THANKS!

Happy Memorial Day! First, thank you to all of the service men and women who are serving or have served our country and give this day meaning. :)

Next... the all important vacation. I am all over this camping thing. I have thus far acquired hiking boots - Merrell Chameleon Arc Mid Waterproof Hiking boots from REI.com:

and hiking pants - Northface Paramount Convertible Pants also from REI:

I tried the hiking boots out on Saturday. No, not in the woods... but at the outlets! I know, not what they're meant for, but heck, that was a lot of walking. I will tell you that they are pretty darn comfy. I don't think they really needed breaking in. I was hoping to test their waterproofness since it was raining, but of course, by the time we got to the outlets, it had stopped raining. Regardless, I can tell you they are comfy and light. Not all that attractive in my opinion, but none of the hiking boots are. I think it's time I design a girly-girl line of hiking/camping gear. There is clearly a need.

As for the pants, I will tell those of you interested that they run small, just as I had read in the reviews on the web site. Therefore, you will need to buy a size up, something I am generally opposed to as it is bad for my self-esteem, but most of the other hiking pants look pretty unflattering compared to these, so I sucked it up. Also, these convert into semi-attractive shorts at a decent length, unlike many other convertibles which are still really long when converted into shorts, looking like something my mom would wear.

I think all I really need to buy now in terms of gear is a good waterproof jacket, as I've got a couple of fleeces I can layer in, some hiking socks, and one of those compressable pillows. I think the rest I can borrow or rent. Too bad vacation is still 6 months away. =P

For any of you interested in hiking the Inca Trail, there are still plenty of permits available for December 26th! You can use this website: http://www.inc-cusco.gob.pe/Kratos/site/Main.html to check daily availability. Only 500 people are allowed on the trail every day, including the guides and porters. If you look on our date, 24 permits have already been requested, and I think that pretty much accounts for the 4 of us, our 4 personal porters, our guide, our cook, and maybe 3 or 4 more porters that carry the tents and kitchen gear, and about 10 random people. We have signed up with http://www.llamapath.com/ for the trek and based on many of the reviews, they have good food, good guides, and treat their porters well, which is one of the reasons we chose them. While in Cusco, we are staying at the Ninos Hotel, whose profits go towards helping the orphans and poor children in Cusco. I love the idea of my vacation doing a little bit to help out.

HOLA!

I have to practice my Spanish now that we have set our next vacation for Peru. I know, what happened to Asia? Well.. stuff happens, what can I say? Now the plan is to do a 4 day trek, yes, hike, to Machu Picchu. Yes, I, who has never been camping, is going camping 4 days in the Andes. hehe. Hey ... gotta go all out!

I gotta tell you, it was crazy before we got the whole vacation planned. I nearly went blind looking airfare up on the internet. The vacation went from 3 countries (Peru, Brasil, Chile) to 2 (Peru, Chile) to just Peru due to time constraints and cost of airfare. The rising cost of fuel is just insane. My friend told me of a web site (www.yapta.com) which you can use to track airfare. Obsessive planner and bargain hunter like myself loves this kind of stuff. To give you an idea of how bad air is... just today, the airfare for my August trip to NYC went up TWICE, in $40 increments. I was actually in the process of booking it for the lower fare, when it told me no deal, so that I had to try again, and was able to book the same flights for $40 more. So word of warning for anyone with travel plans... book early or pay the price... as the same happened with my air fare going to DC and S. America (air went up $600 over night! Hence, the one country trip)

Anyhow, I've got vacation on the brain and we're not even going until Christmas. I've already started reading the travel guide books, but that's because I read every day anyway... might as well read something that will come in handy. I think next I may read a Spanish book so I can learn some Spanish before I go.

Oh, btw, other good travel websites I use to comparison shop - http://www.sidestep.com/ and http://www.cheapoair.com/. And... with airline companies being so financially challenged nowadays, and us going to a third-worldy place... I actually bought travel insurance this time - which covers cancellations, some delays, and some medical and dental should it be necessary during the trip. The say a lot of people suffer from altitude sickness once they do the trek, so I figure better safe than sorry this time.

COUGARS' NIGHT OUT

No, not us... but on Saturday night, I went to Javier's in Crystal Cove with Val and a couple of other girls, and that's essentially what it was. Older ladies in tight outfits showing their goodies. I have to say, it was a great people watching place, as it was very "OC." I kept waiting for one of those Real Housewives to pop up. Anyhow, the food was good - I really liked the guacamole - as were the margaritas. I believe they closed around 12 so we headed over to Port. It was a cosy little place and we loitered there for a bit before heading home.

On my way home, I passed a big custom bus with "Juanes" written all over the side. I assume it was Juanes. I believe he is a singer as I've seen a bill board for a concert off the 710.

Sunday I went up to Pasadena for Jing's birthday dinner at Green Street Cafe. I had the summer pasta. It was OK, nothing to write home about. I would've been better off loading up on the chinese chicken salad.

On Saturday, before heading down to the OC, I got a massage in the hopes it would alleviate my back pain. I suppose the key word is alleviate and not eliminate, because my back still hurts, but not as much. Even the masseuse thought I had knots in the weirdest places and she's a.)a runner b.) a masseuse. How messed up am I? Today I thought I'd be able to move on to 2.5 mi but the muscle lateral to my shin bone was hurting way too much. I walked for the first time since I started running. =( I also realized that the area around my ankle bone (the lateral side) is also sore. I'm fallin apart!

ARGH

So today, I got up and ran 2.08 miles. I was listening to my ipod whilst having breakfast after the run and it froze up on me. No idea why... wasn't doing anything at the time. Anyhow, I had to reset and when I plugged it in to the computer to download the run info... it was gone. :-( Booooo. So I'm telling you all now. Mr. Ipod Voice said it was 2.08 miles with a 9'24"/mile pace. =P

Oh, on Tuesday night I went to spin. What a great work out. My name for the night was Filthy Mc Nasty because I was sweating like a pig. The face is purple, I'm sure I smell bad, and of course there's a hottie in spin. Of course, I have no game, so it doesn't really matter, but still...