Way Overdue

Well, I had really good intentions when I started this blog to use it to post pictures and life updates as they came, but due to a few hiccups (i.e. having to beg people for pictures) I haven't made but one post. It isn't that I haven't been busy...Scott and I went to San Diego for his birthday/Valentine's Day, visited the zoo, which neither of us had been to since we were very young, Saw Coronado Island, took a trip to Napa in March for Mom's birthday and to see Grandma, been on many dive trips, just haven't sat down to write about any of them. So I'm about to have a blog overload...be prepared...

We'll start with Scott's birthday:

I've had this burning desire to go see the San Diego Zoo (really ANY zoo) since I moved to Southern Californa. According to Mom I've been to the zoo once...when I was still in a stroller. Since I don't really remember that trip, I've been begging people to go with me. After many disappointing promises to go from others, Scott finally let me drag him with me, and for his birthday none the less! Actually he was pretty excited to go too. We spent the day wandering around viewing all the different species, seeing animals I've never heard of before.

I was most excited to see all the big cats (big surprise) and Scott got a pretty good kick out of all the primates.

We had a really great time and covered quite a bit of ground in about half a day. I guess there's only so much staring you can do at an animal, especially if they refuse to come out of their hidey-holes. The last stop we made was to the giraffes before taking our tired feet to dinner.

We found a really nice steakhouse for dinner and had a wonderful birthday/Valentine's day dinner including THE BEST chocolate chip bread pudding I've ever tasted. Before we came home we also stopped at Coronado Island and walked the beach for a bit.

I'm really glad we had the opportunity to spend some time with Grandma while she was at Mom and Dad's. Christina was already planning on going up for a few days to do choreography for the high school and Jordan surprised everyone them by being able to come up too, so we had the whole family there. Going "home" is always nice but it's even better when everyone is there at the same time.

I got to join in for the Thursday night Survivor dinner which I miss living down here, and Mom, Grandma and I got to spend some time up Valley and have a really good lunch. Mom took us to some place about 45 minutes away to have the "donut muffin" (which pretty much just tasted like a cinnamon and sugar muffin to me) and "the best fish and chips" as she says...they were actually pretty good, but hard to say if they were "the best" (sorry mom). They did have really good sweet potato fries though.

We did a little bit of wine tasting while we were there and visited Artesa

Cakebread Cellars

Another one I can't remember the name of

And my favorite, Rubicon, which is owned by Francis Ford Coppola

Ok, I think I'm done for now. My brain has run out of words to type.

Life at Sea

I think I'm going to quit my job and spend the rest of my days on a boat and do nothing but dive. There's nothing more relaxing and liberating than sailing across the ocean with the wind in your face and seeing nothing but water for miles. I took up diving a little over a year ago and its one of the best things I've ever done. You just can't adequately describe to someone the feeling of being feet under water, surrounded by ocean life and the only thing you can hear are your own thoughts. It creates such a peaceful environment.





I wish I could say I caught that fish myself but I'm just taking the credit for the picture :) I've never tried spear fishing, actually I think I get more enjoyment of watching everyone else do the catching. Thanks to the guys we enjoyed a lunch of BBQ'd fish right on the boat in between dives



The water was so beautiful Saturday that no one was ready to leave after just 2 dives so we took a quick trip to Isthmus. After refilling tanks we headed back out on the water to a place called bird rock and back in the water for 2 more dives including a night dive. I'm still not sure how I feel about being in the middle of the ocean and underwater when it's dark outside but there is a whole other world that comes out at night. Being forced to look only where your light is shining brings a lot more detail to your attention and if I just don't think about it too much its pretty cool.

Sailing back a few of us sat on the bow of the boat and watched the moon as it danced in and out of the clouds. At times when you couldn't see the moon behind the clouds you could see what looked like a giant spotlight on the water.



Saturday was a much needed day of play for me. It was almost like a mini-vacation being out on the water for the day.

Here we go...

They say there's a first time for everything right? I'm not really sure I have anything interesting enough to blog about so we'll see how this goes. Posts may be few and far between and maybe someday my life will get interesting enough for reading. For now I think I'll just use this forum to put my thoughts and feelings on "paper"...sort of like my e-journal.