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August 27, 2007
Oh, Thank God.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns!
Its about frickin' time.
Its not even 9am and my day has already been made.
Posted by jenredstar at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2007
Zaca Fire Effects
When we wake up in the morning, we expect to see the morning light coming through the window. Depending on the wind, lately the morning light is a creey/beautiful orange. This is because of the massive Zaca fire that is happening in the mountains behind Santa Barbara.
Today the air seems clearer, or at least not so orange, but check out yesterdays photos. Every day at work my co-worker Rusty and I go out for coffee in the morning (Lazy acres), sometimes when we have extra time we sit down for a few minutes and relax. The sun was so creepy yesterday people were likening to the End of Days. Enjoy.
The Santa Barbara News Press site seems to be the easiest link to the often update Zaca fire zone map. I have been checking it every day to watch its progress. Apparently, as of this last weekend, we are out of the danger zone. If I was in Ojai or the Ventura foothills I would be loosening my collar right about now.
This past Tuesday (before the sky was orange, there was a huge increase in the smoke over the mountains, news reports were mentioning how well seasoned firefighters had "never seen anything like it" in the way that so much brush and land went up in flames so fast that it created ash that looked like a bomb had gone off. I took this photo of the plume of smoke with my camera phone. The smoke was moving so fast up into the sky that for once, during this fire I could actually see it moving from my window. Usually it holds still from my vantage point, only having movement visible over time. It was both beautiful and ominous.
Posted by jenredstar at 3:45 PM | Comments (0)
One Year Anniversary & Updates
Just about this time last year, I married Ryan. (yay!) This year has gone by rather quickly but I am impressed about how much has changed. We traveled so much this year, to Thailand (for the honeymoon) Ryan went to Amsterdam, I went to France. We did a number of small trips together or apart to Plymouth, Napa, Paso Robles, Florida, Texas, San Francisco, New York, Arizona, and Ryan drove across the country with Josh. I am sure I might be leaving some out. My family welcomed a few addition with Danika last March while Miles has taken up Golf. I got a new Job in January working for the local ABC station, editing and shooting video. Ryan accepted a new position with some old clients and we got a puppy.
Recently, I also got a Vespa scooter. I ride it to work every day and have even started attending the weekly scooter ride with the vesparados. I'm enjoying seeing my town from a new perspective. I was freaked out at first to ride the thing, I really don't want to screw up my body or die! I've been extremely cautious on the thing and as I get more experienced as a rider I am less freaked out - but still cautious. So far - no near misses.
Santa Barbara's mountains are on fire at the moment with the Zaca fire. I get to see it all unfolding from my window on TV hill overlooking all of Santa Barbara.
This past weekend (Aug 12) Ryan and I celebrated our first year anniversary with a weekend trip up to Paso Robles for some socializing and wine tasting. We decided to go there because our good friends Sam & Jen were in the area for a wedding and we couldn't pass up an opportunity to hang out with our favorite NC residents. We met up Saturday August 11th at the Madonna Inn and with a map in hand headed into the Paso Robles farmland to visit Justin Winery, from there we visited about 3 more places before not being able to see straight. Jen and Sam treated us to a very nice dinner at Mc Phees Grill in Atascadero where we dined on sweet potato fries and drank the best Pinot Noir (from Jack Creek Cellars 2005 Estate) that I may have ever had.
We met up later for a tequila tasting (dangerous as it sounds - yes). Sam does not drink wine so we had him drive while we drank and then that night was his turn to taste something he likes. I definitely prefer cazadores & patron over all the other options we tried. It was a fun, very late night!
Next morning, minus a small headache Ryan and I enjoyed a Madonna Inn breakfast and then toured around downtown SLO with no particular plans (just the way we like it). We ended up driving through the back country again and decided to stop a Peachy Canyon winery to exchange some of our gifts. Ryan brought out a big nicely wrapped box while I took out my Trader joes bag wrapped gift (I'm recycling!). It was a lovely warm afternoon with a ample breeze.
We checked in to the Paso Robles Inn to find that our Jacuzzi room had been stocked with a generous gift from my family of Champagne, Chocolate dipped strawberries, cookie, fruit plate, cheese plate, and hearty wheat crackers! It was a very nice surprise and we were ready for a stinky sulfur smelling natural hot spring soak and a nap before dinner. We dined later that evening at Artisan in Paso Robles. It was a very tasty modern meal, where I tried venison for the first time.
After, we met up with Sam and Jen again for a drink and a few rounds of Apples to Apples while drinking our wedding gift from Teresa (a very nice Cab). We also broke out the top of our wedding cake (packed complete with little pink cherry blossoms). It was actually really tasty. If someone had sold me that cake in a restaurant I would have been pleased.
Happy Anniversary, honey. Cheers to forever!
Posted by jenredstar at 2:58 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2007
If you like to travel in Asia
Check out my old friend Paul's blog with this entry " My Letter To The Practical Nomad, Or Things I Learned In a Year of Traveling"summing up all that he learned while traveling through asia for about a year I just started reading it and I'm really enjoying it.
Posted by jenredstar at 7:33 PM | Comments (0)