Los Angeles-October 2009

This past weekend (October 2009) I went to LA for a conference.  I got to catch up with my hip LA friends, Kim and Greg. 

We visited the tar pits in central L.A.  The fossils date back to the Ice Age and include a saber-toothed tiger (ooohhhh…scary).  They were very interesting and we had a great time!

There was some interesting art at the tar pits.  Kim and I couldn’t figure everything out, but we had fun touring around. 

Kim and I went on a bike trip towards Santa Monica.  Naturally, I biked behind Kim the entire time.  She’s such a machine!

  We even stopped at Muscle Beach so I could work out.  We didn’t have time for me to do my full work-0ut so I just watched others.

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Of course, we traveled down some famous streets.  I tried to snap some photos while Kim drove me in the Jeep, but I couldn’t catch them all.  I had SO MUCH FUN!  Thanks to Kim and Greg for hosting!

Halloween 2009

This was my first year (that I remember) carving pumpkins.  Matt, mom, and I went over to our friends house (Elayne and Alex) to get some expert carving advice.  They had all the right tools and the expertise to teach us the right way.

We started with some patterns…naturally I picked the vampire.  Mom picked the surprised face.  :)

 

Next came the carving and final product.

Here’s my final product.  Fantastic, huh!

 

Mom’s final product.  VERY SCARY!

 

Side by side…How cute. :)

The cute little carvers. 

Little Louie Ladybug

Recently my sister Rachel and her love kitten (Joe) got a new puppy.  She’s a cute little Vizsla and during a recent trip home, I managed to put her in a Halloween outfit.  She LOVED the outfit, as you can see by the photos below. 

Poker Genius?

A couple weeks ago, Matt entered a charity poker tournament for Juvenile Diabetes Research.  There were almost 100 entries in the tournament and after a VERY long night, he ended up with 1st place! 

Here is the trophy that Matt won at the tournament.  In addition to the trophy, he won a gift certificate to a local Brazilian steakhouse and one of our local fancy hotels.  DATE NIGHT! 

Here is a comparison of Matt’s happy face and Matt’s poker-face. 

Megan Visit-Sunday

Megan Bauman, my long-time friend, FINALLY visited from Kansas.  We had a fun, jammed packed weekend together.  On Saturday we went to Butler and participated in homecoming.  I somehow managed to spend the entire day and take no pictures.  On Sunday we participated in the Walk From Obesity.  It was a fund-raiser to promote healthy eating and exercise. 

  They had a good turn out and the weather was perfect for walking.  We walked almost 2 and 1/2 miles before calling it a day.

We also went to the Children’s Museum to look at the King Tut Exhibit.  We were not allowed to take any photos of the exhibit, but it was very interesting and I learned a ton.  We did manage to take some photos of the other museum treats.

Megan almost got attacked by this giant T-Rex coming out of the wall. Luckily, she’s quick on her feet.

This was a huge glass-blown sculpture at the Children’s Museum.  It gets cleaned annually and looks like a lot of extra work.

  Who is the prettiest of them all?