A Visit to the Lagoon

Sunset through the very dirty car window on my way home from SB. I sure do miss that ocean!

One of my favorite places to run is in Santa Barbara at the lagoon. I was fortunate enough yesterday to have an orthodontist appointment up there. So, I got in my car at 5:40 am to being the journey through LA so as to be at my appointment on time. I had very little traffic for a Wednesday morning going into the city which was great. I got to SB around 8 and spent 30 minutes looking for parking in overcrowded IV. I found a spot pretty far from campus and my only mode of transportation was to pay for the bus or just skateboard with all the freshman from Santa Catalina residents' hall (formally FT) on the bike path... I arrived, after a short break to catch my breath, at the lagoon. It is basically the area on campus where the ocean washes in between the breaks in the bluff. The water is rather still, so a lot of the best animal life hangs out here. Big huge pelicans, egrets, ducks, fishies, snakes, and poison ivy. I usually make a big turn around loop around the lagoon when I am on my long runs. The bluffs are all relatively connected by a winding dirt path that goes up and down a lot, and sometimes you have to run through the sand dunes. I tried to take a panorama type shot of a small piece of the lagoon.. so these pictures all go in sequence.

Summer is here!

Here is Jag and Zaphora. They are doing very good lately.

I just thought this was a funny picture.. I don't know why she lays like this! haha

Another update, I got an expresso machine from Mom for my birthday. Now, everyday is expresso day! I am LOVING getting to make my own frothy concoctions before classes. So far, I make a pretty good cafe latte with mocha mint coffee. Sometimes I drop one of my valentines chocolates in for an extra kick of sweetness. Mostly I am excited about finally getting to use some expresso cups and saucers I bought a while back that have been sitting on top of the microwave in a cute little box.

mmmmmmmm.....

Can you believe it??! We got out of classes early today so a bunch of people from school and I went to Huntington beach. It was like 84 degrees all day and I think I might of even got a little burnt through the sunscreen. This picture is me and my friend Jimmy who is from Ohio. I love to compare stories with him about the midwest...especially how it is NOT 84 degrees there right now!!

Valentines Day!

I had a wonderful Valentines Day! Me and Dom ate at this amazing bbq restaurant called Lucille's. I of course had a huge salad that I couldn't finish. I had a full serving left over for lunch the next day that filled me up nicely.. then I still had more left! We exchanged gifts and watched movies together most of the day. One of my favorite presents was a very pretty clear blue saphire ring, with small diamonds on the side, from Dom ......No no no, not even close to getting married or anything yet! But I gotta love him :)

Aquarium of the Pacific!

I have been really bad about posting since school started so here is my long awaited update. Me and Dom went to the aquarium in Long Beach and had SOO much fun! Here are some of the really cool animals we got to see :D

This was one of the CREEPIEST sharks in the big tank! He had razor sharp teeth and kept coming straight at me! We got to watch the big sharks get fed by these big long poles. They would just bump into the poles until they knocked off the food. They were VERY quick and good at it. Wouldn't want to be swimming with them!

Dominic and I got to touch some little baby sharks as they were getting fed!! There were also some sting rays in there too. They all felt like fine sand paper. Jaguar thought I smelled weird when I got home from the sharky water.
Another creepy picture. This eel gives me the heebyjeebies as my mom would say.
Ginormous crab!


Little baby sea horses.

Pretty sting ray.
Pretty colorful fish!