Friday, March 20, 2009

Spring Break

On Saturday I left for LA with my friends Kim and Miranda. We braved the semi-ghetto we stayed in (the hotel itself was actually pretty nice) and rode the subway around Hollywood. After discovering which stop we should avoid based on the number of R-rated stores and creepy bums that were littered about we actually became quite the pros at using it. We also befriended an LA Sheriff's deputy on the train. I think he found it to be his duty to protect the three ultra white girls clutching their purses on the train in Hollywood at 10:00 at night. Thanks James.
Sunday morning we went to the Hollywood Farmer's Market. It was awesome. Tons of little tents and booths set up with people selling pretty much anything you can imagine. We ate fresh Nutella crepes for breakfast. Absolutely delicious by the way. We went back to our hotel for the car and did some sightseeing. We went to the Office set and Beverly Hills. We found the only Rite Aid that requires their employees to wear a shirt and tie and where the cost to park is $10. We also stalked a Hollywood Tours bus until the caught on to us and made us pass them.

Monday we did the WB studio tour and went to the Ellen show. Ellen is hilarious. We drove around a little bit and then also got to meet Drunk Jerry at Denny's.
Tuesday we went to Universal Studios. We took the studio tour, rode the rides, ate $6 hot dogs and walked around the Universal City walk.
Kim flew out to Georgia Wednesday morning, so Miranda and I went to breakfast and then drove home. It was a great trip. I had so much fun with my friends. We had some adventures and a lot of laughs!!

Sunday, March 08, 2009

What a weekend.....

So my mom is always telling us that we need to get out and do more things. Andy and I are total homebodies and like to spend what little freetime we have at home.

Saturday:
We decide that we would go out and be adventurous. We decide that it would be fun to go four-wheeling out at Sugar Loaf mountain. We rented 2 quads and went with Andy's parents and his brother/sister-in-law/nephew out to the desert.

We were having a grand old time until I decided that I hadn't had enough of an adventure and wondered what it would be like if I flipped one of the quads over while Andy and I were on it. Well, it wasn't as fun as I expected it would be. Andy fell off before the quad flipped and luckily it missed falling on me. I am sure my flight through the air was very graceful. Just ask the camp of people that were right next to us, that so kindly did NOT offer to come and see if we were okay. Anyways, we were both scrapped up pretty bad and after checking the damage to the quad saw that we had LUCKILY only broken the front headlight.

So, we stop the bleeding on our arms and legs and carryon the rest of day....at a much slower speed, might I add.


So then it is time to pack up and we decide that my sister-in-law, Liz and I are going to ride the quads back up to the main road and the boys (Andy's parents had left with the baby earlier) would bring up the trucks. So we ride up the mountain and sit there for awhile. Liz at this point has a really bad stomachache and isn't doing well and my first fear is that its appendicidis. Here we are stuck at the top of this mountain....at dusk...with no phones or water or any sign of the guys in sight. Finally I head back to the nearest camp and practically attack them in my quest for a cell phone and I run into the guys who are in just one truck. They race up the mountain and I follow. While we load the quads onto the trailer Andy tells me that his truck is high centered on a rock and there is no way to get it off.

We drive back to town in stoney silence as dollar signs flash through our heads at the thought of how much its going to cost to call a tow truck out to the middle of nowhere, to pull our truck off this rock.

Luckily the story doesn't end here.

Sunday:

Andy got up early this morning to take the quads back to the rental place and then after borrowing a hydraulic jack from a neighbor, was going to go with his brother back out to see if they could get the truck, which we were hoping had not been stripped and sold for parts by now or become the recent home to some bum living in the desert. Around 10:30 I get a call, saying that they drove all the way out just to find that they did not have the keys to the truck, so I had to drive out to Fountain Hills and meet them to give them the key. On the back into town I get a phone call from Andy's good friend Mark who also happens to work for the Mesa Police Department. He proceeds to tell me that he is at my school because it has been broken into and he wants to see if I can come down to see if anything has happened to my room. I am so lucky that Mark was one of the cops that responded to break-in. I head over to school just to find that my door is broken, my desk is trashed and some things (mostly money) are missing from it. As it turns out the whole school was broken into and vandalized pretty badly. The only thing we can guess is some teenagers weren't taught to go get a job and learn some responsibilty and so instead they break doors and try to steal Jolly Ranchers and Caprisuns.

Luckily Andy got the truck out and we won't have to foreclose on our house to pay for the towing bill. We are very lucky that things weren't worse than they were. We are very thankful to be safe and sound and in one piece.

All in all we are VERY glad this weekend is over and look forward to going back to the days when we can stay home on the weekends.