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