San Francisco

Brad plans the most wonderful surprises for me, so this year I wanted to do something for him. For Brad's birthday/Christmas/anniversary/and anything else gift I surprised him on a trip to San Fran. I had never been there and he hasn't been for over 10 years. We went over the Labor day holiday.

Here we are waiting to board.

San Fran City sky line. I bought us city passes to tour different attractions AND the city pass paid for public transit. One of those attractions was a Bay Cruise that took you under the Golden Gate and around Alcatraz. This was the view of the City from the cruise boat.

The crookedest street - Lombard Street.

The Painted Ladies

China Town. I actually enjoyed China town - although I wish we ate at a more authentic Chinese restaurant. We ate at the Oriental Pearl which was good but nothing different.

I really like Brad's face in this picture.

The seals at Pier 39

We decided to rent bikes for a day and ride the Golden Gate bridge into Saucalito. I'm not going to pretend - biking is NOT my thing. It was only 8 miles but it felt like 50 (I know I'm a wuss). My derrière was in so much pain I thought I needed one of those pillows women sit on after giving birth - no lie. BUT besides the fact I'm not a biker - I really enjoyed it. I loved being outside and active. You can see so much more of San Fran on bike.

The Sundae we got at Ghirardelli Square.

We went to the Science museum of San Francisco. They had an exhibit on rain forests that was spectacular. Here we are in the rain forest. Please excuse the glistening faces as we were dressed for San Fran weather in an exhibit the temperature and humidity of a rain forest.

Most Unusual Shade of Green

This morning I rode into work on Trax, a rarity these days which I really don't miss. In August the amount of passengers on trax doubles - college kids. Today I was on board with two college kids who were talking about their class schedules and you know what??? I was JEALOUS! I was actually jealous of people in college. I miss it. I miss my class schedule when I lived in Provo. I would go to class from 8-12, study, then from 3-7 I went to work; this was my Monday - Friday schedule. I'm not sure why I was jealous morning. Quite unusual seeing that from the start of my first semester I was counting down the days to graduation. I loathed the amount of time I spent in the library doing research, the long nights that ended in the wee morning hours writing papers, and that I would actually get ecstatic because of the extended hours at the library during finals. But I realized as much as I hated hitting the books or writing papers I thoroughly enjoyed college. I loved the socialization. I loved meeting new people; each semester I always walked away with a close friend (it's amazing how nervous break downs because of due dates can draw people together). I really enjoyed getting to know my professors. The networks that were created have proven to be invaluable. BYU (and I can't believe I'm saying this) I miss you.

The Happiest Dog

The happiest dog in the world is a border collie at work.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7792770

I'm sad we are missing it this year.

Thought for Thursday

Life should not be a journey to the grave, with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well perserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand Diet Coke in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming:

"WOO HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!"

Our New "Alarm Clock"

Syd apparently feels our alarm clock is frankly incompetent at its job. Sydney has self-appointed herself, along with her squeaky toy "lil buddy" to be the [said in a deep loud voice] "THE SNOOZE BUTTON PREVENTION ENFORCER". Every morning right after the alarm goes off Syd takes her lil Buddy and squeaks it as loud and as frequently as she can - she also has observed that the technique of getting up on the side of the bed so she is right by my ear is the most effective approach. I must say my sweet Sydney is as resourceful and she is clever. This was the 4th morning running. Coincidentally lil Buddy has gone missing today.

The Weekend in a Nutshell

As you have probably read the previous post you know what a needed weekend this was for me. As I received some concerned calls over my last post I felt it necessary to clear some things up. First, there was no particular incident(s) that caused my day to be bad - it was just one of those days. Second, my patience was already in reserve when my day started and, well, it was on empty by 9:30 in the morning. I appreciate the concern but I felt important to post it. The reason: I've been doing a lot of blog stalking lately (yes, I'm admitting it) - I found some old college classmates and many complete strangers. Well, I began to see a pattern: They either had perfect fairy tale lives or were completely depressed, and I just wanted to write about my experience - my REAL life - because I want people to know it is normal to have an off day and more importantly it is OKAY.

With that being said, this weekend went by quick but I had a lot of fun and more importantly I'm rejuvenated, refreshed and I am ready to start a new week. My patience is full, my smile is on, and I'm looking forward to it (even if I'm a tad bit more happy for lunch on the "veranda").

This weekend we had our company picnic and I really enjoyed it. It's nice to socialize with co-workers/friends in a relaxed atmosphere AND two of us went home with prizes (I, however, was not one of them but I loved cheering for my friends when their names were called anyway).

Also I have been inspired by the movie "Julie and Julia". I saw this as a matinee when Brad and I were in Colorado and Brad was in the office. Yes, I did like the movie; however, I think it is a better rental than one you pay $7.00 to see, but it left me inspired... to cook. No, I'm not much of a chef. It's not the cooking part I mind it's the clean up I hate, so I avoid it. I decided I wanted to branch out; try new things and learn some techniques. Today, I made chicken cordon on bleu - and not the frozen stuff I actually made it. Flattened the chicken and rolled it myself.

Here is my proof:

Then for dessert I made raspberry bars with white chocolate chips in them. However...

The only real thing I did on this one was add the white chocolate chips, but they were delicious.

A Moment of my Life

Today I was the biggest internal bi-otch I know. I was mentally swearing like a sailor. Sorry Mom, I’m sure you are mortified reading this, and dad you are probably thinking, “Not the most becoming.” Yes, today was not my most becoming of days. I try not to post stuff like this – negativity. I think I’m generally a positive person. I try to not underestimate the power of attitude and mental thinking BUT sometimes and some days just plain suck, but that is part of life. If we didn’t have crappy days we would take for granted the normal- maybe monotonous- but non-crappy days. It’s days like today's that make walking through the door so much sweeter. Walking into the arms of the man I love and holding him a little bit longer, patting my pooches with more vigorous delight, and being encompassed by pure sweet contentment. A feeling that makes me wonder what heaven is like, at least my heaven. Heaven = the eternal feeling of pure bliss – being surrounded by the people and things that you love and that love you in return. It makes me wonder, isn’t this why we have been blessed with friends and family? People who are there to pick you up when you fall and vice versa? Friends who make you smile when the world is determined to make your frown? Yes, we need days like this – if we didn’t have the terrible days we would never enjoy the sweetest of sweets – and those my friends are worth the crappiest of craps.

COLORADO

Brad had to go to Colorado again for a third time to instruct a training, so this time around I tagged along.

Here we are at the alleuvial fan in Estes Park.

But first we took a drive to Black Hawk and other retired mining towns in CO. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like this.

In one of the older mining towns we found this house:

And can you believe it?!? This beauty is for sale!!

Saturday we started our day in Estes Park (Sorry but I forgot blogger has a weird way to upload photos so the order is screwy).

Brad was drooling over this: (Brad in fact told me if he ever won the huge lottery he would buy a unimog along with [but not limited to] a yacht, a fire engine, a jet - I really hope he doesn't win)

The was the beautiful Grand Lake.

See these stairs? The hike up them doesn't seem so bad, right? I mean you wouldn't even call it a hike but when you are this high...

12,005 FEET?!? Yeah, it kicked my trash - I thought I needed an oxygen tank.

Then we got to finish the wonderful vacation off with a Colorado Rockies game that was

fab-ul-ous [said in a high pitched, dramatic, operatic voice]. We only have one pro sports team here in Utah and a couple of minor leagues. I've gotten so use to our minor leagues that I've forgotten how great and fun pro-ball is. It was a great game.

The stadium all sang "Take me out to the ball game" - It was hilarious, I'm glad I recorded it.

Randomness

A random, yet most needed weekend full of nothingness (ahh pure bliss). However, I'm pretty sure my weekend started mid-week, which is when I started to check out. It all started with the movie. We rarely watch movies during the weekdays. The movie you wonder? Edward Scissor Hands - classic.

We also endured those blasted thunderstorms the dogs hate but I love. Thus the reason for my next pictures. Look at the picture below looks like a usual closet but look very closely- see anything?
Here is a closer look...

And one more because I liked this one.
Yeah, Dixie prefers to be in the most inner corner of the house during thunderstorms. She prefers the either bathrooms but both doors were shut so she settled with the closet. A corner of a closet hidden by clothes. You know because clothes are pretty much the equivalent to protective armor.

Since Saturday was rainy and drab we decided to visit some type of indoor activity. So I did some googling and we came across the aquarium.

Here are pictures of sea horses. I have never seen sea horses before - they were quite enchanting.

Brad at the sting ray tank.

Da dum... da dum... da dum...

What I've been up to...

I be JAMMIN'

My S-I-L Andrea taught me how to jam and I got the bug. I didn't realize it could be fun - well if you're not doing it alone. We started with the raspberry jam then we went and picked apricots and made apricot pineapple jam. Next on my list... tomatoes and pear sauce.


**By the way I know I've been lacking on the posts so you may see quite a bit today**