Weekend is coming!

The weather was surprisingly warm today! It was also nice and sunny with a lovely blue sky which never fails to help me feel more productive.

I am attempting to make some spaghetti squash for dinner tonight - I am thinking I will cook some onions and garlic to add in with a little spaghetti sauce. Of course this all hinges on the squash turning out well, so here's hoping!

My cat Nash seems to be having some issues with hairballs lately, which has meant frequently coming home to discover presents of furry cat vomit. I got him some hairball remedies today, including this great paste that vaguely smells like soy sauce. I was a bit concerned that it would be hard to get him to eat it, but sure enough he was licking that stuff right off of my fingers and wanting more. I gave some to Noodle too, in hopes that I can prevent him from having the same problems.

Blue Jackets play in Colorado tonight...I've got my fingers crossed. Sadly, it really can't get much worse for my beloved hockey boys. Here's hoping maybe it can get better!

A whale of a surprise

When I headed out to California to visit Ben, I knew very little about what events would take place while I was there. I was informed before my arrival that there were "surprises" planned. Of course, I had no complaints about this whatsoever! Who doesn't love surprises?

Friday morning, we were up bright and early. Prior to the trip, Ben asked me if I got seasick (to which I confidently replied "no") and told me for this surprise I would need to bring a sweat shirt, a "woolen hat" and binoculars. I was armed and dangerous when we took off from the bed and breakfast around 8:00 and found ourselves at Fisherman's wharf - The secret was soon out. We were going whale watching! I was most pleased by this news, and excited to spend some time out on the water.

Before long we were enjoying views of swimming sea lions and the occasional floating jelly fish as we headed out into the bay towards deeper waters and potential whales. Ben provides much better description about how fast and far we went...all I know is the wind was in my hair, camera in my hand, and smile on my face.














After a while we got our first glimpse of whale mania - off in the distance we saw the plumes of water from a spouting whale. There were several pods on various side of us. Even being at this distance and capturing little glances of whales as they crested above the water was exciting. We had no idea what was coming next!



After some nice views from a distance, the whales decided to come investigate our boat, and investigate they did! The next hour was one of the most amazing I've ever experienced. The whales swam back and forth under our boat, coming up to investigate on either side, while all the happy humans on board oooh-ed and aaahh-ed and got repeated first hand exposure to the fragrance that is whale breath. (Yes - it's as bad as it sounds)




I think this next view was most striking to me - seeing that whale...looking all whale-y and such. Just like it's supposed to be!


This stunning whale sneeze hit Ben right in the face. Excellent!


The orifice responsible...



Now with all the whale excitement, which resulted in lots of rocking back and forth of the boat, I was a bit surprised when I realized I wasn't feeling so hot. Maybe it was all the whale breath in the air, or perhaps the slightly unsavory quiche I had eaten for breakfast, but before too long I abandoned my post, snapping pictures and gazing at the whales and instead found myself leaning over the back railing, puking my guts out. Not one of my proudest moments, but amusing in retrospect. Naturally I immediately felt better. (Maybe it was just the quiche...) I was a bit embarrassed, but more than anything surprised. I've been on plenty of boats before, small ones included and have never gotten sea sick before. First time for everything I guess!!

After I sat down for a whale, took a brief nap on Ben's shoulder, and drank some water I was feeling better and able to enjoy the remainder of the excursion.

Here's Ben, doing his best "Holy shit, it's a whale!" pose.

Happy (albeit slightly chilly) whale watchers.



Tune in next time for "Adventures at the Monterey Bay Aquarium"

The adventure begins

Back at home after a truly wonderful weekend in Monterey. I want to make sure to give all the happenings their proper limelight in blog-land, so I'll break things up into several posts.

I flew out early, early, early, on Thursday morning to meet Ben in San Francisco. I knew he had some surprises planned for us for the weekend, but really wasn't sure what he had up his sleeve. It's been hard with him all the way off in California this past month, so I was very excited to see him none the less.

He picked me up at the airport, we grabbed some lunch, made a quick stop at the house where he is staying (where he packed a suitcase) and we were off! The weekend adventures had begun!

First stop was the Stanford Shopping Center where we visited Sprinkles Cupcakes. I am what one might call a cupcake enthusiast, and Ben knowingly thought going there might be something I would get a kick out of. He was right!



Apparently Sprinkles is so fantastic that we had to wait in line just to go inside! It was like some fancy night club masquerading as a humble cup cake bakery.

He tried the coconut, while I went for the chocolate marshmallow.
Delicious!!




Once we were armed with delicious cupcakes, we hit the road. Ben knew where we were going, but I was still totally in the dark, so I just enjoyed the ride and the company. We first enjoyed the landscapes and curvy roads of the Santa Clara mountains, but before long we were driving along the pacific coast, wind in our hair and salty air in our noses.

We pulled off for a while to do a little exploring - Ben was anxious to try to capture some wild life with his new camera. We found a group of uber lazy sea lions, an accommodating gull of some sort and some interesting sea grass.




We continued down the coast through Santa Cruz and other towns as well as lots of agricultural areas on into Monterey. I got very excited as we drove through Monterey, as Ben kept insisting he was only looking for a gas station to stop at to use the restroom. We arrived at the Centrella inn, our destination for the weekend...

It's october...

Hello October!  Here you are.

Blue Jackets hockey starts tonight, as does new episodes of Degrassi.

Going to see the performance of Ghosts tonight.

really want to make this a cool blogging endeavor.

going to california in two weeks.  great success.