Changes

I don't have a lot to say in regards to politics. I do believe that President Obama has a long, hard road ahead of him and the nation will not be "fixed" overnight. But it is definitely a time for change in our nation, and I am excited and optimistic for what the future holds.

Everyone should hear (or read....) his speech and remember history was made on this day.

Defined as...

Joy: A feeling of extreme gratification aroused by something good or desired OR this !
Seriously, I'm so happy I could burst into tears. I have been jumping up and down in my poor little cubicle for the past 10 minutes. The beautiful Michael Bluth brings a smile to my face. Complete bliss has been achieved....

Start Pedaling

My job along with many others around the nation has been affected by budget cuts. I am so thankful to still have a job, but it is hard to continually have more and more things taken away. The most recent being a work car. I didn't have one just for myself, but I did generally have one available for my nice long drives around the state. (Basically workers realized that if they used their own cars and got reimbursed they would end up with a nice fat check (traveling to St George and back at 52 cents a gallon gets you a $300 reimbursement.... nice huh?! - and I only did this once, don't judge me!) All those fat checks amounted to over 6 million dollars last year(and I know this sounds bad, but seriously, we get paid crap so we might as well use the resources we can - again, don't judge me!))
Now to get a car, there is planning involved, time constraints, rental cars to obtain, and paperwork - all things I like to avoid.
So my maintenance friends and I joked the other day that the next step will be to take away all the cars and provide bikes. And since my co-worker had to go to Spanish Fork we had some good laughs over her riding a bike all that way. Oh, and since they're too cheap to give us cars, she would have to sleep in a tent on the side of the road. I can't wait for the legislative session to be over and see what further cuts will be made....

I still think if the administration allowed the regular workers to "suggest" changes the state may end up saving thousands (if not millions) of dollars.

Olympic Swimmer

Just a glimpse at a future Olympic Gold Medalist...... Stinky Pete!
She really is that good. Now let's hope the Olympics are somewhere really cool in 2016 - the contenders are Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo (I vote for all except Chicago, I can go there any old time!) Guess I better start saving my pennies now.

The Pier..... Solvang

After the parade we drove (after getting on the freeway going the wrong direction for 30 minutes - I hate LA roads!) to the pier in Santa Barbara. Grandma Carma always makes clam chowder for New Year's, so since we weren't with her, we decided to have fresh clam chowder on the pier. It was freezing cold and we sat outside to eat, but it was nice to see the sailboats.

Our last day we wandered around Solvang. These flowers were just bursting to get photographed, so I was happy to oblige. The entire town is fun, but since I've been there so many times I don't think to take pictures. It was fun nonetheless (although since I had to get new tires on my car I couldn't buy clogs - stupid tires....)

Roses are Red...

We were bright eyed and bushy tailed for the parade. Justin spent the night along the route so the rest of us just had to get up at the butt crack of dawn (seriously, if the sun isn't up we shouldn't be!) and headed to the Metro Train Station. Boogers loved the train and talked all along the way.

Then we walked and walked and walked until finally finding Justin. We had great seats right in front and eventually I was able to remove all my layers (well except one, there were small children around....)

May a Bird of Paradise fly up your nose.....

My mom is going to become a parade official one day so she can ride along on a Vespa. They were pretty cool except they sat next to the floats the entire time so I had to strategically take pictures.

(This guy really looked like Steven Spielberg. And they were stopped in front of us for several minutes, so he was gracious enough to pose and allow lots of photos - even some with the million dollar bill).

This was our spot along the route and where Justin spent the night (Oak Ave). We took this picture about ten minutes after the parade had passed, and everyone has packed up and left (all their garbage!)

Butterflies

After Christmas my mom and I made a trip to Santa Barbara to see Boogers. They have a new house, which means we got a bedroom in the house instead of a shack up the road. And I didn't have to worry about mountain lions attacking me as I walked to the shack.

We headed up to Pismo Beach for a little shopping. Along the way we ended up (ok maybe because Colleen took a wrong turn) at the Monarch Butterfly hibernation place. (I guess I should have found out what it was called). It was pretty amazing to see..... it all looks like a bunch of dead leaves, but when you look through the telescope you can see that it is a HUGE cluster of Monarch Butterflies waiting out the winter.