ugh...

So the good news is it's not so cold today...in fact not really cold at all. Granted, it has rained all day, but I will gladly take that over snow. It's been gray and gloomy overall, which doesn't do a lot for fostering a good mood.

I shouldn't be writing this blog right now. I should be studying for my exams tomorrow. I think my brain needed a little break though. I have my french exam at 9:30, and then physical anthropology at 1:30. Everything is under control. I have good grade thus far in both classes, and should be in good shape for the exams, but it stresses me out none the less. I seem to not feel comfortable going into exams unless I overprepare, so thats where I am right now. Most previous quarters have worked out nicely so I only have one exam each day, and having two tomorrow is stressing me out a bit. Just have to breathe and try to focus...which is hard. When I have a lot to do, I have a hard time just working on things bit by bit. Instead, I tend to worry about getting everything done and am less productive overall.

The blue jackets suck. It is so depressing I can't even describe it. I just don't get it.

My cats are fairly calm today...and better stay away from the new laptop charger. I have to figure out a way to get them to stop chewing on stuff.

Three weeks from today I will be in Galveston - There's something to look forward to! Two days from now I will be done with exams and beginning to enjoy a couple weeks of freedom - from school anyways.

I like the holidays. I like vacation. I like traveling and exploring new places.

I've had straight A's for 7 quarters straight...I really hope I don't jeopardize this tomorrow. I am trying to tell myself that a "B" every so often wouldn't be the end of the world...I *almost* believe it.

Ok...back to the books.

I don't think you're ready for this jelly.

I think it's safe to say that without a doubt, the various jellyfish on display were my favorite part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I haven't had much experience with jellyfish, or jellies, as they are properly called. ('cause they're not fish!) I've been lucky enough to have never been stung by one, and might have caught one or two at the various aquariums I have visited, but other than that, no real jelly time. I was filled with childlike glee when we saw an assortment of moon jellies on our whale watching adventure, but getting to see them up close and personal at the aquarium was fantastic!


First up, the purple striped jelly...






Next up, moon jelly - We saw these on the whale watching trip, but they looked much more pink than white as they floated along.


A zillion little moon jellies...so cute!



Ben was right, the sea nettles were my favorite. It was pretty mesmerizing watching them squish around in their tank.




A better close up of the tentacles...simply amazing!



Here's a (blurry) shot of the sea nettle tank - gives you a better idea of how big it was and more importantly how many of them were in there.


Hard at work, capturing the jelly madness.


I wish this wasn't so blurry...but just to prove we were really there!



Basking in the squishy jelly glow.

lovely, squishy things.

Prepare to get schooled...



Presenting: The adventures of Ben and Bryanne at the Monterey Bay Aquarium!!

Although I didn't know it would be part of the weekend plans, ever since I had become aware of Monterey's aquarium I wanted to go there. I may not be the biggest fan of seafood, but I *love* going to aquariums. When initially discussing potential things to do when I went to visit Mr. Dundee, the aquarium was one of the first things that came up.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium certainly lived up to my expectations and exceeded them. I've been to aquariums before that deal primarily with local wildlife and it was nice to see that here. (Even though I really would have liked to see some clownfish! I will have you know I was a fan pre-finding Nemo. :) )

Ben had his new camera to use, and I was ready to take lots of pictures, so over the course of a day and a half, we took a ton of pictures. Here are some of my favorites - undoubtably this will become a series of entries. There just too much fishy goodness to cram into one.


The giant kelp forest tank was getting a nice scrub down from some friendly scuba dudes.





My favorite anemone - the cute pink strawberry variety.



Starfish - up close and personal.


I had no idea sand dollars looked like this!



Ben's favorite anemones look like something out a dr. suess book.


As does this engaging little critter.


Perch tank wonderland



Up next - Starfish bonanza! They were all members of a touch pool posse, so I gave each of them a little tickle after taking their photos. I figured it was only proper.




This little guy is called a bat star. I have no idea why. Although if he took off flying around to save gotham I certainly wouldn't complain. In fact, that would be pretty awesome.




A whole blurry pile of these blue spotty guys


The colors of this one were particularly striking


Look! They have people at the aquarium too!

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...