Xanga ADD.

Does anyone else have difficulty finishing entries?  So many unfinished entries...untold stories..  I'll start typing away about a random thought or funny event...but halfway through, my energy fizzles and I sign out thinking "next time..".  As a result, I have partially written entries about my hyper-masculine husband who keeps a ninja sword near our bed, how I could never become an actress in Korea bc my face is larger than a cd, my road-rage with a skateboarder, and my OCD traits when it comes to manicures and car washes.

Maybe one day....

In the meantime, I guess I'll finish posting the rest of my honeymoon pictures.  Oh yeah, remember those?

While Mykonos was, hands down, our favorite, Santorini was a very close second.

Approaching Santorini by sea...


This dramatic hillside village of Oia is one of the most photographed in the world.


Famous for their blue-domed chapels..



Lunch was breathtaking...  as we munched on greek salad (a must!) and assorted seafood, we marveled at the pristine white-ness and the meticulous upkeep of the blue-dome chapel.



Tell me this isn't one of the most beautiful little cafes ever:
      

Note:  If you ever go to Santorini, you will most likely be taken to Fira, the capital.  Skip the touristed-to-death city and take a bus to Oia.  All the above pics were taken there.


Shall we move on to Egypt?

Oh my, the stories we have of this crazy country!  We visited Alexandria and Cairo and not more than a couple of hours would go by without another hilarious tale to bring back home..   When researching this country, we were cautioned about traveling alone.  Especially when it came to traveling to and fro Alexandria and Cairo (a few hours distance).   But hey, whats the point of living...if you don't live??  lol...   D and I never even entertained the thought of hooking up with a group.  We were gonna do it alone, just the two of us.  And boy, are we glad we did!   There was never a relaxed moment as we hilariously navigated the convoluted transportation system and somewhat-unfriendly country..  We have some fabulous stories..  but anyways, on with the pictures!

I guess I'll start with the pyramids.. Here they are:



    They were massive and quite impressive...but we couldn't help wondering how many dead slave bodies were pressed in between those humongous blocks..

Just to give you an idea of the enormity... one block is taller than D - who is 5'11.


I didn't even bother climbing the pyramids.  It was freaking hot enough - especially wearing a long sleeve shirt out of respect to the locals..

Camels.  I got as close as I could... here I am nervously giggling..



I was scared it would reach out and spit or bite me.. but it didn't.  whew.


This poser invited himself to my photo-op.  I willingly complied - hey, a photo with a local!  But then, he tried to get me to pay him FIVE US DOLLARS!  W.T.F.??   Needless to say, I gave him but a fraction of that amount and he hrmphed unhappily back to his peoples.  whatever!!!



The Sphinx is quite UNimpressive...  all these crows/birds on its face.  Looks kinda gross.


We visited the Papyrus Institute.  Man making paper out of papyrus.  Quite interesting.
 




We visited some more ancient remains..  like Pompei's Pillar



But as I mentioned in an earlier post, visiting such places start getting old...  so what's a bored girl to do??

Do the Paris Hilton!


I forget the significance of this bathtub... but hey, another photo-op!   Dont I look like I'm really in the tub?  hahaha..that is how good I am.  oh yeah, baby.
  


Museums also get old after a while...  so I did what I do.  My dear husband, he quietly suffered through the questioning glances and obliged with the photo requests.



Alexandria, Egypt was VERY interesting...  While most of Cairo and Alexandria is quite poor, dirty, and chaotic (we saw sheep being slaughtered right on a main street!), the coast of Alexandria feels more Mediteranean than Middle Eastern.  Water so clear you can see your toes in thigh-high waters!  You almost forget you're in Egypt as you walk by hotel after hotel - mostly of the four/five star kind.  Whats interesting about this place was that, the choicest parts of the beach are owned by these high-end hotels - making it only accessible to their guests!   No residents (egyptians) allowed!  They need to travel farther out to gain access.  Interesting study in gentrification...   Local egyptians not allowed access to the best parts of their own city.  That would be like D and I being denied access to Santa Monica or Malibu beach!  Un believable..
 



Near this elite area was the King's palace.


It was gorgeous.  Prime real estate, I tell ya.  Here we are in front of the palace with our CRAZY taxi driver.  He spit constantly, alternated between cussing profusely and singing gleefully, honked his horn incessantly, and smoked out in between stops.  He tried ripping us off at the end but D and I were just glad to have survived.
    

And thats it for Egypt!

We visited about 5 more Greek islands..none of them as wonderful as Mykonos or Santorini.  Maybe I'll post a few pictures at a later time.  When I get around to posting again. lol..  

Until next time, darlings...

My favorite baby in the whole world.




She's a mini-me of my friend E. (That totally rhymed)




Look at her matching headband. omg, I just want to bite her!!




A very close runner up.  Look at her cute little shirt.  My friends have the cutest lil munchkins!




Meanwhile, the baby in D&E's household...


   
 

Just wanted to show you one more wedding dress pic before moving on..... to...

THE GREEK ISLANDS.

*Warning: Massive picture overload*

No need to say much, the pictures speak for themselves. We visited around 6 different islands but hands down, our favorites were Mykonos and Santorini.  If you ever go to Greece, you must, I repeat, YOU MUST go to these two islands. 

Let's start with me and my hubby's favorite:

Mykonos



How charming is that chapel? That is a real church!  It is actually quite breathtaking in person... even with D's new fancy schamncy camera we couldn't fully capture its beauty...   There are small chapels like this everywhere on the island. every single one just as pretty...



I don't know the name of those red flowers...but they were everywhere!  Check out this pic:

How pretty is this!!

In the pic above, I'm standing in an alleyway.  In LA, alleyways are playgrounds for criminal activities. In Mykonos, alleyways are places where the everyday mundane (such as laundry) provides incredible backdrops for photo opps.  Such as this:



When did hanging laundry become so charming?  I stood in that alleyway for a little while... There were sheets and clothes billowing above me giving off a wonderful clean soapy scent. Made me want to spread my arms out and whirl around. hehe..  Anyways, it was beyond charming. sigh.  Note the beautiful ground in the last two pics.

For a good 10 hours, D and I just wandered the island.  No map, no directions, we wanted to get lost.  We just couldn't get over how pretty is was!  We just walked through the residential neighborhoods...and took a million pictures.





 

I sooooo badly wanted to go inside someone's house.  I wanted to see what it was like inside!  I imagined the homes to be relatively small with old rustic charm..  There was this house with the door slightly ajar.  I managed to peek in and see a wooden table but not much else.   so sad.  But that house also had those gorgeous flowers..so I settled for a picture.



We ventured out of the main area and started hiking up the island..  and on the way up, we spotted another church.



Only in Myknons can even a cemetary be so charming..

We walked past some kids and realized we were passing a school that had some kind of ampitheater next to it.

  That red dot is my hubby.

Can you imagine living and going to school in a place like this??  Those kids must have the most pleasant disposition...

Some additional views while hiking up..



Now, the jewel of our hike...our best discovery yet.. off the beaten path with hardly anyone around.



We found another chapel!



It was something out of a storybook.  Overlooking the Mediterranean.



LA should have ribbons around their lampposts.



Too much prettiness. Time for a pose!

I'm the Queen of the, uh, .....BICEPS!

Even the back of the chapel provided a nice backdrop for a photo.



 Are you exhausted yet?  Hang in there... still got some more of Mykonos to see.

We continued on with our hiking adventure...    we saw abandoned boats..



We saw windmills...



And some more of seaside Mykonos..



Started our descent back to town..



Mykonos has a Little Venice.  We had been gorging on gyros and veggies all day...so we decided to indulge in some pasta - though skeptical of pasta in Greece.  Boy were we wrong!

We stopped by what seemed to be a very popular restaurant.  Weren't expecting much but we liked the seaside seating. 



Started off with this very simple looking greek salad and bread.  But trust me, there was nothing "simple" about the taste.  I'm not a veggie person but these veggies were actually sweet.  We fell in love with greek salads that day.  We had it every day in Greece.




We got our pasta special... sooo delicious.  The pasta is handmade right there, and all the seafood brought in that very day.  The best seafood pasta ever.  In Greece!  Who knew?



We weren't expecting that large amount of food and were sure we would have leftovers.  HA. yeah right!  Here I am reflecting on our pigginess.

 

If ever in Mykonos and craving some good ole homemade pasta, you must pay VENEZIA a visit.

Big mama will help you out.

Now, remember how I fell in love with Turkish coffee?  Forget about that.  I discovered THE GREEK FRAPPE.



During the summer, you will see every other Greek person walking around drinking this.  We kept wondering, what is that, what is that?  Finally someone told us.
Greek frappé (Café frappé) is a foam-covered iced coffee drink made from spray-dried instant coffee.

I had several a day. SO delish.  I have yet to find one in LA.

But whatever you do, never ever order a Greek Coffee, the original kind.  It is pure mud. Unfiltered dark roast coffee with grinds in it!  I made the mistake of ordering it once.

  

This is not a dramatization.  We were photo-documenting all our wonderful coffee discoveries...and this was my actual reaction to my first sip.   As a result, I had to order another Frappe TO THE RESCUE!     

Okay, I'm tired.  This is a long entry.  We're not quite done with Mykonos...we took a boat out to visit some ruins..but that will have to wait for another day.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I have!

Till next time. Ciao~ 


                       

POP QUIZ

How big was my wedding dress?

a) Big enough to hide my husband
b) Big enough to hide a couple of my friends
c) Big enough to serve as a wrap for cold bridesmaids
d) all of the above

Correct answer.....

ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Yes, I was in a mega-dress.  Please turn your attention to...

<exhibit A>


<exhibit B>


<exhibit C>


<exhibit D>


Yes, I am aware of how obnoxiously big my dress was.  And yes, I totally loved it. 

So, where is the dress now?

Laying silently in her bag underneath our bed.  Waiting for our one-year anniversary...when I will sneak into it in the wee hours of the morning...and quietly sit at the edge of our bed waiting for him to wake up.  muahahahaha....  how FREAKED OUT will he be??!!

Oh yes, I AM twisted like that, puahahahaha...

Honeymoon pics coming soon, darlings. Stay tuned.

I guess its about time..