Roadtrip with the grandparents

Last week I took my grandparents to San Jose for my little cousin's 8th grade graduation. Traveling with old people is... challenging. I imagine it's a lot like traveling with children. When I'm driving by myself to San Jose, I prefer to stop only once or twice with each stop lasting less than 10 minutes. With my grandparents, we made 4 stops on the way to San Jose. One stop was about 45 minutes for lunch! If they had their way we probably would have stopped at every mission along the way. 

There is, however, one perk to traveling with oldies... handicap parking! 

vip parking

I had fun while in San Jose. We spent most of our time eating. If we weren't eating, we were thinking about eating or planning our next food stop. 

the foodies

On my last day in nor-cal, I was able to sneak away and spend some time in SF with Sarah, Willie, and Connie. Connie selected a restaurant for us to try that just happened to be the number one restaurant I've been dying to try for like two years! We took public transportation (yay!) to the Mission District of SF. I finally got to experience Gracias Madre  and their 100% organic vegan Mexican food. Yumm. 

chilaquiles from Gracias Madre

It was a fun three days with the cousins. Congrats to Connor! The youngest cousin is now in high school! That makes me feel oooold! Pretty soon I'll be needing that handicap parking ;)

the grad and me

San Jose 12/3/11

"Death is very likely to be the single best invention of life" -Steve Jobs

Saturday was the funeral for my uncle. I really enjoyed the service. It was thought provoking and inspiring! The speaker made some interesting points. Death is life's best invention because it reminds us that our time is limited. From the moment we are born our clock is ticking. Knowing that our time is limited, we should want to make each moment meaningful. I am inspired to live a life full of LOVE and meaning and sincerity and adventure.

After the funeral, we went to the Elks Lodge to eat. There was so much good food. I was actually tempted to eat chicken for the first time in months but luckily there was more than enough tasty meatless options to keep me distracted. It was just really nice to spend time with family.

Then, I went to Starbucks to meet up with my friend, Danny. One thing I really like about him is that he lives the way I kinda want to live. I love that he doesnt hide his feelings. He'll say things like, "Sarah's so cute, I just love her" or "I was so excited to see you, I couldn't sleep last night." I just love how sincere he is because I think most people are too afraid to express themselves like that. But yeah, life is short so we should tell/show our friends that we love them!

We got to FaceTime with Sarah for a little bit, but it was kinda hard to hear her because we were at Starbucks and they were making blended drinks. Most of our conversation was us waving at each other.

For dinner, we went to the Cheesecake Factory where I had the most amazing pumpkin cheesecake ever. I need to go back to the Cheesecake Factory soon, but next time I'm only going to order dessert because life is short! Hahaha.

Labor Day Weekend Road Trip- Day Three

Day three consisted of MORE EATING!

Our first stop was Pho Y! This place was packed (always a good sign!). When it comes to pho, I can't help but take a "30-minute break from being a vegetarian"! I did order mine without meat though :)





Then after pho, even though we were super stuffed, we went to Tapioca Express. I tried honey milk tea which was super sweet.





After that, we went to Gilroy to shop and then headed home.

Labor Day Weekend Road Trip- Day Two

We took our time getting ready at the hotel. We checked out around 11am and were on our way to San Jose.

My cousin knew all the popular food places. Our first stop of the night was The Counter on Santana Row. It was so fun customizing our orders. I had a veggie burger.





Even though we were STUFFED, my cousin convinced everyone to try Hello Desserts! This place was amazing!



I got a Fruity Delight. Soooo yummy! Suddenly, I wasn't so stuffed anymore. I finished the whole thing!