gorgeous

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 :)

busy bodies

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...

san clemente sunsets

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.

it's starting to feel like fall

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!

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...

san clemente life

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!