Longitude 118 West

Grillin on the Beach

2008-07-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

We finally made it down to the beach to have a cookout. We used our fabulous gifts from Jon and Julie. We found a nice beach on the way to Santa Barbara that was pretty quiet snd started cooking! In this picture, I'm kicking back because I finally got the fire started. We used some organic charcoal...which was a bit hard to get started. Thank goodness for drift wood. :)

Here we are feeling hungry for some hot dogs!

Cindy and Sarah are cooking with our telescoping skewers! I have a feeling we will enjoy these a lot in the years to come.

What cookout is complete without some smores? We browned up some marshmallows on the grill, opened our super-sized Hershey bar, and had a few just before sunset.

Studios

2008-07-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

After 10 months of being in Los Angeles, we finally made our first trip to a studio backlot! You might recognize some of the scenes shown below, starting with the famous Animaniacs water tower.

We haven't seen too many episodes of ER, but here is a photo outside of the emergency room entrance. We enjoyed walking down the fake streets of Chicago. The EL tracks are mostly plastic and fiberglass.

This was some kind of racing car. I don't really remember much about it. I tried to open the door, but it appeared to be stuck...

Here's another set that we enjoyed. You'll recognize this as Central Perk from the TV show Friends. It was pulled out of storage for a recent reunion show and left out for long-term exhibition. What a treat.

Have we enticed anybody to come out for a visit yet?

Visitors

2008-07-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

We had a visitor from Ohio last week. Sarah and her grandfather Jim drove across the country to see us. They both enjoyed their first visit to the Pacific Ocean.

Jim treated us to dinner at the Outback Steakhouse in Thousand Oaks. It was very nice to have visitors to share experiences with.

We have several other pictures, so check out our Picasa site.

Birthdays

2008-07-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

Birthday season is upon us again! Cindy and I both have birthdays in June. This is the first time since getting married that we haven't had a "Big Birthday" in Ohio since Dad also has a June birthday. Thanks to everybody for the cards. As you see in the photo, Cindy made a tasty chocolate cake!

For Cindy's birthday, we went to the Griffith observatory to see something new. We had a good time seeing the exhibits and really enjoyed the great views of the city and of the mountains.

One of the best views is of the famous Hollywood sign...a real estate promotion turned international icon.

When we got home that evening Cindy opened her card and gift. Somehow I convinced her that she didn't need any gifts, so she was surprised.

Graduation

2008-07-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

Every now and then you come to a point in life that you know you'll remember and recognize as a turning point. I've had a few of those over the last few years. Getting married, turning 30 years old, watching my little sister get married, moving to California, and now completing my PhD. All of these things only happen once, but graduation has been one of my most hard-fought accomplishments. Here are some photos from the day.

This picture is inside the Convocation Center immediately after the ceremony.

This one is with my advisor, Chris, after the ceremony.

Brad gave me a Fisher Price medical kit as a gag gift. I'm testing the stethoscope in this photo.

Mom and Dad gave me a nice frame as a gift to display my diploma. I had a great weekend being back in Athens and Dayton. I was most honored to have all of my friends and family at the ceremony and spending the day with me. I wouldn't want to relive the many years of work to get here, but I certainly enjoyed all of them as I went along.

Memorial Weekend

2008-07-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here goes my (Jeff's) first blog posting... I guess I'm running about a month behind.

For the holiday weekend, we visited San Simeon, which is the home of the Hearst Castle.

This photo shows W.R.'s lovely pool. I think I'm in the wrong business...

Next we visited Paso Robles, which is central coast wine country. Cindy enjoyed driving through the open farmland.

Finally, we visited a few of the Spanish missions on our return drive home. Here is one of them...La Purisima...which has been preserved and maintained as a state historical park.

I guess that's all for now. I'll update you on a few more of our events soon.

For more pics, visit our picasa site.

More Visitors!

2008-03-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

For some reason, family are being drawn to CA during this time of year, and we are thankful for it! Jeff's parents recently visited and we were able to see several new sites as well as old favorites.
We're getting pretty good at this 'tour guide' gig, so we will be ready when you visit:)
Check out our Picasa Album for more pics from the week!

Cindy's Parents Visit!

2008-02-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

Man, it has been a long time since we have posted anything....but then again...we haven't had much to post:) However, Cindy's parents made their first trip out to see us and we had a great week showing them all of our favorite places. Check out our Picasa Album for more pics from the week!

Christmas Happenings!

2008-01-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

We have returned from our holiday trip and are settling back into life in CA.
We had a great time with family and friends during our time home, and came back to a piano! Cindy has waited a long time for a piano and is really enjoying playing it.
Check out our Picasa Album for the long awaited pics of our new place and Christmas!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-19T08:48:00.000-08:00

We will be touring the country over the holidays to visit with our families....and are looking forward to it! Hope you have a Merry Christmas and enjoy the rest of 2007!

Adventures with Nika!

2007-12-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

This past week, our friend Nika flew out from Athens to visit us and we had a great time showing her some of our favorite places as well as discovering new ones. Over several days, we did a lot of hiking in the hills around our home:

However, one of the highlights from the week included boating out to Catalina Island and hiking to the top of a mountain....the view was breathtaking ( as was the hike:) ). We could see a 360 degree view of mountains and ocean on both sides!

After doing some relaxing, we visited China Town and then decided to head to the beach:

As we were walking along we noticed a guy "playing" in the sand, so we stopped to ask what he was doing. That simple question landed us an opportunity to sand sculpt with a professional. We completed a sand sculpture for Starbucks who was hosting a team building session for their executives from across the country!

So...7 hours later, with sore muscles and fatigue, we were able to see the finished product that we had worked so hard on. It was such an awesome experience!

We had a great week and to see more pictures, visit our Picasa album:
Picasa Album

Thanksgiving Celebration!

2007-11-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving we took a road trip to San Francisco to see some of Jeff's family. The Pacific Coast Hwy gave great views of the coastline, San Francisco had great views of the bay, and eating tons of great holiday food made for a great time! Grover and Jennifer were great hosts and provided lots of smiles and laughter. Below is a link to pictures from the trip:

More Thanksgiving Pictures on Picasa

Sunsets, Sand Dollars, and Surprising Things!

2007-11-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

We know, we know....everyone is anxious to see pictures of our new place, but in the meantime we have some fun pictures...

A quick quiz. Winner gets the satisfaction that they guessed right!

What is this a picture of?
(A) space ship (B) cell phone tower (C) pine tree

And.....the answer is......(B). We noticed that 'going green' means everything; even the cell phone towers:)

Below are some nice pictures we took last weekend at Channel Island Harbor. We found it was a great place to find sand dollars...enjoy!

Weekend Happenings

2007-10-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well, before we tell about our weekend, we feel it important to share this picture...it's quite monumental in our lives...license plates that aren't from Ohio:)

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This weekend we had a great time, as Jeff took a break from his writing. We checked out a kimono show at a Japanese garden, and enjoyed walking through the gardens...

It didn't take us long to realize that the gardens were built over a water reclamation plant, a.k.a, sewage plant. So, the warmth of the day filled the air with a particular aroma and we were drawn to visit the lookout point over the plant. Jeff loved the 'life ring' hanging on the railing:)

A highlight of the day was the kimono show where we learned about the history of the outfit and how to put one on. The instructor of the L.A. Kimono Club....yes, there's a club!....was a consultant for the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha". Needless to say, she knew her kimonos!

After the show, our mission was "kimono hunting" for the purposes of a picture:) Several of the models were strolling through the garden and we were able to get pictures with them:

Happenings since the last post:

2007-10-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Cindy spent last week in Van Wert visiting her family during harvest. For those who may not know, it was a time full of combines, tractors, wagons...and corn; lots of it! A highlight though, was spending time with our niece, who was pretending she was the Corn Princess.

After returning to CA, we met up with a college roommate, Heather, from Mt. Vernon. We had a great time visiting with her and her husband in Pasadena, home of the Rose Parade:

And, as you have probably heard, there have been some pretty devastating forest fires out here. They have not been too far from us, and Jeff captured this picture on Sunday when the smoke was so thick it was covering the sun and casting a fiery color in the sky. We were chalking it up as a new weather experience:)

We're pretty excited...the movers are delivering all of our belongings this Thursday....yea! We'll have some pics of our new place soon.

No better friends than Ohioans!

2007-10-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

Last week was so encouraging since we met up with some friends from OU. Jake was out here for a work-related meeting, so we were able to spend time with him....we were so excited to talk with someone we knew that we took a picture of 'our first friend outing' in CA:)

Then we met up with one of Jeff's college roommate, Brian, and his wife Shalon and had a great time touring the Getty museum. It is definitely much more than an art museum...the panoramic views of L.A. and the ocean are quite spectacular in addition to beautiful gardens. We had a great time catching up with them!

Bored while Jeff was Gone?:)

2007-09-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Jeff has been at a conference this week...so, I thought I would explore CA a little. Google provided a lot of good places to visit:)

China Town was fabulous! I felt like I stepped into the heart of Beijing....and following a recommendation, I tried the incredible strawberry cake at the Phoenix Bakery...mmmm:)

The next day took me to the Mojave desert.

The drive there was a bit more impressive than the final destination of Mojave. Once there I stopped for lunch at a local place and asked the guy if there were any sites to see. His answer was rather funny "this is the desert...there's nothing out here":

On my way to Mojave I drove back to Edwards AFB:

On the long drive through the desert to Edwards I saw a water mirage like those who died in the desert saw before the end....it was so bizzare to look out and see a lake and on the way back to see it was a dry bed!

I also visited the Aerospace Valley. Enlarge the picture to read everything that took place there...it's rather incredible!

And, the last day took me to the Channel Island Harbor...great beaches and parks!

And, for those who are wondering.....Jeff had a great time at the conference visiting with all of his friends from OU!

Housing News

2007-09-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

As several of you know, we have found permanent housing in Thousand Oaks! We move-in November 1st...yeah!...and is about 30 minutes from where we are now. I was a little excited today, so I drove by and took a picture of the front. We'll have more pics later.

Food, Cars and Arnold

2007-09-18T12:21:00.001-07:00

Wow! Our first week in CA has been full of new things, both good...and....interesting:)

We are currently located in Woodland Hills, which is north of L.A. You never need to check the weather as it is always sunny and 75 degrees, with a slight layer of smog for extra warmth! We are really enjoying our temporary housing which is close to shopping, food and Jeff's job.

Below are our top 5 reasons to visit CA:

#1 - In 'n Out Burger, which is hands-down the best reason to visit CA! They use REAL potatoes to make their fries...need we say more?

#2 - Hiking at the Malibu State Park

#3 - A picnic and sunset at the Palisades Park

#4 - Our new car; two door Civic coup...lov'n it:)

#5 - Our governor, The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger; he walked past us and then sat on a bench with his wife! He's actually kind of short:)

Saying Good-Bye to Athens

2007-09-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to our new blog....hope you enjoy it!
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Before heading out to California, we had some good times in Athens:

The arrival of our new sofa!!!....

Getting together with friends ....

Watching our movers, Del & Mary, pack our apartment and drive away....

And, cheer for OSU as they won their first game of the season....

The Last stops before flying to CA were Indian Lake and Van Wert for some time with our families...

Our next stop is California!!