a fresh look

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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.)