October 12, 95 degrees.
California, te amo.
Archive for the ‘California’ Category
A Fair Day
August 16th, 2011
On Saturday I cashed in one of my birthday presents – tickets to the fair! Casey, Merrick and I braved the traffic and the parking for some fatty foods and some nausea-inducing spinny rides for the best day ever!
And look how cute the twins are! (unplanned, I swear)
I was so excited and only a little overwhelmed going in because I’ve never been to a fair before (what?!) and there was just SO MUCH to see and do! Where do we even start?!
To keep from eating a weeks worth of calories in one day, we decided to split everything. The first thing we got was a mile long sausage… which was not a mile long. False advertising. After that guy settled, we headed to the rides! Most of the rides had a “no single riders” rule which meant one of us had to sit out every time, bummer. So Merrick and I headed to the “roller coaster” which wasn’t quite the speed demon we thought it’d be and was a little more rickety and painful than we would’ve liked. But isn’t that the best part of fairs? While the Hus and I rode away, Casey stood guard while holding his man purse, aka “Murse” (yes, it is the same word used to describe a male nurse too)
The other best part of fairs – the pig races! We rooted for the purple guy – Natalie Porkman, who unfortunately got smoked. But we did get a “Free bacon!” coupon after… which I think was sure to include Natalie Porkman. They mentioned something about the losers “retiring” heh heh heh… well, nice knowing you Natalie, you still coming for brunch on Sunday?
After a rousing race, it was time for fair food #2 – chili cheese fries as big as my face. Looked like we were eating baby poop… but good! Once that settled… if ya know what I mean… we decided to take a trip to the Michigan, the Frozen Tundra – aka the Ice Museum! It was FREEZING in there, which was a nice change from the 80 degree weather outside, but it was only nice for like 5 minutes. Then it started reminding me of Michigan at Christmastime. Except in shorts and a tank top. But the ice sculptures were pretty awesome… even if I only glanced by them as I ran towards the exit door.
Me and The SCB’s stunt double
After a few beers for him, I finally convinced the SCB to go all romantic on me and ride the couple swings. He does love me!
Flying high!
We called it a day after all our strenuous exercise (walking for 6 hours does do a number on ya…)to sit down for a home cooked meal… Deep fried cheesecake and a Butterfinger stuffed jalapeno over a bed of churros.
After I diagnosed us all with diabetes and heart failure, we headed home to a chill night to complete the obese, sedentary lifestyle by watching multiple episodes of Arrested Development. Best fatty day ever.
Les Miserables
July 26th, 2011
Remember when I bought the Hus tix to see Les Mis a couple months ago? Well Sunday we finally saw the show.
The day sort of got away from us and by the time we realized it, we were heading to the gym at 3.15pm and had to head for LA by 4.30/4.45ish. Which, if anyone knows me, knows that is NOT enough time for a decent work out PLUS shower, shave my legs, do my hair, put on my face, etc. We split from the gym around 3.45 and it was pronto time to get ready. Unfortunately in a time crunch like that, the legs were left unshaven. Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some. At least I had time for everything else. We got our fancy pants on, jammed to Les Mis on Pandora and made our way up to downtown LA to the Ahmanson theater.
Our tickets were center about 1/3 of the way back – perfect, except we were separated by about 8 people. Thankfully we were able to get there early and bat the eyelashes and convince the other show go-ers in our row to slide over one measly seat to allow the lovebirds to sit next to each other. That was a huge blessing because we were worried people wouldn’t be willing to slide over for us, but everyone was really friendly. Plus I was able to enjoy the show that much more by having my arm candy by my side. And being able to see his reactions as the story unfolded in his first time viewing eyes was amazing to watch too.
This was my 3rd (or 4th…?) time seeing Les Mis and it gets me every time, and this time was no exception. It was incredible. The music, the story, the love, ah… I generally don’t cry in movies or shows (ironic because I cry for pretty much any other reason), but I definitely got choked up a few times during the show.
I’m so grateful I have my PIC (Partner in crime) that I can drag to all these black tie events and pretend to be cultured by seeing fancy pants Broadway shows. It’s become kind of a tradition to see at least one per year… I already can’t wait till next years show, whatever it may be!
Flat-landers go up
July 21st, 2011
This past weekend the SCB and I headed north to the mountains for a little weekend getaway. Our friend was so generous in letting us tag along with him and use his cabin in Big Bear. With the elevation of almost 7000ft, the air was crisper, clearer, and we can now cross “Mile High Club” off our list… 
People from the city are called “Flat-Landers” up here and we definitely stood out like a sore thumb, besides the fact that we weren’t wearing flannel, we also were about 30 years younger than everyone…
We left late Friday afternoon and ran into everyone trying to avoid Carmageddon and made it to the cabin by around 6.30pm just in time to check out the cute little city of Big Bear and do dinner in town. Then we headed further up the hill to get some much needed R&R at Chet’s adorable mountain lodge. It was very quaint and rustic, just like I imagined a mountain cabin would be. In fact, the whole area reminded me of vacationing in Michigan – the lake, the greenery, the dirt roads and quiet atmosphere.
It was about 70 degrees during the day, but as soon as the sun set it got cold cold cold up there, which makes for good sleeping weather, especially under a down comforter and close to the one you love. After a very filling dinner Friday night, we got into a food coma and were freezing so the Mister and I went to bed at 10pm and woke up about 10am on Saturday. That’s the thing about mountain living – there’s no time frame. It really is for some R&R. Once we finally got our lazy carcasses up, our host took us out for some mountain hiking. 7000 feet above sea level and a 45 degree incline for an hour was HARD. Phew, I was winded. So although it was just a walk, that walk wore me out, which was perfect timing for a 3 hour nap. Yes we did sleep for 12 hours, were awake for only breakfast and a long walk then went back to sleep. I tell ya, it’s the mountain air – just makes everything happen so much slower and makes you not feel bad about sleeping 15 hours of the last 18 
Amateur hikers here
All for this awesome view – The lake, the trees, the mountains! Ah bliss…
After our nap, it was almost time to eat again (noticing a pattern – eat, sleep, eat, sleep… man, babies have the good life!), the guys started grilling while I sat outside in the sun enjoying a drink and my book (just finished The Hunger Games – so good by the way!) I’m really starting to get into this mountain living – eat and sleep all day, then when the boys are doing their manly work, I can sit and look pretty, reading smut and with a cocktail in my hand.
After a long day of activity (sleeping and eating count as activities, duh), we went to bed early again, woke up around 9am and walked down to a cute little cafe for breakfast where everyone knows everyone then made our way back down the mountain to city life.
The curvy ride UP the mountain was no big, but those curves on the way down were making my innerds jossle and my head hurt. I had to put on Merrick’s hat and close my eyes to not see the curves… but then when I couldn’t expect them coming, I couldn’t brace for them and made the jossling worse. I was close to losing my cookies but some deep breathing got me through (maybe there IS something to those crazy Lamaze mammas “heee-hee-hooo”‘ing through labor)
We finally got back to our beach town in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the Sunday keeping with the mountain tradition of doing nothing but eating, napping and lounging on the couch. It was a wonderful, much needed, restful weekend. And the best part – since we weren’t doing anything, we just were. No drama, no bickering, no to-do lists, just US really enjoying each other’s company and relishing in our love. I was initially skeptical of the mountain weekend for a few reasons, but all of my worries were for naught and I’d go up there again in a heartbeat. Although maybe next time I can get a cheap flight down the mountain so my innerds don’t jossle during the topsy turvy turny mountain curves…
So the question of the day is… Would you rather have a mountain house or a beach house?
-I asked Merrick this question and he said, “Both, duh” hahaha… as much as I loved the cute, quaint, rusticness of the mountain house, I HATE the cold and I could NEVER be up there in the winter. Plus, as much as a nice quiet get away weekend was, I need people in my life. I’d get bored. So beach house it is!
Summer fun-in’
July 8th, 2011
Reasons I love summer summer summer time!
-You can finally play Will Smith’s “Summer Time” … or do people not wait all year to play that anymore?
-All the FRUIT. Ah delish. It’s just so accessible and easy to eat as a snack. Plus, fruit salads have become a fave – spinach, strawberries, pear, blue cheese, cashews = heaven in my mouth. And no need for any dressing (but if you do, a vinaigrette is muy bueno)
-Sleeping with the windows open, the fan on and just a sheet. Sometimes in the middle of the night when it’s gotten a little cooler, the Mister snuggles all close so I can keep him warm. For the non-cuddler that he is, I love these moments.
-BBQ’in! I’ve got a live in Grill Master, and nothing beats his grilled chicken, tri tip, corn, ‘taters, asparagus… mmm I’m getting hungry just thinking about it (ps we’re having a bbq tomorrow night if you wanna come…)
-Everyone is so active! I love going out and seeing runners, bikers, walkers, everyone getting their move on! It’s encouraging and inspiring to be moving myself
-Da Beach!
-The convertible. Every other time of the year (and sometimes in the summer too…) I hate our convertible… it’s tiny, my hair ALWAYS gets messed up, and it’s loud. But there’s just something about driving with the top down in the summer time that makes me happy
-My freckles aka “angel kisses” (according to Grammy D) come out of hiding.
-Tan lines that prove you were active (cuz nothing’s cooler than a running tank tan line right?)
-No need to blow dry the hair or wear makeup… beachy hair is in right? And the sun kissed glow will be my color… Or I’ll just keep telling myself that
-Smoothies, mocha lattes, ice cream, fro yo!
-Well August 5th, duh. Number one reason for summer.
-When I get home from work at 8pm it’s still light out!
-But most of all, those aforementioned cold husband cuddles. Those are the best.
Summer Lovin’
June 8th, 2011
Despite working full time this summer, I’ve got some pretty lofty goals. Here are some of my plans for my summer of loooove:
-FINALLY get our wedding album together. I mean, it’s only been 2 years and we have almost zero pictures to document it actually happened. I still think it’s a miracle that foo’ wanted to lock me down. Now I just have to get the proof it wasn’t coerced. After all, the proof is in the pudding… or in the pictures.
-Do a clothes purge. Right now my drawers literally cannot even close because they’re busting to the seams (and beyond!). I’ve got an entire drawer full of cotton workout t-shirts from high school and beyond. Besides, who even works out in cotton anymore? That was like so 2003.
-Go to the OC fair. I’ve been out here for 4 years and have never made it to the fair. But that deep fried butter or deep fried chocolate covered bacon have me salivating to go (gag!)
-GTL, obvs… that’s Gym, Tan, Laundry for all you non Jersey Shore peeps (actually I’m not a JS person either and I had to ask my 14 year old patient what that meant)
-Finish Jill-Jill’s 30 Day Shred… like I said, I’m halfway done, so I should be officially shredded by the end of June (hopefully)
-Start my new “frenemy” Tony from P90X. I haven’t even started and I already hate him.
-Rediscover the beautiful Pacific Ocean. You’d never know I live mere minutes from the beach since I hardly EVER go down there.
-Try to get back into running shape… double digits baby, the goal is to run 10 miles again (which I haven’t done in about a year, this one may be difficult)
-Have lots of girls nights and going out nights… Since I’ve been Grandma Lame-o this school year, I’d like to see the outside of my house again, and perhaps the inside of a bar. Haven’t seen one of those in a while.
-Make it to my 26th birthday. Ya never know what could happen between now and August 5th…
-Catch up on celebrity smut, read for pleasure, shop till I drop, catch up on ALL the Twilight/Harry Potter movies (I think I want to reread HP again first… so I think all 7 books will take me all summer, I might have to wait to see the flicks till the fall)
Who’s ready, let’s bring the HEAT!
Summer lovin’ on our Hawaiian honeymoon
The fame
April 19th, 2011
I have some pretty awesome friends. They’re pretty AND they’re awesome. I’m the luckiest.
One of my pretty, awesome friends, Lisa got us tickets to the ELLEN show and we’re heading up to LA to celeb-stalk and hope for our 15 minutes of fame as Ellen’s camera guy pans over us in the audience.
I’m super pumped, one cuz Ellen is hilarious. It’s been said, “Oprah will make you cry, Ellen will make you laugh.” Plus I hear she gives away pretty sweet loot. AND I’m gonna be on tv! This is almost better than my run in with Ry Ry!
At first I was a little worried about the timing of it cuz it’s in the middle of the week and it’s an ALL day thing plus I had a big test on Thursday, but my teacher must’ve known I was going to be stalking celebs, so she moved the test to the following week!
We won’t know who the guests are until Wednesday and it won’t be shown until Thurs, but keep your tvs tuned in Thursday at 4pm on Channel 4 (NBC) or if you’re my Mamma, tune in to channel 4 (WDIV) at 10am.
…Now I just need to figure out what to wear…
Gone Baby Gone
April 4th, 2011
Remember when my in-laws were here and I didn’t even touch on the rest of their visit? It’s cuz I been gone baby, gone. And guess who’s back, back again, Katie’s back, tell a friend… (I’ve gotta represent MI with the best MI has to offer… Hey, he’s still better than Kid Rock!)
So last I left ya’ll (before my prewritten posts), my lover’s parents were in town and we were heading up to San Franny. How’d that go, you wonder? Well we started to head up by 6am Friday morning but my beauty of a car was pooping out on me so my husband and FIL spent over an hour doing super-handy-man-fix-it-stuff that I had no idea about. I was the “hand it” girl. “Babe can you hand me…” and I got an A+ (until I blew my nose in the paper towel used to wipe up the green patch-a-hole spray and then had to hand it back to the handy man, oopsie!).
We finally made it up to the ‘Sisco late Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and made our way through the freezing rain to Alcatraz. Merrick’s family was welcomed with open arms to the prison ground
See? It says, “Indians Welcome.” I think the “Crazy White Girl Welcome Too” sign was in the back…
I felt bad for Merrick’s parents… coming all the way out from freezing cold Michigan just to be in freezing rainy California. Bummer of a trip if you ask me! But they kept each other dry and warm with their makeshift Babushka’s (???) and still kept on happy faces, despite the crapptastic weather.
We called it an early night after a long day of driving, and a lotta walking in the cold, so we could be good and ready to take on the wineries in the am.
So much for being “good and ready…” doesn’t look like we’re ready to take on anything but sleep! But thoughts of wine are keeping me going…
Let the games begin!
Our cool tour guide, Dave (hey Dave!) took us to a few more wineries and then my husband musta slipped him some ching ching cuz he dropped us off here for lunch:
The CHEESE FACTORY! With free SAMPLES! AND they had a fudge shop in there too with SAMPLES! Oh I was in heaven!
Nothing could top that… wine, cheese and chocolate. Ah bliss (well, minus the wine part… pure bliss would have to allow room for some white russians).
We headed back down to the OC early Saturday morning hoping to get us back home by lunch time but my car misbehaved again and my Mr. Fix it spent another long time working on it. We finally made it home and spent the rest of the in-laws visit relaxing, drinking far too much wine and catching up. We had a wonderful time with his parents and were sad to see them go on Monday. Goodbyes are hard especially when we don’t know when we’ll be back in town. So that just means more visits to Cali then! Now just about everyone’s come out to visit… almost (we’re still waiting on a few siblings to sneak out here! )
Money and time
January 23rd, 2011
Money and time… the two things I’m always lacking the most…
The SCB and I were talking about our vacation. We don’t know where yet and we don’t know when, but we know we need one soon! The plan is in the summer sometime and thankfully, there are a lot of options. Not so awesome is that there’s not a lot of dinero.
Little back story – I have a handful of my best girlfriends still in the Midwest. I don’t see them a lot and I miss them tremendously. A few of them visited me this past summer, and we had the best time ever. Now that they’ve come out to visit me, it’s my turn to visit them. Three of my loves are in MI, one’s in OH, one’s in MS, all with their own lives and husbands – all that make a girls vacay very difficult to plan.
Other back story – The Hus and I spend all our vacation time and money flying back to the Frozen Tundra to see family. In 2010 we went home six times for various important family events. SIX! That’s once every TWO months! That’s almost more than when we were planning our wedding from California IN Michigan. And don’t get me wrong, I love and absolutely cherish time with both families, but that pretty much means there are no friend or actual “vacation” trips throughout the year when all of our “vacation” is spent at a parents or an in-laws house. And let’s be honest, time at home with the fam, although always a wonderful time, is never relaxing or a “vacation.” Again, no insult to either of our families. The Hus and I know family is the most important investment and we’re more than happy to go home for the important events. But the trips to MI are always a whirlwind and we need a vacation AFTER that Michigan vacation. And as my mother always says, “With family you’re twice thankful. Once when they come and once when they go.”
But this is where the problem comes in… I’m in some DIRE need for my girlfriend time. Needing my chicks LIKE WHOA and totally missing them. But then again, Merrick and I haven’t had a vacay just us two in a while either and that’s equally (if not more) important. It’s different for the SCB cuz he doesn’t have a lot of long distance friends… all his boys are in Cali. And don’t think my Cali girls don’t mean anything to me – the few, the proud of those ladies are incredible out here. I just don’t feel like I need a vacation with them cuz I see them all the time. The girls I’m craving are my college loves. The ones who have seen me through thick and thin, have seen Merrick and my relationship unfold and grow, who were there at my wedding, who I was in their weddings… the ones with the history, ya know?
And the problem is that we can only afford one mini-vacay this summer. Again, my part time pay check and my full time tuition are NOT getting along.
And the question is – vacation with my girlfriends? Or vacation with my husband?
(…If only all the husbands were bff too, that would just make everything SO MUCH easier! The hubbies all like each other fine, but they’re not bff like their wifey’s are…)
On the one hand, I’m really needing some lovely ladies now, and 3 of them visited me, so it’s my turn to fly somewhere for them, right?
On the other hand, the Mister and I need some quality time. And he should always be my priority. But my excuse is that I see him all the time, I never see the girls. One of my absolute besties I haven’t seen in almost a YEAR!!! That’s a long time gone and a lot of phone convos that just don’t quite cut it.
So then that leads me to thinking about the dolla dolla bills yo. I see my girlfriends all taking these fun trips that I’m missing out on. I get a little (or maybe more than a little…) jealous that they all have this free money that’s floating around – the couples with 2 full time jobs, no undergrad debt, cars paid off and live within driving distance of their families. We’re just not there yet. We won’t be there for a while.
But when I start getting down thinking about everything I’m missing by being out here, I see this fortune from my Chinese food a few months ago that’s taped to my computer – “You will never need to worry about a steady income” and I’m reminded of all the blessings I have. I’ve got a man who loves me more than words. I’ve got a great, flexible job. I’ve got the opportunity to be in graduate school. I’ve got an amazing group of California friends, and I’ve got long distance girlfriends who understand I can’t always make it to various things and love me just the same. And apparently I’ll never have to worry about having a steady income, according to P.F.Chang’s fortune teller.
So I am thankful for everything I have and become peaceful at the moment. I’m thankful for my husbands meticulousness of our finances and for how we live our lives and how we prioritize our money. It may not be a girls weekend in Florida, or a shopping trip to Target, but we are rich in blessings and love.
…But I’m still wondering about my summer vacay and missing my girls… and I still am torn about what to do and where to go… If only I had more money and time, sigh.
Girls just wanna have fun!
September 22nd, 2010
I’ve gone through a lot of phases in my life and one of the more recent ones was the, “When I was in college…” Thing is, college really wasn’t all that long ago. But then again, I think about it and I graduated college over 3 years ago, and I started college over 7 years ago. So to say, “When I was in college…” really is more reminiscent about yesteryear than it is about yesterday. (And after saying that, I realize I’m old and now I’m going to go to bed promptly at 9.30p…)
This past weekend however, I actually RELIVED some of my old school college days. My college girlfriends came to visit me! And by “relived,” I mean we went to bed LATE (Midnight…) , and went OUT (for dinner…) and DRANK (one single glass of wine…)
Now after we graduated, we all ran to the chapel and married our sugar plum boyfriends, stood up in each others weddings, and then ran to all ends of the country to begin what we call “long distance girlfriend dating.” One’s in Mississippi, I’m in Cali, one is in the West side of Michigan and the other one is in the South East side of Michigan. So this is the first time in a year and a half all 4 of us are back together! And we had a GREAT TIME! Nothing like a little girlfriend time to make everything better!
So when they got here Thursday, my Super Awesome Super Chocolate Bear bbq’d for us and then joined us for riveting games of SATC trivia and Catch Phrase. The boys beat us in Catch Phrase, but we kicked some serious boy booty and won the SATC trivia/charades game. I guess I can’t blame them too much though, SATC (aka Sex and the City…) isn’t really their cup of tea, and thankfully! I think we’d all be a little worried if they knew what Mr. Big’s first name was (it’s John, by the way… you find out in the last episode of Season 6)
Friday we spent at the beach and moved our way into the pool when it got too cold. “Cold” out here means less than 70 degrees on the beach. (Yes I’ve become a sissy and gone soft since I’ve moved away from the Frozen Tundra.) After thoroughly enjoying our Vitamix soup, we got ready for our CRAZY NIGHT out – sushi and a dueling piano bar. And of course, sushi was AMAZING (only my 2nd time ever!) and I tried my first Saki Bomb! Then we met up with the rest of the crew for a night out at our favorite joint – The Derby. We got home around midnight and hung out with the boys till about 1.30 just drinking, and talking and hanging out, just like the good old days of college. Good girlfriends, good drinks, good (and usually inappropriate) conversation made up many of my nights with these girls from back in the day.
Saturday was an early morning for the Michigan football game (which again, we WON! GO BLUE!) . The Hus and I made a pancake breakfast (complete with tequila shots… breakfast of champions!). We watched the game and then my lovely ladies and I drove out to Temecula for some fine wine.We spent the rest of the afternoon in wine country being classy connoisseurs describing how we could taste the oak or the cinnamon or whatever else they “found” in the wine. I wasn’t as classy though. I held tight to my favorite dessert and white wines. My palate just isn’t refined enough for red wine. I thought I’d be classy post college and drink full bodied red wines, and be able to fully appreciate all the tanins and flavors. Nope. But at least we’re not drinking Franzia boxed wine anymore!
So after a wonderful weekend with my best girlfriends, they headed out Sunday morning. With everyone’s busy lives, husbands, jobs, long distances, always short on money and other important priorities, it’s hard to get all of us together. I really felt loved that they made the trip out to see me. Next stop – possibly Mississippi to visit Emily OR there’s talk of a Florida trip in January with the husbands.
It’s been really cool to see how we’ve all landed and how our relationship as girlfriends has changed, yet it still stays the same. Our conversations have moved from recapping our wild nights and crying together over horrible professors and other trivial, petty things. We now talk about our futures, how wonderful our husbands are, our careers, spirituality and other “adult” topics. The 4 of us have essentially “grown up” together in our formative college years. We’ve been through a lot together – blood, sweat and tears. And through it all, we’re still together. Still the same old best friends who love each other and would do anything for each other. We’ve supported each other through our weddings and marriages and all the struggles in between. We pray for each other and call each other out and send loving texts, emails or cards. We’re still a tight knit group of girlfriends and although we hadn’t seen each other or even talked in MONTHS, catching up was like I’d just seen them yesterday. We all flowed and still continued to just “get” each other in ways only a girlfriend can “get” you. And we all got really lucky, landing 4 perfect gentlemen who treat us like princesses and there’s nothing any of us would change about our husbands, but there are some girl things the boys just don’t get. And for my girlfriends, I am eternally grateful.
Merrick asked me if seeing them made me want to move back to the Hand State, and I surprised him by saying no. I’m still not ready to make it back there. As long as I get girlfriend time every once in a while (hopefully more than every 18 months from now on! And hopefully before all the babies start coming in the next couple years!) then I can keep on keepin’ on out here in sunny SoCal. In the meantime, we’ll continue with our long distance girlfriend dating and as they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. And it’s true. I’m loving these girls and appreciating them more every day and more since we’ve graduated and become women of the working world.
Even as women of the working world, girls STILL just wanna have fun!
