Things That Make You Go "hmmmm...."

I decided to do a quick post while I work on our holiday rundown for the blog. Greg and I left Flagstaff on Monday afternoon and got home to Santa Monica around 10pm. Nothing says welcome home quite like having your locks changed. Yup that's right, while we were away on holiday our building manager took it upon himself to change our outside access door's locks..."hmmmm." After we tried every door in the building we resorted to some good ol' pounding and were delighted that our neighbor Tom was still up watching Monday Night Football. I am not a huge football fan but that night I was singing it's praises! Once we got into our apartment we found a lovely note from our building manager letting us know that he had changed the locks and here were two new keys...I don't know how we were supposed to get the keys without being able to get in the building but, maybe I should let that slide.
While we were in Flagstaff we had our mail on hold and they were supposed to deliver it to our house starting on Tuesday, however when I spoke to the mail man about not receiving our mail yet, his reply was that I would need to pick it up because "there was mail"..."hmmmm."
Finally on our way to the farmers market yesterday there was a note from FedEx on the outside access door for a failed delivery attempt, the reason? "Couldn't get in."

Here is to some common sense in the new year!

Fixed it!

Here are the pictures that I was trying to post on the previous entry but couldn't. Life has definitely been flying bye. I have been trying to get this loaded on here for day's but finally broke down and had Greg take a look turns out that I saved it as a very large file which is why I couldn't get them to load. Hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday! I'll post some holiday pictures soon!!!

Issues...

Well I had a bunch of really great photo's to share with you all, but I seem to be experiencing technical difficulties. Frustrating... oh well. I am aware that I have not updated this blog in a very long time and am wondering if anyone still bothers to check?!
This last month has been very busy, after Greg and I returned from Arizona we both got started right away on finals and have just now gotten the time to relax a little and breath! My dad was in town for a few day's again which was really fun, we went to the tide pools, Downtown Los Angeles, and China Town. This was of course in the middle of Greg's finals so he was not there for most of it although he did pull himself away from his cave (aka: office) long enough to go down town with us; although I think by that point he was in full zombie mode. Once my dad was off it was my turn to do finals, and so I have not been home much lately. Pico has taken to following me around more, I think he is worried that I don't truly exist and if he looks away for even a moment I may disappear. This week Greg and I are in AZ for a visit and then we will be headed to D.C. I have some time off for the holiday's and so I will be updating the blog a bit more frequently and maybe if I am really good the server will allow me to upload some pictures along the way! Happy Holidays!

One Word...Finals.

It is finals again. I promise to update the blog as soon as they are all done...Wednesday can't come soon enough!

The Santa Monica Christmas Tree's!

Thankful and The Final Answer to 20 Questions!

These pictures are all out of order but oh well! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, complete with seventeen adults and three children! Hope all of your Thanksgivings were wonderful and enjoy your Black Friday's!

Anissa and I enjoying a "cup of joe" after eating entirely too much food!

Mom and Greg initiating clean-up...by far the worst part of Thanksgiving!

Loren, Greg, and Anissa trying to figure out if Loren's fingers were webbed...ahh the amazing conversations that are had during Thanksgiving.

This is mostly Sarah's family (my sister in law) although if you look closely you may be able to pick out my mom and brother!

Loren and Anissa waiting on the food!

How many Mennow's' does it take to make a casserole?
From left to right Robbie (big brother), Bette (little sister), and Janet (worlds best sister!)
Just ask them!

Ahh, we sure do have fun together!

Thanksgiving Day breakfast!
Left to right Barb (Chris's mom), Chris, Mary (Mom), Aunt Ninny

Lila enjoying the fire.

Chris and my mom preparing the turkey for roasting!

To all of those still wondering...Greg and I are thankful to be going on an adventure to Peru this summer! I will include more details in a future post!


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

In Case You Were Wondering...

I only received two guesses last week, so here are the answers to those. Next week you will all find out where we are going to on our adventure! Keep those guesses coming!

Dugout

My husband and I are very busy. We feel lucky if we are able to get thirty minutes together a day, and so it is easy to lose sight of what the other person is doing. I know that the last few week's have been incredibly stressful one's for Greg, and so this morning as we were getting ready to start our day's he was talking to me about how stressed he was, and how he was just feeling a little melancholy. I hate that, I don't handle it well when Greg is not doing well. I love him so much and I know how hard he works and I really can't stand to see him down. So now that you know this, you won't be surprised when I tell you that I immediately began the task of cheering him up. I was surprised when he said, "I don't need this, I know we are a team but I don't need you in my dugout." To which I replied, "we're a team, and so I am in your dugout." That was that. Smiling, the two of us headed out together holding hands and had a cup of coffee before kissing good bye at the bus stop. I knew what Greg meant when he made that comment, but one of the best things about being married is knowing that there is always someone in your dugout, just in case you need them. Yup, I am positive I got the best guy out there, and I couldn't be more proud to be in someone's dugout, even if I am not always needed. Here's hoping that I get to see more of my amazing husband in the future!

Want to check out what Greg has been up to? Click here!
(Keep in mind he created this whole event from scratch!)

Visit From Dad

This past week was a busy one for me and Greg. However, it was an exciting one as well! My dad lives in Florida and rarely makes it out to the west coast, so when he called to say he was going to be in California for a few day's I was really excited. It was a quick trip, he got in on Thursday afternoon and left Saturday afternoon, but we had a great time together. Thursday evening we met Greg for Persian food and then on Friday my dad and I went to The Getty Museum and later went to a wonderful dinner at Hal's Bar & Grill. Saturday before my dad left we perused the farmers market, went to an old car show at The Pier, and went to some great Mexican food before sending my dad back to Florida. It was a great visit and I hope that he is able to come visit more often.

Some pictures from the visit with my dad.

In other news, you all have been very patient and here are some answers to some very good questions:

Happy Birthday!

My little dog is three today! Sappy but true I would jump in front of a bus for this dog. He is my best friend and loyal companion, not to mention a great dance partner! Happy Birthday Pico!

Halloween!

Mom and Chris enjoying their Halloween treats!


Greg and me...notice Greg could not even wait for the camera before he started in on his treat!


Bette and Dustin...


That is my husband perched up there on that rock high above the camp.


We decorated!


Our trick-or-treater!


Hiking!


Yes, that is me. Yes, I am wearing a bonnet...I don't know why we don't still use them, they are amazing!


Lost Horse Mine...super neat!


Our home sweet home...in case you were wondering we did not use the fire ring that is touching our tent.

PS: Answers set number two for 20 Questions coming soon!

Visitors From Far Away

Well this past weekend was another busy one for Greg and me. My little sister and her boyfriend flew in from Flagstaff for the weekend, and after going to Venice Beach on Friday, we all drove down to San Diego for a concert on Saturday. We had such a great time with them, and were even lucky enough to get a 28" pizza courtesy of Greg who really wanted one! Let me just say that no...we did not even get close to finishing it. We also went to Cabrillo National Monument where all of us were almost swept out to sea by a couple of the biggest waves I have ever seen. Sadly it was a quick trip and so Bette (my little sister) and Dustin (Bette's boyfriend) had to fly back to good old Flagstaff on Sunday. On the way to LAX we stopped by Mission San Juan Capistrano, it was an incredibly beautiful place and we really enjoyed walking the grounds and taking pictures. It wasn't too hard to say good bye to Bette and Dustin this time though...we will be seeing them this weekend on our annual Halloween camping trip! Keep an eye out for some pictures of that next week!

P.S. We are still playing 20 Questions so please leave your "yes" or "no" questions in the comment portion of this blog!

Wave!

Maybe a little too much wave?

Yup, 28" doesn't seem that big when you are hungry...but at least he is happy!

Yum!

Pure bliss!

In case you were wondering, the chairs in hotel rooms are put in there to keep the mini fridge door shut when a 28" pizza is trying to escape!

The bells at Mission San Juan Capistrano, such a peaceful and beautiful place.

Bette and Dustin at the Mission.

You've Got Questions. We've Got Answers!

Click the image to see the results of last week's inquiries!

P.S. There will be another post later in the week detailing all the fun we had over the weekend...in the mean time I have a test I must study for. TTFN!

20 Questions

Greg and I are embarking on an exciting adventure in June...Want to know what the adventure is? To find out you will have to join me in a fun game of 20 questions. The "Rules of the Game" are below. So fun!

PS: There are a few people out there who already know what adventure we are embarking on...please don't spoil the fun! Good luck everyone!!!!

Click on the image to see the "Rules of the Game."

M*A*S*H

Bet you can't guess what we did this weekend... Well if you guessed camping you are correct! I never was very good at gambling. Greg's department had their annual camping trip this weekend and this year everyone camped at Malibu Canyon. It is an incredibly beautiful area and is where the 1970's t.v. show M*A*S*H was filmed. The original plan was to hike to the M*A*S*H site this morning but everyone woke up tired and so Greg and I are planning a day trip back soon to do that particular hike. We did however, hike the Rock Pool trail which as you will be able to see below brought out the billy goat in Greg. We had a great time complete with hobo dinners, and banana boat's, if you are not sure what these meals consist of basically think of the worst foods that you can put together wrap them in tin foil and throw them on hot coals to cook. It was disgusting...in a very delicious sort of way. Sadly our camping trip is over and Greg and I are headed back to school tomorrow for another week of hard work. Till next time enjoy the pictures and video below!

Can't get there from here...

Ponder much?

Pretty, huh?

*WARNING*
Thanks to my amazing video shooting skills, the following video while acceptable for all individuals including but not limited to adults and children is... sideways. Those with motion sickness view at your own risk.

Honesty...hmmmm....

Hello everyone! I have been scampering about today getting ready for my class, and thinking...a lot. This semester I am getting to take a lot of fun classes, in order to fill some requirements needed in the state of California to graduate. I am taking a Speech class, a Sociology class as well as Spanish.

In my Speech class I have a fabulous professor who talks a lot about honesty. He asks if we think we are honest and tells us his points of view on honesty and I find it both fun and refreshing. In today's society I think the norm is for people to be untrue. This doesn't mean that you are a bad person it just means that you are not completely honest 100% of the time. A fact that my professor says he works at daily and still doesn't think he has been able to do.

So as I was getting ready for school today I was thinking of ways that I have been dishonest in my own life. I am a people pleaser, and that means in order to make you happy sometimes I will lie right to your face in an attempt to please you, other times it means that I will be dishonest with myself in order to attempt to please you. The sad thing is that my people pleasing has not pleased anyone, myself included. So I am trying to change this. I want to be honest in my life. I am not sure who said this but I really love the quote "honesty without compassion is brutality." I do not want to hurt people but I want to be honest. I have hit somewhat of a road block though...how do you tell someone that you don't want to meet them for lunch anymore without hurting their feelings? Weigh in let me know what you think, I have tried to just ignore it however at this point I am starting to feel a bit stalked! Let me know, and just so you all know the great thing about this blog is that it has been honest. I think it is easier to be honest when you don't have to see people's reactions.

Anyway I know that this post is not as fun as some of my others but I thought that I would share with all of you my goal to be more honest and hopefully one day I will be able to be 100% honest. Till next time!

Wait Listed, Flea's and the Dodgers

Our weeks are so scheduled around here sometimes it is really hard to come up with anything to blog. That being said this week was not one of those weeks. This week was rather exciting, but I had a test in one of my classes so everyone has had to wait until now to get the exciting news...I have been wait listed!!!! I can picture you all scratching your heads at this point, we are told that being wait listed is not a good thing, but in my case this is great news! Here is what it means in my situation, pending a drug test and background check (which I will of course pass with flying colors) I have officially been accepted into the clinical portion of nursing school! I have worked really hard and was able to get good enough grades and work hard enough to be accepted! The other minor detail is that due to budget cuts I may have to wait up to three semesters to actually start those clinicals, but really I am walking on air right now, so I am just not even paying any attention to that minor detail!

In other news over the weekend Greg and I had a great time going to the local flea market and sifting through everyone's old junk...I mean our new treasures, although we only purchased one item and an ice cold Squirt, because I was parched. We also had a great time at a Dodgers game on Sunday. We are not Dodgers fan's nor are we Rockies fan's but we really like watching baseball games so we went with some of Greg's colleagues and had a great time! Here is our view of the field...pretty fun, and not nearly as hostile as our seats last year!

America's Favorite Pastime

Beer and Ice Cream Sandwiches

It is 3:30 in the morning. Why is it that on nights when I am the most tired rather than sleep I ponder the night away? Just so we are all clear I went to bed at 8:30pm! I have been lying next to my sleeping husband for seven hours...how is that possible? Usually I am the first asleep but not tonight. No, tonight I decided that thinking about all the injustices in the world was a better use of my time. Well that and about a billion games of solitaire on my iPhone. Perhaps I should clarify injustices...I thought about the Serta counting sheep and how I wish that I could either count them, or be so sound asleep on my new mattress that I would put them out of work. I also thought about what I am going to wear today...although when I was thinking about that I was deciding on what to wear tomorrow. I sang to myself several songs including, Shakira's She Wolf, The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, among others that I can't even remember at this point. Then while laying there I decided you know I really should update the blog today, and that is what I am doing...it is now 3:40 in the morning and I am hiding in the bathroom so that my husband can sleep typing a blog that I am sure sounds great, even ingenious to me at the moment but by tomorrow I will be wondering what the heck was I doing?! As for the title of this post...that is what my husband had for dinner, one beer and one ice cream sandwich...I had left over rice just in case you all wanted to know. Personally I think his sounds better. Oh by the way my fever finally broke on Saturday...thank you for all the well wishes! Okay I am going back to bed to ponder some more. Good morning!

Morning Sunshine!

A Bad Joke

How can you tell that Janet has started school again?
She neglects the blog for several weeks.
I told you it was bad, even if it is true. Well school is back in full swing for me, and as usual Greg and I have been keeping our weekends busy too. We have gone to the Getty Villa which is an incredible museum. We have gone down to San Pedro and went on a tour of the beautiful lighthouse and even stopped by the Korean Friendship Bell. Then last week on September 9, 2009 something really exciting happened...The Santa Monica Pier celebrated it's 100th birthday! We had a great night there were three barges out in the ocean that set of fireworks, there were live bands and we had some friends over for dinner and cards, it was such a fun night. Then over this past weekend Greg and I flew to Arizona for a family birthday party which was a ton of fun. Sadly I ended up getting sick my last day there and am still sick now...hopefully I will be better soon I don't want to spend my birthday in bed with a box of tissues! Till next time here are some pictures of our most recent excursions!

PS: I won't make any promises but I will really try to update the blog once a week!

Us at the Getty Villa.

The Korean Friendship Bell.

Pt. Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro. Love it!

The Santa Monica Pier on opening day in 1909.

Recent picture of The Santa Monica Pier.

View from the air on the way to Flagstaff.

Good Bye Summer My Old Friend

Well this weekend marks the end of my summer vacation. Starting Monday it is back to school and back to all that, that entails. So this Friday Greg took the day off from work and we decided to send my summer off with a bang! We started the day off by heading to my school to purchase the remaining books I needed and then headed home to change our blinker on the car. (At this point I am sure that this does not sound like a bang..wait for it...I promise it is coming!) Once the bulb was fixed I decided to take Greg on one of my weekly adventures that he had yet to experience...the recycle plant! We sorted and recycled to our hearts content and then it was off to Indian food! Greg and I love Indian food and really, really enjoyed this lunch/dinner. After that Greg surprised me by taking me to see Julie & Julia. I loved it and of course cried through out...I just tend to cry during movies whether they are sad or not. After the movie we headed to Greg's school where we picked up a co-worker of his and drove to Barnsdall Park to watch Henry V. The play was put on by the Independent Shakespeare Company and was really fun. The play is done outside and everyone brings blankets and food and hangs out watching the play! By the time Greg and I got home from our busy Friday it was after midnight and we were exhausted. So the rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful although tonight I am making barbecue chicken and mashed potatoes...yum! In closing goodbye summer you will be missed and I cannot wait to see you next year!!!!

Greg and I waiting for the play to start.