my weekend adventures

Well, my weekend wasn’t nearly as exciting as climbing Half Dome, but it definitely had its share of highlights and lowlights…Here are some.

On Friday, I got offered an amazing car deal, as you all know. And Jess sent me some pics (posted here) to get me excited…for my soon-to-be big purchase. That pretty much dominated my thinking all day Friday, so I didn’t get too much work done at work, or at least not as much as usual.

The weekend fun started Saturday morning when I woke up bright and early, okay…well, not THAT early. Since it was a Saturday and my only day of the week to sleep in. I watched some awesome episodes of Season 1 of The OC and proceeded to be lazy until about 10am when Liz and I decided to take a nice long run to the beach. We started at Liz’s house and ran down to Santa Monica. It was quite the hill workout, and it was topped off (after about four miles of hills) by us racing each other to the finish. I won. But, I think that was only because Liz wasn’t feeling so hot. Not cause I’m actually faster than her. Last time we raced in Newport, she won. So it was only fair I guess. Or, maybe it was reminiscent of the days when I used to beat Kristina up “killer hill” every time we raced in cross country cause I’d start before her…

Next, I headed out to the Marina with Captain Jack (aka my hometeacher Sean) and Captain Richard to go sailing in the Santa Monica Bay. Sean wore a full pirate hat the whole ride to make it more authentic. It was a beautiful day to be out sailing…We sailed through LOTS of bumpy water, and at times I did fear for my life, but it was an awesome experience. The view of L.A. from the water is MUCH better than the view from on land, its no wonder Hollywood likes to pan the skyline in movies. We sailed all of the way out to Malibu and saw some sea lions and seagulls, and luckily no sharks!

There were a few times where I questioned my judgment in going out sailing, considering my captains had just learned to sail, but for the most part, we had a fun time and got to enjoy the beautiful California weather from the water, rather than from my usual location on a towel at the beach…

Much of the rest of the weekend was a blur…due to an overdose of Dramamine (well, just one pill, but those things did a number on me!!). The lesson for the weekend was, Drugs + Fasting, not normally a good thing. I did happen to get a new calling at church though, Relief Society Teacher. Unlike the first time I got that calling back at BYU and was super stressed…this time I think its going to be a lot of fun. It’s my favorite calling, and I’m definitely going to instigate bringing treats to church (ala Mom). Also, I got to spend some fun times Saturday night/Sunday with John (Flaherty) – our cousin – who was down visiting from Tahachapie (which I can’t spell for the life of me and don’t want to bother looking up on Google).

Sunday night I spent some good times with friends BBQing and celebrating my friend Sterling’s acceptance to Pepperdine Law School. Luckily, by then most of the drugs had worn off and I was able to enjoy the good food and good friends, sitting outside in the perfect California weather.

That’s it for me…for now. Off to Montreal for a few days to wine/dine/entertain some fun sociologists at the American Sociological Association. I’ll keep you all posted, and I’m hoping to take some pics of the city this time around. At least I know that Monday night I’ll have some free time to do some good French Canadian shopping….

p.s. So here you can kinda get a sense for the car...thanks to the picture courtesy of Jess (she had to take the picture incognito since the Litterman's were back home).

Here is a pic of what I hope it looks like when I'm driving on the open road...