Summer Getaway at Catalina Island

August 16, 2008 - We took a day trip to Catalina which is an hour drive to Long Beach Catalina express terminal then another hour yacht ride to the island. We've been planning to go here since last year but we just didn't have enough time to squeeze it in our busy schedule. We took the 10am trip and got there just in time for brunch.

Most of our pictures were taken from our iPhone and disposable camera coz I forgot to bring my digicam's battery which I recharged the night before. I was so pissed off coz I'd like to take as many pictures as I can.. and I mean good quality shots. The pictures came out pretty decent though. Those that were taken from the disposable camera were like taken from early 90s.... so old school =P

Anyways, we had brunch at Luau Larry's then of we went to the Discover tours that comes with the scenic and casino tour. Our tour guide was funny as we cruise around the island. He has a lot of trivia and most of it are weird such as 1) There's a casino with no gambling 2) There's a bird park with no birds 3) The 3rd street is the 2nd street from the shore

We have completed all tours at around 3ish and it is just in time for our introductory scuba dive. We didn't take any lessons before our scuba dive so it was kinda intense. I wasn't expecting that there's a lot of things to know/remember/consider before the dive:

1) learn to breath from the diving regulator
2) learn to clear your ears as you descend
3) learn to put back the regulator when it goes off your mouth
4) learn to get rid of water in your mask by "farting"
5) learn to move underwater

I really had a hard time "farting" and I swallowed a lot of salt water which made me decide to go up. But I stayed underwater at 15 feet deep for 12 minutes. I'd want to stay longer but my mask was just too big for me. It was such a different world underwater.. there's a lot of fish but the famous one is the garabaldi fish!

We'll definitely go back here and maybe stay for a couple of days. It's a perfect way to end summer.

Arrival

Fountain

Fountain



Shops

Avalon Bay

The Casino

Streets of Catalina

Scuba diving 101

Departure

Brands

Just for fun.. (from Delpoy)

1.) What's the brand of your shoes?
- Banana Republic, Guess, Nine West, BCBG, Jones of New York, Aldo, Puma, Nike

2.) brand of your watch?
- Tag Heuer, Harajuku Lovers

3.) cellphone?
- iPhone 3G


4.) computer?
- Toshiba


5.) bags?
- Louis Vuitton, Lesportsac Tokidoki, Coach


6.) underwear?
- Victoria Secret


7.) fLipfLops?
- Havaianas


8.) waLLet?
- Coach


9.) What's the name of your perfume?
- DKNY Apple


10.) What's the brand of your shirts?
- Tokidoki, Armani Exchange, Japanese inspired shirts


11.) What's the brand of your car?
- Toyota Prius


12.) What's the brand of your shampoo and conditioner?
- Pantene


13.) What's the brand of your body soap?
- Bath & Body Works (Sweet Pea)


14.) What's the brand of your sunglasses?
- Dior


15.) What's the brand of your jeans?
- Seven for all Mankind, True Religion, Citizens of Humanity, Rock Republic, American Eagle


16.) What's the brand of your Laundry soap?
- Tide


17.) What's the brand of your Lotion?
- Bath and Body Works (Sweet Pea)


18.) What's the brand of your toothpaste?
- Colgate

19.) What's the brand of your ballpen?
- none

20.) What's the brand of your towel?
- Target

21.) What's the brand of your milk?
- I don't drink milk

22.) What's the brand of your jacket?
- Banana Republic, GAP

23.) What's the brand of your tv?
- Sony HD

24.) What's the brand of your dvd?
- PS3 for Blu Ray

25.) What's the brand of your cam?
- Canon Rebel XTi SLR, Sony Cybershot T2


26.) What's the brand of your jeweLry?
- none

27.) What's the brand of your eyeglasses?
- Dior

28.) What's the brand of your sock?
- Target

29.) What's the brand of your favorite toy?
- Nintendo DS

July update

WOW! I only have one single post in July and it's only one line. Was I that lazy, or I'm just too busy? As much as I want to blog, I was too focused on my projects, late night conference calls and staying up until the wee hours. I don't get enough sleep, I skip meals, it's just sooo unhealthy. But now that my project is coming to its near end, my life is back to normal! I still find time to go out on weekends and here's a quick roundup on what happened last month

1) COMICON
This has been a yearly event for us. We usually go on Saturdays but when I registered online a couple of weeks before the event, all tickets were sold out. I have no other option but to get the Sunday convention. I thought there's gonna be less people, but I was wrong.... it's packed with cosplayers and fanboys!

We actually have a plan on which booth to go first and what panel discussion to go next. I can say that we can be considered as "experts" now and give advice to all newbies out there =P The first on our list is to go to Kid Robot booth to see Simone but the line is already capped. Since Simone will do autograph signing from 11-2pm, we decided to go shopping first at Tokidoki booth. I bought 2 shirts for me, 2 shirts for Darwin, a Japanese inspired fan and a cute journal. I really did crazy shopping coz everything is on sale and I got a good deal. We then went to Harold & Kumar's panel interview and those two guys are really funny. Neil Patrick Harris wasn't able to make it though coz he's in Europe.. They announced that there will be another sequel!

After the panel, we went back to check Simone, but they already stopped people from going in line. Damns! and it was only 1:30pm!... I was really disappointed. We walked around and saw that Toy Qube's gonna have Tokidoki autograph signing too.. at 3pm. Yes! I was 2nd to the last!













I have accomplished my mission.. to see and get an autograph of Simone Legno.. I'm such a fan of his designs/art. He is really sooo nice.. he even asked me what character I'd like him to draw:

Simone: "Anything in particular?"
Me: "Can you please draw the cactus girl" (points to Sandy)

..I should have said "Sandy" but I forgot her name coz I got star strucked.. haha

Here are the tokidoki characters:
http://www.tokidoki-blog.com/category/tokidoki-characters/

Oh, we also met Seth Green..





We'll definitely be back next year! The most innovative costume we've seen is the myspace guy... take a look!



Flash back!
2007
2006

2) LA JOLLA
I googled for the best beach in San Diego and La Jolla Cove came up. It's one of the most photographed beaches in SoCal and I agree 100%. I love everything about it! We're planning to go back and stay here for the whole weekend. Shops close early though but I was able to get a nice halter top at Banana Republic.





3) AROUND LA with Darwin's cousins
Darwin's relatives are visiting from Canada and we became instant tourist guides. We went to all hot spots in LA, namely:
1) Walk of Fame & Kodak Theatre - everybody wont miss this place
2) The Grove - outdoor mall in LA
3) Melrose strip - stopped by at JapanLA where I buy tokidoki stuff
4) Beverly Center - high end mall in LA
5) Americana @ Brand - outdoor mall in Glendale

Dinner:
1) uWink in Hollywood - hi-tech resto
2) Cheesecake Factory - a chic restaurant, Pina thought it's a REAL factory =P
3) Versailles - my fave Cuban resto
4) CPK - Sig requested to eat here
5) Salu-Salo - Filipino resto in Glendale, farewell dinner part 2
6) A&W - Chinese family resto, farewell dinner part 2














4) MOVIES
July 17, 2008 - 12:01am at Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood
The Dark Knight is the best movie this year (SATC comes second?! I know.. I know!!!) and Darwin was able to score a midnight screening tickets from craigslist.org. Due to high demand on this movie, they added 3am and 6am screenings on the day it came out. That's how crazy it was!

(excerpts from my multiply acct)
It has definitely lived up all its hype! I actually want to see it again.. maybe in IMAX. Heath Ledger is soooo great that there's a lot of buzz here in LA that he'll get a posthumous Oscar award. He has created the most twisted villain ever (referring to Joker)




X-Files: I Want to Believe (Jul 25)
It's nice to see Mulder & Scully again... the movie is like one of the episodes in TV.. weird, scary and full of suspense. As one of the X-Philes, I cheered, laughed and enjoyed watching X-Files IWTB. It has full of inside jokes.. a must see for ALL fans! Stay for the end credits!




Wanted (Jul 3)
Angelina ROCKS! James is so gwapo but he fits more on romance/comedy movie than action flick. The storyline is Matrix + Fight Club.

The Orphanage (Jul 12)
Thomas scares the hell out of me. I can't sleep when I watch horror movies that's why I hate it.

5) EVENTS
-Aldrin's Christening (Jul 20)
We're both asked to be godparents of Aldrin Ralph. He has the most number of godparents during the ceremony.. you know how Filipino's are.. the more, the merrier. I think there's 8 pairs of ninongs and ninangs. =P He's the 2nd baby in our group! The first one is Alyssa and both are lovely kids of Raffy and Roanne.

-Clubbin SD Style (Jul 26)
Clubs in San Diego close early.. unlike in LA, clubs close at 2am. We met up our friends at the VIP section of the club and they're all drunk already! Dinah keeps throwing away her $500 Miu Miu pumps because her feet hurts. She's really funny when she gets drunk.

-Naomi's Farewell Dinner (Jul 27)
She's one of our Indonesian friends and she's a graduate from fashion school. She's the one you'll see in a Channel bag and Gucci dress... very fashionista. You will be missed! We had dinner at Manna Korean BBQ and coffee at Cafe Aroma

















6) OTHER STUFF
-3G iPhone (Jul 11)
-Earthquake (Jul 29)