Climbing Mountains

Over the 4th of July I spent a few days up near Seattle visiting my friend Beth. I had a great time. I’ve been considering moving up there for awhile, this trip pretty much made it definite. I think I may be the only person on earth who thinks Southern California is far too sunny. I miss the rain, the thunderstorms, the blizzards, so needless to say, the climate of the Northwest really appeals to me. I still have a few reservations about moving though, there are some people here that are going to be very hard to move away from…. And I LOVE being able to drive up to Sunset and catch a concert anytime I want…. But that’s for another post on another day.
One of the days I was in Washington, Beth and I decided to hike to the top of Mt. Si. I’ve never hiked to the top of anything, so I was excited to give it a try. It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to the top… we sweated… huffed and puffed… and took plenty of rests on the way up. Once we got to the top we ate our ham & cheese sandwiches and enjoyed the gorgeous view from up there. It was the best feeling to finally reach the top… and then get to look down on all the distance we’d climbed. It was awesome and we could see for miles.





After getting back down to the bottom we surveyed our blisters (which were HUGE and NASTY) and drove home. I think my favorite part of the whole experience was driving home, looking out the car window and seeing the peak where we at lunch and knowing that we climbed all the way up THERE.
I know one thing… If I do end up moving to Seattle… I’ll be much buffer and will have way nastier feet.

Look At All The Space!!!

I spent last weekend in South Dakota with my dad. My birthday fell on Father's Day, so we decided to meet up for a long weekend. We had a great weekend. I had never been to South Dakota, so we did a lot of the touristy stuff. We went to see Mount Rushmore (biggest Thomas Jefferson EVER!!) and the Crazy Horse Memorial.
We also spent a day hiking around Badlands National Park... Which is gorgeous. I've only been in Los Angeles for 2 years, but somehow I've forgotten what it's like to have that much free space around me. I kept taking pictures of flat, open fields and my dad would ask, me "What are you taking a picture of?" I'd just answer, "The Space." It made me realize how much I miss being able to run away, run out to the middle of nowhere and listen to the wind blowing over the fields. In Iowa when I as stressed, I would drive out into the country, park my car and listen to the wind blow through the corn fields. I'm a bit of a farm girl at heart.
My favorite part about the weekend was the thunderstorm on Saturday night, complete with tornado warnings. I haven't seen a good thunderstorm in forever. Luckily, my dad was a total sport and we went to Dinosaur Park in Rapid City in the middle of the storm. The park looked over the city and had GIANT dinosaur statues. However, when the lightning started getting closer, we decided that we'd better play it safe by getting away from all the metal hand rails and getting back in the car.
So all in all... it was a pretty great weekend. I love traveling and especailly getting out of LA. Luckily, my next trip is only a week and a half away!

Smashed Pennies... The Key To Happiness

Those who know me well know that one of my (many) quirks is that I have a complete and utter love for smashed pennies. Whenever I come across a penny-smashing machine... I squeal and run toward it. Once again... I'm super cool. Over the years I've acquired a nice little collection. I have pennies from a nice variety of places. I have a submarine penny from Hawaii, a Lilo & Stitch penny from the Mall of America, an Elvis penny from Graceland (this one's probably my favorite), a Fantasmic penny from Disneyland... and many more. My favorite thing about this collection is that the pennies are a very cheap souvenir. It's only a 51 cent investment, but it pays off over and over again. I tend to have these pennies in random coin purses.... so they tend to pop up all over the place... sometimes they'll end up at the bottom of purse... sometimes you'll find them in your pocket... sometimes one will show up on the floor of my car... and every time one pops up... I remember where I was when I got that penny. I love it. I wonder though... If we ever actually do get rid of the pennies... will they get smashed nickel machines? I'm a little concerned....

Giving The Gifts We Give

I love it when you find a gift that you know some body's going to absolutely love. I've known what I was going to get my dad for Father's Day for several months now. I ordered it about a month ago (yes... that's right... I ordered it a month and a half early... I'm cool)... and I even wrapped it a few nights ago (almost two weeks early.) It's something that I know he's going to use all the time... and is going to love... but he probably wouldn't ever buy it for himself. (Unfortunately I didn't inherit my father's willpower when it comes to shopping.) Needless to say, I'm ridiculously excited to give it to him. I love how finding a perfect gift for someone totally becomes a self-serving thing in the end. He gets the gift... but I get the excitement and anticipation of giving it to them! And somehow... I've become WAY more excited to give him this gift than I am to receive my own birthday presents (... could it be possible that I"m becomming less shallow??.... nah).

(Also in that picture above is my little owl teacup from Anthropologie... which may be my favorite thing I've ever bought myself. He holds my scraps of thread when I craft and sew.)

PS... Sorry about the blury pic. I"m still trying to figure out the settings on my new digital cam. Sure, I could read the manual... but what's the fun in that??

Doughboys

Saturday morning Dre and I had a brunch date. We decided to go to Doughboys, an LA staple. I've been told about a million times that I needed to try it, but was hesitant... generally places here in Southern California that have this much fuss made about them are filled with snooty patrons and even snootier staff. Doughboys, however, is a total exception. The employees were totally friendly, and were more than happy to keep filling and refilling our coffee cups.
I had the french toast pie, which was basically french toast grilled (cream) cheese sandwich, with powdered sugar and strawberries on top. It was completely heavenly. (I was shoving it in my face too fast to take a picture.)
They were busy, so we sat at the cafe bar.... which was awesome... because this was our table:



rows and rows of brownies right before our faces!

Flip and Bloop!

So I randomly came across the website www.flip.com today.... and I think I'm in love! It definitely gets *Bloops* from me.
It's like online scrap booking. You can upload your own pictures, design the page, add any words you want... and even add music! Maybe I'm a 13 year old girl... but I can totally see myself getting very addicted to this.

Here's my favorite one I've found so far:
http://www.flip.com/people/flipbooks/52888?referrerUrl=/flipbooks/galleries/mostpickedthisweek&conNext=true

Wilkinsons

Stick through the first two minutes of this.... it's totally worth it. I promise.