Happy 30th to my absolutely wonderful, amazing, fun, beautiful Sister-in-Law

Oh Kelly. . . . how I wish I could be there today . . . the four of us friends have started a tradition (Kimberly, Amanda, You and I) and I wish I was there to keep that tradition alive.

Things I wish:

I wish I was there to surprise you at a morning breakfast downtown . . . to kidnap you and whisk you away to an undisclosed location while wearing ridiculous hats and forcing you to carry balloons. . . to eat lunch with you in a quaint little café in Monterey consisting of fabulous four cheese grilled sandwiches and some sort of yam/squash soup concoction that was to die for . . . to take stupid pictures in Anthro . . . to drink hot coco in Carmel . . enjoy present opening on the beach while acting like idiots . . . and to finish the day off with a production of "Annie" at the Carmel Forrest Theater while sipping sparkling cider and nibbling on carmel apples and cheese and crackers . . . to act like kids and enjoy the beautifulness of friendship . . . (re-cap of year 1)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


I wish I could wake you up and some un-godly time of the morning while video taping your reaction . . . to once again whisk you away to an unknown location while wearing crazy feathers and bows in our hair. . . I wish I could rent bikes and force you to ride miles while earning a great sunburn and full body soreness that would last for days . . . wish I could take you to the Boardwalk and ride crazy rollercoasters while screaming like 8 year old children . . . walk along the pier and find some homeless man to follow us and sing "Happy birthday, it's your birthday" . . . and finish up the evening with an improve comedy club that would tell such off colored jokes that we would try and sneak out the back door after 15-20 minutes . . . (re-cap of year 2)

 
 I wish I could present you a large card with pictures of us inside to remember fun times and memories. . . 

 

 
All of this I wish we could do and more my dear sister-in-law. . . maybe we would make some new crazy memories of sky diving or renting quads for the day . . . maybe we would laugh so hard our innards would hurt . . . we would enjoy the company of our dearest friends and make memories that would be remembered years down the road . . .

I love you dearly!

I am so glad at least I was there at your party in spirit  . . .LOL. . .thanks for making me feel a part of the celebration

 

(I have just made myself cry)

Treasure Island - Forrest Theater, Carmel by the Sea

As is my custom, when attending theatrical performances, I would like to write a review of Treasure Island now playing at the Forrest Theater. However, my review will be incomplete as I was only able to attend the last half of the show. Do to a few "hiccups" on the way to Carmel from Gualala state park campground, Clayton and I arrived to the said theater at intermission. We stayed for the rest of the performance so I would like to give you what little I can in case anyone would like to attend. The play closes this weekend if you plan to go.

It was cute. The props were awesome, as always, the atmosphere was light and fun (we attended the 2:00 pm matinee on Sunday) and everyone seemed to be in a jolly mood. I did have some problems with the acting however. Young Jim Hawkins left a lot to be desired. OH sure . . . he had his words memorized, but there was no feeling or emotion behind them. ok, ok. . he is a kid . . . but still!! Long John Silver was great along with Ben Gunn. Many of the others were somewhat pitiful actors.

Overall, entertaining but would not go back to watch the entire preformance.

Now.. . . next month they are showing Alice in Wonderland in which we plan to attend. I will write another review at that time :-)

Sigh. . . .

My life has really been in the fast lane these last several months, and while some love living life in such a fashion. . . it is not exactly my cup o’tea. I prefer quite nights at home, time to myself, reading a great book, scrapbooking, playing games with my best friends. . . don’t get me wrong, I love to party it up as well. . . but I just haven’t had time for ME lately, or for my friends. While once upon a time I was somewhat of an “avid blogger” I have been reduced to maybe one post every 2 months. Sad.

Anyway, here is a brief synopsis of what has been happening: Work at my new house is a constant and while looking at the “big” picture we have actually accomplished quite a bit, it doesn’t seem like it on a day-to-day basis. It seems as if it DRAGS on and on and on, meanwhile consistently draining my checking account. Ryan and Kelly were married the first part of February and it was a beautiful celebration. I was also able to enjoy many of my family that came out for the occasion. I am continuing to work three 12 hour shifts a week and that is definitely enough for me! No extra pick-up shifts no matter HOW much they pay me. . . no sir-e. Beth, Clayton, my parents and myself went on a small adventure over this last weekend to Half Moon Bay and then up through Pacifica, San Francisco and then home. It was quite fun and relaxing! I have decided that we need to do a day trip like this at least once a month. I am really missing Europe at the moment and am looking for every chance to go back. My mom and I found some great deals to Ireland right now. . . it is very tempting. . .if only my checks weren’t disappearing as soon as I get them . . .

Well Friends. . . I hope my life slows down here soon. . . can’t quite keep up with this pace for very much longer. . . good news though: my dearest friend Janell is moving back to California in a few months and bringing her new husband with her. I can’t wait!

Here is some of the work that has been going on at my house: Before and "somewhat" after of main bath room and entry way between living room and dinning room/kitchen

Few pictures from the wedding. . . don't have many of the actual ceremony on my computer since I was in it. . .

Trip to Half Moon Bay. . . it was Beautiful!

My New Home!!!!

I have gone and done it. . . . I bought my first house!! The loan docs have been signed, financing has been completed and I will receive my keys tomorrow! It is truly a dream come true!

I found the house while garage sale-ing with my mom about a month and a half ago. . . when we had my real estate agent, Courtney, call and inquire on the property we found out (much to my dismay) that the sale was already pending. Upon further inquiry, however, we discovered that it had been pending since June of 08 and could be coming on the market any day. Courtney had though it would be a good idea to go take a look at it and perhaps make a back up offer as soon as possible. On my way out to meet Courtney to view the house I received a call. THE HOUSE WAS BACK ON THE MARKET THAT DAY!!! I couldn’t believe it!! My mom, Courtney, Clayton and I went to the house in the dark, with no electricity and flashlights to check out my house. I put an offer on it that night! After a grueling weekend of waiting to find out whether or not my offer was accepted, I finally found out that it indeed was!! My next obstacle was to get the financing through (which I was already pre-qualified). As of last Friday, my loan docs were signed and as of today the financing was completed. I should get my keys tomorrow!! (that is kind of the whole transaction in a nutshell. . . everything went uncharacteristically smooth and sort of fell into place. . . weird!)
(The fireplace! I LOVE this!!!! This sold me big time!)

I still have a lot of work to do (actually, my dad and Clayton have a lot of work to do! Ha), but the house is adorable and I can’t wait to make it “my own”!!!

(on Christmas Day. . . . family went to visit my little house and wish it Merry Christmas in our own special way)

Happy 23rd Birthday Clay-don!!

Happy, Happy Birthday to my incredibly adorable boyfriend!! (it was actually on the 28th of November but I haven't had time to post yet. . . yikes!!)

I hope you had a wonderful birthday weekend! (we went to Monterey/Carmel with my mom, dad and brother and enjoyed a one man performance of "It's a Wonderful Life", goofed off, thrift shopped and ate massive amounts of cake) :-)

You are Awesome!!

The Wizard of Oz ~ A Review

Ok. . . a little late on this post, but a couple of weekends ago the gang (Hammonds’ Family, Moya Family and Mr. Wyatt) went to Monterey and Carmel for the weekend. Among other things, we enjoyed the performance of “The Wizard of Oz” at the Forrest Theater. I have written about the Forrest Theater before and most of my reviews were great!! (exception: Evita) This review will be no different. . . I give The Wizard of Oz a rating of very entertaining and pleasurable.

Because of the fact that we went on the very first night of this theatrical performance (were able to get the tickets at ½ price), some of the props were not all the way completed and there were some small mistakes throughout the play. . . nothing that couldn’t be overlooked, however. Dorothy’s voice was just a tad bit annoying, but the Wicked Witch was AMAZING!! She did a really, really good job. As Dorothy makes her way through the land of OZ she encounters many different individuals. . . Glinda, the good witch, arrives and leaves most of her scenes airborne on a glittery swing, the Munchkins were adorable, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow were all in character quite well and the Wicked Witch and Flying Monkeys are also airborne throughout the performance. There was an overall “good” feeling to this performance and I would definitely recommend it!!
Toto was ADORABLE!!! and such a good actor too!


The following day, we enjoyed some of the sights around Carmel/Monterey: Carmel beach, Lover's point, Shopping in downtown Carmel (met some interesting people in a certain "soap" store), listening to Louis Lamour stories on the beach, so on and so forth! :-)

Sweeney Todd ~ A Review

Ok. . . Sweeney Todd has captured my attention for a while now. It perhaps started when I heard Josh Groban sing “Not while I’m around” live in concert. I then met Josh and learned that his dog’s name was Sweeney . . . “as in Sweeney Todd??” said I.

I learned about a month ago that Sweeney Todd, the Broadway musical, was coming to Sacramento and was playing at the Music Circus, Wells Fargo Pavilion. I was determined to get a group together to see this well known musical. Several of my closest buds had agreed to go and we set the plan in motion.

First of all. . . I had never been to the Music Circus before. It was great!! The theater was situated with seats surrounding a small stage in the center. The actors/actresses would enter from several corridors making it a bit more interactive with the theater goers. The atmosphere is quite a bit more relaxed than the Sacramento Community Theater . . . one may purchase food and beverages in the outside pavilion (complete with waterfall) and bring these goods inside the theater!

Ok . . . on to the story of Mr. Todd. According to Wikipedia, “In Stephen Sondheim's 1979 stage musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the 1973 play of the same name by Christopher Bond, Todd was known as Benjamin Barker, a middle class barber, married to Lucy Barker with an infant daughter Johanna. The villainous Judge Turpin exiles Barker to Australia on false charges in order to have Lucy to himself. Mrs. Lovett tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself and that Turpin adopted baby Johanna as his ward. By the time Todd returns to London, Johanna has become a young woman and falls in love with a sailor, Anthony, with whom she plans to elope.

In the Sondheim musical, Mrs. Lovett takes in an orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, after Sweeney kills Toby's previous guardian, Adolfo Pirelli, who turns out to be a former assistant of his that tries to blackmail him. Toby is the first character to catch onto Sweeney Todd's crimes and also is responsible for Todd's death in the finale.”
Benjamin Barker, Sweeney Todd, is full of hate, vengeance and murder. His sole purpose is to kill Judge Turpin but after the first killing of Mr. Pirelli, Sweeney cannot stop his lust for blood. He begins to kill all of his customers and Mrs. Lovett then makes meat pies out of them to sell in her shop . . . “Seems an awful waste...I mean, with the price of meat what it is, When you get it...If you get it...” she argues.

It was actually quite funny, yet gorey and morbid. While my good buddy Chris would argue with me on this subject, I believe that the moral of the story is what sin, vengeance, bitterness and hate can do to a person. Mr. Barker was not an animal with murderous intents when the whole story started. Yes, he was done wrong . . .very wrong, but he allowed thoughts to enter his head and after the first taste of blood he could no longer control his hunger for vengeance and was eaten up with it. (this could deffinitely preach!!!) It just shows how low humanity can go without even really realizing it . . . This man no longer cared who he killed, when he killed them, or how. . . . . Think good and hard before you let bitterness and hate creep into your heart. . . . dumm dum dum dum duuuummmmmmm (scary music)

Go ahead Chris. . . I know you are ready with a rebuttle. . . ha!!