4th of July in California (Warning: This is long!)

We just got back from our trip to California, where we spent the week of the 4th of July.  With the intent of sharing more of my trip on my blog, I took lots of pictures.  I broke it down by day, since we were gone for a week, this is a looooong post!

I was nervous to leave for such a long time, not that my girls at the coffee shop aren't capable of service amazing coffee without me... but I missed them and I hope they missed me (they haven't let on too much, but I've only been back at the shop for a few days.)

Gina's message to me on Saturday, the day before we left.

Sunday July 1st

 We drove from our house Corvallis to my dad's house Hayward in 9 hours with only 2 stops.  We left early in the morning so that we would have the afternoon to hang out with my family.

Interstate 5 just south of the Siskyou Pass

I didn't take too many pictures on the way down.  Romo had left Saturday morning, and met us at my dad's Sunday night.  He took the coast route part of the way.

Monday July 2nd

Sunflowers my sister bought.

We just hung out all day Monday.  I took Jackie to Costco to get some of her favorite snacks in bulk.  I also got some essentials that we would need for the week.  One thing I discovered about Costco that I didn't know is that they also sell tickets to local attractions for cheaper prices (in bulk, of course).  So I bought 2 tickets to California's Great America at a buy one, get one free price (Romo is a big boy... he was on his own.)

Tuesday July 3rd

So off we went to Great America on Tuesday.  The park used to be owned by Paramount (yes, the film studio).  In junior high and high school, we went there multiple times a year. All the rides and attractions were named after movies or television shows.  But alas, tough times in America call for the sale of themed amusement parks to random companies (Cedar Faire now owns the park).  The names of the rides have been changed, and many of them are in need of a good re-painting.  The shabby-ness doesn't help when you have a bit of situational anxiety and practically pass out each time you get on a thrill ride.  I quadruple checked my safety harnesses as I pictured myself falling to my death (dramatic, I know... but it got easier as the day went on.)  We got there right when the park opened, so we were able to ride many of the rides multiple times in a row with no wait time.  I believe the boys rode Drop Tower 5 times that day.  I have a before, during and after picture of the boys riding it the second time around.  This ride takes you up 225 feet and drops you...FAST.  My least favorite ride...

Dave and Romo before heading up Drop Tower for the second time.

See that tiny speck 22 stories up? Yeah... the boys.

Post drop.

The viking ship ride. The boys are in the second or third row from the left.

All three of us got super sunburned... especially me.  I had put sunscreen on, but I guess it was old or expired because my chest got the weirdest shaped burn on it.  Both of the boys got their faces burnt too.

 Wednesday July 4th 

Happy Independence Day!

We had a laid back morning of breakfast and TV before we went and picked Sarah up from the airport.

Me, Jackie and Sarah catching some sun with our matching shades.

The boys left to right Dave, Dad, Romo, and Champ

Dave and Champ pose for the camera.

We BBQ'd and the boys made homemade chili! We laid on the back deck of the house and sunned ourselves to catch up on some vitamin D. This is when sunburn #2 occured on my chest.

When it started to get dark, we loaded up my sister's Tahoe and drove down to Cal State East Bay, the university down the hill from my Dad's house.  They have a great view from there, so we watched people in the flats set off illegal, but beautiful, fireworks.

San Jose to the left, Hayward in front.

The gang watching the first few go off.

Nighttime view.

Thursday July 5th

We had originally planned to go do a tour of Alcatraz this day, however, I hadn't realized that we needed to book the tour two weeks ahead of time.  Long story short, we found an alternative... California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  I didn't take too many pictures, just a few.  They had some awesome attractions including a rainforest and an earthquake simulator.  We didn't get to look at everything, but I would really love to go back someday!   

Jackie taking in the view from the living roof.

After lunch, it got really busy, so we drove down to Fort Point to take pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge.

Dave, Sarah, Ali and Jackie watching the dolphins!

Romo, Dave and Jackie.

Friday July 6th

We didn't have anything planned for today, so the boys wanted to go see the Arlen Ness museum of choppers.  It wasn't very big, but the attention to detail on each bike was incredible!  A few of my favorites below...

We just hung out for a bit, then all piled in the car to pick Alissa up from the airport!

Saturday July 7th

I had trouble sleeping in, and was the first one up, so Champ and Roadie got up with me and we went outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Alissa, Sarah, Dave, Chris and I all piled in the car and drove to Berkeley.  The three of us girls got matching tattoos done.  More on that later...

But by the time we got back, we changed and left for the Oakland A's game vs. the Mariners.  Let's just say that the A's lost bad... but it was a great time!

View from our seats

Alissa, Sarah, Jackie

Sisters.

My besties.

Jackie photo bomb.

The girls and Daddo.

Sunday July 8th

A sad, sad day, but we had to drive home...  Chris and Sarah left ahead of us, and we took Alissa to the airport.  We busted out our drive in the most efficient way possible.  We stopped in Redding to get In N Out... and the car told us this:

Ew.  It was fun though!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure.  We packed a lot into a week... and I can't wait to go back. (Hopefully soon)

Boys with mustaches and softball bat smashes...

 ... these are a few of my favorite things! (There is sort of a Sound of Music thing going on in my head today... I'm currently in the process of interviewing for a new hire, and one of the girls I interviewed today happened to be named Maria.  I wasn't too stoked on her, and I noticed this because I suddenly found myself singing "How do solve a problem like Mariaaaaa..." in head head while she gave her answers to our questions...)

This month is "everyone-has-a-birthday-month."  Or so it seems.  Both of our roommates, Romo and Brian, had birthdays the first week of May.  To celebrate, we had a little get together this last weekend, and invited our closest chums.

Sarah, with the two birthday boys, and Tyler, on her lap.

Sarah and Romo.

Sarah and me!

 It was great fun! Our friends Tyler and Trista came down from Seattle to see our house and hang out in Corvallis with us.  We broke out the BBQ and our fire pit, and had a great ol' time!

 Dave and Romo are also growing their head hair and mustaches out.  Their goal is to not cut their hair for a whole year, and they have to give permission to each other to trim facial hair... (silly boys... I don't get it.  I guess it may be similar to girls asking each other which hair cut might be cute.  But these guys aren't going for cute, they are going for "awesomeness."

My husband's mustache.

 Now, this picture was actually taken a few weeks ago, but ask you can see... we are at "man bun" status.  Since Romo got a bit of a head start on hair length, he has achieved his man bun.  I just put Dave's up for him yesterday and he's about a month out from having a bun without the help of a head band as well.

And finally, softball season for the Average Joes has begun!  Dave is on a softball team with my friend and co-worker, Garrett.  Their first game was Monday, and they only lost by 2 runs. :(  It's fun to watch though!

Italian Clay Pots

Sorry for the delay all.  The last few weeks have been very busy.  But first, I wanted to get my first craft project of the summer up here!  A few weeks ago, one of my oldest friends in the whole world, Meghan, got engaged to her own engineer nerd (they are the BEST husbands! :)) and has asked me to be a bridesmaid! So, first thing we did was sign up on Pintrest! Yes! I love being creative and crafty!  Not only is it great for wedding planning ideas, but also for everyday things.  Soooo this first crafting project is something I sort of "borrowed" off Pintrest, but I figured it would be super easy to do and would get my herb garden going!

The end result of painting my clay pots.

So... I got these italian clay pots two summers ago when we lived in our tiny apartment, and planted herbs in them.  I killed them off by leaving them out in the cold once winter came back around.  Oops. And I let some dirt sit in them since then.

Before paint.

 I wanted to brighten them up a bit, so I went to the craft store and picked out my three favorite colors...

My favorite colors... a fern green, slate grey, and turquoise

 ... in Ceramcoat paint.  I also got a big fat bristle-y paint brush and a new plastic paint dish.  I ended up painting three coats on each pot, leaving the rims to their natural color.  At first I wasn't so sure about the look the bristles gave the paint, but I ended up really liking it better than the smooth look.

Painted Italian clay pots in grey, blue and green.

I also painted the dishes of the pots, with the intention of mixing them up on purpose for an arts-y end look.  However, it is hard to see the colors on the bottom.  I've been pondering going back and paining the tops of the dishes, but that might be a bit overkill.

Now all I need to do it get some herbs in there!  My Tuscan Blue Rosemary survived the winter! They are pretty tough though, hard to kill.  Good thing though, I love to cook with rosemary.  This one is still young... it can only get bigger from here!

Busy Bee Barista!

Just a quick update on my professional career!  This year, we have made it a company goal to get the managers up to speed in the barista world.  This year, we are lucky enough that the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) will be hosting their annual Event in Portland this year.  Which means that we are making big plans to attend, and to use this opportunity to make leaps and bounds in the way we do things at Coffee Culture.  One of the things we will be doing at the Event is taking the certification test for Level 1 certification through the SCAA and the Barista Guild of America (of which we are now members.)  We have begun our studies already, by first taking an online Webinar on Customer Service.  We will be training with Nathanel, who is the trainer at Portland Roasting, to prepare us for the written and practical parts of the test.   We will also be attending classes and lectures to learn about ways to better ourselves and our shops!

We are also lucky enough that our roaster, Portland Roasting, was named Roaster of the Year by Roast magazine.  This may sound silly, but it is a prestigious award.  They plan on celebrating by having a block party on one of the nights during the Event weekend.  They are a friendly, fun group of people and I am looking forward to meeting many of the people that I talk to on the phone all the time.

So, between getting Coffee Culture registered as a cafe with the SCAA, getting the management signed up with the SCAA and Barista Guild, and getting certified as a PRO barista, it is a big year for our company and for me!

Spring Tour: Medford

On the road againnnnnn... 

This last weekend we went to Medford to visit my sweet Nana.  When we left our house in Corvallis, it was pouring down rain. But as we drove along, we caught a glimpse of blue sky.  It was kind of weird.  So I took a picture!  The double light there is my phone's flash, not two suns. :(  

We actually didn't do a whole lot while we were there, which was actually a nice of change.  I read most of The Help (if you haven't read it, do!), and watched a marathon of NCIS, one of Nana's favorite shows.  Dave and I tried to go run, but I was cramping up really bad. But, while there and staying in Aunt Candy's old room, I decided that I needed proof that this toilet DOES exsist!

And the matching sink exsists too! (By the way, these are both BRIGHT yellow, to match the tub, walls, and carpet of the bathroom.)

I just had an idea!  Next time I go to Nana's, I will take pictures of other, random details of that house, just so I have proof, for others and future Jess.  

So, it was wonderful to spend so much time relaxing, and not doing much.  Dave started Spring term on Monday, and I an getting ready to take my certification test in a few weeks.  I will try to take lots of pictures at training on Monday.  

Seattle Trip! Second Weekend of Spacks Spring Tour

Downtown Seattle from "old" Nuun Headquarters on Capitol Hill

Hey everyone!  Yes, things are going well now (well, sorta).  This weekend we went to Seattle to visit friends for a birthday and fundraising event.  Our friends Trista and Tyler are on a Team in Training for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Basically, they compete in triathalons and host fundraisers for caner research.  For her birthday, Trista hosted a fundraiser at Tyler's workplace in downtown Seattle.  So the boys and I packed the car Friday night and drive up to their house!  Saturday we spent the day setting up for the event and playing around downtown (there was lots of good coffee, ice cream, and people watching).  The Capitol Hill area is very "hipster."  Lots of bicycle riders, tattoos, art, and culture. The event itself was really fun, they did raffles of cool running gear, Nuun and water bottles.  They held an auction and played Mega Twister.  It was hard for Dave though, because the entire night his allergies were getting the best of him.  We figured out that it was something inside the old building that was making him so miserable.  But we had fun though.

Sunday we got up, had delicious breakfast, and went over to our friends Ben and Lin Becker's house.  They were the adorable couple that did the photography for our wedding.  They recently moved back to the Seattle area, and are getting settled in at their new house.  We had some leftover beer from Saturday night, and it was a beautiful day, so they boys got to being goofy.  Spontaneous house warming party!

Standing on the front steps, giving thumbs up to people driving by.

They are the best friends that any of them could have.

Bailey, Lin's parents dog, was visiting too, and decided she wanted to be a pretty flower, so she sat herself right down in the middle of the flower bed.

And finally, the part of the day that made me almost pee my pants.  Romo, being the evil genius that he is, decided it would be funny to put Ben's yard bin near the street and pop out of it to surprise the busy car traffic going by.  The part funniest to me is his delivery...

Dave tried it too...

These guys are so much fun to be around!  I don't know where I would be without any of them... especially the confused bear... ;)

We loaded up the car and drove home and hour or so later...

So that was our weekend.  It was pretty fun.  Our Spring tour continues this weekend with Donna and Kent coming to visit, and next weekend when we visit Nana's house in Medford.  The plan is to see Dad and Jacka too, but Jackie was admitted to the hospital Saturday night for observation and evaluation.  She isn't doing so hot. (So if you have her number, call her or text her!  It would lift her spirits!)  I have been calling her twice daily, and hopefully they will release her soon enough to come see us!