My Burbank boyfriend has an interesting outfit on. I didn't pick his clothes, but still, go Dodgers! #my2ndfavoriteteam #becausefamily

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Have to visit my Burbank boyfriend before heading back up to SF.

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Go Retz Crew Go!

So glad I got to watch these 2 play hard and tough this week! Reggie #7 had 3 touchdowns during Friday night's varsity game.
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Friday night lights!!!!

Go Pack Go!! Oldest Crew nephew quarterback #7!! If I lived closer, I'd be at every game!
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Cheering for my super tall quarterback nephew!

Go Jakee Go!! Fantastic game today! 🏈😎
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It's Not Gonna Happen Again This Year

Last February I didn't blog the whole month. I almost let that happen again this February, but it's the 11th hour, and I've decided to stop the no-blogging madness.

There's no way to stick to a theme for this post since I haven't blogged in a while. So here's a random mish-mash of February 2015...

We were in Southern California for a few days...
I finally got to meet my grand niece! She's 14 months old. My niece drove over an hour just to have lunch with me and my SIL. Also got to see the nephews for a brief moment. And spent an evening and the next morning with my BFF and her kiddos.

Jimmy had to work. He was recruiting at his alma mater. I went to college 15 minutes from here, at Cal Poly Pomona. So I spent a lot of time here, too.

We were staying in Pomona at the fairgrounds. Here's a pic I shared on Instagram for Throw Back Thursday the week we were there.
Jimmy was really into car races back then. We went to the Winter Nationals in 1988 at the fairgrounds. It's hard to tell, but we're posing in front of the Grand National, not the moving truck. It was Jimmy's favorite car back then. I used to love the Saab 900 Turbo. Random.

Also shared this gem from 1987...
Our 1st selfie before 'selfie' was a common term.

We were there Valentine's Weekend...
We treated ourselves to the best fish tacos in California...at a little hole in the wall in Pomona. Two nights in a row. We lamented that Jimmy didn't like Mexican food in college. I remember hounding him for Mexican food all the time but his version of Mexican food didn't extend beyond Del Taco. Now it's probably our favorite style of grub.

Before leaving Southern California, we stopped at another favorite, Bob's Big Boy.

There's a whole hockey store down there that sells just goalie equipment. Not even regular hockey skater gear, just goalie! It's huge and Jimmy's version of my craft store. Couldn't resist a snapshot of these King-kong sized goalie pads.

Back home...
Jimmy actually went to work this way one day last week. The day before, he won a bottle of "Gorilla Snot Hair Gel" and was told to come into work with spiky hair the next day. One of their mottos is to "Be Unboring". Nailed it.

Apparently you're suppose to change the strings on your guitar every 3-6 months. Who knew?? The strings on my guitar were over 5 years old, but only used consistently for the last year or so. But they were due for a change. I was nervous changing them, but I did it all on my own. My guitar has never sounded better and motivates me to play even more.

Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them but you know they are there.

In October, I tagged along with Jimmy on one of his work trips. This time we just went to S. California. We drove down but Jimmy needed the car, so I was stuck at the hotel for 3 days. But I really wasn't stuck. Because I got to see my 2 besties and their families, plus another friend and her son who I've known since elementary school, and of course the 3 nephews and their parents.

BFFs for 32 years. One of my most special moments of my life was being with her when her daughter was born.

I remember playing jacks and hopscotch in elementary school with Loretta. I hadn't seen her in 4 years, but we keep in touch via Facebook and Instagram. I knew that we'd be within a few miles of her, so I hoped she'd be free for a quick lunch or coffee. Our quick lunch ended up being a 2+ hour gab fest.

I spent several hours with my bestie Monica and her son. We talk every single day. She's the easiest person to talk to. How we can manage to talk about who know what for what can add up to an hour or more of conversation amazes me. We went to college together not far from where I was staying. One of our senior year projects was to analyze the real estate marketability of a retail shopping center, just 5 miles from my hotel. It was barren land back then, but development was happening quickly. It currently looks like this:
Neither one of us became real estate tycoons.

Jimmy's brother is a college football coach in San Bernardino and we managed to get there before half-time and watch his team win!

Beautiful California

Found this amazing time lapse video made by Hal Bergman.

Bergman wrote that his goal was to “cram all of the visually stunning things about the entire state, from coastline to mountains to deserts, from cities to wilderness and national parks, into four minutes.” This time lapse took Bergman over four years to make and the average clip in it took between three and ten hours to edit. (via Bold Italic).



You'll see the building where we live at 2:33. Can you find it? :)

Angeles National Forest

After Reggie's bar mitzvah, we drove up to the San Gabriel Mountains. Jimmy went to college in Claremont, I went to Cal Poly Pomona about 15 minutes away. Whenever we needed to get away from college life, we'd drive up to Mt Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains.

This is the exact spot that Jimmy proposed to me 24 1/2 years ago. I had just come home from visiting my best friend who lived in Florida at the time and jimmy wanted to go out to a nice italian dinner. Afterwards, he wanted to take a drive up to Mt. Baldy but I complained because I was so tired from the trip. I was pretty much like "dude i don't wanna drive up there I'm so freaking tired" but in 1990 lingo.

When we stopped, he hugged me like a normal hug but i could hear and feel his heart beating a million times a minute. I was clueless. Oblivious, said to him, "your heart is beating a million miles an hour". The rest is history.

We got up there just in time to watch the sun set. I had forgotten about how beautiful it was up there. There were so many layers and layers of mountains that stretch to the ocean.

We drove a bit more and caught this view of downtown Los Angeles before it got dark.

24 1/2 years later. Where does the time go??

3.9.13 - A Union

She was stunningly beautiful.
He was fantastically handsome.
Together they were the happiest couple on the planet.

3.8 Mission Bay and Old Town

We had 1 full day to relax before the wedding. We kept it pretty low key and stayed close to the motorhome we're renting for the weekend.

After picking up my SIL from the airport, we had a late lunch at Old Town San Diego. Everything is styled like the California Missions and Mexican restaurants are the dining establishments of choice so of course that's where we went and we weren't disappointed.

When the sun finally peeked out of the ominous clouds, we knew all was well with the world. We're camping at Mission Bay and took a quick stroll to enjoy the fresh air and gorgeous views.

We've always said that San Diego is the only city in Southern California that we'd move back to. We're not planning on ever moving but San Diego still holds a spot in our hearts.

Home From a Great Weekend

We got home late Saturday night from a very full holiday weekend.Thanksgiving day, Lauree and Jim, Jimmy's sister and brother-in-law, hosted 38 of us! There's 37 in this photo and we are all somehow loosely related: brothers, sisters, inlaws, outlaws, steps, cousins, aunts, uncles, significant others, nieces, nephews, moms, dads...

the next day I went to visit bff Danielle. Her sister and friend were there too!

and later that evening, we went to San Diego to have dinner with niece Ashley, Mike, shy SIL, and the parentals.

The days passed much too quickly. Didn't get the chance to see everyone I would have liked to see or do as much as I wanted to, but very happy and grateful with what we were able to do.
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24Nov "Today I am Thankful For"

...a safe drive down to Southern California
...being able to drive down to S. California today instead of tomorrow (if we thought traffic was bad today, tomorrow will be 10x worse).

photo from a few years ago on the 405fwy near Long Beach and LAX. didn't get the chance to take photos on the drive down tonight because it was dark.
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Unexpected turn of events

We were in S. California for quick business meeting and to spend some time with family. But on the day we were leaving, I walked out to the car and saw this:
GASP. Am I really seeing what I'm seeing?
Um. Yea. In the middle of the night, some teenagers (according to a witness) decided to do a quick smash and grab.SIGH.
Well, it happens. Even in nice neighborhoods. Sure, it's a pain in the ass dealing with filing a criminal report, calling insurance, getting the window fixed, and replacing what was stolen. But honestly, we count our blessings whenever we don't meet our assailants. This was the 3rd time one of our cars had gotten broken into. Hopefully 3rd time is a charm and we've paid our dues.

On another note!
Enjoyed a relaxing walk with my SIL along the beach at Crystal Cove the day before the drama.

Now we're home, safe and sound. Spending the rest of the weekend as quietly and drama free as possible.
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I just can't help myself

I went to Disneyland again! Sure, I just went 6 weeks ago, but when Phin suggested going, I couldn't say no! How can you say no to the Happiest Place On Earth?

When I went in April, we missed the fireworks show and it's one of the best firework shows I've seen. It's 2nd only to the New York City 4th of July Firework Show that I saw in 1996. But the Disney fireworks show is a theatrical extravaganza. The fireworks and light show are synchronized to the music of the various themed lands, for instance Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and so forth, plus the most popular rides within that land like Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. And keep an eye out for Tinkerbell!! She actually flies in and sprinkles her pixie dust magic over the castle.

Click on pics to enlarge and see Tinkerbell in 2 of 'em.








technical details for those who want it:
Camera: Canon Rebel
Lens: Tamron 28-200 (handheld)
ISO: 1600
shutter speed: 1/15 sec
Aperture: auto but varied from f/4 to f/22
(I admit I'm very happy with how these came out. Probably the best fireworks shots I've taken. I'm most pleased because I used the big lens without a tripod. I think it's because I increased the ISO and found the magic shutter speed to work with where I was standing. None of the photos have been altered aside from straightening.)
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Graduation

The Claremont Colleges
Alma mater to 3 of our immediate family: Jimmy, Eretz and for the Class of 2008 our niece Bretz. Who happens to be Eretz's daughter.
And employer to 2 more: Sretz and Mretz.

I think they should dedicate a building after us. Or a sports facility.
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Far From Paradise

I'm the type of person who usually blogs about the warm fuzzies in life. I try focus on the affirmative. No need to dwell on the negative. Or at least publicize it. But sometimes, I come across something so distressing that it sticks with me for days, weeks, or a lifetime.

Right now, this something is the Salton Sea.

I can't explain the technical or environmental issues that have/are happened here, but I can tell you what I saw and what I felt when we went to the Salton Sea last Friday evening.
As we approached the Salton Sea, it looked like just about any other lake in the California desert.

In fact, there were glimpses of paradise.

But here are a few things about this body of water that's not typical:
-The surface of the sea is over 200 feet below sea level.
-Currently, agricultural runoff via nearby rivers, is largely responsible for sustaining it.
-There's no outlet, so evaporation is the only way the water is lost, leaving more salt than water.
-Because of the evaporation, the concentration of pesticides and pollutants left in the sea increases.
-Approximately 400 species of birds have been documented at the Salton Sea and it's a major resting stop for migratory birds.
-Thousands of birds have mysteriously died since 1996 at the Salton Sea and is still a significant issue today.

Here's another almost picturesque photo.

But are you ready for a closer look?
It's not sand that lines the sea shore...
it's salt...barnacles...

fish bones and carcasses.

Millions of fish carcasses left because of massive die-offs.

And there are more dead fish floating in the sea.

I don't think I need to go into detail about the stench.

Some of the die-offs are unexplainable, others occur every year during the hot summer months when the water evaporates and oxygen levels decrease dramatically.

While a few people claim the water is safe, my eyes tell me differently.

Of course, my observations totally oversimplify the actual issues. Jimmy and I talked it for hours, he's spent countless more researching it. And I've scratched the surface reading about it online. I'm a visual learner, just reading about something doesn't have nearly the impact as actually seeing it in person or being able to touch or smell it. And even though my tendencies are to gloss over the icky stuff, I know when I've been slapped in the face of reality.
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Legoland highlights - Day 4

On our last day we went to Legoland in Carlsbad, near San Diego. I've never been so it was nice exploring new territory. Although I admit that it was most fun for me to see the kids enjoying themselves so much.This Lego tourist dude was right at the entrance. If it had been a little more feminine, it could have been me with all those cameras!

Photo opportunities galore! This lego great white enjoys his Alaskan meal.

Lifesize Cross Country Volvo XC90 made out of legos. Very cool, especially since my better half drives a Volvo. And likes Legos.

Early the next morning I dropped my friends off at the airport and as they flew back to the Great White North, I drove home. I was tired and eager to see Jimmy, but spending those days with my friends will be cherished forever.
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