1 down - 6 to go

Hola!

I can't believe we've already been here a month! TIME IS FLYING! Work is picking up for Tim, so I'll be spending my first weekend solo in SD. This is likely to be the first of many for the next few months.

In other news, life has been pretty typical around here. For us, "typical" means 10 hour work days and quiet nights at home. We managed to get out on Wednesday for a movie (Magic Mike - do NOT recommend) and a happy hour on Tuesday (always recommend).

On Sunday we used our annual passes for the first time in California! We spent the day galavanting around the Disneyland parks with my in-laws-once-removed (does that make sense?) and Tim's cousin. The weather was gorgeous and the parks, while busy, were totally manageable.

Of course, no trip to Disneyland is complete without a spin on the Tea Cups. (Three years ago, that was not the case, but I've since been converted.) With three adults in the itty-bitty little cup, including two ::determined-to-go-as-fast-as-possible:: spinners, I was more than a little wobbly getting off the ride. Our observers told us we were definitely the fastest ones out there.

In addition to a complete overhaul of CA Adventure, the Matterhorn has been upgraded. As a bonus, they've brought back the climbers, who come out a few times a day and scale the mountain. Can you spot him? (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

 Riding California Screaming right after dinner is not a good plan...

We're already looking forward to our next trip up there to experience more of the new Cars Land. Most of the rides throughout both parks had lines under 60 minutes, but that was because the rides in Cars Land had waits of 75 to 180+ minutes. Um, yeah...we have time, we'll wait for the next trip.

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Walkin' around...

Update: I had my first audition (thanks to everyone who voted on the headshot - I went with option A) and did well enough that they had me stay for some cold readings. Unfortunately, that didn't go quite as well as I had hoped and I was sent home. I was definitely a little bummed about that, but this morning I got an email from a different director and now I have a call back for the holiday show! Send your good vibes this direction on Thursday night! :-)

In other news, Tim and I have been making an effort to get to know our surroundings and explore more of downtown. On Sunday we headed north to the Hillcrest neighborhood for their Farmers Market. It was massive. Especially when we compare it to our hometown market of 20-30 vendors. This one had over 100 vendors!

My favorite part was all of the samples of fruits the vendors were handing out. I left without any peaches, but it took all of my will power! They were DELICIOUS! (And I realize there's no fruit in this picture - you'll just have to trust me.)

That afternoon we walked to Seaport Village for some shopping and ice cream. It also has a great park for boat watching. Can you spot Tim's place of work?

We opted to do the same walk again on Monday night and I couldn't help but take a picture outside the convention center of the Comic-Con set-up. I am SO jealous of everyone who's going, it looks like it's going to be SO fun. :-)

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Fourth of July FAIL

To celebrate America's Independence, we headed to Old Town where they were celebrating like it was the 1800s. 

Of course, you can't visit Old Town without eating Mexican food...

 We let our delicious, but massive meal digest while we watched square dancing in the square.

There were several people dressed up in period costume - this was one couple who sat in front of me and were dressed to the nines! She was even wearing a hoop skirt.

The Old Town State Park has several shops and small museums around the square, this one happened to be sponsored by Wells Fargo and outlined their contribution to the developing West. I was shocked to learn that 18 people could ride in one of these carriages and it typically took up to 24 days to reach San Diego from St. Louis. (Can you imagine!?)

We wandered around for a bit and then made it back to the square for the Annual Pie Eating Contest. It was quite funny to watch and I was thankful that we weren't participating!

The end of the contest was also the end of the festivities, so we jumped back on the Trolley and headed to the Gaslamp District for a movie. We ended up seeing Ted, which was pretty funny.

After the movie, we went home, ate dinner, and left to go to the waterfront for the Big Bay Boom fireworks extravaganza. I was so excited. See - this is me excited:

Oh look, the fireworks are starting early...

and that was it. The entire 20 minute show went off in 15 seconds. It has made national news. And I promise, it was not as cool as everyone who WASN'T THERE is trying to make it seem.

Since no one told us what was going on, everyone waited another 40 minutes. Eventually the cancellation leaked out and everyone left. We made it back to our condo in time to watch the live stream from Seattle of their firework show - which DID work.

FAIL SAN DIEGO. FAIL.

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Which One? Headshot edition.

I knew before we came down that I wanted to continue my theater experience in SoCal. Little did I know that I would need headshots so quickly after arriving! Unfortunately, it's not in the cards for me to get professional ones done - there's not enough time. After getting the "ok" from the audition coordinator to use a regular ol' photograph, I had Timmy do an impromptu photo session.

Now I need some help deciding which one to use:

Option A

 Option B

Let me know what you think in the comments! The audition is in one week, so send your good vibes my direction.

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Driving the West Coast

Hola all my beautiful readers (all 2 of you)!

We have transplanted ourselves for the next 7 months in sunny SoCal. The past few weeks have been a blur of traveling, packing and cleaning in preparation for our new adventure. Quite like our trip to Japan three years ago, Tim is here for work and I get to tag along.

Our adventures really started on Friday night. Our plan was to pack the car and clean the condo all day and leave early Saturday morning. I was convinced we were overpacking. Tim was adamant that it would all fit. We did eventually get most of our stuff in the car, but it looked something like this...

I had to leave behind a few kitchen items, but other than that we stuffed it all in there. Literally. 

Sidenote: This was an extremely frustrating time, but when we realized that we could save a lot of room by cramming our shoes in to all of the little gaps between luggage and boxes, I went berserk. I probably sounded like a crazy person with all of my laughter. The joke: "I'm wedging in my wedges!" 

We managed to get 99% of our stuff done and went to bed much too late. The next (early) morning, we finished the last 1%, squeezed ourselves into the stuffed Rogue and headed South. 

 Our wonderful Sherpak Cartop carrier - I would HIGHLY recommend this beauty for anyone who's going on a road trip and doesn't want to invest in a hard carrier. 

The first day we drove to Oregon...

Crossing the bridge from WA to OR

and ended up at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. I've been here before and I basically begged Tim to stop here for a night and see a show. Thinking that the weather was going to be nice and clear, I bought tickets for the Elizabethan Theatre, an outdoor venue modeled on the Globe Theatre in London. It was raining as we pulled into Ashland and didn't stop until the next morning. Yeah.  

THANKFULLY, we were under the balcony and never got wet. The rows and rows of people in front of us weren't so lucky. At the start of the second act, I would estimate that over 1/3 of the audience had left. I felt bad for them because the show was actually very good. Plus, how can you not love a cast who literally embodies the phrase "THE SHOW MUST GO ON!" The actors were soaked from head to toe, but kept it going like nothing was wrong. It was awesome. 

The set of "As You Like It"

The next morning was substantially better for us. The weather was great! We left Ashland and headed South in California. 

We passed Mt. Shasta...

and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove...

California is a looooooooooong state. I took over driving somewhere around Sacramento and was going a little cuckoo around Fresno. Did you know that Selma, CA is the Raisin Capital of the world? You know what they have there? Farms. Lots and lots of farms. ::cuckoo::cuckoo::

Our night in Bakersfield was completely uneventful - we were exhausted. But all of that hard work paid off, because the next day we were only a short 4 hour drive to San Diego. 

Our plan of driving to our limit on the second day worked, because we got to San Diego a little after lunch and were able to spend the entire afternoon unloading the car and unpacking. While we're not completely moved in - the kitchen is a hot mess - things are progressing well.

Stay tuned - being away from home and family, I might actually be motivated to blog again! :-)

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Vacation Redux - Day 2 in Paris, France 2011

Tim and I originally planned to take the train back to Paris the next morning, but being the awesome people they are, our family drove us into the city and dropped us off at our hotel. (After stopping at a patisserie on our way, of course.)

On our first trip to Paris in 2007, Tim got to explore the Louvre with my parents, and I ran through it like a maniac to see the Mona Lisa with some of my classmates. This time around, I was not making that mistake again! After unloading our gear at the hotel, we jumped on the subway and headed down to the museum. 

The line was pretty long, but I knew that we wanted to get a museum pass and I thought I had read that they were available in the mall under the museum. So, silly me, I left Tim in line and went exploring. I found the shorter underground entrance, but by the time I got back to Tim, he was at the front of the line to get in - so we went that way. (TIP: Skip the line in the pavilion and go to the underground entrance - shorter line and in the AC!)

 We wandered around for a while before heading to Napolean III's apartments. Oh.my.goodness. These pictures are of me...in heaven.

 I asked Tim for the tiara on the right. LOVE. :-)

 We caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower through one of the windows...

Of course we had to go back to the Mona Lisa and she was as popular as ever...

 What is really shocking is how AMAZING the other art in that room is, but I doubt most of these people got the chance to see it!

 We visited the armless wonder, Aphrodite - also very popular.

I could go on all day about the art in the Louvre, it truly is amazing and we were exhausted from walking around all afternoon. BUT we had more to see, so we powered on and found this beauty...

...Centre Georges Pompidou. 

This museum is unique, not just because it's the museum of modern art in Paris, but also because it's built to look like it's inside out. All of the plumbing and electricity are on the outside! The long, clear tube going up the front is the escalator that takes you to the museum. Here's the thing about a glass tunnel on the west side of a building...it's REALLY hot on a summer evening!

 Oh, and they have monks chanting the entire time...yeah...sweaty, tired, and monk music - WIN! ;-) The museum was really interesting and we enjoyed the juxtaposition of our visit to the Louvre.

After our short visit there, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe. Tim just told me we have to walk to the top...

 Of course the view was COMPLETELY worth it!

 And we had fun taking pictures with the setting sun...

We were starving by this point, so we went in search for dinner on the Champs Elysees. Normally this would be easy, but it was late, so we opted for some Parisian fast food at Pommes de Pain.

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