Adventure #9 - Trip to Texas (3/18 /10- 3/22/10)

My brother Jared and his family (Amber, his wife and Owen, his son) moved to Texas in December. My nephew Owen turned one and I was invited to Texas to celebrate his birthday (along with 40 other people...hahaha).

I arrived at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport around 10:45pm and my brother picked me up to stay with him and his family. They gave me the royal treatment. My own room, food and drink. They catered to me non-stop I felt like. My nephew Owen is so freakn' cute.

Friday we sang Happy Birthday to him and Amber, his mom, had a hat for him to wear to celebrate it. We spent most of Friday prepping for his birthday party on Saturday. We went to Toys R Us for presents and then we went to dinner with some of Amber's family. Poor Jared wanted us to go to this Steak House and his steak ended up being over cooked the first time and under cooked the second time....so he didn't get to eat. To be fair, everyone else's steaks were good/fine, but we ordered queso sauce with chips and it was super cold, we had them take it back and it came back cold again.....

Owen the birthday boy and his hat :)

Owen at the restaurant chewing on some bread

Saturday, we just prepped for the party and then by noon or one all the guest started arriving. It was basically all of Amber's family and friends. I couldn't believe how many people showed up and most of them came from 2 1/2 hours away or so. Such love :) Amber made Owen a huge cupcake "smash cake". Owen was a little timid with it, but it was still really cute. Then me and my brother went to a huge bar and played pool. It was actually super cheap and a really big place with tons of different areas, anything from house music, to live bands, to country. It was really nice to hang out with my brother and just catch up and see him relax and take some down time for himself. Love you Jared :)

The Birthday Boy and his parents

The smash cake was so big that I had to put a regular size cupcake next to it for comparison.

Owen getting into his cake

On Sunday, we went to some place in Dallas area that had tons of museums. It was really neat. We could of easily spent all day there. We didn't get home until after 6pm and I had to still find some place that I could get Internet and do some work and then we got filet's and Jared grilled steaks. He grills the best steaks ever!

Fun different things at the museums

Then on Monday we went to the Stock Yard (it's kind of like the Gas Lamp Quarter here in San Diego or Old Town). We got to watch the cattle crossing. They had tons of shops too. We got some different really good spices and dry rubs for food there. We even went to the famous "Billy Bob's" for lunch. The food was NOT good at all, but it was famous and you could tell that at night it would be great to go. They had a casino area, a bull riding area, a restaurant, a dance floor, a stage for bands to play (tons of really famous singers and bands play there) and a gift shop. Then I had to go to the airport and catch my flight. I had so much fun and miss having Jared and his family in San Diego. Good times.

Adventure #8 - Marched in a Parade (3/13/2010)

OK, so my good friend Autumn invited me to march in a St. Patty's Parade with her for my adventure.... I love her! She's always looking out for me :) The Parade took place in the Balboa/Hilcrest/Downtown area. I'm sure all the locals know that parking is hard to find in these areas, let alone when there's a parade going on. We lucked out (kind of) and found a parking space pretty close, but it was a metered parking space. We could only feed the meter for 2 hours at a time. We figured this would be enough time (hahaha). Anyways, my friend Autumn, Emeligh her daughter (4 years old) and myself got to the parade area around 10:15am, because that's the time that Autumn was told to be there at. Let me also say that my friend Autumn is volunteering for Jim Duffy who is running for Sheriff. We were marching in the parade with him and his family basically. It ended up being a really small group. Basically, it was us, Jim Duffy, his two sons, his sons wife and kid and his daughter and Lupe who also helps with his campaign. I'm so glad that Autumn was with me. We ended up being the last group (#323) to mark in the parade. We had to go get change at a restaurant and then feed the meter again and then Autumn and I decided we were leaving once our meter ran out. It ran out just as we walked in the Parade for about 10 minutes. I almost stepped in horse poop too, if Autumn wasn't looking out for me. It was fun though....Thanks Autumn!

Me and Autumn holding signs for Jim Duffy and wearing our green :)

All the kids in the old Sheriff Car that they rode in the Parade

Adventure #7 - Pool (3/7/10)

OK, so me, my roommate Cyndy, her dad Dale and our other roommate/landlord Rusty, went to go bowling because it was raining all weekend... which I am sick of at this point. We had almost a 2 hour wait to bowl so we decided to play some pool while we waited. It was really fun. Again no pictures. We played three games and I was on Dale's team and we played against Cyndy and Rusty. I warned Dale that I wasn't any good and he said "That's OK because I'm really good"...lol. That just cracked me up, but he was right, he was really good and we won all three games.

Adventure #6 - Karoke (2/19/2010)

OK....so no pictures again this time. Let start off by saying, I HATE Karoke!!!!! I know there are people out there that love it and a very select few that are good at it. I hate it because for the most part the people up there sound like a dying cat or some kind of animal being tortured. This adventure was completely random and unplanned. I was out with my roommate, Cyndy, and a couple of her friends from work. We went to this whole in the wall bar, Coo-Coo Club, in Lakeside and they have Karoke. One of the girls put us down to do a song. Since I didn't know the girl to well and I didn't want to be mean I said I would do it with them....mainly just because I could use it as an excuse to use it as my adventure ;) Anyways, we go up there to sing Santaria, by Sublime. I can hear the girl singing and the background music, but I couldn't hear me....which was great! Now I know why people are up there doing Karoke. They can't hear how bad they really are. So anyways...that was my adventure, I know...kind of lame, but deal with it ;) hahahaha

Adventure #5 - Super Bowl (2/7/10)

OK, so I was really lazy trying to think of something to do this weekend for my adventure. I was going to go to Super Cross with my brother Jeremiah....then it rained all day and night on Saturday. Then I was going to play some pool, and when we got there, there where no tables open. So...my good friend Autumn suggested and invited me to watch Super Bowl at her house. So that's what I did. It's always nice to watch Super Bowl in good/great company. I had such a nice time...too bad the team I was rooting for didn't win... Oh well, that's life and that was my adventure.

Adventure #4 - Tennis 1/31/2010

OK....so this weekend I decided my adventure was to play tennis. I've only ever played one time before (if you could call it "playing") and it was with my friend Cyndy. I had so much fun (even though she was so bored) that I got a tennis racket for Christmas. I've been dying to play ever since, but I can't ever find anyone that is willing to play with me (seeing how I never really played before). My good friend Soledad agreed to play tennis with me. We went and played at the USD courts. It was such a nice, perfect day to play tennis. Just a little bit on the cooler side for San Diego (65 and breezy) which was perfect to play tennis. She was so helpful, teaching me as we played. She's really, really good and has been playing she said for 25 years! Yikes! What a true friend to want to play and help me with tennis. One time she returned a ball to me and it was coming at me so fast that I couldn't react fast enough and it hit me right in my upper arm. It hurt so bad and I couldn't help feeling stupid and laugh. I'm sure that wasn't even her playing normally either. Sorry no pictures this adventure, I left my camera in the car. Thanks again Soledad for taking time out of your day, especially your weekend and playing with me.

Adventure #3 - Driving Range 1/24/2010

My roommate, Cyndy, invited me to go to the driving range with her. We went to Stadium Golf. I haven't played golf since November. She said she hasn't played golf in two years....really, you couldn't tell. She's a pro. I can pretty much hit the ball straight but never very far. Cyndy can hit the ball super hard and far and where ever she wanted it to go. It was really fun and the weather was perfect.

Me swinging away :)

Cyndy and her perfect form...lol, maybe someday I'll be half as good as she is

Adventure #2 - Bowling 1/24/2010

OK, so if any of you didn't know, it rained A LOT in San Diego for the last week. It was really hard for me to think of an adventure that wasn't out doors. I walked Lake Murray (but I'm not counting that as my adventure). I love Lake Murray, it's so pretty and peaceful, no matter how many people are there. While I was walking around Lake Murray, it's all paved, but it was still really wet. So I decided to go bowling. I went to Parkway Bowl and rented a lane for an hour. I bowled five games. The first one I count as a "warm up" game because I bowled like an 83. Then a 103, 102, 114 and then 121. Sometimes I think I should bowl in a league. I'll have to look into it.

Adventure #1 - Cowles Mountain (1/16/2010)

OK, so my first adventure was just hiking Cowles Mountain. Nothing too crazy or hard....although I must admit I was winded at times. I got my good friend Autumn to hike the mountain with me. We got there at 7:30 or so in the morning....but so did everyone else.

Here's a view from the top (I think it was only 1500 ft).

Here's all of my fans that wanted to be part of my first adventure ;)

Here I am finishing climbing the backside of the mountain....hahaha :)

Here's me and my friend, Autumn, the hikers!