Hetch Hetchy

My friend Fan works for the San Francisco water department, so her job allows her to reserve and stay in these cute little cabins near the Hetch Hetchy reservoir where Bay Area water comes from! She often uses the reservation for her family, but every once in a while she gets a big cabin, or her family doesn't want to go, and then I get invited! The last time I made this trip was in 2018. 

This time, it was me, Fan, Fawn (her sister), and CC & JJ (a couple that Fawn knows). 

It was a quick and easy trip with sweet time together that included: hanging out on the reservoir dam, a fight choreography session complete with a video :), stargazing, rain, sunshine, hiking in Yosemite, games, projector movies, and way too much food! 

Hetch Hetchy area is completely off the grid so when you're heading up there you have to plan for food and offline entertainment. You also have to prepare people that you will not be reachable at all (which is something I didn't think about the last time we went. It's strange to think about how connected we are at this point... ). 

It was so great to unplug with old and new friends and to get back into to nature. ⚘

Maybe Happy Ending

About a month and a half before our trip to LA, I found out that I had to head to NY for work the day after the Blackpink concert. It was stressing me out until Alex said he would drive us down to LA and then I could grab a flight from LA to NY instead of coming back to the Bay. Ah, such an easy fix! It did mean I'd have to pack for both trips before I left, but summertime clothes are small so that was pretty easy. And, since J- finds it hard to travel right now and couldn't join me for either trip, Epiphany was able to stay with him for the duration of both trips. It was great peace of mind for me to know that she would be in excellent hands and that they would be together. 💞

New York was hot, inspiring, exhausting, and full of so much life and art and food and people...✨

It started off with 3 days of work out of the NY office, and then I had 5 nights and 4 days of fun -- and, I didn't waste a minute. 

Here are all the things! 

• Courtyard New York Manhattan/SoHo - hotel booked through work. 
• Pier 57 - work day 1 at an office with Event Center.
• Artechouse - work fun event at this projection mapping exhibit I've been wanting to go to for years. It was much smaller than I expected, but it was cool. We saw a flower exhibit, which I guess was way less interesting than a recent rock music exhibit that had just closed, but I enjoyed it. 
• Tim's house - my co-worker's place with the incredible view! 
• Share - Google cafe amazing sit down dinner. 
• SJT - work day 2 at an office with our newest event space.
• Cellar Dog w/ co-workers - divey bar with live bossa nova and foosball. :) Joe M was a surprisingly good foosball match! 
• Kabawa w/ co-workers - a great bourbon bar with incredible food! 
• Hudson - work day 3 at an office w/ a smaller event space and great small breakout spaces. 
• Paramount Hotel - where I stayed for the rest of my trip, located a half a block away from the stairs in Times Square.
• Maybe Happy Ending w/ Jess - wow, this show had me in tears (in a good way)! 
• Ilili w/ Eugene - incredible Lebanese restaurant suggested by Arthur.
• Midnight Moment w/ Patricia and Trav - huge public art exhibit where they take over the screens in Times Square for 3 minutes before midnight every night. 
• Bird and Branch Cafe - lovely little local place for coffee and breakfast.
• The Shed - wandered around an art exhibit and had a lovely conversation with a security guard about how art should be an invitation. 
• Highline - hot sweaty walk with lots to see.
• Printed Matter, Inc. - very cool little indie bookstore.
• KazuNori: The Original Hand Roll w/ Eugene - yummy and surprisingly cheap! 
• Castell Rooftop w/ Eugene and Derrill - nice atmosphere, okay drinks, great company.
• Marie's Crisis Cafe w/ Eugene and Derrill - this is from a scene in the Netflix show Younger where the boss lady goes and sings Broadway songs at the piano bar. It's that place and is basically exactly like that! 
• Two Boots Pizza w/ Eugene and Derrill - delicious! 
• Le Parisien Bakery - the little bakery connected to my hotel. I had most of my breakfasts there. 
• Chelsea Market - shopping at Anthropologie and just walking through. There was a cool little art alley in the middle. 
• Printemps - this place was FANCY and very expensive and quite charming. 
• Joe's Pizza - I spilled salad on my dress, and then pizza sauce on my dress, and I had a nice conversation with someone sitting next to me about my portable phone charger. 
• Union Square - just sitting waiting for a show and taking in the atmosphere.
• Upright Citizen's Brigade - Asians AF. Kathleen Kim was there and she was amazing and charming and talked about her work on Sesame Street -- and, then they did an improv about her stories! 
• Central Park - I wandered through this street fair from Times Square until I hit the park and then I just kept going until I got to the Bethesda Fountain. There was a woman singing opera in The Arcade. 💓
• MoMA - a quick wander through the exhibits. There were some old films and art from around the world. I missed the exhibit about the capsule tower because the museum closed before I could get to the first floor. 
• Briciola Hells Kitchen - the food was okay, but the atmosphere was nice and the people working there were lovely.
• Stranger Things - I was tricked by the tickets guy into watching this show. It had phenomenal effects and excellent performances, but it was scary!! I was ultimately glad I saw it, but if I could do it again I would have picked another show. 
• The Met w/ Holly and Greg - the Sargent & Paris exhibit was exquisite! 
• Ken's house w/ Holly and Greg - meeting Rufus the dog! 
• Eastern African food w/ Holly and Clara - not sure what the name of that place was, but what a nice way to end my trip!