August vacation

Sorry I have not posted in so long, I guess you could say that I have taken this month off as a blog vacation. I went home to Illinios for a six day getaway which was great, but argh I forgot my camera....I hate when you remember right before you board the plane.
I hope to upload some photos that other people took and to update everyone on all that is happening out here. It has been hectic and stressful lately as I am planning an event at work that is coming up in November and we still have not gotten the invitations out because they are at the printer. I hope that all my stress will soon be in the past and then I will be back online. In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a great summer and enjoying some vacation time! :)

El Migraino

On Sunday, Jon and I took the surfliner down to see my parents who were in San Diego. It was a gorgeous day and the train runs right along the ocean which was great.

We met up with my mom and then the three of us took the bus up to Balboa Park to spend the day hanging in the park, checking out the international festivities, and taking in some art.
We then headed back to the gaslamp district to meet up with Dad and that is when it started...a slow dull ache.
It slowly progressed until I had a full blown, can't handle light or sound or movement migraine headache. Why it had to happen on the one day we are hanging out with my parents.
We had to cancel dinner reservations so that I could lay down in there hotel room and recover. I recovered within an hour, thank you excedrin, but unfortunately we did not have enough time to go out for dinner after that, so we walked the neighborhood and then Jon and I grabbed the surfliner home.
There were a lot of tourists that take the train and the mass transit in and around San Diego and there will always be the one who takes fashion just a bit too far...where did you get these and why did they let you buy them. It also accompanied a bright red shirt and USA hat.I hope my parents had a good dinner after we left. They are in beautiful San Diego for a little while longer and then they head back to the midwest where I will be in a few days...can't wait!!! :)

Weekend guests :)

Shame on me for not posting in so long. It has been hotter than Hades out here in California and I have been trying to lay low and not melt.
My mom and sister were out for the weekend and it was fantastic to see them. Unfortunately it was also very humid and not at all like the beach coolness that we are used to out here. We even had one night of real lightening. Although, hearing people talk about it you would have thought it was the apocolypse. People just did not know what to think of it...there were even several familys flying kits at the beach that did not stop....um, have they ever heard of Ben Franklin?I took my mom and sister to Venice Beach on Saturday for some fun shopping which also happened to be the hottest day of the weekend and then we chilled at the concert on the beach on Sunday evening. It was great to have them out here, I wish they could have stayed longer...especially because it finally feels like it is cooling down around here. I have also decided that my sister should be a personal shopper. I definitely need her help.
This weekend I have no plans, except for that huge pile of laundry I have sitting in the other room. I think I might go down for a walk on the beach...although the clouds outside are looking rather ominous.

B.C. Vacation Part II

The next morning the three of us woke up early and got in the van to drive down to the ferry to visit Vancouver Island. I had heard from a lot of people that I had to go visit the Island and that it was the most magnificent place.
Our reservation on the ferry got us a premier spot on the boat...we were the first to get on and the first to drive off. The only thing that bit about the ferry ride was the wait. Jon and Kim crashed in the van for a while before we could get on the boat.
It was cold & windy on the crossing so I was glad that we all brought jackets. As soon as the ferry landed we drove down to Victoria. The main attraction in Victoria seems to be the Empress Hotel. You cannot enter unless you have reservations it seems so we did not bother with that...we just glanced at it from the sidewalk and said, "How beautiful, but I hope the ivy is not ruining their stonework."
There was a gay pride parade that was going on in Victoria so the city was full of color. We decided to tour the miniature museum that was in the basement of the Empress. It had over 80 displays all laid out in miniture form. We all kept wondering how long it took someone to make these. Here I am in front of the fantasyland miniature display.
They really ought to put me in their brochures...look how happy I am to be in miniature world...plus their brochures have people in 70s garb. After touring miniature world we decided to see what the fuss was about with the supposed castle tour. We drove up into a residential neighborhood to view the castle and when we arrived I could not find this so called castle....all I saw was a manor house. There are houses in my home town that are twice the size of this and not called a castle. It was very beautiful, but we decided not to pay the entry fee to see the manor house. Here is a pic as we are driving away.
We then headed out of Victoria back toward the ferry dock with one detour to the Butchart Gardens. The fee was a bit steep, but the gardens were beautiful.
After the gardens we headed back to the ferry and we are glad we did at that point because we had to wait for an hour and 45 minutes for the next ferry...it was a holiday weekend afterall. We said Goodbye to Kim after the ferry ride as she had a long haul down to Seattle. I hope that I can visit Seattle sometime soon to visit her there.
The next morning, we got up early to drive out to Whistler for the last day. Whistler is beautiful and I recommend it as a place to visit. The air is so clean and the views are spectacular. We checked into our hotel room early and got upgraded twice! Once because they did not have our initial room ready and the second because of the bathroom not working. Our room was enormous and had a great view.Our reservation for the Zip Trek tour was at 2:00 so we had to hustle to get to the check in and get ready. We then met up with our whole group of about ten people and our two guides and then headed up into the wilderness to get to the start of the tour.

Here we are all harnessed up and away we go:

It was great to fly over Fitzsimmons creek.
After the zip trek, we relaxed in the hotel pool. Then we headed out of town to Narin Falls for our dinner picnic. It was very romantic even though I suffered many mosquito bites...they love me. Here are the falls where we ended up and had the perfect end to a romantic evening! :)

British Columbia Vacation Part 1

I have a lot to fit in so I am going to do this in several posts. :) My first full day in Vancouver, we decided to check out the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge did not look all that crazy up close, but when you get a lot of people crossing it at one time....it swings like crazy!!! The original bridge was built a long time ago to help the land owner bring lumber across for his business. I cannot imagine coming across a swinging bridge like that with a ton of lumber. They do say the bridge is strong enough to hold a loaded 747. We also cruised through Stanley Park which is right in Vancouver and I decided to join the totems in the park.

The next day, we explored our surroundings and celebrated Canada Day!!! Whooo Hooo Canada Day! :) We enjoyed free cake that was handed out everywhere, and got maple leaf tattoos ( rub ons). I think it is mandatory to have the tattoos on Canada Day.
In the afternoon, my friend Kim arrived from Seattle to join us and visit. I have not seen Kim in forever and a day and it was great to catch up.We all rode the gondola up to Grouse Mountain to take in the views of the city. They also had a couple of resident bears up at the top of the mountain along with a lumberjack show that was pretty funny.We ended that evening by exploring the gaslamp district and having dinner there. Everywhere we went I ended up ordering the largest beer possible that was on the menu.....not really by choice. I guess their beers are just served in buckets. Here is the gaslamp clock that was originally powered by steam...it is not anymore, but they do still have the steam coming out for historic purposes. :)


Part II to follow.

Returned!

Well, we just got back yesterday from a fantastic trip in British Columbia! I am exhausted and have so much to tell everyone, but I had a full day of work today and it has been stressful. I know that there is one thing that everyone has been wanting to see, so here it is:

It's Official! :) More to follow on the trip!!! Sorry to those who I have not gotten a chance to talk to before you see this....it has been hectic since we have been back.

Relax

It is all about relaxing this weekend. This last week at work was a mix of not a whole lot to do and yet a lot of hectic time. I volunteered for a charity event at the comedy club on Wednesday and although I did not really get a chance to see the comedians and magicians that did the show, it felt good to help out. That night when I returned home, I got stuck in my car for a good time because of these friends:
Sorry the second shot is a little hard to see, but we did not want to get too close! J was trying to scare them away by using the flash on the camera...but they did not seem to mind and were happy to trap me in my car for some time.
I am not sure what it is about the beach, but the skunks LOVE this neighborhood.
Saturday, I went all over town to find a baby shower gift for a party I am attending this week. I finally found what I needed and got home in time to grab my swim suit and meet friends at their home to watch some baseball and relax in the jacuzzi.
Today, I went and redeemed my gift certificate for a massage at Burke Williams. I am not a regular at the spas and have no idea about spa etiquette. It is clothing optional, but I brought my swimsuit and lounged in the hot tub and the various steam rooms. I went through a TON of towels and ended up taking a shower three times today. I feel bad tonight though because I am unsure of whether I tipped enough for the massage. I do not think that I left 20%, but I think I definitely left at least 15%...but I really liked the person who gave me the massage and we chatted the whole time. I wish I had tipped more. I think it is better to overtip and feel better about it later. Hopefully it will be a long time before I go again and I will not have to worry about her remembering me.

Awesome Packages

I received this awesome package in the mail from my Aunt in Milwaukee this week. How cool is all this stuff!!!! My Aunt is brillant beyond belief! :) The Brillance of the Moon book is on loan as I have been reading the series, but the libraries here do not have great copies of the series, so it will be nice to have a book that I do not have to worry about missing pages with.
I just started reading the other book I received, called "The Tattooed Map" - by Barbara Hodgson. The book itself is a piece of artwork.
The apron that you see in the back gave me the urge to bake a cake this weekend so that is exactly what I did. I baked a Madagascar Vanilla Bourbon cake with homemade vanilla frosting that came out more as a glaze than an actual frosting....the result was delicious, even if the cake was not all that visually pleasing.
Last night we had dinner with friends at Frito Misto in Hermosa Beach. I had Thai ravioli which was good, but spicy hot, which made me drink more wine. We took a cab back and stopped at the Redondo Pier to meet up with friends who were out for an evening stroll at the beach, we chatted with them for a little while and then saw some friends at Najas so we stopped in there for a beer before heading home for the evening.
Today, I purchased a new HUGE dresser, which can actually hold all of my clothes as the last dresser was being held together by tape on the bottom of drawers and was not cutting it. The whole afternoon was spent putting it together and moving furniture around the bedroom. I think I like the set up and it is nice to have a change. :)
I am ready to crash tonight. I am just sitting in front of the screen listening to KCRW our fabulous public radio station. I have a full week ahead so hope everyone is doing well and had a great Father's Day.

I need a weekend to recover from this weekend

My weekend was a full one! On Friday after work, took the bus down to Hermosa Beach where they were hosting the AVP volleyball tour. Friday evening was the start of the festivities with a free concert by Ozomatli. They are such an energetic band...it was great!

After the concert I met up with friends at the Comedy & Magic Club...I think I am becoming a regular, and then went over to end the night at Hennessey's Tavern. They had a free drawing that evening and I ended up winning two passes to the Cuervo suite at the AVP tour for the next day.
Unfortunately, no one was available to go with me on Saturday and I knew I did not want to be out partying too late on Saturday, because I had planned a hiking trip on Sunday. So, my second plan was to try and get someone to take the tickets for themselves, but I could not find anyone who wanted them...so unfortunatley they went to waste. I had a day of panic on Saturday as I tried to go out and do some grocery shopping and my car would not turn over. I was so sad because I thought my car was on it's last legs. I was so close to also canceling the hike with friends the next day, but my hiking friend was kind enough to come all the way over and pick me up in the morning so I made the hike.
We headed up North to Altadena to hike the Dawn Mine Trail. The morning was misty and wet and seemed almost like rain. We hiked up the canyon from the parking lot and signed in at the beginning of the trail.

We did not have much of a view
There were a lot of plants that were in full bloom along the trail including a TON of poison oak that we are all hoping we did not brush up against.












Here is pic of our crew that a couple of nice hikers took before they split from our pack and took a different fork in the trail

Our stop before we descended into the canyon was once a trolley stop for resort guests in the area. Now the train tracks have been paved over for a fire road, but they still had the covered bench stop.
As we descending into the canyon, the trail got a little more hairy...as in side of the cliff hairy.

Once we reached the mine, we stopped for lunch on the creek rocks and rested before we made our trek back through the creek bed. The area was still misty and rainy and the camera lens finally fogged over to the point where I could not take any good photos. :(
But, as we made our way down the creek trail, we finally came into the light.
Here we are traversing the rocks and doing a LOT of creek crossing.

At the end of the trail on the way back to our original starting point we finally go to see the view that we missed in the morning, we were SO happy that it was sunny on the way down instead of on the way up the canyon. :)

Seven miles round trip, it was a great hike! I did not even wake up with sore muscles...only one sore knee from climbing down all those creek bed rocks. Today, I went into work and then carpooled up to the valley to volunteer in a golf tournament as a witness on the green. It was four hours of sitting and watching people tee off. I wish I had remembered to bring a book or a card game or something to keep me occupied, because it was the longest four hours EVER. At least the sun was out and I was happy because my car started and seemed to be doing fine today....we will be taking it in to the mechanic anyway, but at least now I do not have to worry about towing it from the house.

Humidity

So, this past weekend was a slow one. On Friday, we went to the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa with some friends that had won tickets...and thank goodness they won tickets because we spent what seemed like a month's rent on food and drink (they have a 2 drink minimum).

Saturday, I woke up to something I could not explain. The sun was so bright and there was no marine layer in the morning to cool off the beach area. We went around and did some errands and I looked down at my arm and saw something sparkling....what is this? what what....AHHHH sweat...we have humidity down here. It felt like the kind of humidity you get in the midwest where everything is sticky. We immediately opened all the windows in the apt so we would not bake ourselves and put the fans in full motion. Of course, we lost all ability to do anything besides sit around and hope that a friend would drop by with popsicles. I ended up spending the afternoon reading "Marley & Me" by John Grogan.
Very cute book!
That evening we watched Good Night & Good Luck, which was ok, but I am not sure I was in the mood for a movie that you had to give all your attention to. I was very antsy at that point because it was now cool outside and I had spent all day escaping the heat in the apt. On Sunday, it was more of driving around and not seeming to get anything done at all. I am in the process of finally trying to find a real dresser instead of the Ikea piece that I have that is made of MDF and I have strong opinions regarding MDF. No new dresser this weekend.

On Sunday night we went to a friend's house for BBQ and had a nice dinner on their balcony while the sun went down.
Today, I walked home from work and had my trusty ipod to keep me company. I need to get some new playlists for walking home though because I am starting to fast forward through most of the songs as I hear them over and over again. Right now this is my playlist:

Band - Song Title
Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
Editors - Munich
Phoenix - Long Distance Call
Black Eyed Peas - Don't Lie
Buena Vista Social Club - Hey Caramba
Bob Mould - See a little light
David Bowie - Queen Bitch
Guster - Amsterdam
The Police - Canary in a Coalmine
Replacements - Alex Chilton
They Might be Giants - Ana Ng
Wilco - I'm Always in Love
Fountains of Wayne - It Must Be Summer
Iggy & the Stooges - Search & Destroy
The La's - There She Goes
Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka

If anyone has any ideas on what songs I could add to my list for a good upbeat mix, please let me know!!! :)

What a weekend - Summer is here!

I could not ask for a nicer weekend! On Saturday, we headed out early to get some shopping done and my mother would be so proud because I got quite a few nice pieces for work. I stopped by the banana republic and picked up some sweet silk shirts (one in white, one in black) and a sweater. Also picked up some classy shoes and had enough time to get home and get ready to grab the bikes and head for some fun at the beach!

We hopped on the bikes and rode down to Hermosa Beach, where Festival Hermosa was already in full swing. We met friends at the beer garden after taking a long time to find a place to lock the bikes up...we ended up finding an old phone booth that no longer had it's phone and locked the bikes there. If we had brought the car down...there was no way we would have found a spot. It is best to leave the car at home on a vacation weekend like this one when you live near the beach. Here is a pic of the madness in the beer garden.

We did not spend too long in the beer garden, it was crowded with some rowdy people and the band that was playing was called "The Silly little Twits" ...they were a cover band that played a lot of 70s. I have no idea why they came up with that name. They seemed to be in the spirit of the beer garden though as they would play one or two songs at a time and then take a break for a beverage.
We moved onto the main pier area in Hermosa after the garden and we were lucky enough to get a table on the roof at Hennessey's!!!
That right there is major!!! You usually have to wait forEVER for a roof top table, as they are in high demand on such a beautiful weekend. It pays to be nice to the bouncer!!! :) We could see out all over the beach from our spot.
We also had a nice view of the pier street in Hermosa where they had a David Bowie cover. I like Bowie, but this guy went a little too far with a white mullet wig and stretch pants. You can sing the songs, but you do not need to dress up like that and make a joke of it all. Here are the people below at the concert level as well as the festival Hermosa.

We stayed and hung out until it was starting to get chilly and breezy and then we headed back to our friends place for a BBQ and to hang out on their balcony with some ice cream sandwiches....which is exactly what we did.
Something that I did not write about before was that on the pier in Hermosa, one of the most popular spots for the cool young kids to hang out, Sharkeez, burned down. It has left a big hole in the pier avenue area. Luckily the fire wall between the two buildings on either side was enough to keep it from spreading to the whole street. They were really lucky that no one was inside at the time...it was 4am when it happened, because that bar was always so crowded it was a HUGE fire hazzard to begin with.
They are going to rebuild soon, which is good because then it will keep the crowds out of the other bars.
Sunday, we watched the Indy 500 and then part of the Coca Cola 600. It was a huge race day. :) More BBQ at our friend's place and then we crashed in the afternoon. I made sure to call my sister before we left for the race watching as it was her B-day. :)
Today, we went down to the beach in the morning and stayed ALL day long playing beach volleyball. I think I did a pretty good job on keeping on enough sunscreen to not get burned, but I am definitely exhausted after a long day in the sun. I am glad to finally relax at home even though I wish the weekend was not over.
P.S. Here are the shoes I bought on Saturday. :)