US Open Surf Finals at Huntington Beach

Being in Huntington Beach to watch surfing is very cool. Essentially, every shop in the main part of town is related to surfing or is a restaurant...long story short, surfing is king in this town.

Oh and the beach is really nice too. Imagine people on the beach basking in the sun, playing volleyball, building sand sculptures, and just hanging out with friends. Behind them is a nice little boardwalk for walking, biking, and roller blading. And in front of them is the water, a nice blue green with people swimming, playing, boogie boarding, and of course surfing!

The day I was there, Sunday, they had the Men's quarter finals, semi finals, and finals for the Jr's, Long Board, and US Open. Everyone was sitting on the beach until the US Open finals came on and then you had to work your way to the waters edge to get a decent view on the beach. Everyone else was camping out on the pier or in a VIP (purchased ticket) area, which means I was officially in the water with surfing professionals! All of them did some pretty cool tricks out on the water, but part of their runs depended on the waves, which I heard weren’t as high as they have been in the past. One of the coolest things I saw was a surfer come out of the wave onto the top of it, bounce off the wave, and get back into the wave...and this was the start of his run...it was ridiculous! He scored pretty well on that run too, but the scoring system is a bit of a mystery to me.

Here is a quick guide to surf scoring, which would have been helpful before I went, but it seems like judges have a lot of wiggle room for their final decision. This leads to guys having a sweet run and recieving a 4.25 and then other times he would have a decent looking run and get a 7.25?...This is apparently worked out through averages and having enough judges posting scores for the surfers.

Outside of surfing they also had a couple of huge skateboarding ramps/bowls setup for competitions during the day and a huge motorcycle jump where they had sponsored riders doing tricks at certain times during the day. BTW, these guys are certifiably crazy!

Would I go back and watch surfing again? Heck yeah, in a heartbeat!

AVP in the LBC

It started off as an early day where I was on the road at 6:15am. This was so I could try out a new coffee shop in the area, they sent me a coupon in the mail for two free drinks, and get to Long Beach by the time the gates opened at 7:30am. Not only was it an early start, but the sunshine decided to sleep in a little. Not to worry because the sun came out for the final and the day turned into a scorcher.

For the women's final I was in sitting in the South end first row by a lot of photographers. I bounced around a bunch during the earlier games trying to find a good spot, decided that I really liked the end zone area, and I figure that all of those photographers can't be wrong, right?

Throughout the tournament and the final, May/Walsh killed the opposition. They were leaps and bounds above the rest of the group...it almost wasn't fair! Maybe it was because they had to take time to relax and meet some of the fans...This wasn't just womens play for the entire day, the Men were still jockying for position for their final the next day. So that means I got to see some of their tournament play too. All I can say is WOW! It is amazing to watch some dude get roofed (aka blocked)! Rogers/Dalhausser played really well against Lambert/Metzger, but I thought that Rosenthal/Gibbs were going to win it after watching them play on Saturday. I was curious so I watched the replay on AVP.com and Rogers/Dalhausser won the tourney.

I also accomplished a couple of California missions while I was down in LBC. I was on TV, since the game was televised, and I was in a movie called "Match Point." Now my part was small, person in crowd at beach volleyball game, but I just might make it onto the screen! With that in mind I might be cut too, who knows...I guess only time will tell.

A neat new way to listen to music!

Not exactly an adventure, but check it out!
http://www.seeqpod.com/

But what is it?
"SeeqPod is the home for playable search results. SeeqPod's vertically targeted crawlers crawl the deepest parts of the web to enable internet-wide search & discovery of anything that can be played or shared with friends."

Another great way to try out some new music is to sign up on LaLa. I was introduced to this neat site by a friend of mine in Seattle. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks great. LaLa has a great feature, that I just read about. LaLa allows one with an IPod to sync it to their website and get some new tunes, all you need is an internet connection. My friend said that LaLa is a great way to discover some new music and keep his CD collection up to date by trading some of his old CD's that he doesn't listen to anymore...

Got a favorite site or place to find new music? Fill us in in the comments section.

Weekend time, what are you going to do?!

I'm going to Disneyland! Not just the morning, or afternoon, but all day!

A good friend, Steve, and his wife Reyna were down in California at a wedding. I was convinced they came for E3, but I was wrong...it was a wedding and then an internal calling brought then to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland!

Steve and Reyna are Disneyland professionals! They have been so many times that they probably know the fast pass system better than the person who invented it. Because of this expert knowledge we covered a lot of ground during the day and had great seats for the show, Fantasmic, at night! With that in mind I had a few nostalgia missions that included Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, and Splash Mountain...but I left the direction up to the pros.

We started the day with a fast pass from Space Mountain! This is a great ride that is completely dark except for a few stars all around you. The stars don't provide enough light to show you which direction the track is going to twist, turn, or dive at next, but they sure make it feel like you are going faster than you really are. Mix that with the wind blowing in your ears and it is a screaming good time.

Next we hit the Indiana Jones ride, which was one of the coolest rides in my opinion. Essentially, there are thousands of combinations that the ride can take since there are many random decision points throughout the ride. These decisions include different directions that your car can go and Indy's speeches. Sweet ride with a great ending!

A couple other highlights were Pirates of the Caribbean, California Screaming, and Astro Blasters!

Pirates of the Caribbean got a nice update with the release of the new movies, but I miss the pirates chasing the ladies and their ale, but still a nice relaxing ride.

California Screaming was a new experience for me and this ride gives a cool twist on your traditional roller coaster. Instead of being pulled up to the top of an enormous height and being dropped, this coaster stops you about 100 yards from the first big hill. Then the speakers on the coaster by your ears countdown to launch! Once you launch you are pressed back into your seat only to get lifted out of it at the top of the first hill. Somewhere in the middle there is another great spot where the first car gets held over a nice big drop before the coaster lets go! Three letters for this ride...F-U-N.

One of my favorite rides at Disneyland was Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters! This is a cool interactive ride that gives you and a friend a ray gun to aim and shoot and different targets throughout the ride. Each target is worth a certain number of points, but if they are lit up they are worth even more. Then at the end the ride takes a picture of you and your friend in action, which you can email out once you are off the ride!

Watch out bad guys, these Space Rangers are good!

A day at Disney wouldn't be complete w/o dinner with fireworks in the air. They apparently have a fireworks show every night during the summer. We weren't to concerned with the fireworks because our last stop for the day was the show Fantasmic. This show has a mixture of live actors dressed as your favorite Disney characters and projections onto walls of water all over by Pirate Island. The show uses Mickey as our main character and his battles with some of Disney's most notorious villians create a great show.

Wow, this was a fun filled day, but how could it not have been? I was at the happiest place on earth with some good friends!

Williamsburg's Saturday Market

It's our version of Pike's Place. Every Saturday morning and Tuesday afternoon in the summer, we have Williamsburg's Farmer's Market. There's no flying fish, but plenty of soft shell crab, crab cakes, crab meat, scallops, fresh locally grown vegetables, herbs, plants, cookies, goat cheese (a few booths to choose from, even though I don't like any of it) and mushrooms. Yum! (At this point, you all have realized that it's Sarah writing this post because Brian is not into mushrooms.)

People mill about with coffee, talking with friends, while the dogs all sniff each other. It's a casual meeting place, and there are treasures abound. The fresh scollops have made it home with me a few times. The vegetables are fantastic. And my must stop, is at Dave and Dee's Homegrown Mushrooms. They are gernous with their samples, smiles, and they have converted more than a few non-mushroom eaters. The big question is can they convert Brian!
Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

More Friends! The Schaffers plus 1/2

I am one lucky girl. I am blessed with so many visitors this summer. Last weekend, Mike and Angela made a one night stop in Williamsburg on their tour around the East Coast. My dilemma was how to make Williamsburg (oh, the fun lil' town that it is) compete with the other places they visited (Chicago, New York, Boston and DC), but I was up for the challenge. Mike was Brian's best man and Angela was a reader in the wedding, so it was good to see them again. It's too bad Brian couldn't be here to, but so goes the summer.

I know you're waiting with bated breaths, "What fun things did you guys do in Williamsburg?" you're asking. You guessed it! We ate ourselves around the town. For those of you that are loyal blog-readers, I promise I'm not holding out on all the cool things in Williamsburg. So be prepared for some old favorites...but we did find some new things, too.

Mike, Angela (and the 1/2, they're expecting a little one in October) and I, went to...



Colonial Williamsburg...

The infamous Sno-to-Go

Note to self:
My Nemo and Angela's Summer Sky,
make the favorite flavor list!

We were up early on Saturday morning to get to the Saturday market before everything was picked-over or gone, so after lunch we rewarded ourselves with pool time! (Which included Bloody Mary's, unless you were drinking for two.)

All of these things, I've already written about, so we found some other fun things to do!

Friday night, we went to dinner at King's Arm.
Mike was wishing that Brian was there to join us....


I have to admit, I was skeptical. It is a colonial style restaurant, right in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg. Turns out, the food was fantastic and they provided period entertainment that was entertaining. Wonder what that was, you may have to come and check it out for yourself!

There are two soups here that I would call "local:" peanut soup and she-crab soup. Peanut soup was on the menu here, and it was good. Especially, if you like peanuts.

You've seen pictures and heard us talk about Pierce's BBQ Pit, but Mike and Angela were ready for something a little more off the beaten track. It was time for some real BBQ, so we headed to Smokin' Joes. Pierce's is good, and it's famous in these parts, but Smokin' Joes. That's a BBQ experience. The typical order is a pulled pork sandwich and you have your choice of two sides:
Mac and Cheese, french fries, baked beans, fried okra, coleslaw, potato salad or hush puppies. My favorites? The baked beans for sure, and usually Mac and Cheese.

What's so great about Smokin' Joes? THE SAUCES. They have six on the table so you make your sandwich the way you want. It's great! It's fun to see the difference between BBQ sauce and North Carolina sauce.

It was great to have these two visit and I hope we can see them soon. As for this picture - they were kind enough to pose for my action shot. Yes, it's a grocery store. But how often do you walk into a grocery store that is right next to a corn field! It makes me smile every time!

Take a little trip...

Mt. Rainier from the plane

While Sarah was off having a great time in Williamsburg on the 4th, I took a quick last minute trip up to Seattle. I saw some friends, family, and some great weather!
A few of the highlights would include: a BBQ with friends the day I arrived, and spending some time on lake Union in a kayak watching a military helicopter do some training runs for the 4th of July. Also I had great time visiting ArenaNet, going to lunch with some Anet friends, playing basketball and softball, and of course seeing the family.

My only regret is that I couldn't spend more time up in Seattle this trip, since there are many friends that I didn't get to see. Next time...I should also have a little more time to plan and let people know I will be in the neighborhood!

Mt. Adams from the plane

4th of July in Williamsburg

Everyone is wondering how Brian and I are doing, since we're separated for the summer...and seriously people, we're good. I'm not sure who has it better this summer. I have friend insisting that Brian's the lucky guy doing the California thing, and believe me he is doing some cool things. (I don't want to ruin the surprise of his posts that are sure to come, so stay tuned.) But I am really enjoying work and it's nice in the summer here. I have had friends visit and we have new friends here that I can spend time with. Of course, it would be better with Brian here, but since we're married for-ev-er, what's 2 months?!

But I digress, I just thought I would post a little 4th of July fun, before it's really past the date...

After the Freedom Run, I had the day to relax and get a few chores at home done. Then it was time to get over to Stephanie & Eric's. They have rented a great house for the next year, and it's close to CW (that's VA speak for "Colonial Williamsburg") which was having fireworks. So I convinced Stephanie that we (those of us here in Willy-burg for the summer) should hang out at their house and BBQ. We all had a good time talking, BBQing and then the competitive natures came out with Trivial Pursuit, 90's edition. It was a lot of fun!


We walked towards CW, and stopped only a few blocks from the house. There was a grassy area and some people already camped out. We could have walked in further, but then we would have had the crowds and to stand up to enjoy the show. Here we spread out a few blankets and things got underway. Now, I have no doubt, that had Brian been with me, I could post some cool fireworks photos. But he wasn't, so I can't, you'll just have to imagine. But the fun part about the fireworks, was the 4 -year old boy behind us. He was SO cute! He was standing behind us, and every time a firework exploded, he leaned forward, eyes wide and "wwwooooowwwww" would escape from his lips. Exactly.

Here are the goof balls after the show - it wasn't Gasworks, but we all had a good time.

Freedom Run

This year, I started off July 4th right! Which (this year) that meant meeting up with a few friends early in the morning for the FREEDOM RUN. This area definitely gets its money out of the patriotic souls. The race was set around the Yorktown victory monument and it was a great day for a run. (With the humidity and heat around here...you can't always say that!)

Before the race:It was Stacie's (in the green) first 5k run, and she did great! She's a personal trainer by trade and I definitely benefited from her words of encouragement. It was a nice route, with a few big hills that made it tough. 3.1 miles later (about 30.3 minutes) we were stretching it out.

Tony and Molly joined us, too. Let's just say one spouse is encouraging the other spouse to run more often, so they stuck together...anyways..Stacie and I were glad they were still on speaking terms when they crossed the finish line. =) They are a great couple, so it was fun to spend time with them.


Yes, XL shirts was all they had left...but at least we got one!
A perfect way to start the day!

Opening Night

from www.cinemablend.com

I love opening night/weekend at the movies! People get dressed up, cheer at the beginning, cheer at key moments in the story, cheer at the end, and sit through all of the credits. Ok, the last one might just be a California thing, since people are a little closer with people in the movies and LA is arguably the movie capital of the world. But, the crowd turns passive entertainment, watching a movie, into an almost live performance as they urge on the actors...

I didn't go to the biggest theater west of NY, Big Newport in Newport Beach California, which is relatively nearby...didn't know about it until today, dang! If I'm lucky, there will be one more blockbuster, this summer, that I can go see there...if I'm really lucky I will get to go to a release viewing. Wow, how fun would that be?!

Ok, onto the movie. Harry Potter was great! Not the best one of the series (I liked "The Goblet of Fire" the best), but definitely a big screen experience...if I tell you anymore I might ruin your soon to be favorite scene and I don't want to do that.

Next time you go see a movie, go opening night. Grab all your friends, and make an event out of opening night at the movies! Oh, and don't forget me and the wife...

from www.idoitdigital.com

Phil & Jocelyn Return to Williamsburg

What fun! I got a phone call on Wednesday..."Sarah, can we come and visit?" It was music to my ears. I love having visitors! Phil and Jocelyn are DCers, so they were excited to come to the"country." They visited last November, so I was excited to have them return and see Williamsburg's summer glory.

They had to fight through 4th of July holiday traffic, but they stuck it out and made it! Seattle traffic can be nasty, but I'm not sure it compares to the drive leaving Washington DC. Trying to get from northern Virginia to the Richmond area should only be an hour or so, but when it backs up (from mere congestion...not even an accident) you'll be on the road for 3-4 hours. See why we love people to come to us?!

It was fantastic to have time to visit with Phil and Jocelyn. The weather was comfortable. Not hot, not sunny, a little breezy and the rain was coming. We took the opportunity to drive the historical triangle...Williamsburg to Jamestown to Yorktown. They're all connected by the Colonial Parkway which is a gorgeous road that runs through the forest and has great views of the James River. (Not that we stopped to take any pictures...maybe next time...)

Yorktown has a cute little boardwalk with some tourist shops, a good restaurant (or so we've heard), a beach and a pier.

The three of us have a good time talking about work, traveling, summer plans, future plans and sometimes, a bit of gossip.



Then it was back to the apartment to relax, have a drink and talk some more. Before they arrived, I went to the Williamsburg Farmers Market (watch for another post about this). I picked up fresh ingredients for dinner and swung by the Wine Cellar to ask Andy which wine to pair dinner with. We made Scallops with Mushrooms in a White-Wine Sauce. Heavenly! I served it with angel hair pasta and spinach. Yum! For dessert, we tried a banana foster type recipe, but I'm not going to pass that one on. I wouldn't make that one again. I'll let you know when I find a better dessert. Nothing beats a relaxing evening with good food and great company.

Sunday, we enjoyed our Bloody Marys at the pool and lunch at the Cheese Shop. The Cheese Shop is in Colonial Williamsburg (and I am going to be struck down by this comment, because it is a religion here) and I was disappointed with the sandwich. Everyone raves about them, and it's taken me months to actually get there to have one, and when I did - it was meat and bread. Both were good, but nothing to rave about. Hum. I may have to give it another try, but right now, figuring out fun combinations with our new panini press sounds like more fun. (I'll keep you posted on that endeavor.)

It's a tough life. I feel like when people visit me and the husband (when he's here) in Williamsburg, they are on vacation. So I try to treat them like I like to be treated on vacation - relaxation, lots of food, a comfortable bed and fun drinks. Anyone else interested in reserving the guest room? You're all welcome!

Special Visitor

Talk about a treat! Last week, my cousin Lauren was touring the East Coast with her school. They traveled to New York, Boston, DC and then arrived in good old Williamsburg. I rescued, uh, picked her up from the group and we had dinner at Pierce's PITT Bar-B-Que. A Williamsburg must! And the Ruhwedels, we always like our ice cream. Off to Sno-To-Go...






It was great to catch up with her. She was so animated about the time she had spent with the other kids. She was indifferent about her favorite thing they had seen, but she was all over the people dynamics, which was fun to listen to. Anyone remember being in seventh grade? The boys were annoying and you didn't realize how much you enjoyed the girls because they drove you crazy. But at the same time you were convinced that you'd all be friends forever.

We caught back up with her classmates at the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a hotel with an indoor water park. The whole class seemed to have a good time, and it was fun to see them all laughing so much. I just wish I had brought my suit!