Quick Trip Home

I am way behind on my blogging once again so I might have to skip a couple weekends and move to a recap of my KY/OH visit. My long time roomie and college buddy Beth is getting ready for a walk down the aisle in Sept. so we had a fun filled weekend of bridal showering and bachlorette partying. I left on Thursday morning out of LA and didn't have any problems with traffic and my flights. If you have ever flown southwest you know that the key is to check in exactly 24 hours before your flight so that you can get in the A boarding group, you can not be a minute late for this process or you will be in the B group. Since there aren't assigned seats on the flight you want to be in the A group so you can get your choice of the prime aisle seats. I used my pre-flight check in skills and got in the A group for my flights on Thursday. I was lucky enough to get an aisle seat towards the front of the plane and brought a movie on board to watch which made my trip speed by. On a side note, in the past I had refused to get involved in the Twilight mania but then the first 2 movies came out on HBO and I got sucked in to the first one, then couldn't resist the second one. So for my plane movie I brought the 3rd installment and it kept me completely involved for the whole flight. Unfortunately since I am so behind on the movies and everyone else has read the books and knows the endings I have already heard what happens in the upcoming movies. I am secretly and anxiously excited about watching the next one though. I had a quick layover in San Antonio and then thanks to my impress A group pass got another aisle seat towards the front of the plane. Even better, no one sat in the middle seat so I got to spread out and enjoy my book. Herman and Mom picked me up at the Nashville airport and we had a nice dinner together before crawling in to bed. Keep in mind my day started at about 4:30 so I was exhausted. The next day Allison was going to pick me up on her way from Nashville to Ohio where the party was. There was also a planned pit stop in Frankfort KY to see the new baby Logan. Well as part of a joke bachlorette gift for Beth I bought a bra and underwear from Walmart and decorated it with puffy paint. I added my own funny saying and decorations that went with the theme of a bachlorette party but not to crazy. I didn't consider how long puffy paint takes to dry when I started this project at like 10 on Friday. So when I had to leave at 12 to meet Allison the puffy paint was still totally wet. Herman was taking me to meet Allison in town and so I had to inform him of our special transportation needs. He had to lay out paper towels in the back of the suburban on which I place my large decorated panties and bra. When we got to the gas station to meet Allison she went with Herman to help get my bags out of the back of the truck and got quiet a surprise. She said it was slightly awkward to be staring at a bra and pantie set next to Herman. Keep in mind Allison has white leather in her car and I had a huge fear of getting pink puffy paint on it so I carefully placed the garments in the trunk on on the floor board. Then when I finally sat in the front seat she commented that I had some pink paint on my coat. When I looked down I saw that not only did I have it on my coat, I had it all over my coat and pants and on her seats as well. I began madly ripping off my jackets and scrubbing her seats. The seats were ok after some hard scrubbing and my jacket stayed stored on the trunk the rest of the ride. It was not washable puffy paint as I hoped so scrubbing it out of my jacket later proved a big challenge.
We were almost to the BG parkway exit so we could go to Frankfort when we encountered serious construction that added like 45 minutes on to our trip. Keep in mind Allison is like 5 months pregnant so hanging out in the car isn't all that comfortable. We finally got to Frankfort and I met Morgan's little boy Logan. It is weird to see someone you know one way (childless) now all of a sudden being a mom. I mean it took 9 months so I guess it wasn't so sudden but I am used to the people I know having kids being older not so much my age. Anyway I would say Logan was immediately taken to me and fell asleep right away in my arms. I predict a good friendship in our future. Morgan's mother-in-law came by while we were there but I wouldn't even turn the baby over to her, I am very selfish. I tried to justify my selfishness by saying that since I live in California I wouldn't get to hold him again for a long time. We then had to hit the road again and head to Cincy for the start of the bridal weekend.
It worked out that Katie Bo, Carrie, Allison and I got to Beth's house at the same time Friday night. We had a nice dinner together and watched the UK game before turning in. I use the term "watch the game" loosely since I didn't really pay attention. Sat. morning we had to do some bridal shower prep and then we had a fun little shower at the country club. It reminded me how great it was getting married and all the fun stuff involved. After the shower we went back and got ready for the bachlorette party. At this party were 4 very pregnant people so you can understand that bar hopping and strippers weren't in the cards. Instead we had a pure romance party which is always good for some giggling. After lots of cream cheese oriented finger foods and inappropriate conversations we headed off to bed. Carrie and I slept in Beth's mom's bed which can move up and down and vibrate which was fun for about 10 minutes but not gets old pretty quickly. Sunday morning came way to quickly and Allison and I had to make the drive all the way back to Nashville for my 5:30 flight. We of course were going to be right by the Gap clearance center and how can you not stop. Allison usually has really good luck but I turned out to be the crazy shopper this time. I had a shopping cart full of clothes. If you haven't been to this place in Northern KY before it is where Gap, Banana, and Old Navy send all their damaged goods. The thing is you can't always tell right away what the damage is or it could just be something small like make-up on the collar that will wash out. I bout several t-shirts for $5, mainly cause I needed to have some new workout tops. These worst damage on any of these might be a tiny hole somewhere but on some I can't find anything wrong at all. Then I got 4 pairs of jeans because they were 4.99 each, you heard me right. I have worn 2 of the pairs and so far the damage on one pair is just a small prick in the fabric. The other pair it wasn't until the second time I wore them that I discovered the damage. John and I were sitting at dinner when I laid my napkin on my lap and noticed that the seam had come undone on like a 2 in. section of the thigh. Luckily I was just with John but then I remembered I had worn these jeans to work one day last week, hopefully no one noticed. I will have to have someone show me how to sew that hole up, I can probably find a you tube video with instructions. Anyway, all this shopping excitement caused us to be on a close schedule to get to the airport on time. Not to mention we had to sit for 30 minutes through the same construction we encountered on the way up to OH. I made it to the airport 40 minutes before my flight and luckily there were no lines so I had time to get a redbox and grab some dinner before boarding my flight. The unfortunate thing was that I forgot about my check in during the bridal excitement and didn't check in exactly 24 hours ahead of time. This meant I was in the loser B group. I did catch a break and found a window seat about half way back on the flight. The key is to get a window seat and not have the person already in the middle seat be to large that they impede on your space. My choice was ok considering the fullness of the flight. The only problem was it was a direct flight and I was by the window so I pretty much had to stay in my seat for 5 hours because you don't want to be the person that makes the whole row get up. I had a movie to watch and a book to finish so I made it with no major problems. Once I landed the really annoying stuff happened. I barely missed my first shuttle to my car so I had to wait for the next shuttle then it took the shuttle like 45 minutes to get out of LAX and back to the car lot. Then I had to drive an hour home from LA. Oh and my plane was 40 minutes delayed. So 3 hours after my scheduled landing time I got home. Even at 9 PM in LA they had 2 lanes shut down for an accident, but I still made really good time getting home. I think I pretty well covered all the excitement of the weekend. I thought I got over a cold before I left for my trip but it made a strong return the Tuesday after I got back. I am just now getting back to normal and have never been so happy to breath freely again!
We have John's parents visiting this weekend so they will be the feature of my next blog.

Joshua Tree - NP #1

Skull Rock

What I looked like the whole trip

Sunset at Key's View

We are funny, we know.

John's idea of rock climbing

John climbing a big version of a Joshua Tree

The top of our first hike, Panoramic Loop!
John wants this year to be the Year of the Mountains for us so we are getting an early start on our National Park adventures with a trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Most parks aren't good for camping until late spring but due to JT's location in the desert it is ripe for the picking in March. We bought our National Park pass just to show our commitment to the outdoors and spent the whole weekend camping in the desert.
We left work at 4 and drove 2.5 hours east, with no major traffic jams which was a miracle. On a side note: I started getting a cold on Thursday but just told myself that going to the desert would naturally dry me out an cure my cold. I chose not to take any medicine which proved to be a mistake. Joshua Tree sits at 4,000 ft elevation which climbing that much in elevation might cause your ears to pop. What I found out is that when you have a head cold your ears don't want to pop. Instead I felt like a little kid on a plane that can't pop their ears. By the time we got to a town near Joshua Tree I was about to cry from the pain in my ears. We stopped at the first gas station and they only had one box of cold medicine and 4 tablets were like $8.50 and if you read my last blog you know there is no way I am paying that. So I told John I would be fine once we got out of the car. Since this crappy gas station didn't have bathroom we had to stop at another one and they had 2 tablets of cold medicine for like 1.50 so I was sold. Needless to say after I took some medicine I got some relief. We finally got to our campsite around 7 and it was very dark and windy. We managed to get our tent set up and a fire started despite the tornado like winds around us. That night I made pasta with marinara sauce, mushroom, garlic, and Italian sausage. We also had bread and smore for dessert. The only big problem with dinner was that it was so windy that when we got our food all served it was cold within 1 minute from the wind. So that meant we had like 2 good warm bites the rest we just ate cold. Also due to the high winds the fire didn't really warm you up that much. It had been a long day (we both were awaken at 5 AM by our east coast family making sure we weren't washed away in a tsunami). So we climbed in to our tent at like 10 PM. We each had a stiff drink which is necessary when trying to fall asleep camping. We also had our air mattress pumped up and our portable DVD player going. I picked the movie The Devil because who doesn't like a good scary movie when you are camping. We were asleep not long in to the movie but I watched just enough to get myself all paranoid. The wind was blowing so hard I kept thinking the tent was going to cave in and I was freezing despite my 2 layers of clothing and 3 layers of blankets. John was sound asleep and I was convinced someone was walking around outside our tent. In my mind I really knew it was just the wind but I just kept getting scared. So I of course woke John up to tell him about the scary sounds the wind was making and then he got paranoid and had to get out of the tent to make sure we weren't being stalked. He was then annoyed that I had awoken him from his uncomfortable sleep. If you have ever slept on an air mattress with 2 people that stays inflated for 8 hours please let me know and I will run out and get it because I have yet to find one. This isn't such a big problem for me because John is the heavier person so he is the one that ends up on the ground while I stay inflated but it is still annoying. We both finally fell asleep and were awake nice and early because when you camp you pretty much wake up when the sun comes up.
Saturday morning John made us eggs, bacon, and pancakes for breakfast. You know we like to eat. Then we got all geared up for a long hike from our campsite. We packed our lunches and lots of water and took off. This hike was a total of 8.5 miles and was very pretty and not to hard. It was hot starting out but once you gain some elevation there was a nice breeze. We got back to camp around 1 and got some stuff ready for dinner and relaxed for a few before heading in to the park for some light exploring. Our campsite was like 5 miles from the park entrance. The campsites in the park don't take reservations and unless you get there Thursday you aren't getting a spot. We could hike in to the park from our campsite you just couldn't drive in. Our campsite was one of the few that had running water and a flushing toilet. No shower but a sink, you can imagine how nice we smelled by Sunday. (I did bring some dry shampoo and lots of wet wipes so that helped a little.) So Saturday afternoon we drove in to the park and the second we got in the car my ears went crazy again but I thought it would be fine once we got out of the car. I insisted I didn't need any medicine, big mistake. From about 2:00 PM on my head pressure just started building. We did a couple more 1 mile hikes and saw some really cool stuff. It is an amazing place and you feel like you are in the Flintstones. I have never seen anything like it and it feels like you are on another planet. We then drove to an overlook area and watched the sunset. By the time we got in the car and back out of the park I was pretty sure my head was going to explode. It is one of the most painful times I can remember. We stopped at the local Walmart and got firewood and I bought the largest package of off-brand cold medicine they had plus a box of extra soft tissues because my nose was hurting from all the paper towels and toilet paper I had been using. I was in so much pain by the time we got back to camp that I just went and laid on the air mattress wanting to cry. I felt like such a party pooper and left John making dinner on his own. I was so sick to my stomach that I didn't even know if I would be able to eat. Luckily John had recorded the Cats game earlier and was listening to it while he made dinner so he wasn't to bored. I just hated that I was being debbie downer on the camping trip and I was mad at myself for not taking anything sooner. After about an hour I started to feel better and helped finish up dinner and we had a good meal and evening after that. John brought out all his old CDs from high school so we chilled by the campfire listening to some classic songs. We made steak and veggie kabobs. We also had sauteed mushrooms, bread, and smores again. Did I mention we don't just go regular chocolate bars on our smores that we change it up with rolos or reese cups, so good. We got in our tent, luckily there wasn't any wind this night, and settled in to finish our movie again. We only made it about 10 minutes before were fast asleep. John said around 1 AM he was sleeping on the ground again. I was freezing so I had the covers over my head and tried to stay away from John so I wouldn't be sunk on the ground with him.
Sunday morning we lost an hour with the time change so we were up about 7:30. I had a nice wet wipe bath and then we got our campsite all packed up. John made us steak, veggie, and cheese omelets, along with some pancakes and then we headed in to the park to work off some of our breakfast. I was now overdosing on cold medicine which helped my ears but didn't stop my nose from running. Hiking with a running nose is tricky because you have to look down a lot which doesn't help the dripage. The whole time I was hiking I was blowing my nose and trying to breath. The first hike we did was 3 miles but it was 1.5 miles straight up. Needless to say after that John and I were both sore and tired and not up for any other big hikes. We did one quick hike to skull rock (which we found out after we hiked a half mile to that you can drive you car right out to it, idiots). John wanted to hop around on some more rocks but I think we were both so tired that just driving through the rest of the park sounded like enough adventure. We drove out the south side of the park which is like a 30 mile drive but now we can say we saw the whole park. The north part of the park is definitely better and since it is like an hour closer to our house we know not to waste time on the south side in the future. I think I would like to go back again and just leave our house at like 5 AM get there at like 8 and hike all day then go home at night. Now that we have tried out the camping there I won't need to do it again. Also, this is really the only time of the year I would want to go there because it would be way to hot during the day or way to cold at night any other time of the year. The campsite wasn't as cool as the ones in the park but there is a benefit in being close to running water. We also got to do a lot of people watching since we were surrounded by hippies, boyscouts, and old drunken men. I had a really great time and appreciate that quality time with my husband. We were a pretty good team and it gives me hope for future group projects.

Efficient spender

So since my boss is out of town I have discovered an abundance of free time and realized how boring the Internet can get. So I am trying to take this extra time to write a few blogs. I should probably be doing more productive things but there are still 2 days left in the week for me to tackle those tasks. Today on my trip to Walmart I realized that grocery shopping and going to Walmart are my forms of retail therapy. Many women shop for clothes or accessories but I can't bring myself to spend money on these things. When I actually buy a new clothing item I proudly display it for John to prove what a good shopper I am and to show that I am not the cheapest person on Earth. I prefer to think of myself as a saver but John would probably call me cheap or some other less flattering name. I am pretty sure I was born this way. I remember when I was little, I would take all my Halloween candy and save it so that it would last a long time. I didn't want to eat to much at one time because I felt the need to ration it out. Eventually I would forget about it and it would go to waste. I remember in H.S. John got me some perfume and I was scared of wasting it so I pretty much never wore it and still had a full bottle 2 years later. So it is not some much that I am cheap more that I can't stand to waste anything. If we have food that is going to go bad in a day or two then we will plan our next meal to eat it because there is no way we are throwing it out. I am especially hung up on not wasting small amounts of money. I will stare at soup or any small item at the grocery store for 10 minutes to make sure I am getting the maximum value. Hence why it takes me hours at the grocery store and John hates going with me. I can talk myself out of buying pretty much anything and have a bad habit of talking other people out of buying stuff. Unfortunately John has realized how much I hate wasting money on little things and gets stressed when he wastes money because he thinks I will be annoyed. This could be true. The funny thing is that I don't have this anxiety over large purchases or large sums of money. When we bought a car I made the decision in a day, house buying not that stressful, but picking out a new pair of running shoes requires driving to 15 different stores and hours looking online to make sure I get the best deal. This could be a mental illness but since it saves us money I guess it is not that bad to have. I have been trying to improve on the saving obsession. I no longer have to go to the cheapest gas station, even though I prefer it. I bought a new tank top on a whim last week. I do have my setbacks, but I am trying to see $20 as just $20 instead of acting like it is our whole savings account. I hope John doesn't read this blog because he might disagree but I think he has also seen improvement. For example, our bike situation, no big deal, I just wrote the check and moved on. I am still definitely a saver and what I prefer to call an efficient spender but I think if I can conquer the anxiety that comes with spending $2 at the redbox because we didn't get the movie back the next day I will be in better shape. To prove how laid back I am we are taking a camping trip this weekend and I am disregarding the fact that gas is $4 a gallon. I also went and bought some fun new camping gear and I finally got a pair of really hiking shoes (on sale of course). If you need further proof you can see the fresh flowers I bought at the farmers market for no reason, I am a wild woman!
The second random picture is to let you all know that on 3/10 the episode of The Price is Right will be airing that Carol, Nanny, and I attended the taping of. Due to the location of our seats you will never see us but we were there, promise.

Two nice outdoorsy weekends

So I thought I would do a recap of the last 2 weekends in one blog even though they each probably deserve their own.
Two weekends ago was full of ups and downs. Friday night I was exhausted from have company the past few weeks and lots of stuff going on at work so all I wanted to do Friday night was relax. I had to go to physical therapy after work Friday but then I came home and sat on my wonderful couch. John agreed to do me a solid and went and picked up some Chinese takeout. I poured myself a glass of wine and didn't move the rest of the night. Other than John spilling the Chinese all over the place on his way in from the car the food was OK, not my favorite. We put a dent in our DVR shows that had built up and fell asleep early. Saturday morning I laid in bed watching reading while John made us a delicious breakfast. This was my favorite one so far. It was a frittata and used healthier ingredients. They day was pretty nice out so John wanted to get in a quick bike ride and I was going to go on a walk. He borrowed his friends mountain bike last weekend because his had a flat tire so he was going to return it after his ride on Sat. After John left he came right back up and informed me that our bike lock and Wil's bike were gone. I tried to remain calm and told myself that Wil must have come to get the bike and just gotten the lock off somehow. Keep in mind there are like 7 bikes besides ours at our apartment building that aren't locked and could have easily been taken. John then informed me that Wil's bike is like a $1,300 bike so was probably more attractive to our local bike thieves. John called Wil and didn't mention the bike being gone but at the end of their call Wil said John should go for a ride on the bike today. When John got off the phone I said why didn't you tell him he is obviously playing a joke on us and has the bike. Finally he calls Wil back and says hey the bike isn't here, turns out Wil wasn't playing a joke on us the bike was really stolen. So the end result is that we just paid someone a lot of money for a bike we will never own and is frankly nicer than anything I have ever bought. I will leave out the rest of the details because it is still kind of painful. We eventually had to put it behind us and move on with our day. I was more upset that this thief had put a damper on our nice Saturday. That night we had tickets to our last Clippers game of the season and they were playing the Celtics so I was glad to go to this one. We were able to make it a date night because it was on a Saturday night. We went to downtown L.A. and had dinner and went to the game. Shaq was injured and didn't bother to travel with the Celtics, annoying. Sunday we did our usual activities of the Farmers Market, church, grocery shopping, and then we went on a hike. There are some trails we hadn't tried in the next town over and it turned out to be a really nice day of hiking
Last weekend was a little smoother than the previous. Friday night we were in the mood for some greasy American food so we headed to Duke's, the local bar, for some great fried food. They actually have some of the best food in town. We tried to play a game of pool after we ate but the tables were full. Instead we just went to get yogurt which is probably what we would both rather do. We then followed our Friday night tradition of catching up on all our favorite T.V. shows we had recorded. Crazy kids! Saturday we were a little queasy from all our greasy food on Friday night so we skipped the big breakfast. Instead we packed a lunch and go on our bikes and rode to the slot canyons near our house. We hiked around a little and then rode our bikes to state beach campground and had our picnic lunch. When I say we rode our bikes I mean I pushed my bike up a huge hill and complained a lot. Since the weather was amazing on Saturday I went down to the beach after we got back and went on a long beach walk while John surfed. Then since I couldn't force myself to stay inside I did a little shopping on Del Mar and walked to the library. Saturday night we finally made it to the Rider's Club to try their infamous burgers. We were not disappointed, they were delicious and juicy and I didn't leave one bite behind. John got his with goat cheese and it was amazing. We then watched Conviction which was a little heavy but it was a pretty good movie.

It is time to recount the tales of our latest visitor. John's sister Amy flew in from WY for the long president's day weekend. John picked up Amy on Sat. morning and the only thing on his mind was all the places we should eat while she is here. They got to the apt. and threw down the bags and then we were off to explore. We checked out downtown and some of the shops even though John doesn't really want anyone to go in a store and shop. Then we went to La Tiendita for our favorite Mexican treats. Not only does John like to plan out where we should eat he also has very strong opinions on what everyone should order. I have been trying to eat a little healthier lately and that is not part of John's ordering plan. John and his sister went for a bike ride that afternoon to explore some more, luckily we only have 2 bikes so I got to skip that part. Bike riding is not my strong suit. We went to sushi that night and found out we like the opposite kind of sushi as Amy. She likes raw fish, which makes sense with sushi, but John and I like shellfish type sushi that is usually baked or tempura. One day maybe John and I will advance but I usually want to gag when I eat a big hunk of raw tuna. I think between the beer and like 6 different rolls we were all satisfied though. You can tell we are all getting older because our wild end to the night was getting yogurt and hitting the sack at 10:30.
The weekend Amy was here was sunny for the most part but below normal temps, so it was a little cold for the beach. It was also very cold to try surfing. But since Amy brought her wetsuit and had a rare surfing opportunity, John had to get her out in the ocean. The waves were choppier than I had ever seen them so I didn't have a great feeling about it but they looked cute heading in to the water. After about 5 minutes Amy came out of the water looking beaten. Her face said she was ready to stop but John wouldn't stand for it. They changed their approach the second time out and it resulted in almost a total stand up on the board. It was at least a crouched surf, which is a win in my book. That night we had a cookout with a few of John's coworkers and smoked a mass amount of food. We got lots of good produce at the farmers market that morning and Amy made a delicious bruschetta appetizer. Then we smoked brisket, ribs, chicken, and corn on the cob. We also had sweet potato fries, broccoli salad, candy popcorn, and cookies. After eating all that food what can you do but fall asleep on the couch, we are a crazy bunch.
Monday was a holiday for Amy and I and John took the day off work. Keep in mind John hates his job because he has to get up at 5:45 in the morning, but what does he do on him day off, get up at 6. I couldn't believe he was waking me up at 6 AM. The morning before he made us a huge breakfast but this morning he was dragging me out of bed for a trip to the bagel shack. It is so funny how alike John and Amy are. It was like I was living with 2 John's. They think alike and enjoy the same things. They are both totally indecisive, so we spent most of the morning debating whether they should surf first or bike first. After a lengthy debate we had another surfing session. The cold morning made for a short surfing trip, which I appreciated since I was freezing on the beach watching. While they enjoyed a bike ride I had to run errands and bake like 75 mini cupcakes. We rounded out the trip with dinner at our favorite spot, Sonny's. We made a good decision and only ordered two entrees and a big salad to split. Their food is so rich and cheesy you can only handle so much.
I dropped Amy off at the airport on Tuesday before I headed in to work and that was the end of another visitor vacation.

Nanny and Carol go West!

I don't want people to give up on my blog even though it seems I have. I started to make a comeback and then fell off again so I am going to try to get a couple blogs in this week to get the ball rolling. February has been full of visitors so let me start with my first visitors in Feb. Nanny and Carol went to see the Lee family for a few days and then headed over to California to visit me. I picked them up on Tuesday night from the airport and see everyone was tired and hungry we just picked up some Panera and headed home. We had a lot to do the next day so we needed to get to bed early. On Wednesday we got up early to head to L.A. for a taping of The Price is Right. Nanny wanted to go see the Doctors but since they wouldn't call me back about tickets I made the decision to go to TPIR. The best part of going to TPIR is feeling like you might have a winning lottery ticket. We spent the night before finalizing our outfits. Carol bought us all matching UK t-shirts. When we got to the taping we realized that other people put much more effort in to the customized shirts. That was strike one against us. We heard how important it was to seem energetic while waiting in line because they discreetly search the crowd for good contestants. After 4 hours of waiting though you start to loose energy. You have to be there at 12 and the taping doesn't start until like 4 so it is a long day.
Then towards the end of your waiting they take you in groups of ten in front of producers for like a 2 sec. interview and see if you have what it takes to come on down. They didn't seem very interested in us during the interview so we were not optimistic. We finally made it in to the taping and were excited that we got seated in the front row but it was the front row on the side and was right in front of the seats that people go sit in after that get called on stage and have to fill out paperwork. Basically our shot of making it on camera in the audience was also crushed. The audience is only like 250 people so the people in the middle section are pretty much the only ones that make it on camera. We did yell and throw our arms in the air to try to increase our chances and Drew Carey did come talk to the people right in front of us during the commercial break. My biggest observations were these; the set is very tacky in person and Drew Carey is not that charming. He talked about drugs and gambling, and what cars and motorcycles he has. We got done with the show around 5:30 and I wasn't going to fight the L.A. commute back to Orange County then so we went to the Grove and had dinner. The Grove is apparently the fancy outdoor shopping mall where a lot of celebrities go. We had a good dinner and by the time we got done it was a quick trip home. Thanks also to the carpool lane.
I had to work Thur. and Fri. so Nanny and Carol shopped and went to the beach all day while I worked. They were on the hunt for much needed San Clemente T-shirts, you would have thought they were searching for a rare gem because they could never seem to find the right one. John conveniently had to make a trip to Vegas Fri. thru Sun. for a friends bachelor party so he cooked us dinner on Thursday night to make up for it. Then we had a girls weekend Fri night until they went to the airport Sunday morning. On Friday night we had a huge deep dish pizza and a pitcher of beer, we were trying to prove to John that we could get wild too. Saturday we packed a lunch and went to Laguna beach for a picnic. Since it was so warm that weekend I also wore my bathing suit and got a good hour of laying out in. Then we freshened up and headed to the San Juan Capistrano Mission for some sightseeing. It was a very historical outing and I think Nanny really enjoyed it and I learned a little too. We then continued the hunt for the elusive t-shirts. We had a final dinner at the local Mexican restaurant which might have been a little noisy for our group but it didn't stop us from eating a lot of food. We had to finish off every meal with frozen yogurt of course. By Sunday I was forcing them out of the car so they could get back on the plane to KY and its wild weather. Just kidding, I am sure they were ready to get back home. They had the best weather of any visitor so far so they were lucky. Usually anytime someone comes it gets cold and rainy, we must be cursed. It was a fun visit and one that I will always remember. Stayed tuned for an upcoming blog on Amy's trip to visit this past weekend.

Hello 2011

Hello out there, whoever you are. So if you are one of the few that reads my blog you might have wondered where I had gone. The truth is I have been working. The more I have to do at work the less blogging gets done. I considered giving up the blog for 2011 but since a couple of people commented on my absence I was inspired to keep going. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by how far behind I am with my weekend updates and since it would be to difficult to get caught up I am just going to start fresh. This blog will be an easy start because it was an uneventful weekend. Uneventful unless you count the mass amounts of sun and warmth. I went to the beach and laid out both days. Sat. was really warm like 80 but Sun. was a little cooler, like 74. I spent both days reading and walking on the beach, who could ask for more.
John was very caught up in sports this weekend so I spent most of my time alone on the beach but that made for some good reading. We went to a new place on Sat. for breakfast, Ruby's diner. It was on a rooftop in downtown San Juan Capistrano and had a great view of the hills and San Juan mission. We had a gift card so that made it even better. We decided since it is now 2011 we are stopping our no restaurant repeat rule. Which meant we could walk to a great Chinese restaurant close to our house and we had a great dinner. They do the food family style there and it is great. It might have also been because we both skipped lunch that day and were starving. I actually made us a smoothie for lunch but that isn't really food. John went to the Lakers/Clippers game on Sunday, might I mention our Clippers are on an amazing 2 game winning streak, so I was on my own Sunday. I should also comment here that John went to the Clippers/Heat game with his dad on Wed. and said it was the best NBA game he had ever seen and our Clippers won, who would have thought.
Another great thing happened on Sunday, I came across the largest head of romaine lettuce I have ever seen. It is worthy of its very own blog posts but I will definitely add a picture soon, even better it was only $2. I took a great beach walk and then John got back from the game and made us dinner. We grilled burgers and zucchini and had roasted new potatoes, it was so good. He also bought a new Ben and Jerry's ice cream, cinnabon, or something like that. It was amazing but I only ate 3 spoonfuls so I felt like a champion.
I haven't been able to run since the marathon in October because my knee is messed up and I am finally going to the doctor tomorrow, I hope he has some good advice. I also have a cupcake baking class in Anaheim on Sunday, which I got with a groupon, those groupons are dangerous. I am excited to learn some new tricks before my guests all come in Feb. Well this is enough of a start back to blogging, we will call it a warm up.