Another Amazing Weekend

Before I forget all the details, I wanted to blab about my wonderful Valentine's Day. RC and I had been talking about taking a trip for V-day for a while now, and last week we decided to do it. He suggested San Diego and I was all for the idea. I really like the area and it's been a while (almost two years?) since I've been down.

RC did all the planning, which was awesome. All I had to do was be ready to go on Sunday, and after a tasty breakfast with my Dad and a lot of errand running, I was finally good to go. The trip itself went something like this:

Receive a dozen roses :)
Enjoy a beautiful, traffic-free drive to San Diego
Get lucky with free parking in Old Town
Peruse old/familiar shops!
Recollect past trips to the area, including a particularly fun elementary school field trip
Enjoy margaritas and nachos at El Fandango
Listen to romantic, table-side music
Travel downtown to check in to our fancy shmancy hotel
Exchange gifts/introduce Bear
Head out to dinner at Tabule and experience great atmosphere and delightful service
Wander the Gaslamp District
Watch a bit of the Olympics
SLEEP
Brunch at Monsoon, a delicious (FILLING) Indian restaurant
Head over to Pacific Beach
Get lucky again with free parking 10 feet from the pier
Flounce around popping seaweed amongst seagulls in shallow water
Eventually drive back to Orange County
Finish off the trip with some tasty Jamba Juice...
And then immediately go out to have tea/fantastic conversation with Jackie!

My day ended with my mom and I watching one of the most moving figure skating performances I've ever seen: Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao's long program. It wasn't a flawless performance, but there was so much emotion behind each of their movements that I barely noticed their few small mistakes. They were so graceful, and the choreography fit the music splendidly. Plus, they have a fantastic story: Zhao proposed to Shen four years ago at the last olympics, and they went into retirement shortly thereafter. They came out of retirement to compete in this year's olympics with the hopes of winning an Olympic Gold medal - the one title that elluded them during their 18 year career. Perhaps it was knowing this that made me hang on their every move... but seriously, it was a really beautiful program. Oh and in case you were wondering, they won their gold medal. :D

Anyway, I took a TON of pictures this weekend. Although it's tempting to do it now, I'm going to wait to post them (I have 200 pages to read and a project to finish by Wednesday). It's just as well. Although pictures are often beautiful, they can never actually showcase the emotion of an experience. They can only spark memories, and for this I am glad. :)