Sally

Yes, Sally the cat is getting an entire blog to herself as she's been particularly funny/mischevious lately. Plus she keeps us well entertained and thought she might entertain you as well. Sleeping UNDER the chair cover.

Literally watching 'Planet Earth' with me. She particularly likes the small and skittish creatures such as the mice, lizards, and bugs.

Like I said...

Sally had a problem with her aim when it came to the litter box. Paul created a palace of sorts for her so we could at least solve the problem this loss of aim created for us. He calls it "Sally's Poop Palace". If you don't believe me, please see photo below.

In case you were going to call me a liar.

She keeps us well entertained with creating a toy out of anything, and often she becomes bored with one thing and moves onto another. Hence the recycling bin.
Now she may look quite innocent here, but this is the perpetrator about to enter the scene. When cleaning out the closet last weekend, I stumbled upon this little masterpiece of hers.

Those are definitely Paul's BLACK dress pants. They've been hanging in the back of the closet for seven month, collecting Sally fur. Yuck.

-Alyssa

Backpacking

In September, Paul and I went backpacking through part of the Sierra National Forest and never put up the pictures. We had grand plans of hiking each day and making a giant loop but a couple of persistent and painful blisters forced us to take it easy. Regardless, the trip was beautiful, so I thought I'd post a few.

-Alyssa

Alyssa's Dream Date

Paul and I went back and forth on whether or not we should exchange Christmas gifts this year. After some creative though, we came up with some ideas.

Paul and I have far too many books in our little apartment. With two bookcases nearly full and two tubs of children's books in the garage, we really should read everything we own before we adopt any more books. However, books are far too tempting and fun, so Paul suggested we give one another a book for Christmas. I gave him the new Rob Bell book, and he gave me The Life of Pi (I know book titles are supposed to be underlined but I can't figure out how to underline using this blog thing).

I came up with the idea of choosing our own dates. Paul and I go don't go out very often, but when we do we have to make sure we both really want to go on that date. My idea allows us to choose whatever date we want and the other person has to go. Paul would like to see a show sometime, and knowing him, probably go out for Italian or Pat & Oscars.

I chose to go down to Balboa Park for the Museum of Photographic Arts and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. The photography museum had photos taken by children that they correlated with literature. The science museum had an exhibit titled "Animal Grossology" as well as the normal exhibits that you get to play with. These are some pics from my date.

Paul created concentric circles with sand on a potter's wheel.

This was part of the "Animal Grossology" exhibit, teaching how a cow digests its food.

The slime game was gross, and slightly inappropriate.

Also part of the exhibit, Paul dared to stick his hand into a dark box and guess what was inside. They were really just fake replicas of sea creatures skin.

By far the weirdes thing I saw in the exhbit. It actually had you try to move a "piece of food" and see how it is blocked by the hairball.

I took this for my own self satisfaction. I feel that too many people have been misinformed and do not believe me when I tell them their blood isn't blue. It's already oxygenized in your veins and is therefore red. Veins are blue. Blood is red.

-Alyssa

A day with LJ

So Paul has been out of town all weekend at Forest Home for Junior High Winter Camp, only this time as a counselor and not staff. I have no doubt he's having a blast, but I've been having quite some fun myself. My best friend, Leanna, and I both have zoo passes and took advantage of the beautiful sunny weather to check out some animals.

Giraffes are by far my favorite.

I'm not quite sure about this baby giraffe. He kept licking the pole.

Elephants are Leanna's favorite animal.

His best side.

Those silly digging meerkats.


I don't even remember what this one was called, but its legs were so thin it looked like they would break, and their eyes looked circled with white eyeliner. Leanna called them the supermodels of the deer.

A random peacock walking around. Not Leanna's favorite.

baby koala

-Alyssa

Fish are Friends, Not Food

My dear friend, KC, and I do not see each other enough. We spent an entire summer sharing a room at Forest Home and now our visits are fewer and further between. I guess living three hours away from one another will do that. Regardless of distance, we find time to spend together because friends are important and decided to "meet in the middle" at the Long Beach Aquarium last month. These are some of the highlights.

posing with some scuba divers

strange looking fish that look like they could eat you

trying to make fish hold still so I can take their picture

shark eggs - there is actually a shark in there!

fish that look like they're from a fairy tale

seahorses

jellies

colorful coral and fish

They had a giant tank with all the larger sized fish.

If you look below, you'll see the largest fish that swims around in this tank.

Giant Sea Bass

petting sharks

discovering his outer layer is very rough and hard in some places

more petting of the sharks

obstruction of view

This seal would not leave the little girl alone. We couldn't figure it out until we realized that she was holding a coin on the glass and moving it around.

Good friend, unique company, good day.

-Alyssa