A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS

CALIFORNIA 2010

This trip to Southern Cal was unlike any of our other trips. There was no beach time (I didn't even touch the water), no hiking, and NO adventures of any kind. What did we do? shopped. A lot. Too much. We wanted to get some Christmas shopping done, but didn't think that we would use so much time doing it.

Here are some lights (the high's and the low's)...


1. Reno Airport's food selection sucks

2. Old Indiana Jones looking dude playing air drums on the plane. He was jammin' big time. 1.5 hours of pure entertainment.

3. Went to Swell (on of our favorite online stores). There is no actual store to buy stuff from there, but at least we got a picture.

4. Found out that our favorite store in San Clemente (Killer Dana) was closed. We could go to the one in Dana Point, but it sucks.

5. Sprinkles. 'nuf said.

6. Session at the Los Angeles Temple. Been there twice before, but this is the first time we did a session. Absolutely beautiful. Had a lot of old school charm.

7. More sprinkles. This time original location in Beverly Hills. As you can see this makes Clayton very happy.

8. Southern Cal traffic. This is definitely on the LOW list

9. Lighting of the Bay in Newport. It took Clayton and I almost 45 minutes to realize that the furry looking thing that came with Santa was a reindeer and not a homeless dog.

10. Stumbling upon a farmer's market in Dana Point. If you know me at all you know that this made my day. fruit, veggies, breads and ... Hello rum cake!
11. Jamba juice every morning for breakfast.

12. Realizing just how many sushi rolls we can eat in one sitting. I'm too embarrassed to post how many we ate.


13. Gold minivan. we were drivin' in style. Every time we go to Cal we get either a minivan (even though online we request a economy car) or a Chevy HHR. This is not by choice.


14. December Nights at Balboa Park. This was by far in the top 4. Loved it. So many performers (musician's, dancers, etc), food from around the world, crafts, etc.


Couldn't get enough of the homemade tamales. Clayton also tried a hot dog thing (can't remember the name) from Sweeden or Switzerland (also can't remember which, but let's be honest is there any differnce between the two countries?). One of my favorites were the chocolate covered strawberries rolled in oreo's on a stick. And last but not least ... do you know what "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" taste like? We do.













Good thing the guy who took this picture got our who bodies instead of the WHOLE TREE!


15. Decorating Gingerbread cookies. Also at December Nights. I have decided that I decorate cookies like I carve pumpkins...fast and without thought. But I love doing it. I couldn't almost hear Clayton saying "could you please put a little more effort into decorating your cookie?"

16. Hearing Clayton say EVERY TIME we passed a Kettle corn stand (and there were A LOT) "Get your kettle corn. Not too salty, not too sweet".

17. The sauna

18. "well that Lindsey Lohan has really messed up her life" Said Clayton randomly in attempt to pull me up out of my funk. It worked.

19. The drunk driver. After watching him swerve (one time almost hitting the baracade on the freeway) and then actually witnessing him hit a car we knew it was time to get Jack Bauer on him and call the cops. Ok so Jack Bauer wouldn't call the cops, he would catch the guy and interogate him, but that is beside the point. Clayton followed the guy until we could read the license plate number to the cop. It was so very exciting.