Family Photos

One thing that I miss dearly about living in Southern California is the ability to visit my family whenever I want too. But this past weekend was all about reconnecting with all the loved ones. It was so much fun just being able to relax, have lots of laughs and most importantly, play! I just can't believe how quickly the "little" cousins grow up! Times like this when I start feeling like I'm (gasp) getting older!

• ryan is about to enter high school and jessica is no longer small enough to carry •

• playing "models" with kristy, she just started her first year at Cal Poly SLO •

• this is my dad's parents, isn't everyone so cute •

•jacob is the littlest one of the family and this is the best picture that I was able to capture from him. Three year olds don't like to sit still for very long. It's my favorite photo! •

time sure flies...

Summer is slowly ending...but very slowly. We still had about 90 degree weather this weekend but with a few leaves that are mildly changing color. So maybe summer isn't really winding down but it sure feels like the wheels are in motion.

Last weekend I celebrated my year anniversary of living up North. It's honestly felt like I've been living here for a long time and my super rad summer vacation of world traveling seems like it was forever ago but it was only last year.

Sitting on top of these temples in Cambodia, overlooking the world and listening to only the sound of the wind are the memories that I go back too when I think of my super rad summer vacation. I think back to the moments sitting alone in the temples and it gives me peace and makes my inner self smile. Sometimes I forget about taking the time to sit and reflect on our surroundings and the beauty and awe that it has to offer.

I found that moment last weekend overlooking the Santa Cruz mountains while at a winery and it made me happy. I like these moments and need to find more of them but just like in Cambodia, I've learned that it's always unexpected.

So now with summer winding down, I must now prepare for what the next seven months are going to bring. It's exciting and scary (Married in seven months?! Eeep!!!) and I hope to find more moments in these next months where I can just sit on top of the world and soak in the silence. Until then, I'll just have to keep myself busy filling (and emptying) our unnecessarily but so worth it wine rack!

Under the Giant Oak Tree

So we're about nine months away and have chosen a location for the dum-dum-da-dum day :) Since location is crossed off the huge list of things to do, we can now sit back and relax for the next couple of months. I like that feeling. So I wanted to share some photos of the awesome and super rad place that we're going to be celebrating at.

It's called Calamigos Ranch and is located in the hills of Malibu and the location we chose is called the Cottage and Pavilion. The cottage portion is the ceremony site and it has a ginormous Oak tree and waterfalls that flow behind the Oak tree.

•the mondo oak tree•

•one of the rad waterfalls•

After the ceremony, everyone heads off to the Pavilion for the fun part. Oh, I had to throw this photo in because on your way to the pavilion, you walk by the ferris wheel which is just cool because I like ferris wheels.

• pretty cool wheel•

And then it's all about the cocktails, dinner and dancing here at the Pavilion. Isn't that just purtee?

•cocktail area looking sparkly•

•dinner area which is also sparkly•

So yea, we found the location that was perfect for us. As soon as walked in, we knew that it was the place for us and everything else fell into place. It's awesome. We're excited. Give it about eight months, than I'm sure the stress will kick in! :)

A surprising anniversary

A little unknown about me. Ten years ago, I had a close encounter with death. My mentor, Kitty and I headed up to Kern River in Kernville to spend the day relaxing with some friends by inner tubing in the river. The weather was warm, the water was cool and it was a perfect and relaxing day. At least most of it was.

Sometime during our float down the river, Kitty floated too quickly down the river and we lost sight of her. About thirty minutes later, there was a huge tree in the middle of the river and stuck in the tree was Kitty, a rapid made her fall off of her tube and she climbed to the tree for safety. She was stuck there until we caught up to her. The group that we were with all steered towards her so we can grab her off the tree and help her get down all while trying to not to get swept away from the rapid. As I got real close to her, a tree branch hit me in the head and I fell into the water. It shocked me but not as much as getting tangled in the roots below me. My swim shorts tangled me into the roots pushing me further in the water. I couldn't move up to get air. I was stuck. I didn't panic, in fact, I did the complete opposite. I watched my air bubbles float around me and felt peace. I listened to the water and heard silence. It was so peaceful that I closed my eyes. I'm not sure how long I was there for before another person came to pull me out of my tangle. He brought me up to the surface and the sun and fresh air shock me out of my state as I choked up water. They brought Kitty and myself to the side of the river and we decided to call it a day. It was time to go home and take care of ourselves. Kitty and I rode back in silence, knowing all too well how the river can be very powerful.

So ten years later, I headed back to go tubing on the Kern River and had the most wonderful time (mostly).

•I don't want to go in the cold river•

Going through the rapids on a inner tube is wonderful and fantastic. My "river rat" provided enough cushioning to protect my ass from the rocks.

• see, adequate cushioning•

Going through the rapids on my ass because I lost the inner tube was not as much fun! I have the darkest and weirdest bruises on my, ahem, buttocks (was contemplating taking a photo but I couldn't get the right angle :). It was during those moments though when I had my mini-freakouts. Having my head back under the water, struggling through the rapids and being incredible weary of hitting my head made me have little flashbacks to ten years ago.

But by the end of the day, I was still all smiles and will probably head back down the river again in the future since it was a great camping trip.

•cheese•

But of course, what's a camping trip without some headache? My lovely car, which I've had since 02 and is the best little Acura RSX that one can have, decided to give me a headache. After enjoying a wonderful day on the river, we thought heading into town for some cold drinks would be perfect. My car had another idea and the alternator decided to die on me. Nothing better than having your car break down in the middle of the Sierra Mountains. It's still there getting fixed and my wonderful parents are going to pick it up for me and drive it back to Santa Clara later this week. I owe them a lot this upcoming weekend. But it works out so perfectly because I get to go scuba diving with my dad in Monterey this weekend. I'm glad that my near death experience didn't give me a fear of water or adventure because than life would be too boring.

Real Western Celebrations

• I'm starting off with an original Marijn dinner creation. When given the opportunity to cook meat for others at our house, he goes all out with the splurging of meat and so, on a lucky afternoon, he had the luxury of making pizza lined with bacon.

• We went off to celebrate America's birthday in true western fashion - by heading off to Prescott, Arizona. My grandparents live there (along with thousand of other retirees, I think it's either Arizona or Florida once one becomes the ripe age of retirement) so we thought that it would be an excellent idea to spend some time with them. It wasn't that bad, in fact, I think that we were able to enjoy ourselves.

• We fancied ourselves with a parade that showcased pretty much everyone who lived in the Prescott area. The parade was over two and a half hours. There were lots of horses, flags, veterans and more horses. We could actually only endure forty five minutes of it.

• Old fashion thunderstorms that concludes with a beautiful dual rainbow. California has the luxury of having amazing weather (hot, warm, windy or hot?) so it's been a very long time since I've been able to enjoy a thunderstorm. It made me warm and fuzzy to be in Prescott during monsoon season.

• The monsoons also provides an excuse to go into random stores and discover something new. While in the town of Jerome, the monsoons forced us into a tacky souvenir shop. However one little secret of the souvenir shop was that it held a silent movie theater upstairs. It was a time warp back into the twenties. Rad.

• Cowboys! Yes, they still exist! We went to the World's Oldest Rodeo and watched bull riding, horse steering and whatever else one does at the rodeo. There were a plethora of American flags, cowboy boots, cowboy hats and water-downed beer (Coors, Bud and Miller - those were the only alcoholic choices!) They opened the rodeo in a prayer. That was weird.

• A real working gas station in Skull Valley, Arizona. It's a blast from the past although I didn't live in that past, I'm sure that it's what it looked like back in the fifties.

• We went bike riding through Prescott into Skull Valley. I felt like such an uber biker chick. The only thing that I really didn't like is that you don't have to wear a motorcycle helmet in Arizona. It just doesn't seem safe to me, I would rather gear up head to toe in +100 degree weather (like pictured above) than to not wear a helmet for the sake of being cool and hip.

• Oh the moment of real beer touching my lips was bliss. We spent the whole weekend drinking water downed beer cause that's what one does when in Western world. The moment we entered the airport to fly home, a real bar with real beer was a must. Oh sweet nectar of the gods...