Happy Veterans Day!

In honor of those who served during wartime, Matt and I both had the day off of work to celebrate. We took some time to do something we've been interested in doing for a while...kayaking in La Jolla Cove! We disembarked from the shore and immediately headed for leopard shark alley. We didn't see them right away, so we continued on our 2-hour trek. We saw some cute CA seals resting on the rocks and took a peak at some of the many caves along the shore (but weren't allowed to go in without a guide). On our way back to the launch site we also saw a small sting-ray, a skate, and approximately 25 leopard sharks! These 5 feet-long bottom feeders were awesome, swimming about 4 feet below our kayak! As usual, we snapped some photos...

(Where are all of those supposed seals???)(There they are!!!)

(The cave inlet...too cool, huh?) (And some kayakers that had their Golden Retriever on board!)

Nothing much...

On Friday evening we went to a special Black Tie Gala for San Diego's Junior Achievement organization at the Hotel del Coronado. Matt is really excited to get involved with JA again, and I believe he's eager to teach the little ones about business, as he did in Chicago years ago. I finally got to meet a few of Matt's co-workers and we enjoyed cocktails, dinner and met a few great kids involved in the program. After the event we walked the hotel grounds and reminisced about being there on September 26, 2005, when Matt proposed in the hotel's gardens. When we got home we were feeling silly, and so decided to have a little photo shoot in our building's lobby...

Oh, the stupidity when you've got no local friends & only each other ;-)

On Saturday I drove up to LA for a SoCal Primate Forum at CSU-Northridge. I spent the day on campus with a co-worker, listening to various presentations about research with New World Monkeys. After the forum I met up with my friend, Cassie, in Brentwood and we had dinner together at a pretty decent Greek place in Westwood.

Today we did the usual, Coronado dog beach for Sydney and the Hillcrest Farmer's Market. Matt tried a Pancakes & Bacon cookie, and I had a savory cookie made with olive oil, rosemary, lemon and black pepper. It was delicious! We spent the latter part of the day running errands and doing some more car shopping.

This week is the last of the 1st trimester at my school. I am so glad to be administering Final Exams, and to inherit some new kids after this week. Hope I am entirely devoid of stinkers! Yeah, right!

Dogs are AMAZING creatures!

Need I remind my readers about Sydney's "adventure" in August 2007 when we were moving to LA? Here is a similar story (albeit, much more adventurous) about another doggie named Nubs. Click this link to read.

Nubs was housed here in San Diego at the Snug Pet Resort, owned by Chargers' player Ladainian Tomlinson. Sydney may just have to check it out.

All Hallow's Eve...

Here is our townhouse, barely decked out for the holiday (there are some spider webs & plastic spiders on the railing...they just didn't photograph well). I wish we could have done more, like my favorite decor from this blog...

Love her decor from this year, and look how adorable from her last year's decoration inside her Brooklyn limestone walk-up...

Yesterday started off with our visit to the dog beach on Coronado. As usual, Sydney had a fabulous time crashing through the waves, and the day couldn't have been better...completely clear skies & full sunshine! I spent the majority of the afternoon running errands and treating myself to a manicure, while Matt watched college football. In the later parts of the afternoon we finally carved our pumpkin, while enjoying "hot toddies" (rum & spiced cider)...it was delish! Later on we went over to Margie's for dinner with she and Stan; we enjoyed the stuffed deep-dish from Lefty's, and it was WAY MORE like Giordano's than the pizzas we've had from there before. So happy to have something familiar in our neighborhood! We decided to forego the Balboa Park Haunted Trail and the scary movie, "Paranormal Activity" (which was coincidentally made in Rancho Penasquitos, just down the street from my new school), and instead ordered the original 1960's "Psycho" on our On-Demand. Neither of us had ever seen the movie before, and we both fell asleep. It wasn't much of a thriller compared to modern films! Remember the famous shower scene?! I rewound the movie & watched it again today; I don't believe I missed too much during my sleep!

Today Matt flew to Dallas for business, so after I dropped him off at the airport, I checked out the Hillcrest Farmer's Market for the 1st time. It was so much fun! There were plenty of stands with loads of farm-fresh produce and other locally made edibles (honey, cheese, bread, etc.), but there were also loads of food stands with a variety of yummy treats. I enjoyed a Cactus Quesadilla! I also picked up a few finds, including a pomegranate, a persimmon, some swiss chard, kale, and a bunch of pretty wildflowers. I intend on making a whole wheat pizza with kale and pumpkin seeds, an omelette with swiss chard & shallots, some toasted kale, and possibly an Indiana persimmon pudding! This may become our Sunday morning routine, as it is right down the street from our home. I intend to spend the rest of the day on schoolwork, and making a carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting.

On another note...

Oh, to travel around the world!

I just read about this guys' upcoming adventure, and became very jealous! This is totally something Matt and I would LOVE to do. But, seeing as we don't have the cajones or the stash of cash (especially as someone in the household was unemployed for the past 2 years...AHEM), it'll be a dream that is never reached. I will surely be following his blog for the next 12 months!