But I Can See You, Your Brown Skin Shining In the Sun

Hi, My name is D and I'm getting kind of old, I'm practically married, and I'm boring. At times to realize those three things about myself kills me, but this weekend I wouldn't have had it any other way!

Friday night MOTH Dude brought home a pizza that we scarfed down while watching NCIS (man, do I hate that show!) and Law and Order SVU. I think we were both passed out by 11:15.

Saturday we were up by 9 and I headed off to the RTA to get my car registered while MOTH went and borrowed his parents' lawn mower. After the RTA, I went grocery shopping and came home to clean out the fridge (ick) and make bruschetta for lunch. MOTH Dude worked for hours on the front and back lawns and came in exhausted just before sun set. We took a ride out to the local light house and then to our favorite local beach where we spotted 2 whales just as it was getting too dark to see. When we got home, I made us a delicious dinner of garlic shrimp and scallop pasta and we had some fancy ice cream for dessert. After watching a movie that ended at 8:30, I hopped in to bed and looked at funny wedding ideas and MOTH came in and we had the lights out and were passed out at about 10:30.

Sunday MOTH decided not to go to church so he sat outside in the sun reading while I baked chocolate chip banana bread and finished the last of our laundry. It was only about 11:30 when I finished so I made us a quick lunch and we got in to our bathing suits and laid out for a few hours. Aussie Bronze-a-thon 2010 has begun! Later in the afternoon, I went in to do my weekly baking to take to the grandparents' house and then we headed out for our weekly drinks with our friends.

So yeah, riveting stuff right? I know it wasn't because I lived it. And while Saturday was a pain in the ass with all those chores to do, I wouldn't have traded that Sunday with my Boo for anything!

Oh wow, ok, I'd better get going as it's 10 to 9(pm) and I still haven't started dinner (Sloppy Joes-you Aussies don't know what you're missing!) and whenever MOTH gets in, he'll starving and I'll feel bad for not having it ready.

Tomorrow night is our monthly family dinner with just MOTH's parents and brother and maybe his new gf so woohoo! no cooking for me(although after just seeing them last night at the grandparents' weekly dinner, all this family time does get a bit overwhelming)! Sunday is Father's Day in Australia (though isn't it weird that Mother's Day is the same day in both places??) and we have no idea what to get the MOTH Dad. Would love any gift suggestions for the man who doesn't have a whole lot of hobbies (other than gardening and I think we've already bought him every gardening related thing over other birthdays and Father's Days) and is super hard to shop for!

You Taste So Sweet For Only Me

Image courtesy of Annie's Eats

Pretty much every Sunday night we go over to Boyfriend's Grandparent's house (Nan and Pop's) and before I left and since I've been back, I try and bring something to contribute to the dinner. Over the last three weeks I've made bread rolls twice that one of Boyfriend's cousins said was just about the best thing he's ever eaten, that lemon cake I put the recipe up for in April, chocolate chip peanut butter cookies, and tonight I brought bread and brownies. Seven of the local cousins were there tonight, along with an aunt, two uncles, and three baby second cousins; the crowded nights like tonight are always the most fun there.

It was my first time making brownies from scratch and I was pretty nervous about how they would turn out, but they were so good. They were a lot richer than store bought brownie mix brownies and by the time I got out to get a real serving (compared to the tasters serving I had before I put them out ;D ) they were all gone! Make these as soon as possible, you won't regret it!

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats recipe for Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies:

Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (For the first two ingredients I used a 100g-about a third larger sized bar than a regular sized Hershey's bar- organic, dark chocolate bar, chopped)
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into quarters (I used salted and omitted the salt later in the recipe)
3 tbsp. cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder I brought from home...yum!)
3 large eggs
1¼ cups (8¾ oz.) sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract (I added a 3rd tsp just because I always add extra vanilla)
½ tsp. salt (remember to omit if you used salted butter earlier)
1 cup (5 oz.) all-purpose flour

1 cup of dark or milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Place an oven rack in lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 350° F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. (I lined my baking dish with baking paper instead.)

In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt; whisk until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture until incorporated. Then stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until just combined. (Stir in cup of chocolate chips.) (It took me a while to get the flour evenly incorporated and I was worried it would affect the texture of the brownies, but they turned out fabulously – no need to worry.) (Unlike the original author, I found that everything incorporated very easily and I only stirred for about 20-30 seconds by hand.) Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula to make an even layer. Bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35-40 minutes (Make sure you watch your brownies! I set my timer for 25 minutes and I think they were pretty much done then. I left them in for another 3 minutes and they came out with a slightly crunchy top and were thick and fudgy in the middle). Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours (I was in a hurry so I just left mine in the baking dish and they were easy to cut and remove when we had them a few hours later).

Remove the brownies from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into squares as desired. Store in an air-tight container. (I've never had brownies last long enough where I needed to store them in an air-tight container!)

I'm still waiting to hear back on the job. I'm not worried yet because the job only closed last Wednesday so I'm hoping I will hear from them by this Wednesday and if not, I will call and ask if there is anything else I can provide them with to help make their decision easier. I still really, really want this job!!

It's supposed to rain again over the next few days. I think it's rained for about 12-14 of the 17 days I've been here so far! If it's not raining, I'll get my walks in (though they aren't as nice without my Dad to walk with) and I've got lots of good things on the menu for Boyfriend and I for dinner this week so I'll be busy every night in the kitchen: Mu shoo Chicken, Roasted Chicken and Mashed Potatoes, Fajitas, Spring Rolls, and something else that I can't think of off the top of my head but is asian inspired.

Hope you all have had/are having a nice weekend. Enjoy that summer weather everyone in the Northern Hemisphere; I'm down here super jealous of you!

Where Soul Meets Body

My Grandpa ended up passing away this morning, shortly after I posted last. I'm told it was peaceful. My Grandma hasn't changed her mind so there will be no service. He will be cremated and Grandma is going to sprinkle him in the backyard! Nae took the afternoon off of work and we went to a movie and out to dinner and we're having family time this next Sunday when Mom and Dad come back home. I'm sad if I think about it so I'm trying not to think about it.

I Hope You Sleep In a Perfect Memory

Yesterday my Mom got a call that she should head down to Orange County. I mentioned in my last post that Boyfriend and I had gone to see my Grandpa in the hospital when we were down on Monday and since then he's taken a turn for the worse. He's sedated and Mom says he looks awful. She said there is probably enough time if we want to drive down and see him one last time, but she wouldn't recommend it because she doesn't want us remembering Grandpa in this way. Once he dies, she and my Dad will stay there for a few days and try and get my grandparent's finances in order and also take my Grandma in to the doctor because it seems like her dementia is getting really bad.

All I'm feeling right now is angry, really, really angry. 1) I'm angry that my Grandpa did this to himself. He always told us he was going to live to be 140 because I think he was afraid to die and when he realized he was getting old he decided to drink his way out so he wouldn't know death was coming. 2) I'm angry at my Grandma for a few different reasons: a) for turning my Grandpa's death in to all about her b) for going back and forth about wanting to live in Stockton near her brothers and away from the unhealthy situation of living with my Uncle c) for not wanting to hold a service for my Grandpa. So what if he doesn't want one? Services are for those left behind, not the dead, anyway. And so what if it's only us there? Funerals are not popularity contests. We will miss him and he is Catholic...doesn't he deserve a mass? d) Even though it's not her fault, I'm mad at my Grandma for losing her mind. I know that is an awful thing to say, but she acts so helpless and is so dramatic and she calls us with these hospital updates and gets all the facts wrong so we never really know what is going on. 3) I'm mad at my Uncle. He is miserable living with my grandparents and all they do is fight and yell and talk over each other all day long, but he won't move out. He won't give my Grandma his blessing, so to speak, to move up to Stockton because he doesn't want the gravy train to leave him behind. He also wants my Grandma to stay in the house because she and my Grandpa told him, in an act of total stupidity, that when they were both gone that he would get their house so now I think he's banking on that, which won't happen if Grandma sells the house and then lives in the assisted care apartments. 4) I'm mad at all three of them for the way they've allowed this situation to play out. Boyfriend's grandparents all seem to possess this quiet dignity that my extended family members must have missed out on when God was handing it out. Why do they have to be so weird and dramatic and stubborn? Why can't we rely on them to give us accurate hospital updates? Why can't we have a funeral like normal people? Why does everything have to be so difficult?

Ok, well enough with my dramatics or I'm just as bad as the people I'm bitching about! Since there isn't going to be a funeral, I will share with you all what I would have shared about my Grandpa if there had been one:

My Grandpa is/was a pretty reserved kind of guy. He wasn't the hugging, heart-to-heart kind of grandpa, but he did take us fishing a few times, which was cool because it was something he really enjoyed doing and he did take us rock collecting at the beach, which we really loved, especially when he would polish them in his machine for us, and he did on a few occasions let us put makeup on him and do his hair, which looking back on, I can't ever believe he let us do, especially when we would twist up his hair and put it in barrettes and comment about how his hair was the texture and consistency of Troll hair! And that's what I would've shared and it's what I got to tell him one last time this Christmas, and for that I am thankful.

Hope you all are having a good weekend. Once we get things figured out around here, Boyfriend and I are taking off to walk the Golden Gate Bridge hopefully and then up for two days in to Oregon and then back down the Northern California coast. After that, we will only have about two weeks left in California, before we head back out to Australia.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Image via http://travelcuts.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/mickey_minnie_disneyland.jpg

Sorry I've been M.I.A. again for a few days, but I've been visiting the happiest place on Earth! Boyfriend and I traveled down to Orange County to meet up with some of his friends from Australia who have been staying in Park City, Utah and the husband has been working as a ski instructor. It was a big three days as we drove for 7 hours Monday, saw my Grandpa who had just been admitted to the hospital, then took Boyfriend's friends to dinner at this Mexican food place in Santa Ana that my family has been going to since my parents were teenagers. Tuesday we got up and did Disneyland and California Adventures all day and then hung out with Bun's family that night. It was so nice to be with them all again because I used to spend a lot of time at their houses and it felt like old times and really comforting to just be hanging with them and listening to their funny stories again. Wednesday we got up and the friends met us in Huntington Beach, where we had breakfast at the best local place, Sugar Shack. We then walked down to Jack's, where I used to work, and I actually saw someone who worked there when I did and had been good friends with and we had a good chat and gossip session and I also got to chat with one of the owners and congratulate him on how well the business was doing (they have opened 2 new stores since I've left and there is another one opening later this year). We then walked out on the pier and saw schools of fish, some dolphins, and a sealion. The weather was incredible the whole time we were there: it's the middle of winter and it was about 74 degrees! Watching the surfers and how clean the water looked (for once), I got the biggest urge to be out there surfing with my sister again. I would love to be there for a week in summer to do just that with her...maybe someday. We then took PCH up to Crystal Cove State Beach and Boyfriend and the friends got shakes from the Shake Shack (we seem to have lots of "shacks" around, don't we?) and then it was time for us to take off. Boyfriend had picked out a skateboard earlier in the day so we rushed back to Huntington to pick that up and then we got driving. It took us about 7 hours to get home and we were exhausted when we pulled in at about 10:20 last night. Since then, I've heard the coyotes run past our house late last night and we had a 4.1 earthquake rattle the house this morning. I'm just about to head out with Dad and Boyfriend to the campground to do some "treasure hunting", my first time this whole trip!

E.T.A.: Does anybody else find it creepy when couples take their honeymoon at Disneyland? If while planning our wedding my fiance suggested Disneyland/world/a Disney cruise a big red flag would go off in my head. Honeymoons are for laying on the beach and making sweet, sweet love not walking around in silly mouse ears and getting autographs from Chip and Dale and Princess Jasmine!

There's a Baby, Yes, There's a Baby About to be Born

This picture really has nothing to do with this post (Boyfriend took it on our trip to Yosemite the first year he was here) but it's a great shot and looks wintery and it's Christmas, damnit, so it kind of works, right?

Unless we've missed the text with the birth announcement, Soccer Player and the Hairdresser are still awaiting the birth of their baby. I'm hoping now that the Hairdresser has gone over her due date, she won't have to go camping with the newborn on Boxing Day (or as soon as it's born if it's after that day), as was previously planned. All of our friends who have had babies so far have tried to tell her that camping with a brand new baby is not where you want to be when you've just gotten out of the hospital and are trying to figure out how to be a mom still, but the Hairdresser is a trooper and up til now has said she is going. I can't wait to hear what they've had and what they've named it and I can't wait to buy it a "Welcome to the World" outfit here to bring back with me. I wonder if she's in labor, as I write this, and is having a Christmas baby? That'd be pretty neat, but probably not the most fun Christmas the Hairdresser would ever have! Anyway, I'm sending my love and my prayers down to you guys. I hope that it is a quick and painless delivery and recovery and Boyfriend and I can't wait to meet the new little guy or girl when we are back.

In other news, Mom and Dad both got sick last week and are still getting knocked around by it. We're pretty sure that Mom has come down with the Swine, while Dad's cold or flu seems to be different. They had a not so successful, but very stressful, trip down to Orange County last weekend to see my grandparents. If you read the last post (Runaway Train) about the situation, the update is nothing has changed and it has actually gotten a lot worse. Not only is my Grandpa on a quick downhill slope, to the point where my Mom thinks we'll be having a funeral before I go back in February, but now my Grandma is falling apart, too. She's gotten in two accidents in two different cars, side swiping a total of 5 cars, in two consecutive Wednesday nights! My Mom is understandably upset by what is going on, but on both trips she's taken to see them my grandparents have ignored the help she's offered so there's not much for her to do. The light at the end of the tunnel is that my Mom has found an assisted living place in Stockton that has apartments on site that allow the tennants to keep a small animal. My Grandma's brothers all live in Stockton and we've been saying for a few years now that she and my Grandpa should move of up there so they have more people to hang out with so once he passes away we think Grandma should take her dog and move to this facility. It's a good option because she is still capable of living mostly on her own for now and she can still keep her dog, but if and when she declines, she can then move in to the main part of the facility that offers more round-the-clock care. I think she really misses her brothers and this way she can see them more often, too.

Happy Holidays, right?

Other than that, our little 5some of me, Boyfriend, Mom, Dad, and Nae are looking forward to spending Christmas together. I've had all my Christmas shopping done for a few days now and only have a few things left to wrap. Boyfriend is stressed because lots of his online ordered presents haven't arrived yet. Nae is at work now (Trader Joe's) and has a taco eating contest with her coworkers and then she's coming over to make Christmas cookies and spend the night. Boyfriend and I said way back in October that we'd like to try and make gnocchi for Christmas Eve dinner so we'll get that under way this afternoon and hopefully take some good pictures for you guys and I'll post up the recipes. Nae's in charge of the food tomorrow and she's making some kind of roast beast, yorkshire pudding, homemade ice cream, and other stuff so I probably won't fit in to any of my new Christmas clothes after the 24 hours of eating I'm about to undertake! The weather here is bright and sunny and the air is crisp so I think we'll probably get up and do presents tomorrow morning and then go for a family walk and then just hang out for the rest of the day. I like having a mellow Christmas like that.

What about you? Is all your shopping and wrapping done? Are you having a mellow or a stressful Christmas Eve/Day?

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Hope you get everything you've asked for and more!

Runaway Train

What do you do when someone you care about is making really awful decisions for themselves? Do you step in? When? I am a firm believer in letting people do what they want because they are going to do it anyway. That's not to say that I won't offer an opinion or advice when asked, but I have found it to be true that people are going to do what they want and aren't going to change until they are ready.

This is true for me with my weight. This is true for other people in bad relationships. And now this is true for my Grandpa and his drinking.

But what do you do when the person's awful decisions are putting them on a quick path toward death? That's where we are at with my Grandpa right now. We decided to step in because while it's crappy he's doing this to himself, it is also really affecting my Grandma and Uncle and my Mom. Plus, he is endangering other people because he boozes all day long then gets in the car to go out for drives! It's sad that he is killing himself, but it will be really unforgiveable if he kills someone when he is out on the road drunk. As unbelieveable as it may sound and as much as my Grandma hates my Grandpa's drinking, she defends his driving and says he is a really good driver. On the other hand, she can't explain how one of their afternoon drives turned in to them getting lost in L.A. for over 4 hours last week.

So anyway, that was the main point of our trip down to Orange County over the past 3 days. Grandpa knows the consequences of his drinking and doesn't want to change so we can't do anything about it, but my Grandma really appreciated our visit and that my Mom was there to help with things she thought needed to be done for their household. Mom was even able to get a home nurse in to assess their situation and hopefully get them the help they need to make life easier around the house. Mom also spoke to the nurse about the drinking and driving issue and she said she would speak to his main doctor who would contact the DMV to get his license revoked.

Although my Grandpa was a bit angry that we were there and didn't really want to talk to us the first two days we dropped in to visit, yesterday he seemed back to his old self. It was nice to sit and chat with him for awhile and I'm glad he came around to us being there as it is a much nicer memory to have of him than one of him ignoring us.

It's a really hard situation to be in. I feel bad for him, I feel bad for my Grandma, and I feel bad for my Mom and Uncle. There is no good end to this and I realize and accept that. I wish things could be different, but you can't change things and you certainly can't change people. Rather than think about my Grandpa as he is today, I am going to choose to think of him and what he was like when we were younger-the man who taught us how to fish and who used to take me and Nae down to this really cool beach in San Diego to look for moonstones.

Waves roll in and the waves roll out. See the water squirting out of your spout.

Boyfriend and I are still on our get healthy kick (I mean, it's only been a week, we would be wusses if we had burnt out already) so Saturday afternoon we thought instead of lazing aroud and wasting a day we'd head down to the beach for a nice, long walk. We hadn't even gotten in to the parking lot on the hill that overlooks Soldiers Beach when I told Boyfriend to pull in to the first spot he could find. I thought I had seen a whale. I think we just missed it doing a full breach because there was no way that I could've just seen a little spout of water from where we were and I saw like a whole wall of water in the air. So we jumped out of the car and sure enough we soon spotted a couple of whales way far out. They didn't breach again in the 10 minutes we watched them, but it was still neat to see them surfacing and the shower of mist that they blew out of their blow holes.

We then walked the beach and

the tide was super, super low.There

was a bit of water cut off by a huge sa

ndbar and we walked through it to get on to the sandbar and out to nearly where the sur

fers were. The water was absolutely freezing and we couldn't believethere were a couple of kids out without wetsuits on, but then Boyfriend and I both agreed at that age we would've done the same thing.

As we walked along we saw a ton of tiny little jelly blobs on the beach. They looked like bubbles on the sand, but once you got up close to them you could see they were solid.

Further along the beach we came to this outcrop of rocks offshore by about two feet and we walked through calf

deep water out to the rocks to look in

their holes to see if we could find any fish or crabs. As we got up on the rocks we were blown away because there was a deep crevice between the two sets of rocks that looked to be about ten feet deep and filled with water! Like I said,

we were only about two feet fromdry sand and here was this deep pool of water. I had never seen anything like it. Boyfriend ran back to the car to get his phone so we could take pictures of it.

When he got back he said he really wanted to jump in and see how deep it was so I said go for it. He jumped in at the far end of the rocks where it was closer to thewaves, but actually a lot shallower.He walked further and further in to the crevice and was trying to dive down to figure out how deep it was, but the water was so cold that he couldn't get any air in to his lungs.

He finally put his hands over his head and

sunk down and we measured it to be about 6.5 feet deep at that point, probably 7 feet at the d

eepest and this was at low, low tide. When we walked back past it later the tide was up and it was at least 10 feet deep at it's deepest point then.

We walked on to the end of the bay and were

blown away to see just how low the tide was.

We were standing 15 feet out from the normal tide line and could see on the rocks behind us where we would normally be standing. We explored the tide pools and came across lots of cool shells. Boyfriend found a really big snail shell with a snail still in it. When we turned it over and it was unfurling itself, it looked a lot like a cow'stongue...gross!

We walked the length of the bay back and up to the car and headed home to get ready for the night. We had a proper date night and went to dinner and a movie.

For dinner we headed out to this town called Terrigal, which is about a 40 minute drive from us and on the beach, but I had never been there before. We went to a cute restaurant called the Cove right on the water and we were sat on a closed in balcony overlooking the water. We sat and ate and watched the boats just beyond the breaking waves bobbing up and down. The desserts looked amazing but we were worried that we would be late to the movie so we had to skip it this time, but I'd love to go back and try some, as well as drink more of this yummy, warm, spiced, red wine we had. It tasted like Christmas!

We headed over to Erina to see Inglourious Basterds. The theater there was so much bigger and nicer than the one we normally go to. It felt like an American movie theater. They even had nachos! And unlike how the Greater Union cinemas do it now, they didn't have assigned seating so you could go in and sit where you like (you don't know how much the assigned seating thing seems weird to me and bugs me).

We both thought the movie was really good. It was gory in a few parts, but you expect that from Quentin Tarantino, don't you? For it being a movie about Nazis, we sure laughed a lot! Boyfriend is still quoting lines to me today from it.

Today is just a lazy day. Boyfriend is sitting out in the sun right now reading and then he's got big plans to wash the car. I'm doing laundry and stoked that it'll dry on the line in one day because today is hot like summer and sunny here. I'm also going to make some jam thumb print cookies (the recipe is over at this blog http://www.survivingoz.com/) to take to a bbq at Nan and Pop's tonight. We are also bringing REAL american style hotdogs to their house tonight for our dinner! All in all, a real nice weekend!

Oh yeah, we saw The Hangover on Friday night, too, and I would recommend it for a good laugh, too, if you haven't seen it yet. I just love the little baby that they find (especially, and I don't know why this part killed me so much, when they just strap him in with a seat belt in the car like it was normal, and safe, to do with a baby)!

Hope you all had a nice weekend, too. Enjoy those last days of summer while you still can. I hear that it's supposed to be an El Nino year which means lots of rainy days for the upcoming winter.

In My Life I Love You More

Boyfriend comes from a huge, huge family. After 4.5 years of dating I am still meeting new cousins at every big family gathering that is held. His Dad is the oldest of 5 children and there are 13 cousins, as well as another 6-7 boyfriends and girlfriends of cousins, and about 6 children of cousins. On his Mom's side there are at least 11 cousins and stepcousins, who knows how many boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses, and like another 6 children of cousins. They are also really close to their extended families on both sides as well....great aunts, second cousins, all that.

I come from a really small family. I had 3 uncles, two who have passed away, and none of them were ever married. Nae and I were the only grandchildren on either side. We didn't have any cousins and we didn't have a lot of contact with our uncles growing up. It would've been nice to have cousins, and I think that's why I think of all the kids in our travel group as my cousins, but I don't really understand the bond that exists between "real" cousins. Anyway, when I first started dating Boyfriend and I had to go to the first couple of family gatherings I was really overwhelmed. Both sides are so loud and happy and friendly and there were just so many names to remember! I'm better now but for along time I would get anxious when I knew we were headed over to Nan and Pop's for a party because big crowds stress me out. Now I'm part of the group and am just as loud and chatty as any of them and feel some sympathy when a new boyfriend or girlfriend is first brought around, remembering how scary it all is!

This weekend was Nan and Pop's 60th wedding anniversary. We headed around to their place on Sunday night for a bbq and it was a really fun night. Once again, I met two new cousins and 3 new cousins' children and they were all really nice. There was good food, singing and dancing along to MJ's Thriller from one of Boyfriend's aunts, a beauty shop was set up by one of the little second cousins and ALL of the boy cousins, as well as her grandpa, great grandpa, great uncles, and great grandma got their hair done by her! Boyfriend's Mom got her hair AND makeup done. My hair was done up in the hottest side ponytail for the night and it was cute to sit and talk to this 9 year old about what was going on in her life. She and her sister were such loving little girls, once they had a quick chat with you they weren't shy about coming back to talk to you some more and they loved to give hugs.

At every big event, Pop likes to give a speech and this occassion was no different. He told about the history of how he and Nan had gotten together and gotten married and a little bit about their early married years. He talked about how much he loved everyone there and how proud he was of his family and about how he loved Nan so much. Their daughter was in the kitchen washing up and listening and was crying the whole time and said after the speech she wished she had someone like her Dad as a husband. Then Boyfriend's Mom and other aunt went to hug her and they started crying. Then Boyfriend's Dad got up, as the oldest child, and said a little speech about how glad all the kids were to have Nan and Pop as their parents and how they were grateful to them for always supporting the kids in everything they did. He got choked up about halfway through then just about everyone was crying with him! It was the sweetest thing. Then someone made a joke about how this was a happy occassion so what was with all the tears and everyone laughed and it went back to normal.

All in all it was a really great night. When we got home and were lying in bed, I said to Boyfriend that I hope someday we'll get a 60th anniversary party like that with all our family surrounding us and he made some joke and I was like, I was trying to be serious. So then he turns over and says to me that he wouldn't mind at all being with me for the next 60 years. I thought that was so sweet, but Boyfriend, being Boyfriend, then had to be cheeky and add that 61 years was probably his limit!

Sad Story

I know that I still need to finish the Costa Rica adventure, but I thought I'd give everyone an update on what's going on around here these days...

I still don't have a job, though I put in resumes for two jobs in schools last week so I hope I get a call for interviews for them soon.

My Mom officially got a job offer from where she has been doing consulting work and so she and Dad are bidding on condos in San Francisco.

My Dad went out and got himself a new Audi TT a few weekends ago. Talk about living the good life!

He and Mom are on an Alaskan cruise this week and I talked to Mom for a minute today and she was so excited because they had been to a glacier and had seen a porcupine up in a tree!

Nae is trying to work out an internship on a shark cage diving boat at the Farallone Islands for September.

Boyfriend and I had a relaxed weekend: we went and saw Angels and Demons on Saturday and grocery shopped and bought something for Junior's 1st Birthday, which is coming up in a few weekends. I was craving those Animal Style Fries from In-N-Out so we made our own In-N-Out at home-the fries, chicken burgers with cheese, and Oreo shakes. Sunday LC came over for a hang out and then Boyfriend and I went for a walk to the lake to feed the ducks and fish. We are a little bit worried about what they put in Jatz (like American Ritz) crackers because neither the fish nor the ducks would touch them!

When we got back from the walk, Boyfriend had gotten a text from his Mom about his Nan (grandma). She had been in the hospital for awhile and had just been recently moved to a nursing home. Boyfriend's Mom got the terrible news while on vacation in Queensland that it looked like Nan might not make it much longer. Boyfriend, understandably, was pretty upset. Bob called and asked if Boyfriend would like to go visit her and so they did and Boyfriend said it was a pretty sad time, but nice because a lot of the family was there with her visiting.

Boyfriend got the call yesterday morning that his Nan had passed away so I am really glad they all got that one last chance to go visit her. Everyone is pretty broken up about it. She was a really nice lady- from the moment I started dating Boyfriend I became a part of her family...she sent me Christmas cards in California and made me birthday presents. From the stories I've heard she was also a pretty feisty lady in her time, too. She was a big partier, loved the pokies (slot machines) and was a true country girl...Boyfriend said she was pretty handy on a ride-on mower and used to mow her whole huge property back in the day. She won't soon be forgotten by anyone who knew her.

Boyfriend and I have often talked about this and my Mom and I have also talked about it, too...his Nan and my Grandma on my Dad's side were like the same person...They were both partiers, they both had lost a child, they both took in "stray" children and made them part of their families, they both could meet a person once and become life long friends with that person, and they both smoked and died from complications due to their smoking. It is really incredible to us how much they had in common.

Boyfriend said the other day that he is glad that we got together when we did because he had the opportunity to meet my Grandma once before she passed away and because I got to know his Nan pretty well and my parents got to meet her and know her on their last trip out here, too. Our grandmothers will never just be people in stories to each other; we both knew and loved them and it just feels like an extra bond that we now share between us.

The world lost a good person yesterday...