CaLiFoRnIa!!!

I spent a GLORIOUS week in California dates March 11th- thru the 18th and every single day was fabulous! Ryan, who I went to go see and the whole reason for the trip ;), made up a list of stuff for us to do and we kept busy and did almost every single thing on that list.

DAY ONE- Right after picking me up at the airport, Ryan took me to lunch at the burger joint In-n-out burgers simply because I had never been and I must say...NOT too shabby! Then we spent the afternoon at a crazy fun Science Discovery Center and goofed around with all of the fun scientific stuff. We even watched a 3D film on dinosaurs which was fairly interesting. Then, because Ryan knows I love baseball/softball, we hit the batting cages! I was positive I was going to do HORRIBLE because it had been YEARS since I played but I actually hit a lot of the balls. I quite impressed myself! But Ryan still beat me out, he did WAY better than I. OH well, can't win them all. The rest of the evening was spent at home watching a movie and eating a yummy home cooked meal. YUM!

DAY TWO- We went to Knott's Berry Farm! YAY! I had been there once before but its been over ten years so it was really fun to go back. They have so many more rides there now. We OF COURSE had to go on the ancient classic ride Ghost Rider...which was INSANE! The first drop off was HUGE and I sooo wasn't ready for it! I was totally freaking out! There was another roller coaster we went on which was my favorite ride of the day called the Silver Bullet. It twisted round and round and flipped us all over the place. We were going to go on it again but we decided against it since we were both slightly dizzy. Amongst all of the fun rides we ran into Snoopy himself! He was so kind he even let us take a pic with him...Thanks Snoopy! For dinner we snagged some Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and biscuits (of which were to die for!) from a shop at Knott's and took them home and filled up. MMMmmmMMM....good eatin!

DAY THREE- This day was def jam packed and one of my favorites. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Can I just say, ocean creatures are AMAZING! I was in AWE the entire time we were there. We saw so many different kinds of fish, jellies, sting rays, sharks, coral, starfish, eels, etc. One sting ray in particular was MASSIVE! It was at least 5 feet across (AT LEAST!). I didn't even know sting rays could get so big! We got to pet the smaller sting rays and some small tiger sharks. After we left the Aquarium we headed back home and cleaned up a little and changed into some nicer clothing and then Ryan took me to a nice and quaint Italian restaurant in Laguna Beach called Ti Amo. The food there was DELICIOUS! I got an artichoke/spinach pasta dish and he got the duck. We each tried some of each others food and as good as my meal was, I was a little jealous of him for having the duck. haha...I was COMPLETELY satisfied with my food though, no complains here! We even managed to fit some dessert into our already full bellies. Everything about dinner was spectacular. To finish our date off we went to see the movie Witch Mountain. It was kind of an odd movie, about teenage aliens from another planet trying to save our planet and theirs....lol a bit strange indeed, but a decent way to end the date.

DAY FOUR- This day was a very relaxing, chilled out day. It was too chilly to swim, but we visited a few different beaches (Huntington, Newport, and Laguna) and wandered the day away walking up and down the piers taking pictures and looking out into the water. At one of the beaches we went to they were having a surfing competition so it was kind of fun to watch all the surfers out in the water doing their thing. On one of the peirs there was a silly pelican just hanging out with a few fishmen. We just stood there starring at all the passerbys. I thought he was adorable. For dinner that night I made my famous Orange Chicken (see recent blog post) and again it was a huge success. Both Ryan and his roommate scarfed that stuff down...and there was quite a bit too! I'm glad they liked. :D

DAY FIVE- Unfortunately Ryan had to work this day, but it wasn't so bad. I tagged along because the event he was working at were the horse races. YAY! Was lots of fun to watch all of the competing horses and all the tiny jockeys. Those guys seriously are MINIATURE! The bidders were really funny to watch also. They got so worked up that literally, as grown men, they were jumping up and down with excitement. They seriously could not contain themselves! Just that was enough to keep me entertained.

DAY SIX- After running a few errands earlier in they day, we ventured into downtown Los Angelos to go see the Hollywood walk of fame. Some of the people there were fairly interesting, some made me laugh. Was quite kewl to see all those stars on the side walks too. There are SO MANY. They don't end! I found a bunch of stars of some famous people I like...for example: JOHNNY! OH YES! :P We found and ice cream cookie shop where you can pick what 2 freshly baked cookies you want and then what ice cream you want and they make a homemade ice cream sandwich for you. SOOOO GOOD! And rich! We pretty much made ourselves sick from eating so much chocolate, ice cream, and cookie. But it was sooo worth it! That evening we attended a hockey game at the Staples Center. The L.A. Kings played versus the Nashville Predators. Sadly Nashville won by 1 point. We were both very disappointed, but overall we were happy about the game.

DAY SEVEN- Was extremely layed back. We slept in real late and didn't even leave the house til the afternoon. We spent the entire afternoon and early evening back on Laguna Beach and hung out. Although the water was still cold, the weather was perfect so we wore our bathing suits and got our feet wet-well that was the intention anyway. A few of the waves were bigger than we anticipated and we got splashed pretty good. One time I even got my camera wet...WHOOPS! But nothing was damaged so it was all in good fun. Out in the water there were some dolphins swimming around and Ryan said he even saw a whale out in the distance. We stayed until the sun set and disappeared from view before we decided to head back to the house.

DAY EIGHT- The day I left Cali and came home. What a bitter day. I was not ready to leave. Every moment in CA was so nice and I had such a great time I didn't want it to end. Again we slept in a little bit and Ryan made a really good breakfast before he took me to the airport and we spent the last couple hours hanging around.

I was sad to leave but I'm incredibly glad I went. The trip couldn't have gone any better and I really hope I get another chance to go the Cali sometime soon. :)

MOVIE TRAILERS!

MAN I just saw these 2 movie trailers and I am SUPER DUPER excited for them to come out! I'm such a nerd.....but you must watch!

TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN


HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE


YAAAAAAAAY! I'm so excited! :D

Can you say SNOW!?!?!

For anyone who still doesn't know why I highly dislike winters in Utah...HERE IS A REASON WHY!

So imagine this, I finished with work around 3pm and because traffic was so bad and nobody knows how to drive properly in the snow, my normally 10-15 min drive home ended up being 25-30 mins long. If that was not enough to complain about, when I arrived to our street I saw the snow plow had decided to skip our street AGAIN. Luckily I managed to get my car down the street, but unluckily I did not get it up the driveway and into the garage. YES, ladies and gentlemen, my car got stuck at the end of the driveway in the 2 feet of snow that had piled up throughout the day. I was highly frustrated, but to end this story on a good note, my neighbor from across the street saw me out front having a hard time by myself sooo being the nicest and very generous neighbor that she is, she donated her time and came out to help me not only clear our driveway, but she also helped push and shove until we got my car unstuck. It was amazing! Even though it took us almost 2 hours, between the two of us we got the job done. WOW! What an amazing neighbor! THANKS JUDY! *WAVES!* I have the kewlest nieghbors...no contest!


The view from the garage before we cleared it.

My feet in the snow.

The Japanese Maple Tree out front of our house.

The view from my bedroom window...What a LOVELY mound of snow!

Happy LATE Valentines Day!

As much as I dislike this holiday...the day, overall, went fairly well. In the evening I went with a few friends to see a movie and we saw He's Just NOT That Into You. I LOVED it! What an adorable movie! And it was hilarious! It was not entirely a chick flick either. I mean, it WAS, but it was also a comedy and I think it would appeal to guys just as much as girls. Very good film! I highly recommend it! :D

Orange Chicken!

Last week my family got together for Sunday dinner....of which I made (With the assistance of my sis Kari and bro-in-law Jordan) and it was an entire SUCCESS!!! I found the recipe for Orange Chicken online and it turned out amazing! With lots of rice, stir-fried sweet peas, and sliced oranges the meal was complete and we were all pleasantly fed. Was a great evening to catch up with the lives of our fam. Even the pooches came over! They didn't eat with us though, of course! haha For anyone who wants to try and give it a go, here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
Chicken-
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-1/2” cubes)
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 eggs (beaten)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Oil (for frying)
Orange Sauce-
1 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest (grated)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ginger root (minced)
½ teaspoon garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons green onion (chopped)
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken in egg mixture and shake in flour mixture to coat. Deep fry chicken in batches at 375 degrees in a deep fryer (or use a wok) until completely cooked.
Step 2: Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine 1 ½ cups water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger garlic, and onion. Bring to a boil.
Step 3: Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and if desired add red pepper flakes and garnish with green onions. Enjoy.

BIAGGI'S!

Recently Sarah, Lana, and I went out for dinner at Biaggi's near the gateway and WOWIE what yummy food! We def had a wonderful meal and a nice night hanging out. As always, we ended up getting a little goofy with the camera. Another really funny thing, we all ended up wearing purple and we didn't even mean to! So for the night we called ourselves the triplets.

HOLY COW!

January 23, 2009

I don't believe this fog! I just took this shot from the middle of our street about 10 minutes ago. You can't even see the house at the end of the street or the massive mountains behind it! CRAZY! I don't remember the last time it was this foggy! Its been storming lightly for the past couple days which I am really grateful for because that means it will help clear out the horrible inversion that has been going on. I, for one, want it cleared out as soon as possible seeing as how I have been sick with a sinus infection and a sore throat for the past week. I got to see a doctor today and he gave me some antibiotics...YAY! So hopefully between those and the clearer air, IF it actually does clear up!, I will be feeling much better and quite like myself soon enough! :D

In a little reference to catching up, now that I've done so with the past holidays, I thought I would let everyone know a little more about what I've been up to. During the holidays I kept myself busy by working 2 jobs. At times I felt like I was over doing it, but I also felt it was necessary. I worked my normal job at the Holiday Inn Express and in addition I found employment with JCPenney where I worked through the End of November til mid-January. I had a lot of fun at JCP and I truly miss the people I worked with. To this day, I've never worked with such awesome people! They were the ones who made it all bearable when I had to go from job to job without a break in between and then having to deal with crazy last minute Christmas shoppers. They made the insanity less insane and sometimes laughable. As well as working with good people, I kept myself enthused by surrounding myself with good friends whenever it was possible. Even now, when I'm not working at JPC anymore, I am still trying to do that so I can keep my energy and motivation up. Of course lots of caffeine, sugar, and sleep helps out too whenever possible!

Sarah, Lana, and I being goofy as ever!

OH! And another new thing...sort of...I dyed my hair, yet again! Nothing drastic, but I wanted my hair color to be closer to my natural color but for slight edge I put some darker streaks throughout the bottom. I think its fun and I feel a lot more like myself. :D