A Strange Mix Of Events

This past Saturday I ventured out from behind the orange curtain to visit my friend Stephanie who lives near LA.

We started out by hitting up Ciaoti Pizza Cafe in Studio City for some lunch. They have a great variety of pizzas that are definitely not run of the mill. We went for the Buffalo Pizza - consisting of Jacks Hot Sauce for a base with real buffalo meat, onions and cheese. Neither of us had ever tried buffalo before and we were both pleasantly surprised. We also tried "The THE Salad" which was amazing. With a Coke Light on the side it a great lunch for a decent price.

Next we headed over to The Gilded Rose Manor Tea House to pick up some loose leaf tea.

I've never really been to a Tea House before so this was all new territory to me. Everything was decorated in a Victorian style which translates into flowers, lace, pink, purple and lots of delicate china like this:

We were just going to go buy some tea and leave but we got there just as they were beginning the 3.30 tea service. Since we weren't really pressed for time we decided to stay for afternoon tea. Yes, that is correct, I had afternoon tea and here is the photo to prove it:

After tea we met up with a couple of friends and headed over to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for a viewing of Psycho. A local organization called Cinespia shows a different movie there every Saturday night and it's obviously very popular! Due to heavy traffic we got there around 7 and stood in a line with about 1000 other people . Unfortunately the movie sold out and left about 500 of us to improvise. We all had a good time by spreading out blankets and eating picnics outside the cemetery walls. I did have photos of this but you'll have to use your imagination because for some reason it's not letting me upload them...sorry!

All of this talk about scary movies and cemeteries reminds me of Halloween! Hmm...what should I dress up as this year?

Land Of 10,000 Lakes

One interesting thing that I realized on my vacation is that I never really gave life in Minnesota a fair chance. After several years away from it, I can truly say that I enjoy going home to visit.

My week of vacation went by far too quick but I still managed to cram a lot of fun things into the time that I had. We went to the awesome 80's prom, threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, went to a pool party for my 2 cousins 16th birthdays, visited with my grandma, had lunch with a cousin I hadn't seen in 5 years, drove the "Mafia car", saw Talladega Nights (hilarious!), and spent a couple of days camping and fishing. I even caught this monster of a sunfish:

One thing that always cracks me up is that when my mom & I go anywhere people always comment on how much I look like her:

And to think, my brother used to try and convince me that I was adopted. Nice try!

The Awesome 80's Prom

This last weekend I went to the prom...The Awesome 80's Prom!

It's an interactive play where you step back in time to the Wanaget High Class of 1989 Senior Prom. I'm not sure who had better costumes, the actors or some of the audience members! The cast consisted of all your typical high school stereotypes: the jock, the geek, the cheerleader, the Asian foreign exchange student, etc. The even threw in the Swiss beauty who spent the night doing the splits in front our table...which I think the guys enjoyed a bit too much. A majority of the drama was centered around who would be crowned the next homecoming king and queen. Hilarious! And then there was the surprise performance from Prince:

Overall we had a great time. We danced with the cast, talked about our plans after graduation and we even got scolded by the principal. The one benefit of going to this prom? They serve wine & beer...

The Cherry On Top

I'm done with Phoenix. I'm exhausted. This week has been one thing after another, including this:

Not to mention, I am sick of hearing the news anchors attempt to scare everyone to death about The Baseline Killer and the Serial Shooter.

I'm over it.

4 Star Resort? Not So Much...

One of the amazing things about Phoenix in the summer is that the hotel rates for 4 Star resorts are ridiculously low. This is the one time of year that I get to live in luxury which helps make up for the 114 degree heat.

Yesterday afternoon I checked into my room and I couldn't have been happier. A king sized bed. A poolside room. An insanely comfortable bed. I am in heaven.

At 1.30 I turn out the lights and get some much needed sleep. At 4.30am I hear it. The dreaded fire alarm. Just my luck. After about 10 minutes of this thing going off I decided to evacuate. Funny thing is that there were no firetrucks or employees of the hotel to be found. Just 100 guests with bedhead standing around in their pajamas. It's now 90 degrees outside and the concrete was still hot.

After about 15 minutes and still no sign of anyone from the hotel or firetrucks, we headed inside. One hotel employee comes out of nowhere and just stands at the desk as if nothing was wrong! A guy finally goes up and has to ask what was going on and the employee says that it was a false alarm and that we could go back to our rooms. "The alarms will be turned off momentarily" he assures us.

I found some earplugs that I travel with and try to get some rest. Didn't happen. The alarm stayed on for the next hour and a half! At 6am I finally fell asleep only to be awakened by my alarm 20 minutes later. Argh.

Fast forward to this evening and the monsoon that is happening outside my window. I don't know how this is possible but there is water dripping into my room and I'm on second of three floors. How is this possible? Once again, I am kept from my precious sleep ... when will this insanity end?!

I am so ready for vacation next week!

July 21, 2006 - The One Year Mark

It's hard to believe but just one short year ago, I drove into Huntington Beach ready to start my new life. Oh. My. Gosh. Where has the time gone?! It feels like just yesterday I arrived at my tiny little apartment and wondered what in the hell I had done. Why did I abandon the life I had loved so much in TN? Why did I sell my house? Why did I give up my dog? Was I going to be able to succeed in my new position? I never had a desire to live in California so what made me decide to make this move?

Well, looking back, it was the hardest year but probably the best year of my life. I've had a lot of fun, a lot of heartache, and a lot of time to do some real soul searching. If I've learned nothing else from this past year, I've learned who I really am, what I want out of life, and most importantly how important my family and friends are to me.

Not to mention, I get to see sunsets like this every night:


A friend of mine said that a life change of this sort would either make you more fearful or it would make you a much more grounded/confident person. I'm just thankful that it was the latter that happened to me. I have realized that we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for - especially if we have faith.

Cowboy Up

This weekend marked another first for me - the rodeo! I found myself at the biggest rodeo in the state of California! So big that they pronounce rodeo as "row-day-oh". No lie.

This is the event of the year in Salinas, CA and the entire town goes crazy. I've never seen so many cowboy hats, wranglers and handlebar mustaches in my life! The city was sold out of hotel rooms, all of the store window fronts were painted in a rodeo theme and you could find signs like this everywhere:

I never realized that they had so many events at a rodeo: a stunt horse rider, 5 well trained stunt dogs, barrel racing, roping, bull riding, bareback riding, and bullfighting just to name a few. The bull riders were my favorite by far. Check it out:

These guys are crazy!

Luckily I didn't see any of the riders get seriously injured but I did see a lot of this:

For the grand finale they brought out the bull fighters. These guys have to be the bravest or dumbest people I have ever seen. Dressed up as clowns, they willing put themselves within touching distance of a bull and dance around in front of their faces. All the while dodging the bulls attempts to kill them.

This was the only bull fighter that used the barrel as a prop in his "show". If you look closely, you can see the rodeo clown rolled up inside of that barrel. After I shot this picture, the bull fighter standing jumped on top of the barrel and ran down the bulls back!

It was amazing....and I loved every minute of it!

The Class of '96

What a difference 10 years can make!

I'm posting these photos in honor of my 10 year high school reunion (which I will not be attending) and I hope that you get as much of a kick out of them as I do...

Age: 17 (Graduation Photo)

Age - 27 (Exactly one week before my 28th BIRTHDAY!

Hmmm...I wonder what I am going to look like in another 10 years?!

A Day Of Independence

Happy 4th of July everyone!

I have so many stories but not enough time. It will be soon though...I promise.

Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain

Tell me a good story and I am a happy girl.

Tonight I decided that if I could sit down and chat with a musician about their life and experiences I would choose this man: I have a feeling that he could tell some pretty amazing stories.

Who would you choose?

Boring Girls Don't Wear Earrings Like That

I'm thoroughly convinced that you meet the most interesting people in airports.

I met this guy while waiting in line to board our flight leaving LAX. He was in his late 40's, British, and incredibly sarcastic. We had been talking for awhile - he was giving me the 20 questions bit about my life and I was playing along to pass the time. At one point he ran out of questions and said out loud "Hmm...what else can I bother you about?" My response was "Nothing, I'm absolutely boring and there is nothing else to know." Needless to say, I was dumbstruck when he said "Nonsense! Boring girls don't wear earrings like that." What!?! Since when did earrings become a symbol of how you act?

Mountain Sirens

I have an account that is located in the San Bernardino Mountains and I always love going to visit them. Not only is it beautiful but something interesting always happens. For instance, the first time I was there they were testing out the storm sirens. The next time I was there it started raining, the storm sirens went off and we nearly had to evacuate the mountain. Today it was a fire drill - that lasted an hour and a half.

I can only imagine what is going to happen on my next visit....

The Roof Is On Fire!

This evening marks the second time that the HB Fire Department has been called to put out a house fire within a block of where I live. The first time was about 6 months ago and the house was only 3 doors down. This time it was about 6 houses away - still a bit too close for comfort.

So about an hour after I hear the sirens, I hopped in my car to head to my class. When I pulled out of the alley I realized that the fire department and police officers had blocked off the entire street and in order for me to get out the cop had to lower the "Police Do Not Cross" line. It was a strange feeling and now I know what my mom & dad felt when that happened to them. Thankfully mine was only for a fire. They, on the other hand, were police ordered to stay on the pier after a high speed chase ended with a guy shooting himself. Welcome to California!

Now for the Public Service Announcement: Please check the batteries in your fire alarms! I did that a few weeks ago (thinking that was done before I moved in) and to my surprise, there wasn't even a battery in the alarm! Thank God I didn't need it within the last 10 months...

Save NPR and PBS (again)

Hi,

Everyone expected House Republicans to give up efforts to kill NPR and PBS after a massive public outcry stopped them last year. But they've just voted to eliminate funding for NPR and PBS—unbelievably, starting with programs like "Sesame Street."

Public broadcasting would lose nearly a quarter of its federal funding this year. Even worse, all funding would be eliminated in two years--threatening one of the last remaining sources of watchdog journalism.

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS again this year:

http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Last year, millions of us took action to save NPR and PBS, and Congress listened. We can do it again if enough of us sign the petition in time.

This would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting. The Boston Globe reports the cuts "could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs." NPR's president expects rural public radio stations may be forced to shut down.

The House and Senate are deciding if public broadcasting will survive, and they need to hear from viewers like you.

Sign the petition at:http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Thanks!

P.S. Read the Boston Globe story on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1864

I'm Curious

If you notice someone staring at you and you glance back once in awhile to see if they are still looking - does that mean that you are staring at them too?

99 In The Shade

What do you get when you mix 38,000 people, 21 vineyards, and 105 degree weather? The Temecula Balloon & Wine Festival! On Saturday Josh, Lauren & I sprayed on the sunscreen and hit the desert.

It was a full day but it seemed to go by pretty fast. We started off the afternoon with a performance by Howard Jones. I didn't recognize his name but Lauren is a huge fun so we watched the show. Turns out, I know more of his music than I thought I did.

After the show we hit the wine tents for samples. My pick of the day was the Almond Champagne from Wilson Creek Winery. Mmmm! I'm not really a champagne kind of girl but I really enjoyed it! I didn't get to try as many of the wines as I would have liked so if anyone is interested in going on a tour of wine country - let me know!

There was a top 40 band playing on the side stage who managed to turn "Golddigger" into a ska song. Needless to say, they weren't the best but they did get all of the drunk people dancing. Some of the people were funny, some of them sad and some just made me feel dirty watching them! It was very entertaining...

The big finale was the balloon glow which was pretty cool:

My only wish was that there were more balloons flying around during the day. They were out at 8am and didn't return until after dark. Do you think that they couldn't fly during the day because of the heat? That's the excuse that I'm going with....

I Shot A Man In Reno...

Do any of you remember the TV show Dallas? With J.R. Ewing & The Southfork Ranch? I don't recall much of the series because I was pretty young when it was popular but I do remember that my mom loved it. We would watch it religiously and I was always intrigued by the characters, the outfits and especially Southfork Ranch. Well, the last few times that I've traveled to Reno I have stayed at the Hilton and I always think that this hotel would have been a perfect location for an episode of Dallas. Check it out: The 80's Western font, the gold tinted windows, the smoky casino on the first floor...it's perfect! Wouldn't you agree?

Anyone recognize this sign from the show Reno 911?

And now for the creepy photo of the day:

Thank God I'm not staying at Circus Circus.

Lions, Tigers & Bears (Oh My)!

On Sunday Mags & I made a trip down to the world famous San Diego Zoo. It may be famous for the animals but certainly not for an abundance of parking! It took us over an hour to find a place to park due to the holiday weekend, the lack of parking attendants and no overflow parking. Someone on the zoo staff finally showed us mercy and opened a back lot for a few cars to park in. Thankfully we were one of them.

After we entered the park I realized that it was well worth the wait. The animals were amazing, the Zoo was huge and it was a beautiful day to walk around. It also gave me the opportunity to snap some photos. Here are a few of my favorites from the day:


The Zebra:


The Polar Bear:

I was a bit disappointed that we missed seeing the Panda Bears that were on exhibit. We chose to forego them and see as many of the other animals as possible since we were a little short on time. If you ever go, you really need to plan on being there for about 4 hours. After the Zoo, we headed down to Little Italy and ate at Mona Lisa's. Not quite as good as the Italian in NYC's Little Italy but excellent none-the-less.

Tonight Cerina, Laura and I took in the Angels vs. Twins game. It's been awhile since I've sat in the nosebleeds but it was a lot of fun. My only dilemma was choosing a team to root for. Do I go for the current home team (Anaheim) or go back to my roots and cheer for MN? I decided to go with Anaheim which was a good choice because they ended up wining. Here's a view from the cheapseats:

After the game they shot off fireworks to celebrate Memorial Day. It was a great show and now I'm excited for the 4th of July. It's funny how fireworks can make you feel like a kid again. I love it. I tried my best to get some good photos but they were a little tricky. Any suggestions for taking firework pictures are welcome.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind. I hope y'all had a safe & happy weekend...

A Day In Hollywood

This weekend my friend Maggie is visiting from the Northeast and we have been busy girls. We spent Friday afternoon in Hollywood hitting up all of the tourist spots which was nothing short of hilarious.

Our first stop was at Grauman's Chinese Theatre where we got our photos taken with Chewbacca & Yoda from Star Wars. I'm not exactly sure why but Chewey said it was gonna be free (ie..no tip) so of course we took him up on the offer!

This would later become the scene where I was chased by a little person dressed up as Chuckie. I figured he would give up but the kept following me and jabbing a prop knife into the back of my leg. He ended up sandwiching me inbetween himself and a Storm Trooper. Quite the predicament, huh? We also shared an elevator with Michael Meyers from Halloween & Pinhead from Hellraiser (which, unbelievably, were scarier without the masks on).

After that we hit up the Hollywood Wax Museum & The Guinness World Of Records Museum which was kind of fascinating. Here's Mags in the Worlds Largest Waist figure:

Next stop was Rodeo Drive. Most of the stores were closed but we still took the opportunity to just walk around and snap some photos. Maria was taking my picture when all of the sudden, this man came from out of nowhere and started hitting on me. I think I told a record number of lies in the course of 5 minutes - for which I am probably going to Hell. Here's the deal - he was actually good looking but he kept going on and on about how lived in both NY & LA. Really pulling out all the stops to impress but the entire time I could only focus on the dirty stained t-shirt that he was wearing!

We talk for a couple of minutes (more like he interrogated me) and then not wanting to leave Maggie out of the mix, he calls over his friend who was in town visiting. The guy saunters over and when he reaches out to shake my hand I notice the longest thumb nail I have seen in my life. Added to the nappy dreaded hair, the beret hat and lumberjack looking jacket, he wasn't exactly her type. Long story short, I made up a huge string of lies to get them to leave us alone. Now I ask you this - if you are on Rodeo Drive trying to pick up women wouldn't you at least put on a clean shirt?! Or trim your incredibly long thumbnail? I don't get it...

Today we hit up Fiesta Hermosa in Hermosa Beach. These types of festivals are sure to provide good people watching and some new invention that I never would have thought up. This years invention was a pair of flip flops with a built in bottle opener; priced at a mere $45. What will they think of next? I did get to see some amazing photography which was the best part of the festival. We ended the day by walking to the end of the pier and snapping this shot:

Tomorrow I think we're headed to the San Diego Zoo. Should be entertaining...

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Full Of Hot Air

The Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival looks like it is going to be awesome!

To those of you who normally hit up the wine/beer/whiskey festivals with me, it won't be the same without you...