Blurry much?

I did manage to do a few fun things whilst I was in California for work last month, as evidenced by these very blurry pictures taken with my Blackberry. (My camera decided it doesn't want to work anymore...I really want to get a new one, but the budget may not allow at this moment. Keep your fingers crossed that I don't get sent anywhere cool like the Czech Republic anytime soon, or else I will sadly not be able to provide any photographic enjoyment for y'all.)

First stop was Stone Brewery in Escondido. Both my Boss and one of my Co-Workers are Beer aficionados and Stone Brewery beer is some of their favorite. I suspect I was invited along to be the designated driver and not really because I am super cool like they said, but oh well.

My fun co-worker Rob.

Grounds outside the restaurant.


This is the cooler where they keep the vintage and "special" beers. There were alot of oohs and ahs and very excited looking men during this part of the tour.

The bottling thingy.

These casks are where they will blend different kinds of beers, including some from different breweries to come up with a new kind of beer. Also much excitement to be had here.

And here is where you get to sample the beer at the end of the tour. I may or may not have aided and abetted in some drunkenness by getting my glass filled and then letting other people drink my share.

I actually thought the tour was really interesting, and I enjoyed the food they served for dinner, but after 7 hours of watching everyone drink and not having anything else to really do - I was definitely ready to go back to the hotel.

Disneyland of course. I wanted this picture to look sort of surreal and all, but all you get is blurry.

Fun co-worker Colette from Ireland. This was taken at the Wild Animal Park. These little deer were such loves, and this one in particular would bare its teeth just a little when you petted it so that it looked like it was smiling at you. Awww.

We were going to go into San Diego, but somehow found ourselves 3 miles outside of Tijuana (don't ask). So we thought, what the heck and drove right on in.

As soon as we passed the border without being stopped, Colette started to get nervous because she didn't declare herself leaving the country, and she was only in the U.S. on a Visa. We decided that perhaps we should just turn around and go back. This was not an easy thing though. The roads are interesting South of the Border, and my rudimentary Spanish was not really helping me much with reading road signs. We seriously drove around for a 1/2 hour before we somehow figured out how to get back in line to cross into the U.S. Not before driving through some shady warehouse districts where they were trying to sell puppy mill puppies off the side of the road though. Sadness.

And then we had to sit in line to cross the border for at least an hour, while people walked up and down between the cars trying to sell things like fruit salad, and giant plaster turtles, which I didn't really get. I mean who goes to Tijuana for a giant plaster turtle?

There were also a lot of beggars. It was actually quite sad. I didn't really like that aspect of it all.

Other than the sad puppies, the weird plaster turtles, the questionable fruit salad, etc. I would say we had a great time on our adventure to Mexico. We laughed the entire time, it was ridiculous. It was especially funny when Colette was getting nervous about how long it was taking to cross the border and wondered if they would shoot her if she just got out and made a run for it. To which I responded that they would probably be able to catch her before they had to shoot her. And then she thought I was saying she was out of shape. And we honestly were laughing like people that were high on drugs, I am surprised they didn't arrest us.

That is all for today, if I manage to get my camera to turn on I will download my pictures of when I went to the Getty and share them next time.

Adios

Single Rider

So, I have been in California on business for the past 3 weeks. Not so much fun. But, originally I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for my California family to come celebrate the big birthday I had this year - we could all go to Disneyland. Because what could be more fun than going to Disneyland for your 40th right? But circumstances were such that it just didn't work out for anyone, no worries.

So instead...

I went to Disneyland by myself, I really didn't think it would be a big deal, I do things by myself all the time right? And I DID have a good time, but I will just say this, Disneyland is more fun when shared with loved ones. No offense to the couple I stood in line with at the Matterhorn, you were perfectly lovely but it just wasn't the same. (plus they didn't seem willing to take picture after picture of me from my good angle, like Kate would - hence no pictures - I "borrowed" that one from the internets)

The day after I went to Disneyland I did go with a friend down to Escondido, and possibly maybe Tijuana, but that is a story for another day. Buenos Dias.

Pandas

I have found a new site - PerfectPandas.com

Delightful.

And...

If you are interested, you should check out...

the Panda Cam at the San Diego Zoo.

A brief history...

So...I don't blog so much anymore. Has anyone noticed? Probably not. Truthfully, you probably should be grateful that I don't blog as much anymore, because mostly I just want to whine about how stressful my job is and seriously who needs to hear that. Lately though I have felt the narcissistic stirrings to once again put my pictures on the web and maybe if you are lucky I will post some political pontifications at some point as well. Just kidding of course (the part about you being lucky).

And while it is true that I mostly just work these days, I have had the opportunity for some extra curricular activities as well.

Here are a few pics from June, July, and August to catch you up.

In June my dear friend Alethea came to Utah and we had alot of fun visiting English Tea Shops, and going to movies, and barbeques, and temples, and hiking.

Here are some pictures of our hike to Timpanogas Cave. (which by the way almost killed me, I beg to differ with the site that calls this a moderate hike. Moderate, my aching foot)

The heart of Timpanogas. As a side note, Timpanogas Cave is one of the only National Monuments in the National Park service to have a red light. I guess a few years ago they made a nation wide standard to only have white lights in national monuments and parks, but people were so upset about missing the red light in the Timpanogos Cave that they found a way to grandfather it in somehow. At one point in the tour they turn on a red light behind the heart formation and it makes it glow red. Cheesy? Maybe, but I liked it.

One of my favorite cave growths - Cave Bacon.

Alethea and I - after the hike.

After hiking to the cave I went to Thanksgiving Point to meet up with my cousins who were visiting from Reno. It was really great to see them. Here is a piciture of their three cute kids outside the Mayan. The Mayan is the place with the divers for those of you who have been there with me before.

Elizabeth - Keegan - Shannon

Shortly after my Sister's wedding, I went with my Grandma and Mom to Dallas Texas. We were tasked with going through the storage containers that my Grandma had been storing for the past 26 years in a Bekins warehouse, luckily for me they weren't ready for us the first day, so we just had to go site seeing. First on my list was the 6th Floor Museum.



This is the spot on the road where John F. Kennedy was shot.

Cute, cute, Jenny. Jenny who now lives in Dallas was able to come and join us at the museum, I was so happy to see her. Doesn't she look fabulous? I would like to mention that it was a VERY humid day, and I do not do well with humidity and neither does my hair.

After the museum we went to the cemetery where my Grandpa John is buried. He died when I was 10 and I was always sad that I didn't get to go to the funeral, so to visit his gravesite was fulfillment of a 29 year old dream. As a side note, and not to be morbid, but the funeral home director told me that alot of famous people are buried in this cemetery. Mickey Mantle, Tom Landry, Greer Garson (I think), and others. They were also responsible for arranging the funerals of Bonny and Clyde (who are not buried in Dallas).

We also went on a drive by of the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which is ginormous.

The National Boy Scout headquarters, where my Grandpa worked.

And the Dallas Temple.

All in all the Dallas trip was a success.

In July, Kate and I went hiking to Silver Lake. I know I always post pictures of Silver Lake, but it is really quite pretty, so please indulge me.

And finally, Kate, Justin, MacConnell and I recently went to a Real Soccer game in the new stadium. It was alot of fun. And the Real beat Chivas USA 4 to 0. Not too shabby.

We had really good seats, like third row sidelines. But I think we were in the drunk tank section. This guy was so loud and obnoxious all through the beginning. He suddenly got silent; Kate thinks he heard me making fun of him. Oopsie. I should remember to use my whisper voice.

At one point in the game, the drunk guy behind me yelled "hair club for men" really loud to the referee who was a little follicly challenged. This was really funny to me for some reason, and I accidentally spit pop corn residue on the shirt of the guy in front of me. Sorry bout that blue shirt guy.

Here is the aforementioned drunk guy photo bombing my picture with MacConnell. You know the peace signs over people's heads just never go out of style I guess.

So that's about it for now, I will try to be more prompt with my postings in the future. Although I can't make any promises as I am scheduled to be in Riverside, California from September 8 - October 2nd for work.

XOXOXO

The Wedding and Wedding Festivities

Yes I know that I have not posted in a very long time. Believe me I would have liked to have posted earlier but I did not have the energy to do so. You see...the past month has been super busy with weddings, and visits, and trips, and working. I work a lot by the way, too much I think.

So without further ado, here are some pictures from June 12 and June 13. We started June 12 with a trip to tour the newly finished Oquirrh Temple. Afterwards we tried to take a group photo, but as you can see it is hard to get everyone looking in the correct direction.

After the Temple open house we went to Murray Park to have a Barbecue. It was actually a lot of fun, and I think it turned out great. Thanks to everyone who attended.

This picture is of my Uncle Byron hiding behind some flowers, it amuses me.


My cute Grandma who flew from Micronesia to be a part of the festivities...


Just a shot of the food

After the barbecue a few of us went to the Scottish Festival, this is a picture of my super cool Henna Tattoo. This year they even put sparklies on the Henna while it dried. Delightful!

It is hard to see, but this is the Tattoo, which is not ink on skin but rather a group of pipe and drum bands playing in unison.

Here we have several pictures of the actual wedding day.

Kate and cute JeriAnn

Sisters

Family

Kate and Justin

Sassy green shoes

I love this last one; it is like Grant Wood meets Magritte.

The last 5 pictures were taken by Rachel Rehart Photography, I like them very much, so I "borrowed" them from her site.

A few of my favorite things....In no particular order.

Shiny new pedicures.

Reality TV with actual talent (and by talent I mean, NOT the Real Wives of New York, or Tia Tequila, Or Rock of Love, etc.)

Harry Potter, enough said. Super excited for July 17th.

Comfy flip flops. Don't get me wrong I appreciate an inexpensive flip flop as much as the next girl, but sometimes those ones hurt my feeties. Havaianas are plush and oh so relaxing to my feet.

DogTown, I can not get through an episode without crying my eyes out. I am sure this comes as no surprise to Jenny-from-the-block who once had to endure watching '8 Alone' at the movie theater with me. But seriously, this show is inspiring, and it does my heart good to see that there are kind and generous people in this world.

I will eat a whole bag of carrots just so I can dip them in this dressing. If it wasn't socially unacceptable to drink salad dressing as a beverage I might be tempted with this stuff. Yummers.

Life-changing, hauntingly beautiful books narrated by Death and set in the Holocaust.

Freshly minted graduates!

Oh Canada...

Something to know about me...I am freakish about food dates. If I think a food item has even thought about expiring I will not touch it. I regularly ask when food was purchased before I will eat it. I smell everything to see if it even remotely smells too ripe. In short I am a little OCD.

Something else to know...Canada rocks! Please note this bag of chips, not only does it have a "MADE week of" date but it also has a "Fresh until" date. None of this sissy "Best if purchased by" crap. They tell you like it is in Canada. And woe be unto you who eat your chips past the "Fresh until" date, because they will be stale.

Canada I salute you!