Yesterday was my birthday. It was a lovely day. It started off with finally buying my tickets to NY. The good thing about waiting until last minute is it makes the wait until the trip shorter. Only 11 days left until we leave. Sweet. So after I got our tickets, we were all starving, so we headed to IHOP for breakfast where we waited for 45 minutes before they told us, “We called you 1/2 hour ago.” WHAT! We were sitting in their waiting area the whole time and not once hear them call anything that sounded like “Holly, party of 3”. I explained them to the teenager who obviously didn’t want to be there working. Then 2 minutes later I explained it to the person who was in charge of the teenager that didn’t want to be working. She seated us right away. He he. Anyway, we ate a lovely breakfast. Yummy avacado and bacon omelette for me and a “Happy Face” pandcake for Gavin. Mmmm. Yum yum. After breakfast, we wandered over to Pier 1 to look around, and then it was across to Target for some small odds and ends. By the time we got home it was early afternoon and Holly started putting together my birthday cake. By this time, I had also recieved phone calls from my mom and dad as well as tried the new Miller Chill (Miller’s version of the margarita). It wasn’t bad. It’s a refreshing summer drink. Most of the afternoon was spent relaxing and watching tv, nitting, baking and playing cars. As it got closer to dinner time, the cake was done (and looked very promising), I recieved another call from a good friend, Gavin had a small nap, and we were again getting hungry. So we started to get ready to head to Lengthwise for dinner. It wasn’t long before we discovered that Lengthwise closed at 5. 🙁 So we headed out to find another place to eat. On the way to Roadhouse Grill I changed course and headed for Olive Garden instead. I am so glad I did. We haven’t been there in about 10 years and we were not disappointed by anything. Gavin’s spaghettin and meatballs were awesome. I ordered a Beef madalion gorgenzola and spinich alfredo dish. OMG it was so good. Holly watched my eyes roll back in my head as I took a bite. And the soup was delicious. It was what I have been unknowingly craving. And of course who can resist the unlimited bread sticks? lol. And on top of that, they gave us a free desert because we had to wait a little longer than usual because they sent my dish to another table on accident. It was just really good. Anyway, after Olive Garden, we headed home and sat stuffed to watche some Iron Chef America until bed time. It was really nice. I had a good birthday. So now I’m 28. Still in my 20’s and doing well.

Finally another night of open mic night. It’s been over a month now. And a lot has happened I suppose. I’ve had a few good weekends with work in between. Fourth of July was good. We went grocery shopping and also bought about $15 worth of fireworks. When it started to get dark we shot off what few fireworks we had. It wasn’t much, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Anyway, tonight I went to open mic night, which I haven’t been to in over a month. At first it was a little wierd, because I haven’t been there in so long. But I chatted with the bartender, who, with the help of a friend, bought the bar recetntly. He’s fun to chat with. Anyway, as the night went on, I chatted with a few more people, until it was my turn to play (not until around 1.30am). So I played a few songs. That is when someone handed me a Guiness and told me they enjoyed the songs I was playing. After a few more songs, someone came up to ask if they could play a few songs. Just so happened it was Paul. I met him a few months ago here. He plays violin for Bear McCreary, who is the composer for Battlestar Galcactica. So I chatted with him a bit and let him play a few songs. It was fun. I had a good time. Although I think I could have played better, I enjoyed talking to the few people I chatted with. So here I am at home, ready for bed. I had a good night and hope I can do it again next Wed. Yay Open mic night. See you next week.

I can’t use this for anything, but I didn’t want it to go unnoticed. Lol. I stumbled upon this while working on another project. Haha. I like it. Just thought it was cool.

As we sat around waiting to pick up Holly from work, Gavin discovered cover flow on iTunes. As he flipped through the covers, he learned he can click on them and hear what the song is. Take a look as he comes across a song he likes.

Do you want to go camping this weekend? I didn’t have to think on that too long. Camping sounded great. We packed our gear after washing off the massive amounts of dirt on the car. All ready to go, we headed northeast. Through the orange orchard and into the mouth of the mountain. We winded alongside the Kern River for at least 20 minutes before we were back on cliff-free and safe roads again. If only I could have stared at the mountains more. But had I done so, we would have drove right off into the river and then the sign reading “250 died since 1968. Stay out of River” would have to be changed. We drove though to Kernville where we stopped at the local brewery where I tried a Jalapeño Hamburger and a glass of their freshly brewed beer. Yum yum. From here, Holly drove us up into the mountain to the redwoods. We parked our car, paid the $5 fee to leave it there, and headed across the street to the trail leading into the forrest. And then I saw it. My first redwood tree. You hear about redwood trees and how big they are. And you even see pictures of them. But until I stood next to one, I never realized. They are awe-inspiring. Just amazing things. I tried to take a picture of it, and by the time I got the whole tree in my sights, it didn’t look as big because I was too far away. We walked for 2 miles through the forrest. Along the way we spotted several redwood trees. One of which is the very large headstone of Holly’s grandmother whos ashes were spread along the bass of the tree. As we walked up to the tree with the large clearing around it, you could feel the trees presence. It was amazing. Gavin had his sticks and was unafraid. He walked into the trunks of the trees. He asked questions about why they were burned. He was very respectful to the trees, the forrest, to Holly and her grandmother. As we walked away from the tree, Gavin in m arms, I heard him whisper, “Bye”.

After our journey through the redwoods, we drove back to Lake Isabella where we found a campsite and pitched tent. We got the perfect spot on top of a hill overlooking part of the lake and the fireworks. It was a beautiful day. One that was followed another. I woke up alone in the tent. I stepped out into the breeze and looked around. I saw Holly down by the lake front waving. As I met them down by the lake, Holly holds out her hand and asked me if I knew what the little speck resting in it was. I bent for a closer look and just then the wind blew it away. An anticlimactic revelation that there were gold flakes in the lake, which gave it an extra glittery look. California truely is the golden state.

After packing up, we drove into town for breakfast and bears. We found a cozy little place to enjoy eggs and buscuits and gravy. Mmmm Mm. As for the bears, we couldn’t find any real ones, so we went to the bear store and checked out the wooden ones. Very cool. From here, we welcomed a drive home. Back through the mountain along the Kern River of death. This time on the cliff side of the road. I tried my darndest not to drive off. Needless to say, I succeeded. Yay. We made it home. It was a short trip, but what a great one. Truely awesome.