At UC Santa Barbara I was fortunate enough to meet many (dare I even say hundreds?) of amazing people from all walks of life.

One of the first few people I met in the dorms was Lindsey. We ended up majoring in English together, taking similar classes and even writing/editing for the same two newspapers! Our paths even continued crossing post-graduation. Hers was one of the first blogs I'd ever read consistently. We both were avid travelers who spoke two languages and trying to find our places in the world. We really did have a lot in common.

When she moved to Chicago and a work trip took me out there in 2007, I was able to visit and hear about her life in the Midwest. But that's kind of where the story ends. After living in Europe, traveling and working the non-stop life that is sports, I got so busy I stopped following her blog. Then one day, I went to look back and realized she stopped blogging.

A shame, I though, that such a talented writer wouldn't have the time/desire/energy to do so anymore. I learned through Facebook that she finally moved back to California, sent a quick message and found out she was in grad school. I know first-hand that grad school is a MAJOR time commitment.

But then yesterday, I finally found out why I hadn't heard from her in a long time (other than my own time constraints).

I ran across this on the Internet/Facebook:

To say I'm astonished would be an understatement. So I dedicate today's post to you, Miss Miller. You are one of the most talented, genuine, strong, creative, ambitious, adorable people I know! I look forward to following your journey and I am actively following social media to see if you get your response from him!

My thoughts are with you every day. You literally are one of the strongest people I know, and this is not an exaggeration when I say I've always been impressed by you. Even as undergrads working late hours at the newspaper. When you moved back to Southern California, I knew it would only be a matter of time before you made it. Well, here you are. Do us all proud enjoying your dance in the limelight :)

(Read about her offer, here!)

"Nothing comes close to the Golden Coast"

I would quote Katy Perry.

I know I'm crazy slow/behind on this, but I've been majorly busy this past week. School's ending so my tutoring hours are up and the Dbacks are in the middle of a pretty big homestand, which means lots of hours on my part.

And it's hard to believe that April is GONE already! It feels like it was just my birthday yesterday... or three weeks ago. As quickly as that came and went, my sister and her boyfriend paid a visit to Arizona and we hung out for a long weekend. Doing a lot of this:

and also some of this on the side:

I'll spare you the gory details, but know that I am on a bit of a booze detox as we speak ;) Oh, the baseball is still raging though, seeing as how that's my job and all!

It just so worked out that my sister planned her flight home the same day I was considering going home for Easter! We took the same flight home and I had a few days to hang out with old friends and family. You know I spent my first night in the Bay Area attending an Oakland A's baseball game.

Then on Wednesday, I kept in contact with Courtney (Pancakes and Postcards) and we finally met up! It made sense seeing as how she just moved to San Francisco and I've called its suburbs home for the past 25 years.

We met up at La Mar Cebicheria, an interesting Peruvian restaurant on Pier 1.5. Due to a lack of planning on our part -- seriously though, how is anything in a big city closed after 6 p.m. on a weekday?! -- we had to settle for seating at the bar area. What's funny is how much we have in common, from where our families grew up to living abroad, to hating to take pictures of our food and only doing so with an iPhone. It was awesome and reminded me of how much I still miss California.

In case you're wondering, I had the ensalada tiradito, which consisted of the following: thinly sliced Tombo Tuna with mixed greens, green papaya, cilantro, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, fried wontons and onions with a sesame passionfruit vinaigrette. Although my liver wasn't adventurous enough to try a the house Pisco sour, Courtney was. I opted for a milder, chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc instead.

On Thursday, my travels took me to the South Bay where I had lunch at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino and then met up with a friend in San Jose. I'll start with Apple: that place is amazing and efficient I'd imagine. The lunch buffet was fresh and varied, but more importantly, delicious. I guess it pays to keep your employees happy and healthy over a long period of time, doesn't it?! ;)

Salad bar and fresh-squeezed fruit and veggie juice, so good!

Oh and now I am the proud new owner of a pretty phone case à la Kate Spade.

Apple is pretty close to where one of my friends lives so we met up and hung out for a few hours in San Jose until my dad could pick me up and take me home after work. We headed straight to Santana Row for -- you guessed it -- cocktails (and lunch for Brian). After a quick stop at a Mexican restaurant, it was off to this cute little wine bar where I found myself ordering champagne cocktails. A great idea if you ask me!!

Then in the tradition of our friendship, we took silly pictures in stores. No this was not alcohol-induced; we'd done this many times during work lunches when I still lived in Stockton. Now you know a little more about how odd I am :)

Killing our last hour of time to end the day, we snuck around on the Winchester Mystery House grounds and took a "free" tour. Brian had never been before, and I think I went back when I was in Girl Scouts. It's pretty freakin' weird/creepy. I mean, the residence of any woman who's possessed enough to believe that continually adding on to her mansion so the haunted ghosts don't kill her but dies anyways sounds like a great museum/tourist attraction, right?! (Read here if I just sparked your curiosity). Plus, it's got a door to nowhere and I think that's neat:

But they really have done a beautiful job of restoring the mansion since the late 1800s.

There, now you're all caught up to my infamous first wine tasting trip to Sonoma :) Easter was spent up in the Sacramento area with family, stuffing our faces and looking for money-stuffed plastic eggs! Until the early evening, when I had to fly back to Arizona.

It was a much-needed break to go home and visit with friends and family! I can't wait until my next trip home... Hopefully there'll be some of that familiar California sun next time. Although, the 80-90 degree weather here in Arizona sure makes up for my week of rain and fog :)

Week 13: Hiked Camelback with a friend from high school

Every week in 2011, for 52-straight weeks, I hope to try something new and blog about it here. This is the 13th post in the series, when I climbed Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale/Phoenix with my best friend from high school. Here you will find a list of all my weekly adventures thus far.

The month of March was CRAZY (fun) at my house. We had five groups of friends/family visit Arizona which meant something to do and entertaining to be had every single week. This was literally 0-to-60 for me, as I barely know anyone in the entire state of Arizona and being jobless for so long meant hardly ever going out.

Looks like April will be more of the same old story ;) But it was nice to have visitors, see old friends, family and be active and adventurous out here. Most recently, my best friend from high school, Laura, flew out as our final visitor in March. We hadn't seen each other since her wedding in 2009.

Her visit began with this week's new thing on Wednesday at noon. I have never hiked Camelback Mountain in Phoenix before! It's hailed as one of the top urban hiking trails in the country, as a grueling climb just minutes from the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.

(Source)

I'm not lying when I say it's a grueling hike. At some points we were completely vertical, without a trail, jumping from rock-to-rock, using only a handrail or a fence for support. My knee is still a mess from my running injury last summer, so I was smart enough to have to foresight to wear my knee brace. Without it, I don't think I could have made it.

Funny story though, we didn't actually make it... This week has been one of the hottest on record in Phoenix. It actually hit 100° yesterday. I'm sure you can imagine, then, how warm it was at 12 p.m. hiking a 3 mile round trip mountainous trail. In fact, the combination of our lungs, limbs and only two water bottles between us did us in. We made it about a third of the way up the mountain before heading back. It took around 45 minutes to do the mile trek, with a slight glimpse of the summit. I wouldn't change a thing! Catching up with an old friend while laughing at the older men and children (some with dogs) who sprinted past us really made for a fun start to her trip. Clearly I'm not acclimated to the desert yet, and I've only lived here eight months. I do plan to go back to Camelback sometime in the very near future to finish what I started....As long as I'm out by 6 a.m. and NOT the late morning/early afternoon. I think I'll also need to invest in a Camelbak (ha, no pun intended, but that was awesome) for serious hydration with temperatures in the 80s/90s here to stay and get hotter.

(Source)

Laura also took me on another first trip: thrift shopping! I fell in love (as you can imagine on my limited budget) and will definitely do that in favor of mall/department store shopping from here on out. Details to come in a future post :)

In the meantime, I present to you: MONIQUE & LAURA'S AWESOME CAMELBACK ADVENTURE

View from the first tier just to get up to the mountain trail

Smiling because I had no idea what more lay ahead...

Plane to mountain in under 20 minutes, go Laura!

Last part of the hike we were able to do

Uncharted territory. I WILL return to tackle you, Camelback.

Funny how we literally were twins and didn't even plan it! She packed that outfit for the plane and I rolled out of bed and threw on some dry fit clothing :)

We joked about snapping a photo at our most gassed point in the hike, in full sunlight, out of water and peanut butter sandwiches and sweating out of control. Clearly, I've spared you all of such a photo (it doesn't even exist, btw). After, we treated ourselves to some window shopping in Downtown Scottsdale and an old fashioned soda shop treat (the orange raft J.D. and I shared when we first moved here). It was sooooooo awesome to hang out with one of my best childhood friends this week! I'm a little sad to return to an empty house again. But happy for the wonderful month we've had in March. Sooooo, if you're thinking about heading to Arizona, come visit! I love entertaining friends and family!

Also, I just discovered this cover recently and can't wait to share it. It's no secret how much I love Katy Perry. And she looks so cute in this video :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend, xx!

Katy Perry: Hackensack
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