Heather's Blog

Mine and Jack's First Professional Football Game...Too Bad it Was a Chargers Game!!

2009-09-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love that I have an AWESOME baby who we can take everywhere with us!! This weekend both Jack and I attended our very first professional football game!! Danny came along too, but I didn’t mention him because it wasn’t his first game.

We got up early; packed up Jack along with all his accessories and headed towards San Diego (did you know in German San Diego means whales vagina?). We were running a little behind schedule, which seems to happen a lot these days. In fact Danny even mentioned it on the way down there…that we need start getting earlier starts because now that Jack has arrived we usually run about 15-30 minutes behind everywhere we go!! I was happy to hear that he said it was because we need to divide the “Jack tasks”. Usually I get blamed for us running behind!!

It was a quick drive down there and we parked right in front of the stadium at a cost of $25 for parking!! This was the cheaper of the options…to park in the stadium was something like $45!! For a savings of $20, all we had to cost one street and pass a very strange man selling a Heineken keg he found in the bushes, a bargain to me!!

We tried to meet up with our neighbor, Kacie at her tailgate, but when I asked Kacie where they were located, she said, “In the parking lot.” What!?!? You mean you are tail gaiting in the parking lot!! Who does that? And I mean this football STADIUM parking lot is so small, I could probably totally find you in the like no time!! It is a good thing you are so nice Kacie, I'll let this one slide. Hehehehehehhe. By the time we figured out which section of the lot they were in, which was the complete opposite side of where we were; it was too late to meet up so into the game we went.

Thank goodness we had good seats that were in the shade, because it was hotter than hot outside!! As the guys sitting two rows in front of us put it, with out the cover of any shade, “even my ankles are sweating”!!

Since we were in the shade the heat wasn’t my main problem, my main problem was that the game was the San Diego Chargers vs. the Baltimore Ravens. Why is this a problem you ask? All right…I will tell you. I despise the Chargers and have no feelings what-so-ever for the Ravens, so this left me with no team to root for, just a team to root against. Oh well, what can you do, it was still my first professional football game and I had a great time. Although I don’t think Danny really wanted to go, I am pretty sure he just went because he knew I was excited to go.

Jack did AWESOME at the game. He really is amazing, he only cried once when he got hungry and he even took a few naps during the game. This kid really can sleep anywhere…people were screaming, music was blaring and fireworks were blasting…none of it bothered him!!

There was one song they kept playing that he did NOT like, but I can’t really blame him as it had this super strange sound. It was scary.

On the plus side, the Chargers lost!! Hehehehhehe. Hopefully the next game I will have a team to root for!!

Jack Is Already A Disneyland Pro!!

2009-09-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

I may be thirty years old but I really do think Disneyland is the happiest place on earth!! EVRYTIME I go there I get giddy with excitement the moment we hit the road!! I hope that I never loose that excitement for it and I really hope that Jack will share my love of Disneyland!! He may only be four months old but he has been to the park at least four times, and that isn’t counting the times he went while he was in my belly!!

This is one of Jack’s first Disneyland trips!!

(my awesome photographer...www.jennerrose.com)

This weekend I was missing Disneyland so I sent Danny a calendar invite to take me and Jack on Saturday. Yes, people I really do send Danny calendar invites to do EVERYTHING!! It isn’t that we are super schedule oriented and never do spontaneous things, BUT the calendar invite is the only way I can guarantee that I can get him to do something. Jack and I felt extra special this weekend because Danny went along with us even though it was the first “real” week of college football. Of course this meant some scheduling of time at ESPN Sports Zone and Jack wearing one of his MANY USC outfits was a must.

Jack ready to go for his day at Disneyland!!

This weekend was one of those perfect days at Disneyland…I could feel fall in the air, just barely but it was there, and the park wasn’t too crowded, at least while we were there. Jack, being the Disney Pro that he is, added three rides to his Disney resume, bringing the total up to FOUR! He had already been on Small World, which we went on again, and he also went on Pirates, Buzz and Flick’s train. I know what you are thinking…we are getting crazy, I mean Pirates does have two HUGE drops but Jack is just a daredevil baby. I think the next ride will be Space Mountain; he should make the height requirement any day now.

Here is Jack in line for Buzz Lightyear, please disregard how ick my arm looks, but do notice his USC outfit!! He was ready to go for that afternoon’s game.

Jack beat his Mima(Grandma Bonnie) at Buzz…don’t be too impressed if you knew Bonnie’s skill level at Buzz this wouldn’t impress you. Hehehehehehhe.

Jack also rode on Flick’s Train, so did Mima, Mommy and Daddy. Danny refused to ride solo on the train, he didn’t want anyone thinking it was his idea to be on it, because of course if you saw a 30-year-old man on the ride you would think he was riding it for his own entertainment!! Hahahahhahaa!!

We didn’t get any pictures on Pirates because there is no flash photography allowed…which generally isn’t a rule I follow but I decided to be a good girl!! I know, I am not sure what got into me.

Jack was such an AWESOME little guy all day. I don’t think he even cried once…he did get a little tuckered out by the end of the day.

Now all I need is holiday time at Disneyland!! There is nothing better than bundling up, heading to Disneyland and enjoying the holiday atmosphere, all while drinking a hot chocolate. Oh my gosh!! I am getting excited just thinking about it.

Back in Business!!

2009-09-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

So this time I have decided I really am back in business. I haven’t been sure about my blog, hence the lack of posts, but now I know I really miss it. Proof that I am back in business… I have packed my little camera in my purse so that I can document all my adventures with photographic evidence. If the little camera is in my purse or my diaper bag, trust that there are good times to come!! Plus now Jack will be added into the mix of my crazy adventures and let me tell you that Jack is one funny guy!!

Uggggggggg

2009-08-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

I want a new blog template. This one makes me angry!! Somebody...anybody...please help me. I hear what you are saying, aren't flowers supposed to be happy and full of life? Not to me...they are just to fluffy for me right now. I need something cooler!!

What?!?! Nobody reads my blog anymore cause I never post. Crap, I am on my own!!

Big Boy

2009-08-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe how fast time goes…Jack is going to be four months old in less than two days!! I know it’s totally cliché but I swear it seems like yesterday that he was warm and snug in my belly. I love having him here with me, in my arms, but I feel like I am going to blink and he will be graduating from college. I want to keep him little while I can.

Just in case you don’t believe me about how big he is getting, here he is taking his first cruise in his big boy car seat.

Jack William Davis

2009-06-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

When we last left off I was posting pictures of random plastic babies…well since then the real deal has arrived. On May 2, 2009 at 9:58pm Danny and I were so lucky to welcome our baby, Jack William Davis, into the world. As of that very moment I knew my life had changed forever!! Over the last six weeks I have seen just a few of the ways Jack has impacted our lives and can’t wait to see all that each new day holds. He truly is amazing!! I never thought that one person could make me feel so complete.

So much more to come on Baby Jack...he really is my world.

I Tell Lies

2009-06-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is right…I tell lies. I said I was back to blogging but here we are and almost 4 months has gone by since my last post. What kind of blogger does that make me? One that lies apparently. So since I have a habit of lying…when it comes to my blog that is, I am just going to start using the blog to talk to myself. I don’t want to tell all my loyal readers once again that I am back to merely leave them disappointed when I lose focus…so I am just going to chat to myself with this blog and see where we go. It shouldn’t be hard to type to myself…because really I talk to myself all the time. I own my quirks.

Once I establish a pattern for either posting or not…I will either let everyone know to come back or I will say nothing in hopes that they will forget my failed attempt at blogging. There is so much that has gone on since I was last truly blogging…I have enough FUN to last me at least 100 blog posts…so if I lag on posting it really is just that I am being blog lazy and that me and this blog were just not meant to be.

So in closing, maybe I am back and maybe I am not. Either way life is proving to be very exciting.

Just in case you forgot what I look like...here I am.

Boobs and Babes

2009-02-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

I knew I would get you with that one!! You are all sickos!! This isn't that kinda of site. Hahahaha!!

Before I let you go too far into the wrong direction, where I was actually going is that Danny and I had our second “baby class” this week. And what was that class you ask…breastfeeding… “boobs and babes”. Get it? Hehehehe. Very clever I am!! I had to find some way to start sucking people back into my blog!!

So far Danny has been the one dragging his feet into the class, not that he doesn't want to learn but after a very busy day the last thing we want to do is sit in a class room for two and a half hours, but by 15 minutes in he is more excited than me about the class. What can I say...he loves to learn. This class he seemed even more hesitant that the last one to attend...I got it though, after all it was breastfeeding. When we got to class we were the first ones there, Danny looks around and let out a deep sigh...asking the instructor, "Am I supposed to be here?". She ensured him that he wouldn't be the only guy there and that yes coaches, as they like to call the one NOT squeezing the baby out, were supposed to be at all classes. Thank goodness he was there because all the dads were there, except for one, and to put it nicely...I quickly learned why he wasn't...I am sure he was already running for the hills!!

I am so thankful for all the classes that Hoag has to offer, so far they have been so helpful to us. Our instructor in this class, Chris, was so awesome and although I hope I don't need her help in the future I can tell she would be a great asset!! I think Danny put it best when he said, "why aren't these classes a requirement for all new parents?". It still baffles me that anyone can be a parent and that as long as you have a car seat you are free to leave the hospital with a brand new baby. AMAZING!!

This class was full of great tips on how to be successful at breastfeeding. Plus it was full of pictures/videos of boobs and babies!! Although maybe not as exciting as one would think...some of the breasts would have been better kept under wraps. Hehehhe.

Oh and let me introduce you to baby “not sure of the first name” William Davis. Ok…so it isn’t actually him, just his stand in for learning how to breastfeed, such a cush job he has!!

Stayed tuned...two more baby classes to go and then practice time is almost over!!

Do You Still Love Me?

2009-02-20T10:38:00.001-08:00

Holy cow…it has been a long time but NEVER FEAR…I am back!!!!!!!!!! I had a long couple of months where I just needed a break. Even though you all know why I have been gone, just to make extra sure, I will tell you again. It is because this little guy has been growing inside me!!

I know what you are going to say, so no need to say it. YES…he is super cute and takes after his mother. Hey...I NEVER was one who claimed to be modest!!

Sooooo the main reason that I took such a long break is that the first five months were a rough road for me. To be honest it was NO fun at all!! Now that I am heading into the home stretch I am feeling much better, tired, but not sick and I will take that ANY DAY!!

So many things have happened since I last blogged. I went back to Oregon (for the first time in 10 years) to visit family, I went to the New Kids on the Block concert, I graduated college, I turned 30, I got pregnant…and so much more. I am currently debating if I should start fresh with the blog or go back and give you recaps of all my events. What do you think?

And don’t worry I promise I am back for sure…so let your reading pleasure commence!!

Blog Break

2008-09-25T14:27:00.001-07:00

I promise I am still here. I haven't given up on the blog so please don't give up on me!! Hehehehe!! I am just taking a blog break.

I will be back soon to update you with EVERYTHING!!

A Mammoth Wrap Up

2008-09-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I need to finish up this camping post really quick before I forget more about the trip than I already have. Here it goes, “we went camping and blah, blah, blah” and then “while we were camping blah, blah, blah” and you would never guess but out of nowhere while camping “blah, blah, blah”. Hehehehe just kidding; but I am going to try and keep this short and sweet. My goal is to get the pictures up there and the basic story, it has been over a month since we went so the details or fuzzy.

With it being Tom’s very first camping/fishing trip, since he was eight, I really wanted him to have a good time so I was so happy that he caught the first fish!!

Here he is holding the first catch!! Not to bad for the trips first fish and his first catch ever!!

And of course I am sure the little guy tasted delicious but I will take their word for it (me and seafood don’t mix).

While I give credit to Tom for his catch if I had to pick a theme for the trip it would have to do something with Tom loosing lewer’s or getting them caught in a tree. Poor Tom lost one in the water…even though he looked longer than one should look for a $3 lewer it was never to be seen again.

The boys decided to hike straight up the falls, Sheila and I wisely decided to stay behind. Well maybe it had something to do with Sheila being four months pregnant and me being lazy…hey someone had to keep the pregnant girl company!!

The dogs stayed behind with us girls so the boys could get a chance to fish with out the dogs chasing any chance of a catch away. Gracie really wanted to go with them but settled for swimming.

Aspen he was content doing what he does best, resting.

Once the guys got back, Aspen perked up enough to take a quick picture. He sure does love to give kisses, such a sweet boy!!

I debated putting this picture up because I think I look super fat (I promise it is just the way I am standing) but I wanted proof that I do fish!! Hehehehe!!

Aspen and Gracie really enjoyed their vacation, anywhere they can be in the water works for them.

So on Saturday we decided to take a hike up to a lake behind our campground. And let me tell you this was no simple hike, it was straight up (a couple thousand feet) and about 2 miles each way. Again keep in mind we had poor Sheila who was four months pregnant at the time with us and let me just say she did AWESOME!!!

Originally we were going to hike up to Minaret Lake (we were staying at Minaret Campgrounds) but after running into another group we realized that hike was a little too far for us, about 8 miles each way, so we opted to go to a much closer lake.

We took plenty of breaks on the way up which gave us lots of opportunity to snap some gorgeous shots. Here is me and Danny (yes, I am there, keep looking…ohhhh you just might not see me since I am wearing camouflage). Hehehehe

And our super fun camping friends, Tom and Sheila.

And of course who could forget Aspen and Gracie.

A few sports on the hike we had to cross over water on logs! For some reason Aspen was not having the logs and would ALWAYS opt to swim it.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we reached the lake!! It was definitely worth the hike…it was beautiful and we were the only people there.

The poor dogs were dying of heat from the hike and the water was perfect for them to cool down. Gracie jumped right in but Aspen was a little unsure of how deep the water was as he likes to keep his feet on the ground. Hehehe.

Here is another shot of the lake and if you look way over on the other side, right under the tree in the middle, you can see Tom and Sheila.

After some swimming and snacks, her belly full Gracie decided to take a little rest in some flowers. My pretty little girl.

While Danny and Tom were off fishing I caught a fish! I didn’t even realize it at first; I thought I was caught on something, I was…A FISH!!

I was trying to keep him safe in the water so one of the guys could come back and release him (he wasn’t big enough to keep) but they were just taking so long.

Just as I was bending down to “attempt” to set him free Danny walked up…THANK GOODNESS!! I like fishing…I just don’t like doing the dirty work.

Danny tried his best to save my fish but sadly my fish ended up floating with the fishies.

After the death of my fish Danny and I headed off so he could show me the back of the lake, I got this great shot of him fishing.

We spent a couple of nice hours at the lake with just us but we were all getting a little tired so we called the lake trip a day and headed back. On the way down we snapped this group picture. Don’t judge our beauty…we were hiking and fishing all day!!

Poor Aspen was just beat after the hike; his hips just couldn’t take it. He was limping around pretty bad so we made him a nice comfy soft bed in the back of my truck, he loved it!!

Danny was a little beat after the hike too!! Hehehehe.

And Tom after the hike, well what does any good man do while camping?

He reads cosmo!! Of course. Hehehehe.

Here are a couple of random pictures from the night that I wanted to share.
This was my dishwashing station of the trip.

On Saturday night when we were sitting in our campground just relaxing after our hike this deer ran right through!! You have to look in the picture to find the deer...its like "Where in the World is Waldo" but with a deer!!

I tried really hard to find a mirror while we were camping so I could take my normal mirror shot but there wasn’t a mirror to be found so I took this self-portrait.

Looking at this picture I can see not being able to locate a mirror was probably a good thing.

And of course what would any camping trip be with out some yummy Smores!! (In fact I believe you don’t have to be camping to enjoy the deliciousness of Smores, I make them at home in the microwave)
Here is Danny enjoying his campfire cooked Smore.

And Tom enjoying his.

At night time the temperature dropped down pretty low, Tom and Danny bundled up to stay warm. Later when it got really cold they cuddled!! I kid, I kid!! Hehehehe!!

You may think that since they are dogs they don’t get cold but Aspen gets so cold while camping he shivers! We were prepared this time!!

With a couple great days behind us it was time to say good-bye to our camp on Sunday!! We cleaned everything up packed it away and headed out.

To close how we started, here are Tom and Sheila in the car heading out! Thanks again for going with us guys! We had an AWESOME time!! Can’t wait for the next trip!!

On The Road To Mammoth - A Quest for the Perfect Campsite

2008-08-26T14:36:00.001-07:00

Ok. Holy crap!! It has been so long since I have been to my blog. Ok well that isn't true…I come and look at it all the time and think to myself, “wow…I haven’t updated since August 8th, I am a loser!” I promise you I am not a loser I have just had a ton going on. With going on vacation and then coming home from vacation only to have to leave again for an unexpected trip to Oregon in order to attend my grandpa’s funeral, it really takes a lot out of a girl. Not to mention I have some other stuff going on but you will just have to wait to hear more about that.

Anyways, I am finally getting back into a schedule so I decided I would come back and take care of my good old blog. Ok, where did we last leave off…? Oh that is right, I was headed to Mammoth for a camping trip with Danny, the kids (our dogs) and our good friends Tom and Sheila. I think this might be other multiple posting trip, I haven’t decided yet, I guess we will all just have to wait and see!! Hold your breath.

I have delayed long enough so lets just get started with the story already!! Danny told Tom and Sheila to be to our house at 4am, yep you heard me right, that is 4 in the morning!! Danny even forewarned Tom that pretty much the only way to upset me on a camping trip is to be late hitting the road. The reason you ask? I will OBSESS the entire time that we aren’t going to get the perfect spot because we didn’t leave right on time!! I know me obsess…crazy!! So needless to say Tom and Sheila pulled up just a minute or two after 4am.

Don't they look so happy to be there at four in the morning??

I must admit that Danny and I were still loading up a few things in the car when they got there. BUT in all fairness we, being the experience campers, had a ton of stuff to bring and we were on the road by 4:15am! Mammoth here we come!

The drive there was actually a pretty nice drive. We stopped a couple times to use the rest room and we even stopped in the glamorous town of Lone Pine for some breakfast. It was a nice break because we had a sit down meal.

Our cute camping friends!!

The only thing that was not perfect about this little restaurant was the temperature! It was FREEZING!! I thought we were in the snow covered mountain of Mammoth not in a town that usually has temperatures over 100!!

Now for those of you that know me you know that this would normally NOT fit into my schedule for finding the most perfect camping spot ever... but the breakfast was so good that I forgot about that (and lucky for Tom we still found an AWESOME spot).

I got eggs, bacon, a big ass thing of hash browns (yummy MY FAVORITE), a diet coke and to top it all off a side of biscuits and gravy!! DELICIOUS!!

Here is the aftermath of breakfast!

Tummies full it was back on the road for us. A Mad-Lib or two later (yes we played Mad-libs, and over walkie talkies at that), a quick nap and a final bathroom stop, we were in Mammoth!! It really didn’t take us too much time at all; I think we arrived somewhere around 10:00am.

We decided after arriving it was best to divide and conquer!! I thought it was our best shot at getting a good camping spot. We radioed Tom and Sheila the sites that they should head to and we headed to our favorite campsite, fingers crossed that we would luck out and get a good spot. Well the Camping God’s must have been smiling down on us, because although we didn’t get our spot we had last time we got a NICE spot in our FAVORITE campsite, Minaret Falls. We radioed Tom and Sheila and told them to abandon their search we found the Great Mammoth 2008 spot!!

Of course to document the occasion I had to get a picture of our campsite before we settled in.

Plus stating that I am the official trip photographer is always a good excuse to get out of helping unload and set up. I am one smart camper!! I do come from Oregon you know. Hehehehehehe.

After setting up our home we were all a little hungry so we sat down to relax a little and have a quick bite to eat (Aspen already looks pooped).

Our bellies full again it was time to get to the business of fishing; I mean that is what we were there for.

Danny gave everyone lessons on how to tie their line; as usual I kind of paid attention thinking to myself that I could just have Danny tie my line. Hehehehe. Hey I may be from Oregon but I am still a girl!!

Pole lessons (no not that kind of pole lessons SICKO) down it was time to hit the stream. We didn’t have to go too far as the stream was RIGHT behind our campsite. This was nice for the atmosphere and convenience but as any good fisher girl knows, streams right behind the campsite are never that good for fishing. We still gave it a shot and had a good time trying. It was a good warm up for Tom who hadn’t been fishing since he was eight!!

Here is Danny helping Tom get untangled, I think this was the fist of many times.

And Danny helping Sheila.

Of course I had to get a shot of the couple first fishing experience together, an important occasion to remember!! Hehehehe.

Oh and how could I almost forget that the dogs were in on the action too!!

Aspen is always trying to get rid of the pesky water.

Gracie loves the water and would live in it if we let her! Do they sell dog scuba gear? She is either always lying in the water (sleeping and water, her two favorite things) or gets her self all wet and selects a nice sun spot!!

Yes, I just decided, this is for sure a two posting trip. This one is just too long as it is. So I know you are hanging on the edge of your seat waiting to see how the rest of the trip went but you will just have to wait longer!!! Come back soon!!

Emotions

2008-08-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yes I am still here. I am a bad blog updater as of late. I have so much to update you on but for now it will just have to be a preview of what is to come. So much has been going on that I just haven’t had time to update any of it! It sucks!!

To start it off we had some crazy stuff go on with a neighbor of mine that is just so disheartening to me. I am the kind of girl that has trust in everyone and thinks that nobody I know would do something bad or do something hurtful to me. I won’t go into the details but the basics of it are that a neighbor we have always been very nice too…did favors for, made Christmas treats for every year (and other holiday treats), gave gifts to children, invited to all our parties and so on, totally betrayed us. And by betrayed us I don’t mean in that high school girl kind of way, “that bitch totally stole my boyfriend”, but in the real sense of the word. It has left me hating that I live next door to this person and worried all the time about what will come of this. Every time I go outside my door I hope that I won’t run into them because I am still so angry and that isn’t the kind of neighbors I want. I love to be the friendly neighbor that does make the holiday treats year after year (even if nobody else does), welcomes new neighbors in and considers relationships with old neighbors as something special, so this truly is an upsetting thing for me. Anyways enough about that for now, on to other things.

So all that stuff with the neighbor drama happened two nights before we were set to leave for camping; fortunately although it put us behind in schedule we were able to get everything done in time and head off for four (much needed) days of camping!!

Yep that is right…that is the big posting I have coming up. We went camping in Mammoth for four days with some friends of ours and it was so AWESOME!! We had the best time and of course I took tons of pictures. That one will be coming in the next couple of days as I will have some time on my hands to update. Here is a sneak peak of the trip and all the fun times to come with that posting.

I guess I am going through all the emotions in this post, I started with anger/betrayal, moved into happiness and now I have something sad to share. On Wednesday night my grandpa passed away. He truly was an amazing man and the only grandfather I ever really knew. While I know that this is what is best for him, that now he no longer has to experience pain or discomfort, and that he is with my Granny Go, I am still selfish and wish that he had more time. I don’t want to talk too much about this yet but I would like to say that life isn’t about waiting. I have been waiting and waiting to plan a trip to my hometown to go visit both my Grandpa and my Gram but I just never found the time or the money. It is now that I am beginning to realize that when people have said to me, if you wait for things in life till you have enough money or time, you will miss out on so much. There is never enough time or money. Well now I get that trip but it is for all the wrong reasons and while I will get to say goodbye to my Grandpa it isn’t going to be the way I should have said good-bye to him. I wish more than anything that I could have just five more minutes with him to hug him and say goodbye; to tell him that I know he will be going to be with my Granny Go, that so many people will miss him and that he truly touched my life. Life isn’t about waiting.

I miss you already Grandpa.

I Finally Saw Batman AND I Have a New Boyfriend!!

2008-07-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

I was starting to feel like I was the only person in American that had not seen the Dark Night!! Well that feeling is over because I went to see it on Thursday, so if you haven't seen it, YOU are the last person in American to have not seen it...sorry.

Originally we wanted to see it opening weekend but of course Danny would only see it on IMAX and the IMAX tickets were sold out days in advance. The first time we could get tickets for an IMAX showing was for yesterday evening. We all met at the theater (myself, Danny, Danny’s friend Tim and his son Matt) as everyone was coming from work. After parking in the parking garage I headed up and was greeted by this.

That is the line for our movie wrapped all the way around the back of the building. Crap…this movie came out 6 days ago and the lines were still insane!! The worst part of it all is that when I met up with the guys we were at the very back of the line. Crap again…who wants to watch an IMAX movie in the front row? Not me but apparently that is where we were going to be stuck!! BUT don’t worry…thanks to Danny’s ninja like skills (and paying an extra $9) we were able to get PRIME seats in the middle of the theater.

They really had the theater all done up with posters and decorations. I snapped a couple of lame pictures but something strange happened. For the first time in my life I was embarrassed to take pictures. There were all these people around and I thought they were looking at me taking pictures of the movie theater and thinking
“look at the crazy girl taking pictures of the theater! I feel so bad for her!” They don’t know about my blog which means that they wouldn’t understand. So this is all I could snag.

They had all these saying from the movie written on the mirrors in red paint…it was kinda freaky!!

Finally after what seems like months of waiting, yes I am truly one of those girls that actually gets excited to go see movies like this and Spiderman, Star Wars, etc., I was in my seat ready to go. Danny knows that if he were to go see a movie of this caliber with out me I would be devastated!! Honestly.

I must tell you, I won’t do a full movie review as my blog isn’t a movie review site and there are plenty of other more credible places to go for a review, I thought this movie was insanely good!!!! The best movie I have seen in a long time. Even if I did try and review it I wouldn’t be able to do it justice!! It wasn’t your typical cheesy comic book superhero movie. It was dark, but funny at the same time. It had a very intriguing plot and everyone in the movie was a great actor. I even thought Maggie Gyllenhaal, who Danny can’t stand, did a great job. I think I liked her because I loved the interaction between her character and Bruce Wayne. I thought she played the character much more real that Katie Holmes (by the way nice job on opting out of the second Batman Katie...I mean who wants to be in the highest opening movie ever when you could be in Mad Money).

I definitely recommend seeing the movie in IMAX, there was some just down right crazy shots in the IMAX version!! There is one scene where Batman is standing on top of a building over looking the city and it feels like you are literally standing on top of that building too!!

If you are looking for a happy movie, with a perfect little ending all wrapped up with a nice bow on top, then this isn’t the movie for you, which is a big part of the reason I like this movie even more, its Batman…it is supposed to be dark and sad.

We recently saw Iron Man when it was out, which I thought was good, but isn’t even in the same league as Dark Knight. If you asked me to go see Dark Night with you today I would say "heck yes" (sorry I wouldn’t go with you to see Iron Man)!! I don’t generally buy DVD’s, as I think it is a waste, but I will absolutely being purchasing this one (maybe I also have ulterior motives, keeping reading to find those out).

Now let’s get to the real hype of the movie…Heath Ledgers performance. I thought going into the movie that all the hype over Heath Ledger would be...well just that...hype. I figured that his performance would be good but not anything crazy special and totally not anything deserving of an Oscar like everyone has been saying.

Well color me wrong because his performance was AMAZING. I think that if he doesn't get an Oscar then that crap is rigged, I haven’t seen a performance this year that was even close to the level of his. I often found myself wanting to turn away but I was fixed to the screen. It was so totally creepy in the most perfect of ways.

Speaking of perfection...while Heath Ledgers performance was definitely a movie stealer...HOLY CRAP, Christian Bale was freaking HOT!! Where the heck did he come from?! Shoot I have watched him since Swing Kids, American Psycho (which I think Danny has made me watch 892 times… “I live in the American Gardens Building on W. 81st Street on the 11th floor. My name is Patrick Bateman. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now...”) and of course in Batman Begins. I even watched him in such blockbusters as Captain Corelli's Mandolin, The Prestige and The New World. The whole time I thought…sure he is a good looking guy but nothing special. As amazing as the movie was last night and as amazing as Ledgers performance was, all I could think to myself was HOLY CRAP…Christian Bale is HOT!! I mean he is so hot he might, no he is, giving my other boyfriend Patrick Dempsey a run for his money!! I mean look at this!!

I think he is so hot that I just can’t stop posting pictures of him. Totally no reason behind the pictures other than I want to look at him!! Hehehehehehe.

Oh…and just because it is Friday…here is another!!

Ok...last one...I promise!!

Have you seen the Dark Night yet? If so what did you think? If not get your butt out there and see it!!

Happy Friday Everyone!! Have a great weekend!!

Jason and Cary…off to San Francisco!!

2008-07-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

I call Jason and Cary our little nomad friends. They are constantly on the move and I am surprised they stayed in Orange County this long. Since I have known them they have lived in Laguna, then Arizona, back to Laguna, then off to Asia for a couple months, I think that was followed with a trip to Europe that lasted several months, then back to Orange County and now they are off to San Francisco! Jason said they are going to stay in San Fran for a year or so, and then they will either go to Asia or Australia before they come back to Orange County. Truly an on the go couple.

Of course what would a move be with out a send off party!? We went to Thai This in Dana Point last Saturday where the food was super yummy and the friends were even better (hahahaha totally cheesy but true)!!

Since Jason and Cary are new to the blog let me introduce you.

This is Jason, truly one of the funniest guys I know!!

And this is his wife Cary. Totally gorgeous (tall and thin), smart and a saint for putting up with Jason (hehehehe).

Of course Danny was there…and of course he was on the phone.

I, as usual, had to take a picture of myself in the bathroom at Thai This because for some reason I find that so fun!! Plus generally if I don’t take my own picture, I don’t get to be on my own blog. Who am I kidding; I really just like taking my own picture.

It was great having so many friends there because Danny and I never get pictures together. I really like this one.

I am not sure if you are aware of this but in our circle of friends we like to let the kids get in on the party action too!

Hehehehe. Just kidding, it was empty, I promise. This little one is Cole. He is so adorable…such a little surfer kid, so tan, wears flip flops and has natural highlights in his hair. I loved him. I kept trying to take his picture but every time I got close he would just run from me. BUT when I stopped trying he would come up to me and smile…I knew he really wanted me to take his picture.

I think this was my favorite picture of the night! We made Jason scrunch down because he is so freaking tall. I just like how all the guys are laughing and so casual.

We did let Jason stand up...eventually and see I told you he was tall!

Before saying goodbye to Thai This, there of course had to be a goodbye shot!! I opted out…I just wasn’t feeling it and I had a good excuse that I needed to be the official photographer. Hehehehe. I think I chose wisely because if I recall Danny said the shot tasted like gasoline!!

After hanging out of Thai This, having a few drinks, me eating about a 100 fried wontons and Danny eating 200 shrimp we headed over across the way to The Fish Bucket.

I really love Dana Point; it is such a cute town. Totally different from Newport or Huntington, but I think I like it better.

Here is the group at The Fish Bucket.

Since we moved locations it was time for another bathroom mirror shot…duh!!

Jason and Danny always have such a great time together, they have the funniest stories. They have known each other for years and Jason even set Danny up with his current job…which he loves. I am glad he gets to work with such an awesome friend, it makes work nice.

It must have been my lucky night because I got another picture of me and Danny!! Aren’t we cute?!?!

All in all it was a great night (I took a ton of pics so if you want to see the rest visit my picture page http://hmwilson8.smugmug.com/)!! We always have such a great time when we hang out with this group!! My little nomad friends are so much fun and I will totally miss them, but good thing for us they always seem to end up back in good old Orange County!! Plus now I have an excuse to go up to San Francisco!!

Good luck Jason and Cary!! Oh and San Francisco get ready...Jason and Cary are on their way!!

Candy Logic According to Danny

2008-07-24T10:35:00.001-07:00

There are many things that I love about Danny and one of them is his passion for candy!! If you know him, you know that when it comes to candy he is like a little kid. He can eat more candy, anything chewy and sour, than anyone I have ever met. Knowing this I should have known better than to trust candy logic coming from him!

The other night we stopped at the store because he wanted to pick up a “few” pieces of candy. Well Danny pretty much got the entire stores supply of candy; I just wanted a box of Good and Plenty’s and a small bag of Gummy Bears. I JOKINGLY show Danny this insanely large bag of gummy bears and what do you think his response was? “Oh you should get that one because the little one is $1.99 and that one is only $5.99. Plus I will help you eat it” (the dollar is so you can see how giant the bag is).

This is the bag I wanted, five ounces and the perfect snack size.

This is what I got, three pounds and not the perfect snack size!! Yes, I said three pounds of gummy bears. Is that even legal?!

Now as a result of listening to Danny I have been having gummy bears for breakfast, gummy bears for snack, gummy bears for dinner, gummy bears for dessert and I haven’t even made a dent in the bag!! Pretty soon I am going to be 200 pounds because of gummy bears!! Damn you gummy bears why are you so good!

Please if I ever listen to Danny again when it comes to the logic of candy…stop me!!

Five ounces vs. three pounds…what would you pick?

This is All Mine!!

2008-07-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

I don’t really have anything clever to say about this post, I think that it speaks for itself. You may think to yourself, why would she post such a silly thing? I would just like to give you a glimpse into my everyday life, the things that go on at my house. You might also think to yourself as you read on that this was a brief moment of tired induced silliness but NO this type of stuff happens on a regular basis around our house!!

So on Sunday Danny and I were just hanging out after our trip to the fair. We were both pretty tired as we had a late night the night before (more to come on that in the next post), when Danny got this look in his eyes, which he often does, and ran over to the counter where a cereal box was sitting. I was a little confused at the excitement he was showing since the particular box he was after was empty. Cereal box in hand he grabbed a knife, which now my curiosity was really peaked and…well I know you can’t even begin to guess where this is going so I will just tell you. After a few moments of slicing away, “Mr. Reese’s Pieces Man” was born!! Yep!! Danny made a mask with a cereal box!! Oh and yes, he did name him because what is a cereal box mask with out a cool name!?

It’s a little hard to tell in these pictures, after all I was running around after Danny with my camera trying to snap shots, but “Mr. Reese’s Pieces Man” was complete with a mouth and eyes, very crafty!!

Oh, and don’t worry it gets better!! He proceeded to chase the dogs around for a good 10 minutes as “Mr. Reese’s Pieces Man!” For anyone one that knows my dogs, you know Gracie is scared of her own shadow, will refuse to go outside if the broom or vacuum are by the door, doesn’t like loud noises and the list goes on…so you can imagine the number Danny’s cereal box mask did on her!! Both dogs headed for the hills. I can’t say that I blame them…Danny is a little crazy!!

Between this scene and drunk doggie I really do need to remember that I have a video camera as well. I mean I am only being selfish by not sharing this on video with you!!

And on a side note…this is Danny checking his mask out in the bathroom mirror…of course; he needed to make sure it was just right after all!!

So yes ladies, this is all mine…don’t be jealous!! Hehehehehe. Seriously though, Danny makes me laugh everyday!! I really do have the greatest guy ever!!

Are We Really Over?

2008-07-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Regular TV where are you? What did I do to deserve this treatment? I know I can be needy. Did I call too much? Was I too clingy? I swear it was a total accident that I ran into the girl you are dating. You know how clumsy I am, I tripped and that is how my drink ended up all over her. Was checking your email taking it one step to far? It’s not because I am crazy, it’s just because I love you so much. Please come back to me.

I know you already left me earlier this year…we came to an agreement and I thought we were able to work out our differences. Just as I was getting used to seeing you again on a regular basis you went and left me for the summer yet again.

Derek, you told me that you would be right back. I went and got all whole and healed then you just left me standing there.

And you Jim…you joked all season about how you were going to ask me to marry you…but nothing. I was left with a big (that’s what she said) fireworks show and nothing more.

Some of you have just left me all together, with out so much as even a goodbye. October Road now where I am supposed to go to longingly stare with jealously at the small east coast town that is permanently stuck in my favorite month, October? Does another Kinghtsridge even exist? Did Hannah and Nick end up together? Is Sam really Nick’s son? Can we meet just one last time? I promise I just want to say good-bye, you know…closure. I won’t beg you to stay…I promise. I mean if you wanted too…I wouldn’t object.

And where am I supposed to get my fictional tabloid gossip now that Dirt is gone? Ok…I admit that was a mistake. It only happened once and it will never happen again. Please don’t call. Hey don’t judge, we’ve all had those one night stands after a few too many drinks…right?

If you just give me another chance and come back I promise I can change. I won't cling to you. I can be a good girlfriend!! Until then I must admit I have been out on a date or two with So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother and Swingtown. Don’t get upset, they could never replace you, but I was just so lonely.

Please don’t leave me here feeling like a lame ass loser! You said, “Stay here. Don’t move. Wait for me!” Well I have been waiting…when are you coming back?

For now I am stuck looking at our old pictures and videos. Maybe by fall you will change your mind. Please change you mind…

P.S.
Oh and football please come back too!! Danny is lonely and misses you!! He didn't mean to yell at you, he just gets so passionate!!

Skinny Doggie and Drunk Doggie

2008-07-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

What is the last thing you want to do on a weekend? GET SICK!! Well that is totally what I did. On Friday when I went into work I had a really bad sore throat and it just got worse from there. No fun!! So on Saturday when I had to get up at 8:15am to take both dogs to the vet I wasn’t a happy camper! I made the appointment a week before and sent Danny a calendar invite to ensure that I had a helper…it is very difficult to handle two dogs over 80 pounds in an office full of other dogs!! I swear every time I go in the office is totally calm and peaceful, we enter and all hell breaks loose. My dogs just love to socialize!!

So back to the alarm clock going off at 8:15am and me being sick…the night before I really planned on letting Danny just stay home and braving the vet alone but I felt like crap and I just wasn’t up to it!! I promise I can be a really nice and thoughtful girlfriend, just not when I am sick!! Which meant even though Danny tried very hard to stay in bed, I was having none of it, I pushed his butt out from under the covers and made it clear he too was going to the vet!!

After one successful and one unsuccessful attempt at getting my doggies to give their “samples” the vet requested (I told Aspen if he didn’t care to leave it for me the vet would have no problem going and getting it…even that didn’t work), we were off.

It was actually a pretty calm Saturday for our vet’s office. I snapped a shot of Danny and Aspen waiting to be seen…hey I was grasping at straws for a blog posting, I have readers to satisfy (did I say readers…sorry I meant A reader, who am I kidding)!!!!

Aspen has been trying for four years to get at these fish, this was right before he made another failed attempt!! Maybe next time!!

Did you catch the Highlights magazine in the back?! Makes me feel like a kid again…hehehhehe!! Ohhhh the memories!! Where is Gracie you ask? Gracie darts around the vet’s office like a crazy dog and it is impossible to snap a shot of her. She gets so nervous!! Not to mention this was a big day for her!! Our vet has been telling us pretty much since we have had Gracie that she needs to lose weight. Every time we leave the office with promises of results but return with nothing! Actually worse than nothing, she always gains weight!! We had really put in a solid effort since we had been in five months ago; we changed her food to a low-cal version, lowered the portion size and ran her like crazy!! This was weigh-in day and the pressure was on!! I guess it sucks to be a girl no matter what species you are because Aspen never seems to be told he needs to lose weight!

It was into the exam room a few shots and pokes later it was off to get weighed!! Aspen came in at a solid 88 pounds, the perfect weight for him of course!! The life of a boy!! And Gracie…drum roll please…71 pounds!! Did you hear that!! I said 71 pounds!! Holy crap!! She lost 15 pounds in five months!! I knew she was looking skinny but wow…that is an impressive number!! The vet said she could stay where she is at or lose another 2-3 pounds…of course a girls work is never done. Like any girl she wanted to show off her new svelte figure!!

The one bad thing about bringing Danny along to the vet is that he always feels the need to toss in something extra. What kinds of “extra” things can you toss in at the vet you ask? Well every time we go to the vet Danny tries to convince them that Aspen needs a full hip replacement, he hasn’t been successful with that one yet. This time he decided to set his sights a little lower…a teeth cleaning. The vet did agree on this one, at least for Aspen, Gracie was spared. So we had to take Gracie home alone, kiss Aspen goodbye and leave him behind for a teeth cleaning. I was so sad, I hate leaving my dogs anywhere especially anywhere where they are going to be put under but I had to agree his teeth (and breath) needed a little work.

They told me I could come back between 2-3pm for Aspen but of course by 1:15pm I couldn’t wait any longer so I called to see if he was ready!! He was!! See good thing I called!!

I spared Danny the second trip to the vet and went to pick up Aspen by myself. He was so cute!! When they brought him up from the back he was so confused!! They said some dogs wake up from anesthesia slower than others and Aspen who was sleeping when I got there was non-to-happy to be woken up!! He just kinda walked around in circles while everyone in the waiting room giggled at him. We walked through the vet’s parking lot at a snail’s pace, a line of cars waiting for us to pass, because that was the only speed Aspen moved at. He tried to jump up into the back of the car but stumbled to the side so I lifted him up (remember…88 pounds…not easy) and he promptly fell right back to sleep.

When we got home I called Danny to come help us, 1. Because I couldn’t lift Aspen again and 2. I wanted him to see Aspen…it was funny.

After Danny lifted him out of the car, he looked around totally confused, tried stumbling towards his normal potty spot, made it halfway there, tripped over his own legs, looked around and figured that spot was as good as any to go pee.

Of course Danny’s first thought when he sees all this is, “I have to go get the neighbors so I can show them our drunk dog”!!

Poor little Aspen so tired, he could barely keep his eyes open!!

I bet you would think that it wasn’t possible for someone to turn a trip to the vet into such a long story but it isn’t everyday that your dog looses 15 pounds and your other dog gets drunk!! Oh and most people aren't as strange as me.

Pizza e Vino Night in RSM!!

2008-07-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends back Mike, Kacie, Danny and I made plans to visit the new pizza place in RSM, Pizza e Vino. Friday night came around and of course Danny forgot about it even after making fun of me for reminding him so many times about it. But don't worry we were still set to go!!

It was perfect because I, of course, love new restaurants in my city and this one was a five minute walk around the lake. We walked next door grabbed Mike and Kacie and hit the lake!!

First off let me introduce the cast of characters, and an interesting cast they are!

First up is Mike, he doesn't let me take his picture so I tell him whatever picture I can snap will end up on my blog!

Next is Miss Kacie!! When I asked Kacie for her thoughts on the night she said, "We drank and had pizza. 'Nuf said."

Of course, there is always Danny. The cutest boyfriend in the world, and no need to ask, I am not biased! Hehehehe.

And last, but not least, ME!! What fun would pizza e vino night be with out me? Not much I tell ya!

As I mentioned Pizza e Vino is a brand new addition to RSM and I was so excited to check it out. Its a little tiny restaurant just off the lake that used to be an Italian place. We thought it would be great to sit on the patio being the nice summer night it was. When we got there the rest waited outside while I went in to let them know we wanted to sit outside. And holy cow it was hot in there, it is a small restaurant with maybe 10 tables and a giant pizza oven, not a good combo. I asked about being served on the patio and they said totally possible except they can't serve alcohol out there, its more of a common patio area, not theirs so they aren't licensed for it. So of course we braved the heat of the inside...it was pizza e VINO night after all!!

We got ourselves a table and looked over the menu, which was full of all sorts of tasty looking pizzas. There were plenty of pizzas to choose from but I do wish they had a couple non-pizza options.

I have two big pet peeves at a restaurant, the first of course is not having my drink refilled (which I do admit its hard to keep up with my speed diet coke drinking) and the second is waiting for our server to greet us when we arrive. I didn't have a problem with the drink refills this night, as we were drinking wine, but we did have to wait a long time for our server to come over. So long that I was beginning to think they didn't see us and that would be hard since, as I mentioned, there are only about 10 total tables in the entire restaurant. I chalked this one up to new restaurant kinks, once our server arrived she was very sweet.

As a group we decided on three pizzas to share and a "couple" (or more glasses) of wine. Sorry I forgot to snap a picture of the pizzas when we first got them but I did think about it before we finished them!!

I must say that all three pizzas were excellent!! They were New York style pizzas, with thin crusts and interesting toppings. We could have even ordered a fourth we ate them so quickly. In fact Danny and I went back a couple nights later we thought the pizzas were so good. Danny got one of the same pizzas while I tried a new one. This time we got to eat on the patio since it was a diet coke kinda night. Plus Aspen and Gracie got to come with us, which I always prefer.

Pizza e Vino night complete we headed to the grocery store to get, what else? More to drink!!

Mike seemed so confused by all the choices!!

You will never guess who we ran into in the local RSM Ralph's!! Don't even bother trying, I will just tell you!! It was Barry Manilow. Yep THE Barry Manilow and he was so friendly!!

Ok so maybe it wasn't THE Barry Manilow but he was still fun!

We arrived back home and it was our turn to host the Friday night fun so we grabbed Kacie and Mikes dogs and headed to our house. This is why Kacie and Mike are the perfect neighbors for us, I don't think anyone else other than the four of us is ok with four large dogs running all over the house.

So I should just put it out there that at this point the night gets a little fuzzy; a direct result of the number of drinks consumed by me. At best it will be me posting pictures and telling you what I see!! Hehehe.

We invited Karen and Royal (more neighbors) over to join in the neighborhood fun.

Mike and I played Wii bowling and I kicked ASS!! I won three out of four games, if you want to see the scores head over to my picture site. Although I only got pictures of three of the four games because Mike began to get a little embarrassed at the ass kicking I was handing out and quickly bypassed the score screen on game three. A total accident I am sure!! Right Mike?

I think this was our final rating or something...but again MANY drinks consumed by this point.

Although I must hand it to him, after bowling Mike started tennis and I couldn't even hit the ball!! Literally I didn't connect one time. Danny had to step in and save me!

This is just a bonus picture because I have no idea what Kacie is doing. Her and Danny were working on some graphic design stuff and then this happened.

Two wild and crazy girls!!

At some point in the night Danny and I broke into our supply of confetti filled Easter eggs. What? You don't use confetti filled Easter eggs in June? Well you are missing out!!

One of the egg victims!

I am STILL finding confetti all over there house!! I wish I would have thought to take a picture of my kitchen when I woke up the next day!! You would have thought we had 100 people over and all 100 of us set off bombs!!

So as you can see it was a very busy night, I think. Hehehehe. But once I began taking pictures of the clock and noticed the time I realized it was time to call it a night!!

Aspen felt the same way!! Hanging off Gracie's bed isn't nearly as comfortable as the big king sized bed upstairs.

In the spirit of being honest on my blog I paid for my night of fun the next day. If I am totally honest I paid for it by not moving till 4:30pm!! Lets just say I have been on a drinking hiatus since that night!!

Happy 4th of July (and Ass Kicking)!!

2008-07-08T15:48:00.001-07:00

Sorry my blog has been on a summer hiatus for awhile. Summer school kicked my ass and summer school finals really kicked my ass!! Not to mention a couple of my regular commenter’s stopped commenting (you know who you are) and I was blog discouraged BUT I am back and ready to blog. Plus I have a CLASSIC 4th of July story for you, so read on!! I promise its worth it!

4th of July Rocks!! It is by far my favorite summer holiday!! I am such patriotic girl and love the chance to celebrate America!! Sadly I think so many American’s today lack the nationalism that other countries have. I hope that you aren’t in that group, I know I am not!! I am proud to be American!! YAY!! Plus any excuse to hang outside and BBQ is awesome in its own right!! Also I finished summer school the day before and needed a break!!

Our plan was to head down to Newport to help our friend out at his Segway shop, hang out the beach and then head towards home for a party and fireworks show on our lake. My day started off perfect because when the alarm went off Danny said the greatest words I could ever hear, “babe, why don’t you sleep a little longer before we head out!” You all know how I love my sleep, no need to twist my arm!! After another 30 minutes of sleep I felt great!! I got ready for the day and we were out the door.

We made a brief stop at Danny’s favorite doughnut shop and barely made it into the peninsula before the shut it down to incoming traffic. Newport and Balboa (well I guess any beach) get crazy packed on 4th of July (so packed it could be dangerous…I am just saying, no particular reason why…just that it COULD be dangerous) and there we people everywhere. Not to mention there were cops everywhere, totally not the day to act out but of course it is the day people get totally wasted and…act out!! Hehehehe.
After hanging out in the Segway shop for a little while, Danny, myself and the three guys decided to head out to enjoy the weather, after all it was a little slow in the shop because EVERYONE was outside.

The calm before the storm…Everything was nice and peaceful while we stayed in Balboa. Nice calm people and cute houses everywhere. There were lots of people out but it wasn’t overly crowded. We were in the section of “owned” homes and everyone was having family time.

I had a fun time in Balboa, calm and drama free (if I want to appear in my own blog I usually have to take my own pictures).

It was time to head towards the Newport Boardwalk…oh if only I would have stayed in Balboa!!

So up until this point I thought it was crowded down at the beach but I didn’t realize how crowded!! The boardwalk was insane, I mean it was an accident waiting to happen…again I am just saying…no reason…just saying it was very crowded and ANYONE could get hurt!!

Here are the guys cruising past Cabo Cantina (where Danny and I almost witnessed a girl fight later in the day).

The park on the beach! I think this is great….two awesome things together, a park and a beach, perfection. Plus there were BBQ’s everywhere and they were even selling grilled corn on the cob…YUM!! Too bad the guys wouldn’t let me stop.

Now remember that nice pretty family house in Balboa (if not scroll up), all calm with the family hanging out. As we moved along the boardwalk into the beach “rental” houses the scenery changed. No longer were we in the land of calm but in the land of college kids and I don’t know anyone that would call college kids at the beach calm. Just to better set the scene the houses began to look like this:

Yes, that is a little known version of Plinko…"Drinko".

And there were people in the streets everywhere; the streets were closed off to cars so they were just full of people! It was pure madness.

So as I was looking cute, crusin down the boardwalk on my Segway, the guys were all ahead of me and it was wall to wall people. It was a competition of us, bikes and masses of people. So as I was falling behind the guys further I thought to myself, I need to catch up or they are just going to leave me all together. As I surveyed the possible route through all the people, I waited till it looked safe and made my move; I guess I should have surveyed the crowds a little longer. As I ATTEMPTED to move around two bikes so I could pass them another bike was coming at me head on so I moved closer towards the edge of the sidewalk and the sand. Yep I said sand, oh and at the exact moment that I moving into the sand I was in front of a house where about 75 people were out on the patio watching everyone on the boardwalk…an audience if you will. So as my wheel headed into the sand, I am sure you can guess what happened. I went FLYING off the Segway!! I launched off it, though the sand and landed firmly on the sidewalk, all with my audience cheering me on! I landed with a huge thud; in fact this is what alerted my party that was still ahead of me that I fell. To put it as Danny said, “it sounded like a bomb went off”!!

I sat on the ground, STILL HOLDING THE SEGWAY UP MIND YOU, for a few minutes trying to catch my breath!! Danny and the guys came back to help me and another guy from the party too…but I just didn’t want to get up!! It hurt!! It hurt everywhere!! Once I was finally able to get up and back on the Segway, as I rolled away one guy yelled that he got the whole thing on video!! Perfect…so maybe if you go to You Tube I will be there. Another girl offered me a shot…she said it was totally deserving of a shot. I had to decline because to be honest I couldn’t see straight and I was totally sober!

Danny kept asking me if I was embarrassed for falling in front of all those people, and it was a LOT of people. But to be honest, while I wish it wouldn’t have happened I figured hey what could I do, I did do it and its over. Someone else said to me, “oh that sucks but it is just one of those crazy, random things that happen.” No it wasn’t just a crazy random kind of thing, for me this is a totally normal thing, nothing to be surprised at (see previous post where I, a 29-year-old-girl, fell out of bed). Maybe that is why I wasn’t too embarrassed. Hehehehe.

Also if I wouldn’t have fallen I wouldn’t have this fun blog posting. I guess I am just here to entertain all of you because as soon as we got back to the Segway shop I gave Danny the camera and said, “Take pictures of my injuries! I have to blog about this!!” Most people would want to keep a Segway accident on the down low BUT NOT ME!!

So with out further delay, my war wounds!!
All injuries were on the right side of my body…I fell onto that side and held the Segway with my left-side. Some how I got one wound on the inside of my left foot, I must fall very creatively.

And my shoulder one was pretty bad since I slid along the sidewalk.

My hands, a futile attempt to brace myself from the fall.

For the grand finale…here is the bruise I was lucky enough to receive on my right thigh (and this is the bruise post accident, day 5)!! Thanks to Danny for his suggestion of placing the quarter next to it so that people could see how big it really was. Hey, I like to be realistic here!!

I guess I went from my figurative summer school ass kicking straight into a literal ass kicking!! Hehehehe. But you know what? If I had to pick one to do over again I would totally pick the literal one!!

Oh and after taking these pictures my camera died. A causality of my accident.

I can’t lie and say I was feeling great after my fall because I wasn’t. I tried to pretend for awhile but I just couldn’t keep the act up. After we left Newport, we made a quick pit stop at the party we were set to attend. I felt bad because we could only stay long enough to say hello and apologize for my clumsiness. I was sad to leave because Al’s (Danny’s friend) house was BEAUTIFUL and they had a Pina Colada machine!! We headed home where I could relax for a few minutes before the firework show. We live right on RSM lake…it is about 50 feet out our front door and they do a firework show off the lake every year.

Just for a bonus, here is a picture I took of the lake the other day.

As I have mentioned several times on my blog, we have awesome neighbors, thanks to Royal and Karen who saved us a prime spot on the lake for the show. People in RSM take the show very seriously and start setting their blankets out two days before.

While I heard they had to cut the budget for this years show, I thought it was great!! Watching the show made me aware of how grateful I am too all the men and women who serve of country, they make it possible for us to have the freedoms we do. For them fireworks in the sky are a nightly occurance…the only difference is their life is on the line. So many people take the life we live in America for granted which is truly sad. AMERICA ROCKS!!!!

What did you do for 4th of July? I hope yours was as eventful as mine (but with fewer injuries).

Happy Birthday Dad!!

2008-06-27T11:04:00.001-07:00

Today is my Dad’s birthday (29 again, right Dad?) and to mark the occasion I wanted to take a quick moment to tell you how great my Dad is!! I can honestly say I am truly blessed to have him for a Dad. He has made me the person who I am today and influenced so many things in my life.

I know a lot of girls say that they are a Daddy’s girl but I can say with a 100% certainty that I am!! When I was 15 (and I my sister was 17) my parents divorced and my poor Dad got the lucky task off parenting and living with two teenage girls. Looking back I honestly have no idea how he did this. Think about it, two teenage girls living in one house…my Dad is a saint. I wasn’t a bad kid, but I was 15-year-old-girl so to say I put my Dad through some challenges would be an understatement. What amazes me about this is that my Dad always stood by me and always loved me just as much as he did the day before. I have been so lucky to have the Dad I have, he has always been the foundation of my life.

For those of you that don’t know my Dad he is the most kind and patient person you will ever meet. You can make the same stupid mistake 100 times over and he won’t judge you, he will just help you try and get it right the next time. Now if you make him mad, please watch out as I can’t save you. Hehehehe.

I can only hope that when I have kids I can be half the parent my Dad is.

I love you Dad!! Happy Birthday!!

An Oldie But a Goodie!!

2008-06-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

The other night while I was sitting in class I wondered to myself, “I bet Nintendo has Dr. Mario for Wii” (maybe this is why I BOMBED my mid-term; I really should start paying more attention). So of course I googled it…gotta love Google, you can find everything on there. And of what do you know? They do have Dr. Mario for Wii, and even better you can’t buy it you just download it directly to your Wii for $10.00.

For those of you that don’t know what Dr. Mario is, the basics of it is that it is a puzzle game with all sorts of little pills that you drop down in the bottle and line of like colors of three to kill the viruses. I realize my explanation of Dr. Mario might be, ok is, a little confusing, so here is a picture of what the game looks like.

Old School Version

New school version (is there such a thing as new school version or would it just be new version?)

So moving along in this story last night when I got home from work I should have studied but I am feeling a little under the weather and didn’t think I could concentrate on the History and Philosophy of Mass Communications. I pulled Danny away from his court TV (people he has a SERIOUS obsession with court TV and I think it might be getting to the point where we should seek help but that is a whole different blog posting) and asked him to please download Dr. Mario for me. We got the Doctor all downloaded, Kacie brought over some batteries so we could turn down our TV (for some reason only the remote will turn it down and we were out of AAA batteries for the remote. I am not sure if Kacie brought over the batteries because she was nice or because as she said she could hear our game from inside her house, heehehhehehe) and we were all set.

While I was outside picking up Aspen’s business, Danny started the game with out me. I am not sure how that works, I should have gotten first game since I am the one that wanted the game in the first place!! Finally after asking Danny several times to start over in two player mode, all the while listening to him say how stupid this game is, he restarted the game. This is where the massacre began. Now keep in mind I have not played this game for at least 11 years and Danny said that he had never played (maybe that was just an excuse) but I murdered him!! I really just wanted to play for a little while but at the end of each game Danny just kept saying one more game and then before I knew it two hours went. I kept asking Danny to let me stop playing but he kept saying no. We calculated it out and I would say that in two hours we played 40 games of Dr. Mario. What was the score you ask? Well that is easy…Heather 40 and Danny 0. YES I won every single game. I kick ass at Dr. Mario!! For some reason I am oddly good at these types of puzzle games, my FAVORITE is Bust a Move. Poor innocent Danny just wanted to win one game and then end it but I won game after game. I thought about letting him win one so we could stop but I am still completive and there isn’t much I am better than Danny at so I had to hold on to this one!!

After the 40 something games I left him on his own to practice, maybe he will take one next time. Hehehe. So if you have skills at Dr. Mario I am looking for challengers!! The Doctor is in so please make your appointment and meet me on my couch. And one more thing, please be prepared to get crushed!! Hopefully it really is that I am good at the game and not that Danny is just really bad…I would hate to talk a big game and then have nothing to back it up with! HEHEHEHE!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

I Fell Out of the Wrong Side of the Bed Today!!

2008-06-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

No I didn’t get up on the wrong side of bed today, that is something normal people do, and I well… You heard me right, I FELL out of the wrong side of the bed!! I should have known then that it just wasn’t going to be my day today.

Let me set the scene for you. Danny has been traveling all week and when Danny travels I DON’T sleep!! My neighbors tried keep me busy; they took me out for frozen yogurt (shout out to Gary!!!! Whoot, whoot!!) and invited me over for hotdogs. I had school every night so far this week. You would think all that, in addition to work, would be enough to make me tired and get some sleep, but no.

This little evil bastard right here:

Working with this evil, evil bastard:

Caused me great harm this morning, in fact I am plotting my revenge now and it involves both items in my garbage disposal. I am aware that most people don’t seek revenge on inanimate objects but this is my blog and I DO!!

So after a night of watching late night, late, late night and late, late, late night TV when the alarm clock blared this morning something bad was bound to happen and it did. I swung my hand over, not bothering to open my eyes and reached for the snooze button. Now you all know if I hit the snooze button I wouldn’t be blogging about this. I hit the cup of diet coke (oh diet coke why do I love you so much) and diet coke was going everywhere. Since I don’t normally start my day with diet coke flying everywhere this startled me. First I am not a morning person and second I am very clumsy so this was going to be bad. Please don’t ask me how this happened, this type of stuff just happens to me and please don’t judge. I landed with the top part of my back all the way across the frame of my bed. I must admit I did sit and cry for a moment… “HEY, I said don’t judge, it HURT”. After I got over the initial shock of the pain I got back in bed to catch another 20 minutes of sleep. When I woke back up my entire upper back was one big red welt. I tried taking a picture of it, but as I am home alone I couldn’t figure out a way to do this that wouldn’t turn my blog into a whole different type of blog. **wink, wink ;)

When a morning starts with you, a 29-year-old, falling out of your bed, you know it’s only going to get worse and it did. I put my big girl pants on and told myself my back, marks and all, was going to be ok, and that since I was going to the chiropractor today (because my back was ALREADY hurting) he could set me straight (hehehehe). Ohhhh boy about 10 minutes before I was to leave the house I got sick!! I tried to keep getting ready but my body was turning against me and nothing I did could convince it to do otherwise. I tried my hardest, I was all ready with make-up and work clothes on but I quickly realized it was just not going to happen. I gave in and called into work, took some medicine, turned the air way down (I like coldness when I sleep) and climbed back in bed with my doggies (they were great and didn’t want to leave my side. AWESOME DOGGIES!!).

I sent Melissa a text that I was SICK but we would still go to the chiropractor and to please send me a text at 10:15am to wake me up. I wasn’t up for another battle with my alarm clock.

Usually I text or give Danny a call to tell him good morning but today I only had energy for one text and that was my wakeup call. While I was sleeping Danny sent me a couple texts checking in to see where I was as he hadn’t heard from me. I finally got back to him to let him know I was at home sick. His first response, “did you go drinking last night”? I wish! A hangover would have seemed like heaven. When I finally told him all my drama of the morning he said, “WOW…you are a little crazy!! You shouldn’t blog about this because people might want to come and save me!” So what is the first thing I do? Blog about it. Yep, that is how I roll!! Hehehehe. If anyone out there wants to come save Danny he will be home and available for rescue tomorrow.

As I mentioned above I had a chiropractor appointment which I manned up and went to because I wanted to get my back stuff worked out. A couple funny things happened there, first of all on the paper work I put that my birth date was 12-29-08, yep that is right I am not even born yet!! I guess I am hanging on a little too tight to my youth!! HEHEHE. Then I had to tell Dr. Jim, coolest chiropractor ever, that I fell out of bed and he told his assistant and she said, “how old are you”? Yes I know, I am 29-years-old and fell out of bed, everyone get their laughs in now, but hey if you check my paperwork I am not even born yet!! HEHEHEHE.

Of course I couldn’t have normal x-ray results on a day like today, my spine is crazy curved at the base, I slouch and I lean all my weight to my left side. Of course. So if you see me and I am slouching or leaning to the left please tell me to stand up straight!!

Oh and to conclude my wrong side of the bed kind of day, I got my midterm back and I totally BOMBED it!!!! Summer school sucks!!

I think I should just go to bed and wait for tomorrow to come.

P.S.

Danny please come home and save me!! XOXOXOXO!!

"Wine Tasting" and The Beach Club in RSM

2008-06-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went “wine tasting” with our new neighbors and a former neighbor!! We must be the best neighbors ever if all our neighbors…even former ones want to hang out with us. HEHEHEHE. JK!! Now you might be asking yourself why I put wine tasting in quotes. That would be because I really don’t consider it real wine tasting.

It was literally 5 minutes from our house down in Trabuco Canyon. We went down the windy tree covered roads that I just love, drove past the Rose Canyon Grill, past the Steak House and country store, and even past the campgrounds. Just past the horses we made a right and went into a residential area where we all began to suspect that this “winery” was at someone’s house…which it was.
We pulled in to the driveway, yep driveway and got out of our car. We of course beat our neighbor Terri-Ann, the organizer of the event there, she is one of those people that will be late for her own funeral but on the flip side she is super fun!! The property was beautiful but it was a little weird to be at a complete stranger’s house.

We went up this stairs and sat on the little upstairs patio that was all set-up for us. There were tables with umbrellas and a little appetizer station. The hostess of the winery was up there to welcome us. She said she would wait for Terri-Ann to get there before we got started. I said it was ok Terri-Ann wouldn’t mind if we had a glass of wine with out her…she thought I was joking…I wasn’t!!

So while we were waiting I took a picture of the vineyards, I am always thinking about my blog friends and what they will want to see. I just knew you guys would want to see a hill of grapes.

Here is a picture of Kacie taking a picture of the hill of grapes.

The boys just hanging out, being cool (Danny is of course on his phone, ALWAYS).

Finally only 15 minutes late Terri-Ann and crew arrived and the wine tasting began!! I must admit that it was pretty fun. The first wine we tasted was my favorite; it was Symphony or something of that sort. Everything after that was red wine, which I really don’t care for. There was one that I thought was pretty good and Danny really liked; it was the Syrah and the description said, “this syrah really jumps out at you”, I kept my eye on it…I didn’t want any wine jumping out at me!!

We met some interesting people at the winery, my favorite was the owner’s brother, I think that is who he was at least. He was a crackup and the best part of the day was when he told me that they have a Harvest party in October!! I am so in for that. First of all anything with the word harvest in it sounds like something I would love…after all October is my favorite month!! 2nd he said they have magicians, a band and all sorts of entertainment…plus wine of course. I know that this Harvest party is going to be a very worthy blog post. We had to be a member of their wine club to get an invite…so I signed up! I can’t wait for October!!

Here is me and Danny enjoying the wine tasting.

And here is Kacie and Mike…sorry it is so dark.

Our wine tasting event came to and end, they were sort of rushing us out for another party. It was good fun but I would have liked a tour of the vineyard or to see where they make the wine or something along that lines. BUT I will be back in October…Harvest party here I come!!

You might be thinking to yourself what does one do after a “wine tasting event”, go to get Margaritas of course!! Well at least that is what we did!!

Mike, Kacie, Danny and I all piled into the car. Rose Canyon here we come!! I would like to tell you how many margaritas we had while we were there but I lost track so I will just show you pictures and let them speak for me.

Get a room sickos!!

Aren’t we just the cutest?!

I was very thirsty!! I think it was from all the chips and salsa I had. Me and my drank!!

This was supposed to be a girls picture…boys!!

Kacie hanging out by the fountain.

So after our 4th, 5th or 6th margaritas we decided it was time for us to leave Rose Canyon behind and head home. One small problem…who could drive? Not any of the four of us that is for sure!! So what do you do when you can’t drive? Call your other neighbors to come pick you up!! Shout out to Royal and Karen for coming to pick us up and then letting but in on your family BBQ. We were like four little kids waiting for our parents to pick us up!! Like I said, I have awesome neighbors!!
When we got home we checked on the kids. They are all best buddies!!

After a quick change by the boys (and they say it’s us girls that are bad about clothes) it was off to the beach club!!

I think it is awesome that like 10 feet from our house we have the Beach Club, I really should use it more often.

Mike is so silly!

Just hanging out at the table, waiting for Royal to finish cooking our chicken!!

I must admit it was a pretty fun Saturday and we didn’t have to go more than five miles from our house. I love that we have such an awesome community!!

Oh and I almost forgot we went to Sushi on Friday night!

The boys at Sushi, notice the similar outfits…and they make fun of Kacie and I…

The girls at Sushi!!

And that was my jam packed weekend last weekend!! See you all next weekend!!

A Hard Day at the Office!!

2008-06-11T22:42:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday I was headed out of the office for the day when I got a call from one of my Sales Mangers, Anthony. Of course I was thinking...crap this means I am going to have to log on to my computer when I get home. sales people always need something. HEHEHE. BUT NO! Anthony was checking to see if I wanted to go to an Angel’s game the next day. Shoot I said thanks for the offer but I have school. Stupid, I know, who turns down and all expenses paid Angels game. BUT WAIT!! Anthony informed me it was a day game. I was in!! I always knew Anthony was my favorite manager. Hey when you invite me a long to a game you get points, JK…oh wait no I am not!!

So today I went into the office for a couple hours and then it was off to Angel stadium for me. I was a little behind the rest of my group as I had to get a couple things done before I left this office. This actually worked out for me because we were tailgating before the game (sweet…I know, you were just thinking to yourself how can this get any better; and then I said tailgate) and by the time I got there the grills were already fired up!

How many sales people does it take to determine the heat of a grill? Hehehehe.

One of our sales reps was so kind and cooked everyone burgers and they were AWESOME!! I felt bad for him standing of the grill in the heat, and it was hot today.

We weren’t the only ones in the parking lot tailgating and it seems as if all the guys felt the need to take off their shirts (not the ones in my group, thanks guys, I appreciate that) which just made me laugh but I guess I should have felt lucky they were young and in basically good shape.

I have been trying to eat healthy lately but you just can’t eat healthy at a ball game!! If you don’t have a hotdog you are just un-American. So being the patriotic person I am, once the food was ready, I dug right in!!

I think everyone enjoyed our pre-game festivities.

Once we were all stuffed it was into the game. The craziest thing happened while we were at the ticket gate, I ran into Danny’s sister!! I haven’t seen her in almost a year and there were thousands of people at the game and we just happened to be entering the same gate and the exact same time. WEIRD. It was good to see her!

Once we took our seats we all quickly realized how hot it was! While we had AWESOME seats we weren’t the fortunate fans in the shade. And remember how I said I should have felt lucky that the guys with their shirts off in the parking lot were young and in shape? Well apparently the older, heavier men were also totally cool with taking their shirts off too. All I will say is NOT PRETTY!! I just tried not to look.

Here is the view from where our seats were.

Great seats but we all had to keep taking “shade breaks” because it was so FREAKIN HOT!! I also used my shade breaks to eat some more food; I think I like to go to baseball games more for the food than the game. HEHEHE. In addition to my pre-game food I also had cotton candy, helmet fries and a large Diet-Pepsi!! YUM!!

Even with the heat I had a great time at the game. The Angels hit two homeruns so we got day fireworks which are pretty much like the sudden appearance of smoke and a really loud noise. Still fireworks are fireworks; and fireworks are cool!! The final score was Angels 4 and Rays 2 (when did the stop being the Devil Rays?)

Unfortunately after the game I had to leave for school. I wish I could have just gone home and slept off the sun.

If you don’t believe me how hot it was during the game, I took this picture of my shoulder while I was in the car to leave the stadium.

Apparently my body was not happy with the sun. I should visit with the sun more often so that this doesn’t happen. You wouldn't know it by looking at me right now but my skin really does like to be tan.

Here is the stadium while I was in the line of traffic to get out.

Here is me entertaining myself while in line to get out of the stadium…it doesn’t take much.

So can you see why I called this post “a hard day at the office”? I have it so rough!!

My New Neighbors Are AWESOME!!

2008-06-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last you heard of the new neighbors was in my previous blog posting. The one where I made them cupcakes to welcome them to the nieghborhood but said I couldn’t snap a picture of them because I wanted to ease them into my craziness. UPDATE…they have been fully exposed to my craziness and what do you know, they still like me!! In fact, and this is a direct quote from Mike, “You are the coolest girl I have ever met!”…in the spirit of full disclosure he said this about two seconds after I CRUSHED a champagne glass with my bare hands!! Better just to ask me about this one in person.

So far since I have met them we have had two impromptu “street parties”, Sushi and Saki dinner, Kacie and I went to Taco Tuesday at Rose Canyon, pretend wine tasting (more on this to come), another trip with everyone to Rose Canyon and a beach club BBQ. All this and they just moved in one month ago!!

I really couldn’t ask for better neighbors. They are fun, young, have two dogs and Kacie loves to text!! How could I not like them?

I figured since we are like BFF’s now I should officially introduce them to my blog!
Sporting a stylish jacket made from bear fur, while hanging out at the beach, and yes I did say bear fur, Miss Kacie!

And trying to avoid my camera, thereby ending up with a close-up, Mr. Mike!!

Thanks for the good times Kacie and Mike. Welcome to the neighborhood and welcome to my blog!!

Day 3 in Santa Barbara - Our Final Day, Solvang, a BRIEF Casino Trip and Home!!

2008-06-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

And so our journey is coming to an end, this is my final posting of our trip to Santa Barbara. Maybe you are sad or maybe you are screaming for joy that I will now be free to blog about the many other exciting adventures in “Heatherland”. Either way I don’t care just as long as you are reading and COMMENTING on my blog. And to be honest with you guys at this point SB was so long ago the details of the day have left my head to make room for new blog details. I just need to get caught up on my blog so I can blog in real time, it sounds good but we all know the chances of it happening are slim. I have been promising forever with ZERO results. I know my faults.

Ok so anyways enough about my lack of blogging skills and on to the final day in SB! We started off the day with another 6:30am wake-up courtesy of Aspen, I love him but come, can’t you at least wait till 7:30am to wake me up!! Please, just once! Or at least while we are on vacation. I don't ask for a lot from you as a dog, you really owe me. This day wasn’t the same as the day before, where I got to sleep while Danny took the doggies out, because as Danny put it, “I did it yesterday; it’s your turn today”! I had no argument, he was right. So with my eyes barely open I got dressed and headed out with the dogs. As sleepy as I was it really was just so pretty at our hotel in the morning that I didn't really mind being up so early. Once you exited our door the pathway was full of gorgeous flowers and immediately to the right was the ocean. It was so early (plus it was an overcast weekend) and there was a thick layer of fog. I was able to force the dogs into taking this shot, which if you have ever tried to get two dogs that just want to play, to sit still for a picture at the same time you would give me an award for getting this shot.

It was actually nice to be out there so early with the dogs, so quiet, peaceful and beautiful. We walked down the beach path to the front of the hotel, where along the way we saw the hotel staff putting a huge effort into setting up for that days Mothers Day brunch and we also met another yellow lab, he was only 9-months-old and nearly the same size as Aspen. His parents are in for a treat. It was a great way to spend the morning but I was still a little sleepy so it was back to the hotel room for us.

After snoozing a little more all four of us were up for the day and trying to decide what to do for our last day in SB. Since the hotel brunch the previous day was so good I suggested to Danny that we try the Mother’s Day brunch if there were spots available. We figured it would be a little more expensive with the holiday but when Danny called to see if there were spots available, which there were, he asked the price. Now remember brunch at our hotel the day before was $16, on this day…$68!! Needless to say we passed on that and just ordered room service which was very nice and not $150.

Originally we were going to head to the polo grounds in SB on our last day, which would have been fun since I have never been to a polo match (I would have felt like Julie Roberts in Pretty Women minus the whole hooker part) but we figured since we had the dogs with us that probably wouldn’t work out to well and we decided on Solvang instead. We packed up, said good-bye to the Fess Parker Double tree and hit the road again.

Just in case you don’t know, Solvang is a small city in the Santa Ynez Valley. Solvang was originally founded in 1911 by a group of Danish educators, and while few Danish people actually live there today it still maintains the huge Danish feel and caters to tourists. The buildings in the town are insanely cute.

Just a little trivia question…What 2004 Oscar winning film was shot mostly in the town of Solvang?...still thinking…ok, I will give you a hint, think wine…just a few more minutes…give up?…”Sideways”. If you haven’t seen it you should check it out. If you got it right I have a prize for you, you get to comment on my blog!! Yay, you are so lucky. If you didn’t get it, your cost for losing is that you have to comment on my blog. Sucks to be you.

Of course our first stop in Solvang was one of its many bakeries, we selected Mortensen’s.

There was so many things to choose from, breads, muffins, creampuffs, cinnamon rolls and basically any pastry you could imagine. Danny selected a cinnamon roll and me, I of course went with the éclair.

The éclair was rather good except I must confess, I did get a little sad when I realized there was a thin layer of fruit filling. Make that #248 of weird things about Heather (for those of you that really know me, you already know this), I don’t like fruit in syrup or for that matter baked fruit…I think fruit should only be eaten has God made it, cold, crispy and fresh!! Before you worry too much, I know you were, it was ok…I was able to take of the bottom layer and still enjoy my éclair. Oh, you want proof; I see what kind of friend you are not trusting me. Here you go…me eating my éclair.

And just because we are so cute here are me and my babies in front of the bakery.

I know it really seems like we spent a lot of time at the bakery, so let’s move on! TO THE CANDY STORE. This was no small candy store; it was one of those that are just full of barrels and barrels of candy.

I am pretty sure that Danny thought he had died and gone to heaven. I waited outside while he carefully selected each piece of candy that he wanted. Which if you want to know was $16.00 worth of candy!! What can I say he loves his candy.

At this point we are fully set up with sugar and walking around seems to be the perfect idea. The town is so cute, perfect and quaint. Danny found this really awesome art gallery that he liked and while he was inside checking it out (I was waiting outside with the dogs) he found out the artist was there. We must have good timing because he is only there two weeks a year! Danny was able to get a picture with him.

There we so many little shops, bakeries and cafés in Solvang, it is nice to be able to visit stuff like this. My favorite was all the little courtyards they had, you would turn a corner and there would be a little courtyard, with benches, fountains and surrounded by little shops. This picture is one of my favorite of the trip.

After having our fill of bread, pastries and sugar is was time to say good-bye to Solvang. Thanks for letting us visit. We will be back!

On our way into Solvang we had passed an Indian casino. I asked Danny if we could stop here on the way back, it has been so long since I have been to Vegas and I miss it so. I thought maybe this would satisfy me for awhile. Wrong. Unless by satisfy you mean take all my remaining cash from the trip in under 15 minutes. If that is what you meant then you would be so right. I played Danny’s new found game from his last trip to Vegas, 3-Card-Poker. Danny swore that you couldn’t lose at this game. I think he must have meant you can’t WIN at this game. I maybe won one hand the entire time I was there. Boo…I just wanted to get out of there; so after my luck left me hanging we quickly got up from the poker table.

I have something to say to you Indian Casino! I am afraid I don’t like you, you treated me just as poorly has Vegas has in the past. I am not sure why I thought our relationship would be any different, please don’t try and contact me again. I don’t have room in my life for more than one relationship that takes me money and kicks me to the curb, you must go. I cannot afford you and it will be best for us to sever all ties.

However on the way out I spotted the perfect picture opportunity. I would like to say that it was worth the money I lost in the casino but I don’t think that would be true. It was close to it, but not quite.

What do you think?

After my misfortunes at the casino I thought it was time to call an end to our weekend in Santa Barbara so it was homeward bound for us. The four of us had a great weekend but we all were a little tired and looking forward to getting home.

You call all breath a sigh of relief, my SB blog postings are over and I will now move on to more interesting posts.

Again I can’t say how much I have enjoyed the last 10 years and how much I am looking forward to the next 10. I love you Danny and thanks for being you.

P.S.

If you want to see all the pictures from Santa Barbara I loaded them on my picture page:

http://hmwilson8.smugmug.com/

Day 2 In Santa Barbara – The Zoo, Hiking, Room Service and a Movie

2008-05-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

All right you better buckle in for this one…it is going to be a long post. I can’t say sorry for it because the reason it is so long is that I have such an AWESOME boyfriend; he takes me to do SO many fun things. So consider yourself forewarned and while you are at it grab a snack and a soda, you might need refreshments. And remember...don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Ok so where we last left off…Danny and I had put the “kids” to bed and were headed out to dinner…let’s pick up the next morning. As I mentioned above my boyfriend is awesome so on Saturday morning he let me sleep in while he took Aspen and Gracie out for their morning walk at 6:30am. If you know Aspen at all you know that once he is ready to get up to eat and go potty you are just wasting your time if you try and make him wait. They were gone for about 30 minutes so I was just falling back into a good sleep when eight muddy paws woke me back up. I couldn’t complain because they are so cute, I am sure that the maid staff at the hotel couldn’t complain however…white sheets and muddy paws don’ mix…SORRY Fess!!

In true vacation fashion after Danny got back with the dogs we decided to sleep a little longer…it was nice. I LOVE to sleep in, especially with my boyfriend and doggies cuddled up with me!!
With our morning nap complete, the dogs fed and out for a second bathroom run we decided to head to the hotel restaurant for the breakfast buffet. I was starving!! Not to mention I freakin love breakfast food…eggs, toast, omelets (I know technically a repeat of eggs but so good they deserve their own category), cereal, bacon, sausage and HASHBROWS all washed down with what else…a diet coke!! Maybe all these things are sounding even better to me right now because I am currently on a “diet”. Hehehe.

On a side note my smart boyfriend, at a pretty family friendly hotel, decided to wear his shirt that on the front says, “NERD” and peek around to the back in BIG writing it says, “BOOGER 69”…classy I know. Standing in line at the omelet station we thought about what his shirt said. I think it is a cute shirt but maybe not what parents want their kids to read, hehehhe. Good thing Danny had his jacket handy so he covered up the “BOOGER 69” part for breakfast. Yep…we are always looking out for others.

After breakfast we were headed for the Santa Barbara Zoo!! We plugged the address in our navigation and hit the road…for a mile and a half. The funny part is if we had stayed at the original crappy hotel the zoo was directly behind us!! We didn’t realize this so we would have put the address in the navigation and driven the block from said crappy hotel to the zoo. Hehehe.

I really wasn’t expecting much from the zoo…I mean I didn’t even know there was a zoo in SB until I drove by the sign on the freeway. But then when I read the information Danny printed out in preparation for our trip it said that it was consistently rated one of the best small zoos in the nation. I was a little pumped; after all I love to see animals!! As we headed through the zoo gates I was ready to rock!

Ok, so the first thing we came upon wasn’t really an animal but it provided a great photo-op courtesy of Danny:

If I had to guess I would say that we spent at least 20 minutes in this spot, adjusting angles and waiting for people to move out of the way so that Danny could get the perfect shot. He is a perfectionist!!

After spending some quality time with the blue parrots we set off to find some “real” animals!! One might not think this would be too difficult a task since we were at a zoo and all!! WRONG! This was very hard. First of all the zoo path didn’t go in any particular order, so you could make a turn and be back where you had already walked five times (seeing no animals) and totally miss a path you hadn’t even been on once!! We finally came across two lions but I couldn’t get a good shot of them since they sleep about 20 hours a day (they should hang out with my dogs)!!

We passed this little kid play area that had a train station you could board and the train went all around the zoo. Do you see where this is headed? NO! Well then you must be slow and in that case…let me break it down for you. Four dollars later Danny and I were onboard the train, with all the little kids, ready to take a trip around the zoo. Now mind you Danny did not want to ride the train but I thought it would be the best way to see all the animals, this way we could see where they were all located and get a game plan for the zoo. Holy crap…how many times can I be wrong in one zoo trip. We saw pretty much ZERO animals on our train ride around the zoo. We did however see the freeway and our first CRAPPY hotel.

Ok, so the train ride wasn’t really all that helpful in locating animals but if you were looking to see the outer edge of the zoo, crappy hotels and freeway then it was totally worth the money. For us it looked like we were on our own. Things did pick up a little after this. We found some elephants. Which I think are rather unique, I mean they are HUGE, gray and leathery but still manage to be cute at the same time!! Danny snapped this shot, and I am sure I don’t need to tell you that it involved another 20 minutes to get just the right shot (my little perfectionist).

After the elephants it was my favorite part of the zoo trip…the giraffe!! I know you might be thinking…how can a giraffe be all that exciting. Well these giraffe’s were great because I got to feed them (for a small fee of course)!! Here is me and my giraffe friend:

You also might ask why I wasn’t looking at the camera, Danny did. I have a great answer for that…the giraffe was very impatient!! If you didn’t give him his giraffe rice cake (I named the giraffe snacks this because they literally eat them one after another since every zoo visitor wants to feed them so they have to be low in calories or the zoo would have some FAT giraffes on their hands) he would LUNGE and HISS at you!! I didn’t know a giraffe could hiss either but take my work for it, they do!! I had to keep my eye on this one!

Once I was able to get away from the hissing giraffe we found these Meerkats, I snapped this picture and I love it because he is just chillin, cause that is what Meerkats do...chill!

I really do love any sort of apes, gorillas or monkeys so when I found this guy I was so excited, except he looked so sad.

I thought maybe he was sad because he was all alone but I found his buddy in the corner. Their enclosure was pretty small…I think they should get moved to a bigger zoo, but that is just me. Before we left he decided to lie down and looked a little sadder, poor gorilla.

On a funny note we found this cool wall that I look at as the perfect photo-op!
A little monkey “product placement” (shout out to Melissa)”:

Danny and his friends, just hangin out:

What in the heck? Is that chimp on my head? Why YES, it is!!

Me and my family tree!!

We did see some other things on the trip like snakes, roaches, lizards, penguins and such but overall nothing too exciting. Maybe I am just spoiled living so close to places like the San Diego Wild Animal Park and I should learn to see the value in small zoos. I think the problem is small zoos means small animal enclosures which equals sad animals and sad Heather.

I do have one last picture to share from the zoo, it is so sweet, they look like they are in love…maybe it was their ten year anniversary too!!

One “small” zoo trip down we headed back to the hotel to pick up the dogs. I missed them. We picked them up and headed off to a trail that Danny had researched (I know…what an awesome guy) to go for a hike. This trail was INSANELY pretty!! I don’t think I have ever been on such a pretty hike. It really was awesome. You drive right up to the back of the trail, park and walk right in. The view, in case you didn’t get this already, was AMAZING. There were all this beautiful trees and then just a huge cliff that dropped waaaayyyyy down into ocean (you really can't tell how far it is from the pictures).

While this part was pretty it did make me a little nervous because the dogs were off leash. I was afraid the dogs we go to get a quick peak and then slip right off the side. When ever we got around other dogs, and there were tons, I was the nervous mom constantly yelling at Aspen and Gracie to come back and stay right next to me. These other dogs seemed familiar with the trail and obviously knew that one step too far would end in certain death…Aspen and Gracie didn’t seem to be aware of this.

We found some nice fellow hikers that took this picture of two of us:

Of course Danny was upset because it didn’t have the angle that he want but for me it was one of my favorites of the trip because we were both in it, I think it is the only one we got on the entire trip. I always say I wish we had someone that we could bring along on all our outings just to snap pictures of us…our own little paparazzi!!

Here is one of me and the kids:

Of course Danny was happy with the angle on this one because he got to take it. This is also why it appears that Aspen and Gracie are attempting to run out of the shot, they got tired after posing after the first 500 shots. Hehehe.

I like this one because it isn’t a perfect picture, it was really windy and my hair was going crazy…and look how cute Gracie is with her tongue hanging out.

Here is one of me that Danny took at the edge of the cliff:

This one is cool because the sailboat in the background. There were a ton of sailboats in Santa Barbara…they are cute. Newport is full of powerboats, which are also nice and more convenient but I think sailboats are beautiful.

I am not sure if I have mentioned or not before how much I love my dogs…but it is a LOT!! That might be why this is another of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Such pretty babies!!

And finally to close out our segment on hiking if you ever find yourself in SB, looking for a place to hike, here is the name of the trail we were on:

I highly recommend it!!

I think it is totally obvious in the last picture that the dogs were pretty tired and looking for a break, well Danny and I were also looking for a break, but in the form of food!! A good hike works up a good appetite. We were so hungry that we decided to head back to the same place we went the day before, on the pier, since we knew that they would take the dogs and we thought the meal was pretty good. I snapped this picture of Danny checking out the menu:

AND right after that we were asked to leave!! Yep!! I said it!! Our waitress came up saying something about our dogs being cute but that she couldn’t have them stay. Now keep in mind that we were sitting two tables over from where we had just eaten, with the dogs, less than 24 hours ago. This of course made Danny mad…but made no difference to the waitress as she said, “it’s like California law or something…” and that is a direct quote. I guess the day before it was ok for them to break the law but not that day…maybe it is only a law on Saturday’s…hehehhe. We left.

Still hungry and having been kicked out of the restaurant we wanted to eat at we headed to State Street to see what we could find. We found a cute little California bistro. Another picture of Danny checking out the menu:

I realize this post is super long so I will spare you the details of this meal (we didn’t get kicked out) but let’s just say that it was our waiters first week and he wasn’t very skilled at his job. The food was good, at least, even if we had to wait FOREVER!!

So in the condensed version we went back to the hotel, checked out a couple more things around the hotel, took the dogs for a walk and then debated over what to do for dinner. We had a fairly long day with the zoo and hike so we thought it would be fun and romantic to order room service and watch a movie. So we did!!

It was a yummy dinner; our hotel did a great job. I forgot to get a picture of the food but Danny had salmon and I had chicken. I did get a picture of the soup that we started off with:

And here is one of Danny enjoying his soup and movie (we got Rambo 4 on PPV, nothing says romance and 10 years like Rambo, hehehehe):

And here is his approval on the soup (notice the diet coke because what meal would be complete with out diet coke in Heather’s world…NONE):

And so day two in Santa Barbara concludes with dinner and a movie, in bed. Make sure you stayed tuned for our final day in Santa Barbara, which includes such highlights as a trip to Solvang and a very (very) brief casino trip!!

Day 1 In Santa Barbara – Hotel Room and the Pier

2008-05-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

So after we got the whole hotel fiasco taken care of we settled into our trip nicely. As soon as we walked into the Fess Parker Double Tree I felt so much more at ease and ready for my mini vacation. The girl at the counter was so sweet (her name was Heather…how could she not be) and really made our arrival pleasant. We told her about our horrible ordeal at the other hotel (see previous post) and that we were celebrating our ten year anniversary. She kept apologizing for our troubles at the other hotel and in order to make our anniversary stay at this hotel better she upgraded us to a garden view room!! She even felt bad that she didn’t have an ocean view room for us, but you could actually see the ocean from our room anyways. After she got us all checked in and gave us our warm chocolate chip cookies she asked that we hold on for one moment as she had something for our dogs. I assumed that it might be something to clean up their “business” but when she came back it was a little gift bag!! It was so cute, there was a magazine on the best dog friendly hotels, a tennis ball (score for Aspen) and dog treats (score for Gracie, Aspen too but mostly my little chub, chub).

Dog treats courtesy of the Fess Parker:

Once check in was complete, cookies were ate and gift bacg was in hand we got back in the car to drive to our room. Yes I said drive; this was a resort so it was all spread out so we weren’t being lazy. It actually wasn’t too far away but too far to lug the dogs and all of our luggage.

This was the view walking up to our room:

Our room was just to the right on the second floor and just after the palms trees at, the end, was the ocean; it is just a little hard to see because it was a cloudy day.

As soon as we opened the door to our room I was sooo excited. Our room was beautiful and HUGE!! We had two beds, tons of space, a balcony and it was CLEAN!! I loved it!! I couldn’t stop smiling I was so excited over the room!!

After we were done checking out the room and unpacking we decided to take a walk to get something to eat as we were both starving. It was a long drive there and we were running on nothing but chocolate chip cookies!! We walked straight out the path in the above picture and headed to the right towards the pier and State Street.

I quickly discovered something I didn’t know about Santa Barbara…they have a huge homeless population. As Danny put it, “They need Rudy Giuliani”!! This was both unsettling and sad to me. I always feel for people and wonder how they got there. I wish I could help them all get out, I am sure that once you are homeless it is close to impossible to change that. Most people aren’t willing to help someone that doesn’t have an address to provide. At the same time I have to admit it makes me nervous…I don’t know if that is wrong to say but it is how I feel. I like to feel comfortable in my surroundings.

The other thing we discovered about Santa Barbara during this first walk is that they aren’t what I would call dog friendly…in fact I would openly call many of them dog haters!! I know…what kind of person hates dogs? I thought the exact same thing so you and I are on the same page.

Still looking for something to eat we headed out the pier. We stopped at the first restaurant we came to where I went in and asked the hostess if we could eat on the patio with our dogs. She was very nice and said, “Sure. You just have to head up the back stairs and grab a table in the back so you don’t walk through the whole patio.” Please remember this information for a post yet to be written (thank you in advance). Our lunch was great!! To start off we got some garlic bred and shared a wedge salad (I freakin love wedge salads). For our meals Danny had some tri-tip kind of sandwich and I had a cheeseburger (I was in heaven). We shared with the dogs, I know you shouldn’t give people food to dogs…blah, blah, blah…but they were on vacation too!! Hehehe. Our server was nice and was great with the dogs. All in all a nice meal and it was pretty cheap for what we got.

I swear I had more pictures from the restaurant but I can’t find them…so sad. I had major camera issues getting the SB pictures off the card and on to my computer.

However this is my favorite picture of the day:

Aren’t they sweet!! I don’t think you can get any cuter!! Although you wouldn’t be able to tell this was while we were sitting at the restaurant.

Since we ate everything under the sun for lunch with decided to walk the rest of the pier…we needed the exercise. HOWEVER not even 20 feet from the restaurant we came to a candy store and anyone who knows Danny knows that he can’t resist candy…he is like a crack addict on skid row!! He went in and loaded up!! I waited outside. Once Danny made his careful selections, which was pretty much the whole store he came out to see if I wanted anything, I said no. Danny, said, “Are you sure? They have cotton candy!’ I joined him on skid row…I can’t turn down cotton candy…I know I am weak.

As we each snacked, each on our own addictions, Danny’s anything with the word candy in it, mine cotton candy; we headed towards the end of the pier. Once you get all the way to the end it is kind of freaky because there is no railing or anything to stop you from slipping right off, it just drops down to the water!! S-C-A-R-Y!! In a testament to how much I love my dogs I told Danny if one of them fell in I would jump in after them and safely swim with them to shore (which was FAR). This is saying a ton coming from me because I am terrified of deep water. Danny said he wouldn’t. He doesn’t fool me, I know he would.

Here is a picture of me and the dogs at the end, notice the tight grip I have on them. I said I WOULD jump in after them but that doesn’t mean I wanted to (I know I look like crap...no need to tell me...we had been driving for several hours).

After our brush with the extreme pier, we thought it was a good time to head back to the hotel. Once we got back to the hotel Danny jumped on his computer to check a few work things. I snapped this picture of him, I know it is dark but that is what makes me like it!!

Flash adjusted I took this picture of him and the dogs. My little family. Aspen always feels the need to give kisses, he thinks every occasion calls for them. Gracie just wants to feel loved.

After handing out in the room for a little while Danny and I decided to head out and get something to eat.

We put the dogs to bed and headed out!

Still the Luckiest Girl in the World 10 Years Later!!

2008-05-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you believe in fairy tales, the whole happily ever after and glass slipper thing but I do. Last weekend Danny and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. I can't say that everyday has been perfect but I can say that I wouldn't change a thing. I think that the non-perfect days make me love him just as much as the perfect days do. My favorite times with Danny are the simple times, playing video games together, going camping, staying in the bed all morning just cuddling with the dogs, going to Disneyland for a summer evening, and to be honest the list never ends. I really do think I am a lucky girl and wouldn't trade the last 10 years for anything.

Danny is such a huge and important part of my life, he takes better care of me than anyone ever has or ever will. He makes me laugh, he holds me when I cry and he is the only person in the world that can make me feel better when I truly feel sad. Even though sometimes he likes to pretend it isn't true he loves our dogs just as much as I do and would do anything for them. He puts up with all my quircks, loving me not in spite of them but because of them. My slipper fits...perfectly.

Last weekend he surprised me with a trip for our anniversary. Danny knows me so well that he knew I wouldn't want to leave the dogs behind for the weekend so when planning our trip he made sure to include them. I took Friday off work, we got up early and the four of us hit the road. I still didn't know where we were going but I was very excited to get wherever it was. Once we got off the toll roads and on to the 5 north I firgured we might be heaeding to Santa Barbara...I had been wanting to go there for awhile and it was in the direction we were heading and somewhere that the dogs might me able to tag along to. I have this cool book on places in California that you can take your dogs too, restaurants, hotels, parks, etc. so I flipped to the Santa Barbara page and marked it, I wanted to have proof that if this is where we were indeed headed that I called it. Hehehhee. We continued on the 5 for awhile and we lucky to hit only one bad batch of traffic (if you know L.A. you know this is a rare occurance) and we arrived in Santa Barbara. I must admit that by this point Danny did have me a LITTLE fooled. He said that we were driving past some placed called Lompac or something, which is further than SB. Plus we were driving further into Santa Barbara...almost past it. I pointed out that they had a zoo (I love animals) and Danny said, "oh I didn't know Santa Barbara had a zoo." Once we were almost all the way through Santa Barbara my tricky little boyfriend said, "SURPRISE, we are going to Santa Barbara!!" Then he handed me a stack of papers with all the things he had planned for us to do, EVEN the zoo that he claimed to not know about. Everything he had planned (more to come on that soon) showed how perfectly he knew me...and I was so excited to do them all.

We pulled up to your hotel, I don't remember the name I think and tried to black out the bad memories (more coming on that soon too) and Danny ran inside to get us checked in. I could tell as soon as he came back that something was wrong, he looked pissed. He said that even though he had reserved an ocean view room they didn't have on for us. Our room was on the backside of the hotel, not even on the same side of the street as the main hotel. Uh oh...this was not going to be good. We got all of our luggage out of the car, the dogs and ourselves and along with the bell hop headed up to our room. As soon as I stepped into the hallway I knew it wasn't good, it was the hallway was semi-indoors and semi-out...and for those of you that know me, you know I don't stay in "hotels" that have outdoor entrances. The semi-outdoor entrance wasn't even the worst part of the hallyway, it was about two feet wide and had maroon paisley, floral carpet. WOW...I was just hoping that it would get better once we got in the room, I didn't think that it could get worse afterall... BUT IT DID!! The room was like the size of my closet, which isn't saying much. It wasn't clean. There was no balcony for the dogs to go outside and the window was tiny with a view into some random apartment. There wasn't really even enough room for us, our luggage and the dogs. Aspen was even angry with the room, he kept trying to move around and just grunting at the lack of space.

Danny was on the phone in an instance...he was more than angry. Thank god because I was trying to be polite but I did not want to stay there, I didn't even want to touch anything. I would have made the best of it for our anniversary but I promise it was bad and you wouldn't have wanted to stay there either. At first hotels.com was not being too helpful but if you know Danny they had no choice but to change their minds. I was already moving our stuff back into the car before Danny was even off the phone. I had faith in Danny's abilities and I was right...we were moved into the much nicer hotel down the street, which we passed on the way in at no additional cost.

It was off to the Fess Parker Double Tree where we got to begin our anniversary trip (you have to stay tuned for the details)!!

Summer Break - K.I.T.

2008-05-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

Ok so my summer break isn't the same as when I was 15 and got three entire months of school off, which I would spend with my friends going to the beach, parties, looking for new boys, sleeping in past noon and eating Taco Bell. This break only lasts for two weeks, but I will take it!! I will take anything I can get!! By the time I get to the end of a semester I am totally burned out on school, can't wait for it to be over and swear that I am NEVER going back!! Of course I do always end up going back...but I at the end of every semester I swear never again.

I just, a mere hour ago, finished my last of three finals. I already have my grades for the first two, "B"'s on both, not great but it will do. I am a little worried about this last one...I have never gotten a "C" at CSUF and I really hope I don't start in the final home stretch. So please wish be luck. On the plus side I got my group project/paper back tonight and we got a 98/100!! Yep we ROCKED it!!

As with my Spring Break, I have a tough decision in front of me on how to spend my summer break. 1. Head to Cabo, hit the beach and clubs and of course have some drinks!! or 2. Stay home, go to work and get my paycheck so I can pay my bills. So which option do you think I went with? Yep...#2. I am actually looking forward to it though, so don't shed too many tears for me. I can get caught up on stuff around the house, read one of my many books that have been piling up on my nightstand (I think I will go with one of two biographies), of course UPDATE MY BLOG and one other thing I am forgetting...umm...oh that is right, have some sort of FUN. I have a lot to cram into my two mini weeks of break before it is off to summer school but I am sure I can do it! I have faith in myself.

And don't get your panties all in a bunch, I will be back tomorrow night with a real post, pictures and all, I just wanted to stop by and say hello. Oh yeah...don't forget to KEEP IN TOUCH!!

New Neighbors and Shinny Cupcakes (Cupcake Repertoire Expansion Attempt #3)

2008-05-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago I was out shopping with my friend Melissa and enjoying a nutritious lunch at IHOP, ok so I don't think that it would really qualify as nutritious but it was yummy, (we were originally supposed to go to Souplantation but veered of course some how) and I received a call from Danny. The house immediately next door to us has been vacant for awhile now, our neighbor Dave ran off to Washington to join the FBI...go figure. I mean who does he think he is to leave us without neighbors and take Aspen's bestfriend Joe away? According to Danny, after a period of what seemed like nobody looking at the house, there was two prospective buyers on this saturday. One of the buyers he was not fond of at all and the other he was very excited about. The ones that he was fond of were a young couple, Mike and Kasey and their two dogs...how perfect is that? Mike even works for a company where Danny is familiar with everyone that he works with.

Once I got home I must admit I was just as excited as Danny, it would be great to have some cool people living right next door, plus we don't really have any neighbors our age. We left them to look at their house...we didn't want to overdue it after all. After a little while we were back outside to take the dogs out and Mike told us they were putting the offer together as we spoke...YAY!! New neighbors that seem so cool. So anyways the new neighbors are Mike and Kasey, I will introduce them to my blog later, I like to release my craziness in small doses, I didn't want to snap a picture of them the first day we met. That would have been too much, right?

Last Saturday was moving day for the new neighbors, I knew this about two weeks in advance and I was very excited. I planned for the whole time as to what sort of "welcome cupcakes" I would make them. I went through many different options but since I don't know them all that well yet I settled on basic vanilla and chocolate but with a frosting twist...a shiny smooth frosting. So the new frosting on the cupcakes is "Cupcake Repertoire Expansion Attempt #3". The other ideas were yummy ones, I can't tell you what they are because I still plan on making them all some time soon. In this case I thought simple was the best option.

I heard them as soon as they got here...moving trucks aren't quite you know!! I jumped up, clapped my hands as I squealed, "ohhhh the new neighbors are here."...and no I am not 5-years-old, I just like new people, especially new neighbors. They are going to be living right next-door to me after all. If you know the neighbor problems I have had lately (think crazy guy attempting to run over my dogs) then cool neighbors would be a welcome change and you would agree that I deserve them. I ran downstairs to say hello. Danny stayed upstairs to change so he could offer his moving expertise help. I couldn't help move as I was in the middle of doing homework and lets be honest it was really hot that weekend. Hehehehe. I actually had perfect timing because as soon as I finished my homework I went back outside and the move was complete!! So it was off to bake for me.

I did one batch of chocolate and one batch of vanilla. After I let the cupcakes cool for awhile it was time to frost. I melted the frosting and dunked the cupcake in:

After the dunking process I rolled them, just the edges, in my carefully selected rainbow sprinkles:

And the finished product!!

A chocolate cupcake:

A vanilla one:

Lots of cupcakes:

Yay!! I think they came out so cute. I was so excited to give them to the neighbors I could barely wait for them to dry. Once they finally dried I loaded them into a basket and took the over to the neighbors. They seemed to really like them, I hope they tasted yummy too!!

Cupcakes in a basket:

Danny was so thoughtful and wanted to help make some cupcakes. How lucky am I to have such a cute helper!?!? I gave him a couple of cupcakes (I can't trust too many of my cupcakes to others) and let him loose. Here are a couple of samples of his work:

I know what you are thinking...chocolate cupcakes and sour jellybeans. Even Danny admitted it wasn't exactly the best combination, but hey he was super cute for trying.

This cupcake was his favorite, and probably tasted the best:

So anyways I am super excited to have what seems to be some cool new neighbors. Aspen and Gracie even got two new friends in Sasha and Tyler (a cute, petite little boxer and what looks like a Australian shepherd). Welcome to the neighborhood Mike, Kasey, Sasha and Tyler.

And to close this posting a little insight into what makes me, me! The other night Danny and I were looking out the window because we heard something going on outside, I looked over to the new neighbors house and asked Danny, “Do you think the new neighbors like us”?...yes I know I am a needy girl. I just want to be liked. Hehehehehe. All Danny could do was look at me, shake his head and say, "you are so weird..."!

My FAVORITE Night of the Week!!

2008-05-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

What night might that be you ask? Friday? Nope. Saturday? Nope. You are on the wrong track. While I freakin love the weekends, I mean who doesn't, each week I get giddy on Thursdays because I get to watch Grey's Anatomy. I can't even wait for the DVR to record it, I watch it commercials and all.

This Thursday was extra great because I got to pick Danny up from the airport. He went to Vegas for a couple days, I wasn't able to go because of work and school. It really was great to have him home, I always enjoy my time alone when he first leaves but then I quickly miss him.

Being the nice boyfriend that he is, he sent me this picture of his view:

I sent him this picture of my view:

Which view do you think looks more exciting?

After I picked him up at the airport he was kind enough to agree to dinner at Red Robin, my favorite place...him not so much. I was excited because we hadn't been to the RR in Foothill Ranch yet, I love first visits to places. And trust me I knew this Red Robin was coming months before it actually opened (my whole weird shopping center thing). The food was great, I acturally splurged this time I ordered a cheeseburger!! I don't remember the last time I had a RR cheeseburger, it was probably on my birthday! I also had plenty of french fries, I swear RR has the best fries on the planet. Besides the food our trip to RR was just ok. When the girl brought our food to the table, she looked at the two baskets in her hands, then looked at us and said, "help me out here!"...ummm ok.

Ok, enough about food and Danny on to the really exciting stuff. I can't tell you how bad it is killing me for Meredith and Derek to be apart! I really wish they would just get back together!! I ABSOULTELY loved that they were working together in this episode, I think it was a way for them to work on their relationship that just HAS to be coming in the last couple episodes before summer break!! Summer break is so outdated and I really hope that NBC is actually going to move towards year round TV. If you don't know what I mean by that just think year round school...smaller breaks throughout the entire year and not three entire months off in the summer months. A much better set-up as three months without my favorite TV shows is just way to long.

Even though I didn't get enough Derek/Meredith action it was a great episode. I loved Addison being in town. It was hillarious when she ran into Derek and Meredith in the hall. Hugging Meredith and telling her how great it was that she can hug her after she stole her husband, the look on Meredith's face was PERFECT!! I also loved how she kept saying they were a cute couple and neither Meredith or Derek corrected her...I think it was a sign!! At the end of the episode, after Addison found out that they weren't dating and in fact he was dating Rose, she told Meredith that Meredith letting Derek getting away was killing her. Even she knows that they are meant tobe together. Anyways my favorite moment by far came at the end of the episode. It was when Meredith told Derek that she really enjoyed working with him (even though they lost their first clinical study patient) and as she shook his hand Derek just held her hand looking at it so lovingly. Awwww I thought my heart was going to explode!! Hehehehe, I am fully aware that I am obsessed, there is no need to tell me. I can't wait for next week.

So Red Robin and Grey's all in one night, I would call that a great night!!

It's Official...I Have Made It!

2008-04-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Ok...well I guess I should say that my blog has made it. I have my first official blog stalker (at least that I know of) and my stalker even lives in another state (yes out of state stalkers are more prestigious than your every day, run of the mill in state stalkers…I know you were about to ask me that). Never mind the fact that I basically only have one regular commenter (thanks Mel), that means nothing now that I have a blog stalker. I must be important to merit having a blog stalker.

To my blog stalker (you know who you are) thanks so much for visiting and I am glad you enjoy my stories. However lets clear one thing up, while you do have it right that Melissa and I both love diet soda (it is one of God's greatest blessings), you have the direction thing all wrong. While it is true I cannot utilize a map, I am very good with directions in my normal surroundings. I have, as Danny likes to put it, a vast and odd knowledge of shopping centers. If you tell me a shopping center name, or one store in the center, in either the surrounding area of where I live or work, I can tell you all about that center, including (but not limited too) all the retail locations they have, where they are located and how you can get there. If something new is being built in one of "my" centers I will drive by it every day until I can figure out what the new place will be. I can take the trickiest of routes to places I go on a normal basis and never get lost. I am not saying any of the above things make me sound like a normal person, but we aren’t addressing that, we are addressing my skills when it comes to directions. Basically what I am saying is my directional capabilities in South Orange County are SUBERB!! Now if you ask me to travel outside my normal living area it would be fair to say that my directional skills are lacking.

Now I know that I got lost on my own school campus but let me clear that up for you. 1. I rarely ever go there; I try and take all my classes at the satellite campus, 2. I was running so late I just pulled in the campus parked and ran and 3. Did you catch the part where I said I was up at 6:45am on a Saturday!?!? I have the right to get lost for that fact alone. Hehehe.

As far as Melissa's directional "skills" I really don't even know where to start with that. I guess the best way to address it is that SHE HAS NONE!! She gets lost going to the same lunch places we have been going to for the last several years and it isn't like they are far... we are talking under five miles. Once I asked her for directions to her kids daycare...now keep in mind that she took him there every day and it is in the same city we work in and she couldn't tell me anything about how to get there. She really had no clue. I once tried to give her directions over the phone to a shopping center that is basically a straight shot from our office and under five miles away...boy was that a mistake...I think it took her an hour to get there. But from what I hear you already know that this isn't what we would call a strength of Melissa's. She has plenty of other strengths but I think we are safe to officially rule directions out. Sorry Melissa, you are still super cool but are totally directionally challenged.

Now if you would have said that Melissa and I are alike because we are both funny, nice (she more so than me), smart, controlling, strong, strange, entertaining or just cool people in general, I would have had to agree with you in a second but I must draw the line in comparing our driving skills. In this area I FAR outrank her. I am not saying I am top notch when it comes to directions but in comparison to Melissa...well I would be like the Einstein of directions.

Anyways my friendly little blog stalker, I just wanted to say thanks for stopping by my blog, it is nice to know that someone out there is reading it...it would be even extra nice if I really knew that I had additional readers because someone other than Melissa commented (hint, hint), BUT either way, WELCOME TO MY BLOG!!

In closing because I like each post to have at least one picture...me enjoying some delicious diet soda!! Seriously I think diet soda is GREAT!! My favorite, in case you were wondering, is fountain Diet Dr. Pepper!!

P.S.
Do you like the new format/template of my blog cause I think it rocks!!

Nothing New

2008-04-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't been up to much lately which is why I have been blog absent. Last weekend my Saturday consisted of getting up at 6:45am TO GO TO SCHOOL!! Who does that!? Me apparently. I had to take my EWP (English Writing Proficiency) exam, which is basically me spending an hour and 30 minutes writing an essay.

I was apparently supposed to take it when I was a Junior but I didn't know and then once I did find out I kept putting off. I almost put it off again last Saturday because I was sleepy. Then I was almost late because I stopped off at Target because I don't own a dictionary (weird I know) and we were allowed to have one for the essay...which I didn't really need. I also got a Diet Dr. Pepper…yummy. Once I got to campus I was running behind and I really have NO idea how to navigate myself around main campus so I just parked in the first structure I could find, took my chances by parking with no parking permit because I couldn’t find the machine and took off running through campus (which was not a good idea because I have very sensitive feet and the flip-flops I was wearing gave me a blister). I was barely able to find the location my instruction sheet told me to go; when I got there I was directed to another room so I took off running again.

Once I got there it was just the stand-by people in line, man was I late, but at least I made it. My essay test was easy; the question basically asked if students short change their education by relying on the internet. A lot of the students seemed to bust out their essay in 20-minutes and rush right out. I was so nervous about not passing, after all I am only 2 classes away from graduation, that I took all but 5-minutes of the time they gave us. After the test I ended up walking around campus because I wasn't sure where my car was (remember I parked in a hurry). I saw some interesting things around campus; there was one group of students dressed up in super-hero outfits (like The Incredibles and Batman) perfoming in front of set that looked like a giant puppet show, there was another group of like 30 girls all dressed up in the same 50's style pageant girl outfits and then when I was really lost on campus I came across this:

Yep, a double scoop ice-cream cone tucked away in my campus. Strange...

I think the most exciting thing that has been going on this week is that TV is back...and more importantly GREY's is back!!!! How in the world did I go 4-months with out any Meredith and Derek!!?!? I really don't know. Danny try’s to remind me every week that Meredith and Derek are not real people but I just don't believe it. I really do love them together and get mad when they aren't.

This whole Rose thing is making me mad. She needs to go. I want MerDer back!! I hope that Shonda is telling the truth when she says that Meredith and Derek will be together this season. If she is lying I don't know how I will handle it.

I won’t spoil this weeks episode just in case you haven’t watched it but I will say there was NOT nearly enough Meredith and Derek. When I did get my brief moment of them together I seriously got GIDDY. I freakin love them!! Even though they were talking about neurosurgery I could feel the love…it was there. HEHEHEHHE.

So other than school and TV it appears that I have been up to NOTHING!! Oh and I just got word today that I passed my EWP, but I am pretty sure that as long as you speak English (or write it I guess) you pass. However all that really matters is that I am one step closer to graduation!! WOOO HOO!!

BBQ at Dan S.'s and Horse Balls

2008-04-16T11:25:00.001-07:00

A couple of weekends ago (yes a couple of weekends...I am over making excuses for being behind and empty promises for catching up, hehehe) we headed out to the LBC for a BBQ at our friend Dan’s house, lets call him Dan S. so that you don’t get him confused with my Dan. Since it was so long ago I can’t remember all the details of the event so this blog will be more of a picture blog…a slide show of sorts of our BBQ at Dan S.’s with a few comments here and there.

I think the most important thing that came out of this BBQ is that I need to take notes of events so I can remember things to put in the blog (to which Danny said I am a nerd…coming from the guy that plays WOW), ESPECIALLY when our friend Demery is around, she says the most random and INSANELY funny things!! My favorite part of the event was that we got to see our friends Tom and Sheila; we haven’t got to spend much time with them lately because of the craziness of our lives. Not that it wasn’t nice to see everyone… but I just love me some Tom and Sheila!! Unfortunately Tommy had an upset stomach from some mad Sushi (meant to put bad but I am going to stick with mad…it is funnier) the night before and a wedding to go to that night, so they couldn’t stay too long.

Introducing to the blog Mr. Tom Bunten:

Also introducing to the blog Mrs. Sheila Bunten (and her guest super cute baby):

Another shot of super cute baby just because I think he looks like a little angel is this picture. Love him, but I don’t remember his name so I just call him super cute baby because it fits.

Here is the group getting something to eat. Dan S. made us such yummy things…he did an excellent job!! There were hamburgers, salad, pasta salad, corn, bread, chips and many other yummy items. The girl with the “winking” look on her face is the above mentioned insanely funny Demery.

I would have to say this shot is my favorite of the day; this is Dave, Demery’s husband. I snapped it just as he was biting into his hamburger.

Ok wait…I lied (I promise I don’t make a habit of that)!! This is my favorite, Danny getting ready to bite into one of my Oreo cupcakes, notice the cute Oreo baked into the bottom of the cupcake!! How great is that!! Plus I must admit that the holder of the cupcake is also pretty cute!!

A couple of weeks before the BBQ the group headed to Vegas for Dave’s 30th birthday party. Since we couldn’t make it I wasn’t able to get my souvenir from the event, BUT don’t worry, Demery was kind enough to bring it to the BBQ. You would never guess what that souvenir was so I thought it would be best to take a picture. Here you go:

Yep that is right; my BBQ souvenir (but really missed Vegas 30th birthday party souvenir) was a pair of underwear. HEHEHEHEHHEHHE. As I said Demery is insanely funny and also very clever; notice the XXX…one might think that has something to do with sex/nakedness BUT remember Dave turned 30 and what does XXX stand for in roman numerals? That is right, 30!! Such a clever girl.

After most left the BBQ Danny, Dan, Demery, Dave and ME (sad for me my name doesn’t start with a “D”) decided to play a game called horse balls. For those of you that are not familiar with it, which I was not, let me give you the quick rundown. There is a stand with 3 different colored (red, blue and yellow) bars going across horizontally, are you still with me? Ok, good, each player gets a set of balls which is a small rope with a ball attached at each end. The object is to toss the balls at the bars and make them land on one of the bars as opposed to landing on the ground, in the bushes or waayyyy up in a tree (Danny). Even though I came in last place it was actually a super fun lawn game, I recommend if you have a yard, going out and buying one.

Here is Dan S., our host, stretching; it is a very physically demanding lawn game, as he prepares to toss his balls:

Demery getting very excited over her horse ball toss:

Danny tossing his balls:

What kind of toss is that…it looks like a girl one to me! Hehehe.

Dave handing his balls over to Demery (hehehe poor guy):

And to close this posting I thought it fitting to end on insanely funny Demery.

She is in the hammock:

And, yep you guessed it…she is out of the hammock:

THANKS for having us Dan!!

Cupcake Repertoire Expansion Attempt #2..Oreo Cupcakes

2008-04-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Along with everything else right now I am a little behind in expanding my cupcake repertoire and I know I say this all the time but I am overwhelmed with work, school and home stuff (but the end is insight).

With our friends barbeque coming up I thought this was the perfect opportunity to create "cupcake repertoire expansion attempt #2”. I searched the internet high and low for an idea...I finally settled on Oreo cupcakes!! I thought to myself...ohhh cupcakes and cookies… together!! PERFECT!!

After a quick trip to the store I had my supplies and was set!! Our party was Saturday afternoon around 1pm so I had time to make them in the morning before we left. The cupcakes themselves were very easy to make. Just your basic white cupcakes with crushed up Oreo's mixed into the batter.

The coolest part of the cupcakes (at least I think) is that once you put your liners in the cupcake pan, I choose purple polka dot and pink stripped liners, you split an Oreo cookie in half and drop it in the liner. A cupcake with an Oreo cookie baked right in!!

After you drop the cookies in you put the batter in and pop them in the oven. While they were baking I moved on to the frosting. Also very easy, just a basic butter cream frosting but again you add crushed Oreo's. I told Danny that if I continue on this baking trip I am going to need a counter top mixer because my poor little hand mixer is hanging on for dear life. It just can't handle making stuff from scratch...poor guy. (Of course I want a pink one, which is apparently up for debate because Danny just informed me that if it was pink then he wouldn’t want to use it. Hehehehe, it will be pink.)

After the cupcakes baked I let them cool off for an hour so they wouldn’t melt my pretty frosting. At this point I realized I wasn't going to have enough Oreo's to top all of my cupcakes, that is right, I had already gone through one package of Oreo's in making my cupcakes. Hey...I never said they were healthy.

I ran to the store really quick to get another package of cookies.Back at the house it was time to frost. I forgot to take a picture of the cupcakes pre-frost but just picture a white cupcake with little black bits in it. Hehehe. After you frost the cupcakes you take an Oreo, cut it in half and stick it on top of the cupcake. So for those of you keeping count that is a half Oreo in the bottom, crushed Oreo's in both the batter and frosting and another half Oreo on the top. So basically if you don't like Oreo's these aren't your cupcakes.

Here is a picture of all the cupcakes from above.

Here is one lone cupcake from above.

And finally my favorite picture, a little cupcake from the front.

In writing this blog I realized that I never tasted the cupcakes once I finished them, I have the bad habit of doing that. I just packed them up and took them to the barbeque. As far as I know though they turned out good. Danny said they were too rich but everyone else seemed to like them and even took some home. I hate to call him out but I think Dan S. had like 3 of them!! Hehehe.

I have already selected a couple of options for attempt #3 so stay tuned!! I am thinking something a little lighter this time.

"Oh,oh, oh, ice cold milk and an Oreo Cookie, they forever go together , what a classic combination. When a dark , delicious cookie meets an icy cold sensation, like the one and only creamy, crunchy, chocolate, O-R-E-O."

#2 On the List – Showdown at Saddleback Lanes

2008-04-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Danny and I have this list, which apparently everyone already knows about, and we are slowly working our way through it all the while adding things to it as we go. It isn’t any crazy life list or anything like that…it is simpler than that. It is just a list of things we haven’t had time to do over the last two years of our crazy life. It is just made up of fun things we like to do and in fact most of them we have already done before. It is all about bringing our life back to the simple things, the real things.

We already did one item on the list, the Nixon Library and a week ago we completed the 2nd item from our list…bowling. It wasn’t bowling in one of the newer fancier alleys like Lucky Strike; we opted for a simple old school lane complete with your traditional fried food, beer guzzling bar.

This outing was a part of the list not only because I think bowling is so fun but because Danny and I have only been bowling once in the 10 years we have been together and it was early on in our relationship. Let’s just say that on our first bowling outing Danny didn’t break any records with his score. Hehehehe. Ever since then I have been telling him that he sucks at bowling. This is so fun to me because Danny is pretty much good at everything!! AND I mean everything...watching Jeopardy with him I can’t even come close to competing.

Ever since that day he has sworn he was just messing with me and that he is really great at bowling…a bowling superstar!! I didn’t believe him and I waited years for my rematch!! I made sure to take pictures of our trip to the bowling alley so you can judge for yourself who the bowling super star is.

We arrive at the bowling alley and get our shoes from the bowling alley guy who takes his job way to seriously!! Danny of course sees the checking out of shoes as the perfect time to make fun of my large feet…I say let’s just take this to the lanes!!

This battle will be settled on Saddleback Lanes, lane #23. We put on our rental shoes and select our balls.

Which one do you think was mine?

You probably selected the pink one. This would make you right…kind of, because all three were mine. I like to vary it up, if one weight doesn’t work I just move on to the next…I am obviously a very skilled, very precision type bowler.

Time to hit the lanes. Danny of course had the form of a bowler, using all the right moves.

You can see he swings his leg back and releases the ball just right.

I on the other hand have NO form or method to my bowling, I would just let it go. Sadly I don’t have a picture of my “form” as I am usually the one taking the pictures. This is probably better though…I wouldn’t want to cause myself too much embarrassment. However we were able to figure out that the more thought I put into my game the worse my game got. So my basic strategy was to not have a strategy.

Which method worked better you ask? Well let’s take a look at some scores.

Game 1:

I was so excited to take the first game!! I was off to an awesome start and I didn’t win by a point or two, I took it by 11!! Yay!!

Game 2:

It was getting closer but I still won TWO in a ROW!!

Game 3:

I am not trying to make excuses for myself but at this point in the game my poor, little, weak arm started to get tired. I mean I am a girl, I don’t have the same muscles as Danny, it just isn't physically so.

Game 4:

The muscles are getting more tired with every frame.

Game 5:

Even though Danny won this one I was still impressed with my score of 97!! I was so close to 100 I could taste it!

Game 6:

Sorry this picture is a little blurry, we were literally being forced out of the alley at this point, but it does read 69 (Me) and 53 (Danny)! That is right, I was back. Before you ask, yes our scores were low this round. As I mentioned we were being basically kicked out at this point and we had to “speed bowl” just to finish the game. Plus after two hours of bowling both our arms were feeling a little weak.

For those of you who aren’t good at math that is three games Heather and three games Danny. It doesn’t sound like a bowling superstar to me, it sounds like another rematch it the making…after all a tie is like kissing your sister and who wants that.

P.S.

Just for some fun here are some funny pictures of us.

Danny so confident in his skills he doesn’t even need to open his eyes.

And me…do I even need to say anything. I mean who bowls like that? Obviously I do…poor me. Hehehehe.

Easter Eggs and Easter Wii

2008-04-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Late Easter!! Yes I know I am a slacker, blah, blah, blah. I promise I am working on being more timely…it will happen…eventually.

For anyone who knows me I freaking love holidays and Easter is one of my favorites because I love hard boiled eggs (especially brightly colored ones) and Easter candy is the BEST candy of the year!!!! On a sad note, I have been so busy lately I didn’t get to put up my Easter decorations; this after I already missed my valentine’s decorations. AND, there is no need to ask, yes I do have Easter and Valentines decorations (and 4th of July, St. Patrick’s day, etc…). If you were to ask me my favorite holiday decorations I am not sure I could answer. Of course everyone tradionally loves Christmas, but I think Halloween is such much fun to decorate for and 4th of July could be my favorite, 1. Because I am super patriotic and 2. 4th of July always makes me think of home.

Easter morning started off as perfect as a day can…with me, Danny and the dogs all snuggled in bed. YAY!! I gave Danny his Easter basket…it was a mini one this year, and then I got to work. I had boiled 3 dozen eggs the night before, colored 1 dozen of them and baked 4 dozen cupcakes. The morning’s tasks included frosting and sprinkling the cupcakes (I didn’t take a picture of these cupcakes because they were just basic cupcakes, vanilla on vanilla with brightly colored frosting and spring sprinkles. I got Danny to deliver cupcakes with me to some of our neighbors as a “Happy Easter” treat…I am a Bree (Desperate Housewives) in the making…except I don’t clean. Hehehe. Then it was time to start the next task which Danny actually volunteered to help with…such a good boyfriend. We peeled the remaining 2 dozen eggs and Danny was so excited because by the end he developed a system where he could be the shell in one piece. If you try this it is actually a very difficult task, so he has something to be proud of, hehehe. This batch of eggs was for deviled eggs, as a result of the “Great Debate”…to relish or to not relish; we had two separate batches…one with and one with out. (I think most people at my Dad’s turned out to prefer the ones with relish but there were a few of us hold outs that did not like relish!! My Dad liked the ones without the relish but only because these were mine and I totally loaded the garlic salt in them!!) What do you prefer? Relish or no relish?

After all the Easter chores were done it was time to pack the dogs, food, Easter basket and Guitar Hero…yes I said Guitar Hero…all into the car. My neighbor Dave had the best line of the day, as we were leaving he saw all we were carrying and said, “Nothing Easter like Guitar Hero!”, so true, so true. Hehehehe.

Since my family lives out in the Inland Empire I don’t get to see them all that often so holidays are always great. I know the Inland Empire isn’t all that far but if you take into account traffic…it isn’t like I can just stop by for dinner after work. When we got to my Dad’s house everyone was there…my Dad, my sister, my brother, his wife, his mom and my nephew. Plus there were six dogs!! In my family we are all dog people and our dogs go where we go! Thank goodness my Dad has such a big back-yard!

I always think it is so much fun to spend holidays with kids, more than adults they really understand the holidays. My nephew Aiden is at that perfect age where he is finally starting to understand the idea behind everything but is young enough where everything surprises him!! It is so cute. At lunch I kept getting in trouble because I was teaching him how to open his mouth and show us his food…hehehehe. After lunch my sister-in-law brought a ton eggs so that we could have an Easter egg hunt for Aiden. And by ton I mean 65 eggs!! I asked her if she knew that we only had one kid in the family. At the beginning of the hunt everyone was out back watching Aiden, but as a result of the 65 eggs and Aiden’s desire to open each one to see what was inside, by the end of the hunt the crowd was down to just him and his mom. He really was a trooper.

Aiden checking out the Easter egg:

So excited over whatever he found inside:

Gracie checking out Aiden’s loot:

After the egg hunt it was time for some Easter Wii!! Everyone played bowling and then Danny, Johnny (my brother), Tracy (my sister-in-law) and Eric started a very serious tennis tournament. It was so funny because they all go so into it you would have thought they were playing at Wimbledon or something.

Check out the oh so serious expression on their faces (and of course Danny explaining what went wrong):

The boys really had to get into it:

To finish off the great day at my Dad’s house I thought I should give my nephew a cupcake (in addition to the candy and cookies I had already gave him) because it is so fun to feed peoples kids sugar and send them home!! You should try it some time!!

Aiden takes a bite:

I hope that everyone else had a great Easter too!! Holidays are such perfect days!!

Better Late Than Never

2008-04-01T23:12:00.001-07:00

First of all…I just want to say, “I am back”!! Life has been hectic lately and I am sorry for the lack of posts but I am going to be better…I promise...I think…no wait I promise…ok I will try. On the bright side my absence from blogging means I was actually out doing stuff and have things to post about. Hehehe.

Better late than never! That is the idea I am going with for this post. Even though I know the post is technically 3 weeks hold, I had so much fun I thought it was worth posting!!

My boss was SUPER nice and allowed Danny and I to use two of our suite box tickets to go to a Kings game on March 6th!! We had so much fun!! So much that it is worth a 3 week old post! Good things come to those that wait, right? As everyone knows Danny and I have been on a budget lately so this allowed us to get out of the house and as Danny put it, “it is like we are on a date”.

The game was in L.A. at Staples Center so we wanted to head out early since L.A. traffic is a nightmare!! We actually made pretty good time out there until we got into the heart of L.A. where traffic literally just stopped! We sat on the freeway with nothing else to do but people watch and let me tell you there were some interesting people sitting next to us in traffic. At one point I was looking at the Staples Center from our car, so close yet so far, I told Danny I was going to get out and walk and I would see him there. Hehehehe!! Funny…but I really would have made it faster.

We arrived at the arena about an hour before game time so we decided to walk around the surrounding area. I think it is so crazy how in L.A. you can be walking in the ghetto and then PLOP there is an insanely nice building, like the St. Regis. I just think the idea of paying all that money to leave in such an affluent building and then you walk out your door and there is trash and graffiti everywhere is not logical…but I am a Master Planned community girl. I love cookie cutter homes because that means my neighbors house looks just as nice as mine!

There are several nice restaurants in the area surrounding Staples center but we didn’t want to eat because we knew there would be free food in the suite box and hey who are we to pass up free food. We did make a quick stop into a restaurant that Danny has been talking about, The Palms. It was definitely packed and smelled so yummy. I would love to go back when free food isn’t hanging in front of me. Since we had been walking around LA I wanted to make a quick stop in the bathroom. This is the point where things got a little icky. I hate dirty bathrooms more than anything and this one had a BIG TIME DIRTY…I can’t even talk about it. Plus I realized while I was in the bathroom that wearing BRAND NEW shoes for a walking tour of LA is probably not the best idea…I had BAD blisters on both feet. Before I left the bathroom I tucked, moved and covered my jeans just right so that Danny wouldn’t be able to see my blister…why you ask? Because he would yell at me. Hehehehe…no I am not joking. Oh and I figured I should get at least one picture from our pre-game activities. So I snapped this one.

Me in the bathroom at The Palms:

And off to the Staples Center.

I have been to a hockey game before but I must admit it had been a long time. It is crazy the temperature difference in the stadium when you come for a hockey game versus a basketball game, I was a cold little popsicle. Since it had been so long since I had been to a hockey game I wanted to brave the cold temperatures head down to the ice before we went up to the suite box. We met a super nice usher, I can’t remember his name (sorry – but he did make our game experience even better), that let us go down to the ice to snap a couple shots.

The ice:

Me standing in front of the ice, I know dorky but I was so excited:

After playing around down by the ice we went back up and chatted with the usher a little more. ALL Danny had on his mind was food… he kept asking the usher when they brought the food up to the suite boxes. Poor guy had no idea but was trying not to disappoint Danny because he could see starvation written across his face and I kept telling him they wouldn’t bring it out till right before the game.

If you haven’t been to the suite boxes at Staples Center before you don’t know that the elevators of the SLOWEST ones on the planet, I swear…you can time them if you don’t believe me. And then once you make it past the elevators you reach the three suite box floors. These three floors are navigated by a serious of escalators, now mind you they make it mighty easy for you to get up the escalators but getting down is a whole different story. My theory…it is like a Vegas casino where they want to trap you in the casino floor so you are forced to gamble (I have fallen for this trick before and $800 was gone before I knew what was going on)…Staples wants to trap you into the three high priced floors where you spend money on sushi, privates bars and all sorts of food cooked to order special for you.

When we arrived at the suite box we were the first ones there and to Danny’s crazy happiness, and my having to admit I was wrong, the food was already there. Danny was like a kid in a candy shop he didn’t know where to start first but he dug right in! Danny always says that all our pictures are of me, which I think is partly because he likes to take pictures and mostly because I am such a ham), but I was able to snap this one picture of him and he couldn’t even turnaround from the food long enough for me to get it.

Danny and the food:

I was just so excited to see the suite box; I had been before but forgot how pretty it is.

The view facing out:

More food:

As I said I am a dork and was very excited to be in the suite box so I took this picture:

After about 15 minutes with the suite box to ourselves, where we pretty much sat in silence as we both had chicken tenders, hot dogs, sandwiches, chips and salsa and anything else we could get out hands on…hehehe, the rest of the group arrived and it was game time.

Once other people arrived I tried to keep the, what I like to call “suite box tourist” to a minimum, I didn’t want to embarrass my co-worker in the suite. Hehehehe.

I was able to snap a few pictures of the pre-game activities.

The players take the ice:

LA Kings in lights:

They projected some really cool images and even movies on the ice, unfortunately my blog camera isn’t sophisticated enough to capture them.

After the first period of the game we decided to brave the escalators and head downstairs so Danny could get some more food and I could get cotton candy. I myself wasn’t hungry but I have this urge I can’t fight, that whenever I go somewhere and there is cotton candy I HAVE to have some…hungry or not. So as we were arriving back from our trip to get cotton candy, a chocolate chip cookie, Dips ice cream bites and something else I can’t remember, we saw the dessert cart sitting in front of our suite. If you haven’t experienced the dessert cart before it isn’t something you turn down. To me it reminds me of the carts in children’s books like Harry Potter or the Polar Express where while on the train a cart is brought around the has everything a child’s wild imagination could desire. So cotton candy in hand I selected my one dessert and Danny’s two. I snapped a picture because it all looked so yummy, please take note my dessert (a yummy Smores thing) is pretty much gone because it look me this long to stop myself long enough from to take a picture but on that same note Danny’s cheesecake didn’t even make the picture.

Too hard to resist:

Since I have spent the longest post ever talking about everything but the actual game, I guess I should mention that. The game was AWESOME!! I used to love hockey when I was in high school and never missed a Kings game…I just lost that somewhere along the road to being an adult. However attending this game reminded me why I used to love it so much. The Kings played the Senators and the final score was 2-0. The best part of the game was that rookie goalie, Erik Ersberg, who I think was playing in his 3rd NHL game and first start, won his first NHL game with a shut out!! Great story for such a young kid.

My favorite picture of the night was the one my co-worker Eric took of me and Danny. Danny and I don’t get a lot of pictures out so it was great for us to get one on such a cool night.

Me and Danny:

Happy Easter!!

2008-03-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

We hope your day was filled with family, friends, bunnies, chocolate and eggs!!

Love,

Heather, Danny, Aspen and Gracie

Happy 4th Birthday Aspen!!

2008-03-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

I still remember when Aspen was a tiny little guy, when we brought him home he weighed a mere 14lbs and was only 9 weeks old!! This may not seem small to some of you but now that Aspen is 88lbs it is small to me. Well to further add to what a big boy he is, 2 days ago he celebrated his 4th birthday!!

I miss my little puppy Aspen. I still remember the first day I met him like it was yesterday. We sat and played with him and his brother deciding which one would be right for our home. Aspen was the bigger and more calm of the two, his brother was crazy hyper but so cute (I wish we could have taken both, it broke my heart to leave his brother behind. I hope he ended up with an equally loving home). I loved how when we took him home to our apartment, he had his favorite little corner that he would seek out for comfort, it was his den. All he wanted to do was sleep and all Danny wanted him to do was be awake. Danny even told the vet something must be wrong with him because he slept all the time! The vets response, of course, “he sleeps all time because he is a baby!”

ASPEN IN HIS "DEN"

He spent his first week with us at our apartment and then the three of us (Danny, Me and Aspen) moved into our first home together. His favorite toy when he was a puppy was peoples keys, he was always stealing them from people, so I found him a set of puppy teething keys that he carried everywhere with him. The keys had a good run as his favorite puppy toy, until he wasn’t so puppy anymore and the big dog in him destroyed them!! Now it is only the toughest toys for him and those have an average life span of a few months.

PASSED OUT WITH HIS KEYS CLOSE BY!

He has always been a good dog with his own personality. When we took him to puppy training he was the star of his class…of course (he takes after me)! The teacher always used him as an example and when other dogs would get snappy Aspen would just look at them like what in the heck is wrong with that dog. People always remark about how mellow he is for a lab, we can have a house full of people and he will keep to himself unless you invite him over. The other thing that surprises people about Aspen is that he really could care less about eating. Before we had Gracie (Chub, Chub), we would just fill up Aspen’s bowl and he would munch on it all week, taking bites here and there as he got hungry. How lucky were we?!

FIRST DOG BEACH TRIP!!

Even though I miss my puppy Aspen, I love my big Aspen even more! I love how when we take him to the dog beach, even though you can see his leg hurts, he plays as hard as he can until we tell him that is enough. I love how on the weekends he will curl up with me in bed and nap until I decide it is time to get up. I love how when Danny is at home working his favorite spot is to be curled up in a ball under the desk, with his head propped up on Danny’s feet. I love how he can destroy a toy in a matter of minutes, but that he has a favorite stuffed animal toy that he is so gentle with and is careful not to destroy, he treats it like his baby. I love how he is fiercely independent but at the same times thinks no number of kisses is too many. And I even love how the dog that doesn’t care about eating won’t let me sleep in on the weekends because he needs to eat by 7:00am and won’t rest until I feed him. He usually wakes me up with a kiss to the face and when I ignore that, he paws at the bed until I relent, get up, go down stairs and fill his food bowl only to watch him take one bite and then walk around for 10 minutes before he takes a second bite. Yes we do this EVERY Saturday and Sunday.

So of course since I love him so much we had to celebrate his birthday!! I had work and school on his birthday but that doesn’t mean he can’t get presents. On Sunday I made Danny go with me to PetSmart in order to find what I thought would be the perfect present. What I wanted to get him was a raised food stand, I always feel bad because he looks so awkward when he eats and I worry that bending down to his dish hurts his bad leg. No luck…the only ones available at PetSmart were too short and too expensive, however I do have my eye on a hand made, personalized one I found on Ebay that is very reasonably priced. As a back-up I wanted to get him a “natural bone” which is his favorite. I went to TWO Targets looking for these but both were out, so sad. So what did Aspen get instead? He got a football t-shirt (sooo cute), a doggy pizza that he shared with his sister, a bag of strip beef treats and a tug toy!! All in all I think he made out!!

THE BIRTHDAY LOOT!!

YES THEY MAKE PIZZA FOR DOGS!!

GIVE ME THAT PIZZA!!

ENJOYMENT!!

Happy 4th Birthday Aspen!! I love you, thanks for being such a great doggy!!

The World's Ugliest Dog and the World's TWO Cutest Dogs!!

2008-03-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

I think that when the phrase, "a face only a mother could love", was made, it was with this dog in mind. I have seen this dog before but EVERY TIME I see it scares the crap out of me!! I mean what is this thing...a dog...a cat...or did someone spill water on Gizmo!! He is actually a Chinese Crested Chihuahua mix, which now hold on to your pants for this one, is a popular breed in the World's Ugliest Dog Contest, I know shocking. Hehehe.

This poor little guy is so ugly it makes me feel sorry for him and almost makes him cute (I said almost!).

I may be a little partial on this one but I happen to think that living in my house are the World's Two Cutest Dogs!!

Aspen, who is going to be 4 in just a week, is my little baby. He is so independent and doesn't need anyone. He is an expert at slamming the door to his bedroom (otherwise known as my closet) when he just wants some alone time. When the family is cuddling in the bed at night I have to beg Danny not to touch him, because for whatever reason, this makes him mad. If you touch him while he is trying to sleep he gets up, gives you a dirty look, promptly jumps off the bed and heads straight to "his bedroom"! He is also sure to let you know when you have done something he doesn't like. The first time Danny and I cleaned his ears, as soon as we were finished he ran into the bedroom, jumped up on the bed, turned around to look at Danny and I, making sure he had eye contact and proceeded to open the flood gates! That is right... he peed all over our bed!!

At the same time he is such a smart guy! You can tell him to go get a specific toy and he will run upstairs and pick that toy out of all his toys, and he has around 30 toys! Ever since he was a puppy he has loved to lay on soft things and prop his head up on a pillow, I swear sometimes I think he is human. Hehehe. He also loves to give kisses more than any dog I have met. This is great if you are having a bad day because he is always there to make you feel loved!!

Now Gracie on the other hand is the exact opposite of Aspen!! She has to be the most needy timid dog I have ever met. In fact she can't go to the vet with out Aspen because the stress would be just to much for her to handle. She needs her big brother. I feel obligated to mention that Gracie came with her name and there is absolutely nothing graceful about her! She will run at you with all her love and excitement and the only way she knows how to stop is to crash into you with all 84 pounds! You can't yell at her for the this because anytime you yell at her she just crumbles to the ground, looking up at you with her puppy dog look and it just breaks your heart. When it comes time to cuddle in the bed Gracie can't get close enough to you!! She cuddles up right along side me so we are spooning (yes me and my doggies spoon), the whole time wiggling to see if she can get just a tad closer to you. Gracie rarely hands out her kisses but it makes them all that more special when she does.

My favorite thing about Gracie is her eyes. Danny and I always say that when you look into her eyes there is just something special about them. You can feel her loving you, if you are having a bad day you can feel her wanting to take the hurt away. She is so sweet and pretty that even after having her for only a couple months there wasn't even a question to spend a crazy amount of money to take her to see a specialist out in San Diego.

I can't say enough how much I love both my dogs, simply put they are perfect!!

P.S.
And no you don't need to tell me, I already know I am obsessed!!

One Time For Everyone!!

2008-03-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so in honor of it being the first Monday of Daylight Saving Time my friend Josh and I have come up with a brilliant idea!! Being that we technically had to get up early by an extra hour we were EXHAUSTED! Coffee didn’t help and it was determined that we HATE switching times!!

It would be fairly reasonable to say that the VAST majority of the United States would like to pick a time and stick with it; in fact some smart states resist this movement of switching times (shout out to Arizona and Hawaii). Now I personally prefer Daylight Saving Time but I would take either time if we could just commit to one!! I am not knocking Benjamin Franklin, he was a brilliant man, think bifocals, lightening rod and the flexible urinary catheter (hey don’t knock it…many people would be hating life if he didn’t invent it), plus he is on my favorite bill! But come on B.F.,…Daylight Saving Time…not one of your best ideas. There have been studies that show Daylight Saving Time saves the states money but for every study that says it saves us money there is one to contradict it. Blah, blah, blah!!

Through our half sleep daylight saving coma this was the plan that was hatched!! (And by the way don’t try and steal it…this blog post is proof that the idea is mine and Josh’s). We are going to take our idea of keeping just one time to the current Presidential candidates and sell it to them! We will position it as we have the one idea that will win them the Presidency! We think that no matter who takes this idea of “one time for all” and makes it the foundation of their campaign they will win!! It doesn’t matter if they are black, white, old, young, male, female, smoker or non-smoker...this is the wining idea and we are going to sell it!! It is time for American to stand up and fight for one time, we are so sleepy. Hehehe. Hey…everyone has to make their Benjamin’s some way and this is the way we are going to make ours!

So Happy Daylight Saving Time (I am celebrating by barbequing steak tonight)!! Get outside and enjoy your long summer evenings!!

Oh and P.S. John, Hillary or Barack if you are interested you know where to find me…just leave a comment on my blog!

Cupcake Repertoire Expansion…Attempt #1

2008-03-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

If you are a regular reader of my blog then you know that back in February I stated my goal of expanding my cupcakes repertoire. Well last Friday was my attempt #1 at this goal. In addition to being cupcake obsessed I am also blog obsessed and one obsession help the other obsession as I have a few cupcake blogs that I frequent. After careful research I decided to combine two of my favorite things, cupcakes (of course) and SMORES!! I mean who doesn’t love Smores?!

I started out by making chocolate cupcakes with a little crushed graham crackers. This is where something happened that has never happened to me before…my cupcakes tasted horrible!! I thought maybe it was just me so I brought Danny in for a taste test, he said, “they have no taste”, which is exactly what I thought. Panic time, should I remake them or just hope the frosting made them better? Danny’s response…“well it depends on if you care what people think and want them to like them!” UMMM…OF COURSE I DO!! It was back to the store (at 8:30pm on a Thursday night) to get stuff to make a second batch.

I returned and made batch #2 of cupcakes and they tasted so much better…they actually tasted like chocolate!!

Ok…cupcakes down, now time to start the frosting. Remember I am making Smores cupcakes so what would the frosting need…MARSHMELLOW of course!! Well technically it was Fluff which is AWESOME for baking treats.

I mixed the Fluff, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla and it tasted like heaven!! It was time to frost the cupcakes and while I must admit the frosting tasted perfect, it didn’t look as good as I wanted. The frosting in the picture was so perfect and went up in a little spiral frosting mountain. While mine did this at first as soon as the frosting warmed up a little it fell down to look like regular frosting. It is ok….it was just attempt #1, I will get better. Oh and on a side not frosting made with Fluff is very sticking and not what I would call easy to get into the frosting bag. I was a sticky mess, the counter a sticky mess, my cupcake apron was a sticky mess and anything with in a 10 foot radius was a sticky mess!!

I put the finishing touches on the cupcakes, crushed graham
crackers and a piece of Hershey’s chocolate! They looked so
cute, not spiral mountain cute, but cute. I packed them up
and headed off to work.

They seemed to be a big hit at work, two of my friends EACH had TWO for breakfast (I won'tmention any names **cough, cough...Josh, **cough, cough MC), my boss loved them and my AVP and Finance Manager said I needed to make cupcakes every Friday!!

SO I guess all in all attempt #1 at expanding my cupcakes repertoire was pretty successful. Stay tuned for attempt #2!!!

Am I Really Lazy or Really Tired?

2008-03-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Ok so in my own defense I swear I was just really tired when I did this!! I am the first to admit that I can be on the lazy side, my idea of a good Sunday is spending the day snoozing in bed with my dogs…they love to nap just as much as I do. For me that is a hard quality to find in a friend.

However on Friday I was just plain tired. I must admit the last two semesters of school have kicked my butt!! Three classes and full time work is a lot to take on, I envy the “kids” in my classes that take four classes, live at home and have no financial worry other than paying for their night out. Plus we are going though some major changes at work, yet again, and everyone needs to take on extra work. I don’t mind, I really do like working and I am just thankful to have a job.

I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but on Friday, being as tired as I was, I found a way to drive home by just using my thumb!! That is right…JUST ONE THUMB! I think most people might be embarrassed by this but I think it is an accomplishment and shows that I am a very resourceful girl!! I think I am like the MacGyver of sleep deprived/lazy situations.

I found myself on the toll road driving comfortable speed thinking to myself, “man if I didn’t have to push my foot up and down this drive would be great!” As a little gleam of sunshine hit my cruise control the idea struck me!!

You might be thinking to yourself, “Duh, just turn on the cruise control…” but that wouldn’t be enough. While the toll roads flow pretty smoothly there is enough traffic (and IDIOT drivers) to where you speed needs to be adjusted here and there. This is where I thank the makers of my fine Chrysler Aspen for their thoughtfulness in putting in the accelerate/decelerate button. Yep that is right; with just a push of my thumb I can speed my car up or slow my car down.

On the right side of my steering wheel is a button where if I push it on the top my speed “accelerates” and if I push it on the bottom my speed “decelerates”. While this isn’t the best way to drive as the button doesn’t change at Ninja speed and I think Chrysler designed it for slight adjustments to your cruise control speed, it worked for this tired girl on her Friday commute. I was able to finish the toll road portion of my drive home with just using my right thumb...how resourceful is that!?

If I had some duct tape, I could fix that.
-MacGyver

P.S.
I might suggest staying of the toll roads on Fridays at around 5pm as this is when I am the most tired and therefore the most likely to engage in “thumb driving”. Hehehehe.

I LOVE a Good Bargain!!

2008-02-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

Even when I am not on a budget, which I am on a serious one right now, I love a good bargain!! Most people get excited to tell others how expensive something they bought is. NOT me!! I love to tell people when I got something for cheap!! I have this super cute pair of shoes and everyone always compliments me on them when I am out an about. My favorite thing to say is, “they were $7.00”!! I get very excited over this and nobody ever believes me.

My absolute favorite store is Target; I mean you can get EVERYTHING there from cleaning stuff, shoes, super cute clothes, milk, gifts all the way to dog vitamins and all at a reasonable price.

Well back to my bargain. The other day I was just cruising through Target, not looking to buy anything just there for the entertainment (yes I consider strolling down the isles of Target entertainment, remember I am on a budget) and I find this SUPER cute pink sweater!! Score #1, its pink and Score #2 it was $4.68!! It was originally $16.99!! I even saved the tag so I could tag a picture but I don’t remember where I put it. Hehehe.

I tried snapping a couple pictures of me sporting my new sweater with out a ton of success, but you get the idea!

Pretty cute, uh?

Like I said I am on a budget now so this was perfect for me!! I got a new shirt in my favorite color and barely spent anything! It must have been my lucky day because any time you can get a sweater for $4.68 you are having a great day!! So my advice to you, shop the clearance/sale sections at Target, I ALWAYS find good deals.

WOW!! The Land of Magical Things!!

2008-02-22T16:37:00.001-08:00

The other night when we were out to dinner with friends it just happened to come up that I thought Danny’s World of Warcraft character looked a little gay…

Just in case you aren’t familiar with what World of Warcraft is I will give you a quick run down of the game how I understand it. For those of you that are all too painfully aware of what the game is, shout out to Melissa and Sheila; just skip down a paragraph. WOW is an online multiplayer, role-playing game. It is often referred to as World of Warcrack and the wives/girlfriends of the players are called WOW Widows. So an addictive game to say the least. I asked Danny for a brief description of the game but he gave me the technical run down and that isn’t what I wanted. So you get the game from Heather’s view (which is far better but maybe not as accurate)! It is a bunch of guys with a random girl tossed in here and there running around in a magic world, speaking magical talk, fighting in raids, building up different characters (all with magical names…dwarfs, elves, trolls, mages, warlocks and warriors) to a level 70 (the highest level you can be). They quest, go to the auction house to buy magical stuff (what else would they buy) and I think that about covers it! So you totally understand the game now, right? Hehehe.

Often times the group will get together and have LAN parties. What is a LAN party you ask? It is where they all bring their computers to one house, set them up and play in the very same room! As opposed to when they play at their own houses where they use super cool headsets to talk to each other, I mean warlocks and warriors need to stay in constant contact, right? (I do actually LOVE to host the LAN parties though…any excuse for having a party and being the hostess!!) In fact a couple of weekends ago we went to our friends Melissa and David’s house…Danny and Dave were playing in the same room but still the headsets were a MUST!!

I make fun of Danny for playing it but, seriously I know that if I were to give it a try I would be hooked. A couple years back I got SIMS Online and I was crazed about it!! I would run home from work, race past Danny (toss a quick kiss his way) and plop down at my computer and hang out with my SIMS till all hours of the night!! It was great!! Plus my SIM was HOT!! Hehehehe!!

So back to the point of Danny’s character looking a little gay…I mean do guys wear Capri pants? I am pretty sure they don’t but Danny’s WOW guy did!! But hey…I guess it does go well with his pony-tale (postioned DIRECTLY on top of his head)!! It was decided at that dinner (thanks for your support Tom and Sheila), that Danny's character needed an update.So here is the official debut of Danny’s new character (Stabjack)!! What do you think??

“Nutritious” and Delicious!!

2008-02-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

I am really focusing hard on eating healthy and staying fit!! So when it came time from my afternoon snack at the office this is what I selected!

Sugar Wafers and Diet Coke SCREAMS nutrition!! Hehehe…hey most of the time I am good about eating healthy. It is Friday and Fridays are made for diet breaks, right!?!?! Hehehehe!!

Flag Football and the Return of the Regulator

2008-02-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

So this Sunday marked the start of Danny’s “Adult Flag Football League”. Well I guess I shouldn’t say the start since they did have their first game last weekend and I was just “unable” to make it (a whole different story that involves me being smarter than Danny in some regions of the world and my “good girl” headband…don’t ask). I guess I just think things don’t really start until I am there (hehehe).

Sunday morning we packed up the kids (and by kids I mean Aspen and Gracie…don’t get excited anyone thinking that all of the sudden we sprouted some babies) and headed to the field. The field is super nice!! It has fake turf and stands for all the “fans” to watch…the only thing that is missing is the snack bar! I freakin L-O-V-E snack bars!! I think they may be one of my favorite things on the planet…and if you know me you know I am not kidding!!

So back to the game. Danny’s team is pretty funny; their name is FOG which I THINK stands for Fat Old Guys or something close to that. They aren’t really old…they are all 30-40 years old but I guess some people think that is old. Come to think of it, they have been practicing for the last 2 months and it always seemed that at least half of them were at practice with injuries, so maybe they are old…hehe, sorry guys…but I can say for sure that you aren’t fat!!

Right before the game starts Danny comes to the stands to grab his water bottle and was all pumped up. He said, “Look at who that is! It is Warren G!! He is on my flag football team!”. So me with my super cool skills look at the big tall white guy and say, “who?” Danny who is totally used to me lack of cool music knowledge said, “Not him, you know Warren G, the rapper!” Hehehe. So anyways Warren G is on Danny’s flag football team!

With the game under way I am designated to take pictures. Aspen and Gracie are left to entertain themselves; mind you I have the best dogs in the world! I take them off their leashes and they just hang out greeting anyone new to the stands and in general just being cute!! Gracie was sporting her brand new collar and matching leash…pink polka dots of course!!

Here is a shot of Warren G (he is the one on the right,with the white thing on his head):

Danny said something about Warren leaving his assigned coverage and making them lose the whole game. That darn Warren G. always causing trouble.

I made friends with one of the players wives that was there, she was super nice but I forgot to get her name so I will call his Mrs. #14 (her husbands #). This was her first game also so it was fun for both of us to see the guys play. There was this one guy on the other team that CRACKED us up. Every time he did something good in the game he would say, “That is right, I am the play maker. Just call me the play maker!!”

This is the play maker and Danny trying to stop him from making a play…hehehe:

Here is a shot of the games MVP the one to the far left…but maybe I am partial:

They had some strange rules in the game that I didn’t understand…like you can’t jump. Your feet must remain on the ground at all times. I don’t understand that but ok…a rule is a rule.

The guys put in a great game but didn’t win this time around; the final score was 20-6. I hope it wasn’t me because last weekend they won 21-0. I guess we will have to see how this weekend turns out. Now if only their were a snack bar all would be right in the world…

February 14th!!

2008-02-14T00:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Love,

Danny, Heather, Aspen and Gracie

Little Bites of Heaven...Otherwise Know as CUPCAKES!!

2008-02-12T14:02:00.000-08:00

I have recently become obsessed with cupcakes!! Well I guess that I shouldn’t say recently. I have always loved them and baked them for family occasions, work and friends birthdays… I even have a pair of cupcakes PJ’s. BUT the obsession that has started recently isn’t necessarily about getting them to taste better (well somewhat it is…my cupcakes are pretty yummy already) it is about expanding my cupcake repertoire. Yes…I said it…my cupcake repertoire!!

One of my cupcake books!

My new apron!!

I want to be able to make prettier cupcakes, the kind that everyone looks at and says these are too pretty to eat!! What is my plan of attack on expanding the cupcake repertoire? To date…I have purchased a cupcake apron (I will need it for all the baking I plan on doing…practice makes perfect), two cupcake books (research is key), frosting supplies, fondant supplies and I am currently eyeing three other cupcakes books…yes I said THREE (remember research is key)!!

This is what my cupcakes of today look like:

This is what I want my cupcakes of tomorrow to look like:

So if you have a birthday coming up let me know and I will send some cool cupcakes your way (I love giving gifts custom made to people’s personality)!! But remember this is the beginning of my cupcake empire…don’t expect miracles!!

Richard M. Nixon – Our 37th President

2008-02-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

So with everything that has been going on in our lives (for those of you that know me, you know what I am talking about) Danny and I finally had some time on our hands to start doing stuff for us again. So this last Saturday we went to the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, I know this might not seem like fun to a lot of you but I LOVE this kind of stuff. I was giddy from the moment we pulled into the parking lot…it was the same feeling I get when I go to Disneyland.

First I will start off by saying that I have the WORLDS BEST BOYFRIEND (don't argue with me that yours is better...I will win)!! A loonnngg time ago…I made a list for Danny of random things that I wanted to do such as going to the Zoo, going bowling and going to the Richard Nixon Library. I know, I am a girl with big dreams!! Hehehe. Next to each thing that I wanted to do I put the date that I had decided I wanted to do this…this way Danny couldn’t get out of it by saying it was something I had just asked to do…I am a smart girl! Well bless Danny’s heart he has had the weight of the world on his shoulders the last couple of years, just an insane amount of pressure. So one day I was sitting at work and I start getting all this calendar invites for the outings I had listed so long ago…Danny had taken the time to schedule each and every one of them (that were currently possible). I felt special. (I also was happy that I have a boyfriend who enjoys doing these types of things with me.)

The day at the Library was a great one. We got up early, took the dogs to the vet and the bill came to much less than I thought!! Off to a great start, then we headed home, dropped off the babies and it was off to the library.

I won’t bore you with all the details of the library, because I know some of you might not find it as fascinating as I do, but the library day went something like the following. We arrived at the library, got in for the student price=SCORE, looked around the lobby, then started the main portion of the museum. Side note: weekends are excellent days to go to museums…far less crowded. We quietly walked through this portion of the library, reading letters and looking at memories. Richard Nixon accomplished so much and lived a life with many “peaks and valleys”. In the museum they have a letter he wrote to a friend that suffered a stroke, expressing concern and offering assistance, just hours after writing the letter President Nixon suffered the stroke that would cause his death several days later. One of Danny’s favorite items in the library was this picture from Nixon’s funeral:

He said, “Those were the five most powerful men in the world, at that time, all sitting in one row…WOW!”

I so want to go into all the details of Nixon and his wife Patricia but I am realizing this post is already way to long for most people. After getting halfway through the museum portion, we headed back to watch a movie. This was great!! It was filmed when the library originally opened in 1990 and Richard Nixon speaks about his life as a president and as a man. My favorite part was a section where is talked about peaks and valleys, he said that he has been in some low valley’s in his life and that he believes it isn’t possible to be happy in life with out these valley’s because you would never be able to truly appreciate the peaks.

After the inspirational movie, I turned to Danny with “that” look on my face and he said, “what do you want?’ and I said, “can I buy a book today…please?” Of course Danny’s response was, “I knew that was coming as soon as the movie started!”

We headed back out into the main portion of the museum and finished up there. Again we learned some AMAZING things about Richard Nixon…I wish I could tell you all of them.
Once you complete the museum portion you head outside to see the burial site for Mr. and Mrs. Nixon, the last time I was here was just days after he was laid to rest. To me the greatest part of the library is that is built around the house that Nixon was born and raised in. They house holds many “original” items, including the bed that our 37th President was born in!

Just being able to walk in the house he walked in so many times is inspirational. He came from small beginnings and worked for everything he had.

They also have the helicopter, “Sea King”, which served Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. You are able to walk through the helicopter which is and added bonus…again I don’t know if I am weird but I seriously got the chills thinking about the men who walked into that helicopter before me. This is the actual helicopter President Nixon left the white house in, the famous shot where he turns around to say good-bye to his staff and displays the two peace signs.
I know I have bored you all to death and I swear that wasn’t my intention but I just get so excited about this type of stuff. I will end this posting with a few final thoughts.

I am fully aware of the fact that when most people think of Richard Nixon the first thing that comes to mind is Watergate and “I am not a crook.”…this is so sad for me because I think he was a great president and even more importantly a great man. He accomplished so many things like during his life. I believe that Nixon resigned his Presidency not because he was a crook but because he honestly felt it was the best thing for our county, he was willing to sacrifice. As President Nixon said, “I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is opposed to every instinct in my body. But as president I must put the interests of America first. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.” Presidents before and after him, have done worse and not been as passionate about our country.

On a side note if I was in to the whole big wedding thing, I would have my wedding here in a heartbeat. It is so beautiful and full of AMAZING history.

Next on the list, Ronald Reagan Library…they have an Air Force One…how perfect is that!?!?

Yes I did get my book (remember I have the best boyfriend in the whole world), A Life in Full, Richard M. Nixon. It is just over a 1,000 pages and I have set the goal to read at least 10 pages a day. All in all a very humbling and inspirational day!!

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits. – Richard M. Nixon

So Close!!

2008-01-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

After a nice month long break I headed back to school this week. Last semester was a particularly hard semester for me so I am glad to be starting a fresh semester and I have promised myself that I will not procrastinate this time…hopefully I can stick to that.

Although I really do love school I always hate the first week. It is pretty much the same thing in every class…going over the syllabus with no actual learning involved, so I am happy to have this first week down and ready to move into the actual learning portion.

For those of you that don’t know I am a Communications, Public Relations major (CSUF)…and yes I know I should have gotten my bachelors degree along time ago but I guess life just happens. The thing that I am most excited about this semester is that THE END IS IN SIGHT. I was planning on being able to graduate this summer but with the course catalog that is going to be available that doesn’t look possible. However I will be done by the Fall 2008 semester at which time I will be a COLLEGE GRADUATE!! I can’t tell you how exciting that is for me. When I decided to go back to school, and actually take it seriously, I set myself the goal of graduating before I turned 30. If everything stays on track I will graduate 2 weeks before my 30th birthday!! Cutting it close, I know, but a major goal accomplished none the less.

This semester I am taking 3 random courses so it should be an interesting semester. As part of the Communications major you have to take 4 collateral courses and I have been putting them off till the very end. Since I don’t have many classes left the 3 collateral courses fit into my limited schedule of night classes at the Irvine Campus. So I am taking Social Interaction, Organizational Behavior and Principles of Marketing. So far I can’t tell if I will like these classes as we just barely completed week 1 and we have 15 weeks to go…but I will keep you updated. I am sure that the required group projects will provide much drama in my life as they always tend to do.

After this semester I will have 3 remaining classes and an internship. I really thought I would never graduate but I am getting so excited that in less than a year I will actually have a college degree!! What will I do with all my free time once I am done…?

Welcome Baby Kiya!!

2008-01-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

My friend Melissa had her second baby on Monday January 14th. Her name is Kiya Raven, she was 7lbs 3 ounces and oh so cute!!

It was a tough day for Melissa as she had to be induced (as a result of low fluids) which involved the administering of some drug the increases the intensity of contractions. She was very nervous because my wacky friend does all natural child birth, meaning NO pain medication. I don’t’ know how she does it but more power to her!!

I got to visit Melissa at the hospital on Monday (before Kiya arrived), Tuesday and Wednesday but I must admit I had to steal pictures of her for my blog because each time I visited I forgot to take pictures.

What is my role in Kiya’s life you ask? I will be the sole provider of PINK for her! Hehehe. You see, both of her parents don’t care for the color pink, and I firmly believe that no little girl should live a life with out lots of pink!!

My favorite picture of Kiya…notice the pink outfit!!

Welcome to the world Miss Kiya Raven Bonney!!

Good Bye 2007 and Hello 2008!!

2008-01-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

Good Bye 2007 and Hello 2008!!

I can definitely say that 2007 as been a long hard year. So many things happened…I got laid off my job, I took a new job, lasted 3 days there and then I took another job. I was with that company for about 6 months and I was lucky enough to go back to my company of 5 years that had laid me off earlier in the year. This was also the first year that I took 3 classes at school instead of 2 and I can definitely say that was a challenge but well worth it as I am SO close to graduating. My Dad had surgery on his leg but he is healing nicely and hopefully he won’t have any pain soon!! And of course for those of you that know me (and I assume you do if you are reading this blog)…there is always the spa. I am so proud of everything that Danny has done with the spa and know that it will continue to become more successful with each day, but I would me leaving a huge part out if I didn’t say it was stressful. If you don’t believe me you try working with 20 or so “creative” females…hehehe.

If you don’t have the struggles in life you can’t appreciate the good things. So with this in mind I say good-bye to 2007 with fond memories and hello to 2008…I can’t wait to see what this year will bring.

We decided to make the move from 2007 to 2008 by hanging out with our crazy neighbors. If you have ever met them you know there is never a dull moment to be had. We are lucky to have such great neighbors, not only does Royal (that is our neighbor…Royal and his wife Karen) like to walk our dogs but they always can be counted on for entertainment.

We decided to just have a low key night and head to a local restaurant, Hanna’s, which is just down the street from our house. I know sounds like a CRAZY night…I guess Danny and I are just not huge New Year’s Eve people. It is always over crowded and over priced.

We met our neighbors at Hanna’s around 9:00pm…we were supposed to meet at their house but in true Royal fashion they left with out us to get there at 8:00pm. When we got there it was Royal, Karen, Terri Ann (a former neighbor), Suzie (Terri Ann’s sister) and Bill (her husband)…at the bar of course. Here is a picture of all of us at the bar, waiting for our table:

As you can imagine it was crowded being that is was New Years Eve and all so we had to wait a little while for our table, even though we had reservations. We entertained ourselves by taking pictures. Here is one of just the girls:

And one of me and Danny:

We finally got our table, ordered a couple appetizers and dinner. To be honest I thought the food was just ok. Here is a picture of me waiting to be fed:

Another picture of just the girls…you can see how excited Karen is to be wearing the hat:

The strangest part of the evening came at around 10:30pm when Karen leaned over and told me that Royal had too much to drink and that he wanted to go home…go home at 10:30pm on New Years Eve…is that even allowed? I guess I do have to give him credit because he was drinking enough to put me down (actually that isn’t saying much…sorry Royal)! He had at least 2 beers at the bar, 2 beers at the table, some other drink and 2 shots! The funny part is that Bill didn’t think he had drank that much…remember he had all those drinks I just listed AND he drank at Bill's house right before they came to Hanna’s. Bill said, “he only had 5 beers at my house”…isn’t 5 beers a lot? I guess I am just a wuss…hehehe. Anyways Danny had to drive Royal home really quick…he was literally back in under 10 minutes we live that close.

After that it was pretty uneventful, we had dessert, listened to a band and then rang in the New Year with pretty hats, silly noise makers and bad champagne (before tonight I never met a glass of champagne I didn’t get along with famously…at least till the next morning). Danny and I left shortly after midnight…the previously mentioned band was very loud (if you have ever been to Hanna’s you know it isn’t the largest of restaurants) and everyone had the added fun/annoyance of the noise makers…although it was pretty hard to leave my front row seat in watching the skilled dancers of the “Hanna’s dance floor)! All in all it was a good night…I am lucky to be celebrating another year with Danny.

One last thing…Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you have as GREAT a year as I am planning on having!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!! (My last good year...hehehehe)

2008-01-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

Since I just started my blog I decided I would post a bunch of random things that have gone on lately…in no particular order.

My birthday was on December 29th and as my below entry states we decided to head to Disneyland for the annual birthday trip. We got there around 10:30am and decided to go to California Adventure first so that I could get my birthday button…after all that is pretty much the reason I like to go. Also I am a Disneyland fanatic and once when forced to go to Knott’s Berry Farm for a work event I wore a Mickey shirt in protest!!

We first headed over to Taste Pilots Grill, because Danny knows that is one of my favorite spots to eat, but they weren’t open till 11:00am. What does a girl have to do to get a hamburger for breakfast? To kill time we got a Fast Pass for Soarin Over California (a great ride even though it makes me nauseous) and then went to Hollywood Pictures Backlot. At his point is where the mini drama occurred….first as we headed into the Animation Building I scared the crap out of Danny because I started jumping up and down, squealing and clapping like a 2-year-old all because they made some changes in the Animation Building (they added this really cool section on Snow White…the film that started it all). Then Danny and I wanted to head over to the Animation Academy to try and draw the character of choice (it is this really cool, all to often missed, section where “Cast Members” teach you to try a Disney character). Bonnie insisted that she wasn’t going; she would just go to watch Turtle Talk with Crush alone because as she put it, “I don’t draw”. After a little bickering between her and Danny she finally relented (I think it was more so she wouldn’t have to listen to Danny) and went with us draw. It as perfect, we got to draw Mickey! After exiting the Animation Building through the gift shop we rescued a sad lost girl from Disney Cast Members (too long of a story but it really was sad how they handle the situation).

We decided to leave Hollywood Backlot and head back to Taste Pilots Grill where I had the yummiest birthday lunch ever…a hamburger, chili, cheese and sour cream fries!! YUMMY!!

After our nutritional lunch we went to use our Soarin Over California Fast Passes. While waiting in line we decided to snap a few shots. Danny took this picture of me and Bonnie:

And then he wanted Bonnie to take a picture of us so she took this picture:

Do you notice anything different about the two pictures? Well if you have ever taken a picture for Danny you know he demands that they be PERFECT. Take another look at the 2 pictures…see how the one with Bonnie and Me only has red wall and the one with Danny in it has multiple colors? That is the imperfection. I must admit the fact that Danny always strives for perfection, no matter how big or small the task, is one of the many reasons I love him!

After lunch and Soarin we decided to brave the crowds at Disneyland. WOW…not the brightest idea, it was PACKED. We took a quick visit to Santa’s Reindeer Round Up so that I could make my yummy birthday cookie:

Danny and Bonnie had a little fun too:

And OH YEAH, I almost forgot…we got to take our picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus!!

We couldn't handle the crowds so we decided to leave the park and go to Down Town Disney for an afternoon movie. Since it was my birthday I got to pick the movie…we saw Enchanted and it was a GREAT movie. After the movies we decided to ditch Disneyland and go to Red Robin for my birthday burger…food was yummy but the waitress wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed…she forgot my birthday sundae. Oh well, all in all it was a great birthday!!

Can you just take a normal picture?

2008-01-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

Per the request of my friend I will add the picture that started it all. Don’t ask me how this started, it just did and apparently it has become a tradition (at least for Melissa).

Back in 2004 we went to Disneyland to celebrate my birthday… I am a HUGE Disney fan and always seem to end up there for my birthday. I am not sure if it is because my birthday falls right after Christmas and we are broke so heading to Disneyland with free entrance (season passes) fits in the budget or if it is because they give me a “birthday button” and everyone says “Happy Birthday” all day long. Ok it is because the button…we all know how much I love attention! Anyways for my 2004 birthday celebration we stopped by the Blue Ribbon Bakery, after all what is a trip to Disneyland with out an $8.00 Cinnamon Roll, large enough to feed a family of 4, with enough daily calories for a family of 4 and no I don't share.

Of course while I was in line for my Cinnamon Roll, because you have to wait in line for everything during the holidays at Disneyland, I spotted something else I wanted. A BIRTHDAY CUP!! I was so excited; it was pink with Disney Princesses and ribbons and inside there was a brush, a comb, a mirror, stickers and a birthday cake!! I immediately declared I was getting one. Of course Danny’s response was, “No way…those are for 5 year old”, always the practical one. But of course I had my secret weapon, Bonnie, who said, “It is her birthday and if you don’t let her have it, I will”. As you can guess the birthday cup was purchased.

I was so happy with my birthday cup. I carried it around all day, careful not to rattle it too much because it had my PERFECT little birthday cake inside. I was so excited for the cake I even took a picture of it:

I saved the cake all day…remember it was bought with breakfast, but I didn’t dig in till after dinner. Sadly enough I took one bite and realized that there was a fruit filling…tragedy. For those of you that don’t know I have an aversion to fruit being consumed in any other way than God intended…crisp and cold. In the end my birthday cake ended up in the trash.

Back to the picture that started my weird birthday pics. In line for the Haunted Mansion I wanted to show how excited I was about my birthday cup…so we took this picture:

I made the mistake of showing it to Melissa recently who thought it was the funniest picture ever, so when we were at Disneyland this year for my birthday I decided to take another one (the green cookie one) and send it to Melissa. She says it is now my birthday tradition and I have to take one every year. I guess we will have to wait and see how that works out.

All of us from my birthday celebration day at Disneyland (Bonnie, Aaron, Keri, Danny and Me).

On a side note I went to Melissa’s baby shower last week and took this picture:

I showed it to Danny and his response, “Can you ever just take a normal picture?”

My attempt at blogging

2008-01-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

Ok…so I swore that I would never do this, it is just not a strength of mine, but I have started a blog. Melissa, my friend from work, has been telling me since she started hers back in 2006 that I needed one too. Although I enjoy reading hers, often times she calls me a stalker, I am just not as creative as her when it comes to "blogging". None the less here is my attempt at starting a blog. However, as you can tell it is under duress so don’t expect to much from me and if you come back in a couple months and find this post as the lone post or the blog gone all together DON’T BE SURPRISED!!

And in a tribute to my creative friend Melissa, as my first picture posting, here is her favorite picture!

P.S.

If you want to see lots of my pictures you can go to my SmugMug page:

http://hmwilson8.smugmug.com/