Providence, Rhode Island

I would have to mark this as my first official visit to New England.  I wish I could say that I loved it...

Let me just say this as a native Californian who has lived in California for nearly 27 years, it is very difficult to find oneself in humidty.  I literally was getting sick and dehydrated from the stuff.  I had to buy gatorade twice!  If I could never to be in humidty again, I would jump at the opportunity to do so.

My mom ventured to the Ocean State with me.  We got in Thursday night and had the best cab driver ever.  He was super nice and told us where we should visit.  He was so excited that we were there to see his state and that I was there to run the Rock N' Roll Providence 1/2 Marathon.  He even gave me the section of the paper that talked about the race.  Sweet!

We stayed at the Wyndham Garden, at India Point.  You could see the Seekonk river from our room window...  I am pretty sure that section of the river was still the Seekonk.  Our lovely hotel also happened to be the furthest point from any other place we needed to be.  For example:  The Convention center, down town, the mall, the start of the race...

Needless to say we did 2 full days of walking before the race and on top of that, I made my mom join me friday night for a Haunted tour of Providence.  I am sure glad that we went, though, because our guide was really funny and animated.  It was a great way to spend the night.

I had already known that I did not want to, nor should I walk a lot before the race, but it happened.  Not only the walking back and forth/ around that was mentioned above, but my mom and I also walked 2 miles to the race... in the rain!  Yes, the rain!  It rained the entire...  I mean the entire race.  I do not mean a drop here and there... it was pouring.  It stung my skin sometimes.  I became extremely miserable by mile 6-1/2.  That is when the rain got to me and I began to walk more than run.  I just could not do it any more.

I ended up finishing and logging my worst time ever!  But, a finish is a finish and I am happy to have added the medal to my race bling collection.  I also got to put a new experience down in the books... yes, running in another state, but I got underarm chafe for the first time and let me just say it is no party!

After the race, my mom and I walked back to the hotel... yes, you guessed it, in the rain!

On the up side.  I got to see history around me every day!  Historic house and places!  Edgar Allen Poe walked the same streets during his lifetime!  That is pretty amazing.  I learned that the people of Providence are willing to volunteer for a race in the rain, which is huge, because I hardly saw anyone out during our six days in the city.

We had a really nice waitress at Johnny Rockets and this reminds me, that I still need to call in about her great service.  I discovered that Providence does not really sell postcards and if they did have them, they were $1 to $1.50 per card!  Isn't that ridiculous?!

My mom and I took a day trip to Boston two days after the race.  It was a neat way to end our east coast visit.  We took a tour bus around the city and hopped off at many of the stops.  We got to see the State House.  We did not go in, because the gates were closed... come to find out, they are always closed in the front.  You have to enter by the side gates.  The front gates are only opened twice a year.  Once when the current governor leaves office and once when the incoming governor enters office.  We saw Boston Common, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, The USS Constitution, and many more Boston greats!

Overall, I had a lovely time.  It was relaxing and enjoyable.  But, I think I'll do all of my future New England visits in the Fall... or Winter, perhaps Spring... definitely not Summer.

(I'll Post Photos later)

Moving to Fallbrook

I may be moving to Fallbrook.  I checked out a place on Saturday and I submitted my application today.  I will hear about my credit check, etc. soon.  Here's to hoping for a place of my own!

I am going to go for the studio.  It was cuter than the 1 bedroom/ 1 bath apartment and $100 cheaper!

I'll keep you informed.

Personal License Plates

Sure, I've tossed around the idea of having a personal license plate every now again, throughout my life.  But, I can never decide what I would choose.  I mean, I am interested in so many things...  how would I ever think of an amazing, funny, cute, odd, license plate phrase?

Well, choosing apparently was not an issue for the owners of these four plates I saw over the course of the last week:

TTFNLOL

BORNOLD

BZYBKR

WAR (emblem) IOR

If you could choose a personal license plate for yourself, what would it be?  Tamara says hers would be 'LV2BNKD'... lame.  Don't worry, I told her so!

Oceanside Eats

I do not go out to eat often... but I do sometimes and that is the basis of this quick story.

A few weeks ago Tamara, my mom, and I went to a little eatery on Coast Highway, here in Oceanside.  It is called Kealani's.  It is the home to some delicious Hawai'ian cuisine.

Tamara and I went there for a second time today and I again had the katsu chicken.  Excellent choice.  However, my thankfulness for this meal had a brief stop... when I tried their Voo Doo sauce... also labled Hot Hot Sauce.  I thought, "It can't be that hot... can it?  Well, they do have two 'hots' written on the bottle."

Sure, I'll give it a try... I'll douse my bite of chicken in it.  That is always a great idea, when trying out hot hot sauces.

Worst idea ever!  I don't think I  have ever made a worse judgement.  My mouth was not only on fire, it burned with a hot hot firey passion for almost the entire amount of time it took me to eat my whole meal.  Why on Earth would anyone make a concoction so darned hot??  You can't even taste the sauce, you just taste your cells dying!

Luckily Tamara and I made our way to Petite Madeline Bakery.  It recently opened up in this area of Coast Highway, however, they have another location about a 5 minute drive from here.  We have seen the preparation for this joint for a while now and I am so glad that it is open.  We went in for dessert and dessert we got!  I tried this amazing Raspberry Macaron (almond) cake.  My goodness! It was filled with almond greatness and the raspberry added a lovely note.  Tamara had this flavor packed, three tiered cheesecake type of deal.  The top layer was lime curd, the second layer, cheesecake, the third layer, key lime pie!  It was truly delicious!

Not only was the dessert amazing, but we had great service as well and we will definitely be going back!  Check out one of the Petite Madeline Bakery locations yourself!

Lord You Are Good!

I have been struggling for two years to get an Art teaching job.

These have been 2 long, hard, sad, stressful, and trying years.

Nearly 200 applications filled out and sent in.

5 interviews.

One hiring and firing in the same day.

And now...  It has come!

The Lord has been good and has givien me a job.  It is part time and I am so thankful.  The first thing that popped into my head was this song:


Lord You Are Good


Verse
Lord,You are good and Your mercy endureth forever (2x)
People from every nation and tongue,
from generation to generation;

Chorus
We worship You,
hallelujah (2x).
We worship You for who You are.

We worship You,
hallelujah (2x).
We worship You for who you are and You are good.

Bridge
You are good all the time,
and all the time You are good

Listen to Lord You Are Good.

We used to sing this at APU all of the time.  I still love it!  I will fill you in later about all of the fun I had in Rhode Island.