A Month in a Nutshell

Well it's been a little too long since the last time I've written.  I blame sheer laziness.   Luckily, I think I got it out of my system.  Apologies all around.  Now to re-cap the end of summer..... Brace yourself, this is a long one...

Like I mentioned in the last post, our weekend at the Snail House in Santa Cruz was a memorable fun-filled friend reunion.  Here are the long-awaited pictures:

Trevor and friend Jed on the drive up to Santa Cruz:

THE SNAIL HOUSE:

Joe Joe playing piano, Trevor singing inside the Snail House:

Sally and Jason

Alice and Trevor

Wha happened?

hmmm

Joe Joe and Jimmy ...brothers from different mothers..

Beard shaving time...

 Trev's got the best seat in the house:

 Smudge and JOe JOe

Pics compliments of facebook:

Not sure what happened the next couple weeks, but the week before August 20th was spent prepping for Trevor's 27th birthday....

Party at the Creekside:

Presents inscluded:
spider traps
upside down strawberry grower
cucumber seeds
a fitness ball
a swiffer
tickets to weird al yankovich live in concert

weird al was pretty weird to say the least, but all in all a very entertaining show...highly recommended:

The following Tuesday after Trevor's birthday weekend I received an e-mail from a distant Irish cousin of mine saying he is in Santa Barbara with 6 of his buddies who are in the middle of a road trip from San Francisco to San Diego.  They want to meet up.  Fantabulous!  I send Trevor a text that we're going to meet these guys at In-N-Out Burger for take-out then head up the mountian with our burgers to a picturesque look-out point to watch the sunset.   I give Trevor a call at school while I'm on my way home and let him know I will give him a call before I get off his exit to let him know when to meet me downstairs, per protocol.  Trevor just got his new fnacy iphone4.  I call him a couple exits early to give him extra time.  No pick up.  call him again. straight to voicemail.  Call again...and again and again... Then I realize he's probably on the phone and wait till i get there.  He's not downstairs.  Call again. No pick up.  Park the car, run up to the 4th floor of his building, open his office door.  He's sitting there bouncing on his fitness ball drinking a beer.  His first words... "Why didn't you call?"  Damn AT&T and their dodgey service.  Coincidentally, the next day Google comes out with a gmail phone service.  So if his phone is in a no service area I can get in touch with him through the computer, which he is more than likely staring right at. Perfect.

Hanging out with Irish cousin, Darren, & friends was such a nice treat...I  wish they could have stayed longer...  come back!!  Can you pick out which one I'm related to?

The following weekend was my good friend Annika's birthday.  She turned 29 and had a "Dirty Not Thirty" moustache party.....

Also at the party was the iphone "Fatbooth" app...

Here's what I look like with a few extra 100lbs...

Here's fat Reni:

Here's what I'd look like if I were a hillbiilly boy with a few extra 100lbs...

yikes...


The following weekend was the 27th birthday of Your's Truely (me... Julie).   A couple weeks prior to my birthday was a huge festival in Santa Barbara called "Fiestas" celebrating Old Spanish Days.  The bars are packed, the mariachi bands are all over the place, lots of Spanish dancing, confetti, carnival rides, shows, rodeos, vendors..etc.  We came across this one vendor who was selling lots of dio de los muertos stuff (i.e. lots of colorful skeletons stuff).  I really really liked this one apron they had with leopard print material on one side and the virgin of guadalupe (?) on the other (it matches my "mary mother of blankets" blanket).  Unfortunately I only had 10 bucks and the apron was $18.  So I bought a headband instead.  A couple days later was the last day of fiesatas and Trevor asked me in the morning what I wanted to do that day.  I said I dunno, I don't care.  Then I remembered the apron and declared I don't care what we do we just have to go back to the fair and get that apron before the vendors leave town.  Trevor tried his hardest to come up with any reason not to go downtown and get the apron but none made sense and his un-supportive-ness only angered me more.  Fine I will just go by myself, he didn't have to come.  He goes into the closet, comes back into the living room and throws a head of towel at me.  I open it up and bundled up inside is my favorite apron ever!  He had wanted to surprise me with it for my birthday.  Oops, sorry Trev, but I really like it.  That was my first birthday present.  The ones I actually go on my birthday included:

my favorite Mrs. Meyers Soap
cutting boards
deodarant
pens
a pink skull (from the same vendor as the apron)
cool socks
tickets to see Steve Martin play in a blue grass band

The weekend before my birthday, our friend Reni (who doesn't actually weigh 300lbs) came up to celebrate and we went to the local dog show which I also recommend if you ever get the chance.  I don't know what's more entertaining, the dogs or the people.  It really feels like you are on another planet.  The movie "Best in Show" portrays it pretty accurately... lots of uptight crazy people in blazer suites tickling their dog's tail..

Angie!

Exactly what I wanted for my birthday...a cage full of small dogs!

Later that weekend we visited my friend Stephen's new place:

Labor Day weekend was spent in the Outer Banks, NC.  The week leading up to it we were pretty worried that Hurricane Earl would destroy all our plans.  It didn't.  We rented a tiny little cabin at a campsite right on the ocean and within walking distance to the reception.  We shared it with some old college friends and watched another ol' college friend get married:

Buddies

What's Up Pussy Cat?

Trevor and I moved to California almost 4 years ago.  Time flies huh?  I've lived in 4 apartments here in 4 years.  In three of those apartments a different little kitty ended up on each doorstep....

Apartment # 1:  Teeny tiny little studio up near the foothills.  Quiet suburban neighborhood.  Lived behind the garage of a UCSB history professor, his wife, and 3 kids whose favorite hobbies included kicking the soccer ball against the wall of the studio and running around on the roof.  Considerate. Safe. 

Cat # 1:  Affectionately named "Stinky cat."  A day before moving out of the apartment, I come home to a near-empty apartment to find this little gray fluff ball curled up on the front doorstep.  The thing could barely meow, it could barely walk, it couldn't even open it's eyes.  It limped around covered in leaves and sticks, dripping puss from it's nose and eyes.  It's ears looked like they were gnawed on by something...  Mangy in all aspects..

We fed Stinky Cat some milk and roast beef and went out and got her some real cat food.  We made a little bed for her out of a cardboard box and paper towels.  She seemed ok for a couple days....  Until one morning we peaked in the box and Stinky Cat seemed more still than usual.  The flies landing on her eyes weren't bothering her at all.  And what is that mystery liquid all around her?   We brought her to the shelter asap.  This particular shelter vows not to put animals down at all costs.  The lady running the shelter was really stressed out by the shape of poor ol' Stinky Cat so we all scrambled next door to the animal hospital... The vet doctor took one look in the box and mumbled, "That thing needs to be euthanized pronto..."  We knew we couldn't keep Stinky Cat because  A) of my severe allergy to cats and B) we could not afford the medical bill.  So we signed over custody to the crazy cat shelter lady and walked away never knowing the fate of the Stinky Cat.




Apartment #2: 4 bedroom place shared with other grad students on the Westside.  Sound gangster-ish?  It was.  In fact the apartment building was right across the street from the Boys and Girls club which sounds like a great place to be.  At night, however, the playground turns into the setting of gang meetings and associated riff-raff...  One night as I lie awake in bed looking at the vaulted ceiling I see the shadow of a cat....


Cat # 2: Never named this cat.  He was a big fat cat and could easily take care of himself.  But since we still had cat food left over from Stinky Cat, we went down and gave him a late night snack.  It was winter time so we watched him from the living room window. 

We quickly realized...he was not alone.  I believe my exact words were..."holy sh*t there's a weasel in the corner!!"  Upon closer inspection we realized that this new intruder was not a weasel but in fact a baby possum. 

We pondered that the big fat cat must have been chasing the little possum for a potential meal and the possum must have ran up on our porch and hid under the bag of charcoal and that the cat chases him in and lost him on the porch.  Why else would both animals be here?  We kept feeding the cat more and more food to make sure he was stuffed and not hungry enough to eat the baby possum.  The possum became more bold or maybe bored and as the cat ate and continued to lounge the little possum starting scurrying around.  We excitedly cheered for the baby to make it's escape and avoid the jaws of death.  It scurried a bit.  The cat didn't notice.  Go possum go!  He scurried some more... The cat sees him.  Uh oh!  Wait.. what..phew.  The cat is not interested.  He just looks away... The possum in his new wave of bravery or desperation scurried right up to the cat and started eating his food!!!!  The cat just watched!!  At one point they started sniffing eachother and I swear they touched noses.  The cat eventually wandered off.  Never to be seen again.  We follow the baby possum around a bit more and watch it find and proceed to wrip apart and devour a slug. 

 Satisfied, we headed back to bed.


Apartment #3:  Roommate had a weiner dog.  Hence, no cats.  However I did find this mange-er on the car one morning:

Apartment #4:  Current abode.  Quiet little neighborhood.  Small apartment about the size of a two-car garage.  Brand new tile floors, fresh paint, never-before-used cabinets, appliances, and fixtures.  Washer / Dryer, dishwasher, small yard, huge lemon tree, full bath tub... 400 square feet of heaven.  Enough space to live without over-accumulating. 

Cat #4: Butterscrotch.   Trevor was talking about pudding the other day and instead of calling it Butterscotch he called it Butterscrotch.  We had a good laugh and brought it up multiple times since.  So  this butterscotch-colored cat came along at just the right time...A few weeks ago we returned home after a seafood dinner.  I had ordered the white sea bass but wasn't able to finish my plate....doggy-bag or in this case, kitty-bag.  We pull up to the house and step out of the car and hear a loud meow and see this skinny little tabby cat scamper over.  Trevor prodded me to give it my $25 fish dinner, and after a slight hesitation and some more encouragement from the cat-lover, I did.  Sure enough Butterscrotch is back at the gate the following night, and every night after for the past couple weeks.  We started buying him cat food and now he likes the good stuff, from the can.   It's pretty fun having an outdoor stray cat come running out to greet you every time you open the apartment door or step out of the car.  I do sort of get the feeling I'm being stalked and I did have a nightmare that Butterscrotch attacked me the other night., but I'll just put that paranoia out of my mind.  He is a sweet cat.  He is still pretty skinny, but we're trying to bulk him up.  Trevor just came home with some dental hygiene cat food.  He'll have the shiniest teeth in the stray cat community!

July in Jersey

4th of July An American Tradition....

Pig Roasts

Pool Parties

Uncle Sam ?

Ice Luge?!

Liz and I giving it the ol' college try

Jesse...you awake bub?

mmm it was ok.  Jesse like

Start of Colleen & Mike Medley....

They're not intimidated by the ice luge

This is going to be so much fun!

hmm how's that taste?  looks sorta painful

Colleen's excited by the new shift in bartenders

Who wouldn't be?

Is that wine you're pouring down Josh?

Goo

Gee

maybe the ice luge isn't so much fun

momma can I go home now?

Hi, I am ANgel CHild

Don't get on my bad side

unicorns?

OMG Did someone say Dance Party?!