Monday Night Football

James and I both LOVE football....well....we kind of LIVE football during the fall, so it only made sense that we would pick an apartment that is overlooking Qualcomm stadium! Football is finally here...praise the Lord for bringing us such an exciting sport! :) Unfortunately, I will not be watching the game tonight, as I am waiting for James to come home to kick-off football. It is only appropriate that we start the season together. This picture was taken this afternoon around 3:30 on AJ's walk. Still a few hours to go before kick-off, but traffic is already horrendous and the parking lot is starting to fill up. Yay for football starting and yay for living so close to the stadium! :) Go Hokies! And Go Chargers! :)

On the high seas...

This is a picture taken from the Navy website (www.navy.mil) of James ship on their recent deployment. James has been in Latin America for the past three weeks on his very first deployment ever! The following is taken directly from the navy website:

080814-N-7643B-003 PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 14, 2008) The amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa (LHA 1) leads a group of U.S. Navy, Peruvian navy, Colombian navy and Chilean navy ships during a photo exercise during Fuerzas Alidas (FA) PANAMAX 2008. Tarawa is participating as the command and control ship for the exercise. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David A. Brandenburg (Released)

James has been super busy working on quals, and we haven't been able to talk much, as the phones on the ship have been down and the internet only works part of the time. It has been hard being alone in San Diego, especially since my transmission went out in my car and I’ve gotten sick (surprise!). But my good friend Laura has been keeping me busy, as she promised James she would take care of me! She is amazing! :) Just last night we went to an ubber fancy restaurant for a wine and food pairing. It was incredible! I can’t wait for James to come home so we can experience San Diego together! (You can search for more pictures here: http://www.navy.mil/search/photolist.asp

The Eagle landed...in San Diego

The Coast Guard’s tall ship The Eagle arrived in San Diego with my brother and his coastie friends on board. Surprisingly enough, I have actually never been on the Eagle until this visit. Usually, I am standing on a pier taking pictures, but this time I actually got to walk on board and go down into the berthing areas. The tour is self guided, and I must say I wasn’t that impressed, as I had to read signs and no one told me anything. Swabs…you need to work on that! The swabs also brought with them wonderful illnesses that I caught: strep throat and pink eye! (Though I'm pretty sure I got the pink eye in the doctors office dealing with the strep...thanks swabs...) But, my brother mentioned a few tidbits here and there, and I got pictures with the wheel, which is really all that is important! :) Even though I think I’ve mentioned this before, I’ll give you a very brief history of the ship. The Eagle was a German ship that was acquired into the US fleet following World War II, and now it serves as a training tool for the Coast Guard Academy. That’s really all you need to know. Tall ships are just cool in general…magnificent in the day and eerie at night. And I dropped these cadets at the ship enough times late at night to know that it is super eerie.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggg..............

AJ taking his anger out on his poor little toy. Apparently being without his daddy makes him fairly aggressive. But, he's been really great with all of the dog's he's been playing with in the complex! Just tonight he was invited to a play date with three little yorkies and a girl who went to West Virginia. How sweet! :) I'm just thankful he hasn't tried to eat one of her dogs yet! Ha!

Country in Cali

Who would have thought that the first time James and I experienced Line Dancing was in California when we have lived in Texas and Virginia? But it is true…we had to move all the way to Southern California to get our groove on country style. Just a few minutes down the road from us is this awesome little country bar called “Incahoots” where they have free line dancing lessons and the country music plays all night. Some of Laura’s coworkers were hitting the floors on a Friday night, so we joined them for some line dancing fun. Though we didn’t have any boots or hats, we still hit the floor to learn. James and I were not so talented at the whole line dancing thing, but Laura was getting it and doing great! I was okay until we had to switch partners, and then I was dancing with some sweet old guy who had no rhythm whatsoever, and I quickly lost the beat. Since James played a low brass instrument that keeps the beat, he kept me on track. I think I didn’t feel quite as stupid when I messed up with him either. James danced with this adorable little woman who was really encouraging! So it was a lot of fun. Next time I’m going to have a little bit more confidence, and I’m going to spend more time on the dance floor and not at our table. One of Laura’s coworkers is from Virginia, and her friend is from the 757! It was awesome connecting with Virginian’s on the left coast. They were both Mary Washington grads, and we are excited to hang out with them some more. Ya’ll come an’ visit so we can go dancing’, ya hear?

Wild and Wonderful

West Virginia? No…the San Diego Wild Animal Park! Two of my friends from home, Jen and Fallon, were visiting the beaches of LA, so we made plans to meet at the Wild Animal Park for a day. Jen and I grew up in San Diego, and we had fond memories of spending days and days at this incredible park. We were so excited to visit again! As I pulled into the parking lot, I was all jittery like a little kid! Having to wait for them to get there was almost unbearable, as I wanted to relive my childhood right then. Jen, Fallon, and Jen’s Aunt arrived and we excitedly pushed through the colorful paintings into the park. Being the tourists that we were, we took pictures with all of the signs and fun statues. The park is themed around Africa, and as Jen and her Aunt had both been there, we wanted to see just how realistic things were. As a child, the park seemed like a huge wilderness, with animals running free, and our imaginations running wild. As an adult, the park is more like a zoo, with cheesy attractions to spend money on, and little kids running around everywhere. We started in the petting zoo, then moved on to feed the Lorikeets. My Lorikeet was missing a great deal of feathers, and an attendant explained to us that they had been pecked out and that he didn’t have a disease. Hmm….the bird flu? I haven’t come down with anything yet, but time will tell. And we saw a flamingo that was dying. Fallon and Sandy said it was just sleeping, but Jen and I were convinced that it was on it’s last leg…seriously. After the Lorikeets, we ventured out to find the train ride. The train ride was the greatest thing about the wild animal park, and the biggest thing that stuck out in our childhood memories. We were soooo excited! We looked at the map, but we didn’t see it, so we asked an attendant, who pointed us in the direction of a small tram ride. That didn’t seem right, but we were excited to sit down and peer over “Africa.” The tram was neat, and more like what I remembered. We drove about, looking at rhinos and giraffes, gazelle, and long-horned cows, all ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ over the adorable new babies and taking pictures along the way. But the tour only lasted 20 minutes, and we remembered it being longer. As we discussed the fact that we both couldn’t be remembering something incorrectly, the woman in front of us turned around and told us that they got rid of the train last year. Apparently, it was continually breaking down, and the parts were no longer being manufactured, so it was extremely expensive to fix. So, rather than put a new one in, they turned the park into a walking park and opened up the small tram tour. What?!?! This is what made the park so incredible and so awesome. You felt like you were on awesome adventure, going over bridges over the lions playground and driving through the trees until the expanse opened to reveal giraffes and elephants. It was extremely disappointing. Now you had to walk? And you couldn’t see nearly as many things from the walkways. Jen and I lamented over not being able to relive our childhood memories, and then we laughed at how we were going to be those people who tell the stories of “when I was your age.” (Look at the map Okay...the yellow park used to be the train ride...like...the entire park. The purple part is the new train ride.) I took pictures of the old tracks...sadness... One nice addition to the park is the research center that is supposed to emulate an old research camp in Africa. It’s a hands-on experience, so you can interact with everything and actually touch things. We had some good times there, and took some entirely inappropriate pictures, considering Jen is getting her PhD in Africana Studies, and I am getting a Masters in TESOL and am supposed to be culturally sensitive. It was still the perfect photo opportunity! Despite the great disappointment of the tram being gone, it was still a great day at the park. It is still a neat place, and I enjoyed seeing the animals and being outside on a warm San Diego day. We enjoyed a nice little picnic outside of the park, and meandered to look at the elephants, the cheetahs, and the lions. It was great enjoying San Diego with Virginians, and I hope we get to enjoy more wonderful days with visitors! :)

I love <3 PINK Flamingos!

OMG…John Mayer!

Yay for friends from Virginia visiting California!! I think we are going to see more people living in California than we did in Virginia. *Hint* *Hint* Come out and visit us! We have an open invitation to enjoy California awesomeness! But yeah…seriously…come and visit us. Jessica is a friend from the 757 that I used to work with at Hallmark, and she is on tour with John Mayer this summer. Last summer, she was on tour with Bob Dylan, who by the way had an amazing performance in Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.” If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it! Pat Garret & Billy the Kid Anyways, I digress. Jessica got us sweet tickets in the orchestra and took us for a backstage tour at the John Mayer concert. As we were walking backstage, John Mayer walked right by us, and Jessica just had hi, as all the women at the gate were screaming like crazy. We heard him order his alcoholic beverage of choice before he went on stage. It was awesome. James was like…who? But I was super excited! Jessica is so cute…she showed us her bus, which was awesome, and laughed at me as I took a picture of her in her bunk! Apparently she was on the worst bus, but it seemed pretty nice to me. We didn’t get to see her very much, as she was busy catering, and they were leaving right after the show for Phoenix. It must be such an exhausting lifestyle! It was still great seeing her for a little while though. Our tickets were about 10 rows back, center stage! These are probably the best tickets we are ever going to have at a concert! I happen to really like John Mayer’s music, and after he performed at Virginia Tech, I will probably adore him forever. (We missed that concert to take James to OCS :( Hurray Navy…) The concert was amazing, as he is a true artist who is absolutely in love with what he does. And there is just something special about live music. Thanks Jessica! <3

The Music of the Night

James and I love music! When you grow up playing an instrument, you can appreciate all kinds of music, and the arts in general, and San Diego is definitely a city where you can appreciate it all the time! A friend of ours from college was in town a few weekends ago, and we joined Ashley and her family at the San Diego symphony Summer Pops. The guest singer was Mary Wilson of the Supremes, and she was fabulous! That’s right… “Stop….in the name of love….” and “Baby love, my baby love…” It was awesome, and she is still quite the diva after all these years. Sipping on wine and enjoying music on a perfect summer evening with a friend from Virginia was the perfect end to a stressful week of moving. No San Diego event is complete without fireworks, so we stayed and watched fireworks in the marina, and then walked along the water on the Embarcadero before ending up at an Irish Pub in the Gas Lamp District. It was nice being with Hokies in California, and we have heard rumors of a Virginia Tech bar in Pacific Beach where we can expect more encounters. We spent an hour at the airport earlier that day with a friend of mine from high school and college, Chris, as he waited for his ride. He is stationed up at Camp Pendleton, and he was telling us all about the same bar earlier in the day. And because Ashley’s uncle also mentioned it, I believe it exists! Our next cultural delight was The Phantom of the Opera, an Andrew Lloyd Weber production I have been wanting to see since 6th grade (the last time I lived in San Diego!) Though our tickets were on the fourth floor in the highest balcony, it was still fabulous. It was incredible watching the Phantom and Christine wisk across the pond of mist in the dark chambers of the opera house. I could listen to that soundtrack every night and not get sick of it! Though we declined a white mask to wear, we did take a picture with the chandelier, as you can’t see the Phantom without taking such a picture.

San Diego Sunsets

Watching the sunset over the Pacific while sitting on the cliffs of La Jolla is an incredible experience. Even though it was a bit cloudy, it was still gorgeous. There is something profound about the sun setting and rising, whether or not it is symbolizing a significant event in your life. For me, most of the sunsets and sunrises I have experienced are because something huge is happening in my life. Like staying up and watching the sunrise over the beach the day after high school graduation, or staying up to toast the sunrise on the last day of our first semester of college. Or sitting out on the drill field unknowingly with your future husband until the sun rises over the blue ridge mountains. Or watching the sunset in Louisa with good friends on a girls weekend to just enjoy life. Or watching the sunset off the coast of California because you just moved across the country. It’s elegant and cliché, but wonderful and symbolic. I love it! I think we’ll go watch quite a few sunsets here. Maybe pack a picnic and just enjoy the peace and beauty of God’s creation. Be prepared for an awesome evening of calm and beauty when you come and visit us!

Living on the faults…experiencing earthquakes

Who would have thought that our first earthquake would be so big and so soon after we moved in? I had spent the morning at the Ford dealership having my transmission looked at, and when I came home I crawled into bed for an awesome afternoon nap. After all, I am unemployed and done with the semester, so I might as well take advantage of it. AJ and I were curled up in a pretty deep rest when all of a sudden our entire bed starts shaking! I woke up and thought I was dreaming, though AJ had jumped into my arms. He was pretty needy afterwards and didn’t want me to leave his side, the poor thing. Since we live on the third floor, we felt it quite a bit. I was half asleep and confused, but jumped on the computer to see if we had just had an earthquake or if I had been dreaming. I found this site and saw that there had been an earthquake south of L.A. and that it was pretty big. http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/117-33.html
Earthquakes are common, but they are usually fairly small, but this one was 5.4, the largest in the area in 14 years. Thankfully, there was no damage, which is a testament to sound earthquake construction, which I can appreciate now that we live in Southern California. I remember in school we used to have earthquake drills where we would crunch under our desks with our hands over our necks. I realized that probably wouldn’t be very helpful for me now. As I was doing research, I found this awesome visual of the earthquake provided by the seismological center at CAL Tech. You can see how the shake moved into San Diego. http://www.shakemovie.caltech.edu/ James was on the ship and didn’t feel it at all. In fact, he didn’t even know that there was an earthquake until I picked him up from work!

Anchors Away...

The Eagle of the Sea set sail yesterday morning on its last mission ever. For those of you who of don’t know yet, James was sent to a ship that is being decommissioned in the Spring, and they are going on one last little tour to say goodbye. Most people on the ship that we’ve talked to are angry about going, as they just got back from a 7 month deployment, but James was excited about finally hitting the seas. After all…he’s been in the Navy for almost a year, and he has yet to set sail on the waters. AJ is a little bit depressed, but he should perk up in a few days once he realizes that life does go on without James, it’s just a little bit harder and lonelier. (It took him about a month last time, so let’s hope it only takes a few days this time around.) James took me to see the Tawara the night before he left, as I had never been on it. You can tell they’ve kind of let it go, despite the brand new exterior paint. Though James division’s hall was spick and span…you can see yourself in the brass, which is always a good sign. I think the ship knows that this is her last trip. It’s kind of eerie being on an old ship that is so large, even though I’ve been on ships my entire life. I saw the only room James works in that I was allowed to see and then we checked out his state room. At first he had it all to himself, but then they filled the remaining beds with midshipmen. I haven’t heard where they are from yet, or anything, as the internet has been down most the time James has been gone. Here are a few links about the Tarawa and it’s final deployment. San Diego article and video and the official Tarawa Website And…make sure you send James mail! Especially during the first week, as I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get there.

ENS Gouger
OPS/OZ
USS TARAWA LHA 1
FPO AP
96622-1600

James says the food is worse than the stuff he ate in Newport, which I can’t even begin to imagine. My meal there was inedible…and I chose to eat a granola bar and gold fish instead. Let’s hope he gets enough nutrition this month!

Our West Coast Family...in the real OC

Though we moved 2600+ miles away from some of our family, we moved 2500 miles closer to more! It’s nice to have family here, as we can go and visit them and feel like we are still at home. A few weeks ago (I know…we are super behind on the blog), my Uncle Tim was out in California for work, and he was driving down to see Uncle Phill and Aunt Phyllis, so he called and invited us along. It was like going back to into my childhood, as we always did things with Uncle Phill and Aunt Phyllis when we lived in California. In fact, they were some of the only family we ever saw, so it was awesome! Uncle Phill was always so fun, and he always had the coolest toys for us to play with, and Aunt Phyllis was always so sweet. And when we moved to Virginia, they would send us avocadoes from their avocado tree for us to enjoy, and sometimes Spanky would get a note in the mail too. Plus we both love to take pictures, so it’s always a good time! It was great seeing Uncle Tim and I only wish we got to see him longer. He is always randomly all over the country or the world working for the air force, so we get to see him sporadically. We met at Shelley and Claire’s house, my dad’s cousins, though I just refer to them as my cousins too. James had never met these relatives, and they filled him in on some of my childhood moments, like when I was Betsy Ross on the float we made for their 4th of July neighborhood parade. Their daughter Kari is so adorable, as was her little friend, and Kari brought out the teddy bear I gave her for her baby shower or her 1st birthday. We couldn’t remember, but I thought it was just sooo sweet! She is an exceptional water skier, and I can’t wait to see her ski! It also happened to be Claire’s birthday, so we celebrated in style with some wine and cake.