March 31, 2009 by samantha.

With my parents here, I have been running around having fun. They finally arrived Sunday evening, after a couple of failed attempts. To welcome my parents to California, we took them to Casa Guadalajara. It was one of my grandfather’s favorite Mexican restaurants. The food is always good and the live Mariachi band never disappoints.

The plans for Monday were very simple: visit the Wild Animal Park and get back to Redlands as quickly as possible. We wanted to get to the park early so that we could feed the Lorikeets. You have to make it to the park early, before the birds are full, to get the best experience. I have had at least fifteen birds on me at one time, all trying to get to the food. My dad had never feed the Lorikeets before and really enjoyed the experience. The highlight of the trip to the park was seeing the baby cheetah and elephant. They were absolutely adorable.

The cheetah was rejected by his mother and was staying in the nursery.

The elephant was trying hard to follow his mother and not get in trouble.

He was still unsure of what his trunk was for and it kept getting in his way.

The weather was great for walking around the park and just taking in the sights. I have always said that once you have visited the Wild Animal Park all zoos pale in comparison. Other zoos have tried to copy the Wild Animal Park, but they do not even come close.

The goal of getting back to Redlands was successful. Today we did some errands, a little shopping, and caught up. It was a lot of fun. The only disappointment of the day was Chili’s. I have not been there in a while and I was eager to go back. The menu was not the same. My usual favorites were gone or overpriced. As a matter of fact, Chili’s raised the prices on most things on the menu. We were so disappointed, that we left and went someplace else for dinner. Chili’s used to be a safe bet. Oh well!

Posted in Babies!, California, Travels, Family, Rants | No Comments »

March 28, 2009 by samantha.

I should have no right to complain that I am ever bored. Something is always going on.

My parents were supposed to fly out Thursday. They were all ready to go when Mother Nature decided to change their plans. The Gulf Coast was hit with some heavy rain, strong winds, thunder, lightening, and even some tornadoes. Today they finally were able to see some blue sky and are scheduled to arrive Sunday night. All of their fun weather made me miss Florida. California rarely gets fun weather. For us, a Santa Ana makes people panic.

Friday I skipped school to go to Legoland. A good friend of my mine was taking her son and asked me to go along. It was my first time and I was surprised by how much fun I had. Legoland is definitely for the younger kids. I really enjoyed “Miniland”. The Lego architects had built replicas of San Franciso, New York, LA, New Orleans, and Washington DC. The recreation of the Presidential Inauguration was amazing.

They even got Aretha Franklin’s hat! What made the day the most fun was that I got to play with two 4-year olds. Everything is always more fun with a 4-year old!

Since today was my last day of freedom, I took it easy. I fixed my computers, cleaned the house, and enjoyed the calm before the storm. The highlight of the day was participating in Earth Hour. I sat outside, on the porch, with a friend and chatted for an hour. It was surprising how fast the hour went. Did any of you participate in Earth Hour?

Posted in California, Friends, Weekends, Travels, Family, Rants | No Comments »

March 22, 2009 by samantha.

One week until Spring Break and I have come down with Spring Fever. I think it is in part to me running around and not having the stress of worrying about being pinked. Yup, March 13 rolled around and I did not receive a pink slip. I thought for sure I would get one and that it would be rescinded. I still think I am in a bit of shock. I have gotten so used to worrying about it, that I do not know how to not worry. I feel horrible for my co-workers that did get pinked. I wish I could do something for them, but what can I do? I did not have long to celebrate because the following Sunday I was off to a union workshop in Newport Beach. The workshop was okay. The highlight was driving a friend’s Prius. I have decided that the 2010 Prius will be mine. I am so excited! On Thursday I chopped off my hair. At the time I thought it was a dramatic change. Now that I am used to it, it does not feel much different.

Friday was exciting. Some friends and I went into LA to see my favorite author, Jodi Picoult. I brought about 8 books for her to sign and sign them all she did!! Of course, I picked up the Jodi Picoult’s new book. I think it save it to read over my break. After seeing the author, we went to El Coyote for dinner. I heard so much about the place and I was excited to go. It was horrible. The service was poor, the food was awful, and the drinks were so bad they had to be sent back. Thank goodness I was in good company. Of course, driving a friend’s Mercedes did not hurt either.

Yesterday was a lazy day. I did some schoolwork and read. Last night, I did head out to the movies to see Duplicity. It was horrible. I was so bored. I was playing on the Internet and sending text messages during the movie. I should have stayed home and finished my book.

Today was the highlight of my weekend. Some girlfriends and I attempted to go for a hike. It rained this morning and we thought it was over. Val was thrilled. We began our hike, up the hill, enjoying the cool air. We did not even make it a mile when the rain began to come down. We decided to turn around. Of course it was too late. We got soaked. Still the little hike we took was fun. I took a couple of pictures. Enjoy!

A wild sunflower that we saw on our hike

I love trees. This one I thought was beautiful. Too bad someone decided to tag it. And do you see Val in the corner?

This is the hill we attempted to hike up.

Posted in School, Friends, California, Val, Movies, Weekends, Rants | 1 Comment »

March 8, 2009 by samantha.

This morning started out as any normal Sunday. Val and I were up early, we went for a walk, came home to make breakfast. When my Eggos were toasting, I headed to the garage to get Val’s breakfast. This is what was waiting for me at my door.

It is a White-lined Sphinx Moth and he is huge! I have never seen a moth that was so big. He was too high up for me to put something next to him so you could get an idea of his size. He is beautiful. Of course I am a big nerd and I quickly fed Val so I could learn what type of moth he was. After I figured that out, I Googled his name. I run outside every hour so just to see if he is still there. I guess they are pretty common out here, but I have never seen one before. Maybe the time change confused him?

Posted in House, California, Val, Weekends | 2 Comments »

March 7, 2009 by samantha.

Look what I came home to on Friday! Not only are they beautiful, but also they make the whole house smell wonderful!

Saturday was a day of exploration. I have heard so much about the Poppy Fields and I decided that this as the year I was going to see them. I was very excited. I expected it to be like the poppy scene from the Wizard of Oz.

I was ready to run through the poppies. This is what we saw. Can you find the one poppy in the first picture?

I spoke to one of the volunteers and she said that poppies are finicky. They come and go as they please. We came during the right season. Next weekend there might be more. It we have a warm spell, the poppies will be gone in a flash. I was very disappointed. To make matters worse we drove two hours to see the poppy-less hills. I did learn that I have no desire to live in the desert. It is horribly brown and bare. I cannot understand why anyone would want to live there.

On the way home, we picked up a friend to go to dinner and invaded Target. And then the scariest thing of all happened. We were walking through the clothes, looking for anything pink, and we saw this:

Yes my friends, Acid Wash is back. This is a sign that times are worse than we thought. The Apocalypse is near.

Posted in Friends, California, Weekends, Travels, Rants | 1 Comment »