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
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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.