SmugMug Meeting

This evening, I went ALONE, but with a full tank of gas AND my purse down to Costa Mesa, CA for the Orange County SmugMug Meeting at the Mesa Verde Country Club. The guest speaker was Jessica Claire. I also got to meet the very talented Jasmine Star who welcomed everyone to the meeting as well as introducing the guest speaker. Jasmine Star is as amazing in person as she is on the screen. Am I looking a little "star" struck?!

Got Lost?

Sunday's embarrassment pales in comparison to what I did last night. Let me start by saying that each Monday, I go to the house of a married couple from church (David and Anna) along with several other people from church. It's a mini social event, then we watch some DVD episodes of Lost. Last night, on the way to David and Anna's, I received a fun text message from Bob where he was writing about "lost" and using it as a play on words. I laughed and thought about how I could respond a cute way once I arrived. Just after arriving, I responded as follows, "I'm getting Lost without being snuggled up next to you"...which could be interpreted that I was watching lost (or feeling lost) without sitting on the catch snuggled up next to Bob (while watching Lost). I've only used the text feature a couple times on my iPhone, so all this texting stuff is new. I was surprised I didn't get a fun response back, but then thought nothing more of it.

This morning, however, I was going to invite David and Anna to go to a photographer meeting in Costa Mesa with me if they wanted to go along for the ride. When I went to text them, you are probably guessing by now who I accidentally sent the text to last night. Yes, that's right, somehow I hit the wrong button on my iPhone and the text went to David. I closed my eyes trying to hide what I saw...totally mortified! When I opened by eyes again, there it still was, there was no mistake. I sat in their house for THREE HOURS after sending it, totally oblivious to what I'd done! Once I recovered from the shock, I immediately sent a text to explain what happened...needless to say, I didn't dare invite them to the photography meeting!

THANK YOU!

A huge Thank you to Bob for attending the Will Crockett Seminar on lighting in Raleigh, NC for me today. I'm trying to finalized on my photo lighting and saw that they were having a seminar there. As I'm here, and he's there, he went for me. Not only did he go, but he also took notes and went and talked with the instructor about what I had so far and got suggestions on what I still needed to get. All this while I was out having fun on a boat.

Thanks again, Bob.

San Diego, CA

Last week, Ovi and Stephanie invited me to go boating with them in the San Diego Harbor. Was I interest? of course! Before I left the house, I made sure I had all the essential items: camera, check; suntan lotion, check; sunglasses, check. Off I went to drive about 150 miles down to the Yacht Club to meet up with Ovi, Stephanie and a few others. when I was 2/3 of the way, I stopped to fuel up...had about 45 miles to go and the gas meter said I had about that much gas left. I pulled into a gas station...NOOO...don't tell me I didn't have my wallet. I looked through the bottom of my purse and found three quarters, three nickels and 10 pennies, plus another quarter and penny on the floor of the car. I felt very silly going inside and counting out a handful of change for the attendant, but maybe it would help me just make it. When I got back on the interstate, the roads started going up hill which took more gas, so then my gas gauge said I was going to be about 10 miles short of gas...even with the $1.26 I just put in. I called Ovi and Stephanie (for the second time) and said I probably should get off and get gas and where were they. Thankfully they were only a couple miles ahead of me, so we pulled off at the exit. I sheepishly said to Ovi when he came to swipe his credit card for me, "I guess I shouldn't drive a Mercedes if I can't afford the gas!!!"

So how was the boating? It was wonderful...a perfect day to be out on the water. We rode around the bay, then went to Coronado to get some food. While we were waiting for our take out to go back to the boat to eat, we witnessed a guy caught by two others as he tried to take a $20 from one of them. They held onto him until the police came and handcuffed him...all about 20-30 ft from where we were.

How They've Grown

This evening, I talked with Pen, one of my friends from FL. We hadn't talked for several months and recently had played phone tag several times. She wanted to see recent pictures of what is happening in my life, so I'm sending her the link to this blog. Here is a picture of her children playing for Pen and Jerry's recommitment ceremony for their 10th anniversary. I can't believe how much the children have grown since I left Florida...but then, it has been over four years. Pen, enjoy the pictures of your children and mom...it was great catching up.

Soft Box Lighting

Today, I went out for a walk and on my front steps was a package for my softboxes for studion lighting. How exciting. I had fun assembling them...if only I had the lights, then I could try them out.

Ka, Las Vegas, NV

When Bob and I were in Vegas for his birthday a couple weeks ago, a photographer took our picture when we went to see Ka. We had front row tickets for the show. Here is the picture...

RV Interior

Today, a pro was scheduled to clean the carpets, mattress and chair (in the bedroom). I arrived at the house about 10 minutes before he was scheduled to arrive to put the slides out. First, I leveled the vehicle...well the RV leveled itself! The bedroom slide went out fine, but the big slide down the whole drivers slide wouldn't budge. I found four fuse boxes, but none of the them were labled slides. I switched around some that had vague names (making sure to use the same amp voltage). Still nothing. The cleaner called and I said I was having trouble and would maybe have to reschedule. He said he would go on his next job, then see if I had it out by then. I called Bob, and he had me walk through some things, but still no movement. I went it to grab some lunch while waiting for the cleaner to call. Then Bob called back and suggested I try one more thing...unscrew the plate tha holds in the switch. I unscrewed the switch, tighted all three wires that were attached to the switch and pressed the button again. It worked and went out.

Bengal Vacation

Steve is going on vacation to New Zealand and Australia, so this evening, I picked up his Bengal Cat, Sheila to stay at my house while he is gone.

Fixing up the Travel Villa!

The stove and oven of the RV is spotless now and looks as good as new. After cleaning it, I was able to get the oven started (we had already tested the stove top). I can hardly wait to try cooking and baking in it to get the smell of home in the RV.
Called the Fleetwood manufacture with a list of some minor things that need replaced or are missing. They should call back with prices in the next couple of days. One was a round pendant that went on a bedroom light, I found it this evening, so one less item to buy.
Also ordered a black plastic grid that sits on the top of the water dispenser tray on the fridge. The first place wanted $38! It's only a 2" by 4" piece of plastic with a few holes. I found it another place for $10...still a lot for what it is, but at least the fridge dispenser will look better with it.
On Thursday, a pro is going to come to the house to clean the RV carpets and upholstery (minus the ultraleather chairs which I have already done).

Grillin' Time

This evening, I found a great colapsable grill to fit in one of the basement storage compartments of the RV. Getting the RV outfitted for camping is lots of fun. Can hardly wait until the first camping trip...Malibu Beach in just a few weeks.

California Coast

How fortunate to live less than two hours from the beach and the mountains. Today, I drove to Rancho Palos Verdes. Saw some pretty gardens and then walked on a cliff walk by the Pacific Ocean. (You can double click on the collage to enlarge it)

Homemade Bread

Bob flew back home today. I made him a loaf of homemade artisan bread for him to take back with him. As I hadn't packed myself a lunch, I tore off a big chunk to eat on my way to work. I took it out the oven right before we headed to the airport, and it was still warm when we got to the airport. I also took a few bites of the potato salad that I had packed for him (lower left).

We got a lot of work done of the RV this weekend. I used a great cleaner to clean the passenger seat and dashboard. I'll need to get more to do the driver's seat, sofa, recliner and dinette area. While cleaning, I discovered that both the driver and passenger seats have heated seats...love those in my car on cool mornings! We replaced the four auxiliary batteries (thank goodness for great prices at Costco), changed the oil (all 24 synthetic quarts), examined the roof, and did several other things that I can't remember. Once the batteries were replaced, we were able to test the electrical systems which all seem to work great. I was pleased with how much we got done.

New Toy

Today, Bob picked up the Fleetwood Excursion that we went 50/50 on in an internet auction. Sound kind of risky buying something so big on-line, but the place that it was located was right next to where I work. One of our managers at work had already bought a couple items from them and the financing places had heard about them, so we didn't feel like it was scam. I was able to spend a couple hours on it over the course of 3-4 visits before we put in our bids. It needs a good detailing, but we were pretty excited.

Bob stopped by office with it after picking it up. A large shadow came over my office, I looked up, saw the cause and ran outside excited. Due to the low back end (and being on a slight hill, he couldn't back it out when he went to leave, so we opened the gate and he drove into the plant to turn around.

Just a couple of minutes after leaving the plant, Bob called. I thought, "This isn't good as he's not to the gas station yet" and I didn't think he would call while driving. When I answered my phone, he told me that the engine died. Oh no! We wondered if it was almost out of diesel, but the tank did say it had 1/8 left. I called our Caterpillar rep from work to see if he had any ideas why it died. He said he would stop by. While we waited, I went off to get two 5 gallon canisters with diesel. By the time I got back the RV, the guys had discovered that the fuel filter was loose (almost to the point of falling off). It was filled with diesel and replaced. Then the water separator was filled with diesel (it too was empty). Bob tried the engine...nothing. We waited a loooong five minutes, then Bob tried it again and it slowly started kicking into all cylinders. What a relief...we didn't just buy a lemon after all!!! Bob topped up the 90 gallon tank with 60 gallons of diesel.

Happy Birthday, Bob!

Today, I picked up Bob in Las Vegas. We went to see Ka, a Cirque du Soleil show. Then, we went to dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. We had a window table with a specatular view of the Bellagio water fountain show. All the food was delicious. We ordered a chocolate souffle for dessert, then they brought out some chocolate mousse on a plate that said "Happy Birthday" in chocolate writing. After dinner, we went to the top of the Tower to see the lights.