Cat Herding

So, I am so sorry that I have been neglecting this site so long. This is the last day of 2008 and I am hoping that I can be better about updating next year. The video that I just posted was a commercial from about two years ago and I cannot for the life of me remember it, but it is hysterical and reminds me of the stuff that we go through for our cat.
Over the holidays we had a pet sitter who told us that we should be feeding our cat a raw diet. Dude....seriously.....I am not so sure about spending more on our cats food than our own.
Hope everyone has had a fabulous year and cheers to an even more wonderful New Year.

End of Summer.....

So, these last few weeks have been crazy for me. I have not been able to blog, or even come close to sending out emails, getting those last minute letters done or do any cleaning....our place is a mess. Work has overtaken my life and I think I spend more time in my windowless cell here at work than I do anywhere else.


I hope to see the light of day soon. Last weekend we got a bit in when we celebrated a birthday and hung out with friends. We all met up at the Fishshack for drinks and good company and then traversed over to La Playita for a mexican feast...with sangria.

I wanted to also blog about some fun things that we did this summer, and hopefully I can backlog some photos about it! We went to the Hollywood Bowl for their Fireworks finale with Brian Wilson. It was pretty good...he played a lot of the old Beach Boys favorites.

We have also been trying to make an effort to get downtown more often and check out the sites. The Disney Concert Hall is always on the top of our list and we are members at the MOCA so we will have to check it out more often....only after the Marlene Dumas exhibit is over....I do not care for her artwork at all...way too creepy. Her subjects for watercolor are death, nudity and faces.

Well, I will try to check in more often. Hope all is well in your world.

Cars & Camping

This last weekend we went up North to check out the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca Raceway. Jon was excited as it combined two of his favorite things....camping and race cars. I liked the fact that they were not your normal race cars...they had historics from as early at 1908. Beautiful cars that were well kept and could still handle the run around the track.

We set up our campsite late on Friday and woke up in the morning to find out that we were within viewing distance of the famed S curve.

Saturday started with strawberry pancakes and sausage, followed by tons and tons of racing, a couple of naps, and a nice sunburn.

We checked out all the cars in the paddock and Jon wanted his pic taken next to Ricky Bobby's car. We also saw Patrick Dempsey, who is a huge race fan as well. I think they had him get in a car for pictures, but I was never sure if he actually went out on the track with a car.

Saturday evening we had dinner in Monterey at the Monterey Fish House with some friends. I had the crab cake with scallops and it was fantastic!!! Thank goodness we went out for dinner as all we had left at the camp site for dinner was pork & beans.

On Sunday we checked out more in the infield and then started packing up camp. On the way back, we drove along route 46 and stopped to see the James Dean Memorial.

Overall, a pretty good weekend. It was not the normal camping that I usually like, but the best part of that was the track had shower trailers.....I am all about the showers! Whoo Hoo! Cleanliness. :) The weather was beautiful during the day and even the fog that rolls in around 7pm and stays until 12 noon did not bother us that much. Hope we can get back up to Monterey to check out other sites.

Getaway Part II

Sorry it has taken so long to update and let you know how things went in Cancun!
We had a blast:




We spent a ton of time eating and just hanging out at the resort. I think the most fun we had was snorkeling off the reefs! Jon also got the hang of some other watersports:
Our excursions off the resort included a bike ride into a sad little town Puerto Morales one day and then taking a trip out to Chichen Itza, it was humid in the jungle and the place was amazing. To see all of these structures that were built so long ago. A very interesting and mysterious culture that I believe they are still uncovering secrets about.

We went swimming in a Cenote after touring the city of Chichen Itza. A cenote is a sink hole that uncovers part of a huge system of underground tunnels of water that are under Mexico. The water is sooo cool and refreshing I could have spent the whole week there:Back at home we celebrated Fitzy's B-day with a chocolate cake and I have been harvesting tomatoes off of my Aerogarden which are fantastic!!! :)

Whirlwind of a June

June has flown by. All the plans, all the little details and the event I feel went off pretty well. Actually to me it was perfect! We have some early early pics that were sent by friends. I can't wait to get the pics from my friend Mo. She is pretty awesome with the lens. :)

The day was a blur and went by so fast that we may have to do it again...just kidding. :) The weather held out, we had a good turnout and the rice krispies and the root beer floats were perfect!
It was so good to see all the friends and family that came. I wish we had had a chance to chat with everyone a bit longer because it always feels like the time gets away from you and you do not get enough time for individual visits with everyone. I hope we can get around and see everyone soon.

We went off to Cancun after the wedding....more to follow.

I also never posted too much about my girl's weekend before the wedding. I got this photo from a friend as well. Yes, I wore the sash pretty much the whole night along with the princess crown. :)

Edison Downtown, Birthdays, Cabaret

So, my dear friend Norah is in town for a conference that she is working on and it was her birthday on Wednesday, the 11th. Of course we had to celebrate!

We headed downtown to pick up Norah at the Standard and met her and her coworker David there (her other coworker, Shannon met us at the bar). We then headed over the the Edison Bar. The Edison was located only a few blocks away and as soon as you enter you feel like it has been night the whole time. The bar is visually stunning. Great architecture...old factory feel. We were seating in the Generator Room in close proximity to the bar area:

Drinks and food were half off before 8pm for their happy hour...not sure how many we got half price as the bill was a tad bit high, but hey it was fun.

At around 9pm they had a show that started in the bar. It was a company called Lucid Docier and they were very cabaret, spontaneous and interesting. They had a stilt walker, a absinthe fairy, wood nymphs...which is what I called the arial artists, and other interesting painted and dressed up people. It was a little hard to tell them apart from the normal LA crowd.

Overall an interesting and different evening. I hope Norah had a fabulous birthday. It was great to get to see her and hang out with her for a while when she is in town. :) I am hoping that I can meet up with her again before she leaves to go back to the midwest.

Weekend! Whoo Hoo

So, this past weekend was a girl's weekend. Went out of town to MiraMonte resort and had a fabulous time...except for the four hours spent in Urgent Care and two pharmacies. :(

The weekend officially started on Friday when we went to see the Cubbies play the Dodgers:

It was not that great of a game....the Dodgers totally creamed the cubbies....but after watching all the games this weekend...the Cubs are still awesome and came back on Sunday for a win. The Dodger's pitcher was on fire that night and had some pitches at 90 mph and above!

Saturday was when we drove out to Mira Monte for the weekend and there will be more on that later, but I got the best facial at their spa there and would totally go back just for that. :)

Everything else is on schedule except that I am going a bit crazy with events at work and events soon to come :) We leave in less than three weeks!!!!! AHHHHHH!

Shower, Spa, Artwork, Sunsets, and a short visit

Well I seem to be slacking off on the ole blog lately....shame shame. I have however been really busy and am trying to keep my head above water while planning events and such.

This last weekend my Mom, Sister, and friend Nicole came to visit. The time went by so fast when they were here. Work hosted an incredible shower for Jon and I that completely overwhelmed the both of us.....we are still a little shell shocked. We received so much stuff and now I actually have a "grown-up" kitchen....which means I should probably start cooking more things.

Saturday was spa day which was wonderful even though I completely burnt my calves the day before on the beach. We are talking at least a 2nd degree burn.....and it is so noticeable how straight the line from my capris are on the back of my legs. Note to self: Stay away from the sun altogether. We ended the evening by going out to eat at Petros in Manhattan Beach: a really nice Greek restaurant where I feel I could actually start a more Mediterranean diet. We ended the evening by having drinks at Shade Hotel...where you can watch the crazy mating habitat of the overly moosed and the overly perfumed.

Sunday, I dropped Shannon and Nicole off at the beach to bake a little longer and Mom, Jon and I went to check out the Watts Towers. Amazing sculpture artwork that was done over 20 years by a small Italian man. They showed a film about the towers in which you can see him climbing up on his structure with a small pail of cement and bits of broken pottery to decorate with. It was pretty cool even though we could not walk into the structure since it was under construction. We walked around the outside and piered in through the fence.

On Sunday, we capped off the night with Fusion Sushi and then drove up to the Whale watch on the peninsula and watched the sunset before we took Shannon, Mom and Nicole to the airport for their redeye back to the midwest. I hope they enjoyed their time out here even though it was sooo short. :(

Museum Birthday Fun and relaxation

So, Friday was my b-day and I decided that I wanted to go to the First Fridays that they offer at the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles.

On the first Friday of every month they open the museum later into the evening, feature a concert and DJs spinning in a couple of the animal display rooms and they have a bar and a little bistro serving food. It was awesome! One of their new exhibits is a "how do they do it" display on how they clean, catalog and put together a dinosaur display. The dino is named Thomas and their exhibit on the second floor had people working into the night on Thomas's femur bone while people could walk by and check it out. They also had someone dressed up as a Thomas the T-Tex who cruised the concert and bar area....with guides because the person inside the suit could not really see anything. Maybe they were correct in having the dino be a little blind....how could such a large beast see with such little beady eyes. In the second picture, Thomas did smack me with his tail....ouch

Jon and I had dinner at the little bistro and were pretty impressed with the food. We had curry chicken breast over a cous cous salad....it also came with a brownie (that filled in as my b-day cake). In the room where they served the food they had the DJ spinning records. I kept laughing at the fact that the DJ was right in front of the buffalo display and he kind of blended in:

The Akron Family and the Dodos were the bands that played at the museum that night in the opposite room from the DJ. They also displayed the band stage on projectors out in the main lobby. Kind of cool to see the band right beside the large dino display.
We left around 9:30 which was perfect because we left the downtown area early and had no problem with traffic. On Saturday, we chilled out in the morning and then drove down to Long Beach to check out the American Diabetes Assoc. Conference. We arrived kind of late to catch any of the discussions, but walked around the trade show floor and checked out the latest in technologies there. I was a little surprised at some of the booths....they had a rice booth. White rice is really high in carbs and not really a good choice for most diabetics. I could not get close to that booth to see if they were talking about low carb rice or something because they were giving away samples of rice and it was insanely crazy...cause people LOVE samples. That evening, Jon went off to have a manly day with some of his friends and I got together with my friend Michelle and we went to Color Me Mine (she took me there for my birthday) and then had dinner at Fushion Sushi...yum.

Sunday, we tried to get some chores around the house done. The key word being TRIED. This is what the dynamic duo looked like most of the day:

Brrrrr...desert trip and lots of hot tea

Last weekend we treked out to the desert for another camping trip. Jon had some friends who wanted to check out the Mojave Trail, so we all packed up and headed out late on Friday to the desert...stayed at a creepy casino hotel and then hit the trail on Saturday morning.
The weather during the day: Fantabulous! The weather during the evening: Horrendous! Below is Hiromi and I with the convoy of trucks. This was at the trail head, which we took out of Laughlin, NV. Hiromi had to read the map that we had...which was not really a map, more like a book that stated in novel form where you should go.Following the directions we knew we were on the right track as we passed cairns of rocks stacked next to the trail and the highlights that we were looking for popped out of nowhere. Here Les and Jon are contributing to the penny tree. You have to place a donation of one penny in the beverage can tied to the joshua tree with a coat hanger when you pass...and if the can is full...add another can. :)The area is so desolate that when you do see a structure it really stands out. This interesting building was part of a cluster of buildings that I have a feeling were created for a group to come out and have a good time. There was a "saloon" and a beat up old partical board house next to this tiny chapel.One of the first places that we stopped was an old Fort (Fort Piute) that was set in between two hillsides to overlook and protect the passage through the desert. There was an old foundation where the lookouts slept side by side with their horses....gotta keep the horses inside so no one steals them....they had that happen a few times out here I believe. These petroglyphs were found near the fort in an area that was covered in these rocks...they even had a small structure that used some of the rocks with petroglyphs to build the corners. We took pics of the rocks, tried to stay away from the weird red/black bugs that were all over and then stayed for lunch before we headed out once again.
One of the highlights of the trip and later we found out a "rare treat" was to spot this little guy. Hiromi saw him in the distance and thought it was a toy at first until he started moving. These desert tortoises are rare and hard to find out here. We got up really close and I did the unthinkable and touched him, which I later found out is not good...as they are a protected species...but I figure I am ok with this pic since I did not know until later that you are supposed to stay at least 10 ft away from them.It is hard to believe that anything could survive out in this desolate place. It is hot during the day and freezing at night. The wonderful thing about this season is that there are tons of flowers that bloom before the horrible HOT HOT HOT months. The desert floor was covered in these brillant pick flowers along with tiny white, yellow and purple looking daisies and other paintbrush type plants which made driving along the mojave trail a lot more interesting.Late in the afternoon we set up camp near the rockhouse which is shown below. It was on top of a hill which I am not sure was the best location for us. Let's just say...the desert can create some serious winds....serious nasty winds...which made me declare several times that I no longer EVER want to camp in the desert. I do not think anyone slept that night. It was freezing and the howling winds kept the tents nice and noisy. Jon and I had our mummy sleeping bags which really helped keep us warm...but I guess not warm enough because I woke up on Sunday with NO voice. nada nothing....total hand signals the rest of the day from me along with a hacking cough and fever. It is Friday today and I am still stuffed up a bit, but I am definitely making it to the gym tonight....must forge on....must get rid of extra weight I am carrying around.

Message to all who go to the desert: Pack for cold weather as well...it can happen and it can be brutal!