Labor Day Trip to San Jose and Northern California

It took me a while to get this blog posted because I was way too impatient with how long it took to upload all of these images in the order I wanted; thus, I would add a few at a time every few days or so, and now I finally finished adding them tonight. 

 So, now you have a picture timeline of my trip, which was fantastic, thanks to Tierney and Jared who really made it worthwhile with their generous offering of their home, time, food, and chauffering skills.  People like people with skills.

Friday: Santa Cruz!  While there was a heat wave sweltering over San Jose, Santa Cruz was carefully blanketed in fog, and thus we sported the sweatshirt look.  We enjoyed garlic fries, the Big Dipper Roller Coaster (which I absolutely was not scared of as you can see on my face), and ended up leaving early from a disappointing concert--a little too liberal and on-the-end-of-th-limb-and-about-to-break-it type of stuff.  Gotta love California.

Jared makes me look like even more of a wuss.

Lights, crowds, and fog . . . typical California beach line.

Fantastic tour guide Tierney, and excellent chauffer Jared.

Saturday: The Oakland Temple, San Francisco, and the John Muir Redwoods!  A little bit of everything was fit into this day--even expensive metered parking (even I didn't bring enough quarters to cover an hour)--as we began with the Oakland Temple (wanted to start the day right!), hit Ghiradelli Square, China Town, and a windy ride down Lombard street in downtown San Fran, drove over the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate en route to San Fran and the John Muir Redwoods, and finished up the day in the quiet and solitude beauty of the redwood trees.

Alcatraz . . . never leave California without a picture of this beauty.

Ghirardelli would bring a smile to any chocolate lover's face. 

A quick picture peek at China town . . . of course I got a picture of tourists instead of Chinese, just my luck.

Wow.  Beautiful!

Bridges are cool, but no need to take choreographed pictures of them.  Rearview mirrors and dashboards frame them quite nicely for me.

Did you know I love nature?  Little known fact . . .

Monday: Monterrey Bay and Carmel!  Monterrey Bay has the coolest aquarium I've ever been to--you could seriously spend all day there.  While the jellyfish exhibit is amazing and affords some pretty sweet pictures, I wish I could have gotten a picture of the all to0 rambunctious sea otters, and seen some shows of trained animals--who wants to see them act natural when you can train them to be otherwise?  But you can't expect to enjoy all those things when you show up on a holiday.  And while the Carmel coastline is all brown in these photos, driving out there we drove through thick wooded forests of all sorts of trees, even my favorite, the fragrant eucalyptus.

In the background is a shark . . . this odd looking specimen, called the sun fish, is keeping itself at a safe distance.  At least he's no dummy.

Shafts of light, fish, and vegetation.  Need I say more?  It's just beautiful.

Jared is hoping to get into yachting (i.e., the upper tier of the business world all owns yachts to enjoy keeping them in a bay, and maybe taking them out once a year).  I told him he could always invite me along.

Old meets new.

He really didn't want to sit still, so I went for the action shot.

Tuesday: Yep, while the rest of the working world went back to work, I went to the beach, going to Rio Del Mar, just a little bit south of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  As you can see, I had it all to myself, and enjoyed the waves, sand, sun, and time to myself to relax after a whirlwind weekend--I was quite rejuvenated before coming home on Wednesday.

The end.

Those darn ink spots

Tierney and Jared let me in on a very enlightening home-do-it-yourself-this-really-works-and-is-so-awesome trick.  Whenever you get those blasted ink spots on your shirts from work, and you feel as if your shirt is ruined forever, because no matter how much you try to spot it and pre-treat it, they only slightly fade.  Well--who knew?!-but use hairspray.  Just spray the ink spot, and it will have a chemical reaction with the hairspray, and start to lift.  When you wash, and it should come completely out.  

I wonder if Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray knows about this one, because it's pretty awesome.  Now I'm actually excited to get another ink spot on my shirt to try it out.

A bouquet of newly sharpened pencils.....ahhhhhh

It's been a while since my last post.  Since that time, three major events have happened.  The most recent event was going to LA with my boss for work doing a Parent Support Group.  He had me along for fun and entertainment, which didn't bother me since I got an all expense paid mini vacation from my work (wow, what a contrast to how I felt about my work in the last blog) besides having to do the support group on Saturday morning.  I had an entire room to myself in a Marriott (very, very nice, especially since I have I never travelled for business before).  Below is a picture from my little patio on the 14th floor.

Friday we checked in, went across the street for some dinner at the PF Changs at the mall, sat by the pool and read and relaxed (and I fell asleep, classic me) and then Larry and I split to our rooms across from each other and enjoyed the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in the privacy of our own rooms.  

The next morning, we woke up, ate a sweet continental breakfast, and then did our support group.  I had the participants play Tangoes, and then discussed with them what they experienced, how they felt, and how it was an example of what I do with their kids.  After Larry gave his lengthy, but very informative, schpeel about why the kids we work with do what they do, we then headed off to the Santa Monica beach on a mountain highway, ate at Gladstones (which has some awesome ceviche and fresh seafood, and is the very first picture on the blog), and then drove back to our hotel via the major freeway system that goes through LA, and ended up passing by the LA temple.  We filled out all our paperwork, and then went to the mall to window shop, get milkshakes, eat french fries, and philosophize, talk, and just people watch.  

Sunday we left, flew back home, and Larry gave me a pep talk about how I can be the main presenter at the next LA Parent Support Group I go to..........right (in a Kronk-like voice).

 

One weekend before that, my family had a sweet reunion up in Idaho for the Johns.  Love those people.  We have entirely WAY too much fun.  You can the pictures for those at my brother's blog, which is: dnewmanfamily.blogspot.com. 

The other momentous occasion was our family's hike up to Lake Mary and Catherine in the Wasatch Mountains for our celebration of Pioneer Day.  Enjoy the pictures of snow, moose, wildflowers, and of course, a family portrait. 

Even with the forecast of 99 degrees tomorrow, fall is coming.  Football is in the air, kids are starting school, and the days are starting to get a wee bit shorter.  I love Indian Summer.....kudos to Mom and Dad for working it out so I was born this time of year.

As Meg Ryan exclaims in the movie, You've Got Mail, the smell of a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils brings to the mind the happy occasion of fall and the beginning of school.  For me, I have always associated it with rededicating oneself to past goals, committing to new ones, and prepping for the challenges that might lie ahead.  Since my one-year anniversary for work will be on October 8, I feel it is appropriate to reflect and continue this tradition, as a "new year" is approaching.

So, some things that I think I will work on for this coming year:

1. Work: compile all my plans and information from my activities this year into one binder, make a basic outline for the year, and come up with some pretty set-ready-to-go therapy plans for my groups that cover social skills.
2. Talents: practice the piano at least once a week, cultivate some plants for family and friends (and my enjoyment, too), find some tennis buddies, and join another ultimate Frisbee team to get even better.  Also, after watching Michael Phelps and realizing the need for a lifeguard at work, I really want to take some swim lessons to learn how to swim the RIGHT way (yes, I can swim, thank you very much, just not the way you're supposed to).  A more lofty goal would be to try for the 2012 Olympics in London.....I figure I have the best chance at speed walking.  We'll see if I can't make it.  If not, maybe I'll just plan to go there for a vacation :)
3. Personal: finish reading the three books I'm currently in the middle of, and then see if I can't get a pretty sweet bookshelf for all my books that are all over the place in my apartment, at Mom and Dad's house, and at my work.  A paper shredder and a more intense filing system is also on order here.  I got a hiking book, and I need to go on at least two new hikes in there.  And, possibly most important, apply for the RMYL Grad program at BYU for Fall 2009.
4. Financial: set up a savings account completely dedicated to vacations/travel.  Part of my intense filing system would also include some sweet and intense financial files that have my information at your fingertips for lightening fast checks of my net value.  I may be dreaming, but hey, what can I say......it all began with a dream for Martin Luther King.
5. Service: keep working at the Temple, but maybe check out a few other service opportunities at the BYU service center.  And keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities for my kids to work on service opportunities.
   
6. Gospel: consistently work at least once a week on the Family History assignment from my mother, do an in-depth study of the Pearl of Great Price, and have 100% Visiting Teaching for the year (I've come close, but not quite, and there's no excuse for that--this is a totally attainable goal).
7. Family: figure out how to go on some one-on-one outings with my family members, maybe twice a year with each of them.  They are some pretty cool people, and it sure is nice to spend some tete-a-tete time with them (that's French).

If you have any suggestions or comments on my goals, all are appreciated.  Look for the cool spreadsheet of them in coming attractions.....