10 hours later....

For the first time since I moved to California I finally saw a "movie star" today. I was on my lunch break and having just completed my run I was on my way to pick up the manager's lunch from Panino. Still in my workout clothes, trekking up the sidewalk while looking at the ground (b/c I'm prone to falling!) I heard a voice that I recognized. I looked up in time to see a face that I definately recognized but COULD NOT PLACE!! Other than the fact that I KNEW he was in a movie I had seen, all I could do was describe him to my co-workers and then family. Ten hours later, I have finally realized who it was....



Drum roll....



Ok, don't get too excited.... really.... you might not even know who he is....

Do you recognize him?? The COACH from "Mr. Holland's Opus".....apparently his name is "Jay Thomas". I really don't like that movie (the Rowena character is evil) but it was DEFINATELY him.

And then I found five dollars.*

*A tag my friends and I used to add to a story when we had built it up to be really cool and it failed to live up to the hype. Finding five dollars makes any story better. :)

Serious Warm Clothing Shortage!!

Anyone who thinks that Santa Barbara, CA is warm all the time is sorely mistaken. I know, I know, boo-hoo- I'm not saying that it's anything close to what my family is experiencing in the midwest right now (ICE!!). I'm also not saying that I can't handle it or that it's TOO cold for ME (I grew up in the midwest, after all.) What I'm saying is that it's misleading..... When you look up the average monthly temperatures for Santa Barbara it's 70 degrees year round. Which would tend to make one think they wouldn't need to bring their sweaters, coats, and turtle-necks when moving from the midwest to Santa Barbara. One would be wrong to jump to this conclusion. For the past several days it has been in the 50's- which is not exactly COLD but also not exactly WARM- and which means that at night time, when people are heading out for holiday parties, it's very nearly freezing! Literally, in the upper 30's the past few nights.

Once again, I am not saying it is TOO COLD for me- I am a midwesterner for crying out loud. I'm just saying.. I shouldn't have gotten rid of all my lovely turtle-necks and sweaters!! :)

Hiking at Lake Cachuma

Lake Cachuma is in the Santa Ynez Mountains- An approx. 20 minute drive into the mountains from Santa Barbara. We took Steve and Anita up there to check it out one of the days they were here. Interestingly, there is no swimming or wading allowed in the lake... we aren't in the midwest anymore, Toto....

More Pictures at the Wharf

Santa Barbara Wildlife

With my mother and father-in-law in town we spent more time at the beach than usual and saw some AWESOME wildlife and got a few photos/video. The first day they were here we went down to Ellwood Beach (the beach three blocks from our apartment) and saw an amazing dolphin show! I didn't realize that they act like that on their own accord- jumping and flipping and such. It was getting dark but we managed to get one picture where you can kind of see them jumping:You can usually hear otters "barking" down at the beach, but at Ellwood Beach we don't see them that often. We did, however, take a trip down to Sterns Wharf and saw one little guy who was happy to swim up and show off for us! We got a couple pictures and a short video but unfortunately blogger is not letting me upload the video now, so here's a picture at least! Such a cute little guy!

It's been awhile...

We had the distinct pleasure of a visit from Justin's parents last week! That is my excuse for being lazy with the blogging!! I have been anything but lazy, let me tell ya! Started full-time last week at Softshare, the same week my wonderful inlaws were here to visit! Can you say busy? But sooo nice to see them. Can't wait for the holidays!!


Oh, I guess they're here, huh? We spent Thanksgiving at our friend David and JoAnn's place. Here are a couple pictures of that:


You might notice in the above photo that Justin's looking a bit shorter than usual. We didn't have enough dining room chairs so he had to sit in a camping chair!

This a picture of myself JoAnn and Katherine playing a game of Imaginiff... or should I say ruthlessly CHEATING at a game of Imaginiff.... We're bad!!

Possibly one of the funniest events of the night was when Dan put a glass pie plate on a hot burner and it exploded. He referred to himself as a terrorist for the rest of the evening and apologized 154 times. :) Here is a picture of JoAnn cleaning up the "shrapnel".