Halfway There

Working a 10-day stretch right now, and just got done with day 5. Going out to the Island on the Pride this Monday, for their first Catalina trip of the season. I'm so excited! I miss being out there. Our last trip was October, so it's been a while.

I'm also very excited to be going camping next weekend! It's the 3rd Annual Leo Carrillo camping trip, and it will be tons of fun. The first year, there were 5 of us that went. Last year, 13 of us. And this year, there will be 17 going. Camping with friends, I love it!

The Weekend

Friday: Went to REI to pick up my tent pole that was repaired (yay, i'll be able to use my tent for the camping trip in two weeks!) & bought a cleaning kit for my hydration pack. Went to the farmers market downtown and ate a tamale for lunch. Rode my bike to work via the beach path. Worked an overnight (which was, by the way, one of the worst experiences any of us have had--too many people + not enough staff = a very frustrating and exhausting evening.)

Saturday: Rode my bike home from work via the beach path. Took a shower, then drove my car up to my parents house to get it fixed. Came home and took a nap. Went to the gym and finished my week 3 of training for the 5K. Went to lunch at the beach. Came home and took another nap. Woke up, went to have some fro-yo then shopped at Target for a bit. Watched Enchanted.

Today: Drove to my parents house to pick up my fixed car. Came home, read on the back patio and enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful day (in the 80s today!) BBQd with friends, drank mojitos, played Taboo, and chit chatted.

Tomorrow: Breakfast with Henny. Adventuring at the Wild Animal Park (I've never been, so it should be fun!) And possibly Salsa lessons and Salsa dancing in the evening.

Misc thoughts...

Must learn this new program I'm going to be teaching on Thursday. As in brand spankin' new, no one has taught it before, I have no one to learn from, I will be the first one to ever EVER teach it. Should learn it SOON. Like NOW. Or rather, should have learned it today or yesterday. Instead of taking naps and bbqing and going to animal parks. Alas, once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator.

My good friend Anitza read the Twilight series in, like, three days. You don't know how giggly happy that makes me. You see, I'm a little more than obsessed with the books, and have slowly been trying to convert friends to the dark side too, because I can't be the only ridiculous one who's crazy over a teenage vampire love story. I needed people to understand where I was coming from. I needed them to know how it feels to be sucked into the world of Forks. I needed them to love Edward just as much as I did. And I've succeeded so far. Hehe.

Quote-o-the-day

"During the recordings, I saw that things are never absolute, they depend on each individual's perceptions. And the best way to know who we are is often to find out how others see us. This doesn't mean that we should do what others expect us to do, but it helps us understand ourselves better." -The Witch of Portobello, Paulo Coelho

Nudi Beach

When it's beautiful and sunny out (like it has been lately), it would be a shame spending your day indoors. Alicia, Emily and I decided to take full advantage of the nice Monday we had and spent it down at Crystal Cove in Laguna. We walked the bluffs for a while, then went down and played and explored in the tidepools. Being the marine bio nerds that we are, we spent almost 3 hours hopping, splashing, and poking around. I took a bunch of algae samples (I'm determined to brush up on my phycology), we found quite a few sea hares, a few crabs, stars, and urchins. The area was covered in anemones, and we spent much of our time avoiding stepping on them. The highlights of the day were the nudibranchs (yes, that's plural) that I spotted--not just one, not two, but three of them! I was pretty excited with just the first nudi find-it had dark stripes and orange spots (still trying to ID it.) I felt quite lucky and even more excited with the second one I found- a brightly pink one, a Hopkin's Rose. And I was completely ecstatic (as in screaming and scaring the strangers around me) when I found my third nudi, a Spanish Shawl. What can I say, I'm a nerd, and finding small pretty marine invertebrates can make my day. To top our day off, Alicia spotted a Navanax also. It was a pretty great tidepooling day!

Alicia at the tidepool and the Spanish Shawl nudibranch...

Couch to 5K

Training to run a 5K-Week 1 and 2 down, onto Week 3 now.

Seriously?

Okay, I'm really trying not to complain here. But I just can't help but mention that the gas station I paid $3.45 at on Sunday is up to $3.55 today. Ten cents in 4 days! At this rate, we really will be paying 5 bucks a gallon sooner than we thought.

Rock Band & Guitar Hero

My first experience with Rock Band on Saturday night was a lot of fun. Although, singing was interesting (I had a hard time hitting the right notes), I totally sucked at the sea bass and guitarfish, and the drums looked so intimidating that I was too chicken to try, it was still great hanging out with everyone and watching them rock out. I had fun giving it a try, plus, Anitza and Juan have an AWESOME tv, which made the experience that much better.

The next day, I went up to see the family and celebrate my cousin Kelsey's 13th birthday. It just so happened that the kids just got guitar hero, so I spent most of my time there playing with them. I played so much that I actually got a little better! Very exciting.

I think I'm hooked. Hopefully Anitza and Juan will host another party sometime soon. Maybe I'll give the drums a try, haha...

Quote-o-the-day

"The exhilaration, the power of riding the crest of passion, is life worth the living." -Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan

Remember when...

Gas was this much?...
Gas Update

And then I was so appalled that it went up to this...
Gasp

Oh, I dream of those days now. I paid $3.45 today--it would be so nice to pay the $2.63 again. Guess I shouldn't have complained back then. Which means I shouldn't be complaining today, because the next thing you know, we'll all be paying five bucks a gallon. Ugh, I'm cringing at the thought. (That wasn't a complaint, I swear!)