iPostcards from Spring Mountain District AVA, Napa-Sonoma Valley, CA

One of the best views of the valley is seen from Spring Mountain, where the appellation sits on steep terraces of the Mayacamas Mountains that separate Napa Valley from Sonoma Valley and the Santa Rosa Plain. It lies in a northwestern portion of the Napa Valley above and behind the town of Saint Helena.





For more pictures of this vaca-sean, please click HERE.

iPostcards from Rutherford, Napa Valley, CA

South of St. Helena, where we stayed, is Rutherford. This is where we had our first great meal, crashed a wedding, and saw one of the best views of the valley.

view from Auberge du Soleil

Finally, some sweet soul offered to take a picture of us together.

The only wineries we got to visit in Rutherford
were ZD Wines & Mumm Napa

For more pictures of this vaca-sean, please click HERE.

iPostcards from St. Helena, Napa Valley, CA

St. Helena served as our base camp, while we went up & down the valley. We visited and stayed at our friend, Lorelei's house, just before she graduated as a pastry chef from the CIA. Why spend on accommodations when you can have more money for food & wine? :-)

one of our several Happy 15th Anniversary dinners

kinky looking dessert

Would I look good as a chef at
The Culinary Institute of America California?

For more pictures of this vaca-sean, please click HERE.

iPostcards from Canyon, CA

Before heading out on our 15th anniversary culinary/wine road trip around Napa/Sonoma/Russian River Valleys, we spent our first night with family at Kaya, Kelley, and Thaylo Westling's lovely home in Canyon, CA.

Swinging Thaylo.
He learned how to say, "Hold on tight!" as I pushed & pulled him. :-)

Lesson learned: Follow their specific directions,
not MapQuest, not GPS. :-)

For more pictures of this vaca-sean, please click HERE.

iPostcards from San Francisco, CA - 8.12/17.10

For our 15th anniversary culinary/wine country road trip, we flew in and out of SFO. We had such a very limited time in one of our favorite cities, but were able to grab some lunch, shop, and have dinner with some friends on our first day before heading out to Napa Valley. On our last day, we drove back from Bodega on CA-1 S/US-101 S to SFO.

We had dinner with some of my closest friends
at our friend, Barry Picazo's gourment Filipino restaurant, The Intramuros.

one of the delicious specials on the menu

rushing to the airport via the Golden Gate Bridge

For more pictures of this vaca-sean, please click HERE.

Egyptian Birthday for Jennifer

iPostcards from Egypt

iPostcards from Jordan

Egypt was our main destination this year. But since we were headed to that part of the Middle East, we decided that Jordan would be the perfect destination to pair with Egypt, since we've been wanting to explore Petra, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. While in Jordan, we targeted the main destinations: Amman, Jerash, and Petra.

For iPostcards for the following, please click on the city or scroll down the blog:
Amman
Jerash
Petra - *under construction

iPostcards from Amman, Jordan

For more pictures of this vaca-sean, please click HERE.

iPostcards from Jerash, Jordan

For more pictures of this vaca-sean, please click HERE.

iPostcards from Petra, Jordan

Under Construction. Coming Soon.

iPostcards from New York, NY - Fall 2009

iPostcards from Eugene, OR

We flew to Eugene, Oregon for Carley & Tom's Westling-Cantwell wedding.
For pictures of the trip, please click on the following:
wedding rehearsal dinner, wedding, and the rest of the trip.

iPostcards from Palm Spring, CA

iPostcards from Peru

Posting is under construction. Please check back again.

iPostcards from Ecuador

Posting is under construction. Please check back again.

iPostcards from San Diego, CA

or please click HERE for a bigger slideshow of the album.
If you prefer to view the thumbnails, please click on the link below:
a summer afternoon at Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

iPostcards from New York, NY - Summer 2008

in front of my office in NYC

view of Central Park from hotel

by Rockefeller Center

in front of my client's office building

iPostcards from San Francisco, CA

That's one Big "Vajayjay'!

rainbow goddess

Cruising in San Francisco

If you happen to find yourself in San Francisco, and want to do something different or unique, you may want to try cruising (no, not that kind of "cruising") the San Francisco Bay. Please check out my friend, Allen's cruise company, Dragonfly Adventures Cruises.
They offer custom charters and scheduled cruises aboard our 58' Sunseeker Express for up to 12 guests and two crew members. Experience an intimate cruise aboard this dramatically styled yacht with a full array of luxury accommodations. Whether it's a one-day Bay Adventure, Sunset Dinner Cruise or a weekend trip to Benicia, Petaluma, Napa or Monterey Bay, your cruise experience will be extraordinary aboard the Dragonfly.
Please click HERE for their website.

iPostcards from Monterey Peninsula, CA

Lone Cypress

iReport from Monterey Peninsula, CA

or please click HERE for a bigger slideshow of the album.
If you prefer to view the thumbnails, please click on the link below:
iPostcards from Monterey Peninsula, CA

Sean and the City

As far as I can remember, some of my wholesome fantasies involved being (in no particular order) ... a superhero, a Broadway/rock star, a male supermodel, an animal trainer, or a host of some travel show.
So for the past few years, every time I travel, I started filming myself acting as if I was Anderson Cooper or Matt Lauer in some remote exotic location.
When LXTV, a local L.A. TV show, recently announced that they were having a contest searching for a new host,
I saw that 95% of all the contestants who submitted entries already had past or have current professional experience hosting a TV show.
On the last day of the contest, I decided not to be intimidated and still come up with my very own audition video, albeit that it is, admittedly, very amateurish. I managed to submit it 11 minutes to go till the midnight deadline. What I didn't take into account is the time it would take to completely upload. So waahhh ... F+_)(*&^%$#@! ... I missed the cut-off! Even if I didn't have a chance against the pros, it still would have been nice to have been considered.
Since I already came up with a finished product, I might as well share it with you, my family and friends. I hope you like it.

LXTV hosting reel/audition video:
"Why should I be the new host of LXTV? Well, I found myself reporting about various places in this world, but never reported about my hometown. I may not have the professional background and/or back-up of a production crew like the other contestants,
I'm just a local guy who loves everything about Los Angeles!
Well, not exactly everything." ... (see ending of video).

iPostcard from Lake Taupo, New Zealand

I can't believe it's been 5 years
since the day I thought we were going to die!
LOL

HOME

CNT Passport

iPostcards from Chicago, IL

I've connected several times via Chicago's international airports, O'Hare and Midway, but have never been to the "Windy City". Well, I finally made it to Chicago. I met up with my colleagues from New York to spend the weekend in the "Second City" for work. We had to familiarize ourselves with our clients' preferred hotels, which happen to be three of the city's top luxury hotels, The Peninsula Chicago, the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, and The Ritz-Carlton Chicago - A Four Season Hotel. It may have been a business trip, but it was more like a vaca(sean), since we we had fabulous accommodations and were pampered with delicious gourmet meals and luxury gift items.

With my flight from LAX, not surprisingly being delayed,
it was already 1AM by the time I got in ORD.
I could have slept in the 12-passenger stretch limo
that transferred me to my fabulous hotel, The Peninsula Chicago

view of Lake Michigan from the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago

***

We only had a couple of hours to spare for free time on our own,
so I decided to use up some X'mas gift cards
at the Men's Store of Saks Fifth Avenue,
then walk the rest of the Magnificent Mile
all the way to Millennium Park and Daley Plaza.

the Old Water Tower and John Hancock Tower behind me

at the start of Magnificent Mile on N Michigan Avenue

The Tribune Tower

view of Chicago River from the Michigan Bridge

iPostcard from Chicago

The Millennium Monument (Peristyle)
in Wrigley Square @ Millennium Park

Cloud Gate, unofficially dubbed "The Bean" behind me

"The Bean"'s reflection of the west facing towards the "Loop"

Cloud Gate on the AT&T Plaza

The Chicago Cultural Center and Smurfit-Stone Building
in the background

Jay Pritzker Pavilion by Frank Gehry
is the centerpiece of Millennium Park.

by the Chicago Picasso,
Pablo Picasso's untitled, unpainted 50-foot Cubist sculpture
is a focal point of this open-air gallery in Daley Plaza

view of Chicago River from the Michigan Bridge

John Hancock Tower behind me by dusk

on my way to the airport,
my driver was kind enough to drive me by the Sears Tower