Found Treasures

July 31, 2011
I spent the WHOLE day cleaning and going through things today!  Phew!! It was a long, tiring day, but it feels good to have clean closets and to have gotten rid of lots of stuff I don't use/need anymore.  I love simplifying my life!  : )
One of the things I did was to go through a few boxes I still have from moving (almost a year later...obviously I don't need that stuff!!).  I found some cool things in those boxes, including tea cups from my great grandma, Mama Grenny.  I was very happy to find them again, and will display them now that I have them out of boxes!! 

This one is my favorite!!  : )

Visitors

July 30, 2011
Today Corinna and Taylar came to stay in the hospitality apartment right across the hall from me.  Fun!!  They were heading over to LA Rising at the Coliseum, so they are spending the night here and leaving in the morning.  Unfortunately they have to leave super early tomorrow because Taylar has to work, so I didn't get to spend much time with them.  But we did get to have an early dinner/late lunch together at Caveman, which was fun, and delicious!!  : )

Science Center

July 29, 2011

This morning I rode my bike to the Science Center with Leah and one of her student's David.  We went to go see the new aquarium exhibit that just opened up.  It was beautiful!  We got to watch a show where a diver talked to us about the fish, sharks and different animals that are in the exhibit.  It was a great show, and a fun trip. 

They also had an LA section and a place where you could go sit to read the news and you can be on TV.  Leah and David were great news casters. 

Java the Hutt

July 28, 2011

Today's picture is not technically from today...but I LOVE it and didn't get to use it on the day it was actually taken so I had to use it today.  While I was on vacation I ran into the mall in Salinas to look at Old Navy.  I didn't find anything there, but I did find a coffee place in the mall called, "Java the Hutt".  I was so excited because my brother and I always wanted to open a coffee house and call it Java the Hut!  How funny!! 

Sadly, their coffee wasn't so good.  I know we can do better!! 

Off to the Movies

July 27, 2011

Today a few of us went to Burbank to go to Ikea and to see the last Harry Potter movie.  It was lots of fun hanging out with Steph, Jan, and Leah.  I had already seen the movie in San Francisco with Jenn and Rob, but Leah really wanted to see it, and I wanted to hang out with the girls, so I went along to see it again.

But the most exciting thing I saw today was the movie poster for the Hunger Games movie.  I don't think it comes out for another year, but it is so fun to see them start getting ready for it!  Can't wait!!

Summer Fruit

July 26, 2011

One of my favorite things about summer is all the fruit you can get, for much cheaper than other times of the year!  After being on vacation, and eating not so great for most of the time, it is nice to be home and in a routine again where I can eat more fruit.  I kind of went crazy with fruit today!  I got bananas, plums, cuties, strawberries, cherries. limes, and watermelon.  You can't see all of that in the picture, because there wasn't room for it all on my shelf!  : )

Yum-yum!!

Back to Reality

July 25, 2011

Today I came back to LA after being on vacation for two weeks.  It was good to come home, but I'm still a little sad that vacation is over.  After I got home I found out that Steph was getting home today too, so I rode along with Leah to pick her up at LAX.  So, this is the amazing picture for today...

Haha!  Ok, so it's not so great, but we were circling the airport waiting for Steph to come out to the curb and it's the best one I could get.  Oh-well!  It's great to be home.  : )

Party for Luke

July 24, 2011

Today was Luke's family birthday party.  We all went over to my sister's house and celebrated Luke with a B-B-Q, cupcakes, a few games of foosball and lots of fun and laughter!

It's Luke's special day!!

Some yummy BBQed chicken and burgers and hot dogs!

A serious game of foosball between Billy and Luke.  Goergia was the score keeper/ref.

Luke counting his candles to make sure his mom got the right amount...

And more foosball fun!

Yay!  Happy Birthday Party Luke!

Tennis Anyone?

July 23, 2011

Today my sister decided that we should try to play tennis.  We don't really know how to play, but we gave it our best shot.  Corinna, Taylar and I headed over to Buena high school, just a block away from her house, and tried to play a few games of tennis.  We ended up just chasing the ball around a lot!  But as the evening wore on, we did get a little better... a little!

Corinna getting ready for one of Taylar's amazing serves!

Taylar returning the ball with style!

One of my powerful serves!  You got to watch out for those!! : )

Even though we're not going pro anytime soon, we still had a lot of fun, laughed a lot, and got to run around quite a bit, so I think our tennis game was a success!

Luke's 16th Birthday!

July 22, 2011

Today is my nephew Luke's 16th birthday!!  My sister is going to have a party for him on Sunday, but I wanted to talk about him on his actual birthday!!

This is Luke on the day he was born, he was so tiny!  I was in a wedding that same day, so I wasn't there when he was actually born, but I rushed back to Ventura as soon as I could leave the reception to meet him!!

He was such a cutie as a little guy!

Here he is in my dad's jacket.  He wanted to be just like Pop when he grew up!  One time one of his toys broke and we were trying to fix it and he said, "Give it to Pop, he can fix anything!"

  So adorable...

...and he has a great sense of humor!! He wanted to be a taco one year for Halloween!  Too funny!

Then suddenly, he became this pre-teen, who was too cool to smile in pictures... : )

...but thankfully he grew out of that phase quickly and returned to being his goofy self!! 

With his great smile!

Luke is a great guy!  He is smart and funny and a good friend.  He loves his family and always keeps us laughing!  This year he will be a junior in high school, I can't believe the little baby I was holding when he was only an hour old will be graduating from high school next year!!  It's unbelievable how quickly time flies by!  I am so proud of Luke and the decisions he has made in his life this far, and I'm sure he will do amazing things with his life in the future!

Happy Birthday Luke!! I love you!!

Good Bye San Francisco

July 21, 2011

I had to say good bye to San Francisco and Jenn and Rob today.  It was sad to go, the time went way too fast!  We started out going to dim sum for lunch before I left.  Then I hit the road for the long drive back to Ventura. 

I was very sad to leave SF and Jenn and Rob!

It was a long trip to Ventura.  382 miles to LA, so that means 322 to Ventura!  It's a long drive ahead of me!

Somewhere along the way I hit my 1,000th mile on this trip!  I couldn't believe I had driven that many miles in less than 2 weeks!

My favorite stop along the way, I had been looking forward to it since mile 1, Coffee Bean!!  They didn't have any stores near me the whole 2 weeks, so I was happy to have a coffee treat on my drive.

I almost made it to Ventura!  I'm almost done with the long drive, I can't wait to be out of the car!

San Francisco Local

July 20, 2011

Today I was a San Francisco local with Jenn.  We went out and ran errands and did a bunch of things Jenn needed to get done around the city.  We went to Ikea and Target in Oakland, then took BART back over to SF.  Then we just spent the evening at home, watching a movie and hanging out.  It was just what we needed to do!

San Francisco Tourists

July 19, 2011

Today I was a San Francisco tourist with Jenn and Rob.  It was so great to be with people again after a week of being by myself!  We had so much fun riding our bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge, driving down Lombard Street, and hanging out near Ghiradelli Square.  Then we got to go see the last Harry Potter movie.  It was a perfect day!!

When we started it was super foggy, and you couldn't really see anything off the bridge.

But by the time we got to the other side of the bridge it was pretty clear and so beautiful!

I took this picture while riding...I didn't realize it was zoomed in!  But my forehead and robs body on his bike make a great picture (this is actually my favorite picture of the day because it was so funny!  I also almost died while taking it, because some people walked in front of me and I had to slam on my breaks with only one hand on the handle bars.  I completely slid off my seat, but somehow managed to stay on my bike, phew!!!)

We did it!  And we had one of the famous bridge painters take our picture when we finished!

Our next stop was Lombard Street!  We drove down, what an amazing view!

And then got out to take some pictures and walk down to the beach area.

These were the hills we had to walk down, and then back up!

But we got to meet the Ghiradelli sundae girl...?  So I guess it was all worth it! : )

That was our sight seeing of San Francisco.  I had already been to most of the other famous land marks, and I really just wanted to hang out with Jenn and Rob, so I could do that anywhere!  

San Francisco Bound

July 18, 2011

Today I left for San Francisco!  It was only a 2 hour drive from Salinas.  I loves the scenery along the way, and Jenn and Rob were waiting for me on the other end, so I had a great drive! 

Another self-portraits, so that I could prove that I was really on this trip! : )

Only 94 miles to beautiful San Francisco!

Just one of the amazing views I saw on my drive!  There were plenty more, but I decided to put my camera away and drive safely!!

Good Bye Monterey

July 17, 2011

Today was my last full day in Salinas/Monterey.  I had to go to the beach one last time to say good bye!  I also realized that I didn't really have any pictures of me at the beach, so I took a self-portrait (it was really windy!!):

For my last day at the beach I decided to take my dinner out there and sit on one of the benches and eat.  That was not such a great idea:

First this guy showed up, watching me eat.

Then this guy started running right at me.  It was kind of scary, I wasn't sure if he was going to stop, or just come up on my lap to get a bite!

After I scared the little rodent away, more seagull friends came along.

And when I turned around, even more were coming up behind me!  I finally decided eating at the beach was not a great idea, so I packed up my dinner and went home!

Then I saw the funniest thing on the way back to my place.  I was driving through Monterey and came to a cross walk, where on the other side of the street there was a pack of geese blocking the street.  A little girl was out of the car trying to get them to move, and the guy  in the car was yelling and so annoyed that he was blocked from driving through!  Hahahahaha!  It was great!  

A great last memory of Monterey!  Tomorrow I'm off to San Francisco!