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	DAILY UPDATE JUNE '10 ARCHIVES hi, i'm not dead. well, not yet anyways. i've been up for almost 24 hours now and am currently updating this on hour four of my flight back from JFK to LAX. i am squashed in the middle seat in the back because i missed my earlier connecting flight, courtesy of JFK's mile-long customs lines. then we sat on the runway for about an additional hour due to "rush hour traffic," according to the pilot. HOW DOES RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC EXIST ON AN AIRPORT RUNWAY? i hate JFK with a passion. so, because i am currently stuck in middle seat HELL, i thought i'd kill time by updating this poor neglected website. so. ITALY. WAS. AMAZING. i flew into rome two weeks ago and met jack at the airport. we saw the spanish steps, trevi fountain, coliseum, forum, pantheon, vatican city museum, st. peter's basilica - we even climbed all 551 steps up to the top of st. peter's dome. the sights were incredible. i cannot begin to describe how insane it was to walk through structures that are thousands of years old. it was just unreal. we moved onto florence next, and saw naked david (well, technically micheangelo's david but i call him naked david cuz well, he's naked, duh), duomo, and botticelli's birth of venus @ the uffizi. we also took day trips to pisa, where i took the obligatory holding up the tower picture (don't ask me how many times it took us to get it right) and also siena, where we sat at a cafe on the edge of il campo and marveled at the gorgeous square. took a train up to cinque terre next, hiked, went to the beach and slept A LOT. after two relaxing days there, we left for venice, stopping first in milan. i wanted to buy all these pretty things there but it was just way too damn hot and humid. i cannot focus on purchasing designer goods when i'm sweating like a freaking pig. so we kept going and wrapped up the trip by exploring venice's canals for a few days. and as touristy and expensive as the city was, it took my breath away. we took a vaporetto (water bus) to st. mark's square and doge's palace and then spent the rest of the day walking, seeing the sights and shopping. we also took a gondola ride close to midnight and i almost had a heart attack when i thought the gondolier was going accidentally overturn the boat and dump us into the not-so-prisitine green waters of the canal. who knew gondola rides could be stressful? coliseum! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?!? this was taken from the base of the dome of st. peter's - look at the itty bitty people down there! one of the cute little towns of cinque terre. an in-action shot of a gondolier furiously paddling away on the grand canal. in summary, i want to go back. like NOW. and oh man, the food. it was like a carb-lover's dream come true. pizza, pasta, bread, salami sandwiches. it was like prepping for a half marathon EVERY SINGLE DAY. i also consumed an god-awful amount of gelato. i'm pretty sure my pants won't zip up for work tomorrow. speaking of work clothes, tomorrow will be my first day back in 4" heels in 2 weeks and i think it will feel like a relief. i hiked all over rome in flip flops and a pair of tod's flats and let me tell you, i was in excruciating pain after a day. that's what happens when you get too used to wearing heels - flats start to feel ridiculously uncomfortable. anyway, i'm cutting this update short for now before i barf all over my laptop. will definitely update with more details/pictures later when i can remember them all. arrivederci, kids. 11:09 PM 6/20/2010 a note to katy perry: so, i was reading an article from rolling stones where you said you wrote "california gurlz" as some sort of response to jay-z and alicia keys' empire state of mind. are you freaking kidding me? empire state of mind had "concrete jungle where dreams are made of," and the best you could come up with was "daisy dukes bikinis on top, sun-kissed skin so hot we'll melt your popsicle"?!? to add insult to injury, you grossly misspelled "girls" in the title of the song! newsflash: purposely misspelling stuff stopped being cool in the 10th grade. seriously, if you were trying to come anywhere close to "empire state of mind," you failed. MISERABLY. want to know what a real california anthem sounds like? try listening to 2pac's calfornia love or to live & die in LA. in the meantime, take your ridiculous boobs, retarded outfits and god-awful personality out of this state, because you're tainting california with your stupidity. thank you. a note to snoop dogg: dude, you went from gin and juice and ain't no fun to guest-rapping on katy perry songs. that's worse than ludacris rapping on justin bieber's tracks. i'm ashamed of you. somebody please resurrect 2pac already so we can restore some dignity to the westside. okay, i feel much better now that i got that off my chest. as promised, here are more italy pictures: milan's duomo. gorgeous! one of the five hundred scoops of gelato i consumed. yum. siena's duomo. part of our cinque terre hike. i look like i'm scared but i'm really not. a shot outside of the train window on our way to venice. venice! < after our crazy gondola ride that nearly gave me a heart attack. btw, for those of you who don't know yet, i'm moving to DC for a 2 year rotation at EY's national office in a few weeks. i am totally behind in planning/packing so i have no idea why i'm wasting time updating this page. maybe it's because i'm the world's worst procrastinator. in any case, wish me luck because i'm gonna need it. have a fabulous week - adios, kids. 12:55 AM 6/28/2010 three more days left of work in the LA office. crazy. i'm excited and sad at the same time. mostly excited though. haha. erin came up from SD this weekend so saturday morning we piled into lynn's 4runner to hit up ikea, target, bed bath and beyond, macy's and costco. it was pretty much non-stop shopping from 10 in the morning to 7 at night. in fact, the only time we really took a break was during lunch, where we met up with brandon, doug and keri at the counter in el segundo (yum!). anyway, with the girls' help, i managed to cross off nearly everything on my list. and it only cost me half a bajillion dollars. when the credit card bills come, i am going to fake my own death. on a positive note, i am exceptionally grateful to my girlfriends for accompanying me on my shopping fest. it would have been miserable and damn near impossible to do it by myself, particuarly since my BMW's trunk can't fit jack sh*t. lynn and erin did most of the strategic thinking and manual labor throughout the day while i just stood around drooling like an idiot. it's going to be so hard to be on a different coast from my girls. i picture myself eating ramen alone night after night and it doesn't sound especially appealing. which leads me to my list of TOP TEN THINGS I WILL MISS WHEN I MOVE: 1. my friends and family. 2. LA's awesome weather. i am going to die in 90% humidity, people. and if that doesn't kill me, the sub-40 degree temperatures during winter will. 3. my mother's cooking. 4. the relative scarcity of gross bugs. i hate mosquitos. 5. the beach. not that i go that much, but still. 6. good, cheap mexican food. 7. driving. 8. in n out. 9. the awesome korean manicurists at color me green. 10. the purses and shoes i'll have to leave behind due to space constraints. stupid 785 sq foot apartment. next week will be a top 10 list of things i won't miss about LA. haha. okay, time to get ready to sleep. adios, kids.