Adios

It's been 1 day shy of a week now that all of our belongings were loaded up on to a moving truck and hauled away. The apartment where we spent our first 2 1/2 years of marriage is now barren. It was harder on both of us than we anticipated. We both had our fair share of tears leaving the city and people we have come to love so so dearly.

Now we're soaking up family time in Clovis while our stuff is being transported. Ev is receiving more adoration than Santa Claus on Christmas morning. Anytime, anywhere she has someone ready to smile, coo, tickle or hug her. This is good. We've kept ourselves busy by lounging poolside, riding trains, wakeboarding and visiting our favorite Fresno foodspots [i.e. Arsenio's, Pearl Tea House, Red Robin, Rocky Mountain and mom's homemade cookin]. We had our second date night ever without Ev. We saw "Captain America" and walked around Edwards like we would when we were 15. On the drive back I even lifted up the armrest so I could cuddle up to my JO like back in the dating days. Remember those times when you so secretly wished for a handhold all the way home? Life was good.

So while we've left our beachside home, we haven't fully made our plunge in to the unknown and reality has yet to hit. To make sure we never forget our time in Santa Monica, I had my fabulous friend Amy take our family pictures on the most iconic landmark - the Pier. I fell in love with the pictures and all that they captured. Thanks Amy for giving my family this little piece to always take with us!

we've got company!

Well, like I said, we had family in town this last week and it was blast. My parents took a little getaway trip to Chicago, so my younger brother and sister came to stay with us for the week. We made sure to keep them busy with LA sightseeing - Griffith observatory, Skirball museum, Hollywood, Getty Villa. We also couldn't pass up the opportunity to introduce them to The Griddle! We bought 6 pancakes for 4 people and we each took home leftovers for the next morning! 

Touring around LA again made me realize how much I am going to miss this busy place.

Tomorrow is Father's Day - Jared's first as a dad. Tomorrow is also the day I stop eating junk like a mad person and get back on my healthy kick. Having company always gets me sidetracked.

I've also been crafty lately. I finished a project over a week ago, but due to above circumstances I've been too lazy to blog about it. But pictures have been taken and perhaps will be the main subject of my next post. I like how it turned out.

no dinosaurs

Don't be schemed by the museum fees here in LA. Once a month, they all have a free admissions day, which is when we go and coincidentially 400 elementary schools as well. So this last Tuesday we went to the La Brea Tar pits. We had both been there in our single digit years, and since one of us is now a quarter of a century old, we decided we should go back. I was super disappointed. Did you know that there were NO DINOSAURS TRAPPED IN THE TAR PITS?!? Just a mammoth... and some fossilized plants and shells. Oh, and I guess the latest thing is "project 23." Sounds pretty important, huh? The flyer doesn't tell you what project 23 is and when you get to this one pit that they were excavating, the tar pit lady says "they were digging here, but they left this one for more pressing matters" and so you get all excited thinking maybe it was a t-rex or something. So project 23 is fenced in with caging and tents are suspended with huge crates surrounding the perimeter. Come to find out, I guess they found 4 baby lion cubs or something. Still no dinosaurs.  Wa wa wa waaaa.

Still made for a good day though. Also, this is the second Friday in a row where we have been to Costco. June gloom has really set in around these parts and it is only natural to offset your gloom by filling yourself with samples, pizza and wandering every aisle of that warehouse. And I feel oh so bad about what I'm going to do to you right now, but have you ever had a Costco hand dipped ice cream bar? It's sinful! Hand dipped into the chocolate and rolled in almonds right before your eyes. Oh, it is heavenly! The only thing that makes it better is that it's $1.50! Oh Costco, Costco, where dreams do come true. Try it next time and you will be singing my praises for as long as you live. Or cursing me because of all the fat you've put on, but you won't be able to deny its sweet goodness.

left that plate clean

Our weekend is off to a great start. We indulged in a Hazelnut Chocolate Cake from Urth Cafe last night. It was divine. We've made it a goal to try a dessert there every weekend until we leave. We are not ashamed.

bueno weekendo

Some weekends are bleh. But some are really good. I would categorize this weekend as pretty good. Things that made this weekend wonderful:

: sleeping in until 8am every morning :

: beautiful sunshine :

: driving 40 minutes to Pasadena to look at a potential car buy, only to have the salesman call when we were half way there to say the car had sold, but probably was a good thing in the end :

: not eating too many fatty sinful things :

: eating chips and salsa at Don Antonio's - handmade chips and salsa are always my perogative :

: writing thank you notes :

: Ev starting bed time at 8pm :

: watching Tangled :

: buying a new swim suit, this one to be exact :

: witnessing the scale go down one number at a time :

: getting my monthly $10 off coupon to World Market :

: getting graduate school advice from the 3 smartest men we know :

: being about 98% sure where we're going in 2 months and possibly getting instate tuition in a year 

: realizing my brother has already been on his mission for 6 months :

: finding this outfit on Kendi Everyday :

: listening to Amos Lee on Pandora all day long :

: scheduling our first family photo shoot in 2 weeks and coordinating our outfits :

: wasting Saturday afternoon away at the Los Angeles Arboreteum, with a picnic bag in tow :

Free Cheer.

There aren't many places in LA where you can enjoy a quality Christmas experience for free.

The Grove would be one of those free places.

Saturday night we dined at Marmalade Cafe and anxiously awaited the snow fall 

that happens every hour on the hour.

Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" blasts through the speakers as the snowflakes [aka bubbles] start descending from the outdoor rooftops.

It is rather magical seeing all the dad's with kids on their shoulder tops reaching up to grab the snow, while all others stop in their tracks to snag a wintry kiss or grab at the fluff.

It made my Christmas season a little bit brighter.

I guess its the latest thing in LA

Hollywood Land

Yes, I saved you all from having to look at my ridiculously disgusting face by replacing it with a loving heart. Much better, no? Jared and I "hiked" the Hollywood sign on Saturday. Quotes are surrounding the verb because I wouldn't really consider it a hike, but rather a gradual winding incline with horse poop infested dirt switchbacks. Nothing really beautiful about it, but we did it in the later afternoon so the sunset was nice. It took us about 30 min to climb to the bottom of the sign, which apparently ends at a neighborhood that we could have driven to and skipped the walking. Oh well. I was kinda disappointed because the closest you can get to the bottom of the sign is by standing a hill away. Helicopters are constantly patrolling the area to make sure no one passes into the restricted zone. You can also climb up the backside of the sign and look down on it by the tower, but we I was too fatigued for that. Perhaps another time. [Trivia for the curious at heart: I just did some googling about the Hollywood sign to see a history of its origins. Hollywood got its name from the wife of the developer who owned the land. Daeida Wilcox gathered the name from a woman she sat beside on the train, who had a summer home she called Hollywood. Wilcox told her husband, who named his subdivision "Hollywood Land." The sign used to read the whole thing, until it was in shambles and Hugh Hefner of all people held an auction in 1977 to restore the sign. Then it just read Hollywood. There you go.]


I celebrated my 24th year of living on this earth last Thursday.
Birthdays were much better when I was in elementary school.

Culturated

I love culture. I love feeling cultured. Especially when I get culturated for FREE! If you haven't figured it out already, I am 1) awesome, 2) an aesthetician [not to be confused with beautician] and 3) a tight-wad. So you will understand my excitement when I found out that I could see Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" in Griffith Park, on a blanket with a picnic, for FREE! Yes, yes, we threw that shindig down last Saturday with our lovely friends, the Webbs. We brought blankets and picnic [ahem... panda express], laid under a tree and laughed our jolly selves away at the play. I had heard of "Much Ado About Nothing" but from the title I inferred that it had much to do about nothing, so it never intrigued me. However, it was one of the most entertaining plays I had been to besides "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which seriously had me roaring. It was the perfect summer evening, with perfect company and the 3 hours of acting were superb. Our only regret is that we didn't go in July when they performed "Othello."





I don't think I ever reported that Jared and I took the GRE 2 weeks ago. We did. I came out of that test knowing 250 words that I previously did not. You would think my vocabulary would have expanded as a result and my dialect would be more astounding, but quite frankly I get intimidated by big words and using them incorrectly. So until I have mastered their context and part of speech, my jargon shall stay the same.

Picture Overload

I'm now using the blog as my main source of picture updating rather than facebook. Oh well. Pictures make for better story-telling sometimes than words.

2 weekends ago we went back to Fresno to visit our families. Somehow out of the 3 days we were there, this is the only photo I managed to snap:

I'm lucky that my husband gets along so well with my brothers.

This past weekend, we decided to yet again take advantage of the freebee stuff in LA, so we tackled the California Science Center. We were thoroughly impressed with the quality of exhibits. The center is exhibiting EGYPT right now and mummies, so there was a whole section dedicated to Egyptian life and excavation, with each section having a hands-on activity for kids - except for the embalming, no hands-on there.The ecosystems hall was by far the most extensive. We watched a kelp forest show, where they had a scuba diver swimming in a tank and talking about the sealife around her and answered people's questions. I thought that was pretty neat. Basically this place is great for kids, but since Jared and I can act like kids when we want, we liked the groove of the place. And outside the museum there's a gorgeous Rose Garden, so we passed part of the afternoon on a park bench and wandered through the maze of rose beds.



Sunday Morning - 4th of July! One of my favorites. Our church was postponed from 10am to 1pm, due to a city parade, so we had the whole morning to ourselves. Jared and I read Elder Oak's talk "The Divinely Inspired Constitution," and then we watched "A More Perfect Union". We were geared up for the day! We bbq'd with my grandparents and in the evening we roasted smores on our propane hibatchi grill and watched the fireworks... on tv. Sad, sad, I know! But Santa Monica doesnt do fireworks on the 4th, so we resorted to watching NY live, which was pretty awesome too.

Whew, so Monday came around. It was cloudy and a bit misty. What to do? Go for a hike! We ventured up to the Malibu hillsides and did a 2.5 mile hike up Solstice Canyon. We were flabbergasted at the scenery. There were amber waves of grain on the hillsides, rolling mountains, burnt trees, green trees, waterfalls - it was quite an escape from the city. So this trail passed through an old home built in the 1950's that burned down in the 80's. The house is tucked away in a hillside, surrounded by trees and a babbling brook. The foundation and walls are still intact, and it's not eerie in any way, but definitely thrilling. We played around in the house for a bit before we headed back home to do some surf-watching, thrift store shopping and GRE studying. If you live in LA, you should most DEFINITELY try this hike. There are 2 ways to get to the dilapidated house - one takes you through the hillside, but the other is just a paved road that used to be the driveway to the home - so kids can easily do the hike!

So Happy Together.

Jared and I are very fortunate to be together. We have a bucket-load of fun. I believe it was Saturday morning when Jared and I were snuggling before rolling out of bed, and I asked him if he had any good dreams. Yes, he dreamed that we were in London. That put a smile on my face. That same morning Jared scheduled me for a 1 hr massage at the EXHALE spa, which was heavenly. I'm always surprised by the things that I like, and I guess having a stranger rub oil on my naked back is one of them. Afterward, I met Jared on his lunch break, where we tried to chase down a taco truck, but failed. Regardless, it made me happy that I could see him for those brief 20 min.

That afternoon we made a trip to the dollar store and guess what we picked up? 1 pack of fresh strawberries and 2 packages of refrigerated nestle tollhouse mini-chocolate chip cookies! All for $3! Talk about luck. That made me very very happy! That evening we went to Flemings, where Jared and I entertained ourselves the whole evening with our frugality. [Check prior post for the whole experience] We like to laugh at ourselves.

Sunday is always a happy day. We got to sleep in, eat Raisin Bran and attend church. Our little primary class makes us INTENSELY happy. Those 4 year-olds say the darnedest things! The lesson was about prayer. We were talking about times when we might get scared and we can pray to heavenly father, like maybe we had a bad dream. Wow, did that open up a topic. Everyone shared their most scary dreams from a dark shadow to an alligator eating a cat and then biting off her arm. It's times like those that Jared and I feel so lucky to teach these youngins and witness the wonder of a child's brain.

Speaking of children that we love, Jared and I adore our friends' 2 little girls who we would love to steal away! Shauna and Josh having incredible daughters. We went out to dinner with them the other week and Josh I guess mentioned to Jared that they could try to get a sitter. No sir, bring those girls with you - we need some little girl lovin! Both Shauna and Josh served their missions in Korea, so we were up for an asian adventure and went with them to a Korean BBQ in Korea Town. I have never had Korean food before. The only slight taste I had was when we were at their house playing a game and I lost, so my consequence was to take a bite of kimchi, which I almost gagged on. So going to this restaurant with that being the only Korean experience I had backing me up, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. By golly, was I introduced to the most glorious food! I ate and ate and ate!

Wrong Gender

We had a pretty busy weekend. Filled with fun and laughter and relaxation. This Saturday was the first Saturday in MONTHS where Jared didn't have to work. So we took full advantage by catching some rays and making that awesome video below.

In other news, last week my friend had a baby shower. I saw a tutorial on Martha Stewart on how to accentuate a simple wrapping of a present which looked easy enough. It involved cupcake holders and glue. I can do that! So I just grabbed a regular lunch size brown paper bag, glued the cupcake sleeves on top of one another to create a "flower" effect and glued that on to the bag. Then I hand stitched the top of the bag shut just with a needle and thread. Tada! I figured myself to be pretty crafty after that, plus it seemed like the perfect ornamentation for a little girl gift.So the night came to go to the shower, my friend Amy picked me up, broke the news to me that SHE is pregnant {yay!} and I failed to realize that she is holding a BLUE baby bag. Didn't think anything of it. We walk in, I lay my present down next to all the other presents, which also happened to be wrapped in BLUE and GREEN, not PINK. Still doesn't dawn on me. So we sit down to play games. The first game was formulating as many baby names as possible out of the mother-to-be's name. So I start writing down girl names with the letters available. Then somebody blurts out a girl name and asks if we could write down names of the female gender. The answer was no. Wait, what?? Why are we only writing down boy names? It then dawned on me that maybe there was a reason why all the gifts were wrapped in blue and we were only writing down boy names. I turned to my friend who is the mommy to be and asked her if she is having a boy? The answer was a most definite yes. DAAANNNGGG! I told her right then that I royally screwed up, thought she was having a girl, got her a girl gift and wrapped it all dainty in celebration of a girl. It was embarassing for maybe 1 second, maybe.. But I think I pulled it off cool enough so when she got to my present there were still ooo's and ahhh's, but luckily my other friend is having a girl, so she got the gift at the end of the night. Memo to self - ALWAYS read the baby shower invite!

Whew. Also, I made this meal last week and Jared and I liked it so much we made it again last night!Ingredients

Serves 4

• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 ounces linguine
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each), cut crosswise into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/2 napa cabbage (about 1 pound), thinly shredded
• 2 cups frozen shelled edamame
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain, and rinse under cold water; drain again, and set aside.
2. While pasta is cooking, in a medium bowl, toss chicken with cornstarch; season with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Cook chicken in two batches, until light brown on the outside and opaque throughout, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate (reserve skillet).
3. Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet; add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 1 to 3 minutes. Add cabbage, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, 2 to 4 minutes.
4. Add edamame, vinegar, soy sauce, chicken, and noodles; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing, until noodles and edamame are warmed through, 3 to 5 minutes.

Today’s topic : friendship.

I love friends. They make everything a gigabillion times more fun.Good thing I married my most ultimate pal. Being with Jared has made my life exponentially more merry. Not only do I have someone to watch old Roger and Hammerstein’s with, but I always have a person to trim my hair when the ends are split. And I’m confident that he appreciates all the times I meticulously rub his face when he’s got 5 o’clock shadow and remember to buy him Old Spice when he runs out. It’s a win/win all-around! But before MR JO wound himself up in my eternity, I had many a friend. My greatest of all, Ms Emiley Morgan! Em and I met freshman year at BYU in the DT dorms. The first Sunday as I was getting ready, she marched into my room asked if I had a boyfriend. I said yes, I did. She said she did too and that we needed to be friends. So I went along with it. Good thing I did because she is a keeper! We pretty much thought we were untouchable in college, which was verified when we both went to the UK our senior year - she to Scotland and I to London. She was one of my 3 bridesmaids. She is my ultimate BFF.

She came to LA to visit a couple of weekends ago! Reunited. Of course, I took her to Sprinkles. We decided to walk Rodeo in what I thought would be a leisurely walk by Tiffany Co. But no. Emiley had a load of gift money there and bought a necklace. That will be my first and most definite last time ever witnessing someone I know buy something from Tiffany’s. We then explored the racks of Forever 21 on 3^rd St. And I even made her peruse the Goodwill. Actually, she wanted to. You want to know why? Because when I picked her up, I was wearing a remarkable dress. And when she saw me wearing that remarkable dress, I blurted out the truth - that I bought it for $4.99 at the Thrift Store. Yes, folks, I am an expert thrifter. We finished the evening with a ferris wheel ride on the Pier. We debated getting ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, but for the sake of our bodies, we didn't.

Friends are great.
I think I'm going to start doing a friend spotlight.
I have so many great friends out there that I just adore.

LA just got more awesome

We had heard a rumor that Cafe Rio opened up at a location near us. We were unbelievers. I personally felt that if this was true, then they would have announced it over the pulpit. But truth be told, it was true. Cafe Rio is now in California. The nearest location is 20 min away from our home. We ate there last night. Proof:

Tigers

Maybe next New Years will be more fun...

Jared had to work Friday morning at 4am, so we celebrated with the New Yorker's at 9pm and then hit the sack.

Regardless of our lack of enthusiasm, the new year has treated us well thus far. That is, until the check engine light came on in my car this morning [I'm tempted to just keep driving it. What could it hurt if the car isn't puttering along on its last breath?]

We hit up the Cheesecake Factory and AVATAR one night. That was cool. I am continually amazed at how enamored I am with fantasty movies. What is it about Lord of the Rings, Van Helsing, Star Trek, The Brothers Grimm, Twilight, Potter, X-Men, AVATAR that have me hooked? Maybe its the fact that they all star hunky men like Hugh Jackman, or that the special effects are really cool - but I guess I'm a closet fantasy fanatic. Any others fantasy lovers out there?

On Saturday we took some bikes out on the beach. This is why I love Santa Monica in January.

2010 is year of the Tiger. Jared and I were also born in 1986, which was also a Tiger happening year. Accordingly, we're destined to fulfill great things in 2010. Let's hope so.

Oh, and Christmas was great too. I'm really liking these purple tights JO got me.

I'll leave you with this Christmas image.

How's your job treatin you?

Some people have sucky jobs.

Some people have jobs where you receive complimentary tickets to plays at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, get into local events for free, recipient of complimentary nutritional and exercise counseling, can take a day off to go the amusement park because it's your birthday and are invited to a private party at Disneyland during closed hours. The latter would be my job.

Roadtrip

Husbands are good for roadtrips. While they take on the role of driver and get stuck in traffic, you get to take on the role of pacified passenger and enjoy the ride. They let you listen to whatever music you want to, unlike your parents in roadtrips past who would condemn your rap crap and put in their cd of Peter Frampton or James Taylor. Husbands also let you get treats on roadtrips and let you stop off anywhere. They are fun to talk to and also good to sit in silence with. Husbands are willing to take pictures with you/of you and never tell you that your hair could have looked better or that your smile was a bit awkward. So, I guess Jared is the ultimate traveler partner. Good thing, because we are taking a very extended vacation in 2 weeks to Centroamérica and I will be stuck with him on plane, bus, boat, taxi and most likely not looking my best. So this Saturday was a prep for our long-haul vaca and we took a road trip to San Juan Capistrano. Our trip was full of pumpkin walnut pancakes, frozen bananas, Balboa Island-ness, a Spanish mission, free audio guide tour, tacos, IKEA, IPOD-ing, grilled cheese sandwiches and Brach's candy pumpkins.

Huh.. weird, we mostly consumed alot of food...

A Lover of Birthdays, the Color Black and Husband

Birthdays are the best, aren't they? Right? Remember when you were in Elementary School and your name was announced over the PA for everyone to hear? Or how about the ribbon you got to wear around all day? And Mom would bring in cupcakes for your whole class, cards would come in the mail, you got to pick the dinner meal that night and your favorite cake? And of course the birthday list that was made 3 months prior to the birthday and you made sure to let Mom and Dad know you needed EVERYTHING. I can recall my 8th birthday. I loved Aladdin. Everything Aladdin. I had Raja and Jasmine barbies already BUT I was missing the guy barbie Aladdin. I had a dream the night before my birthday that I was playing with BOTH Jasmine and Aladdin and it was it was clear to me that I needed them both to bring me the greatest joy my little heart had ever known. Sadly, I didn't wake up to a surprise Aladdin on my bed or that night when I opened presents. I had to buy it. That wasn't as fun. Luckily my parents restored my faith in them the next year when they got me an American Girl Doll. Well, you can imagine my devastation when one year it was rounding about to my mom's birthday and I asked her what she wanted and she said she didnt care too much about her birthday. Um, WHAT?? What kind of person doesn't care about their birthday? That was almost as devastating as when she told me her favorite color was black! BLACK - so abnormally dull. (I, now at the age of 23, concur with my mother that black is the best color) Well truth be told and you can slay me for it, but I have become a un-birthday lover as well. Ok, not of OTHER people's birthdays - I like celebrating the birth of others but I find my birthday very anti-climactic. It's awkward. Period. Not because I'm getting older but because of all the fan-fare involved. But I need to recognize that yesterday I had the most splendid and unexpected birthday presented to me by my wonderful husband and it was magical. He made everything on my birthday list come true.

So Disneyland gives you a ticket on your birthday this year, right? Well, mine happened to land on a Wed, right in the middle of the work week. I have a super nice boss but I was in no way about to ask for my birthday off, especially since he was elongating my Thanksgiving Break so we can go on our 1 year anniversary trip. So I didn't ask. Unbenounced to me, Jared had emailed my boss, asked for my day off and took me to Disneyland after having made me the most spectacular birthday breakfast! Husbands are the best - all the time. After a whole day at Disney we decided on 2 things: 1) it's overpriced 2) we still love Disney at age 23. We celebrated that evening with some McD's cones, opening of some cards and 2 presents. Jared caught on to my hint, or blatant remark, 2 posts ago about the necklace. I've been saying for a while now that I want a black robe - one that goes all the way to the ground so I can swish around in it and feel classy in the mornings amidst my lack of make-up and bed hair before getting ready. So happy was my heart when I pulled out a gorgeous black robe from the well wrapped tissue paper. Thanks Mr!

ALSO...

We may or may not be doing some re-modeling to our apartment with some killer deals.

Stay tuned.....

The Low Down.

I have this thing that I do when I get really excited about something, especially during the moment it's happening. I clench my teeth together super tight so my jaw is locked, my hands curl up into fists and for the duration of a whole 3 seconds my body convulses during my sudden surge of excitement. It's like I can't contain all the good-ness so I have to shudder it out. That has pretty much been my state for the past 2 weeks since JO quit his second job and started school.

WE HAVE SO MUCH TIME TOGETHER!!

I think he enjoys it as much as I do, right JO?

Much to tell, much to tell! I believe we owe it to the City of Los Angeles for providing us with so many incredible day trips. Kudos to this metropolis area that is just spewing with leisurely activities. First, we took a tour in the majestic Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA.

Phenomenal. I would totally love to take this whole blog and dedicate it to all the things that we learned but that wouldn't be ideal since I have more to report. However, if you ever visit LA, the Concert Hall is a MUST and the 1 hr tour is FREE!

Ok, so we took a venture out to Pasadena which resulted in more exciting convulsions on my end and Jared's first taste of a British scone. We went to the HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND GARDENS, which might give off the idea of being dull but it was nothing short of magical. Ok, so this guy, Henry Huntington, was extremely wealthy during the early 20th century and on his estate he constructed these 9 or so magnificent gardens - japanese, chinese, desert, jungle, herb, Shakespeare and children's garden. Mr Huntington, hats off to you for your ingenious idea and now opening it up to the public. It was marvelous.

We also found time to jump in our little Hyundai and make the trek to Vegas to see Jordan and Like, I mean Luke. Luke's parents were super cordial and let us stay in their home and wakeboard/tube/jet ski with the family as well as witneess BYU beat OKLAHOMA on their big screen. GRACIAS! And we also walked the strip stiff and tuckered-out from hours of laughing uncontrollably on the tube, watching Jay hang on for dear life on the side handle, Luke clinging on to the back and me giving up yelling "I'm going! I'm going!" and releasing my grip from the black handle that failed to keep me on board. What a day! We were also able to see Stephanie and Eric and their little girl, Maylee. I have to be careful with how much time I spend around babies these days. I can trick myself in to thinking that I want one and need one NOW, seeing that I'm turning 23 in ONE MONTH. 23, is that old or just on the border of still being young? Because some days I feel like "Um, self, you are getting old and if you dont have a kid now then you won't stop having children til you're 35" and other days I think "you can't afford a kid." I guess that's my main question, how do people afford kids??? Maybe if I can find the answer I can convince JO... No, No not time yet!! But seriously, for when the time comes, how do people afford kids?!?!

The Need to Blog is Strong

I'm sure every blogger out there has come to a point when this question needs to be answered:

Why am I blogging?

What am I getting out of this? and..

what are other people getting out of this?

And that's as far as my thinking goes because for whatever reason I still feel the need to blog regardless of whether the audience is just me or any joe out there. Which leads me to the question of why I'm so comfortable putting our personal life out there for everyone, but that's not relevant. So I'm just gonna keep writing until my updates run out.

We went to Greece!

or maybe the Getty Villa in Malibu...

We decided to be supporters of culture a couple weekends ago and made the 10 min trip to the Getty Villa, which was fantastic! Highly recommended. As we were walking around the courtyard we noticed children on the opposite corridor working furiously on some sort of project. Children always equal fun so curiosity got the best of us and we ventured over. The kids were making perfume! When the administrator told us it was free we immediately dropped our bags and set out crushing our spices, mashing our olives to make oil and combining the two to make perfume. Splendid.

We went to France!

I wish.

We actually spent an evening at the Farmers Market in Melrose which is the cutest market with the widest variety of foods. We were partial to the French creperie. This little stand had the LARGEST nutella bottle I had ever seen! We splurged and got the Napoleon with nutella, strawberries, whipped cream and powdered sugar. Don't judge.

We also went to a FREE Michelle Branch concert after we devoured our crepe.

All in all, a good night.

We've been working out!

With all these confessions of sweets, I have to vouch for us and say that we work it all off AND our meals are super healthy. Jared quit his second job this week in preparation for school starting up again so we've had more time together. Nights spent at the SMC stadium doing stadiums, a mile run and lunges have left me with the impossibility of walking. Jared apparently suffered not from sore muscles but what he claims to be a "splintered" hip bone. What could that be, I asked him. His explanation was that the bone had somehow severed and was loose up there or something. I just googled it. No such ailment has ever been recorded.

Good thing he woke up healed this morning.

Tomorrow we're going on Stay-Cation!

Staycation:noun [C]

(stay-cation, or stacation,or staykation) is a neologism for a period of time in which an individual or family stays at home and relaxes at home or takes day trips from their home to area attractions.