San Francisco - Fall '08

I drove up to San Francisco with Bethany the last weekend of September for Ryan and Laurel's wedding and reception. Except for the fact that I mistakingly took the 99 instead of the 5 into Northern California, the trip was pretty successful. Put two talkative girls in a car for a few hours, add a Frosty stop and some good laughs... and it makes for a fabulous road trip!

The sealing was held in the Oakland Temple overlooking the bay area. And the reception was held in Walnut Creek. I fell in love with two things on this trip. First was Walnut Creek. It's like the best of LA and Orange counties mixed into beautiful Northern California. Randomly, my second cousin is actually close friends of Laurel's family and in her home ward. It was a great opportunity to catch up with her after a good 11 years! It's crazy how time flies.

Laurel's neighbor was gracious enough to open his empty house up to us for gigantic slumber party of LA friends. After the second night of 3am giggling girls, I think the boys wanted to kill us all, but we survived.

The reception was exactly Laurel. Very classy, elegant, and exciting. It was perfect! Here are a couple photos from the weekend. Oh yeah... and the second thing I fell in love with in SF was Rob Moffat. As cliché as this sounds, as soon as he started singing for the couple's first dance, my heart melted. (It's true Rob! It was beautiful!)

Bacteria Beach Birthday

There once was a boy named Gero Student,
who really wasn't a student, but still quite prudent.
He and his coworkers went on an island retreat,
filled with flowers, food, and fun replete.
A quick dip in the ocean caused quite the commotion.
When Gero Student later read the posted sign,
it created a great work-place laugh-line:
High levels of bacteria...
Let's hope he doesn't get diphtheria.


All joking aside... we celebrated Gero Student's birthday in style... dinner, dessert and good friends. The one and only gift he was given was promptly stolen by his nephew... this cool skull kit. I woke up the next morning to find the mandible on my kitchen floor. All I could think of was the horror this child (and mother) was going to face when he realized it was missing. Good news... the mandible has been restored to it's (un)lawful owner. Sorry Gero Student. Maybe next year you'll get a present you can keep.

[bon-ding]

Did I mention I moved? I think I did, but if not... I moved in May. These are my newish roommates and I bonding one lovely Sunday evening. There's no substitute for quality time spent together in this room... with a laptop and Gchat.

bond·ing /ˈbɒndɪŋ/ bon-ding

1. Psychology, Animal Behavior.
a. a relationship that usually begins at the time of birth between a parent and offspring and that establishes the basis for an ongoing mutual attachment.
b. the establishment of a pair bond.
2. a close friendship that develops between adults, often as a result of intense experiences, as those shared in military combat.
3. Dentistry. a technique or procedure for restoring the discolored or damaged surface of a tooth by coating it with a highly durable resinous material that adheres to the existing enamel.

[Origin: 1670–80, for earlier sense; bond1 + -ing1]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Did I mention I despise the word 'bonding'? That and 'cuddling'. I hate that word too. Not that I don't like the actual meanings and actions of these words, I just hate these words. Yes, hate.

Labor Day Shopping

before
after

I went window shopping for a new mattress on Labor Day and came home a few hundred dollars poorer. But my body thanks me every morning now.

As you can see from the photo, I'm going to have to do something about the height of my bed. I literally have to hop onto my bed every night, and it's also the first time in over 21 years that I've worried about falling off of my bed while sleeping. [Back story: My mom likes to tell people about the many mornings she'd walk into my bedroom (when I was 5-7 years old) and find me asleep on the floor next to my bunk-bed. Supposedly I'd slip right off the top bunk underneath the safety bar and land on the floor... completely unaware. She was super worried about me getting hurt, but realized after a couple times that I wasn't waking up and/or crying about it, so it obviously didn't hurt me much. Basically... I wasn't broken... so she didn't fix anything.]

No wonder I have crazy back problems now. Thanks mom. :)
I guess one good thing came of all of this... I can sleep through anything. Just ask any of my former roommates and/or current employer. They'll vouch for me.

I'm melting!

I know I'm way behind on updates, but I can't blog anything until I complain about the heat here in Los Angeles. Holy Crap. It's HOT and it's OCTOBER!!! What happened to fall weather? Here's a screenshot of weather.com in my zip code... uhh.