My long and beautiful weekend....

Life has been beautiful and tiring all in one this past weekend. I hiked at total of maybe 12 miles in two days. The first day we hiked a trail that took us to a beautiful bend in the South Yuba river. Upon arrival to the water we only encountered ONE person! This older guy mining for gold (for fun). He showed us a few pieces he found. Pretty interesting. The water was so clean and clear.

On the way out I tripped when I was trying to slow down from running down a hill and banged up my left leg a little ... nothing that was too much to talk about but my leg was sore the next day...





These are pictures from my hike I did yesterday, Monday. Keep in mind that I was hungover from TWO beers... (I don't really drink anymore so I have NO tolerance) So imagine waking up the next day with a hangover headache. Excederine didn't help and neither did two cups of coffee... So I hiked up to over 8000 feet feeling this way. My own fault! But the view was worth it. These are the Sierra Buttes. It's an amazing sight. I'd definately do that hike again someday, next time I won't drink the night before.

This is the sign right before you climb to the tower on the highest point of the buttes.


Here you can see just how small the tower is.


See the tower now???

A view from the top. It was VERY windy and cold at the top... about 60 degrees.


I did it!!! I was feeling a little vertigo on top. I felt like the wind was going to pick me up and throw me into one of the small pockets of snow in some crevace where I'd freeze to death on the mountain!


This is on our decent - not too far from the top. I was still cold!


A view of lakes half way down the trail.

Maybe I am on Mars...

Okay I'm having a bit of a hard time soaking up all of this information. Myspace is a great thing, don't get me wrong - but I've come to realize some things about people I graduated with and it just is weird. I think 99% of the people that graduated in my class are married. Many of them still live in Jamestown - if not they moved to Florida. Why, I can't figure that out... I'd never move there... (no offense to Amanda) They are guarenteed hurricanes EVERY year. At least here I am not guarenteed to have an earthquake that will tear my house off of the ground!
I don't know. So anyways. The weirdest part is every one that is married and in Jamestown all but a very select few have kids! Is that how it works? Make babies and be merry?

I don't know. I'm just so confused. What happened to enjoy the marriage - get that going good. Enjoy being together without distractions... P-nut is enough for me! And they all own houses! I guess for me it's just so freakin' impossible that I can't fathom buying a house. Yea - $600,000 later I can own my own outhouse on a property! :P Not really, but anyways - everyone has houses... but then again you can afford one for about $75,000 there... makes a big difference!

Anyways I'm just really bothered. I feel so different than any of them - like i'm not sure I can understand where they are in life because it is so foreign to me. I feel like there's nothing better to do so that's what they do - make babies! I guess when I was sitting graduating with them all I didnt' realize how different my life would be than theirs. I don't want their lives or anything - I love my own, thank you... I guess I just don't get what led them down their path. I can't imagine graduating from high school and thinking, "Wow! This town is meant for me. I'm going to find me a husband and get busy! Then i'm going to stay home and just cook and clean and hang out with all my friends who have babies."
Now that doesn't sound horrible - but it's just so different than where I am. Anyone else have this to deal with?

I feel like I am on a different planet or something.

Camptonville....

So I spent last weekend up north, again :)... seems to be the way weekends are in the summer. I love it! So anyways here are some pictures to enjoy from my weekend. I have been taking less pictures since we go to the same places. All of these pictures are at Bullard's Bar. the water is about 10 feet lower than the first time we went on the water!!! Every day they let some of the water out at the dam so it is always different every time you go. So now there are beaches that were 10 feet below us a month ago. Strange huh???






This pictures is blurry but it shows you how high the jump rock is. I actually jumped on a few feet higher than this one - and I definately was scared out of my mind, but oh well - I did it!!! I figure I have to get down one way or another, I might as well make it quick and hopefully painless. They jumped individually - not safe to do it together.





This is the beach that we were on at Bullard's bar.




Another shot of the same beach





I took this shot and didn't realize that my cell is in the picture - but I like it there... even technology makes it way into the wilderness sometimes ;)

We're having a heat wave.... a tropical heat wave!

So California, as you all know, is SO freaking hot right now. It hasn't been this hot in 50 years. The death toll is going up. People and animals are dying because of lack of water... it's very sad.
I have been fine for the most part, in case anyone was worried! Although yesterday and the day before were pretty hot in my aunt and uncle's house. NO A/C!!! When the forcast says it will be 100-110... I think that warrants rushing to Walmart and buying a window unit... but they say "it'll be gone soon and then we won't need it anymore." Yea til next year gets hot again. But the truth is it is not normally this hot in the summer. 110 is unusually hot for the bay area. The fog normally keeps it relatively cool. Even Pacifica has been warm - which means it was perfect this past week.

We went back up north again this weekend. It was beautiful - big surprise! I swam the most I have in a very long time! Sometimes I was swimming and pulling Briana - so swimming for two is even more of workout! I see myself everyday so I haven't noticed - I wonder if Sean will see a difference when he gets here. Hopefully I look more buff. ;)

So you all heard probably - but I will say it again. WE ARE MOVING INTO A HOUSE?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!??!?!!?!?!?!??!!?!??!!?

:)

I'm stoked. Like totally stoked, baby! ;) Too bad you all can't come and help break it in with a proper party... beer pong would somehow have to be included. Anyways, life is good - hope all is well. 22 days til I see Sean (and counting).
Miss you all!

This is Oregon Creek. It feeds into the middle yuba river where their house is... It's a bit cooler but amazing. If you could just drop from the swing into the water you'd be looking at a small waterfall which you can actually swim under. About 3 people could swim under and stay back there... it's a cool little cove. The rocks are huge and white in this swimming hole... but the ones underwater are green and slimey. It's a great place to sun because the rocks are nice and flat! You can get ahold of the swing and swing around and drop into the water too because it's deep! Beautiful. I guess more up stream there is a bigger waterfall but it's hard to hike to so we did not go there.





This is looking up Oregon Creek. The water up there is just so clean and beautiful!






This was at Purdon. There were schools of fish swimming really close to the surface by the beach so I tried to take a picture. It was so sunny that it was hard to get a good shot with my camera. The bottom right shadow is the fish and if you focus for a while I think you can make it out. It sorta blends in with the water.






This is another shot at Purdon swimming hole. Purdon is actually the name of the road you take to get to it - I'm not sure if that's the official name of the state park area... it's amazing. We actually hiked up about 20 minutes along the water on this trail and ended up at this amazing swimming hole - i didn't bring my camera (maybe next time!). There was a huge rock that we jumped off of (well, Kaila, John and I did at least... Pam wasn't in the mood and Briana is too busy being a mermaid in the water). The rock was about 30 feet at it's highest point. I jumped off the shorter part (about 26 feet) because I was too scared. It didn't hurt too bad... I'd do it again :)






Another shot at Purdon.

One more picture...

Here are some pictures from my trip

This is a picture of Bullard's Bar. It's a beautiful lake with water as warm as a bath. It's my favorite place we've gone.








This is Briana on her rock. Her family's house property line goes out into the middle of the river.... it's so beautiful!








We generally would take the boat and tie ie to driftwood, a stone or a tree... whatever we could find, when on Bullard's bar. If we couldn't find anything sometimes we'd just let the boat just sit and float - we could always swim to it anyways :)








This is Lake Tahoe. We went there for the 4th of July. We took the boat on the lake and saw the fireworks at King's bay. It was a pretty awesome display of fire in the sky!








...more Bullard's bar. I DID say it was my favorite - didn't I?!?!?!

To Camptonville I go!

So I am leaving now, going up north for about 2 weeks, I think. I will think of all of you. when you're out having a good time make sure to call me - i will be up :) I will take lots of beautiful pictures and be sure to share them with you when I get back from my adventure working with Briana in the Sierra Nevada mts! Love and miss you all!
Christine

New York New York, here I come!

So tomorrow I will be up at the crack of dawn and on my 12 hour journey to get to nyc. I'm really looking forward to it and can't wait to see Sean mostly. So my blog will be quiet for the next 4 days. I hope everyone has a great weekend!! :)
xoxo
Christine

Camptonville...

This past weekend I went up to Camptoniville, CA. It's just north of Lake Tahoe in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mt range. I found these pictures on-line to share with everyone a glimpse of what I got to see this weekend. There are supposedly mountain lions and rattle snakes out that way - but the only thing I saw was something that looked like a scorpian near the river. The house I stayed at is on the Middle Yuba River. There are loads of swimming holes along the river and it's about 5 miles from a very long lake that flows into a river. The water was so clean and clear! It was the most beautiful green-blue color. It reminded me of the sea when I was in Nice, France. Pretty much it is up in gold country where all of the mining took place during the gold rush. Lots of history up there. I can't imagine people living there year round though - they get the most snow out of anywhere in the country... even more than Buffalo NY! :) :P








These are both pictures of the Yuba river... this was pretty much at the bottom of the family's property. I spent a bit of time sitting near it.





Well only a few more days here and then I'm off on a plane to see Sean - I am getting so excited!!! The wedding will be SO much fun and to make it even better I get to see Sean so all will be great!!! :) 3 days... and counting!

The weekend is upon us!!

I can not believe that tomorrow if Friday. It feels like today is Tuesday so i'm all screwed up. Today we had a great day - had some delicious food made by the great mexican's in Pacifica. Anyone out this way should check it out. .. El Toro Loco. :)
One week til I get to see Sean!!! I am SO excited. It feels like I haven't seen him in a month - well, it will be 2 weeks..
Nothing else too strange going on... oh! The president of my class from high school contacted me and they are trying to plan a 10th year reunion for next summer... not so sure I care enough to go to something like that. What do ya'll think. I dunno - the only person I really would want to see is Amanda - and I could just skip all the drama and fake people who don't give a shit where I am in life anyways schmoozin'.
:P I don' think I'll end up going. It will probably just be the people that all stayed friends because they all got stuck in my hometown and never left!

So what's the plan for this weekend. Snuffy's anyone?!?!!? I'll be here... working and perhaps going to the line dancing place alone :( Oh well I'll just down a beer and dance the night away...

San Francisco!

This was Kristen, Mike and my first time stepping on a Pacific Ocean beach our whole trip.. what fun it was. We had Taco Bell on the ocean and after Kristen and I got brave and put our feet in the cold ocean water. What fun.. FREE FUN :)





This is a picture of a flower.. it was taken near Santa Barbara, CA. This is the kind of flower you find a lot out here.. very different than back east.






Last but not least... the transamerica building. It makes for a beautiful touch to the San Francisco skyline. Miss you Kristen and Mike.. come back quick... Now I am just waiting patiently for my other half to get his butt out here.. then I will be complete again. Who will ever go to the country line dancing place... Yee Haw Seaner...

The Cannery

These were all taken at The Cannery... it is a building in the fisherman's wharf area. I loved the way the light was shining in and out of places so I took a few pictures.

City Lights

This is the awesome bookstore near the Garden of Eden... bar.. ummm place :) that we took Marisa to way back in the day.. good times

The Fruth about the Elk... and the Ram's too!

So I would just like to set the record straight. When you are driving in New Mexico and Arizona there are signs for Elk... for like 60 miles! Now if you saw signs for Elk for a good portion of your trip - wouldn't you think the chance of seeing one would be HIGH?!?!?! Well I have something to tell you all.

THERE ARE NO ELK!!!

The FRUTH :) is that the Elk are no more... The Mothman has come and eaten them all up and he even took the time to get the ram's up near the Hoover Dam too.
Another thing - WHAT ARE RAMS DOING NEAR THE HOOVER DAM? Does anyone know how freaking big that thing is?!?!?! It is HUGE. You know - come to think of it I think the rams all fell into the dam. Yea... that's it! :)

Anyway I am in California now. We arrived yesterday after a very fun evening in Las Vegas.
That's another post.... :) to come

God Bless America!

What a beautiful country we have. Most people just take it for granted - but I am trying hard not to. We have had a very successful day today... from Arkansas... TOAD SUCK PARK none the less... to Santa Rosa New Mexico - we're flying. So I will put a few pictures up and leave it at that. I miss you all and keep checkin out out blogs - we will post more in the future.

christine

Who said Fruth wasn't the bomb?!?!

Got Fruth?!?!? Well apparently West Virginia does!!! Aren't you jealous?

We went to the Mothman museum... if you want info on that check out woody's.. umm i mean murphy's or mitch's blog... :) lol

I won't ruin it for him




Enjoy the videos that we made.... :) Stay tuned. Perhaps there will be more to come tomorrow or the next day.

Destination Texas tonight... :) Miss you all!!!!!
xoxo Christine

Pictures from last week...

Picnic Time!

So Sean and I went to Perinton Park yesterday for some good picnic food and fun :) We played some bocci ball and chased the kids around. Renee brought Louie along and he was just too cute to not get a picture of :) Enjoy!

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Fat... not PHAT.... ness

I am honestly sick of watching people at work. It makes me want to diet. Today I was sitting at lunch with all of the kids and one of my not-so-slim co-workers breaks out with this huge lunch. I mean - I could have had half and been stuffed! What is up with people and these unhealthy habits? My other co-worker always tries to shove food down my face and if I say "no thanks..." She responds with "c'mon - you can stand to gain a few pounds"... YEA if I want to become FAT LIKE YOU!!?!?!?!? Seriously - always bringing me cookies and pie and cake - it's just tooooo much. It bothers me when it gets pushed onto me. I don't think I'm a toothpick - I happen to be the size I am because I watch what I eat... and I don't mean watch it go in my mouth. The worst part - summer is upon us and all of my co-workers will be wearing thinner clothing and it will make me want to vomit. UGH I can't stand it! I am honestly to the point where I want to tell people to stop making themselves fatter... it's disgusting! Last time I checked a 200 lb woman is not sexy or hot.... just my friendly opinion though :)

On the pod....

So for all of you iPodder's out there I have some nifty information for you all. So if you have a file that is on your iPod but NOT on your library within iTunes - you can not simply drag the file from your iPod directly into your library and then have it back on your computer's hard drive... I guess Mac had to prevent that from happening so people wouldn't go and take their iPods to other people's computer and just drag and drop the files into another computer - therefore creating a copy. BUT there is a second way.... if you go into My computer (pc users, that is) and click on the iPod... then within Tools click on the box that allows you to view hidden files... then a folder will appear and that has all of your music. you can drag those into your computer and into your library. the ONLY problem with that is that each file is not named by song or artist - but by some arbitrary method with four letters. i.e. AFZY. So you can't just go find the one song you wanted as easily - but it CAN be done :)
There may be an even easier way but this way works for me :)

That's it for now.. how's everyone's weekend going? BEAUTIFUL - i say! :)

BORDOM at it's finest..

You know you're bored at work when.... you're sitting at the computer on-line and you're not supposed to be and you're blogging.
Today is way too slow for me. I'm so ready for my vacation it isn't funny.

I made a slideshow of Marisa's visit...

Marisa has come and gone.... what a nice vacation :)

Marisa arrived in Buffalo on Wednesday afternoon and I just dropped her off at the beautiful hour of 6:50AM.... EEK! I'm actually so freakin awake - it's very amazing. I am NEVER this awake at 8:30 in the morning - especially after only getting a 4 hour nap. It was well worth it. Thanks to everyone for coming out on Saturday night. Too bad Marisa and I could only make it until 1am. I felt fine and then all of a sudden it hit me - I was far past my limit and even though the bartenders must have given me tons of water ... i remember at least 3 glasses I downed... it wasn't enough - or it was just too late. Anyway, Marisa had a great time and thanks to everyone for making sure she got the true "Rochester" experience... she even finished most of her garbage plate and I had half!?!?!?!?! Damn girl!

Oh Mr. Sun... Sun.... Mr. Golden Sun...... PLEASE SHINE DOWN ON ME!!!!!!!!!!

:) Alright that might be a little cheesey and very 4-year old-ish but I don't give a damn :)

I loved yesterday.. every single freaking moment of it! Well .... I should remove the whole work portion of it... but besides that I loved it. It hit about 80 at one point yesterday!! Today isn't too cold either :) I'm not complaining. The weather better be good when Marisa gets here. There's SO much to show her. anyways... hope everyone's having a great weekend.

Christine

Life :)

So I thought I'd post a picture of my handsome husband... I love both of these pictures. Things are going alright here. The spring-like weather is HERE! I'm SO excited that the trees will soon be filled with leaves again. The warmth that I felt today was so reassuring that winter is out and spring is IN! I miss warm weather and it's just around the bend... this Friday is supposed to be about 60!!! I think that's freakin' awesome! Marisa comes in one week and I still haven't fine tuned what we're going to do. I'll get on that... before Wednesday :)
That's all. I guess I wanted to just leave a post. I feel like I have been in my own world and not online so much lately. How's life outside the DeChalais apartment?!?!?!?

Craziness in Cornhill!

So this past Friday when sean and I were leaving to go out I saw a car manual (I first thought it was a cd case) and just kinda looked at it and walked on to Sean's car. When we got home that night I went to take p-nut out and found all these cd's and papers outside where I normally take her. I picked them up and took them all inside. I found this time sheet for this guy that works at the ARC of Monroe. I had a feeling that it was his stuff and that he'd had his car broken into. So I emailed some HR person at the ARC and it turns out that this guy DID get his car broken into. Once he gets ahold of me I will give him the few cd's that I have and his car's manual. Loads more got stolen than this but at least he got SOME of it back. How sad is it that some person did this? It brings back all the memories I have of when this happened to Sean. This is the 3rd time I've known of someone's car getting broken into since we moved into this lovely "diverse" neighborhood. Why do these people do this? What makes them think that it is okay to take someone's personal belongings?!?!!? WHY?!?! It just seems so sad that this keeps happening. Know what I say? NO ONE SHOULD LIVE IN THIS SHITTY PART OF THE CITY! That's what I say. I'm very bitter at all of the ghetto trash that I see on the streets. Both the white and black trash of this city make me sick. They walk across the street wherever they want, walking slow - I mind you... and then when they are in MY way because they're not on a cross walk and I don't stop for them ... (I just slow down so I don't hurt them) then I am the bad guy here. Manners people.... MANNERS. I was taught them a long time ago and I wish other people would learn them. Imagine what a beautiful world this place would be if we all had better manners (me included)! Sorry ... I am just pissed off that this has happened again. This is why every day I just take everything out of my car. There is nothing of value in there... Even my cd face to my player gets taken out every time I am parked at home. How great is it that I feel SO SAFE in my own neighborhood. It's bull.

Doh!

Well I hope someone out there is experience a wonderful Monday. Today was long and stressful at work - but the kids were adorable and made it a little better. The one little guy who used to bite me keeps hugging me now and I'd rather that be his way of showing affection... :)
So today is quite grey and a little foggy too - I got home and hadn't heard lightning since I left for work and as soon as I got outside with p-nut the thunder started again - I hope she's not afraid of going outside again - we went through that already and that was NOT fun.
I hope everyone enjoys this lovely picture of Homer Simpson! It'll put a smile on everyone's fact that sees it!

Think Pink!

So my old template I guess had some work to be done on it and failed me so I've given up for now and went with the boring template. I thought I'd be daring and unlike my normal self and go with pink. I figured I could use a little girlying up :)
hope everyone had a great weekend! Check out Sean's site to see the awesome pictures of the fog we saw in Jamestown. When my dad e-mails me the pictures from this weekend I'll post a few. Alex is getting BIG!
Christine

Happy Friday to ME! :) (and you too!)

Hello world! I am SO happy that today is Friday. I just wanted everyone to know that. I hope everyone has an awesome weekend- wherever you may be :)
Christine

Gretta's a little sick

So for all of the people out there who do not know Gretta, she's my car :) I know it's an old lady name but I like it and I guess it just fits my car...
Gretta had some troubles today and I had to have her taken to the doc. Prognosis looks good. :) I was on my way to my last house for a meeting and my brakes started to feel odd. I gave Sean a call and let him know something was weird and that I might need help later - but didn't really think that I WOULD need help. (better to be safe than sorry...) So after my meeting I got in my car and the Emergency brake light was still on even though the brake was NOT on... I called my dad and he seemed to think the light on the dashboard was just malfuntioning. A minute or two after I got off the phone with my dad the brakes went on my car. I was lucky there was no traffic.. I was on Dewey ave and it was 4:30.... not a quiet street. So I was driving slow to begin with and happened to be near Will's friend's house so I went there and that's the end of the story.... for now.
If anyone wants to send get well cards to Gretta send them to me or to Farrel's Garage :) Hopefully they'll fix the brake line, which we suspect is why the hydrolics went and I couldn't brake, and then she'll be ready to go.
Keep her in your prayers, please :)

Christine

p.s. no pity cards for Gretta... she needs no sympathy - just to be cheered up :)

Blog off, Blog on!

Hi all! So I guess I haven't posted in a LONG time... almost a month. I guess since the weather turned bitter cold I've been in blog-hybernation. It's been nice but I guess I should come out and say I'm sorry for depriving you all with my wonderful pictures and stories. :P

Nothing too pressing going on. I learned the line dance to Will Smith's "Wild Wild West" last Tuesday and it was pretty exciting. Now will I remember it when we go next? - and that's IF they play it ;)


I think that's all of the fun things going on that I can think of - oh yea --- P-nut is sick still... I have to feed her a special diet :( I hope to God that she gets better soon. I had to bathe her in the shower today because she had crap all over her body. Disgusting!

Hope all is well with everyone :)

The Things I Do to Fatten Up Sean :)

So I made Sean a Peanut Butter Cup cheesecake.. thought I'd share my pictures with the world. This thing tastes as good as the Cheesecake Factory! :) I have over half in the freezer so we'll be enjoying this for a LONG time...

Blame it on the dot matrix printers :)

So yes, my thoughts lately have been negative. I feel so angry inside. Angry at the world for not giving me the answers that should come from inside... yet I keep looking at the world and blaming it. I just want to figure out what the hell I want to do career wise and JUST GO FOR IT. Sounds easy - right? I've been on college's websites and looking at programs and what kinds of jobs they lead to, to see if they can help point me in the right direction. Remember in high school when you took the stupid test that printed out on the dot matrix printer what jobs you'd be good at ?!?! They told me to be an accountant. HA! I SUCK ASS at math...
lol
I think they also suggested a musian or psychologist... no wonder there are so many students in psych programs around the world - the stupid dot matrix printer told them to! So that is my conclusion.. that's where my anger is... towards the damn printer.

Anyway - I'm keeping my feet on the ground but I feel like I keep stumbling. I wish things would clear up and I could go get what I want... once I figure it out getting it is the easy part. I'm good at that part. My indecisivness has reached a maximum and I am actually sick of it. I want to know. I need a bright light and God to come walking out from it and say "Christine... go do ____" or something. I told Sean tonight to pick a profession and I'd do it.. because I just feel so lost. I know I'll get by. Doesn't this ever end?

My job still sucks. Now talk around work is that someone's pay was cut because of budget concerns within the company... not because of performance. What bull shit. Who the hell cuts pay because of something they fucked up?!?! It's so rediculous. I have to look at all the admin people not vomit on them... it's hard. I know this sounds aweful but remember this blog is for venting.. so thigns are a little better than this. I love the kids I get to work with. One of them they just pulled me from so they can put me on two new kids that are new to the agency... I already miss her and stopped by today to give her new aide some tips. I wish I could bring each of these kids with me as I move along... kinda like Briana. Man I still miss her :(.

So I'll sit at the computer and listen to our iPod music (which rocks!) and search for an answer...