Someone stole the key lime

And I almost cried.

There we were.  Grant, Brandon and I, inside Cafe Mekka in Nevada City staring 3 (count them...THREE) key lime tarts in the FACE.

Ahead of us is a couple taking a gander at the dessert case.  I hear them order.

The woman behind the counter asks Brandon what he'd like to order.  He tells the woman our drink orders and that he would like 3 key limes.  The woman says okay, but says she'll start making the drinks first.

Next thing you know...the couple ahead of us is handed 2 of the 3 key limes.

What assholes.  Didn't they KNOW we drove all the way from Sacramento to get THIS particular key lime?!?!  Then.  Add insult to injury.  Those dicks tell the cashier they only planned on ordering coffee, the desserts were an after thought they might not even want.

I could've punched them.  I should've punched them.  In the face.

I've been waiting

For the pity party to start and I think it's on it's way.  I try to be pretty optimistic, on the outside at least, but this shit gets to me.

It seems that there are fewer things that could happen to make things worse off.  Not just for me.  Getting bad news about people you love is never easy.  In this case, it drove me to a placing a phone call I haven't made in over 2 months only to hear an answering machine.  I knew that would be the outcome.  If I thought for a even a second there would be a faintly familiar voice on the other end, I never would have dialed the number.

After being out of town for last 3 weekends, I think I'm sitting this one out and staying in town.  I haven't found a reason for celebration, but I need to.

I got 99 problems...

Wait.  No I don't!!!  And I plan on keeping it that way!

I don't think I can truly explain how difficult it has been for me to find silly khaki/black straight leg/tapered leg pants for work.  I've been looking for at least 3 months and still I haven't found a pair I'm stoked on.  How ridiculous.  I'm thinking of going with a skirt instead, I think it'll be more comfortable anyhow.  Also...that gives me another excuse to go shop shop shopping.

V-Day is coming up and Etsy keeps teasing me with amazing goods, like these sweet earrings.

And this amazing card:

A girl can dream, right?!

On the road again...

From Hearst Castle to Morro Bay to Santa Cruz and home.

We saw a sunset.

We conquered the world:

We had a ridiculous amount of fun.

And back to the epic adventure...

After Bryce dug the giant piece of glass from deep inside his nasal cavity (the one on the dash in the photo), we found our way to receiving ONE bar of cell reception.

After I sat to the far right side of the car with my head at a 45 degree angle, I made the call to my insurance company.  I doubt they've talked to many people as good spirited as we were for having just been in an accident.

I've never had to take 45 minutes to explain where I was using a highway as a reference point, let alone asking someone "Can you find NEVADA?!"  It literally took us that long to finally explain to the representative on the phone where we were...in a general area.  I didn't realize that telling someone we were in the south eastern part of Oregon could lead to such a misunderstanding.  After giving the person Winnemucca as a reference point to find us, she decides it would be a good idea to send a tow truck from Winnemucca (almost 4 hours away) instead of one from Boise (2 1/2 hours away).  Not only is she a genius with this whole Winnemucca plan, but she tells me it will only take an hour and a half at the most.

Now...I know what she's saying is bulllllllllllllllllshit because Bryce and I had just driven 4 hours since WE'D left Winnemucca AND we were ahead of the blizzard that just hit their town.  If she expected them to be there in an hour and a half, she was clearly smoking crack rock.  I asked for her to send a tow truck from Boise instead and she told me she couldn't because the tow truck driver was already on the way (obviously not true since it'd only been about 20 minutes).  So...after this whole tow thing is set up...I start asking about rental vehicles.

She tells me the nearest rental agency to Winnemucca is in Elko.  ELKO.  2 hours away from the town we were supposed to get towed to.  HOW WERE WE TO GET TO THE RENTAL PLACE?!?!  She tells me she doesn't know.

It's 19 degrees outside and the window I'm sitting at is broken.  The cold is settling in and I grab a blanket.

Next thing you know, 2 hunting angels were sent to us and tell us there's a tow station about 15 minutes up the road.  I opt to stay with the car while Bryce gets the tow started.  We make it to the little rinky dink town where the tow yard and a small diner make up all the revenue for the town and the people who own the tow company are SAINTS.

After hanging around most the morning and dealing with insurance crap we finally hop in the tow truck for the 3 1/2 hour drive up to Nampa, Idaho.  This is where I'll say goodbye to my car, just in case I won't ever see it again.  Bryce and I are determined to continue with our trip because we're not going to let something as silly as an accident get us down!!!  We hang out in Boise for the night and grab delicious Chinese food for dinner.  Yeah...no potatoes in Idaho, I'm a retard.

We wake up in Boise we head to Twin Falls.  We see signs for the Oregon trail and want to see if we can catch typhoid fever or shoot an ox for food.  Instead of finding oxen or indians to help us float across the river, we find the illustrious Perrine Bridge.

We decide Twin Falls is a good of place as any to ring in the new year.  I have the brilliant idea of hitting up the local mall and finding the Hot Topic and asking any girl behind the register where her brother goes to hang out.  I figure this might get us to a sweet dive bar.  As luck would have it...we drive directly past a mall, so we pull in.  We walk into the mall and what store do we stand in front of?  Hot Topic.  What do we do?  Ask the girl behind the register where the local dive bars are.

They gave us sweet hats.

Surgery Scheduler left a voicemail today...

"Hi Rijel.  This is Maggie, the surgery scheduler.  I'm still waiting to get approval for your upcoming surgery from the insurance company, but I don't think I have the correct information.  On the form the doctor gave me, it says to schedule surgery for the left knee.  I'm looking at his notes and they seem to be referring to your left knee, but I think he meant to indicate it's your right knee since you JUST had surgery on your left knee.  I just want to confirm this information, please give me a call back."

Listening to this message, I was laughing hysterically.

I called her back.

"Maggie?  This is Rijel.  It is indeed my left knee."

"Even though you just had surgery on it?"

"Yes, ma'am.  Things aren't right in there."

Better late than never, right?

My road trip:

Bryce and I left pretty late Tuesday night.  We were both fully prepared for a full night of driving and staying awake.  We'd been preparing for it the past few nights and were totally ready.  We made it to Baxter and had to put on chains.  Shitty.  That meant I wasn't going to be getting any refund for them.  The snow was crazy beautiful and it was definitely snowING, so Bryce man'd up and put the chains on.

We were hauling ass at about 30mph until the state line.  Yeah.  We needed chains THAT long.  Once we got the chains off it was pretty smooth sailing.  I got an amazing postcard with a moose on it.  When we hit Winnemucca we went north on 95 to head up towards Idaho.  The scenery was BEAUTIFUL the entire time we were on the road.

A couple hours before sunrise I decided to take a nap before taking up driving, since Bryce had driven the whole time so far.  Just as the sun was about to make it's appearance I woke up to a ridiculously calm Bryce who was taking control of my car as we were spinning out.  It was totally surreal and probably the best roller coaster ride I've ever been on.

We hit the snow bank.  The passenger side window shattered.  Rear wheel bent.  Airbags deployed.  No cell phone reception.

After everything was settled we assessed damages.  Both Bryce and I were totally unscathed.  Well, comparatively at least.  I had a few small spots on my hand and Bryce found a piece of glass IN HIS NOSE!!!!!

First weekend of the year

With full weekends off in 3 years and Friday night was spent going to bed at 10pm.  Alissa and I are both sick.  Yikes.

Yesterday I went to Napa and went olive oil tasting.  It was delicious.  I also had Bouchon Bakery and Taylor's Automatic Refresher.  Best cheeseburger EVER.  I did what anyone would do and over fed myself all day long.  It was wonderful.  After we got back from Napa there was an impromptu photo shoot at the house.  Totally random.

Today was spent on the couch pretty much all day.  I think Alissa and I watched 4 or 5 different movies and worked on baby blankets.  I think the reality of the number of blankets I would like to finish before May is settling in.  And of course I have a couple other projects I need to finish before I can really start on the blankets.  I need to make more time for nerdy craft stuff.

There are

far too few hours in a day for me to be able to keep this thing updated.  I sure do miss the life of a handi at times!  But then again...I can walk now, so it's not a bad deal.

Work has been busy, which keeps me busy, which makes me happy.  The only bad part is adjusting to this schedule.  I'm WAY grumpy when I get off work.  Hopefully that'll get fixed by next week at the latest!  Or perhaps people should just send me silly text messages at 6pm my time so it'll brighten up the entire day.  Pictures of kittens, puppies, turtles, sombreros, or food will do the trick.  K.  Thanks.

My first day back at work I was helping some ghetto thug-ish hispanic kid (by kid I mean like 22ish).  He needed to sign some paperwork for me, so I slid the form under the glass.  I take his cash and do my thing at the register and when I sat back down he'd only pushed the paper halfway through the glass.  He and his friend were giggling.  Just as I reach for the form, he pulls it back towards him, pretends to write on the paper and mumbles, "Awww, yeah...I'mma just gonn write my number for you here."  He giggles as he says this and even though I hear him pretty clearly, I do what any normal person would do.

"Pardon?  What was that?" I asked loud enough for my partner who was about 10 feet away to kind of jump back at the volume.

Homeboy turns bright red, looks at his friend in embarrassment and says, "Oh, um. Nothing?"

I handed his paperwork back to him with a giant smile on my face and wished him a fantastic day and he slunk out of the lobby.

New Years Eve

Was spent at a dive bar in Twin Falls, ID.

Throughout the night we met a couple characters.  My favorite one was a guy who moved down from Alaska.  Apparently at some point he had gotten a DUI up in Alaska and even though he was apparently carrying a bunch of weed and cocaine, he only got charged for the DUI.  He went on to tell me that he LOVED a fire crotch.

My second favorite guy of the night was our hotel desk clerk.  He found out we were from California and got excited and started telling us about his celebrity encounters.  His prized possession: an autograph and a photo with a Burt Reynolds look-a-like that lives in Twin Falls.