Trip time
Oliver and I leave for Belize in 7 hours. We intentionally don't have much of an itinerary, but here is a short list of countries we want to visit, though its not definite we'll hit each one:

    * Belize
    * Guatemala
    * Costa Rica
    * Colombia
    * Argentina

I can't wait!

Favorite NY Moment So Far
The other day we went to the travel clinic for some shots. There were two women sitting behind the receptionist desk there - one was older and clearly ran the place and was on the phone. The other was very young and sat at the desk staring straight ahead, not doing much of anything.

Oliver walked up to the woman who was not on the phone and said, "Hi, I have an appointment with Dr. So and So."

Before he was even done with this sentence, the young woman disdainfully replied with, "Oh, I don't work here. Onkgay."

Oliver was speechless for a good 5 seconds.

I mean, for real? Are you kidding me? She's sitting where the receptionist sits! I love it! She sits there, but she doesn't work there. Hi-larious.

I thought when I began my vacation I'd wake up leisurely every morning, drink some coffee, read the paper, and try to figure out creative ways to fill up my day. That hasn't happened, not even once. It's amazing how busy relaxing is! Not that I would trade it for anything...

We left SF about a week ago, but this will be an SF-related blog entry. The SF portion of my journey was dominated by two events:

1. the engagement party my parents threw for us, and
2. visiting my brother at his restaurant.

The Engagement Party

The guest list only included my parent's Russian friends and Oliver's parents. My parents rented a room in a French Restaurant-by-day/Russian restaurant-by-weekend. The room was beautiful, had a dance floor, a wonderfully cheesy band, and was fully catered. It was pretty amazing. There were 64 people there - 61 of whom were either my family or our family friends, and 3 of whom were Oliver and his parents. It was a ton of fun, and everyone's really glad it happened and especially glad that Oliver's parents made the trip on such sort notice.

I've spent every day since the party trying to distill it into a blog entry. It's not possible. From Oliver's perspective, it was probably like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I think this scene captures the essence of the evening best: imagine me and Oliver sitting at the main table facing a room full of people, as if we're a king and queen holding court. Now imagine my former piano teacher - a diva in a floor length, body hugging black velvet gown - and her distinguished husband (these people are my parent's age) standing in the middle of the enormous room, singing a-cappella and into a microphone, a modified (customized just for me and O!!) version of "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof.

It was special, in every meaning of the word. The evening was truly amazing and I'm so excited it happened. If I come back from the Central/South America trip with some sort of illness that makes me delirious, I'll post pictures from the "Oliver and Maya through the years" slideshow my parents put together.

My brother's restaurant

Dan and his partner Max bought the Harbor Cafe in Santa Cruz California. Oliver and I went down there for the day and had a wonderful time. The place has a beautiful and large patio and we ate like royalty (notice the theme?) on a gloriously sunny Santa Cruz afternoon. The steak omelet is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. And Max and Dan are going to turn that place into the best cafe in California.

Remember - Harbor Cafe. Go there now, before you can't get a reservation (they don't take reservations, but I bet they'll have to, one day!)

535 7th Ave, Santa Cruz, 95062

Pics of me and Dan at the cafe, Dan hard at work, and of Max, his partner.

I got to NYC this afternoon. There is still about 20 inches of snow on the ground. We missed the hugest snowstorm in NYC's recorded history by one day, and somehow, magically, flew out the day after it on time and arrived in JFK without a hitch. I love Jet Blue. I credit them.

The past 8 days have been c-r-a-y-z-e-e, so I'm braking it up into several posts so as not to overwhelm my 5 fans.

Leaving Seattle...
... was sad. I'm going to miss people. Visit. For real. Gio's place was amazing and relaxing (thanks so much). Superbowl Sunday, even though we lost, was great fun. So was watching Project Runway. Again.

My car
My car, in a last, desperate attempt to let me know how upset she is that I'm giving her to my parents, summoned up acid and bile, and broke the thing that matters most to two people packing up their lives and driving far, far distances - the trunk. My clever car, Maxine, decided that, effective the moment we needed to put our suitcases in her, that her trunk would not open. Neither manually nor with remote, not even with the thing next to the thingy that pops the gas tank open! We pushed down the back seats and shoved our crap in that way. Your attempts at sabotaging the ownership changed have failed, Maxine! You are awfully cunning for a car, my dear, but one afternoon at a mechanic's and 200 bloody dollars later and your trunk is fixed. You now belong to my parents. Please take care of them. But I will miss you, really.

Medford, OR
On the way down to SF from Seattle, which is a 14 hour drive, we stopped in Medford, OR for the night at the Wyndham Inn. Exiting the highway, we weren't sure where to stay. We were considering the Motel 6. But then we saw your attractive sign, Ms. Wyndham Inn - "Cable TV, Pool, and Free Wifi." Badangadang! That's all it takes - free WiFi and we stay with you. Thanks!

NYC journey and engagement party (it was a last minute thing, for my parents' friends only, in SF) to come shortly.