Book Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

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I have been really enjoying listening to Audiobooks. I am so glad that I "discovered" them, they make commuting and work go by so much quicker! Since I am listening while at work, I have realized that I need to listen to fun and easy audiobooks so I can concentrate on my work while retaining the words in the book.

My only experience with Mindy Kaling is from when she played Kelly Kapoor on the office. I enjoyed her character and after reading Tina & Ellen's books, I felt that Mindy's book was the most logical next step  (see what I did there? first name basis...still).

Just like the other audiobook, Mindy is the narrator. She is witty, hilarious and sweet all at the same time. I definitely recommend this audiobook.

I will leave you with the following excerpts from her book: 

"I don't know how to do drugs because no one showed me"

*amen to this! haha

"And going to town on all of the "kid friendly" snacks in the house. Kid friendly food is the best, because kid friendly simply means: total garbage. I ate frozen chicken nuggets shaped like animals, fruit chews shaped like fruit, and fruits shaped like cubes in syrup. I discovered that kids hate for any food to resemble the form it originally was in nature. They are on to something, because that processed garbage was insanely delicious. I spent some excellent Saturday nights watching Monique strutting on stage at the Apollo while I ate a handful of children's chewable vitamins and wrapped myself in my boss's cashmere kimono."

*true story about babysitting! any and all babysitters out there know that it is an unspoken rule that you get to eat the families food...! ha

Plaza de Armas

This is the main square in Cusco. It is bustling with people, cars, dogs and lots of restaurants. An interesting fact about Cusco (Peru, too) is that dogs are not typically kept as pets. So there are wild dogs roaming around everywhere. It is actually really sad that there are no controls because the female dogs are walking around always pregnant or just having had a litter of puppies.

Something that I really appreciated about Cusco is how many police are everywhere. We felt very safe, at all times (almost), which made the entire vacation much more enjoyable.

This is the cathedral and inside there is a painting of the Last Supper and on the table (as the last supper) is Cuy – guinea pig. We, sadly, did not eat guinea pig on this trip. We were looking for it, but because it is a delicacy, it is also very expensive because tourists want to eat it and will pay top dollar for it.

The rainbow flag is actually the Official Flag of Cusco. It was really cool because we were in Cusco for Peru’s Independence Day! There didn’t seem to be too much going on. We heard fireworks, but missed them :-( Fortunately, we were able to see some while we were in Puno.

Weir walking in SF

While my MIL was in town she stayed with Melissa in San Francisco and we all wanted to walk around and hang out. We met at the Buena Vista for brunch – I had never eaten there, only enjoyed Irish Coffees. The food is really tasty!

From the Buena Vista we walked to Fort Mason and over to Chrissy Field. It was a bit cloudy but the temperature was nice enough that we weren’t cold. And it was perfect for walking around.

Ha! Rich and I are standing directly in front of the Golden Gate Bridge ... oops, oh well!

Typical. We are wearing almost the same thing, making the same gestures and face...

We headed to a wine bar and then to an early dinner. The day was low key and it was great to spend some quality time with family!

San Pedro Market

Rich and I spent many an hour at the San Pedro Market. It has food and also little shops to buy souvenirs. We stumbled upon the market when we were walking around the city the first day we were there. We got a huge plate of food for S/ 3.50 it was so cheap and filling we ended up going back again the next day!

The pictures from the “innards” isle is not for the queasy stomach. The items pictured are typically used in soups to make broths etc. We didn’t eat anything like that…I don’t think…

(yes, all of my outdoor wear is a different shade of blue. yes I realize how silly I look :-) )

All of the breads were amazing and the produce was so vibrant and had some of the most beautiful colors!

Hostel Andariego

We are back from Peru and safe in our new house. What a wild 3 weeks, let me just tell you! We packed up our apartment on Tuesday, packed up the moving truck on Wednesday, drove up to the Bay Area on Thursday, moved into our new place on Friday and left for Peru on Tuesday – for 2 weeks. It has been hectic, fun, scary and amazing all at the same time. Now we are unpacking, settling/nesting and I am looking for a job – shameless shout out: if anyone is hiring in San Francisco, let me know!

I wanted to start my trip recap out by sharing where we stayed. After scouring hostelworld.com we decided on Hostel Andariego. I wanted to be close to the Plaza de Armas and we needed to find some place affordable. We used Cusco as our home base, but traveled to a couple of different places so when we stayed in Cusco we stayed here (I believe about 6 nights to be exact). The staff was great, breakfast was included (eggs, bread, jam, cheese, tea and coffee), the rooms and bathrooms were clean and they were willing to keep most of our stuff when we went on day trips/overnight stays. I would definitely recommend this location.

Book Review: State of Wonder

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It took me two tries to get into this book. It starts out a little slow, but once you get through the initial character development stages this book is one you don't want to/ can't put down. State of Wonder written by Ann Patchett is about a team of doctors who work to develop pharmaceutical drugs. The story takes place in the Brazilian Amazon and introduces the reader to different cultures and local tribes. The plots takes lot of interesting twists throughout the book and will leave you wanting more.

Enjoy!

Booking our Peru Trip

Source: ysvoice.tumblr.com via Kaitlyn on Pinterest

Peru has 2 seasons. The wet season and the dry season. During the wet season, it rains and the temperatures are very warm. During the dry season, there is hardly any rain, but the temperatures are cooler. Because of our schedules, and our preferences, we decided to go in July, at the beginning of Peru's dry season.
Rich and I have known that we wanted to visit Peru and see the historical and beautiful site: Machupicchu and figured that this summer would be the perfect time to do it. We booked our trip in mid April. Which I wouldn't recommend waiting as long as we did. Flights were really expensive, compared to January when we really started looking into booking our travel. 
We know quite a few people who have either (a) lived in Peru or (b) visited Peru recently.  Since our main focus was to see Machupicchu we enlisted our friends to help us find the best rates and deals to visit the site. A close friend had visited Peru and raved about a tour guide/group that she used. It was a 5 day/4 night hike on the Salkantay Trail. We looked into it and knew that this would be perfect for us.
Another great friend had recommended contacting STA Travel to get some discount student/youth cards. They were wonderful to work with. Before we booked anything, we headed to their satellite office by UCLAs campus and were able to get the cards. Since Rich is a student, we got him a student pass and since I am under 26, I was able to get a youth travel pass. These passes are supposed to help us get into museums etc either for very cheap or for free. While we were there, we found out that they also book the Salkantay Trail hike we wanted, many other day trips, airfare and hotels/hostels. We took the brochures home, looked them over and decided to book our hike to Machupicchu through STA.  When I called the office and spoke with the representative who was helping us in person, he informed me that he could get us a very cheap (compared to what we were finding on our own) flight. So we decided to go ahead and book both the flight and the hike. It was quite the exciting day for us! We were really going to Peru! *This is not a sponsored post.
**All opinions and tips are my own

Happy August

Happy August!

Stay cool and enjoy the last month of summer!