First SoCAL Cougar Football Saturday

I went to college and grad school at Washington State University (WSU) and am very passionate about my school. I do have a long family history associated with the school including both of my parents (they actually met there), my Aunt and Uncle (who also met there), another Aunt, my younger Sister (who is currently going there), and my Opa (Grandpa in German) was a professor there for over 20 years. My Dad actually grew up in Pullman, where WSU is located, and loves any excuse to go back there. D went to college at University of California San Diego, but still supports my sometimes insane love of the WSU Cougars (aka Cougs). While in the Bay Area, he went with me to various sporting events and even to alumni mixer events! Needless to say, he’s my “wing man” to Coug events. This weekend the Coug football team is playing UCLA in Pasadena and unfortunately my “wing man” has to work. Thanks to facebook I’ve been able to hunt down some long lost college acquaintances that are also going to the game. After a little tailgating, we’ll see how the Cougs will do against the Bruins!

No KITTY!!!

I like cats.  However, D is allergic to cats, which prevents us from having cats as pets.  Our neighbor has a couple of kittens that lounge about our complex.  After working a 30-hour-shift, D came home and called a maintenance man to come and make some repairs in our apartment.  Unbeknownst to D, the repair man had left the door open.  D came downstairs to find two kittens lounging in the middle of our living room.  He promptly “shooed” them outside and closed the door.  After sighing with relief, he heard a timid “Meow” from the staircase.  He looked up to find another kitten staring right at him.  He moved slowly toward the door and said “C’mon, you and I want the same thing here.  Let me just open the door.”  D was afraid that he would scare the kitten upstairs, but luckily as soon as he opened the door the last kitten bounded outside.  He reluctantly told me the story several days later, when I asked him, “Why is that one kitten hanging around our front door?”  I secretly think the last kitten bonded to D over their shared moment of panic and now enjoys waiting around for D.

D's curious kitten

Aloha Friday!

I worked in Hawaii for a summer and there was a saying for every Friday, well at least where I worked, called "Aloha Friday!" Everyone was allowed to wear their "Aloha" clothes on Friday, or also known as traditional Hawaiian Muumuus and flower shirts.  Then whenever you saw someone, you were suppose to say "Aloha Friday!" I always thought this was a fun way to celebrate a Friday, for some reason "TGIF" never had the same affect on me.  This week has been a little bit hectic, but I had a blast in Vegas.  Thirty-six hours in Vegas is really the perfect amount of time I think.  Dan's on call tonight, which means he'll be working a 30-hour shift, so I'm going to explore move of PV on my own tomorrow morning.  Hoping to go a little hiking and I'll be back with more updates.  In the mean time, I say to you "Aloha Friday!"  Oh and if you need some additional "Aloha" inspiration, here's a picture of me in my Muumuu for working the front desk.

Waking Up In Vegas

I'm off to a Strategic Summit meeting in Las Vegas this morning, so while I've been getting ready, I've had Katy Perry "Waking Up in Vegas" song stuck in my head. Also, a fun fact about Katy Perry is that she's from Santa Barbara and recently did a live performance at her old high school. How cool would that have been?! I would have loved some live music at my high school . . . perhaps in my next life? If you haven't heard the song, feel free to enjoy the little video from youtube below:

SB

I'm working in Santa Barbara (SB) right now for a couple assignments and it feels good to be in a different part of SoCal.  I love how small town SB feels and then there’s the ritzy side of it too.  My Grandma Liz lived here for several years before she passed away, so it has been fun driving past some of our old haunts.  I even went by Sambo's, our family’s favorite spot to splurge on a big stack of pancakes. Although the name isn’t that PC nowadays, they make a mighty mean breakfast! Driving around has also made me miss her.  There's so many things that I would like to talk to her about. I suppose that she wasn’t ever shy about exposing me to things.  I remember watching "Pretty Woman" with her when I was 7 and when I asked her a question about the movie, she said "I'll you about it when you're older dear."  Little did I know that I was watching a movie about a hooker waiting around for Price Charming to swoop her off her feet. Still love that movie to this day though.  She was a quirky lady but I loved her.

Movin on Up!

If only I could add The Jeffersons TV theme song to this entry, because that's exactly how I feel about our new apartment.  D and I have been busy moving into our new digs all week and we're just about done!  This is our first time living in a two-bedroom apartment and I absolutely love all the space that we seem to now have.  Also, the floor plan has two-stories, so it feels even more like a "real house."  We were lucky enough to get an apartment with a water view and a balcony on each floor.  Can’t wait for cocktails and sunsets!  The weather out here in Rancho Palos Verdes (or “PV” as the locals say) reminds me a lot of SF.  It fluctuates between fog and sunshine, but definitely more sunshine than SF.  Hopefully, I can keep my semi-tan going for a couple more months!

Friendly Neighbors

As D and I were driving the lovely streets of LA, we happened upon an automobile proudly supporting their love for Southern California (a.k.a. SoCal).  It would be hard to describe the many details of this car, or what I would like to refer to as its "pieces of flare," so I’ll let the picture below speak for itself.

Friendly Neighbor

How many pieces of flare can you spot?!  Oh, and does anyone know what the "HA" symbol stands for?  Neither D or I knew what it was.  If anyone could help our displaced NorCal selves, we'd greatly appreciate it!

Much Ado in th Park

D and I are members of Goldstar, which is a website that sends out deals on plays, concerts, shopping sales, and stand-up comedy acts. Last week, in one of Goldstar’s weekly emails, I saw that the Independent Shakespeare Company was performing "Much Ado About Nothing" in Griffth Park for free!  I have a soft spot for Shakespear and talked D into going to the play with me.  Plus, it sounded like a fun outing! For the play, we packed a bunch of blankets, purchased two brand new lawn chairs (which can be carried as a backpack . . . super cool looking), and put together a light picnic with some tasty brews.  It’s been years since either of us had seen a live play, and we were not disappointed.  The play was well performed and it was fun to watch it outdoors too.  Griffith Park seemed like a cool spot, we will definitely go back and check that park out again.  Reminded me a lot of Tilden Park in the Bay Area, I hear that Griffith Park even has a carousel and horseback rides too!  Hopefully, I can talk D into going on a pony ride next weekend.
 

Happy D with one of our cool new "backpaks"

Stage before Sunset

Hair Did

As I mentioned earlier, I finally scheduled an appointment to get my hair done.  After six months of waiting I was ready!  For this occasion, I gave Ultra Lux Salon and Lounge in Redondo Beach a try. My overall impression of the salon was good, I was a little overwhelmed at first on the number of people working there.  Then again, I'm not used to going to a salon with various levels of "stylists" (i.e. a separate person washes your hair than the person who cuts your hair etc.).  The salon I used to go to in the Bay Area had a max number of 4 stylists in the salon at one time and my stylist was a dear friend of mine.  However, when I went to this salon, I was greeted with a mimosa which I happily accepted and consumed.  Inside the salon is pretty cool with a lot of vintage designs, particularly focusing on the 40s-60s.  Fun experience overall!  Here are the results below:

Before

After