Wandering Aimlessly

Oh my gosh, I can't even believe how long it's been since I last blogged here! Let's see if I can catch you up:

October
- I met Steve's parents for the first time with an ocean kayaking trip around one of the Channel Islands (about an hour's ferry ride from the Ventura Harbor). I didn't die, although I did decline to go into one of the caves as the waves were crashing violently against the jagged rock walls. Turned out it was a good call, as the next people to try to navigate through ended up being slammed against the wall and dumped out of their kayak. There was a little blood, but they were fine and I was GLAD I'd put my foot down. So to speak. Otherwise, kayaking was much fun, and it was gorgeous on the water.
- Steve and I saw JOURNEY with Night Ranger at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Great concert!
- I went to Chicago, saw Animal Crackers with the fam, went to breakfast with Jamie, Craig, and Emily. GOOD TIMES.
- I participated in my fifth Aids Walk Los Angeles, and helped to head up my work's walking team.
- I saw the Bangles and Heart with Roni at the Greek Theatre. It was apparently a Very 80's Music October.
- I got my new, fabulous Windows 7 desktop computer--FREE!!--with gift cards I earned with credit card rewards points. It's awesome to get free stuff.
- My company got sold to a Big Bank on October 30th. It was shocking and very, very sad and there were tears and anger and numbness for many reasons which I don't think I'll get into now. I'm still sad about it as I write this entry on March 19th!

Here, have some October pictures:

November
- I took Chloe to Steve's, where his roommates were dogsitting for Arroyo. Chloe LOVES other dogs so much that she had a FABULOUS weekend running around and playing with Arroyo. So much fun!
- I spent Thanksgiving with Sandra and Gen having turkey dinner at the Marmalade Cafe (a bit less happy-making than homemade Thanksgiving dinner, but still good).
- I turned 29.
- I got a new Android cell phone.

December
- I got my eyebrows threaded for the first time ever!
- December was mostly full of holiday prep. There was an ops managers holiday breakfast and our office holiday dinner (with White Elephant-style boardgame gift exchange--fabulous idea!), and much Christmas shopping.
- I went home to Chicago for Christmas. Steve came with for the first weekend, which was lots of fun. We went downtown to Macy's and to generally walk around, had breakfast with Em and Meghan, and spent time with Grandma and Grandpa. We got a lot of snow and did a lot of shoveling, and then my flight back to California was delayed something like eight hours. Bah.
- Grandma Jennie passed away on December 29th, after a long battle with Alzheimer's.

Have some December pictures:

January
- Spent New Year's with Steve's family (and his second family) in Fresno
- Went to the How I Met Your Mother 100th episode event at the Paley Center with Elaina, which included a panel with cast and creators/writers/directors (I forget who all was there from behind the scenes).
- Started researching grad schools for my possible MBA
- Went to San Diego with Steve to visit Theresa and Dan. We went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which was tons of fun!

February
- Went to some informational meetings about MBA programs, bought a GMAT prep book.
- Spent Valentine's Weekend first with a dinner party with Steve and his roommates, and then a day and a half in Ojai with Steve. It's a quaint little town and we spent a lot of time window shopping and walking the trail that runs along the entire length of the town. Very relaxing!
- Got called in for my very first jury duty. Got called up to the jury room and spent two days on jury selection before I was dismissed by the prosecution. I had actually really wanted to be called for the jury, although it would have been a difficult case (alleged sexual abuse of a child by her father).

March
- Paley Festival has taken up most of my March. It actually began February 26th with the Modern Family panel, then March 4th with Dexter, March 13th for Glee, and then a non-festival Paley Center panel on Castle on the 16th.
- Interviewed for a possible new job March 3rd, which I have still not heard an answer on.
- Went to Puppetry of the Penis with Elaina & friends, and it was in a teeny-tiny theatre, we sat in the second row, and everything was extremely up close and personal. It's amazing how, once the shock value is over with, you get kind of detached about looking at two guys' junk being twisted and stretched into all kinds of weird positions. *laugh*
- My new-in-November cell phone DIED. Very tragic. Still waiting for the replacement. Le boo.

In the "More" section, there are pictures from Paley Festival.

OKAY! So that's really what I've been up to over the last five months. Whew! I will try to update more frequently now that holidays are over and (hopefully) work stress will be lessening. Our conversion date is May 15th, so it may be hectic/stressful until then, but I'll still make an effort here. *laugh*