Saying Goodbye...

To the greatest cat in the world...ZIPPY! We have to send her to my parents for a couple of weeks. :( I'm going to miss my little buddy, but hopefully she'll have a good time exploring a different setting.

What I'm Missing

Related to my previous post about our cable-free lives is the summer reality TV that I AM NOT missing.



Last night we were visiting friends and got sucked into the final episode of NBC's Celebrity Circus. It follows another outstanding reality TV gem, The Baby Borrowers. We spent the first 2 minutes making fun of such an inane premise and before we knew it we were mesmerized (READ: near comatose) by it's complete and utter awfulness.

Thoughts: If a summer with no TV means I miss the opportunity to see former super model Rachel Hunter doing acrobatics on a giant, suspended ring; I'm okay with that.

Kill Your TV

I used to think people who said things like "I don't watch TV," or "we don't have cable" sounded really snobbish. I mean, come on, who doesn't watch TV? Then, I started grad school and my TV time sort of faded into the background. So, in an effort to save money AND gain back some lost productivity over the summer, Justin and I decided in May that it was time to cancel our cable. We are now THOSE people. I've had this conversation a lot lately:

TV WATCHER: "Hey, do you watch Wipeout?"
ME: "No, we don't have cable."
TVW: "Oh." (crickets chirp and judgement hangs thick in the air.)

TVM: "Oh my goodness, can you believe The Bachelorette? I heart Jesse, he's my favorite!"
ME: (total silence while other people weigh in with their opinions and I show how completely out of the loop I am!)

While I don't miss TV, I do HATE being out of the in-the-know TV watchers club! However, over the years I have read enough TV Watch updates on Entertainment Weekly'swebsite and Watch with Kristen spoilers at EOnline that I've discovered I really don't have to watch TV to know exactly what's going on.

And, for the record, I did watch the "After the Final Rose" episode of the Bachelorette when I was in Kansas City for a conference. And yes, I heart Jesse too.

6 Days From Now...

...I'll be here. Relaxing. Loving life. Trying not to think about school, work, or any other responsibilities. The only bad thing is that I'll miss Zippy. I love my cat!

Name it and Claim it!

So, this evening I may have walked 5 miles in the rain just so I could "claim" Kansas as a state. (And so I could have the chance to say, if only to myself, "guess I'm not in Kansas anymore" - I know, lame). It's just that Kansas was so close that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get TWO new states on this trip! Sort of reminds me of the time I went to Mississippi and designed a plan to get myself to Louisiana because it was only 20 miles away...but that's another story for another time.

More later on the authentication process of "claiming" a state and actual proof that I walked to Kansas.

States I've been to: California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, and KANSAS! Not a great showing, but I'm slowly checking all 50 off the list.

What's YOUR favorite state? Anyone out there made it to all 50 yet?

We're Not in Kansas Anymore...

Well actually "we" never really were in Kansas. Tonight I am blogging from Kansas City, Missouri(which is only a handful of miles from Kansas, so it's almost the same thing). I'm here for a conference sponsored by the company that manages our website. As the "web manager" for the University of the Pacific alumni site, I'm hoping it will help me become a more creative and savvy e-marketer.

A few thoughts about Kansas City:

1.It is MUCH greener here than in California. As we made our descent into KC, I was struck by the lush, tree-laden landscape dotted sporadically with picturesque white farm houses. (I realize that was a lot of descriptive adjectives, but it really made an impact on me.)

2. On the shuttle ride from the airport to the hotel I saw the following:
a tornado shelter sign, the headquarters of Lifetouch (yes, the company that has delivered many an embarrasing school photo - most of them to my doorstep); a Waffle House, a Hardee's (exactly like a Carl's Jr, but with a different name!), a fancy brick McDonalds, a Sears "Grand" complete with pharmacy and garden center - much like a Wal-mart; the Missouri River, and a "Snow Route" sign.

3. I can't get the line from the Beach Boys "California Girls" out of my head - the one about "the midwest farmers daughters."

4. As much as I love California and can't imagine living anywhere else, I think the landscape and pace of the midwest suits me. And I think I could pull off the midwestern "girl next door" look much better than I do the quintessential California glamazon/surf chick. Basically the latter requires a tan and we all know that's never gonna happen.

The Happiest Bachelorette Party on Earth!

Last weekend we set out for So Cal to celebrate my sister-in-law Sommer's bachelorette weekend. Sommer, her friend Brittany, and I started out from Stockton a bit later than anticipated because Enterprise wasn't ready with our rental car at the time we requested. Kind of a bummer, but as a huge bonus they ended up bringing us a brand new PT Cruiser straight from the dealership only 12 miles on the odometer! We christened him "Petey" and used some of our endless supply of colored polka dot ribbon to accentuate the antenna and we were off!



We made great time and took a small detour in BUTTONWILLOW for a Starbucks break. (And yes, Buttonwillow does hold a great many memories for me and I DO think the name is funny!)



We made it to Burbank just in time to pick up Sommer's friend Jen who flew down from Reno and head to the Tropicana Hotel in Anaheim (right across the street from D*land). After settling in we decided to check out the "night life" in Downtown Disney. The Voodoo Lounge at the House of Blues had a DJ (DJ Cheetah Pete to be exact), but there wasn't a lot of excitement to be had, except for one brave (?) guy skipping around the dance floor by himself. We stayed until closing (midnight - apparently Disney doesn't like a lot of drunk people hanging around late into the night) and then made our way across the street to the 24-hour Denny's.



Day 2 started out early as we headed out for some coffee and pastries and then into the happiest place on earth! I made us all shirts for the occasion and we bought Sommer bridal minnie mouse ears so she was appropriately outfitted for a bachelorette experience in Disneyland.



We drew a decent amount of attention and Sommer even won herself some "bridal discounts" throughout the day. We stopped at a Wild West show in Frontierland and the actors actually inserted us into the dialogue. A cross-dressing bride was searching for a husband and warned Sommer not to steal "her" thunder or she'd take us all on. I'm not certain, but I don't think my maid of honor duties extend to taking on another "woman" in a cat fight, but maybe they should...



Sommer's soon-to-be sister-in-law Jenell joined us at the park and we had a super fun day at D*Land. The crowds were pretty low for a summer Saturday and the lines weren't incredibly long. We enjoyed the requisite favorites like Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the teacups, and the Matterhorn.



After a short nap break in the afternoon we headed back to enjoy dinner at the Blue Bayou (you may know it as the Pirates of the Caribbean restaurant). None of us had been there, so it was a great new experience. Jenell treated us to dinner - WAY AWESOME OF HER - and then we left to enjoy more rides and the fireworks show.



After we'd done enough damage at Disneyland we headed back to the hotel so Sommer could open up her gifts (what's a bachelorette party without fun presents!) and enjoyed some delicious wine that Jenell picked up on her trip to San Luis Obispo a few days earlier. (No pictures to share of this event - we'll keep those for the happy couple to enjoy!)

On Sunday we got up early and headed for the last stop of Bachelorette weekend - Hollywood! Again, we had to make a Starbucks detour, many of us learned the awesomeness of Google text in the process, and then had a nice police officer remind us (without actually pulling us over) that the speed limit on the 101N is 55 MPH, not 65 as we presumed. Oops!

Once in Hollywood we boarded a double-decker tour bus for a tour. We whizzed by the Hollywood sign a few times, several movie studios, the church from Sister Act, a cemetery with a bunch of dead famous people, and some ritzy celebrity neighborhoods. Sommer decided we need to go back and check out some of the hotspots a little more carefully. Sadly, we passed by a Pinkberry store, but didn't have time to add that to our itinerary.




Back on land we took some celebrity star and handprint photos in front of the Kodak Theater and Graumann's Chinese Theater. We also braved a photo opportunity with some of Hollywood Blvd's famous costumed characters. Here's Sommer being attacked by the slimy tentacles of Davy Jones (not the Monkee).



After returning Jen to the Burbank Airport and securing Jenell with her friend at a nearby shopping center; Sommer, Britt, and I headed for Stockton. We had an un-eventful ride home, and put over 750 miles on our new PT Cruiser friend. Note to self: PT Cruisers are cute and fun, but comfort is not one of their selling points.