San Diego #2

The main reason we went to San Diego was to visit the Zoo. I grew up visiting the Omaha Zoo, which is pretty amazing. The zoos in Phoenix don’t quite match the high standards that I’ve become accustomed to, although some of them do have great attractions such as feeding a giraffe. I love the San Diego Zoo because of the variety, their commitment to their animals, and the PANDAS! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of visiting zoos. I love watching the animals interact with their environments, the visitors, and each other.

We woke up early, got ready, and enjoyed breakfast at the restaurant at our hotel before setting off for the zoo. We found it pretty easily – I don’t think we even took one wrong turn! The zoo has a great bus tour for an overview of the zoo and then express bus stops to expedite visitors through the 100 acres of zoo land. We began with the express bus and then made our plan for the day.

We began by taking the sky ride to the other end of the zoo. While in line, an Indian woman struck up a conversation with us and she ended up riding with us. I felt pretty bad for her because it was a hot day and she had on lots of layers.  I think she decided to take the ride back and forth to cool off!  It was interesting talking to her and I became a sort of tour guide as she asked for suggestions of places to go.  I hadn't realized that I had visited so many attractions in California!  Unfortunately I didn’t think to ask her if she’d mind taking a picture of the two of us.

We heard that visitors could feed the giraffe from 12-1:00 so around 11:30 we hopped on the express bus stop #2. We hadn’t finished with the area we were at but figured we’d feed the giraffe and then head back to our original area. We made it the giraffe stop but the line was VERY long and we ended up just going back to where we started! It was nice to sit though so it all worked out.

Finally we headed over to visit the pandas. My mom hadn’t seen pandas (ever) so I was pretty excited. The father and mother were out but the baby wasn’t being as cooperative. Apparently the zoo keepers use positive reinforcement by allowing a window of time for the pandas to go to the exhibit. If they go out to the exhibit they are given extra treats. If they decide to not go to the exhibit they are not punished but are returned to the indoor area and are not “eligible” to earn treats for going outside for a set amount of time. The trainers then try again later. We waited for a few minutes but since the baby had not been cooperative, the window of opportunity was shut and we were told that the baby would be off-exhibit for awhile so we headed over to the elephant area. I love the elephants! I’m amazed by their trunks, playfulness and huge ears (possibly because I’ve been told my ears are huge and look like elephant ears). We visited the elephants, lions, condors, kangaroos, and then finally headed back to see if baby panda was out. The line was fairly long but soooo worth the wait. The father was making himself comfortable when we arrived (see below).

The mother and baby were both out and were chomping down on some bamboo. I don’t know what it is about these animals that just amazes me – maybe it’s their mickey-mouse-like ears, the way they use their paws, or their playfulness. Either way, they are the cutest things ever, even the adults. The baby was showing off and I got a few pretty good pics. Here are a couple of my favorites.

We visited the meerkats in the afternoon and had fun watching their pop their little heads out of the many holes in their enclosure.  I began having whack-a-mole flashbacks.  There's one meerkat who acts as a lookout.  The others watch him and if he (or she) senses danger, the others are alerted and quickly scurry into their holes.  While we were watching them a plane few overhead.  The meerkat on lookout duty alerted the rest of the cute little meerkats of the huge danger that was lurking.  So heroic!  It was super cute to watch and I got a great picture of the lookout as he monitored the plane.

Our feet were exhausted around 4 so we decided to call it a day. We were on the Monkey Trail which ran into the Hippo and some other trail and couldn’t find out way out, even with the map! Luckily an employee walked by and pointed us (and another couple) in the right direction. I mention the other couple so you understand that it wasn’t just us having issues!

We went back to the room and cleaned up. The plan was to head to Ocean beach so we could say we saw the beach and then to find a little café around there to eat. Mr. C and I have been to many beaches around L.A. so I figured the San Diego beaches would be the same. I guess I should have done more research because the beach was not what I had expected. It was dirty, full of smelly kids smoking while skateboarding (yes, I do understand that this statement makes me sound old). Perhaps we went to the wrong part of the beach but neither one of us were too impressed. We hung out for about five minutes and then quickly walked to the car in search of a better area. I drove for probably about 15 minutes, having no clue where I was going. We tried using the GPS system to find a mall or theatre since we assumed there would be restaurants around there. Eventually I came up with the brilliant plan to search for an Olive Garden because wherever an Olive Garden is, there will be more places. We found one but didn’t like any of the surrounding restaurants to decided to head back to our hotel. We entered the info in and found out that the hotel was less than 2 minutes away. After laughing about our amazing navigational skills, we drove to the hotel, parked the car, and walked across the street to a great Mexican restaurant for dinner. The evening would have gone much smoother if we had simply done this in the beginning but it made for an unpredictable evening.

The next morning we headed to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets and did a little shopping. I even picked up a few Christmas gifts! The trip was great and although I love my dad and Mr. C, it was wonderful spending some one-on-one time with my mom.

San Diego Part 1 (#97 from my 101 in 1001 list)

Wow, it seems like forever since I’ve blogged!  When I sat down to write this I wasn’t sure I even remembered how to write a post!  Obviously I figured it out.

The past couple of weeks have been insanely busy!  I barely remember the day my mom flew in for her ten days with me/us but I do remember looking forward to it. 

My mom’s arrival marked the beginning of our girl’s only vacation.  Thursday night I arrived at the airport early and waited for her plane to arrive.  I don’t know anywhere better to people watch than the airport.  Wal-Mart might be close but I think the airport wins.  On the way there, I saw a man going to pick someone up on a small motorcycle.  Perhaps I ask too many questions but all I could think about was where the luggage would go.  Did the passenger not take luggage?  Do they have to carry it on the motorcyle?  Do they strap their suitcase to their back?  I was dying to know! 

I arrived at the gate, found a spot and got comfy (as comfy as you can get in the airport chairs).  After a few minutes a girl, her mother, and her very tall boyfriend sat in front of me, completely blocking my view of the passengers arriving.  I strained to look around the VERY tall boyfriend while listening to the girl’s high-pitched voice as she went on and on and then on some more about her shoes, her makeup, her day, and anything else about herself that her poor mother and boyfriend may have missed.  Apparently she was going to meet her boyfriend's mother for the first time.  She reminded me of Snookie from Jersey Shore so hopefully his mother is a fan!  I prayed my mother would arrive simply because I’d have a reason to get up (I did also want to see her for other reasons)!  Finally I saw her!  We got the luggage, found the car, and I managed to only take one wrong turn on the way out (remember that I’m directionally challenged).  The TomTom GPS and I are BFFs.  I don’t know what I’d do without that thing.

I was grateful my mom visited for a number of reasons.  The first was that it was wonderful to see her.  Second, there was an insanely fast, large spider in the kitchen that made an appearance the night she arrived.  Had I been completely alone, I may have stood on the couch all night waiting for the spider to leave.  Unfortunately for the spider, my mom was there and was able to "take care of him"...if you know what I mean.   Lastly, it is CREEPY being alone at night.  Every little noise makes me think that there's an intruder.  I don't know what my mom could have done had an intruder broken in but I was very happy to not be alone.  I do think that between my mom, myself, and my super scary dog, we could have defended ourselves!

I had to work Friday so as always my mother put herself to work cleaning what I hadn’t cleaned in our house (which wasn't much).  I am not offended one bit by her cleaning, however I do feel bad that she doesn’t just relax!  I joke (is it a joke if it’s true?) that our sliding glass doors never get cleaned unless she does it.  I’m sure it will be covered with puppy nose prints by the next visit.  She sewed buttons back on the numerous pairs of shorts Mr. C needed fixed that I had been avoiding, and cleaned things that haven't been touched since we moved in such as the lights that have to be reached with a ladder.  It was wonderful!

Saturday morning we started out for California at 6 am.  We decided to stop at Burger King for a quick breakfast on the way.  Freeway exits were closed and I was not yet accustomed to our new (and apparently improved?) GPS system.  It took us 45 minutes to find Burger King.  45 MINUTES!  Did I mention that we were still in Phoenix at this point?  Luckily the rest of the drive went much smoother and we arrived in San Diego around noon.  We drove around until we ran into an area with a ton of cute little restaurants.  Unfortunately I did not take pictures (remember how my thinking isn’t straight when I get hungry?).  We found a wonderful café with fresh sandwiches  and salads and had a great lunch.  Then we headed over to Balboa Park to find a parking space which we figured would be a piece of cake.  I think we may have been able to bake a cake in the time it took us to find where to park and then a parking spot!  Somehow we finally found a spot!  While it was a ways away, it gave us a chance to walk by the dog park, over a beautiful bridge, and through some flowering trees (not literally THROUGH the trees but you know what I mean!). 

I had been to Balboa Park one time before, however we went in the evening when everything was closed so we didn’t really see much.  Nevertheless, I fell in love with the park.  I love the beautiful, old architecture (I was a design major after all), the flowers, and the people.

After parking and walking, we only had a few hours before the park closed and decided that our time would be best spent at the San Diego Natural History Museum.  Neither one of us had been to a museum with dinosaurs before so we both were pretty impressed!  My favorite thing was the ginormous shark hanging from the ceiling.  I need one of those in my living room.  On second thought, he wouldn’t go with the décor but I still think it's super cool!  To sum it up - we learned a lot, saw some cool stuff, watched a 3D movie about dinosaurs, and just had fun doing something different together.  I’m posting a few of my favorite shots on here.

The last time I went to San Diego with Mr. C and Max Emerald (my BFF’s blog code name) we stumbled upon this AMAZING Italian place.  When I say amazing I mean that this is probably the Italian food that is served in heaven.  We had been driving around after a day at the zoo.  Max Emerald and I were in the front and Mr. C in the back, and I was in the mood for Italian.   We had no idea where we were going and I got us a little lost.  After having to reverse down a hill because I couldn’t turn around, and then almost driving into the FedEX landing strip, we somehow stumbled upon a restaurant with the cutest little outdoor patio.  Miraculously the restaurant was Italian!  We all agreed that it was the best Italian food EVER.  The restaurant is Jack and Guilios and obviously I recommend it.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it now.  So, because of the amazingness, it was obvious that I had to take my mother there.  We checked into our hotel and were happily surprised to find that it was within walking distance of the restaurant.  Our hotel layout was confusing and we again got lost that day, this time in the hotel!  We did manage to make it to the restaurant eventually and it was sooooo worth it!

 We ate outside in the beautiful weather next to the fountain.  My mom and I had planned to have the same thing so after she ordered I said I’d have what she had.  A few minutes later I found out that she had changed her order and I wasn’t getting what I had really wanted (the names were hard to pronounce if you’re wondering how I didn’t figure this out earlier).  I decided to just stick with it and when it arrived it tasted wonderful as well.  Unfortunately I did not think of pictures at this point either so I cannot show you the amazing food but I can tell you that the pasta was freshly made, the sauce was full of garlic, seasoning, and the food was just plain wonderful.  After dinner we wandered around Old Downtown San Diego, listening to the music on the street, stopping for ice cream (not a healthy night obviously), and buying jewelry from a very unique boutique. 

All in all, the day was great even though we had a few navigational challenges.  I had been planning to write about both days but I guess I had a lot to say so I figure this will have to be a two parter.  Up tomorrow - the San Diego Zoo with some very cute panda pics!

#38 and #39

I used to imagine myself sitting at home during the snowy winters, curled up on the couch knitting beautiful scarves.  There are a number of issues with that picture.  First off, I have no idea how to knit.  Second, I live in Phoenix where it never snows.  I guess I could buy some of that snow in a can stuff, cover my windows, and crank up the air conditioner in an attempt to Nebraskaize (yes, I did just make up that amazing word) my house.   

I should actually say that I HAD no idea to knit.  After years of waiting, I have finally learned how to crochet(close enough)!  Since I really only cared about making scarves and things, I’m subbing crocheting for knitting in my 101 in 1001 things.  Right after finding out that my friend would take me shooting, I discovered out that she knew how to crochet also AND was willing to teach me (yes, I know – it was a weird conversation that these two things came up at the same time)!  She grabbed her hook and yarn and by the time I left an hour or two later, I had an idea of what I was doing.  Now, I’m not the most patient person in the world and I’m pretty sure I would have smacked myself if I had been the one teaching myself to knit (this is assuming I’m two people – the teacher and the student) so it's honestly impressive that she was able to teach me.  I’ve been practicing ever since.  Lucky for me, I got a lot of practice because I kept doing things wrong and then I’d have to undo it all and start over.  Well not really lucky for me, but I'm trying to look at this as a glass-half-full thing.  A few times I missed a stitch and the scarf was lopsided.  One time I just completely made up a new method of crocheting which wasn’t really a method at all.  I’m pretty sure I've crocheted the same scarf at least three times now.  It’s not actually done yet because at a certain point I just couldn’t stare at that color anymore.  I finally picked another color and somehow though I managed to complete one!  I’ve actually done three by now (sorry, I’m falling a little behind with my blogging!) and I'm posting some pics for your enjoyment.  It's ok, you don't all need to comment on how wonderful they are :)  If you don’t look too closely they look wonderful!

Scarf #1!

This weekend my mom and I are heading to California for a girls-only trip so you’ll have that next post to look forward to!  She'll be here all week keeping me company while Mr. C is away on a retreat for the weekend.  If you've been reading my posts you'll understand why it's just common knowledge that someone had to come stay with me.  I might be 25 but I'm still terrified of staying alone!

It's Fall Damnit!

Fall has always been my favorite season.  Unfortunately for me, the weather of Arizona seems to be unaware of the season of fall.  Growing up in Nebraska, I loved the change when the days become cool and the nights could only be described as crisp.  The trees would change to beautiful, rich colors and even the sky was transformed to something more beautiful at night.  I enjoyed curling up at night with a blanket and my delicious, hot apple cider that’s only available during the fall season.  I better be careful, it sounds like I’m writing a poem here.  Let me now tell you about the season of Fall in Arizona.  After temperatures over 100 last week, I can report that today the high was only 97 degrees.  Did you catch that  key word - ONLY!  I don’t know about you but 97 degrees screams crazy summer heat to me rather than cool fall temps.  After waiting and waiting for something to change to make it feel like fall, I decided last week that it was going to be fall.  I put up my fall decorations, changed out the summer Scentsy and candles to cinnamony smells, and began dressing like it was fall.   The first two items on my checklist went alright but the last one didn’t really work the way I had envisioned.  I wore a tank top with a cardigan sweater to work one morning.  I thought I was going to die of heat exhaustion on the way to the car.  Apparently my “it’s going to be fall whether it likes it or not” decision didn’t really change anything and only resulted in me looking like a fool who was in denial about the crazy hot temperatures. 

I was feeling a little down that I was the only one celebrating fall and then on my way to work I saw this beautiful tree whose leaves were changing.  All of the trees around it were green and then there was this single tree with orangeish leaves.  Apparently this tree understood my frustration and it too, decided that it’s time for fall.  This was the best picture I could take without getting run over or walking a distance.  Enjoy!  Hopefully the other trees and weather will get with it soon!  In the meantime, my tree friend and I will just keep on pretending.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my father’s birthday and because of that, my post today is dedicated to him. This is slightly ironic because my dad is a pretty private guy and I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m nuts for blogging about my life secrets. (Although if my previous posts are my life secrets then my life is pretty boring. I still have some secrets :) ) I don’t even think he reads my posts, however I can always count on my mom to print them out and badger him until he does!


Although there are many to choose from, I’ve picked a few of my favorite memories with my father over the years. Enjoy!

I used to work for my brother in my brother/father’s pet store. One day I was going about my business when I noticed a pet carrier sitting on a shelf in a rather odd place. I looked in the carrier and found the cutest gray and black kitten. I knew my dad would know what to do so I found him and told him about my discovery. He looked surprised, thought about it for a few minutes, and then suggested that I call my mother to see if we could bring the cat home for the night so that we could clean him up and find him a home. I was to emphasize that it would only be one night. I called my mom, pleaded, and was ecstatic when she said yes. We took the kitten home and after a bath, he was white and grey and super cute. Of course the kitten stayed for more than one night. He stayed for years. Years later I learned that someone had found the kitten and brought it to work to see if they could find a good home for it. My dad had set the whole thing up, knowing that my mother wouldn’t tell me no. Pretty sneaky!

We had just moved into our new house in AZ and my parents came out to help us unpack. I had purchased these amazing, huge clock hands that were meant to hang on the wall with numbers placed around them. Mr. C and my dad were in charge of putting it up. I had painted wooden numbers for the 12, 3, 6, and 9. The clock was going up pretty high on a wall so Mr. C put up the letters from the ladder and my dad told him when they were positioned correctly. After instructing Mr. C on how to put up the last number, my dad said something to the effect of “good, now it looks like they are all windblown.” Apparently he thought it would be better if the numbers were not level. Mr. C was terrified (his wife can be a bit picky sometimes). This perfectly describes his way of doing things. It might not make sense to you but it sure is interesting! We've never changed the numbers. I guess I like looking at them and knowing how they came to be offset.

Every birthday he calls to sing me happy birthday. He used to wake me up singing this in his most off-key voice. This year he sounded pretty good. He better be careful or we'll start to think he actually has a good voice! My birthday song is always one of the highlights of my birthday. I’m not sure if anyone sings to him so we better get on that!

I can’t possibly end this without mentioning my wedding. At the rehearsal my dad was joking around. When it came time to hand me over to Mr. C at the rehearsal, he kind of veered me in the right direction and walked away, acting like it was no big deal. He had agreed to read a poem (something that still shocks me to this day) and made jokes as he was reading. The next morning flew by and before I knew it, it was time to walk down the aisle. My dad looked very stern and seemed to take a little bit longer handing me over this time. As he began his reading later in the ceremony, I was shocked to hear his broken up voice. I’ve always seen my dad as a loving but strong man who doesn’t really let anything get to him. For some reason, that just pulled at my heart. My dad hates pictures but managed to go through all of the crazy wedding photos with a smile…or half smile towards the end. The whole day just reminded me how much he would do for me. One of my very favorite moments was the bride/father dance. It’s a moment I believe I will remember vividly forever.

So, Happy Birthday to my wonderful father! I’m so lucky that God sent me such a wonderful father and I celebrate that on your birthday.

Ghettoish

I go through a lot of phases for everything imaginable.  I have phases for food, working out, TV, sleeping, hobbies, and a bunch of other random stuff I just can’t think of at this exact moment.   My favorite (and Mr. C’s least fav) phases are my word phases.  I like to modify/make up words (as you may have noticed on here).   I’m hoping that if enough people read my blog and my made up words, my words will soon take over the world and then I’ll eventually be able to publish them in Centner’s Dictionary (similar to Webster’s Dictionary).   Actually, one of my wonderful friends (and her son) also makes up words so the dictionary name should probably be modified to include her name as well.  Then we will both make tons of money and quit our jobs and live off the revenue from our world renowned dictionary.  Ok, maybe I’m being a little hopeful.  In any case, the point is that I love modifying words and get stuck on certain phrases.  I use them until I simply get sick of them, realize they are dumb, or someone is threatening me to stop.  In college, I had a period where I added “and a half” to everything.  I think of my friends said it first and it I loved it.  Example:  I can’t wait!  I’m excited and a half!”  “This blog is awesome and a half!”  You can probably see how this would get annoying over time.  Annoying and a half actually.  Now that I’m writing this I do see how dumb this really was... luckily that phase passed….  Then I had a phase where I said I was confused when I just didn’t know what I wanted.  I wasn’t confused per se but it was just easier.  Example:  “I don’t know what I want for dinner, I’m confused.”   “Which bag do you like best?  I’m confused.”  This drove Mr. C crazy as well.  Apparently I’m good at that!  My newest thing has been adding “ish” to words.  Example: “It’s coldish in here”.    After hearing “ish” used with times so often (“meet you around 5ish”), I guess it just grew on me and I’ve been using it in new contexts.  In the writing of this post, I also realized that I add “ness” to words also.  I even have a category for my posts entitled “randomness”. 

 I once was going to teach high school English.  After reading this post you may be grateful that I am not.  However, if I had taught high school English, I could have taught the kids my words and they could have helped me in my plan to make them known worldwide, therefore contributing to the need for the Centner Dictionary.  Too bad that didn’t work out.

This next part really has nothing to do with the first section of this post, other than that I used an “ish” word at one point in the story, found it mildly entertaining, and therefore decided to share this story with you, random as it may be. 

I’m sure you’ve received an email about the People of Wal-Mart at one point.  As much as I LOVE those emails (If you’re not smiling by the end of them, then there is something seriously wrong with you), I do not love Wal-Mart.  I know that Wal-Mart has some great deals but I just can’t get into it.  It’s huge, overwhelming, and sooooo busy.  I’ve always been a Target girl.  I love the wide aisles, clean white décor, and peaceful shopping (unless there is a tantrum throwing kid but then I’m just entertained so it’s ok).   I go to Wal-Mart maybe five times a year.  The majority of those trips are around Christmas because my father loves Wal-Mart and so I sacrifice going so I can get him a gift card.  I’m not really sure why this elicits more than one trip, but somehow we seem to go numerous times around the holidays.  The remainder of the times are to look for something I know I can only find there or to get something I know is cheaper there.  Usually there has to be substantial savings to justify parking, walking a mile from my car to the store, wandering through the store to find my item, and then waiting in line forever to pay.  Anyhow, this weekend I needed to get something there.  We were out running errands and had a couple of locations to choose from so we were discussing which one would be best.

Me: Ugh, I have to go to Wal-Mart for something.

Mr. C: Ok, which one do you want to go to?  (We have about three fairly close to us)

Me: How about the one at location #1?  Location #2 is always so busy and location #3 is too ghettoish (meaning not completely ghetto but not somewhere I’d really hang out alone at night). 

Mr. C: Location #3 is too ghetto?  So you’re saying you’d like to go to location #1?

Me: Right.

Mr. C. : Okayyyy….so instead of going to the “ghetto” location we’ll just go to the one where someone was shot.  That’s way better (said with sarcasm).

Me: Right, but it’s not ghetto. (wink)

We did go to location #1, where someone was shot (although that was years ago!).  Of course we were fine and I made it through another Wal-Mart adventure.

Have I mentioned yet that my logic isn’t always easily understood?

2 Grad Students

This is part of our conversation last night.  To give you a back-story, I was freaking out about something and then trying to figure out if I was overreacting, with the help of Mr. C of course because he’s just lucky like that.

Me:  Do you think I'm weird?  Do you think I'm dumb?  Do you think I'm lame?  (All said super fast, so fast that it slurred together – and no, not slurred because I was drinking)

Mr. C : Wow, one question at a time.

Me: Am I weird?  

Mr. C: Yes, but you're always weird.  I knew that when I married you.

Me: Hmmm.....ok yeah. (I figured there was more ammo to be used to prove this theory than to argue against it so I figured this must be true)

Me: Am I dumb?

Silence….. (I later found out that the silence was due to Mr. C being in the middle of a drink.  That's what he says anyhow....)

Mr. C : (Sigh) No.

Me: Am I lame?

Mr. C: No.

Me: K, thanks for clearing that up.  I’m okay now.

These are the types of discussions that occur between two grad students.  I thought grad students sat around and talked about the theory of relativity or politics or global warming.....  I wonder if I should be concerned about us?