Beaches, Friends, and Celebrities!

So before I start this post, I have to tell a little story. A couple weeks ago I was at the office working late (big surprise!). On my walk home, I tried to call Joey to tell him I was on my way but my phone wasn't working. It was saying something weird about my SIM card being messed up and I was getting really frustrated. So when I got home, I immediately started complaining to Joey about how my stupid phone was broken already and blah blah blah when he walked out of the room and said "Oh, yeah, I got you something today" and THIS is what he gave me........

AN iPHONE!!!!!! I was in total shock and didn't know how to respond. I didn't even ASK for it! I mentioned it briefly a couple weeks back but I didn't think much of and I would've never bought one for myself (I'm way too cheap!) But here it was! In my hands! And as you can see from the picture, I immediately Gleekified it! Hello 21st century, here I come!

As if there was ever any question, I officially have the greatest husband ever. Thanks Joey! :)

HANGING OUT WITH FOREIGNERS

I know you all have met my new good friend Mun from Korea that I work with - who I love and is so much fun. But you haven't met my newest foreigner friend - Fabian. Fabian is our new intern at work and he is from Germany. (And strangely enough, he looks like he could be Joey's brother.)

Recently, Joey and I have had a lot of fun hanging out with them. One night we went out in the Gaslamp for an amazing dinner (where I had a $12 martini - outrageous! but I couldn't resist - it was SPICY and highly recommended) and then out for dancing and drinks. Here we are riding on a pedicab between locations. So much fun!

In case you are wondering, Mun informed me that the V sign she always makes in pictures stands for Victory and not peace. Who knew? Fabian really liked it so he continued to make that gesture in every picture afterwards. Here we are at the Waterfront - San Diego's oldest bar (remember Rick and Chris? you guys were there!)

Another night, Mun treated us to an authentic Korean dinner. She refused to let us order and picked out all the food herself. It was AWESOME!

And we ate it ALL.

Afterwards, she insisted on dessert so we went for her favorite treat. It was this strange fro-yo type dessert with all sorts of weird stuff in it. It had red beans, tteok (the playdoh like stuff from an earlier post), fruit and it was topped with fruity pebbles! Um...I'll stick to my american desserts, thanks :) But from the picture, Fabian looks interested!

LIVING AT THE BEACH

On Sunday we decided to take advantage of our location and enjoy some water activities. We went down to the bay (only 10 mins away) to a little pier where they have a resort and rent boats and other water stuff. We felt like we were on our honeymoon again - and actually we saw a couple that was.

Since Joey has a pulled rib muscle we couldn't kayak and since he doesn't know how to sail we couldn't get a boat (Joey - get on that!) so we ended up getting a paddle boat.

It was pretty fun but I have to say it's better in theory. But the view was very nice. Afterwards we watched the sunset with a relaxing Mango Mai Tai at the bayside bar and had a little snack...Ah...life's a beach :)

MY BROTHER IS (on his way to being) FAMOUS

A couple months ago my brother Jason who lives in LA finally got his first break as an actor. He landed the role as the lead re-enactor (hey, you gotta start somewhere!) for a documentary about anti-gay violence in schools. He played a kid that got bullied in school for being gay and the school did not protect him and he ended up suing the school and winning years later. The movie was appropriately called "Bullied" and will be shown in schools for educational purposes.

Anyways, blah blah blah, all that to say that his movie was released last weekend for screening in select theaters in the US (like 5 theaters) and it was playing in LA. So Joey and I drove up and payed my first $14 dollars (I know, that is RIDICULOUS for a movie ticket!) to see my brother as an actor. Here I am in the theater. I was so excited!

Here are some shots I snagged in the theater. There he is! My brother on screen!

I've never seen his head so big!

And of course we had to grab a photo with him after. We are so proud of him! I can't wait until the next one!

See my brother's acting website here: http://jason-collett.com/

LAGUNA BEACH AND CRAZY ART SHOW

Since we already drove 2 hours to LA for Jason's movie, we decided to make a day out of it. We spent the afternoon in Laguna beach and then met up with some friends to go to the Pageant of the Masters Gala.

Here we are on the beach. So pretty.

Do you see me?!

To get ready for the gala, we had to change into our fancy clothes in the car. Here is Joey pulling on his pants. He was mad at me for shooting this one! :)

Here I am at the Gala.

Ok, let me stop to explain what this was all about. Have any of you ever seen Arrested Development? Have you seen the one were George Michael wears the suit to be in Michaelangelo's Sistine chapel painting for the "Living Classics Pageant" where people dress up as famous works of art but he ruins it by wearing cutoffs?

Well the pageant is REAL! It is called the Pageant of the Masters and it is held every year in Laguna Beach and it is crazy popular and pretty expensive. Here are a couple pictures of the real show. This is the entry to the outdoor stadium (this painting does NOT have real people in it)

Here is a view from our seats (waaaaay in the back - we had to use binoculars.) These are people dressed up to look like this painting...weird, huh? And it went on for like 2.5 hours!

As weird and indulgent as it was, it was pretty interesting. They also had a lot of art on display, music, and appetizers - and some "celebrities" (remember Al from tool time? Yep, he was there. Woo!). Here is a group shot from the night.

The weird things California people do.....

FURNITURE SHOPPING

Our life can't be all fun and games, sometimes we actually have to do a little housework! I have been so busy since we moved in that we haven't even bought furniture for our apartment yet. My clothes are sitting in piles in the corner. So we went out on a mission the last couple weeks - to buy a decent (non-ikea) bed room set.

We shopped and shopped and shopped....My iphone came in handy for documenting choices.

And FINALLY after much deliberation, we picked this one:

What do you guys think? We like it for our first bedroom set!

Enough's enough. Sometimes I talk way too much. I hope you enjoy our adventures, there will be many more to come! Next post - my around the world trip begins...in Fargo ND!