The Game of Life

The last couple of weeks have been stressful. Since I haven't been having too much fun, Cody and I went out a few nights ago. We had dinner at In and Out Burger (reallll smancy) and we went to Barnes and Noble where I treated myself to a book. I miss reading! The book ended up being really depressing even though it was supposed to be beach fun. Who writes a beach fun cancer book??? I mean, come on!


Then we came home and did the following. One word for ya: Mmmmm...

Yumm! I actually forgot we did this until I pulled up the file for this blog post. This was quite a lovely night. Next i convinced Cody that as we ate our chocolate fest we needed to play a game!

Game Chosen:


This was my favorite game growing up. I loved pretending to be a grown up. I still love pretending to be a grown up. Check out my cool groovy fabulous vintage board...





Let the games begin!

I love the colorful spinner, rainbows make me happy. :)

Note to self: Play on a freaking table instead of trying to be banker in quicksand.



Check out me and my new husband! Going to the chap-el and we're going to get mar-ar-ar-ied!!!

One time when I was little I was playing this game with my mom and my brother and I had to choose between landing on one square which would give me twins and one square which would win me the lottery. I asked my mom what I should do and she said, "This is life, you have to make these sorts of decisions." I have two comments in response:

In real life has God ever popped in on you and offered you twins or a million dollars? No.

I do like her answer though. I liked mine too.

I chose the twins.

I'm a family gal. I am also a winner.

Poor Cody.

Sweet Surprises

I never posted about Valentines Day or Cody and I's Anniversary but I will give you a small snipit of the story now. Valentines Day fell on a Sunday this year and it happened to be the weekend that Cody was away working. We figured that since our anniversary was just a few days later we would just do a combo celebration then. Cody knew I was bummed about not having a Valentines Day so when he came over to visit me after driving back to school he walked in the door with these. He's a smart guy.

I love pictures of flowers. :)

On our anniversary (go us, 6 years!) we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and ate an obscene amount of food. It was lovely. Plus it was even lovelier that we had a gift card and it didn't cost a penny! That is what I call a good night!

Overall it was a really great way to sit down and spend some time together. Following these lovely acts of kindness I was swept away by school, work, stresses and career choices. My week quickly went down hill and I was sleep deprived, stressed out and cranky. But one day Cody walked into my room with a smile on his face and said "Here", as he handed me this:

Hmm, what could this ever be?

Let's open it shall we?

It appears to be a card of some sort...am I missing a special occasion??

As I turned and opened it, the inside read:

And there was a note from The Codster himself:

Okay everyone, let's all say it together....

AAAAAAWWWWWWW

Talk about a sweet surprise!

I love this guy!

Travel 101: Getting Around London

Check out the following video, I still haven't figured out this link stuff so just click on this or copy and paste it into another screen to view it. Sorry I am computer illiterate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUK8UXwX4dc

Yahoo! London Baby!

I have to admit that I did want to get in my map like Joey but this was only for the sake of the photo and/or video it would produce. Overall, getting around London wasn't that bad. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Don't buy a map, use the one the tour bus company gives you, it has all the hot spots.



Remember to have your wits about you when crossing the street and when it doubt:


Turns out, London is much more high tech then we are. Look at this snazy button-alert-crossing the street dealio.


When paying attention to the lights, notice that the yellow light comes on before the green light too, that way taxi cabs know when they can get ready to run you over. Beware! Also, I just found out that all London taxi drivers have to have a special license to be a taxi driver, they have to know every single street in London. They all ride around on bikes for two years studying. And studies show that their brains are more developed when it comes to memory intake then other Londoners. That's your education for the day.


This is something that confused the crap out of me...they put the street signs on their buildings. Very very bizarre in my humble opinion. Also, see how it says City of Westminster below the line? Well that is because Buckingham Palace Road is in the City of Westminster which is in the greater city of London. There is actually a City of London in London. Very strange. I don't fully understand this, but I like it.

Whenever you get lost, just think to yourself...what would a girl scout do? And then look for a tube station. They are marked by red signs that say Underground and once inside:

a) It is warm

b) You can find your way to anywhere you want. Just make sure you get on the right train in the right direction by following these signs.

This is Pimlico station right next to our hotel. Check out these help boxes. London is so safe feeling.

Overall navigating really isn't that hard especially in an English speaking country. I wish we had a tube station everywhere we go. I have videos of the tube but they are on Cody's computer so they will be added later.

Tales of a Breakfast Room

As Cody mentioned, our plan for the day was to get on a double decker bus tour and see the sights. But the beginning of all of our days began in the breakfast room of our B&B, with our best friend in England. This man, who I don't know the name of sadly, critiqued our every plan. When we told our lovely breakfast pal about the bus tour he looked at us and said:

"It's not one of those bloody open top things is it??"

I answered: "Umm, uhh, yea well I think it is. I mean, it's snowing, do they keep the open tops during winter??"

"Psshh, of course they do, because they can still sell tickets to stupid tourists like yourself!!"

"Oh, umm, well, we will be fine..."

"Did you already pay for it then??"

Nodding.

"Of course you did, well try to get a seat on the bottom...Enjoy your day...if you want to."

And just like that he was off and we were out the door and into the snow...

Let me just take a moment here and say that one of my greatest losses during the trip was that I did not get a photo of this man. He was perfect. Everything you want in a breakfast greeter type individual. What the heck was his job?? Anyways, he was the perfect British man.

Just picture a somewhat portly 60-something year old man with white hair dressed in a suit and tie everyday and a pocket watch chain hanging out of his pocket. He spoke in the worlds best accent and was just crude enough to be...well, exactly what you are looking for in a British man.

He called us "Bloody Americans" everyday, had no problem at all telling us how ignorant Americans are and how rude and loud we can be and throughout the entire trip he completely charmed our socks off. I believe that Brits have perfected the art of being both adorable and grumpy. I think it's the fact that they are honest. This guy had no problem telling us that the problem with Americans is our lack of volume control (true) and the fact that our culture doesn't tolerate people being in a bad mood (have a nice day!...very true).

He told us a story about a British writer who was in America somewhere on a book tour and as she was getting in her car the valet told her "Have a nice day!"...she responded with "Thank you, but I actually had other plans."

Love it!

One day another young couple came in and he asked them if they were just staying for the night. When they replied in the affirmative he asked them how they would be spending their day. The girl sighed and said "footy, he's going for Manchester". Well, apparently people in England get quite upset about soccer and our breakfast pal proceeded to begin chest bumping this twenty year old kid and screaming something about how Liverpool was better and he should teach him a lesson and blah blah blah. It was quite entertaining. The kid brought up some match which was apparently a brutal game for Liverpool and our Breakfast Man slapped Cody on the back and told him that that game was like "losing to a third world country". Ha! Did he just say that?

On our last day in England we walked downstairs to grab some grub and our breakfast buddy saw us and said "I've been waiting for you two...TA-DA"....as the ta-da happened he flung open his jacket and underneath he was wearing a shirt with a very important man on it. Mr. Barack Obama. He then proceeded to tell us how lucky we were that we finally got rid of Bush and how on the day Obama was elected he went to a local place with a bunch of buddies. We actually found it on accident later that day:

In case you can't read it, it's called the Texas Embassy. He told us that this building was actually the site of the real Texas Embassy back when Texas was a lone state. They actually sent reps over here to represent Texas in London. Now it is just a BBQ joint but the history is pretty cool. Our friend said that the night was great "I got really smashed that night, plus you know, the whole setting, all of these people cheering for Obama, it was a pretty big Fuck You to the Republicans."

I love mornings in London.

A Snowy Morning

The next day, we got up bright and early for our first full day of European Fun! When Cody woke up he looked out the window and shot this video. I put a pillow over my head and told him to shut up. Communication is key in relationships. Don't judge.



After this, we got up and went downstairs for breakfast. Like most things in my life, it was an eventful situation. Please see here...



What can I say...I'm a gazelle.

Anywho, so we woke up and walked outside and it was freezing! Snowing all over the place which really melted my heart even though I was complaining about it. On the way down the outside stairs I almost ate it again but that was due to the snow and ice situation we had going on. Now let me go ahead and brag about the B & B we stayed at, it was so cute and was on the cutest street ever...



Look at this cute little church that was right down the street. Love it!



Cody, cheesin'

And the stars of the show...

Overall it was an eventful morning which included bruises, snow and the most entertaining British man I have ever met. Betcha can't wait to see what we did with the rest of our day huh?

Don't worry, soon to follow!

The First Night Out on the Town

Yay, finally back to blogging! Back to Europe!

Once I was done whining about being sick and got some sleep in me we went out on the town. Stop #1 was the London Eye!

The journey to the London Eye was interesting because it was the first time we got to hop on the tube, London's underground system. We walked from our hotel to Victoria station (we thought this was the closest station to our hotel and came to find out that it definitely was not) upon arriving at Victoria station we were instantly confused.

Turns out: Victoria station is both a tube station and a train station.

Turns out: Occasionally if you don't know what you are doing you can confuse buying a train ticket with a tube ticket.

Turns out: Asking for help is helpful and when a nice English woman brings a huge red "Underground" sign to your attention it is quite evident that you do need to follow it and walk down a million flights of stairs to get to the tube.

Turns out: Traveling is all about fun little learning experiences like Victoria Station.

Turns out: Learning experiences are not that fun when you are still feeling sick and tired and it is snowing big time outside.

Despite all the education taking place, we prevailed! See the following video for Cody's introduction to the lovely London Eye! PS. Sorry for the angle, Cody is super good at video taping himself.




Sorry that this isn't super visible but you will definitely see more of it later. I can't really describe how HUGE this thing is. It made my legs shake just looking at it. Luckily it was being worked on or broken or something so they weren't selling tickets. Thank you Baby Jesus.

Check out this photo, it is horrid quality and light but if you can see the little pods hanging off the edge of the wheel, those are the viewing areas. To give you a scale of the size, each pod holds like twenty people.

Here is a video of the view from the London Eye...super cool!

Blurry but cool photo of Big Ben and the House of Parliament.

After checking out all of this we headed home for an early night. We were tired and freezing and sleep was needed. I think the best thing about this night was that we finally felt like we were in London. I know this blog post isn't super exciting but it was the beginning of it all. Things will definitely pick up from here! If I ever get time to post. Eeshhk homework sucks.

We're all just a bunch of 21 year olds...no biggie.

January is the month in which both Cody and I were born. Thank Baby Jesus and all the good horses and all the good men. Or something like that. Anyways, this year is kind of a big year because we both turned 21. Yahoo! Here is a chronicling of my birthday:

Cody took me out to dinner to one of our new favorite places, Johnny Garlics.



They have super yummy food and the place is owned by Guy Fieri, do you know who he is?

Yep, that guy. Anyways so we went there for din din and ate the worlds most lovely bread which is paired with olive oil and vinegar. Yummm. I am on a big oil and vinegar kick. Although I haven't actually been eating any, just salivating at the thought of eating some. That counts right? After dinner, we wobbled home and sat for awhile reminiscing about our food comma and how lovely the dinner was. Then, well, we just couldn't hold out any more and we broke into these:

Now, in order to talk about these lovely creations we need to rewind. I haven't yet mentioned what I am about to tell you on this blog for fear of looking like a psycho stalker, which I am not. I am a blog follower, but at this time I only follow a few blogs. One of which is The Pioneer Woman, seen at the following link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/

How does one make the name and the link one on here? I know how to do it at work but not on this blogger. Hmm...

Anyways I digress. These gorgeous delicious cupcakes are a recipe of The Pioneer Woman's. I love them. I love her all the more because I loved them so much. Anyways the point is there is some love between the Pioneer Woman and I even if she has no idea who the heck I am.

By the way I would like to point out that these are by far, the best cupcakes I have ever eaten.

And I have eaten a lot of cupcakes. Trust me. Please go to her site and make them.

Also note that she says if you do the ganache right, it should be so pretty and glossy that they are like reflective mirrors...

I don't want to brag here, but I did them right. ;) Check out Cody thinking he can steal one whilst I am not looking. News flash: When it comes to PW cup cakes I am always looking.

I had made these beautiful baked concoctions the night before so that I wouldn't have to bake on my birthday and Cody arranged the "party" while I waited in the other room. He blew up balloons and had cups and plates ready and he lit the candles. Please note that my grandma bought all this stuff and called Cody so that he could put it together so that my birthday would feel birthday-like. Thank you both of you!

And then I opened my presents, one from my lovely roomies, a bag full of treats and goodies from my grandma and one from Cody. He got me Grease (the movie). And then refused to watch it with me. How sweet.

And then we smiled for a group picture. Cheese!

Happy Birthday!

I Own, No Emotion, I RENT!!!

Right before we were leaving for Europe my brother called me and asked if I would like to go see Rent with him. He had seen it live and told me after he went that the next time he went he wanted me to go too. He is super sweet like that. Anyways, he calls as I am packing and checking the weather and my life was quite insane so I told him to send me the dates and I would get back to him. Of course I wanted to go, I just couldn't quite think about it at that time.

But we ended up going to see Rent at the California Musical Theatre in Sacramento and it was beyond fabulous!

It was also super special because Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp are on this tour and they are original cast members! They are fabulous and every scene that included just the two of them was awesome, they have incredible chemistry. Plus it's cool to think, wow I just watched you in the movie. :)

Here is my super cool brother who put the whole thing together:

Here is Aaron, mi hermanos novio (pchsshh, my Spanish is SO good). For those of you English speakers that means: Here is Aaron, my brother's boyfriend.


Pictures of the ticket...no importance but I am really into close up print photos lately.

My mom came too, isn't she so cute? This is right before she smacked me and told me to "call [my] brother" for the 400th time.

So I don't really know what to say besides the fact that it was absolutely wonderful. I am a fan of the movie but it is just made for the stage. The whole experience made me re-remember why live performances are so great. The energy and improvisation and simplicity of the set really make you appreciate the actors. And their voices! Ugh, what I wouldn't give to be able to sing like them!

Flare for the dramatic much?

I think what I love about theater is the instant gratification, you act, we clap, you sing, we clap some more. It is right there, it is responsive. You should have heard the audience when Anthony and Adam walked on stage, they went crazy because people wanted to see them especially.

Most of the plays/musicals I have been to before have been complex in their sets, which is awesome and I always admire how timely and coordinated everything is. With Rent it is rare that the lights go out for a set change, they just use what they have.

Rent is also so great when it comes to subject matter. People still don't talk about AIDS and the homeless and homosexuals and death. Rent has always affected me on an emotional level and I find that every time I listen to the soundtrack or watch the movie or musical I find myself relating to a new line that runs over and over in my head for weeks. This particular time it was "I own, no emotion, I rent"...I often feel this way. In fact one of my goals is to feel my emotions 100%, to be sad when sad and happy when happy and be present. It's difficult but I think capturing our own emotions helps us discover and find ourselves.

I loved the musical so much that I went home and told Cody about it right away. For just a second he got a flicker in his eye of "oh-I-wish-I-could-have-gone" syndrome and I was online buying tickets for the next night. I couldn't help it, I wanted him to see it, and he wanted to see it too. So we went the next day! He loved it too. And now, I am on a theater kick...

My Way anyone? A musical tribute to Frank Sinatra? Count me in! Or what about this one...?

I would love love love love to see Wicked.

I have already decided the next time we are in London we are seeing a show in the West End. You should see the tube station, you can't take a step without seeing a new poster for a new show. On any given night you can decide between at least 20 different shows. Sounds wonderful to me!

Thank you Rich! La vie boheme!