Oscar

The 84th Academy Awards

We met friends B&C for dinner and the Oscars on our way home last night.  It was so fun to watch the arrivals with all the dresses, the clips of the movies (none of which I've seen... eek), and compare opinions and place bets on winners.  Thanks B&C for a great night.

Lazy Saturday

Looking up at the palms

We made it to SLO safe and sound and slept in today.  Had a late breakfast then went out for coffee at our traditional SLO coffee house with Chris's dad.  Sitting outside on the patio with my coffee I looked up at the palm trees above me, felt the breeze, and listened to Chris and his dad talk electronics and had this amazing moment of absolute and pure bliss.  Life really is good.

SLO Bound

Headed south for the weekend.

Chris's first Triathlon

A couple of weeks ago Chris competed in and completed his first ever Triathlon.  I went along to watch and cheer him on.  It was the Scott Tinley Triathlon down in San Luis Obispo - a triathlon Chris grew up hearing about and daydreamed about completing for many, many years.  He completed in the sprint distance (.25 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, 3 mile run) and completed it in 1 hour 48 min.

Chris gets his number - 212 - and preps for the race

Chris takes a dip to warm up before the .25 mile swim starts

Swim done, Chris is heading out for the 12.4 mile bike

About to cross the finish

All packed up and headed home, proud and hungry

Chris is officially hooked and is already plotting his next Tri in November - great job honey - I am super proud of you.

Tide Pools

We are spending our long weekend in San Luis Obipso and are having a wonderful time.  Chris's parents are off in Wales playing so we are down here with 'just the kids', Chris's brother Matt and his lovely girlfriend M, having a grand time.  We all piled in the car yesterday and headed out for a light walk and some time at the tide pools in Montana De Oro out near Los Osos.  We picked a favorite trail that meanders along the cliffs for a while with a detour down to a beach with a great bank of tide pools.  The tide was out and we had a great time balancing on the rocks, finding sea creatures, acting goofy, and having time to catch up.  On the walk out we also saw a group of seals swimming into the cove and a pod of whales spouting blasts of water into the air.  What a perfect day at the beach.

Chris and I on the trail at a lookout.

Chris and his brother inspecting tide pools.

A hermit crab visit, the pools were filled with them!

A glorious purple starfish eating lunch.

To SLO Again

Though this week started off badly, waking up and having to deal with the smashed Volvo, it's been filled with mostly highs.  Some Highlights:
1. Though the deer did some damage, the car is not totaled and will be fixed. Yay!
2. Chris arranged a rental car that the insurance pays for, so I have wheels while the car is in the shop.
3. An on-sale Jacket from the Gap showed up on my doorstep.  It fits perfectly and is perfect for the mild fall weather we get in the bay area.  I wore it every day this week.

4. On Friday Chris arranged a rental car trade in for an awesome Dodge Ram TRUCK.  It is almost exactly like the one he drove when we started dating.  He actually squealed with glee when he saw it.
5. We then road tripped it back down to SLO for a final weekend getting the house clean and ready for rental.
6. We busted our butts cleaning windows, floors, touching up paint, wiping down cabinets, installing a new garbage disposal, changing fire alarms, replacing bulbs & cleaning light fixtures, and even pressure washing the whole exterior of the house and the driveway!  Phewwww!
7. We got to watch the Giants win the NLB championship finals against Philly with the family, and that means the Giants are heading to the World Series!  How cool is that?

On a bad note:  I screwed up my back on the great house cleaning, probably with all the obsessive power washing I did... I'm praying that I feel better tomorrow.  But at least the house looks better than ever; everything is in tip-top shape - down to the lightbulbs.  I am hoping we get renters soon.  Fingers crossed!

Oh Deer!

First, Chris and I are okay.  Second, we hit a deer with our car on the way home from SLO tonight.

My dear husband was driving, thank goodness as I would have completely freaked out, and as he came around a curve on Hwy 101, he found a deer standing on the white line looking away from the car.  He swerved to avoid it but clipped it with the front driver headlight of the car.  Our front headlight was shattered and the front of the car is bent a little on that side.  Judging from the little bit of blood and hair found on our car, the deer is not doing well.  Luckily the car seems to drive fine and the headlight somehow still works.

We were able to make it home okay after a quick stop to buy Duct Tape to secure the headlight beam towards the front.  I just have to say, thank God that it wasn't worse, we are alright, and the car will likely be okay.  It could have been such a disaster.  I hope everyone remembers that anything can happen, please drive safely.

SLO Time

Back in San Luis Obispo for a family visit this weekend.  Plans are lots of time with the D.O.G., getting our SLO house ready to rent out again, shoe shopping @ Charles, watching the Giants & Phillies championship game 1 (go Giants!) on the big HD screen, and free laundry (feels like college for some reason...).
And
Later...  the D.O.G. has been played with, the laundry is in process sans coins, some shoes have been purchased, and the Giants have won game 1 of the championship!  House is not ready, but 4 out of 5 isn't too bad for a Saturday to-do list.

Great experience buying my new shoes from Charles - Above are Naturalizer 'Maude' in Nickel Alloy.  Pretty flats and they can be worn with nearly anything.  Available at Shoes.com.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. A fun filled day at work. Pedro the Guide Dog puppy came to work as a criminal (somewhat fitting, somehow); and L was a Police officer. As we work in a blind center, she was actually a officer of the White Cane Police. We have a policy at the center that all students that are legally blind are to carry a long white cane with them at all times when out of their room. This policy is not always 'honored'. Let's just say many people were 'busted', some several times. Everyone had fun with it, candy was handed out to those with their canes, or to those who had 'reformed'. Many of the staff dressed up, I was a detective with a trench coat, hat, and spy glass, there were cowboys, disco queens, and many others.

After debating for the whole week, Chris and I headed down to SLO for Halloween weekend. Chris's parents had out of town visitors and had arranged a trip to Hearst Castle for one of the evening tours on Halloween night. They had an extra ticket, so I got to go along while Chris stayed home to study and hand out candy to the multitude of trick-or-treaters.

It could not have been a better night for a tour of the grounds and house. The 'Castle' was a Labor of love for mister W.R. Hearst and was invite only destination for the likes of Amelia Earhart and Cary Grant in the 30's and 40's. It is a huge house with 3 guest 'cottages' set amongst extensive gardens on a hill-top on the central coast overlooking the ocean. We arrived on the hilltop at sunset and walked through the grounds, through one of the cottages, and the main house. There were many people that were dressed in period costume, lounging in the salons at cocktail hour, strolling the grounds, and even fixing their make-up in the ladies powder room. The weather was divine, warm breeze up on the hill top, clear skies for sunset and for star gazing, moonlight for the gardens and pathways. It felt like you were almost really back there, during that time, expecting Mr. Hearst to round the corner and challenge you to a game of pool at any moment. I highly recommend the evening tour here if you are ever in the area, it is unbelievable.