2011 in Review Part 4 - A Week Apart in California and a Tribute

The above photo has absolutely nothing to do with Adam being in San Francisco for a week in June while I was in Newport Beach, but he didn't take any photos while in San Francisco, not being a photo taking kind of guy so I thought this would be a good substitute. Pretty freaking cute, right? I mean, if he had attended my elementary school instead of somewhere in a suburb of Cincinnati, I never would have lost my heart to Peter F in the fifth grade. Adam would have had me from the start. So what was Adam doing in San Francisco? And why was I in Newport Beach? I'll tell you! Adam was sent there for work to attend WWDC, which is the big Apple conference in San Francisco. You know, the one where Steve Jobs (may he rest) would wear his black turtle neck and unveil new Apple products? That's the one. Anyway, this trip coincided with the beginning of my slow time at work where it really is imperative for me to take time off to preserve my mental stability. I thought about tagging along, but since he was going with another co-worker and would be in workshops all day long, not being the type that really likes to wander around unknown cities alone, I really wasn't sure what I would do with myself. I could go visit my parents, but didn't really want to fly alone and was only looking to be gone for about 4 days. So I called Lis.

Anyone who has spent a reasonable amount of time with me since 1997, knows that one of my best friends in the whole wide world is a girl named Lis (pronounced Liz). I met her the same day I moved into my dorm at BYU on a hot day in August 1997. I had just said a tearful goodbye to my brother and parents, my roommate was no where in site (she wouldn't show up for another week), and I was trying to distract myself by hanging up pictures on my bulletin board, when this cute girl with short blond hair poked her head into my room. Our conversation went something like this:

"Um, hi, I was asked by the RA to let everyone know we're having a floor meeting in a few minutes."
"Oh, okay. Thanks!"
"You're listening to Barenaked Ladies! I love them!"
"Really? Me, too! I've seen them like four times in concert!"
"That's awesome! Well, I'll see you around!"

She left and I remember thinking, "I'm going to be friends with that girl." I need to point out something before I go on. In 1997, few people outside of the Northeast knew about Barenaked Ladies and it was long before they released their lame mainstream albums like Stunt. They were considered cool were I came from. I just want to reiterate that this is before they were cheesy. We became fast friends after that. Lis is the coolest. She's unflappable and confident. She's kind and upbeat. She's smart and cultured. She's introduced me to Jane Austen, countless TV shows, and various fashion trends. She's influenced my political and world views. She's seen me at my best and worst. Here's a photo of us in our junior year with all of our other BFFs at the time. We're both wearing stripes:


Here we are (with our one of our other BFFs, the lovely Kimberly Neves) in 2001 when we graduated.

This was taken in 2004 (ish?) with the rest of our roommates in the huge house in Holladay we lived in. Lis and I were roommates in four different houses in Salt Lake before I got married. Yes, in this house there were nine of us. Yes, it was crazy.

So there's a brief photo time line. I have much better photos for such a topic, but these are the ones I had readily available in my computer. There are other friends I've been fortunate to meet whom I love oh so dearly, but no one else has been as much a part of my life for so long as Lis. Adam was just reading over my shoulder and says I've gotten way off topic, but it's an important thing for this blog to take note of. Some people don't have a "Lis." But I do and will be forever grateful for that.

So to make a long story short, Adam was going to San Francisco and I needed something to do. I called Lis, who teaches and was off for the summer, and we made our plans. We found a good deal on flights to Orange County. There was a vacation package with what looked like a nice hotel just down the road from Newport Beach and off we went. The flights went smoothly, the hotel was nice (aside from the mile walk to the parking lot), the women in Newport reasonably matched their stereotypes on TV, the sister missionaries could be seen walking around, and we got in some nice beach time in perfect weather. Almost too perfect. In spite of putting on SPF 55 sun screen, I got a sun burn of legendary proportions the first day. That kind of put a damper on my visions of sun bathing the entire time and it was a good thing we had buddy passes to Disneyland to pass the time. These are terrible pictures of us, but life's like that sometimes:

Walking down main street.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle. This was my first time in Disneyland. I've been to Disney World about 4 times, but not since I was 9. I think that Cinderella's castle is the prettier of the two, but Sleeping Beauty was always my favorite Disney cartoon so this was a big moment for me.


A nice photo of one of the beaches we stopped at. On our downtime, we watched episodes of Parks and Recreation and I read Bossy Pants by Tina Fey, a perfect vacation read.

So that was our week at opposite ends of California. I did really miss Adam. He had a fun-ish time on his business trip but it was nice to get back. It was also nice to get back to Hero, who decided to catch pneumonia while we were gone. Apparently dogs can get pneumonia and Hero would, of course, be the dog to get it. Something I didn't mention before is that Hero is rather prone to illness and accidents. She's like Beth from Little Women or Tiny Tim. Hopefully she grows out of this...