I'll be home for Christmas

After two days of driving (logging a total of 13 hours in the car) I've safely returned to California! It's funny, I've done the Arizona-California drive about five times now and it seems to be less and less of a bother each time. God, I hope I'm not becoming one of those people who enjoys long car rides...

What I did enjoy, however, was the opportunity to bond with my sleepy little dog and break up the trip at my old stomping ground -- Santa Barbara. A few good friends still live near the beach so I stopped in for some time at the harbor, dinner, a late-night dip in the sap, brunch and serious time catching up with old friends! It was also Woody's first beach trip!

While I busy myself today with laundry, lounging and finishing up my remaining Christmas purchases, I leave you to enjoy various pictures I took from my short stay in Santa Barbara. College seemed like ages ago -- I would give anything to be able to live there again. Future PhD prospect, perhaps?! :)

P.S. I took all of these photos from my iPhone on DECEMBER 20!!! The weather was gorgeous, much nicer than Arizona's current temperatures, and it made me long to be back in California. At least I have until January 1 in my former home state! That should tide me over until my next holiday break.

 

ADD Christmas Recap: Snow, California & Secret Santa

Before I dive into my AWESOME trip back home, let me introduce tonight's post with the CRAZY news that it's been snowing in Arizona today... I'm not talking about Flagstaff or the Grand Canyon. I mean the PHOENIX VALLEY (link to a news segment on today's weather)!!!! For the first time in the near six months I've lived here, I turned on the heater this afternoon. Currently it's under 40° -- much colder than Iowa, Northern California, Washington D.C., you name it! With that, I'm enjoying my first mug of coffee and Baileys of the season :)

Now about the presents....

Going into the holiday, I was most excited for the blogger Secret Santa exchange put on by Tina! How awesome that idea was. Needless to say I was pretty stoked about what I got for Jamie. I'm such a French nerd and love reliving my time abroad, I knew she must feel the same about studying in Italy! So you know what's ironic about this gift exchange that I'm pretty sure included 50+ members? I was Jamie's Secret Santa and Jamie was Poppy's Secret Santa, and you guessed it, Poppy was MY Secret Santa! Our circle is complete :)

Anyways, I ended up driving back to California on Dec. 20. It was a long drive, was supposed to snow on the Grapevine (pretty much the only way out of LA), and I knew I couldn't make a 13+ hour drive solo. Well, I had Woodstock, so I had to stop even more frequently than normal to ensure he didn't ruin my seats! :) I made two days out of the trip there and back, stopping at friends' houses in Los Angeles/Orange County both ways. That meant my Secret Santa gift was going to arrive without me! Luckily J.D. was home to receive it and send me some pictures of all the lovely goodies Poppy sent me!

The card was adorable!

And I love everything in the gift! Chocolate, puppy treats, a notebook (she must know I LOVE to write), pomegranate fruit strips (my fav flavor), Pop Chips and a dog costume....

...Which Woody hated, but I LOOOOOOVED haha. He's so darn presh. In other news, we celebrated acknowledged his first birthday on Tuesday! Of course I didn't throw a party or get him any presents, he's a dog hahaha!!! But I do plan on baking some dog treats someday soon for the little guy.

I don't know if you noticed from the picture above, but I also went a little crazy and dyed my hair black! I think I love it. It's such a big change for me. My hair is usually light brown, I've streaked it blonde and have darkened it to a reddish brown color in the past. That's about it.

Not gonna lie, the black was inspired by my current celebrity crush:

(Source)

I downloaded Katy Perry's new album and have been playing it nonstop. I freakin' love her!!!! She had a Christmas special on last week and it's waiting to be watched on my DVR and you know I recorded her biography special on E! last night. And then watched it as soon as I drove in from California at about 9 p.m. And I've been watching her videos on YouTube. So obsessed... I think everyone knows about my infatuation, I keep getting texts from friends and family whenever she's on TV ha, thanks guys. You get me :)

Speaking of California, Woodstock and I really did make the Tour de Cali. I stayed in Santa Monica and ate at the most amazing restaurants. It's been my dream for years to live in LA, I'm going to see that it happens sooner rather than later. Then I stayed at my parents' house in the Bay Area for eight days, seeing old friends from high school and college, and enjoying amazing French food made with my mom and sister! We had a soufflé on Christmas Eve, Aimée made peppermint ice cream and candy cane-dipped waffle cones and I attempted to make pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants), but something was off because they basically turned into chocolate bagels ha. Oh well. Then I went to Sacramento, Stockton and Huntington Beach where my friend and I took his boat out around Huntington Harbour (in the rain) and ate sushi at a restaurant off the boat dock!

It really has been amazing and I can't wait to go back again! I don't know when my next trip home will be, but I am heading out to Washington D.C. next week!!!! I'm milking my unemployment for all I can get, because my job begins in February!

Finally, the presents! I made off with some amazing gifts. I love my friends and family! The past 11 days were a total blast -- I miss them already.

Work clothes from Macy*s

My dream recently has been to become a pastry chef (it's so expensive, I'm going to become self-taught haha)... I also received an array of cookbooks!

Jeopardy on Wii and Beauty and the Beast on Blu-Ray/DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soon it'll be time to take down the tree J.D. and I have here... but before that, a celebration to end 2010 and kick off a new decade is in order! Happy New Year everyone :)

Pretty excited

I'm pretty excited for a number of reasons today. First, I'm back on the blog world. But I told you it'd be sparse, so I'll be back and forth until we're living in a house in Arizona. Haven't signed a rental agreement yet, however...

My second reason for excitement is the announcement of my Open Sky Shop! Open Sky is such a cool concept. If you're unfamiliar with the service it provides, check out its About Page. Basically I'm going to provide you with links to items I talk about and love, so you can find and buy them on my site directly! This is also going to include give-aways... with one coming up pretty soon :) I was sent a runner's tank top to try out, but it unfortunately doesn't fit me, I think my chest is too big for their sizing :( Nevertheless, it's still a neat product, so stay tuned for that one. Though, I don't think I'll be kicking that off until I move.

Tentatively, my shop is set to open August 10, so keep checking back for the grand unveiling! And also, go learn about Open Sky and all the neat people already using it (like NLF Linebacker Shaun Phillips)!!

Ok exciting item No. 3, my last day of work is FRIDAY. I don't know if this is exciting or not. I'm excited for a change in scenery and the chance to try something new. I'm not excited about being unemployed. I've been scouring the Internet for sports jobs down in Phoenix and have literally sent my resume to over 40 companies. But then again, if it doesn't work out, I'm still seriously considering getting my master's in French Comparative Literature and being a TA for undergrad French classes.

Because our big move is so quickly approaching, J.D. and I made the 12-hour trek down to Arizona last weekend in search of housing.

We saw some neat things:

Closets big enough for cartwheels... Are you shocked that J.D. has more clothes than I do and claimed the walk-in closet for himself?!

Some weird things:

Apartment washer/dryer tucked away in a garage crevice.

Backyard putting green!

Received free baseball tickets:

DARN YOU DIAMONDBACKS FOR TRADING MY FAVORITE PLAYER THE DAY AFTER WE LEFT!!! Now I won't get to see Danny Haren play in Arizona when I move there :(

We ate breakfast at a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives (video about Over Easy's feature on the show):

Caramel iced coffee with a splash of lowfat milk... one of the few times I haven't drank nonfat milk.

J.D.'s Reese's Pieces pancakes! Oh man those were good... I may have snuck several bites :)

My egg white, spinach, asparagus and ham custom omelet!

Overall we have a good idea of where we want to live. We picked out five houses, two almost perfect for us. The top two, however, have already been applied for. So on to the next in line, I suppose. We hope to hear back by the end of the week!!!!

Wish us luck :) We'll need it with all the packing to be done this week...

I'm also trying to get creative with meals. We can't really buy anything new, since we're trying to clean out the fridge/freezer. So last night I opened up some frozen eggplant cutlets, plopped them atop whole wheat spaghetti and made my own marinara sauce with frozen veggies and ripped up some mozzarella balls. It was kind of tasty for being a weird amalgamation of items :)

Thanks again for all your well-wishings on the move and also my new short hair! It's going to be so much easier to care for in the desert. I would know, since it was 108º the final day of house hunting.

I ♥ you people!!