Our Little Visitor

At the end of June we had a visit from Greg's little sister Anissa.

It started with a quick trip back to Flagstaff to pick her up, which wouldn't be complete without a trip or two to Macys... (maybe it should have been three).

When we got back to Los Angeles we needed a place for Anissa to sleep, you know one where Pico wouldn't lick her at night, and try to share the covers. Greg and I had been toying with the idea of getting some furniture for a while so the next morning we went to Ikea and got a couch, table, and a couple book cases. Out of these three things we knew Anissa could sleep on one of them... I voted book case but Anissa refused.

FYI, Ikea has flat rate delivery! So if you need to buy something there, buy a lot and get them to deliver it for much less then a truck rental would cost! (This friendly advise brought to you by Greg).

Here is Greg, Pico, and Anissa putting together our new table. They had everything assembled in just a few hours. By the way I also helped but there are no pictures to prove it.

Greg had to go into work a couple of times during her visit so Anissa and I ran errands, and had some fun. We went to Color Me Mine, a store where you paint a ceramic thing-a-ma-bob and they fire it for you. Anissa made a coffee mug and I made a spoon rest.

Next, we went out for Chicken and waffles! Yum!

And then we visited the Getty Museum. You are not allowed to photograph the exhibits, but the gardens are just as amazing!

In the middle of the week we took a boat ride out to Santa Cruz Island and had a long hike and a picnic at Smugglers Cove.

The next day we slept in late and then drove to Hollywood to see Shakespeare in the Park at the Old LA Zoo. We were the first audience members of the 2011 season and received a round of applause while we settled in and at another picnic meal.

Finally we went to Angel Stadium in Anaheim to catch the Freeway Series (LA Angeles vs. LA Dodgers). The Dodgers won. After attending 5 different baseball games since moving to LA, our team has yet to win.

After all this excitement we needed a rest. Anissa decided we should spent a few days at home watching some show about mermaids before we headed back to Flagstaff.

For our final dinner we had Sushi. We had to lie to Anissa about what she was eating, but she liked the eel rolls until we told her they contained eel, oh well! Desert was Diddy Riese ice cream sandwiches, if you come to LA and you don't go to Diddy Riese you are seriously missing out on something great!

We drove Miss. Anissa back to Flagstaff and spent a couple more days resting with Family. Then we had to get back to Los Angeles for Greg to work again, and me to read a bunch of really cheesy fiction books.

Hope everyone is having a great Summer!!!!!!

PS: For those of you who are curious here is a before and after of our apartment.

Sorry, this one is a little blurry.

Hug a nursing student, they need it!

First semester down, three more to go. I am sorry for not writing during this semester. I thought about writing, but I just did not have the brain power left at the end of the day to say anything remotely positive. My days started at 4:50am and I left the house at 5:50am in order to get to the hospital in time.

Me at 5:30am getting ready to go to clinical.

During my last two weeks I pulled a few all nighters (4:50am to 4:00am), okay so technically I got 50 minutes of sleep...let me assure you it was not enough. These all nighters had me contemplating all kinds of difficult questions, one of these was what is the purpose of upper lip sweat? When you are hot does upper lip sweat really make such a huge difference? I hope to find out the answer to that question during fall semester. If I wasn't at the hospital I was at campus studying...here was my set up.

Breakfast of champions, a pop-tart and a can of coffee. That is right, I didn't have enough time to wait for a decent cup of Joe to brew before leaving for school.

Greg and I were lucky enough to go to a couple of baseball games during the semester, but honestly I barely remember them. Ask any nursing student and you will hear the same thing... nursing school is hard, rewarding and frustrating, but mostly hard. I can't wait for next semester! (That is not sarcasm, it is the first day of summer and I am missing having something to do.)

Also just to show you how much there was to do this semester, here is what was in my back pack every single day.

I'll do my best to update this blog more often during my break this summer. Talk to you all soon!

26 Kisses and 1 to Grow On!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!!!!!

* Welcome to your late twenties my dear ;)

** 26 pink kisses from me to you!

*** And one to grow on! I love you!!!!!!

15 inches.

Before.

After.

Greg's Working Vacation

For only the second time ever, Greg is typing this blog post.

As Janet mentioned in the last post, I was off in Hawaii for our anniversary. Many people think that astronomers only work at night, that we mostly just look up at the night sky drawing lines between the stars, and we are waiting for aliens to contact us.

However, most of the time we work long days in offices, reducing data that we take at the telescopes on the ~5 nights a year that we get time, and hoping to present our work at an annual conference somewhere in the world. Romantic, I know... but the conferences and the telescope observations are the highlights of our year.

While in Hawaii I worked a LOT. But I wont write about that here, instead I will talk about my time off.

From my room in Waimea I had a great view of the Keck Headquarters and Mauna Kea (meaning White Mountain with an elevation of 14,000 ft and often snow capped peaks).

Zooming in on the mountains reveals the collection of telescopes upon the peak. I used the one that is the second from the right to do my observing.

For my first adventure I drove along the west coast of the Big Island to South Point. This is the southern most point in the United States. It has housed the Navy, Army, and the Air Force and is now open ranch land.

Happy Horses

Dead Wind Farms

Ocean Cliffs

Panoramic of the South Point tide pools

On my drive back I drove my rental car up the side a mountain, visited a ancient ruin, saw the site of Captain James Cook's death, and stopped at a Kona coffee mill.

My next adventure took me up to the north point of the island. There were cattle along the way,

and on the north end I took a hike at Pololu Valley.

The view from the parking area.

Cairns along the beach.

A Butterfly after learning to use the camera for closeups.

Canyon Views

With a stop at a cafe for dinner, I was back at work and praying for clear skies at 14,000 ft. My 2 nights at the telescope were the only cloudless nights while I was in Hawaii and now I am back in my office reducing the data and working towards more observing nights and conferences.

Third Time's a Charm...

For our third anniversary my husband was here:

I was located here:


So we celebrated before he left, here is what our third anniversary celebration looked like!

1) Dinner and dessert at our favorite Italian restaurant!

2) Drive up to Solvang, CA.

3) Visit Mission Santa Inés.

4) Drive to Santa Barbara for the night, where we had frozen yogurt for dinner!

1+2+3+4 = Best third anniversary ever!

Just in case you were wondering Greg and I are both located here now:

Dick Van Dyke stole my computer...

Okay, maybe that is not entirely true. I have been watching a lot of The Dick Van Dyke show lately, but I blame that on illness. Illness, and my love of slap-stick comedy. I also love really bad movies, like anything where a teenage girl falls in love with a bad boy and then dies of cancer. Ooo, or same scenario except she doesn't die of cancer, but the movie was filmed in the early 80's so the cheesiness of it all goes way up. Yup, I love those kinds of movies.

Anyway this past week Greg and I got sick, we are talking fevers of 104 degrees sick, so there was a lot of Netflix watching happening in our little apartment. Even though I thought of blogging during that time I decided that whatever I wrote would not be very good so I didn't even try.

Now that I don't have a fever I am going to try...wish me luck!

Greg and I had a busy holiday visit to Arizona. Here is some of what went on while we were there...

Pico got some good nap time in, and Greg spent quality time with cousin Rocco.

We went to Tlaquepaque with my family.

We played Cadoo with Greg's family.

Everyone enjoyed Grandma's treats!

My big sister came home for Christmas with her husband Pete, so a family picture was required!

We spent Christmas Day with Greg's family, which was a ton of fun!

Last but not least Greg was able to spend time with all of his sisters.

(Loren, Greg's brother was busy turning 15 years old when this picture was taken!)

We enjoyed our time visiting family, but now it is time to get back to work...or Dick Van Dyke whichever comes first!