Now that I'm not in school I don't really qualify for a Spring Break, but this last weekend when a couple friends of mine traveled down from Las Vegas for a visit I felt like that's what I was enjoying. After meeting up at the hotel in Sylmar (North of LA) we did what anyone who visits Cali should do at least once: we went to the walk of fame to find some favorites!
The King,
The Mouse,
Hi everyone!I was feeling ambitious today and decided to start a new blog. I'm still keeping this blog that you're reading focused on me, but my new blog was brought about by something I enjoy: Gilmore Girls. Don't scoff yet... take a moment to check it out - especially if you like Gilmore Girls, literature, music, movies, or pop-culture in general. http://theindepthgilmore.blogspot.com/I think it's going to be fun!
I'm having one of those moments.
Oh how I love vacations! Some people I know will argue that I'm currently on a long-term vacation, seeing that I am unemployed but in reality I don't feel like I'm on vacation. When I go on vacation I wake up at the crack of dawn and look for new things to do or see, new food/restaurants to try, and generally jam-pack every minute with something diverting. That's what a vacation is to me. My life currently differs greatly from this definition: I generally get up in the (late) morning and do the basic get-ready-for-the-day things; occasionally throwing in a work out session. I eat brunch, job hunt, do laundry, load some dishes in the dishwasher, eat a late lunch/early dinner while watching about an hour of television (which is about the total time I would watch tv in a 2 to 3 week time period while during school), check emails, facebook, blogs, etc, occasionally attend a ward activity of sorts, and sometimes have a snack before watching a show on hulu or converting some of my vinyl records into mp3 format. Sleep. Repeat.Trust me - this cycle gets old quick, and is definitely NOT a vacation. Not having a job or anything I need to leave the house for makes me feel quite useless and unwanted. So, after about a month of boredom my former roommate's wedding in Vegas was a good excuse to take a real vacation! The moment I crossed the Nevada border late Thursday afternoon I was on the phone with friends (it's illegal to talk on the phone while driving in Cali if you don't have a hands-free way of doing so...) planning the evening's activities. First, Indian food at one of my favorite restaurants and then a late night movie at a friend's house. Friday morning was a 3 hour pretzel-making adventure followed by lunch with another friend at an AWESOME Spanish tapas restaurant called Firefly. I'm so ashamed I didn't try this place before I moved away; I'd love to eat there on a more regular basis. It's that good. After lunch I got to visit my couch that's being babysat by two of my former roommates (and by "visit", I mean "got to take a 20 minute nap on"). The evening was filled with the good company of yet another friend while attending the wedding reception for which I had made the journey, and that good company continued on to the movie theater to use the free ticket I had won at the "famous couples" dance I attended back in February.On Sunday I was able to attend my old ward and I LOVED being able to sit by people I know and participate in classes without anyone wondering who I was. As was the tradition before my move, I was invited to dinner with a friend's family who I love dearly. The evening there was cut shorter than normal however because a school friend had contacted me earlier in the day with an offer I could absolutely not turn down, and if you know me at all you'll understand why: it was a FREE ticket to see CHER at Caesar's Palace!!! Yeah baby! I had seen Cher on tour 4 times before, and once previously at Caesar's Palace, but this was the best deal yet. Trust me - when I have the money I'm not afraid to lay down some dollars for a good seat to her show, but I sure am grateful I could see her for free too.My original plan was to head home Monday morning, but when Sunday night was coming to a close I just didn't feel like packing up my things and heading back "home." So I didn't. It's not like I had a job to come back to or anything. The best part about staying an extra day was getting to spend time at the institute with friends I wouldn't have seen at all had I left earlier. It was my most laid back day (since I hadn't previously planned on being there), and ended my evening with board games and frozen yogurt at a friend's house, and a quick trip to give a hug goodbye to my good company from Saturday night.Man, I love Vegas.
So, I'm going to have to get used to this earthquake thing. Yep, you guessed it - I experienced another one. This one however, didn't originate in LA or California for that matter, and it happened during daylight hours. This one actually felt different too. So, the culprit was a 7.2 magnitude quake coming from Baja California (that's Mexico, people). There's reports of people feeling it all the way in Phoenix, and I even had a friend in Vegas notice her house's hanging lamps and ceiling fans start to sway; although she didn't actually feel it. I was attending an Easter dinner with my sister-in-law's family, and had just sat down in the backyard on a patio chair. We all got quiet and attentive to our surroundings once someone pointed out that they could feel an earthquake. Unlike my first CA quake experience, the movement was more of a swaying or rocking motion, and I felt dizzy even sitting in my chair. My guess is that we could feel it for a good 30-45 seconds... much longer than the first earthquake.So, I thought it would be fun to put up some kind of counter on my blog to keep track of how many earthquakes I experience while here... does anyone out there know of a good one? I'm not extremely blog-savvy, and am not sure how to look for one, or what exactly I'm looking for. Just something that can go in my sidebar for everyone to see; but easy for me to update. Help??
