to getting a few more stamps in my passport in the coming months :)

2005 (Age: 19): Olivia’s 19th birthday was one of many events. First, her parents came into town and took us out for a sushi dinner at Maiko’s. Then we (the girls pictured below) surprised her with a scavenger hunt that eventually ended with baked goods in the San Jac basement kitchen.

2006 (Age: 20): This year, we celebrated her birthday with our very first trip to Dallas for TX/OU weekend. We didn’t actually go to the game (sold our tickets) but we did go to the State Fair. It was her first encounter with endless choices of fried foods…and boy, did she (and all of us) go crazy. We watched the game at the Koay’s house where our Longhorns won, 28-10. Hook em.

2007 (Age: 21): Seeing as I was not yet 21, I cannot comment on the bday festivities that occurred on a street that would someday also become a favorite of mine. But back in Apt 221, we decorated her room with a lovely Christmas light heart display (which she promptly removed the next day…sad), and also took her out to dinner at Romeo’s, where we all chipped in to get Oli her very first alcoholic drink.

2008 (Age: 22): This year, we went to dinner at Saba Blue Water Cafe to celebrate both Oli and Chungy’s 22nd birthdays! Afterwards, I’m pretty sure we went back to Apt 221 and played Spades.

2009 (Age: 23): This was a special birthday year. It was her first birthday spent in Boston, and Apt 221 went up for the weekend to celebrate. We had a great time walking around, enjoying the fall weather, eating clam chowder, going on the Freedom Trail (it was her first time so she still enjoyed it!), eating fried chicken as Oli’s birthday meal, and playing Spades into the night.

2010 (Age: 24): I went up to Boston for this year’s birthday and we celebrated by drinking lots of soju (delicious) and dancing the night away at Starbar? Rainbow Bar? Something like that. I got to meet some of Oli’s friends, including @sylviecyruskrn aka Favorite Bostonian (pictured below). It was a good night.

Dearest Oli, I hope you had a fantabulous 25th birthday (although it probably wasn’t that great because I wasn’t there…). Love you lots, and I promise I’ll come celebrate your 26th with you next year (!). But in the meantime, we have Iceland to look forward to in February!!

If you know me, then you already know that I keep up with an obscene amount of tv shows. 24, to be exact. Last season marked the departure of several shows, including Friday Night Lights (still sad about this), Outsourced, Off the Map, and Mad Love. In my attempt to bolster my numbers again, I decided to pick up a few more shows. Didn’t want to go too crazy since this TV-watching thing does take up a good amount of time. But…I ended up picking up 8 more. I’m like an addict. Here’s my fall lineup:

The New:
Up All Night
The Good Wife
2 Broke Girls
New Girl
Ringer
House of Lies
Suits
Weeds

The Old:
Modern Family
The Office
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Private Practice
Nikita
Amazing Race
Desperate Housewives
Dexter
Gossip Girl
How I Met Your Mother
Glee
30 Rock
Cougar Town
One Tree Hill
True Blood
White Collar

Two of the new shows required some catching up (The Good Wife – 2 seasons, Weeds – 7 seasons) so that kept me occupied for most of the summer. But now that the whole gang’s back in full force, my iPhone TV forecast app has never been busier. Thankfully, some of them are not starting until January (House of Lies, 30 Rock, Cougar Town, One Tree Hill), some are summer shows (White Collar, True Blood, Suits), and some are still TBD (Weeds). But still – 24 is a full-time job. And it’s no wonder I don’t go to the gym anymore…

Happy watching!! :)

Tracey: http://dna.sensecorp.com/scnews/Pages/2011BBQCompetition.aspx

  youre famous

me: i am quite famous

  what can i say

Tracey: http://dna.sensecorp.com/scnews/Supporting%20Pages/BBQ2011.aspx

  im famous!!

  very famous!! http://dna.sensecorp.com/scnews/Supporting%20Pages/BBQ2011.aspx

  this is me yelling at paula for erasing our pic

http://dna.sensecorp.com/scnews/Supporting%20Pages/BBQ2011.aspx

me: hahaha so famous!!

Tracey: “cmon paula, but it was funny!!”

  your famous!! http://dna.sensecorp.com/scnews/Supporting%20Pages/BBQ2011.aspx

me: hahaha you know you’re just sending me the same link over & over right?

While in DC, we also got the opportunity to meet up with other friends, old & new. Literally each person in our group had at least one other friend living in DC, and we all got to meet up – our group grew from 7 to 14! It was awesome getting to see high school friends, college and/or post-grad roommates, childhood friends, and college friends. Friendships that can last the long-distance = win.

We did a ton of the typical tourist-y things–monuments, memorials, museums–but my favorite was the Newseum! We also ate a lot of really good food–crepes, Afghan, cupcakes, Italian–but my favorite was…SHAKE SHACK!! Seriously, it has become my life mission to eat at every single Shake Shack in the world (progress so far: NYC, Miami, DC). Ever since I said goodbye to SS in Miami, my anticipation of seeing this fine establishment again probably made up 85% of my excitement for this DC trip. Just kidding…maybe only about 50% :)

The history associated with this city is so extensive (of course). Although I’m not a super history buff like Lohdown, it is still very humbling and neat to be in a city that oozes so much power. It really is such a different vibe from all other cities in the U.S. and it was the little things that made me marvel at the fact that this city is immersed in so much meaning. Everything from the layout of the National Mall (so symmetrical!) to the minute details associated with the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns to the fact that an American flag atop the White House means the President is in…who thought of all these things?! Incredibly fascinating.

Being in DC also makes you appreciate the price that comes with freedom. So many memorials…so many museums…so many monuments…all dedicated to those who gave their lives for a mission that we often take for granted. Especially moving was the 9/11 exhibit at the Newseum. It still shocks me that it’s already been 10 years and that for a lot of the youth, this tragedy is just another chapter in the history books and not something that they actually remember/lived through. I likened it to other national tragedies, such as the assassination of JFK. For those who remember that day, I’m sure it is still just as moving now as it was then. But for myself (and for others who weren’t born/too young to remember), I see that event from a very detached point of view – yes, it’s sad, but it was not a personal experience. But watching those images and videos of the planes crashing into the WTC was like I was re-living that day all over again – kind of surreal, but still equally as terrifying. I’m really excited to visit the newly opened 9/11 Memorial in NYC next month. I’m sure it will be an emotional experience, just as the Newseum exhibit was – not a dry eye in the house.

Speaking of NYC, an update on what’s next in the travels! Next weekend, I’m going to LA with Zaneta to visit Ch, then I”ll be fifth wheelin’ in NYC in October (Oli, please come), then Philly with TKap in November! And that’ll bring us into the holiday season, which I am oh-so-excited for. The weather is finally starting to turn into fall, which is just the best time of the year.

- Deep Fried Southern Hospitality: An intriguing combination of seasoned pork, fresh collard greens, and hot water cornbread. Shaped in a cone and deep fried to perfection. Served on a stick.

- Deep Fried Chicken Skin: Why bother with all of that meat? The skin has been separated from the chicken to deliver the best part of fried chicken in every mouthful. Available in MILD or HOT & SPICY. This tasty treat is lightly seasoned, battered, and then deep fried until crisp.

- Deep Fried Biscuits and Gravy: Breakfast of champions! A flaky biscuit filled with gravy is dipped in a light batter and deep fried.

- Fernie’s Deep Fried Whole Lotta Chocolatta: Fernie’s special recipe consisting of two slices of Italian bread stuffed with dark chocolate, dipped in egg wash, coated with crunchy bread crumbs, and deep fried. Served with a side of Russet potato chips, sprinkled with sea salt AND drizzled with a hard white and milk chocolate shell. Perfected with a dollop of milk chocolate whipped cream. (If 21, served with a glass of chocolate wine.)

- Fried Loaded Mashed Potato: Twist on a Southern Classic. A Texas version of the loaded mashed potatoes in one crunchy bite! All the fixin’s are added to mashed potatoes-bacon, cheese, green onions, sour cream and butter. Rolled to perfection, then dipped in batter and deep fried. Served drizzled with brown gravy!

Everything (or everyone…) is bigger/fatter in Texas.

Texas Forever.