The Coatsies tie the knot...

...And other such adventures!!!

Last weekend my very good friend, roommate x 3 years, and Cabo comrade Darcie Ann got married. First and foremost, good job BEN and DARCIE!!! I don't have any pictures of Darcie all dressed up in her wedding dress because Amy hasn't sent them to me (you can link to her blog and complain if you look to the right of this post). Just kidding Amers. Anyway, we turned her wedding into a full blown blast from the past party weekend. Josi and Megan (also close friends who used to live here with us) came into town and we basically painted the town.

We ate at CPK and Tony's Jacal, had a pajama party, and laughed so much Megan snorted and I cried.

We tackled Disneyland and California Adventure on Friday:




Because Megan and I spent so much time in research classes in Grad School we decided to do a study at Disneyland. I must let Megan take most of the credit for this (lest she send me hate mail), but I did help collect data. We found that in separate 5 minute spans at Disneyland we saw 39 people who would be considered obese and 26 people who were wearing things they shouldn't have left the house in. I ask you, why can we not control our weight in America? I'm not talking about slightly chubby people, I've been one of those my whole life and there is nothing wrong with that. But I'm talking about barely walking overweight. The fast food industry and TV have really done us no service here in the good old USA. As far as outfits, lets just say that we found some candidates for "What Not to Wear". Lest anyone get offended and think I'm picking on people, I'm not. I'm just merely saying that I love crowds because they are such an interesting, fast study on human behavior. Someone was probably doing a study at the very same time on people with really bad hair and I was #1 that day, guaranteed. It is just interesting to think about what factors are working in our society to make us do what we do and be how we are.

On Saturday we had the wedding, here's a picture of Bryan and I at the beautiful hotel where they did their luncheon.



When I get some more pictures of the reunion party I will post them here...

Cleft Palate

Last weekend's engagement definitely overshadowed the other events of Friday and Saturday...And rightfully so. However, I spent the rest of the weekend working with a Cleft Palate surgery team in Mexicali. I go often with this team and the spirit of working together there is amazing. I love to see people doing something just to help, and that's what it is! What a great time and a great experience, as it always is!

The most random part of the whole thing was sitting at the border waiting to cross. I was wondering, like I always do, why there are suspiciously American-named MD's and dentists doing surgery for cash just south of the border fence. I smell malpractice in their past? Nothing like running from the law and the AMA in Mexico.

Sparkly Rocks...

 

 

 

I had the greatest night of my life last night! Bryan proposed after an amazing treasure hunt (would have made my Dad proud--he loves treasure hunts) all around town which ended up at Balboa Park.

I couldn't believe it was happening even though I was the happiest woman alive when he got down on one knee. I won't bore you with all the crazy details...email me if you want them...But suffice it to say he's amazing, and I'm getting married!

More blogs about other stuff less sappy to come later. The photos above depict me with my photo hunt prizes (at one of the locations) and then at home with my BEAUTIFUL new accessory...

Tristan is my heroine (hero-ette not drug)

So last week we went to see Tristan Prettyman LIVE AND IN CONCERT at this small venue, standing room only and sold out. I was pretty much euphoric over it because I love her music, love her voice, love everything and up to this point I've only seen her as someone else's opener. A whole SHOW starring our hometown singing star? What more could I want. If you don't know her, check it out on iTunes...She's like a female Jack Johnson who sings all about love (I know, just what my male readers were looking for). Nothing like a native girl singing it out on the local stage.

But I wouldn't leave you with that story without telling you the random thing that happened now would I? What would this blog be without my commentary on the random world at large? So before the concert started, they came on the PA and said, "No flash photography and no photography after the 3rd song." We were all chuckling, thinking "those big jokesters"--this place is a little funky and offbeat. Well, turns out on song #4 a big, beefy bouncer came over and told little missy standing next to us that she wasn't allowed to take pictures anymore. He actually fought his way through the crowd. Such a weird rule, what is the logic in that? Why not "no photos. Period." or "No flash photos." Maybe Tristan has an allergic reaction to photography and she can only take 3 songs worth and then starts to break out in hives. Who knows.

Here's a picture of us at the show:














Second random musing of the week--we went out to Bryan's parents' house last weekend to celebrate Easter. And I got to DYE EGGS!!! Technically Bryan too but he didn't seem to be as interested as you will see below. Don't worry because we got a little competitive with the egg hunt and I ended up pushing (ok shoving) Bryan out of the way to get an egg. I'm really serious about getting chocolate. So shoot me.

WICKED!!!!!

Last Saturday was the second greatest day of my life. Only the second greatest because it was the second time I saw Wicked. And also because I ended up the Urgent Care later that night. But that's another story for another time.

Bryan and I went to LA to see Wicked. And its a good thing LA is hosting Wicked because that's the only thing that city has going for it. EVERY time I drive there I wonder "what in the world possessed me to do this again?" But last week, it was worth it. Bryan had never seen it before, and of course was enthralled. I need to give him HUGE props for buying me tickets for Christmas.

If anyone has ever been to Hollywood Blvd and looked at those stars in the sidewalk you will follow my next topic. I think I was born 15 years too late for that tourist attraction, I mean WHO ARE these people? Did we stop putting stars in the ground when I was born? We tried desperately to find one in front of the theater we knew, and instead just picked the most random one.

I have decided that I would like Glinda to come and give me a makeover. I think she could work wonders. I need a little more glitter and pep in my life...

Date night highlights...

Apparently some of you are really getting a kick out of how I tend to focus on the most random things in the world. This is a good appraisal of the situation, I do like to focus on the hilarious details around me. In the spirit of this, you will hopefully be highly entertained with the following events.

Because Bryan left me today for 4 days in San Francisco for a conference, so last night we had a big night out on the town. Apparently I have forgotten what to do when I'm alone because I've been staring at the wall for a good deal of time tonight and now I'm watching a chick flick that even I admit is horrific. Ok back to the topic at hand, last night was date night.

After Bryan's fabulous home-made dinner (shout out to Chicken Florentine and his adventurous cooking skills), we headed down to the Prado to walk around. The minute we arrived we noted a plethora of bike people riding in a circle around the large central fountain. It reminded us of Classic Skating roller rink but with bikes. I thought it was some sort of weird night club, but then just when I was getting really puzzled all 300 of them took off and rode west down the street. It was weird.

Apparently I'm not as hip as Ben (Darcie's fiance) who suggested it was probably "critical mass." Critical what?



We also saw some monks walking through the streets of downtown jingling bells and accompanied by at least one man in street clothes. Mind you this was the height of debauchery in downtown, 9:30 pm on a Friday night. I, again, had no idea what was going on. Apparently I'm also not as smart as Tom (Kristy's husband) who suggested they were probably Hari Krishna's spreading their message.


I also saw a huge stuffed Shamu sitting at a table by itself at a restaurant but I failed to get a picture of that.

To top off all the craziness we pretty much HAD (ok their were a couple of spots before this) to park on the 7th floor of the parking structure downtown--and pay 8 bucks for it. What an injustice. We didn't even get protection from the weather up there, it was the last level and outdoor. Oh wait, it was 60 degrees and clear but whatever.

People are crazy

All I have to say is that there are some really weird people in this world. On Valentine's Day Bryan made reservations at this very cute little Italian restaurant. The food was amazing, but two tables down from us were two couples who were on some sort of double Valentine's date. They were already buzzed when we got there, but then proceeded to spill a glass of red wine on the tablecloth of the table NEXT to them and order another bottle. A few minutes later, we see them pull a Rubbermaid pitcher out of a soft-sided cooler (yes right there in the nice restaurant) and poor some sort of alcoholic liquid into chili pepper shot glasses. The best part was when they handed shots to the elderly couple at the table between us. I was grateful they didn't want to keep passing the shots down the row because I'm pretty sure they were too drunk to understand our refusal, and may have become belligerant.

Here's a picture of the beautiful flowers I got...I know SO PRETTY!