Friday, September 08, 2006

Tales of a Suburban Warrior Princess

Ah so now I am rockin' the suburbs...

So as you know I conveniently left my husband Sujoy back in Taipei for 2 weeks so he could slave away for us as he so generously does! Thank you, sweetie pie. kiss kiss...

It was very very strange to be back at first. San Diego looks like a ghost town compared to Taipei. Where is everyone???!!
Driving was a trip. I went through a red light and a stop sign my first day driving. I NEVER do that!!! But these things are optional is Taipei (no joke). I just spaced them.

Anjoli and I spent a few afternoons at the local Y pool. We were loving the gorgeous weather and clear blue sky. (We missed that awful heatwave, but we had our share of hot hot mugginess in Taipei). Happily we met some of Anjoli's friend at the pool and wasted no time making much needed playdates for Anjoli.
She had lots of sleepovers with her friends. During one sleepover she and Diane played "insurance adjusters." Okaaaaaaaaaaay. Diane's mom had just had a fender bender in a parking lot, so they wrote up pretend reports for Allstate.
It cracked me up. This is how it read:

Name: Cynthia
Age: 19
Story: I was at Marshall's at the parking lot, and this guy just smashed into my car. It was like on purpose.

They told me: "tomorrow we're going to pretend we're working for the UN and we're going to supply Africa with water." Sweet, innit?

A few days after we came home, my dear friend Laura came down from L.A. and brought her friends Tola and Rebecca who were visiting from Sweden. We had a blast (Anjoli conveniently stayed with her friends a couple of nights so it was great to be FREE!!). What great girls they are. So sweet, smart and fun.
The first night I brought them to Coronado and we had girlie cocktails beachside at the Hotel Del Coronado. That's always the first place I bring guests who are visiting from out of town. Sadly, I forgot my camera.
They were all gung ho about visiting Tijuana, and this warrior princess aims to please. So, after many many caveats, we arrived in this crazy border city. It was just as (bad) as they expected, and we were all annoyed with the macho men who tried to lure us into their stores, but that comes with the territory. One of them kept trying to get us into a strip joint (he promised that it was a Chippendales show - HA! Fat chance). He kept saying to me: "my mother-in-law gets in free...c'mon bring your DAUGHTERS!!" grrrrrrrr. They're all around 23 years old. Oh well, that's what I get hanging around youngins.
We had a delicious lunch at a Spanish (not Mexican) restaurant:


Later on we found a quiet street off the main drag where we had margaritas:





I bought a few custom, handmade bracelets for Anjoli and Diane that this man made out of wire before our eyes. He wound them into Anjoli's name (he already had made one that spelled Diane). It was quite an amazing feat, he did it in no time and it's really very pretty! Of course I had to bring back the obligatory bottle of good tequila, so later that night we had a few more margaritas...I did manage to save most of the tequila for Sujoy. (phew)

The next day we went to my favorite beach in the world, Torrey Pines, which is in La Jolla. The water was freezing but I think they all enjoyed it.

Later that evening I dropped Anjoli off at Diane's and we went uptown to Hillcrest. It's my favorite part of town (very gay so naturally it's very quaint and filled with cool, fun shops). Rebecca was keen on going to the vintage shops. She found a scarf and Tola found a really cute dress. Unfortunately we got there late and most of them were closed, so I led the way the next day so they could return and shop some more on their way home.

After shopping we had a delicious Thai dinner then we went to dance at my favorite club here in San Diego, The Kava Lounge...We had such a blast, I'll tell you all about it real soon!

9 comments:

lryicsgrl said...

YEAH!
You are baaack and badder than ever!
I love this post. You do crack me up.
And, hey, you are making me CRAVE mexican food and Margaritas.....ah, what the fack am I saying? I FREAKIN AM LIVING ON BURRITTOS and VIRGIN Margaritas....yum, but the Tequila makes the calories go down, better.

And Anjoli and her friend, are super smart. I love it when kids, just up and regurgitate (sounding this out, like a mental patient), what they see and hear from their enviroment. BE CAREFUL, that girl is SHARP and won't miss a trick.

I look forward to the continuing tales.....someone HAS to keep the blog up and going!!

xoSue

grace said...

Hi Sue, Sounds like a great day. I love shopping at vintage shops. Or any shopping for that matter!!! shopping is very therapudic!! Not good for the wallet, but what the heck? hey?!! Your pictures look fun, and the food sounds delicious. xx Grace

Metalchick said...

Hi Sue,
Looks like you guys had a lot of fun. That is true about Tijuana, those shop people are just making a living, so they try to lure in as many people in as they can. The sad thing about Tijuana are all the homeless people there, it breaks my heart when I see the children who are selling things in order to have enough money to eat.

Delbut said...

Sue. 23-year-old daughters. that's a bummer comment from him. I guess it's all that travelling that makes you look a bit worn out, though.

Sarah said...

Hey Sue...Rachel told me that Mikey was not going to be there for the first leg of the tour. Didn't really get into it with her, but I think it has something to do with the ITA tapings - she told me that she found out it was illegal to do live webcasts in the US - again, I'm not really sure what she's talking about because I didn't get too into it with her - but she seemed frustrated about it, and said they had to figure out a way to tape the shows. From what I know CC will be at Joe's Pub --- They better be!!

Anonymous said...

Hi!

Just wanted to say hi and hope you're well. I do read your blog, but I am not always very good at leaving comments!!

I enjoyed this last post!

Hugs form Monsoon in Norway xxx

Rose said...

Sue!

Good to see you again, and I must say, be careful! I let my boss pressure me into a little "social drinking" which turned into "social drunkenness" which then had my Andrew puking on every street corner on the way home. :|

Then again, I think it has already been established that I lack a certain amount of self control at times.

Other than the one incident, Andrew is doing quite well. He isn't too happy about being back at school, but I think it's good for him. I'm working my butt off, and hopefully will be able to provide him with a nice laptop which will make his school experience that much better! :)

It's good to hear that Anjoli thinks about such things as Africa getting water! Too many kids grow up with the "I want, I want" and don't really think about anything outside of that. I see so many of them in my new sales job. You've definitely done something right!

Wonderful pictures, everything in your life is so colourful! We have rain at the moment, and I think it has been affecting my mood. I'm trying to adopt the Buddhist idea of impermanence.

The rain will pass.

Jack

Fleur de Bee said...

I am like cracking up at the "insurance adjusters" game. Like HOW COOL! Your child is so darling to hear about. I am thrilled I get to meet her. I bet her and Lexi will have so much fun. I noticed the other day (Monday) when she played with my friend Anne's daughter, who is also an only child, that they seem to have a language and mannerisms of their own when an only child. Very independant and adapt easily to this nutty adult world. Resiliant for sure!

Have a great weekend and thanks so much for calling me the other day. it was a plesant surprise and I am sorry I was distracted, we were on our way to Ballet and I was trying to drive and focus, but I didn't want to ignore your call! I will just have to call you back when i get more time. No red lights for both of us now! LOL

XX-Mols

woof nanny said...

I love the elotes stands in TJ. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Honestly some of those carts have the best food! I used to live in Northern California, where trees were the center divide of the highway. It all seemed so straw-colored when I came back here. Then it all seemed normal again quickly.
About a decade ago (or more) a friend of mine took some Swiss travelers under her wing. We decided to introduce them to California by shooting bottlecaps outside the Strand Theatre (remember that place? It was in OB and Rocky Horror played there forever), then for Tequila Shooters (that was when they used to tilt your head back, pour the drink in your mouth, then grab your head and shake it), and then to Malibu Gran Prix! All three things are no more, wow. I'm getting old...
Who needs fancy hotels when you have go-karts?!