Friends In Town and Tourist Spots

It has been a blast having some friends visit me this weekend for Memorial Day. My good friends Marlo and Josh drove up from San Diego to attend a graduation for their brother who just graduated from Sonoma State. Congrats Jeremy. While they were in the Bay Area, they spent some time with me in San Francisco.

It was definitely a blast. I feel that every time someone from out of town visits me, I feel like a tourist again. One of the things that I enjoy doing is taking people to all the coolest places to go eat, take pictures, absorb the scenery and beauty, and also go home with some San Francisco flava.

I hope to post up some pictures from their visit soon.

In a matter of two fulll days of hanging out, my favorite destinations with them had to be Pier 39 and our road trip to Napa. It was quite funny when Josh kept talking about how I live in the Bay Area and yet I have never been to Napa. I found it to be quite amusing too, but then I realized even for road trips, especially the trip to Napa, where we went to see the wine country, you have to find time and the people to accompany you on the trip.

In Napa, my creme de la creme winery was definitely the Neiman Coppola place. In this gorgeous lush green landscape, once you enter you feel as if you are tucked away in Tuscany, with a breathtaking view of how the vineyards are so well groomed. As if in a movie, the opening view was of a trickling water fountain with four flowing fountains and the vintage-looking brick building with ivy looking plants cascading from atop. I thought for a minute, what a great place for someone to get married.

Back to reality, I realized that while traveling through this amazing place, that thhe history of this place was such that Francis Ford Coppola and family had bought this winery quite some decades ago. It was only in the past decade or so that they made the estate a museum and winery in one. As we walked up the grand staircase, we entered a space of glass exhibits and costumes and black and white photo exhibits of the Coppola's life and their Zoetrope production timelines.

It was definitely a sight to see. My mom and sister Lisa also went with us, which made the experience all the more enjoyable. We tried on lady like hats, absorbed the beauty, and of course looked at the grapes which had gone through the fermentation process to become wine. I think I read somewhere how after that movie Sideways was released in theatres that there was a definite increase in wine sales in Sonoma and Napa.

With all due respect, I am not encouraging drinking, but with such things...it says in the bible in regards to sexual immorality... which I believe applies to such things as drinking... when in doubt.. this is always a good reminder for me to remember.

"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything.

1 Corinthians 6:12

peace out,
jm

Long Distance Relationships

As I am about to enter to an almost a year-long long distance relationship, I have to ask, "What is it about long distance relationships that make them so different than being in a relationship where you both live in the same city".

I have yet to find the answer, but I hope to illustrate some points on the observations that I have made of people that I know who are in long distance relationships, including myself...

More thoughts to come.