I shock myself....

whenever I get out of the car. That's right, every time I step out of the car and touch the metal frame...ZAP! I've come to expect it. It's just too darn dry here! The other day I got out of the car and as I leaned over to pick something up the spark jumped from the door to my earring to my ear. OUCH!

I spent the afternoon in San Francisco and saw Legally Blonde the Musical. Don't judge me...It was actually really good and pretty funny. The opening song is titled "OMIGOD You Guys" (say it in a nasally high pitched voice and you'll get the picture.)

I used my new golf clubs for the first time yesterday. Let's just say that I will be needing a few more trips to the range before I take those puppies out on the real course. One interesting sidenote: my set came with a driver and I've always been partial to the 3 wood. I gave the driver a try and ended up making sparks. Literally. There was sand underneath the grass and when the bottom of the club hit the sand...FLASH! Anyways, the driver and I aren't friends and he probably wont come out of the bag for a while.

I'm watching "you're the one that I want." It's that show about people who want to star in Grease on broadway. In any case, what's the deal with hiring british co-hosts. "So you think you can dance" had a british co-host and a british judge and so does "you're the one that I want." I have nothing against the brits, I just think it's a bit much. OOOhh, one is singing "walking in memphis." I like that song.

So has anyone heard the "Life is a Highway" song by the people that aren't Rascal Flatts? It's not as good.

Hmm, this guy isn't really doing justice to "walking in memphis." Bummer.

The next guy is singing "signed sealed delivere." Why do people ever decide to sing this song? People on American Idol sing it all the time. It's not a good song to sign for this ....it just repeats over and over and over again.

Final tip of the day: mix frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, frozen pineapple and some vanilla yogurt = ice cream

I saw my life flash before me...

Well, not really...but sort of.

Lisa and I decided to go shopping.
We went to the Rack just east of Oakland.
We headed home on 880.
We were suppose to take the 238 to 680 interchange....but something went wrong and we ended up getting off the freeway.

# of times I've gotten lost since living in CA: 3

Unfortunately, there was no way to get back on the freeway at that particular point. Seems to be a theme in California. So we decide to stay on this road...we thought it would eventually lead us back to the freeway.

We're driving along, no big deal...then all of a sudden I look at Lisa, she looks at me and we realize...we are in the ghetto. I think we realized this might be the ghetto when...

- we saw this old car drive by with gigantic wheels and spinning rims.
- a supped up acura with blue and white paint and Pillsbury dough boy stickers pulled up next to us. It actually stayed next to us for a while so I eventually sped up to get away from it. When I sped up Lisa says "Bryn, he's going to think you want to race."
- you could buy "real hair for your weave" at the beauty supply store.
- we saw police cars on every other corner.
- we saw an ambulance pick someone up off the side of the road.

We eventually found the freeway, unfortunately it was at the Oakland airport. So we had driven the wrong direction for 20 minutes. Oh well, it was an adventure to say the least.

24 and the weather

So the weather for the past week and a half has been sunny and in the 40's (to be fair it has been freezing at night). In general it has been just great weather! Cold but beautiful. These Californians are sure having a heck of a time with it. I've seen full length wool coats and earmuffs and my cute neighbor even salted the 6"x6" patch of ice in front of her garage door. I guess it's finally going to warm up and I think I hear rain coming down outside. Oh well.

In other news, 24 is back and I thoroughly enjoyed the season premiere (all 4 hours of it). Don't read this if you don't want me to spoil some things. Jack Bauer really is the man, he can get stabbed in the arm and back and heal in less than 15 minutes. I'm impressed. I'm also impressed he shot Curtis in the neck. But we all know that you can get shot in the neck and survive. Well, you can survive if you are Tony Almeda. Speaking of Tony, Nick and I were chatting about 24 and I think that my favorite 24 moment was in season 4 when Jack called the only person he could trust...TONY! Incredible.

So Legally the Blonde the musical is going to debut in San Francisco. I'm not sure what I think about this. It is one of my all time favorite movies...but I'm really not sure how they plan on turning it into a musical. I'm also not sure how much I will like it without Reese.

Speaking of Reese, the Golden Globes were on last night. Reese looked lovely in yellow. But my big peeve is with Angelina Jolie. She was not really in a good mood, kinda cranky if you ask me. She's still beautiful, it just put a bad taste in my mouth.

Fashion Faux Pas on my Feet

During Christmas break one of the shoe sites was having a huge sale. As a result, Nick and I decided to get Crocs. That's right, the super hideous clog like shoes that people rave about. They arrived a few weeks ago and I've been wearing them around the house. They are actually really comfortable and light weight. I decided that I needed to road test them. So I wore the Crocs out!! EEK!!


Don't worry, I just put the socks on for the picture. All I need now is a small stream to walk through - so that I may test their waterproofness (yes, it's a word).

In other news, I've completed 1 full week of work! Whew. I rewarded myself with a small shopping trip to the outlets at Gilroy. Ahhh, Gilroy. They are most famous for their Garlic Festicval. Even though the festival takes place during the summer, garlic rules all year round. You can actually smell garlic in the parking lot of the outlet mall. Yeah, it's weird.

Anyways, it's time for 24. Welcome back Jack!

I've been slacking.

I would first like to direct you to the comments on the previous blog. Blake leaves excellent comments, ie:

"I see nick has commented here. I'll assume you two communicate solely by blog."

That's funny ish.

In addition, I would like to openly comment about my use of the phrase "P-Town," aka Pleasanton. I received an email from a friend:

"I am slightly offended by your liberal use of the phrase P-Town. As you know, I am from (and very proud to be) Portland, the city originally nicknamed P-Town. May I kindly suggest finding a different nickname, such as Pleasantizzle, Pleasantonia, P-Ville, or any other creative combination of the name and some ebonics."

I will continue to call Pleasanton "P-town" for the following reasons:

1. P-town is a nickname given to Pleasanton, as stated on Wikipedia. And as everyone knows, everything on wikipedia is true.
2. P-town is NOT a nickname given to Portland (also according to Wikipedia). And again, everyone knows that wikipedia doesn't lie.
3. "Pleasanton" becomes "P-ton" if you remove the "-leasan-." P-ton is very close to P-town.
4. "Portland" -> "P-land" if you remove the "-ort-." P-land is not close to "P-town" at all, P-land actually seems like a perfect name for Portland if you ask me. Or better yet, "the land of ports."

One finally bit of humor for your day. I took a backpack to work today because I wanted to bring some textbooks in. When I left work I put on the empty backpack and walked across the Sandia campus and parking lot to my car. When I put the backpack into the trunk I realized I had never closed it. I was that girl walking around with the entire backpack hanging open. Alright, maybe it wasn't so bad....but I definitely had a little laugh at myself.

Even the short jeans are too long

I decided I needed some black flats and some new jeans. I rolled my ankle in my 1.5" boots.....I know, it's a talent. Found some cute jeans but of course, they were too long. At least 4-5" too long to be more precise. The saleswoman found me some "short" jeans....but they were also too long. GAP use to make "ankle" length jeans. They were meant to be flood pants....those fit perfect :-)

Does the gas light give you stress? It stresses me out. As soon as it goes on all I can think about is getting to the nearest gas station. Ever notice that when the gas light goes on, you can't find a gas station to save your life. This happened tonight. I was stressing out so much that I even turned off the air to conserve gas....like that was really going to help. Fortunately I found a gas station.

Woke up early...with the sun (not by choice...I have shear shades in my room).
Took BART into SF (if you want to sound like a local call it "BART" not "THE BART").
Stopped by GAP and got a steal!
Stood in line for an hour and got front row tickets to see Jersey Boys.
Standing in line for rush tickets is always an experience. You meet the most interesting people. Today for instance, I let a woman borrow my cell phone. I must have been feeling nice. Met another friendly couple and a pair of older women who made it their mission in life to alert all passers by that they were in the front of the line and then end was "wayyyy" back there.
I really had no idea what to expect with this musical...but for $25 I couldn't complain.

Turned out to be very entertaining. It was the story of the 4 Seasons, they were a big deal back in the day. I had no idea how many hits they had. I guess I have mom to thank...all those days of oldies finally paid off. I'm not really sure why I liked it....but I did. The people around me loved it even more. The couple sitting next to me was so excited that they even gave me a hug before they left. You can hear some of the songs here.

One final opiece of trivia, Alex from Grey's Anatomy is on The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez.

First day of work went well. No one was there and I didn't have much to do.

Saw Children of Men, it was pretty good. Clive Owen will always have a special place in my heart, Spring Break 2006.

I've turned into "That Girl." The one that sees movies by herself. Then again, I never understood the whole idea of a movie as a social thing. You aren't really conversing during the movie.

Watched Legally Blonde tonight. That movie never gets old.

Might go into SF tomorrow.

First day of work tomorrow.
Saw Casino Royale today. Not bad.

I need a hobby (or a puppy).

• Got the oil changed in the civic. The guys at speedee oil were great! Highly recommended.
• I saw "The Holiday." I really wish Jude Law wasn't such a jerk in real life. He won me over in the movie. I highly recommend the film.
  
• Pet Peeve: Rich woman in the parking lot driving a black, pimped out Escalade leaving her shopping cart in an open stall. Grr.
• Went to a free hip hop class. It was fun. It was an adult class and I was the only one there so it was like a private lesson. Might join the 13+ class...that's a big MIGHT.
• Found a cool website: www.notstarring.com
• It's a cool site that talks about actors that might have starred in famous movies...some examples follow:
• Tupac Shakur auditioned for the role of Bubba in Forrest Gump
• Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf (and Morpheus).
• Will Smith turned down the lead role of Neo in the Matrix, admitting later that he had no regrets because "Keanu was brilliant as Neo."
• OJ Simpson was passed over for the role of the terminator because producers feared he wouldn't be taken seriously as a killer.
• Nicole Kidman was actually cast in the lead role of Jane Smith (Mr and Mrs. Smith) but dropped out. (I blame Nicole for Brad and Jennifer's divorce)
• Anyways, it's a fun site. Look around.
  

Laundry List

• So the MTV cribs house we saw belongs to Danielle Steel.
  
• Washed/waxed/vacuumed the car.
• Fought with the poorly designed hose wind up thing. Don't worry, I conquered it...I am a master :-)
  
• Setup cable/internet. The comcast guy hooked me up!
• Dropped Nick off at the airport :-(
• Got lost.
• Got un-lost.
• Home.
  

Smoothies and 80's Nostalgia

I received a wonderful email from Katie Musar last night. I was so delighted to learn she was as excited about my new magic bullet as I was (the magic bullet appeared in a photograph of the kitchen if you are interested). I am here to report that the first use was a success. I should also give a shout out to Alissa for her recommendation, if I didn't know better I'd think magic bullet was paying her off. Anyways, the results of vanilla yogurt+banana+frozen berries+milk+juice can be seen below:


Following the smoothie of champions, we decided to head to San Francisco, SF from here on out.

We decided to drive into the city. Unlike Washington, SF has toll bridges, LAME! Being the planner that I am, I wanted to ensure that we had correct change for the toll. I found $3 (as stated by the Bay Area Toll Authority) and we were off. To my utter dismay, the toll increased to $4 at the start of the year. Oh well! Sorry, that was probably a super lame story.

Pacific Heights, also known as "a painters nightmare", was our destination for the day. The houses are huge! We found "the mansion" and took a picture of the gated front entry:

It may be difficult to see, but there were 3 Mercedes and 1 land cruiser. I felt like the crew of MTV cribs was going to pop out of the bushes.

We then decided to live out the fantasy of every child of the 80s. We were going to find Dj, Stephanie and Michelle Tanner's house. We walked for a long ways until we found the park used in the opening shot (we looked up the park beforehand). We didn't know if we would recognize the house, it had been a long time since the days of TGIF. However, our memories did not fail us and we found the strip of houses:

Another group of early 20 somethings was also quite giddy at the site of the Tanner household. This made us feel a little better about our 80s pilgrimage.

If you are at all interested:

"None of the cast actually appears in San Francisco for the opening credits or introduction of each episode as lookalikes were shot in San Francisco from a helicopter for the opening credits and the introduction of each episode. While being introduced in the opening credits, each cast member was shown in various areas of the Tanner house except for season 8. Also, beginning in Season 4 and running through the end of the series, the last shot of the opening sequence of the show features the cast having a picnic in Alamo Square in front of the row of Painted Ladies in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. Contrary to popular belief, the red-doored Victorian where the Tanners live is not one of these houses."

Thanks wikipedia.

We are now at home and very tired from all the walking. Happy New Year everyone!