Adventures In Thousand Oaks

I meant to tell this story quite some time ago, but Reno happened and the entire idea got away from me - that was until right now! Here goes...

Jeff and I finally filed our taxes on April 12th. We actually did our taxes before we went to South Africa, back in January. But, in doing our taxes we came to realize we owed the government money! Who wants to file your taxes early when you owe money? The only reason to file early is to get that big fat return. Anyway, onto our adventures in Thousand Oaks. In celebration of filing our taxes we decided to have a little date night and go watch I Love You, Man. The movie wasn't until late so we started our date night at home by playing domino's and having a couple drinks. Our couple drinks turned into making an entire bottle of wine and a forty disappear before our eyes. When it came time to head to the movies neither one of us could drive. So I suggested we walk! The theater is just across the highway from us! Jeff Google mapped it and turns out it was 1.8 miles - we could totally walk that! We headed off. Along the way, Jeff said "if you weren't with me I could totally shave off some time by jumping over this fence instead of walking around this building." As you know, I am quite competitive so I said, "what? I can totally jump over that fence." After three failed attempts, lots of laughs and finally a push by my hubby I finally made it over that fence (see picture below - guess I put on a few pounds since the last time I tried to jump a fence)! Too funny. Anyway, we made it to the movie and it was hilarious!

Oh, but the adventure doesn't stop there. We decided we weren't ready to head home for the night after the movie so we made a little pit stop at a local bar. I promise you, Jeff and I were the only people in that bar wearing hooded sweatshirts and I was definitely the only person in the bar wearing Uggs. We actually almost thought they weren't going to let us in because we looked so sloppy - but really, we were in Thousand Oaks, anything goes. We had a drink and did a little dancing - all the girls in their cute little dresses and tank tops were looking at me on the dance floor like I was crazy! It was a total blast.

Again, you might think that our night stopped there, but no. After that we decided we were hungry and wouldn't you know it, there is a Denny's on our way home. We popped into Denny's thinking that the place would be filled with other people just like us - leaving the bar at 1:00 am and looking for a little filler before they headed home, but no. Not this night! Denny's at 1:00 am in Thousand Oaks was filled with families. Yes, families - grandmas, grandpas, parents and children. At first we were a little baffled but then we realized that the next day was Easter! They were all there coming back from Midnight Mass. Overall it was quite possibly one of the most impromptu and one of the funnest nights of my Life As A Wife.

The Best Parking Spot

As I was leaving the gym this morning I was walking through the parking lot and a car seriously started stalking me. It wasn't the creepy kind of stalking, it was the "I want your parking spot" kind of stalking. As soon as it started happening it made me chuckle, it reminded me of something that has always, and will always, make me laugh. Growing up I always remember my mom driving around the parking lot at the grocery store, the mall, anywhere we went, looking for the best parking spot. When I say best, I mean closest. Now, this seems to be a normal occurrence for most people. We all do it - I even do it - we spend 10 minutes driving around the parking lot looking for a close space. I understand, we want to be close (just like at a concert, the front row is the best) and we all figure it saves on time and it saves on walking distance by being closer. The thing that always cracked me up was this:

A) by the time you drive around the parking lot for 10 minutes looking for the perfect spot and then sit there waiting for someone to pull out, you could have already parked in the first available spot you saw, been in the store, got what you wanted and been back in your car to head home.

B) my mom, much like the gym-goer "parking lot stalking" me this morning, goes on 10 mile walks and works out! Why would walking those extra 20 yards into the grocery store be such a horrible thing?

Anyway, just wanted to share this random thought about parking lots and searching for the best parking spot. Just another day of "too much time on my hands" during my Life As A Wife.

Foreigner - They Rocked

While we were in Reno we were researching some things to do - entertainment for the evenings - and my brother found out that Foreigner was playing at our hotel - I had no clue who Foreigner was but my family said they were a band from the '70s. I listened to the oldies so I figured I must know at least one of their songs. Unfortunately, due to the late notice, we were only able to get 6 tickets and there were 8 of us. Thinking that I didn't have a clue who this band was I told my family I didn't care if I went. We all struggled over who would go and then finally, Dennis and Katie decided they wanted to stay with the kids and the rest of us would go. Let me tell you, I was so glad I went!

From the second they hit the stage I realized I totally not only knew who they were, but I knew ALL of their songs! Too funny. However, those that know me well know that I am one of those people that can sing along to all of the lyrics of nearly every song but I could never tell you the name of the song or the name of the band / singer. It's a gift really - HA! Anyway, the band was rocking and they totally gave 110% to their performance. The crowd was filled with middle aged women who were screaming, dancing, getting told to get down off of their chairs, getting told by security that they couldn't rush the stage, and altogether totally out of control. It was hilarious. Another thing that was hilarious was the fact that a majority of the band was still original. The best member was this old guitarist - how old is this guy, seriously?? He has to be in his 70s. P.S. yes I took both of these pictures, shows you how close I was to the stage - awesome!

Anyway, the concert was awesome and we had great seats - second row! It was a total blast. There are not many concerts that you can go to with your parents and you both enjoy the music. I am really glad I got to experience Foreigner live - and, I learned who sings all those great songs, Cold As Ice, Feels Like The First Time, Hot Blooded, Double Vision, Dirty White Boy, Head Games...and the list goes on. Going to concerts of bands I don't know, but then realizing I actually do know them - not the first time during my Life As A Wife.

Crazy People In The City

I work in downtown Los Angeles. A part of me thinks it is absolutely amazing that I work in downtown LA. Sometimes as I am walking to the office I look up and the tall buildings around me and I think, "wow, a small town girl from Warrenton, Oregon made it to the city." Totally corny, I know, but at the same time I still think it's pretty darn awesome. To my point. Along with being in a huge city like this comes crazy people. I actually park underneath a park in the middle of the city. And along with parks, I am sure you can only imagine, come homeless crazy people. Most of them are innocent and mind their own business. I actually am rarely approached by them and barely ever even see them asking for handouts. However, yesterday I had a run in with one of those crazy people. A man, looking clean and normally dressed came up to me and started chatting. By the looks of him I thought he was a normal guy, but a few seconds into our conversation I realized he was crazy. Here is how the conversation went:

Him: "It was sprinkling a few minutes ago..."
Me: "What?" (I was a bit startled that some stranger was talking to me and I wasn't exactly sure what he said)
Him: "It was sprinkling a few minutes ago...you missed it."
Me: "Oh, I know, I had some drops on my windshield while I was driving in" (at this point I thought he was a normal guy).
Him: "Don't mess with my daddy, don't mess with my daddy."
Me: staring at him in utter bewilderment...
Him: "Ya, I made that up."
Me: "huh?"
Him: "You want to know what else I made up?"
Me: blank stare...and beginning to walk slowly in hopes that he will walk past me and it will all go away.
Him: "If I was on, I would do a fawn."
Me: came to a complete stop and let him walk past, looking around to see if anyone else heard this crazy man talking about doing a fawn.
Him: again he repeated, "If I was on, I would do a fawn...ha ha ha, I made that up..."
Me: thankful that the signal ahead of us changed to walk so I wouldn't be in his range again.

Yes, crazy people! I was just totally blown away. The guy looked normal - who would have known that he was crazy. As I was walking into the office I told myself, "no matter how normal anyone looks, I am never talking to a stranger again!" On my drive home I told my hubby about the strange encounter. Of course he said, "JoLee, you need to be careful walking downtown." So sweet to have someone worrying about me during my Life As A Wife.

The Biggest Little City in the World

I hadn't seen my family, other than my mom and her husband, since Thanksgiving. That is a long time! So, we all decided to meet up in Reno for a little family reunion. Now, one might wonder why would a family meet up in Reno of all places? That is a great question. Well, the answer is. My dad has a little bit of a gambling habit and the Peppermill in Reno likes it when he comes to visit. They like it so much that they are willing to pay for our entire family's flights, give us rooms for free, and pay for our food, drinks and spa services while we are there. My dad always gets the Safari Adventure Suite too. It is an over the top room complete with a life-size stuffed rhino, an elephant head over the 10 person hot tub in the middle of the living room, 5 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, two bars and a pool table.



Needless to say, we had an absolutely amazing time! The first night I stayed up until 4 am. I can't remember the last time I stayed up until 4 am. I hit up the arcades with the little ones and showed off my skills on Dance, Dance Revolution - I am really bad! And then gambled for a bit. I ended that night up $200. Not too bad. Then at 3 am I was starving so we ordered some omelets! It was a blast. Day two we laid by the pool and took advantage of the beautiful new spa. And that night some of us hit up the Foreigner concert. That will be a blog all its own! After that more time at the arcade with the little ones and more time at the tables in the casino. Sunday was spent also by the pool, I have the red sun burn to prove it, and then a little more time at the tables. That is when I lost the $200 I had won on night one.

My favorite part about the trip was the mornings. Every morning we would all gather in my dad's room, sit in the hot tub and order breakfast via room service. It was so nice to have everyone together, in one place, without distractions and just catching up about life. The funniest part about the whole trip was that Jeff was also in Reno, but on a different vacation. He was on a "mancation" with his buddies! Hilarious. Taking separate vacations to the same city, just another day in my Life As A Wife.

Giveaway

My friend Lyndsey - the one who actually talked me into starting a blog - is doing a giveaway on her Stationary blog. If you are interested in winning some FREE cards you should click on her blog and leave a comment. That's all you have to do to win.

http://the-stationery-place.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-first-giveaway.html

Also, to all my friends out there. I sincerely apologize that I have been horrible about blogging lately. I have a ton of things to write about now so look for some additional posts this week!

Speaking of DIY

After we came back from South Africa I decided that I needed to make a photo collage of all of the pictures we took of the beautiful African animals. My inspiration for this was from something I saw in a Pottery Barn catalog. I have included a sample so you can get the idea - doesn't it look awesome? So sophisticated.

Anyway, so I bought the frames - found them for $4 each at Target (LOVE that store) and I printed out the pictures at Costco. Next, I needed a shelf to put them on. Found that at Target as well for $9.99. Did I mention that I love Target? The next step was putting it all together. I wasn't even slightly nervous to hang up the shelf I bought. My entire life I have always been the DIY type. I put together my own Barbie dream house, I built numerous bookshelves and other miscellaneous furniture over the years, I built a headboard and I have even hung numerous other shelves in my day - I would consider myself pretty handy. That was until this shelf hanging session went awry. See picture. I used the cheap molly screw that they gave me with the shelf. It went into the dry wall super easy and I was so proud of myself. I put in the screws and I was all set to hang the shelf. The second I put the shelf of up the molly screws pushed all the way through the wall and poof, they disappeared into the darkness. What the heck? How did that happen? I did everything right. I thought, it must have been that it was just cheap hardware - I knew I had some more in my handy tool kit in the garage so I decided to try again. Again, got my molly screws in, put in the screw and go to hang the shelf and wallah....dang it...IT HAPPENED AGAIN. So now I have a wall with 4, count them 4, gaping holes in it and no shelf and cool photo collage to speak of.

I gave up. Jeff is out of town and I decided to just leave it as is and wait for his "man-pinion" about the situation. He is probably going to laugh at me. I am laughing at me. Guess I didn't pay close enough attention to all those DIY shows on TLC and HGTV during my Life As A Wife.

Some Things You Shouldn't DIY, Or Should You???

I am all about doing it yourself. I watch shows on TLC and HGTV like they are going out of style. And, I seriously can't wait to purchase a house so that I can start putting to use all those years of DIY techniques I have learned. In the meantime (as Jeff and I won't be purchasing a house anytime soon), I have taken the liberty to figure out other things I can DIY.

Between my recent craftiness and my recent urge to spend less and save more, I decided I was going to color my own hair. The first time I ever attempted to DIY with my hair was when I was in 7th grade and I stole my brothers bottle (ha, yes my brothers) of sun-in. He was blonde and a few shots of that spray did wonders for him. Well, in my brunette hair it ended up looking orange. Yuck. It was so bad that when my brothers friend, who is a hair dresser, saw me she said, "JoLee, you should come in and see me, I can help you." She became my hairdresser from then on, and even when I lived in Salem and Portland I would still drive 2 hours for a visit with my hairdresser back home. My hair was special. I always had highlights and I only let her get anywhere close to it with scissors. That was until recently. Now that I live in Southern California, making it to Oregon to visit the hairdresser was becoming a little difficult. So, I decided that I could do it myself! Ta-da, I am a brunette! Luckily for everyone, I don't trust myself with scissors - wouldn't that be scary??? So, to get it cut I took the liberty to visit the Regis Salon in the mall - $25 for a haircut not bad. However, I hate the cut! Oh well, it will grow out right?

Anyway, back to the color. I have been debating whether or not I am a fan. I have to say though, when I was getting my hair cut, three different hairdressers at the salon complimented my hairdresser on my color - "Jennifer, did you do that color, it's beautiful!" Ha!!! Guess they like it. Anyway, DIY hair, just another day in my Life As A Wife.

I'm Crafty

Most of you know that I have two sides to me - the really girly side (i.e., Miss Oregon) and the really tom-boy side (i.e., hunting, working on a fishing boat). Living with Jeff and not really having all that many girlfriends around I have felt as if the really girly side of me hasn't had much lovin' these days. That was until Friday!

My co-worker Lyndsey is super crafty, she even makes cards and sells them! She is always doing cute projects and talking about them at work. We decided a while back that we needed to do a craft night. Well, it just so happened that Jeff was heading out of town this weekend and Lyndsey's friends had organized a craft night - score! The funniest part was on Thursday night when Jeff asked what I was going to do with him out of town and I said, "I'm going to a craft night with Lyndsey," and he just started laughing! Hey, I'm crafty!!! I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into though, and a part of me was kind of laughing inside as well. I pictured these Susie-home-maker type perfect women sitting around and telling stories about breast feeding and giving birth and making these amazing, elaborate crafts. I wasn't even really sure what we were making, Lyndsey said we were making Easter banners. Hmm...ok, whatever those were. But, I was in, I needed some girl time! Lyndsey and I arrived to "craft night" and immediately I was excited! There was every imaginable variety of paper, scissors, ribbons, stencils, stickers, and the list goes on. I was in craft heaven. One lady showed us a sample of what we were supposed to make and then we all dug in.

A craft that we all thought was going to take about an hour ended up taking us all around three hours. But it was a blast. My creative juices were flowing and I felt very proud of my final product. It says "Happy Easter." I am sure Jeff is going to love having this hanging up in our house for the next couple weeks - I think it's cute! Craft night - just another day in my Life As A Wife.

Visitors

This past weekend my mom and her husband came to visit! They were our first visitors in quite some time and we were so glad to have them here. I actually hadn't seen my mom since December - this could have been the longest I have ever gone. Anyway, we had a blast with them here, lots of laughs, even some tears and Jeff and I really enjoyed having them experience all that California had to offer.

First, we took them to sushi. Which yes, was a new experience for them (I sometimes forget that they live in a town of 4,000 people, with the closest city 2 hours away). My mom was pretty nervous to try sushi, she hears that word and thinks raw fish, but I explained that there are cooked options and the rolls are great. She loved all of it! Other local California hot spots that we made them eat at - Pinkberry, In-And-Out, Sprinkles, and the farmers market at The Grove. Outside of eating (which we did do a lot of) we showed them some hot spots as well - 3rd Street Promenade, the Farmers Market and the Pier (yes we rode the ferris wheel) in Santa Monica and Rodeo Drive. We also took them to our church on Sunday and hit up the links on the golf course that we live on. I am extremely sore from golfing by the way, hadn't gone in about 8 months. Oh, and my mom and I did a little bit of shopping along the way. She bought me a new dress from White House Black Market, can't wait to wear it!

It was absolutely wonderful to spend time with my mom and her hubby. They were great guests and we can't wait to have them back. My mom and I talk on the phone nearly everyday, but it's just not the same as actually spending time together. Maybe someday I will live close to my family again. But for now, I will just enjoy having visitors during my Life As A Wife.