Wedding Envy

I dislike even admitting this to myself, let alone blogging about it, but I think there is a part of me that is a bit jealous that William and Kate are getting married. Though I am the same age as William and grew up with the awareness of the royal family, I was never one of those girls who lusted after the idea of being a princess and I never really saw the guy as crush-worthy material. So why the envy, I wonder?
They are a bit of a surreal couple. Ordinary as can be but stratospherically higher in caliber to celebrities. It is somewhat strange to think of them as anything but a royal couple. It is almost a rather disjointed perception of them, what with the staggering history of the British monarchy and this very modern couple who share my age.
No. I imagine the reason is far more shallow than that. What if my tiny envy comes from my own desire to be engaged and have a fabulous wedding? It seems so petty to accept that that may be the truth. And yet I can't help but feel that nagging tug in my heart when I think about what is surely the wedding of the century
unless Brad and Angelina get married
.

Royal Love

I have my dvr set to record the 7 hour coverage of this little shindig on CNN in HD tomorrow morning. Then, I will sit with my chocolate milk and watch/fast forward. My mom remembers watching Diana and Charles’ wedding. This is my generation’s royal wedding.
And on a similar note, I remember staying up late/waking up early to watch Diana’s funeral back in 1997.

Dear Jeffrey,

Love, Crystal

Not Sure Actually

I have been catching up on all the news from today (in the dark, on my bed, with the iPad lol) and I came across a couple articles about the US military using drones in Libya - more specifically the Predator. Normally I wouldn't really care; I am a pacifist and I generally avoid reading about ongoing wars. But this time the news caught my interest in a very personal way. A great friend of mine in the military actually operates a Predator drone. For this reason alone it made me once again face the realities of my friend's job, but also made me feel like I knew too much information. Which is ironic because I hardly know anything about his job and he is always very adamant about not telling me anything. Except in this case, one article clearly stated that they didn't know where the drones were coming from and the military would not reveal the location. But I know which base my friend is stationed in and which base he works at. And while I doubt that is the only location operating the Predator drone, I can't help but feel like know information that not even the media is allowed to know about.
Just something to think about, I guess.
I also read an article about the consumption of French fries decreasing a noticeable amount this year. Gotta love the media and what they choose to focus on as news!

Test

Conducting a troubleshooting test.

Edit: got it to work! I am blogging via Blogsy, an app I purchased today specifically to blog from mu iPad. The first post didn't make it through, I'm sorry to say. Looks like this one will work just fine.

Something Great For Me!

I understand that by saying this I may be opening myself up to come unnecessary criticism (maybe not) but I simply must say it... I have accomplished one of my dreams today!I am now the proud owner of a beautiful white iPad. Second gen, 16GB, wifi. I am in love. I am trolling the iTunes store now looking for amazing and free apps. I love thus thing! I just wrote this entire post on my brand new iPad!

Bottle Shock

I wrote this as an opinion letter to my city's local newspaper, The Lompoc Record. It's a bit difficult to squish so much opinion in just 300 words but I think I managed it quite nicely. 


"Bottle Shock"

I was shopping for a present for my boyfriend’s mother’sbirthday, the party for which I am attending this weekend. I decided I wasgoing to find the perfect gift to encapsulate the charm of Lompoc that cansometimes be found if you look the right way. Since her birthday party is abarbeque I decided to bring a bottle of wine from Lompoc. I could not find theWine Ghetto on my phone and the poorly designed website had no address or phonenumber. Finally, thanks to a tip from my mom, I drove down Chestnut St. andfound my way to the Lompoc Ghetto! I thought it looked charming.

It wasn’t. I walked into the first door I saw and found nowine in sight. A man serving a couple of other men behind the counter askedwhat I was looking for and I told him a merlot. He explained that this climatewas perfect for pinot wines and I’d have to go further inland for merlot. Butif she loved merlot she would love the pinot. How he could tell what a woman’swine preferences were in 2 seconds was beyond me. The man must have been agenius.  He tells me I should buy this bottle of pinot whatever becauseshe would just love it.  Okay, how much? Thirty five dollars. Thirty five dollars?! Oh yes, he said,that’s why she would love the wine.  Iwalked out.

My mother did buy that day and spent $17; the bottle wasscrew-top. If the Wine Ghetto thinks they can put a hefty price tag on a bottleof wine and buy their way into the illusion of a sophisticated wine town, they’rewrong. Not with a screw top. Not for $35. Not in this town.

News I’m Reading

• “Why Cisco’s Flip Flopped in the Camera Business” This camera is considered a flop? Like, as in a trend flop or a fashion flop, or what? My uncle gave me a wonderful Flip camera when I graduated from college in 2009 and I’ve loved using it. I don’t’ use it all that much but when I do hilarity usually ensues. This article is suggesting no one uses them anymore and asks when the last time you saw someone using one was. Well, I saw someone using it just yesterday at the beach! Does it not count if it was my mom?
• “Where Should I Post My Photos Online?” It’s a flowchart, and a pretty funny one at that!

• “IScilloscope: $300 Kit Turns iPad, iPhone into Multitouch Oscilloscope” I don’t know what this is but it looks like a perfect graduation gift for my Jeffrey.
• #ThomasJefferson is trending on Twitter.

5 Random Facts About Me

1. I have a set of The Little Mermaid sheets for my bed. I don’t use them but they were a gift and it is my favorite movie.
2. I never noticed I didn’t wear much color until Jeff pointed it out. Now I buy really colorful and beautiful clothes so I can be brighter.
3. In the last 2 years my feet have grown by a whole size. I can rarely find cute shoes and often wear Jeff’s Nike’s.
4. I have an almost sexual fascination with marble.
5. I feel the older I get the more beautiful I feel. When I am feeling my prettiest I notice my brown eyes much more. I love my eyes.

Brunch at the Beach

This morning I enjoyed a delicious brunch with my family at Boathouse on Hendry’s Beach in Santa Barbara. It doesn’t look like much from the outside (it actually looks like a shack) but inside it’s very current and somewhat hip. The breakfast menu was a bit limited as far as quantity of dishes goes, but there was a nice variety of food. I ordered the Boathouse Signature Breakfast:

Two poached eggs over Dungeness crab cakes on a bed of roasted potatoes. Topped with chipotle Hollandaise, pico de gallo, and avacado.

Coupled with a cup of coffee and it was terrific. It just so happens to sit on a portion of the beach that’s like it’s own private beach, somewhere off of Modoc, I believe. Using an app I just downloaded on my phone for the camera I took the following shots, all of which I absolutely love!

Sleeping Grumpy

Lately I have been waking up before my alarm clock even goes off. Sometimes I wake up 10 minutes before, sometimes 15; usually never more than that. Unfortunately, because I’m usually just coming out of REM sleep I have no idea what is really going on and find myself rather confused and asking myself questions.

• Did the alarm ever go off?
• Did I set it correctly?
• Am I late for wherever I need to be?
• What day is it?

This morning, for example, I had to be in a neighboring city for a legal matter at 10am. I got into bed ready to fall asleep at 11pm last night. Unfortunately, I spent the next few hours on the phone and didn’t get to sleep until 2am. By this time I was kicking myself because my alarm was set for 7:45, I knew I had to leave by 9:15 and I really hate being late. So when I woke up with no alarm and no idea, I got a bit worried… only to find out it was 7:30 and I had just woken up on my own after a mere five and a half hours. So strange.

By the time my appointment was finished and I drove back into town, drove to the bank, went for brunch with my mother and came home I was exhausted. Took a 1 and a half hour nap and now here I am at work gulping down at Mocha Frappe from the ever-reliable McDonalds.

I imagine I will sleep well tonight.

That Makes Me the Nice Girl

Whenever I’ve taken a day off from work and someone from the other office has covered for me, I always come back to hear a variation of the following comments:

“I’m glad you’re back. That/those other girl/s are mean!”

It’s nice to be the nice girl! Although, I think the “niceness” really stems from the fact that I don’t push a lot of these people, especially when it comes to money. Everyone else is always so hard up on money. Yes, I understand that if clients don’t pay, I don’t get paid. But these are tough times for everyone (except, probably, the owner, who is on vacation out of the country for 3 weeks) and I’m just as financially strapped as the people I see every week. I can hardly press them about making a $10 payment when I know I would have difficulty making weekly payments like that.

Plus, a lot of the people are there for counseling because they have been court mandated to do so for a variety of reasons, whether because of drugs, alcohol, domestic violence or some other event; I’m not prepared to piss these people off. Plus, I kind of have more respect for them than most people out in the world. Couldn’t really tell you why, but I do treat them with more respect than I often do others.

I do find it unfortunate that they’ve had such an unpleasant experience with someone else that not only do they remember it a week later, but they feel obligated to say something about it. I’m content being the nice girl. I’ve been called a lot worse.

Just a Little Update

I have had a lot of inspirstion about my website lately and I am happy to finally work on it and exercise some creativity. I am designing a layout now and hope to have something up this weekend.
Coincidentally, the design I have been working on has given me inspiration for some other design work I hope to be working on soon.
Fingers crossed!
-Crystal
Sent from my phone. Please excuse any typos.

Greetings from Riverside, Part Two

Our last night in Riverside was spent strolling around the exquisite Mission Inn. We made it to the 4th floor where there were terraces and courtyards, beautiful fountains and pools of water. The air smelled sweetly of jasmine and orange and completely set me at ease. Those are my two favorite scents after all! The architecture of the hotel is beyond stunning. It's very much a Spanish mission style decorated in an Italian villa/Mediterranean fashion. We took a ton of photos around the grounds and were a bit remiss to not take photos during the daytime. But that just gives us a reason to go back!

Actually, I couldn't help but notice that the hotel would be the absolute perfect setting for a wedding...

Aquarium of the Pacific

 

Greetings from Riverside, Part One

Jeff and I are on day two of our mini-adventure out here in a less coastal area of California than we are used to. Riverside is a lovely city so far. Well, at least it is within the perimeter of our hotel. Yesterday we woke up early and drove down to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. That was quite lovely and I got to touch a sting ray. Actually, I was terrified to touch it, even though it kind of seemed eager for me to touch it, like an eager dog or something, and yet all the kids were positively giddy to touch them. And the little sharks! And then there was me, the scared adult, lol. Unfortunately I got a bit sunburned but it wasn't nearly as bad as some people. I saw one guy who was so burned he literally looked purple!

I must admit I was a bit disappointed in the aquarium. There is so much to do and see but takes very little time to do all of it. After two hours we had seen everything and I was bored. I would have loved to have seen penguins and whales and maybe some more exotic marine life, but there really wasn't any of that. Although, it was really great to see jellyfish so up close and personal. They were so serene and beautiful. The giant crabs and lobster were also very interesting. And who wouldn't want to see an octopus in person? But I admit I love those penguins and there were none of those (save for the stuffed ones in the gift shop at $15 a piece).

From there we hopped on a few freeways and made a very long trip into Riverside. Even with a 7-lane freeway (three lanes of which were reserved for some sort of expressway) the traffic was still miserable and we went through the slowest 20 miles of all time. Or maybe it just seemed that way? Who knows?

Photos to follow...