Day in LA

This past Saturday mi amiga Morgan and I decided to take a pseudo vaca and be tourist in the lovely city of The Angeles. We started our stay-cation by sweating to the oldies with the one and only

Richard Simmons

The class took place at his study in Beverly Hills, where he teaches each Tuesday and Saturday.

it seriously was amazing. he is everything you imagine him to be.

wild.

crazy.

super flamboyant.

and just sort of fabulous

(well as fabulous as a 61 year old aerobics instructor can be)

During the work out we had worked up an appetite so we decided to hit the road to find some lunch. On the way, we found this familiar building.

If you recongnize the building- you will understand why we were excited about it.

If you don't recognize it-you wouldn't get it.

After taking a pit stop to visit with Speidi, we continued on to the Grove to see if we could find some famous people, or at least some lunch.

Not only did we find ourselves some delicious sandwiches and fruit salad but we also found posters of our boyfriends. Each describing the character trait we find most important in a man.

Straight Loose

(Just kidding Mom)

As I am sure you all knew. Saturday the 29th was the birthday of the king of pop... may he rest in peace. So we decided to head over to Hollywood to pay our respects and low and behold look who was there...

I

It was about a thousand degrees and we were still feeling the effects of the sweat-fest with our good friend Richard. So when we saw this fountain we couldn't help but run through and cool off.

It was an awesome day.

Hasta Luego D-asourous

Today was the final day of one of my dear friends/co-worker/gang member, refugio, working as a care coordinator for the wonderful company of OliveCrest.

He is off to UCLA where he will not only be able to eat numerous cookie and ice cream sandwiches at Diddy Reese but will also be studying social work at a masters level.

So to send him off in true gang style by chowing down on delicious foods, playing games, and taking pictures.

He will be missed but we are excited for him and wish him all the best.

::twenty-one thirty 3ast 4th for life::

(well hopeful not for life... but at least until we all get new jobs, win the lotto, or start raising babies)

Today

i wish I was doing this...

with these people...

instead of going to class for 5 hours.

All the kids are doing it...

Yep. And so am I.

Need for Mead

two weeks ago i went to lake mead with some of my peeps.

it was fun.

spent the time wakeboarding. wakesurfing. playing wakee 6. and the football game.

what more could you want.

we left the house boat saturday and hit the streets of vegas.

it was also fun.

we pushed our disabled friends (we had two with knee injuries)around in a wheelchair.

i may have taken a turn.

the weekend was great. loved the lake. loved the city. loved the people.

loved everything.

~Happy 20th~

Sometimes after I go running in the morning I like to do Abs and other sculpting activities while frying my brain watching the boob tube. This morning I ran across Saved By the Bell and spent a half an hour catching up with my long lost friends. I was quite literally sweating to the oldies.

Then I came to work.

Got online.

and discovered that today is the 20th Anno of the pilot episode.

So Happy Birthday 20th Saved By the Bell!!

Thanks for the hours and hours of entertainment you brought me throughout my childhood (and still bring me after early morning runs)

If I had one wish...

Today I went to Costco
which if you don't already know is one of my favorite places to go...
and I am being 100% serious.

I mean where else do you go where people are basically begging you to try their free food. If you are in the right place at the right time you can basically get a whole meal there. Anyway... thats not the point.


The Blender guy was there today. And I was totally the girl that sat and watched him make all the delicious food items in this one glorious machine.

They are ridiculously expensive but...I want one.
The end.

For more info on the Blendtec go ahead and click here. But be warned... you'll want one too.

Two things I thought of this morning

I really want to see this movie:

Click on This to catch the trailer.

How cute does that look?!?

A friend of mine suggested I look up Mates of State.

So I did.

And I LOVE them.

They are my obsession of the moment.

we are fam-o-lee

Here are some more pictures from my family reunion... We had so much fun hanging out as a family doing family reunion type things. Such as:

Swimming

Running three legged races.

Playing with water guns.

Playing with mini potato launchers.

Making and eating cotton candy

Jumping in a bounce house

Eating delicious foods

And in our spare time when we were not racing in the pool, playing oh heck, and/or karoaking I taught my little peanuts how to pose for pictures...

I couldn't be more proud.

Its not all about me.

I couldn't go to sleep when I realized that the last two blog posts were of pictures of me-just me-by myself. I decided that that is weird and narcissistic. So I thought I would share a few pictures that I took on a photo shoot of my own. Two weekends ago half of the Gustavson family met at my rents house in order for a family reunion. I took it upon myself to be family photographer and here are a few of my favorite shots of some of my favorite people.

More pictures from the reunion to come.

Sitting on a dock in the bay...

Allow me to tell you about my dear friend/Coworker Miss Emily Knudsen. Not only is she a compassionate and loving Care Coordinator but she also shadows as a new and upcoming photographer. In an effort to build up her portfolio we had a photo shoot on the dock in the back yard of our fellow CC Mari.

(It was all very Dawson's Creek like~which you know I love).

We had a blast taking the pictures and frolicking around on the dock and canoe. For more pictures of yours truly and other great shots taken by miss Knudsen feel free to click HERE.

She is talented and fun... Hire her for your next event.

ps... those are not my boots but I am pretty sure I need to get me some galoshes. How adorable are they right?

Wise Words

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."

--Ben Franklin

**There is no story behind this. I just read this quote and liked it.**

SAY IT LOUD... I'M WHITE AND I'M PROUD

So a friend of mine was reading my blog and sent me this link in response to my love of scarves.

It turns out I AM in fact Caucasian

and like some of the same things that other white people like.

Por Ejemplo:

I would love to take a year off.

I will probably never not have bangs again.

Ummm...return of the mack?

St. Patricks Day is my favorite holiday.

The list could go on...

So here I am... with my bangs and my scarf... being as white as ever...

But hey...

if you need a scarf (or a beanie) knitted or crocheted for you this winter I'm your girl.

Because it turns out that not only am I white but I'm a grandma too.

3 things i love today

1. Scarves

2. PEAS

3. This song

Just dance

The SYTYCD finale was this week and I couldn't be more pleased with the winner. (which I will leave nameless for those who haven't quite caught up on their TIVO list yet). The finale was awesome but my favorite part was when they re-did this little number...

I could probably watch that over and over. I think Kupono does an INSANE job of playing this role. I love to watch talented people.

Speaking of talent....

...the sadness of SYTYCD only will last a few days because ABDC starts this sunday and I can't wait to see what the crews have in store for us this season. Here is a little reminder of what we saw last season.

::Friends, Fun, and Fair::

A couple of weekends ago my trusty AZ friends decided to escape the crazy heat and take a last minute trip out to the C-A to visit yours truly.

Its always so much fun to have them here and this was no exception.

We started the weekend off by putting our stunna shades on and heading to the beach to watch the huge waves in HB.

Then we headed back to back bay to rent ourselves some fun.

We put our super color life jackets on

and hit the water...

After working up an appetite we came home and had the ultimate summer time bar-b-que including pasta salad, watermelon salsa, and fruit pizza.

After our bellies were all filled up and happy we headed out to the fair.

Okay.... So normally I super hate the fair.

There is something about it that I just hate. Maybe its the crowds, or maybe it is the outrageously priced deathly foods that everyone pretends to like but really goes home wishing they didn't eat, or maybe its the caliber of people the fair attracts.

Regardless... I normally hate the fair.

BUT

I have to say that I went to the fair and

I LOVED it.

We went and watched the demolition derby. It was AMAZING. It was the prefect length of time and exciting the whole way through. I couldn't stop myself from joining the white trash of orange county yelling for the car of choice. It was a blast!

After the demo derby we headed over to take a ride on my long lost friend... the GRAVITRON. I hadn't been on this ride since the Bret Harte (my middle school) carnival days. At first I was super skeptical about going on a ride that spins you right round but I took my chances... and like most risks... it was SO worth it.

It is the best ride ever.

I haven't laughed that hard in forever.

So I have a new love and respect for the fair and have decided that I will go to the fair once a year... on demolition derby night. I will watch the derby, ride the gravitron, and watch the hypnotist. And I will leave one happy girl.

Who knows maybe next year I will even try the deep fried smore.