Los Angeles/ Fresno and Back

I'm happy to report that I survived the past week in one piece. Just returned from a few days in Los Angeles for a big conference that my company organized and that I keynoted. It pains me to write that despite its big success, I am now working over the weekend to get an even bigger project squared away. 

The great news is that my troops came down with me. Zane and Anna took a few days off, and while I was working the entire time, at least we were together. We hopped down to LA and stopped by the Fresno to spend time with our BFFs: the E-Family.

Here are the picture highlights (the first three pics are leftover halloween photos):

Chillin by the pool in Los Angeles.

Zane and Anna went to Venice Beach.

Love this shot.

When we were in Fresno, Z took Sasa to a special trip to the lake for a swim : )

Happy pup.

Sasa and JB play fetch.

We took the kids to Boomers on Friday night. Here's JB ridding a go-kart for the first time. Anna took a pass at the all too stereotypical 'boy' adventure...

London

All work and no (well, little) play pretty much sums up my trip to London. I wish I could send across the latest pictures of my tourist misadventures but barring an evening trip to the bar for a beer and some eats with colleagues after a long day at work, I'm here on a decidedly work-centered mission. In fact, I don't even have a camera at my disposal to take pictures with - not even my phone!

First, make no mistake that of all the cities in the world that I've been to, it should be no surprise that there is a distinct level of familiarity of being in the U.S.. A colleague joked how 'American' of it was of me to feel that London felt like another part of the U.S. -- so U.S.-centric! But come on, as if the England has no history of hegemony! For some, even visiting California inspires pulling out a passport . You get the point, being here is far from exotic.

Or maybe the above is just some long justification I'm making for myself given I'm not able to get out and enjoy the city as much : )

By way of summary, I arrived in the city after a nightmarish day of travel. The only good news was that the airlines did not lose my luggage. I suppose we could chalk it all up to the ash clouds -- seems to be the topic of choice around here next to London's lack of government just a few days ago and Gordon Brown's resignation.

To stay up and quickly get acclimated to the time change, I met up with my friend and colleague, Andrew, for dinner Monday evening and ate at a place called Henry's Bar here in Mayfair where I'm staying. Same deal on Tuesday and then last night my entire team had dinner and drinks. 

Ok, I'm running off - time for another day at the office...

Mendocino Weekend Getaway

This weekend, we planned an impromptu trip to the lovely Stanford Inn by the sea in Mendocino. It was a much needed break and I'll let the pictures tell the story :) We enjoyed vegan cuisine for the first time and relaxed in the rustic yet luxurious bed and breakfast overlooking the pacific ocean.

Glorious. Click here for the full album.

I realize that I'm behind on catching everyone up from last weekend so here's the quickie recap: Saturday, we hung out with new friends for happy hour and then caught the San Francisco Ballet's premier of The Little Mermaid. On Sunday, we walked around SoMa and realized how much we love North Beach and could be quite content living, going to school and working within a 2 mile radius indefinitely.

During the week, we attended Anna's preschool's annual Spring Gala at the Rancon center in South Beach.   Her classmates had been working on a Chinese folktale skit for which Anna was the narrator. She did an amazing job and was more comfortable behind a microphone than I could have imagined.