Being a tourist.

Happy Wednesday!!!!!!

First off, I'd like to apologize on behalf of one of our blog writers for not properly recognizing our visitors to "Awesometown" last weekend...even though we here at the Adventure Blog know that these said visitors are regular readers.  Our sincerest apologies and from this moment forward, all visitors will be properly disclosed.

Moving on....

Last weekend, our friends Fred and Erin visited from Yakima, and we finally did some tourist-y type things which was great!  The weekend was full of fun and hearty chuckles (with a heavy concentration coming from Fred during our Buca-de-Bepo dinner), and the weather finally gave us some sunshine... :)

We picked Fred and Erin up on Thursday night from LAX.  This was our first trip down to our local airport, and we kinda had a hard time figuring out where to go.  For some odd reason (even though the signs clearly said we needed to park in P6 to be closest to Allegiant Air), we ended up parking in P3....which means we had to walk sooo far to find our friends.  This also means we had to walk soooooo far (with suitcases) back to the car.... BUT it was all worth it to see their smiling faces :)




Hospitality here in Valencia is our top priority...Princess Cruises has NOTHING on me :)



Friday, both Adam and I had to put in some hours at the office, so Fred and Erin were left to their own devices with Helga. After dropping us off at our respective places of employment, matching lunch boxes in hand, and picking us up 8 hours later, we were ready for some good eats! We chose to dine at Buca-de-Bepo, which actually has locations in Washington, but we just love it anyways....if you haven't been there, you definitely should go, but beware, this food fills you up quick and with a vengeance.  Erin and I could hardly move after eating and in fact, I was still full the next morning!! But I think we burned off the same amount of calories that we ate because of all the laughing we did during dinner....and we were asleep by 10 PM. I know, we really partied it up last weekend :)

Saturday (the beginning of the end, if you were a doomsday follower), we decided to visit Venice Beach, although looking back, I wouldn't have chosen Venice to be my final place of enjoyment and memories before the end of the world.  But nonetheless, it was an experience and for those of you who haven't taken in the...interesting....sights at Venice Beach, it's definitely worth seeing, but we can't say if/when we will ever be back... Let me try and explain it to all the Washingtonians out there...

Venice Beach (a recipe)

3 heaping cups of hippie

1 cup aspiring artists and musicians, a wide variety is preferred

1/3 c. massive, body builders in wrestling singlets (do not include soap or actual wrestling ring)

1 tbsp amateur segwey drivers, safety course optional

pinch of clean sand

Pre-heat oven to a balmy 80 degrees, bake until crisp. Garnish with copious amounts of cannabis (note: only obtain said cannabis after your $40 required diagnosis, which are generously available at the many, MANY "medical facilities" on the boardwalk of Venice). Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy... :)

While at the beach Adam decided to take on a little, well-known body of water...the Pacific Ocean....

According to him, it was freeeeeezing cold, but he took on that ocean like no body's business!!

After leaving Venice not a moment too soon (and after discovering the we had parked Helga in an amateur car show..."DANG! check out those rims!"), we drove up the coast a few miles, past Santa Monica and dined at Duke's a restaurant in Malibu... yummy!!

On Sunday, I stomped out domestic violence by participating in a high-heel-a-thon that my office was sponsoring.  I got to see a new area of town and got a cool gift bag full of pens, post-it notes, and hand sanitizer, so I considered it a success. We then made our way back to LAX to drop off our friends....excuse me...FRED AND ERIN :) and made our way back home...

Whew, busy busy busy...

Oh yeah, on the wildlife front, we think Kitty got a little aggressive because we found a dead lizard on the back patio with its tail and arm chewed off...Thomas almost got to it, but luckily I distracted him long enough for Adam to pick it up.....

....and do this with it.... protein deficient, maybe?

Ok, so what's next on the docket, you ask? 

1. New episode of Extreme Couponing tonight, looking to save 98% and go home with 178 bottles of mustard for free.
2. Buying a used beach cruiser off of craigslist.org that I will attach a basket to and ride Thomas to and fro.
3. Venturing to Santa Barbara and Ventura on Saturday
4. Shopping for....hmm...what was that again?....oh yeah.....a WEDDING DRESS!!!! (less than a month away people!!!)
5. No work on Monday!!! yippiee!!!!!!!

As for a wedding update, we have made arrangements for the ceremony to be held at El Matador State Beach on June 21 (first day of Summer and the longest day of the year! What a day to celebrate!). We are currently feeling out the reception venue market in Yakima, as well, since we are planning a big celebration there in October...more information coming soon....

Well, that's about it! Hopefully there are still some blog readers out there that are enjoying my long winded stories :)  Happy early Memorial Day!

I don't have a good title for this :)

What a whirlwind of a week!!!! and then some!

So I began work last Monday at a local firm as a semi-senior staff and it's been great! The office is very organized, I don't have to do a single tax return, and it's less than 5 minutes from our house!! Couldn't ask for a better setup. :)

Last weekend, we spent some time working around the house...

Love our little outdoor space, although we have yet to actually use it since it's been so chilly the last week... :(  I'm talkin' mid 60's, people!! brr!!!!


The garden is coming along nicely and the mint plant I planted is going crazy! Mojitos for all!!! :)



This is the beginnings of our living room.  Still has a ways to go and I really hate the brick so we have to figure out what to do, but it's so nice finally feeling like this is our home.

I don't have much else to update everyone on, except we are having friends come visit us this weekend from Washington, yay!!!!!!!!

and this is Thomas again :)

Happy Mother's Day and our first official trip to the beach!

First off, a VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S day to all those wonderful moms out there :)

Palouse Falls, my Mom and I



Taylor, Jill, JoAnne, and me in Leavenworth


Now, no worries, I'm not a mother to a baby yet, but I definitely feel like mom to a few special animals....




Kitty Witty Poo-Poo Head...Kitty doesn't get much camera time, but he is still a member of the family :) He spends his days on roof tops, hunting throughout the neighborhood, and enjoying the sunshine :)



And, of course, little Thomas, who just gets more and more talented by the day :)

 We had a very busy Sunday.  Adam worked out in the yard for a few hours, filling in garden beds with rock and working on our new garden area.



Beautiful!!!!



This is where we are planning on planting tomatoes, basil, and maybe some onion...

 After working all day, we decided to take a drive to the beach.  This is the first time we've stepped foot on a sandy, California beach since we have been residents!!! We were on the hunt for a place to have a small wedding ceremony on June 21 (first day of summer, very fitting :)  ).  I had heard lots of good things about a beach called El Matador State Park, which is located near Malibu.  It took us about an hour to drive there, but it was SOOOO worth it :).  It had soft sand, beautiful rocks and although there was some clouds and wind, it was an amazing sight.  So, this is where we will be having our little ceremony in June, yay!!!!!!!

I was showing off the Hooter's shirt, but I think all you can probably see is a cheesy smile...but what's new, right? :)

Well, my vacation comes to a screeching halt tomorrow morning at 9:00 A.M.   Yes, I will no longer be a Southern California house fiance...I will be contributing to the household income...I will be a productive member of society...oh, these last 9 weeks have gone by waaaaay too fast.  I think Adam was a little secretly jealous of my unemployment stint lasting so long, but now we will be on an even playing field (somewhat), so I won't feel as bad for spending money on cosmetics and beauty products, my one fault... :)

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!!!!!

Summer is here!

This week has been absolutely gorgeous down here! Not a cloud in the sky and no wind!  I think it's been in the mid-eighties and today is supposed to be in the 90's... woo-hooo!!!! Now I know why we moved down here :)  How's the weather in Washington?? :)

Wedding planning is slowly getting started.  As of now, we are planning on having just a small ceremony down here this summer, but flying up to Washington in October to celebrate with all of our friends and family.  Invitations and details to come, so I will need every one's addresses and contact information, pretty pretty please! :) You can just email it to me.

My last week of freedom before work is going by so fast! :( But on a good note, Adam is really enjoying his new firm, although there is a bit of a learning curve for him.  He's working on completely new projects, but he'll figure it out soon. 

Other than that, it's been pretty lazy down here, which is a nice change from all of the running around we have been doing for the past two months.  We are planning to look at some possible beaches for the wedding in the next week or two, which is reeeeallly exciting!


And now some pictures to enjoy :)


We have been taking mid day walks this week and the warmer weather completely wears the dogs out :) They lay on the tile to cool off.



Sometimes, even a sun-loving little puggle needs time in the shade!



Lastly, I have been on a home made pita bread kick....SOOO GOOD!!!!!! and they actually open up like real pitas!! See, I'm slowly learning my way around a kitchen!



I'll make sure to keep this updated for more wedding/reception details, so everyone has enough time to plan on making it! We wanna celebrate with everyone!!!!