It was about time

Hi guys! I feel like such a loser for not updating in forever. I have the typical half entries written in my head dating back to my birthday (9/27, if you were wondering how long) and it just kept getting more and more daunting. I am on the computer literally all day. I have an iPhone and that has spoiled me in the sense that when I get home, I don’t need to pop open the laptop to check email and other things. So I don’t. And composing entire entries on LJ from my phone is not the greatest thing, so I keep putting it off until I can’t remember what I wanted to talk about anymore.

So I will try to be succinct and use pictures whenever I can, starting with my birfday!

I am now 31. Feels weird, like I am a full-fledged adult and should have some serious accomplishments. I guess having a steady job and still being happily married can be construed as big accomplishments, but I mean more. Like a house. If we lived anywhere else, I think this would have happened already. Damn mortgage prices around here are still ridiculous. But anyway, I had a lovely beach day and bonfire which was poorly attended (and that includes our dear sun which made a late and momentary appearance sometime around 3 pm). I have to be honest and say that I was really bummed out about it that day but as the few people that did show up, well, showed up, it made me feel much better (thanks @emilyyam, /Jane, and ozo_head for not making me feel like a total loser).

It also helped that my whole family was there, including my in-laws and that made me some really pretty and delicious cupcakes. And then we had delicious fire roasted sausages that night and some smores (with Reese’s Peanut Butter cups instead of regular Hershey’s!).

Interestingly enough, the fog rolled in around 4:00 p.m. and stayed for good (even posted a video while I was there to my FB, which is embedded below, behind the cut). Made great bonfire weather. [Pics on flickr]

I briefly entertained the idea of going to Disneyland on my actual birthday because it landed on a Sunday and it was free (for me at least) but the fact that it was the day after the bonfire nixed that real quick. Juan took me out to dinner with my family instead because he wanted to celebrate on my actual birthday. We went to Shakey’s and had the yummy pizza and mojo potatoes. It had been a while! And my sister Sabi gave me an awesome present!

I had eyed these myself before, but never mentioned it to anyone, and lo and behold, she got them for me a long time ago and was waiting for the opportunity to gift them to me! My favorite, by far, is the octopus, as you can tell! [More pics of this day]

Soon after that, we went to the Star Wars in Concert show and were blown away, as you might remember.

Other significantly memorable events in the past month and a half, behind a cut because it was about time…

	Sea Fare 2009 The Aquarium’s annual fundraiser was very well-attended and a lot of fun. You get all the aquarium die-hard staff there, you know, all the ones drinkin’ the Kool Aid. We believe in the institution and are happy to join in on the fun. [More pics.]
	Staff Pumpkin Decorating Contest I submitted an entry for the first time ever. We are not allowed to pierce or cut into the pumpkin in any way, so I painted mine and hot glued fun foam to make it look like a penguin. Unfortunately, someone else thought penguin too. Mine won one of the prizes though 😉 (I got two tickets to Knott’s Berry Farm). So that was fun! [See the rest. Oh and here’s the video, cued up to my prize announcement!]
	Alejandra’s Birthday Pretty much the same day, we went to Knott’s, but it was for Halloween Horror Nights in honor of ozo_head‘s birthday. The night before, I took some fun foam and made her a crown, complete with adjustable velcro and a pocket to stick glow sticks in. Why glow sticks? Because I cut out her name on the crown and wanted it to glow! It looked pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. [More pics]
	Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza We went to Santa Monica and saw Cirque’s latest show to come around this way. First of all, we had fantastic seats (which I got at a great discount)! This show was beautiful, wonderful, and fun. It harkened back to the days of old circuses that focused on classic acrobatics. There was high wire, contortionists, and my favorite: the wheel of death. We totally recommend you go watch it!
	Halloween 2009 kaptainsnot hosted a nice family party this year that consisted of a lot of cookies and other food. Some family was invited over and we took out the kiddies trick or treating. They actually showed up sans costumes so we whipped up some real quick. It was fun! [Rest of pics]

Wow. So, yeah, that’s me trying to catch up. I know I totally missed stuff but I just want to feel like I can come back and type up a quick entry without the past looming over my head. So, now it’s all about the holidays and while I am not ready, I am excited!