...life as we know it...

gorgeous

2010-01-12T11:13:00.001-08:00

a winter san clemente sunset.

whenever i get stressed out i try to think to myself, "i have a wonderful husband, i have a family and friends who i love, i live a few miles from the beach, and i get to see sunsets like this on a regular basis. how bad can it really be?"

p.s. i'm not any sort of stressed out or depressed right now, i just happened to have taken this picture over the weekend and wanted to share it :)

twenty ten

2010-01-10T12:44:00.001-08:00

happy new year all!

it's a new year, a new decade, and there are a whole set of new things going on for mike and i.

mike is in on a new schedule
we will soon have a new nephew
i have a new camera and a new video camera to all the wonderful memories we'll have
i have some new year's resolutions including trying to cook at home more, updating my blog more, and making running a habit.
we got new phones. actually, we got new smart phones and this blog post was created from my new phone. hopefully this blog app will help me keep one of my new year's resolutions.

so here we go 2010!!

a long overdue update

2009-11-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

from the time i started this blog, i've noticed a recurring trend. i write a nice long post for everyone to enjoy and then it takes me at least a month before i post something else. i think it's because when i write, i usually write a lot so when i sit down to post something new it's always a bit time consuming.

i really have to get out of that habit.

anyway here are some things that have happened in the past month or so starting with my birthday.

kirstin's 24th birthday

as you all saw, i got my beautiful new camera from mike and have been trying to use it as much as i can. i still have plans to take a class to learn more of the features and hopefully get my hands on a student-priced version of adobe photoshop to learn how to use that too. my photography talent is still a work in progress.

anyway...for my actual birthday, i worked during the day and all my coworkers signed a nice card for me. when i got home from work, mike and i went to my favorite restaurant. if you know me well enough, you'll know that restaurant is p.f.changs. we had such a nice dinner and the food was amazing. then my birthday continued into the weekend when my parents came up to san clemente and we went out to dinner at salt creek grille. to further extend my birthday celebrations, i had a coffee date with aimee, brunch with julie, and dinner with sabrina in the weeks following my actual birthday.

it's going to be a good year!

grandpa norm. 1924 - 2009. r.i.p.

my grandpa norm, my dad's dad, passed away back at the beginning of september. as part of his last wishes, he didn't want us to have any sort of service for him so we had a family gathering to remember him instead.

his passing came so quickly and started with a fall down the steps in their backyard. as a result of the fall, he ran into some other complications while in the hospital--he had a heart attack which caused his heart to race and he wasn't eating too much. after a certain point, we knew there would be no recovery so the doctors had him on some medication to keep him comfortable and he died in the evening. i'm glad to know that he is no longer suffering or in pain, but it's a weird feeling to know that had he not fallen, he'd probably still be here with us.

we got the family together on the morning of october 9th and drove out to gorman (off the grapevine on i-5) which is one of the places he used to ride his motorcycle--his favorite pastime. we had some remembrances from his life and set off some balloons with messages we had all written. i've included some pictures of the day below.

i'll miss you grandpa!

surfrider foundation's 25th anniversary gala

since 1984, surfrider foundation has been working to protect the world's oceans, waves, and beaches. on october 9th, we celebrated our achievements in los angeles with a great party.

mike was able to join me which was fun bonus. due to some budget cuts, the officers are encourage to take more furlough days off. so after my grandpa's family gathering, mike and i headed to los angeles for the big event. we were staying at the omni hotel, so mike hung out at the hotel for a bit while i went to the event early to work my post. i worked the registration table selling tickets at the door and was still working by the time mike showed up. he went inside to join the party while i finished my duties.

finally around 9pm, i was ready to have some fun about the time the program for the event started. mark hoppus of blink 182 was the host and surfrider gave away the keepers of the coast award (an award given to celebrities who have helped us further our mission--this award is only given away every five years). the awards went to pearl jam, incubus, and david chokachi. i actually got to hand an award to david chokachi and brandon boyd of incubus!! then, mike and i got to enjoy the musical performance together. a group called camp freddy played which is a "super group" of sorts consisting of various people from other well-known rock bands (billy morrison, dave navarro, matt sorem, scott weiland, donovan leitch, and chris chaney). their performance was awesome and they brought up several guest performers including mark mcgrath, deryck whibley, and perry farrell! so fun.

by the time everyone was leaving the event, mike and i headed over the after party which took place at a place called the independent. it looked like an independent movie theater by day that they convert into a venue at night. we hung out for another hour or so there and after a very long day, we finally took a cab to the hotel and went to sleep.

congrats to surfrider!

...

i'll finish up these updates in another post with the following topics so stay tuned:

1. 2 year anniversary

2. scott bradley turns 50

3. family dog megin

4. halloween

kirstin has a new toy!

2009-09-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

almost a year ago i posted an entry in this blog titled welcome to the talent show where i basically showcased my lack of photography skills and expressed my desire to make it my talent.

and now i might be able to make it happen! my wonderful loving husband who knows me so well gave me my early birthday present a couple days ago.

isn't she pretty? i'll have to think of a name for her and i'll keep you posted on that development.

well now i have the equipment to help me hone what little talent i have right now. and i'll probably take a class next spring at the local community college to try to learn more of the features of the camera and what effects i can achieve!

SOOO EXCITED!!!

everything is bigger in texas!

2009-09-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

i spent labor day weekend with some of my life long friends in a little city called austin, tx. it's hard to believe i've known these girls for 20 years and i'm only 23 (almost 24)!

our friend lauren moved to texas about a year and a half ago for a job and i had yet to visit her in her new hometown. here's a list of some of the things we did on our trip followed by some pictures.

we stayed up late the night we arrived just chatting and catching up.
we quickly learned that it takes 2 hours for 4 girls to shower, dress, apply makeup, and do their hair with only one bathroom.
we took a little driving tour of downtown austin
visited the UT co-op to stock up on burnt orange gear for the first game of the season
ate lunch a great sandwich joint called potbelly's
we went to some cute shops in the south congress area of austin and took some great photos at an antique shop there
purchased liquor for the entire weekend.
drove outside of town for some delicious bbq dinner at the salt lick. left feeling very full but it was definitely some good eatin'
got all decked out in our burnt orange for UT game day.
started pre-partying and tailgating at 1pm
played cornhole
watched the texas kill louisiana monroe
got tired standing at the game (all the students stand for the whole football game and i didn't train enough for that)
took a peticab from the game to downtown
almost fell asleep at bar #1
then danced the night away at bar #2
learned how to do the cupid shuffle
floated down a river in new braunfels
took another 2 hours to get ready for dinner
ate at trudy's (a great tex mex place where i ate a stuffed avocado...where can i get one in ca?)
drank a mexican martini and was set for the night! kirstin's a lightweight :)
hiked the 100 stairs to mt. bonnell the highest place in austin. (not very high)
then got on a plane back to so cal.

the trip was awesome and i've included some pictures here for you to enjoy.

back in the saddle again

2009-08-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

since the marathon, i have run a grand total of 3 times equalling less than 10 miles. seems kinda sad for someone who did 26.2 in one day, but maybe that's just me.

as such, i've been noticing a slight bulge growing above the top of my jeans. that little pudge is widely known in the world of women as the dreaded "muffin top."

i give you exhibit a:

to illustrate how this happened in a mere two point five months, i've created a lovely math problem for you.

(large sweet tooth + lack of exercise) x time = unwanted, but well deserved, muffin top

i recently attended another one of no doubt's concerts in san diego and i sure found some inspiration for working out again. gwen stefani will be forty this year and looks AMAZING. she's had two kids and has washboard abs. i mean just look at her.

i give you exhibit b:

now that i've stopped oggling over her abs, i will tell you that i basically want to be her. she's been my favorite musician since i was 10 and no doubt's tragic kingdom album was one of the first cds i ever owned. so in hopes of looking more like her over the next year, i'm trying to work a new equation into my life:

(large sweet tooth + LOTS of exercise + eating healthier) x time = gwen stefani-like abs

i'll have you know that my first run in a long time was yesterday. it was difficult and today my legs are sore, but it's that first step in getting my ass/abs/legs back in shape.

here we go!

busy bodies

2009-07-26T12:03:00.001-07:00

i was taking a look around at matt and whitney's blog today and noticed that i am down at the bottom of her blog reel widget (basically meaning i've been totally slacking in making updates to my own blog). i realized that i haven't posted anything new in over six weeks. i know how much i like to read blog updates--and even though i've said this before--i'll do my best to make updates more often for your enjoyment.

anyway, summer is in full swing and life has certainly gotten busy, at least for me. mike's been busier at work since the oc fair opened in costa mesa. he's mentioned to me that the fair has certainly brought out some interesting people to his neck of the woods.

as for me, summer and fall have easily proven to be the busiest months at surfrider. this makes perfect sense since we are heavily involved in the surf industry, and the busiest months for surfing are the warmer months. imagine that!

here's a list of some of the things we've been up to since our last post:

my sister turned 20 on june 11th which means my parents no longer have any teenagers around. we're both so grown up now :) but i can't wait for her 21st. there are plans to do a mother daughter trip in honor of this milestone.
father's day came and went so quickly. mike had to work, but my family came up to san clemente for a little breakfast to celebrate.
i participated in international sufring day (an annual holiday created by surfing magazine and surfrider foundation five years ago) by going to moonlight beach in san diego and participating in a beach cleanup.
i devoted one of my weekends to "wining and dining" surfrider's board members while they were in town for our june meeting.
i attended my friend vickie's 80s prom themed 25th bday celebration. i honestly don't know how blue eyeshadow went out of style. it's so attractive and complements everyone's complexion! (please note the sarcasm in the past two statements)
my sister moved back up to san francisco. she finally found an apartment to live in next year with two of her friends.
surfrider took half a day off work for some staff bonding and competition fun for "hump day fun day." we had a surf contest, some volleyball fun, and a cornhole tournament. good times with my coworkers.
i've been surfing a little more.
fourth of july came and went with no significant festivities. mike had to work the next day so he went to bed early, and i decided i didn't want to fight traffic in downtown san clemente to see the fireworks off the pier, so i joined him.
our friends scott and meghan came up to spend an afternoon in san clemente and enjoyed some dinner with us.
i hosted one of this summer's sanO nights by creating some delicious booher burgers (burgers with delicious goodies inside). lessons from making these the first time--do not overstuff the burgers, make sure you pinch the sides really well, and make sure they are as flat as possible before putting them on the grill. i will know better for next time.
my mom and dad came up to sc for my dad's birthday and we enjoyed some pizza and beer at pizza port, one of my favorite places.
i attended the grand opening of my cousin's vintage shop in laguna beach. if you are ever in the area make sure to stop by macalistaire at 1850 for some great vintage finds.
julie, one of my best friends, came to san clemente for the day to spend some time at the beach. we ended up walking around the pier for the annual ocean festival.
and our friends scott and julie came to visit us yesterday. we went to the beach and had some dinner. it's always good seeing them and i wish we lived closer.

that's about it. here's a few pictures from some of the fun...

the view above moonlight beach on international surfing day.

hump day fun day: everyone hanging out with the cornhole tournament going on in the background.

hump day fun day: more people hanging out.

hump day fun day: ed getting ready for the boys' surf competition wearing the beaver wetsuit. note: the flap in the back actually snaps to the front of the suit. too funny!

booher burgers are made. vickie and i posing with the finished product.

cousin rachiel's vintage shop storefront.

here's a shot of the inside of rachiel's new vintage shop.

julie and i in san clemente.

take a look how crowded the beach was during the ocean festival.

there were a bunch of old woodies parked on the pier. i want one.

there were all sorts of water competitions going on throughout ocean festival. this was a dory race. two-man paddle boats making three laps. it was really exciting to watch, especially when one guy had to finish the race by himself because his partner's oar lock broke off the boat.

until next time my friends...

no doubt is back in action

2009-06-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

a few months ago, my dear sister samantha called me up and left me a voicemail message that i'd been waiting to here for years--"no doubt is going on tour and tickets are going on sale soon, do you want to go?"

my first thought was, "hold the phone! my favorite band of ALL time is going on tour again and they will be making new music when they are done? i love no doubt! HELL YES I WANT TO GO!!!"

so we did.

the concert was may 22nd and sammy and i had SO much fun (minus the freak dancing and grinding that occurred throughout the whole concert in my peripheral vision, courtesy of a not-so-lovely white trash couple. i mean, there are children here. you aren't in some dark club where it's semi-okay to feel each other up while others are in close proximity. but as you can tell, it totally didn't bother me at all. syke. no but really, it was totally heinous. end of story.)

anyway, here are some pictures i took that night...

sammy and i taking a self-portrait

~~coors ampitheatre~~ cricket wireless was completely full (it means no doubt is awesome!)

the opening act was a band called the sounds. they were pretty good.

paramore played next. i love her red hair.

then no doubt took the stage. so cool when they did this!

besides showing blown up video feeds of the band, they played some really cool music-video type stuff on this big screen behind them. they must have had so much fun making additional footage for this tour.

fake smoke on the back screen.

i was so sad when the concert was over :( i want to see them again already.

this is a video i tried to edit with imovie on our computer. the first clip is of paramore and the other three are of no doubt. i hope it works. enjoy!

five hours : forty-two minutes : twenty-two seconds

2009-06-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

one of the greatest accomplishments of my life so far has officially been checked off my list.

so the san diego rock 'n roll marathon was yesterday and i think anyone who knows mackenzie, whitney and i would agree that we are rockstars. we were all first timers in the marathon world and we crossed the finish line running!

it all started two years ago when i went with my sis-in-law whitney to watch her husband matt run this same marathon. and watching all those people cross the finish line is so inspiring. there are so many different types of people that you find yourself thinking, "if they can do it, i can do it." and so the seed was planted.

but that seed didn't grow at ALL during the next year. but after matt finished the following year, whitney said she wanted to finally crack down and do the training so that we could do the marathon. but this time, the seed actually grew and whitney and i decided to do it together. i went online and found some training schedules that said a beginner could get the proper amount of training in six months. so i organized a whole schedule by date and workout for the six months leading up to the race and gave a copy to whitney. (i might have put it into an excel spreadsheet, but you can't judge because i just like things organized).

whitney and i, maybe, followed the schedule for a couple weeks and then the schedule became more of a suggestion. we ran on a weekly basis, but we didn't really train seriously for 3 or 4 months. we were back and forth and back and forth as to whether we really wanted to do it. but eventually we made the decision, got in a few longer runs, and signed up for the race. mike and matt's little brother mackenzie also decided to run it too somewhere along the way.

so the three of us were finally going to follow in matt's footsteps and try to do it together.

and all of us finished! mackenzie finished about 15 minutes before whitney and i did (we lost him at the very beginning of the race because whitney and i had to go pee in the bushes. obviously girls take longer to pee and we just never caught up to him.)

i can still hardly believe we actually did it. the only thing that reminds me of that fact is that i can barely stand today. my legs are SOOO sore, but it was well worth it. this was the single most difficult thing i've ever set out to do. it's so much of a mental game and i couldn't have done it without whitney. she pushed me through the whole second half when i was really struggling to keep going. but i kept going and the feeling i had crossing the finishing line was pure ELATION! everyone was cheering for the runners and i felt such a sense of accomplishment. nothing compares.

and i'm so glad it's over. i'll probably keep running on a weekly basis (once my muscles feel better, of course). i don't know if i'll be able to do the marathon again, but i think that participating in some shorter races on a regular basis is definitely in my future.

here are some pictures from all the fun and festivities...

mack, me, whit, and matt at the expo picking up all our goodies.

this is megan who came down from bakersfield with mike and matt's cousins to come watch the race.

ryan and olivia at our carbo load dinner.

me and whitney (please note this picture was generously taken by six-year-old megan).

the whole gang at buca di beppo.

before the race at o-five-hundred hours (translation: it was EARLY!!!)

me and whitney with our matching outfits and new jackets.

some of the runners on friars

me and whit at the halfway point. still smiling.

there was a batman and robin duo running yesterday.

my mom heading to the finish line.

some of the many elvi running in the race.

the crazy guy running in with the cape was completely naked. not sure at what mile he decided pants were no longer necessary. my parents took this picture. too funny.

me and whitney running to the finish line. almost there.

we barely had the energy to stand up for this photo, but we are still smiling and we got our medals.

the four finishers.

the whole family at the finish line.

me and my medal!!! woohoo, it's over!

i LOVE weddings!

2009-05-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

last weekend mike and i attended the wedding of our friends fred and brigid. mike was the best man and we ended up having a great time! the reception was actually at the same place we had our wedding, so it was really fun to be on the other side of it for a change. congratulations to fred and brigid! we love you guys.

p.s. i've been trying to take more pictures of the things that we do so you all have more to look at. enjoy!

doesn't my husband look so pretty in brown? looking good, babe!!

the boys. (the groom is in the front middle.)

the bride with her sisters and her niece.

mike's friend bb with a turtle he found at webb park

the bride's dress was GORGEOUS! it had a very vintage feel! (you may have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see the detail)

the bride with the groomsman. this picture is so cute with all the sunglasses!

me and mike. we don't take nearly enough pictures together.

after the ceremony, fred and brigid took this vintage car to the reception.

me and julie forest. i miss her and need to make more of an effort to visit her and scott in temecula. she and i started the dancing that night with our boys. so much fun!

the first dance

the first dance was cut short halfway through so the bride and groom could enjoy the astro jump that was present for all the kiddies to enjoy!

mike giving his best man speech.

san clemente sunsets

2009-05-16T16:54:00.001-07:00

as you all know, mike and i don't have a whole lot of time to spend together. but on occasion we'll do more than sit in our living room, eating egg burritos while watching lost.

so a couple weeks ago, when the weather had made a turn for the better, we decided to go and watch the sunset. by the time i got off work, mike had packed up a cooler with some cheese and crackers and we headed down to the beach. it was so nice and peaceful just to sit and watch the waves and the surfers as the sun slowly drifted toward the horizon.

i took a few photos and here are a few i wanted to share. (have i told you guys how much i love living near the beach yet?)

here's an artsy one.

i tried playing with some of the editing options and i think this one came out pretty well.

once the sun went behind some clouds, there were so many beautiful colors in the sky.

and i finally got my in-focus picture of the moon.

by golly, she is alive!

2009-05-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

i know you've all been wondering where i've been for the past month. and the truth is, i haven't been on some exotic island where they barely know what running water is, let alone have an internet connection, further preventing me from posting updates to my beautiful blog.

i've been around, but have been more interested in reading the updates of others instead of making my own updates. and for this, i apologize. but don't fret, i will be making more of a conscious effort to post more often than once a month.

so to start, i thought i'd update you on my "garden" (you must picture me holding up the first two fingers on both hands while slightly bending at the second knuckle when i say "garden." these air quotes, as they are called, are necessary because three pots can hardly be called a garden).

but look! after a month, my flowers are still beautiful!

JUST KIDDING!!! (had you there for a second, didn't i?)

my garden actually looks like this...

everything has died except for my kalanchoes. those are still a brilliant redish orange color, which i love! i really don't know what i did wrong. it's possible that i didn't water them often enough. and it's also possible that most of the flowers i bought because they were pretty (rather than easy to care for) don't get nearly enough sunlight on our balcony. oh well. i'm thinking about replanting a bunch of those kalanchoes in various colors since i seem just conscientious enough not to kill them.

any helpful gardening tips are welcome!

my green thumb

2009-03-29T16:05:00.001-07:00

i was at a garage sale a couple weeks ago and bought two pots for $2. i thought i'd try to liven up our balcony a little bit and bring in some spring colors. so today, i am making my first attempt at trying to keep some flowers closer to alive than dead for an extended period of time.

i don't know anything about gardening. i usually over water things, causing whatever it is to drown. although, mike and i have somehow managed to keep one houseplant alive, but i think the plant actually refuses to die. when we moved to our apartment, i swear the plant was on its last leg--leaves super droopy and starting to turn brown--and so i just set it outside to wait for it to die. mike decided it still had some life to it, watered it, and a couple days later it bounced back. the plant has fought numerous times for its own life that i feel like i owe it to the plant to keep watering it. so i do, and it's still alive.

but flowers are a whole other category that i know will require much more tlc than i have offered to my house plant. we'll see.

but this is what they look like on day 1. aren't they pretty?

ugh. running. ugh again.

2009-03-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

preface--semi-inspired by whitney's 'lessons i've learned from my dogs' series. oh how you always one-up me, whit (fist shaking). coming up with all the good ideas first. i think this means that i am a terrible blogger. i must have missed the first day of 'blogging 101' where they teach you it is the cardinal sin of blogging to steal ideas and content from your peers in the blogosphere. oh well, i love you whitney. and please don't be mad i am ~~stealing~~ borrowing your idea.

well, it's been a not-so-wonderful 115 days since i started working out by way of running. and in the, maybe, 30 days i've actually put on my work out clothes, laced up my shoes, and walked out my door, i've learned some very important lessons that i thought i'd share with you.

things i've learned in my short time as a ~~runner~~ very slow jogger.

you can't go from zero to marathon overnight
just because you buy all the fancy running gadgets, doesn't make getting up in the morning any easier
there is a very strong chance that you will see people much older than you or much younger than you running 3x your speed and seem like they are actually enjoying themselves. as if running can be fun! who are you people?
you need to switch it up. run a new route. intermingle short distances and long distances. listen to new music. change up the scenery. wear your mp3 armband on the other arm sometimes so you don't end up with one huge tanline on your left arm.
running outside is much more fun, but much more difficult. it's a trade off.
daylight savings makes it so much easier to train. it's too hard to get out of bed in the morning and now i can run after work without feeling like i might be pulled into the bushes at any given moment.
every day is different and there are good days and bad days. some days i feel like i could run forever. and others i get a side cramp right from the get go and wish i had listened to my instincts and sat on the couch watching friends with a bucket of popcorn.
it's important to understand that if you run 4 miles in one direction, you must travel that same distance to get back.
when using moleskin padding to cover the same blister that keeps reappearing under the bunion on your right foot, make sure you listen when the directions tell you your feet must be clean for it to stay in place. that's no funny business.
being in shape makes it much easier to push through the pain (sore legs, side aches, feeling like your head is going to explode from overheating) and keep going until you finish the distance you set out to do.
while running along the trail by the ocean and listening to panic at the disco's 'nine in the afternoon,' you may repeatedly think the train is about to pass you, but it's not.
if you get your head in the game and decide that you are going to run after work without fail, no excuses, you might be rewarded when you are done with a beautiful sunset like this. (oh how i love living near the beach!)

Lucky # 13.

and above all else, when you hear the train coming, turn your face away from the tracks or you'll be whipped by grains of dirt and sand like you're a camel in a dust storm! and that's no fun for anyone!

and the cougars came out to play (part 2 of 2)

2009-03-06T18:00:00.001-08:00

...continued from march 2, 2009

as we sat at our table, we found ourselves looking at every single person in the room. the guy at the next table was wearing a fancy suit and had a ponytail. one lady was wearing a black, halter, sheath dress with a huge silver embellishment that looked like something you would find at forever 21. one of the guys playing pool looked like he was dressed in designer duds with the top few buttons of his shirt open displaying a (lovely) chain around his neck. a woman of probably 60 was wearing a baby blue sweater with silver threading and a black skirt that was maybe six inches in length and much too short for someone her age. another woman was wearing a strapless corset type dress made from spring green eyelet fabric which was a.) too small and cut her boobs in half, and b.) looked like it belonged on tinkerbell with the way the fabric of the skirt was cut. another guy from across the room looked like he belonged at a biker bar. he was wearing all black and had a leather cowboy hat on. it was quite the eclectic bunch.

but they all had one thing in common. they were all single and ready to mingle.

by about 8:30, the band was finishing setting up and testing their equipment and some background music came on. several people moved to the dance floor and it seemed like every couple dancing didn’t really mesh well together. one guy was all over the dance floor dancing with multiple women at once. he had graying hair and was wearing dockers and a polo shirt—nothing super fancy. but man did he like to dance! his dance moves were so bouncy that his hair, parted perfectly down the middle, flew up and down as he moved. he basically danced circles around all the women on the dance floor trying to win each of their hearts through his interpretation of dance. we also watched the woman with the short skirt and blue sweater gyrate her hips back and forth in a way that made me scared everyone would get an unwelcomed peek at her vajayjay. i felt a little uncomfortable and uneasy, though very amused, watching the antics on the dance floor, but little did i know there would be much, much more.

at 9ish, the band began to play. the band members looked to be in their late 20s and they seemed fairly hip. the lead singer was a girl and i hoped that the band played blues and soul music. i was not even close. it turns out they were a cover band playing everything from santana to bob seger. as the first song started, i realized i’d never seen so many people move so fast to get to the dance floor. it was as if they felt this was their absolute, last opportunity to find love and every single second was of the utmost importance in their search. they danced it out like they meant it.

by this point, mike’s friends arrived and he mingled with them a little bit. work talk. with the music it was hard to hear anyway so i remained in my spectator seat and watched this interesting dating game for the above fifty crowd. i watched as people slowly started to break off into couples on the dance floor. you could tell that there was that initial hesitation as to weather they would fit together. and then there was the occasional awkward moment as one tried to slyly start dancing further and further away from the other one.

the next thing i know i look out around the bar and what was about 50 people when we arrived had quickly turned into 300. i guess this place was voted best singles bar because there were so many to choose from. i swear i saw a guy that looked like samuel l. jackson. he was tall and dark with a khaki colored suit with a collared shirt and a tie. he had glasses and wore a hat the same color as his suit. let me repeat, he wore a hat in a bar slash love lounge (very pimped out, if you ask me). i tried desperately to take a picture, but unfortunately my phone has no flash and it was too dark in the room. sorry kira (kira is my cousin who has a little bit of a samuel l. jackson fetish in that she likes to make her own photos more interesting by photoshopping his face into them as if he were her friend—always cracks me up—and if you knew her, this would totally make sense).

so, after my failed attempt to capture an image of the slj look alike, i noticed something out of the corner of my eye that topped off this wonderful night. it was the icing on the cake. a lovely lady dressed in all black was slowly making her way through the crowd carrying a basket full of long-stemmed roses. and what was she doing with so many flowers, you might ask. well, she was selling them to all the eligible men in the room, of course! a rose that says, “i’m such a sweet, sensitive, caring guy. wanna go home with me?” she should have been caring a small radio with marvin gaye’s “let’s get it on” playing on a loop to top it all off. seriously, my night was complete.

the whole night was just amusing. it seemed so silly to me that all these people put on their best seduction outfits to come to a bar in anaheim hills in hopes of finding their second, third, or fourth love. i know. i know. i shouldn’t be snickering at these people’s seemingly genuine attempts to find someone to spend their time with and maybe fall in love with. but i can’t help it.

after everything i saw, i must say that i had a great night. don’t get me wrong, though, i won’t ever go back. but i had a great night.

the end.

and the cougars came out to play (part 1 of 2)

2009-03-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

mike and i had a very amusing evening last week. it is very unlike us to even consider going out on a weeknight, but with our schedules all out of whack, we used last thursday as an excuse to go out on the town. we were going to meet up with a couple of mike's friends from work and one of them suggested we go to this restaurant slash lounge slash bar slash music venue in anaheim hills. all we knew beforehand was that thursdays were the nights that the cougars came out and that this place was voted best singles bar.

the place was called foxfire and when we pulled up, there was a torch-like flame blazing above the restaurant's name on the rooftop. i thought it was kinda cheesy since the place was called foxFIRE and they put a FIRE on the roof, but whatever.

there was a bouncer at the door, but thank the heavens we didn't actually have to shell out money to get in this place. we made it there long before mike's friends so we took a quick lap around the room to see what this place was all about. it had an old-fashioned feel--as if they used the place as a fine dining brunch establishment by day and moved out all the furniture and turned it into a bar by night. there was a wooden rectangular bar and a lounge area with oversized maroon chairs. there were two pool tables with players who seemed like you could find them there any night of the week. and facing a small dance floor and stage were about twenty cocktail tables. next task--find an empty one.

we noticed two semi-available tables at the back. they were near the pool tables and didn't offer a very good view of the stage and dance floor. this was a non-issue since we didn't really come to see the band. table #1 had an empty pool cue case on it. table #2 had three cocktail napkins and what looked like a half-drunken glass of who knows what. we decided to sit at table #2 and spent the next few minutes scanning the crowds.

a waitress then greeted us and reported that the table we were sitting at belonged to a group who was out on the patio smoking. ugh. she suggested we sit at table #1 with the pool cue case. she mentioned that it was her friend's case and that he has a really expensive pool cue. she proceeded to tell us that he'd allow her to sit us there as long as we didn't touch his case. now i'm not really sure what kind of person thinks that their pool cue case deserves an entire table unto itself, but i wasn't about to accidentally knock it over and find out the hard way.

luckily another table opened up and we found ourselves planted there until we left a few hours later.

to be continued...

a fresh look

2009-02-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

well, i've spent the better half of today trying to get this new template onto our blog. and it was no easy task.

1. i had to find a template i liked

2. then i had to download the template and upload it into blogger

3. then i had to edit the html code by copying and pasting links to individual url's for each page element to make sure the layout fit together properly

4. then i had to re-add all my widgets (the stuff in the right hand column)

5. then i had to reformat the html code again so that my label cloud actually looked like a label cloud

6. then i had to search for an rgb color code so that i could change the html code again so that the label cloud contained the colors that i liked

7. and finally i hit save so that i could write this post on all my struggles*

so anyway, with all this looking through html code you'd think i'd be some sort of expert by now in web-site creation (or whatever they call it), but i'm not. the next time i decide to change my blog layout, i'm sure it will be another half-day ordeal because everything i learned from my trials today will have left through my other ear by then.

my options seem to be to never change my blog layout EVER AGAIN! or i could try to change it more often so it becomes easier. i've voted to change it more often, but i know that won't happen. so i hope this blog is pleasant to look at...because you'll be looking at the same one for a loooong time. happy reading!!

*this new template was not actually created in 7 "easy" steps. between each step were multiple instances of trial and error. "first i tried to add all my page elements, but the background didn't fit the whole page. so, i consulted the instructions and comments (5 times each) and found out how to fix the problem...OOOHH!! you have to make sure that the settings for the individual page elements don't say 'shrink to fit' they need to say 1mb. gosh, how was i supposed to know that?"

obama for is president!

2009-01-31T08:50:00.000-08:00

i know it's a little past inauguration day, but i just wanted to congratulate our new president in my own, very non-public way. it's such an amazing time to be living in this country. despite the current state of our economy, i'm very excited to see what's in store for our country.

on inauguration day, the entire surfrider staff hovered around the television in our conference room to be able to watch that moment in history. hopefully, years down the road, i'll be able to tell my kids exactly where i was when the first black president took office. and if i can't remember, i can refer back to this blog for a refresher.

to say that he has a lot on his plate is HUGE understatement. he certainly has a long road ahead of him and will have to make some difficult decisions over the next few year to help remedy the problems he inherited. of course everyone will be hovering and picking apart everything he says or does to bring the u.s. out of this slump, but i have no doubts that we have better times to look forward to.

i just wanted to share my hope that we will survive the next few years.

i also wanted to share this picture i found on another blog that i read regularly (cry it out: memoirs of a stay-at-home dad) that just made me smile. this is bush street in san francisco which someone took upon themselves to rename: obama street. love.

lost in lost

2009-01-19T12:42:00.001-08:00

if you have ever watched a single episode of this incredible television series, then i do not have to tell you how AWESOME it is. even you watched an episode and had no idea what was going on, the suspense still kills you and leaves you wanting more.

for the past month, this has been mike's and my obsession. a friend from work lent me the entire first season on dvd. needless to say, we watched every juicy episode as if the world were going to die the next day and watched all 24 (count them, 24) episodes in a few days time. i know it's a little lame that we did nothing but watch episode after episode, but it's just so tempting when you know the next one is sitting there ready to go. no need to draw out the suspense of the cliffhangers the writes put into each episode, just push a couple buttons and voila you find out what happens next.

anyway, after we finished the first season, we waited patiently for another surfrider employee to watch season 2. then we got ants in our pants and though we might try to netflix the second season. the only problem with that is that we have the "one dvd at a time" level so you have to wait days in between sending back one disc and waiting for the next one to arrive.

i decided to check out the lost website and what did i find? every single lost episode ever aired is online. AND you can watch them all for free! i only wished i had found this out sooner. you do have to sit through a few commercials, but if we watched it on tv we'd have to do the same so i can't really complain. we are getting into the third season now and hope that we'll be able to catch up to already-in-progress season five.

this is my shout-out to all you lost fans reading this blog. but if you do not watch this show, i'm sorry, but there is no shout out for you today. you should be watching it. i HIGHLY recommend it. SOOO GOOOD!! and maybe someday soon, we can bond over the steamy love triangle between jack, kate, and sawyer.

the holidays and the new year!

2009-01-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

well, the busy holiday season has come and gone and it's a new year! hard to believe that 2009 is already upon us and i still find it amazing how quickly the year passes by.

our holidays were great. mike's been off training for about a month now, so he had to work xmas eve, xmas, new year's eve, and new year's day. i made all the holiday rounds solo this year. i felt bad that mike had to be at home by himself on xmas eve, so i put up a few decorations to make our apartment feel more christmasy for him. so, i spent christmas eve with mike's mom and stepdad in vista. we had a wonderful dinner and it was great to see everyone. shelby even got some of the mother-in-law's delicious chicken scraps to enjoy.

after dinner, i headed down to my parents' house in rancho bernardo and sam and i got to open one gift each. like every year, they were new pajama bottoms. it's funny because i know exactly what i'm going to open on christmas eve, but i still look forward to it to see what kind my mom picked out. oh, how i love the holidays. we watched the end of 'a christmas story' and went to bed early. i know i'm not five anymore, but i still had trouble sleeping that night--it could have been the fact that christmas was the next day, it could have been the fact that shelby was taking up most of the bed, it could have been that i wasn't sleeping in my own bed, but who knows? i like to think that there is still that kid in me that can't wait to see what santa brought me!!

we opened all our gifts on christmas morning and my mom made "monkey bread"--a delicious cinnamon roll type creation with plenty of sugar and what seems to be a syrup glaze that gathers at the bottom. yum!! we lazed around during the day and went to dinner at the bradley's house up the street. it was a full house this year with many of my friend aimee's relatives--some i hadn't seen in 10 years, and others i had never met. it was a fun evening. i scooted out early to exchange gifts with julie and sabrina--my two saviors from high school. i love seeing them and it's too bad we all live far apart and i can't see them everyday anymore.

after gifts with them, i drove back to san clemente and woke mike up to say hello before he dozed off again and had to get up the next morning to work. when mike got home after work that day, we did our own xmas. we only exchanged stockings this year since we're on a little bit of a tight budget, but it was still fun and i got to see mike open the gifts from his mom and my family.

new year's was really uneventful. like i said, mike had to work new year's day so we didn't make any plans and i didn't have any plans of my own to ring in the new year. mike and i hung out at home and i was in bed by 11pm. no ball drop for me! oh well. maybe next year we'll get to do something more exciting.

and since the start of the new year, we haven't really been up to too much. mike's been working his new schedule and i've been trying to find the motivation to keep running--that's about it. mike and i don't have any days off together anymore. i have weekends off and he had tues, wed, thurs off. it's been weird trying to get used to that, but at least he works during they day so i still get to see him every night.

that's my story for now. happy new year everyone!

internet peeps, i'm sorry

2008-12-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

i was just taking a look at our blog's main page and thought to myself, "holy moly, i haven't added a new post in about a month."

and for that, i apologize. to our most adoring fans, i'm sure you've cursed the days where there were no updates on the VERY exciting happenings of mike and kirstin's life in san clemente. and the thing is that so much has been going on! (well, not too much, but enough to write a few posts about).

i can't believe how much time has flown by. thanksgiving has come and gone and we are well into the holiday season already. we spent thanksgiving with my family and our family friends in san diego. it was very relaxing and pleasant and i didn't over-stuff myself which is a pretty great accomplishment. no turkey coma over here! as with most families, we went around the table and listed the five things we were most thankful for this year. here a the top five things i am thankful for this year.

1. i have a wonderful husband, a loving family, and great friends that i know will be there for me when needed.

2. i have not been directly affected by the current state of the economy (yet...knock on wood)

3. i have a job and a boss that i actually like!

4. i live 5 minutes from the beach

5. and finally, i'm thankful for the internet so that i can watch two of my favorite shows--'the hills' and 'gossip girl' :)

after thanksgiving dinner, my sister and our friends aimee and erin went to see the new movie twilight. i totally loved the movie and will return to this topic in a new post-to-come...

let's see what else. a couple months ago, i wrote that i was going to train for the rock 'n roll marathon taking place in san diego this coming may 2009 here. one of the reasons i was going to start training (or just working out for that matter) was that i finally have my own ipod to keep it interesting. so i spent time making my own workout mix and loading everything onto my ipod, but still hadn't worked out.

i went online and researched some marathon training schedules for beginners and found one with a 6 month schedule. naturally, i counted back the days and found that in order to be ready in time, i had to start training by dec. 1st. i changed the schedule that i found online into my OWN excel spreadsheet so that i could add in the dates for each workout. (basically, i know that if i'm not organized about training, i'm never going to do it). i put my schedule on the fridge so i could feel the accomplishment of crossing off each day as it passes. mind you, i created this little calendar/schedule about a month ago and put off working out until my schedule told me that i absolutely had to start...so much for self-motivation.

but either way, i started my workouts and they don't seem so bad on the piece of paper. i start with short runs of 2-3 miles and then i slowly build up the length of the runs as time goes on. the trouble is that where our apartment is situated, there are only hills around us. if i go right out of the complex, i have to run up hill first and if i go left, i have to run up hill too. running (or as i do it...slowly jogging) up a hill is not the best way to get your body warmed up. i'm already wheezing by the time i've gone only a quarter mile. but i've determined that i need to continue and that it will get easier. i may end up having to drive closer to the beach to run along the boardwalk where it's a little flatter, and a lot more soothing. i'm one week into my training and i' ll keep you posted on how everything is going as i try to make it through the next 25 weeks. wish me luck!

and the other latest and greatest in our lives, is that mike is one short week away from completing his field training with costa mesa police department! he can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. in his past few months of training, mike has certainly learned a lot and built upon the things he learned in the academy, but a person can only take so much of having someone constantly looking over your shoulder. he'll soon be on his own in his own squad car and kickin' some butt in costa mesa. i'm so proud of all that he's achieved so far in this new career path and when i look back on the past year, it's hard to believe all that he's gone through to get where he is now. six months through the academy and four months of field training is plenty to wear you out (i know i could NEVER do it). once mike is on his own, i know he'll enjoy helping out his fellow officers and making arrests, and i'm sure he will come back to each of you with plenty of stories to tell.

until next time, find a way to get in the holiday spirit!!

welcome to the talent show

2008-11-13T18:21:00.000-08:00

the grass is always greener on the other side, so they say. do you ever think about the one or two things that you wish you could do, but can't (or at least can't do right now)? of course you do. and so do i.

mike's talent: comedy and impersonations. there's something that's in him that allows him to read situations and people so well. and he loves to make people laugh. he can pull lines out of nowhere and get the crowd rolling. i, on the other hand, am only funny sometimes and it's usually unintentional. and i can't tell a story worth anything. i may start telling a story and get halfway through and realize that no one will think it's funny or the story will just kind of drop off without a proper climactic ending--which reminds me of one of the best movie lines ever from dumb & dumber where lloyd is at the 7/11 and says to the guys standing outside, "cool, big gulps!.....(long pause)......well, see you later!" this is exactly what i want to say at the end of most of my stories.

but there are two things that i wish i could do, that i can't right now. one, i'll never be able to do because it doesn't come naturally--and that's to sing (and sing well). which is why i LOVE american idol. when people have great voices i get goosebumps and it's just amazing how a song can move you like that. i wish i could sing. of course, i can still sing whenever i feel the inspiration! it just won't be very pretty.

the other thing that i wish i could do was take cool photographs. i never took a photography class (except for a short lesson in college where a columbian photographer came to help us work on a semester-long project...only problem, he only spoke spanish...it's difficult to figure out how to properly use the manual settings on a 35mm camera when your professor is using vocabulary like 'la apertura' and 'la exposicion' and speaking a million miles a minute). i see so many great photos and wish that i could produce some myself using depth and light to create interesting images.

i bring this up because on my drive home from work today, the moon was beginning to rise over the east and it was shining through some patchy clouds. the moon looked bigger than i'd seen it in a while and the clouds gave the sky around it a very cool effect. being the semi-aspiring photographer that i am, i wanted to take a cool photo of it when i got home. and maybe it's the fact that i own a fairly standard point-and-shoot digital camera which doesn't allow me to create the effects that i want. i played and played around with the camera's settings, but all i could come up with are the following photos. all blurry and all look like there are multiple moons. nice, kirstin.

maybe one day, i'll actually take a class to relearn the basics and actually spend the money to get a nice camera. but for now, you won't be seeing any of my images in any galleries selling for far too much money. here's to hoping, though!

election on my mind

2008-11-04T18:14:00.001-08:00

etiquette says: never ask someone their age, how much money they make, or what their political affiliation is.

and there's good reason for it too. it gets everyone all riled up and people end up with hurt spirits. i have never been huge into politics, but i still wanted to at least bring up the subject because this is such a major voting year. we may have the first black president and there are some very heated debates on both sides over certain ballot measures--specifically proposition 8.

(beginning of rant.)

if there is one thing i've learned since moving to san clemente, it's that orange county is much more conservative than i thought. overall i think of california as much more liberal than the rest of the country and there are reasons for that. even though the governator is republican, we still voted a former movie star to be our governor. i don't think many other states would do that (and two of my previous roommates in san francisco were from ohio and they said that everyone from their hometown was in awe and almost found it funny when we voted him into office).

anyway, i just have to say that i don't care what political party you are affiliated with or whether you voted for obama or mccain, there is no reason that prop 8 should have been on the ballot at all. but since it was on the ballot, i can't seem to see why someone would vote to limit the rights of a certain group of people. why shouldn't gay people be allowed to get married? it should be their right. end of story. over the past few weeks there have been innumerable amounts of 'yes on 8' signs propped up in the median as i drive the short 2 miles to work. i smile on days when i know someone has taken down many of the signs i saw the previous day. and i am frustrated the next day when i see 200 new ones that have been put up. and when i say 200 signs in 2 miles, i'm serious. those signs were posted within feet of each other--one right after the next. and i don't know where all this manpower is coming from to post all those signs.

i can understand that there is an older generation that is set in their ways and may never change their point of view, but it's so difficult for me to fathom that there are members of the younger generation who are out on the street corner holding up 'yes on 8' signs. the intolerance is just incredible. it just makes me wonder why they care so much. they say they are protecting the 'traditional' marriage, but i see it as hate. how is someone in their 20s really going to be affected by allowing gay people to get married? the younger generation is supposed to see the bigger picture. we read history books about the civil rights movement and were supposed to have learned from previous mistakes. but the same thing is happening all over again. prop 8 would limit the rights of gay people and we're supposed to be a nation based on equality? how does that work?

to me marriage is not about a man and a woman. marriage is about a partnership and commitment to another person. if people claim to be protecting marriage they should be out on the street corners of las vegas campaigning to stop all the drunk people from getting married via drive through. when i was living in san francisco and mayor gavin newsom allowed gay marriages, you would read about these stories of gay couples who have been together for 20, 30, 40 years. and they will still be together for years to come whether or not prop 8 passes. but these individuals are committed to each other and should be able to call themselves spouse and spouse.

if you can't already tell, i voted no on prop 8. i apologize for the ranting, but you probably won't hear it from me again for at least another 4 years. and that's only if there's another issue like this.

(end of rant.)

halloween

2008-11-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

well. halloween was fairly uneventful for these harveys. there was debate about what we wanted to do to celebrate the festivities. but truth be told, halloween is not as fun if you don't plan WAY in advance. i think this is because i try to cut costs and make the costume myself because the prepackaged outfits are at least forty buck a pop!! AND most of the ones for the girls are the "sexy" versions and i don't like to show off my legs that much. so i end up with very little time to put together my outfit.

anyway, i ended up running around the few days before halloween to try to figure out what i was going to wear. i had had this idea a couple years ago for mike and i to be 'thing 1 and thing 2' from the cat in the hat--super easy to make and kind of a his and hers ensemble. the only problem is that mike wasn't sure that he wanted to be the other half of my outfit. so i went ahead and made my own 'thing 1' costume and sewed the felt onto my red shirt. mike tried looking for something else to be, but most of the halloween places around here were low on inventory. he ended up with a grumpy old man mask and i ended up as 'thing 1 minus thing 2.'

mike's on a new schedule for work that keeps him awake until the wee hours of the morning so he was pretty wiped out and didn't want to spend the energy going to a party. so we chose the mellower version of halloween and ended up just going to my parents house to hand out candy, while mike had fun trying to scare the kids by jumping out from behind the door with his mask on.

i guess we better start planning now for halloween 2009...

halloween at work. it was one of those things that because i'm new there was going to be some sort of joke on the new girl where they convince her that everyone is going to dress up, but no one actually does. luckily there were a few other that got dressed up. this is our marketing manager laura (lead singer of weezer), our marketing director matt (scary clown), and me (thing 1).

one year!

2008-10-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

well we've been together for five years now and been married for one year! hard to believe how fast the time has flown by, and certainly this year in particular. in the single year we've been married, mike was hired by costa mesa police department, sent to the oc sheriff's academy, lived in irvine during the week and in temecula on weekends, graduated from the academy and started his field training, i finally quit the winery, found a new job at surfrider foundation, and we moved to san clemente. whew!

anyway, our anniversary fell on a monday, so it was a little difficult to do much to celebrate that day since i had to work. but, when i got home, mike was cooking dinner and had some beautiful roses waiting for me. he made fajitas which were REALLY good and then we watched 'what happens in vegas' which was a bday gift from sammy. it was a good night.

in order to continue the celebration, we decided that we would use a gift certificate we got as a wedding gift and go to ruth's chris steakhouse for dinner. i know, i know, you're all wondering why i would want to go to a steakhouse, but i was sure they had other things on their menu. we got dressed up last night and made the trek to irvine which is the closest location to us. our table wasn't ready right away so we had a nice drink at their bar and watched some of the red sox/rays game. i ordered myself a frou-frou drink a pear twist martini made similar to a lemon drop. the drink was so good and very crisp and refreshing! (its so not like me to order these kinds of drinks and i even had a pomegranate martini the night before with the harveys). it's fun every once in awhile and i guess it really makes it feel like a night on the town!

we were seated to our table and had plenty of time to search through their menu. they actually have a pretty good special where you have a four course meal for two for only $89! but since we had a gift certificate we thought we'd order straight from the menu. we started off with some seared ahi tuna -- one of my favorite things! we each ordered a salad and mike got a chop salad without the bleu cheese of course and i got their tomato, mozzarella salad. everything there is ordered a la carte so we got two side dishes, potatoes au gratin (yum) and french fried onion rings (yum). mike ordered their filet and i ordered their stuffed chicken -- both of those were served on piping hot plates drenched in butter. so fattening, but sooo good. my chicken ended up being a WAY bigger portion than i anticipated and i think i only ate 1/4 of it. i could barely stuff any more food into my belly! mike was full too and we had to bring at least half the meal home with us.

and to finish off the evening, they gave us one of their desserts on the house! and the even wrapped it up to go. i went for the cheesecake, but i haven't had a chance to eat it yet. it looks just delicious! i'll let everyone know how it is. so after our huge meal, we ended up only shelling out about $25 for close to a $200 dinner. not to shabby -- thanks to mike's probation friends enrique and kip for that one!

until next year...

here are all the wonderful flowers mike got me and all the nice cards we received from everyone. the askanas-graul family (my mom's best friend since 6th grade) was thoughtful enough to buy a bottle of wine at the bernardo winery when we were there for the wedding and then mailed us the bottle for our anniversary!

here is mike the chef. fajitas. ole.

our timed photo before leaving for dinner

our close up photo before dinner

this photo is a little dark but from back to front you can see the huge onion rings, mike's perfectly pink filet, the potatoes, and my huge chicken portion.

mike was really hungry!

this is after the meal. we left with our doggie bags and with a food coma.

more birthday fun!

2008-10-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

well, it was another exciting night with the harveys. when you get those twins together there's no telling how hard you're going to laugh or how many times you are going to roll your eyes at their silly antics. mike's oldest, little brother marshal came home for the weekend from college and it was the perfect time for everyone to get together. he's going to lindenwood university in missouri to play baseball and is having fun, but needed a little taste of home to get him through until the holidays.

we went to macaroni grill which is always yummy. lots of filling pastas. whitney and i got two dishes to share, but i'm pretty sure we could have shared on entree and still been full! oh well. i guess all those carbs will help with all the marathon training that i'm not doing right now. oh well again.

after dinner, we went back to the harveys for a little belated bday cake for all the girls (me, whiney, and allie all had birthdays toward the end of september and beginning of october). then we got into a nice game of 'apples to apples' which always turns out to be a good time and plenty of laughs. whoever thought that gold chains might be considered glorious (or not-so-glorious)? good times.

here are a few pictures from the night...

the brothers

the brothers being silly (no surprise)

the yummy birthday cake

and finally allie, me, and whit with our cake! blowing out the candles was funny because i'm pretty sure allie blew all of them out for us!

it's starting to feel like fall

2008-10-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

after a few weeks of wonderfully warm weather in san clemente, it was nice to have a little cooler weather for a change. since our apartment is up in the hills a little bit, we definitely get a nice and chilly ocean breeze. we invited two of our temecula friends, scott and julie, up to see our new place and they brought along their adorable (and i will say it again, adorable) little one, scotty. now that i think about it, it should be a given that they brought little scotty along, since he's only two months old. soooo, i guess what i'm trying to say is that we invited all three to visit. it was great to catch up and see how our old stomping grounds are holding up, even though we've only been out here for a few weeks.

we took our first little walking tour of downtown san clemente. the area is really cute, but i'm pretty sure you have to be super wealthy to shop down there. i guess i need to find the closest target, and fast. there are antique shops and cute little restaurants along the main walk. you can even bring souvenirs back to all your friends from england and denmark without ever leaving the country. there is a british shop and it looks like they will be putting in a danish shop so that you can buy danish things (but don't be confused, they won't be selling pastries). we ended up walking all the way down to the pier, but that meant that we had to walk all the way back up the hill afterward. we were tired, but it was fun anyway. i had the honors of pushing scotty's stroller while we walked along the pier. pushing something with wheels along a pier makes you realize how uneven piers are. it felt like i needed some shocks on that bad boy and it reminded me of the second ace ventura movie where jim carey is bouncing around in his jeep and singing 'chitty chitty bang bang.' oh man, good times. don't worry though, little scotty wasn't in his stroller. he got to take a little ride with dad in his 'baby bjorn' a little contraption that keeps him close to his dad's heart (or just strapped to his chest). here are a couple pictures from the afternoon.

(sorry i don't have julie in any of them. i wanted to have someone take a picture of us at the end of the pier, but it was pretty nippy and we turned right around. definitely next time.)

here are the two boys pushing little scotty. don't they make such a cute couple. vote no on 8.

here's big scott and little scotty (sorry about the gust of wind that blew through right as i took the picture...sweet do)

here's mike and i with the pier in the background

what a pretty day to be in san clemente...

welcome to our home!

2008-10-05T19:09:00.001-07:00

i know everyone has been on the edge of their seats just waiting to see the glorious photos that capture the essence of our new home. well here they are...

if you are standing in our doorway, the following five pictures show you what you are looking at from left to right.

this is our couch (the big boxy thing at the bottom of the picture is shelby's crate)

this is our tv, filing cabinet, and desk (thank goodness it all fit on one wall)

this is our hallway (i know it's the nicest one you've ever seen)

this is our counter, microwave, fridge, cabinets, and all the other stuff that belongs in a kitchen

this is our dining room (sorry the picture is a little dark)

this is our very small bedroom (what you are looking at is about all that fits in the room)

this is our very handy and convenient stackable washer/dryer

this is our closet (stuffed to very brim)

and the moment you've all been waiting for...

this is our lovely bathroom!

that's all for now...

bday fun!

2008-10-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

with everything that has been going on, i kinda almost forgot that my birthday was coming. we've been dealing with the move and our house in temecula and then all of a sudden...bam...september 30th was here! i had to work of course, but it was a beautiful, hot, sunny day in san clemente. i got to bring shelby into work with me and everyone at work signed a birthday card for me. it was really sweet. and my boss got me one of those 'lucky' bamboo deals to put on my desk. i haven't really had a chance to make my desk my own yet, but this will be the start. now i gotta bring in a few pix of the family and i'll be settled in.

since my birthday was in the middle of the week, we didn't do to much to celebrate. but my wonderful hubby did make me dinner (artichokes, cheese-stuffed chicken, and rice)! it was really good and i was really full afterward. that's a lot of food for two people! i opened a couple gifts and got some really cool flameless candles and a personalized apron from my mother-in-law. it really is 'kirstin's kitchen.' i received a few cards with money...it always fits! and mike got me my very first ipod!!! we have the computer already and now i have my accessory.

it's funny, because i've actually been putting off working out and/or running to train for the rock 'n roll marathon next june because i didn't have an ipod to listen to music. excuses, excuses. shame on me. but now that i have my ipod, i guess i'll have to get on a training schedule. whitney and i are still trying to figure out how to train together, but apart. we'll see. btw, if anyone has any marathon training schedules starting from...hmmm...oct, nov, dec, jan.....let's see....8 months before the race, let me know.

thank you to everyone for all the bday wishes and i promise i will post pictures of our new place soon. i need to take pictures during the day and i keep forgetting until it's too dark outside...sorry...:)

san clemente life

2008-09-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

so much has been happening over the past few months that i don't even know where to begin...

we've been living together in temecula for a little over a year. i was working in wine country (but hated my job) and mike was doing great things with his probation work. then, mike kind of hit a ceiling in the probation department. he wasn't really being challenged at his job everyday and it became kind of routine. he decided that it was time for a change and wanted to become a police officer. after a long, grueling application and interview process (they even came to the house to talk to me and they made mike take a lie detector test...scary!), mike was hired on by costa mesa police department in orange county. they are one the best departments in california for two reasons (1) they pay isn't half bad, and (2) they provide some of the best training from the orange county sheriff's academy. from february to august, mike was back in school again, but not like any other school we've been to. he spent long days getting yelled at by the tactical staff, sitting in lectures, running, and just trying to survive. but he made it out of the academy alive (with honors in communications skills and firearms proficiency i might add)!

so here we were living in temecula, with mike working in costa mesa. (side note: the drive from temecula to costa mesa without traffic is about an hour and fifteen minutes...don't even talk to me about the wasting gas and money there) we decided that it was time for a move out to orange county to be closer to his new job and then i could spend some time looking for a job i actually liked. so, i quit my job at the winery and spent my days searching as many corners of the internet as i could for appealing jobs. but job hunting is time consuming and ultimately frustrating. i didn't have any particular industry in mind even though i studied hospitality management. but hospitality requires a lot of hours for not very much pay...one of those work your way up the food chain type industries. i was spending a lot of time on malakye.com (a job posting site for the action sports industries--surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, motocross, etc.) i even found a few job posting there that sounded interesting with companies like billabong and rip curl. the only problem is that the companies are so big, that if you don't meet their specific criteria, you'll never get a call back. i tried with some follow up calls, but to no avail.

then, out of the sky, i decided to take another look at the surfrider foundation. i had looked on their site before, but there were no job openings except for internships. but i loved the organization anyway and we even made a donation to them instead of having favors at our wedding. by some miracle, there happened to be a job posting for an office administrator position. right up my alley! you have to be friendly (check), personable (check), organized (check), reliable (check), computer saavy (check...mostly). i quickly put together my cover letter and sent off my resume. i didn't hear anything right away, and checked the website again and the job posting was gone. i thought that they must have hired someone already. i called the surfrider foundation and left a message. wouldn't you know, i got a call back asking if i wanted to come in for an interview. hell yeah i want to come in for an interveiw! i did my research and nailed the uber casual interview. a couple days later, i was hired! yeah to me!

now, we're both in temecula with jobs out in orange county and still no place to live further west. we ended up finding a great place in san clemente (well, rancho san clemente...east of the i-5 and up the hill a couple miles)! we are about 10 mins. from the beach now! i am loving every minute of our life out here in our extremely cozy apartment. mike misses our house in temecula, but it is hard moving from a house to a one-bedroom apartment.

it's time to find some renters...dun dun dun. with the economy and the housing market as it is, we aren't willing to sell our house in temecula. we are going to hang onto it for a while and try to rent it out. this is a whole new process for us, so we'll see how it goes...any and all suggestions are appreciated.

anyway, i better be getting back to the dog and cat to make sure they get dinner. thanks for reading the latest update and i'll post some pictures of our new place soon!

welcome to our blog!

2008-09-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

well it's official! we have been sucked into the 21st century and have finally succumbed to the craze that is 'blogging.' i'm sure you will notice as this blog continues, that there is one, and only one, narrator. yes, it is i, kirstin, who will keep you on the edge of your seats with the wonderfully amazing things that occur each and every day in our lives. (well, maybe not everyday. but we do try to keep it interesting.)

although mike just rolls his eyes at this kind of stuff, i think this will be a great way to keep all the many people in our lives updated on the latest and greatest. for the fine few of you reading this, i hope you don't find the story of our lives too dull for reading. enjoy!