Roadtrip Phase 2: The Best!

I ended my last post in a slightly dazed and lonely state somewhere in Washington waiting for Corey, crossing my fingers he would be arriving in a day or two. As I'm sure most of you know by now, he made it (he got the very last space-a seat on the only flight out that week)! Woohoo!

We had an awesome reunion in Seattle before taking off on our road trip down the west coast. We spent a busy day walking around Pike Place Market, seeing the Space Needle and the King Tut exhibit, and being in newly-reunited lovebird bliss (I know... gag. But it's true :D). 

Our next stop was down the Oregon Coast to Cannon Beach. I love this place. It's so beautiful and mellow. Here we did a lot of nothing: sat on the beach, sat in pubs, sat in restaurants. We did manage to go on one of the best runs I've ever been on early one drizzly morning along the beach. It was magical. 

Then it was time to hit up Portland (my favorite city, by far, anywhere ever). As it should be, we drank a lot of beer in Portland (we even went on a brewery tour of the city). We also ate a lot of food in Portland. That's pretty much what I remember about our 2 days there. Oh yeah, and there were rose gardens and Japanese gardens and book stores and bikes and such in between the beers...

Then there was Bend, OR (where we thought we wanted to move after this whole military stint is over. But noooooo, someone in our party thinks it's too desert-y... now the battle is on between Seattle and Portland). Again, we mostly just drank beer and sat around. I'll spare you the pictures.

We (hmm, maybe just I?) needed a little road-trip break at this point, so on our way down south we stopped at my mom's in SJ for a day. Picked up new clothes, ran off some of our quickly forming beer-guts, squeezed in some family (and cute baby) time, and refreshed. Lovely.

We hit the road again down to L.A. First stop was Disneyland. Yeah, we're kids. It was fun. Sort of... it was mostly just hot, actually.

Then it was time for Corey to join in my wonderful world of Eve6 madness. Guys, I think he's a convert! :) We met up with a couple of friends for a weekend of SO MUCH FUN I can't even stand it. We saw the band twice and just had the best time in the world hanging out with some of the best peeps in the world. 

And that completes my quick little play-by-play of our last week and a half. Aren't you glad you read this?

Now we're back in SJ waiting for my sister's wedding in just 10 short little days!! Bring it!!

Road Trip Phase 1: Not the Best

I had a brilliant idea to spend this past week (what will hopefully be- fingers crossed- the last week waiting for Corey to get here!) on a road trip across a big honkin' chunk of the country I've never seen. This was my route- all 4,000 miles of it in 6 days:

So just by looking at that, you reading this (being of greater mental capacity and possessing more foresight ability than I've demonstrated recently) could have probably told me that it wasn't the best idea. But I likely wouldn't have listened to you anyway, so oh well. I figured: Hey, I like being by myself, and I like driving, and this has got to be more exciting than sitting around with Bernie for 6 days (no offense, Bernie...).

The first day was awesome. I drove 12 hours from SJ to Salt Lake City and had a ball singing along to Speak in Code at the top of my lungs and cruising down the open road. I didn't even mind all that much when I got my first ever speeding ticket in Nevada (whoops). It was a beautiful day all around.

I probably should have just turned around then and gone back to San Jose and left it at that.

The next day I gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles for like 6 hours through the state of Nebraska during a severe weather warning, watching a giant storm system get progressively more threateningly tornado-esque right alongside the highway. It never started rotating, but if you know me and my life-long phobia of tornadoes (thank you Twister), you can imagine that I was wishing I was anywhere else in the entire world than in Nebraska that evening.

Highlights from the other 4 days have included:

-Breathtaking sights of Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota.

-Snow closing a bunch of roads into Yellowstone allowing me to instead spend a lovely night in Billings, Montana eating Outback take-out in a questionable motel room.

-Near constant thunderstorms dampening almost any opportunity for awesome photography views.

-Snow all throughout Montana making my wardrobe of t-shirts and tank tops rather useless.

-My phone's GPS deciding this would be a great time to no longer operate.

-A strangely dazed mental state thanks to an average of 9 hours of driving across plains every day.

The non-sarcastic highlight of the trip was seeing Eve 6 yet again (they just happened to be playing in Minneapolis... funny how that worked out!). This was the only day I had actual conversations with other human beings aside from gas station and hotel attendants. Believe it or not, I have actually gotten lonely on this trip. I wasn't sure it could happen given my introverted, loner tendencies, but I must admit this trip has been a bit too isolating. There's just nothing out here... I didn't even see a Starbucks for like 4 days. Can you imagine?!

Anyway, I'm in Washington now waiting for Corey. I'll enjoy staying in one place for a day or two before Corey gets here and we take off on Roadtrip: Phase 2! I'm sure that half will be much more exciting. I can't wait!!

Eclipse Beach Day in Half Moon Bay

I always have the funnest days with my sister and her very-soon-to-be-husband Chris. I just wanted to state that first thing.

Yesterday we went for a picnic on the beach in Half Moon Bay with some funny friends of theirs to watch the eclipse/sunset. It was so simple, but such a fun afternoon. We had champagne, the most delicious snacky meal I've had in eons (cranberry hazelnut crackers with yummy blue cheese- I couldn't handle the deliciousness!!), and just enjoyed the views in good company.

I think every day should be like this one.

Alderson, West Virginia

On Mother's Day this year, I happened to find myself very near the tiny town where one of my grandmas (my mom's mom) grew up.

While driving the 12 hours from Maryland to Nashville on my Eve6 road trip, I took the opportunity to make a little one-hour detour to see the town I've spent my whole life hearing family stories about. I saw the old train station where my great-grandfather's mail was delivered twice a day, the street my grandma spent most of her childhood growing up on, the Presbyterian church which was the center of most of her life during those years, the bridge where a very young version of me apparently watched some lackluster fireworks on the 4th of July one year at a family reunion, and the one and only restaurant in town. It really is a tiny little place.

It was just a quick drive-through visit, but it was nice to feel connected to my grandma (and my mom) that particular day by being in a place that meant so much to her. It's been 7 years since she passed away now... crazy. I still love and miss her very much. And I love you too, Mom!! Happy belated Mother's Day (again)!

I Don't Even Know How To Title This...

... because it is too awesome for words.

I thought my last Eve 6 experience was amazing, well this past week month has blown that out of the water. With the whole first-album-release-in-9-years dream come true aspect of this Speak In Code tour, I was determined to get my fill of my most favoritist favorite band in all the land. And, uh, I did. (To those who would chastise me for excessiveness- lalala, I can't hear you!)

Between Sacramento, two trips to L.A., Poughkeepsie NY, Sayreville NJ, Towson MD, and Nashville TN, I saw my boys for 6 tour shows including VIP soundchecks and meet and greets, one Grammy Museum album-release event, and a couple random acoustic mini performances. Ok, fine, it was excessive. I don't care. I'm going to more next month too. I had so much fun and met some amazing, AMAZING new friends that I'll love forever and ever.

And thanks to all this Eve 6 stalking supporting, the band and I are pretty much BFFs now. There were SO MANY completely cool moments with them, but my little fan heart was filled to the brink on Monday night in Nashville when I got the chance to sing their song "Everything" them on stage during a soundcheck. Talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity, right?! So you can't really hear me sing at all (which is for the best, trust me) and I bounce around like a goober, but this video is still my favorite thing... pretty much ever:

Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Whenever I croak, it will be as a happy lady.

Thank you Max, Jon and Tony for getting your ish back together "just enough" to give us fans another magical, wonderful album and many fantastic new memories! It was SO worth the wait. You've made one girl very happy. Until next time!

Surprise!

I'm a sneaky little sneak.

As I write this, I am in CA! I planned this covert little jaunt across the Pacific to make my sister's eyes bug out of her head in confusion and then to whisk her away for a surprise bachelorette weekend (as she is getting married in June). It was a highly successful plan, and we spent last weekend at an adorable rental house in Sonoma having a blast with a great group of girls.

In addition to drinking wine (so very much wine), the weekend consisted of limo winery tours, dance parties at the house, picnics, eating cupcakes and decadent meals, playing home-made male genetalia themed card games (classy), hot tubbing under the stars, and tons of bonding moments (awwww).

It was truly one of the funnest weekends I've ever had. For reals. I loved spending this time with my sis and my (old and new) friends, and will love the memories we made forever [and apparently will also enjoy the Celine Dion concert in Las Vegas we all (in our drunken states) made plans to go see...].

(Also, siiiiiince I just so happen to be back in the states and siiiiiince Corey is busy in Okinawa with work, I may have been indulging in a great many Eve6-related adventures. And I may have a great many still planned. I may be going a tad overboard. But that can be a post for another day.)

A Cruel Joke

Spring? What's spring? Misawa's April Fools' joke was to dump a bucketload of snow on top of us. Hilarious, Misawa, absolutely hilarious...

While I read Facebook statuses of my friends back in CA who are hanging out at home with the windows open, running along the beach in Santa Cruz, and "enjoying all the sunshine" (I hate you all, by the way), THIS was the activity Corey and I filled our time with yesterday:

We went to look at some snow! Always a favorite Tohoku pastime from the months of November- March April (apparently), looking at snow is a fantastic way to get out of the house and really see the world... well, ok so you can't really see the world, but you can imagine what it might look like. Sure, you might get a headache from the stark white glare if you look at it too much, but until that happens, you can enjoy all the colorless, textureless, lifeless views your eyes can take in. It's also a wonderful opportunity to hone your driving skills as your car's tires are put to the test on icy roads. Really, if you get bored of sitting inside during the long winter, a trip to look at snow (different snow, that is... you can imagine how tiring it gets to stare at the same snow out your window day in and day out) is the only best way to kill some time until spring arrives.

This particular location for looking at snow was along the 8km "Golden Line" of Rt. 103 on Mt. Hakkoda. This section of the road is closed during winter every year because, as you can see, it gets covered by approximately 20 feet of snow. It was plowed and opened to traffic on April 1st this year, so we joined lots of other starved-for-entertainment, look-at-snow excitement chasers to... look at this snow. 

In all seriousness, it was a cool sight to see. Plus, now I can say I've driven through an 8km-long, 20ft-high snow corridor, so... there's that? In the end, it was a morning I got to spend with my hubby and my camera, so who am I kidding- it was an awesome day!

I am ready for spring though. For reals.