Nishi "La Huera" Lee's Adventures

Recital! June 20th, 2008!!

2008-05-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

It's the moment I know you've all been waiting for... it's time for another recital! This time however my friend Ken Ryals, a terribly talented baritone will join me and help redeem the experience! It'll be at the First UU Church again, and there will be more details to follow in a later posting. Just mark your calendar!

*nishi

Small town girl makes good in the big city!

2008-05-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll!

Just got back from Chicago... such a great city! Holy sheise! There was SO much to do, SO much to see and SO many good times to be had... needless to say, I did as many of those things as I could and came back simultaneously exhausted and refreshed (if that makes any kind of sense).

Here a few pictures from my adventures, a big thank you to Lauren and Joachim for hosting me... they have a lovely apartment on the northwest side, and it was a great place to come home to after a long day of sightseeing.

Peace 'n Hair Grease,

*nishi

P.S.- Despite Chicago being on a grid, my ass got lost so many times... it took me a while to figure it out, but I think it's a flatness issue! I've never been somewhere so flat... can I get a mountain range or something? That would be rad, thanks.

Laurnish at a bar... imagine that.

Saw some high art at the art museum... and I thought she had a cool face.

Crazy reflections from 'The Bean'!

'The Bean' from another angle, this time with the Chicago skyline in the background.

My Chicago family, Mary and cousin Charlie!

Joachim!!!

My great-aunt Nora... also a singer!

Hmmmmm... Chicago deep dish. ONE piece, that's all it takes!

Millennium Park, a beautiful urban oasis... and rad ass concert venue.

Lauren living the good life in Greek town.

Some of my all time favorite buildings in Chicago.

Random musings. Wazzup ya'll.

2008-03-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

So it's been a hot minute, and I thought I would contribute to the world of blogging once again. This time to tell the joys of 'walktailing'. What is walktailing, you ask? Well, it's quite simple. It's a little walking and a little cocktailing. All it takes is a couple of road sodas, a pair of comfy walking shoes and your best friend! Admittedly we live in an amazingly beautiful city, with plenty of lovely walktail worthy evenings, a beautiful bay and balmy weather... but really, one can walktail almost anywhere. Anyone interested? I'll be taking reservations through August... and then time for a change of scenery. I wonder how Lake Michigan is for walktailing... Lauren?

*nishi

What happens when a walktail meets a carousel...

La huera in action!

Julia demonstrating terrific multitasking skills.

What your face looks like after a good walktail.

Ciao 2007, hola 2008!!

2008-01-02T23:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, so for a bunch of reasons that I don't feel like dwelling on, 2007 sucked ass. Yes, there was much I enjoyed about this past year but for the most part I am more than happy to see it go away.

2008, such a lovely round number... like some lovely ladies I know, full of promise and change. I feel good about 2008. I know I said that about 2007, but this is different. Much of what I set out for myself to accomplish in this last year I have, however there is much further to go!

For example, I must keep in better contact with my friends far, far away. More phone conversations, more visits, more drunk dials... I don't care, just more! Also, more time out doors in nature. I know this sounds sooo cliche, but I mean it! On New Years day I went on hike up in the mountains and it felt great. There is something truly different about being in nature that totally feeds my soul and helps to keep me sane (this is a good thing).

So yeah, how the hell are you all? Any New Years resolutions? I hope everyone is well, that you all survived and maybe even enjoyed the holidays and that 2008 is looking good for you too!

Random Holiday Selections:

Our tree, expertly trimmed by the ladies of the Ranch (ma, Juju and myself).

Crown Royal, Chocolate Pecan Pie. Commonly referred to as "heaven".

Pancho, and his most favoritest thing in the world; an empty dog food can. Oh yeah.

New Years Festivities!!

Just in case you were wondering, yes we're all wearing hats and aprons. Nothing says happy new year quite like hats and aprons!

How we ended up in those hats and aprons...

Whoops, forgot some!

Sammie contemplating the snow on Mt Laguna, "really?".

Kool Mo' Julia, and the prettiness behind her. On top of the world!!

Manzanita. A crazy beautiful shrub, unique to SoCal.

Lovely ladies, on top of the world!!

Wait, which way? Oh that's right, that way!

Happy New Year Everyone!!
Mad love,

*nishi

Nothing more like SoCal...

2007-11-23T06:55:00.002-08:00

...than a freeway opening! Last weekend for the first time in my life I attended a freeway opening. So much fun! You know, I've heard of freeway "grand openings" but never been... so when they opened the new toll road to the south bay, through Otay Lakes, it was time to go. The freeway itself opened Monday, the 19th, but on Saturday, the 17th the bikes got to take over! No cars allowed! Just bikes! It was fabulous! The ride itself was quite lovely, it was a cold and foggy morning which I love because it reminds me of Pathetica, and there were no cars! We just cruised for ten miles, hardly even noticing how far we had gone... awesome.

So here are some pics from the adventure. Don't forget, recital December 8th! Be there or be square!

Love,

*nishi

The on ramp... fast track anyone?

Mom cuts a deal with the toll machine.

Oh excuse me, not freeway opening, but rather expressway opening.

Veritable speed daemon.

Helmet hair!!!

Recital! December 8th, 2007!!

2007-11-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

This time it's actually going to happen. Mark your calendars, start holding your breath... it's going to be amazing! It's time to get some performing back in my life, and this is a great opportunity. I'm excited to be performing some random holiday stuff, some cool ass spirituals and of course a few holiday favorites. I promise it'll be good times. More details to come...

Help Me Out Here.

2007-09-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

So... the time has come for me to retire the ol' head shot and get a new one. However, since I am not independently wealthy I 'hired' my mom to take a few pics and see if we got any that would work. Here's what we got, and I'm hoping that with your votes I can select the best one to be used as my 'head shot' this season...

R.I.P. my old head shot... wow, that was a hot minute ago.

1) My head is cut off, but I like my smile.

2) Very Deborah Voigt...

3) Maybe...

4) Is that really me!?!?

5) Hmmmm...

6) What do you think? yes/no?

Okay, so let me know. Either via email, or make a comment on this page, or call me, or whatever floats your boat. I'll probably have to make my decision pretty soon, so be sure to let me know! Thanks for your help with this, I'm really not a big fan of this type of decision.

*nishi

Kinda Delayed

2007-09-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

Okay so this is hella late, but better late than never right? First of all, I have some of the bestest friends in the whole wide world. About a month ago, my friend Lolo was moving to Chicago... I was SO sad because I wasn't gonna get to see her, and I couldn't figure out a way to make it happen (no time/$$). Enter my bay area crew. The weekend before her party I get a text message from Jaime saying that she, Schaffer, Scott and Chris would buy me a ticket to come up and surprise Lauren for her going away party. My response was hell yeah!

This is where Murphy's law kicks in... that Sunday morning I awoke to yet another back episode... I couldn't walk, sit or stand for long and was in crazy amounts of pain. Great. Long story short; I did my best to go to work that week so that it wouldn't be a problem for me to be gone, got enough pain medication to keep any rock star rolling for a week or so, boarded a plane to Oakland with just a backpack of stuff (that was all I could carry, and only just barely) and flew my ass to the Bay!

I can't tell you how happy that made me! We totally got Lauren, she was completely shocked... I wish you all could have seen the look on her face! We had a killer goodbye party for her at The Bar... a veritable SFSU reunion, complete with faces we hadn't seen in like 3 or 4 years (Margaret!) and more alcohol than most of us had consumed in hot minute. Except me, I had muscle relaxers bitch!

Ah yes, such lovely young ladies...

or not.

Yeah, that's Sal Castaneda (Bay Area weather man for all who care).

Such a handsome couple (Nikki and Rasmus).

Is that Scott in the background looking only slightly devious?

A Gabe sandwich!

Now that is a straight old school collection of SFSU hommies!

Oh hell yeah. You know I had to include this one!

Jaime and Chris being super hard core.

A Walter sandwich!

It was fabulous. We had brunch on Sunday just before Lolo left the city for good and got to see Soren who's growing up way, way too fast! I spent some great time with my sis in the east bay at her super cute new apartment... and got to meet the newest addition to my family, baby Jonah, son to Jamie and Paul. What a cool little guy, with his adorable little bald head and big curious eyes. Such a joy to finally meet him!

Soren (who ya'll saw earlier at just a few weeks old) looking hella travieso!

The newest (and cutest!) member of our family, Jonah.

The fam-bam.

There have been many adventures since (like starting shit with the cops who raided Critical Mass, singing at a masterclass and getting a job teaching voice to kids...), but that weekend was particularly incredible. It made an otherwise lackluster summer sparkle and although my back wasn't as improved as it could have been, my spirit was in a much better place and mentally I felt like a new person. Thanks to the crew who flew me up there and everyone who took care of me! I felt like royalty the whole weekend!

Of course here are some pics for my one reader to enjoy. Mad love to you.

Peace 'n Hair Grease,

*nishi

To the One Person...

2007-08-03T21:15:00.001-07:00

...left reading this blog. What's up? It's been a while I know, and I'm sure you're just DYING to know what's going on in my life... uh, yeah... about that. Well, in approximately two weeks I will have been back here in San Diego for a year. Kinda crazy, I never thought I'd be here that long and now I'm going to be here even longer... San Diego has been good to me, and the last year has brought with it much change and adventures for which I'm grateful.

Unfortunately I don't really having anything all that new and awesome and exciting to report, so instead I'll include some random pictures of various recent events/good times! I hope you're doing well, my one reader, please drop me a line, send me a postcard or if you're feeling so inspired write me a love song... all of the above would be appreciated!

Ciao,

*nishi

**The past year in San Diego... a retrospective.**

A little cruise at the beach with my ladies.
R.I.P. Roo... we miss you!

Nothing says summer in San Diego like concerts at the Organ Pavilion.

Nishi cleans/conquers the kitchen... now set up for delicious meal makin'!

Ma and Kelsey looking adorable, as usual!

Z's B-Day... goddamn that's a lotta candles.

God, I love the ocean.

One of the most impressive sunsets I've seen in my life. Arcosanti, Arizona.

A lovely pumpkin, if I don't say so myself.

My old lady, I love my Samuelita.

Visits! Nathan at Thanksgiving.

Emily gets into grad school!!!!

A quick to jaunt to Santa Barbara and one of the most beautiful places I've been...

Bomb ass tapas, thanks to Katie for the cookbook!

A little independence day lovin'.

Happy hour at Casa Guadalajara... a must.

Bienvenidos Pancho!

Nu-uh, Sean in San Diego?!??

The four roommates (+2 dogs), Mike one year post-op. Amazing.

What the!?!!?

2007-04-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

It's a bird....

It's a plane...

Is it Super Grover?!?

No...

It's Jesus!!!!

Put this on the list of reasons why we love Mexico...

My life is like, whoa!

2007-04-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

Whoa! Cheese and crackers man, it's been kinda crazy these last few weeks. Not a lot to report, and yet a million little things to share... c'est la vie... no?

I've had some great little trips in the last month (or so). I went to Tucson to kick my ass into gear with a couple of voice lessons and to hang with my boys (*Nathan and Ken*). Such good times, and my lessons with Dr. D went really well. She did in fact kick my ass, and at the same time gave me hope. I haven't lost everything I've worked for (just most of it) and it'll all come back if I just buckle down and work on it... what a concept!?

Ken and I looking and feeling sexy as all hell, after a night of tequila-good times!

Sammie conquering new territory up in Santa Catalina State Park, where she got
to swim on the desert in some pools! Such a happy Sammie dog!

My boys in the U of A production of "Tartuffe", they both totally rocked.

Upon my return to San Diego I've been promoted at Whole Foods (less work more money... well not really, but at least cooler work), and had a few visitors. There was a very brief (but oh so nice) visit with Dr. George, who with any luck will be moving back here with Geysil to do an internship at UCSD... keep your fingers crossed ya'll. Julia also came into town for a bit. It was lovely, we did a whole lotta nothing including a trip down to 'La Fonda' for some breakfast brunch good times and general lounging/getting away on the beach... what more could a girl ask for?

Oh yeah, it's that good. The brunch that is...

The view from our room, I never get sick of looking at the ocean.

At dusk, and in fact, that isn't the moon... it's a drop of water (it was raining)
reflecting the light... cool, eh?

Us, finally emerging from the post brunch buffet food coma, like 6 hours later...

That's all for the moment, there have been other fun happenings like Easter dinner/egg hunt and a meal of Spanish tapas that totally rocked my world... but I think we've all seen enough pictures of us sitting around eating... although that is almost always good times!

Much love to all,

*Nishi

Para mi hermoso Hermosillo

2007-03-31T00:06:00.001-07:00

Ay Julian, que has hecho? Aunque no haya sido mucho tiempo, te extraño tanto que ni lo puedo describir con palabras. Fuíste para mi un recordo del pasado, allí juntos en el coro y luego mas tarde como adultos en San Francisco... qué fue eso? Algún angel nos había juntado para inspirarnos y seguir juntos en nuestros cursos. Que tristeza que el tuyo ha sido interrupido, y no sé que decir. No más que nunca te voy a olvidar, creo que sería imposible... tu sonrisa, tu risa y más que nada tu amistad.

Con toda mi corazón,

Anishka

Julian Hermosillo 1984-2007

For more information, please see: http://www.endi.com//XStatic/endi/template/nota.aspx?n=188445

My city is a changin'.

2007-02-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

I know that my home town is changing, it has been for many years. Every time I came home there was a new high rise, missing tree, new stop sign, Starbucks, trendy restaurant... but much to my delight, there was always the staples like Benny's, the dog park and my ma's house.

Tanya and I went on a little adventure this afternoon downtown, saw one of the newly renovated hotels, The U.S. Grant (which was well done by the way), and wandered the streets of the Gaslamp.

There were some buildings that even after all these years I had never noticed and are truly beautiful structures and then others that have changed greatly. The old Aztec Theatre is now a Ghirardelli ice cream parlor, what used to be a great (relatively) cheap place to get tasty sandwiches and food in 'Little Italy' is now an upscale full service restaurant and it's located next to a cute new little plaza with a fountain.

Cool Old Building I

Cool Old Building II

Cool Old Building III
(plus cool old add on side of building with shot out to Figaro)

What used to be the Aztec Theatre.
This is where I saw 'Crocodile Dundee', when I was a little kid, just in case you were thinking I went as an adult to go see 'Crocodile Dundee'.

Like I always say, "change is good", but every now and then it's kinda hard to stomach. It's funny, I can't always put my finger on why... is it because I want it to be the way it was when I was young and life seemed so simple, or is it because as things get pricier and pricier much of the change excludes me, or is it really a sadness for the 'culture' I feel is being lost. I don't know, just some ramblings for you my one blog reader.

This would be the above mentioned fountain in the cute new plaza.

Tanya enjoying a lovely pinot noir...
can't remember the name, it was that good!

I like red wine, olive oil and mozzarella cheese.

The sunset over San Diego Bay, a marvelous thing.

Hope you're all well!

Love,

*Nishi

1.23.2007

2007-01-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

A little birthday haiku...

What a great day to
notice another year pass
and party with friends.

Lovely SoCal day
no rain or clouds for the first
time in many years.

Breakfast with the fam
all day to do nothing and
think about loved ones.

Twenty six will be
a year of change and power
much will be diff'rent.

Dinner at my dad's
lot's of 'coffee'* to be had
as well as caviar.

The food amazing
the company even better
and laughs a plenty.

Some friends for just a
few years or months and others
for more than twenty.

Overall nothing
but love and good times for all
thanks to everyone.

NYE 06/07

2007-01-17T00:02:00.000-08:00

2007 is going to be a good year... I can just feel it. I hope you all rang in the New Year with a bang. We had a fabulous 'little' shindig here at the ranch, of which I'll include a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

The lovely hostesses (sp?) (Emily and Courtney Love)
whose outfits matched the black and gold decorations...

Roxy and Leslie looking excited about the New Year! Or maybe not.

I'll let you insert your own 3 Stooges joke here.
Much love to Dustin, Jason and Pascal.

Z demonstrating how to use the Gold Curtain.
Oh yeah, it ain't a NYE party without a Gold Curtain baby!

It really was that much fun, no joke.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rarevinyl/sets/72157594452527685/show/ ***for the full picture show!!

What are your goals/resolutions for 2007? To keep in touch with Nishi?! Oh, you're too sweet! I feel the same way...

This year is my year to decide what it is that I gotta do to do what it is that I wanna do (I promise that makes sense, just read it slow). Here are my thoughts:

(Mom and I out in Anza Borrego 1/1/07)

I've got all kinds of friends going all kinds of places and I have to admit I'm a little jealous. I've got a little of the itch to go somewhere and do something with my life that's really exiting, but for now I know I've got to stay local in the 92102 and keep my eyez on the prize. I've promised myself to start singing more often (at least a LITTLE every day) and get some performances in the works. There is just too much cool music out there for me not to be working on something!

Of course there are a myriad of other goals that I won't bore you with, but it's going to be a good year for all of us, I hope. I promise to do a better job of keeping in touch (especially now that I'm not in school) and visit as often as possible... as long as ya'll promise to do the same! ;-)

(My oh-so-bright future off in the horizon...)

(The sun sets on the first day of 2007... my goodness.)

Prospero año nuevo my friends, and much love,

*Nishi

Orale! Goings on at the Ranch.

2006-12-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

SO, it's been a minute... trying to think of a theme for this post, and not succeeding so I thought I would just include a bunch of random events and goings on here at Rancho Urbano. As moving home goes, I've totally scored. Lucky for me la momba has got a great house for entertaining and there have been many a gatherings and meeting of the minds.

One particular gathering I've had the pleasure of enjoying over and over again has been dinner with my group of San Diego hommies. We've managed to get together a number of times, and we always have an incredible feast of contributions from everyone. You never know what you're gonna eat, but you know it'll be tasty. I have to say, this last time (the weekend after Thanksgiving), we had an excetional meal... there was pumpkin soup with gruyere cheese, roast chicken with a balsamic reduction, butternut squash with lemon/lime, green bean casserole, balsamic onions with goat cheese on wheat baguette... for real yo, we tear it up everytime. Also, we almost always have the pleasure of dining with people from out of town, like Julia in October and Nathan, Jaime and Paul this last November. Here are some pictures from various nights... the usual crew is Leslie and Jason, Kelsey and Jody, Emily and Z, Tanya and Murphy and yours truly.

The crew... at our first dinner. And yes, that's Tanya using baguette and deer antlers. Please don't count the wine bottles, we don't.

You gotta have a post dinner fire.

The cat fish fry dinner table, pre chow down. Sadly in this picture you can't see the table of desserts on the side... oh yeah, we don't mess around with A dessert, we have a whole table.

A blurry, yet amazingly accurate portrayal of our dinners.

Also, I have to give a shot out to those who have travelled far and wide to visit the Ranch this fall (as mentioned earlier, they even were around for our dinners). I've been fortunate enough to have visits by two of my favorite people in the world, Julia and Nathan. Julia came out from Denver in October for a weekend of beautiful SoCal weather and we had a blast rediscovering San Diego together (sadly without the groove mobile, but fun none the less). Nathan came out from Tucson for Thanksgiving and we spent most of the weekend 'dorking out' over music, exchanging albums and making mixes. What more could a girl ask for? Good company and good music, life is good. Here are some pics from their visits... much to my chagrin, I get distracted and don't take many pictures... so here are some random snap shots.

I think this is the greatest picture of Julia, ever.

Nathan, rockin' my favorite hat.

Um, just felt the need to include this cuz I thought it was funny. Nathan, well, he came to dance.

That's all for now, love to all 3 people who actually read this blog (thanks guys!) and love to those who don't, don't worry, I understand. Heh, heh.

Nishi *La Huera* Lee

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Or wait...

2006-10-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Dum, dum, du-dum. Dum, dum, du-dum...............

So this is my version of my friends Leslie and Jason's wedding... as one of Leslie's ladies in waiting. Never been a bridesmaid before, but been to a couple of weddings (goodness, this year alone!) and love them!

First of all, the beauty of being a bridesmaid is that you get to go to all the pre parties and hang out with the bride and groom. There was a bachelorette party...

The maid of honor, Monica and our blushing bride, Leslie (looking sassy!).

All the ladies (clockwise: Emily, Theresa, Daniel, Nicole, Leslie and yours truly) taking a
pre-disco shot o' somethin' tasty I made...
(P.S.- I promise to never smile like that ever again.)

The whole bachelorette crew: Julia, Emily, Nicole, Theresa, Leslie, Nishi, Daniel & Monica.

The bus ride to the 'AC Lounge'... yay green party bus, always a good time!

The crew once again, only this time at the AC Lounge crashing a VIP area...

Then there was the family dinner, sorry no pictures from this event... it wasn't that kind of party. BUT the rehearsal dinner was that kind of party and I have pictures to prove it. After an exhausting rehearsal of meeting our fellow groomsmen, walking up the aisle and memorizing our lines (oh wait, that was a different rehearsal... sorry I get them mixed up) we went and dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. My first time at the famed Hard Rock, and now I feel so much more hardcore having been there. Here's to the rehearsal and its dinner....

The "Future Mrs. Starr" with her practice bouquet.

All of the lovely bridesmaids, pre-dresses and lookin' good!

The groom, Mr. Jason Starr (on the right) with some of his groomsmen, Cameron and Dustin
(right to left)... being too kool for skool at the Hard Rock.

Monica, Leslie and Nicole with a little pre dinner cocktail action (always important).

Lastly and certainly not least is that BIG DAY, and a big day it was. Due to the promptness of this blog after the wedding there are no 'official' wedding day pictures to include, but I do have some pre-wedding "ladies getting ready" pictures to share. It was a great day, we got to Leslie's hotel early and had LOTS of time to hang and get perdy...

All kinds of rough...

The classic bride.

Monica helping make the magic happen.

On our way...

In the limo, and yes, that is Leslie somewhere back there in all that white fabric!

The ceremony: short and sweet. The party: awesome. The guests? Very happy (I'm making this assumption from all the smiles I saw and wine we drank.). It was a beautiful day with gorgeous weather, elegant flowers, good company and good food and drink! What more could you ask for?!?!

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Starr.
We all wish you the very best.

P.S.- Guess who caught the mother fuckin bouquet...

(and yes, it's sitting in a Patron bottle)

Shhhh! Don't tell anybody... I went to S.F. for the weekend!

2006-09-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

What was I supposed to do... it was Lauren's birthday, Jaime's birthday (mind you these are the lovely ladies that flew all the way to Vienna for a visit) and I found a $98.00 ticket... how often does that happen!? It was a killer chance to go kick it up in the city, so I did.

So yeah, I went to San Francisco and had a fabulous time. It was of course a short trip (mostly because of my limited funds, lord knows I've got lots of time!), but jam packed with good times! I spent a scoonch of time in the East Bay with my family (yes, Jaime and Paul, that includes you!), but was mostly rolling city style. I didn't call that many people because it was a Laurnish weekend to the fullest, and I wanted to have a relaxed "quality time" kind of weekend. However, the beauty of being in the Bay is that you're bound to run into people along the way making a visit even better (like my dear, stressed out Rachel... hang in there girl!).

As I sat in Dolores Park on Sunday afternoon drinking champagne, er, sparkling grape juice, all I could think of was, "this is heaven". I've been trying to put my finger on what that is, and why I will be forever drawn to the Bay Area, or I should say specifically San Francisco and I've been having a difficult time. Really, it's not just one thing. It's a mix of the people I know up there, the people I don't know but who are crazy and entertaining, the abundance of natural and urban beauty, the proximity of everything, access to all cultures and their cuisines (!), excessive amounts of culture, art and performances (D. Voigt was performing that weekend, which sadly I had to miss... but none the less it was cool to know she was in town), the occasional gorgeous weather (which makes you really appreciate it) and all kinds of other things I can't verbalize. To sum it up, I was lucky to have done my undergrad in such an amazing place and will probably spend the rest of my life trying to figure out a way to get my ass back there!

Here are some pics of my (our) adventures. Some of the faces are familiar, others maybe not so much... like Cousin Dan from Chicago who's living in Monterrey, CA and randomly called for some advice on seeing the city (not realizing that I was in town and that I don't live there anymore and just how small the chances are that we would both be there the same weekend), baby Soren the newest reason for me to come up and visit as often as possible, and my sister Xanona (making her debut on Nishilandia) who graciuosly picked me up from the airport and hosted me my first night (the rest of the weekend I spent spooning with Lolo over at Chez Lauren and Zane).

Here are some pic's of my weekend... I promise, nothing too incriminating!

On the Bay Bridge in morning traffic with my sister... hella early.

The cutest 'little dude' you ever saw in your whole life, Soren, son to the amazing Nikki and Rasmus.

Jamie, Paul and Xanona, Saturday morning, my brief yet awesome excursion to the East Bay to retrieve the Nishi Sweater I had left there the day before, and spend some quality time with the fam-bam.

EMPTY!

Cousin Dan and Lolo, at the Bar. Pretty sure Cousin Dan and his friend (sadly no picture) had a good time, although I suspect Cousin Dan was hating life the next morning.

Scottie and Jaime after a lovely birthday dinner for Jaime at Sauce (no people, not the same one as in Tucson. trust.)

Jaime, Nishi and Schaffer's hand. Oh yeah, and the juke box in the background.

Lolo, Ruben and Nishi chillaxin' at Dolores Park on Sunday. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that Ruben is new to Nishilandia and very cool.

Lolo and the temple of either Ruben's people or Lauren's mom or of the Boob, depending on who you're talking to and how much sparkling grape juice they've had that morning.

Happy Birthday Lolo! It was an incredible weekend!

Back in beautiful SoCal. Life is good.

2006-08-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

Holler. Just thought I would make a few post trip comments and observations, maybe post a couple of pic's... you know, the usual. Overall, great experience. Learned a lot, about music, myself, other people and life in a foreign country. The city of Graz, well it was okay. Not my favorite. My favorite? Vienna!! What a cool city, so cool that I think I might be moving there... soon, like within the next 6 months. Like I said, life is good! For now I'll be living it up SoCal style, so for all of you achin' for a little nice weather (warmer or cooler, depending on where you're coming from) and chillaxin' stop by! I'll be here, lord knows my broke ass ain't going anywhere for a while...

Also, I have to say thank you to all of you who helped me get there (and back!), including um, every person who reads this blog. You all fuckin' rock, this program was what I needed to have been doing this summer and thanks to you all for talking me into going and then helping me cover the costs... amazing!

Let me know what you think... should I keep this thing going? I'm still not sure about the blog concept, but in some respects it's a way to stay in touch and pretend like I'm talking to all the cool people I don't live around anymore (except Leslie, Jason and Tanya... they're cool people I actually get to talk to in person!).

Love you all,

Nishi

Yeah, pretty sure this is what got me through school everyday!

My 'lady friends' who accompanied me to Hallstatt. This is us all freezing our booties off
at the train station, rockin' various Nishi scarves.

There ya go Nathan, the Nishi Sweater in action... above Graz on the Schlossberg.

What!? Could it be? Do my eyes deceive me or is that Lolo and Jaime in Vienna!?
Why yes it is... because I have kick ass friends like that!

A little Laurnish action in Vienna... they never knew what hit 'em.

I have a Temmel problem.

2006-08-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so out here in Austria, well not just Austria but Graz specifically, they make this ice cream called Charly Temmel. It's like crack. Does Nishi normally like ice cream? Well, it's OK... but does she crave it and power walk through cobblestone streets for Charly Temmel? You can bet your ass I do. Hmmmmm, Temmel. Good news (just in case you were worried I might suffer from withdrawals when I get home), they only other location in the world where they sell Temmel outside of Graz is in LA. Does this improve Hell-A's overall score?... oh my god yes, by like a million points!

I miss my dog Sammie!

2006-07-28T01:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's official... I miss my girl! It's just not the same to come home and not have my girl jumping off the couch and looking at me like 'where you been?' Ma, will you give Sammie a pat on the head and a trip to the beach for me? If you're wondering what caused this Sammie love fest, check out Nathan's blog: www.beingwheelwright.blogspot.com

But back to Austria... things here are going well. It's always a little hit or miss... every day is a completely different day and I never know how it's going to end. It's kinda like the weather in Chicago, if you don't like the mood you're in wait 20 minutes (I guarantee it will be different!). I've been trying to hold my own, but as always, I'm super glad to have great friends out here that make it all a little better. Here are some pic's of new (and old) friends out here in Graz...

Theresa, Christoph and Nishi at an U-Bahn station in Vienna

Theresa, Mandy, Carmen, Danya, Lisa and Joanna at the Imbiss Restaurant accross the street
from the dorm showing their best "Heisse Liebe" (Hot Love) faces

Chinwe, Mary, Marisan, Theresa, Allison and Christoph again at another U-Bahn station in Vienna on Marisan's birthday eve party

Joanna, Nishi and Theresa getting a little freaky... imagine that.

Allison, Nishi and Marisan lookin' sassy at Marisan's b-day party!

I'm trying to think if there is any other pressing news, but I can't come up with any. Oh yeah, by the way it's f*ckin' hot out here. Oh my God. Almost every day it's 85 or 90 degrees and humid! Ahhhhhhh! Nishi doesn't do well with humidity and I've been literally sweatin' my ass off. Also, Austrians aren't big fans of AC and I think they mostly don't need it, so there is no such thing. There isn't ever that immediate relief when you walk into a building... no frequently it's just as hot if not hotter than outside... that way you can continue to sweat (just in case you were afraid you might stop). It's ALL an adventure, the singing, the heat, the language, the funny gridless streets, being an auslander (foreigner), being surrounded by over a hundred singers and instrumentalists............... again all I can come up with is, oh wow. Or, aw dude.

Love you all and promise more pics/info as time permits! XOXOXO Nishi

I've got some smashing to do...

2006-07-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Just in case you all were wondering what I was up to, I thought I would let you in on my very busy schedule..........

As promised... more pics.

2006-07-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

These are random pictures from my adventures thus far...curry wurst and our tenor friend from Graz Alexander... Theresa and I got our hair did by our fellow U of Aer Amanda, who does great hair (just in case you were looking for an up-do)... our first 'real' dinner made at the 'heim... the excitement of an Xavier Naidoo concert poster... and finally Zisou (oh Zisou, what a way to go out!) and the World Cup!

Love ya'll much,

Nishi

Holler back, young one.

2006-07-14T01:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I decided it's time for me to post some pictures... wish me luck, I hope they upload successfully. This first picture is of dawn from the 'heim (where we're all living) my first full day in Graz. Thanks to jet lag I was up at the crack of dawn to catch the sunrise and explore while people stumbled out of the bars and went home! Here also are some pic's of Graz in general (including the graffitti, which amazingly enough there's a lot of and is quite entertaining... frequently it's in English, what up with dat?).

More to come!

Nishi

Sadly no pictures...

2006-07-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

So, my friend Emily and I decided to go down town to watch the semi final game of the world cup. We couldn't decide where to go so we decided on being in a central place like down town and we would inevitably find something... at one of the stops we saw this dude get on wearing a German flag, at which point I turned to Emily and said "we're gonna follow him and he'll lead us to the right place to watch the game!" That ended up being partially true, until we got sidetracked by this American guy who ask US for directions, at which point we confessed that we we're American and not much use when it comes to directions. Then it turns out that this guy is from a small town in Pennsylvania not far from where Emily is from, so we chop it up a bit with him. He had just married an Austrian woman and moved to Graz and clearly didn't know his way around very well and in classic American form was just asking at random IN ENGLISH anybody for directions to some place. Of course by the time we got stuck with him we lost the dude with the German flag and wandered some more with the Pennsylvanian. Finally we realized that there was a big outdoor public space to watch the game (with a jumbo-tron, bleachers, picnic tables and beer stands!). That ended up being the place HE was looking for and also probably the place the dude in the German flag went to... upon arrival it took some effort (and an exchange of email address') to ditch the old Pennsylvanian and find a place to sit and watch.

Our initial search for a place to sit was not fruitful and consisted mostly of stairs from Austrians, checking out the Americans in their *cute* Adidas soccer, or excuse me, futbol, outfits (yes, we had cute little Adidas outfits!). At that point we decided that we needed some beer in a mean way and that we would try again with beers to find a place to sit (beer always makes things better, right? or at least that's what I keep telling myself). Our second attempt to find a seat landed us at a table of men that turned out to be Afghani and um, rooting for Portugal... not Germany. So there we are in our Adidas outfits in a sea of Austrians rooting for Germany at a table with Afghani's rooting for Portugal. Life doesn't get much more entertaining. Despite our initial concerns of intoxication and possible shit talking/trouble with Austrians, the Afghani's turned out to be very nice (although there was one who after a couple beers became a little lecherous... someone's always gotta go and spoil things, eh?). They had all been in Austria for varying amounts of time, 5 years, 11 years and none had plans on returning to Afghanistan because they are Christian. Of course I can't tell you how long it took us to figure this all out considering that they speak German and Farsi and um pretty sure Emily and I don't. The lecherous one spoke pretty good English and the others spoke a little bit (sadly in this sittuation my Spanish did not come in handy). Of course much to our amusement one of them was named Jabib... and the others I don't remember, for obvious reasons however, "Jabib" stands out.

The entertainment doesn't end there though, no, that would be too easy. When we sat down of course we all had to toast before we drank and Emily in her infinite wisdom (and I do really mean that, that girl is smart as a whip... however we all have our moments!) says "Chuss" (not actually spelled like that but you get the idea) which means goodbye in German. So we go on saying that for while everytime we would toast until after a while (and I'm sure their sides hurt from laughing so hard), the Afghani's fess up that we're making complete fools of ourselves and that we should stick to the old standby "Prost" or there's always "Salute", "Salud" all of the above... except "Chuss". Oh yeah, we're geniuses.

That's pretty much our adventure, one of them was hella cut and good looking. I of course thought he was gay until he kept hugging me goodbye and tried to slip me some tongue (sadly, I think he was the one named Jabib, although I can't remember). But whatever, we're planning on watching the final with them tomorrow at the same place so there should be some updates. Gotta love Austria, I mean Afghanis, I mean... where the hell am I????!!! I love this kind of shit, maybe it comes from being raised in the oh-so-international Rancho Urbano that I keep finding myself in these sittuations.

That's all for now. I'm tired.

Love, love, love,

Nishi

For reals. Not for fakes.

2006-06-27T22:40:00.001-07:00

Alright now... I've set up a blog. For reals. Not for fakes. So um, I'm still not sure about the whole 'blog' concept (and I talk about this openly in the name of 'keeping it real') but I'm going to give it a whirl. As most of you know I'm heading off to Austria in one week and that's mostly why I thought I'd start one of 'these'. That way ya'll can find out about my trip when you feel like it and I won't overload your email boxes with goofy pictures of me smiling in front of places that you may or may not have been before, and may or may not care about! Hee, hee. So cheers to blogging and we'll see how it goes!!