Two times the craziness

I recently switched jobs.  I am in the same company and in the same department, but I have moved up into a job that will require more of me.  The problem that I have right now is the fact that my old job has not been filled just yet so I am still working that job as well.  Yes, I have two jobs right now.  This last week was tough and when I got home on Friday night it was really hard for me to relax.  I actually sent myself two emails to work regarding things I did not want to forget by Monday.
I am hoping that I can soon get into the swing of things at my new job and finally transition so that I do not have to worry about my old job which I had for five years so it is hard to forget.
Right now it is hard for me not to wonder if this was the right choice for me career wise.  Are we ever sure?
Working and living in Southern California is in its own class.  It seems that even if you make a decent salary you cannot buy a home or keep up with the Jones'.  It is scary to think about possibly starting a family when you overhear conversations where people with 6 figure salaries say that they cannot afford to have children.  What world are we living in?  I really hope that things start to calm down.  Well, enough of this down talk.  I guess it is pretty nice to live by the beach and I have a coupon to purchase a new book at Borders so there is definitely things to be happy about.  I have also booked my tax appointment on St. Patty's Day so I am hoping that our tax lady finds a pot of gold for us!

Scrambled

This last weekend we had some friends in town and luckily the forecast which was all rain for the weekend earlier turned out to be sunny and pretty nice.  We biked down by the beach and saw Jay Leno at the Comedy and Magic Club.
This past month we have also been trying to check out all the new local restaurants.  One is the fabulous restaurant Gonpachi which is located in the Miyako Hotel in Torrance.  For lunch they offer a miso soup & salad bar and for dinner they have "chef's choice specials" which feeling adventurous is what I ordered.  It turned out to be something that I was not adverse to eating.  The dinner ended with the first photo a dish of green tea mousse with red beans (Aduki beans?).
The main dish was Salmon in what tasted like a pesto sauce over risotto.  This dish also came with sushi and a ceasar salad with whole anchovies placed over the top.  I am not much of an anchovy person, but the whole dinner was Delicious! :)   I will definitely be back there.

I can't wait for March to get here as we are planning a Hawaii vacation!  I have never been there before, so I am looking forward to it!  I also happen to be a fan of pineapples, coffee, macadamia nuts and shave ice so what could be better than actually going to the home of all of those items.   We are trying to plan a lot in the five days that we will be there so I have a feeling we will have to make several trips in the future!

I begin a new job on March 1st which is very exciting.  It is with the same company in the same department, but I am moving from Events to Grant Writing for the non-profit foundation.  Since I have been at my location for the last five years I know my job in and out right now and I am excited and nervous to go to a new job where I will need to use new skills.  The job I am leaving will still need my assistance to finish up for an event, so I will still be helping out at this current job until the end of May...yeah a long time.  It feels like I have two jobs at once right now....wish I was getting two salaries!! :)
So, in a nutshell, my mind is scrambled.  I wanted to try and update more often, but until I can get it all balanced at work I may find myself coming home and crashing into a pool of jello...not literally crashing into a pool of jello, but more like becoming one.
Hope everyone is well and enjoying the Olympics!!  I have been keeping up with them, but it is a little hard being on the west coast when they start at 8pm and go until midnight.  I just can't stay up that late.  Speaking of which, I am going to go watch some skiing right now.

The donut AGAIN!

So, we noticed that one of my tires was losing air so I took it into Americas Tire for what I thought would be an easy and free patch and then I would be on my way. 45 minutes later I am cursing the streets in LA County and asking if my tires are made of tissue paper.

This is the third tire I have had to replace on a car that only has 11,000 miles on it. THIRD tire. The first was a flat that I believe I was the main cause of. The second was an idiot road crew member who left a sharp metal blade on the roadway and it pierced my side wall. This third one seems to be a staple of some kind that left two holes close together that cannot be patched.

These are not cheap tires...in fact they are bloody expensive. Oh, and I also think my car needs a break job. Well, so much for saving money this year. ARGH.

Had to get my anger out, so thank you for listening.

My car now has a donut on it until the tire place can order a new tire for me as they do not have any of the brand I use in stock. I don't like donuts. Not one single bit. In fact I hate donuts.

A little behind

When I began this post a while back I thought I would be updating it everyday or at least a couple of times a week. I was doing pretty well as it was easy for me to update during my lunch hour or a quick break from work, but then the site was blocked and it seemed that when I got home after being on the computer all day the last thing I wanted to do was get back onto it.

This year I hope to be better about updating at least for me...cause the more you think about it, a blog is like a diary that you can look back on.

The start of this year has been slow. I thought about making resolutions, but then never did. I thought...yeah, I will try and drink green tea instead of coffee every morning, but then the first day at the office came and I just had to go to the cafeteria for some caffeine (the elixir of life as we like to call it in the office).

Right now I am making small changes like trying to

be better with my overall health and also trying new recipes and foods. One was brought on by a coworker who brought a nice little powder into work that you can sprinkle on fruit. She said that growing up in Hawaii they use it on everything. She brought back a packet from Hawaii for me and now I cannot get enough. It is called "Li Hing Powder" and is basically a plum powder. DELICIOUS and I found out that some of the stores here stock it.

It is best on Apples:

This week we have also tried to catch up on Netflix and here is a sampling of what we saw:

Valkrye - didn't care for it, depression set in after the film

500 Days of Summer - Good soundtrack, like the actors, depression set in after the film

Unmistaken Child - Great documentary, would recommend

Movies we have coming soon:

Inglorious Basterds

Whip It

We shall see if the depression after films stops with some of these new films on the way. Hope everyone is seeing dramatic improvements in whatever they would like improved for the New Year! - Ok, after sentences like that I should call it a night. :)

New Year - Better Posting

Oh my gosh!!! I will soon be updating this a lot more often. Got a Xmas gift that will make it most easy to post. :)

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Holiday and Cheers to a fantastic New Year!

I think I might be so busy over the holidays, the next time I post will be 2010.

Watch the wonders of our cat

People often think this is not possible, but our cat actually likes to have his claws clipped!! Watch as Woody has his spa day:



In other news, this weekend we went on a behind the scenes tour of the MOCA museum. They really showed us everything including the permanent storage and the non-public library. Pretty cool. We also enjoyed lunch at Clifton's Cafeteria which was a strange place that has been open for lunch in downtown LA since the 30s.

Long Time been gone

Argh I know I have not been keeping up with updates lately...hence the reason I never joined facebook....I would never update.
Things have been pretty dull around the ole homestead. My parents came for a fast visit which was great and I miss them already. We are gearing up for a visit from Jon's brother tomorrow night.
I have been doing little homey things like baking bread and tonight I spent about an hour putting teak oil on one chair...yeah...one chair. Many small sections on that one chair.
I am not sure if it was the busy factor being away from the gym, or the fact that the hammock had been dried out in the sun for the last three years, but I heard a tiny rip rip ripping and found myself on the ground. :(Fourth of July was spent at the beach and then watching the fireworks from our friend's rooftop. We ended the evening with some sparklers.I think I will cap the evening with a lime fruit flo jo and call it a night. Hope all is well with everyone.

Anyone have apricot recipes?

Our first harvest from our apricot tree in our backyard. When we first moved in our landlord said that the tree might just be ornamental, but we tried one last week and they are really good. Now I am thinking either jam or crumble with these. I think I would need a few more for jam so it may have to be crumble. :)
This might entice me to set up some vegetables in the backyard as well. At the moment it is all landscaped, but if I decided to move one of the plants and maybe start some beans or something else, I do not think they would say no.
I also need to remember to start a friendship bread bag. A person at work requested one and I have not started it just yet. Maybe this evening would be a good time to do that. I have decided that most of the friendship bread should be completely given away so as not to temp me.

At this precise moment, I am trying to figure out if the neighbors out back (we share this lot with a garage that has living upstairs) are going away this weekend or if they are staying in town.....the reason being is that they have a granddaughter who likes to have parties while they are gone and she brings all sorts of unsavory characters around. Personally I think they are all pretty good kids, from good families, but who knows what kind of shenanigans they can get into. I think I am starting to sound like that old lady neighbor on Bewitched who always used to look through the curtains. Next thing you know I am going to start setting up neighborhood watches and take in all the stray cats in the area.

This weekend does not hold any huge events, which is pretty nice. Tonight I am thinking a low key dinner and movie.

Update on neighbor watch 09: the truck has moved, but the grandlady is still in the nest, repeat, still in the nest. Looks like it might be a full weekend at the ranch.

Oh, shout out to my sister....she just turned another year younger yesterday. :)

New Home

So, we have finally settled into our new place. Here are some pics:
It looks a tad bit gloomy on the day we took the photos, but it is a cute little place and we have tons of parking off the street which is nice. The backyard has an apricot tree in it and it used to have a pepper tree as well, but the landlord took it out while putting in a new fence, which did not make our neighbors out back too happy. Our most favorite piece in the house right now is this addition. We have had to use quarters for way way too long. :) In other news, I am trying to piece together the last preparations for our golf tournament which is this next Monday. I will be so happy when it is over. We have two flights at one golf course which means I have to be at the golf course at 5 am and we will probably not finish until 10:30 pm or so. I will be one cranky person at the end of that evening. I am also pretty tired of dealing with all the golfers. Boy are they particular on all the little aspects of the game...hello people this is a "charity event".
After the tournament it is time to reevaluate what I want to do. I think it might be time for me to step out of special events.

Bizarre Month

The Open Road:The month of April was a complete blur. We moved into a new rental on April 1st. It was a fast move and I feel that we are now pretty much settled here. We also took a road trip across country to retrieve some family heirlooms that we were meaning to bring out.
Our itinerary was to fly into Chicago, see my family in Illinois, visit Jon's sister and brother and pick up the furniture pieces we wanted. Drive to Kansas City where we would visit friends and then pick up another important piece of furniture and then head home with some fun stops in between. We did pack a lot of visits into that short trip, but I wish I had had time to see some of my other friends that are back in the midwest and I hope to be back soon to visit them.
Trip Highlights: Friends that we did see, Family that we saw and caught up with, the steaks at our friends place in KC, the Vapor Caves in Colorado, and the Hoover Dam. I think Jon might also like to add the Comfort Inn's free waffle breakfast to that as well.
We were able to see a friend before he went off to the Peace Corp in Africa which was nice considering it was literally right before he left and I am sure everyone was vying for his time. We spent some quality time with my parents and had a nice lunch with Jon's Aunt who drove up from Iowa.
We then drove to Jon's sister's place where we picked out the pieces of furniture that we wanted. Once the car was all packed up, we headed to KC where our friends grilled the best steaks ever and let us crash in their comfy guest room. They also had a cat that was so similar to Woody, we could almost mistake them. Mr. Grimace (Woody's twin):The next morning we met Jon's cousin who handed over an antique table (early 1800s) that was brought from Haiti by Jon's great great grandmother. We had lunch and then hauled it across the state of Nebraska. That was the longest drive day...a total of 11 hours. We made it all the way through to Glenwood Springs where we went to the Yampah Caves and relaxed in the sulfury heat. Absolutely lovely. We then headed out to Nevada where we stayed at the Comfort Inn and went on the Dam Tour at the Hoover Dam.
We finally made it back to the West coast with no big issues, just a ton of dead bugs on the windshield. We came home to Mr. Woodrow who greeted us warmly and said he did not have too many parties while we were away.I promise to soon write about our new nest and fill you in on the copious amounts of laundry which we are doing in our fantastic "doesn't require quarters" washer and dryer. Hope everyone is doing well.

Busy Bees

Well, after seven years of living at the Beach, Jon and I are moving inland.
A ghastly 4 miles inland to be precise.

Oh the tragedy of moving so far away. It will now be a 10 minute drive to get to the beautiful sands of Redondo.

Actually, I am still getting used to the fact that we are leaving this neighborhood. So many things I will miss. The pier, the quiet neighborhood, the wild parrots, the drugstore right up the street, and the amazing beach sunsets that we got so used to that we started taking them for granted.

The new neighborhood is a cute tree lined street with little bungalow houses, one which we will be renting - yes, we are still renting....prices are still insanely ridiculous out here for homes. There is a small downtown area nearby with a Fosters Freeze, a small town bakery, and some nice non-chain restaurants. Jon will be able to walk to work as he will be so close to the office. The one thing that I believe is the icing on the cake is the fact that we will have a washer and dryer....one that I will NOT have to feed quarters. YEAH!!!!!!
I wonder if I will still collect quarters like a squirrel collects nuts. There have been times at the store where I will hold up a line just to count out the change in smaller denominations to save the quarters in my coin purse....No more...I will hand over that quarter with glee, unless I find out it is a rare quarter from some special year that is worth more. And I will still hold up the line with coupons.

The place we are renting is a small three bedroom with a fireplace, a little backyard and a HUGE garage. The bedrooms are very small, but I am hoping to fit all the furniture into them.

Well, that is also why I have been so lax on updating the site.
We are in the midst of packing:
Right now I am shoving things into boxes a little haphazard. I dumped all the drawers from the kitchen and living room and labeled it combined junk drawers. Hopefully the movers we hired will know exactly where to put that valuable box.

Trying to purchase new items:
We must find a washer & dryer to buy before April 1st when our sales tax in this state reaches an all time high...what was it again, 90%? I also want to buy an area rug, curtains, and a huge bottle of Excedrin.

Writing a list of places I need to make sure get my change of address:
Whew...so many, I cannot believe we have been in our place for 7 years....too much has accumulated.

Setting things aside for Yard sale:
Well, a couple of days ago a few very expensive items that we could have probably sold to a collector were taken to the goodwill. I tried not to get too upset as I should have said something before, but blast it, they was worth monies.

Stay tuned for pics and for things I will NOT miss! :)

The Odds

I started out on Sunday with some shopping and then as I returned home and parked the car I bumped the curb with my right front tire. Thought nothing of it until later that evening and realized I had popped the tire and it was as flat as a pancake.
Well, no worries on that one. Not a big deal. Swapped it out for the spare and then the next day we took it to America's Tire. Yeah, New tire, rotation. Swell!
Then on Friday, we went out to dinner with some friends and we drove through a construction zone. We hit what we thought was a little gravel and I kept hearing a sound come from the rear right tire. Jon figured it had to be a rock stuck in the tread, but all I could think was...not again....so when we arrived at our friend's place I got out to look and sure enough I heard the distinct hissing sound of a punctured tire. It seems that one of the construction workers left a utility blade out on the street and that is what lodged in the tire. Kinda looks like a ninja blade. Yeah, we were hit by ninjas in our beach community.So, once again the spare was brought out from the trunk. BUT SERIOUSLY....Two flat tires in one week!!! What are the odds?
I have found this week has been full of eating a lot of food. Note to self: STOP immediately before having to purchase elastic waist pants.
I have gone out for lunch a couple of times this week, ate Portillo's sandwiches (makes me miss Chicago) with friends who went out to Buena Park to pick it up and a vast variety of other lovely items. There is a show on the BBC called "You are what you eat" and in the show the host has the person who needs to lose weight write down everything they eat in one week and then they display the entire contents of that one week on a table for the person to see and be horrified by all the food that they have eaten. Well, this week I kept thinking about that table. At least I did get to the gym a little bit.
Hoping I have more time this next week even though I do feel cheated a little cause we just had to "Spring Forward" an hour.

Cruizin through a busy week

This last week has been a whirlwind. Jon and I decided to get away and take a 3 day cruise to Mexico this last weekend. We left on Friday night and headed down to Ensenada.The boat was so big that we could not fit it in one pic frame. :) We got a room with a view...well, more of a small porthole view. The trip became more of a recovery cruise as I was under the weather with a shot site infection (diabetic stuff) and Jon had sprained both his thumbs skiing on Thursday. I had warned him that if he went on a ski trip right before the cruise something was going to happen...cause that is Murphy's law...and yup, he was hit by a punk snowboarder and bent both of his thumbs in directions they were not supposed to go...as you see in the photo he is wearing a brace in order to heal one of his hands.
We docked in Ensenada on Saturday morning and Jon and I signed up for the wine country tour. Normally you do not think wine when you think Mexico, but we were pleasantly surprised. We ended up bringing back a couple of bottles along with some olives and some olive oil that they had at one winery. Here we are at the wineries. Jon pressing some grapes at the first winery and the both of us in front of the bull ring at the L.A. Cetto winery.On Sunday, the ship was at sea so we hung out on the deck for a while and I sufficiently burned my legs. After crisping my legs in the sun, we took a long nap as the ship seems to lull you into a deep sleep..rocking back and forth. We also caught the musical reviews they had in the evenings and the two comedians which were pretty good. Everyone at our dinner table was really cool, except for an elderly foreign couple who decided on the first day to change tables....I believe it was because they could not keep up with us. The one thing that we both felt about the cruise was how wonderful, nice and hospitable the staff was. Even when the activities on the ship were a little cheesy, their enthusiam never waved. They made the trip!!!
We returned on Monday and both of us ended up having vertigo once we were off the ship! How strange to be perfectly fine on the ship and then be at home and feel like you have to grab the counter for balance.
We ended this week with a Lakers game on Thursday night. They were playing the Phoenix Suns which was fun because Shaq was there. It was fun to see how the crowd reacted to the old Laker. :) The one thing that made the game even more fun was the HOT burrito that Jon ordered from the stand. It was soo temperature hot, I saw one employee almost quit when she tried to place it on our tray. She yelled, "Oh hell no, I am not dealin' with this" (delivered with ghetto attitude) and a second employee had to come over with a pot holder to transfer the burrito to our tray. I wish she would have given us the pot holder because I tried to move it to make room for our drinks and felt the lava like hotness radiating from the wrapper. It was so hot, Jon was worried that he would be libel for a hole in the ozone. One hot burrito:This weekend we plan on taking it easy and maybe trying to clean the pit we live in. We hope.

Ski Freakout & Downtown Art

I do hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. We do not do too much for the holiday, but we did get out a bit. The new Dan Graham exhibit opened at the MOCA so we went to the special preview during the day. I really wanted to go in the evening when they were having their opening ceremony with DJs and cocktails and finger foods, but I was excited just to go see it during the day.
Dan Graham: Beyond was interesting and kept us there for quite a while. He experimented with architecture as well as video and performance art. He had one certain room with two cameras, two monitors and mirrors so that you could see yourself walking away as you walked toward yourself...if that makes any sense, but it was really cool and we spent a lot of time trying to turn around really fast and see what it looked like....which we could because one camera was on delay. That room was worth the entire trip there. so cool.
Right before visiting the gallery, we had lunch at a place that I will DEFINITELY go to again. It was a little French Dip sandwich place called Cole's French Dip. Clink on the link and check it out. I normally don't enjoy spicy foods, but I even loved their atomic pickles that they served with their French Dip sandwiches. The atmosphere was the best and they played a ton of good music. They are the oldest running restaurant and saloon in LA.We made it an early night and did not stay out too late as the next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to hit the road and go skiing. The conditions were perfect and I was getting along really well at the easy green slopes and I even met the chairlift operator Mike who said I was his favorite lone passenger. I was actually having a darn good time even though my face was being exfoliated by the fierce winds, when Jon said, "Oh, let's try this other run. It is not that bad and I think you will be able to make it....only the end is really steep. I thought, no problem, I am getting good at this and haven't even fallen once.
Well....Let's just say the entire run from beginning to end was steep. I uttered more curse words than a sailor after a case of rum and had the ultimate freak out moment when I was able to stop myself mid...sheer cliff face and start crying because I had this image that I would never make it down to the lodge. Jon in all his smugness was skiing backwards saying, "Oh just take it slow, just lift up on this leg or that leg." Things you cannot tell a person who is fearing death on a 90 degree angle.
Thankfully, I survived and what should normally take a seasoned skiier 15 minutes to get down took me about an hour. I now have various bruises on my...well, let's just say everywhere and my legs have given up on me and are advertising for a new body.
Today was full on hard core rain and all I wanted to do was stay at home and watch movies and drink Celestial Seasonings Peach tea - which has become my favorite right now.

I grew up

So, this last weekend was spent enjoying my new ride....yes, I finally have a grown up car. I have not gotten used to driving this car as in the past I have always had the used older vehicle that still smelled like whoever owned it before and had little kinks that gave it character, infused by the past owner...be it a nun or someone who may have drove the car on it's rims in a chase (the nun is fact, the chase has not been proven, but could have happened due to sustained damage on volvo).

I promise I will get better pictures so you can see what it looks like. Fitzy took this artsy photo before we hoped in the car and headed up to Mountain High to go skiing on Sunday morning. There was not a whole lot of snow and I have to admit that I gave Jon a hard time on the fact that I am a crappy skier and not good and was not sure if I even liked the sport...but I ended up doing pretty darn good and only fell once and I believe that was because I was dodging a snowboarder on the hillside. Those snowboarders can be obstacles that you need to be really good to steer around and I am getting pretty good at avoiding them. :) Hopefully next time I will be even better.
Saturday we went downtown to check out the latest exhibit at the MOCA. It was Louise Bourgeois. It was an interesting exhibit. She had various sculptures, drawings and prints. She also put together these pieces she called Cells which I thought were the best part about the exhibit. They were more interesting in the fact that they were large pieces set up as rooms that you could look into. Although the main thought that we had coming out of that exhibit....is that that woman needed a therapist pronto....she had issues man! She had a marble sculpture of a huge French country mansion that she had grown up in and she had it framed by a guillotine.
We came up with some of our own thoughts on an exhibit that we could put together. I may have to have my own little art show. I believe I could create something quite unique that could rival some of the items I have seen at the museum.

We then visited some friends who just had a little baby girl back in December. It was good to visit with them and see their new addition. I also received a call from dear friend on the good news of the arrival of their new daughter! I wish them well and hope everyone is doing good.

Thanks! Momentous Week!

So, Thank you to my friends who commented on the last posting. :) It is nice to know that you guys are out there....Ohh, and I need to link to one friend's site as well.

This weekend was just like summer. I brought out the sandals and wore short sleeve in the heat. I also chopped all my hair off on Saturday. I was waiting in the hot sun in the window at the barber and decided...why not. It looked really good on Saturday and that night...but as always, I cannot seem to get it to look like the stylist did at Floyd's. I am working on it and will try to get you a pick once I can tame it a little.....it is jutting out all over the place right now.

Saturday night I went out with a wive's club to the Comedy & Magic Club. We went to see the author of "He's just not into you" and they had a few opening comedians who were funny including Ray Romano who made a guest appearance to try out his jokes for the inauguration. I guess the Obama's are fans of his show and he was invited to entertain at one of the inauguration functions. Good luck to him...we are also hoping that he did a bit more work on some of the jokes he tried that night.

Per my last post I have been good about cutting out the coffee at work in the mornings and doing tea instead...but this morning I really really felt like this:

I may break down and have to have a cup soon.
Woody also says hello to everyone!!! He is doing superbly:

Kinda New Year

The New Year....I need to be better about updating the blog in the New Year. Although sometimes I think I may be the only one who reads it. :)
I thought that I would just ditch resolutions, but it seems that I am doing pretty well on a couple.
I ditched coffee in the morning and now do tea, which is much better for me as I used to use a LOT of cream in the coffee.
I have been trying to stay on top of things at work...which I have, as there is not a whole heck of a lot going on there at the moment.
I go to the gym....sometimes.
I am trying to manage the D-life a little better (diabetic life). I got a new doctor, am trying to stay focused on what I eat and trying to lose those extra pounds that seem to have attached themselves everywhere.
The temperature out here on the West Coast has been in the 80s!!! For January that is amazing and it is pretty sweet to be in short sleeve and shorts. Although I have to admit that when summer does arrive it is not something that is that special because it has been pretty fantastic all year.
I do miss the white winter from home and drying my sweaters on the radiator. I have this recent pic on my computer at work to remind me....and at work it could really be anywhere as I have no windows to the outside world.

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.