Not Dead!

Man oh man! It's been a bit of a whirl wind since we got back to the States, but now that I finally had a chance to relax, I can bust out a lovely blog for you folks. Don't you feel special?

Ok, so we managed to finish up cleaning the house in Belgium and did our final walk through. 

Luckily, we got our 1,900 euro deposit back (thank gawd!) and proceeded to migrate over to our temporary apartment till it was time to catch our flight out of Amsterdam. The final few days were bitter sweet..not going to lie. We absolutely love Belgium, the travel opportunities and everything else that's awesome about Europe, but, we're ready to move on with our lives and get settled into our new home. 

If you're a frequent reader of my blog, or actually know me, you know that we have a small horde of dogs. By small, I mean five...and it's definitely interesting when it comes to transporting them, that's for sure. I had to do a "system check" on all the crates to make sure they were all up to snuff when it came to airline requirements. Luckily, all of my prepping paid off because the check-in crew for KLM were stoked that I had everything re-enforced, paperwork in hand, and anything & everything else you can think of that's required to ship a pet internationally. 

Of course, the dogs needed to get their beauty sleep before the big journey, so they made it a point to pretty much push us out of our own bed...

On our last day, Eric and I went on one last Belgian date day and went over to my favorite cafe to grab some awesome tomato soup with a side of cappachino. It was a little depressing, to be honest. I went there so often that the staff knew me, it's always mellow so you can sit & people watch...and their coffee was ALWAYS awesome. Hopefully we'll find a place like that in New Mexico..so that seems to be something to add to our "treasure hunt" in terms of things to find. 

The day had finally arrived for us to leave...it was pretty sad, although, we didn't really have much time to dwell on it en-route to the airport. Once we rolled our six pieces of luggage and five carriers full of dogs, we were immediately directed over to a special ticketing area that takes care of...uhhh...individuals like ourselves, lol. After an hour of checking in, getting the dogs all situated and grabbing a quick lunch, it was time to board the plane and head off to beautiful California! The flight actually went pretty fast, at least to me...it didn't feel like an eleven hour flight, lol. I suppose taking naps and watching all the various "The Real Housewives of blah blah blah" killed time for me. I'm just relieved that we were able to get a straight shot flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco without having to deal with a ton of layovers. Oh, and KLM, if you happen to see this..I love you and your airline ROCKS!

We got to unwind for a few days before Eric had to head out and take care of business in terms of the home we're in the midst of buying. Yes, I stayed here in California while he and John jetted off to brave New Mexico. As of today, we're officially the owners of a home! I'm so excited! Eric went through all the paperwork earlier this week and signed off on everything, including my part of the paperwork with a handy dandy POA...he was displeased with the amount of writing he was required to do in order to officially get the  house. Oh well..he got the keys today and that's all that matters! lol

All the while, we're enjoying our time at Casa de Vandegrift. Izzy and the other furballs have taken quite a liking to my suite and it's awesome bed. You'd think they had been roughing it their whole life or something by the way they burrow into the bed ...

I've been plugging around, meeting up with friends and hanging out with family since my time here is limited. I have about a month left till I need to head on out to New Mexico...well, I'm guessing a month, but it all depends on when my vehicle shows up. Once Big Blue arrives, it's time for me to mosey on out of here so I can start decorating my new house :) I'm sure Eric will be relieved once I'm outta here so I'll stop haunting the Le Creuset place in addition to the various antique places around here...lol. 

I ended up getting a killer deal on a cast iron skillet, oval skillet, 2.5 qt container and a pie bird (all from Le Creuset) for 30% off in addition to another 40%...can you blame me for jumping on that sort of deal??

Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to start posting some more blogs as I run around California and throughout the trip to New Mexico for you guys. It's interesting trying to work on my iPad, then my Eee PC since my old faithful laptop isn't functioning at the moment...le sigh. 

Toodles!

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San Francisco Treat

Seems like I've been all over the place since I got back in California! Up and down all over this state, then there's Oregon and Washington in addition to seeing friends all over the central coast..ahhhh! I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation! 

Since I've been here, Dad and I have been pretty busy with our own adventures, so we were finally able to plan a day to hang out in which we picked San Francisco! To be more specific, Pier 39! It's about two hours from here, so it's not all that far of a journey (compared to going to Ventura or something like that), so we managed to talk about everything under the sun for the majority of the drive. Keep in mind, I haven't been to San Francisco in YEARS...I'm talking since about 2001. High traffic areas freak me out, so I had a hard time driving around there as well as Los Angeles due to crazy drivers. Yes, I'm a real Californian..I just don't like swapping paint with other cars.

When we came up on the main street for the piers (Embarcadero), I saw this sculpture called, "Cupid's Span". I really wish I got a better picture of it because it's so cool! It was built in 2003 by Claes Oldenburg. You can see the San Fran / Oakland Bay Bridge in the background...honestly, why didn't they make it as pretty as the Golden Gate?

As you keep rolling along, you'll come across another sculpture called "Raygun Gothic Rocketship". From what I read, it was supposed to have been removed earlier this month since it's a traveling sculpture, so it has another destination already lined up after San Francisco, but for some reason, it's still there. Oh well! At least I got to take a look at it :) Very retro and looks like a throwback to the 50's.

One thing I noticed (and loved) was that there were retro cable cars actually working! I mean, I know there's old fashioned cable cars that run throughout the inner city, but I wasn't expecting THESE! They were AWESOME! There was one that even looked like an old boat that ran by all the various piers. 

This was a cool perspective..new verses old :)

Luckily, it wasn't TOO busy even though there was still a fair amount of tourists. Not to mention, the weather was nice (high 60's) so we weren't dying with the heat while talking all over the place. 

 Of course, there's Alcatraz Island. Honestly, there's SO much history on that place, you should read up on it here. We considered going out on the island and taking a tour, but the line to buy tickets was insanely long..and honestly, I didn't wanna risk getting sea sick floating out there, lol. If you've watched "The Rock" or "Escape from Alcatraz", you got the best way of viewing it aside from actually going to the complex in person.

 Love this sculpture :) It's right outside the entry of the wharf. San Francisco's wharf became very famous because of the sheer mass amount of sea lions that set up shop there and decided they wanted to stay. If I didn't know any better, it's all the seals from Monterey that migrated over to SF and decided to stay. 

 Talk about riding in style, right!? You could opt for a speed boat tour of the bay, or you can have an old fashioned harbor tour on the boat that's docked next to the flame job.

Old Port Gate of San Francisco:

This is from inside the Hard Rock Cafe! Whenever I come across one of these cafe's, I always buy a bottle opener and sometimes a shot glass...but I mainly focus on the openers since they're all different and very unique :) Dad and I ended up ordering some specialty drinks so we ended up with "40th Anniversary" glasses that actually has a list of all the Hard Rock hotels all over the world. I was able to mark alot of 'em off my list, lol

This is "San Francisco Bath Salt Company (www.relaxtheworld.com) where they have barrels of various scented bath salts available for you to sniff and see what tickles your pickle. All of 'em have a name and description of what the ingredients are so it's able to help you narrow down what type of smell you're looking for.

Dad had a hard time figuring out which one he wanted....decisions decisions...

I found some humor in this... let's see if you see what I'm talking about: 

Dragons blood? Any relation to Tigers Blood? I wonder if it'll give me the power to make millions of dollars. 

After poking around for a bit and getting my nose stuffed full of various scents, I ended up getting a little container of Pomegranate which is nice and fruity, but it's not over powering.

For those of you who know my husband, Eric...you'll know how he's very vocal about how he likes to kid about red heads (aka Gingers) and people who are left handed. So, when I saw this store..I had to take a picture of it for him:

Another store I found actually carried life size replicas of "Zeldas" sword..totally up Erics alley!

One of Pier 39's icons is their old school two story carousel they have at the end of the dock. 

 

There was this really cook little pet boutique called "Le Beastro" which carries various little doggy things if you like decorating your house with a particular breed. Not only that, but they had collars, leashes, clothes, calendars..pretty much whatever you can think of. Of course, I had to pop in and check it out :) 

I tend to make my own doggy treats when I'm back in Belgium for my furballs, but I was running out of ideas as to what I can make. So, a long long time ago..I popped onto Amazon to see if I could find any sort of cookbooks for dogs (yes, seriously) and I saw the "The Doggy Bone Cookbook", but I wasn't wanting to pay about $25 for it (after shipping and what not). I basically forgot all about it because of the price. WELL...this pet boutique happened to carry it, and for a reasonable price! I snatched it up in addition to some silly car signs since I usually have a dog in the car with me when I run around and do errands. 

This gives ya an idea of how the recipes are. It even includes a doggy bone cookie cutter! 

Annnnd....like any good little Starbucks junky, I had to pick up one of the coveted "Starbucks City Collector" mugs since I had officially gone to San Fran! 

Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Erika. Surely you went to check out the Golden Gate Bridge while you were there!"...indeed, I did.

Gorgeous, isn't it? Absolutely breath taking! Right?

Oh, not sure what you're looking at? Here..lemme help. The arrows will direct you to where the Golden Gate is. If you're able to get a clear shot of the bridge without fog...you, my friend, are very lucky considering there's almost ALWAYS fog near it, or masking it...in some way/ shape/ form.

There ya have it! My trip to San Francisco! 

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Told You So!

Believe it or not...it actually rains in California. Shocking, right?

 Whenever a Belgian asks where I'm from, of course I tell them "California" and they all seem to swoon. Thanks to shows like: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Laguna Beach, The Hills, errrr..Bay Watch, LA Ink, etc...everyone thinks that ALL of California has perfect weather 24/7, we're all millionaires, and of course...we're all tan with blonde hair. Oh, and apparently " Duuuuude" or "Hella" is a daily staple in any conversation with have with a fellow human being. Despite my effort to inform people about how it *really* is, they tend to not believe me..especially when I say I grew up in a town that's almost always overcast / foggy and normally stays in the sixties.  If, by chance, the temp gets above seventy degrees, people deem it as a "heat wave". Yeah.

When we were stationed down near Santa Barbara, I knew what time it was by the fog wall, which is lovingly referred to as the "Vandenberg Crud". It normally rolls in around three thirty or four in the afternoon (sometimes at two if it's really wanting a head start) and it'd stick around till mid morning the following day. Then, clear up for about three hours, rinse and repeat. The same thing goes for where I'm from...see:

Taken at 3:05p TODAY.

 

I guess the "lucky" part is that the clouds aren't as dark as they are in Belgium, but it still manages to block out the sunlight, lol. Oh..this will probably strip your mind: Not all Californians have tans. 

*GASP!*

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Official

I'm going home later this year!! Whooooo!!! Now, let's just hope I don't get shot :) The statistics I've been hearing regarding Salinas aren't exactly comforting!

I've been watching ticket prices bounce around all over the place for the last few weeks and they seemed to have leveled out around $950. At one point, they shot up to $1,300 (barf)! When we finally got our tax returns, I hit the ground runnin' to find a decent ticket....why oh why do I always have to connect through Heathrow? I mean, most people would probably think "Oh hey! How cool is that? You get to have a layover in England". Well, it's not all that cool. In fact, I hate Heathrow as much as I hate Atlanta International Airport. It's VERY spread out, you have to go through several security check points, lots of walking, add some more walking if not sprinting, and you have to wait till the last minute to figure out which gate you need to go to for your flight. The arrivals / departure boards update every 10-15 minutes and your flight won't show till about 30 minutes before your flight. Once yours is shown, you literally need to haul ass if your boarding gate happens to be on the opposite side of the airport. Not fun. Luckily, I found a ticket that has about a two hour layover there, which gives me a decent amount of time to go through customs, immigration, security, and then get all situated for the lovely 10ish hour flight to Los Angeles.Tell ya what, some of the tickets blew my mind in terms of layover times! Some of 'em had 10 HOURS of layovers between flights...so I could've been sitting at Heathrow for 10 hours till I got to Los Angeles, then another 8 hours to get to Monterey! WOWSAS! I couldn't imagine sitting around that long..it's bad enough that the whole travel time from Brussels to Monterey is going to be 17.5 hours...so extending that to 27 or 30 hours...no thanks! lol

I'm just looking forward to seeing everyone, especially my Grandma. Every time I talk to her, I get VERY guilt tripped about living over here. I mean, it's BAAAAD. She keeps telling me she's going to die before I ever come back to the States (nice, right?), so, I'm thinking she'll be a happy camper about me being home for a lil bits. Dad and I were thinking we'd surprise her with me coming home, as in he'd randomly take her to the Monterey airport to have lunch or something, then I'd show up. Thing is, I'm scared she'd have a heart attack or a stroke..seriously! I'm thinking it might be for the best that I tell her about a week or so before I fly back that I'm coming, that way, she won't be counting down the days for the next several months. She did that last time and it drove me a lil nuts :) At least I know I'm loved, right?

Once I'm over my lovely jet lag, spent some time with my family and friends, I'll be heading up to good ole' Washington to visit my Aunt & cousins. Whether or not my Dad will be joining me, that's to be determined, but I need to go up there to see 'em :) I'm really looking forward to it since where they live is SO SO gorgeous during the fall, plus I haven't seen them since June 2009! Lots to catch up on...

Since I'll be stateside for two months, I'm really hoping to be able to head over to Vegas for a lil get away. I haven't been there since August 2007... that may not seem like very long, but I like going there cause of all the fun and mayhem you can get into. Given, I'm older and wiser now (for the most part), so I wouldn't be going out and getting trashed, but, it'd be nice to go there, relax, be a tourist and just have some fun with some friends that I probably won't be seeing again for another few years. I've managed to find some amazing deals in terms of hotels and flights, so now I just gotta get a group of us together to have some fun! 

AHHHH!! I'm excited!

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