Jury duty Downtown LA

Today I had Jury Duty in downtown LA, but this is not a story about the jury duty. I actually enjoyed my day. I saw a new part of LA and some really cool and beautiful things. I also was very bored awaiting to be called in for jury duty. I think I played about 7 Sudoku puzzles, read three chapter a of book then started to fall asleep, looked at two magazines, completed one word puzzle and read a few newspaper articles. Lunch was where my day ready started to be fun. There was a farmers market with the music, food, coffee, plants-you know how farmer markets are. It was cool, not to mention I am sitting under the Los Angeles City Hall across from the Los Angeles times, down the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall (that's actually where I parked my car). There were a few parks near by and a public transportation galore. There was this WoMan (it was a man dressed as a woman) that was using a bus stop sign as a dancing pole, it was really funny, think Courtney Love trying to be sexy on a street in front of City hall dancing on a pole and then playing with her hair and stroking her leg as she lifts her already short tacky shirt.I so wanted to video tape the whole thing it was so entertaining.  

Chad was able to meet up with me and we hang out at the park that the farmers market was at.

The buildings are really cool in the Civic Center. Of all buildings the CalTrans building was really cool-very modern and sleek. On the other hand the metro station was weird.  They had people (statues) hanging from the ceiling and each of them had numbers on their shirts. 

After sitting around after lunch in the jury room until about 3:45 the remaining 25 of us were sent home-everyone cheered. We lucked out I guess, the room was completely full in the morning (probably 160 people). I took the opportunity to do more site seeing especially because the holiday decorations are up. I totally felt safe and just wandered around checking out the area and taking pictures.  All the sudden I hear all these birds singing and then I see them five of them all bright green. I think they were parakeets. Just then as I crossed the street and see a friend driving. He stopped in the cross walk and we said hi and hugged through the car window, then said a quick goodbye before we created a traffic jam. Then I walked around the Disney Concert Hall while Chad left work to meet me. We then found a nice little Italian restaurant. The food was great. So all in all my Jury duty day was really quite nice. 

Puerto Vallarta Nov 3-9

We had a great time in Puerto Vallarta. It's crazy how fast a week goes by when you're on vacation. I swear my work week goes by super slow.
So the trip was with about 22 other people from Chad's work and their guest. We had three planned and paid adventures. The City Tour, the Sierra Madera jeep tour and the Rhythm of the Night dinner/dance show with a boat ride. We also were at the RIU hotel which is all inclusive so food, drinks, kayaks, sail boats, and other water sport equipment was included. Chad learned how to sail, we rented a jet ski and Chad went Kayaking while I did water aerobics in the pool. I did go sailing with Chad once, he went three times, while I had a spa day Chad sailed for the third time. I had a wonderful time at the spa it was soo relaxing. We also played pool darts with some Canadians. We had such a nice time, the food was really good and so were the tours/guides.

Philip and Alison's wedding in Temecula

Pics from Bob and Marla's wedding in Napa

updates

Since my last blog, Chad and I been crazy busy. We've traveled a little, been stressed at work, went to a couple of weddings, a birthday party, a bridal shower and a couple of hospital trips. Long story short somehow I got a blood clot in my ankle. After a few different doctor appointments and a night in the hospital all with in three weeks, the doctors agree that the blood clot is not a serious threat. Also they really don't see many people with this type of clot, it's unusual. I had the head of the vascular center at UCLA tell me that in the 30 years he has been doing this he hasn't seen a case like mine, that's right I'm a special case. The doctors really don't know what caused the clot, but they believe it maybe from inactivity from working and not taking breaks to walk around at work and with the added car traveling we have recently done, but they think the main cause is the estrogen in the birth control pills so I have been advised not to continue with that. I have had a few blood tests and they did not find any genetic factors. I was originally told to wear compression stocking (knee high socks which I might add I totally worked into my wardrobe) to help to reduce the swelling and circulation, but today I was advised that I really do not need to unless my ankle swells again or while traveling. I am good to go back to business as usual with the exception of becoming active again and to keep up good habits (eating healthy & daily exercise) that promote a healthy life. I have received the thumbs up to fly to Puerto Vallarta the first week of November, yeah (please pray that no other health issues will occur with Chad or I). Today Chad went to the hospital to have his chest checked out because his chest has been feeling tight. They give him a EKG, X-ray and blood work as well as vitals. Chad has a great heart and his lungs are good too and his heart rate and blood pressure are great. The doctors believe it maybe muscular and told him to follow up with his general practitioner. So now we can both relax and recovery from all this stress. On the bright side we have been to two wonderful wedding one in Napa and one in Temecula and we have joined two new wine clubs. I'll tell you more about the wine later. I hope all is well you with. Love T

August 16-22

Well we made a last minute trip up to Mendocino to enjoy some site seeing, wine tasting, beer tasting and to visit with Shannon for a early birthday.  We were really enjoying our trip until we come to a road block, literally, HWY 5 was closed-yes closed. At the end of the grape vine some smart person thought it would be a great time to close the highway to do construction between 11pm-4am, we were stopped completely for at least 2 hours with not outlet there was a hill on one side and a cliff on the other side. We were very mad, but there was nothing we could do, but sit and wait. So our work week was okay, busy just two weeks before Pepperdine starts school and with this being the first time we have ever used our new PeopleSoft system students and staff our confused. I have come to terms with the fact that I can't help everyone and it's better to give quality then quantity when it comes to customer service. I am trying to enjoy myself, this positive attitude may also be because I have another opportunity to advance (for now that is all I'll say). I'll keep you posted. We've been watching the Olympics which has kept me up late. Well that's about it for now. take care-T

weekly highlights (August 9-15th)

Over the last weekend we walked down to Culver City and eat gelato on Saturday. Sunday we walked back down to Culver City and watched the new Batman movie. Chad caught my cold and stayed home from work Wednesday. Chad and I are both really busy at work with the fall term starting soon.  I gave a financial aid presentation to prospective students on Thursday night. That's pretty much it, nothing too exciting.

weekly update

Well my recover from the wisdom teeth extraction is doing great, no pain or problems. My office space and co-workers made me sick, literally. I came down with a cold and can't really breathe well at the moment. It started with a sore throat, then a cough, then the nose and now the congestion. This morning my co-work thought I was trying to seduce her with my raspy voice.

Mini Cooper

Our next car, some day.....

Wisdom teeth

I finally did it, I had my wisdom teeth removed. I was sooo nervous. I almost fainted before my appointment. Yes I am a big baby. 

I had to ask a million questions before the dentist could even give me the numbing gel. I even started to cry I was so nervous. He did a fabulous job at calming my nerves and giving me the shots of Novocain. He even brought me some sparkling water in between the shots and told me that 95% of the nerves (and my shaking hands) were just me and 5% the novocain. I finally mellowed a bit and he started to bend my tooth side to side and I thought (and asked) if my tooth was breaking because it sounded weird and felt weird. He said that was normal and weird is good, the tooth was not breaking. So not kidding 4 seconds later the dentist said "it's a boy, your tooth is out" I was amazed and he showed it to me. Then he took the other side out even faster, but this one was a girl. Now only if child birth was this quick and painless. 

I snapped a shot of the teeth really quick with my camera phone.  

I arrived at the dentist at 3:15 and got back into my car at 4:15, the longest part was me being a ball of nerves,  asking a ton of questions and freaking out about the what ifs'.

 

Wow I now know it wasn't a big deal after-all.  I'll let you know how the recovery goes. I already switched out the gauze, but I really suck at it. 

Wine Blog

My California Favorite wine list:

The following from winery visits:

Windward, Pinot Noir 05, Paso

Kynsi Winery, Merrah & Syrah 04, Edna Valley

Brian Benson, Syrah 05 , Paso

Firestone, Syrah 04 & Merlot 04, Santa Ynez Valley

Pasos, Viognier 05, Lodi

Eagle Castle, Zinfandel 04, Paso

Castoro, Cabernet Franc, Paso

Silverhorse, The Big Easy, San Miguel

Zenaida Cellars, Syrah 05, Paso

Dark Star Cellars, Ricordati 05, Paso

Baileyana, Sangiovese, San Luis Obsipo

Watts Winery, 2003 Dos Amores, Lodi

Our all time Favorite Winery; 

Macchia from Lodi for all their wines are wonderful, our favorites: 

2006 ZINFANDEL ''MISCHIEVOUS''

2006 BARBERA ''INFAMOUS''

2005 ZINFANDEL ''ADVENTUROUS''

The following are favorites from the store:

Gnarly Head old Vine Zin 06

Francis Coppola Rosso Classic 05

Pepperwood Grove Zin & Cab

Trader Joes organic Growers Reserve Paso Robles Zinfandel 07

More to come, keep posted.

earthquake

5.8 30 miles east. Wow in my work building it was the biggest earthquake we have gone through. The walls were creaking. Our building is on rollers so we felt like we are on boat. Now even 5 minutes after we feel motion sickness.

Tara's Top Summer 2008 songs

1.Mercy/Duffy
2.Funky Bahia/Sergio Mendes, will.i.am
3.Untouched/The Veronicas
4.No Air/Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown
5.Bleeding Love/Leona Lewis
6.Pumpkin Soup/Kate Nash
7.Close To Me/The Cure
8.Starry Eyed Surprise/Oakenfold
9.Forever/Chris Brown
10.When I grow up/PCD
11.Shawty Get Loose/Lil Mama
12.Walking on air/Kerli
13.Madly/Tristan Prettyman
14.Apologize/OneRepublic & Timbaland
15.Wharever U Like/Nicole Scherzinger

GLOW

Glow Santa Monica, the first showing. the show July 19, 2007 began at 7pm and ended at 7am Chad and I went at about 2am and returned home at 4 am. We can't believe we were up so late, we couldn't even remember the last time we were up that late. We also couldn't believe the large number of people out on the beach and the Santa Monica Pier at 3am. There must have been a million people out there.

Here are some photos of the Glow event.

I think since then my sleep pattern has really be off. Last night I stayed up to finish reading my Jane Green book Second Chance. I stayed up until 5am, I didn't even know what time it was until I got up to use the bathroom. Then I can't believe I actually made it through work fairly decently. Oh the nap after work helped, but now I'm up late again blogging ;)

Wedding Highlights

Our wedding was very nice. Even with the rain and the last minute changes. We had a wonderful time and are so happy that everyone traveled to Morro Bay to celebrate our marriage October 27,2007. 

Jimmy Kimmel Show

This show was really fun to watch. I was skeptical at first but you know what I got the chills. PCD are really great entertainers.

Summer Fun

So far this summer Chad and I have been busy traveling. We went to Cabo San Lucas at the beginning of May for a week. We really loved our hotel, but the locals drove us crazy trying to sell us anything from gum to Timeshares, even in the airport. Well I guess that's Mexico. We hung out mostly at the hotel. We did swim with dolphins and went Zip lining. We mostly hung out by the pool played some board games, ping pong, pool and we meet some really great people from NY, Canada and California. I am proud to say that we did not get sick from the water or food, but next time I will bring travelers checks because every time I used by card the bank charged a transaction fee, ughh!

We have also gone to a Jimmy Kimmel show, Tom Petty, visited my friend and family in NoCal. We've been up to Santa Barbara, Paso, Cambria and SLO a few times this summer. Have had a few BBQ's at friends and family in SoCal.

Tara has been very busy at work with the transition to a new computer system and learning the ropes has been crazy, since no one really truly knows what’s happening it's really hard to learn when the information you get is updated very other week and you have to re-learn things all over again. We also have to work on two computer systems, so we have twice the work. Then there is the frustrated staff and students which really helps to set the mood around the office. Chad started working at a new school, so he has been busy getting settled down with a new system and new co-workers. He drives his motorcycle to work to save on gas and parking fees since the drive to downtown LA is a little farther than the drive to UCLA.

We have tried to get out of our apartment as much as possible. Going to the beach to take walks or ride our bikes. We like to walk down the street to downtown Culver City this little city is growing so much it's so swanky now with all the bars and restaurants. We also went to the Getty, one our favorite places in West LA. We recently went to Downtown Disney to visit with friends and the Dodgers game. Our patio is filled with plants and a few herbs, oh and a tomato plant. I've found it's much more difficult to grow plants like herbs and vegetables in pots. We've only seen three tomato's on the vine so far :(

What's next; we have three weddings to attend this year. So that's something to look forward to. One is in Napa and we will take some extra days off to take a road trip all the way up to Mendocino and back to LA. The other is in Temecula another wine country, yeah!! The last one will be in December and it's the wedding I'm planning so I'm really excited about that.

We are also going on yet another trip to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta this time, in November. This trip is with Chad's work, but it's also partly Chad's birthday and partly our one year anniversary gift.