Best in LA

Ah…..what a lovely Saturday in SoCal!!! Brett and I briefly stopped by Dayna and Dave’s school in the afternoon, they were running a function for the kids and their parents complete with a chili contest, those blow up jumpy things, and a dunking booth. I felt sorry for the student that was in the booth because it was chilly outside!!! It was absolutely a beautiful day, but just cold enough in the shade for me to need a jacket . I surely would have been shivering if I was the unlucky one to be chosen for the dunking!

We grabbed a sandwich with all intentions of having a little picnic on the “boardwalk” (only because I can’t figure out what else to call it) overlooking the beach, but the winds kept us inside the car to eat instead. We sat in the car, windows down, ate and watched the people walk and run by. We even caught a glimpse of an actor, he was tall, lanky, balding, I can still see his face in my head, but neither of us can figure out who it was!!! Even when he ran back by, we were drawing a blank. Google didn’t come through this time for me….are you as surprised as me that “bald older tall actor” didn’t come up with who I was looking for? :)


Since we were on the water’s edge, we knew that we’d have to grab a few pictures. One of the (many) reasons that I adore Brett is that he’s so much fun when taking pictures. People might not believe me when I say that most of the pictures we take are because he remembers to grab them. Yup, we are definitely a match.


D&D called to tell us that they were finished for the day, so we all jumped in one car and headed for a quick treat at Starbucks. The warm White Chocolate Mocha was the perfect late afternoon delight as we tossed around a few ideas for evening festivities.


We decided to start out at Bottle Rock, a wine bar in Santa Monica. We were very much entertained by Bernar, our French waiter, and pleased with our wine and cheese selections. Ever tried honey on cheese? Do it….yum-my!!


The cheeses didn’t quite fill us up, so it was back to the drawing board to figure out what to really fill our tummies with….then Dayna remembered about “the best burger in LA” at Father’s Office. After a quick phone call to see if there was a line (A line? For a restaurant? Well, it is LA…..), we ventured over towards that area….only to find that in the 5 minutes it took us to get there, a few others had made the same decision. BUT….it was worth the short wait. The burger was messily scrumptious!!! Definitely go try this if you’re ever in the area.



The last stop for the night was to get our bowl on! Brett had been talking trash all afternoon about how great of a bowler he was….so we just HAD to see this. It was a really fun night....Brett has the desire to try and redeem himself when we're in Vegas...I'll let you see for yourself how the scores ended up (go Dave and AP - hee hee!!!!).


The end of the evening ended us all up on the couch, finishing off the remains of the ice cream, Brett and Dave deep into a pretty deep discussion, Dayna and me falling asleep to the sweet sounds of their voices....awwww, yeah, that was totally dorky. :)

Definitely one of my best days in LA! :)

Hanging with D&D

After Dayna came home from work, we decided that it was time to get outside and headed out for a walk. I am in love with the weather here. It was almost chilly enough in the shade to need a jacket, but instead we decided to get a little worked up and took some time to have fun on the playground.


Our walk landed us at Whole Foods, and we picked up a few things to cook dinner at home. Dayna and Dave cooked up some yummy Cashew Chicken Stir Fry. They insisted that Brett and I chill and relax while they slaved away in the kitchen - so we did just that.


We had the most wonderful night filled with stories of friendship, family, faith, and so much more. After sitting at the dinner table for a while, we pulled up the chair and couch in the living room, brought over the candles, grabbed 4 spoons and the tub of Reese's Ice Cream, and continued our conversations. Whoever said you don't need much to enjoy each other's company, was talking about a night like tonight. It was perfect.

I also must share that I'm a little bit in love with Brett and Dave's friendship. That might sound weird, but I challenge you to not feel the same way when around these two. It is so refreshing to see, and the joy and laughter surrounding them, well, it's just contagious.

But, I can't forget to mention Dayna - she's awesome, and it's been great getting to know her too. We learned that we are both the oldest of 3 girls, played the flute in high school, and enjoy some of the same authors. I'm so glad to be here, and am excited about spending more time this weekend with D&D!

Dorkville

I am officially in Dorkville.....and I must admit, I am loving it.

Brett and I are sitting at the kitchen, table, working, typing away on our laptops. Now, Dave just got home from work, and he and Brett are sitting here comparing war wounds on their MacBook Pro laptops.

"No, man, I dropped mine from the top bunk and it landed on a hard floor."

"Oh NO....check out this, I have separation on the bottom near the DVD drive".

It's cracking me up, honestly, but I love it to death. I'm home.

This California Girl comes home......

Bet some of you didn't know that I'm a California Girl. Yup, I was born in Lancaster.....about 60 miles north of LA. I've never really lived in CA, so the next 3 weeks will be some sort of a homecoming for me.

I flew from Austin to El Paso to LA tonight. I'll be here for the next 3 weeks, going between LA, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, San Diego and San Jose, before heading back home. I'll definitely be getting my use out of my new WiFi card as I will be working the entire time I'm here. (I tell you what, it was so nice to be at the airport and be connected and not have to be paying $10 for a 24 hour period....I'm such a big dork, I know it!)

I updated Twitter as soon as I landed last night "I can't even believe it. I'm here!!! ;)". When I checked it again 6 minutes later, I saw Brett's post: "Woo Hoo!!!". I got the giddiest smile on my face, and I'm sure that the other passengers waiting to deboard the plane were wondering what was making me smile so big. After getting through the terminal, I hopped down the stairs, because waiting on the escalator would have taken too long to get to the bottom, walked through the crowd and, at first, didn't see him. Then I turned the corner, and was able to get a good chuckle while I watched him looking for me for about 5 seconds, before he turned and saw me walking towards him. We haven't stopped smiling yet.

I was starved, and while the snack that Brett picked me up managed to tide me over for the drive out of the airport, we had to get something to eat. Well, we're in CA, so why not go for some In-N-Out?? The last time I was in LA, Lora and I had tried to find the one closest to the airport with no luck, so it'd been a while since my last experience.

I wasn't really paying attention when we were standing in line, so when it was time for me to order, I ended up doing it all wrong. Well, not wrong, but without the insider info of ordering it "animal style" or something like that....but, nonetheless, it was yummy....oh how I love that they pile on the onions there!! :)

We sat in the parking lot and chatted for a while. We had to catch each other up on what'd been happening in the last few days, since it was his idea to heighten our anticipation of seeing each other by not talking since Monday. I thought it was a silly plan, but I was challenged....and I'm not competitive at all (hee hee), so I accepted and managed to complete it too!


We made it to Dave and Dayna's, and they are so sweet to make it feel like home here - complete with Sour Patch Kids and M&Ms in candy dishes on the kitchen table, Entenmann's Cheese Filled Crumb Coffee Cake in the kitchen for breakfast, and the coffee pot set to start brewing at 530am. It's going to be a fun few days here at the O'Neil house! (Oh, and can I mention that it's the most perfect lovely weather here too - the kind where you wear a little jacket just because it's slightly chilly - I.LOVE.IT!!!)

So, I just thought I'd post quickly and let everyone know that I made it, and I'm going to do my best to keep this updated while I am here....instead of updating when I get back. :)

MOUSE SMALL!!!

Every once in a while, we remember to get together for a good ole fashioned Girl's Night In. I was so happy to host our little get together tonight......salad, spaghetti, angel food cake, and girl time.

We ate, caught up, talked, laughed, and did what girls do (wouldn't all the men readers like to know), and had a fantastic time.

I took a quick break while everyone was finishing up eating, and grabbed a few quick shots of Kara. Isn't she gah-gush? :) We didn't get down and outside until well after 7pm, and so there wasn't much of it left, but I was trying to play a little with the remaining sunlight. I love how it bounces off her beautiful curls in this shot.


Of course, I had to get a group shot before it was Caleb's bedtime, and I think that we were all happy with this one. :) I love these girls, and am so glad that we got to spend some time together catching up. Honestly, is there anything better in life than quality girl time? Yeah, I didn't think so!



After Stacy, Lisa, and Caleb had to head home, the rest of us sat down to a grueling game of Taboo! It's been years since I've played this game, but I love it. We made two teams, and since Laura is the birthday girl (Friday), she got to play on both teams.

Some of the rounds, the teams rocked.....getting 7 clues guessed in the time allowed....and then some of the rounds, yeah, we weren't so great.

My favorite round, Renae was trying to get Kara and Laura to answer correctly the clue she had in front of her.

She gave the clues:
Rodent.............In a film..........Opposite of Large...........

Some of the answers that were SO close:
Rat.......Mouse....Small....Tiny.....Mickey.........Oh!! MOUSE SMALL!!!

I was doing the buzzing for this round, and about lost it when Kara blurted out "MOUSE SMALL" and just was so confident that this was the answer. This tirade went on for the entire time, and no one ever made the right guess.

Can you guess what the answer was?

STUART LITTLE!!!

The moms in the room said "OH!! Our kids would be saying "Duh!".

Surprise - Laura's team ended up winning......isn't that nice how we did that for the birthday girl? It was a close call, but overall a really fun night! :)

Afterward, Kara and Laura helped me whittle down my ridiculous packing to an acceptable level, and now I'm headed to bed.

Even though it's not as often as I'm sure we all would like, I am thankful for all of my girlfriends, and for the time that I get to spend with them tonight. Until next month......

Just like Oprah....let me share a few of my "Favorite Things"

I started this post over a month ago, but I had so much going on that I wanted to save this for a slow time, when I didn’t have anything else going on to post about…..well, shocking to even myself…it’s been 3 days since my last post…so YAY…I get to post this now!

So, a few times every year Oprah has one of her “Favorite Things” episodes. You know the one. She tells the audience about her obsession with some new face cream that she loves, and then screams “And everyone gets one!!!!” – and then the audience goes absolutely bonkers!

Well, Laura has been invited to a “Favorite Things” party a few weeks back, and so we’d been talking about our own favorite things. Now, I don’t have the ability to type “And everyone gets it!” and deliver to all of you, but I wanted to go ahead and share some of the things I cannot live without!

MY CAMERA(S)

The only real question that you should ask when looking to get a new camera is “Which Canon should I get?”. I have owned 6 different Canon cameras, two of which I use right now, and they are by far the best made out there. There is so much that you can do with your point and shoot camera….that if you haven’t played around with all the buttons on there, then you are missing out!! I love when I can share these tricks with fellow Canon users, and inspire them to play!

Favorite tip for Moms – find the Continuous shooting feature on your point and shoot camera. This will allow you to take multiple pictures by keeping the shutter button down – making it that much easier to get that cute moment, since the kiddos tend to move a lot faster than the camera! This will work best if you’re in a well lit environment – it’s not as fast if you have the flash turned on.

If you run into me, and you are using a Canon – ask me to show you a few new tricks!


MY PHONE

Hi. My name is Annemarie and I am an iPhone addict. There isn’t much else to say about that….BUT…..you know me, of course I have a few things that I want to point out. I never thought that I’d want my phone to be anything other than just a phone….I have my camera to be a camera, my computer to be a computer….my phone should be a phone. Well, I thought that until I welcomed this little blessing into my life! I never used my iPod before, but I love that I have music at my fingertips wherever I am. Just this weekend I went grocery shopping while listening to music….it made the mundane task of shopping for shampoo, razors, toothpaste, etc…..actually enjoyable. The cool thing too, is that if you happen to get a phone call, you already have in your headphones, and you can easily answer.

With as much as I travel, I love to use the Weather feature to know the climate of the cities I’ll be visiting soon. I load my favorite pictures onto my phone, so at any time that I’m telling a story, and need to bring up a picture, it’s at my fingertips. I can access my Google Calendar at a moment’s notice….I can update and follow friends on Twitter without any hassle…..and OH, all the games – Scrabble, Morocco, Soduku, Pop Quiz – all incase I reach a new level of boredom. Oh…and Maps – I’ll never be lost again (HA!).

MICROSOFT IMAGE RESIZER FOR WINDOWS XP

How many of you have wondered what is going on with your network after your computer is running slow, only to realize that it’s due to an email that is trying to download. One of your friends or family members has just sent you some of their favorite pictures from the weekend…..straight from the computer…..which were straight from the camera….the full sized files! Don’t lie….you’ve all had this happen, and at one point, have all been on the sending end of this scenario too!!

I have the answer. It’s quick, it’s free and it’s simple. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx and download this tool to instantly resize your photos from 3+MB to email ready KBs in seconds.

Once it’s installed, after you’ve located the files in your folders, right click on your photos, choose Resize Picture, then pick either small, medium, or large. The program will put a resized duplicate in the same folder that is sized appropriately for emailing. No more 15MB emails to friends and family – woohoo!! Your recipients will be much happier!

You might also consider using this tool to resize your images for your blogs. There isn’t a real need to upload the entire size file, and they’ll load faster too for your readers!


GOOGLE and SOME of its GLORIOUSNESS…

Google Desktop

It’s Google…for your computer! Let’s say that you want to find that email that references your favorite recipe for King Ranch Chicken, but you can’t remember where you put it. Well, Google Desktop will index, and then search, all your files on your system. So, click Ctrl twice, put in your search criteria, and it’ll find the files, emails, etc, on your computer that match your request. Pretty cool!! This is great for work if you have a lot of folders in Outlook. It’ll find the email, and then give you the option to open that email in Outlook, or view all the messages that have the same subject line. Try it out – it’s a free download – gotta love Google!!


RSS Reader

If you read a lot of blogs, then you NEED this! It’s essentially an “Inbox” for all the blogs you read. Go to Google.com and choose Reader. You’ll pop in the website address for the ones that you stalk, I mean, read, and it’ll automatically tell you when there are new entries – so you don’t have to check the actual pages each and every day.


Blogger

Well, duh. But, I have to tell you, I love blogging. It’s almost therapeutic. I actually started this blog about a year and a half ago, but I only told like two people – Corey and Lora – and never knew what to write. When I decided to start it up again this year, I still wasn’t sure if I had anything that I’d find to talk about….but, once you start, you’ll probably not stop. It’s rather addicting, and hey, it’s a good way to keep up on your own life – or it is for me anyways. For those of you that have family and friends that live out of town, and are constantly wondering what you and the kids are up to these days – well, try it out. You might find it fun! To start a blog, go to www.blogger.com and get started today. Be sure to let me know so I can add you to my RSS Reader.

That’s all for now. I’m constantly finding new things that I love, and now can’t live without. I’m one of those people that tells everyone about the new tricks and gadgets that I find, so thought that I’d share with a broader audience.

I’d love to hear from you. Are these things that you find useful? What are some of your favorite things…..that Oprah might have overlooked?

BLEZT.

Just like his license plate says.....BLEZT.....that's how I feel.

That is one of the first things that I noticed when I met Brett. Well, it was maybe one of the first 10 things. First it was how much his smile made me do the same, second was what a great hug that he gave, then, somewhere in the next 7 things, I noticed his license plate.

No, I'm not a weird stalker-ish type person, it's just something that I notice....blame my mother. She will blurt out some little ditty while sitting at a stop light, and when we say "Huh?". She'll say "Make My Day, March 1984.....MMD 384. The license plate in front of us". So, yes, I notice license plates....anyways, let's move on.

My day started out like any other Friday. 730am shower. 8am Friday conference call, and then more work. I worked from home, well, Laura's home, today, instead of the office. Nice thing about this job is that if I'm online and can answer my phone, then I can work from anywhere.

So, I must admit that I also often find it hard to concentrate all day long. With the internet being right at my fingertips and all.....and as I know what the internet holds (oh, all the blogs with pretty pictures)....I take short quick breaks and click on my Google Reader to see what it has for me from time to time. Not every minute.....but maybe once every couple hours?? :)

Well, late this afternoon, when we were wrapping up for the day, Laura, Andrew and I were all in the game room, the TV was on, we were chatting, and I clicked my reader and let it open in a new tab. It showed (3), and so I looked over to see what goodies were in store for me.

I saw a new post from Jasmine, and I so love her posts, for her words AND her photos, so I started to read it. I was on my work laptop, which has a small screen, so this is all I saw when I started to read.

I noticed that it was one of Jasmine's "Anytime" shoots, and that there was only one name there, and it was Brett, but didn't think anything of it. I started to read...and when I got to the part that said "When Brett asked if I could take pictures of him.....". I stopped and was like "?!!???! Surely it couldn't be my Brett. He didn't mention anything to me about a photoshoot".

I scrolled down.

And saw this.


And.......um.....my jaw dropped and I just stared at the screen.

I quickly sent Brett a text message that just said "Um...WHAT?!?!?!". Normally I would just call, but I wasn't ready to talk yet....I was still speechless. And sweaty....because.....seriously?!??!! Did you look at the pictures?? Yeah, I agree....he's beautiful. (Insert sappy sigh here).

I looked over at Laura and just said "Um, check Jasmine's blog please.....right now!", so she could see what had me so verklempt.

Not 5 minutes later my phone rings. It's Brett. He tells me about how on Sunday, after Shyla sent him a sneak preview from her phone of one of the pics she shot of me, he asked his buddy DJ to get a few shots of him, for me. Well, DJ remembered that Jasmine was coming to Santa Barbara that week, and said that she'd be perfect for it....so Brett started scheming and didn't let on at ALL to me about his plan.

So, back to the BLEZT, blessed, part. It's a new word to me. It's not one that I ever used before, or even felt that comfortable using, knowing what it really means....but, it is just how I feel lately in my life. My friends, my family, my passions, my happiness, my life....Brett. All of it brings me such joy and makes me smile each and every day.

Thank you to Jasmine for capturing Brett as I see him.....beautiful. I consider myself lucky enough to be someone that knows, however, that is only half as much as he is on the inside.

Ok....that's all for now. I have a "phone date" in 30 minutes and I still have to get ready! :) Hee hee...I know, we're pretty cute. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Traffic, Pepperoni and Cupcakes - A Great Austin Night!

After work today, I decided to take a little trip down to South Congress for First Thursday. The traffic at 545pm in Austin isn't the most enjoyable, but it was pretty night and there was good music on the radio, so I didn't mind it too much. :)

After scoring one of the last parking spots in the garage behind Guero's, my first stop was across the street to get a yummy slice of pepperoni from Homeslice Pizza. I sat out front, enjoyed my dinner, and traffic/people watched all of the buzz on South Congress. The sun was shining with the ideal amount of warmth.....it was the perfect Austin evening.


I have been curious about these cupcakes for a while now, and thought to take the short walk down to get myself one. I got a Vanilla Dream from Hey Cupcake, and had to get some milk to go with it! It was the sweetest treat. :)


The main reason for my trip was to make a quick visit to Diane to get some more goodies. I just love her creations, and after finding out that she was in the same spot as last month, I jumped on the chance!

Time's running out....are you registered to VOTE?

Are you registered to vote?
The deadline to register in order to vote in the November 4th election is OCTOBER 6, 2008.

Check to see if you're registered in Texas by clicking HERE.
Need to register still in the next 4 days? Click HERE.

I just watched this video, and thought it was pretty cool. It's nice to see celebrities using their fame for a good cause.

Get registered!!!

Downsizing and feeling good!!!

My life used to be ruled by my television shows. I can remember Saturdays where I'd lay on the couch all day just getting caught up on what my DVR had recorded for me that week. Honestly, I had like 15 one hour shows that I couldn't live without watching.

When the writer's strike happened, it was actually a blessing in disguise for me. There weren't any shows on TV for me to watch....and so I found other things to do with my time. Well, since then, I have gotten real used to not watching it.

Since the shows have started back up, I have only managed to watch the first episode of Prison Break, and I found it horribly hard to sit still during that 2 hours, and concentrate on just the show alone. I got bored. What? Me - get bored with TV??? I mean, especially when it's Wentworth Miller??? Wow, I'm grown so much in the last year!! :)

So, since the shows started back up, my DVR has been diligently recording episodes of Prison Break, Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, and whatever else has started up that I haven't noticed....but I can't find time to watch them. And I don't even miss it.

I called Time Warner yesterday to see what my options were if I got rid of my home phone line AND the ridiculous number of cable channels that I have, but don't use.

Old Monthly Charge $137
NEW Monthly Charge $67

WOOHOO!! I know it's pretty silly to be so excited about saving $70 a month....but honestly, it feels really good to do it. That adds up to almost $900 in a year. I dropped my DVR off this morning and I'm all set.

Well....almost all set. The girl at the TW location said that I also now have to bring in my cable modem (ugh, why didn't the person on the phone tell me that) and get it swapped out too. Anyways.......here's to living a more simple life.

What have you done lately to simply your life? Anything in your life that you can cut out that you aren't really using and spending carelessly? I'd love to hear about them - maybe give me some more ideas!!

The Women

Not much to say, but we took a picture, so I have this need to post it. Kara and I went to see The Women tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse. I agree with her, the movie was just OK. I don't really have much else to say about it.

Kara seems to really have a problem with Meg Ryan's lips....but I loved her makeup in the movie!!

Ok, that's all! :)