Bordeaux, France

Today we got up around 7am. We didn't bring an alarm clock, so the extremely nice and responsible people that work in the hostel woke us up. We got up and headed to the train station, which was a short 10 minute walk from Barcelona 4 Fun.

Bordeaux, here we come!




After our first four hour train ride, we had a stop in Montpelier where we bought a creamy donut, quiche Lorraine, and a ham sammich. Rich food, I had a bite of each and was full. We then hopped on another train for four hours to Bordeaux.

Rafael's lovely mami and papi picked us up along with his uncle. We were dropped off at mami and papi's apartment in Blanquefort, France, which is a little north of Bordeaux.

For dinner we had:
· Red wine
· Baguette (of course!)
· Goose fois gras (my favorite fois gras out of the entire trip)
· These little pickles that were the best pickles I've ever had
· Sliced ham
· Tabouli
· Butter lettuce salad w/ vinaigrette
· Cheese

In France, they eat plates one at a time, which is a great idea. They eat salads last in order to "cleanse" your body after a rich meal. Also, cheese is always at the end.

Papi, Raf, and Mami. Mami and Papi are 86 and 92 respectively. Can you believe it? They are the bestest!

Beach Day in Barcelona!

Today we ventured to the beach. On our way there, we ate at Luz De Gas at Port Dell. It's a boat-restaurant that serves Tapas.



We ordered meatballs + mushrooms (GOOD!), potato crisps (AKA potato chips which we didn't really eat. Had we known they were like Lay's, we wouldn't have ordered them), calamari with marinara (Raf liked this a lot. The texture of the squid was strange to me, and I wasn't too fond of the marinara), and chicken curry (good but chicken was a bit dry).

I don't know what I'm looking at.


The atmosphere of this place was great. It was nice to sit on the boat at the port and just chill. Definitely a tourist spot as mostly English people surrounded us. A group of about eight men at a bachelor party/vacation were there. Man, that would be awesome to live in Europe and go to SPAIN for a bachelorette party! The tapas were okay, a bit pricey, but we paid the price to sit on a boat and eat. Next time, we want to eat at those cheaper/local tapas joints as I'm sure they are much tastier!

After our meal, we walked a little further and cut through a Spanish neighborhood to get the beach. The water was really clear! Color was a beautiful blue-green. The water was decently warm, but hard for me to get used to at first because I am so temperature sensitive. But then again, it was pretty hot and humid so maybe the difference in temperature made it seem colder than it was. We spent the next three hours sunbathing, swimming, sunbathing again, and people watching. Ah, what a relaxing afternoon.



I love taking pictures of water. The sand looked like dusted gold in the water. It was really neat!


Raf enjoying the water.


Hi


Did I mention 50% of the women were topless? Lots of hot topless Spanish girls at the beach! (Luigi, you missed out on your trip!) It was nice to people watch and hear all the different languages around us… and also attempt to get rid of my tan lines. *Wink*

How many topless chics can you count?


And because only the English and Americans are rude and litter everywhere. (This sign was only in English)


An interesting story for you folks. As we were laying down, these three French girls decide to plop down right next to us. I'm talking blonde hair (two sisters) and a brunette, all with fake boobies, makeup all done, big earrings, Dior sunglasses, and certainly making an entrance. Right away, the lay their stuff down and one of the blondes started posing for pictures. But not just posing, I'm talking like a straight up Maxim photo shoot! hahahahaha! I was like "WTF!" I told Raf to turn over to watch them because he didn't believe me at first. Then, this old, kind of sleazy Englishman comes over and asks to sit with them. Surprisingly, they said yes, and they were really friendly with him. He was here for a conference, and the girls were here on "vacation." The girls are originally from Marseilles, so they claim.

So after their mini-photo shoot, they took their tops off, and literally frolicked and pranced to the water. The same blondee got knee deep in the water and started posing AGAIN, this time grabbing her boobs. It was so funny! I didn't understand why they were doing that. I mean, do normal people do that? And do sisters take pictures of each other like that? *Confused*

The brunette was in the water with the Englishman. After a bit, they started hugging and kissing in the water. And he was fondling her all over. Wtf, didn't they just meet? So the other two blonde sisters came back to their spot next to us to dry off and sunbathe. They were rather brash and loud, but after a loud belch and some loud French conversation, Raf translated everything that they were saying.

"She's giving him too much for free. She's never going to get paid!"

"Yah, she made the same mistake in Marseilles. She's not going to get paid unless she asks him now."

Turns out the brunette was a newbie prostitute! So now everything makes sense! I think they go from beach to beach to look for customers. It must work, because EVERYONE was staring at them on the beach. You should have seen the guys faces. This girl laying in front of us was laughing too.

Later on, the brunette frolicked back to their spot.

Brunette: "I was too scared to ask him to pay me."

Blondee: "Well, try to at least get a free meal out of him."

So sleazy Englishman comes back to the girls.

Brunette: "I'm hungry!"

Englishman: "Well what would you like to eat? Some fruit, etc?"

Brunette: "I'm really hungry."

Then they frolic to go get something to eat. They didn't come back for awhile so it must have been a real meal. HAHAHAH.

We tried to take a picture of the two sisters. The one covered up didn't have a nice face. The brunette was a straight up Butter face. The other one was cute.


Come to think of it, I should have just asked to take a picture with them. That would have been funny!

We ended up leaving a little after this. Here I am on the walk back. Too bad we don't have stuff like this back home.


After showering, we did another walk through La Rambla and to El Mercado. This time we tried the Tiramisu gelato. HOLY SHIT, this is the BEST GELATO I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Gelato Classico in Mountain View and Palo Alto taste like CRAP compared to this. It was literally like eating a slice of tiramisu, except in a creamier form. And it was perfect because it wasn't too sweet like it is in America. (I personally don't like ice cream/gelato pumped up with sugar). Ah, I wish I could have brought some back. They make it fresh on a daily basis!

Recap: can you spot the Tiramisu?


After El Mercado, we did a 10 mile walk (ok, it was really probably just a mile or so but we were starving) to try this restaurant Xaica that we saw advertised as this authentic Spanish/Catalan restaurant. Turns out that it was more like a fast food joint. (The fast food joints in Europe are pretty much steak and fries, etc. but are still in restaurant form. Still better than the crap we have like Jack in the Box) We decided to skip this, and luckily passed by a Mango on our way back. Mango is a very popular Spanish brand. Raf got me this awesome jacket!

Thanks, babe!


After walking the 10 miles back, we ended up at Placa Reial and ate at a restaurant there. Unfortunately, it turned out to be another "fast food" type restaurant, but oh well. We ordered sangria, veal and fries, and garlic butter shrimp. It was alright. Definitely better than a burger and fries. There were jugglers and dancers around the square, which I ended up tipping $0.60 Euro. I'm so generous.

After dinner, we were walking around looking for chocolate churros that Luigi kept raving about in Spain. We had seen them earlier before but weren't hungry. Since this was our last night, we wanted to try it before we left, but to no avail. Ah, I guess I have to come back for the chocolate churro then!

Would you care to dine at my restaurant?


Found on our way out of Placa Reial. Monsieur Aguas, you are considered sewage in Spain!


We weren't feeling too satisfied from our so-so meal and sangria so we went back to La Dentelliere, the restaurant we ate at previously with the great salad, Sangria, mango dessert, etc. The night before, they had sold out of this Platanos dessert. So we ended up ordering that on top of a chocolate "biscoti" dessert. The Platanos dessert was literally one of the BEST desserts I have ever had in my entire life. This dessert, and Evvia's Galaktoboureko are my top two desserts of choice.

Only 4.50 Euro! Warm, sweetened plantains on the bottom, crumble layered on top, with a bit of milk/cream poured around it, sided with a spoon of coffee ice-cream. This picture doesn't do it justice!


Only 4 Euro! The chocolate "biscoti" turned out to be a warm, moist dark chocolate cake with mandarin sorbet and orange marmalade. Delicioso!


It was 11pm by this time, so we hit the sack to get ready for our trek to Bordeaux, France.

Sagrada Familia y shopping

¡Hola! After a good night’s rest of 12 hours, we made our way to explore the city today. We stopped by a small cafe/diner on our way to the metro. We ordered a "British breakfast" with cafe con leche, orange juice, hot chocolate, and a chocolate croissant. The cafe con leche, hot chocolate, and croissant were all really good. They actually forgot about our British breakfast so we ended up staying there for an hour to wait for the rest of our food. The "British Breakfast" consists of eggs, bacon, and sliced baguette. The eggs here are mixed with water, and then scrambled, and the bacon has less fat.

On our way to the metro, we stopped by the biggest market in Barcelona in the Las Ramblas area. OMG, this market was AMAZING. The FRESHEST of EVERYTHING was here. Meat, sausage, goat heads, hearts, cow stomachs, papayas, all kinds of exotic fruits, veggies, candy, seafood, cheese, mini-bakeries, you name it! I have a shitload of pictures, but here are just a few interesting shots.

Silver colored chocolate!


Goat heads, rabbits, etc etc!


THE BEST FUCKING GELATO!!! Doesn't get any fresher and tastier than this.


It was amazing to see how organized and CLEAN everything was despite the chaos in the market. They stacked their fruits and veggies almost all the way right side up; I don’t get how they avoid avalanches of fresh produce. They even had this little food bar where they served fresh seafood and coffee. Ah, it was so great, I would have loved to have the chance to buy fresh food here and cook a dinner. On our way out, I purchased fresh papaya and mango juice.

Just another day at El Mercado.


We then made our way to the metro, took green L3, then hopped on the purple L5 to make our way to Sagrada Familia. This is a HUGE church designed by Gaudi in 1882 that is STILL in construction. This church is AMAZING! I would describe Gaudi's style as a mix of gothic traditional on top of modern design. It's pretty interesting as the buildings he designed can be seen throughout Barcelona; the big giveaway is that they look like they are melting.

HUGE!


Looking up:


Look at these cool stairs. I want these in my future loft!


Working hard! One of the many artists working on the unfinished church.


We were able to take these circular stone stairs up (where Raf got super nervous since he has a fear of heights, but he did it! I'm proud of you, Pouty Brat!). It was really interesting to see the amount of work put into this stone church and also to witness people still creating it. Check out this link for more info.

Scary stairway for Raf.


After this, we went to the metro to go back "home." Turned out there was something wrong with the metro so they kicked everyone off. Now our other option was the bus. We decided to say fuck it, and walk back. What a good idea this was! We were able to see where all the major stores were located. We also got see a lot of cool buildings/architecture around the main shopping area.

Can't you tell this is by Gaudi? His buildings can be seen sporadically throughout the city.


We decided to make a turn on this random alley/street and it turned into this HUGE shopping maze. Did you know they put screens on the sides of the buildings to catch dead pigeons? Anyway, I was able to finally check out Mango, a store they have yet to bring to the states. I got a cool jacket and jeans for 74 EUR. I found a cute top here and in Zara, but alas they were both the last ones left and were missing a button. Oh well.

During our walk around town, we stopped by this bakery to grab a snack. We simply ordered a baguette with melted cheese and parsley, and a ham sammich with melted cheese on top. Simple as this sounds, the taste was really amazing. Like I stated before, the baguettes here are sooo good (I can’t imagine what they taste like in Paris, ah, will find out soon!). The cheese tasted like it was flavored with onions, but not the powder, like real onions. I need to try this at home! The ham sammich was also really good! I don’t even like ham sammiches. It must be the cheese here too. Ummmm, YUMMY!

All in all, we probably ended up walking around three to four miles on main streets and on the maze like small streets which were filled abundantly with antique stores, cafes, bakeries, restaurants, and clothing stores. It’s so nice here! I’m lucky that Raf can speak decent Spanish so we have been able to get by pretty well. I can understand some Spanish, but when one of the Mango girls came up to me, I was like staring at her like a deer in headlights because she spoke so fast. Ah, I feel so stupid not being able to speak!

McDonald's anyone? They even have cafe settings for American fast food!


Now onto tonight’s dinner plans. We ended up walking around to discover "La Plaça Reial." It is a big square lined with restaurants with outdoor seating. One restaurant in particular seriously had a line with 60 people waiting. It was nuts! Then we waited at another nice dinner but we didn’t want to sit next to people that were smoking. After 20 minutes, we said screw it and started walking back to eat at a restaurant right next to our hostel. It was delicious!

La Plaça Reial


We ordered sangria, a simple salad with romaine and frisee, tomatoes, olives, peas and corn, adorned with balsamic vinaigrette and dried thyme. YUMMMMM, I don’t know what it is, but the simple dishes here are really good. Must be the fresh produce and ingredients.

Probably the best vegetarian salad I've had (I usually always pile my salads with tons of red meat)


Next, we had the mixt paella with mussels, clams, scallops, chicken, peas, shrimp, and Spanish rice. Umm, Raf says it’s what real paella should taste like. Now I have something to compare it with back home.

Bitches, better recognize!


OoOOoooo and for dessert, we ordered this layered yogurt and mango puree, with chocolate crisps and syrup on top. There was a small scoop of a really sweet mango sorbet on the bottom. ¡DELICIOSO!

WOOT WOOT!


This meal was only 38,51 EUR. The quality of food here has yet to disappoint me. Oh, btw, we ate dinner at 10:30pm and left at midnight, and it was still open! Oh and also, the sangria I make tastes like the one we had tonight (except Spanish Sangria has more rum and less fruit) so I am really proud! ¡Huzzah!

Ah, we just realized how Barcelona is so clean. There are four guys outside washing the streets down. Tres cool! Oops, I mean, ¡Muy cool! Ok, we are going to bed now. We hit the beach tomorrow. Good night!

¡Hola, Barcelona!

¡Oi! I am in Barcelona right now! After an 18 hour travel and trek, we made it to our hostel in one piece. I almost broke my back with my big ass backpack. Ugh! Anyway, so far I love it! It´s hard go get used to this keyboard though. It has cool things like ç¡¿ñªº. Hahah.

Me looking and feeling like crap on our way to the metro.


Let's start from the beginning. Our first flight was nonstop to Heathrow via Virgin Atlantic. VA is cool! I swear, it feels like some Austin Powers disco with their 70s orange, purple, red, and blue seats and blankets, and their dark purple flooring and red curtains. Also they have a bar for ¨"Upper class" customers. It´s literally like an open bar. Like Jet Blue, they have LCD screens in the seats, but not just any LCD screen. You have a choice between something like 20-40 movies that you can choose from plus unlimited music as well as video games. I watched Transporter 2 and Memoirs of a Geisha. They didn´t erase the scenes with a plane crashing in Transporter 2. They also had Brokeback Mountain on there. I wonder if they cutout the bufu scene. Anyway, I didn´t get much sleep (damn movies) but the flight went by quickly. Too bad I had really bad allergies which started acting up by the end of the flight.

After we got to Heathrow, we took a bus to Gatwick airport in order to jump on the EasyJet for a two hour flight to Barcelona. We were really hungry but McD´s didn´t take c/c so we ended up at Starbucks in which case, we spent twice the amount of USD. Damn the American dollar! Anyway, EasyJet was cool... kinda like Southwest. Raf swears the airplane we were on was brand new. Sucky that you had to pay for drinks. We didn´t have any GBP. Anyway, we took the Aerobus to the metro, and then L3 to our hostel, Barcelona 4 Fun is located on Carrer Ample. Btw, we LOVED this hostel. CLEAN, the best location, easy and close to everything (shopping, food, bars, metro, etc), and the people that work there are sooo nice and responsible. We didn't have an alarm clock and they woke us up early in the morn.

Walking through the minidoor which is part of the huge door that is left open during the day.


"I got stuck!"
At the bottom of the building. Our hostel is on the 3rd and 4th floors.


Metro!


Barcelona is actually really easy to get around. Our hostel is located on a quaint little "alley/road" typical of a European street. It´s quiet but lively since we are close to one of the main roads in Barcelona. Our hostel is extremely nice and clean (something I wasn't expecting), and everything is furnished with Ikea. The building itself is very old (but not worn down). Outside the balcony is a view of a bunch of other buildings with balconies and plants. When we were trying to find the hostel, Raf was speaking to this Chinese dood in Spanish, then it turned to French, and then English. Damn, I feel like an idiot not being bi/trilingual here.

Living room with free internet!


Bedroom with comfortable bed and pillows.


View from the balcony of the hostel.


We just walked around our hostel and checked out a random restaurant down one of the little streets. $40 here gets you what would be considered a 5-star in America (we are assuming that that is average here). Ahhhh food! I am moving to Spain! haha. We ordered a Crepe with spinach and cheese (delicious!), veal Carpaccio, and duck breast with poached pear. The waitress was somewhat weirded out that we ordered carpaccio with duck breast. Is that a no-no here? They also served us bread, and a liter of bottled water which turned out to be 4 EUR. They don´t serve tap here, and the bread is REALLY GOOD! Apparently, you don´t tip here, and on the bill they charge for service/bread for 1,5 EUR.

Crepe!


Carpaccio (the best I've had next to Fleming's!!!) and duck breast (sooooo good!!!)


After dinner, we just wandered the streets and checked out the bars. They were ALL PACKED with screaming fans of the World Cup. Pretty cool. Earlier in the day, we saw a group of Brasilians hitting drums, blowing whistles, and dancing down the street. Then this old Asian guy came out of a store and started dancing too. hahah. Was cute. It is so cool to be around sooo many different cultures and languages. People are very nice and courteous thus far.

Brasilians --> Blow the whistle! Toot toot!


Well I have been up for more than 24 hours so it´s time for bed.

¡Adios!

Europe

I'm leaving for Europe soon!

London --> Barcelona --> Bordeaux --> Paris --> London

Until then, please fill up your blogs so I will have oodles to do when I get back to work. Woot woot!

Ciao!

Migraine = puke

Oh god! What a morning. I had a 9am meeting at work with the Account Executive from our drug distributor located in La Vergne, TN. So around 9:40am, I started to see those horrible bright spots. OMG, I am getting a migraine in the middle of a MEETING. This has always been one of my fears. Not to mention my other fear of getting a migraine on a flight, which happened on my way back from Nashville one time! Anyway, usually I see the spots for 20-30 minutes, then they stop, and the nausea and the *someone stabbing you behind the eyes with a knife* pain takes over. Fuck, so I wait it out until 10am and they still want to stay in the meeting longer. I said I had to go. So I grab my laptop and jump in my car to go home.

Guess who decides to take 880 - 237 - 101 home... AND THERE IS TRAFFIC AT 10:30AM. STOP AND GO TRAFFIC!!!

Well, good for me, I grabbed a cup from the breakroom on my way out, just in case, I PUKE IN THE CAR!!!

WHICH I DID. Good thing, I didn't eat anything this morning.

So after about 45 minutes of hell, I get home, throw my stuff down, and start puking again. *Shudders*

I don't know if this migraine is a blessing in disguise because:

1) It gets me out my godforsaken jail cell otherwise known as a cubicle.
2) I get to stay home with Ginger.
3) I actually have windows to see what the weather is actually like. Who knew that it was 90 degrees during the day??? OMG!!! WOW!
4) I get natural sunlight instead of fluorescent lighting and the view of a huge white wall.
5) I have to stay in bed and cuddle with Ginger.
6) Kills one more day at work. Friday I leave early for my shots... then in the next couple weeks, I will BE IN EUROPE!!!

But, the cons!

1) It is ass hot and stuffy, and there is no relief even with all doors, windows, and fans open/on.
2) I still feel kinda gross and groggy despite my three hour recovery nap.

Ah, the pros outweigh the cons. I guess it is a blessing in disguise! But damn, I feel sooo bad for Ginger being stuck in this ass hot place ALL DAY by herself! =( The coolest room right now is Carlo's room, which I am in now. No wonder she is always hanging out in his room. When I come home, I see this one hairy spot on his comforter so I know Ginger has been lounging there all day.

Anyway, I'm going to change into a bikini cuz it's sooo freaking hot! I'm wondering how shitty I will feel if I layout by the pool. =P

On a last note, I finally finished these sushi shorts for Carlo last night. A couple nights before, I was STRUGGLING with the pattern instructions I bought on how to sew the pockets. Long story short, One pocket was upside down, the other right side up, and I accidentally sewed the pocket openings shut. I already spent 10 hours trying to figure it out so I just said fuckit. Sorry Carlo, you have no pockets. He brought them with him to SHONG HI (he's going for work). I told him that if he wears them out to eat sushi, I will pay for his dinner. HAH!

Don't be jealous. *That orange shirt was Carlo's idea.




Another side note, my homemade pita bread with tzatziki sauce.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

HELP ME!!!

I'm going to flush my head down the toilet.

Since when was running a report called a "Project."

FUCK!

The highlight of my day was having Mango Sticky rice at lunch!

HELPPPP SAVVEEE MMEEEEEE!!!!!

Lesson of the Day

Today I left early with the goal to arrive at work early. Why? So I could get the fuck out early. Anyway, it ended up taking me eight minutes to get from my place to the Shoreline exit which is literally 30 seconds away. By the time I got to work, I ended up only five minutes earlier instead of the intended 20 - 30. When I used to go into work earlier (back in a day), there was actually LESS traffic than there is now. What happened? All this 85 construction shiet is making things worse instead of better!

Lesson of the day: Screw trying to get into work early.

Lookee lookee

Look what I found on Rickey's blog.

Me in an interview w/ Sean/Riottt.com


And me in the Social Trust Studio, L.A.

Btw, my boob isn't pointy! We forgot to put double-sided tape on the dress. HAH!

Ms. Brain Brain Brain

J: hi
Choco: YEs Ms call me at 9am and not leave a message
Choco: I've been SOOOOO bored
Choco: I contemplated for hours about what you called about
J: AHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
J: i was bored waiting at SFO
Choco: well gee bored and bored don't really mesh well
J: HAHAHAH
Choco: we need stories
J: i'm gonna look for jobs
Choco: Let's see what can we talk about?
J: did u look for jobs already
Choco: yes! there are none!
Choco: I love Ysabel's blog
J: yah she's funny
Choco: it makes me feel not alone
J: thx for ignoring mine
J: bitch

Hope that makes your day, Ysabel! Cuz Laine won't even read mine! =P

I'm going to make chicken gyros today for dinner. I have all this romaine lettuce, pita bread, and tzatziki sauce left... and Raf finally refilled my propane tank. WOO HOO! Which btw, is AWESOME because I grilled a nice fatty piece of medium-rare ribeye last night for dinner accompanied by mushrooms sauteed in beef stock, and a side salad w/ blanched broccoli and Nobu Spicy Lemon sauce. OH YAH! I love the grill. I vow to be the GRILLmaster someday!

*Snap*

Oi! Bj and Richielle from Brooklyn called me this morning for a shoot tomorrow morning in SF. (They shot my "golf" pix). I can't make it though because of work. Boooo! It was going to be shot at the Metreon, but it's very commercial (business-esque). Also, they are doing a beach shot with about 15 other models on July 15. Ack!!! I'm going to L.A. for a wedding. Damn, and they will be getting back from L.A. at that time. Sucky timing.

Isn't this shot gorgeous? I don't remember where I found it. Who is this model, anyone know?



Did you know Josie Moran is from Menlo Park?


A few of my favorite models:

Devon Aoki. She really grew on me. And she's only 5'5." Woot!


Ooo Malgosia!


Linda forever!


How can I forget, Kate, the "short" supermodel


I love this shot of Gisele


Erin Wasson. I love that she can be girl next door, and edgy.


Anyway, I am bored as shit. I need to run some stupid report today. Sigh, I'm sooo sleepy. I want to go layout by the pool.

I picked up my mom from the airport this morning. She just came back from SHONG HI. She had like five suitcases. Then got my allergy shots, and did a short run. Other than that, my day has been uneventful.

No new cool job postings as of yet. =( I just checked my CV folder and so far I have applied to seven companies. I'm going to try to sleep with my eyes open and chin in my hands.

Ok, bye!