Trying to make the most of the summer, sunny weekends Grace and I spent Saturday enjoying it! First we drove down to Doheny State Beach in Dana Point. It was a beautiful sunny and bright day and we had no trouble finding a parking spot right by the water. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and then took a long walk along the beach. Later in the afternoon we decided to drive to San Juan Capistrano and see the mission. It had been several years since I had been there and Grace had not been there since she was a kid. We really enjoyed listening to the history of the mission, old California and looking at the wonderfully preserved buildings. The gardens were beautiful and in full bloom. I tried and tried to get a picture of the monarch butterflies that were fluttering around but never stopped. I finally succeeded! There was a very old grape vine that was as thick as a tree at the base. Old stone wheels that were used to press olive oil and big adobe brick vats where they stomped grapes and made wine. As usual I was happily taking many many photos. You can see them here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

Camping Trip with Grace GroupThis weekend was our camping trip out to Lopez Lake with my Grace group from church. After leaving Friday afternoon and battling pretty bad traffic we finally arrived to this very beautiful, secluded location. Camp Mabel French is a Boy Scout camp near Lopez Lake. The camp was not being used this week so we actually had the whole place to ourselves. It was a good time to relax and to spend some great time together with food, fun and fellowship. Saturday morning we went out to the lake where the kids had a good time playing in the water. After lunch we enjoyed a great game of extreme bocce ball which has become a tradition for our group. That night we spent a great time around the camp fire playing some games. I am glad to have these wonderful friends in my life! You can see lots more pics here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

Last Short Friday of the Summer

You know that summer almost over when "short Fridays" at work come to an end. Today is our last short Friday =( I think several of us must have been mourning that fact as we all showed up to work this morning wearing black with our jeans. It has been a fun and busy summer for most of us but we will definitely miss getting off at noon! So what am I doing for my last short Friday?? Going camping!!

Happy Birthday Grace! We began Grace's birthday celebration on Saturday by meeting up with the family at La Jolla Shores for a fun day at the beach. The kids had a blast boogie boarding with Aunt Grace all day. The celebration was topped off with a cake and candles. Yesterday, I took her shopping to her favorite store, Roadkill. We had fun! Today on the actual birthday date we went to celebrate at our favorite restaurant Lucca's. It is always a culinary delight to enjoy the carefully crafted food. Happy Birthday, Grace!! Here is Grace showing off her birthday present that she is looking forward to using in our upcoming trip to Italy this fall.

Office Fun Day, La Brea Tar Pits

Once a year at the end of summer our entire office (all 25 of us!) take a day off work to have a fun day together. It is always is hard to decide what we can do on a tiny budget and large generation span. This year we voted on going to downtown Los Angeles. Our first stop was the La Brea Tar Pits. It was very interesting to see these large blackened "lakes" full of black sticky goo. One of the guides told us that the naturally occurring stuff is actually asphalt and not tar. We got to look into one of the pits that they are currently excavating and could see some of the fossilized bones. Inside the museum there were many displays of the skeletons and bones they have found in the pits. Saber toothed tigers, mammoths, wolves and much much more. After some browsing around the museum we all hopped back into the car and drove a few blocks to The Grove & Farmers Market on Fairfax. Jeri, our trip planner, had made a list of things we had to find and take a picture with. So after a fun and filling lunch at the Cheesecake Factory we were off to explore the Farmers Market. There were all kinds of stands or booths of all kinds of different things to see, smell, buy and experience. You can see a bunch of pictures of the day and scavenger hunt here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

Dizzy Ink StampingThe office Olympic competition began in earnest today. Teams created names and flags for their "countries". I am a proud member of the Greenfrontcounterland team. This afternoon the long awaited Dizzy Ink Stamping event was held. The competition was tough! For the red team, former transcript stamping queen Amy with several years of intense training on record. Christa competed for the blue team with her previous expertise in stamping forms at the front counter. Last but not least a new comer, Mallory, who is relatively new to the sport. And the race was on... competitors spun round and round and then with stamps in hand they tried their best to expertly stamp the page. The crowd looked on and cheered each of their fellow team members! Judge Karen Oden announced the winner after expertly scoring the performances. And the winner is... team Greenfrontcounterland!!

Gold - Mallory

Silver - Amy

Bronze - Christa

View the exciting event here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QGstx8x5JA

08-08-08
Let The Games Begin!

This morning at 08:08 AM we all gathered around to begin our morning with our very own Opening Ceremonies for our Office Olympics. That's right, some of my coworkers decided to jump into the Olympic spirit and plan the Office Olympics. They began with the Olympics fanfare and flag presentation. Isaac, Megan and Susan became the official team captains. The first event of the games was cubicle hallway bowling. More exciting events to follow in the next few weeks! You can see a video clip of the opening ceremony here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4dBX57JtuM

Summer Fun With The KidsThis past weekend Mom, Timothy, Monica and the kids all drove up to LA to "cool off". We had a lot of fun together. I am so glad that now that they are closer I'll be able to see them much more often. After they arrived Thursday afternoon we drove home and enjoyed walking around the backyard and picking figs, grapes, peaches and some tomatoes from the garden. Mmmm good! Friday afternoon we all drove to La Habra to their 60th annual Corn Festival. It was a small little affair but the kids had fun browsing around the booths. Margie was very excited to buy a glittery crown with pink and purple ribbons hanging down the back. David of course went for the rubber band gun =) We went back to the house and made some yummy homemade pizza for dinner. Saturday we enjoyed a lazy morning having breakfast together and hanging out in our pajamas. After lunch we packed up and were off to the beach. The day was beautiful and it was perfect beach weather. Aunt Grace, Aunt Sara, Christine, Abby and David spent all their time in the water jumping waves while Margie played in the sand with her shovel and pail. The rest of us adults enjoyed relaxing and enjoying the view. We saw a seal come ashore and the kids saw a bunch of dolphins swimming out in the ocean. What a beautiful day! I can't wait for the next time we get to spend time together! You can see lots more pics of the weekend here:

http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/