Bowls and Bulls

In the spirit of new years, the time of the year when I pretend like there is any kind of resolution I can make to make myself even more fabulous, I have a very exciting announcement. 


In two days, I was able to cross two things off my bucket list. 


1. Go to a Bowl Game.   I was fortunate enough to get my hands on three FREE tickets to the Holiday Bowl that was here at Qualcomm Stadium earlier this week.  Two of my friends dressed in our Texas Orange.. okay.. it was more like hunter/construction worker orange, here are some shots of the game!!

2. Ride a mechanical bull!! Its true!! I went on down to The Double Deuce and took a ride!  

Sorry about It.

So it's been a little while. Now that grandma has moved down to this region of the country- Its been easier to keep her up on the day-to-day, which was the whole point of the blog to begin with.. Let the family know what going on..  but after many complaints from my fans, I've been pushed on to write another entry.. This must be what my homegirl J.K Rowling feels like being pressured into another Harry Potter.  Something of the sort anyways. So, as always, I thought to myself- "self, you must write another entry for you avid readers".. Well here it is.


I took a couple days off so I could get a 3 day trip into to visit my grandparents in Desert Hot Springs.  Let me paint a picture of what this place looks like.  Imagine (in the middle of the desert) a fancy trailer park.. but instead of a sofa parked in the front yard- its a golf cart.  My grandpa calls is a "self administered nursing home" and it also sounds like "God's Waiting Room" is a popular name.  


I've been sitting around for a while, listening to stories of the trailer park gossip, by those who wish to remain nameless, but have given me permission to share my tale. Almost at the same time- my aunt and I come up with the idea that will make us millions.  Now I know everyone is just as obsessed as me with the Real Housewives of Freaking Anywhere, and so grew the idea of the Real Housewives of Alamar Acres (the name of said community).  It would be like watching seven of that English saucepot, Lisa Vanderpumps from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills all in one show.  It was at this moment I decided I needed to pour myself a drink(s) and begin this blog entry. It's all about my new perspective on life. 


Here I was thinking now that I was a college graduate, my life was going to go downhill until I was eventually 6ft under.  Don't get me wrong, I still use my student discount at the movie theater in hopes that it will dollar by dollar pay back my tuition.. but post graduate life is a serious downgrade. 
Gone are the days of getting a pizza on Wednesday,  leaving it on the counter- and having it for breakfast on Friday.  No longer can I wear the same pair of sweatpants for an entire week, confidently blaming my drop in personal hygiene on finals week.  


But in nothing less then a Christmas miracle, I have seen the light. I now know that there is a better time in life, and this time is called retirement.  Sure, I've got a ways to go.. and sure, I need to start working to retire.. but just knowing that I will one day wear pajamas all day without judgement, and go to bed at 7pm without being accused of being lame brings hope to a college grads life, who knows thats it's a lot of hard work to feed here at the bottom. 


But speaking of going to bed early, I must do just that.  The trailer park ladies and myself have a big day of shopping ahead of us tomorrow.. starting at 5am. 


xo-
Katie. 

kicking water and throwing sand

These past couple days I had the joy of experiencing two very different and rare phenomenon.. The first being "glowing tide" and the second being a Padres victory.  I will begin with the former. 


Now, I recommend you google this, because its actually pretty cool- but every now and then something happens with plankton.. or kelp.. or something.. and the water turns red and smells gross.. and its really kinda gross.. but then when night comes, whenever there is a disruption in the water, it glows like a glow stick!!! so when waves and the tide comes in.. and its usually all white and foamy- it glows a really bright green color.  I seriously can't get over it.  I checked it out with some friends on Monday, and then again on Tuesday.  When there is enough of whatever makes it glow when water comes in, the footprints you left in the sand would have glowy water left in it.. and you could kick the water, and it would splash glowy-ness, or kick the sand- and it would glow.. way cool, pretty magical. 


The second rare phenomenon was a Padres victory! yay! My friend and I were able to make it to the last game of the season, where we pulled off a win against the Cubs, also very fun.. it got a little chilly, so it was a good thing I packed my WSU snuggie.  go cougs!

the time I accidentally drove to mexico

 A few weeks ago I had to go to Ontario for work.  It took about 3 minutes to figure that "Ontario, CA" was about two hours North, and thats where I was actually going.. the 3 minutes prior I thought I was going to Canada.  I have also learned that as far as Southern California is concerned, Canada doesn't exist. 


So I type the address into my handy little GPS and start on my way.  


I have learned that California will tax you on anything it possibly can.  .05 cent state tax on candy, soda, and other various unhealthy goodies... $12.50 tax on an already $40 parking ticket... and now, my new enemy, toll roads. 


So Im traveling along this road, and I come to a stop, like I was crossing some sort of border and read the overhead sign.  $3 toll. 


three dollar toll... wait. what?  What is this.. the three billy goats gruff? So I fish out my debit card. 


"Cash only". the attractive man unattractive woman tells me. 
My least favorite words. This girl does't carry cash because I don't plan on traveling to 1997 anytime soon..   "yah, sorry.. I only have a card.. can I pay online or something"  I figured if you can pay your parking tickets online, maybe you can do this too..  She let me go with a warning. phew. crisis averted. 


So I keep traveling along, get off the exit and on to a new highway.. and I see another toll sign. Awesome. This one was .50 cents.  Okay, maybe I can scrounge up half a dollar to pay the toll.. 


No, I actually didn't have .50 cents.  I searched my car, purse, cup holders, console, everything for .50 cents.  I found about .07 cents, almost .50 cents in CANADIAN money (had I been going to Ontario, Canada, I would be getting somewhere), and obviously- a $5 circus circus poker chip from Vegas. 


My turn was up.. an even more attractive man  less attractive woman than the one previoulsy encountered stuck out her hand ".50 cents please".. I told her I had about .50 cents Canadian, .07 cents US and a $5 Circus Circus chip.  Kill me, Ive already had my toll warning.. what is going to happen? 
Maybe they would make me work as a toll money taker.. maybe in a year after slaving for the California toll master, I would too look like one of these really attractive men very unfortunate looking women. 


She gave me a card to pay online.. I knew that had to have been an option. 
(FYI, there is a $5 minimum to pay online..) I wonder if I get a toll credit. 


On my way home, I had to find a way to go around these toll roads.. In hindsight (which we all know is always 20/20) I guess I could have went to an ATM.. but I found my way around these toll roads. 


Long story short, I got lost and ended up at the Mexico border. 


Moral of the story, carry the currency of your own country with you just in case. 

tandem bike riding- two much fun

YAY !!! I had another visitor!!! 

Jordan MacPherson, a friend from college came to visit me for a quick overnight trip! 

I was very blessed with her visit because it allowed me to scratch some more things of my San Diego "to do" list!

First things first we rented a tandem bicycle so that we could transport ourselves from beach to beach and place to place, shopping, lunch, ect without having to worry about parking the car, driving- blah blah blah.. 

Luckily, our tandem bike was crimson and grey... (well.. more like rust and unfinished metal... but as recent WSU grads, we called it crimson and grey) .. so we quickly referred to it as the Couagrmobile. 

Im not even going to start on what a disaster the first 15 minutes of riding the bike was.. I was the driver- so let your mind go to the worst case scenario, its probably accurate. Our first trip was from Pacific Beach to Mission Beach, so we could go to Belmont Park. 

Once we went to Belmont Park, a little amusement park in Mission Beach so we could ride The Giant Dipper- a cute little oceanfront roller coster built in the 1920s.  We got our ticket for the one ride and scored the back seats. They only had lap bars, so our arms were free to take pictures of the great views we were about to see! Or so we thought..

Allow me to paint a picture of what really happened. 

We started the slow raise to the top of the first hill, the clanking of the chains pulling us up reminded me of the wooden roller coasters at a themepark near my home town called Silverwood.  We're snapping pictures on the way of up the bridge and of each other, ready for our cute little ride.  We start down the first hill, and Jordan and I are screaming like we are at Six Flags. I mean really screaming.  The little 10 year old kid in front of us kept turning around and giving us dirty looks...  Literally terrifying. Super Rude. 

The first take off (not smooth.. the basket fell off)

Proudly parking the limo

A basket to hold all our goodies (cotton candy)

this is me pretending the roller coaster was fun

tandem biking on the beach!

Jordan taking pictures before we knew it was going to get scary

la jolla

Happy 4th of July!!  Im afraid it has kind of lost it's luster for me here... Seeing as Sea World has fire works every night  just down the water from my house... and the holiday traffic this weekend has been impossible where I live..PB sounds like WSU greek row (on a monday) every night this weekend.. not a good time to live by the beach :-)


I am growing pretty fond of La Jolla, the town I work in, and I am pretty sure it is because of the sea lions.  On memorial day, I walked around the beach where they hang out, literally feet away from people swimming.. it was pretty fun.  At the same time, I was thinking, you couldn't pay me enough money to swim in that nasty sea lion polluted water... 

So of course, two days ago, I took a little dip in the nasty sea lion polluted water, and like everyone else, I survived.  I also wore a wet suit (picture the episode of friends where Ross wears the leather pants- thats me with this wet suit) and had a go at snorkeling.. which pretty much consisted of me kinda swimming around, more concerned about just staying alive than looking at fish and other water things.  Of course there was absolutely nothing harmful about the events- I was just kinda freaked. 

We snorkeled into some caves which was really neat (really really neat).. and we could climb around the rocks and stuff.. well as much climbing as I could do with flippers.. so I sort of scooted/crab walked up.. it happens.  Our flippers were hurting our feet, so instead of swimming back, we hopped out at some rocks and walked back. 

It was at this moment that I realized I am not outdoorsey, or daring, at all.  The people I was with, my friend and his sister- were like Simba and Nala prancing along these rocks to get out. 

Picture a potato scaling some rocks. That was me. 

Just like on the paddle boarding day, when I was done I had this feeling of "aw I don't want to leave" and then I remember I'm not on vacation.. and living here is amazing. 

day off #2

I have the entire day off today- so it's pretty exciting, its the first one since Memorial Day!! This morning I went paddle boarding (google image it... I had to also) which was amazing.  I didn't fall in the water- really surprising.. but I had the beginner board, which is like the training wheels bike, so I imagine tipping it would have been pretty impressive.   My favorite part was when we paddled by dolphins!!!!  Im still in awe.. they were so cute, diving around each other, probably 20 feet from our boards!!!  It might have been one of the coolest things  I have ever seen. Whenever anybody comes and visits me (hint hint, someone please come play down here with me) Paddle boarding is an absolute must.  Too much fun.  Maybe if I go again I wont accidentally spin around in circles trying to back up.. and exceed .000025 mph.  


Also, another cool development I have discovered, is that they are filming the Real World down here, a few houses down from where I was house sitting in La Jolla.. which in hindsight, explains all the cameras. duh.  But we saw them out on a big yacht type boat today... they waved, I waved.. and then continued to spin around in circles on my board.. Im really crossing my fingers for a cameo.  Wish me luck (sike).  But I guess they are always out at the bars around PB, the area I live in... so maybe another day :-).  


I also learned today that Torrey Pines just isn't a golf course. News to me. And went hiking there today... there were lots of Torrey Pine trees. also news to me.  But it was right by the ocean, and pretty cool.  I think my cardio work outs might be paying off because the the thought that I might die only crossed my mind twice, and one was because I saw a sign to look out for rattle snakes. yikes!!!  Anyways, after the little hike trail, there are really cool stairs (that took me no less than 45 minutes to walk down) the pop right out at the beach!! the following pictures are of that part of my outdoorsey adventure day.  I think I need a nap. 

the cool little stair case to the beach, you can see the water in the background!

I think tomorrow after work I'm doing a little evening snorkel in the caves around La Jolla... Things you can't do in Eastern Washington.


xoxo
Katie.