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.

Surprise Phone Calls

Emely, Sara and I at the Glendale YSA Conference a couple weeks ago.

This was last photo taken before getting SUPER SICK. I was sooooo sick! After A LOT of praying Saturday night, I was able to finally get a couple hours of sleep, get ready for church in the morning, and take 10-15 minutes to prepare my RS lesson before I had to give it. The lesson wasn't that easy either... it was on "Words of Hope and Consolation at the Time of Death". Thankfully I had prepared a little by emailing 3 close friends about their recent experiences and had those printed out. I wanted die while giving the lesson, but I made it through fairly well and went home to crash on the couch for the next 3 days. No joke. I went to the doctor after having a 101+ degree temperature for 4 days in a row. When I got there, I just cried. At this point I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink in over 72 hours. He told me to go straight to the ER to get some fluids in me. I honestly didn't have the strength. I barely made it home. Kami came over and brought Gatorade. It was my saving grace. Slowly I went back to work and got over this craziness.

Then I got a phone call. And a voice message.

The CDC wanted to talk to me. Huh? And the LA County Health Department? It seems that my lab results came back positive for Salmonella poisoning. No wonder I felt like crap. Literally. :) I spent over 45 min on the phone with the CDC answering questions about anything and everything you could think of. There's a 72-hour incubation period before symptoms show. So now I get to go back and figure out exactly what I ate that week and where. Then the County Health Department came to my house. Wow, who knew I was so important? Surprisingly, my doctor was the last one to call and tell me what was going on.

It's sad when the state and federal gov't has faster response times than my own personal doctor. And I pay extra to have a PPO. Hmm.

Summer Office Party

My summer office party was last night. I've worked at many places and been to many summer parties, but this one doesn't even compare. E! definitely knows how to throw a party! It began with an order of 200,000 Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast, Pink's Hot Dogs for lunch, an incredibly tasty catered Mediterranean influenced dinner, about 10 open bars (stocked with diet coke, thankfully, and 'round-trip taxi vouchers for all employees), and ended with live music performances from 7:30pm-2:00am! This was an employee-only event--no guests allowed. My friend Shana works in the twin building across the courtyard from me and she sent me a text message yesterday afternoon wondering what was going on. Sorry Shana! (Hope you had fun watching the concerts from your balcony!) Her office building wasn't even allowed out of their front doors! Security stopped "outsiders" at every point... checking for the coveted little green wrist bands we were all given to attend. One of the funniest parts of the night was watching the security "standing guard"--while dancing the night away!

Clinton Sparks DJ'd all night and N.E.R.D. (Pharrell Williams' band) was the headliner. Sean Kingston--famous for "Beautiful Girls", Colby O'Donis--“What You Got" featuring Akon, and Ray J--"Sexy Can I" all performed too. It was pretty fun and wild. Our CEO told us not to show up to work today before 11am... needless to say... it was a quiet day at work. I'm assuming Advil sales were at an all-time high at the grocery store across the street.

I can't wait for the Holiday Party!

My office front courtyard turned concert venue

Amanda and I--we sit right next to each other and have the same last name!

My coworkers and I

I loved the decor



Sean Kingston


Colby O'Donis


Ray J


N.E.R.D.

*I saved these videos at a very low-res... maybe I'll reexport better versions later.

Wedding Weekend!

Amy and Justin got married last month! Their reception was beautiful and the company even better. Chris came to visit from TX for the wedding, so we had to celebrate all weekend long. It was slightly fabulous. We have another friends' wedding coming up in October... will we see Chris again? We'd better!!!

Danny Doom

Danny is our beloved friend and we recently celebrated his birthday... Danny Style. Traditionally, Danny sings the Gloomy Birthday song to each of us for our birthday's, so we decided to do the same for him. The JCrew added a special verse for Danny and it turned out to be a great success. Notice the lovely design Josh made with the candles.
Happy (Gloomy) Birthday, Danny! And congrats on finishing the Bar Exam!

Hallelujah!

I've officially finished the domestic and international campaign I've been working on. YAY! I can't tell you how happy I am about it! We even celebrated at work! Well, I lied... I celebrated the end of Pamelaland... at a co-workers birthday. Here are a two photos I took through my car window.

Don't Smoke.

The Body Worlds exhibit at the California Science Center continues to enthrall me. This is the second one I've attended and I can't wait for the next. It's a science exhibit of the human body and all its many parts, but they're plasticized... it's pretty much amazing. The show is moving to SLC from LA this month, so if you have the chance to go--definitely go, you won't regret it. The smoker's lung has got to be the most persuasive reason not to smoke. NASTY!

Little Miss and Mr Men

About a month ago I had a split-second flashback to my childhood. Besides my all-time favorite "Go Dog. Go!", my favorite series was the "Little Miss and Mr Men" book series by Roger Hargreaves. I couldn't remember what they were called at first, but I remembered the characters vividly. It took about 5 minutes of google-exploring, but I found them. Not only did I find the books, but I found a website for the "Mr Men Show" on the Cartoon Network. I obviously don't frequent the CN very often. I had no idea it existed, but I'm so glad it does because their website it so cute. Each character has its own game, downloadable coloring page and wallpaper. My boss walked past as I was playing one of these dumb little flash games. I was caught. I couldn't help it, I was reverting back to my 2-year-old self! Oh, look, I found another one.

I think Little Miss Chatterbox is my favorite today. She keeps repeating, "I love chocolate cake and competitive shopping."

"soooo meaty... "

My friends and I have been frequenting tapings of The Soup lately. I really don't have much more to say, other than the fact that Joel McHale is not only hilarious, but so nice and so dang hot. That's all.

Pamelaland.

Work life has officially interrupted my home life. I'm dreaming in orange and yellow. Someone please help me.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably don't live in Los Angeles or New York City. Otherwise you'd be bombarded by posters and billboards promoting this new show. Want your very own calendar? Want a poster? Let me know... I think I have an "in" with the person who made them.

Thoughts of even watching this show are beginning to put me over the edge. I'm doing good just attempting to stay afloat in the yellow-orange-lands of Australia, Canada, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Serbia... you name it... I'm swimming in a dangerous game of RISK.

glow

The city of Santa Monica let go of all their many beach and pier rules for 12 beloved hours with an incredible GLOW festival - the first time in history that the Santa Monica pier has been open all night long. How could I not be a part of this? When we finally found parking and walked down to the pier, it was about 2:00am. Overall the art installations were pretty cool, but the amount of people at this festival was astonishing!

"At any given time, up to 75,000 people could be found on the Santa Monica Pier and the surrounding beach and park, all entranced by the exciting range of artworks and performances. When a new wave of Glow seekers arrived after 2:00 am, the Santa Monica Pier finally reached capacity... Public safety officials then limited access to the Pier for a period of time, the music stage was closed, and the popular work by Usman Haque north of the Pier was briefly shut down." —from the glow website

With as many people that were there, I was pleasantly shocked to run in to at least 10 people I knew there--some I haven't seen in 3+ years, some from Orange County, from work... it was insane and so much fun. I think everyone and their dog was at this thing. (Yes, I did use that cliché, get over it.) :)

Kami and Rustin and I entertained ourselves with the 'cosmic' array of crazy people. I shouldn't have been so surprised with just how many weirdo's there were... we were at the Santa Monica Pier for heaven's sake. Nonetheless, it was still amusing to see a glowing mermaid, a mid-70s hairy-sweaty-shirtless-overweight man-on-crack (I think) dancing to his iPod while smoking in the middle of a very very crowded sea of people walking down the pier. This guy even had a crowd forming around him--including an officer who couldn't do much but stare--just like the rest of us. Hey, almost everything is humorous after midnight... and it just got better past 3:00am!

I hope you enjoy the pics... we were inspired to create our own "glowing selves". Kami and I even got a picture with my new boyfriend. He's hot, eh? Thanks Santa Monica!!! (Next time--make sure more restaurants and shops stay open near 3rd street--boy did they miss out on some major dough!)