8 Years and Counting!

Today is our 8th anniversary. We've done a lot in our 8 years of marriage. According to my calculations we've lived in 4 different states and 6 different homes. We've driven accross the country together twice and we've taken trips all over the U.S. (from California to Vegas to Colorado to New York, etc.) but only recently did we finally take our first trip together out of the country (Cancun, Mexico counts, right?).

But for our anniversary we decided to stay local and spend the night in San Francisco to do some touristy site seeing and to see Wicked! I very much enjoyed the show, it was fabulous. Steve's reaction . . . "It was weird." But he seemed to enjoy it enough while we were there, enough so that I'm hoping we'll go again when we're in New York for Thanksgiving.

The amazing view of the Bay Bridge from our hotel window! We NEVER have good views from our hotel rooms, we always end up with a view of the building next door or the alley or parking lot, this was such an awesome surprise!

The view from the other window. The Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge.


Our hotel, the Hyatt Regency. I love this hotel, so strange but so interesting.

I thought this "Les Croissants" place looked like a fun place to grab some breakfast . . . until I saw the last part of the sign, take a look. "Pastries, Donuts, Espresso, and VIETNAMESE SANDWICHES." Um, no. I mean, I'm not saying Vietnamese sandwiches aren't good, I'm just saying I'm not eating a donut at the same place that specializes in Vietnamese sandwiches, that's too weird!

Street view of two things San Francisco is famous for: the cable car and the insanely steep hills.

The high voltage cables just above our heads on the touristy open-top bus tour.

The Transamerica Pyramid.

Chinatown. I didn't know it is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia. The things you learn as locals on these tours.

Happy Anniversary babe! We've made it 8 years, what's another 60 or 70 more? ; )

Labor Day in Hollywood

For Labor Day weekend we decided to make a trip down to southern California. Despite growing up in the state neither of us had been to the L.A. Universal Studios or done any of the Hollywood/L.A. scenes other than Disney. So we drove down and stayed in a really cute hotel in Burbank. I had yelped good places to eat in the area and we restaurant-hopped the entire weekend. Such fun! What can I say, sometimes the best part about vacation is getting to eat out and try new places. We ate the most delicious chocolate coconut cupcake ever at this little place http://www.joansonthird.com/. I'd seen it on the Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate" series. It lived up to the hype, I was craving them the rest of the weekend! We also frequented a cuban bakery called Porto's more than once. Yummy. Really, everything there was so delicious, it just makes me sad there are only two locations and they're both in L.A.

The first afternoon we took one of those Hollywood Star Homes tours and I have to say, I really enjoyed myself. I thought it would be creepy and weird but it was actually very interesting and a very good time. Even if it was 3 in the afternoon with no top on the van.

The tour took us down Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Blvd, through Beverly Hills, Bel Air, etc. We drove by lots of celebrity homes, including Courtney Cox, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Aniston, Christina Aguilera, the Playboy Mansion, Simon Cowell's new home, the old homes of Lucille Ball and Jimmy Stewart, etc.

The tour guide also took us down what he called "any street" which is where the outsides of homes in many Hollywood films have been filmed. The home the Halloween films were filmed at is below, creepy! I'm sure the current occupants just love these tour buses that come by every 30 minutes!



The outside of the home Michael Jackson was living in most recently. Recognize this view from the media?





View of Los Angeles. Nice smog.



The postcard view of an L.A. sky.



Friday night we were on the waiting list to see Jimmy Kimmel Live but didn't quite make it in. Gerard Butler was the celebrity guest for his new movie The Gamer.

Saturday we headed to Universal Studios.



Our favorite ride was by far the Simpson's simulator ride, really great fun. And because the lines were so short we were able to go on it several times.



The Mummy ride was also pretty fun, although what is it now with simulated rides now trying to scare us by installing little feather things they blow air on during certain parts of the rides to simulate spiders or scorpions or whatever, freaky!!!

Normally there are huge lines at amusement parks on weekends, especially on holiday weekends. But for some reason the park had practically no lines. I don't remember waiting longer than 5 or 10 minutes for any ride, other than the Simpson's. And that was only like 20 minutes. We got through the park in record time and didn't even have to stay until closing to try everything. And we did every single show/attraction they had.

We went on the Universal Studios park tour which took us through sets from different films and showed us how they do some of the special effects. Very neat.

Gabrielle's house on Desperate Housewives.



Sunday morning we drove back to Beverly Hills to visit the Greystone Manor, which is where many famous Hollywood films have been filmed, such as Batman and X-Men. These are the actual gates the batmobile drove out of in the movie.





We headed for a bite to eat and tried a fun little cafeteria-style restaurant that had blueberry mint lemonade that was so tart and delicious. Then it was off to Venice Beach. Traffic. Oh yes, let's talk about traffic, shall we? Our hotel was within a few miles of pretty much everything we went to go see. And yet somehow it seemed it took us an hour to get there! The freeways are ridiculously crowded and there are fender benders around every corner. And there are just not enough lanes to support the population, very frustrating.

We got to Venice Beach and waited for a spot in the packed parking lot. After 45 minutes of just waiting we finally got in, paid our fees, and set off for the sand. Perfect day on the beach. Perfect clear skies, perfect sun, and a light breeze, just enough to keep you cool while reading a good book in the sun. I'm reading "Wicked" by the way. Different and somewhat odd as I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, but a fascinating book. My review for that will be on GoodReads soon.

Once we were sufficiently baked, we took a stroll down the famous Venice Beach trail. Such interesting people watching.





And that was our Labor Day. Lots of driving, lots of site seeing, lots of good food, good company, and over all just a fun weekend getaway.

PEPPER (Blackjack's new foster sister)

We hadn't been planning to start fostering for a few weeks (once we'd been to training) but when the shelter called desperate for a home for this little puppy that was on "the list" I couldn't say no. I picked her up yesterday and she is doing really well. We've named her Pepper. She and Blackjack get along great, they chase each other in circles and tug on toys together. I think she's a good influence on Blackjack! They follow each other everywhere and copy everything. I finally had to separate them last night when Pepper was tired and wanted a break and Blackjack wouldn't leave her alone. They sat on opposite sides of the couch staring at each other, pretty funny.

If anyone is interested in adopting her, or knows anyone that might be, she's cute as can be. She's about 1 and is a black terrier mix with white speckled feet. When she's with Blackjack or has toys she's very playful and prances around the room. ("very girly-like" says Steve). But when she's by herself she's cute and snuggly and likes attention. She slept through the night last night without a peep in her crate and she seems to be house-trained, but time will tell. No accidents yet and she's really good at going right outside on the grass.

She'll be at the Pleasanton Famers Market Dog Adoptions on Saturday from 10-1.

Now I just need to learn how to walk two dogs at the same time . . .

A 2-car garage that now actually fits 2 cars

We cleaned out the garage last night to make room for the new car. Blackjack hasn't taken a ride in the Fit yet but he found his "seat" without any help. Gotta love hatchbacks.

Have a Fit!

After hours and hours of negotiating (including an overnight break), we finally drove away with our new car. A Honda Fit. We've been wanting a Fit for months, but weren't expecting to get one in orange! Excuse me, "copper." But the color is really growing on me, I love it and it's so fun to drive! Now we just have to go make room in the garage for it . . .



While we were at it we decided to get Steve a new car too . . .


J/K, but doesn't he look great next to it! Some day I'll have me a convertible. But probably not in blue.

Santa Cruz

Last weekend we took an excursion down to Santa Cruz. We started at The Mystery Spot up in the Santa Cruz redwoods. Very interesting, but it really bothered me that I couldn't figure out the weirdness. Perhaps there is something to it. They call the area a "gravitational anomaly."

Steve is actually standing straight, or at least he thought he was!


Craziest house. I immediately felt dizzy the moment I stepped inside.


Even the trees in that area grow crooked.


Before heading to the Boardwalk we decided to have some fun with our GPS and see what bizarre tourist attractions might be around. And boy did we find something. Just a few miles down the road we found this little museum:



Bigfoot!








We finally made it to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. We dipped our feet in and MAN was it FREEZING! Nobody was really in the water, most were just sanbathing or playing volleyball.


We tried out one of the rides . . . The Haunted Castle . . . ends up it wasn't so haunted. But the spider on top was a little spooky.

Mt. Diablo

Since moving back to California we've been trying to get out and do some kind of site seeing every weekend. It's been great fun! Two weeks ago we went out to Mt. Diablo. That was the first time we'd been there since high school. The drive wasn't as scary as I remembered but I still had to remind Steve to slow down on the curves because otherwise you're pretty much destined to drive right off the cliff. This is no joke, I remember this happening to a woman from church growing up. I've been scared to death of driving on Mt. Diablo ever since. The woman survived, luckily, and with only bumps and bruises. I remember she looked black and blue from head to toe.

ANYWAY, here we are, on the "devil mountain." Mt. Diablo was also the name of our school district growing up. The devil's school district, it's got a nice ring.


On a clear day you can see San Francisco and the Golden Gate. This day was not a clear day, but it was still really pretty from the top. We could see Antioch, Clayton, Concord, Martinez, and parts of Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek.


Me, looking for spiders in one of the caves . . .

Visitors!

Last weekend we had our first real visitors stay with us for a few nights. My sister and her family came to see Pleasant Hill where we grew up and San Francisco. I headed out for them one day to do some touristy stuff.

First we headed to the San Francisco coast to catch the low tide at 6:30 in the morning. I had forgotten how cool the tidepools were. And to think growing up here we took field trips to see these kinds of things all the time. Lucky us!

A starfish.

A sea anemone.

Eww, a huge crab!

Seals . . . just taking it easy.

The cute Gardner Family. And all of them smiling at the same time!

Next we stopped to walk part of the Golden Gate Bridge.

View of San Francisco and the Bay Bridge.

Then we headed off to see the redwoods in Muir Woods. Sadly, this is the only picture I took while there. I love the smell. I even bought a Christmas ornament made from real redwood that really smells like redwood. Is it the holidays yet???

It was a fun time with the Gardners. Not only did we get to hang out and visit but I got to do some siteseeing I hadn't done since I was a kid. Come back again soon!