I'm Sailing Away

I have a new roommate! Her name: Rachel. She works for Toyota (pretty cool). Anyway. Sometimes, I hang out with her and her Toyota coworkers. What do we do? Let me show you!

I have already introduced you to Ryan (the one that made panini's at the tailgating event). Let me introduce you to Ryan's sailboat! She doesn't have a name and I didn't really stand back and get a good picture of it but here are some others that I did take...

I don't know the point of this picture...


This is how far out we got before the motor fell off the block it was screwed on to... don't worry, someone was hanging on to it so we salvaged it and continued our journey out... but it was a little stressful. You can see the launch in the background...


This will soon be my new Facebook picture I think. (Note: Matt bought the sunglasses... thanks, Matt... I forgot my other ones... again).


The view:



We set anchor and went swimming:


The people:
This one is Katie, Ian's fiance (Ian works with Rachel)...


And this one is Ian...



Ahhh... what a good way to spend a Saturday.

Time Flies.

I grew up too damn fast.

(That was my original one line post. After hearing the disappointment in Traci's voice, I decided I better update everyone on what's going on out here in big ol' California.)

Most importantly, I should update everyone on my job status (since you probably won't weed through all of this anyway). I've been hired full time by Alcoa. Yay! I'm not an intern anymore. (This is why I grew up too fast. I'm not used to doing all these grown up things quite yet.)

So now what I've been up to...

July has been a crazy month. I've been everywhere whether it's Michigan to be in a wedding, or Cleveland for training, moving into a new apartment, hosting Matt's visit, and working three weeks in Newbury Park (a new aquistion to Alcoa Fastening Systems... I'm helping prep for an audit). Here goes everything:

Work is well. I was just getting used to when...

BAM!

July 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th:
I first flew into Chicago, where I rented a car, drove an hour West to pick up the boyfriend, and then made the long haul up North to the old hometown where my long lost best friend got married. To me it was literally this: Jump out of the rental car, tell my mom hi and life is good, put a dress on, watch the wedding, get Matt back to Illinois so I can catch my flight out of Chicago.

I spent the next three days in our Fullerton Alcoa Fastening Systems plant attending a HAZWOPER training. (That's HAZardous Waste OPerations and Emergency Response).

Thursday and Friday are important days to remember - I worked in my plant in Torrance those two days.

Still with me?...

Sunday, the 19th through Friday, the 24th I was in Cleveland. All of the college graduates/interns met for a week-long training with some big names in the company. It. Was. AWESOME.

It's going to get tougher to follow...

So, that same Friday, the 24th, I'm flying from Cleveland to LA, while Matt is also flying from Chicago to LA where we will meet.

Saturday we move into my new apartment. We make a run to the beach while we can (the poor kid, it was the only chance we had to go... )

Sunday we drive. Up North to Newbury Park where I've been working. They put us up in a hotel and bought us some food.

Last weekend, we're on August 1st now, we got to go to a Journey concert. Lawn seats (wooo!). Easily the best date I've ever been on. It was an all day kind of date, too. We had to leave to start driving around noon to get to the amphitheater on time. Night Ranger opened, it was so cheesy. A drunk lady sitting on the lawn in front of us was so into the music she kept rocking back and hitting her head on our feet... dumb woman...

So finally, the past week. I dropped Matt off at the airport Wednesday.

I'll be finally spending time in my new apartment on Saturday and will try to get some pictures.

I'm still alive.
Hope this is better than the one-liner.

P.S.
Remember those two days in Torrance? I haven't been there since. In the past month, I've barely worked two days in my own plant... =(

I have to go now. It's time for bed. I volunteered to work on a Saturday because someone said something like, "I guess interns don't work on Saturday's." I'm not about to let that one slide.

A True Bonding Moment...

... Between a girl and her car. Observe:




Nothing brings a girl and her car together like a nice, old fashioned, wash.

I think my Mazda is a girl. I'm going to name her. Any ideas? Here is what I know about her so far:

She:
1. Is beautiful
2. Has style
3. Is graceful
4. Is powerful
5. Likes to show off
6. Is talented
7. Is sensible
8. Has class

I think I'm going to stop the list at 8. I could go on but you can get an idea of her personality by those 8.

Here are some ideas:
1. Dorothy
2. Evelyn
3. Helena
4. Aideen
5. Lesley

Let me know:
a) Your favorite
b) Different names you might think of

'Cause it's root, root, root for the (away) team!...

What did I do for Fathers' Day? Angels vs. Dodgers game!!!!! Here are the pics:



We tailgated. You would think we had burgers and hot dogs but nooo, paninis. This guy, Ryan, got a lot of crap for this but they were very good.



Pesto:


Roasted red bell peppers:


REAL mozzarella cheese + caramelized onions:


Ciabatta bread:


One darn good sandwich:


Angels' Stadium:




What happens if you jump onto the field? Jail, prosecution (something I couldn't hear) and you get tackled:



Ahhh... a good night. I took a crappy picture of the sunset over Anaheim. We stayed for a little while and grilled turkey burgers in the parking lot before driving home.




HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOOD. (Two for One)

What's on the menu today? Well, for starters, I think I should discuss last week's menu. FINALLY! The salsa. And the corn and black bean quesadillas. And the something new I made today. Get ready. Here it goes.

MANGO BLACK BEAN SALSA:

Mangos +


Black Beans =


Some Good Salsa.


I messed up quite a bit. I forgot to cook the beans after soaking them so I had to pick through a mess of mango and onion to get the beans out. Then hours later I finally went to finish my masterpiece and accidentally used parsley instead of cilantro. BUT! It still turned out very yummy. Now, what to eat it with?

BLACK BEAN & CORN QUESADILLAS:

This would have been my throwdown meal, by the way...


What does it look like when a quesadilla is cooked to perfection? Let me show you...



And with a side of:

(Salsa)

So now, my grand finale, today's meal, with the help of dad while I was at the grocery store...

TOMATO SOUP & GRILLED CHEESE:

Grilled cheese made with San Fransisco style sourdough bread and muenster cheese. Homemade tomato soup with all kinds of deliciousness...

Prepare yourself for the majesty that lies ahead.

'Cast of Characters'


I should have chopped the carrots up smaller but:




Our kitchen saw all kinds of excitement today. I actually had to be really careful in all of these pictures. I was constantly moving food around trying to capture just the tomato soup stuff. But I breaked to get this one:

(Dan and Anna, the roommates)

Well, the soup will be ready soon. Time to start the good stuff.


I know you're wondering how it turned out. Best. Soup. Of. My. LIFE.


Ahhh. Nothing like a full stomach. Coming soon: Spinach Fettuccine Primavera and Sloppy Joes II.

(If you guys want recipes, just ask, I can find them)

The. End.

Stupid Facebook...

My computer is fighting with facebook and I'm boycotting facebook until they get their issues resolved. So if I'm not updating there, that would be why. For now, here is the link to the salsa recipe I chose:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/danny-boome/black-bean-and-mango-salsa-recipe/index.html

Sorry for any inconvenience

=)

Beach, Beer, Man and His Dog...

We rode bikes down to the beach today. There are three beaches (in order from South to North): Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. We live in Redondo (which is the least cool of the three). Hermosa Beach is known as a 'party town' (which is where we rode bikes to yesterday). Finally, Manhattan Beach is the nicer of the three and usually has better waves for surfing.

Since it's memorial day weekend there were a lot of fun tents and activities set up on the pier. There were people selling art, people selling clothes, people selling Cutco knives, people selling food, rides... And then there were people... tons and TONS of people. Here's one of my favorites (and his dog).







We also had some really good food. We bought some good walnut, chocolate chip, butterscotch cookies, some guacamole nachos (best guacamole I've ever had!! I guess it's all in the avacado), we sampled some weird kind of popcorn that was delicious, had the biggest most tasty shrimp I've ever had, a plate of nachos and a few beers.

Here are the cajun shrimp (you could have about 4 and be full):





Something about the sunshine made me want a nice, light summery beer. So we set out in search of a beer. We walked about 50 ft. and came across a "Beer and Wine Garden". How perfect.



Finally, we wound down in a sports bar, Sharkeez. This is where we had the nachos, a mint mojito and jello 'shots'.



Who would have ever thought to put your jello shot in a syringe?! That was so cool.

Well. Today looks like a normal day. I think we're all just going to wind down and enjoy our third day off. Happy Memorial Day!

P.S.
I have my car and have been driving it! Boy. What a fun little car...

Lessons to be Learned.

Lesson 1: How to Surf

Lesson 2: How to drive a manual transmission.

Why?

Because soon I'll be driving this:














Why?

Because I read this ConsumerReports magazine from 'a certain person who shall go unnamed' and learned:

• The Mazda3 is one of their best used cars under $20,000 at $17140
  
• Mazda scored 4th to Honda, Subaru and Toyota in their Automaker Reports with a recommendation of 86% of the tested vehicles (Mercedes was the next lowest at 67%)
  
• The Mazda3 scored a 78 on its overall road-test score with high predicted reliability
• It gets 30 mpg
• Handling is precise and responsive
• Curtain airbags
• It scored great in accident avoidance
• It ended up in my price range for 'models to look for'
• It made its way on to the list of 'best of the best - small cars' in most reliable used cars to buy
• Scored much better than average in 'reliability' in all but electrical, brakes, audio system and power equipment

So... Thanks for the magazine! (Even though I'm sure that certain unnamed person wouldn't approve of this car)...

Sand, Sunshine, Twilight...

Twilight:

It was good. The first book was captivating. I hated a majority of the second book. I liked a lot of the last book the same way as the first. I think I was drawn to the happy moments. The sad ones just kind of bummed me out. As far as the character, Bella, I didn't approve. Not necessarily because she was whiny, but because she was quick-tempered and stubborn. In my opinion, I would have never been friends with her (she seemed very annoying). I can't imagine why the 'perfect' boy would fall for someone so less than ordinary. Which brings me to another peeve I had, I didn't appreciate Bella's lack of confidence/self-esteem. She isn't a very good role model. Overall, the books were entertaining at least. I found myself annoyed at times but I still was able to read through them (and found myself wanting to read more). I wasn't attached to the characters at the end like I thought I'd be though. Many times I cry at the end of books only because it's the end of the character. Sometimes a book is just as bad as a funeral to me. But these ones weren't emotional to let go of.

California!:

I love my job! More to come on that subject later.

I had my first lesson in surfing today and came back with some of these:






I know you can't see the one on my leg very well but I have a feeling it'll get worse. I have a lot going on but hopefully I can get more pictures soon. I'm supposed to be going hiking later today and I'll take my camera along. Last Tuesday I went to the Angels vs. Red Sox game in Anaheim and had a BLAST. We had excellent seats right behind home plate and everything was free (the guy who gave us the tickets treated us).

I hope you all are ready... I have a lot to say about a lot that's out here.
=)