Wildflowers

It has been raining so much this winter, that everybody said the California wildflowers were in full bloom and gorgeous. M and I decided to go for a drive on Saturday to see the flowers. Our original idea was to go to Anza-Borrego State Park, but I read in the Internet that there were a lot of people going there on weekends, and there were no rooms available in any area motels. So we decided to stay closer to home and go to Chino Hills SP . We took the SSR and went on our way. The Park is right next to a house development, but once you start driving on the unpaved road, is like being in a totally different place. It was beautiful! We saw quite a few hikers but not many cars. When we arrived to the end of the road, it had a spectacular view of hills and flowers.

Afterward we drove to Lake Elsinore, to see the California poppies. We stopped for lunch at the "famous" Tom's Farms http://www.tomsfarms.com/

All in all we had a very pleasant day looking at some beautiful California flora.

Back to jobs :)

After my musical adventure, my next job was working at a Travel Agency. It was close to my High School, so it was very convenient. I worked there after school and on weekends. I loved it! My best friend Isabel also applied for work there, so we spent a lot of time together. My job was to make "forfaits" . Travel Agencies from Europe and the US would write asking for hotel reservations and transfers for clients. I would make the hotel reservations and the transfers from the airport (or train station, or harbor, to the hotel) I also would make reservations to the bullfights, city tours etc. It was fun and I learned a lot (I also dated one of the travel agents, one of my very few Spanish boyfriends). After I graduated from High School and before I started college, I went looking for another job, preferably in another Travel Agency, where I could work longer hours.
I was sorry to leave that job, but I found another one in a Travel Agency that was run by a friend of my father. It was a bigger agency, in a great location, and I was the only girl there! I was 17 years old, and I worked there until I got married. 4 of the most fun years of my life!!!!

Hodgepodge

I just finished reading a book, that makes 5 for February. I like "chick lit" it's fun, enjoyable and easy to read, I also like thrillers :)
Here's the ones I read, and my ratings *good, **very good ***great
Liza Palmer: Seeing Me Naked. **
James Patterson: Step on a Crack **
Lisa Norato: I only want to be with you
Julie Buxbaum: The Opposite of Love ** (I cried lol)
Carole Matthews: The Chocolate Lovers' Club *

Old time favorites I want to reread: We, the Living by Ayn Rand
Battle Cry by Leon Uris (no lit chick these ones)!

TV shows I am watching~~~I am into reality shows, I find it hard to sit still for a 1 hour drama show where i have to follow the plot! Reality shows are fun because you can miss some of it and it doesn't really matter.
My favorites playing at the time are...American Idol, of course. There's a young man from Murray Utah that sings great. Operation Runway, love it!!!!
Color Splash with David Bromstard, I totally love him! Make Me a Super Model it's quite fun, and still a favorite..Saturday Night Live.

MUSIC...(Berkley Hart and HEAT excepted)
Landon Pigg: Coffee Shop
Yael Naim: New Soul
I'm from Barcelona: We are from Barcelona (Swedish group lol)

O Berkley, Where Hart Thou?

This past weekend, M and I trekked down to Encinitas. L had called a few days ago asking if we'd like to go see the above titled show. We saw it once 2 years ago and throughly enjoyed it, so we were looking forward to seeing it again.

It was a gorgeous California day. We stayed at the Howard Johnson Inn in Encinitas which was very pleasant. M and I enjoyed a nice lunch at "Las Olas" a little Mexican shack next to the beach with yummy Margaritas and a great ocean view http://www.lasolasmex.com/

The show started at 8:00 PM, but people started lining up by 7:00. As usual, L reserved prime seats for us.

The show started promptly at 8:00. Berkley Hart were the stars of the show, as were the 7th Day Buskers. Other performers were Gregory Page, Lisa Sanders, Barbara Nesbitt, Eve Selis, Cathryn Beeks, and Han's daughter DK singing a duet with her father (Hart's daughter sang a duet with her father as well)

It was a fantastic show, with great music and a great turnout. The audience was really into it and everybody was having a wonderful time. The whole event was organized by L. She did an extraordinary job, and was rightfully recognized by Berkley Hart with a lovely bouquet of flowers and some very nice words of thanks and appreciation. I know it meant a lot to her and she was very surprised by it.

The next day Sunday, we drove down to San Diego to go see the new house L & Han were going to rent. It is a very nice house, with lots of possibilities. Afterwards, we had a nice chat with them at their gazebo.

It was a lovely weekend!

Back to winter

It has been raining for a few days now, we needed it! just now we had a tornado warning!!! it's supposed to be in Long Beach started as a water spout and is coming north, hopefully it will not touch down.
It's been snowing heavily in the mountains around Los Angeles, even the Grapevine is closed, the wind is pretty cold, for Southern California.
All this rain means no recess time in kindergarten, which makes the kids go crazy with no place to vent their energy. It's funny, some of my kindergarten kids don't even remember having seen this much rain.
I think I also need a vacation :)

Summer in Winter

Today was a gorgeous day! I went to Huntington Beach and met my friend N. The surf was high, 8-10 feet waves, and the weather was great, 28C, 86F, really summer weather. I got my feet wet! We could see the snowy mountains on our back and the waves and Catalina Island ahead of us. We walked on the beach, went to Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Long Beach and Newport Beach. Had lunch at a great little fish restaurant called Jimmy's and had tasty clam chowder and yummy fish. Later on, as the sun was setting over the ocean in a state park close to Laguna beach, we ate some delicious pastries and called it a day.

Such a beautiful day ended in a crappy note :(

As I was driving home in Beach Boulevard, a policeman behind me put the lights on and I had to stop. I wondered if maybe my tail light were off. But when he came to my window and I asked him why he made me stop. He said it was because I WAS DRIVING WITHOUT A SEAT BELT!!!!! now that was an outright lie as i always have my seat belt on. Regardless of my claims that I had it on -he said, yes you put it on after you saw me- and he wrote me a ticket which I am planning on contesting!!!!

New Year's Resolutions

This is my first post of 2008. So I will write about some resolutions.

How long will my resolutions last? time will tell. I guess the first resolution should be to stop procrastinating, but knowing me, I think it will be a short lived one. But let's go on...

Get more organized, both at home and at school. Which means getting rid of a lot of non essential stuff. I started by cleaning my closets at home, and giving away a ton of clothes that don't fit anymore. I also put away some stuff in "space bags" a great invention!!!

Monday is back to school time, and I will dedicate some time everyday to streamline my classroom.

I liked Red's "Be good to myself" resolution, so I will adopt it too. I started by having my hair trimmed today, and tomorrow I will have a manicure :)

Oh...and learn to make a website, and exercise, and...