We didn’t see Suri….
Bjorn and I went to Malibu yesterday. Now, explicitly stated or not, the ultimate goal of any trip to Malibu is a celebrity sighting. Sadly…..we did not attain said goal. I am still a little bit bummed out….but life goes on eh? We had a grrrreat afternoon. It was so relaxing, and the weather was picture perfect. Here are some of the things we saw and/or did:
1. We lunched with a seagull (see below)….
2. We saw a Maserati, a Lamborghini, a few Bentleys and lots of Benz’s….
3. We got a glimpse of the gorgeous view of the Pacific that the lucky celebs who live in the hills surrounding Malibu get to wake up to…..
4. We saw Vince Vaughn play a surprisingly convincing African American in the movie “Be Cool” (That was later at Steve and Annie’s, but it was hi-lar-ious and I highly recommend it, so had to give it a mention)
Here are some of the things I was sorely disappointed that we did not see and/or do:
1. We did not see Brittany Spears, K-Fed, or the innocent victim who has to be reared by them, at Starbucks.
2. We did not see Lance Armstrong & Matthew McConaghey on a (shirtless) Saturday run.
3. We did not see Suri.
(Don’t think we didn’t actually talk about these things and hope that by some small chance we MIGHT be that lucky. Ha! Hey, not much goes on in the 909 ok? We live from mini-sort-of-exciting experience to mini-sort-of-exciting experience. And we hoped ok?) :-)
Long weekend upcoming - hooray!!!!
The IE has a classy side too….
Wow, summer is going waaay too fast. Bjorn starts school again the day after Labor Day, and we are soaking up every moment of summer that we can. Last year, our introduction to Med School wasn’t nearly as miserable as we feared it might be - but it was pretty intense. I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that he doesn’t have to study, and the days are slipping by too quickly!
We are definitely making the most of our summer. We have done more in the last three months than we did in the 9 (or 12, whatever) previous. Several of our good friends have been MIA this summer - everyone seemed to scatter for the break, even those who stayed in town. We always spend time with our good friends Steve and Annie (Steve is a year ahead of Bjorn) but we’ve lost track of his classmates this summer. So, last weekend we finally caught up with James and Amber. Amber is Bjorn’s classmate and she and I have become good friends, so it’s been cool hanging out with the two of them. Anyways, we discovered the classier side of the IE (Inland Empire) last weekend. I have been itching to check out some wineries just south of us, and we were not disappointed!! The landscape was just gorgeous (check out the pics under the link - there are two pages, be sure to get them both!), and the wine wasn’t half bad either. We had a blast, though tasting was more expensive there than it is in Santa Barbara. That didn’t seem to make much sense to me. We only went to two places, at one of which we learned some interesting facts. Did you know: Mr. (who knows his first name) Callaway (the golf guy) actually first made bank in the COAT business??? He started Burlington Coat Factory! who knew? then he opened a winery in Temecula, CA. THEN he got into the golf biz. And who said wineries are all about the drink?
Temecula is halfway to San Diego so we spontaneously cruised down there for dinner. Our adventuresome friends wanted Persian food…..it was some good stuff!!
TGI almost F!
48 Hours in Minnesota
Bjorn and I were lucky enough to be able to head back home last weekend, for a whirlwind trip. It was a special occasion though: our dear friend Kari got married!! It was a lovely wedding and a wonderful weekend, though as mentioned - a whirlwind.
We flew out of Orange County on Friday morning, August 11th (for $10 roundtrip, thank you very much Dad & NWA frequent flier program!)….not a significant date, except for the fact that the day previous apparently the whole airline industry came to a screeching halt due to another pack of crazed attempted murderers (really, they are crazy, but gosh it felt like the media over-reacted. anyone else agree?) We had no idea what to expect. The John Wayne (airport) website said to arrive for your flights 2.5 to THREE hours early. Ok, our flight left at 6:45 am - do the math! And it takes about 45 minutes to get to the airport. Well we arrived about 4:30 am and found that while the passengers were all right on time, the airport employees overslept. The NWA ticket counter (again, point: Northwest!) was the only open counter - and security had not yet rolled in. The lines were mad chaos. Winding and wrapping and intersecting - it was a mess. Thankfully we were able to check in right away and only had to stand in one of them - the security line. Once they finally opened, everything went just fine. It’s so hard to believe that the media could stir up such a frenzy - because it can’t really be that bad if the airports don’t even bother to open up early! Either that or I really wonder whether these airport peeps can keep us safe if they can’t even get to work on time…..
The impact of our early wake up call on Friday carried through the weekend…We were pretty beat up by the time we returned home on Sunday night. However, it was well worth the weariness. Kari was a beautiful bride, and Bjorn and I were thrilled to be involved with the special day. We didn’t make it to Brit’s downtown Minneapolis on Saturday night with the wedding crew, and we didn’t get to see all the friends we would have liked to - but we’ll be back :) And I feel like a broken record - but yes, if you click photos at the left, I have posted some new ones from the trip :)
The O.C.
This weekend the words I swore up and down would never be spoken after moving to California came out of my mouth – “I wish summer wasn’t almost over.” It’s true that I have (at least partially) wussed out. (contrary to the previous belief of this Minnesota girl, you can feel the difference of seasons in the south)….However - our weekend was such classic summer fun, I think it is still fair for me to speak the forbidden words :-)
Over the last 10 - 12 months, Bjorn and I have gotten to know a great group of people from our church through a couple’s bible study that we joined. The community we live in is interesting because it is almost entirely made up of people of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination. They worship on Saturdays to an extreme….ok, we get don’t get our MAIL on Saturdays (yup, it comes on Sundays) because that is the Sabbath in this town. So, needless to say, it is great that we have met some people from our (20 minute drive away) church that live right near us and are cool with going to church on Sundays :) Almost everyone in the group is somehow involved with the University here (dental students, PT student, etc) but none in med school. So it’s helped us to meet people outside the med school, with whom we have quite a bit in common. We’ve had fun getting to know these peeps.
Anyways, we have our random nights out (or in) with everyone, but we decided to have an all day extravaganza last weekend. Melissa, one of the girls, has a grandma who lives in Laguna Beach. And not just anywhere in Laguna - she lives in a private, exclusive community with a private beach that is only accessible if you can just get past the guarded gates at the development’s entrance. Wow, we had a gooood time there! Melissa said the homes surrounding were at least $10 million. We drove in with mouths hanging open, and were quick to remind each other to play it cool - we do this all the time, right??!!! As Shanan said “yeah next week we are going to be in the Hamptons….” Seriously though, it was an AMAZING beach. It was a small cove, and the waves were HUGE! Between getting stung by a bee two weeks ago, and getting seriously BEAT UP by the waves this last weekend - the beach is becoming a traumatic activity for me!
After a very fun day in the sand and surf, we hit a Mexican restaurant in Laguna Beach, called Javier’s. We roamed around and shopped while we waited an hour and a half for our table - and so I got to see more of yet another area I had not previously visited. I couldn’t even believe how crowded it was there in downtown LB. It is very dense - the Pacific Coast Highway narrows quite a bit through Laguna, and the ocean is RIGHT on the other side of the west side restaurants and shops….not a lot of space or parking, and lots of people - but you can see why…It is gorgeous. Amazingly pretentious, but gorgeous.
We also went for dessert later that night on Balboa Island, which is a teeny island off of Newport Beach….There is a (once again, very beautiful) marina there. The homes back RIGHT up to the water - it almost reminded me of Venice, it felt like little canals. It was after dark so we didn’t get the best feel for the area, but it was very quaint. Old money, and lots of it - man! I can really see why there has been an exodus east out of Orange County - I can’t imagine a “normal” person being able to afford to live there.
So anyways, all in all a wonderful weekend! Click on “Photos” to see some pics.
Til next time……
Friday Laughs
Thank you to Drew Whitson (and to WHOMEVER these people are that have WAY too much time on their hands) for providing Bjorn and me with such a great laugh at the expense of my former employer. There is waaaaay to much detail to this story, but if you have five minutes, click on it. The first few paragraphs will give you the idea, and it is quite a funny prank. ohh, the good old days….I tear up a bit when I think about how great that discount was……
http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57
