Merry (almost) Christmas!

Halloween/Tgiving recap

(My view before I walk to work in Manhattan Beach)

Does anyone still check this?

An update felt in order, since it's been almost a month and a half since the last one!

We both went to Colorado for Halloween and had a lovely time- Travis got to relax and spend the weekend at home with family, and I ran around like a madwoman at the American Translators' Association Conference handing out resumes, making contacts and having a grand ole nerdy time learning about the field.

Since returning home we have seen some friends and family and had a couple of fun outings.

The first weekend in November we drove down to San Diego, crashed on a friend's floor and in the morning we ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure through Balboa Park. If you don't know what this is, it's a huge event (15,000 people?) to raise money for Breast Cancer research, among other things. We ran with friends from Boulder who live out here too and it was great! We couldn't have asked for better weather and we all finished the 5k in under 40 minutes! We treated ourselves to a nice breakfast afterward.

(photo by Leah)

That afternoon Trav and I headed to see one of his coworkers who lives in Rancho Bernardo, about 30 minutes from San Diego. His wife and him were kind enough to drive us out to see the beach in Carlsbad(?) and we had a great, traditional Argentine dinner at their house. We made it back to L.A. very late, but it was worth the drive.

The next weekend we met up with Aleta and Wes for dinner and drinks at our favorite "gastropub" in Redondo. We also ran into our neighbors and friends there and had a great night out. The next day I met my friend Maya in Santa Monica and got to catch up with her and enjoy the new mall called Santa Monica Place right next to the 3rd st. promenade.

Other notable events: a holiday brunch at Maya's apartment complete with Christmas music and mimosas, the L.A. Auto Show at the L.A. Convention Center where Trav (and I!) got to sit in all kinds of different cars and see all the new ones coming out soon, and brunch at Aunt Janet's house with Meg for delicious gingerbread waffles.




We're always keeping busy and missing home! We'll be back in Colorado in just a few weeks for the holidays, so we gotta get shopping!

love

E & T

(p.s. we are always cooking! Here's some of the yummy stuff we've made lately!)


Broccoli quiche for Maya's holiday brunch

Saag Paneer (complete with homemade Naan bread and Paneer cheese made by Trav!)

My afternoon project one day: Scottie Dog sugar cookies.

First Post!....for me :) And a long overdue update.

So, after spreading word to family and friends that we had a blog that we tried to update approximately weekly, it was inevitable that we would then proceed to nearly fall off the face of the earth and abandon our blog for nearly two months with the exception of a quick post from Elsbeth somewhere near the middle. Thanks to her for all of the posts thus far though. Nevertheless, it's time for my first contribution to this little project of ours.

I suppose catching up on the backlog is in order before we get to the happenings of this past week. Elsbeth is through the trial period at Becker's Bakery in Manhattan Beach and has been working a regular schedule there for the past month now. She's also been bringing home plenty of bakery leftovers, much to our enjoyment and the detriment of our exercise regime. Ha!

In addition to the bakery, and after many weeks of no news, Elsbeth also has her first student for tutoring. She's been helping out a local high school student with Spanish 4 for two weeks now. Hooray!

I've been busy at work as well. Things have picked up and I've got lots of interesting things to fill my time. As well as the occasional trip to Rancho Bernardo for meetings.

Two weekends ago Mom and Dad came out for a long weekend visit and we enjoyed plenty of Beach Club time and had a chance to catch up with Jo and Meg too. Thanks for coming! We had a great time. :) And in the midst of it all we discovered an awesome little neighborhood gastropub called Hudson House that's walking distance from our apartment! Thanks to cousin Scott for the recommendation.

Last weekend we were finally able to slow down a little bit and catch some R&R with a pretty lazy weekend in. Elsbeth was able to catch up with her sister Aleta up in Silver Lake to see the new kitten, Jinx. And Aleta came down last weekend for some more sister time to make Halloween candy.And just this past weekend we picked up a few pumpkins to carve for Halloween next weekend. Fortunately, Sprout's had them on sale for $0.15/lb and we picked out two nice ones for a total of <$3.00 Much better than the $17.00 pumpkins at the local patch on Catalina Ave. This past weekend was another pretty low key one with a little bit of shopping and whole lotta cooking. We finally got around to making the Moon Cakes that we were planning on making for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival about a month ago. Mmmm! Adzuki Bean and Pastry! Thanks for the recipe Kristina.
We had lots of fun Asian market shopping all over Torrance back when we schemed this up, but we missed the boat on the molds that we found on Ebay around the actual date for Mid-Autumn Festival. So a 1/4c measuring spoon had to do. They taste pretty good even without the fancy Chinese characters on top. :)

Our Sprout's shopping also produced a whole organic chicken on sale that we couldn't pass up, and most of the day Sunday was devoted to breaking it down and prepping it to turn it into Chicken Marbella tonight. A fairly famous recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso.

Here's the aftermath of the battle yesterday...
And the reward tonight...
Another lovely dinner at home...
So that's all the news that's fit for print. The weather's been pretty glum and drizzly lately but every now and again the sun pokes through. Here's a quick one from my run tonight along the strand.
Until next time.... Hopefully sooner than last time. :)

T & E

Update!

Quick update!

I got a job at a bakery in Manhattan Beach...hooray! It's part-time, so I'm still looking elsewhere, but for the interim it'll do.

We're both keeping busy and Trav's parents will be in town this weekend to visit, so I'm hoping for good weather and that I get Saturday off.

I'm including one of the only pics we've taken in weeks which was taken at a Brazilian festival in Long Beach a couple weeks ago. All photo cred goes to Trav, who seems averse to blogging :P

Beijinhos

E

Labor day weekend

(swarms of people at the Redondo Pier and Torrance Beach for the last weekend of summer)


(T & me stealing a moment in the garden at the Getty Center)


(it's beginning to look like fall at the Getty Center!)


(a mysterious fruit grown at the Getty Villa, anyone know what it is?)


(the Getty Villa from Pacific Coast Highway)



So we had a few friends in town las weekend from Boulder who were staying with other CU kids up in Pasadena. We all got together a few times and went to the Getty Center in L.A. and to the Getty Villa in Malibu. Both were built by J. Paul Getty, an oil magnate who left them to be enjoyed for free by the public through his endowment. How do they compare?

Getty Center has a beautiful central garden (+1), interesting architecture (+1) and impressionist art (+1)
Getty Villa has an herb garden! (+1) and a neat "Roman Road" to drive up (+1)

Unfortunately Trav and I had enough of Greek and Roman antiquities this summer to last us a lifetime, so we weren't so keen on the actual theme at the Villa, but it was still pretty and a nice warm day.

Since it was a holiday weekend, T also had 4 days off which meant we got to visit with his coworker (manager, really, but they met before that was the case) in Seal Beach as well as visit the Fiesta Hermosa street fair.

We're planning to head to the L.A. county fair this weekend and it's Cousin Scott's birthday, so maybe we will get together to celebrate.

One last word of good news: Travis is going to have a nephew in a few months :)

love

E & T

Fishing!

So this weekend we went fishing.

Why is that interesting? Because I haven't gone in YEARS and on top of that, this was my first time fishing from a boat, and trolling.

We caught 7 rainbow trout and froze our butts off, but I had a great time. Hooray for icky fish guts.

After 2 years together, the fun still continues.

- E & T

Overdue!

(SO many people at flugtag!)


(Trav and I at Flugtag (flyday, in German) with the pier to the left where the "aircraft" took off)

I realize this post is a bit overdue, as I have been trying to update at least once a week, but I've been rather busy!

After submitting a bunch of resumes and cover letters last week I got one interview, which happened today. I had to take a test and I think it went pretty well, so maybe I will be employed soon! I'm still hoping I will hear back from a couple of other places, but I realize that there are probably 100 other people with the same expectations...

We've been keeping busy and went to Long Beach last weekend to see Redbull Flugtag, a day of people dancing and pushing homemade aircraft off a pier hoping they will fly, plus skydivers, plus a coast guard rescue demonstration. There were an estimated 105,000 people there, so let's just say it was a little crowded. Trav and I had the pleasure of seeing Jessica (my friend from SAS 2007) and two of her sorority sisters from USC, but most everyone else didn't make it because of traffic. It was a fun day, but we both came home with nasty sunburns.

This weekend we will be going to June Lake up by Yosemite for some R&R with Travis' Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, etc. The drive is long (6 hrs!) but I am excited to get out of L.A. and see some mountains!

Not much else to report, so I'll get back to my long list of "To Dos".

love

E & T

Birthdayness

So Tuesday was Travis' birthday, and so most of the week was devoted to meeting up with friends and family to celebrate.

Tuesday I made a cake and we went on a run and then we had our own little celebration at home since he had to work on Wednesday. Thursday we met up for dinner with his cousin Scott, Friday we met up with his cousin Joanna and her boyfriend for dinner, and last night we met up with my sister and her boyfriend and a couple of their friends. Today we'll be heading to his Aunt Janet's house for a BBQ with his cousins. Lots of food and family this week!

We were hoping again for a beach weekend, but the weather is just so temperamental! We thought we could run some errands yesterday since it was shaping up to be a nice warm day, but once we were done and got home the clouds had rolled in and another day was spoiled. Supposedly there will be some heat tomorrow, but most of it is set to dissipate by next weekend. We shall see.

I spent a lot of last week trying to get my ducks in a row for job apps/interviews/whatever and on Monday I plan to do some mass applying and cover letter writing for a bunch of tutoring centers in the area. Next step is facing inevitable rejection. Does it ever get easier?

Off to enjoy a lazy Sunday morning before we head to the BBQ.

Besos

E & T

Official Residents!

I'm finally better! Hooray!

The cold finally kicked the bucket mid-week, just in time for me to invite some friends down for the weekend to see our new place and enjoy Redondo. Trav finished his first week at work and had his first Friday off which was lovely. We decided to start working out again and have gone on a couple of runs along the beach on a path called "the Strand" that runs between a few beach cities (Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo and all the way north to Malibu, I think). It's definitely a shock to the system to be running again, but after a summer of traveling and eating out, we need it!

Friday we headed to the DMV early, and even though we got there at 7:50 and it opened at 8:00, there were about 60 people already lined up around the building. I was prepared to spend the rest of the day there, but we were happily surprised when we both emerged 2 hours later, temporary licenses in-hand, and with Travis' new license plates and stickers. What a difference from the misery that is the Boulder DMV!

Saturday my friends Samantha and Jessica from Semester at Sea (Summer 2007 voyage) came down and we had our yearly reunion. Travis grilled up some sausages and veggies, and after lunch we headed over to the pier to walk around and play at the arcade. We had a couple rousing games of air hockey (YES!) and played some more fun games before we traded in our tokens for a miniature plastic bowling set. We headed back to the apartment where we have the perfect hallway for bowling and played a few frames, which was perfectly ridiculous. After that we all sat down and played some cards, went out to dinner at a neat burger place called "the Corner", and they both headed home late. It was a great day!


(Travis bowling, hehe)



(Sam, Jess and I in Perú, 2007)


(the three of us in Redondo, three years later!)


Today my good friend of 11 years, Maya, came down and we ended up getting lunch and doing some shopping and she fell in love with Redondo...I guess I can't blame her! We really live in the perfect location, people here are friendly, and it's got all the nice qualities of a small town without the stifling sense that we can't escape. We can always drive somewhere out here. I'm also extremely lucky to have friends within driving distance, and soon my sister Aleta and her boyfriend Wes will be nearby as well since he'll be working in Pasadena.

It was a great weekend, and now I have to get my butt in gear and work on some new resumés for different jobs I want to apply for. Trav will be starting to work in a new building that is a couple miles closer to our apartment which is great, but he has to work Friday this week. Oh yeah, and his birthday is on Tuesday, so we will be eating cake and trying to organize a couple little get togethers with some of his family. Should be a good week!

Love,

an official California resident!

More excitement this week as we tried to organize, unpack; a process that never seems to end!

Trav's mom gifted us a BBQ, and the lazy UPS man showed up while I was home alone and didn't want to bring it upstairs. Isn't that his job? Once Trav came home we started assembling it, which of course led to me playing in the giant box it all came in. Once we made a trip to Home Depot, we had a grill, lava rocks, a grill cover, grill scraper, two patio tables and 5 new houseplants, among other things. Grillage and naming of said houseplants followed.

Behold!





After all that excitement on Friday, we got some sweet night tables off of Craigslist, I applied for a job, we saw "Despicable me", and today I spent most of the day in bed since I can't seem to shake this nasty cold I picked up in San Diego. Trav starts work tomorrow and I will continue working on the apartment, hunting for a job, and getting settled.

Beijos from California!

E

San Diego

(the crew at Coronado- Tanith, Wes, Aleta, Travis at center)
Hi all,

Another quick update! We just got back from San Diego on Sunday evening after a nice weekend seeing my sisters and visiting the San Diego Comic Con. We also got to spend a nice day at Imperial Beach on Coronado Island, my favorite vacation spot! We still have a lot to do at the apartment this week before Travis starts work on Monday, but it's feeling more and more like home. We've both been sick lately and I have to make the scary step of seeing a new doctor today, but I guess we should get used to new things.

Lots of love from California!

E & T

We're Here!

We left Boulder one week ago and are having a wonderful (BUSY) time! So far we have seen Travis' cousins Scott, Joanna and Megan, his mom came out and helped us get set up, we bought me a new car, moved into our apartment, spent a day at the Santa Monica Beach Club and went on a cruiser ride along the pier, and hosted our first dinner at the apartment. We are headed to San Diego tomorrow and will be back in Redondo next week to start our lives in South Bay. Love to all our friends and family who have helped us in this great leap forward!

E & T