Orange County Mining Co.

Today, Owen, Jake, and I decided to treat ourselves to a champagne brunch buffet at the Orange County Mining Co.

This was where I primarily hung out...

Jerika Visits CA!

Jerika spent a weekend in San Diego and invited me down to catch up! It was great seeing her and her cute tummy that is confirmed to be the comfy home to a baby GIRL!

 She and some friends were hanging out in Old Town San Diego and wanted to visit the Whaley House which is reported to be the most haunted house in the entire United States.  The lady at the ticket counter said that she used to work inside the house, but doesn't anymore because of an experience she had there.

Appropriately, the Ghost Busters were outside just in case any paranormal craziness happened.  I have to say, they had this place on lock down because we didn't see a thing!

Nothing welcomes you into a home quite like a courtroom! Originally believed to be a granary, this room has been a school, a church, a ballroom, and ultimately a room of stone cold justice.

The Study: The desk, hat, and chair are all Mr. Whaley's real life desk, hat, and chair. True blue history!

The first commercial theater in all of San Diego was in the Whaley house.  The Tanner Troupe performed dramas and comedies for a full house of 42.

Jerika and I had to take a picture together on the big stage.  We were hoping we could capture some paranormal activity in a picture, but alas, we had to resort to acting out what would happen if we really saw something...for your entertainment.

Birthday Weekend!

For my birthday, Owen and I went to Six Flags!

This ride was called "Tatsu." You sat in the chairs, then they rotated so that you flew out of the launching point with your body parallel to the ground! It was nuts...and we are sore!

Dub

I would like you all to meet Dub Kennedy.  He passed away yesterday-and the world is down one genuine family man. One of the funniest, most unique human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  I am sure that my dad or my brother have more detailed stories about Dub since they spent lots of time together at hunting camp, but I want to share with you why I am going to miss this man.
Note: I am not going to be able to do Dub's sense of humor justice.  Just know that the man was hilarious and very rarely serious.

The ONLY time I drank in high school was when Russ and Lyndsey took me to Tim and Kathy's wedding.  Dub poured me a screwdriver and told me it was just organic orange juice.  Since I was none the wiser, I concluded that the juice tasted funny and I had an overwhelming urge to dance! Now, as you can see below, Dub was missing part of his pointer finger on his right hand.  Turns out, those last two inches of finger are pretty important when it comes to dancing.  I kept missing his hands!  After a while, I caught on that the organic orange juice was spiked.  Dub cut me off when a gust of wind almost knocked me over on the way to the bathroom.

In college, I would have a semesterly freakout where I would call my parents and give them the usual "I can't do this, I'm moving home, there is nothing wrong with working at McDonald's, did I mention I am moving home?"  My mom would listen as much as she could before she would pass the phone to my dad.  Dad would run through his usual protocol and then would demand that I call and talk to Dub. Dub always said the same thing..."quit your bitchin' and pull up your big girl panties.  Not everybody just gets to go to college and you do." I always knew what he was going to say, and it was always what I needed to hear.

Dub was deaf-ish.  He had hearing aids, but often times preferred to make up his own sign language.  Countless times, I remember dad talking to him, asking him a question, and Dub would hold his hand out, flutter his fingers, shoot him a direct look, twirl his mustache, and smack his lips and that meant "I have to go to the bathroom."

Dub had a handle bar mustache (sometimes waxed), eventually was missing TWO fingers (one from a dump truck accident and one from chopping wood...chime in if I'm wrong, Russ), and a sense of humor that could charm the sourness right out of you.  He loved his kids, he loved to hunt, he loved Griz football, and he loved his family.

It was difficult seeing a strong man who looked like he walked out of the wild west be struck down by cancer. I was lucky enough to get to say goodbye to Dub.  I was having a really hard time not crying and trying to stay calm.  What do you say to a person when you know that you are never going to be able to talk to them again? At least not for a while.  I cried and told Dub that I loved him and I was going to miss him.  He literally said "Big girl panties...I'm the one that's dying!"

Happy Heaven Day to Dub! He told my dad he is planning on finding grandpa and finding a fishing hole- just as it should be.

Dimples- The First American Karaoke Bar

Owen, Jake, and I have made a Sunday night tradition out of watching Bar Rescue- a show where a guy comes in and saves the day for a failing business owner.  Lately, many of the episodes have been about bars in the LA-Orange County area.  We decided to meet some friends at Dimples, American's first Karaoke bar to see how they were doing after the episode aired.

Take a look at the Dimples episode of Bar Rescue so you can follow along.....

Bar Rescue- Dimples

This is Jon Taffer! He has successfully managed over 800 bars in his day. Long story short- he knows what he is doing and if you don't listen to him, his icy eyes of disappointment will make you feel like an inadequate human being right before he fires you!

He is all business- I imagine this is the look he would have on his face when he saw that all of his hard work was for not...

or maybe this....

Of course, those facial expressions could only be paired with a "what are you doing, are you an idiot!?" or two to really capture the mood.

I would say that our faces say it all in this picture.  We found the only bar, that I know of (in the entire WORLD), that requires a reservation.  So, we played the ignorance card, because we really didn't know any better and awkwardly waited while they tried to find somewhere to stick us.  Also, boys are not allowed to wear hats. For the boys from MT who just got done playing golf, that was a biggie.

As you've seen in the episode, one of the problems with Dimples is that it is really more of a museum than it is a bar.  There are giant old cameras everywhere that make it really hard to move around. Apparently, when the episode aired, they had cleared the bar of all of the junk to allow room for new customers which would eventually lead to thousands more dollars a month in sales. By the looks of things, there are more cameras than there are tables to sit, and the owner is one dead rat away from a hoarding disorder.

Another thing that was not going so well for Dimples, was that the owner, bless his lecherous old heart, was kind of a pervy old man. We saw him and I wanted to go talk to him- at least get a picture, but he kept poppin' around and was working the mic.

Ultimately, Dimples was a disappointment.  We decided to meet up at the Corner Bar-no reservations AND the boys could wear their hats...AND fried pickles!

Fake It 'Till You Make It

Over the weekend, Owen and I met up with our friends Holli and Rory. The boys went golfing and us girls went on a body-beautifying adventure! Because we are being health conscious in our adult years, we opted for spray tanning vs. UV tanning.

The salon we chose had two colors: clear and bronze. Although both Holli and I had been spray tanning before, we sat through a lesson from a very enthusiastic salon owner about how to prevent streaking, orange spots, general oompaloompaness etc.

Before:

Holli is a girl who naturally tans. She had just returned from a vacation in Palm Springs where she caught a few too many rays and is still peeling as a result.

I used to get called "Too Tan" by Russ when I was growing up because I am too tan to be an albino. I've never had a real tan in my entire life- a few epic sunburns that evolve right into my pasty white complexion a few weeks later with no evidence that I've ever seen the sun before. Ever.

During:

I rehearsed the moves, (pretended to downhill ski) I prepped all of the usual suspects for orangyness, (knees, knuckles, elbows), and I am prepared to get shot with a stream of cold DHA.

I stepped in the booth, punched the green button and immediately realized three things:
1) I've never been a good skier.
2) I forgot my foam nose plug that i paid a whole dollar for.
3) I also forgot the goggles.

After:
I ummm... It looks like I wiped with my hand! My feet...ghaa. No words. It could be worse!

The last picture is the difference between clear and bronze. You could see Holli's tan right away as mine didn't fully develop until this morning.

Aaaand I'm Now an Angel's Fan

We decided to catch an Angels game and it was a great time! There is something to be said about having a beer and watching some baseball. Next time we go, I am determined to get the nachos that they serve in a baseball helmet- it's like 5 days worth of calories of nachos, but it comes in a HELMET!

The Angels won at the end of the 9th by some guy hitting a homer... obviously, I am working on my fan-ness, as I am new to Angels' baseball.  Next time, I will try to have some names and stats to really impress.

Abalone Cove

At my new job, a professor was telling me about his favorite place to get away from it all.  He said that there is a place where you would be lucky to come across another soul. After spending quite a while in Montana, both Owen and I were feeling overwhelmed by constantly being around people, so we decided to check out Abalone Cove.

Here are some pretty important details that are not in the pictures:

1) Imagine , if you can, the most AMAZING mansions you have ever seen in your entire life just out of sight to the left of  this very first picture.  I made Owen drive slow so I could take pictures of each of them....but deleted them as soon as we got home because I started to feel creepy about myself. So, long story short, you are going to have to use your imagination and trust me when I say they were awesome.

2) Just on the other side of the Cove, is the Trump Golf Course- interesting fact: the 18th hole fell into the ocean!

3) Just across the street is Wayfarer's Chapel.  The walls of the church are made with glass so you can see the ocean and all of the super amazing mansions while you are praying/getting married, etc.  Jane Mansfield, Brian Wilson, and Dennis Hopper have all been married there.  Like the mansions and the view- it was awesome.


As you can see below, this is not the type of beach that you take a nap on- its a huge conglomerate of tide pools.

4) The definition of "you wont come across another soul" now comes into question- if we were to take that literally, we ran in to about 100 people at Abalone Cove who did not have souls.  Needless to say, it was not the secluded beach we were envisioning, but it was absolutely beautiful!

We spent a good two hours poking around and decided to leave after I fell in not just once, but twice! To date, this is one of my absolute favorite CA beaches.

Back to CA!

Well, MT, it was fun but it is back to CA we go!

To celebrate our return to warmer weather, I decided to buy a car! Below is Lucille, she is a beaut! I named her after my grandma and keep a picture of my grandpa in the sun visor for good measure.