yosemite: one

Oh man, there is so much to say about our four day camping trip to Yosemite. It went by so fast and we all wish we could have stayed longer!

Detoy, Erin and I left on Friday morning and soon got stuck in some pretty slow traffic on the freeway. We passed the time playing car games [thanks Detoy] and asking ridiculous "would you rather?" questions.

We stopped at In 'N Out for lunch and got back on the road for the last leg of the trip. Gaaaah, it seemed to take forever to get there!

We were super stoked to finally be in the mountains with all the trees and fresh air. The view was amazing as we got higher. We reached our campground, which was about half an hour outside the valley, and set up camp before it got too dark. We were high-rollers and had steak and corn-on-the-cob for dinner.

We were super excited to explore the next day. We started off driving a billion miles to Glacier Point and taking a billion [incredible] pictures. You can see everything from Glacier Point and it was really cool to see Half Dome, a hike we would conquer the next day.

That same day, we drove down to the valley and parked in Curry Village to do a hike. We decided to hike the Upper Yosemite Falls trail, though we didn't go all the way up. The trail was basically a ton of steep rocky stairs, arranged in switchbacks that went on forever. It was a shock to my not-in-shape body, but the views at the top were amazing and totally worth the 6-mile round trip hike. We could see where we started the trail, which was waaaaaaay down there, and had the views of all three waterfalls.

We got back to the bottom of our hike and were desperate to jump in a cold river. Detoy was the first brave one to get in...that water was freaking ICY cold. Though painful at first, it was refreshing to numb our bodies after the long hike.

here and there

My 4th of July was spent in Escondido with the Minnicks. I love them and always feel like I'm part of the family.

[1: being silly

2: trying to stay away from all the bees that were everywhere

3: me and Amanda!

4: this girl LOVES her buttered corn-on-the-cob]

[1: handstands

2: sweating and out of breath to FINALLY get a good jumping picture]

Today Kristen visited and instead of going out to stuff our faces, we switched it up and stayed in and stuffed our faces. It was a huge meal and SO good thanks to my new grill. And our extremely advanced cooking skills.

[1: you should hold on tight to wet bowls when you're trying to dry them, oops

2: grilling, yeah baby

3: my sweet sister and her beautiful plate of food]

[1: reflections

2: driving to the mall]

[1: Kristen being artsy and getting a picture of me driving using the reflection in her passenger side visor mirror - whew, a mouthful

2: Kristen again doing her thang and looking too cool for school]

Tomorrow: YOSEMITE for 4 days!! This trip was spontaneously and very recently set up, but the three of us are incredibly excited to go! Time to get away from smoggy LA and breathe in the fresh air of sunshine and nature and non-city life. Memories from my past visits to Yosemite:

[2005: I went on a camping trip to Yosemite with a bunch of good friends after graduating from high school. We drive ALLLLLLL the way there and seriously, as we're driving into the campsite, I lose one of my contacts. This thing freaking disappeared. I searched forEVER to find it, but alas, it was gone. I had to swallow my pride and wear my glasses during the whole trip. So annoying and it also allowed me to become the butt of many (non-) funny jokes.]

[2008: The year of Half Dome. I really had no idea what Half Dome was and did the hike at the urging of my friends. My biggest mistake ever - NOT EATING ENOUGH FOOD!! When we woke up early in the morning around 500am, all I had to eat was half of a chocolate muffin from Costco. During almost the entire hike, I felt pretty sick, which makes sense since I had no energy from eating only half a muffin. The sicker I felt, the less I wanted to eat, so I chewed on some Starbursts. The hike up the actual Dome, on the cables, was sooooo brutal! I remember being about halfway up and just feeling utterly exhausted and so faint. I really kind woman on her way down gave me some water, which really did help me to conquer that last leg of the cables. I am not ashamed to say that when I finally reached the top, I cried. Out of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. Really, half of the hardest part of hiking Half Dome is getting the courage to keep going and DO IT. You've got to conquer a lot of fear and hesitation to finish this incredible hike. But I did it.]

nowhere to be

Today was so good. Refreshing and relaxing, fun and slow. Erin and I checked out Rock Harbor Long Beach for the first time this morning. It was in the upstairs lounge of a nightclub in downtown Long Beach. There weren't a whole lot of people there, but I think I enjoyed that. It's been too long since I've been to church and the people there made me feel really welcome. Growing up in such a HUGE church with thousands of members has always led me to feel a little more comfortable in big churches. But, I'm learning to enjoy the intimacy of fellowship in a smaller church.

Erin and I also decided to decorate our patio today. We browsed Target and IKEA to buy some things and we scored. Hello baby grill, hanging string lights, green plants and pretty candles. Welcome to our home.

And to celebrate our newly-decorated patio, we grilled some chicken and ate outside for the first time. We spent more time on our patio today than we have in the whole month and a half that we've lived here. Thanks to a beautiful day, it was perfect.

it's the little things

I can appreciate the simple things in life:

: the "undo" button in Microsoft Word

: music for every emotion, for every moment

: hats to hide bad hair days or just lazy days

: chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches and nerd ropes. aka sugar :)

: nail polish

: hand-written letters

: and all these other things...

comments on LA traffic

one
Let's just take a moment of silence and realize the wonder that is LA traffic.

two
Blinkers. They're not that hard to use.

three
In a weird way, LA traffic makes me feel connected to other people stuck forever on the freeways. Even though many people in LA like to be self-absorbed and in a hurry and annoyed with everyone else, we can all agree that we hate LA traffic. Sometimes I want to stick my head out the window to the person in the lane next to me and say, "This just sucks, doesn't it?" [But I don't because I also don't want to get shot. You never know what to expect from people, says the paranoid me.]

four
Everyone made sure to stay three cars behind this guy.

five
Music is my sanity when it takes me more than twice as long to get somewhere in Los Angeles than it should.

six
Today I was in Hollywood for a second interview. Seriously, SO many people. SO many tourists and cars and tourist buses and pedestrians. Hm, stressful much?

seven
My car likes to overheat in stop and go traffic.

eight
Don't you just love the speed demons that weave through traffic to get 15 feet ahead? Because we all know the risk of doing that is well worth the time it saves.

nine
At least we get a wonderful view of the LA smog while stuck in traffic for two hours.

ten
Okay, if I have to say one positive thing about traffic, it's that I enjoy being able to roll my windows down and save the AC. Fresh air [with a little smog mixed in to spice it up] is nice. And it helps my car not to overheat.

Aaah, the beauty of living in a big city.