It's official, I started a new position at another Microsoft Partner - ePartners, Inc. My 'home' office is their Aliso Viejo office, in Orange County.
ePartners is a nationwide partner with offices all over the country. Their headquarters are in Irving, TX. Ironically, Houston is the main hub of activity for my region. Maybe I'll have an opportunity to transfer there when/if Alberto and I ever decide to move.
I am working as a Senior CRM Consultant for the company. This is basically the same as my last position, but it is a promotion to the senior level.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The hits keep on coming....
The day after Stephanie left, we had more visitors.
This time it was two of Alberto's nieces, Dulce and Kristiel. They were in Tustin visiting other family members, and wanted to spend a few days with us.
I put those girls to work too! We spent Thursday working in the garden again - now that all the flowers were in the ground it was time to move the bulbs from the front flower bed to the perimeter of the hill.
With a little bit of elbow grease, we three girls got all the bulbs in the ground in a few hours!
The next day, I rewarded them by taking them to the San Diego Zoo. Thanks to the tix we had bought for Steph's visit but didn't use, I had some tickets that needed to be used.
We had a great time! I'll be honest, I had gone to the Zoo once before and didn't really know what all the hoopla was about. Sure, it was big, sure it was lush, but for the most part I didn't see much difference in the habitats or cages than at any other zoo, and none of the animals were out either.
This time was completely different. Our tickets included a 45 minute bus tour all around the zoo, and passage on the Skyfari tram from one end of the zoo to the other. These proved to make all the difference.
We took the bus tour the moment we walked through the gates. This gave us an opportunity to give the whole zoo a once-over and decide what we wanted to see on our own.
But there was an added bonus - because it was so early in the day, many of the animals that would later go in to avoid the summer sun were out and about! We saw so many cool animals that we didn't see again when we went around on foot. A beautiful tiger and polar bears playing were the highlights.
Once we were done with the bus tour we went to the children's petting zoo so Kristiel could touch the animals.
She was kind of scared, but pressed on with a brave face and tried to pet each one that I pointed out. They had little goats and some sheep in the petting zoo, and they were everywere!
One interesting thing I learned - an elephant's trunk has 40 muscles. We were fascinated as we watched the elephant who was trying to find things to eat on the curb - the very tips of his trunk were delicately and accurately picking up little pebbles like fingers! Very cool.
Of course, we waited in line to see the pandas, and got to see little Mei-Sheng napping on a log and big brother Bai Yun (I think that's his name) munching on some bamboo. We had to be sure to use our 'quiet voices' to not disturb them!
We took the Skyfari tram to the back of the zoo and watched all the activity below, including the gorillas playing a game chase around their habitat.
The highlight of our day was when Dulce and Kristiel fed the giraffes. They have two feeding times daily, and you can $5 per person for 3 biscuits to feed to them. These giraffes know when it is feeding time too. They start making their way to the appropriate corner of their habitat 30 minutes before feeding time even begins!
When the girls got their biscuits, we were advised to not give the biscuit right away - to hang on to it for a few seconds so we could see how the giraffes wrap their tongues around the food and tug on it.The girls did their best to follow instructions, but it is a little intimidating to see a gigantic beast with a huge long tongue towering overhead and coming closer to get some dinner!
Here's something else we learned - the Zoo has about 12 peacocks that they just left roam around the park. We saw one just strolling down the street and heading into one of the cafes. Not long after, we saw some people headed out the door! :)We had a great time, and were pooped out by the end of the day. When we got home that night, Alberto was sweet enough to have dinner ready for us. We all went to bed early that night!
The rest of the time the girls were here we did usual stuff - went shopping and picked up Meyda (their mom) in Tijuana. They left on the same day that I started my new job.......more on that in the next post!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Von Bodungen Visit, week 2
Did you miss us? Things got way too busy to sit down and write about it. Here's where we left off:
Steph and I spent the next few days sick as dogs
Steph and I spent the next few days sick as dogs
and mourning all the fun and happy moments
we should have had in San Francisco with Amanda.
In truth, it was probably good that we were resting anyway, we had done quite a lot the week before! 
We took it easy, and just went out one morning, to stroll on the beach and explore what was happening at the Oceanside pier. We saw a guy giving surf classes to a mother and daughter, and lots of people fishing on the pier as usual. 
It was a very breezy day, almost chilly, but it felt great to get out of the house and clear the cobwebs from our brains.
When we finally did feel better we went to Jazzercise, and you know the first thing they told us? Lots of people have been getting sick that go to that studio. All of a sudden the light bulb came on for us - Jazzercise
was the only thing that we had done without the guys, and had to have been where we got whatever our virus was. I made sure to wash my hands after working out that day, just to be on the safe side. 
With Mark back in New Orleans and Alberto back to work, Stephanie and I set ourselves about painting the kitchen and planting flowers in the back yard.
The boys had done the perimeter work with the trees and the bougainvillea, and it was time for us to fill in the middle.
Stephanie joked that our hill looked like a cemetary because I had placed all the potted flowers right where I wanted them to go in the ground - what do you think?I found that a little creepy, so I was happy to finally put them in the dirt!
It was a great sense of accomplishment to get it all in the ground!
Here we are, celebrating being finished!:
That weekend, Steph and I were back at the beach to catch some rays, and drink some mudslides! It was a beautiful day at the beach, and we really enjoyed just doing absolutely nothing after climbing up and down the hill in the backyard, and bending, reaching and stretching to paint in the kitchen. 
We saw a lady with an iguana, and she was taking him into the surf! We decided that the iguana didn't like that too much, because he writhed around like he was trying to survive in the cold surf!
Then I found out from Keith that there is one breed of iguana that has adapted to water and actually enjoy the ocean. Did you know that?
Last stop before Steph went home was Balboa Park. We took Dudley with us too on his first real afternoon excursion. Dudley loved it, but we wore him out!
Steph and I were a little worn out too after a few hours of walking all around the park and peering down into some of the hidden trails.
I took Steph to may favorite part of the park, right in front of the Botanical Garden, and we got a picture of her and Dudley:
Then it was back to New Orleans and the real world! Well, almost at least. I still had a few more days before I started my new job :)
N
Then it was back to New Orleans and the real world! Well, almost at least. I still had a few more days before I started my new job :)
N
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
family visit, week 1
Steph and Mark came to visit starting on 4th of July, and we are already exhausted. It has been a good week so far, but a jam packed week and also has a little bit of bad luck mixed in.
Wednesday -
Steph and Mark got bumped from their flights out to San Diego on the 4th. They had to wait to get on 3 other planes, and finally made it into San Diego around 1:30 (originally scheduled for 10:30 ish). This meant we couldn't go to the Temecula Wine Valley on the 4th of July like we wanted.
Oh well! We ended up having a relaxing day instead, and when I picked them up from the airport we had lunch in Ocean Beach where Mark tried his first ever fish tacos (Wahoo - yum!) and washed it down with some Moose Drool beer. I had fish tacos too, but Steph decided to stick with carne asada. Then we headed up the coast for the long drive home and met up with Alberto to have cocktails and relax. That night, we watched fireworks in the sandy shores of Oceanside, as they were launched off of a barge near the Oceanside pier.
Thursday -
Stephanie and I hit a Jazzercise Step class the next morning where we saw none other than Miss Judi Sheppard-Missett in the back of the room, also taking the class. Stephanie is a Jazzercise instructor in New Orleans, so she was very nervous and excited about taking a class at the 'home base' of Jazzercise, and equally as nervous about seeing Judi! We had fun, and we decided we should go again, but to a regular Jazzercise class next time.
For the rest of the day we really didn't do anything! It was just a relaxing day at home with nothing on our plates.
Friday -
On Friday we took a walk around the wildlife refuge trails near my house. They enjoyed that, and Dudley came along as well so we got him nice and worn out so he slept the rest of the day.
Afterward, we headed down to Old Town so Mark could see some of the history of California, and we could have a good lunch too! There we ate at La Pinata, which is said to be the oldest restaurant in town, and then we saw a hawk hanging out on a golf course nearby.
We also bought corresponding cook books from Old Town that we are going to use, and then trade, to see what the best recipes are!
We also visited the first schoolhouse in California, and got to read about all these crazy rules they used to have for teachers
(one example was no teacher shall engage in any unpure act such as marriage) and a ledger of how many lashings children receive for a variety of bad behavior (boys playing in girls' areas and vice versa warranted 4 lashings - playing cards on school grounds called for 10!).
Saturday-
Since we had already done the work Steph and Mark were coming to town to help us with (hanging kitchen cabinets), we decided to all tackle the hill on the backyard and start getting it into shape.
2 1/2 hours and $300 later, we walked out of home depot with a pile of stinky manure,
potting soil and peat moss, and a few lime trees, avocado trees, and bougainvilla to put in the ground. We didn't get even close to finishing it, but I feel that we accomplished a huge amount. 
While Mark dug holes for trees and planted them, Alberto fixed the irreigation system once and for all and Stephanie and I pulled up weeds. In the midst of all of this, Mark dug up some tiny little lizard eggs, so Stephanie and I reburied them, hoping most were still viable.
Well, we discovered there was no bistro (it hasn't opened yet), but we loved our wine pourer Jesse, who took care of us and didn't care one bit about how many tickets we had left. As long as our glasses were empty, he kept pouring us whatever we wanted. What a deal!
We liked the vibe of Keyways, and by the time we left (almost 3 hours later), Steph and I had both decided we might like it better than Wilson Creek.
It had a very homey feel, and the live music they provided was a nice touch.
Another plus is that it is the only woman-owned winery in the entire Temecula Wine Valley, so now I have another reason to support it! :)
After we left we decided (after much discussion) we needed an appetizer in the wine country, so we stopped at Plantation House Restaurant at the Maurice Car'rie winery.
This restaurant had a Hawaiian/Polynesian feel, and we sat out on the porch of an old plantation style house with deep wicker chairs and tall, stemmed water glasses.
We ordered two appetizers to share, macadamia nut brie (with fruit and toasted baguettes) and little polynesian ribs. YUMMY. Definitely try this place if you are in the area.
That night, we grilled the ribeye steaks we had gotten a few days ago, and washed it down with the Keyways Syrah that Stephanie decided was her favorite. Boy, what a luxurious life for us!
Monday -
More bad luck. I woke up really sick that day. Not sick like the flu, sick like a virus. This was not good for a number of reasons - it was Mark's last day before he flew home to go back to work, and also Stephanie had booked plane tickets to fly to San Francisco the next day to see Amanda for a night. 
After a variety of drugs and a small amount of food, I ended up sleeping through most of the day and getting up just long enough to have dinner with everyone.
While I slept, everyone teamed up to get more work done in the yard (thank you!) and now we have the bougainvilla and jasmine planted in front of the installed lattice. 
We went to bed early that night, since we had such an early morning the next day.
Tuesday -
TODAY - Even more bad luck! We got up at 4 am because Mark needed to be at the airport at 6 am for his flight, and I discovered that Stephanie had gotten sick overnight with what I had the day before.
There went our flight. After driving Mark to the airport, we decided that we weren't going to be able to make it, cancelled our reservation, and headed back home to sleep.
After apologizing to Amanda for mucking up our whole excursion (sorry again Amanda!!), we decided we'd see how we felt tomorrow, and then decide on if we can still go up there a little later in the week.
That is where we are now, taking it easy and hoping all of this will pass soon. I am not as bad as I was yesterday, but I am certainly not in any condition to be out and about at the pace we were at over the weekend. Steph is sleeping and we hope that a nice homemade pot of chicken soup, courtesy of Alberto, will help us feel much better.
Mark got home ok, and was only bumped from one flight this time (woo hoo!). Steph will be here one more week, until Tuesday July 17.
Wednesday -
Steph and Mark got bumped from their flights out to San Diego on the 4th. They had to wait to get on 3 other planes, and finally made it into San Diego around 1:30 (originally scheduled for 10:30 ish). This meant we couldn't go to the Temecula Wine Valley on the 4th of July like we wanted.
Oh well! We ended up having a relaxing day instead, and when I picked them up from the airport we had lunch in Ocean Beach where Mark tried his first ever fish tacos (Wahoo - yum!) and washed it down with some Moose Drool beer. I had fish tacos too, but Steph decided to stick with carne asada. Then we headed up the coast for the long drive home and met up with Alberto to have cocktails and relax. That night, we watched fireworks in the sandy shores of Oceanside, as they were launched off of a barge near the Oceanside pier.
Thursday -
Stephanie and I hit a Jazzercise Step class the next morning where we saw none other than Miss Judi Sheppard-Missett in the back of the room, also taking the class. Stephanie is a Jazzercise instructor in New Orleans, so she was very nervous and excited about taking a class at the 'home base' of Jazzercise, and equally as nervous about seeing Judi! We had fun, and we decided we should go again, but to a regular Jazzercise class next time.
For the rest of the day we really didn't do anything! It was just a relaxing day at home with nothing on our plates.
Friday -
On Friday we took a walk around the wildlife refuge trails near my house. They enjoyed that, and Dudley came along as well so we got him nice and worn out so he slept the rest of the day.
Afterward, we headed down to Old Town so Mark could see some of the history of California, and we could have a good lunch too! There we ate at La Pinata, which is said to be the oldest restaurant in town, and then we saw a hawk hanging out on a golf course nearby.We also bought corresponding cook books from Old Town that we are going to use, and then trade, to see what the best recipes are!
We also visited the first schoolhouse in California, and got to read about all these crazy rules they used to have for teachers
(one example was no teacher shall engage in any unpure act such as marriage) and a ledger of how many lashings children receive for a variety of bad behavior (boys playing in girls' areas and vice versa warranted 4 lashings - playing cards on school grounds called for 10!).
Saturday-
Since we had already done the work Steph and Mark were coming to town to help us with (hanging kitchen cabinets), we decided to all tackle the hill on the backyard and start getting it into shape.2 1/2 hours and $300 later, we walked out of home depot with a pile of stinky manure,
potting soil and peat moss, and a few lime trees, avocado trees, and bougainvilla to put in the ground. We didn't get even close to finishing it, but I feel that we accomplished a huge amount. 
While Mark dug holes for trees and planted them, Alberto fixed the irreigation system once and for all and Stephanie and I pulled up weeds. In the midst of all of this, Mark dug up some tiny little lizard eggs, so Stephanie and I reburied them, hoping most were still viable.
Of course, Dudley supervised, alternating between sticking his nose in the middle of what we were doing, and finding a shady spot to nap in
.
At 3:00 the proverbial end of work whistle blew, and we all got showered and prettied up to drive down to Puerto Nuevo for a lobster dinner.
It wasn't too bad driving into Mexico, in fact I'd probably be fine with doing it again except for the return trip wait - over an hour at the border to get back into the U.S., and trust me, it feels like closer to 2 hours! That was certainly a buzzkill, and I slept most of the way home after that.
Sunday -
Off to the Temecula wine valley,
to do what we couldn't do on Wednesday!
First stop was Wilson Creek, the same winery Stephanie and I decided was our favorite five years ago when I first moved out here. The winery has really grown, and there were 4 tasting stations instead of just the one we remembered.
One of them was 'in the back' of the building, and was among all of the huge floor to ceiling barrels of wine they maintained back there. It was great, and we spent a long time there.
By the time we were done there, we only had one more winery we could visit before things started shutting down, so Mark picked the one on the list that said it had a bistro (so we could have a light meal). This was Keyways Winery, off of Rancho California and down De Portola.
Well, we discovered there was no bistro (it hasn't opened yet), but we loved our wine pourer Jesse, who took care of us and didn't care one bit about how many tickets we had left. As long as our glasses were empty, he kept pouring us whatever we wanted. What a deal!
We liked the vibe of Keyways, and by the time we left (almost 3 hours later), Steph and I had both decided we might like it better than Wilson Creek.It had a very homey feel, and the live music they provided was a nice touch.
Another plus is that it is the only woman-owned winery in the entire Temecula Wine Valley, so now I have another reason to support it! :)
After we left we decided (after much discussion) we needed an appetizer in the wine country, so we stopped at Plantation House Restaurant at the Maurice Car'rie winery.
This restaurant had a Hawaiian/Polynesian feel, and we sat out on the porch of an old plantation style house with deep wicker chairs and tall, stemmed water glasses.
We ordered two appetizers to share, macadamia nut brie (with fruit and toasted baguettes) and little polynesian ribs. YUMMY. Definitely try this place if you are in the area.
That night, we grilled the ribeye steaks we had gotten a few days ago, and washed it down with the Keyways Syrah that Stephanie decided was her favorite. Boy, what a luxurious life for us!
Monday -
More bad luck. I woke up really sick that day. Not sick like the flu, sick like a virus. This was not good for a number of reasons - it was Mark's last day before he flew home to go back to work, and also Stephanie had booked plane tickets to fly to San Francisco the next day to see Amanda for a night. 
After a variety of drugs and a small amount of food, I ended up sleeping through most of the day and getting up just long enough to have dinner with everyone.
While I slept, everyone teamed up to get more work done in the yard (thank you!) and now we have the bougainvilla and jasmine planted in front of the installed lattice. 
We went to bed early that night, since we had such an early morning the next day.
Tuesday -
TODAY - Even more bad luck! We got up at 4 am because Mark needed to be at the airport at 6 am for his flight, and I discovered that Stephanie had gotten sick overnight with what I had the day before.
There went our flight. After driving Mark to the airport, we decided that we weren't going to be able to make it, cancelled our reservation, and headed back home to sleep.
After apologizing to Amanda for mucking up our whole excursion (sorry again Amanda!!), we decided we'd see how we felt tomorrow, and then decide on if we can still go up there a little later in the week.
That is where we are now, taking it easy and hoping all of this will pass soon. I am not as bad as I was yesterday, but I am certainly not in any condition to be out and about at the pace we were at over the weekend. Steph is sleeping and we hope that a nice homemade pot of chicken soup, courtesy of Alberto, will help us feel much better.
Mark got home ok, and was only bumped from one flight this time (woo hoo!). Steph will be here one more week, until Tuesday July 17.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Living Room is open for company!
I thought I'd counterbalance a negative post with a positive one.
The whole living room is now complete and ready for visitors :D
We got the furniture in yesterday, and with the exception of one of the end tables (a leg was cracked), it's all in place and looks beautiful. The replacement end table arrives tomorrow.
Take a look! Don't you want to come visit and sit in our living room?
The whole living room is now complete and ready for visitors :D
We got the furniture in yesterday, and with the exception of one of the end tables (a leg was cracked), it's all in place and looks beautiful. The replacement end table arrives tomorrow.
Take a look! Don't you want to come visit and sit in our living room?
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