Wake Me Up When September Ends (or when Fall finally arrives)

Well, September is now gone, and you coulda fooled me because it's still crazy hot. I keep trying to make fall happen if you know what I mean.

I officially and unabashedly joined the Boot Club, but for $12 for those beauties how could I not?! 

Another reason I want Fall to happen: PIE. 

Thank you Pusheen. 

Another fun September happening was playing Legos with my favorite little man. I'd be a total liar if I said I wasn't tempted to steal the Guardian of the Galaxy Legos from a 4 year old. 

While I am in Palmdale, it's not uncommon to go to Tommy's for a chili burger. It happens sometimes. And while I eat that glorious burger I feel like Princess Fatty on cloud 9. But even Princess fatty has her limits. I saw this advertisement for a breakfast sandwich in the window of the establishment. I am pretty sure it deserves this meme I made for it. 

Ross and I have been trying to track down a record player. Used or new, we don't care. We just want something we can play all of our records on. It is getting a bit ridiculous. I was pretty surprised when one day Ross announced we would be going to an independent record store in Claremont. Whoa. That is determination.

It was a cool store with a decent selection, but unfortunately "independent" often comes with a price tag we can't afford so we had to pass. But we still bought some records for that turntable we will ahve someday. 

I haven't been baking much because it is so hot, and never cools down. Plus, now I live in America I can get anything I want at the store anyways. But not this bread. 

Through various nutmeg misunderstandings, this bread almost didn't get made. But I am glad I did because I am addicted. It is a zucchini bread with orange zest and warm spics like clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Perfect way to continue to pretend that fall is happening here. 

Camping in the San Jacinto Mountains

I love being outdoors, and sometimes, to maximize your outdoors time, you go camping. Now, when it comes to camping, I'm not quite a glamper, but I'm definitely not hardcore. 



But Ross and I have some camping gear, and we enjoy an occasional overnight camping trip. We have been trying to go camping for awhile now, but Ross's schedule doesn't really allow it... until now! His "golden weekend." 

He's like an animal set loose in his natural habitat. Lovin' him some forest.

What was particularly fun about this trip was that it was into unknown territory. I did a fair amount of research and scouting for a good campsite, and it turned out great. We were up in the San Jacinto mountains, which has a very different terrain, even from what I have experienced in southern California. I still had the opportunity to teach Ross about the trees though, my dad would be proud. :D 

We picked a cozy little campsite and bought some wood. We walked down the road into town to buy some essentials for breakfast the next day (aka the eggs spilled all over the ice in the cooler and we wanted new eggs). Then we got to work building a fire and eating some food. 

I really love camping food. I know I sounds crazy, but there is something comforting about eating your dinner out of tin foil that was just nestled in some coals. But really, I am just a sucker for dessert. One of my all time favorite camp foods are these little sammich pies my dad would make for us growing up. You butter some bread and put it in this cast iron device, put some pie filling in-between, then stick it in the coals to get nice and toasty. Mmm. 

It was fun to introduce Ross to a family tradition. That pie-maker is actually my grandpa's! We enjoyed the nice break from the warmer temperatures at lower elevations, but it got chilly pretty quick and we headed to bed. To wake up in the morning like this. 

Pretty much looking like a homeless person. I was freezing cold, and in a moment of glamping inspired weakness, I drank my morning hot chocolate in the car with the heater on, Ross laughing at me through the window.  We packed up camp and set out for a hike. There are some pretty intense hikes in the area, which were definitely  not for us, but we settled on one that would be challenging and fun, called Devil's Slide. 

You need to have a permit to be in the area for hikes, even small hikes. It's free, but you have to have it so they can track down your body when you don't come back. I'm not joking folks, the San Jacinto Mountains have been on one of those "I Shouldn't Be Alive..." truTV shows. 

It was a pretty hike, interesting vegetation and climbs very rapidly. Up, Up, Up! The hike climbs about 2,200 feet!



I love this picture of Ross, King of the Mountain. Also, I love my wardrobe change. the shade was really cool, the sun was pretty toasty, and hiking warmed me up too, so I had a hard time staying comfortable.



The views were very scenic and about 2.5 miles later we made it to this clearing area called Saddleback Junction. The perfect flat spot for lunch.



I was pretty tired but I figured the descent would be easier. My ankles had a different idea though. I hate feeling like a decrepit old lady when I hike, but next time I should probably wrap my little chicken ankles or something, the rocky trail wasn't helping much.



See Ross poking out from under the rock?

We passed many people on the trail, turns out that day was actually a free National Forest pass day, so maybe that motivated people to get out. One couple had a dog with his own little pack. It was pretty adorable, the dog followed us a little bit, guess he wanted to be our buddy.



Can you blame him? Look how awesome we look. After we finished the hike, we wandered into the town of Idylwild. It's a small-scale version of Big Bear. It has cute little shops and restaurants. The sky look pretty threatening but that didn't stop us from having a little fun.



My favorite part of maybe the whole trip (second to the dessert sammich) was CHOCOLATE COVERED CHEESECAKE. For only $5 we got a huge slice of cheesecake, dipped in chocolate and rolled in our topping of choice. We opted for crushed pecan pralines because duh sugar.



It was amazing. I want a whole cheesecake of them in my belly.

It started sprinkling a little, we got some mexican food and free cupcakes, and I used one of the world's sketchiest bathrooms (oddly enough dirtier than a campsite bathroom). Then we headed home.

While we were winding our way down the mountain I could tell that the sunset was going to be beautiful.



Then we turned the corner and bam!

This doesn't capture it, but man, that valley floor, mountain road, and beautiful clouds get me! It was a satisfying ending to a really fun weekend. 

Four-Eyes Club

I'm going blind, or I'm a terrible driver. Probably the latter, but I'm willing to use an excuse. Either way I thought it wouldn't be bad to go see the optometrist. My freaking brother is an optometrist and I just can't face him honestly, knowing the last time I was seen was over 7 years ago.

On that fateful day of September 18th, the doctor said that I could use glasses. Okay, it wasn't really fateful considering I had the smallest, tiniest prescription even available. But the doctor said it would help a little so I could get them if I wanted. Lucky for me, my parents have incredible insurance so the glasses were completely free (for me). I figured why the heck not then.



Every since I was little I wanted glasses. Maybe because I thought they made me look smarter, maybe because both my parents had them, and an ever-increasing number of my siblings. At the same time, I prided myself on my perfect plus vision.

And now that I could get glasses, I had no idea what style to get. With some help I settled on a pair and they came super fast!

What do you think of the newest member of the four eyes club? I like 'em! Now I just have to get used to wearing them. 

Foodie Adventures

It is a bit of a bummer that I don't have a car that I can zoom around in at my leisure, but luckily I am surrounded by great people who are really helpful and amazing at getting me to where I want to go. One such person is my cool little sis Ali. It's fun to be unemployed together because we can share in misery and frustration, but also live it up and have fun random adventures.

She often volunteers for the job of schleping me around, and we are continually convincing the other one to stay at our place. We both win sometimes.

This past time, we decided to try out this hip little macaroon shop.

I am going to be honest, I've never actually hadI a macaroon, but I thought these were pretty great. The "IE Explorer" might have been my favorite. It was dark chocolate with dark chocolate filling. We  also got a cup-cake. Not to be confused with a cupcake. As you can see from the top right, it is a cup, filled with cake, a cream layer, then white chocolate! It was absolutely amazing. It was called purple amethyst in part, I am sure, because the top of the chocolate was glittering purple. Also, it has a cute little mini macaroon on it.

Just to be ultra fancy we got some specialty sodas as well. They were also amazing. I have decided to call myself a "foodie" because that makes me sound less fat when I constantly blog about food. 

The Great Wall of Los Angeles

I love writing about my adventures because they don't really sound crazy until I write them down.

Like that one time my sister found this "hidden gem" in the east part of The Valley and we decided, "Sure! Let's navigate through somewhat unknown streets and find it."

We pretty much had no expectations and those are always the best adventures. So with some U-turns and sketchy parking situations, oh and finding this wonderful inside joke street:

... we made it!

I present: The Great Wall of Los Angeles

The Great Wall of L.A. is a 2,754 foot long mural on the walls of the Tujunga Wash; one of the longest murals in the world!



The mural depicts California history, and begins in the very beginning: Pre-history and Colonialism.

We started at the beginning, which I would recommend, but be careful of the bum community scattered along the chain-link fence line. When I saw a pile of cigarette butts, followed but a human foot, I wasn't sure if I was at the scene of a crime or the scene of an art mural.



But Ali and I walked along, checking out the mural and old gnarled TV trays filled with fungus water for ferral cats. I love the section of the mural above, "Youth Team at L.A. harbor." Perhaps the huge duck thing pictured on the bottom right is a prophetic vision to the future duck in the harbor?! And maybe shark-man on the bottom left is ... Sharknado 2?!?

Anyways, it was interesting to see events that were big for America, and events that were specific to California. Or some, like the Mayan corn lady whispering in Thomas Edison's ear. Still trying to mull that one over.



What was even more intriguing, were all the things we hadn't heard of or names we didn't recognize. Guess we have some brushing up to do.



And although a portion of the time was spent avoiding bums, wondering what West Nile mutant strand was growing in the wash, and peering through rusty chain link, it was a cool experience. I love doing new and unique things, especially with my partner in crime.

The Smiley Library

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor!"


With all my neighborhood wandering I do and blog about, I feel like I need to tie on my oxfords and button up my cardigan, because it is getting awfully Mister Rogers around here. And nothing screams Mister Rogers quite like going to check out the local library (well, maybe it screams more "Reading Rainbow" but I'm not splitting hairs here).

What makes it better is that the name of the library is the Smiley Library. Could there be a happier sounding place on earth?



Turns out, the Smiley library is a pretty happy place. The exterior and interior are absolutely gorgeous.

They even have a silent book auction, and a Friends of the Library bookstore. Most of the books are right around a dollar, some even cheaper!

Some books were scary old. Like this one, inscribed back in 1948.

My favorite book though, was this one, that looks like a clone of my father in his younger days. You can tell it's spot on when even my mom agreed. 

In the kid's section, they had a bunch of mission models on display. I now fully recognize how weird this is for non-natives. But in California, it is part of your culture. In fourth grade you learn about the state of California and as such, learn about the California mission trail and all about Father Junipero Serra. As part of this education, students are required to write a report, and build a replica of one of the missions. I'm pretty sure mission projects are the bane of every fourth grade parent's existence. But then again, judging by the quality of some of them, maybe not. 

It isn't uncommon to see mission projects on display in local libraries. I was lucky enough to see a few so I could teach Ross about the California fourth grade experience. Ross's response to my explanation was simply, "every kid has to do a project?!" Oh yes. 

And oh yes to this lovely gingerbread-esque mission. With pretzel crosses, fruit-roll-up stained glass windows, and a gumdrop path. But wait, go around the back and you can see whale-sized Swedish Fish and butterscotch chip banks.

But of all the cool things we discovered at the library, I must admit that my ultimate favorite was this book-loving squirrel. 

I never knew a bandaged paper cut could be so cute.

Carpet Cleaning and Extreme Heat

The biggest difference I have noticed about living in the Inland Empire is that it doesn't mean that it is cooler. I think because of it's close proximity to the mountains I somehow got this wacky idea in my head that that meant it was cooler here? Wrong.

The nice thing about the high desert where I grew up is that it gets hot in the afternoon, maybe hottest around 1pm, then as the sun sets, the temperatures dive down. And after the sun sets you get sweet reprieve until the next day.

In contrast, the Inland Empire stays hot forever. I have found that often the hottest part of the day is actually not until 3pm or really 4pm. Then if you are lucky, it begins to cool down. Lately though, it has been "extreme heat."



The temperature inside my apartment was 94 degrees, and rising. So quite naturally, I thought that would be the perfect time to shampoo my carpet.

When we first moved it, it was rather disgusting how disgusting the apartment was. I always roll my eyes at the amount they take out of your security deposit to "clean" the apartment. Righ, righ, righ. I've been perpetually haunted by long black hairs, and the floors are gross no matter how many times I clean them. I was really happy that my mom let me borrow her carpet cleaner because I couldn't wait to get the carpets clean finally.

Well, that was a flaw in my logic, that using a carpet cleaner would actually clean my filthy apartment carpet. No matter how many times I went over the carpet, it seemed like the water was barely getting cleaner. But whatever, that is a barely that I am willing to take.



Pure sludge going down the drain, likely killing some sea babies somewhere. But you can see from the top left and bottom right photos that it looks amazing!

I thought the heat would help the carpets dry quickly, and they did, but I went over the carpet so many times that it was still drying and I was still working into the late evening. As you can see from my cute Weather Pup, it still feels like 87 degrees out after 10PM! Craziness. 

Lately

Ross is currently in his Internal Medicine rotation, and honestly it isn't too bad. 24-hour call sucks, but I still see him way more than when he was in school in Grenada. He is usually done by 3pm and sometimes way earlier than that. It's nice to have him around so we can wander a little in the afternoon.

Citrus Plaza is the big shopping center very close to us and it happens to have a Coldstone. Ross and I had a gift card so we got some ice cream since, although it's September, it is still brutally hot.

I love this creepy fountain. Best way to see kids -when they aren't being obnoxious. Kidding. 

One weekend Ross and I planted some flowers. Although we don't have an actual yard to plant in, a balcony will do. I love our little patio. It's my happy place. We will see how long before I kill everything. 

This is an incredibly boring picture, but an accurate portrayal of life in our home. 

Ross studies while I watch tv/ apply to jobs/ don't apply to jobs. Oh! We also finally got a TV. We were borrowing one from my dad, but we found an awesome deal and couldn't pass it up. It's nice to have a big TV, even if we don't have cable. Haha. 

We found our local comic shop, which has been bad for the bank and great for fun. New comics come out on Wednesdays and if Ross is free we like to take a walk and get the new comics. 

Also close by, which I can't remember if I have mentioned, is the Thursday night Farmer's Market.



What is great about the Farmer's Market is that the produce is actually affordable and you can get some really great deals. Back in Grenada everyone would post pictures of their market trip hauls and what a great deal it was. So now it is my turn to post my American market haul full of $1 zucchini and grapes and strawberries. Eat your heart out Grenada.

Lately, I have been doing my nails a lot. I was pretty proud that my pumpkin/ fall nails matched my pumpkin cheesecake ice cream.



I made the pictures small because I am slightly ashamed of my vanity, but not so much so that I would leave it out altogether.

Redlands has a ton of antique, consignment, and thrift stores. Maybe it is all the old people here, there must really be a market for it. It's fun to get out of the house and roam the stores. Sometimes we find really great deals, like the two pieces of furniture on the right.

Other times we just people watch, like this guy who was pretty serious about finding authentic art pieces. And maybe next time we will venture into the "Stretchy Pants" section. 

Also, lately, I finally got off my butt and got crafty with the millions of pounds of Grenada I brought back with me, meaning sand and shells and sea glass. 

I really like the way it turned out. It is simple but makes a classy decoration for a table or bookcase.