A Little Hike

Aaron knows I love to hike and recently bought me a book on hikes in San Diego County, so we decided to give one a try this weekend. Cowle's Mountain is a mountain pretty much plopped in the middle of eastern San Diego. I have hiked the front of the mountain (the south side) many, many times, but it's not much of a hike to me because you can be up and back in less than an hour. There are 3 ways to get to the top of this mountain and I had heard the back way (the north eastern approach) was the hardest, so I wanted to give that a try. It wasn't too bad, but it definitely gives you a work out. Below is a picture of what we still had left when we were about half way up. That small dirt road in the top left of the picture was our path.The last 1/4 of the hike is some serious uphill business. I love up hill running and hiking (for some odd reason) and this was a great challenge. Below is a picture of what we were walking up and trying not to slide back down. Our bodies were bent almost completely at a 90 degree angle from the waist up to help balance gravity. What a great workout for your legs!

This was our view from the top. We faced east to take this picture. If you turned around you'd be able to see downtown San Diego, the ocean, Coronado, La Jolla, Mexico, the whole bit. Too bad the sun was shining directly into the camera or I would have taken a picture of that.

Is Aaron's hair not out of control? Granted, we just worked out butts off and were sweating like pigs, so no one cared about how they looked at the moment, but just the sheer volume of his hair amazes me. He's having a mid 20s crisis and not sure what to do with it. Normally it's not so big. I think the wind at the top of the mountain gave it a little lift...

Just Gopher It!

Step 1: Pick up the trash with the Gopher. Look how easy it is! You don't have to bend over!

Step 2: Put trash in bag. No need to dirty your hands by touching the item!

Step 3: Dispose of the trash bag in the proper receptacle and feel good about the difference you've made!

In simplified and cheesified terms, that was my Sunday afternoon. There is an elderly woman in our neighborhood who I see picking up trash each morning when I walk to the trolley station. After seeing that for weeks, it got me thinking, if she can do it, why can't I? Maybe I should have a little neighborhood pride, too. Heaven knows there is plenty of trash to pick up in my neck of the woods. Aaron and I take a Sunday afternoon walk each week anyway, so I might as well do something useful while walking. That is how we came to own "The Gopher". I guess it is on an informercial, so the packaging is super cheesey and features good ol' Billy Mays. It's actually pretty handy and made it nice because I didn't have to touch the garbage. Our walk was a little awkward at first because all the people we passed stared like we were crazy (apparently they don't have community pride, like us), but we got the hang of it. Poor Aaron is such a great sport for humoring me with all my wacky ideas! While we were walking, I asked him if this is what he thought married life would be like and he said, "Not quite".

I had a creativity itch

I scratched it and once again remembered why I chose a profession where creativity is strongly discouraged. I realized after taking the pictures that I didn't actually capture any humans in my photographs, so to prove I have friends, I'll name the body parts below. Jen's hand is on the left and Sandy's stomach and elbows are on the right. We celebrate each holiday together by making something related to the season and then watch The Office and 30 Rock after. A perfect night! Normally we decorate sugar cookies, but we did Easter eggs this round. The finished product is below. I think projects like this will be fun and about 10 minutes into it I lose interest because my ability is so limited. But the girls had some good decorating ideas. I drew a face on one of my eggs and dunked it what was supposed to be purple, but turned out blue with purple stains near the head of my egg. We were trying to decide if it looked like a homicide victim or Gorbachev. It's bottom row, 4th from the left.

The beauty below is my greatest creation. This egg cracked while I was hard boiling it and since the crack was perfectly limited to it's head, I decided to paint it like Humpty Dumpty. Or try. Sorry the photo is so blurry. I'm not that great with cameras.

The Good ol' Days

This weekend I was watching "Where the Heart Is" courtesy of the La Mesa library. (Side note: I LOVE this library. I love the library in general. I borrow so many great movies and books for free! Who doesn't love getting things for free? Plus, it's less than a mile from our house so Aaron and I often walk there and it's in between my two favorite grocery stores. Nevermind the fact that a prostitute tried to solicit Aaron in front of it one night, but that's a story for another time.)

If you've never seen the movie, through a series of unfortunate events, Natalie Portman finds herself 9 months pregnant and secretly living in a Wal Mart at night. During one scene of the movie, it shows the Wal Mart closing at 9pm. I thought to myself, "Wal Marts don't close. They're 24 hours". Aahhh, it dawned on me that this movie is old enough that it was made in the good ol' days when Wal Mart wasn't poised to take over the world and people weren't so obsessed with shopping there that they need to save $0.45 on a pack of batteries at 3am! I miss those days.

Also, if you image google "Wal Mart", you'll see some pretty funny images, like the one below from Business Week magazine. I guess some other people feel like I do...

Is that you, Spencer?

I was watching the film, Dead Poets Society, this weekend and fell in love with it. I'd seen it a long time ago, but now I actually appreciate how wonderful it is. During my viewing, I also discovered something else. A young and cheeky Ethan Hawke looks strikingly similar to my nephew, Spencer! Like, a lot. This isn't the best picture for resemblance, but it was the best I could find online. I came to this conclusion on my own and then when Aaron was watching it, I mentioned it and he was totally blown away by it, too. So, Spencer, you've got a pretty cute mug. I know most of my friends won't see the resemblance cause they probably haven't seen Spencer lately, but family, rent it and watch it and tell me what you think.

I KNEW IT!

I'm sorry this blog has turned into less of an account of Aaron and me and more into a sounding board for my crazy thoughts, but I just had to post this! For every one who thought I was a nutty tree hugger for saying that lobsters DO have feelings and we should not boil them alive (thus my refusal to eat lobster, see my February post on the subject), check out the link below. I found an article on MSN today regarding recent scientific studies showing that lobsters and crabs do have feelings! How could they not? Although I didn't care what anyone said before, I feel vindicated in my anti-lobster stance.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29915025/?GT1=43001


While reading the article I discovered that some people actually rip off crab's legs while they are alive. Honestly, who does this? Is that a common practice when you eat them? Seriously though, does anyone know?

Can you even imagine?

I stumbled upon the story of this bridge on the internet today and read it was the world's tallest suspension bridge, so I googled it to take a look. Are you kidding me? I'm pretty sure there is no way you could get me across that thing. I've been skydiving and stuck my head over the top of Rockefeller Center in NY, but no thanks. This is the Royal Gorge Bridge above the Arkansas River in Colorado.

We're going to Yosemite!

It only took 7 people in two states to get resevations for a site in July, but we're going to Yosemite! Yea! I'm so excited! I think Aaron is a bit apprehensive about Half Dome (Sunday was the first time he ever saw a picture of it), but I can't wait. I'm already planning every detail and it is months away. Any camp cooking tips or camping tips in general would be appreciated. Also, thanks to every one who helped us get the reservation!

Lonely Vanilla

Although we don't have any mysterious cleaning fairies around our house, we do seem to have an elusive chocolate chip thief. Last night I thought a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream sounded delicious, so I pulled the carton out of the freezer only to find that vanilla ice cream had magically appeared in it's place. Where did all the chocolate chips go? This was my first bowl, so I asked Aaron, who had NO idea where they all could have gone. Luckily I had an open bag of chocolate chips on hand so I made my own.

Proof

Aaron can fall asleep in like two seconds. It's amazing. I'll say goodnight to him and as soon as I roll over, I can hear him snore. I wish I had that talent. I was talking to him from the kitchen on Sunday, he responded while he was watching a DVD, mere seconds later I leave the kitchen and find him asleep, still trying to operate the DVD player. So, I had to get proof.

Weekend at the Cove

We didn't spend all weekend at La Jolla Cove. That's just my lame West Coast attempt of a "weekend at the cape". I watched Legally Blonde this weekend. If any of you are as nuts about movie lines as I am, you'll remember when Elle says that. Moving on...Aaron's parents came for a visit in January and we tooled around town on Saturday. Even though I've been in Southern California for almost 9 years (crazy talk), I'm still amazed at the weather! The sea lions are soaking up the sun on the beach, but will get a little angry if you disturb them. Kind of like the sea lion I'm posing with below. We also rented tandem bikes and rode around Coronado Island (tandem bikes. I know, but it was fun), but our pictures magically disappeared from Aaron's camera. I probably deleted them on accident. I'll see if I can find them and post some shots.

Although I love Salt Lake

I must admit that the San Diego temple is pretty great. Come visit me on a Saturday morning. (and that's not too shabby of a picture for a simple little camera)

Lovely Banff

While Aaron and I were in Calgary for a weekend in October, we went with his parents to Banff for an afternoon. The only time I'd ever heard of Banff was in The Burbs, but apparently there is something to this cute little town. When we left Calgary, the sun was shinning (although it was still FREEZING), but the weather deteriorated on the drive and, to my delight, it was lightly sprinkling when we arrived. Although I was not dressed properly for the weather, the rain and fog only added to the wonderful atmosphere. We window shopped among the charming shops on the cobblestone main street. I had no desire to leave, except maybe to warm up, because as you can tell from my scowl below, the hot chocolate just wasn't cutting it.

Would you wear this?

This beauty of a picture is from an ugly sweater Christmas party I went to in December 07. I just stumbled upon it. I bought my crocheted creation at a thrift store in SD and actually had some adults tell me they would wear it. And then they asked the theme of the party I was wearing it to and it was awkward.

Half Dome

Aaron and I are planning a trip to Yosemite in September and I really want to climb Half Dome. Aaron has yet to see a picture of Half Dome (I know, how do you not know what Half Dome looks like?) and has agreed to the hike, but might wonder what I talked him into when he's standing at the base of the mountain. Anyway, I've read lots of info on the internet and felt fairly secure about hiking it, but I also stumbled upon a page from the SF Chronicle which listed all the people who have died while climbing Half Dome and how they died. It freaked me out a bit, so now I'd like to hear from people I know who have hiked it. Does any one have any tips? I'm also open to tips on camping in Yosemite. We'll be using a tent and I must be at a site near a shower... Thanks!