The best gifts are the ones you make yourself…. At least that’s what my mother always used to tell me when I handed her macaroni glued to a piece of paper of a finger-painting that was all wrong. I have to say that as I’ve grown up this is more and more true. I couldn’t understand why my mom WANTED, actively WANTED me to make her things, but now I do.

I had the pleasure of being the recipient of one of the most amazing handmade gifts I’ve ever come across. Yann can’t ever stop impressing me with his handiwork. First, it was a lot of little things in the condo when we were remodeling (and some REALLY big things too), then it was an entertainment center for my parents for Christmas last year, and now he has truly outdone himself with the bookshelf that he made me for my 29^th birthday.

A few months back (before my birthday) he asked me what I wanted. Holding back from saying something sparkly, I thought about it and asked for a bookcase. Me being me I would have thought he would scour the internet for the perfect bookshelf, buy it and put it together in the ‘mess room’. Yann being Yann he scoured the internet, magazines, books, etc for IDEAS. He then put these ideas to paper when he spend hours designing the perfect bookshelf to fir the 90 inches of space that were designated purely for books. He should probably have shown his students his design and now the finished product, but I doubt he has and/or will.

Once the design was finished and approved about a week before my birthday we sought out in search of wood. He wanted to find good strong Oak, but not at a ridiculous price. We settled on 7 inch and 6 inch pieces that we later glued together to make the 12 inch pieces used for the shelves. I will loosely claim here that I helped, however as most of you who know me will already know that by helping I went to the fridge got beers, watched, critiqued and mostly got in the way. I did however legitimately help gluing the wood together. In the beginning it was a novelty, but after 20 or so pieces of wood I was bored with it and I wanted to get on with the building.

Yann spent many of his days off perfecting his techniques and making sure that he didn’t mess up any cuts, routered edges, glued parts, and or finished. Nala of course spend numerous hours outside with him lying in the sun and listening to music with him as well. Last night the finishing touches were put on this masterpiece of a bookshelf.

Here is some photo evidence of the process. Hopefully after I polish it tonight there will be books that will populate each and every shelf.

The finishing touches.

The master is happy with the finished product!

Nala likes it too!

SO, here I was thinking I had gotten something in the mail that would be pretty cool if I won…. It was a sweepstakes and all you had to do was enter your information and then find out in a few weeks if you won, right? NOt right….. I went on a joyride of fun with this sweepstakes that I wish I had never entered. I’ll tell you my story.

So, my friend Mia has a lot of really awesome hobbies…. one of which happens to be making jewelry. She has really awesome taste, so when I asked her to make me a pendant for my necklace I knew it was going to be beautiful.

She went and picked out a peridot (which is my birthstone) and had already picked out a cornflower blue sapphire (which is my mom’s birthstone)

After many pictures in progress and many weekends in her studio I got my pendant in the mail!!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

It first my personality perfectly and I get lots and lots of compliments. =)

I should know by now that if it’s cold outside I should wear real shoes…. Real shoes meaning socks too. I mean shoes that require socks… not just socks. If I had worn socks today I might not be feeling like a warm cup of coffee or hot cocoa needs to be in my hands at all times.

It’s cold outside, rainy, not fun weather. I thought I lived in LA for a reason, well a few reasons…. A few of which are:
1. Weather
2. Beach
3. Family
4. Friends
5. Job
(In no particular order)
Looks like 1 and 2 aren’t panning out for me right now as it’s been rainy off and on since late January. Let me take that back…. since December as it was snowing just outside of LA on January 2nd and it seemed like the weather was making everyone crazy. Now even more I KNOW that rain and bad weather makes people crazy, and most of all makes them lose their minds. Driving on the road, if there is 1 drop of rain, yes ONE people drive like they don’t have a brain… braking for no reason, stopping in the middle of the road, etc.

Moral of the story, I should have worn real shoes today.

Fabulous! I love this album. I can’t stop listening to it. I listen to it on my way to work, at work while I am writing documents, on my way home from work.

I first discovered my love for Adele while I was living in England, and I have been waiting for her to come out with her 2nd album for a while now.

Honestly, I wish I could sing like this but I don’t. Someday I will update this blog post with a track by track review, but for now Adele has her own track by track review that I wanted to share with everyone.

Such a great album, with a lot of great tracks.
http://www.adele.tv/trackbytrack/archive/

Adele – PromiseThis

I know this ruins the BLOG layout, but I can’t help but sharing.

I can’t get enough perfume. As those who know me have found,  I have 3 trays of perfume scattered throughout my house. I can’t stop smelling things. When I travel the most notable thing I can remember is how the streets smelled. Most of the time when I think back on whether I liked a place I think about how it smelled…. if I could smell the food on the streets, how the drinks smelled, how the people smelled, and most of all how the air smelled. One of my favorite places for smells is Morocco. Everything smells…. sometimes bad, sometimes good, and sometimes completely inexplicably.

For perfumed smells I am going to have to say my favorite it Paris (or the south of France)…. but now that I live back in California I mostly smell the ocean, fresh cut grass on my own lawn and sometimes doggy and kitty smells. When I find a new fragrance that I love I want to spray it all over the house. This is one of them.

While I don’t exactly know what the name China White means, as I wasn’t born in the era of Heroin or opiates I know how I feel when I smell this intoxicating perfume. I don’t own it yet, but I have tried it numerous times. The first time I put it on I was back in Europe visiting some friends and I just tried it on in the store. I smelled myself nonstop for hours and I could even faintly smell my wrists in the morning. Over the hours the smell just got better. At first I thought ahhh this smells nice, I might buy it. I didn’t sadly, and I regret it. Over the next few hours I kept smelling better and better. This will be one perfume that I will likely buy in the near future.

I would love to write a powerful review such as this: http://www.nstperfume.com/2009/01/15/nasomatto-china-white-fragrance-review/ but I don’t have that kind of prose in me.

A trip to the mountains was in store for New Year’s eve. Little did we know what was waiting for us up the mountain. It was to be me, Jess, Yann and David. We drove in separate cars and were to meet there around 8-9pm. A series of events began once Yann and I hit the bottom of the mountain. We drove through Hemet, which Yann so affectionately referred to as ‘podunk’, and we hit the BOTTOM of the mountain (only 20 minutes away from Idyllwild) and a COP was sitting at the bottom directing traffic and letting us know that NO ONE was getting up the mountain. He didn’t know how long it would be, or even why the roads were closed. Yann and I figured that it was because of ice, or snow or something but we didn’t see any clouds in sight. Stubby and Nala were getting a bit restless and Nala had already puked on the 60E as it was a bit windy.

The cop recommended that we a) go get chains and b) get some food. We promptly turned around and began out wait until we would try again up the mountain. A quick stop at Pep Boys for some chains and a drive up, takeout dinner from Red Robin later we were ready. The animals hadn’t yet eaten and were a little bit cranky so I took Nala for a walk and held stubby for a few minutes until we were off yet again. Yann informed me that his new favorite destination would be Hemet as the people were so amazingly interesting and cool. (Actually he said he wasn’t sure that he wanted to come back)

When we drove back about 9:15 PM the cop had left and we were free to drive up the mountain. David and Jess were not far behind up as this point and we were sending text updates as to the weather conditions which were favorable. We passed some wet points, but no indication of what the hold up was to get up to Idyllwild. We made it up with no other holdups, however as we got to the windy roads Yann mentioned ‘I wonder what else is waiting for us at the cabin’. I told him DON’T JinX it!~!!! but he had already said it.

We made it to the cabin no problem and unloaded the car and fed the animals. Nala was happy to eat at 10pm, but Stubby wasn’t sure where we were or why he hadn’t eaten until now, so he just ran upstairs and hid under the bed. David and Jess texted me a few minutes later and told me that they were on Circle Way and they were stuck. I had given the wrong address and they had driven up an icy street. I sent Yann out to look for them while I got the house ready for guests. I turned on the water, heat, water heater and re-organized the furniture. When Yann finally found David and Jess (after walking around for 20-30 minutes) he helped them bring their stuff in and the car was left in the snow.

Everyone walked in and mentioned that it was cold inside, but I never felt cold…. maybe I had adrenaline, but I felt pretty warm inside…. It was then that we discovered that I was mistaken about turning on the heater. Yann went to check the hot water, called my dad, and checked the heater only to discover that everything was turned on properly, but there WAS NO HEAT. It was about 30F inside the cabin and we started to get REALLY cold. At about midnight we all decided to look for ALL blankets in the house to prepare for a cold night. David made a really wonderful fire and we all sat around and chatted about the crazy evening we had just experienced. We found a heating blanket and about 10 other blankets for the other bed.

Staying warm by the fire

The fire was left on and we set off to sleep…. under 20 pounds of blankets! Nala slept in a bed for the first time (with her sweater) and was a perfect little heater in the cold weather. Nala and I woke up early and I tried really hard to keep quiet until the gas company arrived so that we could have heat when everyone woke up. I boiled water on the stove, turned on the oven and TRIED to make a fire. My fire wasn’t all that great, but it was started. When David woke up he enhanced the fire and made it about 4 times bigger. I cooked breakfast for everyone and the neighbors brought over 2 space heaters!!!! YAY! My parents called the gas company who were coming out to service the propane tank ASAP, and the cable company was also on their way (the cable wasn’t working either).

Yann and David headed out with the chains to try and get the car out of the snow/ice, and Jess and I waited at home for propane and cable TV. Meanwhile I had plugged in BOTH space heaters in the living room and apparently shorted a circuit that was not able to be re-set…. OH YAY! Suburban Propane showed up and worked on the tank, then worked on the boiler/heater. Finally the heat started flowing and we had HOT WATER around 1pm. Yann and David had driven into town and purchased some chains that got the car out of the ice, and it looked like things were looking up… oh and the cable guy had chosen a different input and gotten the cable working again.

Suburban PROPANE!!!!

We all freshened up after all the good news, ate lunch and headed into town. We walked around, went to a wine tasting store, bought some candy at the local candy store (i’ve been going there for as long as I can remember) and enjoyed looking at all the ‘interesting stuff’ in town. We tried to find boots for David but struck out on sizes… =(

Tasting time.

The boys (and Nala) with a cool truck.

It wasn’t a very cold day so we didn’t really need gloves or hats which was a nice change from the previous night. Since it was NEW YEAR’s EVE at this point it was time to go home, take showers, and get ready for the NEW YEAR! Fondue was on the menu for the night, along with champagne, proseco, Belgian beers, and more. After a few episodes of I Love Lucy. a few pages of our books, and a hot shower we were ready to EAT.

New Year's Eve dinner.

I’m like a paparrazzi with a camera (everyone tells me this) so I documented almost everything from the night, with the exception of how we felt after dinner. The fondue was amazing as always, and with full bellies we were ready for board games. We played Sequence, and Yann and I got our butts kicked. We ended up at about 5 games to 10, which isn’t a very good showing. I forgot to pick up cards numerous times, so I had a disadvantage with my forgetfulness. That added with alcohol isn’t so good, and when the team you are trying to beat is as good as Jess and David you hardly stand a chance. =)

Midnight Toast

At midnight we toasted to Great Friends. HEAT (the little things), and a happy NEW YEAR! After finishing up a game of cribbage with David we were all pretty tired and passed out (this time with heat). Nala slept in her crate, and Stubby joined on the bed. After a good night of sleep Nala woke up crying, and I woke up to boil water for coffee, feed the animals and get ready for the day ahead. After 2 showers, and a few trips to the potty the toilet began overflowing (and wouldn’t stop).

David started carrying water out the front door, meanwhile I was calling my dad to tell him that yet ANOTHER thing went wrong on this trip. As it turns out the holding tank WAS FULL!!!!! Apparently the only things that go into the holding tank are the upstairs sinks, and the 2 toilets. Well, with 4 people we are going to use the toilet every once in a while. Yann started helping with the toilet as the water was coming through the ceiling to the bottom floor of the house. He removed the ceiling tiles, placed them outside and then checked the holding tank.

Happy New Year

Wow… what a trip. Hey, at least there was heat for our New Year’s Eve celebration! I made breakfast again and we all hung out and ‘laughed’ at all of our mishaps, misfortunes, or whatever you’d like to call them. David and Jess packed up and headed back to LA after that whirlwind trip!

Bye Bye Idyllwild.

Yann and I worked to finish packing up our stuff, and Stubby and Nala’s stuff as well as finish cleaning the kitchen. We consulted both my mom and dad as to the water situation, and decided NOT to siphon off water from the holding tank (ewww…) and we left it full. We turned off the water, and opened the bleed valves…. closed the fireplace and turned off all the lights and headed back to LA ourselves.

Little Nala in the snow!

What a way to start a new year. It was certainly an adventure and I was happy to be able to spend it with 3 wonderful people, and 2 awesome animals. Nala LOVED the snow and couldn’t get enough. If you want to know how much she liked it you can check the blog: http://nalacrabbie.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/snow/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to continue my eternal life of travels or if I wanted something else. I ended up deciding on getting a puppy. She has to be one of the best things ever. I have so much fun playing with her and just hanging out with her. She discovers something new every day and amazed me in all of these fun ways.

It does get frustrating at times because either:

a. she doesn’t listen

b. she doesn’t know what I want her to do

c. she gets too hyper

d. she forgets that the potty is for outside.

Of course all of these things are overlooked when she crawls into your lap to play with your or sleep next to you. Over the past month she has become a part of the family. I protect her, and I take care of her.

Would I like to travel still? Of course, but coming home after a long day of work to a happy puppy that licks your face just because you are there and she loves you  makes up for it. I will travel again, and she will probably just stay with my parents at that time as she has developed a bond with my parents and their dogs as well. She LOVES her cousins and loves my sister as well.

It’s pretty much impossible to say no to this little thing.

On another note I realized that people treat me differently now that I carry a cute puppy around. I’m sure this will continue when she grows into a wonderful adult golden retriever as well. Basically people stop you in stores and ask you about your dog and you become INSTANTLY more approachable than you were when you were just you walking around town. One guy even told me that my puppy was beautiful just like her mama. I felt very proud  that he thought my puppy was beautiful.

More to come as she grows older. I have also started a blog for HER as she has opinions of her own and would like to share her experiences with you. (nalacrabbie.wordpress.com) Feel free to visit often as she is a growing pup and is learning the ways of the world.

www.akcdoublebgoldens.com/Locker&Snow.htm

So, I am in the process of adopting a puppy who can come home with me in about a month. I get to pick from the girls of this litter…. which one is the cutest?

Apparently bringing home a dog is like having a child…. they wake you up in the middle of the night, they can’t hold their bladder and they cry when they are hungry. Hopefully I can be the ‘pack leader’ so that this little girl will follow my direction.

This weekend, starting Friday, 11 SpaceXers (Xers) and 1 Professor gathered into a team for the Ragnar Relay LA, which is a 200 mile run split up into 36 legs. Each person runs 3 legs of that relay. This run began in Ventura at the state beach there, and ended at Salt Creek Beach near Dana Point.

 I ran the least, which was about 13 miles, and we all slept in parks, on the Santa Monica pier, in the van, and wherever we could find to sleep. We ran through downtown LA in the middle of the night, and through the South Bay in the early morning. We ran our projected times and generally kicked butt. We started passing teams in the morning when we caught up with some of the teams that had started much earlier than us.

 The teams had a staggered start from 6am til 2pm, so taht all projcted finishes were in the afternoon and we could all gather together in our finish! Our team started at 12pm on Friday, and ran until 3:56pm on Saturday. It was a very stressful, but rewarding experience, and with a few weeks of recouperation I might be willing to do this again.

Here are some photos from the race.

Ragnar Relay SpaceX