I Saw My First Nudist Today.

Today I went to San Francisco! For all of you who didn’t think that I would be able to find a theme song for San Fran like I did San Jose, you are wrong. “Save Me San Francisco” by Train saved the day! Unfortunately it isn’t as popular as “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” so people don’t sing it when you mention San Francisco. So maybe San Francisco isn’t as musical as San Jose, but I still liked it. Our hour long drive began with The Newsies. Billy had it on his iPod and it blasted through the car. It was a lot of fun to listen to, especially since we had Truman and Adam stuffed in the trunk singing their hearts out to it. Okay. It actually isn’t as bad as it sounds. Billy’s car is a hatchback so the trunk is open and connected to the rest of the car. But it was pretty funny watching them as they tried to wiggle their bodies into the most comfortable position. They were good sports about it though. As we drove through Oakland I couldn’t help but realize just how beautiful California is. I have only been to Disneyland and Southern California so living further up north has been a new experience for me. As we came to the bay and crossed the Oakland Bridge there were sailboats everywhere. If that didn’t make me home sick, I don’t know what would have. I would love to take my dad’s sailboat out sometime and go sailing in the bay (Mom? Dad? Want to pull the sailboat out when you two come visit me this summer?). It was beautiful. Once we made it to San Francisco and found parking (we ended up parking in an $18 dollar lot. Ouch), we started walking around the piers. There were street performers, stores, picture spots, and restaurants. Lots of restaurants. Restaurants everywhere of everything from pizza to seafood. For anyone who truly knows me, they will know that I am a sucker for food. I love food. On vacations I think the majority of my money goes to food because I would much rather buy a donut from the local shop than a souvenir. But back to the restaurants, I just want to go there on a day where I haven’t eaten anything and try them all out. Unfortunately we weren’t able to try any of them today but I will by the end of the summer. We kept walking around and eventually found a small beach. The first thing Lizzie did when she saw it was kicked off her flip flops and ran to the water’s edge. I followed suit and touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time in two years. It was COLD. I knew it would be, but it was freezing. I couldn’t get in past my feet because I was wearing skinny jeans and those things do not roll up over my calves, but that was all I needed. Maybe I am just a baby because there were swimmers out there and people who were playing on the beach. Even if it was freezing it was still beautiful. I have always loved the ocean. Probably because I have a mother who is a beach bum and took us to the ocean almost every day while we were growing up in Hawaii. Thanks Mom. I owe it all to you  We found our way back to the car and decided to take a quick trip over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. It was beautiful and the view of San Francisco from the bridge was breathtaking. It was pretty entertaining because there was a tunnel that we had to pass under and the entrance had a big rainbow painted around it. Gotta love San Fran, the gay capitol of the world. On our way back Lizzie’s GPS took us in probably the most roundabout way. I wasn’t complaining though because this meant we were able to see the rest of the city. And that is where I saw him. Everyone in the car was getting tired from a long day of being a tourist and we were all ready to take a nap. I just happened to glance out the window and see a naked man. What. Yeah. He was naked. Just a little side note really quick: Billy and Lizzie went to San Francisco our first weekend here and saw two nudists walking around. They later found out (and then passed the information on to us) that it is totally legal to walk around naked in San Francisco. Crazy, huh? Anyway, we had been making jokes all day about seeing a nudist but so far no one had. That is why I was so surprised to see him walking as we were leaving the city. He was just walking down the street with a backpack, hat and shoes on. That, of course, was it. At first I just sat there wide eyed but eventually was able to squeak out, “he is naked!” That woke everyone up really quick so that everyone turned and looked. We all just kind of watched him walk down the street and that was that. It was the perfect ending to a great day in San Francisco.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Not only is the title of this blog post a song but it is also an invitation to anyone who know the way to San Jose to come visit us! But really though. It is beautiful here and I would love to see all of our friends and family out here at least once. Just to give you a heads up of what it is like living in San Jose, I will give you a list of my favorite things: 1. It is a requirement to sing “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” whenever anyone says San Jose. 2. The majority of the employees at the Wal-Mart across the street can only say, “Ummm… No English. Ask him” then points you in the furthest direction possible. 3. It is custom for your neighbors above you to find 3am to be the perfect time to watch TV, take showers, and stomp above your bedroom. 4. The office at our apartments ran out of keys for the pool so you have to jump the fence every time you want to go swimming and people stare. EVERY TIME. 5. No husband. So that basically sums up San Jose! Just kidding. Although that is a great description of part of San Jose, it does not cover all of it. First of all, it is great that I have a job. My first few days here I didn’t have one. I watched Judd get up every morning at 7am and leave dutifully for his job. I would go back to bed. Wake up in the late morning. Sit around the apartment. Go to the pool. Run around Pleasanton (the city where I actually live) and sleep. Then Judd would come home at 10pm and we would go to bed. To say the least, without my job I would feel like a bum and would probably go crazy. Plus Judd said that I anything I make this summer I get to keep so if that isn’t motivation to get a job then I don’t know what is. I work in the Alterra office and enter paper work all day. I actually don’t mind it since my coworkers are fantastic! There are four of us girls who work there and our two managers. To say the least, I haven’t been bored yet which is a first for me when it comes to work. When I am not at work, I have taken it upon myself to learn how to cook. And let me tell you, Judd has not been disappointed in anything I have made him yet. Considering that I make him breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, I would say that I am on a roll. Cooking is actually pretty fun it turns out. Sorry Mom, I should have trusted you when you said that years ago. It is like a little adventure picking out what I want to make every day and then going out to the grocery store to search valiantly for the items needed to create my concoction… Uh… I mean dinner. Maybe it isn’t as adventurous as it would seem, but I have fun with it. Another skill that I have been trying to learn is sewing. Thanks to my sisters for buying me my first sewing machine ever! I love it! And thanks to Billy for picking it up in Utah and bringing it out since I forgot to bring it when we first moved here. It turns out I really like sewing. Sometimes I wish Betsy Oborne, my achievement days leader, was here to help me but luckily I have older sisters who sew! I may or may not be in the process of making a baby blanket for one of them….. It is pretty funny that I am trying to be so “domestic” all of the sudden. I was talking to my mom one day and was telling her all about my new skills when she bluntly asked me, “What happened to you?” I laughed it off until my best friend Becca asked the same question and when Judd came home from work and asked me as well. The truth is, I have been asking myself the same question. I guess I needed to learn these skills sometime in my life so why not now while I am in a strange city and 748 miles away from my home, friends and family? At least when I don’t feel like being domestic I have Lizzie. Thank goodness for Lizzie! She has been keeping me sane and is always up for going on an adventure! It is nice to be able to say to someone, “hey let’s jump in the car in five minutes and go somewhere.” We haven’t been on too many adventures yet but we keep brainstorming and planning for days when we can go to places like Carmel, California to see a beach and John Muir Park to see some redwoods. And even on days that we don’t run somewhere out of the city it is still nice to have a pool buddy. I think that I have basically told her my whole life story by now. Thank goodness she is a good listener! Living here is different but I am learning more about myself every day. For example, I have learned just how lazy I am. But I have also learned that I love looking up recipes for homemade oreos. I still haven’t made any yet but I plan on it. It could be a problem that Judd doesn’t really like oreos but for some reason I am okay with that. That just means more for me! Anyway, I just want to say that seriously if anyone has any plans to come to San Jose or San Francisco please come visit! It would be great to have you. On a completely unrelated note, I will be blogging about my wedding soon. Until then, thanks so much for all of the help, love, and support we received! Our wedding day was a complete dream and it could not have been more perfect. On another completely unrelated note I found this article the other day http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2124246/Samantha-Brick-downsides-looking-pretty-Why-women-hate-beautiful.html. The woman in the story is saying that being beautiful is hard. This is basically how I feel every day. Just kidding. I had to beg Judd to marry me. He was sitting on the fence about it because he wanted pretty children and knew that his chances were extremely low if he mixed his genes with mine. Luckily my charm was able to convince him even if my looks couldn’t. Anyway, read the article if you get the chance. HILARIOUS.