Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Photo Review


Okay, so even though I haven't written much in the past couple weeks, I HAVE been taking photos! hehe I try to snap a photo of places I go, food I eat, or anything interesting that sticks out to me. I like to post the photos here on my blog and I also just like to take photos because I find that they help trigger memories. I can look at a picture and it will help me remember the events that occurred during that time period. Can't imagine life without photos!

So here goes-- pictures from the past two-three weeks:

February 8, 2012: The whiteboard in my classroom
2/8/12: The desk in my classroom
2/10/12: Valentine's Day Cards...Unfortunately, I didn't get them all mailed out... :( 
2/10/12: One of the tenants gave D some frozen churros that she didn't want...They're fairly good! I fry them in oil and then sprinkle some cinnamon/sugar on them...yum!
Friday 2/10/12: D checking out the electrical sockets @ Berenice and Jacob's house...It's a really old house so has ancient wires and fixtures....
Saturday 2/11/12: We got up super early and went hiking w/ Larry and Alicia.
We went to Griffith Park...I think we got there around 7am....
perty!
D found some eucalyptus leaves along the trail...
Raindrops on the leaves...pretty!
A gorgeous view!

haha I look so sweaty and tired...



Even more tired and sweaty...at one point I thought I may pass out...but I didn't! I think it was mainly the heights that freaked me out...we were on some pretty tall hills and seemed pretty close to the edge at times...and some of those hills were so STEEP
The Hollywood sign...

Really cool tree that we saw! The roots looked like hands!
We survived the hike and it only took us about 2 hours! Afterwards, we were starving and Larry took us to The Flame Broiler....a weird breakfast I know...I wanted pancakes! haha But i wasn't the one driving :P
Our first time @ the Flame Broiler! Super delicious! I've been hooked ever since!
Gorgeous church near USC campus! (We drove past it to get to the Flame Broiler)
2/11/12: Later that day....we met up w/ Berenice and Jacob @ Lowe's to help them pick out supplies for the lighting @ their house...
2/11/12: Then we went over to their house and D started working on the lighting in the bathroom...what a good brother he is!
D hard @ work
Hanging from the rafters...haha
While Jacob and Diego were working in the bathroom, the rest of us were hanging out in the living room. Since there was no furniture we sat on blankets, plastic, cardboard or whatever we could find because the floor was all dusty from all the work that had been going on in the house. ..haha Alicia's dog Dobie kept us entertained. At one point, he was chasing the laser beam from Jacob's phone. Hilarious!!! I got it on video. Maybe I'll try to post it some other time...
2/12/12: @ church...They've had those hanging lights up ever since Christmas and i LOVE them!
After church, we went to Boston Market...
My plate..yum!
Monday 2/13/12: Back to work...
I went to Michael's after work...was looking @ some of the fake flowers...these are some of my faves..
Love the ones in the middle! So pretty!
2/11/12: D's dad bought a bunch of mandarin oranges! Yum! I had never had a fresh mandarin orange before...I usually just have them from the can....They were super good!
2/13/12: Mom and Dad sent us a Valentine's Day package! Thanks Mom and Dad!!!
2/14/12: This is what I made D for breakfast. French toast in the shape of hearts w/ fresh bananas and strawberries...
2/14/12: So for our Valentine's Day date we went to a murder mystery dinner theater. It was located @ the jazz club in the Doubletree Hotel  in Culver City. I had been planning to take D here for his birthday but we were sick that weekend, so we decided to go for Valentine's Day. It was kind of a surprise and D didn't know where we were going until we got there! (He likes surprises)
The doors going into the restaurant.
D waiting very impatiently for them to let us in to the restaurant. They were running a bit late..
Our table...we were the first ones into the club.
Appetizers...
My delicious meal!
Dessert!
It was a fun night! Some of the actors were actually sitting @ our table, which made it really interesting. D and I had figured out that they were actors before they "came out"  because we had sat there and talked to them for quite a while before everyone else got to our table. The main actors were playing detectives who were trying to solve the murder case and they somehow chose D to be the "rookie" so throughout the whole night they kept calling him up in front of the crowd. "Where's Rookie?" haha It was funny! He did a good job !
My Valentine's gift from D! So cute!
I attempted to make chocolate dipped strawberries, but the chocolate just wasn't cooperating...:( They look more like poop covered strawberries hehe ;)
 I have a bunch more photos to add, but I think that's all that I'll add for tonight. It's getting kind of late and I need to head to bed soon.

Today has been a pretty uneventful day.  I taught from 9am to 12:30pm. I went grocery shopping, did a few loads of laundry, and have been cleaning the apartment. I bought a frozen blackberry pie on sale @ the store and so I had some blackberry pie w/ vanilla ice cream tonight...soooo delicious! Remember, I've been on a blackberry kick..haha ;) Other than that, I talked to Jennica for awhile. I watched the 'Castle' episode from last night and I looked over my lesson plans for tomorrow.

Well, that's it for tonight. Goodnight, everyone! :)

Friday, October 7, 2011

It's Friday!!!

It's Friday!!!  Does anyone have any big plans for the weekend? Yes, I'm talking to you...:P If you're reading this, i would love to hear from you. I often feel like I'm talking to myself, which isn't very fun. :P  There is a comment button below each post and you don't even have to sign up to blogspot, in order to reply. So give it a shot, why don't you? hehe And thanks to those couple people who have taken the time to comment on my posts! I LOVE reading what you have to say and it makes blogging a lot more fun! :)

No big plans here....I think Jessie(D's little brother) has a football game today @ 4, but we probably won't go since D works until 5. We're trying to be thrifty, so we'll probably just stay home tonight and save our gas money so that we can go over to his fam's house tomorrow and/or Sunday. (it's a quarter tank each way to go there). It's basically kinda like driving from Rensselaer to Lafayette, maybe a tad shorter. It takes a good 20 to 30 min, depending on traffic.

So as I mentioned in my last post, I didn't get the ESL job; however, the director told me that she liked some of my ideas and asked if I would like to be on the sub list. So I guess it's a way to get my foot in the door. They also weren't interested in me for the technical editing position ( which honestly, gave me a headache just thinking about it) , but the girl said that there is an entry level administrative assistant job that is available and asked if I would be interested. So I'm going to apply for that......

Have spent my afternoon working on laundry and housework...not fun! :P I miss having a washer/dryer in my apartment! It's such a hassle to fight over those washers downstairs, not to mention that it's super expensive!!! So get this, D's boss (Margo) had mentioned that her husband might be able to get a broken washer for $20 and asked D if he would be able to repair it and set up a drain in the shop so that we could share it! D and I had been talking about this for a couple  months now, but couldnt' afford to buy one...sooo if D can figure out how to set up a drain, it looks like we may be able to get a washer that only we and his boss would use! yay!!! That would be amazing! :)

In other news, D's in the process of getting his 90 day review...it's taking forever though since they seem to have a very disorganized system. We're really hoping that he'll get a raise! We also asked if we would be able to switch to a different apartment (there's one available on the other side of the building facing the ocean and has a BALCONY!) and also to be able to have a weekend (or maybe even two) a month free of call so that he can actually have a chance to relax once in awhile.  I really think his boss is not wanting to switch us to another apartment. We're currently right by the building gossip ( at the boss' request) and I'm pretty sure she spies on us--we have no privacy at all. This lady writes daily letters to the boss telling her what's been going on in the building and complaining about different sounds/occurrences. D was in there a couple weeks ago answering a maintenance call and he said that he saw this high grade microphone or something (some sort of recording device) in her room. She also has her bed right against the wall that's next to us. I think she just sits there and listens for any sound. That sounds crazy, but it's probably true. We usually don't hear anything from her wall, but once we heard her cough. So there's that, plus we're right in front of the smoker's bench, which we hate and also there is no breeze since we're not facing the ocean. So yeah, if you think of it, could you pray that things work out? That we can get a nicer apartment and also some weekends without call? Thanks!

Haven't done a whole lot of baking this week. I did bake some swirled cream cheese pumpkin bars and mailed them to my mom and dad. I think they actually got them today! I have some leftover pumpkin, so I'm thinking about making some pumpkin bread.

Yesterday I went on a hike out near Trump.  I went on the easy trail down to the water and this time actually went all the way to the beach. I saw a ton of dogs this time around! Probably four or so. I stopped and petted a couple of them...made me miss my Snickle so very much. :(  I miss having a dog around. I hope to eventually adopt one, if we ever move to a different apartment/house. So here are a few photos from my walk:

I don't know what they  are called, but I love these flowers!!
There were tons of them along the path...
It's difficult to tell from this picture, but those little plants/flowers on the trees are this really pretty purplish/pinkish color.
Love these spiky little flowers!
Some kind of berry...
It was sooo clear out! You could look across the water and see Catalina Island ( I think that's what it is, but not positive)...gorgeous!
The water was kind of brownish( from the wind blowing sand maybe?) near the shore, but a really pretty bright blue green a little further out...
The path that i followed is right around that hill...
I thought this sailboat looked so pretty with this backdrop...wish I would have had my real camera, but all i had was my phone camera...
A large bird posing on the railing....He let me get pretty close too....

Well, that's about it for today...Oh! One last thing-- I got another surprise package in the mail this week from M&D!
Silverware!!! And it looks really similar to the silverware that was lost in my missing box...

Thanks Mom and Dad!!!! We love it!!!!! :)

Speaking of the lost silverware, the moving company offered me the entire amount that they owe me which is about $250 some. Thanks to Alex, the customer service agent, who listened to me complain and pleaded my cause. The claims department was trying to give me the run around for months. I'm happy to get the money...I have learned a LOT from this experience. We probably have thousands of dollars worth of damage that was done to our furniture...sigh. Next time, I will deal with moving in a whole different way. Unfortunately, they never did find my box....or that's what they seem. I'm still not convinced that they didn't just keep it for themselves...

Well, happy friday everyone!