On Saturday, Adam and I traveled to Monterey for a two night stay at the “all-suite AAA 4-diamond” Hotel Pacific. When we (finally) arrived at the hotel (don’t take the tunnel!) they gave us our keys to our room, but stopped us just short of the elevator. Apparently, they gave us a room that was already occupied. So they gave us a new one but it still needed to be cleaned. They “upgraded” us. But really, the room was exactly what I pictured it would be (basically what the photos look like on their site), so now I’m wondering what exactly we were originally booked in. Anywho, it was so pretty! The hotel has a bunch of fountains and orange/brown tile-work everywhere. Did I take photos? No. I thought I’d do that on the last day, which turned out to be Storm Watch 2003. So there are no photos of the hotel. Oh well. Go to the site. You can see those.

Saturday evening, Adam and I checked out a bit of Cannery Row and had dinner at The Fish Hopper Restaurant. Mmm, fish and shrimp. Adam had some super yummy swordfish atop some mashed potatoes and with various veggies and a tasty sauce drizzled over it. (You can see, I enjoyed tasting Adam’s dinner more than my own.)

Sunday was Driving Day! We drove down to Carmel and meandered up and down the streets. Took some random photos and then headed to the Hogs Breath Inn (Clint Eastwood’s restaurant/pub) and had lunch.

Don’t worry, our trip doesn’t revolve around eating. Just mentioning the different places we went to. It’s not like we went to McDonalds and Denny’s — these are nice restaurants!

Anyway.

After lunch and walking around Carmel a bit more, we headed back north to start the 17 – Mile Drive. Let me tell you, we picked the PERFECT day to take this trip. Granted, it did get a smidge overcast as the day went along, but the amount of overcast made my photos turn out great. Some of the colors really popped out.

Thanks to the timer on my camera, Adam and I got to have some photos with both of us in the shot. This is the one of best ones of the bunch.

So along the drive, we saw richie rich homes (lots of oohs and ahhhs), the Lone Cypress (logo and trademarked even!), the ghost trees, various richie rich golf courses (Pebble Beach, Spyglass, Poppyhill — it’s all the locations of the popular PC game Links! haha), and a very odd tree with bricks in it…

And a cute squirrel that I have named Squeekums that graciously posed for several shots at the beach.

Sunday was Storm Watch 2003. Lots of rain. Lots of wind. Lots of people with the same idea — Going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Thank GOODNESS we had tickets in advance (through the package from AAA and the hotel) because there was a very long line for tickets and it was not under an overhang.

The aquarium hasn’t changed much in 6 months – so we sort of flew through it. But here’s a photo to represent that portion of our trip.

That’s a super quick rundown of our weekend. It was fun and I didn’t want it to end – ok well I wanted the rain to stop, but that’s about it.

If you’d like to see all of the photos I took – check out my gallery!

Now, just a short side note about something I’ve noticed:

I always order a Diet Coke/Pepsi with my meals. I have noticed 3 different ways restaurants distinguish between the regular Coke/Pepsi (that Adam usually orders) and my Diet drinks.

1. Two straws.

2. Lemon wedge (in or on rim of glass).

3. Lime wedge (in or on rim of glass).

In the world of Jennifer, option number 1 is the best one. While I am not obligated to drink my soda at a faster rate than those around me, I do not have to experience a ‘flavored’ coke.

I’m not a lemon wedge person unless I’ve got a Pyramid Hefeweizen in my hand (or other wheat beer I assume).

I tried the Lemon Coke and Lemon Pepsi (the latter of which tastes how I’d assume Lemon Pledge would taste).

But you see, I didn’t order a lemon Coke. So please refrain from adding a lemon.

Lime.

LIME? Who thought that up? Well s/he was wrong. I’m sorry but limes belong in Coronas and that’s that. (ok so maybe in some cocktails or such, but not my soda).

So to review:

GOOD

BAD

Ok, it’s late, and as you can tell from that last part of my post – I’ve gone insane.

YAY!

I get to watch tons and tons of commercials! Adam got me a year membership to AdCritic! Thanks Adam!

Woo commercials!!

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?

Graduation in May. BS in Advertising, and a job at a local PR company.

2. What was your biggest disappointment?

Sometimes I think I should have done a double major, or tried for a couple of minors. Also, maybe I should have more ambition for future schooling?

3. What do you hope the new year brings?

I hope the new year brings happiness for my family, because we need it more than ever.

I hope this year brings wonderful jobs and opportunities for my friends and I.

I just hope for happiness. Bottom line.

4. Will you be making any New Year’s resolutions? If yes, what will they be?

Even though they are broken every year – I will make them.

The traditional “lose weight” is number one on my list. There is a trip to Hawaii looming in the near-future, so I need to be at a weight that I won’t feel too horrible going there with.

I also intend on finding a ‘better’ job. What I mean by that is a new job where I get to learn something new, perhaps actually apply the creative side of advertising I learned in school, and get paid salary with benefits and the goodies that go along with that rather than hourly.

5. What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?

No definate plans yet. Sometimes we hang out with Al & Shannon, sometimes it’s just movie night with Adam. I wouldn’t mind going to San Francisco and going to a fun party. Not sure! We usually plan these things at the last minute. Maybe next year more planning will be involved.

I do want to partcipate in Tracey’s A Day In The Life photo project.

Since I only watch Ellen’s talk show religiously, I missed something pretty neato.

Apparently my cousin Kimberly (not the one that some of you have met) sketched a killer portrait of Ozzy and sent it to the Osborne camp. They loved it so much, they put her and her drawing on the show.

Thing is, we don’t know when this happened. My parents weren’t able to get the full story from my great aunt.

Anyway — if someone out there saw this and can remember when it happened, I’d like to know so I can try to catch it when it re-runs.

Thanks!